Risk management in software projects through Knowledge Management techniques: Cases in Brazilian Incubated Technology-Based Firms

In businesses such as the software industry, which uses knowledge as a resource, activities are knowledge intensive, requiring constant adoption of new technologies and practices. Another feature of this environment is that the industry is particularly susceptible to failure; with this in mind, the objective of this research is to analyze the integration of Knowledge Management techniques into the activity of risk management as it applies to software development projects of micro and small Brazilian incubated technology-based firms. Research methods chosen were the Multiple Case Study. The main risk factor for managers and developers is that scope or goals are often unclear or misinterpreted. For risk management, firms have found that Knowledge Management techniques of conversion combination would be the most applicable for use; however, those most commonly used refer to the conversion mode as internalization.. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA.

Multicollinearity and financial constraint in investment decisions: a bayesian generalized ridge regression

This paper addresses the investment decisions considering the presence of financial constraints of 373 large Brazilian firms from 1997 to 2004, using panel data. A Bayesian econometric model was used considering ridge regression for multicollinearity problems among the variables in the model. Prior distributions are assumed for the parameters, classifying the model into random or fixed effects. We used a Bayesian approach to estimate the parameters, considering normal and Student t distributions for the error and assumed that the initial values for the lagged dependent variable are not fixed, but generated by a random process. The recursive predictive density criterion was used for model comparisons. Twenty models were tested and the results indicated that multicollinearity does influence the value of the estimated parameters. Controlling for capital intensity, financial constraints are found to be more important for capital-intensive firms, probably due to their lower profitability indexes, higher fixed costs and higher degree of property diversification.

Knowledge and attitudes of health care workers from intensive care units regarding nosocomial transmission of influenza: a study on the immediate pre-pandemic period

The transmission of influenza in health care settings is a major threat to patients, especially those with severe diseases. The attitude of health care workers (HCWs) may influence the transmission of countless infections. The current study aimed to quantify knowledge and identify attitudes of HCWs involved in intensive care units (ICUs) regarding the risk of nosocomial influenza transmission. A questionnaire was applied through interviews to HCWs who worked in one of the five ICUs from a teaching hospital. Questions about influenza were deliberately dispersed among others that assessed several infectious agents. Forty-two HCWs were interviewed: nine physicians, ten nurses and 23 nursing technicians or auxiliaries. Among the 42 HCWs, 98% were aware of the potential transmission of influenza virus in the ICUs, but only 31% would indicate droplet precautions for patients with suspected infection. Moreover, only 31% of them had been vaccinated against influenza in the last campaign (2008). Nursing technicians or auxiliaries were more likely to have been vaccinated, both by univariate and multivariable analysis. When asked about absenteeism, only 10% of the study subjects stated that they would not go to work if they had an influenza-like illness. Those findings suggest that, in non-pandemic periods, influenza control in hospitals requires strategies that combine continuous education with changes in organizational culture.

The frequency of pharmacological pain relief in university neonatal intensive care units

Objective: To evaluate the use of drugs to relieve the pain of invasive procedures newborn infants cared for at a university hospital NICU. Methods: A prospective cohort study of all newborn infants hospitalized in four NICU during October 2001. The following data were collected: demographic data of the hospitalized newborn infants; clinical morbidity; number of potentially painful procedures and frequency of analgesic administration. Factors associated with the use of analgesia in this cohort of patients were studied by multiple linear regression using SPSS 8.0. Results: Ninety-one newborn infants were admitted to the NICU during the study period (1,025 patient-days). Only 25% of the 1,025 patient-days received systemic analgesia. No specific drugs were administered to relieve acute pain during any of the following painful events: arterial punctures, venous, capillary and lumbar punctures or intubations. For chest tube insertion, 100% of newborn infants received specific analgesia. For the insertion of central catheters 8% of the newborn infants received painkillers. Only nine of the 17 newborn infants that underwent surgical procedures received any analgesic dosage during the postoperative period. For 93% of patients under analgesia the drug of choice was fentanyl. The presence of mechanical ventilation increased the chance of newborn infants receiving painkillers by 6.9 times and the presence of chest tube increased this chance by five times. Conclusion: It is necessary to train health professionals in order to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge regarding newborn infant pain and clinical practice. Copyright © 2005 by Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria.

Território e ambiente institutional: O arranjo produtivo local (APL) bordados de Ibitinga-SP

This study shows the importance of the institutional environment in which the local productive arrangements are entered. It shows that the specifics of each case are historical knowledge fundamental to the studies of APLs. It also shows that in areas of traditional sectors with intensive use of labor, low innovative capacity and low barriers to entry, relations that historically will be developing between firms, workers and market can be considered strong constraints of the trajectory of success or failure. The case study is a set of companies producing textiles and confecciones (products of bed, table and bath) located in the municipality of Ibitinga-SP, of great importance in the region, the high generation of employment and income. It is the study of a particular case in the context of studies on local productive arrangements (APLs), because it serves to highlight the importance of the institutional environment as a prerequisite to overcome the difficulties and consolidation of APLs.

A support system that delineates location-choice sets for firms seeking office space

Factors influencing the location decisions of offices include traffic, accessibility, employment conditions, economic prospects and land-use policies. Hence tools for supporting real-estate managers and urban planners in such multidimensional decisions may be useful. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to develop a GIS-based tool to support firms who seek office accommodation within a given regional or national study area. The tool relies on a matching approach, in which a firm's characteristics (demand) on the one hand, and environmental conditions and available office spaces (supply) on the other, are analyzed separately in a first step, after which a match is sought. That is, a suitability score is obtained for every firm and for every available office space by applying some value judgments (satisfaction, utility etc.). The latter are powered by a focus on location aspects and expert knowledge about the location decisions of firms/organizations with respect to office accommodation as acquired from a group of real-estate advisers; it is stored in decision tables, and they constitute the core of the model. Apart from the delineation of choice sets for any firm seeking a location, the tool supports two additional types of queries. Firstly, it supports the more generic problem of optimally allocating firms to a set of vacant locations. Secondly, the tool allows users to find firms which meet the characteristics of any given location. Moreover, as a GIS-based tool, its results can be visualized using GIS features which, in turn, facilitate several types of analyses.