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AbstractThe application of the Hodrick-Prescott (HP) and other linear filters to remove trend and extract business cycles in macroeconomic time series is a common practice despite its limitations, namely, in signaling recessions. Median filters and other nonlinear techniques can perform better by accommodating sharp but fundamental changes in the growth trend and passing only the relevant information to the cycle component, a possible measure of the output gap of an economy. An application to the Portuguese relevant macroeconomic series confirmed the robustness of nonlinear filters in signaling the recessions and recoveries. In particular, the Mosheiov-Raveh (MR) filter estimates piecewise trend growth paths that naturally date the specific periods of the Portuguese economy since 1977.

Background: Organizations allocate substantial resources to Information Technology (IT) to ensure its long-term success. Hence, effective IT Governance (ITG) is crucial for business/IT alignment. However, factors like employee behavior and Organizational Culture (OC) play vital roles in applying ITG but remain underexplored. Objectives: This study aims to bridge this gap by examining the relationship between ITG and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Additionally, it investigates the moderating effect of different cultures in the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) on the ITG-OCB relationship. Methods/Analysis: A survey was conducted involving 513 employees from over 150 companies worldwide. The data were analyzed using partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: This study confirms that institutionalizing ITG enhances OCB. Furthermore, a moderating effect was observed in most relationships, highlighting the influence of different OC types. Market and hierarchy cultures exhibited the most significant moderating effect. Novelty: This research contributes to the understanding of ITG's impact on employee behavior, extending the investigation to new dimensions of OCB and confirming the moderating role of OC. The practical implications of this study enable organizations to foster a culture that promotes ITG and cultivates employees' OCB, leading to improved business-IT alignment, enhanced IT-enabled value, and, ultimately, enhanced organizational effectiveness. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-05-010 Full Text: PDF

PurposeThis paper studies diversification and value in the investment portfolios of (non-listed) Real Estate Investment Funds (REIFs) exploring how the value of diversification is captured by the market and by investors (beyond reported valuations).Design/methodology/approachWe apply the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) to study the level of concentration versus diversification in the investment portfolios of REIFs (both in terms of segment and geographical diversification). We use a dataset from INREV with data from 62 investment portfolios, with an average of 86 REIFs per portfolio for the period of 2008–2020 (to study segment diversification). We use a second dataset from INREV with data from 30 investment portfolios with an average of 79 REIFs per portfolio for the period of 2005–2020 (to study geographical diversification). We employ a cluster analysis approach to identify common features among the investment funds.FindingsWe conclude that (segment diversified) portfolios with higher degrees of leverage exhibit higher income yields, albeit diversification is captured indirectly through asset choices – more diversified portfolios tend to exhibit a stronger risk and return relationship. Also, geographical diversification creates value (more significantly by for the correct combination of countries carefully choosing what different geographies to group in the diversified portfolio).Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation of our study is that our portfolios are funds of funds, since the available data could not reach the asset detail, but we believe this does not compromise our results.Practical implicationsDiversification leads to higher risk-adjusted returns which suggests that properties may be undervalued (market value) in the framework of the Gordon Model, contrary to expectations (regarding investment value).Originality/valueInvestors capture the value of diversification differently, suggesting a gap between market value and investment value that can be explored.

No ano de 2017, a Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (CLT) sofreu a sua maior e mais ampla alteração desde 1943. A Lei 13.467/2017, conhecida como a Reforma Trabalhista de 2017, modificou cerca de 120 artigos da CLT, impactando substantivamente a percepção de direitos, cálculo de verbas rescisórias e aspectos processuais gerais. O presente artigo se insere numa pesquisa de escopo mais amplo que buscou entender os impactos da Reforma Trabalhista de 2017 no fluxo processual do Tribunal Regional do Trabalho (TRT) da 1ª Região, no recorte de 2015 a 2019. O objeto da análise aqui apresentada consiste na investigação dos efeitos da Reforma no acesso à Justiça do Trabalho – com enfoque no benefício de gratuidade de justiça –, nos assuntos principais dos processos e nos valores da causa e da condenação. Foi explicitada a trajetória legislativa da Reforma, seguida de uma discussão sobre alguns pontos de alteração no texto da CLT. Por meio de técnicas de estatística descritiva, apresentamos as mudanças observadas no fluxo dos processos no TRT da 1ª Região, indicando que, além da queda no número de processos, há uma alteração nos assuntos mais comuns e nos valores das causas e condenações.

No Século XXI, é fundamental que a sociedade promova um debate acerca do meio ambiente. Assim, as perspectivas acadêmicas e científicas se expandem pela extensão universitária. Nesse sentido, uma das oficinas propostas na Operação Rondon 2017, no município de Conselheiro Mairinck (PR), foi a de "Meio ambiente: Reciclagem". Este artigo tem como objetivo principal apresentar a experiência dos acadêmicos e dos participantes na realização das oficinas de reciclagem em uma atividade de extensão no interior do Paraná. Os procedimentos metodológicos foram: levantamento bibliográfico acerca do conteúdo "meio ambiente e reciclagem" em artigos científicos, elaboração e realização das oficinas de extensão e sistematização dos resultados neste artigo. Os principais resultados mostram que muitos respondentes não possuíam conhecimento sobre reciclagem e que a cidade não possui coleta seletiva, sendo possível aferir após a realização da oficina que eles adquiriram um novo conhecimento/informação.

Nearly forty years have passed since the term Organizational Citizenship Behavior appeared. Despite a current consensus among scholars about the citizenship gestures as prosocial acts of employees that benefit the organization, it does not apply commonly to the exponential growth of all OCB-related concepts. The concept's expansion has confused the researchers and practitioners, mainly when choosing the most appropriate instruments (constructs) and dimensions to use in their area of interest and context. A systematic literature review was conducted and 420 articles were analyzed. Results point that the trends on OCB-like behaviors goes higher, with an average annual growth rate of new studies of 3.13%. United States (39%) and China (25%) lead but some "under-studied" contexts like Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania start being studied towards OCB. New trends appear in the spectrum of the many different domains and disciplines related to OCB, while leadership and task performance remain the most studied domains and disciplines. In future studies, researchers must freely choose the OCB dimensions and constructs they want to use or adapt to meet their needs and research needs since there is no written rule about their use, only the care to be taken with the context and discipline studying.

Resumo O Estado soviético conviveu com quatro sistemas constitucionais distintos ao longo de sua história, inaugurados em 1918, 1924, 1936 e 1977. O presente artigo opera uma análise comparada das quatro constituições, identificando suas aproximações e seus distanciamentos. A hipótese apresentada é a de que houve uma transição gradual cujo marco inicial era a ideia de dissolução do Estado, presente em 1918, e que culmina com a fusão Estado-Partido em 1977.

Referência completa da obra: Ginsburg, Tom; Huq, Aziz Z. How to save a Constitutional Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018. 306 p.

Agar extraction from Gelidium and Gracilaria red seaweed species produces hundred thousand ton of carbohydrate-rich residues annually. Gelidium sesquipedale waste biomass obtained after agar extraction, still contained 44.2 % w/w total carbohydrates (dry-weight basis). These residues were biologically up-graded to poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB) after saccharification of their carbohydrate fraction to simple sugars. A combined hydrolysis treatment using sulfamic acid followed by enzymatic hydrolysis with cellulases produced a glucose-rich hydrolysate with a negligible content of inhibitors. With this treatment a sugar yield of circa 30 % (g glucose/g biomass) was attained. The algal hydrolysates were assessed as carbon source for the production of P3HB by the halotolerant bacteria Halomonas boliviensis. A cell concentration of 8.3 g L−1 containing 41 % (w/w) of polymer and a yield (YP/S) of 0.16 gpolymer/gglucose were attained in shake flask assays. In this work, cellulose-rich seaweed waste was shown to be an upgradable, sustainable source of carbohydrates. © 2020 ; Acknowledgements This work has received funding from FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the project (PTDC/BII-BIO/29242/2017). Funding received by iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences from FCT (grant UIDB/04565/2020) and from Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa 2020 (Project N. 007317) is also acknowledged. Štepan Tuma acknowledges support from the ERASMUS Plus program (EU) and Jon Kepa Izaguirre acknowledges the Basque Government for the pre-doctoral fellowship that supported his staying at iBB-IST. The authors would like to acknowledge IBERAGAR S.A., Portugal for kindly supplying the Gelidium residues.

This paper presents the overall status, characteristics, and policy framework of the housing sector and the initiatives towards energy efficiency in residential buildings in Belgium in order to assess the market demand for EuroPACE - an on-tax financing scheme for home retrofits. In fact, there are over 5 million residential buildings in Belgium. In 2015, the construction of new buildings represented 44% of the building stock, while renovated buildings accounted for 56%. Moreover, there is a high degree of transformation of old buildings - office buildings or commercial buildings - into residential dwellings. What is also important is that Belgium is a largely urbanised country, with over 83% of the population living in urban areas. Furthermore, 62% of the building stock was built before 1970, and only 41% of dwellings have wall insulation, 36% have fully double-glazed windows, and 58% have roof insulation. These poor insulation figures show that the need for the renovation of the building stock is high. What is more, energy prices are among the highest in the EU and 20% of Belgians are experiencing energy poverty. About 22% of the total energy consumption of the country comes from buildings. To push this renovation further, Belgium must overcome a few barriers - notably financial and technical - before achieving energy efficiency in residential buildings. Barriers related to lack of interest from the authorities are not as significant, as the country and its three regions (the Flemish Region - or Flanders, the Brussels-Capital Region, and the Walloon Region - or Wallonia), which are responsible for the development and implementation of housing and Energy efficiency policies, seem committed to implement initiatives for energy efficiency adapter to local conditions and challenges. For instance, financial support measures such as green certificates, housing bonuses, and renovation premiums aim at boosting energy efficiency in existing buildings. In order to achieve its main objective, this paper analyses the residential building stock (age, size, quality, value, ownership, amount, as well as practical details relative to housing), the characteristics of its users (household composition, income level, and division between urban/rural areas, among others), the characteristics of its energy spending and production (energy price, sources, building energy levels, and energy poverty, among others), as well as the different initiatives and policies implemented at the national and regional level to reduce energy consumption and encourage owners to invest in more energy efficient options when buying or renovating their dwelling. The conclusion of the paper presents a brief Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the housing sector in order to evaluate the feasibility of an on-tax financing scheme such as the one proposed by EuroPACE.

HtrA2 (high-temperature requirement 2) is a human mitochondrial protease that has a role in apoptosis and Parkinson's disease. The structure of HtrA2 with an intact catalytic triad was determined, revealing a conformational change in the active site loops, involving mainly the regulatory LD loop, which resulted in burial of the catalytic serine relative to the previously reported structure of the proteolytically inactive mutant. Mutations in the loops surrounding the active site that significantly restricted their mobility, reduced proteolytic activity both in vitro and in cells, suggesting that regulation of HtrA2 activity cannot be explained by a simple transition to an activated conformational state with enhanced active site accessibility. Manipulation of solvent viscosity highlighted an unusual bi-phasic behavior of the enzymatic activity, which together with MD calculations supports the importance of motion in the regulation of the activity of HtrA2. HtrA2 is an unusually thermostable enzyme (TM=97.3 °C), a trait often associated with structural rigidity, not dynamic motion. We suggest that this thermostability functions to provide a stable scaffold for the observed loop motions, allowing them a relatively free conformational search within a rather restricted volume. ; We would like to thank Professor Margarida Bastos and Dr. Frederico Silva for assistance with calorimetry, Professor Manuel J.B. Marques with refractometry, Professor Eduardo Marques and Dr. João Neves with viscosometry, Dr. Trent Balius with hierarchical clustering, Professor Brian K. Shoichet with interpreting protein stability measurements, Dr. Hélder Maiato, Dr. Cristina Ferrás, Dr. Emma Commas-Casellas and Luísa Ferreira for help with cell culture. Funding to Biomolecular Structure and Function lab was provided by the project Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000008 – Porto Neurosciences and Neurologic Disease Research Initiative at I3S, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). CM, MJR and PAF acknowledge the financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007728) and National Funds (FCT/MEC, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Educação e Ciência) under the Partnership Agreement PT2020 UID/MULTI/04378/2013. C.M. is a recipient of a FCT PhD fellowship (SFRH/BD/84016/2012). M.M. thanks the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for its support through the Ciência 2008 program. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion