Exchange rate policies, patterns of specialization and economic development : theory and evidence in developing countries

The objectives of this paper are twofold. First, it intends to provide theoretical elements toanalyze the relation between real exchange rates and economic development. Our mainhypothesis is very much in line with the Dutch disease literature, and states that competitivecurrencies contribute to the existence and maintenance of the manufacturing sector in theeconomy. This, in turn, brings about higher growth rates in the long run, given the existenceof increasing returns in the industrial sector, and its importance in generating technologicalchange and increasing productivity in the overall economy. The second objective of this paperis empirical. It intends to analyze examples of successful exchange rate policies, such as Chileand Indonesia in the eighties, as a benchmark for comparison with countries where currencyovervaluation has taken place, such as Brazil. In the latter case, the local currency is beinginflated by large capital inflows, due to high domestic interest rates and to a boom in demandand prices of commodities in the international markets. It will be argued that the industrialsector bears most of the burden when the currency appreciates, and that Brazil risks at deindustrializationif there are no changes in the exchange rate regime

Promoting intergenerationality at casa pousio - is casa pousio financially viable

AMUT’s mission is to foster the well-being of individuals by enhancing health and overall happiness. In response to the pressing challenges of housing affordability and social isolation in Portugal, Casa Pousio’s project emerged. It goes beyond typical housing, aiming to create a unique community where different generations collaborate, promoting intergenerationality. It seeks to revolutionise living, becoming Portugal’s first Blue Zone – a community where residents enjoy longer, healthier lives. This analysis explores potential activities for Casa Pousio’s communal spaces, encouraging intergenerational interactions and knowledge exchange, and assesses the project’s financial viabilit

Why foreign savings fail to cause growth

Este artigo é uma formalização da crítica à estratégia do crescimento com poupança externa que um de seus autores vem sendo fazendo nos últimos anos. Apesar dos países de renda média serem pobres de capital, os déficits em conta corrente (poupança externa), financiado seja por empréstimos ou por investimentos externos diretos, não irá aumentar a taxa de acumulação de capital ou terá pouco impacto sobre ela, uma vez que os déficits de conta corrente estarão associados taxas de câmbio apreciadas, ordenados e salários aumentados artificialmente e altos níveis de consumo. Consequentemente, a taxa de substituição da poupança externa pela interna será relativamente alta, e o país será obrigado não a investir e crescer, mas a consumir. Apenas quando há grandes oportunidades de investimento, estimuladas por uma ampla diferença entre a taxa de lucro esperada e a taxa de juros de longo prazo, a propensão marginal ao consumo diminuirá suficientemente, a ponto de o lucro adicional originário do fluxo de capital estrangeiro ser usado para investimento, ao invés de para consumo. Neste caso especial, a taxa de substituição de poupança externa pela interna tenderá a ser menor e a poupança interna contribuirá positivamente para o crescimento

Paclitaxel-loaded PLGA nanoparticles: preparation, physicochemical characterization and in vitro anti-tumoral activity

The main objective of this study was to develop a polymeric drug delivery system for paclitaxel, intended to be intravenously administered, capable of improving the therapeutic index of the drug and devoid of the adverse effects of Cremophor® EL. To achieve this goal paclitaxel (Ptx)-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (Ptx-PLGA-Nps) were prepared by the interfacial deposition method. The influence of different experimental parameters on the incorporation efficiency of paclitaxel in the nanoparticles was evaluated. Our results demonstrate that the incorporation efficiency of paclitaxel in nanoparticles was mostly affected by the method of preparation of the organic phase and also by the organic phase/aqueous phase ratio. Our data indicate that the methodology of preparation allowed the formation of spherical nanometric (<200 nm), homogeneous and negatively charged particles which are suitable for intravenous administration. The release behaviour of paclitaxel from the developed Nps exhibited a biphasic pattern characterised by an initial fast release during the first 24 h, followed by a slower and continuous release. The in vitro anti-tumoral activity of Ptx-PLGA-Nps developed in this work was assessed using a human small cell lung cancer cell line (NCI-H69 SCLC) and compared to the in vitro anti-tumoral activity of the commercial formulation Taxol®. The influence of Cremophor® EL on cell viability was also investigated. Exposure of NCI-H69 cells to 25 [mu]g/ml Taxol® resulted in a steep decrease in cell viability. Our results demonstrate that incorporation of Ptx in nanoparticles strongly enhances the cytotoxic effect of the drug as compared to Taxol®, this effect being more relevant for prolonged incubation times.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T3D-46SG28H-4/1/5653b932f0531b537a3a12747fab894

Hospital emergency room savings via health line s24 in Portugal

Hospital emergency departments are often overused by patients that do not really need urgent care. These admissions are one of the major factors contributing to hospital costs, which should not be allowed to compromise the response and effectiveness of the National Health Services (SNS). The aim of this study is to perform a detailed spatial health econometrics analysis of the non-urgent emergency situations (classified by Manchester triage) by area, linking them with the efficient use of the national health line, the Saude24 line (S24 line). This is evaluated through the S24 savings calls, using a savings index and its spatial effectiveness in solving the non-urgent emergency situations. A savings call is a call by a user whose initial intention was to go to an urgency department, but who. after calling the S24 line. changed his/her mind. Given the spatial nature of the data, and resorting to INLA in a Bayesian paradigm, the number of non-urgent cases in the Portuguese urgency hospital departments is modeled in an autoregressive way. The spatial structure is accounted for by a set of random effects. The model additionally includes regular covariates and a spatially lagged covariate savings index, related with the S24 savings calls. Therefore, the response in a given area depends not only on the (weighted) values of the response in its neighborhood and of the considered covariates, but also on the (weighted) values of the covariate savings index measured in each neighbor, by means of a Bayesian Poisson spatial Durbin model.publishersversionpublishe

Empowering to save

Introduction: The 2012-2016 National Health Plan emphasizes the importance of gains in health “through the alignment around common goals, the integration of sustained efforts from all sectors of society, and the implementation of strategies focused on citizenship, on equality and access, on quality and on healthy policies”. Based on the Universidade Católica Portuguesa’s mission of “generating and sharing critical, innovative and socially relevant knowledge to the service of integral development of the person and the common good”, and considering that the human being is conceptualized as a person who materializes in a health project, taking care of herself, others, things and the surrounding world, arises, the training project in basic life support in secondary schools. This project aims to empower the students for a civic intervention, as health promoting agents, preventing disease and building a healthy society. Methods: Qualitative/quantitative study, using content analysis and statistic treatment of questionnaires of students in a sample of 10 schools. Results: Regarding the adressed subject and content, most of the students, consider them very important. They argue that the project motivates and empowers them for a safer intervention for emergency situations. They feel directly involved for being able to save lives, assuming that this responsibility not only belongs to doctors and nurses, but to everyone. Conclusions: The results higlight the importance of strengthening these intervention projects within the educational community, by empowering the interveners, in a perspective of citizenship and health as integrative concepts in societyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pluralism in economics : from epistemology to hermeneutics

The objective of this paper is to bring elements from the philosophical movement ofhermeneutics and pragmatism to the discussion on methodology in economics, with aspecific concern on the theory of truth. Our aim is to present the concept of thehermeneutic space, developed by the philosopher Richard Rorty, as a rational justificationfor pluralism in economics. We consider the hermeneutic space an interesting conceptwhich should allow us to overcome the void left by the incapacity of epistemologicaltheories to explain the evolution of sciences. It defends the idea that our culture, values andways of interpreting things are what build the sciences, not any closed epistemologicalmethod. In this sense, pluralism is nothing more than letting the hermeneutic space work,without epistemological barriers, and understanding that this is desirable for the futuredevelopment of economics as a science. This approach differs from all othermethodological justifications for pluralism because it does not rely on any epistemologicalmethod, but assumes that the hermeneutic space can entirely fulfill the gap created by them

Caracterização de polimorfismos no gene pol associados a resistência aos inibidores da protease utilizados em regimes terapêuticos de prevenção da transmissão mãe-filho do vírus da imunodeficiência humana tipo 1

Segundo a UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), no final de 2014, o vírus da imunodeficiência humana (HIV) era responsável pela infecção de 36,9 milhões de pessoas, das quais, 2,6 milhões eram crianças com idade inferior a 15 anos. A transmissão vertical representa a principal causa de infecção em crianças e, embora o risco associado tenha diminuído drasticamente com a introdução da terapia anti-retroviral de alta eficácia, esta continua a verificar-se. Ainda que tenha sido alvo de progressos significativos, o acesso das mulheres grávidas à terapia ainda se mantém difícil em certas regiões do planeta. Em alguns casos, por outro lado, a presença de mutações virais associadas a resistência é responsável pela falha do regime profiláctico implementado e pode, consequentemente, levar à transmissão de vírus resistentes para o recém-nascido. Nos últimos anos, os inibidores da protease foram introduzidos nos regimes terapêuticos para prevenção da transmissão vertical, anteriormente constituídos somente por inibidores da transcriptase reversa. O presente estudo incidiu sobre um grupo de 34 mulheres multíparas infectadas com HIV-1, às quais foi efectuada a recolha de sangue periférico, num período máximo de dois dias após o parto, entre os anos de 1999 e 2008. Na sua grande maioria, as mulheres incluídas no estudo tinham cumprido regimes terapêuticos de prevenção da transmissão vertical do HIV-1 durante a gravidez. O DNA proviral das 70 amostras em estudo foi extraído a partir de células mononucleadas do sangue periférico, sendo efectuada a amplificação da região codificante da protease do gene pol, por nested PCR dupla. Após sequenciação nucleotídica, foi realizada a caracterização genotípica das estirpes virais por análise filogenética manual e a caracterização das mutações associadas a resistência, assim como, de outros polimorfismos genéticos, com recurso ao programa HIVdb, implementado através do Genotypic Resistance Interpretation Algorithm da Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance Database. Este estudo revelou uma elevada diversidade genética do HIV-1 na população em causa, na qual foram identificados os subtipos G (47,8%), C (14,9%) e B (11,9%) como predominantes, destacando-se ainda uma elevada prevalência de formas recombinantes únicas (16,4%). Os subtipos não-B foram responsáveis pela infecção em todas as mulheres de origem africana, sendo o subtipo B apenas encontrado em mulheres de naturalidade portuguesa. As mulheres africanas foram as únicas infectadas com o subtipo C. Relativamente à pesquisa de mutações associadas a resistência aos inibidores da protease, foram detectadas duas mutações principais (D30N e M46I) e sete mutações acessórias (L10I, L10V, L33F, G48E, A71T, A71V e T74S), em 19 das sequências estudadas. Destas, 16 eram de subtipos não-B, não sendo contudo demonstrada nenhuma associação estatisticamente significativa. Além disso, a maioria destas mutações foram detectadas em mulheres cujos regimes terapêuticos incluíam inibidores da protease, os quais podem ter levado à sua selecção. Dos restantes polimorfismos genéticos, não associados a resistência, a detecção foi superior em subtipos não-B, sendo alguns classificados como “assinaturas genéticas” de subtipo. A identificação de mutações associadas a resistência aos inibidores da protease em mulheres cujos regimes terapêuticos incluem estes fármacos pode ter implicações na prevenção da transmissão vertical, sendo importante a sua monitorização.According to the UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected 36.9 million people at the end of 2014, of whom 2.6 million were children under 15 years of age. Vertical transmission is the main cause of infection in children and while the associated risk has decreased dramatically with the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), this transmission continues to occur. Although it has been the subject of significant progress in recent years, the access of pregnant women to therapy still remains difficult in certain regions of the world. Moreover, in some cases, the presence of viral mutations associated with resistance is responsible for the failure of the implemented prophylactic regimens and may consequently lead to transmission of resistant viruses to newborns. Not long ago, protease inhibitors were introduced in therapeutic regimens for prevention of vertical transmission, formerly including reverse transcriptase inhibitors only. This study focused on a group of 34 multiparous women infected with HIV-1, from whom a sample of peripheral blood was collected within two days after delivery, between the years 1999 and 2008. The great majority of the women included in the study had followed therapeutic regimens for prevention of vertical transmission of HIV-1 during pregnancy. The proviral DNA of 70 samples analyzed was extracted and purified from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, being the amplification of the protease coding region in pol gene carried out by double nested PCR. After nucleotide sequencing, the genetic characterization of the viral strains by manual phylogenetic analysis was performed, along with the characterization of resistance-associated mutations, as well as other genetic polymorphisms, using the HIVdb program, implemented by the Genotypic Resistance Interpretation Algorithm from the Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance Database. The study revealed a high genetic diversity of HIV-1 within this population, in which G (47.8%), C (14.9%), and B (11.9%) subtypes were predominant, with also a high prevalence of unique recombinant forms (16.4%). Non-B subtypes were responsible for the infection in all women of African origin, and the B subtype was found only in women of Portuguese nationality. Additionally, African women were the only infected with subtype C. Considering the mutations associated with resistance to protease inhibitors, two major mutations (D30N and M46I) and seven minor mutations (L10I, L10V, L33F, G48E, A71T, A71V, and T74S) were identified, in 19 of the sequences studied. Of these, 16 were classified as non-B subtypes, but no statistically significant association was found. Furthermore, most of these mutations were detected in women whose prophylactic regimens included protease inhibitors, which may have led to their selection. The remaining genetic polymorphisms, not associated with anti-retroviral resistance, were mainly detected in non-B subtypes, with some being classified as subtype "signatures". The identification of HIV-1 mutations associated with resistance to protease inhibitors in women whose prophylactic regimens during pregnancy included this class of drugs may have implications for the prevention of vertical transmission of the virus, stressing the importance of mutation surveillance

Desenvolvimento de Dashboards Operacionais

O presente relatório de estágio relata as tarefas desenvolvidas e o conhecimento adquirido pelo aluno no decurso de 7 meses de estágio curricular em 2021 no âmbito do 2º ano do Mestrado em Sistemas de Informação de Gestão do Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Coimbra (ISCAC) realizado na entidade Cleanwatts. Num período de alterações climáticas, a procura pela neutralidade carbónica e a necessidade de alcançar eficiência energética estão cada vez mais presentes na sociedade. A empresa Cleanwatts surge em 2020, resultado da fusão da Virtual Power Solutions com várias start-ups, e apresenta-se como uma empresa tecnológica cuja principal missão é encontrar soluções de otimização energética. Um dos principais desafios da empresa tem sido o facto de ter apresentado dificuldade em gerir as suas enormes quantidades de dados. Uma ferramenta de Business Intelligence adequada poderá criar dashboards que propiciam a criação de conhecimento e auxiliam na gestão e tomada de decisão pela empresa. Este estágio curricular surgiu com o objetivo principal de implementar dashboards operacionais com base nos dados do processo de vendas da empresa, selecionando e utilizando indicadores-chave de desempenho associados a várias fases do funil de vendas da Cleanwatts. O resultado foi a criação de dois dashboards. O primeiro dashboard foi dirigido para o conselho de administração da empresa, com métricas que permitem a monitorização e controlo da equipa comercial e das suas oportunidades, através da análise da evolução semanal, mensal e anual do funil de vendas da empresa. O segundo dashboard foi destinado aos comerciais da empresa, para melhor gerirem as suas oportunidades e aumentar a probabilidade de sucesso das mesmas. Cada dashboard tem um conjunto de abas que cumprem objetivos específico