Brazilian Students and Working Capital: An Analysis of Their Decisions When Using Virtual Market Business Games

This study aims to demonstrate that data from business games can be an important resource for improving efficiency and effectiveness of learning. The proposal presented here was developed from preliminary studies of data from Virtual Market games that pointed the possibility of identifying gaps in learning by analyzing the decisions of students. This proposal helps students to refine their learning processes and equips tutors with strategies for teaching and student assessment. The proposal also complements the group discussion and/or debriefing, which are widely used to enhance learning mediated by games. However, from a management perspective the model has the potential to be erroneous and miss opportunities, which cannot be detected because of the dependence on the characteristics of the individual, such as ability to communicate and work together. To illustrate the proposed technique, data sets from two business games were analyzed with the focus on managing working capital and it was found that students had difficulties managing this task. Similar trends were observed in all categories of students in the study-undergraduate, postgraduate and specialization. This discovery led us to the analysis of data for decisions made in the performance of the games, and it was determined that indicators could be developed that were capable of indentifying inconsistencies in the decisions. It was decided to apply some basic concepts of the finance management, such as management of the operational and non-operational expenditures, as well as production management concepts, such as the use of the production capacity. By analyzing the data from the Virtual Market games using the indicator concept, it was possible to detect the lack of domain knowledge of the students. Therefore, these indicators can be used to analyze the decisions of the players and guide them during the game, increasing their effectiveness and efficiency. As these indicators were developed from specific content, they can also be used to develop teaching materials to support learning. Viewed in this light, the proposal adds new possibilities for using business games in learning. In addition to the intrinsic learning that is achieved through playing the games, they also assist in driving the learning process. This study considers the applications and the methodology used.

Tunneling time through a barrier using the local value of a time operator

A time for a quantum particle to traverse a barrier is obtained for stationary states by setting the local value of a time operator equal to a constant. This time operator, called the tempus operator because it is distinct from the time of evolution, is defined as the operator canonically conjugate to the energy operator. The local value of the tempus operator gives a complex time for a particle to traverse a barrier. The method is applied to a particle with a semiclassical wave function, which gives, in the classical limit, the correct classical traversal time. It is also applied to a quantum particle tunneling through a rectangular barrier. The resulting complex tunneling time is compared with complex tunneling times from other methods.

DERIVATION OF THE ENERGY-TIME UNCERTAINTY RELATION

A derivation from first principles is given of the energy-time uncertainty relation in quantum mechanics. A canonical transformation is made in classical mechanics to a new canonical momentum, which is energy E, and a new canonical coordinate T, which is called tempus, conjugate to the energy. Tempus T, the canonical coordinate conjugate to the energy, is conceptually different from the time t in which the system evolves. The Poisson bracket is a canonical invariant, so that energy and tempus satisfy the same Poisson bracket as do p and q. When the system is quantized, we find the energy-time uncertainty relation DELTAEDELTAT greater-than-or-equal-to HBAR/2. For a conservative system the average of the tempus operator T is the time t plus a constant. For a free particle and a particle acted on by a constant force, the tempus operators are constructed explicitly, and the energy-time uncertainty relation is explicitly verified.

O pretérito em espanhol: uso e valores do perfecto compuesto nas regiões dialetais argentinas

Neste livro são analisados os valores que a forma verbal pretérito perfecto compuesto, o equivalente ao pretérito perfeito composto da língua portuguesa do Brasil, adquirem no espanhol falado na Argentina. O estudo revela que, ao contrário do que apontam algumas pesquisas, os valores atribuídos ao pretérito perfecto compuesto não podem ser generalizados para todo o território, nem polarizados entre os verificados na capital argentina e em um genérico norte do país. Tomando por base 33 entrevistas radiofônicas de diversas regiões da Argentina obtidas na internet, Leandro Silveira de Araujo detectou sete valores atribuídos ao uso da forma verbal estudada. Ao verificar a existência de comportamentos relativamente semelhantes do uso do pretérito perfecto compuesto, o autor delimitou três macrorregiões, que mostram uma relação direta com o processo de colonização da Argentina. O autor ainda discorre sobre temas como a dialetologia hispânica, sobre o qual discute a relevância do espaço para o estudo da língua, e as categorias verbais do tempus e aspecto nas línguas naturais, em especial em relação ao sistema castelhano. Os resultados desse estudo, aponta o autor, devem auxiliar na divulgação de conteúdos linguísticos sobre as variedades do espanhol usado no cone sul-americano. E, fundamentalmente, contribuir para a descrição mais clara de uma construção linguística que muitas vezes é vista como dificultosa na aprendizagem de língua espanhola por brasileiros

Notes on competencies in engineering education

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)