PME.Box: Internationalization to Poland

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Collective financing among Chinese entrepreneurs and department store retailing in China

Chinese entrepreneurship in department store retailing differed from that seen in other emerging economies before 1940. Rather than the leading examples of the format being owned by advanced economy firms, in China a small group of Cantonese entrepreneurs established what became known as the ‘Big Four’ department stores in Shanghai. By 1940 the ‘Big Four’ department stores were among the most famous stores in China, and among the biggest businesses in China. None of these Chinese entrepreneurs had any prior experience in department store retailing. Rather this article explains how their success in department store retailing was dependent on a business model that enabled these Chinese entrepreneurs to act as informal investment bankers (or ‘shadow’ banks) for the thousands of overseas Chinese wanting to invest surplus savings in mainland China, so creating large indigenous business groups.

Big bang bifurcations in von Bertalanffy’s dynamics with strong and weak Allee effects

The main purpose of this work was to study population dynamic discrete models in which the growth of the population is described by generalized von Bertalanffy's functions, with an adjustment or correction factor of polynomial type. The consideration of this correction factor is made with the aim to introduce the Allee effect. To the class of generalized von Bertalanffy's functions is identified and characterized subclasses of strong and weak Allee's functions and functions with no Allee effect. This classification is founded on the concepts of strong and weak Allee's effects to population growth rates associated. A complete description of the dynamic behavior is given, where we provide necessary conditions for the occurrence of unconditional and essential extinction types. The bifurcation structures of the parameter plane are analyzed regarding the evolution of the Allee limit with the aim to understand how the transition from strong Allee effect to no Allee effect, passing through the weak Allee effect, is realized. To generalized von Bertalanffy's functions with strong and weak Allee effects is identified an Allee's effect region, to which is associated the concepts of chaotic semistability curve and Allee's bifurcation point. We verified that under some sufficient conditions, generalized von Bertalanffy's functions have a particular bifurcation structure: the big bang bifurcations of the so-called box-within-a-box type. To this family of maps, the Allee bifurcation points and the big bang bifurcation points are characterized by the symmetric of Allee's limit and by a null intrinsic growth rate. The present paper is also a significant contribution in the framework of the big bang bifurcation analysis for continuous 1D maps and unveil their relationship with the explosion birth and the extinction phenomena.

CMB in a box: Causal structure and the Fourier-Bessel expansion

This paper makes two points. First, we show that the line-of-sight solution to cosmic microwave anisotropies in Fourier space, even though formally defined for arbitrarily large wavelengths, leads to position-space solutions which only depend on the sources of anisotropies inside the past light cone of the observer. This foretold manifestation of causality in position (real) space happens order by order in a series expansion in powers of the visibility gamma = e(-mu), where mu is the optical depth to Thomson scattering. We show that the contributions of order gamma(N) to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies are regulated by spacetime window functions which have support only inside the past light cone of the point of observation. Second, we show that the Fourier-Bessel expansion of the physical fields (including the temperature and polarization momenta) is an alternative to the usual Fourier basis as a framework to compute the anisotropies. The viability of the Fourier-Bessel series for treating the CMB is a consequence of the fact that the visibility function becomes exponentially small at redshifts z >> 10(3), effectively cutting off the past light cone and introducing a finite radius inside which initial conditions can affect physical observables measured at our position (x) over right arrow = 0 and time t(0). Hence, for each multipole l there is a discrete tower of momenta k(il) (not a continuum) which can affect physical observables, with the smallest momenta being k(1l) similar to l. The Fourier-Bessel modes take into account precisely the information from the sources of anisotropies that propagates from the initial value surface to the point of observation-no more, no less. We also show that the physical observables (the temperature and polarization maps), and hence the angular power spectra, are unaffected by that choice of basis. This implies that the Fourier-Bessel expansion is the optimal scheme with which one can compute CMB anisotropies.

Chaotic communication based on the particle-in-a-box electronic circuit

A secure communication system based on the error-feedback synchronization of the electronic model of the particle-in-a-box system is proposed. This circuit allows a robust and simple electronic emulation of the mechanical behavior of the collisions of a particle inside a box, exhibiting rich chaotic behavior. The required nonlinearity to emulate the box walls is implemented in a simple way when compared with other analog electronic chaotic circuits. A master/slave synchronization of two circuits exhibiting a rich chaotic behavior demonstrates the potentiality of this system to secure communication. In this system, binary data stream information modulates the bifurcation parameter of the particle-in-a-box electronic circuit in the transmitter. In the receiver circuit, this parameter is estimated using Pecora-Carroll synchronization and error-feedback synchronization. The performance of the demodulation process is verified through the eye pattern technique applied on the recovered bit stream. During the demodulation process, the error-feedback synchronization presented better performance compared with the Pecora-Carroll synchronization. The application of the particle-in-a-box electronic circuit in a secure communication system is demonstrated.

Universal Set-top Box: A Simple Design to Provide Accessible Services

This paper presents the design of a low cost accessible digital television set-top box. This set-top box was designed and tested to the International ISDB-T system and considered the adoption of solutions that would provide accessible services in digital television in the simplest digital television receiver. The accessible set-top box was evaluated regarding the processing and memory requirements impacts to provide the features for accessible services. The work presents also the access services bandwidth consumption analysis(1).

What loggers leave behind: Impacts on big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) commercial populations and potential for post-logging recovery in the Brazilian Amazon

The sustainability of current harvest practices for high-value Meliaceae can be assessed by quantifying logging intensity and projecting growth and survival by post-logging populations over anticipated intervals between harvests. From 100%-area inventories of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) covering 204 ha or more at eight logged and unlogged forest sites across southern Brazilian Amazonia, we report generally higher landscape-scale densities and smaller population-level mean diameters in eastern forests compared to western forests, where most commercial stocks survive. Density of trees >= 20 cm diameter varied by two orders of magnitude and peaked at 1.17 ha(-1). Size class frequency distributions appeared unimodal at two high-density sites, but were essentially arnodal or flat elsewhere; diameter increment patterns indicate that populations were multi- or all-aged. At two high-density sites, conventional logging removed 93-95% of commercial trees (>= 45 cm diameter at the time of logging), illegally eliminated 31-47% of sub-merchantable trees, and targeted trees as small as 20 cm diameter. Projected recovery by commercial stems during 30 years after conventional logging represented 9.9-37.5% of initial densities and was highly dependent on initial logging intensity and size class frequency distributions of commercial trees. We simulated post-logging recovery over the same period at all sites according to the 2003 regulatory framework for mahogany in Brazil, which raised the minimum diameter cutting limit to 60 cm and requires retention during the first harvest of 20% of commercial-sized trees. Recovery during 30 years ranged from approximately 0 to 31% over 20% retention densities at seven of eight sites. At only one site where sub-merchantable trees dominated the population did the simulated density of harvestable stems after 30 years exceed initial commercial densities. These results indicate that 80% harvest intensity will not be sustainable over multiple cutting cycles for most populations without silvicultural interventions ensuring establishment and long-term growth of artificial regeneration to augment depleted natural stocks, including repeated tending of outplanted seedlings. Without improved harvest protocols for mahogany in Brazil as explored in this paper, future commercial supplies of this species as well as other high-value tropical timbers are endangered. Rapid changes in the timber industry and land-use in the Amazon are also significant challenges to sustainable management of mahogany. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium dose effect in the graft box of lemon tree (of the family Rutaceae) nutrition and production.

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium dose effect in the graft box of lemon tree (of the family Rutaceae) nutrition and production. The aim of the study was to evaluate the graft box of lemon tree (of the family Rutaceae) nutritional state and its components of growth in function of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium dose by fertilization. The experimental outlining was entirely made casually in factorial scheme 3(3) + 1, being 3 factors (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium - NPK), 3 doses and in evidence (without fertilization), with 3 repetitions. The experimental milt was constituted by two tubes of 2,8 cm diameter and 12,3 cm high with a graft box (Hipobioto) of lemon tree (of the family Rutaceae) in each tube. The doses used were constituted by doses of N (460; 920 e 18,10 mg dm(-3)), P (50; 100 e 200 mg dm(-3)) and K (395; 790 e 1580 mg dm(-3)). The fertilization with N and K was carried out by fertirrigations and the P added to the substract of Pinus rind and vermiculite before the seeding. when the plants were 133 days after the germination they were subdivided in radicular system and air part for the determinations of the dry matter mass, height, foliar area, stem diameter and contents of nutrients. The N, K and P doses of 920 mg dm(-3), 790 mg dm(-3), 100 mg dm(-3), respectively, were enough for the suitable development of the graft box of lemon tree (of the family Rutaceae) in tubes.

Box-Behnken design for the optimization of an enantioselective method for the simultaneous analysis of propranolol and 4-hydroxypropranolol by CE

An experimental design optimization (Box-Behnken design, BBD) was used to develop a CE method for the simultaneous resolution of propranolol (Prop) and 4-hydroxypropranolol enantiomers and acetaminophen (internal standard). The method was optimized using an uncoated fused silica capillary, carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin (CM-beta-CD) as chiral selector and triethylamine/phosphoric acid buffer in alkaline conditions. A BBD for four factors was selected to observe the effects of buffer electrolyte concentration, pH, CM-beta-CD concentration and voltage on separation responses. Each factor was studied at three levels: high, central and low, and three center points were added. The buffer electrolyte concentration ranged from 25 to 75 mM, the pH ranged from 8 to 9, the CM-beta-CD concentration ranged from 3.5 to 4.5%w/v, and the applied run voltage ranged from 14 to 20 W. The responses evaluated were resolution and migration time for the last peak. The obtained responses were processed by Minitab (R) to evaluate the significance of the effects and to find the optimum analysis conditions. The best results were obtained using 4%w/v CM-beta-CD in 25 mM triethylamine/H(3)PO(4) buffer at pH 9 as running electrolyte and 17 kV of voltage. Resolution values of 1.98 and 1.95 were obtained for Prop and 4-hydroxypropranolol enantiomers, respectively. The total analysis time was around of 15 min. The BBD showed to be an adequate design for the development of a CE method, resulting in a rapid and efficient optimization of the pH and concentration of the buffer, cyclodextrin concentration and applied voltage.