Aquifer recharge in Moura region (South Portugal)

Dissertação de mest., Recursos Hídricos, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univ. do Algarve, 2011

A importância dos fluxos de caixa na análise da solvência, liquidez e visibilidade das empresas

Orientada por: Prof. Doutora Cláudia Lopes

E-Learning as a shared service in shared services centers

Book Subtitle International Conference, CENTERIS 2010, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, October 20-22, 2010, Proceedings, Part II

Modelos de presupuestación de capital en finanzas corporativas y utilidad de los mismos

La siguiente investigación describe una aproximación teórica al tema de los modelos de presupuestación de capital, el objetivo fundamental se basa en comprender su enfoque e importancia al momento de tomar decisiones de inversión por parte de los directores de una empresa, así como de prever los efectos de esta en un futuro. Al respecto, y sobre la base de que los modelos de presupuestación de capital son herramientas para analizar posibles erogaciones de capital por parte de una empresa, es necesario para efectos del presente proyecto de investigación, definir sus diferentes modelos desde lo teórico y metodológico, explicando los diferentes conceptos relacionados con el tema. Así mismo, se explican algunos de los indicadores financieros utilizados en las compañías para medir y estimar la “salud financiera” de la empresa, además de puntualizar su impacto en la perdurabilidad de las entidades, lo cual permite dar una visión más general sobre la importancia que trasciende de los indicadores financieros, generando un impacto positivo en la evolución o crecimiento de la organización. En complemento, la investigación aborda la presupuestación de capital de manera particular aplicado en la gestión empresarial, sean estas privadas o públicas (estatal y gubernamental). En este sentido, se abordan conceptos elaborados por diferentes académicos en los que se exponen algunas aproximaciones respecto al posible mejoramiento de la presupuestación para los sectores a los que pertenecen determinadas entidades. Finalmente, se presenta de manera explícita las conclusiones que surgieron a lo largo de la construcción del documento de investigación, con el fin de dar cumplimiento concreto al objetivo general del trabajo, el cual constituye una respuesta a la pregunta de investigación que se enunciará en el desarrollo del documento.

Modern approaches to floristics and their impact on the region of SW Asia

Attitudes to floristics have changed considerably during the past few decades as a result of increasing and often more focused consumer demands, heightened awareness of the threats to biodiversity, information flow and overload, and the application of electronic and web-based techniques to information handling and processing. This paper will examine these concerns in relation to our floristic knowledge and needs in the region of SW Asia. Particular reference will be made to the experience gained from the Euro+Med PlantBase project for the preparation of an electronic plant-information system for Europe and the Mediterranean, with a single core list of accepted plant names and synonyms, based on consensus taxonomy agreed by a specialist network. The many challenges Ð scientific, technical and organisational Ð that it has presented will be discussed as well as the problems of handling nontaxonomic information from fields such as conservation, karyology, biosystematics and mapping. The question of regional cooperation and the sharing of efforts and resources will also be raised and attention drawn to the recent planning workshop held in Rabat (May 2002) for establishing a technical cooperation network for taxonomic capacity building in North Africa as a possible model for the SW Asia region.

Entropy application to improve construction finance decisions

In financial decision-making processes, the adopted weights of the objective functions have significant impacts on the final decision outcome. However, conventional rating and weighting methods exhibit difficulty in deriving appropriate weights for complex decision-making problems with imprecise information. Entropy is a quantitative measure of uncertainty and has been useful in exploring weights of attributes in decision making. A fuzzy and entropy-based mathematical approach is employed to solve the weighting problem of the objective functions in an overall cash-flow model. The multiproject being undertaken by a medium-size construction firm in Hong Kong was used as a real case study to demonstrate the application of entropy. Its application in multiproject cash flow situations is demonstrated. The results indicate that the overall before-tax profit was HK$ 0.11 millions lower after the introduction of appropriate weights. In addition, the best time to invest in new projects arising from positive cash flow was identified to be two working months earlier than the nonweight system.

An examination of the complementary volume–volatility information theories

The volume–volatility relationship during the dissemination stages of information flow is examined by analyzing various theories relating volume and volatility as complementary rather than competing models. The mixture of distributions hypothesis, sequential arrival of information hypothesis, the dispersion of beliefs hypothesis, and the noise trader hypothesis all add to the understanding of how volume and volatility interact for different types of futures traders. An integrated picture of the volume–volatility relationship is provided by investigating the dynamic linear and nonlinear associations between volatility and the volume of informed (institutional) and uninformed (the general public) traders. In particular, the trading behavior explanation for the persistence of futures volatility, the effect of the timing of private information arrival, and the response of institutional traders to excess noise trading risk is examined

Beneath a learning management system: understanding the human information interaction in information systems

Studies on learning management systems have largely been technical in nature with an emphasis on the evaluation of the human computer interaction (HCI) processes in using the LMS. This paper reports a study that evaluates the information interaction processes on an eLearning course used in teaching an applied Statistics course. The eLearning course is used as a synonym for information systems. The study explores issues of missing context in stored information in information systems. Using the semiotic framework as a guide, the researchers evaluated an existing eLearning course with the view to proposing a model for designing improved eLearning courses for future eLearning programmes. In this exploratory study, a survey questionnaire is used to collect data from 160 participants on an eLearning course in Statistics in Applied Climatology. The views of the participants are analysed with a focus on only the human information interaction issues. Using the semiotic framework as a guide, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and social context gaps or problems were identified. The information interactions problems identified include ambiguous instructions, inadequate information, lack of sound, interface design problems among others. These problems affected the quality of new knowledge created by the participants. The researchers thus highlighted the challenges of missing information context when data is stored in an information system. The study concludes by proposing a human information interaction model for improving the information interaction quality issues in the design of eLearning course on learning management platforms and those other information systems.

Opinion dynamics of learning agents: does seeking consensus lead to disagreement?

We study opinion dynamics in a population of interacting adaptive agents voting on a set of issues represented by vectors. We consider agents who can classify issues into one of two categories and can arrive at their opinions using an adaptive algorithm. Adaptation comes from learning and the information for the learning process comes from interacting with other neighboring agents and trying to change the internal state in order to concur with their opinions. The change in the internal state is driven by the information contained in the issue and in the opinion of the other agent. We present results in a simple yet rich context where each agent uses a Boolean perceptron to state their opinion. If the update occurs with information asynchronously exchanged among pairs of agents, then the typical case, if the number of issues is kept small, is the evolution into a society torn by the emergence of factions with extreme opposite beliefs. This occurs even when seeking consensus with agents with opposite opinions. If the number of issues is large, the dynamics becomes trapped, the society does not evolve into factions and a distribution of moderate opinions is observed. The synchronous case is technically simpler and is studied by formulating the problem in terms of differential equations that describe the evolution of order parameters that measure the consensus between pairs of agents. We show that for a large number of issues and unidirectional information flow, global consensus is a fixed point; however, the approach to this consensus is glassy for large societies.

Desdobramento da qualidade em serviços : o caso da biblioteca de engenharia da UFRGS

O presente trabalho introduz o estabelecimento de um modelo para garantia da qualidade, particularmente aplicado ao segmento de prestação de serviços por bibliotecas. O estudo a ser apresentado baseia-se na utilização de um método de planejamento em específico, o Desdobramento da Função Qualidade (QFD), selecionada para viabilizar a análise da qualidade demandada pelo cliente, das características de qualidade críticas, dos serviços críticos e dos recursos críticos. Este trabalho discute o sistema de garantia da qualidade, cuja implantação está em curso, e que é parte integrante do modelo de gestão a ser adotado pela Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. A análise a ser apresentada utiliza o QFD incorporando um conjunto de matrizes que facilita e garante o fluxo de informações através de todas as suas etapas de desenvolvimento.

A model of mixed signals with applications to countersignaling an the GED

We develop a job-market signaling model where signals may convey two pieces of information. This model is employed to study the GED exam and countersignaling (signals non-monotonic in ability). A result of the model is that countersignaling is more expected to occur in jobs that require a combination of skills that differs from the combination used in the schooling process. The model also produces testable implications consistent with evidence on the GED: (i) it signals both high cognitive and low non-cognitive skills and (ii) it does not affect wages. Additionally, it suggests modifications that would make the GED a more signal.

Piraí digital e a teoria ator-rede: a trajetória de inclusão e desenvolvimento de Piraí

A cidade de Piraí, no estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, é palco do programa Piraí Digital, um leque de iniciativas, em cinco áreas de atuação – governo, educação, saúde, negócios e cidadania –, com o objetivo de vencer a exclusão digital no município e contribuir para seu desenvolvimento. O programa foi estudado por meio da associação entre um modelo heurístico para análise da inclusão digital e a Teoria Ator-Rede (ANT). O trabalho apresenta a descrição da evolução do programa segundo os atores que o construíram. Entre 1997 e 2009, Piraí Digital contribuiu para uma série de mudanças positivas em Piraí, notadamente nas áreas de educação, a qual adotou a computação 1:1 em toda a rede municipal no ano de 2009; saúde, que utiliza a estrutura de rede de computadores e internet da cidade para disseminar seus sistemas; e governo, onde a administração pública teve ganhos de produtividade e arrecadação por meio da informatização da máquina administrativa. O estudo de Piraí Digital permite compreender a importância da associação de artefatos – rede de computadores, telecentros, Planos Diretores e outros – e das pessoas nos esforços para vencer a exclusão digital e contribuir para o desenvolvimento local. Explorando o contraste entre a grande notoriedade de Piraí Digital fora do município e o baixo conhecimento do programa pela população local, o autor faz a analogia com uma obra de saneamento, pouco conhecida e visível, mas essencial para a população. Em Piraí, o saneamento digital está pronto, com bits jorrando das torneiras nas escolas e a saúde se beneficiando da TI para escoar seu fluxo de informações para benefício dos cidadãos piraienses.

Um modelo de interconexão de componentes para ambientes mulitmídia distribuídos

Multimedia systems must incorporate middleware concepts in order to abstract hardware and operational systems issues. Applications in those systems may be executed in different kinds of platforms, and their components need to communicate with each other. In this context, it is needed the definition of specific communication mechanisms for the transmission of information flow. This work presents a interconnection component model for distributed multimedia environments, and its implementation details. The model offers specific communication mechanisms for transmission of information flow between software components considering the Cosmos framework requirements in order to support component dynamic reconfiguration

Um modelo de interconexão de componentes para ambientes mulitmídia distribuídos

Multimedia systems must incorporate middleware concepts in order to abstract hardware and operational systems issues. Applications in those systems may be executed in different kinds of platforms, and their components need to communicate with each other. In this context, it is needed the definition of specific communication mechanisms for the transmission of information flow. This work presents a interconnection component model for distributed multimedia environments, and its implementation details. The model offers specific communication mechanisms for transmission of information flow between software components considering the Cosmos framework requirements in order to support component dynamic reconfiguration

Short term hydroelectric scheduling combining network flow and interior point approaches

In this paper, short term hydroelectric scheduling is formulated as a network flow optimization model and solved by interior point methods. The primal-dual and predictor-corrector versions of such interior point methods are developed and the resulting matrix structure is explored. This structure leads to very fast iterations since it avoids computation and factorization of impedance matrices. For each time interval, the linear algebra reduces to the solution of two linear systems, either to the number of buses or to the number of independent loops. Either matrix is invariant and can be factored off-line. As a consequence of such matrix manipulations, a linear system which changes at each iteration has to be solved, although its size is reduced to the number of generating units and is not a function of time intervals. These methods were applied to IEEE and Brazilian power systems, and numerical results were obtained using a MATLAB implementation. Both interior point methods proved to be robust and achieved fast convergence for all instances tested. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.