Does a federal country need federal transfers when it has labor mobility?

JEL Classification: H77, R23, C33.The United States is recognized as a country where labor mobility between states is high. Usually, when some states experience periods of economic difficulties, people move to other states that offer better perspectives, which may alleviate depressions. In spite of this flexibility in the labor market, the Federal Budget still grants some significative amount of aid to the states. Does this help to do any good or is it even necessary when labor mobility is significative? In this paper, we assess the efficiency of having federal transfers to states when workers’ mobility is high. We use data for the 50 states of the USA and perform panel data analysis. We reach positive effects of federal transfers and migration in the relative performance of each state and also in the convergence of the states’ income to the union’s average. However, we note that the positive effect of migration is seen in lagged differences (short-run effect) and the federal transfers’ effect is seen in lagged levels (long-run effect). Moreover, quantitatively, the federal transfers have more effects than outmigration

DESENVOLVIMENTO DE CALÇOS DE MADEIRA LAMINADA COLADA A PARTIR DE RESÍDUOS DE EUCALIPTO

Os calços de madeira são utilizados como separadores entre chapas de aço e perfis metálicos na estivagem e no armazenamento, sendo atualmente constituídos de peças de madeira maciça serrada. Porém, a redução da oferta de madeira proveniente de espécies nativas e a incapacidade das espécies de reflorestamento em abastecerem o mercado com peças de boa qualidade levou ao uso de técnicas alternativas para melhor aproveitamento da madeira. Tem-se a técnica de madeira laminada colada (MLC), que é a colagem de madeiras a partir da associação de peças que são selecionadas e dispostas com as fibras paralelas entre si para colagem por meio de adesivos com uso de prensagem, uma alternativa para substituir o uso de madeira maciça. Sabe-se que esta técnica tem um apelo relevante em função do potencial de uso já consagrado em estruturas de madeira, no que diz respeito a produção de elementos estruturais. Diante do exposto, este trabalho teve como objetivo desenvolver um tipo de calço com o uso da tecnologia da colagem de resíduos sólidos de madeira de eucalipto provenientes de serrarias capaz de garantir a segurança no armazenamento e na estivagem de placas de aço e perfis metálicos. Para isso foi feita uma caracterização das propriedades físicas da madeira, determinando-se a densidade aparente, o teor de umidade e a retratibilidade. Os ensaios mecânicos foram realizados visando avaliar a resistência à compressão normal às fibras, resistência à compressão paralela, resistência ao cisalhamento na madeira e na linha de cola em duas condições de umidade (seca e saturada), além do ensaio de delaminação. Foram realizados ensaios não destrutivos de vibração transversal livre, vibração longitudinal e stress wave nos calços. A madeira do híbrido Eucalyptus urophylla x grandis possui boas propriedades físicas, que permitem seu uso para confecção de elementos de MLC. Os resultados mostraram uma alta resistência dos adesivos na condição seca, não sendo encontrado o mesmo desempenho quando ensaiados na condição saturada. Os calços de resíduos apresentaram resultados satisfatórios quando comparados aos calços de MLC com lâmina inteiras, sendo um bom substituto aos calços já existentes. Palavras-chave: MLC, adesivo, propriedades físicas e mecânicas, ensaios não destrutivos

Trajectories of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms over Five Years since Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Results of the NEON-BC Prospective Study

Anxiety and depression symptoms are frequent among patients with breast cancer (BCa) and may last after initial treatments. We aimed to identify five-year trajectories of anxiety and depression symptoms among women with BCa. Neuro-oncological complications of BCa (NEON-BC) cohort included 506 patients admitted at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto in 2012, who were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale before cancer treatment and after one, three, and five years (7.9% attrition rate). Mixed-effect models were used to model anxiety and depression scores over time and model-based clustering to identify the different trajectories. Three trajectories of anxiety symptoms were identified: (1) high scores at baseline and increasing over time (21.7%); (2) consistently low scores over time (63.6%); (3) mid-range scores at baseline, decreasing over time (14.6%). Three trajectories were identified for depression symptoms: (1) high scores at baseline and increasing over time (21.1%); (2) mid-range scores at baseline, which decreased afterward (58.7%); (3) consistently low levels over time (20.2%). Age, education, baseline, and one-year anxiety/depression status predicted the worst five-year trajectories. These results show that assessing anxiety and depression symptoms before treatment and after one year may contribute to identifying the patients who could benefit the most from psychological support. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This research was funded by the European Regional Development Funds (POCI-01-0145-FEDER016867) and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), under the project “A five-year prospective cohort study on the neurological complications of breast cancer: frequency and impact in patient-reported outcomes” (PTDC/DTP-EPI/7183/2014), and by FCT under EPIUnit-Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (UIDB/04750/2020) and Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional (LA/P/0064/2020). NA receives funding from FCT under the project NeurodegCov19-Neurological Complications after COVID-19 (PTDC/SAU-EPI/6275/2020) and C.L., from FCT under the project NEON-PC: neuro-oncological complications of prostate cancer-longitudinal study of cognitive decline (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032358, Ref. PTDC/SAU-EPI/32358/2017). Data management activities up to the first year of follow-up were supported by the Chair on Pain Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, and the Grünenthal Foundation—Portugal

The pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, in Madeira Island

The environmental conditions in Madeira Island are favorable for the presence and dissemination of the pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Five hundred Pinus pinaster wood samples were collected in several forest areas and PWN was detected in 22.8 % of the samples. Bursaphelenchus xylophilus isolates from Madeira Island displayed the species-specific diagnostic characters. A morphological variation in the female tail terminus was detected. In most females, the tail presented a broadly rounded terminus and, occasionally, a digitate terminus with a terminal nipple-like extension resembling a mucro. PCR ITS-RFLP analysis revealed that Madeira Island isolates exhibited patterns specific to the species B. xylophilus and similar to virulent isolates. Amplified ITS regions were further sequenced and no genetic diversity was found for this genomic region among 17 Portuguese isolates (Madeira Island and Continental Portugal). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Portuguese isolates grouped with isolates from China, Korea and one isolate from Japa

Bilateral negotiation in a multi-agent supply chain system

A supply chain is a set of organizations directly linked by flows of services from suppliers to customers. Supply chain activities range from the ordering and receipt of raw materials to the production and distribution of finished goods. Supply chain management is the integration of key activities across a supply chain for the purposes of building competitive infrastructures, synchronizing supply with demand, and leveraging worldwide logistics. This paper addresses the challenges created by supply chain management towards improving long-term performance of companies. It presents a multi-agent supply chain system composed of multiple software agents, each responsible for one or more supply chain activities, and each interacting with other agents in the execution of their responsibilities. Additionally, this paper presents the key features of a negotiation model for software agents. The model handles bilateral multi-issue negotiation and incorporates an alternating offers protocol, a set of logrolling strategies, and a set of negotiation tactics

The capital structure determinants of the Portuguese banking sector: a regional dynamics

This research focuses on evaluating how strongly common capital structure determinants have an explanatory power on the Portuguese banking financial leverage. It also assesses the impact of financial crisis on the banks’ leverage ratios, and its adjustments with capital regulatory requirements. A set of banks selected correspond to the group of financial entities that form the Portuguese Bank Association and that have continually operated as a unique entity over the period 2009-2018. A panel data analysis, based on a fixed effects approach, was used to assess the relationship between financial leverage and the set of selected explanatory variables. The results evidences that there is a significant impact of regulatory capital, the global financial crisis and the eurozone crisis on the leverage levels of the Portuguese banks. Over the period under analysis, regulatory capital, as well as the economic effects of the financial crisis, strongly impacted on the leverage ratios, affecting the capital structure of Portuguese banks. This research provides key outcomes about the impact of structural capital drivers on the Portuguese leverage ratios and the corresponding levels before and after the economic financial crisis. It confirms that a bank may be undercapitalized even when it holds capital above regulatory requirements.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of hypoxic and anaerobic environments on multidrug-resistance of emerging species found in cystic fibrosis airways

OBJECTIVES: It is well-known the establishment of steep oxygen gradients in cystic fibrosis (CF) airways mucus, giving rise to hypoxic or anaerobic zones in the deeper mucus layers, where traditional and atypical bacteria may accommodate and proliferate to biofilms. This study aimed to compare the influence of low-oxygen atmospheres on biofilm growth and susceptibility profiles of the CF-atypical species Inquilinus limosus and Dolosigranulum pigrum with the traditional Pseudomonas aeruginosa. METHODS: Single biofilms encompassing each species were formed in vitro under aerobic, micraerophilic and anaerobic environments, and further evaluated in terms of biomass and respiratory activity. The antibiotic resistance propensity of planktonic and biofilm-cells was also analyzed by measuring the MICs and MBECs, respectively. RESULTS: Both traditional and unusual species were proficient to develop biofilms under all oxygen environments, with the facultative anaerobe D. pigrum demonstrating the greatest facility to accumulate high amounts of biomass and respiratory activities. Regarding the resistance propensity, planktonic populations of P. aeruginosa and D. pigrum showed antibiotic tolerance under non oxygen-restricted environments, reducing their resistance under micraerophilic and anaerobic conditions. Independently of the oxygen availability, it was noticed a markedly decline of the antibiotic action against the pre-established biofilms, requiring higher doses to eliminate biofilm-encased cells. Although the resistance of P. aeruginosa biofilms has displayed the same tendency as the planktonic populations, the biofilm consortia involving I. limosus and D. pigrum became exceptionally more resistant to antibiotics when compared to those bacteria seeded from the biofilms, persevering this multidrug resistance under hypoxic and anaerobic atmospheres. CONCLUSION: This study highlights a potential prospect on the impact of non-conventional organisms on CF lung infections, showing their great capacity to easily adapt to biofilm mode of life under atmospheres with restricted oxygen, as it is believed to occur in CF airways, which may endanger the efficacy of current antibiotic regimens in CF