Central Government Transfers and Regional Convergence in Portugal

Over the last decades, the Portuguese economy exhibited an outstanding growth performance. This period of fast economic growth allowed the country to consistently reduce its income gap with respect to the EU average. In spite of this, regions in Portugal exhibited large differences between each other in terms of GDP per capita. Yet, the Portuguese government did make attempts at regional intervention by means of some policy instruments, namely public transfers to local (and regional) government. How successful these policies have been in terms of achieving their goal is still an open question, especially as far as Portuguese Central Government transfers are concerned. The main purpose of the paper is to evaluate if the system of Central Government transfers has affected the intra-regional Portuguese convergence. We haven’t found unquestionable evidence that these policies have been effective at stimulating convergence among Portuguese regions and at improving the overall economies of the poorer regions. Keywords: Regional convergence, Central Government transfers, Regional policy JEL Classification: H71; O18; R58

Atomic structure calculations in lanthanide ions relevant to kilonovae

Tese de mestrado, Física (Física Nuclear e Partículas) Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2021The present dissertation concerns atomic structure calculations for lanthanide and actinide ions that are significant to kilonovae modeling of the ejecta spectra. In particular, calculations for Nd III and U III, two representative rare-earth ions, were achieved. Therefore, in this work we try to bridge the gap created by the lack of atomic structure calculations f-block ions available in the literature, while also providing valuable insight for future calculations. We concentrated on level energies and oscillator strength calculations for electric dipole transitions (E1) since these are the most critical atomic parameters for simulating the flux of kilonovae in Local Thermodinamical Equilibrium (LTE). We mainly use the publicly accessible Flexible Atomic Code (FAC) for the computations, which employs a Relativistic Configuration Interaction (RCI) method. Not only that, but we compare our results to those obtained using a Multi-configuration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method as well as to available computational and experimental data. We demonstrated that discrepancies in the opacity spectra of Nd III across various calculations are higher at the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. At longer wavelengths the sensitivity of the opacity with the accuracy of the calculations seems to decrease. Additionally, we showed the opacity of U III to be about an order of magnitude higher than the opacity of Nd III due to a higher density of levels of the actinide. In general, we anticipate this feature of the spectrum to extend for more lanthanide-actinide pairs and, therefore, that the opacity of actinides to have a measurable impact in the luminosity of kilonovae

Financing exponential growth at H3

H3 is a fast-food chain that introduced the concept of gourmet hamburgers in the Portuguese market. This case-study illustrates its financing strategy that supported an exponential growth represented by opening 33 restaurants within approximately 3 years of its inception. H3 is now faced with the challenge of structuring its foreign ventures and change its financial approach. The main covered topics are the options an entrepreneur has for financing a new venture and how it evolves along the life cycle and different business approaches, namely franchising. It aims to be used as a learning tool in courses such as entrepreneurial finance

Nonlinearities and synchronization of business cycles : a novel approach

Mestrado em EconomiaEsta dissertação estuda os padrões de sincronização de ciclos económicos numa amostra composta por 18 países desenvolvidos e a Zona Euro ao longo do período 1970:1-2008:1. Para realizar este estudo, propomos um novo modelo de componentes não observáveis multivariado com markov-switching e interdependência de estados variável no tempo, no qual a sincronização é modelizada como uma componente comum variável no tempo entre os ciclos económicos. Para estimar o modelo, desenvolvemos um filtro de Kalman adequado, que permite a projecção das componentes não observáveis e a estimação dos hiperparâmetros por máxima verosimilhança. Propomos também um novo fullsample smoother para recalcular as componentes não observáveis do modelo com base em toda a informação amostral. Usamos este modelo para testar 3 hipóteses: se a criação da União Monetária Europeia promoveu um aumento na sincronização dos ciclos económicos entre os seus membros; se a integração promoveu uma mudança na filiação cíclica com o ciclo económico dos EUA; se existe o surgimento de um ciclo económico agregado da Zona Euro. Os resultados mostram que a sincronização cíclica dos países da Zona Euro com a Zona Euro agregada foi superior à dos restantes países. No entanto, para a maioria dos países da Zona Euro, a sincronização com a Zona agregada aumentou até ao início da década de 90, e diminuiu a partir desse período. Apesar de existir um ligeiro aumento na sincronização com a Zona Euro agregada para algumas economias participantes em torno do momento da introdução da moeda única, não somos capazes de detectar um “efeito Euro” claro. Por outro lado, para a maioria das economias, a introdução da moeda única é coincidente com uma redução na sincronização com o ciclo dos EUA. Finalmente, não encontramos evidência do surgimento de um ciclo económico agregado da Zona Euro. ABSTRACT: This dissertation studies the patterns of business cycle synchronization across a sample of 18 developed countries and the aggregate Euro Area over the period 1970:1-2008:1. To perform this study, we propose a novel multivariate unobservedcomponents model with markov-switching and time-varying state interdependence, in which synchronization is modelled as a time-varying common component between the business cycles. To estimate the model, we develop an adequate Kalman filter, which allows the projection of the unobserved components and the estimation of the hyperparameters by maximum likelihood. We also propose a new full-sample smoother to recompute the unobserved components of the model based on all in-sample information. We use this model to test 3 hypothesis: whether the creation of the European Monetary Union promoted an increase in business cycle synchronization among its members; whether the integration has promoted a change in the cyclical affiliation with the US business cycle; and whether there is an emergence of an aggregate Euro Area business cycle. The results show that synchronization between the Euro Area countries with the aggregate Euro Area has been higher than for the remaining countries. Nevertheless, for the majority of the Euro Area countries, synchronization with the aggregate Area increased until the beginning of the 1990s, and dropped from that period onwards. Moreover, despite the existence of a slight increase in synchronization with the aggregate Euro Area for some participant economies around the timing of the introduction of the common currency, we are not able to uncover a clear “Euro effect”. On the other hand, for most of the economies, the introduction of the common currency is shown to be coincident with a drop in synchronization with the US business cycle. Finally, we do not find evidence of the emergence of an aggregate Euro-Area business cycle

DCMC as a promising alternative to bentonite in white wine stabilization. Impact on protein stability and wine aromatic fraction

Protein haze in white wine is one of the most common non-microbial defects of commercial wines, with bentonite being the main solution utilized by the winemaking industry to tackle this problem. Bentonite presents some serious disadvantages, and several alternatives have been proposed. Here, an alternative based on a new cellulose derivative (dicarboxymethyl cellulose, DCMC) is proposed. To determine the efficiency of DCMC as a bentonite alternative, three monovarietal wines were characterized, and their protein instability and content determined by a heat stability test (HST) and the Bradford method, respectively. The wines were treated with DCMC to achieve stable wines, as shown by the HST, and the efficacy of the treatments was assessed by determining, before and after treatment, the wine content in protein, phenolic compounds, sodium, calcium, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as the wine pH. DCMC applied at dosages such as those commonly employed for bentonite was able to reduce the protein content in all tested wines and to stabilize all but the Moscatel de Setúbal varietal wine. In general, DCMC was shown to induce lower changes in the wine pH and phenolic content than bentonite, reducing the wine calcium content. Regarding which VOCs are concerned, DCMC produced a general impact similar to that of bentonite, with differences depending on wine variety. The results obtained suggest that DCMC can be a sustainable alternative to bentonite in protein white wine stabilizationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Wearable textile elongation sensor

This work shows a developed wearable elongation sensor based on an optical fiber. The presented approach to sew a fiber optic into a lycra textile enables the modulation of light amplitude in respect to textile strain. This apparatus in combination with small-size instrumentation enables the development of a wearable textile garment capable of monitoring and acquiring strain data, and send it wirelessly to a base station. The light amplitude increases with the increment of textile strain. The output voltage remains stable over time for the resting and maximum textile strain position

Dcmc as a promising alternative to bentonite in white wine stabilization. Impact on protein stability and wine aromatic fraction

Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry—LAQV, which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES [UID/QUI/50006/2020] and the project [UIDB/05183/2020], CENSE (Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research), which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/AMB/04085/2020), and LEAF, which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (LEAF UID/AGR/04129/2020). This research was also anchored by the RESOLUTION LAB, an infrastructure at NOVA School of Science and Technology. DG was financed by a PhD grant: DFA/BD/5529/2020.Protein haze in white wine is one of the most common non-microbial defects of commercial wines, with bentonite being the main solution utilized by the winemaking industry to tackle this problem. Bentonite presents some serious disadvantages, and several alternatives have been pro-posed. Here, an alternative based on a new cellulose derivative (dicarboxymethyl cellulose, DCMC) is proposed. To determine the efficiency of DCMC as a bentonite alternative, three monovarietal wines were characterized, and their protein instability and content determined by a heat stability test (HST) and the Bradford method, respectively. The wines were treated with DCMC to achieve stable wines, as shown by the HST, and the efficacy of the treatments was assessed by determining, before and after treatment, the wine content in protein, phenolic compounds, sodium, calcium, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as the wine pH. DCMC applied at dosages such as those commonly employed for bentonite was able to reduce the protein content in all tested wines and to stabilize all but the Moscatel de Setúbal varietal wine. In general, DCMC was shown to induce lower changes in the wine pH and phenolic content than bentonite, reducing the wine calcium content. Regarding which VOCs are concerned, DCMC produced a general impact similar to that of bentonite, with differences depending on wine variety. The results obtained suggest that DCMC can be a sustainable alternative to bentonite in protein white wine stabilization.publishersversionpublishe