According to Mello & Perelli (2003), quantile regression allows to capture countries’ heterogeneity and assess how policy variables affect different countries according to their position on the conditional growth distribution. Quantile regression analysis allows us to identify those growth determinants that do not have the expected relationship with growth and hence determine the policy implications specifically for under-performing versus over achieving countries in terms of output growth. Our findings indicate that better health is positively and robustly related to growth at all quantiles, but the quantitative importance of the respective coefficients differs across quantiles in some cases, with the sign of the relationship greater for countries that recorded lower growth rates. These results apply to both positive (life expectancy, consumption of calories per person per day) and negative (infant mortality rate, prevalence of undernourishment in populations) health status indicators. Given the predominantly public nature of health funding, cuts in health expenditures should thus be carefully balanced even in times of public finances sustainability problems, particularly in times of growth slowdowns, since a decrease in the stock of health human capital can be particularly harmful for growth for under achievers.
health; human capital; economic growth; quantile regression.
Two main issues, closely related to each other, have occupied the European Central Bank in recent years: the sovereign debt crisis and the possibility of deflation in the Euro Zone. In this paper we discuss the causes, the consequences and the policy options regarding deflation. In addition, we assess the magnitude of the risk of deflation in the Euro Zone. For this purpose, we will employ the methodology of Kilian and Manganelli (2007). Our results suggest that the threat of deflation in the Euro Zone is related to the international financial crisis and to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Thus, the probability of deflation in the Euro zone increased in recent years. Nevertheless, it appears to have subsided in 2017, justifying the view taken by the ECB’s Governing Council, according to which deflation is no longer a problem for the Euro zone.
Following the Great Recession, many European countries implemented fiscal consolidation policies aimed at reducing government debt. Using three independent data sources and three different empirical approaches, we document a strong positive relationship between higher income inequality and stronger recessive impacts of fiscal consolidation programs across time and place. To explain this finding, we develop a life-cycle, overlapping generations economy with uninsurable labor market risk.


Intrapreneurship, Entrepreneurial orientation, International orientation, Performance, Exporting firms
This paper compares the performance of efficient portfolios based on
the Markowitz (1952) mean-variance model with portfolios with high skewness. The
assumption that the return of assets follows the normal distribution is the basis
of the mean-variance model. However, the return of financial assets often deviates
from the normal distribution, namely due to positive skewness, which may offer
some advantages to investors. Previous literature reports several obstacles that
make it difficult to include skewness in portfolio optimization, and that there
is a trade-off between return and skewness maximization. Mean-variance
optimization versus the search for positive skewness is addressed in this paper
by estimating comparative performance ratios between mean-variance efficient
portfolios and portfolios with high skewness. The paper also estimates probit
models which highlight the probability of obtaining higher return from
portfolios with high skewness than from
mean-variance optimized portfolios. The probability given by our estimations is,
in general, relatively low, which suggests that mean-variance optimization must
be preferred to the search for positive skewness as method of portfolio choice.
Making use of a
two-country, two-sector, New Keynesian model with essential and non-essential
goods we assess the macroeconomic consequences of a labor supply shock in the
Euro Area. Our model incorporates health status in the households' maximization
problem which depends on the time devoted to leisure. Health status is linked
to the consumption of non-essential goods, such that the demand for
non-essentials is decreasing with contemporaneous health. After calibrating the
model for the case of Portugal and the rest of the Euro Area, our simulations
show that, a labor supply shock affecting only the latter, reduces the demand
for non-essential goods, generates inflation in the Portuguese economy and
pushes both regions into economic recession, depriving households from
essential goods. If the labor supply shock affects both economies, the negative
income effect dominates the decreased demand effect for non-essential goods and
that stagflation is a plausible scenario. In addition, our calibration scheme
allows us to conclude that the asymmetric effects across economies may be due
to different price rigidities between sectors and to different production
structures between countries.


We calibrate our model to match key characteristics of a number of European economies, including the distribution of wages and wealth, social security, taxes and debt, and study the effects of fiscal consolidation programs. We find that higher income risk induces precautionary savings behavior, which decreases the proportion of credit-constrained agents in the economy. Credit-constrained agents have less elastic labor supply responses to fiscal consolidation achieved through either tax hikes or public spending cuts, and this explains the relationship between income inequality and the impact of fiscal consolidation programs. Our model produces a cross-country correlation between inequality and the fiscal consolidation multipliers, which is quite similar to that in the data.
fiscal consolidation, income inequality, fiscal multipliers, public debt, income risk.
The relationship between renewable energy sources and economic growth has attracted the interest of researchers in recent years. However, the analysis has focused mostly on measuring the impact of renewable energy consumption on economic performance (such as economic growth) that does not reflect the quality of standards of living. We employ a different approach measuring the impact of renewable energy consumption on the Human Development Index (HDI) that considers these qualitative characteristics associated with better health and educational standards along with income performance. Additionally, we develop a simultaneous equation system approach that describes the interrelations between economic variables, renewable energy and pollution emissions with feedback effect tendencies. We provide robust evidence using panel data for a set of 28 OECD countries over the period 2004-2015. The system of equations is estimated by 3sls considering a static and dynamic specification of the model. It is shown that renewable energy consumption along with human and physical capital are important factors for explaining the sustainable development level of the countries considered. Renewable energy consumption is mostly determined by higher levels of human capital, the R&D spending and the stage of countries’ development. Factors like the stage of development, total energy consumption, renewable energy consumption and standard levels of education are important elements for explaining environmental pollution (measured by CO2 emissions per capita). It is also established a non-linear relationship between the countries` stage of development and carbon emissions.
Renewable energy, human development index, simultaneous equation system, panel data.
The purpose of this paper is to describe the evolution of China’s exchange rate policy, relate it to the international competitiveness of the Chinese economy and assess the claims that China has been manipulating the exchange rate to foster its competitiveness. We begin by reviewing the historical evolution of China’s exchange rate policy.


We then describe the implications of the constraint represented by the “trilemma” (or “impossible trinity”) of international economics for China’s economic policy. We assess whether the Renminbi can meet the requirements to be considered an international reserve currency. We also propose to evaluate the degree of currency manipulation by looking at the magnitude of the exchange rate forecast errors. Our interpretation of the test is that currencies subject to higher degrees of manipulation should be easier to forecast. We find that the magnitude of the forecast errors associated with the Chinese currency’s exchange rate is not noticeably smaller than the magnitudes observed for other currencies. This leads us to conclude that our test does not corroborate the view that China is a notorious currency manipulator. Countries wishing to improve their international competitiveness may therefore look to China’s history for insights. However, it is unlikely that policies oriented to setting the exchange rate to artificial values will find support in China’s exchange rate policy in recent years. Our conclusion runs counter the common view on China’s exchange rate policy.
The European economic and monetary integration of Portugal should be analyzed from a historical perspective, taking into account not only economic but also political aspects.Despite its colonial heritage, Portugal is a country of emigrants in which Europe holds a very important part. Portuguese people have a European feeling they do not forget a dictatorship that has lasted almost half a century. The incomes of Portuguese are nowadays much higher as also the level of fixed capital - especially in infrastructure - and human capital than before European integration. The recent economic problems of the Portuguese economy are the result of imbalances that developed during the years after the Democratic Revolution. The absence of more appropriate policies for a monetary zone with a fixed exchange rate and with financial shocks caused by the reduction of interest rates and the massive entry of structural funds is responsible for the poor performance of the Portuguese economy after 2002 At present the banking crisis and public debt does not allow the exit of the Euro. But in spite of this constraint Portuguese governments and the great majority of the political parties envisage a deeper integration on the monetary union.
Emigration, dictatorship, democracy, public debt, real exchange rate, Euro.
The study of the relationship between public debt and economic growth came again to the spotlight with the financial crisis (2007-2008) and with the sovereign debt crisis that followed in Europe.


This literature aims to shed light about the sign, magnitude, mechanisms and threshold regimes relating debt to growth and to make policy recommendations with important consequences in terms of government’s policies.
We empirically investigate this relationship for a group of 60 countries for a long-time period (the shorter one from 1970 to 2012) using the historical public debt database (HPDD) built by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and we defend that the empirical strategy underlying most of the studies on this topic should be revised. We claim that: a) the study of the long-memory property of the public debt GDP ratio and stationarity (using the last generation tests) has to be performed as a first step of the empirical analysis, what has been done using 87 countries; b) In the presence of a non-stationary public debt GDP ratio cointegration analysis was used to estimate the relationship between the public debt GDP ratio and output; c) under the no rejection of the null of no cointegration, the above mentioned relationship was studied between the public debt GDP ratio first difference and GDP growth rate using threshold models and searching for thresholds using a wide variety of variables.
The main conclusions of this study are that the debt series have a long memory and should not be analyzed in a short-term framework; additionally, the non-stationarity of the debt series does not allow researchers to apply stationary econometrics methods to model its behavior. This finding implies that the relationship between economic growth and national debt that has been characterizing the literature on the subject, has disputable econometric foundations. We thus recommend our empirical strategy to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the existent empirical literature. Finally, it should be mentioned that the relationship between the public debt GDP ratio first difference and GDP growth rate is always negative despite the different threshold regimes identified.
Public Debt, Growth, Long Memory, Stationary, Co-integration and Thresholds
This paper analyses the determinants of null and blank voting at the 2011 Portuguese legislative elections. An extensive datasets at the parish level and a fractional regression model estimator are used to estimate both voting alternatives. The results found point to some common explanatory patterns as well as to important differences between the two choices. Evidence also indicates that the performance of the local economy, especially unemployment, is important but only for the explanation of blank variations and in more urban areas, where more sophisticated voters reside.


Furthermore, results point to the presence of a relevant degree of persistence in both choices and indicate that past electoral choices influence both voting choices in a way that seems to suggest the existence of protest motives.
This paper analyses the price discovery process in the USD/Bitcoin market since the Mt.Gox bankruptcy until the aftermath of the hack attack on Bitfinex (01-Mar-2014 until 30-Nov-2016). The Geweke feedback measures, estimated pairwise using hourly returns, show that there is a positive relationship between the total feedback and market share, measured by trading volume, that most of the information is transmitted between exchanges within an hour, at least for the main four exchanges (Bitfinex, Bitstamp, BTC-e and ItBit), while lagged feedback runs mainly from the major exchange. Other minor exchanges seem to react to price information with some delay and are thus considered as merely satellite exchanges. Bitfinex stands out as the most important exchange in transmitting information to the market: the relative importance of the lagged feedback from Bitfinex to the market is 18.29% while the lagged feedback from the market to Bitfinex accounts only for 0.60% of the total feedback. The volatility in the major exchange in each pair is the main factor explaining the feedback measures, sustaining the claim that the information-based component of volatility increases with the relative dimension of the exchange.
Non-price competitiveness given by the ratio of the income elasticity of the demand for exports relatively to the income elasticity of the demand for imports is the key factor for measuring the competitiveness of an economy associated with the quality of the produced goods. This factor is essential in the export-led growth theory and the balance-of-payments constraint hypothesis advocated by Thirlwall´s Law (1979). Increasing returns to scale in the production process are also important for generating a cumulative causation growth circle and this factor has been earlier identified by Verdoorn (1949) and later by Kaldor (1966). According to Palley (2002) it is the non-price competiveness (through mostly changes in the income elasticity of the demand for imports) that adjusts to close the gap between the actual and the potential income. Setterfield (2012) on the other hand attributes higher importance to increasing returns to scale as the responsible for closing the income gap, implying changes in the Verdoorn coefficient.


The aim of this paper is to shed light to this discussion bringing empirical evidence that shows how the non-price competitiveness (through the income elasticity of imports) and productivity (through increasing returns to scale) react with respect to previous income gaps. It is verified that both factors react significantly to changes in passed income gap but the reaction of the non-price competitiveness is more pronounced.
non-price competitiveness, increasing returns to scale, potential income, income gap, overlapping and non-overlapping regressions.
ulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia have all benefited from an increase of European Union capital transfers of funds since the demand for European integration. At the same time, foreign direct investments have risen, mainly due to the liberalisation of capital movements. The effects of those funds and the reduction of financial costs can be considered as analogous to the phenomenon known as Dutch Disease. That is to say, the inflow of financial transfers is also considered a curse. In order to eliminate this curse we must take into account the two effects associated with Dutch Disease: the ‘spending effect’ and the ‘resource movement effect’. Public policies have not been appropriate and have not prevented the real exchange rate appreciation, thereby contributing to a poor performance in terms of competitiveness and economic growth. After a descriptive analysis of some variables, we estimate a set of equations that take account of the direct and indirect effects of European Union funds and financial costs on the economy where the effects on the real exchange rate play the major role.
GMM, foreign transfers, financial costs, Dutch Disease, Dynamic Models, and public policies.
In this paper we conduct an empirical analysis on the performance gains of using high frequency data in portfolio selection. Within a CRRA-utility maximization framework, we suggest the construction of two different portfolios: a low and a high frequency portfolios. For ten different risk aversion levels, we compare the performance of both portfolios in terms of several out-of-sample measures. Using data on fourteen stocks of the CAC 40 stock market index, from January 1999 to December 2003, we conclude that the “fight” is always “won” by the high frequency portfolio for all the considered performance evaluation measures.
portfolio selection, utility maximization criteria, higher moments, high frequency data, out-of-sample analysis
Increasing returns to scale are important for economic growth, generating higher levels of productivity.


This view was earlier suggested by Verdoorn (1949) and Kaldor (1966) in formulating the basic Laws of economic growth. The later demand-orientated approach based on the export-led growth, gave higher importance to the non-price competitiveness reflected in the income elasticities of trade, as the main determinants of the long-term economic growth, along with external demand. This view was expressed in Thirlwall’s Law (1979) on the balance- of-payments equilibrium growth inspired from the early Harrodian concept of the foreign trade multiplier. This paper aims at considering both concepts, that is, increasing returns to scale (through the Verdoorn’s Law) and non-price competition (through the Thirlwall’s Law) in order to access whether growth adjustments over time are due mostly to productivity changes or due to changes in competitiveness. To do so, we employ a regression analysis which comprises a set of 23 OECD countries over the period 1980-2016. The estimation approach sheds light on whether growth adjustments between the balance-of-payments growth rate and that of actual or potential income are driven by improvements in productivity or improvements in non-price competiveness, or in both.
increasing returns to scale, non-price competitiveness, income gap adjustments, regression analysis


Essential goods, Non-essential goods, COVID-19, DSGE, Euro Area.
This paper describes WISER CD (Welfare
Intervention by the State and Economic Resilience - Comprehensive Dataset) a
cross-country panel dataset that includes relevant indicators for the analyses
of the relationship between the welfare state and aggregate macroeconomic
performance, highlighting human capital and inequality as the channels of
transmission. WISER CD covers 36 OECD countries over the period 1980-2017
resulting in 1085 variables from primary sources and five constructed variables
for the measurement of human capital. We gathered data from a range of primary
data sources that were grouped in six relevant dimensions: economic growth;
welfare state; human capital; inequality; control variables; government size
and financing. Two additional datasets were generated with no missing values,
although at the cost of a shorter time coverage and more limited cross-country
availability. The former broaden the options faced by researchers in terms of
econometric methodologies (and others) for the investigation of the
relationship under analysis.
This paper analyzes
the main determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the member
countries of Mano River Union: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
We use both data at the firm level and at the country level - and employ OLS
and ARDL techniques - in order to examine the differences and similarities in
FDI drivers across these four countries. Our results show that
international trade, investment in infrastructures and access to credit have a
positive impact on FDI. While credit and trade have a similar influence across
countries, the effect of investment is distinct across Mano River members,
which raises political implications for policy coordination among states. We
also conclude that policies aimed to boost human capital, as well as political
and economic stability, are relevant, as they augment FDI inflows.
Foreign Direct Investment; FDI determinants; Mano River Union; West Africa.
Objective: To examine socioeconomic inequality in dietary
habits and obesity in Portugal, looking at their evolution from 2005/06 to
Methods: Cross-sectional data collected by Statistics Portugal
– National Health Survey. Samples used in this study include 18–64-year olds (n=23,049 in 2005/06 and n=10,312 in 2014).


The analysis focusses
on differences in the prevalence of intake (at main meals) of nine foods across
income groups and over time. Multiple logistic regression analysis is adopted
to analyse association between socioeconomic factors (income and education) and
obesity, controlling for behavioural and demographic characteristics.
Results: Mean prevalence (%) in intake of food in 2005-06/2014
– soup (66/59: P<0.01), beans (22/28: P<0.01), meat (80/80), fish
(48/46), carbohydrates (88/88), cakes (26/40: P<0.01). Intake increases with
income in both periods for salad, fruit, fish and cakes; in 2014, intake
decreases for soft drinks. The ratio between intake in highest income group and
intake in lowest income group for fish, salad, cakes and soft drinks, changed
from 1.24, 1.13, 1.6, 0.9, in 2005/06, to 1.71, 1.37, 1.2, 0.66, in 2014,
respectively. Association between income and obesity is significant only in
highest income group (OR about 0.78 in both periods). Risk of obesity is lower
for secondary and superior education, compared to basic, in both years (OR=0.616
in 2005/06 and OR=0.820 in 2014, for secondary education; OR=0.525 in 2005/06 and
OR=0.608 in 2014, for superior education).
Conclusions: Differences in dietary habits tended to increase in
a decade, favouring the better-off. Socioeconomic inequality in obesity is
clearer for education than income and persisted over time.
Socioeconomic inequality, Food intake, Obesity, Multiple logistic analysis, Portugal
We reassess the impact that robotization has on wages and employment,
using a database on US commuting zones from 1990 to 2007. Using an
argument based on the transitional dynamics we show that the negative
displacement effects of robotization can be surpassed by productivity
and reallocation effects, leading to positive effects on employment
after a certain level of penetration in industry. In fact, we confirm
this effect through regressions that are subject to different robustness
checks.


Previous evidence according to which robotization always
decreases employment and wages are thus not confirmed.
Robots, Employment, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Nonlinear effects of robots
This paper investigates the pricing patterns of 161 IPOs that occurred
in 2009-2017 in the Euronext markets of Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, and Paris.
Across all the IPOs, we find a first-day raw return of 1.4% and an industry-adjusted
return of 1.2%. After one year, the average raw returns are slightly higher,
around 4.5%, and the average adjusted returns are negative, around -2.7%. These
first-day returns are lower whilst long-run returns are higher than those
reported in other studies, most notably in those that use periods that overlap
our sample Healthcare is the industry that presents a higher initial
underpricing (2.3% industry-adjusted return), whilst the Technology industry
presents the higher year underperformance (-29.5% industry-adjusted return).
Mainly, results are in line with the market conditions and investor sentiment
hypotheses according to which, when market conditions are bad (crises),
uninformed investors are not so active and optimistic in the IPO market, hence
initial underpricing and subsequent underperformance tend to be lower.
Since late 2014, Portuguese Governments adopted
ambitious minimum wage policies. Using linked employer-employee data,
we provide an econometric evaluation of the impact of those policies.
Our estimates suggest that minimum wage increases reduced employment
growth and profitability, in particular for financially distressed
firms. We also conclude that minimum wage increases had a positive
impact on firms’ exit, again amplified for financially distressed firms.
According to these results, minimum wage policies may have had a supply
side effect by accelerating the exit of low profitability and low
productivity firms and, thus, contributing to improve aggregate
productivity through a cleansing effect.
This article analyzes
spatial autocorrelations and the formation of clusters of exports, based on
Research and Development (R&D) intensity in Portugal. The central idea is
that exports show relative interdependence and spillover effects among nearby
regions and a direct relationship with R&D expenditures. It adopts the new
taxonomy of the OECD, separating exports by manufacturing and non-manufacturing
activities.


Methodologically, is was used Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis
(ESDA), utilizing Global Moran's Index and LISA. The results showed the
presence of positive spatial autocorrelation of exports and the formation of a
cluster of the High-High type for the Porto metropolitan region and Aveiro
region. There was no confirmation of positive spatial autocorrelation for
R&D expenditures among the regions of Portugal. However, there was both a
positive spatial autocorrelation for exports associated with R&D
expenditures as well as the formation of a regional cluster with high-high
pattern for the Aveiro region. This outcome can be explained, in part, by
nationally and internationally recognized universities and research centers
surrounding the region, favoring knowledge spillovers across the regions.
Export; R&D expenditures; Spatial autocorrelation; Technological intensity; Clusters; Spillovers; Portugal
Despite some recent evidence according to which
different inflation rates have effects on long run growth, endogenous
growth theory had advanced little on explaining the mechanics of
monetary influence on economic growth. We follow the increasing interest
in the issue offering a new explanation for the influence of monetary
policy on growth in both long and short run: the cash requirements for
households expenditures in education. Quantitatively, the model
replicates both the small influence of monetary policy on growth while
also highlighting the effects it can have on welfare and allocations of
resources throughout different sectors in the economy.
The literature on development has pointed out
some deeply-rooted determinants of current economic development. Most
research on the field has been devoted to developing countries or
specific to single countries. We focus on deeply-rooted determinants of
development of European regions, in particular on the influence of human
capital. Following an identification strategy using instrumental variables, we approach the historical links between current human
capital and the presence of universities and trade guilds in medieval
times. We show that human capital is an important determinant of
income disparities across European regions, and that trade guilds and
universities at 1500 are good instruments to track the exogenous
influence of the current levels of human capital. This finding shows
robustness to several econometric specifications.
Development, regions, historical determinants of development.


We contribute to the renewable energy consumption-income (and growth) nexus literature by performing an empirical study on a worldwide
panel data, also accounting for cross-country dependency using a
parsimonious specification that accounts for traditional sources of
income differences as well as institutional features of the countries.
Our results present either negative or nonsignificant influence of the share of renewable energies consumption to economic growth and income.
Renewable energy consumption, economic growth regressions, economic growth
We devise a North-South endogenous growth model
with international trade and money to study the effects of inflation
(and monetary policy) on wage inequality, specialization, and growth.
The relationship between monetary policy and wage inequality depends on
the fact that skilled-production firms are less credit constrained than
unskilled-production firms. Interestingly, inflation affects the
structure of production by increasing the production share made by
skilled-intensive firms, and decreases economic growth. Furthermore,
inflation decreases the difference of wage inequality between
countries; shrinking the skill premia difference. Moreover, inflation
and trade have opposite effects on wage inequality and on
specialization: while trade tends to decrease intra-South wage
inequality, inflation tends to increase it; while trade tends to
increase the number of different intermediate goods produced with
unskilled technology in the South; inflation acts the other way around.
Results are confirmed quantitatively.
Inflation; Wage inequality; North-South trade; CIA constraints; Technological knowledge bias
This study investigates the effect of the
political connections of members of banks' Boards of Directors on the
remuneration of these boards, taking into account the gender diversity of their
members. Using a panel of observations on 77 banks supervised by the ECB for
the period 2013 to 2017, and the generalized method of moments (GMM), our
results show that, when analyzing linear effects, political connections have a
negative impact on the remuneration of the members of the banks' Boards of
Directors, reducing them. However, when investigating the possible moderating
effect, we found that when gender diversity is high, there is a non-linear,
inverted U-shaped relationship between the political connections and the
remuneration of members of the Boards of Directors of banks.


Our results also
show that the differentiating characteristics of the female gender, accentuate
the negative effects of political connections on remuneration, making the
institution's interests to be privileged at the expense of those of its
personal agendas. Overall, these general results prove to be robust across
different choices of the measures used for gender diversity.
Political connections, Gender diversity, Remuneration, ECB, GMM
We develop a directed technical change model
with two sectors, tradable and non-tradable, and dynamic firms’
decisions to invest in R&D in the presence of financial constraints.
The model establishes a linkage between R&D decisions, product and
process innovations, future productivity, profits, and credit
constraints. The model is estimated using Portuguese firms’ data of the
tradable and non-tradable sectors. We find that the previous R&D
investments raises the innovating probabilities, the innovating
probabilities are higher in the tradable sector, and the startup costs
of innovation tend to be higher than the maintenance costs. The results
also show complementary between the R&D benefits and the firm’s
financial strength, diminishing marginal returns to capital on
innovation benefits, and high heterogeneity of the innovation costs
across industries. Finally, when the firms’ financial strength and the
tradable and non-tradable goods are considered, the R&D benefits in
the non-tradable sector do not compensate its cost given the higher
productivity and innovation probabilities of the tradable sector. As a
result, the R&D investments in the tradable sector illustrates a
misallocation of financial resources.
Credit constraints, firm-level data, productivity, R&D, tradable and non-tradable goods
In this paper we perform a quantitative analysis, under the IFRS 9 framework, on the tradeoff of classifying a financial asset at amortized cost versus at fair value. We define and implement a banking impairment model in order to quantify the forward-looking expected credit loss. Based on the suggested impairment model we conduct a backtest on the 10-year Portuguese Government bonds, for the time period from January 2003 to December 2019. The Portuguese bonds’ history constitutes a very rich data set for our experiment, as these bonds have experienced significant downgrades during the 2011-2014 financial crisis.


We suggest a quantitative and systematic approach in order to find efficient allocations, in an income/downside comprehensive income bi-dimensional space. Resorting to stochastic simulation, we show a possible approach to mitigate the estimation error ingrained in the proposed bi-objective stochastic model. Finally, we assess the out-of-sample performance of some of the suggested efficient allocations.
We devise a generalized Directed Technical Change growth model in which
firms spend resources in lobbying activity. As expected, the presence
of lobbying distorts the skill premium and economic growth. Lobbying
also contributes to a lower technological-knowledge bias toward the
skill-sector and constitutes a possible explanation for the diverging
empirical evidence on the relationship between the skill premium and the
relative supply of skills. An increase in the relative lobbying power
of the skilled intensive intermediate goods firms can lead to an
increase or decrease in the skill premium, depending on the elasticity
of substitution between the skilled and unskilled sectors. Lobbying also
introduces possibility of a dual economy, with two different steady
states, one characterized by low growth and another by high growth,
depending on a threshold level of the lobbying power and on the
elasticity of substitution. Quantitative exercises show that lobbying
can indeed be quite important in distorting the skill premium and the
We show that the labor share of income is an important factor affecting the mechanisms behind fiscal consolidation programs, thus requiring consideration when evaluating fiscal multipliers across countries. We calibrate a life-cycle, overlapping generations model to match key characteristics of different European economies and evaluate the recessive impacts of fiscal consolidation programs. We find a positive relationship between the labor share and the impact fiscal multipliers generated by our model. This result directly follows from the higher weight of labor on production and the lower opportunity cost of leisure present in economies with a higher labor share. Following the impact period, the relationship between the labor share and the fiscal multipliers is dependent on the type of fiscal instrument employed in the consolidation.
Fiscal Consolidation, Labor Share, Fiscal Multipliers, Public Debt
study investigates the effect of gender diversity on the impact of board
members' political connections on banking performance. Using panel data on 83
banks supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB) for the period 2013-2017,
our results suggest that when gender diversity is high, there is a U-shaped nonlinear
relationship between political connections and banking performance.


Here are my updates for July 31, 2012
Home values rise for first time in 5 years
Home prices hit a bottom and are finally bouncing back, according to an industry report released Tuesday.
Even though June marked the fourth consecutive month of home value increases, overall home prices are still down almost 24% since April 2007, when Zillow began to track home values.
“[I]t seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values,” said Zillow’s chief economist Stan Humphries. “The housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth, indicating that it has some organic strength of its own.”
Last winter, Zillow projected that the housing market turnaround would not arrive until the end of the year.
Other home price indexes have also recorded gains lately, including the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. In it latest release, it reported that home prices in 20 major markets rose 1.3% in April, the first monthly increase in seven months.
Click here for the full article
Senior Director, Coldwell Banker New Homes Division
With over 200 condominium, townhome and loft projects successfully marketed
“Fewer properties for sale with such remarkably low interest rates make it a great time to buy and not a bad time to sell”


Patient: Hi Doctor, my female friend, age 23, is having some severe allergy since more than a month.The first allergy symptoms occurred on 9may 2014 at 4am when she about to sleep. She applied some oil on the affected areas and it subsided.Two days later at about same time, allergy again occurred. This time more severe followed by vomiting. She went to the local doctor and was given avil injection.The same day she consults a skin specialist who prescribes, Xyzal(Levocetirizine tablets) + Methyl prednisolone tablets for 20days.2days later in the morning, she again faces the attack of allergy. Her face becomes pale, itching, inflammation on face, ear, hand, thigh. She also has choking in throat and difficulty in breathing.A family doctor advices a few injections immediately (like primacort+ avil+ cortisone)Immediately goes to a local hospital and gets them injected. Gets relief after sometime.Same day again goes to the skin specialist, doctor adds one more tablet i.e. Oxypin 1HS (for 7days), along with Levocetirizine and Methyl prednisolone tab.She takes them till some days and problem seemed to get well.After finishing that course, she takes Tab. Histakind for a week, on prescription of a new doctor and then stops all.She wasn’t taking any medicines since last week, and was okay.But, 2 days back in the night the allergy problem again re-occurs severely. She took 1 Levocetirizine tab and felt better after 1 hour.Could you please tell, what is this problem, why is it happening. Is there any test by which the cause can be diagnosed and how it can be treated.Please also note that, since more than a year, she is also taking ‘Lamez OD 50’ tablet everyday morning due to epilepsy problem. Can this be the cause of allergy?Thanks many.
Symptoms: Itching, redness, bumps, inflammation, swelling on face, hand, thigh.
Doctor: Thank you for your question. The description of your friends condition supported by the pictures you have supplied are indicative of an acute allergic reaction to something that she may be exposed to in her environment.


Given the fact that she is responsive to various types of treatment, followed by recurrence of the same symptoms means that there is an allergen in her environment that is resulting in the aforementioned skin irritation. We advise that she consult an allergist and conduct specific allergy testing to see what she is allergic to. After this, she will be instructed to avoid such allergens and be given appropriate medications to treat symptoms should she be exposed.Thank you for choosing askthedoctor.com
Comments / Follow Ups
Patient: Thanks a lot for your kind suggestion..


About the dealer
About the object
English Regency Period Porcelain Massive Urn & Cover,
Probably Chamberlain's Worcester,
The large circular footed urn is painted with predominantly orange tones with a continuous design of large exotic birds perched either side of a series of large peony flowerheads with the design repeated to the cover, neck and foot with large gilt bands to foot, shoulder and rim, the whole placed upon a faux white marble square base with red, yellow veining.
Dimensions: 29 inches x 12 1/2 inches x foot 8 1/2 inches square


Lapointe: Obama, In Redford Monday, Should Strike Back Against GOP 'Sneak Attack'
December 8th, 2012, 12:31 PM
Joe Lapointe, a New Jersey writer who was born and raised in Detroit, has suggestions for President Barack Obama, who -- coincidentally -- is scheduled to speak in Redford Monday on the eve of the likely passage of right-to-work legislation in Michigan.
"The sinister nature of the Republican Party was self-exposed again on Thursday in Michigan when Governor Rick Snyder and his right-wing allies pulled a dirty, sneaky trick against labor unions.
"Without committee hearings, without public discussion, without any fair warning, the lame-duck session of the Legislature rammed through in one day a “right-to-work” bill that will seriously wound the unions.
"If the bill passes on Tuesday and the Governor signs it – both events likely – employees of union shops will no longer have to pay dues or join unions. This will crush the power of organized labor, which grew in strength during bloody battles with management goons in the 1930s."


I know the Pro Angler 12 was released in July 2012, but the question is in regards to whether Hobie sold them as 2013 models (like automakers start selling the next years models in the fall)or were they 2012's?
And are Hobie's serial numbers easily read to know the date of manufacture?
Reason I ask is I know someone selling a 2013 PA12 that I am considering purchasing. I know he has had it since at least January 2013, but have a feeling it was purchased back in 2012. . .when the MSRP was $350 lower than it is now. He's asking $2500 for the boat (no extras), but I'm not about to pay him the full price he paid for the boat a year ago if it was indeed purchased before the price increase!


Villa in Germany report: SV Rodinghausen 1-1 Villa
Nicklas Helenius bagged a debut goal for Villa as Paul Lambert's men earned a 1-1 draw in Rodinghausen.
The first match of Villa's pre-season tour of Germany ended level as the claret and blues stepped up their fitness ahead of the upcoming 2013-14 term.
Helenius was one of six newboys who played a half each and he was thrilled to swoop at the near post six minutes into the second half to give the visitors the lead.
The hosts levelled matters late on with a quality strike, Soren Siek hammering home a 30-yarder which gave fellow new recruit Jed Steer no chance.
The result was fair overall although Lambert was keen to stress after the game that this encounter was merely an extension of training.
The first half was certainly even with no real efforts of note although fans did get a glimpse of the attacking spirit of Aleksandar Tonev and Leandro Bacuna.
Antonio Luna looked bright and enterprising, Jores Okore solid and dependable and Jed Steer agile and athletic in a second half which offered more attacking impetus than the first.
Forward Helenius certainly took little time to make his mark when given a chance, heading home at the near post following an exquisite ball in from right-back Matt Lowton, who continued his good form from the previous campaign.
Despite the lack of chances in the opening 45 minutes, the performances of signings Bacuna and Tonev will have pleased the manager.
Tonev, in particular, was enthusiastic in possession and always willing to have a go in front of goal.
Confident with both feet, the Bulgarian was eager to get at the Rodinghausen defence and saw two long-range efforts fly off-target.
Marc Albrighton may not have been a newboy but it felt like it as the willing wideman showed effort in abundance on the right-hand side in that first half.
He sent over three corners before the break and always looked for the ball as the visitors aimed to make things happen against a resolute German team.
Just like Albrighton in the first half, it was good to see fellow long-term casualty Gary Gardner back in the claret and blue line-up as he looks to impress boss Lambert after the break.
On the action front, Villa were only able to muster half-chances on goal in the first half and, in fact, Rodinghausen had a good effort to take the lead.


Marius Krause broke down the left and fired at goal only for player of the year Brad Guzan to parry the ball away from danger.
The visitors came out with an entire new team - and more purpose - after the break and 6ft 5in forward Helenius bagged his first goal for his new team with his cracking header.
He nearly doubled his - and his team's - tally on 69 minutes, only just missing out on Andi Weimann's fizzing ball into the box from the right.
Villa had a legitimate penalty shout with just 12 minutes remaining as Ciaran Clark was felled in the box but the referee waved away protests.
That decision had a big bearing on the contest as the hosts went up the other end and scored with their next attack.
Siek blasted home from a good 30-yards out, leaving steady Steer with no chance.
There was still time for both sides to win it, Helenius almost nodding home Ashley Westwood's centre and Steer saving brilliantly from a one-on-one for forward Francis Williams.
A draw was about the right result as Villa build their fitness ahead of the new term.
First Half: Guzan, Vlaar, Baker, Bacuna, Albrighton, Delph, Sylla, Bowery, Tonev, Bennett, Herd.
Second Half: Steer, Lowton, Okore [Carruthers], Clark, El Ahmadi, Helenius, Agbonlahor, Luna, Westwood, Weimann, Gardner.
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Are you ever concerned about the health of your teeth? Would you be interested in steps you can take, aside from brushing, flossing, and visiting our dentist, to protect your oral health? If so, we suggest considering the benefits of tongue scrapers.
Unlike your teeth, your tongue usually keeps itself fairly clean because saliva actually carries food particles and bacteria away from your smile and from your tongue, and since your tongue is constantly covered in saliva, it’s usually quite clean. However, please remember the bacteria from your tongue could spread to your back teeth, but if you clean well, this won’t cause a serious issue. Bacteria on your tongue might still harbor bacteria, which might cause bad breath. If you have consistent bad breath, cleaning your tongue could help you freshen it.
Unfortunately, keeping your tongue clean may not be a pleasant experience, especially if you try to brush your tongue with a toothbrush. Many people struggle to clean their tongue with a brush because it triggers their gag reflex. If you’re interested removing bacteria from your tongue, there are a number of options you may want to consider, though we suggest using a tongue scraper. These useful tools come in a number of sizes and might be made from many different materials. Choosing the right tongue scraper can make the entire experience more pleasant.
If you’d like to more about protecting your oral health in Duncanville, Texas, or would like to learn more about tongue scrapers, we invite you to contact Edward B. Miller, DDS at 972-298-6131. Our dentist, Dr. Edward B. Miller, and our team will gladly inspect your teeth and address any of your concerns. We look forward to hearing from you!


From the New York Times:
THE Bush administration’s mortgage rescue plan will worsen, not alleviate, the problems in the housing market.
We are suffering from a home value crisis, not simply a credit crisis. If home prices were still rising, defaults would be low, investment returns would be high, borrowers would still be cashing out equity, and lenders would be showering credit on home buyers.
Falling prices reverse this dynamic. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that most foreclosures result from falling home prices, not from the resetting of mortgage rates.
And if rates are frozen for some subprime mortgages, standards for most new loans will become increasingly strict. Lenders will have to factor in the added risk of having their contracts rewritten when borrowers default. Higher down payments, mortgage rates and required credit scores — along with lower loan-to-income ratios and perhaps the death of adjustable-rate loans altogether — will further push down home prices.
Whether or not their payment levels are frozen, borrowers with loans that are greater than the values of their homes will have few incentives to keep paying their mortgages or to maintain their properties. Why spend more on a home in which they have no equity and which they may lose to foreclosure anyway?
Having put nothing down or having extracted equity in previous refinances, most subprime borrowers will lose nothing financially from foreclosure. In some cases the low teaser rates allowed them to pay less than what they might otherwise have paid in rent. The real losses are borne by the lenders.
Proponents suggest that a rate freeze will buttress home prices by keeping foreclosed homes off the market. But that is a stay of execution, not a pardon. Most homes temporarily saved from foreclosure will continue to depreciate as new buyers fail to qualify for loans. Lenders will be on the hook for even more losses than if the foreclosures had taken place sooner.
Everyone seems to agree that a return to traditional lending standards is a good idea, but no one seems willing to accept a return to rational prices as a consequence.


In the good, old tradition of revolutionaries, Obama hides in plain print. So, before listening to his speech, it's worth while to note the following passages from his autobiography:
On p. 94-95 he describes an effective tactic to deal with White people:
It was usually an effective tactic, another one of those tricks I had learned: People were satisfied so long as you were courteous and smiled and made no sudden moves. They were more than satisfied; they were relieved - such a pleasant surprise to find a well-mannered young black man who didn't seem angry all the time.
OBAMA ON HOW TO TALK TO WHITE PEOPLE


What to do Lloret de Mar?
An additional information point also operates in the summer at Fenals beach.
Enjoy the beaches
Beaches such as Lloret, Fenals, Sa Boadella, Santa Cristina or Canyelles make this town the best place for spending your holidays under the sun of the Costa Brava.
Things to do with kids
Breaks for all the family, fun parks, water parks and kids’ clubs.
Lloret de Mar has a wide range of shops selling all sorts of products and articles. After tourism, shopping represents Lloret’s second most important economic activity, with about one thousand different
What to be seen
Santa Clotilde Gardens, Modernism, Indianos, Iberian settlements.
Sport & leisure activities
Enjoy the Costa Brava: unique scenery, coastal paths, Nordic walking, hiking, mountain biking
SPA, Health & Wellness
Tourism and health. Weekend anti-stress programmes. Health and relaxation treatments in modern and innovative spa facilities.
Leisure in Lloret de Mar
Breaks, holidays to discover the Costa Brava, health and beauty treatments, water parks, mini golf, boat trips…
Nightlife in Lloret de Mar.
Lloret Open Museum (MOLL)
Discover various places of historic, cultural and natural interest. It is open space, without walls, that covers different locations throughout the territory and allows you to find out about the town’s heritatge.
The places to be visted are also provided with panels that are accessible to everyone and that offer additional information.
Maritime Museum – Can Garriga
This house, a surviving example of the traces of the indianos -those who left for Cuba or the West Indies and came back once they had made their fortune- is one of the few remaining ones in Lloret, together with Casa Font or Can Comadran, right in the heart of the old part of the town.
Panoramic views other places of interest
Discover magic corners of the Costa Brava and all its nature, beauty spots hidden away from the everyday hustle and bustle of the town of Lloret.
Chapels and churches
Lloret has various chapels and churches. These include the Chapel of Santa Cristina, where one can find an exhibition of miniature boats offered up to the saint by sailors and fisherman. Lloret’s main town festival (24th July) is celebrated in this chapel.


The parish church is one of the must-see attractions when taking a stroll around the centre of Lloret.
Santa Clotilde Gardens
Gardens between heaven and earth Santa Clotilde Gardens are located in a stunning beauty spot, high up on a clifftop with outstanding sea views.
They constitute a true example of the essence of the noucentista movement in Catalonia. Sculptures, fountains and ponds can all be found there. The gardens have been declared a site of national cultural interest.
The Indianos also left their mark in the form of modernist art in Lloret de Mar. A clear example of this is the modernist cemetery, designed by the renowned architect Puig i Cadafalch (one of the most important representatives of Catalan modernism), but other buildings in the town also bear the hallmarks of this style: the parish rectory, the Chapel of the Most Holy and the Chapel of the Baptistery. ”
Lloret de Mar has 3 Iberian settlements: Montbarbat, Puig de Castellet and Turó Rodó. The Puig de Castellet settlement (650 m2) is situated 2 kilometres away from Lloret de Mar town centre in a strategic spot with an excellent vantage point overlooking the area stretching from the Tordera estuary to the Lloret coast. Lloret also has a mediaeval legacy. ”


Photo by Amie Schow
Anna Wise, the vocalist who took home a Grammy this year for her contribution to Kendrick Lamar’s “These Walls”, isn’t new to the music game. Her collaborations with Kendrick date back to good kid, m.A.A.d city, and her band Sonnymoon has also been around for years. But it’s only recently that Wise has stepped out from the background and struck out on her own.
Having already previewed her debut solo EP with two singles — “Precious Possession” and “BitchSlut” — Wise has announced that the seven-song EP will be titled The Feminine: Act 1. She also shared the Emma Kanter-directed video for “Precious Possession”, a song she explained via a press-release is “about a bride who is drunk on desire and fades within her own fantasy.”
The Feminine: Act 1 is due out April 27th. Wise will self-release the EP through her partnership with Stem. Check out the video for “Precious Possession” below, and scroll down for the EP’s full tracklist.
The Feminine: Act 1 Tracklist:
01. The Feminine
02. Precious Possession
03. How Would You Call a Dog?
05. Decrease My Waist, Increase My Wage
06. Girl, Mother, Crone


I had a little over $3o left to spend for the month. And I went over by just $5. (How fitting!)
I skipped town this week and wanted to be sure to leave enough for Nana and the kids while I was away, so I got the essentials and went over a smidge. I will not stress about it. I will move on to March and try to stay within budget and get back on track. The pantry is nicely stocked, the freezer has a good amount of food in it…and I look forward to doing some batch cooking when I get home!
I’ve been in St. Louis and Nashville this week, promoting my Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook. I got to do something really cool in Nashville…and I hope to get to share it later this week or early next week!
- $4.29 – 1 lb. turkey delimeat – used $.35/1 coupon that doubled, on $4.99 sale price
- Advil and Nescafe instant coffee…used “free item” catalina coupons from last week
- 4 Voskos Greek yogurt…4 $.75/1 coupons
- $2.50 strawberries
- $1.99 grapefruit
- lettuce, green peppers and avocados for salad, plus bananas
- None! We are all stocked up in the freezer.
Other Coupons Used
- $.40/1 apple juice, $.55/1 almond milk (blinkie), 2 $.75/1 Chex cereal, 1 $3/4 Chex store coupon
- $.55/2 dozen eggs coupon
Total spent at Kroger: $47-ish
Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! Find the coupon match-ups for your grocery store at The Frugal Map!


© F1 Pulse, 18 February 2013
|© AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko
Adrian Sutil has a chance to prove his worth for a Formula 1 seat after Force India gave the German driver a full day to drive its car at the second pre-season test in Barcelona.
Dropped by the team after the 2011 season, Sutil’s future in the sport has been in question ever since he got convicted for assault in a fight with an F1 team owner in a Chinese nightclub.
Force India, meanwhile, has denied that the vacant seat could be offered to either Sutil or reserve driver Jules Bianchi, who will be driving the car on Friday, based on their performances this week.
"No, it's not a shoot-out. It's just two drivers helping the team with this week's test. I don't think it should be perceived as such, that's not the intention," a spokesman told Reuters.
Want to be the fastest to lap up F1 content? ‘Follow’ us on TWITTER and ‘like’ us on FACEBOOK.


Billie Holiday is rightly considered one of the greatest singers in the history of jazz. Lady Jay captures Billie’s style perfectly and her show covers Holiday’s earliest recordings from the mid-1930s right up to her famous last album Lady In Satin with classics such as Summertime, God Bless The Child, Lover Man, The Very Thought of You and many more.
Over 18s only. Valid ID required. Tables may not be able to be held beyond booking time. To ensure that you and your friends sit together, please book together. Please note the ticket price is per person and includes either a two-course dinner or a cocktail. The venue reserves the right to alter or change the programme, timing, lineup or menu without prior notification. All offers and deals are subject to availability. Live show times: - Tue-Thu: 9:15pm - Fri-Sat: 9:45pm If you are booking for Dinner + Show tickets, you will be given further instruction in your confirmation email.
Boisdale Of Canary Wharf,
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Prompt: Please submit a one-page, single-spaced essay that explains why you’ve got chosen State College and your explicit main(s), division(s) or program(s). We wish to get to know you in addition to potential by way of these application supplies and believe that your thoughtful, nicely-constructed essay is an important step within the process. Your application essay must be of sufficient size to show your writing ability to the Admission Committee and to do justice to the subject.
Don’t brag about your achievements. Instead, take a look at instances you’ve struggled or, even higher, failed. Failure is essayistic gold. Determine what you’ve got realized. Write about that. Be trustworthy and say the toughest things you possibly can. And keep in mind those exhausted admissions officers sitting around a desk within the winter. Jolt them out of their sugar coma and provides them something to be enthusiastic about.
A Guide To Trouble-Free Solutions Of College Admissions Essay
My math teacher turns round to write an equation on the board and a solar pokes out from the collar of her shirt. A Starbucks barista palms me my drink with a hand adorned by a small music note. The place I work, a buyer palms me her bank card carrying a everlasting flower bracelet. On daily basis, I am on a scavenger hunt to seek out women with this type of everlasting artwork. I’m intrigued by the quotes, dates, symbols, and summary shapes I see on those what do you and lehigh have in common who I interact with every day. I’ve started to ask them questions, an informal interview, as an excuse to speak with these numerous ladies whose individuality regularly evokes me. You’ll be able to’t often ask the sorts of questions I have been asking and have the sorts of conversations I have been having, so I’ve created this project to make these sorts of encounters a bit extra attainable and acceptable.
Comparing Root Aspects For Admission Essay
So treat a university application essay as a software for standing out in ways the robots cannot. It is quite a bit like the duvet letter you write when making use of for a job – it’s your chance to reveal the person behind the accomplishments and statistics.
You’ll definitely want this after receiving an acceptance letter. We may make it easier to with miscellaneous tutorial challenges ranging from essays and research papers to theses and dissertations.


So rising seniors this summer get that essay draft executed by the start of faculty. You may then have two months to revise it before early admissions deadlines and four months earlier than regular determination deadlines.
J.Okay. Rowling clearly saw her software of appellations not as a burden, but a chance to enrich the story and world she had created and develop its attain. She leaves it to the readers to discover or concoct an evidence for why wizards shout bastardized Latin phrases to solid spells, stick their heads in fireplaces to talk with associates, and ship letters via owl. Her clever and creative wordplay has helped me further recognize other examples of such throughout literature, and has heightened my curiosity in names and their origins, as well as the everyday words in my very own life.
Methods For Best College Essay – An Intro
For months, I heard students talking about The Publish,” and a new sense of self-consciousness felt like duct tape over my mouth. As I researched the historical past of Deliberate Parenthood (to reply to somebody accusing it of the genocide of black infants”), I became interested in the historical past of the feminist motion. On the identical time, I was finding out the Civil Rights Movement in my historical past class, and researching my feminist critique of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. I step by step began to appreciate that refusing to evolve to the conventions of society is what propels us toward equality. Martin Luther King was arrested practically thirty occasions for ‘civil disobedience’ and Susan B. Anthony for ‘illegal voting.’ Letting the social media backlash silence my own struggle for social justice seemed silly and unacceptable.
According to an article printed on , faculty application essays aren’t as important as they’re cracked as much as be. In actual fact, Stanford sociologist Mitchell Stevens labored alongside admissions officers at quite a few top-tier liberal arts faculties for 18 months and he found that in cases where students met the minimum necessities for GPA and check scores, the non-public essay was rarely used as a deciding factor for admission. In line with Stevens, there are too many different factors to consider akin to previous gives of admission from the student’s zip code, special endorsements from a school member or alumnus, the probability of the student accepting a proposal of admission, and whether the admissions workplace owes a favor to the scholar’s guidance counselor.
Alex is an skilled tutor and writer.


Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred college students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from College of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, after which went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Benefit Scholar, took 12 AP assessments and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT.
There are five critical parts to a sport-changer essay. First, selected a subject that you’re enthusiastic about. Second, brevity is vital: much less is more, in scope and variety of words. Third, show do not tell: be the primary-particular person story-teller somewhat than the omniscient, third-individual narrator. Four, present particulars, not imprecise platitudes. Five, add levity, if potential: just a little self-effacing humor could make them love you. There are various other essay methods that make admissions officers and scholarship committees want you, however these 5 keys are a very good begin.
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San Francisco parents struggling against persistent and massive cuts to education budgets may have finally reached their limit. A half dozen moms have taken matters into their own hands and organized a Funding Our Future town hall meeting Thursday, February 25, 2010; 6:30-8:30 at Marina Middle School (3500 Fillmore St.). The goal of the event is to start looking for solutions to this long-term financial crisis, not to talk about how to deal with the new cuts that schools feel certain they will be facing. With over 1,000 people expected to attend, the event appears to be tapping into widespread collective frustration and concern over school budgets.
Citing potential cuts next year of up to a devastating $1,300 per student, noting that California is now 47th in per pupil spending compared to other states, and with up to 900 first-round pink slips about to be sent to district employees, these parents feel that it is time to bring the experts together to begin to strategize on long-term local and statewide solutions. As a first step, they have organized tomorrow’s two hour panel discussion and Q&A session, moderated by Michael Krasny, host of KQED’s well-known “Forum” radio show. Panelists, who will bring local and statewide financial, policy and political knowledge to the discussion, include:
• Mark Leno and Leland Yee, California State Senators
• Tom Ammiano and Fiona Ma, California State Assembly Members
• David Chiu, President, SF Board of Supervisors
• Jane Kim, President, SF Board of Education
• Carlos Garcia, Superintendent of Schools, SFUSD
Also available for the discussion will be special guests:
• Terry Bergeson, Executive Director of the SF School Alliance
• Dennis Kelly, President of the United Educators of SF
• Jim Lazarus, SF Chamber of Commerce
• Debbie Look, State Legislative Director of the California PTA
• Mary Perry, Deputy Director, Ed Source.
Event organizers report that panelists have been very responsive and supportive of the event, which may reflect that elected officials see the need for a deeper political base from which to address education funding issues. Indeed, material put forth leading up to Thursday has clearly indicated that a primary goal for town hall is not simply to increase understanding about financial situation, but rather to jump start the process of creating a strong parent lobby and advocacy effort that is grassroots in nature and potentially statewide in scope.


While ensuring adequate funding at the local and state level is the target these San Francisco parents have in mind, the specific formulation of what that might look like and what the best type of parent organization should be to help bring it to fruition is not yet clear. That, the parents say, is what they are working on right now. The expertise exists, as exemplified in the chosen panelists for the Town Hall. The next step is for parents to have a better understanding of the various possible solutions and the most effective roles that parents could play in bringing change about.
Recognizing the need for a movement that is equally inclusive of parents from all parts of California, organizers have already been in early, informal discussions with parents from other districts who share the frustrations over funding. Presumably then, Thursday’s event will be the first of many throughout the state.
Setting the stage for such statewide action is the Public Education Day of Action next Thursday (March 4th), when parents, students, teachers, administrators and others will be rallying to demand more support for public education. School communities in San Francisco are organizing a variety of events throughout the day, coming together in the late afternoon at a 4:30pm rally with UESF at the State Building at 505 Van Ness, from where there will be a march to the Civic Center at 5pm.
Lisa Schiff is the parent of two children in the San Francisco Unified School District and is a member of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco and the PTA and is a board member at the national level of Parents for Public Schools.Filed under: Archive


Among people travelling all across the world for a variety of intentions, one vogue that is rising as a hot and most preferred among folks is Home stay. Nowadays homestay in India concept is increasingly caching on in India. If you are not familiar with the concept of an Indian home stay you would wonder to know what it means and what benefits of home stay gives more than other kinds of places to stay.
In India you will be treated as a special person in their home because every Indian delights their guests as a god. Reside in an Indian homestay means you will be staying in a personal house. It gives you an exclusive and memorable experience of the quite toughest of Indian life and traditions. The homestay in India idea emerged from Kerala, sometime ago this thought has come up as one of the most chosen accommodation choice in Indian tourism.
The Homestay in India include so much extra worth and experience to your trip, while it would also higher than all your expectations in terms of services and standards. Lots of tourists recommend homestays in India as the perfect approach to see India and how they evaluate on price.
It is classic of homestay in India which is an amazing experience, providing a new height towards a visit to the countryside. As the conception suggests, you are residing at someoneâ€™s house. Although more essentially a homestay in India is comfortable, warm, genuine and friendly welcome, the kindness really Indian and most of all, you actually do consider at home.
Homestay put across with the kindness, gentleness and a delicate touch that you find merely at your home, it is unlike of the non-natural and the reserved environment of a hote l room. Get a lot more in family member to the traditions, culture, behaviours, act and manner of living, you will find out few guidelines on local cooking and food, explore the rural community and enjoy in the wilderness and the hard destination and attraction of India in a traditional homestead and get home a few sweet reminiscences from the outlying other home.
Homestay in India move towards awfully reasonable priced and provides you a personal touch on your holiday. It is a fashionable choice along with budget travellers. Wayanad is eminent place in Kerala, which is famous for mountains of the Western Ghats, coffee plant and spice garden, wild life tours are delimited by enjoyment and adventure lover equally.


For the most parts of Wayanad homestays are operate by variety of families and they offer services as the hosts of the different tourists who visit the places and provide them homely environment. The atmosphere of green plentiful hills and the waterfall can be seen from numerous homestays in Wayanad – Coorg.


D'Souza, Radha (1995) The chemical industry in India and some facts about Gujarat. Working Paper. University of Oslo, Norway.Full text not available from this repository.
|Item Type:||Monograph (Working Paper)|
|Subjects:||University of Westminster > Westminster Law School|
|Depositing User:||Miss Nina Watts|
|Date Deposited:||22 Apr 2009 13:38|
|Last Modified:||22 Apr 2009 13:42|
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- Aug 23, 2015
Pretty sad that www.phids.net went out of business a while ago. Anybody know where I can buy uncommon jumping spiders? I'm not looking for the typical Phidippus audax or Phidippus regius. I'm leaning more towards finding the rare Phidippus purpuratus or any other hard to come by species.


Beverly Hills' Flop: Eddie Murphy Is Forbes' Most Overpaid Actor
Forbes’ rich lists are always a joy to behold each year, aren't they?. Oh, how we rejoice, with ne’er a hint of jealousy, to learn of the many millions of dollars that our favorite (or not, as the case may be) stars have earned in the previous 12 months. OK, let’s be honest. Those lists make us mere mortals sick with envy, right? As the global recession firms up its grip on our dwindling cash reserves, it sickens us to learn of the amount of money these celebrities earn. And what’s worse is the way that they are celebrated for it, with no question of what the hell one person could possibly need all that money for (yes, Oprah Winfrey, we ARE looking at you).
How refreshing then, that Forbes should also point out that many of these celebs are barely worth the money we’re paying them. Bad news for Eddie Murphy, then, who’s been named as the top of their list of over-paid actors. This isn’t just based on opinion of course – though frankly, even it were, you’d probably find Murphy up the top of the list; after all, he’s hardly made any movies worth watching since Dreamgirls and that was six years ago. Forbes look at how much an actor is paid and then compare that to how much money their movies bring in. And Eddie’s currently scoring a rather paltry $2.30. Not exactly a great return, there.
That said, he’s still doing a lot better than Drew Barrymore did last year, whose movies earned just 40 cents for every dollar she was paid. Now, we don’t need to sit through an economics lesson to know that those numbers just don’t add up. Lucky for Drew, she’s out of the top ten this year.


Details // Beautiful hand-painted and subtly worn Asian style table lamps. Fully rewired to suit Australian electrical standards, tagged and with new plug. Comes with a harp and shade. Sold as a pair.
Origin // Brimfield, Massachusetts
Material // Wooden and brass
Condition // Original condition, beautifully worn and aged
Dimension // 22 cm Dia x 70 cm H (incl. harp)
Note // As these are vintage and one of a kind items, there will be some imperfections. We like to call this character. Please review the images carefully and refer to the T&C page for our Quality Index.
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A tiny side project for day to day works, hosted on GitHub.
Basically it’s a tool to import time logs from toggl to JIRA. It reads logs on toggl by toggl REST API, then pushed them to JIRA by some ruby wrappers (soap4r and jira4r) of JIRA SOAP API.
JIRA is heavily used in FreeWheel. In my current group, almost everything I do can be tracked by a JIRA issue. JIRA serves as the todo, report, and bug tracking system here, and keeps everything visible to everyone.
Fortunately we just upgraded JIRA from 3.x to 4.4 so the SOAP API is much better than JIRA 3. This upgrade made it easier to import work log to JIRA because the API is upgraded a lot. If we had JIRA 5, the new JIRA REST API would be an even better option.
I have been trying to track and manage my work time for a while. Most time-tracking tools are designed for works with billable hours, such as freelance programmers or outsourcing workshops. But I think it’s also beneficial to keep time logs for other jobs. I had tried quite a few ways or tools before, none of them worked very well until I found toggle:
- Directly log on JIRA: In this way you’re “estimating” how much time you spent after finishing a task. What I need is a “timer” to really track it, different and better. Also, it’s easy to forget to log time in JIRA. When a process brings more troubles than tangible benefits, people will tend to forget or ignore it.
- A very simple OSX dashboard widget I can’t remember its name. It’s too simple. Features like idle detection or exporting logs are still necessary for me.
- Harvest. A very powerful one. I used it on iPhone for a while, but found it didn’t work very well because I often forgot to stop/switch timer. “Idle detection” is actually more crucial than it looks. And Harvest is only free for 30 days.
- JIRA worklog assistant. It seems really nice at first: seamless integration with JIRA, lots of useful features. But soon I found the Mac client crashed so often and had lots of bugs. A tool with such a bad quality won’t be accepted by the team.


Toggl is the best tool I found so far. Its client is very well designed and polished, easy to use and intuitive. It has a REST API so I can export the log and import to JIRA easily. Toggl also has pretty nice report features, but I still want to keep all records in JIRA for maximum visiblity. And all my needs can be satisfied by Toggl free edition, sweet.
In the last, I want to clarify: the purpose of tracking time allocation is definitely not to measure “how hard you work” or “did you work 8 hours a day”, but to analyze “where are our time spent” and “how long a project/task actually takes”.


Primus Contracting Group Inc.
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As we learned on yesterday’s daf (=page) the Sages of the Mishnah established oaths that would allow certain plaintiffs to take an oath and to collect money that is owed to them. Among the cases mentioned in the Mishnah are a nigzal and nehbal – someone who was the victim of theft or of violence that led to damage – as well as cases of a worker who claims wages that are due to him.
The Gemara chooses to ask why this arrangement was made for a worker. Apparently the Gemara does not ask about cases of nigzal or nehbal since in those cases we can well understand that the defendant is considered to be potentially unreliable, so the only one we can turn to for a reliable oath is the plaintiff. In the case of a worker and his employer, there is no reason to suspect that one is more reliable than the other, so why should we trust the oath of the worker rather than demand an oath from the employer that would free him of his obligation to pay? Such an oath would parallel the Biblical oaths that always free the defendant from paying!
The first response of the Gemara is that this oath was instituted because the worker needs this wages in order to survive. In response to the challenge of the Gemara that the employer should not be punished out of concern for the needs of workers the Gemara concludes that the oath is given to the worker since the employer is so overwhelmed with the responsibilities of his business and his workers that we assume that the worker is more likely to remember whether or not he was paid.
Although the Gemara introduces this second reason with the word ela – “rather” – which usually indicates that the first reason is rejected and is replaced with the second reason, in this case many rishonim, including Rabbenu Hananel, the Ri”f and the Ramban, view the two explanations as complementary. Thus, the establishment of an oath in the case of a dispute over wages was instituted because of the Sages concern for the livelihood of the worker; the reason that it was given to the worker rather than to the employer was because the Sages understood that the employer was less likely to remember since he was so busy tending to the affairs of his business.


When life is made up of a series of clicks and double taps, Likes and Unfollows, it often feels surreal, like a virtual bubble where actions have no consequences and snarky words get to hide behind a big blue filter. Or specifically, in beauty vlogger James Charles’ case, behind a wall of foundation, concealer, highlighter, contour, powder, blush, falsies, mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick, gloss…
The once makeup artist to the people (a.k.a: his former high school friends who were rumoured to have paid him approximately $5 a face), turned male beauty vlogger on YouTube, seemingly became an overnight sensation thanks to his ability to apply Kardashian-worthy lashes, embrace sparkle and create a contoured cheek in mere minutes on screen. His demeanour and approach to gender-free beauty was infectious, needed and in hot demand by Millennials and Generation Z’ers wanting to create their own style-reality. The consuming consumption of Charles’ videos captured the attention of beauty bigwig CoverGirl and in 2016, at 17 years, Charles became CoverGirl’s first male beauty spokesperson.
And just like that he was one of the top YouTube sensations, garnering 16 million followers on YouTube and Instagram alike, creating his own makeup line, enjoying lucrative endorsements and having the privilege to attend the exclusive Vogue MET Gala.
Now, it might be over. All of it.
The focus of a social media feud with Tati Westbrook, a YouTube beauty vlogger and Charles’ former friend and mentor, is giving his online credibility a run for his money. In the he-said-she-said interpersonal conflict, Westbrook, who owns a vitamin company, posted a 45-minute video titled “Bye Sister,” claiming Charles betrayed her friendship by supporting a rival competitor. She also mentioned that she was upset by his “disgusting behaviour,” lying about endorsement deals and trying to “trick a straight man into thinking he’s gay, yet again,” alluding to an incident at her recent birthday party.
Charles has since video-apologized, but the damage seems to be done. He’s lost about three million YouTube followers and counting, including celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian-West, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Jeffree Star, Shawn Mendes and Miley Cyrus, to name a few. Whether or not his contract with CoverGirl is in question remains to be seen.


But his ex-fans are expressing every emotion possible from sad and angry emoji faces and unflattering memes to backlash and harsh words. On Twitter @AmyJose67839852 wrote: “If everyone boycotted plastic like they did with James Charles, global warming would end.”


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Vice Chairman and Head of Strategic Partnerships | 25 years industry experience
Vice Chairman and Head of Strategic Partnerships 25 years industry experience
Ted is the Vice Chairman & Head of Strategic Partnerships at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM). He is also a member of the Investment Management Operating Committee and Senior Sponsor of MSIM’s Diversity Council. Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2019, Ted served as the Chief Investment Officer at California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). From 2007 to 2014, he held various leadership roles at CalPERS including interim Chief Investment Officer and Senior Investment Officer of Real Estate and Real Assets. From 2002 to 2006, he served as the Chief Deputy Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer at the California State Treasurer's Office. Ted has also held positions in both the private and public sectors, including real estate development and in environmental management with the U.S. Department of Energy. He began his career at Latham & Watkins as an attorney in the real estate division. Ted's past board affiliations include the U.S. Real Estate Roundtable and the Pension Real Estate Association and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s Investor Advisory Group and is on the Alliance for Southern California Innovation's Advisory Council. He received a Bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, with honors, in comparative literature from Dartmouth College and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia.


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Rhotic metathesis in Algherese Catalan: a Harmonic Serialism accountSelected Proceedings of the 2010 Hispanic Linguistic Symposium (2012)
In the light of the diachronic process of rhotic metathesis that has applied in Algherese Catalan,1 in this paper we provide some empirical evidence for considering the left edge of the stem a prominent position, along the lines of Alber 2001. A Harmonic Serialism analysis of the data is presented, as well as a comparison with parallel OT. It is argued that the typological predictions that derive from Harmonic Serialism are more restrictive than those derived from parallel OT. Only resorting to Harmonic Serialism, indeed, long-distance metathesis can be discarded as a potential process of natural languages (Hume 2001). It is also proven how only resorting to Harmonic Serialism the two rhotic metathesis patterns found in Algherese Catalan can be accounted for in unison.
Citation InformationFrancesc Torres-Tamarit, Clàudia Pons-Moll, and Maria Cabrera-Callís (2012) "Rhotic metathesis in Algherese Catalan: a Harmonic Serialism account" Selected Proceedings of the 2010 Hispanic Linguistic Symposium. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/claudia_pons-moll/6


I'm Henry Soon, an art director from the island-country of Singapore and currently I'm working in the Beijing office of JWT.
a little more about me,
I graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate. However a burning passion for design and late nights coffees led me to create my first portfolio upon graduation, which landed me my first design job at a small web shop.
Since then, I've been working my way up as an art director in various agencies, picking up skills and knowledge which would hopefully serve to turn me into a better designer.
I believe great creative works begin from a single strong insight. Whether it is to articulate a point, to solve a problem or just to stir the emotions, I strive to always keep that in mind and make sure that the layers I add to the work helps to enhance and not dilute it.
I'm heavily influenced by the craftsmen of the early days, where the simplicity of their works belies the strength of communication within the piece, which is something I hope to emulate in my works.
favorites ♥ :
"We start every day with a prayer: 'Oh God, please don't let me die today. Tomorrow would be so much better.'" - Fwiffo of Spathiwa


Cab driver altercation
On Saturday, Oct. 6, at approximately 1:53 a.m., an FSUPD officer responded to the front of Landis Hall in reference to a physical altercation between two males.
Upon arrival the officer observed a black male yelling, screaming and cursing at a male cab driver. The smell of alcohol was coming from the studentís breath.
The student advised the officer he believed the cab driver stole his cell phone. The student stated that the cab driver would not let him search his pockets or a book bag in the front seat.
After this, the student proceeded to place the cab driver in a headlock so that he could search him. Vehicles traveling by were forced to stop since the incident occurred in the road.
Bystanders had separated the two subjects before police arrived. Witnesses on the scene advised that the male student was the aggressor and would not stop trying to search the cab driver until they restrained him.
The officer advised the student that the cab driver did not wish to pursue any criminal charges at the time.
The student was very upset and refused to listen to instructions, continuing to yell and scream.
After several warnings, the student was put in handcuffs and placed under arrest for disorderly conduct.
On Friday, Oct. 5, at approximately 11:36 p.m., an FSUPD officer responded to the Degraff parking lot in reference to an unresponsive person. Upon the officerís arrival, he noticed two white males assisting an unknown black male with entering the north entrance gate to Degraff Hall.
The officer asked the two males to assist with sitting the third on the ground.
The male smelled of alcohol, was unresponsive and sweating profusely. When asked how much and what he had to drink, the student stated that he was not sure and does not typically consume alcohol.
The FSU student said he went to a club earlier with some friends.
EMS Med Unit #24 responded on the scene to assist. Because the officer determined the student was unable to say for himself whether or not he needed further medical treatment, he was transported to Tallahassee Memorial Health Care.
On Saturday, Oct. 6, an FSUPD officer was working with TPD to target underage possession of alcohol at a night club. While searching for underage drinkers with several officers, the officer was wearing a raid vest, which has the word ďPoliceĒ clearly written on the front and back.


The FSUPD officer noticed a female attempting to conceal her alcoholic beverage from them.
The officer made contact with the female and found her to be 19 after looking at her Florida driverís license.
The female was issued a Notice to Appear for possession of an alcoholic beverage by a person under the age of 21.
óPolice briefs compiled from FSUPD reports by Jordan Shrago


Letters from French jihadists home to their parents have revealed the misery, boredom and fear suffered by Islamist recruits as the gloss fades from their big adventure.
In a series of letters seen by Le Figaro newspaper, some of the 376 French currently fighting in Syria have begged for advice on how to return. Others have complained that, rather than participating in a noble battle, they have been acting as jihadi dogsbodies.
"I've basically done nothing except hand out clothes and food," wrote one, who wants to return from Aleppo. "I also help clean weapons and transport dead bodies from the front. Winter's arrived here. It's begun to get really hard."
Another writes: "I'm fed up. They make me do the washing up."
One Frenchman whinged that he wanted to come home because he was missing the comforts of life in France.
"I'm fed up. My iPod doesn't work any more here. I have to come back."
A third wrote fearfully: "They want to send me to the front, but I don't know how to fight."
Others were concerned, more prosaically, about the nationality of their baby, which was born in Syria and so not recognised by the French state.
And Le Figaro said that, among Islamist commanders, it had been noticed that some of the French were beginning to want to leave. One Frenchman was rumoured to have been beheaded when he explained to the emir that he wanted to follow his friend who had already left.
"Everyone knows that, the longer these people stay there, the worse it will be because having watched or committed attrocities, they become ticking time bombs," said one lawyer, quoted in Le Figaro.
"But, when it comes to having a discussion about whether France is ready to accept repentants, no politician is willing to take the risk. Imagine if one of these ex-jihadis is involved subsequently in an attack?"
A group of lawyers in France are acting on behalf of the families of the young people to try and persuade the state to allow the jihadis to return. They told the newspaper that they are trying to make discreet contact with the anti-terrorist police, the directors of internal security and the office of the interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.
The lawyers said that nothing is ever agreed in advance, on behalf of the jihadis - and the advice is always: "Present yourself at the French consulat in Istanbul or Erbil (in Iraq).


And then we will see."
Of the approximately 100 jihadists who have returned to France, 76 are in prison.
And the report said that Britain was known as the global leader in reforming jihadists - so much so that some within the French system were asking to be seconded to MI5 - "famed for their art of debriefing".
"Within the secret services, it's said that British jihadis are more interesting because they have a higher intellectual level than their French colleagues, who are more often donkeys," one expert told the paper.
The story of the French jihadis has parallels with that of an Indian man who spent six months fighting alongside Isis in Iraq, before becoming disillusioned with his job cleaning toilets, and returning to Mumbai.
Majeed, 23, was one of four young Muslim men from Kalyan, a city east of Mumbai, known to have journeyed to the Middle East to join the extremist outfit.
"There was neither a holy war nor any of the preachings in the holy book were followed," Majeed is quoted as saying during his interrogation. Islamic State "fighters raped many women there," he reportedly said.


What is CI / CD?
CI/CD is a method which frequently delivers applications to customers. The concept is a combined practice of continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery/deployment (CD). CI/CD bridges the gaps between development and operation activities and teams by enforcing automation in building, testing and deployment of applications. Integrating a new code causes problems for DevOps teams, and continuous automation and monitoring of application delivery and deployment of applications life cycles is the CI/CD solution.
What is Jenkins CI / CD Pipeline?
A CI/CD pipeline aims to automate the process of software delivery. It is used to build code, run tests, and for the safe deployment of new software versions. CI/CD pipelines reduce manual errors while providing feedback to developers, and allowing for fast product iterations.
A CI/CD pipeline refers to connected processes introducing automation and continuous monitoring throughout the product life cycle. This approach is used from the integration and testing phase, through to delivery and deployment.
Jenkins is an open source automation server written in Java. It is used to continuously build and test software projects, enabling developers to set up a CI/CD environment. It also supports version control tools like Subversion, Git, Mercurial, and Maven.
Is Jenkins a CI CD tool?
Jenkins is an open source continuous integration (CI) server, written entirely in Java. Jenkins is used to build and test software projects, and is capable of commanding a chain of actions which help to achieve, amongst other things, automated continuous integration. Jenkins can be used by developers as a tool to set up a CI/CD environment. Version control tools such as Git, Maven, and Subversion are also supported.
How Do You Integrate CI CD Pipeline In Jenkins
The practices involving the integration and testing phase to delivery and deployment are referred to as CI/CD pipeline. CI/CD pipelines are used to automate software delivery, allowing you to cautiously deploy new software. To integrate CI/CD pipeline in Jenkins, you need to:
- Enable Jenkins in your CLI and implement Jenkins as a Java binary.
- Make a ‘Jenkins Job’ by clicking on New Item.
- Make a Pipeline.
- Select SCM to configure and execute a Pipeline. Here you will add the git repo link and save it.
Is Kubernetes a CI CD Tool?
Kubernetes exists to help with the orchestration aspects of a deployment.