Does the real interest parity hypothesis hold? Evidence for developed and emerging markets

Evidence is presented on the Real Interest Parity Hypothesis for a set of emerging and developed countries. This is done by carrying out a set of unit-root tests on the real interest differentials with respect to Germany and the US. Our results support the hypothesis of a rapid reversion towards a zero differential for developed countries and towards a positive one for emerging markets. An important result is that this adjustment tends to be highly asymmetric and markedly different for developed and emerging countries. Our evidence reveals a high degree of market integration for developed countries and highlights the importance of risk premia for emerging markets

Epidemiology of injuries in senior male rugby union sevens: a systematic review

In 2016 the Rugby Union variant of sevens will enter the official Olympic Programme. Until now, most of injury surveillance studies in Rugby Union focus on elite 15-a-side cohorts, with reported injury incidence rates reaching 96 per 1000 player-match-hours, and mean severity set at 20 days. Sparse data is available regarding rugby sevens. The aim of this study was to systematically review available data regarding the epidemiology of injuries in senior male rugby sevens.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A bioética e o Estatuto da criança e do adolescente

Analisa a bioética como um ramo do conhecimento multidisciplinar. Verifica que o seu fundamento é a pessoa, estabelecendo uma relação ética na vida da mesma. Examina a relação entre o direito e a bioética, fixando parâmetros para sua concretização e colocando limites para distinguir o lícito do ilícito. Trata das questões envolvendo crianças e adolescentes sob o prisma do direito e da bioética, e o direito à vida e à saúde conforme o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente

Sagittal tilt control of a quadruped robot using a dynamical systems approach

Autonomous adaptive locomotion over irregular terrain is one important topic in robotics research. Balance control, meaning movement generation for robot legs, is a first step in this direction. In this article, we focus on the essential issue of modeling the interaction between the central nervous system and the peripheral information in the locomotion context. This is an important issue for autonomous and adaptive control, and has received little attention so far. This modeling is based on the concept of dynamical systems whose intrinsic robustness against perturbations allows for an easy integration of sensory-motor feedback and thus for closed-loop control. In this article, balance is achieved without locomotion. The developed controller is modeled as discrete, sensory driven corrections of the robot joint values. The robot sagittal tilt information modulates the generated trajectories thus achieving balance. The system is demonstrated on a quadruped robot which adjusts its posture until reducing the sagittal tilt to a minimum

Epidemiology of Time-Loss Injuries in Senior and Under-18 Portuguese Male Rugby Players

Rugby union has one of the highest injury incidence rates in team sports, however, most of the available data focus on the epidemiology of injuries in countries where rugby is popular. We aimed to report the incidence rate and relevant epidemiological aspects of injuries occurred in a group of Portuguese male rugby players. A prospective cohort study was conducted with a group of 45 senior and 32 under-18 male players (total of 77 players). Outcome measures included injury incidence, position, type, location and severity of injuries. The match injury incidence for all players was 55.84 per 1000 player match-hours (66.66 for seniors, 42.85 for under-18), while mean time-loss for injury was 20.79 days. No statistical differences were found between groups. Lower limb injuries accounted for 60.5% of all injuries, while joint/ligament injuries were the most prevalent type. Contact events were responsible for 65.1% of injuries. Despite the limitations, the obtained data are consistent with the literature. Time-loss injuries seem highly prevalent in rugby union and the incidence rates found in this Portuguese-based study were lower than the reported for international and senior men's professional rugby union, but higher than those occurring in community rugby in tier-1 countries. The authors believe these data reinforce the need to develop and implement effective injury surveillance and prevention programs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estudo histológico comparativo das cartilagens alares nasais em pacientes com fissura labial unilateral

Patients with unilateral cleft lip display characteristic nasal changes that are independent of the degree of deformity. Defenders of the intrinsic theory consider these deformities to be due to embryogenic alterations of the alar nasal cartilages. Those that propose the extrinsic theory defend the thesis that the deformity is due to disorganization of the perioral muscles deformed by the cleft. The purpose of this study is to contribute histological evidence to help clarify the issue. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Specimens of the lateral portion of both the healthy and the cleft side of the alar cartilages were obtained from 18 patients. These uniformly cut specimens were stained by hematoxylin and eosin. Samples from 2 patients were excluded due to imperfections. The same pathologist examined all the slides. He was unaware of the origins of the specimens; he counted the number of chondrocytes and quantified the cartilage matrixes. RESULTS: All data was analyzed statistically, and no significant statistical differences were apparent, either in the number of chondrocytes or the cartilage matrix between the healthy side and the cleft side. DISCUSSION: These results apparently support the group that defend the extrinsic theory; nevertheless, the doubt about the composition of the cartilage matrix remains, not only concerning the glycosaminoglycans that compose them, but also regarding elastin and collagen and its linkages that can cause different degrees of collagen consistency.Portadores de fissura labial unilateral, independentemente do grau da deformidade, apresentam uma alteração nasal característica. Alguns autores julgam que esta deformidade deve-se a alterações embriogenicas das cartilagens alares nasais, são os defensores da teoria intrínseca. Outros, que propõem a teoria extrínseca, defendem a tese de que a deformidade deve-se a ação desordenada da musculatura perioral deformada pela fissura. PACIENTES E MÉTODOS: Em uma tentativa de trazer alguma contribuição, neste trabalho obtiveram-se amostras da porção lateral das cartilagens alares -- tanto do lado são quanto do lado fissurado -- de 18 pacientes. Estas amostras cortadas, uniformemente, pelo mesmo micrômetro foram coradas pela hematoxilina-eosina, no entanto, as amostras de dois pacientes tiveram que ser desprezadas dada a imperfeições. Todos os cortes foram examinados pelo mesmo patologista que, ignorando as origens, contou o número de condrócitos e quantificou as matrizes cartilaginosas. RESULTADOS: Todos os dados obtidos foram submetidos a testes estatísticos que revelaram não haver qualquer diferença significativa, tanto quanto ao número de condrócitos quanto às matrizes cartilaginosas, entre os lados são e o fissurado. DISCUSSÃO: Tais resultados, aparentemente, apoiam aqueles que defendem a teoria extrínseca; todavia, permanece a dúvida quanto à composição das matrizes cartilaginosas, não só dos glicosaminoglicanos que as compõem como, também, quanto à elastina e ao colágeno e suas coligações que podem determinar diferentes graus de consciência à cartilagem

A Comparison of AutoML Tools for Machine Learning, Deep Learning and XGBoost

This paper presents a benchmark of supervised Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) tools. Firstly, we an- alyze the characteristics of eight recent open-source AutoML tools (Auto-Keras, Auto-PyTorch, Auto-Sklearn, AutoGluon, H2O AutoML, rminer, TPOT and TransmogrifAI) and describe twelve popular OpenML datasets that were used in the benchmark (divided into regression, binary and multi-class classification tasks). Then, we perform a comparison study with hundreds of computational experiments based on three scenarios: General Machine Learning (GML), Deep Learning (DL) and XGBoost (XGB). To select the best tool, we used a lexicographic approach, considering first the average prediction score for each task and then the computational effort. The best predictive results were achieved for GML, which were further compared with the best OpenML public results. Overall, the best GML AutoML tools obtained competitive results, outperforming the best OpenML models in five datasets. These results confirm the potential of the general-purpose AutoML tools to fully automate the Machine Learning (ML) algorithm selection and tuning.Opti-Edge: 5G Digital Services Optimization at the Edge, Individual Project, NUP: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-045220, co-funded by the Incentive System for Research and Technological Development, from the Thematic Operational Program Competitiveness of the national framework program - Portugal202

Agile Methodology to Performance Measure and Identification of Impact Factors in the Labour Productivity of Industrial Workers

The objective of this work is to adapt and test an agile methodology based on human observation that waives the data collection based on the timing of time in activity. Aiming to evaluate the productivity and non-productivity of workers in a factory during the pipe welding process for use in the construction of industrial plants. Through human observation the data was gathered by registering punctually the activities of the welders during a week. The results obtained by the Monte Carlo simulation were validated by comparing the results obtained by the probability and statistically analysis of the complete sample. After the simulation validation the Sensibility Analysis test was conducted in order to evaluate the variables of higher impact in the performance of the welders. The average of Labour Rating Factor and Idleness Rating Factor obtained by Monte Carlo simulation were respectively, 0.5529 and 0.4549 and by the sampling chart Labour Rating Factor 0.5552 and Idleness Rating Factor 0.4448. The methodology identified 9(nine) actions in the productive state, where the welding activity presents the greatest impact on the output of the mean of the Labour Rating Factor. In addition, 8(eight) actions were considered non-productive, where displacements and human conditions activities have the greatest impact on the Idleness Rating Factor. Furthermore, the results were compared with the work of other Authors. The research results shows the feasibility for industry to use this proposal of an agile methodology for evaluating the workforce performance, spending less resource compared with traditional ones

Compassion and extracurricular activities of Portuguese Health Sciences students in Portugal

Background Compassion, one of the items of empathy, is crucial in health care professions. So, the evaluation of the levels of compassion of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences Master Degrees’ (M.D.) students of the public Colleges in Portugal according to the type of Master Degree and the participation in extracurricular activities (E.A.) was a task to be performed. Methods Cross-sectional study in 2020, applying an on-line questionnaire including the “Compassion” items of the Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale – Students’ version and questions about the participation in E.A. Results A sample of 901 students was studied. Its distribution by participation in E.A. did not differ significantly between M.D. (p = 0,854), most of the students participating in E.A. Using quartile distribution of compassion, the distribution of compassion levels was different among the three I.M. (p < 0.001), between Colleges (p < 0.001), and between curricular years (p < 0.001), with not different between genders (p = 0.036). For 56.4%, 74,6% and 69,5% of the respondents there was “medium-low” and “low” compassion for I.M. in Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Dentistry. These levels were also more prevalent among students in the 1st and 5th years. Levels of compassion were not different with the participation (p = 0,865), type (p = 0,177) and frequency of E.A. (p = 0,109). Conclusions For their importance in future health care professionals, compassion and their differences found among the M.Ds. of this area deserve future studies. Levels of compassion showed differences between the M.D. studied and academic years of frequency. There was no relationship between the participation, type, and frequency of E.A. and the students’ levels of compassion. The distribution of the level of compassion did not vary significantly with participation in E.A. (p = 0.865), with the type of E.A. (p = 0.177), with the frequency of E.A. (p = 0.109) or with the answer to the question “The practice of E.A. can make a person more compassionate?” (p = 0.503).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Educação infantil e a família: perspectiva jurídica desta relação na garantia do direito à educação

O artigo busca contextualizar a família e a educação infantil na sociedade brasileira contemporânea, destacando os pontos de intersecção que as unem. Objetiva também discutir as políticas necessárias para a concretização dos direitos fundamentais da criança e seus reflexos no aspecto jurídico. As reflexões têm como base a legislação brasileira e a produção intelectual sobre os temas educação infantil e família