ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF SOIL EROSION AND FERTILITY MINING IN NORTHERN TANZANIA

This paper develops a soil conservation model that is relevant to smallholder farmers who apply little or no fertilizer. Empirical results drawn from northern Tanzania imply that, ignoring fertility mining problem in model specification leads to overestimation of profits for farms that apply little or no fertilizer. The model also shows that, the impact of output price on soil conservation efforts depends on the curvature of the soil erosion function.Soil erosion, Fertility mining, Soil conservation, Price policy, Soil erosion function, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania., Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Coupled magnetic and elastic properties in LaPr(CaSr)MnO manganites

We investigate a series of manganese oxides, the La0.225Pr0.4(Ca1-xSrx)0.375MnO3 system. The x = 0 sample is a prototype compound for the study of phase separation in manganites, where ferromagnetic and charge ordered antiferromagnetic phases coexist. Replacing Ca2+ by Sr2+ gradually turns the system into a homogeneous ferromagnet. Our results show that the material structure plays a major role in the observed magnetic properties. On cooling, at temperatures below 100 K, a strong contraction of the lattice is followed by an increase in the magnetization. This is observed both through thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements, providing distinct evidence of magneto-elastic coupling in these phase separated compounds

The profitability and distance to distress of European banks: do business choices matter?

This paper examines which business choices are more likely to increase the profitability and distance to distress of banks, and whether changing business model pays off. We find that the profitability and distance to distress increase with the use of customer deposits and equity, and decrease with size; also, the top performers tend to have a high relationship banking orientation and/or operate a retail focused business model. Furthermore, we document that income diversification only bears a positive impact on the distance to distress of banks highly focused on relationship banking, and size only bears a negative effect on the profitability of these banks as well; additionally, only banks with a low relationship banking orientation significantly benefit from customer deposits. With respect to the effects of business model changes, we find that shifts from the retail diversified funding model to either the retail focused or the large diversified models improve profitability in the medium term. Finally, we find evidence that large diversified banks benefited from internal capital markets during the twin financial crisis by tapping into low-cost funding from subsidiaries. Our results are robust to changes to our baseline model that account for endogeneity and persistency issues.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A Survey on Electric / Hybrid Vehicles

Since the late 19th century until recently several electric vehicles have been designed, manufactured and used throughout the world. Some were just prototypes, others were concept cars, others were just special purpose vehicles and lately, a considerable number of general purpose cars has been produced and commercialized. Since the mid nineties the transportation sector emissions are being increasingly regulated and the dependency on oil and its price fluctuations originated an increasing interest on electric vehicles (EV). A wide research was made on existing electric/hybrid vehicle models. Some of these vehicles were just in the design phase, but most reached the prototype or full market production. They were divided into several types, such as NEVs, prototypes, concept cars, and full homologated production cars. For each type of vehicle model a technical historic analysis was made. Data related to the vehicle configuration as well as the embedded systems were collected and compared. Based on these data future prospect of evolution was subsequently made. The main focus was put on city vehicles and long range vehicles. For city vehicles the market approach normally consists in the use of full electric configuration while for the latter, the hybrid configuration is commonly used. The electrical systems and combustion engines found in these vehicles are compared in order to forecast the evolution trend in terms of specifications and performance of the whole vehicle and of each system.MIT Portugal, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Biological and molecular characterization of Aromia bungii (Faldermann, 1835) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), an emerging pest of stone fruits in Europe

The red-necked longhorn beetle (RLB) Aromia bungii (Fald.) is an emerging pest of stone fruit trees, native to East Asia, accidentally introduced in Europe (Germany and Italy) and Japan. Threatening seriously the stone fruit crops in Europe, RLB was added to both the EPPO A1 and priority pest lists of quarantine species. Molecular analyses highlighted that all specimens recovered in southern Italy share the same haplotype, different from the German one, supporting that the invasive process in Europe started from at least two independent introductions. To fill the existing gap of biological knowledge about A. bungii, several laboratory tests were carried out on specimens collected in the outbreak area of Naples (Italy). Results suggest a high biotic potential of the RLB Italian population. Females showed a short pre-oviposition period while the period of oviposition lasted about three weeks, with a rate of 24.2 eggs/day. Each female laid an average of 587.5 eggs and spawned the largest amount of eggs during the first week after emergence. Fed males live up to 62 days at 20 °C while fed females about 63 days at 25 °C. These results are crucial to draw up a multi-facet IPM approach against A. bungii in the outbreak areas

Transnational banking supervision and resilience: the SSM case

In this letter we assess the impact of adopting a transnational supervisor on the resilience of large and complex banks, exploring the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) in 2014. Using a differences-in-differences approach, we compare the performance of SSM banks vis-à-vis other banks with a similar size and complexity. Our results suggest that the adoption of a transnational supervisor can improve the resilience of large and complex banks, particularly for those operating in countries with larger banking sectors, higher market concentration and higher supervisory discretion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

As relações mulher-terra na revista Agriculturas: análise temática e léxica.

Resumo: Através dos artigos da revista Agriculturas, procurou-se entender, qual o lugar e importância das mulheres, a percepção dos autores sobre a contribuição das mulheres e as principais atividades que elas desenvolvem. Os artigos foram selecionados quando tratavam de qualquer temática relacionada às mulheres e Agroecologia. As mulheres representadas atuam diretamente nas atividades produtivas da propriedade e atividades associadas ao desenvolvimento de políticas públicas. Abstract:Through articles of the journal Agriculturas about women and Agroecology, this work studied what is their place and significant role, the authors perception os their contribution and activities performed. The women in the selected articles accomplish activities in the rural property and others associated with the development of public policies

Síntese e Caracterização de Membrana Híbrida de Poliacrilonitrila e Quitosana Agregada Com Nanopartículas de Óxido de Zinco

Membranas poliméricas são definidas como uma interface entre duas fases adjacentes atuando como barreiras seletivas regulando o transporte de substâncias entre dois compartimentos, são obtidas a partir de estruturas poliméricas, e outros tipos, como materiais cerâmicos. Neste trabalho foi utilizado o biopolímero quitosana (QUI), proveniente de cascas de camarão pré-processadas cuja última etapa de purificação foi realizada utilizando ácido acético a 0,5 mol/L e poliacrilonitrila (PAN), que foi sintetizada utilizando peróxido de benzoíla e o monômero acrilonitrila. O objetivo deste trabalho inicialmente foi investigar a produção de membranas híbridas de poliacrilonitrila e quitosana, agregada com nanopartículas de óxido de zinco, que foi adicionado em uma solução ácida de quitosana com agitação utilizando ultrassom e aquecimento a 70 ºC, e, posteriormente analisar as características dessas membranas. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que as membranas de PAN pura são duras e quebradiças, e, conforme o teor de QUIT aumenta, elas vão se tornando mais maleáveis, ao mesmo tempo em que os poros vão sendo fechados e tornam-se menores e menos frequentes. Com relação à adição do óxido de zinco, os poros das membranas com a presença deste assumem um aspecto intermediário entre os apresentados pela membrana de PAN pura e PAN/QUIT. Quando observadas em sua seção transversal, as membranas com QUIT apresentam grandes cavidades, diferentemente do observado para a PAN pura e, novamente, as membranas com presença de óxido de zinco exibem comportamento intermediário, podendo-se observar uma espécie de rede polimérica. Observou-se ainda em todas as membranas o efeito mais efetivo da evaporação do solvente, que provocou a quebra ou alteração considerável nas membranas, numa temperatura acima de 120 °C