RESUMO: O objetivo deste estudo é aplicar a metodologia proposta por PINHEIRO & SENNA (2015) a um conjunto de produtos agrícolas negociados no Brasil. O caráter multivariado e não linear dessa metodologia mostrou ser adequado, quando comparado com o modelo de redes neurais, pois ele permite um melhor desempenho preditivo. Os resultados obtidos em um período fora da amostra, usando o erro calculado e o teste estatístico, confirmam isso. Este estudo será útil aos agricultores, pois a previsão dos preços com base em sua tendência é relevante.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to apply the methodology proposed by PINHEIRO & SENNA (2015) to a set of agricultural products traded in Brazil. The multivariate and nonlinear character of this methodology has shown to be suitable, as compared to the neural network model, since it allows for a better predictive performance. Results obtained in an out-of-sample period, by using the calculated error and statistical test, confirmed this statement. This study will be useful to farmers as price forecasting based on their tendency is relevant.

It has long been recognised that the structure of social networks plays an important role in the dynamics of disease propagation. The spread of HIV usually results from a complex network of social interactions and other factors related to culture, sexual behaviour, demography, geography and disease characteristics, as well as the availability, accessibility and delivery of healthcare. The small world phenomenon has been used for representing social network interactions. It states that, given some random connections, the degrees of separation between any two individuals within a population can be very small. In this paper we present a discrete event simulation model which uses a variant of the small world network model to represent social interactions and the sexual transmission of HIV within a population. We use the model to demonstrate the importance of the choice of topology and initial distribution of infection, and capture the direct and non-linear relationship between the probability of a casual partnership (small world randomness parameter) and the spread of HIV.