Structured finance and the boundaries of the firm: the case of project finance

We examine the factors that influence public firms’ choice between project finance over internally organized investment projects. Using a large sample of syndicated deals closed between 2000 and 2020 in conjunction with Datastream data, we find that economies of scale, agency costs of debt, and information asymmetry arguments affect the choice of on- versus off-balance-sheet funding. As project finance deals have higher borrowing costs than comparable corporate financing deals, we show that other firm-level countervailing benefits play a key role in the sponsoring firms’ choice: borrowers choose project over corporate financing when they are relatively larger, less profitable and creditworthy, and seek long-term financing; and switchers resorting to project finance tend be more levered and to have larger growth opportunity sets.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How banks price loans for LBOs: an empirical analysis of spread determinants

This paper examines which factors determine the pricing of loans for LBOs, using a worldwide sample of 11,111 loans closed in the 2000–2016 period. Our findings are consistent with the hypotheses that loans for LBOs extended to borrowers in market- versus bank-based financial systems are differently priced, and that law and institutional characteristics are important determinants of spreads for deals closed in market-oriented countries. Despite LBO loan pricing differing significantly in normal versus crisis times, loans extended to borrowers in market-based financial systems have higher spreads than those where banks play a major role. Our results also support the hypothesis of tranching as a mechanism of reducing spreads by completing financial markets and mitigating informational asymmetries. Finally, a robust convex relationship between spread and maturity is found, suggesting higher market competition by banks and investors for standard, medium-term maturities.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Medial dorsal cutaneous nerve entrapment following inversion ankle sprain

The medial dorsal cutaneous nerve is one of the terminal branches of the superficial peroneal nerve that provides sensory innervation to the dorsum of the foot. It may be prone to injury by direct blow, iatrogenic surgical lesion or in rare situations secondary to ankle sprains. The authors report a case of persistent ankle pain in a female patient caused by a post- traumatic compressive neuropathy of the medial dorsal cutaneous nerve secondary to an ankle sprain which was successfully surgically treated with complete resolution of the symptoms

Throughput limits of two 802.15.4 wireless networks applications for signal acquisition

This work describes the development and test of a wireless sensor network used by a biomedical signal monitoring system. Data communication is based on a body area network (BAN) materialized as a wireless network in two versions, one based on the 802.15.4 specification and another on a higher-level Zigbee protocol. The system was developed using the Jennic JN5148 microcontroller, Jennics ZBPro stack and the JenOs RT kernell. The final system was tested with the devices at different distances, and with a varying number of sensor nodes communicating simultaneously. For each of these combinations the signal quality and frequency of communication errors were recorded. The version implemented using Zigbee protocol was able to acquire and send sensor signals at a sample rate of 7 kSamples/s (12-bit samples, final net rate of 84 kbps) with a percentage of lost frames below 4%. It was also shown that the system supports simultaneous communication of three sensor nodes at 3 kS/s (36 kbps) each, with a percentage of losses of less than 4%. These results are important since they support the possibility of having several sensors acquiring fast biomedical signals and sending them to a central unit in real time.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Projeto Bioswi

Determination of the vertical dimension occlusion – case report

Abstract in proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structural characterization of the Aspergillus niger citrate transporter CexA uncovers the role of key residues S75, R192 and Q196

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the online version at doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2023.04.025.The Aspergillus niger CexA transporter belongs to the DHA1 (Drug-H+ antiporter) family. CexA homologs are exclusively found in eukaryotic genomes, and CexA is the sole citrate exporter to have been functionally characterized in this family so far. In the present work, we expressed CexA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, demonstrating its ability to bind isocitric acid, and import citrate at pH 5.5 with low affinity. Citrate uptake was independent of the proton motive force and compatible with a facilitated diffusion mechanism. To unravel the structural features of this transporter, we then targeted 21 CexA residues for site-directed mutagenesis. Residues were identified by a combination of amino acid residue conservation among the DHA1 family, 3D structure prediction, and substrate molecular docking analysis. S. cerevisiae cells expressing this library of CexA mutant alleles were evaluated for their capacity to grow on carboxylic acid-containing media and transport of radiolabeled citrate. We also determined protein subcellular localization by GFP tagging, with seven amino acid substitutions affecting CexA protein expression at the plasma membrane. The substitutions P200A, Y307A, S315A, and R461A displayed loss-of-function phenotypes. The majority of the substitutions affected citrate binding and translocation. The S75 residue had no impact on citrate export but affected its import, as the substitution for alanine increased the affinity of the transporter for citrate. Conversely, expression of CexA mutant alleles in the Yarrowia lipolytica cex1Δ strain revealed the involvement of R192 and Q196 residues in citrate export. Globally, we uncovered a set of relevant amino acid residues involved in CexA expression, export capacity and import affinity.This work was supported by the Strategic Programme UID/BIA/04050/2020 and the project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET, both funded by Portuguese funds through the FCT-IP. J.A. acknowledges the FCT and the Doctoral Program in Applied and Environmental Microbiology for the PD/BD/150584/2020 PhD grant and a COST Action CA18113 Short-Term Scientific Mission grant (EuroMicropH). M.S.S. acknowledges the Norte2020 for the UMINHO/BD/25/2016 PhD grant with the re ference NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000060. I.S-S. was supported by the program contract FCTUMINHO/Norma transitória from the Legal Regime of Scientific Employment (RJEC)

Modelling anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge: mechanistic models vs machine learning

Anaerobic digestion processes are one of the technologies most used by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to stabilize and decrease the organic content of sludge. This process decreases the costs of disposal while increasing the energetic efficiency of WWTPs. In order to optimize this process, three model approaches were implemented. First, we calibrated and validated the anaerobic digestion model no.1 (ADM1) using data from an anaerobic lab digester treating sewage sludge (Phases I, II, III), and further receiving glycerol pulses (Phases IV, V). Then, to optimize the calibration and parameter estimation, an iterative procedure was applied by minimizing the root mean square error (RMSE). The second approach consisted of applying a machine learning (ML) model to the biogas and methane produced. The results showed that the ADM1 model adjusted well to the experimental results, especially to biogas, methane and pH. The optimization routine was useful to identify the most sensitive parameters, improving model calibration. Overall, the ML approach was more reliable to predict anaerobic reactors performance but did not respond so well to process perturbations (glycerol pulses).This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 and UIDB/00319/2020 units and the PAMWater Project (DSAIPA/Al/0099/2019).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of the dynamic air conditioning loads, fuel consumption and emissions of heavy-duty trucks with different glazing and paint optical properties

The European transportation sector employs 10 million people and accounts for 4.6% of the European Union GDP. Due to climate change, this workforce is increasingly affected by high temperatures and radiant loads, particularly during summer. They rely on air conditioning (AC) to minimize heat inside the truck cabins, increasing fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. Because sustainable transportation is crucial for climate change mitigation, we developed a numerical investigation on the dynamic thermal exchanges of cabins of heavy-duty trucks in realistic conditions of a summer workday, to quantify the potential impact of interventions in the glazing and paint optical properties, over the truck AC loads. We observed that the changes in air temperature and solar irradiation throughout the workday imply substantial variations in the truck's AC loads and, consequently, in its fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. Furthermore, windshields and side windows with transmissivity of 0.33 instead of typical 0.79 and 0.84, respectively, can reduce AC loads by up to 16%. External paints with reflectivity of 0.70 instead of 0.04 can reduce the AC loads by up to 30%, whereas cumulative changes to glazing and paint can reduce the AC load by up to 40%. These interventions can lower fuel consumption and emissions by up to 0.4%. These results show that important improvements in fuel efficiency and tailpipe emissions are possible, if the research community, policy makers and industry stakeholders successfully promote the adaptation of the European transportation fleet

Experimental study of a double-diffusive system: application to solar ponds

A salt gradient solar pond is an artificial device used to collect and store solar thermal energy. A non-convective zone, in the middle of the solar pond, reduces thermal losses and allows a significant rise of temperature in the saltier lower zone where the solar thermal energy is stored. The non-convective zone, also named gradient zone, is characterized by a salinity gradient that increase the density with depth promoting the stability of this layer. The absorption of solar radiation in the pond creates a destabilizing temperature gradient in the non-convective zone that contradicts the density gradient. The different molecular diffusivities of heat and salt and the opposing effects on the vertical density distribution of the two gradients can lead to double-diffusive convection phenomena. In this context, a double-diffusive system has been studied experimentally in laboratory by heating a stratified salt layer from below. The instabilities caused by the destabilizing temperature gradients lead to the formation of convective zones separated from purely diffusive zone by thin interfaces. The main goals of this work are the study of the evolution of the double-diffusive layer and the analysis of the behaviour of the diffusive interface near conditions for which instabilities appear

Caracterização de uma conta de vidro proveniente do povoado fortificado calcolítico da Moita da Ladra (Vila Franca de Xira)

The full excavation of the fortified Chalcolithic settlement of Moita da Ladra by one of us (J.L.C.) has shown the existence of a single archaeological layer corresponding to the occupation of the site during the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Among the archaeological remains collected during the field campaigns there is a bead, with a spheroid shape, longitudinally fractured, presenting a black matrix with numerous whitish spots. The fracture presents a vitreous greasy surface, and exposes a suspension cylindrical bore. Various techniques were used to identify the material that was used in the manufacture of the artifact, including CHN elemental analysis, EDXRF, μ-PIXE and XRD, conducted by the other authors. It was found that the material is not organic (carbon is absent), presenting significant amounts of the elements Si, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, Sr, Zr, and Sb. The X-ray diffraction spectra indicates that the material has an essentially vitreous nature, being the whitish particles dispersed in the vitreous mass identified as quartz. μ-PIXE results show a chemical composition that is consistent with an artificial glass, which implies a much more recent chronology for the bead than that of the Chalcolithic archaeological layer where it was recovered. Thus, although the bead was recorded from a Chalcolithic context, its provenance must be ascribed to the Late Bronze Age occupation recorded nearby and resulting from the early Phoenician trade.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio