SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of the aesthetic result of breast reconstruction surgery from the perspective of plastic surgeons compared with physicians who are not specialists in plastic surgery. METHODS: Twenty patients who underwent breast reconstruction after mastectomy had their aesthetic results evaluated by 16 plastic surgeons and 16 nonplastic physicians, yielding a total of 620 ratings (320 ratings from plastic surgeons and 320 ratings from other specialists). For all analyses, the level of rejection adopted for the null hypothesis was 5% (p-value <0.05). RESULTS: Significant differences were observed between the two groups. On average, medical professionals who specialized in plastic surgery always obtained higher scores than other physicians. However, no significant differences were found in the assessment of the aesthetic outcome of breast reconstruction according to the sex of the rating medical professional for any of the assessments considered in this study. A strong positive linear correlation between the time since training in the medical specialty of plastic surgery (r=0.750, p=0.001) and the mean aesthetic outcome score was observed in this study. CONCLUSION: Plastic surgeons assessed the aesthetic results of breast reconstruction more positively than nonplastic physicians.

Resumo: O potencial de inserção comercial de agricultores familiares em canais curtos de comercialização tem sido explorado por importantes estudos qualitativos. Este trabalho apresenta contribuições adicionais a esses esforços ao quantificar a participação de agricultores familiares nas feiras municipais. Verifica-se em que medida as feiras representam alternativas à inserção comercial ao proporcionar: (a) inclusão socioprodutiva dos agricultores familiares; (b) fortalecimento de canais curtos de comercialização; e (c) alternativa ao sistema agroalimentar industrial. A partir de dados quantitativos de 59 feiras, amostradas de um universo de 369 no estado de Goiás, detectou-se que 42,37% das feiras oferecem oportunidades de inclusão comercial aos agricultores familiares, 32,20% fortalecem canais curtos de comercialização e 35,59% funcionam como alternativa ao sistema agroalimentar industrial. Do total, 10,17% das feiras atendem aos três critérios supracitados concomitantemente. As regressões estatísticas revelam que: (1) quanto menor a porcentagem de atravessadores e maior a de agricultores ligados a organizações, maior é a possibilidade de a feira ter mais bancas da agricultura familiar; (2) quanto maior a relevância da feira como espaço de articulação entre agentes e para a catalisação de novos negócios entre agricultores, maior a possibilidade desse canal exercer influência na criação ou no fortalecimento de políticas públicas.

Abstract: Qualitative research projects have revealed the importance of short food supply chains for providing alternatives for family farmers marketing their agricultural goods. This study presents an additional contribution to these efforts by quantifying the participation of family farmers in farmers’ markets at the county level. It assesses to what extent farmers’ markets represent an alternative market channel by providing: (a) opportunities for family farmers selling their goods; (b) functional short food supply chains and; (c) alternatives to the industrial supply chains. Based on quantitative data from 59 markets, sampled from a universe of 369 farmers’ markets in the Brazilian State of Goiás, we found that 42.37% of the farmers’ markets offer opportunities for family farmers, 32.20% promote local short marketing channels, and 35.59% work as an alternative to the industrial agri-food systems. As a whole, 10.17% of the studied farmers’ markets meet the three above-mentioned objectives. Statistical regressions reveal that: 1) the lower the percentage of middlemen and the greater the percentage of family farmers taking part in farming organizations, the greater the number of stands owned by family farmers; 2) the greater the relevance of the farmers’ market in both the organization of farmers and in the catalysis of new business, the greater the positive influence on public policies.

The search for efficiency in the cooperative credit sector has led cooperatives to adopt new technology and managerial knowhow. Among the tools that facilitate efficiency, data mining has stood out in recent years as a sophisticated methodology to search for knowledge that is “hidden” in organizations' databases. The process of granting credit is one of the central functions of a credit union; therefore, the use of instruments that support that process is desirable and may become a key factor in credit management. The steps undertaken by the present case study to perform the knowledge discovery process were data selection, data pre-processing and cleanup, data transformation, data mining, and the interpretation and evaluation of results. The results were evaluated through cross-validation of ten sets, repeated in ten simulations. The goal of this study is to develop models to analyze the capacity of a credit union's members to settle their commitments, using a decision tree—C4.5 algorithm and an artificial neural network—multilayer perceptron algorithm. It is concluded that for the problem at hand, the models have statistically similar results and may aid in a cooperative's decision-making process.

Avaliaram-se os resultados técnicos e econômicos em 22 propriedades leiteiras localizadas em dez municípios da Região de Viçosa, MG. Nas propriedades que apresentaram resultados econômicos negativos, detectaram-se os pontos de estrangulamento na produção e, tomando-se como referência os índices técnicos das propriedades que apresentaram taxa de retorno sobre o investimento superior ao da caderneta de poupança, foram propostas medidas para aumentar a eficiência dessas fazendas. A escala de produção foi considerada fator importante para obtenção de índices econômicos atrativos. A melhoria do padrão genético, através de inseminação artificial com sêmen de animais com maior potencial produtivo, contribuiu para elevar os índices de produtividade do rebanho, da terra e da mão-de-obra e, consequentemente os indicadores econômicos. A alimentação adequada, principalmente das vacas em lactação, foi muito importante para o sucesso da atividade. Investimento em qualidade do leite via controle sanitário do rebanho, ordenha mecanizada e resfriamento logo após a ordenha, podem ser uma estratégia para obter ganhos em toda a cadeia produtiva.

Economic and technical results of a study involving 22 dairy farms in 10 municipalities of Viçosa, MG, Brazil, were evaluated. In the properties that presented negative economic results, problems were detected in the production phase. Technical indexes of the properties that presented a return rate higher than that of savings investment were taken as reference, and measures were proposed to increase the efficiency of the other farms. The scale of production is of the utmost importance to enhance dairy farm interest. Genetic standard improvement by means of artificial insemination with semen of animals with high productive potential has contributed to raise the productivity indexes of the herd, land and labor and, consequently, the economic indexes. Food and animal environment were relevant factors for the activity success. Increased milk quality via mechanized milking immediately followed by cooling has generated gains throughout the whole productive process.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo a sistematização e a apresentação dos conceitos fundamentais da Teoria dos Jogos, a formalização matemática dos principais conceitos clássicos de solução de um jogo e ilustrar sua aplicação ao problema da distribuição de custo conjunto. Como produto de uma pesquisa de alguns anos, conseguimos reunir sistematicamente o conjunto de conceitos de solução de jogos donde se derivam todos conceitos encontrados nos textos atuais. Apresentamos os conceitos de solução para os chamados jogos cooperativos através do conceito de objeção e contra-objeção de forma a mostrar que os mesmos podem ser vistos como um processo de negociação.

This paper presents the basic concepts of Game Theory and the mathematical formalizations of classic concepts of game solutions. We surveyed the fundamental concepts from where we derive the concepts of game solutions that can be found in the modern papers. We feature the concepts to the game named cooperative-games by concepts of objection and counterobjection to show that they can be understood as a negotiation process. In addition, we show how the Game Theory can be applied to the problem of the assignment of joint cost.