Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interactions in a Monetary Union with Country-size Asymmetry

This paper analyses optimal discretionary non-coordinated monetary and fiscal stabilization policies in a micro-founded New-Keynesian model of a two-country monetary union with country-size asymmetry, under two policy scenarios. A balanced-budget policy scenario and a policy scenario where the presence of government debt limits the macroeconomic stabilization effort and enlarges the sources of strategic policy interactions. Numerical results indicate that non-cooperation exacerbates the fiscal policy activism of a small country while moderating that of a large country. In the balanced-budget scenario, non-cooperation improves (reduces) welfare for a small (large) country while, in the high-debt scenario, it produces the opposite results. Cooperation dominates non-cooperation for the union as a whole.Monetary union; optimal fiscal and monetary policies; asymmetric countries.

Xamanismo e conhecimento : um breve olhar sobre o fenómeno do xamanismo nas culturas índias norte-americanas

Livro de homenagem à professora Maria Laura Bettencourt Pire

Perspectives of "The Land": The Making of Cultural Topographies

At the beginning of this new era, world perspectives and outlooks are necessarily shifting and turning, becoming an inescapable process in the creation of new intellectual topographies. It may sometimes involve rethinking the whole intellectual construct of the universe, the maps of reality or the topographies of the self and its surroundings.It may even involve stopping on our tracks, surveying our errors of judgment, listening to the voices around us; be it the voices of other peoples we - the heirs of Europe’s empires - have subdued, conquered, and colonized, be it the voice of the Earth, itself. Although this is not usually part of the West’s academic discourse, tainted as it is by the very ideas and ideals that we are here calling into question, it is our intention to focus our attention on the ontologies and epistemologies of the Indigenous Peoples of America, and on the conflicts ensuing from their encounter with the West’s hegemonic mindset. We argue that at the root of the conflicts between the Indigenous cultures of America and the European settler cultures lies their divergent perspective of the Land. If, for the European settlers, the Earth and its creatures were to be subdued, conquered, mastered by Mankind, for the Indigenous peoples of America, they were essentially teachers, guides, or fellow beings in Creation, with specific powers and knowledge; the Land inspired their languages, and instilled its knowledge into the people. It may now be the right time to listen again to those forgotten or silenced voices, so as to outline a new topography of existence

Information Society, Work and the Generation of New Forms of Social Exclusion (SOWING): National Report (Portugal)

The choice over the Portuguese case studies was based on the sample constructed for the application of the firm questionnaires, during the second year of the SOWING project, 1999. This sample was fulfilled of firms among several activity sectors: textile, manufacturing, electronics, transports and software industry, based on NACE – codes (2 – digit level). Thus, we agreed to include in a new database the remaining questionnaires and construct a sample with 113 observations. Concerning the organisational change we make a distinction of three categories of change. First we analyse changes taking place at the inter-firm level (outsourcing, subcontracting, geographic relocation), followed by changes at the organisational level (deconcentration/decentralisation, reduction of hierarchical levels, introduction of cost and profit centres). The third kind of changes analysed will be those taking place at the workplace level (job enlargement/enrichment, changing character of work, work load). The Portuguese studied companies presents a relative uniform pattern considering the variables social competencies, practical knowledge, responsibility and specialized professional qualifications.industry; information technologies; qualification; organisation; work

A Pedagogical Approach to the Waltzes and Tangos for Piano by Francisca Gonzaga

Francisca (Chiquinha) Gonzaga (1847–1935) was an important composer in the development of Brazilian music. She was also a remarkable female personality and broke paradigms in a society dominated by men. In spite of that, her works are not widely performed and studied yet. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a pedagogical approach to her works. This research explores her waltzes and tangos for piano, analyzes their musical, reading and technical difficulties, and provides a graded level for half of them to stimulate their use as repertoire for piano students and performers. Chiquinha composed 37 waltzes and 30 tangos for piano. In this research, the prominent musical, reading and technical issues are listed and half of the waltzes and tangos are analyzed more deeply. A level of difficulty is ascribed to each piece, and some practice and interpretative suggestions are given. A brief survey of the history of the waltz and the tango in Brazil is included to contextualize the importance of Gonzaga’s works. This research is intended to publicize Chiquinha’s waltzes and tangos for piano and highlight how they can be valuable resources for the musical and technical development of piano students. They are also important resources for understanding the development of a Brazilian musical style and can prepare students for more advanced works of nationalistic composers. This paper may also serve as a guide for piano teachers in search of repertoire for their students, as it contains analysis of pianistic aspects in 19 of the waltzes and 15 of the tangos

Estudo do impacto da redução orçamental na prevenção e tratamento dos doentes com Diabetes Mellitus na região de saúde do Baixo Alentejo

A incidência e a morbilidade associadas à diabetes mellitus, exigem uma preocupação e atenção redobrada de toda a comunidade. Esta patologia deve ser diagnosticada o mais cedo possível e deverão ser unidos esforços no sentido de tentar debelar a gravidade das complicações a nível da saúde, que esta doença pode provocar. Este trabalho de projeto, tem como objetivo principal, verificar se a redução que o orçamento de estado tem vindo a sofrer nos últimos anos, tem repercussões negativas nos cuidados de saúde primários, ao nível das necessidades em saúde na Diabetes Mellitus, na Região de Saúde do Baixo Alentejo. Pretende-se igualmente, saber se o decréscimo na dotação constante do orçamento do estado, tem impacto negativo na qualidade da prestação dos cuidados no tratamento da Diabetes, bem como na qualidade do serviço de prevenção da mesma. Para dar resposta às questões colocadas, realizou-se um «case-study» na área de influência de saúde do Baixo Alentejo, região onde o número de casos per capita é considerado bastante alto. Foram aplicados 56 questionários aos utentes dos centros de saúde da região de saúde do baixo Alentejo, que padecem desta doença, bem como 20 questionários aos enfermeiros que acompanham estes doentes no tratamento. Foi feita igualmente uma entrevista ao director executivo do ACES. Os resultados refletem que a existência de menos recursos financeiros, prejudica a aplicação de meios eficazes para a prevenção e combate à diabetes, dado que a doença não é detetada e tem-se agravado devido a maus hábitos alimentares e ausência de exercício físico. A redução de meios financeiros também não permite que haja mais recursos materiais utilizados no tratamento do pé diabético. Com os resultados obtidos neste estudo, espera-se alertar e ajudar os responsáveis pela criação e implementação de políticas de saúde na Região de Saúde do Baixo Alentejo que, nomeadamente no âmbito da doença Diabetes Mellitus, promovam a sustentabilidade do sistema de saúde. Esta sustentabilidade, associada à gestão eficiente dos recursos para a saúde, é essencial à prevenção desta patologia, à melhoria do acesso destes pacientes aos cuidados de saúde e à qualidade do serviço prestado no seu tratamento. Deu-se portanto um passo, no sentido de informar, e consequentemente melhorar os procedimentos tendentes a combater o aparecimento desta patologia, acompanhar os utentes que padecem desta doença com serviços de qualidade, bem como evitar as consequências nefastas do diagnóstico tardio da mesma; ### ABSTRACT: Study of the impact of the budget reduction in the prevention and treatment of patients with Diabetes Mellitus in the Health Region of Baixo Alentejo. The incidence and morbidity associated with diabetes mellitus require redoubled attention and concern from the whole community. This pathology must be diagnosed as early as possible and efforts should be made to try and eradicate the severity of health complications this disease can cause. This project aims at verifying if the reduction that the state budget has been suffering in recent years has had negative impact on primary health care, in terms of health needs in Diabetes Mellitus in the Health Region of Baixo Alentejo. It also aims at ascertaining whether the decrease in constant allocation of the state budget has had negative impact on the quality of the provision of care in the treatment of Diabetes, as well as in the quality of the prevention service of the same. In order to respond to the questions, a case-study was carried out in the area of influence of the Health Region of Baixo Alentejo, a region where the number of cases per capita is considered quite high. 56 questionnaires were applied to users of health centers of the Health Region of Baixo Alentejo who suffer from this disease, as well as 20 questionnaires to nurses accompanying these patients in the treatment, and there was an interview with the executive director of the ACES (Agrupamento de Centros de Saúde - Health Centers Group). The results reflect that the existence of fewer financial resources undermines the application of effective means for prevention and combating diabetes, given that the disease is not detected and has worsened due to poor eating habits and lack of exercise. The reduction of financial resources also does not allow the existence of more material resources used in the treatment of diabetic foot. The results obtained in this study aim at warning and helping those responsible for creating and implementing health policies in the Health Region of Baixo Alentejo promote the sustainability of the health system, particularly in the context of the disease Diabetes Mellitus. This sustainability, together with the efficient management of resources for health, is essential to the prevention of this pathology, to the improvement of patients’ access to health care and the quality of the service provided in its treatment. A step was therefore taken in order to inform, and consequently to improve the procedures designed to combat the appearance of this pathology, to follow users who suffer from this disease with quality services, as well as to avoid the harmful consequences of a late diagnosis

CHARACTERIZATION OF UMAMI TASTE SENSITIVITY IN CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT CANCER

INTRODUCTION: The umami taste comes from glutamate and 5 ribonucleotides including inosinate and guanylate, which appear naturally in many foods. It can be identified by monosodium glutamate, being considered as a subtle taste, but blending well with other tastes, expands and enhances the flavor. OBJECTIVE: to identify umami taste thresholds in children with ALL or NHL and in healthy school children and to correlate taste sensitivity with nutritional status, age and gender. METHODS: The threshold sensitivity test was applied to determine umami taste using 6 solutions containing increasing concentrations of deionized water and monosodium glutamate. Subjects were weighed and measured, and BMI was calculated to determine nutritional status. For statistical analyses were used version 2.6.6 of the R Statistical software and Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests with descriptive levels (p = 0.05). RESULTS: The sample consisted of 102 patients and 42 school children, and that subjects were male (53.9% and 54.8%), eutrophic (63.7% and 69.0%) and aged from 6 to 9 years (58.8% and 52.4%), respectively. Most patients (92.0%) and school children (97.4%) were sensitive to umami taste and had similar umami taste threshold values. No statistically significant difference was found between umami taste thresholds of sensitive patients and school children, BMI, gender. CONCLUSIONS: Perception of umami taste was independent of gender, age, nutritional status or presence of disease

Reproductive health as a gendered indicator of well-being : the case of ‘infertility’

Reproduction of human beings is also the reproduction of social relationships that constitutes a multidimensional process, in which biological but also emotional, cultural, economic aspects play a determinant role on the construction of the life cycle of the individuals. Therefore, the capacity of reproduction may be an essential ingredient of the experience and sense of well-being, mediated by gendered inequalities and sexual differences. During the last decades, deep cultural, economical and political transformations have intensified the changing of the demographic scenarios. The generalization of the access to modern contraception has created a diverse range of possibilities of ‘management’ of the reproductive careers. Along with the growing delay of the decision of having the first child, especially from the part of the women that are integrated on the market of paid work, having at least one child became a central point of the life of the modern families. But what happens when couples face infertility? Modern medicine is making impressive advances on what refers to assisted conception techniques, which in several countries have been the subject of intense public discussion and debate. Social sciences – and particularly the feminist studies – have been contributing to the debate by analysing the socio-cultural dilemmas that are being raised in the context of new reproductive techniques, in addition to difficult ethical, personal, moral and political questions. But very few studies are examining the phenomenon of infertility, maybe due to several obstacles that are created when researchers try to identify and contact the individuals and couples that are experiencing the infertile condition. Drawing on the making of qualitative interviews to couples who were unable to carry on the project of having a biological child (focusing on the woman’s experiences and feelings) and who have undergone assisted conception procedures, this paper examines the concept of «reproductive health», perceived as something which evokes gender differences and that may be understood as an essential indicator of the perceptions and evaluations of well being and of ‘living life’ from the part of the individuals and of the families.COST - EU Framework Programme Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) POCTI/DEM/44483/200

Primary prevention of neural tube defects: data from the portuguese national registry of congenital anomalies (RENAC)

Background: In Portugal folic acid supplementation is recommended to start at least 2-3 months before conception for primary prevention of Neural Tube Defects. The aim of this study was to evaluate, within gestations with at least one congenital anomaly, possible association between maternal socio-demographic factors and the use of folic acid. Methods: Using data from the Portuguese national registry of congenital anomalies, for the 2004-2013 period, the association between folic acid use during pregnancy and maternal characteristics was studied using the chi-square test. Results: Considering all reported cases with congenital anomaly, the use of folic acid before conception was reported by 12.7% (n = 1233) of the women; 47.8% (n = 4623) started supplementation during the 1st trimester, 7% (n = 680) did not take folic acid and 32.5% (3143) of the records had no information on folic acid use. Women with professions that require higher academic differentiation started the use of supplements before pregnancy (p <0.001); women under 19 years old and with Arab ethnicity (p <0.001) did not take folic acid. Mothers with a previous pregnancy reported less use of folic acid (11.5% versus 14.7%) than mothers without a previous pregnancy (p <0.001). Conclusions: The results suggest some degree of association between maternal characteristics and use of folic acid. To increase the consumption of folic acid before pregnancy new measures are need to promote this primary prevention, among couples and health professionals. This study highlights some maternal characteristics and subgroups of mothers for who the measures should be reinforced