Effects of capital structure on markups and competitive performance : evidence from Portugal

Este estudo avalia os efeitos da estrutura de capital nas margens de lucro e no desempenho competitivo. Aplica teorias relativas à contra ciclicidade das margens de lucro, e aos resultados do mercado do produto de Chevalier e Scharfstein (1996), a dados portugueses, seguindo a metodologia de Campello (2001). Utilizando dados de painel de empresas pertencentes à indústria transformadora Portuguesa, a análise fornece evidencia para a contra-ciclicidade de margens de lucro e de um efeito conjunto de dívida e recessão económica nas margens de lucro. Tendo por base o recenseamento de empresas Portuguesas, a análise não fornece evidência de uma relação significativa entre a estrutura de capital e o desempenho competitivo.

Capital misallocation and mitigating policies

The purpose of this work is to study the role for government in mitigating capital misallocation. We develop an entrepreneurship model in which heterogeneous producers face collateral constraints on production, but can hedge idiosyncratic shocks. Hedging works as a tool for reallocating resources to states in which they are more productively deployed, and can alleviate the effect of the financial frictions and be a counteracting force to capital misallocation. Government incentives to hedging improve workers’ welfare in steady state through an increase in TFP and wages. The intervention leads to a reduction in the rate of return of entrepreneurs and an increase in wealth dispersion. These two effects cause entrepreneurial welfare to decrease.

Integrating eye tracking in virtual reality for stroke rehabilitation

This thesis reports on research done for the integration of eye tracking technology into virtual reality environments, with the goal of using it in rehabilitation of patients who suffered from stroke. For the last few years, eye tracking has been a focus on medical research, used as an assistive tool  to help people with disabilities interact with new technologies  and as an assessment tool  to track the eye gaze during computer interactions. However, tracking more complex gaze behaviors and relating them to motor deficits in people with disabilities is an area that has not been fully explored, therefore it became the focal point of this research. During the research, two exploratory studies were performed in which eye tracking technology was integrated in the context of a newly created virtual reality task to assess the impact of stroke. Using an eye tracking device and a custom virtual task, the system developed is able to monitor the eye gaze pattern changes over time in patients with stroke, as well as allowing their eye gaze to function as an input for the task. Based on neuroscientific hypotheses of upper limb motor control, the studies aimed at verifying the differences in gaze patterns during the observation and execution of the virtual goal-oriented task in stroke patients (N=10), and also to assess normal gaze behavior in healthy participants (N=20). Results were found consistent and supported the hypotheses formulated, showing that eye gaze could be used as a valid assessment tool on these patients. However, the findings of this first exploratory approach are limited in order to fully understand the effect of stroke on eye gaze behavior. Therefore, a novel model-driven paradigm is proposed to further understand the relation between the neuronal mechanisms underlying goal-oriented actions and eye gaze behavior.

Impacto das tecnologias digitais nas bibliotecas universitárias: reflexões sobre o tema

MOREIRA, Luciana Moreira; SILVA, Armando Malheiro da. Impacto das tecnologias digitais nas bibliotecas universitarias: reflexões sobre o tema. Informaçao e sociedade: estudos. Joao Pessoa, v.19, n.3, p. 125-132,2009.

As Bibliotecas Universitárias de Portugal e Nordeste do Brasil: estudo sobre o impacto e mediação das tecnologias digitais

Analisa as práticas de mediação desenvolvidas nas bibliotecas universitárias pelos bibliotecários diante das tecnologias digitais. Para tanto estabelece como objetivo geral analisar de forma comparativa, o impacto e mediação das tecnologias digitais no funcionamento de bibliotecas Universitárias de Portugal e da região Nordeste do Brasil. Integraram esta pesquisa 10 universidades federais brasileiras e 12 universidades públicas portuguesas, com um total geral de 115 bibliotecários, que são os sujeitos participantes. É uma pesquisa qualitativa que adota o método quadripolar – recomendado para os trabalhos desenvolvidos no âmbito das Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, e em especial na área de Ciência da Informação. Através da interação entre os polos: epistemológico, teórico, técnico e morfológico, que fundamentam este método, houve o fortalecimento e a fluidez das questões estudadas. Os resultados dos questionários aplicados aos bibliotecários, bem como da análise dos sítios das bibliotecas pesquisadas, foram interpretados através de um alicerce teórico baseado em três pontos principais: as questões paradigmáticas que envolvem a área de Ciência da Informação, a análise da mediação pós-custodial informacional e científica e as Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação presentes nas bibliotecas. Como principais resultados vemos que o impacto das tecnologias digitais nas bibliotecas universitárias é considerado pelos bibliotecários brasileiros e portugueses como positivo, com ênfase em dois pontos: a inovação dos suportes de informação e a autossuficiência dos utilizadores. A maior diferença se percebe em relação ao aspecto social, através de uma maior preocupação entre os bibliotecários brasileiros com as barreiras informacionais causadas por questões econômica, social e educacional e sentido com menos intensidade pelos bibliotecários portugueses, que ascendem as tecnologias digitais com mais facilidade. De forma conclusiva, a análise do impacto e a mediação das tecnologias digitais nas bibliotecas pesquisadas, apontam para uma evolução nas práticas mediadoras das bibliotecas universitárias de Portugal e do Nordeste do Brasil e uma convergência laboral entre os bibliotecários portugueses e brasileiros.

Bounded solutions for nonconserving-parity pseudoscalar potentials

The Dirac equation is analyzed for nonconserving-parity pseudoscalar radial potentials in 3+1 dimensions. It is shown that despite the nonconservation of parity this general problem can be reduced to a Sturm-Liouville problem of nonrelativistic fermions in spherically symmetric effective potentials. The searching for bounded solutions is done for the power-law and Yukawa potentials. The use of the methodology of effective potentials allow us to conclude that the existence of bound-state solutions depends whether the potential leads to a definite effective potential-well structure or to an effective potential less singular than -1/4r(2).

Relating pseudospin and spin symmetries through charge conjugation and chiral transformations: the case of the relativistic harmonic oscillator

We solve the generalized relativistic harmonic oscillator in 1+1 dimensions, i.e., including a linear pseudoscalar potential and quadratic scalar and vector potentials which have equal or opposite signs. We consider positive and negative quadratic potentials and discuss in detail their bound-state solutions for fermions and antifermions. The main features of these bound states are the same as the ones of the generalized three-dimensional relativistic harmonic oscillator bound states. The solutions found for zero pseudoscalar potential are related to the spin and pseudospin symmetry of the Dirac equation in 3+1 dimensions. We show how the charge conjugation and gamma(5) chiral transformations relate the several spectra obtained and find that for massless particles the spin and pseudospin symmetry-related problems have the same spectrum but different spinor solutions. Finally, we establish a relation of the solutions found with single-particle states of nuclei described by relativistic mean-field theories with scalar, vector, and isoscalar tensor interactions and discuss the conditions in which one may have both nucleon and antinucleon bound states.

Tensor coupling and pseudospin symmetry in nuclei

In this work we study the contribution of the isoscalar tensor coupling to the realization of pseudospin symmetry in nuclei. Using realistic values for the tensor coupling strength, we show that this coupling reduces noticeably the pseudospin splittings, especially for single-particle levels near the Fermi surface. By using an energy. decomposition of the pseudospin energy splittings, we show that the changes in these splittings come mainly through the changes induced in the lower radial wave function for the low-lying pseudospin partners and through changes in the expectation value of the pseudospin-orbit coupling term for surface partners. This allows us to confirm the conclusion already reached in previous studies, namely that the pseudospin symmetry in nuclei is of a dynamical nature.

Spin and pseudospin symmetries in the antinucleon spectrum of nuclei

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Monitoramento da dinâmica costeira da praia de Ponta Negra

This dissertation includes the monitoring of coastal environmental dynamics at three points distinct from Ponta Negra beach, located on the South Coast of Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte, in the period June 2012 to May, 2013. For this, the following hypotheses were developed: Which actors morphodynamic and/or anthropogenic responsible for the changes in the study area? And yet, the configuration of the morphodynamic state of the beach, dissipative, reflective or intermediate? Faced with these questions , studies on the beach environment has its relevance as they may clarify the risks and responsibilities of anthropogenic intervention and also assist managers in more targeted action regarding the protection of praiais systems, since once committed, it is very difficult recover the environmental framework of the area, being greatly more feasible the development of multidisciplinary work plans that can guide human actions possible in search of an understanding to the harmonious interaction between society and the beach system. Its main goal is the understanding of the processes of coastal dynamics, methodological procedures that supported the implementation of this research were based on the object of study related literature associated with the collection of data resulting from beach profiles made monthly in spring tides (full moon), the hydrodynamic data and statistical quantification data (%) and size classification of sediment sediment after laboratory analysis. The results obtained from annual comparative tables of beach profiles, associated sedimentological analysis, indicated a positive sediment budget, tending to equilibrium for Point 01 and Point 02 negative. Have to Step 03 were added to the hydrodynamic data, which allowed also on a comparative framework, the perception of a depositional dynamics, with a tendency to decrease the accumulation of material at the end of the annual cycle. These data also allowed for the point 03, the calculation of the volume of material transported by the longshore current was around 104.280 m³/m, plus the Dean parameter which established a morphological state of the dissipative beach with specific prevalences for point 03. Thus, given the results presented in this work in a timely monitoring of coastal dynamics is expected that managers and public authorities can articulate multidisciplinary work plans, always aiming actions that seek understanding and effective commitment to the recovery of the harmonious interaction between society and Ponta Negra beach environment

Calcaneal Tendon Regions Exhibit Different MMP-2 Activation After Vertical Jumping and Treadmill Running

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Dependence on composition of electronic properties and stability of Pt-Fe/C catalysts for oxygen reduction

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Surface structure and electronic properties of Pt-Fe/C nanocatalysts and their relation with catalytic activity for oxygen reduction

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

The Extent on the Nanoscale of Pt-Skin Effects on Oxygen Reduction and Its Influence on Fuel Cell Power

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Well-Alloyed PtFe/C Nanocatalysts of Controlled Composition and Same Particle Size: Oxygen Reduction and Methanol Tolerance

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)