Do the psychological impacts of war cause poverty?: Evidence from Mozambique

This paper evaluates the extent to which war-related psychological distress causes poverty. The endogeneous nature of mental distress is addressed by using exposure to the civil war in Mozambique as an instrument. It is found that exposure to war has a significant and positive long-lasting impact on mental distress. Furthermore, the causal impact of war-related psychological distress on income and wealth is shown to be significant, negative, and nonnegligible. One standard deviation increase in mental distress decreases income by half a standard deviation. These findings are robust to alternative specifications, including the use of an alternative database on the incidence of PTSD in Mozambique.

Assessing the impacts of land use and land cover change on hydrology of watershed: a case study on Gigel-Abbay Watershed, Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

The inhibitory activity of synthetic compounds and ions against transporters of multi-drug resistant bacteria

RESUMO: Sessenta e três derivados de hidantoína foram utilizados para avaliar possíveis efeitos de modulação na actividade das bombas de efluxo (BE) na Salmonella NCTC 13349 utilizando um método fluorimétrico semi-automático. Nenhum dos compostos apresentaram actividade anti-bacteriana até concentrações de 240 mg/L. Entre todos os compostos, SZ-7 demonstrou possuir propriedades de modulação de effluxo na presença de glucose. Para testar esta actividade, estirpes de Salmonella resistentes à ciprofloxacina, induzidas a elevados níveis de resistência com sobre-expressão de BE, foram expostas ao SZ-7. Este derivado afectou a susceptibilidade das estirpes à ciprofloxacina. Uma vez que os 63 compostos estudados apresentaram pouco efeito inibitório /cumulativo, apesar de serem conhecidos pelos seus efeitos moduladores de BE-dependentes de iões em eucariotas, foi questionado o papel dos iões na regulação de BE bacterianas, que poderão influenciar a eficácia de novos compostos. Para este estudo, utilizamos a Escherichia coli AG100 como modelo, devido ao extenso conhecimento no que respeita a estrutura e actividade das BE. Devido à importância de iões de cálcio (Ca2+) nos canais de transporte membranar e na actividade de ATPases, a sua actividade na modulação do efluxo foi investigada. De resultados anteriormente obtidos concluiu-se que a pH 5 o efluxo é independente de energia metabólica; contudo, a pH 8 é absolutamente dependente, sendo que o Ca2+ é indispensável para manter a actividade das ATPases bacterianas. A acumulação/effluxo de EtBr pela E. coli AG100 foi determinada na presença/ausência de Ca2+, clorpromazina (inibidor de ligação de Ca2+ a proteínas), e ácido etilenodiamino tetra-acético (quelante de Ca2+). Acumulação/effluxo aumentou a pH 8, contudo o Ca2+ reverte estes efeitos evidenciando a sua importância no funcionamento das BE bacterianas. Em resumo este trabalho colocou em evidência que muitos aspectos bioquímicos e bioenergéticos devem ser tomados em consideração no estudo da resistência bacteriana mediada por BE.------- ABSTRACT: Sixty-three hydantoin derivatives were evaluated for their modulating effects on efflux pump (EP) activity of Salmonella NCTC 13349 utilizing a semi-automatic fluorometric method. None of the compounds presented antibacterial activities at concentrations as high as 240 mg/L. Among all compounds, SZ-7 showed possible efflux modulating activity in the presence of glucose, indicative of a potential EP inhibitor. To verify its potential effects, ciprofloxacin-resistant Salmonella strains, induced to high level resistance with over-expressing EPs, were exposed to SZ-7. This derivative affected the susceptibility of the ciprofloxacin-resistant strains. Since the 63 compounds studied had very low inhibitory/accumulative effects, even though their known for being efficient in modulating ion-driven eukaryotic EPs, we questioned whether ions had a leading role in regulating bacterial EPs, influencing the effectiveness of new compounds. For this study we used Escherichia coli AG100 as a model, due to the extensive knowledge on its EPs structure and activity. Owing the importance of calcium ions (Ca2+) for membrane transport channels and activity of ATPases, the role of Ca2+ was investigated. From previous results we concluded that at pH 5 efflux is independent of metabolic energy; however, at pH 8 it is entirely dependent of metabolic energy and the Ca2+ ions are essential to maintain the activity of bacterial ATPases. Accumulation and efflux of ethidium bromide (EtBr) by E. coli AG100 was determined in the presence and absence of Ca2+, chlorpromazine (inhibitor of Ca2+-binding to proteins), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Ca2+ chelator). Accumulation of EtBr increased at pH 8; however Ca2+ reversed these effects providing information as to the importance of this ion in the regulation of bacterial EP systems. Overall this work puts in evidence that many biochemical and bioenergetic aspects related to the strains physiology need to be taken into consideration in bacterial drug resistance mediated by EPs.

The differential effects of switching costs and attractiveness of alternatives on customer loyalty

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação.

The economic value of Portuguese pine and eucalyptus forests

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

An integrated approach to Physcomitrella patens transcriptomics reveals importantclues of the evolutionary development of plant organs and sexual reproduction

Land plant evolution required the generation of a new body plan that could resist the harsher and fluctuating environmental conditions found outside of aquatic environments. Unraveling the genetic basis of plant developmental innovations is not only revealing in terms of an evolutionary point of view, but it is also important for understanding the emergence of agronomically important traits. Comparative genetic studies between basal and modern land plants, both at the genome and trancriptome levels, can help in the generation of hypotheses related to the genetic basis of plant evolutionary development.(...)

The relationship between the education level of successor's and the firm performance in German publicly listed family firms- an empirical analysis

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how far the education level of the second or third generation of publicly traded German family firms affects the post-succession firm performance. By conducting a correlational and regression design, the aim is to examine how several variables influence the performance of family firms. Performance measures, for example ROA and Tobin’s q and variables, like Education level and succession periods, examine analytically that a positive succession trend will occur. However, with the used model, only a less rigid model shows empirical evidence.