The Impact of the Anchor Store on the Performance of a Commercial Centre (On the model of Sonae Sierra)

Nesta tese de mestrado utilizamos um conjunto de dados relativos a estabelecimentos comerciais para analisar a complexidade económica de um grande Centro Comercial onde existem várias lojas que estão muito próximas entre si. Colocar um grande número de lojas num mesmo local permite ao consumidor economizar tempo e gera também uma rede complexa de externalidades e incentivos entre os lojistas e o mall developer. Os Centros Comerciais planificados têm geralmente vários tipos de lojas, nomeadamente as chamadas lojas-âncora, e vários retalhistas especializados que comercializam bens e serviços diversos e em geral substitutos. Os consumidores estão a par da qualidade e dos preços das lojas âncora e os Centros Comerciais não só lhes oferecem a possibilidade de conhecer produtos de outros retalhistas, como lhes permitem desta forma, economizar tempo e dinheiro. Nesta lógica, a colocação de ambos os tipos de estabelecimentos comerciais possuem benefícios mútuos. Este trabalho analisa o impacto das lojas-âncora no desempenho e resultados dos Centros Comerciais, e nos custos e desempenho das outras lojas. A análise empírica demonstra que uma maior presença de âncoras num centro comercial tem influência directa no aumento das vendas e, consequentemente, dos preços de arrendamento das outras lojas existentes no Centro Comercial em questão. Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que as lojas-âncora aumentam o poder de atracção da clientela medido pelo número de pessoas que visita o Centro Comercial num dado momento, mas também que ultimamente, elas têm um menor impacto nas vendas por visitante.This master thesis uses a unique data of mall store contracts in order to study the complex economic issue that arises when stores are placed together within a large shopping centre. Bringing a large number of stores together in a single location, economize on consumer search costs and create a complicated web of externalities and incentive issues between store owners and mall developer. Planned shopping centres usually have few department stores, as called anchor stores and multiple specialized retailers selling substitutable commodities in each commodity category. Consumers are aware of the quality and prices of the anchor’s commodities. Shopping centres give them the opportunity to learn about other retailer’s commodities, economizing their costly search and in this way collocation of both store types have mutual benefits. This thesis examines the impact of the anchor stores on the performance and results of the shopping centres and on the charges of the other stores. The empirical analysis shows that a greater presence of anchors in a mall directly increases the sales, and consequently the rents of non-anchor stores in a mall. We demonstrate that externalities are internalized by an efficient allocation of space and incentives across stores. We also show that they increase the customer drawing power measured as the number of people who visited the mall in a specific moment of time but lately they have a smaller impact on the sales per each person that visits the centre

Los comienzos de la educación de la mujer en España

El acceso a la educación de la mujer en España ha sido insignificante hasta casi finales del siglo XIX, puesto que según el pensamiento y la mentalidad de la sociedad, su instrucción era innecesaria si tenemos en cuenta el ideal de mujer que se aceptaba socialmente, es decir, el de aquélla dedicada al esposo y a sus hijos, sujeta siempre al varón, ya sea su cónyuge o su progenitor, bajo la designación del "ángel del hogar" y sin ningún reconocimiento de su capacidad intelectual. Afortunadamente, las iniciativas y reformas de figuras decisivas para la educación de la mujer después de mediados del siglo XIX, con una clara influencia procedente de la ideología krausista, logran abrir el camino hacia la cultura de las mujeres y conformar más instituciones formativas aparte de las de Magisterio, consiguiendo incluso a finales del siglo que una pequeña élite terminen sus estudios universitarios. Finalmente, después de muchos ajustes y correcciones, paulatinamente se va a ir implantando, la identidad femenina y el reconocimiento social y cultural de la misma.Grado en Educación Infanti

The Role of Spirituality in the Construction of the Autonomy and Responsibility of Chronic Diabetic Patients. An Orthodox Priests’ Perspective

AbstractThis article aims to identify the perceptions of Orthodox Christian priests about the role of faith and religious practices, of spirituality, generally, in the care of chronic patients. In treating chronically ill people, we consider that the concerted actions of those who care about the patient (family, friends) are very important, because they, together with the religious representatives, serve to stimulate the joy of life for the suffering persons and to restore their self-confidence. The chronic condition can cause distortions in the representation of concepts like world, time and necessity, which are seen from the perspective of a transfiguring ethos, transcending time, by the reference to a transcendent reality. Life can be understood as a drama, to which the individual makes specific expectations, both from himself and from their relatives.In this paper, we aim to identify a Christian ethical perspective (Damian, S., Necula, R., Caras, A., Sandu, A., 2012) in the discourse of the priests, especially of those engaged in missionary work in hospitals, as well as specific healing rituals of Orthodoxy. In the context of this article, we have chosen a particular side of the chronic patient's construction of the autonomy and the responsibility towards his own health, limiting ourselves to answer the question: What is the role of religion/spirituality and of the religious institutions in the social construction of autonomy and responsibility for the patient with chronic disease?Private interviews have been conducted with the patients and members of their families, medical specialists in diabetes, medical staff, social workers and focus groups with patients, members of their families, medical specialists in diabetes, family, doctors and orthodox priests. The research done within this study is based on the synthesis of these interviews and focus groups and the data were interpreted using inductive qualitative methodologies

Local Inflammatory Biomarkers and Potential Inflammation-Targeting Therapies in Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most frequent microvascular complications of diabetes. A large body of evidence supports the role of inflammation in the development and progression of DR. Currently, DR is diagnosed based on the presence of morphological lesions detected on fundus examination. Yet, there are other laboratory or imaging biomarker whose alteration precede DR lesions. This chapter will first briefly explain the role of inflammation in DR pathogenesis and will analyze the molecules involved. Further, it will discuss significant and recent studies that analyzed local laboratory or imaging inflammatory biomarkers in different DR stages. It will then focus on several potential inflammation-targeting therapies which proved to be effective in animal or human studies. Validation of these reviewed biomarkers would allow the identification of patients who do not respond to the current available treatment and could benefit from an adjunctive therapy

Ethical Aspects of Biometric Identification

The term biometrics derives from Greek (bio=life and metrics=measure) and implies the measurement of biological signs. Biometrics is the science of recognizing people based on their physical, behavioral, and physiological attributes, such as fingerprint, face scan, iris, retina, and voice. The present paper aims to develop a study on biometric identification. The major objective of the study is to conduct a survey among the Romanian population on the importance and knowledge of biometric identification methods. This objective was achieved by assessing the knowledge held by the general population of Romania regarding biometric indicators and the degree of adaptability and openness of citizens related to the widest possible implementation of biometrics.  The study was based on conducting a quantitative analysis using a questionnaire. Due to the high degree of accessibility, the online environment was chosen as a method of application, distribution being made through social networks. A biometric template digitizes the human body, it has been argued that the collection of biometric identifiers not only interferes with the privacy and right to protection of a person's data, but also with the integrity of an individual's body. In conclusion, the creation and storage of a unique biometric template must be seen in relation to the purpose of the operation. The protection of citizens from criminal activities is a primary obligation of the state. However, it must be exercised with due respect for a number of fundamental ethical values and in the light of modern human rights law

Forensic aspects of non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage: a case report

Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, RomaniaBackground. Cases when unexpected death occurs, when the patient is in apparent health or the event comes during presumably normal activity, especially when it is unwitnessed or when the victim is found without apparent signs of foul play, may pose a significant challenge to the coroner in reaching a proper determination of the cause and the manner of death. Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a bleeding into the parenchyma of the brain and accounts for approximately 10 % to 20 % of all strokes. ICH is a multi-factorial disease caused by several interacting and overlapping risk factors and etiologies. When massive ICH, not connected with head trauma, has occurred, and it is multifocal or not located in one of the typical sites for hypertensive hemorrhage, one of a multitude of other causes must be suspected. High alcohol intake increases the risk of all stroke subtypes and of the development of liver diseases and may induce hypertension, by affecting brain function and producing a series of alcohol-related or alcohol caused diseases and is associated with changes in the coagulation system. Liver cirrhosis is a well-known risk factor for ICH, due to impaired coagulation, despite the relatively rare occurrence of ICH in cirrhotic patients

Morphometry of the Foramen Magnum for Sex Estimation in Romanian Adult Population

The foramen magnum makes the transition between the cephalic extremity and the spine, which is an anatomical element of the skull. So, there are multiple situations when the skull is the only skeletal element available for anthropological analysis. In this respect, the foramen magnum can provide valuable information in terms of skeletal anthropological expertise. According to the literature, the foramen magnum provides, from a morphometric and morphological point of view, individual and population characteristics. The study aims to evaluate the morphometry of the foramen magnum for establish the sex of an unknown person, specific for Romanian adult population. The authors analyzed morphometrically the foramen magnum of 50 cranio-cerebral computer tomographic images. Measurements of the foramen magnum were taken anteroposterior diameter, transverse diameter, based on the two being calculated the anthropometric index and the area of the foramen magnum. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 23. Discriminant function analysis was applied, and discriminant formulas were created for sex determination of Romanian adult population. The results of the analysis are impressive and have a good applicability in a forensic anthropological context. The data used in this paper provides reliable results with a large applicability in the future for estimating the sex from foramen magnum for Romanian adult population.</p

Shaken baby syndrome: Case report

Recognition of abuse and the treatment of child victims are recent concepts in the history of mankind. Increasing the awareness of the need to treat and prevent such abuse is a characteristic of modern society. The beaten child syndrome was described by Ambroise Tardieu in 1860, and Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) was clearly illustrated in medical literature a century later by Caffey in 1972. The definition of SBS is based on the association of major intracranial lesions with minimal external lesions and the diagnosis is still difficult to establish. The authors describe a reduced number of 7 cases of pediatric patients addressed for forensic expertise and where suspicion of SBS has arisen. The lesion mechanisms involved in the production of this syndrome are still controversial and are sources of frequent debates in legal medicine. These uncertainties can make legal punishment inoperable. The therapeutic management of these children in neurosurgery is not subject to international consensus, and discrepancies between different clinics impede a comparative cohort assessment. However, SBS is a major public health problem due to severe neurological injuries caused to child victims during brain development