Using importance-satisfaction analysis in evaluating student satisfaction: a case study of economics and administration Faculty of Qafqaz University

Education is one of the main industries in the world, which needs to focus more than other types of industries. As Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world” (www.brainyquote.com). Global economic recession era put serious pressure on private Higher Education Institutions (HEI), which resulted as decrease in the university spending`s budget. Therefore, HEI forced to develop more competitive ways to find new financial resources for rapid technological and organizational changes (Savsar, 2012). Students are the motive of being of Higher Education. The aim of this study is to implement İmportance-Satisfaction Analysis (IPA) matrix to evaluate the student`s satisfaction and assess importance of different attributes in terms of student`s perception. The students that participated in this study enrolled in the present academic year, 2015/2016, in the Economics and Administration Faculty-Qafqaz University. In order to perform study, survey method applied to collect the data and number of received valid questionnaire were 266. Questionnaire used to collect demographic information of students, identify importance given to each attribute and satisfaction degree of each attribute. Descriptive analysis used to identify profile of respondents, also find satisfaction and importance degree for each attributes. To evaluate differences between groups, built association between variables, find relation between variables and answering to the research hypothesis inferential analysis applied. Moreover, IPA matrix was been used to explore the attributes that needs improvement that perceived as attributes that are more important for the students. The result showed that generally students are satisfied with service quality offered by HEI-on sample of the Qafqaz University. In addition, research found that there are no differences in overall satisfaction and importance by department, gender, academic year and grade point average. IPA matrix highlighted the main attributes, which performs well, namely Academic Services and Teaching aspects, and in another hand needs to concentrate in Undergraduate program and External Relations. In addition, research found that loyalty of students is very low and there is a negative correlation between loyalty and satisfaction.

Profile detection through source code static analysis

The present article reflects the progress of an ongoing master’s dissertation on language engineering. The main goal of the work here described, is to infer a programmer’s profile through the analysis of his source code. After such analysis the programmer shall be placed on a scale that characterizes him on his language abilities. There are several potential applications for such profiling, namely, the evaluation of a programmer’s skills and proficiency on a given language or the continuous evaluation of a student’s progress on a programming course. Throughout the course of this project and as a proof of concept, a tool that allows the automatic profiling of a Java programmer is under development. This tool is also introduced in the paper and its preliminary outcomes are discussed.

Simulating the effects of vegetation and landscape structure on fire behavior in northeastern Portugal: the case of holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia)

O fogo é um processo frequente nas paisagens do norte de Portugal. Estudos anteriores mostraram que os bosques de azinheira (Quercus rotundifolia) persistem após a passagem do fogo e ajudam a diminuir a sua intensidade e taxa de propagação. Os principais objetivos deste estudo foram compreender e modelar o efeito dos bosques de azinheira no comportamento do fogo ao nível da paisagem da bacia superior do rio Sabor, localizado no nordeste de Portugal. O impacto dos bosques de azinheira no comportamento do fogo foi testado em termos de área e configuração de acordo com cenários que simulam a possível distribuição destas unidades de vegetação na paisagem, considerando uma percentagem de ocupação da azinheira de 2.2% (Low), 18.1% (Moderate), 26.0% (High), e 39.8% (Rivers). Estes cenários tiveram como principal objetivo testar 1) o papel dos bosques de azinheira no comportamento do fogo e 2) de que forma a configuração das manchas de azinheira podem ajudar a diminuir a intensidade da linha de fogo e área ardida. Na modelação do comportamento do fogo foi usado o modelo FlamMap para simular a intensidade de linha do fogo e taxa de propagação do fogo com base em modelos de combustível associados a cada ocupação e uso do solo presente na área de estudo, e também com base em fatores topográficos (altitude, declive e orientação da encosta) e climáticos (humidade e velocidade do vento). Foram ainda usados dois modelos de combustível para a ocupação de azinheira (áreas interiores e de bordadura), desenvolvidos com base em dados reais obtidos na região. Usou-se o software FRAGSATS para a análise dos padrões espaciais das classes de intensidade de linha do fogo, usando-se as métricas Class Area (CA), Number of Patches (NP) e Large Patches Index (LPI). Os resultados obtidos indicaram que a intensidade da linha de fogo e a taxa de propagação do fogo variou entre cenários e entre modelos de combustível para o azinhal. A intensidade média da linha de fogo e a taxa média de propagação do fogo decresceu à medida que a percentagem de área de bosques de azinheira aumentou na paisagem. Também foi observado que as métricas CA, NP e LPI variaram entre cenários e modelos de combustível para o azinhal, decrescendo quando a percentagem de área de bosques de azinheira aumentou. Este estudo permitiu concluir que a variação da percentagem de ocupação e configuração espacial dos bosques de azinheira influenciam o comportamento do fogo, reduzindo, em termos médios, a intensidade da linha de fogo e a taxa de propagação, sugerindo que os bosques de azinhal podem ser usados como medidas silvícolas preventivas para diminuir o risco de incêndio nesta região.

Comprehensive economic and financial analysis of the enterprise activity: approaches, methods and implementation

This thesis intends to analyse the performance and the efficiency of companies and to identify the key factors that may explain it. A comprehensive analysis based on a set of economic and financial ratios was studied as an instrument which provides information on enterprise performance and its efficiency. It was selected a sample with 15 enterprises: 7 Portuguese and 8 Ukrainian ones, belonging to several industries. Financial and non-financial data was collected for 6 years, during the period of 2009 to 2014. Research questions that guided this work were: Are the enterprises efficient/profitable? What factors influence enterprises’ efficiency/performance? Is there any difference between Ukrainian and Portuguese enterprises’ efficiency/performance, which factors have more influence? Which industrial sector is represented by more efficient/profitable enterprises? The main results showed that in average enterprises were efficient; comparing by states Ukrainian enterprises are more efficient; industries have similar level of efficiency. Among factors that influence ATR positively are fixed and current assets turnover ratios, ROA; negatively influencing are EBITDA margin and liquidity ratio. There is no significant difference between models by country. Concerning profitability, enterprises have low performance level but in comparison of countries Ukrainian enterprises have better profitability in average. Regarding the industry sector, paper industry is the most profitable. Among factors influencing ROA are profit margin, fixed asset turnover ratio, EBITDA margin, Debt to equity ratio and the country. In case of profitability both countries have different models. For Ukrainian enterprises is suggested to pay attention on factors of Short-term debt to total debt, ROA, Interest coverage ratio in order to be more efficient; Profit margin and EBITDA margin to make their performance better. For Portuguese enterprises for improving efficiency the observation and improvement of fixed assets turnover ratio, current assets turnover ratio, Short-term financial debt to total debt, Leverage Ratio, EBITDA margin is suggested; for improving higher profitability track fixed assets turnover ratio, current assets turnover ratio, Debt to equity ratio, Profit margin and Interest coverage ratio is suggested.