Collective Action-A Challenge and an Opportunity for Water Governance

This paper addresses the motivations that drive participation in groups concerning water protection and provides a review of the key role collective action plays in accessing and managing water resources. It also analyses the conditions and factors which make such organizations effective in solving shared problems and in faciliting and institutionalizing negotiation platforms. Collective action heavily relies on the social capital existing in a community to accomplish goals and objectives. These social networks allow for flow of information, serving not only to criticize but also to purpose a different course in environmental and particularly, water management. The vital role of collective action and other "major groups" in sustainable development was recognized in Chapter 27[2] of Agenda 21, leading to revised arrangements for consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-governmental organizations which are, indeed, collective voluntary action. The coalition building capacity suggesting the mobilization of civil society in the sense of organized interests can supplement the ultimate responsibility of the traditional democratic institutions according to the implementation of the Aarthus Principles. Modern governance calls for consensus, seeking processes with organized interests, a good culture of consultation and participation. Collective action meets these goals, as offers the chances for environmental effectiveness, contributing to information generation and creation of relevant knowledge. These factors may relieve the legislator, affecting the way in which powers are exercised at European level, particularly as regards the five principles of good governance, namely openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence. Most problems with water resource management are felt at the lowest levels and changes in water management are required down to the individual action, reasons why the development strategies call for extensive pro-active participation (at different levels, sectors and scales) upholding the principles of subsidiarity. Finally, this paper also highlights the role performed by collective action in increasing advocacy skills and capacity, contributing to strengthening governance at the local level through favoring the enabling environment for water protection and conservation.

Sustainability of the water sector in Portugal-an outlook on strategies, dynamics and common practices

To understand the conjunction of human and natural systems and the nature of their interactions has been crucial. The integrated response to the human management of natural systems is nowadays based on “sustainable development” concept which emphasizes the need to make compatible social, economic and environmental systems. But, what does it mean when we consider such a specific resource has it is water, with very essential life-support functions? The design and rhythms of natural and social systems are compatible in a way that they guarantee the supply of this resource, with the quality required for the human needs in the future? To what extend common practices and natural dynamics are forward-looking sustainable water resources development? This paper aims to provide a reflection about these subjects. It mainly addresses issues concerning water from the Portuguese perspective, and highlights the linkages between water resources management and sustainable development. The purposes are to analyse the adequacy of Portuguese water institutions, planning and management to the requirements of the sustainability concept in the context of water resources and also pointing out research needed for improvement of strategies concerning the approach to the problem of water scarcity.

A Political Economy Model of Regulation Explained Through Fuzzy Logics

The basic problem of environmental regulation involves the government trying to induce a polluter to take socially desirable actions, which ostensibly are not in the best interest of the polluter. But the government may not always be able to precisely control the polluter. To further complicate matters the government faces a complex problem of determining exactly what level of pollution is best for society. In reality the government faces pressures from consumers and polluters. There are some important lessons to gather from the analysis of current models of regulation. One is that there are many imperfect links between the legislature and the pollution-generating process. In this case regulation may be excessively costly, may result in considerable cheating, and may result in excessive pollution. Another lesson is that legislature does not necessarily act as an efficient benevolent maximizer of social well-being. The authors intend in this paper to explain the current view of political models of regulation, analysing them for their complexity, and attempt to provide a reasonable explanation of their functioning recurring to fuzzy logics. Understanding how the browns and greens interact with the legislature and regulatory agencies can to some extent explain the current environmental regulations. The fuzzy approach, intends to allow for easier understanding of these interactions, and provide an answer for more effective decision making. Keywords: Environmental Regulation, Environmental Economics, Fuzzy Logics, Models, Pollution Control, Sustainability

Chaotic and deterministic switching in a two-person game

We study robust long-term complex behaviour in the Rock-Scissors-Paper game with two players, played using reinforcement learning. The complex behaviour is connected to the existence of a heteroclinic network for the dynamics. This network is made of three heteroclinic cycles consisting of nine equilibria and the trajectories connecting them. We provide analytical proof both for the existence of chaotic switching near the heteroclinic network and for the relative asymptotic stability of at least one cycle in the network, leading to behaviour ranging from almost deterministic actions to chaotic-like dynamics. Our results are obtained by making use of the symmetry of the original problem, a new approach in the context of learning.learning process, dynamics, switching, chaos

Visión arenalista de la delincuencia.

Sin resume

Estudo de uma colecçao de objectos etnográficos: especificidades dos objectos e dos modelos de estudo

SIAM. Series Iberoamericanas de Museología. Año 3, Vol.

Synthesis of pi-conjugated systems bearing thiophene and pyrrole heterocycles through palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions.

A series of thienylpyrroles and bithienylpyrroles together with their formyl derivatives 5aed were synthesized using commercially or readily available coupling components, through three different palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions (Suzuki-Miyaura, Stille and decarboxylative coupling). The synthesis of compounds 5 via the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction produced the title compounds in better yields than the other coupling reactions, while, decarboxylative coupling resulted in the lower yields. UV-visible and 1H NMR studies confirm the existence of significant intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) from the donor pyrrole heterocycle to the acceptor group and a high polarizability of the whole pi-conjugated systems. Together these characteristics indicate their strong potential as versatile precursors for the preparation of push-pull heterocyclic compounds for optical applications.The authors thank the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) and FEDER-COMPETE for financial support through the Centro de Química – Universidade do Minho, Projects PTDC/QUI/66251/2006 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007429), CQ/UM PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2013 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037302) and a PhD grant to M. C. R. Castro (SFRH/BD/78037/2011). The NMR spectrometer Bruker Avance III 400 is part of the National NMR Network and was purchased within the framework of the National Program for Scientific Re-equipment, with funds from FCT

Essays on labor, product, and credit market imperfections

Market frictions or market imperfections are diverse, broadly present in most markets, and affect most transactions in the economy. These market failures may prevent buyers and sellers from trading, even if they agree on a price. This means that the central assumption of perfectly competitive markets that markets clear fails to hold, and some buyers and sellers remain unmatched. Since the 1970s, a growing literature has emerged addressing the importance of market frictions in most markets of the economy, namely in the labor, product, and credit markets. Information asymmetries, transaction costs, heterogeneous preferences, and coordination failure are examples of sources of market imperfections. In labor markets, these frictions imply that firms possess some market power over their employees and that a one cent wage cut does not lead all workers to leave the firm. In product markets, a key ingredient for the sluggish price adjustment is coordination failure among firms. Firms respond incompletely to an aggregate shock because other firms have not yet responded. In turn, asymmetric information and costly contract enforcement provide the foundations of credit market frictions, and are used to explain credit rationing as a market equilibrium. In Chapter 1 we use matched employer-employee data and firm balance sheet data to investigate the importance of firm productivity and firm labor market power in explaining firm heterogeneity in wage formation. We use a linear regression model with one interacted high dimensional fixed effect to estimate 5-digit sector-specifc elasticity of output with respect to input factors directly from the production function. This allows us to derive firm specific price-cost mark-up and elasticity of labor supply. The results show that firms possess a considerable degree of product and labor market power. Furthermore, we find evidence that a firm's monopsony power negatively affects the earnings of its workers, and firm's total factor productivity is closely associated with higher earnings, ceteris paribus. We also find that firms use monopsony power for wage differentiation between male and female workers. Chapter 2 describes price setting behavior using a very rich dataset of producer prices collected for Portuguese frms. The Industrial Producer Prices Index dataset is comprised of monthly transaction prices collected for products defuned at a detailed level. We proceed with the analysis in two steps. First, we estimate a hazard function model for the probability of a price change with high dimensional fixed effects to extensively account for product and firm-specific time-invariant heterogeneity, splitting price changes between price decreases and price increases. Second, we estimate a peer-effects model to document how market competition affects firms' price setting rules. The results suggest that the likelihood of price adjustment depends on both idiosyncratic and sectoral conditions. Furthermore, when we fully account for heterogeneity, duration dependence is estimated to be positive in the case of both a price increase and price decrease. The results of the peer-effects model suggest that firms timidly respond to their competitors' price setting behavior. Chapter 3 examines the importance of credit demand and credit supply-related factors in explaining the evolution of credit granted to Portuguese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results suggest that the interest rate is a strong driver of SMEs' demand for bank loans, as well as their internal financing capacity. On the other hand, credit supply mostly depends on firms' ability to generate cash-flows and reimburse their debt, and on the amount of collateral. The model was estimated for the period between 2010 and 2012. The results suggest that a considerable fraction of Portuguese SMEs were affected by credit rationing in this period

Antioxidant peptides produced from unexplored marine resources

The sea contains about one half of the global biodiversity, thereby being a good source for novel compounds of interest, such as bioactive peptides. Mussels are consumed and appreciated over the world, although commercialized mussels are pre-selected before being delivered for sale, so small or broken mussels are discarded. Microalgae are photosynthetic organisms, easy to cultivate since they do not require cultivable land. The microalgae used in this work are produced in a company in which the CO2 generated in the production of cement is injected to microalgae growth tubes transforming it in oxygen, resulting in a decrease of CO2 emission. The chosen species, Chlorella vulgaris and Nannochloropsis oceanica, have interesting protein content, making them a promising sustainable protein source. Discarded mussels from the specie Mytilus galloprovincialis, supplied by a national mussel trading company, and the microalgae grown up with CO2 generated from cement production, were used to produce water soluble extracts rich in proteins and bioactive peptides, showing potential to the development of sustainable industrial alternatives, promoting new perspectives for a circular economy. Four extracts were produced and analysed: Mussel_Sub, hydrolysed with subtilisin (1.5%,3h); Mussel_Cor, hydrolysed with corolase (3%,3h); Chlorella, hydrolysed with acetic acid (0.5%,1h), cellulase (5%,2h) and subtilisin (3.9%;2h); and Nannochloropsis, hydrolysed with cellulase (5%,2h) and subtilisin (1.7%,5h). The protein content was determined by Kjeldahl and the antioxidant activity by ORAC and ABTS assays. The Chlorella extract showed 44.71±1.75% protein, 462.83±39.37 (ORAC) and 76.12±7.53 (ABTS) μmol TE/g. Nannochloropsis showed 31.01±0.27% protein, 361.32±49.29 (ORAC) and 68.07±6.97 (ABTS) μmol TE/g. Mussel_Cor showed 48.00±0.15% protein, 389.50±0.29 (ORAC) and 62.76±8.88 (ABTS) μmol TE/g; Mussel_Sub showed 45.23±0.14% protein, 485.62±60.65 (ORAC) and 66.11±2.35 (ABTS) μmol TE/g. The enzymatic hydrolysis of marine species may allow to produce extracts rich in proteins and antioxidant peptides useful for industrial applications, contributing to the valorisation of these species and to a circular economy, since mussel commercialization generates waste and microalgae can transform CO2 from other industries to O2, reducing the environmental impact.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio