The financial sustainability of Microcredit in Portugal

Microcredit and microfinance emerged in the 1970’s in Bangladesh and other developing countries and expanded rapidly worldwide as a business model financially sustainable and able to fight poverty and social exclusion. Empirical evidence confirms microcredit ability to mitigate poverty but its financial sustainability is controversial. Using 2006-2009 Portuguese micro-level data, we estimate the failure rate of Portuguese micro-credit projects as 20,6%/year that, to be financially sustainable, would require a real interest rate by 25%/year. Using a territorial variable on a discrete Cox proportional hazard model with censured data, we estimate that the failure rate of those micro-credit projects located in the worst-case NUTS II Portuguese regions (Alentejo and Centro) and promoted by lower schooling people is significantly higher than best-case.Microcredit, Firms failure rate, Poverty, Financial sustainability

An evolutionary model of industry dynamics and firms' institutional behavior with job search, bargaining and matching

This paper proposes an evolutionary model that captures the main dynamics of a world where heterogeneous firms and workers interact and co-evolve. Within a micro-meso perspective, the model focuses on the influence of firms' "institutional settings" on industry dynamics, formalizing these settings as firms' labor choices. Benefiting from insights offered by mainstream labor economics, we introduce the dynamic processes of job search, bargaining and matching in an evolutionary framework. The results of a computer simulation model show that in a stable environment there is an initial clear improvement in the average fitness of the population of incumbent firms, which then evolves around an evolutionary stationary threshold. The consideration of endogenous matching and bargaining processes in the labor market results in important frictions. Furthermore, the simulation results show an increasing wage inequality between the two types of workers considered in the model. We also consider the effect of both positive and negative demand shocks. The turbulence in the industry increases (decreases) after the negative (positive) demand shock. As expected, the negative demand shock causes a decrease in the number of vacancies and, consequently, the unemployment rates increase considerably. Following the positive demand shock, on the other hand, the firms slightly increase the number of vacancies, so the behavior in terms of unemployment rates is better than in the model without shocks.evolutionary, firm behavior, job search, bargaining and matching, microfoundations, industrial dynamics

Estimation and incommutativity in mixed models

In this paper we present a treatment for the estimation of variance components and estimable vectors in linear mixed models in which the relation matrices may not commute. To overcome this difficulty, we partition the mixed model in sub-models using orthogonal matrices. In addition, we obtain confidence regions and derive tests of hypothesis for the variance components. A numerical example is included. There we illustrate the estimation of the variance components using our treatment and compare the obtained estimates with the ones obtained by the ANOVA method. Besides this, we also present the restricted and unrestricted maximum likelihood estimates.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effects of autocatalytic trade cycles on economic growth

This paper shows that autocatalytic trade cycles can be a positive feedback system for innovation and thus for economic growth. Using United Nations data, a trade network is proposed and a set of variables that represent the participation of countries in autocatalytic trade cycles is constructed. A clear relationship between these variables and economic growth is found since more innovation is produced in countries that are part of trade cycles. However, the relationship changes with autocatalytic trade cycle sizes, categories of goods and time scales. Moreover, autocatalytic trade cycles also have a positive effect for the trade flows involved, although this effect differs significantly depending on the size of the cycles. This new approach based on autocatalytic trade cycles emphasizes the benefits that countries can extract from trade cycles and points out the need of policies that foster these benefits. These conclusions strengthen existing literature, and also add new insights to innovation policy and the pursuit of economic prosperity

Avaliação da satisfação e a importância atribuída pelos utentes aos serviços prestados na área de colheitas de sangue

Com o objectivo de avaliar a satisfação e importância atribuída pelos utentes aos serviços prestados no Serviço de Colheitas, realizou-se um estudo observacional descritivo transversal. A amostra foi constituída pelos 107 utentes deste Serviço do Hospital de São João, que aceitaram voluntariamente participar no estudo através do preenchimento do QSUSC. Da análise conjugada das variáveis satisfação e importância concluiu-se que o tempo de espera para a colheita de sangue é uma área que requer acções de melhoria de grande prioridade. Na análise bivariada entre a satisfação e variáveis independentes os resultados apontam que existe associação apenas com o estado civil.In order to evaluate the satisfaction and the importance given by Sample Collection Service’s users, it was conducted a cross-sectional observational study. The sample consisted of 107 users of this Service of Hospital de São João, who voluntarily accepted participating in the study through QSUSC’s completion. From the combined analysis of the variables satisfaction and importance it was concluded that the waiting time for blood collection is a matter requiring high priority improvement actions. Bivariate analysis between satisfaction and independent variables showed that there is an association only with marital status

What kind of heat loss requirements NZEB and deep renovation sets for building envelope?

In most of countries the energy performance of buildings is defined as (primary) energy use of whole buildingâ s (heating, cooling, ventilation, DHW, lighting, HVAC auxiliary, appliances), not as specific requirements for building envelope. For construction companies of production of modular renovation panels it in necessary to know heat loss properties of building envelope (U, W/(m2â K); ï , W/(mâ K); ï £, W/K; q50, m3/(hâ m2)). In this study it is analyzed what kind of heat loss requirements exists for building envelope to meet on annual basis to following targets: nZEB i.e. national nearly zero energy definition; deep energy renovation with 80 % reduction of primary energy; ZEB i.e. net Zero Energy Building = the annual primary energy use = 0 kWh/(m² a). Indoor climate and energy calculations were made based on national energy calculation methodologies in six countries: Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Portugal, and Netherlands. Requirements for heat loss of building envelope vary depending on requirements on indoor climate and energy performance in specific country, outdoor climate, availability of renewable energy, and building typology. The thermal transmittance of the modular wall panels for nZEB was â 5% from pre renovation thermal transmittance in Latvia, â 10% in Estonia and up to 50% in Portugal. For roof the decrease of thermal transmittance was smaller mainly due to smaller thermal transmittance before renovation. Results show the difficulties to reach ZEB with multi-story apartment buildings in cold climate. There are not enough places to install renewables for energy production on site.The study has been conducted in the projects H2020 MoreConnect, TK146 the Estonian Centre of Excellence in Zero Energy and Resource Efficient Smart Buildings and Districts, ZEBE, IUT1−15 Nearly-zero energy solutions and their implementation on deep renovation of buildings

Nitric oxide-inhibited chloride transport in cortical thick ascending limbs is reversed by 8-iso-prostaglandin-F2α

Background: Salt reabsorption in the cortical thick ascending limb (cTAL) is regulated by opposing effects. Thus, while nitric oxide (NO) inhibits sodium chloride (NaCl) reabsorption, 8-iso-prostaglandin-F2α (8-iso-PGF2α) stimulates it. Their interaction, however, has not been evaluated in the cTAL. Because 8-iso-PGF2α has considerable stability while NO is a free radical with a short half-life, we hypothesized that, in the cTAL, the inhibition of NaCl absorption will be reversed by 8-iso-PGF2α. Methods: Chloride absorption (JCl) was measured in isolated perfused cTALs. We also evaluated whether activation of protein kinase A (PKA) is required for this interaction. Since cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a major messenger for the 8-iso-PGF2α signaling cascade, and NO inhibits JCl by decreasing cAMP bioavailability, we measured 8-iso-PGF2α-stimulated cAMP in the presence of sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Results: Basal JCl was 274 ± 85 pmol/min/mm. The NO donor, SNP (10-6 M), decreased JCl by 41% (333.5 ± 35.2 pmol/min/mm vs. 195.9 ± 26.1 pmol/min/mm), while 8-iso-PGF2α (100 μM) increased JCl to 315 ± 46 pmol/min/mm (p \u3c 0.01), reversing the effects of the NO donor. While SNP inhibited JCl, 8-iso-PGF2α failed to increase JCl in the presence of H89. Basal cAMP was 56.3 ± 13.1 fmol/min/mm, that in the presence of the NO donor was 57.8 ± 6.1 fmol/min/mm, and that with 8-iso-PGF2α increased it to 92.1 ± 2.9 fmol/min/mm (n = 10, p \u3c 0.04). Conclusion: We concluded that 1) NO-induced inhibition of JCl in the cTAL can be reversed by 8-iso-PGF2α, 2) 8-iso-PGF2α and NO interaction requires PKA to control JCl in this nephron segment, and 3) in the presence of NO, 8-iso-PGF2α continues to stimulate JCl because NO cannot reverse 8-iso-PGF2α-stimulated cAMP level