International cooperation on export controls for technology is based on three assumptions, that it is possible: to know against whom controls should be directed; to control the international transfer of technology; and to define the items to be controlled. These assumptions paint a very hierarchical framing of one of the central problems in export controls: dual-use technology. This hierarchical framing has been in continual contention with a competitive framing that views the problem as the marketability of technology. This thesis analyses historical and contemporary debates between these two framings of the problem of dual-use technology, focusing on the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies. Using a framework of concepts from Science & Technology Studies and the theory of sociocultural viability, I analyse the Arrangement as a classification system, where political, economic, and social debates are codified in the lists of controlled items, which then structure future debates. How a technology is (not) defined, I argue, depends as much on the particular set of social relations in which the technology is enacted as on any tangible aspects the technology may have. The hierarchical framing is currently hegemonic within Wassenaar, and I show how actors that express this framing use several strategies in resolving anomalies that arise concerning the classification of dual-use technology. These strategies have had mixed success, and I show how they have adequately resolved some cases (e.g. quantum cryptography), while other areas have proved much more difficult (e.g. focal plane arrays and computers). With the development of controls on intangible technology transfers, a third, egalitarian framing is arising, and I argue that initial steps have already been taken to incorporate this framing with the discourse on dual-use technology. However, the rise of this framing also calls into question the fundamental assumption of export controls that technology is excludable, and therefore definable.

Controles de segurança, também chamados de mecanismos de proteção, voltados para previsão e detecção de eventos indesejados são cada vez mais empregados em ambientes de Tecnologia da Informação (TI). O pouco entendimento sobre as características dos eventos indesejados que agem nos sistemas e a baixa compatibilidade existente entre os diversos mecanismos de proteção são problemas que se destacam neste tipo de cenário. Diferentes configurações dificultam a combinação dos resultados destes mecanismos e raramente dois ou mais controles de segurança se complementam. Por esse motivo, o agrupamento entre mecanismos de detecção e de previsão não é trivialmente resolvido. Neste trabalho é proposta uma arquitetura, denominada de Arquitetura Estratégica de Agrupamento - Strategic Grouping Architecture (SGA) - para agrupamento de controles de segurança voltados para detecção e/ou previsão, que tem como base a busca de um equilíbrio entre as configurações e os resultados individuais de cada mecanismo de proteção envolvido. Para alcançar este equilíbrio a arquitetura proposta divide a análise dos eventos (legítimos e maliciosos) que passam pelos controles de segurança em dois níveis de abstração: o técnico, onde são coletadas as configurações e os resultados dos controles de segurança; e o estratégico, onde os dados obtidos no nível técnico são analisados por meio de barganhas cooperativas irrestritas - Unrestricted Cooperative Bargains (UCB), conceito proveniente da Teoria dos Jogos, que busca a otimização e equilíbrio entre resultados. Justamente por ser realizada em um nível de abstração diferente, a análise gerada pelo SGA identifica a influência que cada configuração exerce nos resultados agrupados. Para explorar a capacidade da arquitetura proposta, dois experimentos, bastante diferentes, que envolvem a ação de eventos indesejados em ambientes de TI são conduzidos. Os resultados obtidos mostram a viabilidade do agrupamento de controles de segurança de detecção e previsão e a possibilidade do uso do SGA em outros ambientes, que não estejam necessariamente ligados à segurança de TI. Baseada na literatura científica a validação do SGA consiste de uma transformação prévia na categoria dos jogos estratégicos usados - cooperativos para não-cooperativos - e na busca de situações como o Equilíbrio de Nash (EN) e o ótimo de Pareto, que indicam os melhores resultados de um jogo. / Security controls, also called protection mechanisms, focused on forecasting and detection of unwanted events are increasingly employed in Information Technology (IT) environments. The little understanding about the characteristics of unwanted events which act on the systems and the low rate of compatibility among several protection mechanisms are both problems that arise in that scenario. Different settings make difficult combining the results of these mechanisms and two or more controls rarely complement each other. Due to that, grouping mechanisms of detection and forecasting is not a trivial matter. In this work a framework called Strategic Grouping Architecture (SGA) is proposed to grouping security controls focused on detection and/or forecasting. SGA is based on the search for equilibrium between the settings and the individual results of each protection mechanism involved. In order to reach this equilibrium the proposed framework divide the analysis of events (legitimates and malicious) which go through the security controls in two abstract levels: the technical level, where the settings and the results of security controls are collected; and the strategic level, where the data obtained in the technical level are analyzed through Unrestricted Cooperative Bargains (UCB), concept from Game Theory that seeks to optimize and balance the results. Precisely because it is performed on a different level of abstraction, the analysis generated by the SGA identifies the influence that each setting has on the clustered results. In order to exploit the capability of the proposed architecture, two experiments, quite different, involving the action of unwanted events in IT environments, are conducted. The obtained findings show the feasibility of grouping detection and forecasting security controls and the possibility of using the SGA in other environments that are not necessarily related to IT security. Based on scientific literature SGA validation consists of a previous transformation in the category of strategy games used - cooperative to non-cooperative - and the search for situations such as the Nash Equilibrium (NE) and the Pareto optimal, indicating the best results a game.

Wie sich in den letzten Jahren gezeigt hat, ist Fettgewebe nicht nur ein inerter Fettspeicher, sondern produziert auch eine Vielzahl endokrin wirksamer Substanzen, die unter anderem auch an der Blutdruckregulation beteiligt sind. Da Adipositas ein wichtiger Risikofaktor für die Entwicklung der Hypertonie ist, sollte im Rahmen dieser Dissertation ein System zur quantitativen Untersuchung der Genexpression in Primärkulturen humaner Adipocyten entwickelt werden und dessen Funktionalität am Beispiel der hormonellen Regulation der Gene des Renin-Angiotensin-Systems demonstriert werden. Dies beinhaltete die Etablierung der Adipocytenisolierung und -kultivierung, eines Stimulationsassays, die Entwicklung einer der besonderen Größe und dem hohen Fettgehalt der Zellen angepaßten Zellzahl- und Vitalitätsbestimmungsmethode, die Untersuchung vier verschiedener RNA-Extraktionsmethoden auf ihre Eignung für Adipocyten und die Etablierung eines besonders sensitiven RT-PCR Systems zur Untersuchung der Genexpression mittels einer fluoreszenzmarkierten Sonde. Exemplarisch konnte anhand der Renin-Angiotensin-System-Gene die Funktionalität der Methoden demonstriert werden, indem nicht nur die Genexpression aller Komponenten des Renin-Angiotensin-Systems in humanen Adipocyten nachgewiesen wurden, sondern auch gezeigt werden konnte, dass Hydrocortison sowohl die Genexpression als auch die Dichte des Angiotensin II Typ 1-Rezeptors in der Adipocytenmembran stimuliert. Dieser Aspekt könnte möglicherweise nicht nur bei der besonderen Adipositasform des Cushing-Syndroms, sondern auch für die Entstehung der zentralen Adipositas von Bedeutung sein. / Adipose tissue has functions above-and-beyond storing fat. It also produces a variety of different endocrine substances, some of which influence blood pressure regulation. Obesity is a well known risk factor for the development of hypertension Thus, the genes regulating expression of vasoactive molecules in adipose tissue, possibly contributing to an increase in blood pressure are of great interest. The aim of this work was to develope a system for quantitative gene expression analysis in primary cultured human adipocytes and to demonstrate its utility for studying the hormonal regulation of genes encoding the renin-angiotensin-system. We established procedures for the isolation and culture of human adipocytes, as well as a stimulatory assay. We also developed methods for the determination of cell number and vitality. Above this, four RNA extraction protocols were evaluated regarding their suitability for adipocytes, and a very sensitive RT-PCR system for gene expression analysis using fluorescent labeled probes was established. As an example for the functionality of these methods we showed that all genes of the renin-angiotensin-system are expressed in human adipocytes. We also demonstrated that hydrocortisone stimulates the gene expression as well as the density of the angiotensin II receptor type 1 on cultured human adipocytes. This finding may be of interest for the development of the obesity phenotype found in cushing syndrome, but could also contribute to the development of central obesity.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriano Vilela Sampaio.pdf: 791664 bytes, checksum: a1e2f8e1979518f22640b33ffdf362c3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The objective of this work is the study of the Brazilian economic policy autonomy in the context of increasing capital mobility and financial liberalization initiated on the 1990s. In order to accomplish our purpose, it is made a brief presentassesation of the evolution of the international financial system and of the debate between liberalization and capital controls on the theoretical and empirical literature with the purpose of comprehending how the functioning of the international financial system may restrict the economic policy autonomy and whether this restriction is desirable or not. The analysis of econometrical papers that tried to assess the impacts of the Brazilian financial liberalization showed that given the divergences of the results, it is not possible to corroborate the hypothesis that the financial liberalization generated the benefits proclaimed by its defenders. About the works that discussed the economic policy autonomy, the results didn t allow a definitive conclusion. It was made an econometrical exercise to assess the impacts of the financial integration, represented by capital flows, over the economic policy autonomy. The results suggest a loss on the economic policy autonomy in the period jan/1995 dec/1999 and that such loss didn t occur in the period jan/1999 dec/2007, although the capital flows had been relevants on explaining the interest rate / O objetivo deste trabalho é o estudo da autonomia da política econômica brasileira no contexto de crescente mobilidade de capitais e liberalização financeira iniciada a partir dos anos 90. Para tanto, faz-se uma breve apresentação da evolução do sistema financeiro internacional e do debate entre liberalização e controles de capitais na literatura teórica e empírica com o propósito de compreender de que forma o funcionamento do sistema financeiro internacional pode restringir a autonomia de política econômica dos países e se essa restrição é desejável ou não. A análise de trabalhos econométricos que trataram dos impactos da liberalização financeira brasileira mostrou que, dada a divergência dos resultados, não é possível corroborar a hipótese de que a liberalização financeira brasileira trouxe os benefícios apregoados por seus defensores. Em relação aos trabalhos que discutiram a autonomia de política econômica, os resultados não permitiram uma conclusão mais segura. Foi realizado um exercício econométrico para avaliar os impactos da integração financeira, representada pelos fluxos de capitais, sobre a autonomia de política econômica. Os resultados sugerem a perda de autonomia de política econômica no período jan/1995-dez/1998 e que não houve essa perda no período jan/1999-dez/2007 embora os fluxos de capitais tenham se mostrado relevantes na explicação da taxa de juros

This collection of essays examines the topic of macroeconomic stabilisation in an international context, focusing on monetary policy, capital controls and exchange rates. Chapter 1, written in collaboration with Giancarlo Corsetti and Joao Duarte, reconsiders the effects of common monetary policy shocks across countries in the euro area, using a data-rich factor model and identifying shocks with high-frequency surprises around policy announcements. We show that the degree of heterogeneity in the response to shocks, while being low in financial variables and output, is significant in consumption, consumer prices and macro variables related to the labour and housing markets. Mirroring country-specific institutional and market differences, we find that home ownership rates are significantly correlated with the strength of the housing channel in monetary policy transmission. We document a high dispersion in the response to shocks of house prices and rents and show that, similar to responses in the US, these variables tend to move in different directions. In Chapter 2, I build a two-country, two-good model to examine the welfare effects of capital controls, finding that under certain circumstances, a shut-down in asset trade can be a Pareto improvement. Further, I examine the robustness of the result to parameter changes, explore a wider set of policy instruments and confront computational issues in this class of international macroeconomic models. I document that within an empirically relevant parameter span for the trade elasticity, the gains from capital controls might be significantly larger than suggested by previous contributions. Moreover, I establish that a refined form of capital controls in the shape of taxes and tariffs cannot improve upon the outcome under financial autarky. Finally, results show that the conjunction of pruning methods and endogenous discount factors can remove explosive behaviour from this class of models and restore equilibrating properties. In Chapter 3, I use a panel of 20 emerging market currencies to assess whether a model that combines fundamental and non-fundamental exchange rate forecasting approaches can successfully predict risk premia (i.e. currency excess returns) over the short horizon. In doing so, I aim to overcome three main shortcomings of earlier research: i) Sensitivity to the chosen sample period; ii) seemingly arbitrary selection of explanatory variables that differs from currency to currency; and iii) difficulty in interpreting forecasts beyond the numerical signal. Based on a theoretical model of currency risk premia, I use real exchange rate strength combined with indicators for carry, momentum and economic sentiment to homogeneously forecast risk premia across all 20 currencies in the sample at a monthly frequency. In doing so, the model remains largely agnostic about structural choices, keeping arbitrarily imposed restrictions to a minimum. Results from portfolio construction suggest that returns are significant and robust both across currencies as well as over time, with Sharpe Ratios in out-of-sample tests above 0.7.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:40:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elenice Cacia Bittencourt Teixeira.pdf: 1754290 bytes, checksum: bbcf874c3d04605a85e1ce8dac9692b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Currently, Public Administration faces the necessity of adjusting its internal controls to manage operational risks, which have become more and more present, due to the fast changes caused by credibility crisis, regulatory pressures, greater requirement by the society and the complexity in operations and in the legislation. The objective of this research is the study of the internal controls used in public administration, delimited to the Public Institutions of Higher Education of the state of Paraná, using the five perspectives of the COSO: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication and, also, monitoring. An exploratory descriptive study was methodologically performed, with the application of an instrument composed by closed questions, with a 5-point Likert scale, applied to nineteen of theses Higher Education Institutions. The work was developed with an approach to the internal controls, their principles, classification and limitations. Afterwards, we searched for the definition and classification of the risks, the identification of risk areas and the main tools of control. Followed by the identification, of the administration in public institutions, also under the legal aspect, as well as the role of the administrator. The work finishes with the research performed and its results analyzed by nonparametric statistic techniques, using the Coefficient of Spearman and the application of the Kruskal Wallis Test. We concluded that there is a lack of alignment among the perspectives of internal control, because of either the stratified analysis of the IES for institutional bond or the analysis taken jointly, with evidence of its use to attend legal requirements / No atual momento, a administração pública depara-se com a necessidade de adequar seus controles internos para gerenciar riscos operacionais, cada vez mais presentes, em razão das mudanças rápidas ocasionadas por: crises de credibilidade, pressões regulatórias, maior exigência da sociedade e complexidade nas operações e na legislação. O objetivo desta pesquisa é o estudo dos controles internos utilizados na gestão pública, delimitado às Instituições de Ensino Superior Públicas do Estado do Paraná, e tendo como base as cinco perspectivas do COSO: ambiente de controle, avaliação de risco, atividades de controle, informação e comunicação e, ainda, monitoramento. Metodologicamente, efetuou-se uma pesquisa de campo de caráter exploratório e descritivo, com aplicação de um instrumento composto de questões fechadas, com escala Likert de cinco pontos, junto a dezenove destas instituições. Desenvolveu-se o trabalho com a abordagem de controles internos, seus princípios, classificações e limitações. Posteriormente, buscou-se a definição e a classificação dos riscos, a identificação das áreas de riscos e as principais ferramentas de controle. Segue-se a identificação da gestão das instituições públicas, inclusive sob o aspecto legal, bem como, o papel do seu gestor. O trabalho finaliza-se com a pesquisa realizada, sendo os resultados analisados através de técnicas de estatísticas não-paramétricas, com a utilização do Coeficiente de Spearman e a aplicação do teste de Kruskal Wallis. Concluiu-se que existe falta de alinhamento entre as perspectivas de controle interno, quer seja pela análise estratificada das IES por vínculo institucional ou tomadas em conjunto, com evidencia do seu emprego para atender às exigências legais

This thesis presents three essays on the main determinants and regulations of international capital flows. The essays contribute to an ongoing significant debate among scholars and practitioners on what determines international capital flows by examining the following issues: Global liquidity, market sentiment and financial stability indices; Global liquidity and capital flow regulations; and Global governance and gross capital flows dynamics. In the first essay, we explore the main determinants of global liquidity, measured using cross-border claims of banks, and establish the link between a variety of financial stability indices and global liquidity. For a sample of 149 countries between 2000 and 2016, we find that Bloomberg Financial Stability Indices are more powerful in explaining global liquidity than FRED Financial Stress Indices and the Euro Area Systemic Stress Composite Indicator (CISS). Moreover, both market sentiment indices, namely the US Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) and the US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index are economically and statistically significant on cross-border bank flows. The research provides useful insights on what market sentiment and financial stability indices are better to employ for financial markets surveillance and as such practice of investment management. We argue that anyone interested in using financial stability indices as indicators of financial conditions and the level of financial stress would benefit from tracking several indices and not just one. The second essay examines the effectiveness of capital controls and macroprudential policies as ways to manage the volume of international capital flows, controlling for other determinants. The findings show that capital controls imposed on inflows generally prevail over controls imposed on outflows in reducing the magnitude of capital flows. The results are consistent with the pecking order theory on capital flows and are connected with the riskiness of different asset classes. For a sample of 112 countries over 2000 and 2016, we find that FX and/or countercyclical reserve (RR_REV) and general countercyclical capital buffer requirements (CTC), reserve requirement ratios (RR) and concentration limits (CONC) are the most effective macroprudential policies for managing countries' exposures to global liquidity fluctuations. Moreover, progress is being made to reduce the systemic risks created by systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) using macroprudential policies. The results reflect recent developments in Basel III regulations and shed light on the effective calibration of capital flow regulations to country-specific circumstances. The final essay examines the link between global governance indicators and patterns of gross capital flows, controlling for other determinants. For a sample of 67 countries between 2000 and 2016, we contribute to explain the existence of the Lucas paradox (1990) on "why doesn't capital flow from rich to poor countries" and the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle (1980). The findings show that institutional quality rather than the effect of diminishing returns of capital is a key explanation for the Lucas paradox. Finally, we provide new evidence on the relationship between the multidimensional nature of financial development and gross capital flows. The findings show the importance and predominance of financial institutions versus financial markets in the dissemination of international capital flows across counties.

Controles de segurança, também chamados de mecanismos de proteção, voltados para previsão e detecção de eventos indesejados são cada vez mais empregados em ambientes de Tecnologia da Informação (TI). O pouco entendimento sobre as características dos eventos indesejados que agem nos sistemas e a baixa compatibilidade existente entre os diversos mecanismos de proteção são problemas que se destacam neste tipo de cenário. Diferentes configurações dificultam a combinação dos resultados destes mecanismos e raramente dois ou mais controles de segurança se complementam. Por esse motivo, o agrupamento entre mecanismos de detecção e de previsão não é trivialmente resolvido. Neste trabalho é proposta uma arquitetura, denominada de Arquitetura Estratégica de Agrupamento - Strategic Grouping Architecture (SGA) - para agrupamento de controles de segurança voltados para detecção e/ou previsão, que tem como base a busca de um equilíbrio entre as configurações e os resultados individuais de cada mecanismo de proteção envolvido. Para alcançar este equilíbrio a arquitetura proposta divide a análise dos eventos (legítimos e maliciosos) que passam pelos controles de segurança em dois níveis de abstração: o técnico, onde são coletadas as configurações e os resultados dos controles de segurança; e o estratégico, onde os dados obtidos no nível técnico são analisados por meio de barganhas cooperativas irrestritas - Unrestricted Cooperative Bargains (UCB), conceito proveniente da Teoria dos Jogos, que busca a otimização e equilíbrio entre resultados. Justamente por ser realizada em um nível de abstração diferente, a análise gerada pelo SGA identifica a influência que cada configuração exerce nos resultados agrupados. Para explorar a capacidade da arquitetura proposta, dois experimentos, bastante diferentes, que envolvem a ação de eventos indesejados em ambientes de TI são conduzidos. Os resultados obtidos mostram a viabilidade do agrupamento de controles de segurança de detecção e previsão e a possibilidade do uso do SGA em outros ambientes, que não estejam necessariamente ligados à segurança de TI. Baseada na literatura científica a validação do SGA consiste de uma transformação prévia na categoria dos jogos estratégicos usados - cooperativos para não-cooperativos - e na busca de situações como o Equilíbrio de Nash (EN) e o ótimo de Pareto, que indicam os melhores resultados de um jogo. / Security controls, also called protection mechanisms, focused on forecasting and detection of unwanted events are increasingly employed in Information Technology (IT) environments. The little understanding about the characteristics of unwanted events which act on the systems and the low rate of compatibility among several protection mechanisms are both problems that arise in that scenario. Different settings make difficult combining the results of these mechanisms and two or more controls rarely complement each other. Due to that, grouping mechanisms of detection and forecasting is not a trivial matter. In this work a framework called Strategic Grouping Architecture (SGA) is proposed to grouping security controls focused on detection and/or forecasting. SGA is based on the search for equilibrium between the settings and the individual results of each protection mechanism involved. In order to reach this equilibrium the proposed framework divide the analysis of events (legitimates and malicious) which go through the security controls in two abstract levels: the technical level, where the settings and the results of security controls are collected; and the strategic level, where the data obtained in the technical level are analyzed through Unrestricted Cooperative Bargains (UCB), concept from Game Theory that seeks to optimize and balance the results. Precisely because it is performed on a different level of abstraction, the analysis generated by the SGA identifies the influence that each setting has on the clustered results. In order to exploit the capability of the proposed architecture, two experiments, quite different, involving the action of unwanted events in IT environments, are conducted. The obtained findings show the feasibility of grouping detection and forecasting security controls and the possibility of using the SGA in other environments that are not necessarily related to IT security. Based on scientific literature SGA validation consists of a previous transformation in the category of strategy games used - cooperative to non-cooperative - and the search for situations such as the Nash Equilibrium (NE) and the Pareto optimal, indicating the best results a game.

Só é possível estudar o tema O controle das contas municipais em um Estado que apresente, em sua Constituição, o princípio da separação de Poderes como uma de suas pedras angulares. Além de competir a cada órgão do Poder uma função típica, também reflexo da teoria da separação de Poderes de Montesquieu é o sistema de checks and balances pelo qual um Poder controla o outro evitando a prática dos abusos. Em matéria de contas públicas, este controle recíproco se apresenta com o dever que o Chefe do Poder Executivo tem de prestar contas ao Poder Legislativo do uso que conferiu ao dinheiro público que, na verdade, pertence ao povo. Fala-se, portanto, na função de controle externo que o Legislativo realiza sobre as contas prestadas pelo Executivo. Em âmbito municipal, o controle externo é exercido pela Câmara Municipal com o auxílio do Tribunal de Contas, ao qual compete o dever de elaborar um parecer prévio sobre as contas de governo anualmente prestadas pelo Prefeito e encaminhá-lo ao julgamento político da Câmara Municipal. À Corte de Contas compete, pois, o controle técnico das contas, através das fiscalizações contábil, financeira, orçamentária, operacional e patrimonial e à Câmara dos Vereadores, o controle político de tais contas. / To study The control over municipal accounts it is mandatory that a State has the principle of separation of powers as a cornerstone of its Constitution. Besides that each branch of Government has specific responsibilities, another reflection of Montesquieus theory of separation of Powers is the system of checks and balances, under which each branch of government controls the other to prevent abuse of power. In terms of public accounts, this reciprocated control is represented by the duty the Head of the Executive has to account for the destination of the public money, which belongs to the people, to the Legislative; i.e., the external control carried out by the Legislative Branch over the accounts of the Executive Branch. At municipal level, external control is carried out by the City Council and the Court of Auditors, which has to prepare a previous opinion on the government accounts annually presented by the Mayor and send it for the political judgment of the City Council. Thus, the Court of Auditors is responsible for the technical control of the accounts, running accounting, financial, budgetary, operational and equity audits, while the City Council is responsible for the political control thereof.

The focus of this thesis is to explore the automation technology used in the modern entertainment industry. Upon completion of my thesis, I will deliver a working prototype of the chosen technology and present its capabilities in a choreographed show.