Consuming durable goods when stock markets jump: a strategic asset allocation approach

Agents derive their utilities from consumption over time. In this paper we consider an agent that invests in thefinancial market and in consumption goods. The agent has an infinite time horizon and a utility that depends on consumption at each point in time, consuming both a durable good and a perishable good. There are costs for transacting the durable good. We show that an agent who does not consider the impact of jumps in the return process of risky assets will make suboptimal decisions, not only regarding the fraction of wealth invested in the stock market, but also with respect to the timing for trading on the durable good.Optimal asset allocation, durable consumption good, transaction costs.

Sistema inteligente para gestão de energia em edifícios com renováveis e carregamento de veículo para rede

Renewable energies have recently seen a strong development. The awareness of the masses regarding the pollution due to fossil fuels is rising and with it, the use of electric vehicles (EVs). Hence, there is an increasing effort to keep energy distribution sustainable and to find ways of reducing its price. The aim of this study is to build a decision algorithm that will help minimize the electrical bill of a household, making use of V2H (Vehicle-to- Home) chargers. In this approach EVs can be used to store energy, which can then be supplied to the household during periods of high demand. One of the inputs that the designed algorithm requires is the household’s energy consumption forecast. Therefore, a energy consumption predictor was developed in this work altogether with a version that does not require past information of the specific household. This predictor is useful while there is not enough past data to train a more reliable model. The decision algorithm was tested in a simulated environment against a baseline decision algorithm. In the several scenarios and test houses, the proposed approach attained an average of 19.29% decrease in the energy expenses of the household.Nos últimos anos, as energias renováveis têm sido alvo de um forte desenvolvimento. A conscientização sobre a poluição por combustível fósseis tem vindo a aumentar e, com isso, o uso de veículos elétricos (EVs). Neste sentido, tem havido um esforço para manter a distribuição de energia sustentável e encontrar formas de reduzir o seu preço. O objetivo deste estudo é construir um algoritmo de decisão que ajude a minimizar os custos de energia elétrica de uma residência, fazendo uso de carregadores V2H (Vehicleto- Home). Assim, os EVs podem ser usados como uma forma de armazenar energia que pode ser fornecida de volta à casa durante os períodos de maior necessidade. Uma das informações que o algoritmo proposto requer é a previsão do consumo energético da casa. Portanto, um modelo de previsão de consumo de energia doméstica foi também desenvolvido neste trabalho, incluindo uma versão que não requer informação histórica. Este modelo é útil enquanto não há informação histórica suficiente para treinar um modelo mais confiável. O algoritmo de decisão foi testado num ambiente simulado e comparado com um algoritmo de decisão base. Nos vários cenários e casas testadas, a abordagem proposta obteve uma redução média de 19.29% nas despesas energéticas da casa.Mestrado em Engenharia Informátic

Development of a small library of bioactive compounds through isolation and molecular derivatization

Tese de mestrado, Química Farmacêutica e Terapêutica, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2018The present dissertation focuses on the phytochemical study of Euphorbia boetica Boiss. and Euphorbia pubescens Vahl (Euphorbiaceae) aerial parts in an attempt to find effective modulators for P-glycoprotein (P-gp) mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) in tumour cells. The methanol extracts of both plants were fractioned by chromatographic techniques such as column chromatography, preparative thin layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). From the methanol extract of E. boetica, one new premyrsinane-type diterpene with the unusual 5:7:6:3 fused ring system and a new acylation pattern, named euphomyrsinane A, two new tigliane-type diterpenes with new acylation patterns, named phorboboetirane A and phorboboetirane B along with four known macrocyclic diterpenes, premyrsinol-3-propanoate-5-benzoate-7,13,17-triacetate, euphoboetirane A, epoxyboetirane A and epoxyboetirane K were isolated. A known triterpene with the cycloartane skeleton, 24-methylenecycloartanol, and a phenolic compound, methyl gallate were also isolated. From the methanol extracts of E. pubescens, were obtained a known macrocyclic diterpene, euphopubescenol, and a known diterpenic lactone, helioscopinolide A. Due to its biological activity and simple structure paired with the fact that it was isolated in large amounts, methyl gallate was derivatized, aiming at generating a small set of bioactive derivatives. In this way, taking into account that lipophilicity and the presence of nitrogen atoms are described to improve the ability to reverse MDR, three main steps were considered: i) methylation of the hydroxyl groups on the aromatic ring by reaction with dimethylsulfate, yielding methyl 3,4,5-trimethoxebenzoate; ii) reaction of methyl 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate with hydrazine yielding 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzohydrazide; iii) condensation of 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzohydrazide with aromatic aldehydes to obtain three derivatives bearing an imine moiety. The chemical structures of the compounds were deduced from their physical and spectroscopic data, which included infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and extensive one- (1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, DEPT) and two-dimensional (1H-1H-COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance studies and by comparison with literature data.A presente dissertação descreve o estudo fitoquímico de algumas frações dos extratos metanólicos das partes aéreas da Euphorbia boetica Boiss. e Euphorbia pubescens Vahl (Euphorbiaceae) com o intuito de encontrar moduladores eficientes na multirresistência farmacológica mediada pela glicoproteína-P, em células tumorais. O fracionamento dos extratos metanólicos foi realizado através de varias técnicas, nomeadamente cromatografia em coluna, cromatografia preparativa em camada fina e cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência (HPLC). Do extrato metanólico da E. boetica, foram isolados e caracterizados um novo diterpeno com o esqueleto do premirsinano apresentando um sistema de anéis 5:7:6:3 fundidos, com um novo rearranjo e um novo padrão de acilação, nomeado euphomyrsinane A e dois diterpenos com o esqueleto do tigliano com novos padrões de acilação, designados phorboboetirane A e phorboboetirane B. Foram ainda isolados: quatro diterpenos macrocíclicos já conhecidos, premirsinol-3-propanoato-5-benzoato-7,13,17-triacetato, eufoboetirano A, epoxiboetirano A e epoxiboetirano K; um triterpeno conhecido com o esqueleto do cicloartano, 24-metilenocicloartanol; e um composto fenólico, o galhato de metilo. Dos extratos metanólicos da E. pubescens, foram isolados e identificados um diterpeno macrocíclico conhecido, euphopubescenol, e uma lactona diterpénica conhecida, helioscopinolido A. Dada a sua atividade biológica e estrutura simples, associado ao facto de ter sido isolado em grande quantidade, o galhato de metilo foi derivatizado, com o objetivo de criar um pequeno conjunto de derivados bioativos. Desta forma, e tendo em conta que a lipofilia e presença de átomos de azoto aumentam as propriedades moduladoras dos compostos, foram considerados três passos: i) metilação dos grupos hidroxilo do anel benzénico através de reação com dimetilsulfato, obtendo 3,4,5-trimetoxibenzoato de metilo; ii) reação do 3,4,5-trimetoxibenzoato de metilo com hidrazina para obter a 3,4,5-trimetoxibenzo-hidrazida; iii) condensação da 3,4,5-trimetoxibenzo-hidrazida com aldeídos aromáticos para obter derivados com a função imina. A estrutura química de todos os compostos foi deduzida com base as suas características físicas e espetroscópicas, incluindo espetroscopia de infravermelho (IV), espetrometria de massa, RMN unidimensional (1H-RMN, 13C-RMN, DEPT) e bidimensional (1H-1H-COSY, HMQC, HMBC e NOESY), e comparação com a literatura.The studies presented in this dissertation were carried out at the Natural Products Chemistry Group of the Institute for Medicines and Pharmaceutical Sciences (iMed.ULisboa), Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa. The Project was financed by Fundação pela Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (Projects: PTDC/QEQ-MED/0905/2012, UID/DTP/04138/2013

On the cloud deployment of a session abstraction for service/data aggregation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia InformáticaThe global cyber-infrastructure comprehends a growing number of resources, spanning over several abstraction layers. These resources, which can include wireless sensor devices or mobile networks, share common requirements such as richer inter-connection capabilities and increasing data consumption demands. Additionally, the service model is now widely spread, supporting the development and execution of distributed applications. In this context, new challenges are emerging around the “big data” topic. These challenges include service access optimizations, such as data-access context sharing, more efficient data filtering/ aggregation mechanisms, and adaptable service access models that can respond to context changes. The service access characteristics can be aggregated to capture specific interaction models. Moreover, ubiquitous service access is a growing requirement, particularly regarding mobile clients such as tablets and smartphones. The Session concept aggregates the service access characteristics, creating specific interaction models, which can then be re-used in similar contexts. Existing Session abstraction implementations also allow dynamic reconfigurations of these interaction models, so that the model can adapt to context changes, based on service, client or underlying communication medium variables. Cloud computing on the other hand, provides ubiquitous access, along with large data persistence and processing services. This thesis proposes a Session abstraction implementation, deployed on a Cloud platform, in the form of a middleware. This middleware captures rich/dynamic interaction models between users with similar interests, and provides a generic mechanism for interacting with datasources based on multiple protocols. Such an abstraction contextualizes service/users interactions, can be reused by other users in similar contexts. This Session implementation also permits data persistence by saving all data in transit in a Cloud-based repository, The aforementioned middleware delivers richer datasource-access interaction models, dynamic reconfigurations, and allows the integration of heterogenous datasources. The solution also provides ubiquitous access, allowing client connections from standard Web browsers or Android based mobile devices

On embedding countable sets of endomorphisms

Sierpi´nski proved that every countable set of mappings on an infinite set X is contained in a 2-generated subsemigroup of the semigroup of all mappings on X. In this paper we prove that every countable set of endomorphisms of an algebra A which has an infinite basis (independent generating set) is contained in a 2-generated subsemigroup of the semigroup of all endomorphisms of A

Analytical Matched Filter Bound for M-QAM Hierarchical Constellations with Diversity Reception in Multipath Rayleigh Fading Channels

In this paper, we derive matched filter bound (MFB) expressions for the performance of hierarchical quadrature amplitude modulations (M-HQAM) over time-discrete multipath Rayleigh fading environments with diversity. The expressions are valid for multipath environments where different paths and antennas can be correlated. Since hierarchical constellations are usually employed to achieve unequal bit error protection, the MFB expressions are given in terms of the individual bit error rate (BER) for the different bit streams. Although typically the MFB is obtained assuming slow time varying channels, fast varying channels are also considered in this paper

Positive and negative reciprocity in the labor market

This paper reports results of an experiment designed to analyze whether reciprocal behavior survives in a more hostile environment than usually considered in the literature. In fact, positive reciprocity survives in a treatment favoring selfish behavior, although there is a decrease in the deviations from the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. Besides positive reciprocity there is negative reciprocity in this new treatment. Additionally, this paper highlights the influence of the experimental design, namely the importance of wage cut points, on subjects' behavior.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Positive and negative reciprocity in the labor market

Traditional gift-exchange experiments were designed with corner equilibria so that evidence of positive reciprocity could not be disentangled from one-sided errors. Our first treatment replicates the traditional design and finds that effort is an increasing function of wage for mid-range wage offers, but this relationship is not significant for high and low offers. The second treatment has an interior equilibrium, asymmetric marginal costs of reciprocity (positive and negative) and lower efficiency gains. There is evidence of a decrease in the deviations from the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. However, there is still significant reciprocal behavior (positive and negative).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Usage of link-level performance indicators for HSDPA network-level simulations in E-UMTS

The paper describes integration of HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) link-level simulation results into network-level simulations for enhanced UMTS. The link-level simulations model all physical layer features depicted in the 3GPP standards. These include: generation of transport blocks; turbo coding; rate matching; spreading; scrambling; modulation. At the receiver side, all complementary blocks are designed, with soft-decision demodulation, and a turbo decoder using the MAP (maximum a posteriori) algorithm with 8 iterations. An analytical formula is defined that fits the CQI (channel quality indicator) dependent BLER (block error rate) versus E/sub b//N/sub 0/ results in an AWGN channel. This formula models the physical layer in the network-level simulator. A further extension for frequency selective fading channels has been defined. The network-level simulator includes propagation models that provide SNR values. Based on these SNR values and the simplified physical layer model, an algorithm selects the CQI, and determines the actual BLER at time of reception. The rounding down and delaying of the CQI reporting, which corresponds to the W-CDMA standard, has a significant impact on throughput and transfer delay of the HS-DSCH. Some compensation can be found in a modified transmission. The integration of the link-level and network-level simulators gives accurate and realistic results that can be used in more studies that focus on network layer aspects of packet based services over HSDP