A PRIMER ON PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING ESTIMATORS

Nonparametric matching estimators are frequently applied in evaluation studies. The general idea of the methodology is to determine the impact of treatment on the treated using information from treated and from similar non-treated observations to build a counterfactual of no treatment. I discuss the methodology for both the binary treatment case as well as for the multiple treatment case.Propensity score matching, binary treatment, multiple treatments

Creative interactions with data: using visual and metaphorical devices in repeated focus groups

This article presents some of the emergent methods developed to fit a study of quality in inclusive research with people with learning disabilities. It addresses (i) the ways in which the methodology was a response to the need for constructive, transformative dialogue through useof repeated focus groups in a design interspersing dialogic and reflective spaces; and (ii) how stimulus materials for the focus groups involved imaginative and creative interactions with data. Particular innovations in the blending of narrative and thematic analyses and data generation and analysis processes are explored, specifically the creative use of metaphor as stimulus and the playful adaptation of I-poems from the Listening Guide approach as writing and performance. In reflecting on these methodological turns we also reflect on creativity as an interpretive lens. The paper is an invitation for further methodological dialogue and development

The impacts of climate variability on welfare in rural Mexico

This paper examines the impacts of weather shocks, defined as rainfall or growing degree days more than a standard deviation from their respective long-run means, on household consumption per capita and child height-for-age. The results reveal that the current risk-coping mechanisms are not effective in protecting these two dimensions of welfare from erratic weather patterns. These findings imply that the change in the patterns of climatic variability associated with climate change is likely to reduce the effectiveness of the current coping mechanisms even more and thus increase household vulnerability further. The results reveal that weather shocks have substantial (negative as well as positive) effects on welfare that vary across regions (North vs. Center and South) and socio-economic characteristics (education and gender). The heterogeneous impacts of climatic variability suggest that a"tailored"approach to designing programs aimed at decreasing the sensitivity and increasing the capacity of rural households to adapt to climate change in Mexico is likely to be more effective.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Science of Climate Change,Regional Economic Development,Global Environment Facility,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases

Radical reconstructions : a critical analogy of US post-conflict state-building

As questões relacionadas com o state‑building em situações pós‑conflito têm dominado muitos dos debates contemporâneos nas Relações Internacionais. Porém, as experiências de state‑building não são um fenómeno recente. O presente artigo estabelece uma analogia entre a actual experiência americana com o state‑building no Iraque e o esforço de reconstrução dos estados do Sul no período a seguir à Guerra Civil americana. O objectivo principal do exercício é tentar identificar semelhanças e diferenças nas dinâmicas envolvidas em ambos os casos. A observação demonstra que ambos os projectos de reconstrução não visavam restaurar a ordem política previamente existente. Pelo contrário, as experiências seculares de state‑building por parte dos EUA têm culminado na institucionalização de uma agenda de transformação radical das ordens política, social e económicas existentes. Tanto a Reconstrução Radical no Sul como a guerra no Iraque podem ser melhor compreendidas no quadro no projecto contemporâneo de construção da paz, englobado dentro do desígnio do state‑building liberal

The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States

The authors combine measures of urban form and public transit supply for 114 urbanized areas with the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey to address two questions: (1) How do measures of urban form, including city shape, road density, the spatial distribution of population, and jobs-housing balance affect the annual miles driven and commute mode choices of U.S. households? (2) How does the supply of public transportation (annual route miles supplied and availability of transit stops) affect miles driven and commute mode choice? The authors find that jobs-housing balance, population centrality, and rail miles supplied significantly reduce the probability of driving to work in cities with some rail transit. Population centrality and jobs-housing balance have a significant impact on annual household vehicle miles traveled (VMT), as do city shape, road density, and (in rail cities) annual rail route miles supplied. The elasticity of VMT with respect to each variable is small, on the order of 0.10-0.20 in absolute value. However, changing several measures of form simultaneously can reduce annual VMT significantly. Moving the sample households from a city with the characteristics of Atlanta to a city with the characteristics of Boston reduces annual VMT by 25 percent.Housing&Human Habitats,Roads&Highways,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Economic Theory&Research,Roads&Highways,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Geographical Information Systems,Housing&Human Habitats

The spin-off of Sonae Capital

The purpose of this project is to study the spin-off of Sonae Capital, which took place in January 2008. Taking the form of a case study, this project is divided between the case narrative and a teaching note. I study the background and motivation of the transaction, along with its outcome. With the available information at the time of the case, I value Sonae Capital at the date of the spin-off and describe a possible trading strategy involving both the spun-off and the demerged companies. Finally, I conclude that the transaction was more beneficial for the parent company, Sonae SGPS, and that it did not follow the typical outperformance pattern observed in other spin-offs.UNL - NSB

Desafios técnicos e regulamentares da farmacogenómica

Monografia realizada no âmbito da unidade de Estágio Curricular do Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Farmacêuticas, apresentada à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de CoimbraA Farmacogenómica oferece a promessa da utilização de informação genética para previsão da resposta farmacológica, relativamente à eficácia, segurança e farmacocinética de um fármaco. Nos últimos anos, tornou-se cada vez mais importante compreender os mecanismos subjacentes à heterogeneidade interindividual na resposta farmacológica – esta é uma das principais causas de falha no drug development, conduzindo a perdas significativas quer do ponto de vista económico, quer clínico. A Farmacogenómica apresenta-se como uma área promissora, que poderá permitir a otimização do drug development e trazer diversas vantagens ao mesmo, mas cuja implementação enfrenta vários desafios. Estes, porém, são superáveis, e com o apoio da União Europeia e contextualização regulamentar adequada, serão ultrapassados.Pharmacogenomics offers the promise of using genetic information to predict drug response, in terms of the drug efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics. In recent years, it has become increasingly important to understand the mechanisms underlying drug response – this is one of the main causes of failure in drug development, leading to significant losses both from an economic and clinical point of view. Pharmacogenomics presents as a promising area, which may allow drug development optimization and bring several advantages to it, but whose implementation faces several challenges. However, these are surmountable and, with European Union support and an appropriate regulatory framework, will be surpassed

Fiscal adjustments and sovereign default in different government systems

This paper extends the model of Spolaore (2004) about adjustments in di erent government systems for the context of scal adjustments and sovereign default. We introduce asymmetry between groups in income and preferences towards scal reforms. Default a ects di erently each group and becomes a possibility if reforms are not enacted after public nance solvency shocks, in uencing the political game according to its likelihood. With the extensions, new situations which were not possible with the previous framework arise. After the exposition of the model, the Argentine default in 2001 provides an example of the political con icts addressed by the model

Diversidade funcional de fungos micorrízicos nativos na proteção do trigo contra a toxicidade de Mn.

Os fungos micorrízicos arbusculares são microrganismos com ação extremamente importante em processos fisiológicos de mais de 80% das plantas, ação que acontece devido a uma relação de simbiose entre fungo e planta de onde resultam benefícios para os intervenientes. O presente trabalho pretende avaliar a existência de ligações preferenciais entre FMA e famílias botânicas, assim como avaliar a diversidade funcional dos fungos micorrízicos nativos na proteção do trigo contra toxicidades de Mn. Quando o ERM se manteve intacto após o crescimento do Developer, o trigo apresentou taxas de colonização micorrízica mais elevadas, demonstrando que este beneficiou da presença da rede de micélio intacto previamente desenvolvida pela planta Developer. Relativamente ao Mn na parte aérea do trigo, observaram-se valores de extração de Mn mais altos após a serradela, margaça e erva vaqueira, valores estes que resultaram de um maior crescimento do trigo e não de uma concentração de Mn mais elevada; Functional diversity of Native Mycorrhizal fungi in the Wheat Protection Against Mn toxicity . Abstract: The mycorrhizal fungi are microorganisms with extremely important action in physiological processes of more than 80% of the plants, an action that happens because of a symbiotic relationship between fungi and plant which result benefits to stakeholders. This study aims to assess the existence of preferential links between FMA and botanical families, as well as evaluate the functional diversity of native mycorrhizal fungi on wheat protection Mn toxicities. When the ECM remained intact after the Developer growth, wheat showed higher mycorrhizal colonization rates, demonstrating that this benefit of the presence of intact mycelia previously developed by the plant (Developer). Regarding Mn in wheat were observed Mn extracting values higher after “serradela”, “margaça” “erva vaqueira” , which are values resulted from an increased grain growth and not from a higher Mn concentration