QUALITY EVALUATION OF 'SUNBURST' CHERRIES HARVESTED AT DIFFERENT RIPENESS STAGES .

The sweet cherry ���Sunburst��� is highly appreciated by consumers due to its organoleptic traits. Regional producers tend to harvest cherries sooner in order to increase their profits. With the aim of understanding the consequences of this we have tested the effect of different ripeness stages at the moment of harvesting on fruit quality. Quality parameters tested included external colour (L*, a*, b*), fruit texture, total soluble solids (TSS), and titratable acidity (TA). To evaluate nutritional quality total antioxidant activity was measured too. Once again, and in agreement with results obtained in previous studies, we conclude that there is no advantage in picking less ripe cherries.

Anomalias da hip��tese de efici��ncia de mercado: estudo do efeito dia da semana na Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde

A efici��ncia dos mercados tem sido uma quest��o que tem despertado muito interesse no campo dos investimentos e da investiga����o financeira durante as ��ltimas d��cadas, mas nos ��ltimos anos com a intensifica����o dos estudos e surgimento de evid��ncias da exist��ncia de comportamentos an��malos nas rentabilidades dos ativos financeiro, esta teoria passou a ser questionada no meio acad��mico. A discuss��o do tema �� ainda muito pol��mico, pois existem de um lado os defensores da hip��tese de efici��ncia que defendem que as anomalias identificadas n��o podem ser generalizadas e n��o s��o consistentes ao longo do tempo, e de outro lado os defensores da corrente das finan��as comportamentais, segundo os quais as anomalias s��o provocadas por padr��es documentados de comportamento irracional dos investidores, sendo que estes comportamentos s��o inconsistentes com a teoria de efici��ncia dos mercados. Entre as anomalias detetadas, destacam-se as anomalias de Calend��rio, tais como o efeito Janeiro, efeito dia da semana, efeito feriado, entre outros; anomalias na valoriza����o de ativos, tais como o efeito tamanho e outras anomalias de sobre rea����o. O efeito dia da semana �� dos mais persistentes detetados em v��rios mercados internacionais e tendo em conta este cen��rio, o objetivo desta disserta����o �� a verifica����o da exist��ncia das anomalias de calend��rio, mais precisamente o efeito dia da semana onde se ir�� analisar o efeito segunda-feira, efeito sexta-feira, o efeito fim-de�� semana. Para esta verifica����o foram utilizadas as cota����es di��rias m��dias do ��ndice da Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde, no per��odo de finais de 2005 a finais de 2008. A an��lise estat��stica dos resultados di��rios indicou que n��o existem evid��ncias da exist��ncia do efeito dia da semana. ABSTRACT: The markets efficiency has been an issue of particular interest in the field of financial investigation in recent decades. However, due to the intensification of the studies and the arise of evidences about the existence of abnormal behaviours on financial assets returns, over the last years, this theory begun to be discussed in academic circles. The debate of this theme is still very controversial, because on one hand there are the defenders of the efficiency hypothesis, who defend that identified anomalies cannot be generalized and are not consistent in the long-term; on the other hand, there are the defenders of behavioral finance tendency, to whom the anomalies are caused by documented patterns about the irrational behaviour of investors. These behaviours are inconsistent with the markets efficient theory. Among the detected anomalies, we highlight the calendar anomalies, such as: the January effect, the day of week effect and holiday effect among others; anomalies over the valuation of assets, such as: the size effect and other anomalies on the reaction. The day of week effect is one of the most persistent effect detected in several international markets, and due to this scenario, the objective of this essay is the finding of calendar abnormalities, namely the day of week effect, where the Monday, the Friday and the weekend effects will be analyzed. For this checking, we used the average daily exchange rates from the prices of the Cape Verde Stock Exchange, for the period from late 2005 to late 2008. The statistical analysis of daily results indicated that there is no evidence of the existence of the day of the week effect.

How long is the memory of the US stock market?

The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), one of the most important hypothesis in financial economics, argues that return rates have no memory (correlation) which implies that agents cannot make abnormal profits in financial markets, due to the possibility of arbitrage operations. With return rates for the US stock market, we corroborate the fact that with a linear approach, return rates do not show evidence of correlation. However, linear approaches might not be complete or global, since return rates could suffer from nonlinearities. Using detrended cross-correlation analysis and its correlation coefficient, a methodology which analyzes long-range behavior between series, we show that the long-range correlation of return rates only ends in the 149th lag, which corresponds to about seven months. Does this result undermine the EMH?