Firm Productivity in Bangladesh Manufacturing Industries

The author studies the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) for manufacturing firms in Bangladesh using data from a recent survey. She obtains TFP measures by making use of firm-specific deflators for output and inputs. Controlling for industry, location, and year fixed effects, she finds that: (1) firm size and TFP are negatively correlated; (2) firm age and TFP exhibit an inverse-U shaped relationship; (3) TFP improves with the quality of the firm's human capital; (4) global integration improves TFP; (5) firms with research and development activities and quality certifications have higher TFP, while more advanced technologies improve TFP only in the presence of significant absorptive capacity; (6) power supply problems cost firms heavily in terms of TFP losses; and (7) the presence of crime dampens TFP.Water and Industry,Economic Growth,Microfinance,Small Scale Enterprise,Economic Theory&Research

Formal, non-formal and informal learning and higher education graduates' reemployment: evidence for Portugal

Unemployment rates among Portuguese Higher Education (HE) graduates have been rising. This trend becomes quite obvious when we compare Portugal and other European Member States whose labor markets have been facing similar difficulties. In fact, Portuguese graduates are not only more prone to facing unemployment but they are also enduring long term unemployment as a result of the current unemployment crisis. Among the main reasons for this situation is the mismatch between the supply and demand for qualifications due to the inability of the Portuguese labor market to absorb higher skills (chimney effect). Nevertheless, competition in demand and the need to overcome labor productivity’s weaknesses create the need for actions (education, training policies and labor market interventions) to improve the match between supply and demand for HE qualifications in order to prevent social disinvestment and to foster inclusion and economic development. In the short and medium term, given the economic and social development strategy, adjustments will consider the need to redefine the HE graduates’ skills and profiles throughout education and training. In this paper we are concerned with the effects on HE unemployed graduates’ reemployment of additional education programs compared to informal and non-formal learning activities. We take life cycle theories and Willis (1986) as our main theoretical reference. We use the database of the Adult Education Survey (AES 2007) developed by the Statistics Portugal, following methodological guidelines issued by EUROSTAT and adopted in all European Union Member States. The survey covers adult participation in formal and Non-Formal Education and informal activities and comprises 11289 cases (individuals). When assessing the main influences of education, non-formal and Informal Learning activities on (re)employment, we use AES data on labor market transitions between two consecutive periods. We control for parents’ education and occupation, individual’s previous schooling, gender and age. Our research methodology is quantitative. We use chi-square independence tests, correlation analysis and tests for equality of proportions. We expect to highlight the ability displayed by non-formal and Informal Learning to redesign educational formal skills, with a special insight into HE skills. The Portuguese HE system tends to be theoretically focused and practical internship is rare even in this post-Bologna phase. Accordingly Non-Formal Education - especially vocational training tailored to labor market occupations - could prove to be a most useful resource in reshaping graduates’ profiles and promoting their employment/reemployment. Informal Learning is also expected to play a major role in the processes of skills acquisition and mobilization related to practical knowledge, thereby enhancing social networking and employability. We aim to assess how much HE programs and non-formal and Informal Learning contribute to enhance graduates’ employment opportunities and to identify pivotal areas for change in HE and non-formal programs.Formal, non formal and informal learning; higher education graduates; employability

Success/Failure in Higher Education:how long does it take to complete some core 1st. year disciplines?

Despite the enormous increasing in Higher Education (HE) enrolment during the last decades in Portugal, retention rates remain very high when compared to most European Union countries'.This outcome is particularly meaningful for a set of 1st year's critical matters which failure severely conditions subsequent success as they are part of the scientific domain's basic knowledge.In this paper we investigate this feature for ISEG (School of Economics and Management of the Technical University of Lisbon) and consider its Pedagogic Observatory database which includes more than 1,500 individual data relative to the four graduation programmes. As relative failure expresses frequently under the form of longer time spells needed to complete thgose disciplines in this paper we adjusted a duration model (with control group)in order to assess the main determinants of the "survival" probabilities. After having controlled for ability, the results we obtained from Cox Regression show that the economic and social status of the family of origin, especially mother's and father's school level and occupation go on influencing students' results although not so meaningfully as in previous educational phases. Also the specific graduation track - Economics, Management, Mathematics applied to Economics & Management and Finances - appear to be deeply associated with success or retention. Nevertheless, the main determinant of relative success/failure is the student's situation towards the labour market, a meaningful proportion of them having to perform a paid occupation to afford to pay for education costs. Therefore our policy reccommendations are twofold: i) to shed light on the need for a more robust Government's Social Policy towards HE students especially now that the Bologna Reform imposes an heavier budgetary burden upon students; ii)to emphasize the finantial, organizational and syllabuses' reforms that HE institutions need to develope in order to capture and keep the "new publics" namely adult students for whom combining study and paid work represents the only available funding source.Higher Education; Critical Matters; Time to successfully complete; Duration Models; Finantial Constraints; Portugal.

Professional services and development : a study of Mozambique

Professional skills are scarce in Mozambique, even by the standards of low-income countries. The solution, however, is not necessarily to create more Mozambican training institutions but to address market-specific problems. Where skills are already the binding constraint (for example, in auditing and engineering), policy action is indeed needed to remedy supply-side problems: capital market imperfections that inhibit investment in training institutions by entrepreneurs and in education by individuals; weakness in upstream school education, which handicaps Mozambican students in their pursuit of higher education; inadequacies in professional education and training, including curricula not attuned to industry needs; and a fragmentation of the regional education market by regulatory and language differences that prevent the emergence of regional institutions that can exploit economies of scale.Where skills may be limited but are not yet the binding constraint, the priority is to stimulate demand for appropriate skills. In this respect, the emergence of professional guilds offers opportunities, but also creates risks. The guilds can design, with government support, a regulatory framework, for example, in accounting and basic engineering, which is more attuned to the needs of Mozambican firms. They can also help make firms more aware of the benefits of professional help, for example, in accounting and information technology. The risk is that guilds will create unnecessary regulatory barriers to entry, particularly for foreign or foreign-trained professionals. Greater coherence between policies affecting professional services and international migration policy can help deal with both supply-side and demand-side problems.Tertiary Education,,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning

Openness and technological innovations in developing countries : evidence from firm-level surveys

The authors analyze the role of international technological diffusion for firm-level technological innovations in several developing countries. Their findings show that, after controlling for firm, industry, and country characteristics, exporting and importing activities are important channels for the diffusion of technology. They also find evidence that the majority of foreign-owned firms are significantly less likely to engage in technological innovations than minority foreign-owned firms or domestic-owned firms. The authors interpret this finding as evidence that the technology transferred from multinational parents to majority-owned subsidiaries is more mature than that transferred to minority-owned subsidiaries. This finding supports the idea that equity joint ventures maximize technology transfers to local firms.Technology Industry,ICT Policy and Strategies,Education for Development (superceded),Innovation,Foreign Direct Investment

International economic activities and the demand for skilled labor: evidence from Brazil and China

Increases in international economic integration can lead to greater specialization according to comparative advantage, but also to the diffusion of skill-biased technologies. In developing countries characterized by relative abundance of unskilled labor, these factors can have opposite effects on the relative demand for skilled labor. This paper investigates the impact of the use of imported inputs, exports and foreign direct investment on the demand for skilled workers of Brazilian and Chinese manufacturing plants. We find that while in Brazil increased levels of international integration are associated with an increased demand for skilled labor, the opposite is true in China.Environmental Economics&Policies,Work&Working Conditions,Economic Theory&Research,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Work&Working Conditions,Labor Standards

Effectiveness of incubation programs transforming a cutting edge technology into a high tech/high growth product

Technology has completely altered the business world. The process of transforming technologies into products only recently has become target of academic research and the arrival of technology incubation programs has become essential for the commercialization of new technologies. The HiTech program was built to help technology inventors and innovators, alongside with management students and business mentors, to transform their cutting edge technology into a high tech/high growth product and eventually create a start-up. The aim of this Work Project is to critically evaluate the HiTech algorithm, propose recommendations to improve it, assess its effectiveness and enumerate what the key success factors that affect the realization of technology incubators are

Interruptions and failure in higher education: evidence from ISEG-UTL

Abstract Failure in Higher Education (HE) is the outcome of multiple time-dependent determinants. Interruptions in student’s individual school trajectories are one of them and that’s why research on this topic has been attracting much attention these days. From an individual point of view, it is expected that interruptions in school trajectory, whatever the reason, influence success in undergraduate programs either this success is measured by time required to obtain a degree, the scores obtained in some more “critical” subjects in these programs or the number of enrolment registrations. Nevertheless, performing a paid job during interruption may in given circumstances positively affect academic success on account of the combination between learning and occupational experience The study of interruptions’ impact on failure in HE is also important to help Education institutions at all grades to think about changes in organisational procedures, class timetables, syllabuses contents or teachers recruitment and training in order to fight this problem. From a social and political point of view, interruptions are also a matter of concern since failure in HE affects individual’s lifelong learning opportunities, distort public funding allocation efficiency to HE institutions and create lag effects in the desired/planned outcomes of HE production functions. So, research on the impact of interruptions on failure in HE is important to support policy measures definition related to the articulation between Upper Secondary and HE programs. In previous research we have shed some light into the determinants of failure in 1st year of HE studies using longitudinal data on ISEG’s undergraduate students. A further insight into this database revealed the existence of a meaningful number of students with interruptions in their school trajectories either in the transition from Upper Secondary to HE or within HE programs. In this paper our major concern is to find some evidence on interruptions effects on HE failure among ISEG students using a life cycle approach with control group. We are interested in knowing whether the above mentioned effects are gender and/or specific graduation program neutral. We also want to search if work experience may counter balance the effect of interruption on academic success. We hope to be able to derive some useful recommendations to address policy making in the fields of pedagogic methodologies in HE, articulation between academic and occupational learning in the framework of Bologna Chart and public funding/fellowship policies in HE.Key words: Portuguese Higher Education; Interruption; Failure; Adult Students; Bologna Chart; Policy Implications

Estudo comparativo da força muscular isocinética dos extensores e flexores do joelho entre futebolistas e voleibolistas profissionais

Projeto de Graduação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciada em FisioterapiaObjetivo: Descrever e comparar o perfil da força muscular isocinética dos músculos extensores e flexores do joelho de futebolistas e voleibolistas profissionais. Metodologia: Foram avaliados 21 futebolistas e 13 voleibolistas através de um dinamómetro isocinético da marca Gymnex ISO-1 com o protocolo de 6 e 8 repetições máximas, a 60º/s e 180º/s, respetivamente. Resultados: Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas no peak torque entre os futebolistas e voleibolistas. O peak torque/body weigth dos flexores do membro dominante a 180º/s e membro não dominante a 60º/s encontra-se significativamente maior nos futebolistas em relação aos voleibolistas. O mesmo acontece com a razão convencional isquiotibiais/quadricípite do membro dominante a 180º/s e do membro não dominante a 60º/s.Conclusão: Os futebolistas apresentaram valores significativamente superiores no peak torque body weigth nos flexores do joelho do membro dominante na a 180º/s e membro não dominante a 60º/s. O mesmo acontece com a razão convencional isquiotibiais/quadricípite onde os futebolistas apresentam maiores valores no membro dominante a 60º/s e membro não dominante a 180º/sDescribe and compare the isokinetic muscular strength profile of the knee extensor and flexor muscles in athletes of football and volleyball. Methods: Were assessed 21 football and 13 volleyball players by an isokinetic dynamometer of Gymnex ISO-1 brand, with the protocol of 6 and 8 maximal repetitions, at 60º/s e 180º/s, respectively. Results: There were no significant differences in the peak torque between football and volleyball players. The peak torque/body weight of the flexors of the dominant limb at 180º/s and of the non-dominant limb at 60º/s is significantly higher in the football players in relation to the volleyball players. The same happens with the conventional ratio hamstrings/quadriceps of the dominant limb at 180º/s and of the non-dominant limb at 60º/s. Conclusion: The football players showed significantly higher values in the peak torque/body weight of the dominant limb knee flexors at 180º/s and of the non-dominant limb at 60º/s. The same happens with the conventional ratio hamstrings/quadriceps in which the football players show higher values in the dominant limb at 60º/s and non-dominant limb at 180º/sN/

Neoplasias da glândula mamária das cadelas e das gatas: revisão bibliográfica com descrição de seis casos clínicos

Orientação: Andreia SantosAs neoplasias da glândula mamária são um dos tipos tumorais mais frequentes em cadelas e gatas. A percentagem de malignidade é bastante elevada nas gatas ocorrendo em 80 a 90% dos casos, enquanto que nas cadelas ronda os 30-50%, pelo que o diagnóstico e tratamento precoces são de grande importância. O objetivo desta dissertação foi documentar casos práticos de neoplasias das glândulas mamárias em cadelas e gatas e os respetivos protocolos de tratamento aplicados. Foram estudados seis casos clínicos, três cadelas e três gatas; em todas foi realizada excisão cirúrgica como único método de tratamento, não tendo sido conduzido nenhum tratamento adjuvante mesmo nos casos de risco elevado de recidiva e/ou metastização. Verificou-se que o estadiamento clínico não foi efectuado de forma completa em nenhum animal antes da cirurgia e o diagnóstico foi obtido através da análise histopatológica. Constatou-se que as contingências económicas dos proprietários foram a principal causa para o adiamento da cirurgia ou dos exames complementares de diagnóstico recomendados. Constata-se a necessidade de realizar o acompanhamento oncológico regular destes doentes e de desenvolver e implementar o uso de protocolos de tratamento adjuvante, a fim de melhorar o tempo de sobrevida dos pacientes com neoplasias da glândula mamária que reúnam fatores de mau prognóstico.Mammary gland neoplasms are one of the most common tumor types in bitches and cats. The percentage of malignancy is quite high in cats occurring in 80 to 90% of the cases, whereas in the bitches it’s around 30-50%, so early diagnosis and treatment are of great importance. The objective of this dissertation was to document practical cases of mammary gland neoplasms in bitches and cats, and the respective treatment protocols applied. Six clinical cases were studied, three bitches and three cats. In all cases, surgical excision was performed as the sole treatment method, and no adjuvant treatment was conducted even in cases of high risk of relapse and/or metastasis. It was verified that the clinical staging was not performed completely in any animal before surgery and the diagnosis was obtained through histopathological analysis. It was found that the economic contingencies of the owners were the main cause for the postponement of the surgery or the recommended complementary diagnostic tests, There is a need to perform regular oncological follow-up of these patients and to develop and implement the use of adjuvant treatment protocols in order to improve the survival time of patients with breast cancer that have poor prognostic factors