General equilibrium with asymmetric information and default penalties

We introduce a two-period general equilibrium model with uncertainty and incomplete financial markets, where default is allowed and agents face in case they do default an utility penalty, which is their own private information. In this setting, if agents have heterogeneous characteristics they will generally pay different returns on any given asset, and thus the same promise made by different agents is in fact not equivalent. If asset trading is anonymous, then the same price is paid for promises whose value can be in fact quite different, and very severe adverse selection problems may arise as consequence. We thus incorporate in the above model an alternative way to negotiate the financial assets, under which an equilibrium exists and the adverse selection problem is mitigated. Succinctly, consumers trade assets non-anonymously with a set of financial intermediaires not allowed to default.Asymmetric information, adverse selection, default penalties, bilateral negotiation, equilibruim.

Agile testing on an online betting application

Agile development with continuous integration and constant releases is only sustainable followed by a rock solid quality process. At blip/betfair we work very hard to build and continuously improve our quality process to provide at the same time a unique reliability experience to our customers and new features fast. Three major components of this process are: Mind maps to help us learn more about our product and represent our knowledge about it in a structure way, Exploratory Testing that must be free and creative and happen as soon as possible in the process to allow fast feedback cycles and CI pipelines with high levels of automation testing to avoid regression. Agile development with continuous integration and constant releases is only possible with a rock solid quality process. Document type: Part of book or chapter of boo

a practical case of TAP’s financial statement reformulation for IFRS 16

IASB published the new IFRS 16 which succeeds IAS 17 on 1st January 2019. The standard requires the recognition of the operating leases in the firms’ balance sheet, aiming to increase the comparability and transparency of the financial statements. Therefore, the created impacts at organizational and accounting level were investigated as well as repercussions on the stakeholders’ perception. The purpose of this study is to present, based on TAP’s Financial Statement Reformulation, the main requirements to be in compliance with the standard and the effects on financial ratios, and to corroborate the material effects on the airline industry

International News Reporting in the Multidimensional Network: The socio-demographics, professional culture and newswork of foreign correspondents working across Sub-Saharan Africa

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Media DigitaisUma porção significativa do nosso conhecimento quotidiano sobre a África Subsaariana provém do trabalho dos repórteres internacionais. Contudo, e ainda que estes actores desempenhem um papel crítico na comunicação do Outro distante, frequentemente criticado pelos seus défices representacionais, a investigação académica sobre o trabalho dos correspondentes internacionais tem sido consideravelmente negligenciada: encontra-se desactualizada em décadas, carecendo de um exame sistemático das realidades efectivas do jornalismo em África e da evolução do trabalho de Pro-Ams e organizações de media dos cidadãos, suportados por meios digitais ligados em rede. Esta tese tem como objecto a caracterização e análise sociodemográfica destes indivíduos, das suas culturas profissionais e trabalho noticioso. Inspecciona trajectórias de longo curso no jornalismo internacional, combinando-as com desenvolvimentos de curto prazo baseados nas transformações na microelectrónica e digitalização. São delineadas três linhas de inquérito: quem está realmente a reportar em todo o continente, quais são as principais características das culturas ocupacionais e os constrangimentos que impendem sobre as rotinas de produção dos trabalhadores noticiosos. Avaliamos como estão os repórteres internacionais a reposicionar-se num ambiente comunicacional em transformação, como interpretam a sua própria ocupação e o papel dos actores emergentes na esfera mediática transnacional. Simultaneamente, contribuímos com uma investigação exploratória sobre as actividades das organizações de media dos cidadãos. Para cumprir estes objectivos, conduzimos o primeiro questionário online Pan-Africano de que há registo sobre o trabalho dos repórteres internacionais, recolhendo respostas de 124 participantes em 41 países. Estes resultados são complementados através de entrevistas semiestruturadas com 43 jornalistas profissionais, em Nairobi, Dakar e Joanesburgo. Os resultados obtidos desafiam a narrativa que apresenta a reportagem internacional como uma espécie em extinção. Ao invés, suportam uma visão diferenciada entre continuidades localizadas e rupturas localizadas na contemporânea e pós-industrial esfera mediática: a sua sociodemografia expressa uma nova economia da correspondência internacional caracterizada por uma considerável precariedade, particularmente no caso dos trabalhadores independentes (freelance), enquanto a utilização de media digitais ligados em rede conduz o campo a uma confederação de correspondências com múltiplas camadas. O campo não é já um território exclusivo de profissionais e estes têm agora de lidar com a escala sem precedentes de conteúdos gerados pelos utilizadores e reacções directas. Os profissionais despendem uma muito considerável porção de tempo diário na Internet, o que sugere uma mudança de paradigma nas práticas de recolha informativa e, em última análise, na sua cultura epistemológica

Evaluation of chemicals against esca-related pathogens, in vitro and as pruning wound protectants

Mestrado em Viticultura e Enologia - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - UL / Faculdade de Ciências - Universidade do PortoDuring the past decades, Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) Trunk Diseases (GTDs) have been under study due to their increase in incidence through all winegrowing regions worldwide. Among the most common GTDs, the esca disease complex is one of the most concerning, leading to important losses in longevity and yield. Pruning wounds are considered the main entry port for fungal spores which, if not protected, may allow the penetration of several wood pathogens, such as Phaeomoniella chlamydospora (Pch) and Phaeoacremonium minimum. In the present study, the first goal was to evaluate nine chemicals – cyprodinil + fludioxonil, copper oxychloride, copper oxychloride + summer oil, blad, fosetyl-Al, elemental silver, hydrogen peroxide, glutaraldehyde and a bituminous coating - in vitro against the growth of these fungi. The second goal was to evaluate four selected chemicals - cyprodinil + fludioxonil, copper oxychloride + summer oil, blad and a bituminous coating - as pruning wound protectants under field conditions against Pch in cv Cabernet Sauvignon. The pruning wounds were inoculated with Pch 1, 31 and 90 days after pruning. Three months after each inoculation the canes were collected and reisolations of the isolate were made. Our study found that most chemicals tested were effective in vitro, in reducing mycelial growth of both fungi. However, the results obtained under field conditions showed that one of the treatments significantly reduced the presence of Pch on the first inoculation, providing a partial protection to fresh wound. The remaining treatments were not effective as wound protectants. In summary, novel chemicals were tested that were capable to greatly inhibit in vitro the growth of esca-related pathogens and a chemical treatment was identified which was capable of reducing the incidence of Pch as wound protectant. This study improved the current knowledge in chemicals used against some esca-related fungi and in pruning wound protectionN/

Engineered design of new nano-micro materials for proteomics and phosphoproteomics applications

For a deep understanding of the biological mechanisms of the living organisms, a detailed study of phosphoproteins is vital. Digestion and pre-concentration of phosphoproteins are critical steps in phosphoproteomics. analysis. In this work, we used a new nano-sized system in both steps. For digestion of phosphoproteins the standard used trypsin enzyme was selected. This trypsin was immobilized in an iron core to avoid trypsin auto-lysis. This new system was found to be highly effective for protein digestion and when compared with the available commercial systems, it performed better. Thus, it was possible to identify four times more proteins than using the standard procedures. Phosphoproteins are estimated to be 30% of the entire proteome, however, exist some issues regarding its identification such as low levels of concentration. To overcome these obstacles, ion metal affinity chromatography, IMAC, is currently used. In this work, we synthesized new nano-sized IMACs from a polystyrene matrix. These polystyrene matrices were also synthesized using a 23 experimental design to unravel the conditions to create them in a certain range of size. Using a polystyrene matrix of 40nm, it was possible to create an IMAC of 250nm, in the nano scale range. Metals used for the IMACs were titanium and lanthanum. Both IMACs proved to be efficient on the phosphopeptide enrichment having superior capacity than others described in the literature. The number of phosphopeptides identified from a simple sample of α-casein was 99, five times more than the best results described in literature

Decisions of technology innovation: the role of indicators

This work presents research conducted to understand the role of indicators in decisions of technology innovation. A gap was detected in the literature of innovation and technology assessment about the use and influence of indicators in this type of decision. It was important to address this gap because indicators are often frequent elements of innovation and technology assessment studies. The research was designed to determine the extent of the use and influence of indicators in decisions of technology innovation, to characterize the role of indicators in these decisions, and to understand how indicators are used in these decisions. The latter involved the test of four possible explanatory factors: the type and phase of decision, and the context and process of construction of evidence. Furthermore, it focused on three Portuguese innovation groups: public researchers, business R&D&I leaders and policymakers. The research used a combination of methods to collect quantitative and qualitative information, such as surveys, case studies and social network analysis. This research concluded that the use of indicators is different from their influence in decisions of technology innovation. In fact, there is a high use of indicators in these decisions, but lower and differentiated differences in their influence in each innovation group. This suggests that political-behavioural methods are also involved in the decisions to different degrees. The main social influences in the decisions came mostly from hierarchies, knowledge-based contacts and users. Furthermore, the research established that indicators played mostly symbolic roles in decisions of policymakers and business R&D&I leaders, although their role with researchers was more differentiated. Indicators were also described as helpful instruments to conduct a reasonable interpretation of data and to balance options in innovation and technology assessments studies, in particular when contextualised, described in detail and with discussion upon the options made. Results suggest that there are four main explanatory factors for the role of indicators in these decisions: First, the type of decision appears to be a factor to consider when explaining the role of indicators. In fact, each type of decision had different influences on the way indicators are used, and each type of decision used different types of indicators. Results for policy-making were particularly different from decisions of acquisition and development of products/technology. Second, the phase of the decision can help to understand the role indicators play in these decisions. Results distinguished between two phases detected in all decisions – before and after the decision – as well as two other phases that can be used to complement the decision process and where indicators can be involved. Third, the context of decision is an important factor to consider when explaining the way indicators are taken into consideration in policy decisions. In fact, the role of indicators can be influenced by the particular context of the decision maker, in which all types of evidence can be selected or downplayed. More importantly, the use of persuasive analytical evidence appears to be related with the dispute existent in the policy context. Fourth and last, the process of construction of evidence is a factor to consider when explaining the way indicators are involved in these decisions. In fact, indicators and other evidence were brought to the decision processes according to their availability and capacity to support the different arguments and interests of the actors and stakeholders. In one case, an indicator lost much persuasion strength with the controversies that it went through during the decision process. Therefore, it can be argued that the use of indicators is high but not very influential; their role is mostly symbolic to policymakers and business decisions, but varies among researchers. The role of indicators in these decisions depends on the type and phase of the decision and the context and process of construction of evidence. The latter two are related to the particular context of each decision maker, the existence of elements of dispute and controversies that influence the way indicators are introduced in the decision-making process

Joint counts variability in rheumatoid arthritis patients followed in a real-life setting

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2017In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the tender and swollen joint counts play a key role in the clinical assessment of disease activity, integrating the disease activity score (DAS), which is determinant in the treatment decision. However, there is considerable variability in these measurements. In this project, we aimed to identify the variables influencing the joint counts, and to determine if there was a significant difference in these measurements when performed in clinical practice by Rheumatology registrars and consultants. For that purpose, we analyzed the possible effect of several variables on the joint counts, by analyzing consecutive visits (n=3127) of 260 patients followed in a real life setting. We compared the differences in the assessment of disease activity parameters between the registrars and consultants using the Student’s T-test. To study the impact of each variable in the tender and swollen joint counts, we conducted a multivariate analysis using a linear mixed model. Overall, registrars and consultants counted a similar mean number of tender but a higher number of swollen joints (1.6±2.8 vs. 2.0±3.7; P-value=0.001). However, when adjusting for other variables, neither the training status, nor the years of experience were associated with the joint counts. Importantly, variables such as the patient global visual analogue scale (VAS), physician VAS and disease duration had a significant impact on both the tender and swollen joint counts. Furthermore, the patient’s age was significantly associated with the tender joint count. We also found that the inter-observer and inter-patient variabilities were both significant, which can be further investigated in studies that consider simultaneous assessment of patients by several evaluators. We conclude that neither the physician training status nor the years of experience have impact in the joint counts, but the disease activity parameters do.As contagens de articulações dolorosas e tumefactas adquirem um papel essencial na avaliação clínica da artrite reumatóide (AR), dado que integram o disease activity score (DAS), que é determinante na decisão terapêutica. Contudo, há uma variabilidade considerável nestas medições. Neste projecto, definimos como objectivos identificar as variáveis que influenciam as contagens articulares, e perceber se há uma diferença significativa nestas medições quando estas são realizadas por internos vs. especialistas. Para tal, analisámos o possível efeito de várias variáveis com base numa amostra de 260 doentes seguidos na prática clínica em consultas consecutivas (n=3127). Começámos por fazer uma análise descritiva para caracterizar a amostra, e, de seguida, usámos o teste T-Student para perceber se havia diferenças significativas entre os internos e os especialistas nos parâmetros de actividade da doença (análise univariada). Posteriormente, realizámos uma análise multivariada usando o modelo linear misto para estudar o impacte de cada variável nas contagens articulares. Os resultados mostraram que os internos e especialistas contaram um número médio de articulações dolorosas igual, mas em relação às tumefactas, estes últimos contaram valores significativamente mais elevados (1,6±2,8 vs. 2,0±3,7, respectivamente;Valor-P=0,001). Todavia, ajustando a análise para as restantes variáveis, nem o grau de especialidade nem a experiência do médico se revelaram significativamente associados às contagens articulares. De notar, tanto a escala visual analógica global do doente como a do medico e a duração da doença tiveram impacte significativo nas contagens articulares. A idade do doente estava significativamente associada às contagens de articulações dolorosas. Por fim, as variabilidades inter-observador e inter-doente foram significativas, sendo necessário um estudo de avaliação simultânea dos doentes por diferentes médicos para investigar este efeito. Concluindo, nem o grau de especialidade do médico nem os anos de experiência se associam às contagens articulares, mas os parâmetros de actividade da doença sim

Data queries over heterogeneous sources

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia InformáticaEnterprises typically have their data spread over many software systems, such as custom made applications, CRM systems like SalesForce, CMS systems, or ERP systems like SAP. In these setting, it is often desired to integrate information from many data sources to accomplish some business goal in an application. Data may be stored locally or in the cloud in a wide variety of ways, demanding for explicit transformation processes to be defined, reason why it is hard for developers to integrate it. Moreover, the amount of external data can be large and the difference of efficiency between a smart and a naive way of retrieving and filtering data from different locations can be great. Hence, it is clear that developers would benefit greatly from language abstractions to help them build queries over heterogeneous data sources and from an optimization process that avoids large and unnecessary data transfers during the execution of queries. This project was developed at OutSystems and aims at extending a real product, which makes it even more challenging. We followed a generic approach that can be implemented in any framework, not only focused on the product of OutSystems

Pesca de pequeñas embarcaciones en Madeira: recreativa frente artesanal

Small-scale recreational and artisanal fisheries are popular activities in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and to date no information is available on their impact on regional coastal ecosystems. Through fishers’ surveys and official registers of fish landings, we described and characterized these fisheries in Madeira, comparing artisanal and recreational fisheries. In 2017, artisanal boats landed 91 species in fishing ports, while recreational catches landed 58 species. The most frequent catches were Dentex gibbosus, Phycis phycis and Pagrus pagrus for artisanal fishery and P. pagrus, Serranus atricauda and Diplodus spp. for recreational fishery. Comparing the same techniques, artisanal fishery always showed higher catch per unit effort values than recreational boat fishery. Nevertheless, the low number of artisanal fishery boats in comparison with the recreational ones reflected the lower total landings of the artisanal fishery, which in 2017 were 62.3 t, compared with the 509.8 t estimated catches for the recreational fishery. Though the estimated recreational fishing data were based on surveys and thus subject to various biases, this activity seems to negatively affect coastal ecosystems and, together with artisanal fishing, exerts a combined pressure on targeted species. Improved legislation for both fisheries is essential for an appropriate management of resources.La pesca recreativa y artesanal a pequeña escala (small-scale fisheries - SSF) es una actividad común en la Región Autónoma de Madeira de la que hasta la fecha, no se dispone de información sobre su impacto en los ecosistemas costeros regionales. A través de encuestas a pescadores y los registros oficiales de descargas de las especies capturadas, fue posible describir y caracterizar esta modalidad de pesca en la región y comparando la pesca artesanal con la recreativa. En 2017, las embarcaciones artesanales registraron descargas de 91 especies diferentes, mientras que en las capturas recreativas se contabilizaron 58 especies. Las capturas más frecuentes fueron Dentex gibbosus, Phycis phycis y Pagrus pagrus para la pesca artesanal, y P. pagrus, Serranus atricauda y Diplodus spp. para la recreativa. Al comparar las mismas técnicas coincidentes en las dos modalidades de pesca, se observó que en la pesca artesanal siempre presentó valores de CPUE más altos que la recreativa embarcada. Aún así, debido al bajo número de embarcaciones artesanales, se observó que los valores anuales de descargas totales para esta pesquería, son mucho menores que los estimados para la pesca recreativa embarcada (en 2017 fueron de 62,3 t en pesca artesanal, mientras que lo estimado para la pesca recreativa fueron 509,8 t). A pesar de que los datos estimados de pesca recreativa se basaron en encuestas y, por lo tanto, están sujetos a varios sesgos, esta actividad parece que puede afectar a los ecosistemas costeros, que junto con la pesca artesanal, puede ejercer una presión importante sobre las especies objetivo. Adecuar la legislación en ambas pesquerías es fundamental para poder realizar una gestión adecuada de los recursos