Does the Use of Foreign Currency Derivatives Affect Colombian Firms’ Market Value?

Classic financial theory relies on the absolute perfection of capital markets, which results in one of the milestones of theoretical corporate finance: the firm’s value is invariant to the choice of capital structure. As an extension to the aforementioned proposition by Modigliani and Miller (1958), corporate risk management is also futile. Nevertheless, it is clear that capital markets do not work with absolute perfection. There exist frictions which make risk management decisions essential for the firm’s value. Moreover, derivatives’ market vast importance is a good proxy of the relevance of hedging decisions for corporate finance. There is a remarkable volume of literature which tests the effects of risk management and hedging decisions for the value of the firm, mainly for the US corporate market. However, there is little effort on this subject for markets which work even farther from absolute perfection. This document undertakes such task for the Colombian market. Focused on non-financial firms and the local’s most liquid derivatives market, we find that for a panel of eight large Colombian corporations, the growth rate of Tobin´s Q depends significantly on firm´s size and hedging. Our results suggests that, after controlling for relevant financial variables such as firm´s profitability and leverage, and other variables such as firm´s age, an increase in hedging leads to a higher growth in the firm´s value.Modigliani-Miller, risk management, hedging, firm value, emerging market, Tobin´s Q. Classification JEL: G32, G30, L25.

Distribution and Important Areas for the Conservation of Amphibians in the Province of Seville, Spain: Identifying Priorities

Amphibians are among the most threatened vertebrates in the world due to habitat destruction, emerging diseases, and climate change, and therefore, it is of critical importance to identify the risk and conservation measures for their populations. In this work, we aimed to identify the status of amphibian distribution in the province of Seville, in the south of Spain. We additionally wanted to identify critical conservation areas and propose measures of conservation for the whole community as well as specific taxa. To do this, we mapped the distribution of amphibians using our own data and bibliography and translated it into a 10 × 10 km2 UTM grid. Our work has allowed us to identify several areas of importance for amphibians in the province and populations of some species that need special attentio

Monetary Policy Forecasting in a DSGE Model with Data that is Uncertain, Unbalanced and About the Future

If theory-consistent models can ever hope to forecast well and to be useful for policy, they have to relate to data which though rich in information is uncertain, unbalanced and sometimes forecasts from external sources about the future path of other variables. One example from many is financial market data, which can help but only after smoothing out irrelevant short-term volatility. In this paper we propose combining different types of useful but awkward data set with a linearised forward-looking DSGE model through a Kalman Filter fixed-interval smoother to improve the utility of these models as policy tools. We apply this scheme to a model for Colombia.Monetary Policy, DSGE, Forecast, Kalman Filter Classification JEL: F47, E01, C61.

Dermatitis alérgica por contacto al barniz del parquet

Se describe una dermatitis alérgica por contacto al barniz del parquet en dieciocho perros, diez hembras y ocho machos, cuya edad oscilaba entre los tres y los once años. Siete eran de raza Pastor alemán, siete eran mestizos y los otros cuatro eran de diferentes razas. En todos los casos, el problema dermatológico coincidió con un reciente barnizado del parquet. El periodo de sensibilización, según los casos, varió entre I y 6 meses. Los perros presentaban lesiones simétricas y bilaterales en labios y comisuras laterales, caracterizadas por despigmentación, tumefacción, eritema, erosión, ulceración y formación de costras. Tres animales mostraban, además, lesiones similares alrededor de la boca, y dos animales en el prepucio y en el escroto. El prurito era de ligero a moderado. El diagnóstico se realizó en base a la historia, al cuadro clínico y a la prueba de aislamiento-provocación

Effect of mold temperature on the impact behavior and morphology of injection molded foams based on polypropylene polyethylene–octene copolymer blends

Producción CientíficaIn this work, an isotactic polypropylene (PP) and a polyethylene–octene copolymer (POE) have been blended and injection-molded, obtaining solids and foamed samples with a relative density of 0.76. Different mold temperature and injection temperature were used. The Izod impact strength was measured. For solids, higher mold temperature increased the impact resistance, whereas in foams, the opposite trend was observed. In order to understand the reasons of this behavior, the morphology of the elastomeric phase, the crystalline morphology and the cellular structure have been studied. The presence of the elastomer near the skin in the case of high mold temperature can explain the improvement produced with a high mold temperature in solids. For foams, aspects as the elastomer coarsening in the core of the sample or the presence of a thicker solid skin are the critical parameters that justify the improved behavior of the materials produced with a lower mold temperature.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant DI-15-07952

Análisis de la dinámica biológica presente en un sistema piloto de lombricultura para el manejo de biosólidos provenientes de aguas residuales.

Se analizó la dinámica biológica presente en un sistema piloto de lombricultura con la especie Eisenia foetida para el manejo de biosólidos provenientes de la Planta de Tratamiento Aguas Residuales –PTAR– Salitre, Bogotá D. C., con el fin de establecer la influencia de los organismos presentes en la transformación y translocación de la materia orgánica –MO–, la eficiencia de este proceso, así como la calidad del humus y su posible uso como abono orgánico. Esto, mediante análisis biológicos en diferentes etapas. En la primera fase del sistema se identificó que los biosólidos están clasificados como tipo B de acuerdo con la EPA (Agencia de Protección del Medioambiente de los EE. UU.), y presentan condiciones desfavorables para su aplicación a cultivos agrícolas. Sin embargo, luego de dos meses de procesamiento biológico, el humus tuvo características similares a las de un compost maduro, con baja presencia de microorganismos patógenos, así como también un leve aumento en la diversidad y equitatividad de la meso y la macro fauna

La influencia de las TIC en los centros educativos

The purpose of this work is the study of how ICTs influence education centres. The study tries to answer a series of questions such as what capabilities and what academic training teachers have concerning ICTs, how equipped schools and classrooms are or what uses are carried out with these technologies. To solve these questions, different studies and reports about ICTs have been analyzed.Este trabajo se centra en el estudio de cómo influyen las TIC en los centros educativos. Intenta dar respuesta a algunas cuestiones como qué capacidades y formación tienen los docentes sobre las TIC, cómo se encuentran dotados los centros y aulas o qué usos se llevan a cabo con estas tecnologías. Para resolver estas cuestiones, se han analizado diferentes estudios publicados e informes relacionados con el tema