Money supply and the credit market in early modern economies : the case of eighteenth-century Lisbon

In this paper, we address the partial equilibrium functioning of the shortterm credit market in the Eighteenth-century Lisbon and its response to three major events: massive gold inflows from Brazil, a catastrophic destruction of capital caused by the 1755 earthquake and the enactment of a 5% legal ceiling on interest rates 1757. We build a time series for the market interest rate, and a regression shows money stock and real estates as two significant variables. Interest rates were affected negatively by the former and positively by the latter. We conclude that changes in the money stock tended to operate through the supply of loanable funds. The wealth effect, measured by the stock of real estate, operated over demand and tended to be the most significant effect among several other possible countervailing effects (e.g., the impact of wealth effects on supply, the informational effects of collaterals). The inflow of gold clearly generated a liquidity which by itself explained the downward trend in interest rates up until around 1780. However, the huge variations experienced by the stock of capital after the earthquake also explains the steadiness of interest rates in a period when the inflow of money started to recede. For the whole period during which the 5 % ceiling on interest rates was in force we do not find any evidence to confirm the existence of disequilibrium credit rationing: the notional interest rate predicted by our model was very close to the 5% legal ceiling

TDPS - Turnover dependent phenotypic simulation: a quantitative constraint-based simulation method that accommodates all main strain design strategies

Constraint-based modelling methodologies can expedite the strain engineering process by helping in the search for interesting genetic modification targets. Although the search for gene knock-outs is fairly established with in silico methodologies, most computational strain design methods still model gene up/down-regulations by forcing the corresponding flux values to pre-calculated levels without considering the availability of resources. We have developed a new simulation method, Turnover Dependent Phenotypic Simulation (TDPS), which was designed with the goal of simulating quantitatively the phenotype of strains with diverse genetic modifications in a resource conscious manner. Besides gene deletions and down-regulations, TDPS can also simulate the up-regulation of metabolic reactions as well as the introduction of heterologous genes or the activation of dormant reactions. In TDPS the flux values through modified metabolic reactions are modelled by taking into consideration the availability of precursor metabolites in the network, which is accomplished by assuming that the production turnover of a metabolite can be used as an indication of its abundance. The developed method is based on a MILP formulation that manipulates the fractions of metabolite turnovers consumed by the modified reactions. Furthermore, TDPS also integrates a new objective function that promotes network rigidity in order to predict the flux phenotype of modified strains. TDPS was validated using metabolically engineered S. cerevisiae strains available in the literature by comparing the simulated and experimental production yields of the target metabolite

Selective enrichment of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria producing storage compounds of biotechnological relevance

Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria are important players in bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated ecosystems with additional potential for application in biological treatment of industrial wastewaters. Synthesis and accumulation of storage lipids such as triacylglycerols (TAGs) and wax esters (WEs), as well as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) polymers, has been reported in this group of bacteria when submitted to growth ‐ limiting conditions (e.g. nitrogen limitation). These compounds are relevant raw materials for a variety of industrial applications in biofuels and oleochemicals production. Its biosynthesis in combination with industrial wastewater treatment can contribute to make the process more economic and environmentally sustainable. The aim of this work was to obtain suitable inocula for use in biotechnological processes to produce valuable bacterial products from hydrocarbon ‐ based wastewaters. These carbon ‐ rich nutrient ‐ poor wastewaters exhibited appropriated conditions to promote bacterial storage materials production, thus being an interesting application target for the proposed combined approach. (...

2D cloud template matching - a comparison between iterative closest point and perfect match

Self-localization of mobile robots in the environment is one of the most fundamental problems in the robotics field. It is a complex and challenging problem due to the high requirements of autonomous mobile vehicles, particularly with regard to algorithms accuracy, robustness and computational efficiency. In this paper we present the comparison of two of the most used map-matching algorithm, which are the Iterative Closest Point and the Perfect Match. This category of algorithms are normally applied in localization based on natural landmarks. They were compared using an extensive collection of metrics, such as accuracy, computational efficiency, convergence speed, maximum admissible initialization error and robustness to outliers in the robots sensors data. The test results were performed in both simulated and real world environments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Unipolar resistive switching in metal oxide/organic semiconductor non-volatile memories as a critical phenomenon

Diodes incorporating a bilayer of an organic semiconductor and a wide bandgap metal oxide can show unipolar, non-volatile memory behavior after electroforming. The prolonged bias voltage stress induces defects in the metal oxide with an areal density exceeding 10(17) m(-2). We explain the electrical bistability by the coexistence of two thermodynamically stable phases at the interface between an organic semiconductor and metal oxide. One phase contains mainly ionized defects and has a low work function, while the other phase has mainly neutral defects and a high work function. In the diodes, domains of the phase with a low work function constitute current filaments. The phase composition and critical temperature are derived from a 2D Ising model as a function of chemical potential. The model predicts filamentary conduction exhibiting a negative differential resistance and nonvolatile memory behavior. The model is expected to be generally applicable to any bilayer system that shows unipolar resistive switching. (C) 2015 Author(s).Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), BISTABLE [704]; Fundacao para Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) through the research Instituto de Telecommunicacoes (IT-Lx); project Memristor based Adaptive Neuronal Networks (MemBrAiNN) [PTDC/CTM-NAN/122868/2010]; European Community Seventh Framework Programme FP7', ONE-P [212311]; Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Gravity Program) [024.001.035]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Agricultural land systems importance for supporting food security and sustainable development goals: a systematic review

Agriculture provides the largest share of food supplies and ensures a critical number of ecosystem services (e.g., food provisioning). Therefore, agriculture is vital for food security and supports the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 2 (SDG 2 - zero hunger) as others SDG's. Several studies have been published in different world areas with different research directions focused on increasing food and nutritional security from an agricultural land system perspective. The heterogeneity of the agricultural research studies calls for an interdisciplinary and comprehensive systematization of the different research directions and the plethora of approaches, scales of analysis, and reference data used. Thus, this work aims to systematically review the contributions of the different agricultural research studies by systematizing the main research fields and present a synthesis of the diversity and scope of research and knowledge. From an initial search of 1151 articles, 260 meet the criteria to be used in the review. Our analysis revealed that most articles were published between 2015 and 2019 (59%), and most of the case studies were carried out in Asia (36%) and Africa (20%). The number of studies carried out in the other continents was lower. In the last 30 years, most of the research was centred in six main research fields: land-use changes (28%), agricultural efficiency (27%), climate change (16%), farmer's motivation (12%), urban and peri-urban agriculture (11%), and land suitability (7%). Overall, the research fields identified are directly or indirectly linked to 11 of the 17 SDGs. There are essential differences in the number of articles among research fields, and future efforts are needed in the ones that are less represented to support food security and the SDGs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio