Divergent competitiveness in the eurozone and the optimum currency area theory

As the euro is on its second decade, the European sovereign debt crisis and the ever more evident disparities in competitiveness among member states are prompting many to question whether monetary union is bringing more benefits than costs. The optimum currency area (OCA) theory provides a framework with several criteria for such analysis. Most literature focuses either or on OCA individual criteria or on an aggregate analysis of these criteria, using meta-properties. Differently, we start by a descriptive analysis of the first twelve euro countries under six criteria between 1999 and 2009. We detect signs of labour geographic mobility. However, nominal wages growth largely outpaced productivity growth in some periphery countries, resulting in losses of competitiveness. Financial markets seem to be deeply integrated. Total intra-EMU trade increased, though core countries seem to have benefited more, as their relative competitiveness improved. We detect no increased homogeneity of exports structures of EMU countries. Inflation rates alternated between periods of convergence and of divergence, though prices levels consistently converged between EMU countries. Finally, budgetary indiscipline was frequent preventing several countries from having fiscal room to face asymmetrical shocks.We conclude by estimating the impact of five OCA criteria on countries’ relative competitiveness, using real effective exchange rates as a proxy. Differences in the growth of unit labour costs, the dissimilarity of trade and the differences in output growth were found to be significant. With a higher confidence level, bilateral trade is significant and points towards the specialization paradigm. Thus, we identify some causes of the divergent competitiveness between some EMU countries that contributed to weaker economic growth in parts of the euro area.Optimum currency area, Euro Area; Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), Competitiveness

How we got Here? A Methodology to Study the Evolution of Economies

This paper proposes a methodology to analyze the evolution of the economic development of countries. Our approach is based upon the definition of temporal trajectories of countries in a common bidimensional space yielded by a High-Order Singular Value Decomposition (HOSVD). These trajectories are defined with respect to a pre-selected set of macroeconomic indicators and are appropriate for comparison purposes. To show the applicability of the proposed methodology we have used data from the World Bank concerning the economic and financial development of EU-27 over a 14-year span, that goes from 1995 to 2008. Based on this data we group the EU-27 state members according to their economic development, which is indicated by the position of their trajectories on the plane. We further perform individual analyses of the trajectories of Luxembourg, Germany and Portugal, aiming to both detect and interpret trends and changes in these economies. The results show that this methodology is of importance for economic studies, since it can help the design, monitoring and evaluation of specific economic policies, as well as provide an overview of the evolution of the studied economic phenomenon.European Union, HOSVD, International Comparisons, Temporal Trajectories

Creation: a Multifaceted and Thematic Concept in the Construction of Modern Cosmology – from Friedmann’s Creation of the Universe to the Steady-State’s Continuous Creation

This article focuses on the multifaceted and thematic nature expressed by the concept of creation in 20th-century cosmology, namely in the construction of the big bang cosmology and its rival, the steadystate cosmology. Regarding the approaches of three of the main founders of big bang cosmology (Friedmann, Lemaître, and Gamow), we can find, in an explicit or implicit way, two different forms of creation – creation from nothing or creation from shapeless matter. On the opposite side, suggested by the proponents of steady-state cosmology (Hoyle, Bondi, and Gold), we can find another form of creation – the continuous creation of matter. It is proposed that the multifaceted concept of creation, due to the wide interest it aroused and the intensity of cosmological debates it provoked, as well as its historical longevity and its disciplinary and cultural transversality, may be recognized as a thema.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Neural network mechanisms of working memory interference

[eng] Our ability to memorize is at the core of our cognitive abilities. How could we effectively make decisions without considering memories of previous experiences? Broadly, our memories can be divided in two categories: long-term and short-term memories. Sometimes, short-term memory is also called working memory and throughout this thesis I will use both terms interchangeably. As the names suggest, long-term memory is the memory you use when you remember concepts for a long time, such as your name or age, while short-term memory is the system you engage while choosing between different wines at the liquor store. As your attention jumps from one bottle to another, you need to hold in memory characteristics of previous ones to pick your favourite. By the time you pick your favourite bottle, you might remember the prices or grape types of the other bottles, but you are likely to forget all of those details an hour later at home, opening the wine in front of your guests. The overall goal of this thesis is to study the neural mechanisms that underlie working memory interference, as reflected in quantitative, systematic behavioral biases. Ultimately, the goal of each chapter, even when focused exclusively on behavioral experiments, is to nail down plausible neural mechanisms that can produce specific behavioral and neurophysiological findings. To this end, we use the bump-attractor model as our working hypothesis, with which we often contrast the synaptic working memory model. The work performed during this thesis is described here in 3 main chapters, encapsulation 5 broad goals: In Chapter 4.1, we aim at testing behavioral predictions of a bump-attractor (1) network when used to store multiple items. Moreover, we connected two of such networks aiming to model feature-binding through selectivity synchronization (2). In Chapter 4.2, we aim to clarify the mechanisms of working memory interference from previous memories (3), the so-called serial biases. These biases provide an excellent opportunity to contrast activity-based and activity-silent mechanisms because both mechanisms have been proposed to be the underlying cause of those biases. In Chapter 4.3, armed with the same techniques used to seek evidence for activity-silent mechanisms, we test a prediction of the bump-attractor model with short-term plasticity (4). Finally, in light of the results from aim 4 and simple computer simulations, we reinterpret previous studies claiming evidence for activity-silent mechanisms (5)

Modelo de simulação de discos

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia InformáticaA simulação de componentes é uma importante ferramenta para o auxílio no desenvolvimento de sistemas, realização de testes e uma melhor compreensão acerca desses mesmos componentes por parte de investigadores e desenvolvedores. Esta pode ser realizada utilizando diferentes abordagens, mas tem de permitir uma reprodução fiável do ambiente. A presente dissertação assenta sobre uma plataforma já existente, o Minha. Esta plataforma permite simular sistemas distribuídos e é capaz de simular todas as interações entre várias máquinas ao nível da rede. Embora a plataforma seja capaz de realizar a simulação ao nível da rede, esta não era capaz de realizar qualquer simulação ao nível dos discos das máquinas simuladas, até à realização do dissertação. É este o problema que a presente dissertação se propõe resolver, criando um módulo que realize a intercepção das operações sobre o disco e que trate as mesmas de forma a simular a existência de um disco independente para cada uma das máquinas simuladas. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo dotar a plataforma de um novo módulo que permita que a mesma consiga simular sistemas que necessitem de recursos do disco, como bases de dados. Até à realização da dissertação a plataforma não fazia qualquer controlo sobre os recurso requeridos do disco, o que provocava resultados de simulação inconsistentes devido à partilha não controlada do disco da máquina onde a simulação era realizada. O modelo de simulação apresentado é validado experimentalmente com um microbenchmark e com TPC-B sobre a base de dados HyperSQL. De realçar que o resultado da dissertação em questão já se encontra integrado na plataforma e disponível no repositório oficial da plataforma Minha que se encontra alojado em http://code.google.com/p/minha/.The simulation components is an important tool to support the development of systems, testing and a better understanding of those components by researchers and developers. This can be accomplished using different approaches, but must allow faithful reproduction of the environment. This dissertation is based on an existing platform, Minha. This platform allows simulate distributed systems and is capable of simulating all the interactions between multiple machines at the network level. Although the platform is able to perform the simulation at the network level, this was not able to perform any simulation to the level of the disks of machines simulated until completion of the dissertation. Is this the problem that this dissertation proposes to solve by creating a module that performs the interception operations on the disk and that treat the same in order to simulate the existence of an independent disk for each of the simulated machines. This dissertation aims to provide a platform for a new module that allows simulate systems that require disk resources, such as databases. Until completion of the dissertation platform made no control over the resources required from disk, which caused inconsistent simulation results due to uncontrolled sharing disk of the machine where the simulation was performed. The simulation model is validated experimentally presented with a micro-benchmarks and TPC-B on the HyperSQL database. Note that the result of the dissertation is already integrated into the platform and available in the official repository of Minha platform that is available in http://code.google.com/p/minha/

Fitness group class instructor quality and customer satisfaction in gyms: Project presentation

Comunicações apresentadas originalmente no 9º Congresso Internacional de Atividade Física e Saúde, «Atividade física e desporto: Experiências, desafios e perspetivas», org. Instituto Politécnico de Beja, Escola Superior de Educação, 2-3 junho, 2022

The business opportunities of implementing wearable based products in the health and life insurance industries

The ability to collect biometric data continuously was recently enabled by the development and massification of wearable technologies - computers that are incorporated into items of clothing and accessories which can be worn on the body - unlocking huge opportunities for health and life insurers. Although a great deal of research has been done regarding the technical aspects of these devices, very few works explore the business and managerial implications of implementing wearables into insurance products. Through the combination of secondary data and in-depth expert interviews, this work analyses the impact of wearables and wearable data in the insurance value chain, identifying the main opportunities and challenges to leverage such a technology. This research concludes that in spite of the current narrow use of wearable devices as engagement tools in insurance wellness programs designed to drive user loyalty, this technology has the potential to accelerate the underwriting process, support preventive care, expand the customer base, enable dynamic pricing and enhance the customer experience as part of a connected health ecosystem. Customer adoption, data privacy and legislation are some of the main obstacles for insurers to leverage this technology, on top of the necessary IT infrastructure and data management capabilities which insurers are acquiring mainly through partnerships with innovative players. By implementing wearables technologies, health and life insurers may benefit from reductions in operational costs, new revenue streams and ultimately gains in competitive advantage.A recolha contínua de dados biométricos foi recentemente possibilitada pelo desenvolvimento e massificação dos wearables – computadores incorporados na roupa e acessórios que podem ser vestidos – que representam uma grande oportunidade para as seguradoras de vida e saúde. Apesar de já existir bastante pesquisa sobre os aspetos técnicos destes dispositivos, o mesmo não se verifica ao nível do negócio e da gestão, na implementação de wearables na indústria seguradora. Através da combinação de dados secundários e entrevistas a experts da indústria, este trabalho analisa o impacto dos wearables na cadeia de valor das seguradoras, identificando as principais oportunidades e desafios da sua implementação. A pesquisa conclui que apesar da atual aplicação dos wearables ser limitada, visto que são utilizados como pontos de contacto com o consumidor em programas de bem-estar promovidos pelas seguradoras para reforçar a lealdade à marca, esta tecnologia tem o potencial para acelerar a subscrição de seguros, promover ações de cuidado preventivo de saúde, expandir a base de clientes, possibilitar a prática de preços dinâmicos e melhorar a experiência do consumidor integrados num ecossistema conectado de saúde. A adoção, a privacidade de dados e a legislação são alguns dos principais obstáculos aquando da implementação destes dispositivos, a par da infraestrutura de TI e capacidades de gestão de dados que as seguradoras têm adquirido maioritariamente via parcerias com novas empresas. A implementação dos wearables pode assim contribuir para a redução de custos operacionais, criação de novas fontes de receita e ganhos de vantagem competitiva para as seguradoras