Eastern Enlargement of the European Union and Foreign Direct Investment Adjustments

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes that have occurred in the course and in the geographical structure of direct investment in the present and future members of the EU during the nineties and trying to explain their determining factors. To this end, a gravitational model is estimated incorporating the ideas developed recently in the Economic Geography models. In view of the fact that a process of liberalisation of the investment flows between the Fifteen and candidates has taken place during these years - in the framework of the Association Agreements - it may be contended that the explanation for what has happened so far represents key information for predicting the adjustments that may occur in the coming years, when the candidates become full members of the Union.

The European Map of Job Flows

The European Map of Job Flows (EMJF) is a term used to denote a dataset of meso- and macro-level variables describing different aspect of labour mobility within national labour markets in Europe. In this paper, EMJF is centred on the notion of job “flows”, namely the changes in the level of employment at different breakdowns and levels of aggregation. EMJF is very rich in information content due to the wide variety of possible breakdown of the data and in this sense it is a “map” mostly in the virtual sense, namely, that it is not possible to visualise in the form of geographic maps all the wealth of available information. In terms of its value as a research product and tool, EMJF is mostly an intermediate product in the sense that it is a convenient means to organise the relevant information, which could subsequently be used for different analytical and research purposes. It provides both for cross-sections/snapshots of job flows at different point in time but also it allows their assessment and analysis over longer periods of time. In this sense, EMJF can be widely used for various types of labour-market analysis and research. EMJF’s visual components can also be a convenient tool for policy makers dealing with labour market policies at different level (regional, national or supra-national) in the decision-making process. Here we present a Compilation of a EMJF on the basis of firm-level data In this sense the job flows are built up on the basis of firm-level data for individual countries, following a common methodology. We adopt an approach of establishing such a EMJF on the basis of the AMADEUS dataset developed by the consultancy Bureau van Dijk. The dataset in its most extended version contains balance sheet data and ownership data for almost 14 million firms from 43 different European countries (September 2009 update). For many EU countries the dataset has in principle access to the entire universe of firms which have to report a balance sheet. In terms of countries, the geographic coverage of AMADEUS encompasses information for all the 27 members of the European Union (albeit with different qualities in terms of national coverage) as well as other 16 European countries that complete the geographical and political definition of the continent. Another interesting feature of the database is given by the detailed definition of a firm's location, with data available on the region (NUTS2) and the city in which the firm operates. This project deliverable presents the main results from the final stage of MICRO-DYN work on the EMJF. It discusses the approach to building the EMJF on the basis of AMADEUS data and illustrates the analytical potential of the EMJF as a research tool with a range of Europe-wide analytical exercises. Probably the most important outcome of this research effort is the demonstrated capability to perform meta-analysis at the European level of important labour market characteristics on the basis of firm-level data.job flows, europe, labor market, microdata

Attack on salticidae: new records of mantispids (neuroptera: mantispids) in neotropical jumping spiders (araneae: salticidae)

Jumping spiders present natural enemies like insectsof the subfamily Mantispinae. We report for the first timefor Uruguay the salticids Neonella minuta, Tullgrenellaserrana and the presence of Mantispinae larvae in thisspecies and in Sarinda sp. In T. serrana we record thedevelopment of the parasitoid Dicromantispa gracilis

IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF MOLECULAR MARKERS TO INDIVIDUATE THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOURCES IN PARTICULATE MATTER EMISSIONS

Nowadays, the atmospheric pollution entails a huge problem of public health and environmental conservation, increasing the necessity of creating new policies to regulate the emissions and to reduce the impact of this in the global climate. These characteristics make the aerosols the central topic of research in the current years. The composition of the particulate matter present in the atmosphere is so varied, being difficult to determine all the species present, and so, relate the pollution with precise sources. Aerosol particles are involved in several atmospheric processes, such as cloud formation, precipitation and in the change of the optical properties, enhancing the absorbing and scattering by the particles. They have an effect in the distribution and abundance of the trace gases due to the participation in heterogeneous chemical reactions In this work, we have direct the aim of the project to the development of extraction methods in order to improve the recovery of the different components and use new analytical techniques to obtain a more detailed characterization of molecular markers, molecules that can be linked to one emission source which help to identify them. The developed analytical techniques have been further applied to three different cases of study: - A full characterization of the components in an urban background site, with a special interest on the organic fraction and the characterization of single molecules that act as markers of specific sources of emission. - Analysis of the water soluble organic fraction in a rural site in the frame of the quantification of the contribution to the atmospheric pollution of biological aerosol. - Analysis of water soluble organic compounds in a marine environment to identify the effect of harbour activities in the air quality of the cities

Gestão do absentismo dos enfermeiros do serviço de medicina do Centro Hospitalar de Cascais

Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo retrospectivo do absentismo dos enfermeiros do Serviço de Medicina do Centro Hospitalar de Cascais durante 2007. Trata-se de um estudo de caso com o objectivo de compreender a taxa de turnos extraordinários e a rotatividade dos efectivos, expressa através do número de contratos celebrados e quebrados ao longo do ano e o recurso a outsourcing. O Centro Hospitalar de Cascais, possui gestão pública e obedece a normas de gestão hospitalar e de regime de emprego público. Através da análise quantitativa, caracterizou-se o tipo de absentismo, que revelou ser de carácter justificado. Seguiu-se uma análise das características demográficas (sexo, idade e proveniência), que revelou predomínio de profissionais femininos, com idades compreendidas entre os 23 e os 54 anos, tempo de serviço entre zero e 32 anos e oriundos do norte do país. As contingências jurídico do Emprego Público na celebração de contratos de trabalho de 3 meses renováveis ou não, implica que o profissional seja obrigado a gozar dias de férias antes do termino do contrato, e ter de se ausentar da instituição, no mínimo 24 horas, para que se possa celebrar novo contrato, período esse que se traduz em dias de absentismo. As folgas, descanso, feriados, férias e tempo de formação também se traduzem em absentismo. A administração celebra contratos em regime de outsourcing e recorre a turnos extraordinários para suprimir o absentismo, que representou 37% do total de dias de trabalho durante o ano de 2007, dos quais 33,6% previstos e 3,4% não previstos.The study of absenteeism of nursing is an important aspect to subsidize the planning and adjustment of human resources, aiming at the continuity of nursing work in the hospital services during 24 hours. Absenteeism is understood as the absence of the worker when he/she should be working normally. These absences can or cannot be justified. The importance of this study relates to the interpretation of nursing workers absences and the legal forms to suppress them. This is a cross contemporary documental study, with a quantitative approach. Its main purpose is the characterization of the absenteeism of nursing professional workers of the Medical Service of the Centro Hospitalar de Cascais, by describing their professional ability, absenteeism rates and the association with the increase of extra work hours needed and the need of outsourcing. The population covered 35 professional workers, six elements tied to the Public Administration, four subcontracted by the outsourcing company and twenty five workers with a three months contract, with an absenteeism rate bigger than zero during January to December 2007. The legal constraints have contributed a great deal to contract ruptures as the three months contracts revocation is only done after an absence of 24 hours from the service; after the worker’s holiday at the end of the contract, many nursing personnel choose other offers and do not renew their working contracts. The results showed 37% of absence to work during the studied period, divided into 33.6% of foreseen absences and of 3.4% of unforeseen absences as a rate of the calculated absenteeism. The professional profile related to the absenteeism pointed out the predominance of female professional workers aged 23 to 54 years old, with a service time between zero and 32 years

Decentralized Energy from Waste Systems

In the last five years or so, biofuels have been given notable consideration worldwide as an alternative to fossil fuels, due to their potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by partial replacement of oil as a transport fuel. The production of biofuels using a sustainable approach, should consider local production of biofuels, obtained from local feedstocks and adapted to the socio-economical and environmental characteristics of the particular region where they are developed. Thus, decentralized energy from waste systems will exploit local biomass to optimize their production and consumption. Waste streams such as agricultural and wood residues, municipal solid waste, vegetable oils, and algae residues can all be integrated in energy from waste systems. An integral optimization of decentralized energy from waste systems should not be based on the optimization of each single process, but the overall optimization of the whole process. This is by obtaining optimal energy and environmental benefits, as well as collateral beneficial co-products such as soil fertilizers which will result in a higher food crop production and carbon dioxide fixation which will abate climate change