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Given the complexity of family and individual welfare, this study aims to explain the construction of a family consumption aggregate, using data from Brazilian Family Expenditure Survey (2008–2009), and also to measure and analyze welfare, poverty, inequality and vulnerability. Following the literature, some aspects were considered: the selection of expenditures, the analysis of extreme values, the imputation of food consumption, the user cost of durable goods and a spatial price deflator. After the definition of the family consumption aggregate, we analyzed the Generalized Lorenz Curves, social welfare functions and inequality measures. Then we presented the sensitivity of the identification exercise to different poverty lines and analyzed the severity of poverty. Finally, based on Chaudhuri et al. (2002) and Elbers et al. (2002), the vulnerability to poverty was studied taking account of area (clusters) effects. In this last exercise, the poverty line was based on half the minimum wage in 2008.

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We study the Majority Rule (MR) model, a sociophysics model developed to describe how a group of agents with initial different opinions can reach consensus. At each instant of time, a group is selected at random and discuss among each other. After the discussion, all members of this discussion group follow the majority opinion. The number of agents in the discussion group is not fixed and it is selected each instant of time from a Gaussian distribution. The system dynamics stops when only one opinion survive. In this work we introduced in the MR model a ‘reputation’ for each agent, a weight to be considered in the system dynamics. Our results show that the introduction of reputation leads the system to a steady state in which not every agent on the system have exactly the same status, but a majority of them sharing the same opinion. In addition, our model with the inclusion of reputation do not show the critical point usually observed. Instead we have obtained the critical point pc = 1, in contrast with the standard Majority Rule model.

RESUMO.-[Biometria escroto-testicular em caprinos: inϐluência de período do ano na bipartição escrotal.]Objetivou-se neste trabalho avaliar a biometria escroto-testicular em caprinos com escroto simples e bipartido, criados no Estado do Piauí, Brasil, nos períodos seco e chuvoso do ano. The scrotal-testicular biometry was evaluated in goats raised in Piaui state, Brazil, presenting different levels of scrotal division, in rainy and dry periods of the year. For this study, eighteen male goats at mating age were accomplished and arranged into three groups (6 animals each), obeying the classiϐication as goats with no scrotal bipartition (GI), goats showing scrotal bipartition up to 50% of testicular length (GII), and goats with more than 50% of scrotal bipartition (GIII). The biometry of the scrotal-testicular was made evaluating the scrotal length (SL), scrotal circumference (SC), testicular length (TL) and testicular volume (TV). The results were evaluated following the variance analysis (ANOVA) and the SNK test applied on the average comparisons. The analysis of the data demonstrated high values, in dry and rainy periods, of SC (24.63cm/ 26.97cm), SL (16.61cm/ 18.24cm), TL (5.32cm/ 5.93cm), TV (173.81cm 3 / 203.01cm 3 ). This supports the hypothesis of the inϐluence of the period of the year and of the scrotal bipartition on the scrotal-testicular biometry in goat.INDEX TERMS: Goats, scrotal bipartition, biometry, year-periods variability.to testicular) e o grupo III (bipartição escrotal superior a 50% do comprimento testicular). A biometria escroto-testicular consistiu do comprimento escrotal (COE), circunferência escrotal (CE), comprimento testicular (CT) e volume testicular (V). Os resultados foram submetidos à análise de variância (ANOVA), seguido do teste SNK para comparação das médias. Os dados mostraram que os animais do grupo GIII apresentaram, no período seco, os valores de CE, COE, CT e V de 24,63cm, 16,61cm, 5,32cm, e 173,81cm³, respectivamente e de 26,97cm para CE, 18,24cm para COE, 5,93cm para CT e 203,01cm³ para V, no período chuvoso. Todos esses valores foram superiores (p<0,05) aos encontrados para os animais dos demais grupos. Conclui-se que o grau de bipartição escrotal e o período do ano interferem na biometria escroto-testicular de caprinos. TERMOS DE INDEXAÇÃO: Caprinos, escroto bipartido, biometria.