The impact of size and age of the company on assessing financial risk.

Textiles and tourism sectors are two important sectors in Portuguese economy. Its high exposure to both internal and international economy volatility transform the companies operating in these economic sectors especially vulnerable to recent economic crises in Portugal and European Union. The objective of this paper is to evaluate and understand the impact of size and age on the financial health of textile and tourism companies, measured by economic indices. An empirical based model is proposed. Its implications are derived and tested on a sample of 4061 Portuguese companies from textile and tourism sector, during the period 2005-2009. The results conclude that age has a stronger impact on the risk of failure than size. Whereas the effect of age is generally positive regarding the financial health of the company, the effect of size is less clear and depends on the age of the company.

O peso do varejo, o peso no varejo e a identidade: uma análise de consumidoras plus size

Este trabalho estuda o conceito de identidade sob a ótica do consumo feminino de moda plus size. Foram realizadas 14 entrevistas fenomenológicas, observadas por uma perspectiva hermenêutica. Três categorias temáticas emergiram dos dados: a construção da identidade pela moda, o que envolve ser plus size e estratégias criativas para lidar com a configuração do portfólio de produtos no varejo, que não favorece mulheres plus size. Entre os principais resultados, destacam-se a forma pela qual o termo plus size age como estigma, influenciando os projetos identitários das consumidoras, o papel do varejo na estigmatização e a saga quase epopeica das compras, que envolve até um "mercado negro" com as vendedoras.

Seeking a Home in Portugal

Os indianos começam a chegar a Portugal desde a chegada de Vasco da Gama à Índia. O celebrado ourives Raulu Chatim na corte de D. Manuel era um deles. Houve outros para quem João de Barros escreveu uma cartilha para lhes ensinar a língua portuguesa. Os goeses começam a chegar a Portugal com regularidade com bolsas de estudos e como deputados na camara real dos deputados no periodo liberal. As bolsas eram pagas pelas camaras agrárias de Goa. Chegaram a Portugal os padres acusados de conjuração em 1787. Após a ocupação indiana de Goa o governos português facultou a viagem a todos os goeses que quisessem abandonar Goa. O maior número de sempre veio via Moçambique depois da independência daquele país em 1975. Alguns goeses têm chegado em tempos mais recentes após 25 de Abril e integração de Portugal na União Europeia.

Goa : Port of Call and Strangers at Home

The Portuguese were the last batch of strangers who sought to make Goa their home

The population of Brazil

In 1970 the population of Brazil with 94,508,554 inhabitants was extreme youth, since 42.67% was composed of children under 14 years old. In that year the proportion of female was 50.2%. The population density increased from 1.17 inhabitants /km² in 1872 to 11.18 in 1970, and in this last year the range was 1.03 in the North region and 43.90 in the South-East region. The urban population increased from 31.24% in 1940 to 55.98% in 1970 and for the first time the rural population was smaller than the urban population. In 1950 concerning with marital status 39% of the population 15 years old and over was single and 54% married. In 1970 this rate was respectively 35.4% and 56.6%. The population economically inactive increased from 49.17% in 1940 to 52.24% in 1970. The literacy ratio increased from 43% in 1940, to 48% in 1950 and 68.04% in 1970. The crude birth rate was 43/1000 live births in 1950 and fell to 37.7/1000 in 1970. The fertility rate decreased from 179.3/1000 women (15-49 years old} to 156.7/1000 in 1960/70. The crude death rate decreased from 20.60/1000 inhabitants in 1940/50 to 9.4/1000 in 1960/70. The infant mortality rate still remains high: 171/1000 live births in 1940/50 and 170/1000 in 1971. Concerning with the size of the cities, 8 in 1940 had 100,000 or more inhabitants and in 1970 this number increased to 94 cities. The population growth increased from 2.38% in 1940/50, to 2.99% in 1950/60 and 2.83% in 1960./70. Brazil is the first country in population size in Latin America and the eighth in the world. Concerning his area, Brazil is the fifth country in size.

A supervised versus home-based program effects on liver transplanted familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy patients: walking, fatigue and quality of life

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a six months exercise training program on walking capacity, fatigue and health related quality of life (HRQL). Relevance: Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy disease (FAP) is an autossomic neurodegenerative disease, related with systemic deposition of amyloidal fibre mainly on peripheral nervous system and mainly produced in the liver. FAP often results in severe functional limitations. Liver transplantation is used as the only therapy so far, that stop the progression of some aspects of this disease. Transplantation requires aggressive medication which impairs muscle metabolism and associated to surgery process and previous possible functional impairments, could lead to serious deconditioning. Reports of fatigue are common feature in transplanted patients. The effect of supervised or home-based exercise training programs in FAP patients after a liver transplant (FAPTX) is currently unknown.

Intermittent claudication and physical exercise: effectiveness of a home-based program

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) as a high incidence in general population and 12% to 20% of population with more than 60 years has already clinical symptoms, such as intermittent claudication (IC), pain, loss of strength and functional incapacity. There are already some studies who refer the possible positive effects of physical exercise in functional consequences of PAD.

A supervised versus home-based program effects on liver transplanted familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy patients: walking, fatigue and quality of life

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy is a systemic deposition of amyloidal fibre mainly on peripheral nervous system (but also in other systems like heart, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, etc) and mainly produced in the liver. Purpose of this study: to evaluate the effects of a six months exercise training program(supervised or home-based) on walking capacity, fatigue and health related quality of life (HRQL) on Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy patients submitted to a liver transplant.

A new sedimentary benchmark for the Deccan Traps volcanism?

The origin of the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB) mass extinction is still the center of acrimonious debates by opposing partisans of the bolide impact theory to those who favored a terrestrial origin linked to the Deccan Traps volcanism. Here we apply an original and high-resolution environmental magnetic study of the reference Bidart section, France. Our results show that the KPB is identified by an abrupt positive shift of the magnetic susceptibility (MS), also observed by others at the KPB elsewhere. In addition, an anomalous interval of very low MS, carried by an unknown Cl-bearing iron oxide similar to specular hematite, is depicted just below the KPB. Grain-size and morphology of the Cl-iron oxide are typically in the range of hematitic dust currently transported by winds from Sahara to Europe. This discovery is confirmed in the referenced Gubbio section (Italy) suggesting a global scale phenomenon. As a conjecture we suggest an origin by heterogeneous reaction between HCl-rich volcanic gas and liquid-solid aerosols within buoyant atmospheric plumes formed above the newly emitted Deccan flood basalts. Based on this hypothesis, our discovery provides a new benchmark for the Deccan volcanism and witnesses the nature and importance of the related atmospheric change.

Laser scanned photodiodes (LSPs) for image sensing

An optimized ZnO:Al/a-pin SixC1-x:H/Al configuration for the laser scanned photodiode (LSP) imaging detector is proposed and the read-out parameters improved. The effect of the sensing element structure, cell configuration and light source flux are investigated and correlated with the sensor output characteristics. Data reveals that for sensors with wide band gap doped layers an increase on the image signal optimized to the blue is achieved with a dynamic range of two orders of magnitude, a responsivity of 6 mA W-1 and a sensitivity of 17 muW cm(-2) at 530 nm. The main output characteristics such as image responsivity, resolution, linearity and dynamic range were analyzed under reverse, forward and short circuit modes. The results show that the sensor performance can be optimized in short circuit mode. A trade-off between the scan time and the required resolution is needed since the spot size limits the resolution due to the cross-talk between dark and illuminated regions leading to blurring effects.

Volatility forecasting with range models: An evaluation of new alternatives to the CARR model

The aim of this paper is to analyze the forecasting ability of the CARR model proposed by Chou (2005) using the S&P 500. We extend the data sample, allowing for the analysis of different stock market circumstances and propose the use of various range estimators in order to analyze their forecasting performance. Our results show that there are two range-based models that outperform the forecasting ability of the GARCH model. The Parkinson model is better for upward trends and volatilities which are higher and lower than the mean while the CARR model is better for downward trends and mean volatilities.

Intermittent claudication and physical exercise: effectiveness of a home-based program

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) as a high incidence in general population and 12% to 20% of population with more than 60 years has already clinical symptoms, such as intermittent claudication (IC), pain, loss of strength and functional incapacity. There are already some studies that refer the possible positive effects of physical exercise in functional consequences of PAD. The purpose of this study was to verify the results of a home-based (HB) weekly supervised physical exercise program in patients with IC in consequence of PAD in lower limbs, and observe the medium number of diary steps walked by the subjects of our study.

Monetary and fiscal policies interactions in a monetary union with country-size asymmetry

Within a country-size asymmetric monetary union, idiosyncratic shocks and national fiscal stabilization policies cause asymmetric cross-border effects. These effects are a source of strategic interactions between noncoordinated fiscal and monetary policies: on the one hand, due to larger externalities imposed on the union, large countries face less incentives to develop free-riding fiscal policies; on the other hand, a larger strategic position vis-à-vis the central bank incentives the use of fiscal policy to, deliberately, influence monetary policy. Additionally, the existence of non-distortionary government financing may also shape policy interactions. As a result, optimal policy regimes may diverge not only across the union members, but also between the latter and the monetary union. In a two-country micro-founded New-Keynesian model for a monetary union, we consider two fiscal policy scenarios: (i) lump-sum taxes are raised to fully finance the government budget and (ii) lump-sum taxes do not ensure balanced budgets in each period; therefore, fiscal and monetary policies are expected to impinge on debt sustainability. For several degrees of country-size asymmetry, we compute optimal discretionary and dynamic non-cooperative policy games and compare their stabilization performance using a union-wide welfare measure. We also assess whether these outcomes could be improved, for the monetary union, through institutional policy arrangements. We find that, in the presence of government indebtedness, monetary policy optimally deviates from macroeconomic to debt stabilization. We also find that policy cooperation is always welfare increasing for the monetary union as a whole; however, indebted large countries may strongly oppose to this arrangement in favour of fiscal leadership. In this case, delegation of monetary policy to a conservative central bank proves to be fruitful to improve the union’s welfare.

The spin polarization of CrO2 revisited

Here, we use Andreev reflection spectroscopy to study the spin polarization of high quality CrO2 films. We study the spin polarization as a function of growth temperature, resulting in grain size and electrical resistivity. In these films low temperature growth appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition to guarantee the observation of high spin polarization, and this is only observed in conjunction with suppressed superconducting gap values and anomalously low interface properties. We suggest that this combination of observations is a manifestation of the long range spin triplet proximity effect. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Stabilization constraints from different-average public debt levels in a Monetary Union with country-size asymmetry

In the sequence of the recent financial and economic crisis, the recent public debt accumulation is expected to hamper considerably business cycle stabilization, by enlarging the budgetary consequences of the shocks. This paper analyses how the average level of public debt in a monetary union shapes optimal discretionary fiscal and monetary stabilization policies and affects stabilization welfare. We use a two-country micro-founded New-Keynesian model, where a benevolent central bank and the fiscal authorities play discretionary policy games under different union-average debt-constrained scenarios. We find that high debt levels shift monetary policy assignment from inflation to debt stabilization, making cooperation welfare superior to noncooperation. Moreover, when average debt is too high, welfare moves directly (inversely) with debt-to-output ratios for the union and the large country (small country) under cooperation. However, under non-cooperation, higher average debt levels benefit only the large country.