Fair value measurement: Is the debate around level II and level III assets and liabilities relevant

Double Degree. A Work Project presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA- School of Business and Economics and a Masters Degree in Business Engineering from Louvain school of Management

How to increase brand value expanding the category and brand presence to the main meal occasion for Sumol- Compal

Having registered negative retail value growth of 4% in Portugal in 2014, the juice category is set to decline further by 5,5% until 2019. Manufacturers of juices and nectars are therefore increasingly looking for new categories in order to balance this negative forecast in their home territory. One apparent growth opportunity for Compal, the leading producer of juices and nectars, is to expand its commercial reach to new occasions of consumption. This report carefully analyzes the opportunities related to an expansion to the main meal occasion and introduces a complete marketing and communications plan for a possible new main meal juice, Compal à Mesa. The product concept represents a rather premium positioning for the main meal occasion, including new flavor mixes that are targeted at different occasions of meals. The justification of the introduced concept includes a discussion of the primary and secondary research that was performed

Polysaccharide-based Polyion Complex Micelles as New Delivery Systems for Hydrophilic Cationic Drugs

Les micelles polyioniques ont émergé comme des systèmes prometteurs de relargage de médicaments hydrophiles ioniques. Le but de cette étude était le développement des micelles polyioniques à base de dextrane pour la relargage de médicaments hydrophiles cationiques utilisant une nouvelle famille de copolymères bloc carboxymethyldextran-poly(éthylène glycol) (CMD-PEG). Quatre copolymères CMD-PEG ont été préparés dont deux copolymères identiques en termes de longueurs des blocs de CMD et de PEG mais différent en termes de densité de charges du bloc CMD; et deux autres copolymères dans lesquels les blocs chargés sont les mêmes mais dont les blocs de PEG sont différents. Les propriétés d’encapsulation des micelles CMD-PEG ont été évaluées avec différentes molécules cationiques: le diminazène (DIM), un médicament cationique modèle, le chlorhydrate de minocycline (MH), un analogue semi-synthétique de la tétracycline avec des propriétés neuro-protectives prometteuses et différents antibiotiques aminoglycosidiques. La cytotoxicité des copolymères CMD-PEG a été évaluée sur différentes lignées cellulaires en utilisant le test MTT et le test du Bleu Alamar. La formation de micelles des copolymères de CMD-PEG a été caractérisée par différentes techniques telles que la spectroscopie RMN 1H, la diffusion de la lumière dynamique (DLS) et la titration calorimétrique isotherme (ITC). Le taux de relargage des médicaments et l’activité pharmacologique des micelles contenant des médicaments ont aussi été évalués. Les copolymères CMD-PEG n'ont induit aucune cytotoxicité dans les hépatocytes humains et dans les cellules microgliales murines (N9) après 24 h incubation pour des concentrations allant jusqu’à 15 mg/mL. Les interactions électrostatiques entre les copolymères de CMD-PEG et les différentes drogues cationiques ont amorcé la formation de micelles polyioniques avec un coeur composé du complexe CMD-médicaments cationiques et une couronne composée de PEG. Les propriétés des micelles DIM/CMDPEG ont été fortement dépendantes du degré de carboxyméthylation du bloc CMD. Les micelles de CMD-PEG de degré de carboxyméthylation du bloc CMD ≥ 60 %, ont incorporé jusqu'à 64 % en poids de DIM et ont résisté à la désintégration induite par les sels et ceci jusqu'à 400 mM NaCl. Par contre, les micelles de CMD-PEG de degré de carboxyméthylation ~ 30% avaient une plus faible teneur en médicament (~ 40 % en poids de DIM) et se désagrégeaient à des concentrations en sel inférieures (∼ 100 mM NaCl). Le copolymère de CMD-PEG qui a montré les propriétés micellaires les plus satisfaisantes a été sélectionné comme système de livraison potentiel de chlorhydrate de minocycline (MH) et d’antibiotiques aminoglycosidiques. Les micelles CMD-PEG encapsulantes de MH ou d’aminoglycosides ont une petite taille (< 200 nm de diamètre), une forte capacité de chargement (≥ 50% en poids de médicaments) et une plus longue période de relargage de médicament. Ces micelles furent stables en solution aqueuse pendant un mois; après lyophilisation et en présence d'albumine sérique bovine. De plus, les micelles ont protégé MH contre sa dégradation en solutions aqueuses. Les micelles encapsulant les drogues ont maintenu les activités pharmacologiques de ces dernières. En outre, les micelles MH réduisent l’inflammation induite par les lipopolysaccharides dans les cellules microgliales murines (N9). Les micelles aminoglycosides ont été quant à elles capable de tuer une culture bactérienne test. Toutefois les micelles aminoglycosides/CMDPEG furent instables dans les conditions physiologiques. Les propriétés des micelles ont été considérablement améliorées par des modifications hydrophobiques de CMD-PEG. Ainsi, les micelles aminoglycosides/dodecyl-CMD-PEG ont montré une taille plus petite et une meilleure stabilité aux conditions physiologiques. Les résultats obtenus dans le cadre de cette étude montrent que CMD-PEG copolymères sont des systèmes prometteurs de relargage de médicaments cationiques.

A FRAMEWORK FOR ACHIEVING LIFECYCLE VALUE IN AEROSPACE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Creation of lifecycle value - a balance of performance with cost and other attributes - represents a challenge for the development of aerospace products in the twenty-first century. This paper examines the concept of lifecycle value that stems from existing approaches of value management and analysis, lifecycle costing, and systems engineering. To ascertain common characteristics of lifecycle value creation, case studies were done for four aircraft programs: F/A- 18E/F, JAS 39 Gripen, F-16C/D, and B-777. A lifecycle value creation framework is introduced, comprised of three phases: value identification, value proposition, value delivery. Based upon observed practices in the four case studies, six value creation attributes were identified. Capability maturity models for the six attributes and three value creation phases are presented. The resulting framework represents a starting point for programs seeking to create lifecycle value for aerospace products.

Long-term change, interannual and intra-seasonal variability in climate and glacier mass balance in the Central Greater Caucasus, Russia

Long-term trends, interannual and intra-seasonal variability in the mass-balance record from Djankuat glacier, central Greater Caucasus, Russia, are related to local climate change, synoptic and large-scale anomalies in atmospheric circulation. A clear warming signal emerged in the central Greater Caucasus in the early 1990s, leading to a strong increase in ablation. In the absence of a compensating change in winter accumulation, the net mass balance of Djankuat has declined. The highest value of seasonal ablation on record was registered in the summer of 2000. At the beginning of the 21st century these trends reversed. Ablation was below average even in the summer of 2003, which was unusually warm in western Europe. Precipitation and winter accumulation were high, allowing for a partial recovery of net mass balance. The interannual variability in the components of mass balance is weakly related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Scandinavian teleconnection patterns, but there is a clear link with the large-scale circulation anomalies represented by the Rossby pattern. Five synoptic categories have been identified for the ablation season of 2005, revealing a strong separation between components of radiation budget, air temperature and daily melt. Air temperature is the main control over melt. The highest values of daily ablation are related to the strongly positive NAO which forces high net radiation, and to the warm and moist advection from the Black Sea.

Quantifying uncertainty in critical loads: (B) acidity mass balance critical loads on a sensitive site

This paper reports an uncertainty analysis of critical loads for acid deposition for a site in southern England, using the Steady State Mass Balance Model. The uncertainty bounds, distribution type and correlation structure for each of the 18 input parameters was considered explicitly, and overall uncertainty estimated by Monte Carlo methods. Estimates of deposition uncertainty were made from measured data and an atmospheric dispersion model, and hence the uncertainty in exceedance could also be calculated. The uncertainties of the calculated critical loads were generally much lower than those of the input parameters due to a "compensation of errors" mechanism - coefficients of variation ranged from 13% for CLmaxN to 37% for CL(A). With 1990 deposition, the probability that the critical load was exceeded was > 0.99; to reduce this probability to 0.50, a 63% reduction in deposition is required; to 0.05, an 82% reduction. With 1997 deposition, which was lower than that in 1990, exceedance probabilities declined and uncertainties in exceedance narrowed as deposition uncertainty had less effect. The parameters contributing most to the uncertainty in critical loads were weathering rates, base cation uptake rates, and choice of critical chemical value, indicating possible research priorities. However, the different critical load parameters were to some extent sensitive to different input parameters. The application of such probabilistic results to environmental regulation is discussed.

Too much information? : Drama teachers’ perceptions of the value of subject knowledge

This paper reports on research into what drama teachers consider they really need to know as drama specialists. In the first instance the very concept of knowledge is discussed as it pertains to education in the arts as is the current situation in England regarding the extent to which new drama teachers’ subject specialist knowledge has been formally accredited and what the implications of this may be to an evolving curriculum. The research itself initially involved using a questionnaire to investigate the way in which drama teachers prioritised different aspects of professional knowledge. Results of this survey were deemed surprising enough to warrant further investigation through the use of interviews and a multiple-sorting exercise which revealed why the participants prioritised in the way they did. Informed by the work of Bourdieu, Foucault and Kelly, a model is proposed which may help explain the tensions experienced by drama teachers as they try to balance and prioritise different aspects of professional knowledge.

Carbon balance of UK peatlands: current state of knowledge and future research challenges

The retention of peatland carbon (C) and the ability to continue to draw down and store C from the atmosphere is not only important for the UK terrestrial carbon inventory, but also for a range of ecosystem services, the landscape value and the ecology and hydrology of ~15% of the land area of the UK. Here we review the current state of knowledge on the C balance of UK peatlands using several studies which highlight not only the importance of making good flux measurements, but also the spatial and temporal variability of different flux terms that characterise a landscape affected by a range of natural and anthropogenic processes and threats. Our data emphasise the importance of measuring (or accurately estimating) all components of the peatland C budget. We highlight the role of the aquatic pathway and suggest that fluxes are higher than previously thought. We also compare the contemporary C balance of several UK peatlands with historical rates of C accumulation measured using peat cores, thus providing a long-term context for present-day measurements and their natural year-on-year variability. Contemporary measurements from 2 sites suggest that current accumulation rates (–56 to –72 g C m–2 yr–1) are at the lower end of those seen over the last 150 yr in peat cores (–35 to –209 g C m–2 yr–1). Finally, we highlight significant current gaps in knowledge and identify where levels of uncertainty are high, as well as emphasise the research challenges that need to be addressed if we are to improve the measurement and prediction of change in the peatland C balance over future decades.

The Greenland Ice Sheet's surface mass balance in a seasonally sea-ice free Arctic

General circulation models predict a rapid decrease in sea ice extent with concurrent increases in near surface air temperature and precipitation in the Arctic over the 21st century. This has led to suggestions that some Arctic land ice masses may experience an increase in accumulation due to enhanced evaporation from a seasonally sea ice free Arctic Ocean. To investigate the impact of this phenomenon on Greenland ice sheet climate and surface mass balance (SMB) a regional climate model, HadRM3, was used to force an insolation-temperature melt SMB model. A set of experiments designed to investigate the role of sea ice independently from sea surface temperature (SST) forcing are described. In the warmer and wetter SI + SST simulation Greenland experiences a 23% increase in winter SMB but 65% reduced summer SMB, resulting in a net decrease in the annual value. This study shows that sea ice decline contributes to the increased winter balance, causing 25% of the increase in winter accumulation; this is largest in eastern Greenland as the result of increased evaporation in the Greenland Sea. These results indicate that the seasonal cycle of Greenland's SMB will increase dramatically as global temperatures increase, with the largest changes in temperature and precipitation occurring in winter. This demonstrates that the accurate prediction of changes in sea ice cover is important for predicting Greenland SMB and ice sheet evolution.

Agricultural commodity markets : reference point for the real value of a currency

Using monthly time-series data 1999-2013, the paper shows that markets for agricultural commodities provide a yardstick for real purchasing power, and thus a reference point for the real value of fiat currencies. The daily need for each adult to consume about 2800 food calories is universal; data from FAO food balance sheets confirm that the world basket of food consumed daily is non-volatile in comparison to the volatility of currency exchange rates, and so the replacement cost of food consumed provides a consistent indicator of economic value. Food commodities are storable for short periods, but ultimately perishable, and this exerts continual pressure for markets to clear in the short term; moreover, food calories can be obtained from a very large range of foodstuffs, and so most households are able to use arbitrage to select a near optimal weighting of quantities purchased. The paper proposes an original method to enable a standard of value to be established, definable in physical units on the basis of actual worldwide consumption of food goods, with an illustration of the method.

Scoring rules and competitive behavior in best value construction auctions

This paper examines the extent to which engineers can influence the competitive behavior of bidders in Best Value or multi-attribute construction auctions, where both the (dollar) bid and technical non-price criteria are scored according to a scoring rule. From a sample of Spanish construction auctions with a variety of bid scoring rules, it is found that bidders are influenced by the auction rules in significant and predictable ways. The bid score weighting, bid scoring formula and abnormally low bid criterion are variables likely to influence the competitiveness of bidders in terms of both their aggressive/conservative bidding and concentration/dispersion of bids. Revealing the influence of the bid scoring rules and their magnitude on bidders’ competitive behavior opens the door for the engineer to condition bidder competitive behavior in such a way as to provide the balance needed to achieve the owner’s desired strategic outcomes.

Sports administration: an examination of the competitive balance concept through european and brazilian domestic soccer leagues comparison

A questão do Equilíbrio Competitivo é um tema importante da economia dos esportes profissionais nos Estados Unidos e na Europa. Muitas pesquisas foram feitas para estabelecer os critérios mais relevantes para avaliar a competitividade das ligas profissionais de futebol. Esta pesquisa analisou a relevância do Equilíbrio Competitivo como determinante da competitividade comparando o Brasileirão Série A com as nove principais ligas na Europa (Bélgica, Inglaterra, Alemanha, Holanda, França, Itália, Portugal, Escócia e Espanha). A competitividade é a capacidade de uma empresa (um clube) ou de uma indústria de enfrentar a concorrência efetiva ou potencial. A medida da competitividade deve levar em consideração uma série de fatores importantes como a qualidade e a relação qualidade/preço, a gestão de recursos humanos e a organização empresarial. Esse trabalho visa demonstrar que, apesar da incerteza do resultado ter sido considerado por muito tempo como um fator positivo de atratividade/interesse dos fãs nos esportes, um campeonato equilibrado poderia ter um efeito insignificante, para não dizer desprezível sobre a competitividade das ligas de futebol a longo prazo. Os resultados mostraram que o aumento do Equilíbrio Competitivo pode ser relevante para os campeonatos mais fracos (Bélgica, Holanda, Portugal, Escócia), mas nao dos cincos melhores (Alemanha, Espanha, França, Inglaterra, Itália). Consequentemente, o Equilíbrio Competitivo deve ser contemplado como uma variável desprezível quanto à competitividade das ligas de futebol, apesar do interesse crescente pelo conceito na literatura. Baseado principalmente em pesquisas de Dell'Osso e Symanski (1991) e de Oughton e Michie (2004), o índice HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman) tem sido utilizado para determinar o nível de concentração de 11 ligas de futebol estudadas. Uma revisão da literatura sobre administração de futebol e esportes foi realizada.

Application of landsat images for quantifying the energy balance under conditions of land use changes in the semi-arid region of Brazil

In the Nilo Coelho irrigation scheme, Brazil, the natural vegetation has been replaced by irrigated agriculture, bringing importance for the quantification of the effects on the energy exchanges between the mixed vegetated surfaces and the lower atmosphere. Landsat satellite images and agro-meteorological stations from 1992 to 2011 were used together, for modelling these exchanges. Surface albedo (α0), NDVI and surface temperature (T0) were the basic remote sensing retrieving parameters necessary to calculate the latent heat flux (λE) and the surface resistance to evapotranspiration (rs) on a large scale. The daily net radiation (Rn) was obtained from α0, air temperature (Ta) and short-wave transmissivity (τsw) throughout the slob equation, allowing the quantification of the daily sensible heat flux (H) by residual in the energy balance equation. With a threshold value for rs, it was possible to separate the energy fluxes from crops and natural vegetation. The averaged fractions of Rn partitioned as H and λE, were in average 39 and 67%, respectively. It was observed an increase of the energy used for the evapotranspiration process inside irrigated areas from 51% in 1992 to 80% in 2011, with the ratio λE/Rn presenting an increase of 3 % per year. The tools and models applied in the current research, can subsidize the monitoring of the coupled climate and land use changes effects in irrigation perimeters, being valuable when aiming the sustainability of the irrigated agriculture in the future, avoiding conflicts among different water users. © 2012 SPIE.

Balance of pH of chicks from eggs injected with ascorbic acid and subjected to thermal stress

This study aimed to verify that chicks from eggs injected with ascorbic acid and subjected to heat stress would have changes in acid-base balance, compared to chicks incubated at thermoneutral without injection of ascorbic acid. The parameters evaluated were blood pressure of carbon dioxide and oxygen, base excess, total carbon dioxide, concentration of sodium, potassium, ionized calcium, bicarbonate and pH of newly hatched male chicks, hatched from eggs injected with acid ascorbic acid (AA) and subjected to heat stress during incubation. The experimental design was completely randomized in factorial scheme 5 (application levels of ascorbic acid) x 2 (incubation temperatures). The data were subjected to analysis of variance using the General Linear Model procedure (GLM) of SAS ®. For the blood pH was observed significant interaction (p <0.05) between treatments with application in eggs and incubation temperatures. For the other parameters were not significant effects (p< 0.05) of AA level and neither temperature of incubation. Analyzing the unfolding of the interaction to pH was observed that chicks from eggs injected with 6% ascorbic acid and subjected to heat stress during incubation had a higher pH value compared with the thermoneutral temperature incubated (p <0.05). Therefore, it is suggested that the incubation of eggs in high temperature (39°C) can alter the metabolic rate of these embryos.

Tricomas secretores de Lippia stachyoides Cham. (Verbenaceae): estrutura, ontogênese e secreção

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