Portfolio valuation in banks

Frequent references are made to the use of portfolio spread rates in managing financial risks in banks, but indications as to the procedures for determining such rates are very scant.The purpose of this article is to present some initial ideas on the subject: a Standard Funding system indicates what each portfolio should have earned, while an Actual Funding system points out what each portfolio did, in fact, earn; additionally, by comparing the outcomes of the two funding systems for each portfolio, it is possible to determine what each portfolio earned (or lost) in the way of arbitrage.

Portfolio de produção agropecuária e gestão de riscos de mercado nas cooperativas do agronegócio paranaense

Neste artigo, apresentam-se uma avaliação da prática da gestão dos riscos de mercado pelas cooperativas do Paraná (Brasil) e um estudo do portfolio de produção agropecuária desse estado considerando a relação retorno-risco. Usando a análise E-V do modelo de Markowitz, foi definida uma fronteira de eficiência em que foi possível verificar quais seriam as mudanças necessárias no portfolio visando à eficiência econômica (definida aqui como o trade-off entre retorno e risco). Por meio de questionários e entrevistas, foi avaliada a disposição das cooperativas em incentivar tais mudanças em seus portfolios e na produção de seus cooperados. Também foi possível avaliar qual o grau de importância atribuído a fontes de risco de mercado e qual o grau de relevância de um conjunto de estratégias passíveis de serem adotadas para lidar com esses riscos. O objetivo geral foi avaliar quais seriam as possíveis influências que as cooperativas poderiam exercer nas alterações das preferências de produção visando à melhoria da relação retorno-risco. Verificou-se que os principais motivos que influenciam as decisões sobre produção estão relacionados a aspectos econômicos e racionais, como foco estratégico da cooperativa e resistências dos cooperados. Os motivos relacionados a aspectos políticos ou sociais, inerentes às características organizacionais das cooperativas, não exercem influência significativa nas decisões sobre diversificação como instrumento para a gestão dos riscos de mercado no contexto paranaense.

Pedagogical reflective practice of nursing undergraduates: the portfolio as an instrument

Objective Analyzing the narratives related to the pedagogical practice experienced during the Supervised Curricular Internship reported in the portfolios of Nursing undergraduate students, regarding the levels of reflection. Method This is a documentary descriptive exploratory study that examined two of the activities proposed for the portfolio preparation. Results Among the 28 analyzed portfolios, all showed the three levels of reflection (technical, critical and metacritical). Conclusion The students had the opportunity to experience the pedagogical practice and presented reflections at metacritical level, reflecting on their performance, the construction of their teaching identity, and about the importance of reflecting on the practice with the objective of transforming it and transforming themselves.

Microgeneration of electricity with producer gas in dual fuel mode operation

Among the alternatives to meet the increasing of world demand for energy, the use of biomass as energy source is one of the most promising as it contributes to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Gasification is a technological process of biomass energy production of a gaseous biofuel. The fuel gas has a low calorific value that can be used in Diesel engine in dual mode for power generation in isolated communities. This study aimed to evaluate the reduction in the consumption of oil Diesel an engine generator, using gas from gasification of wood. The engine generator brand used was a BRANCO, with direct injection power of 7.36 kW (10 HP) coupled to an electric generator 5.5 kW. Diesel oil mixed with intake air was injected, as the oil was injected via an injector of the engine (dual mode). The fuel gas was produced in a downdraft gasifier. The engine generator was put on load system from 0.5 kW to 3.5 kW through a set of electrical resistances. Diesel oil consumption was measured with a precision scale. It was concluded that the engine converted to dual mode when using the gas for the gasification of wood decreased Diesel consumption by up to 57%.

Performance of small wind turbines: simulation of electricity supply to loads connected to the public or isolated grid

ABSTRACT The successful in the implementation of wind turbines depends on several factors, including: the wind resource at the installation site, the equipment used, project acquisition and operational costs. In this paper, the production of electricity from two small wind turbines was compared through simulation using the computer software HOMER - a national model of 6kW and an imported one of 5kW. The wind resources in three different cities were considered: Campinas (SP/BR), Cubatão (São Paulo/BR) and Roscoe (Texas/ USA). A wind power system connected to the grid and a wind isolated system - batteries were evaluated. The results showed that the energy cost ($/kWh) is strongly dependent on the windmill characteristics and local wind resource. Regarding the isolated wind system – batteries, the full supply guarantee to the simulated electrical load is only achieved with a battery bank with many units and high number of wind turbines, due to the intermittency of wind power.