Optimal choice between even- and uneven-aged forestry: the case of non-industrial private forest owners

An infinite-horizon discrete time model with multiple size-class structures using a transition matrix is built to assess optimal harvesting schedules in the context of Non-Industrial Private Forest (NIPF) owners. Three model specifications accounting for forest income, financial return on an asset and amenity valuations are considered. Numerical simulations suggest uneven-aged forest management where a rational forest owner adapts her or his forest policy by influencing the regeneration of trees or adjusting consumption dynamics depending on subjective time preference and market return rate dynamics on the financial asset. Moreover she or he does not value significantly non-market benefits captured by amenity valuations relatively to forest income.

Measuring the impact of short and lending practices using the DGTW benchmarks

Mutual fund managers increasingly lend their holdings and/or use short sales to generate higher returns for their funds. This project presents a first look into the impact these practices on performance using the performance measures: i) Characteristic Selectivity (CS), the ability of the fund's managers to choose stocks that outperform their benchmarks; ii) Characteristic Timing (CT), the ability of the manager to time the market; iii) and Average Style (AS), the returns from funds systematically holding stocks with certain characteristics. These returns are computed through the DGTW benchmarks. The effect of other variables that have also been shown to impact fund’s returns – total net assets under management, investment styles, turnover and expense ratios – will also be analyzed. I find that managers who use short-sales do not exhibit better stock picking abilities than those who do not, while mutual funds that lend do present higher CS returns. In addition, while lending is not significant for the total performance of a fund, the employment of short-sales and of both short-sales and lending has a negative impact on the fund’s performance.

Augmenting spaces and creating interactive experiences using video camera networks

This research addresses the problem of creating interactive experiences to encourage people to explore spaces. Besides the obvious spaces to visit, such as museums or art galleries, spaces that people visit can be, for example, a supermarket or a restaurant. As technology evolves, people become more demanding in the way they use it and expect better forms of interaction with the space that surrounds them. Interaction with the space allows information to be transmitted to the visitors in a friendly way, leading visitors to explore it and gain knowledge. Systems to provide better experiences while exploring spaces demand hardware and software that is not in the reach of every space owner either because of the cost or inconvenience of the installation, that can damage artefacts or the space environment. We propose a system adaptable to the spaces, that uses a video camera network and a wi-fi network present at the space (or that can be installed) to provide means to support interactive experiences using the visitor’s mobile device. The system is composed of an infrastructure (called vuSpot), a language grammar used to describe interactions at a space (called XploreDescription), a visual tool used to design interactive experiences (called XploreBuilder) and a tool used to create interactive experiences (called urSpace). By using XploreBuilder, a tool built of top of vuSpot, a user with little or no experience in programming can define a space and design interactive experiences. This tool generates a description of the space and of the interactions at that space (that complies with the XploreDescription grammar). These descriptions can be given to urSpace, another tool built of top of vuSpot, that creates the interactive experience application. With this system we explore new forms of interaction and use mobile devices and pico projectors to deliver additional information to the users leading to the creation of interactive experiences. The several components are presented as well as the results of the respective user tests, which were positive. The design and implementation becomes cheaper, faster, more flexible and, since it does not depend on the knowledge of a programming language, accessible for the general public.

Awareness of visceral leishmaniasis and its relationship to canine infection in riverside endemic areas in Northeastern Brazil

IntroductionAn awareness of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is necessary to encourage the population to participate in prevention and control in collaboration with more efficient, centrally organized health programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the awareness of the riverside population regarding VL and the association between awareness and the prevalence of canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL).MethodsIn total, 71 people living in riverside areas in the City of Mossoró in State of Rio Grande do Norte participated of the study, and 71 dogs were tested for CVL by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Association analysis of several variables related to knowledge of the riverside population regarding CVL positivity was performed, yielding odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), and significance was determined using chi-square (χ2) and Fisher's exact tests.ResultsAmong individuals whose dogs tested positive for CVL, 60% did not know the cure for CVL, and these subjects were three times more likely to have a dog test positive for CVL than those who were aware the cure for CVL. Knowledge of CVL cure was the only variable that remained in the logistic model after the successive removal of variables, with an adjusted OR of 3.11 (95%CI: 1.1-8,799; p=0.032).ConclusionsInsufficient awareness regarding VL in riverside areas with CVL-positive dogs was associated with increased rates of canine infection, which suggests that changes in habits and the adoption of attitudes and preventive practices may contribute to the control and prevention of this disease. This study reinforces the need to invest in better health education programs regarding VL.

Management consulting lab- Galp social media

This study consists of the reflection on a consultancy project developed by four students and one project manager from NOVA SBE. In attempting to assist Galp Energia structure the operationalization of an entry into Social Media, we were confronted with first-time challenges in real-life highly demanding workplace situations. The following considerations attempt to defuse the problem-solving mindset of the practical experience from the methodological development and learning experience extracted from the consulting line of work

The role of individual ability and structural embeddedness on entrepreneurial success

In the present thesis I analyse the roles of individual ability and structural embeddedness on entrepreneurial success. The results retrieved from a matched employer-employee longitudinal data set show prior worker productivities and environmental embeddedness to have a persistent positive impact on the size and growth rates of new firms. What is more, embeddedness facilitates the impact of ability on start-up performance with outsiders of comparable abilities starting smaller and slower growing firms. Those in higher ability categories are more likely to transfer and also, albeit to a lesser extent, close their ventures, an effect attributed to the higher opportunity costs associated with the group. Firms managed by embedded agents enjoy longer longevities and have better chances of finding a new owner after the departure of the previous one. Finally, higher ability types show evidence of specialisation in serial entrepreneurship.

What makes an entrepreneur? The role of feelings

This study uses a sample of 678 observations from the Community Innovation Survey 6 (CIS6) plus the Leadership Module attached in Portugal wherein 55.93% of the respondents are business Owners. It focuses on recent literature on Entrepreneurship to understand how the perceived importance of Personality Traits and Social Ties influence the decision-making process of the Entrepreneur towards an Intuitive or an Analytical Approach. It gets statistical significant values for the Founder/Sample in the traits, and for strong ties in the Founder/Owner Model shows statistical significance.

Risk of employing an evolvable production system

Nowadays manufacturing companies are facing a more challenging environment due to the unpredictability of the markets in order to survive. Enterprises need to keep innovating and deliver products with new internal or external characteristics. There are strategies and solutions, to different organisational level from strategic to operational, when technology is growing faster in operational level, more specifically in manufacturing system. This means that companies have to deal with the changes of the emergent manufacturing systems while it can be expensive and not easy to be implement. An agile manufacturing system can help to cope with the markets changeability. Evolvable Production Systems (EPS) is an emergent paradigm which aims to bring new solutions to deal with changeability. The proposed paradigm is characterised by modularity and intends to introduce high flexibility and dynamism at shop floor level through the use of the evolution of new computational devices and technology. This new approach brings to enterprises the ability to plug and unplug new devices and allowing fast reformulation of the production line without reprogramming. There is no doubt about the advantages and benefits of this emerging technology but the feasibility and applicability is still under questioned. Most researches in this area are focused on technical side, explaining the advantages of those systems while there are no sufficient works discussing the implementation risks from different perspective, including business owner. The main objective of this work is to propose a methodology and model to identify, classify and measure potential risk associated with an implementation of this emergent paradigm. To quantify the proposed comprehensive risk model, an Intelligent Decision system is developed employing Fuzzy Inference System to deal with the knowledge of experts, as there are no historical data and sufficient research on this area. The result can be the vulnerability assessment of implementing EPS technology in manufacturing companies when the focus is more on SMEs. The present dissertation used the experts’ knowledge and experiences, who were involved in FP7 project IDEAS, which is one of the leading projects in this area.

CTT, the mail going public

The main purpose of this case-study is to analyse CTT’s privatisation process, a previously Government-owned firm, which went public in 2013, under the terms of the adjustment program agreed between Portugal, the European institutions (ECB and European Commission) and the IMF. The emphasis will be placed on the IPO process, but also on the company itself (its history, current situation and prospects for its new phase, as a publicly listed company). This piece of work aims to evaluate the different alternatives for the privatisation of the company along with the respective implications, as well as the outcome of the actual decision taken by the Portuguese Government. One key aspect of the case is also to understand the importance that the privatisation of the Royal Mail, which can be seen as a peer of the Portuguese company, in the unfolding of the process and in the choice of the privatisation model. The case intends to show how the British process influenced the subsequent option of the Portuguese entities to sell CTT through an IPO, instead of a trade sale. All in all, the overall objective of this case-study is to analyse CTT’s successful sale process, which created the first Portuguese company with 100% free-float. 3 On the last days of November 2013, Steven Bernstein was staring at the window of his office overlooking downtown Manhattan, not even noticing the intense rain that was pouring down. As senior manager at ABC Fund, a pension fund responsible for managing more than 800 million dollars, his thoughts were focused on a very important decision that ABC Fund would have to make in just a matter of days. The American pension fund was considering whether or not to invest in the upcoming Initial Public Offering of CTT- Correios de Portugal, the Government-owned Portuguese mail company. Is this investment opportunity in accordance with the risk profile of a pension fund? Is it a wise decision to acquire shares in a Portuguese company when the country is at the centre of the European Sovereign debt crisis, going through a very demanding economic adjustment program imposed by its bail-out creditors? Would the creation of Portugal's Postal Bank make CTT a sure bet today when its price does not fully reflect the future benefits from entering financial services? Those were some of the questions that were constantly in Mr. Bernstein’s mind over the last couple of days and he was struggling to find the answers…

PT Multimedia

The purpose of the present case – and accompanying Teaching Notes – is to better understand the spin-off of PT Multimédia, by Portugal Telecom, after receiving a Public Takeover Offer from Sonaecom, in 2006. The Government and the Competition Authority had never looked in a serious way at PT’s dominant position and the lack of room for competition in the TMT sector – PT was the owner of both the cable and copper networks, having access to privileged information from its competitors with control over the wholesale and retail businesses. In 2006, the company received a takeover offer from Sonaecom, the TMT subsidiary from the Portuguese conglomerate Sonae. The offer was voted and rejected by a majority of PT shareholders, but the whole process triggered several recommendations from the regulatory bodies. As a result, PT divested its cable business with the spin-off of PT Multimédia, giving birth to a new competitor and a totally different landscape in the telecommunications sector in Portugal.

Avaliação do desempenho de fundos de investimento de ouro nos EUA: influência dos diferentes regimes de mercado na seletividade e market-timing

Dissertação de mestrado em Finanças

Aplicação do Building Information Modeling na gestão de projetos de construção

Dissertação de mestrado em Construção e Reabilitação Sustentáveis

A case study of product usability of a pelvic device used by children with neuromotor impairments

On assistive technology targeted for people with activity limitations and participation, usability issues becomes an essential tool to ensure that the product has the appropriate ergonomics characteristics, in other words, ensure that it fits the specific user´s needs. The aim of this study was to analyze the usability of an adaptive seating device for children with neuromotor impairments, by using kinematic indicators of the reaching movement. The study sample consisted of 13 children with associated neurologic conditions. The tests were developed by using a wooden bench height adjustable, integrated with the adaptive seating device under study, and a system to capture three-dimensional image, called Qualisys Track Manager. The following reaching kinematics variables were measured: maximum reaching velocity, movement duration, index of curvature, and unit movements. It was found that the use of the adaptive seating device had a positive impact on upper limb function in children with neuromotor impairments. It was also noticed an improvement in the reaching movement kinematics, which was statistical significant for the index of curvature and unit movements. As main conclusions, it is possible to point out some positive effects that the product under study seems to have on users' movements, such as the improved movement quality of the upper limb, which could mean a better postural adjustments and higher trunk postural control. By identifying new measures of usability in terms of effectiveness and efficiency for the analyzeddevice, the results obtained may serve also as performance indicators, providing new data that may help to improve the product and eventually modifying it, in order to turn it more compatible with the needs of the considered target population.

Benefits from energy related building renovation beyond costs, energy and emissions

The relevance of the building sector in the global energy use as well as in the global carbon emissions, both in the developed and developing countries, makes the improvement of the overall energy performance of existing buildings an important part of the actions to mitigate climate changes. Regardless of this potential for energy and emissions saving, large scale building renovation has been found hard to trigger, mainly because present standards are mainly focused on new buildings, not responding effectively to the numerous technical, functional and economic constraints of the existing ones. One of the common problems in the assessment of building renovation scenarios is that only energy savings and costs are normally considered, despite the fact that it has been long recognized that investment on energy efficiency and low carbon technologies yield several benefits beyond the value of saved energy which can be as important as the energy cost savings process. Based on the analysis of significant literature and several case studies, the relevance of co-benefits achieved in the renovation process is highlighted. These benefits can be felt at the building level by the owner or user (like increased user comfort, fewer problems with building physics, improved aesthetics) and should therefore be considered in the definition of the renovation measures, but also at the level of the society as a whole (like health effects, job creation, energy security, impact on climate change), and from this perspective, policy makers must be aware of the possible crossed impacts among different areas of the society for the development of public policies.

Project scheduling and cost minimization with multiple availability constrained resources under stochastic conditions

The authors propose a mathematical model to minimize the project total cost where there are multiple resources constrained by maximum availability. They assume the resources as renewable and the activities can use any subset of resources requiring any quantity from a limited real interval. The stochastic nature is inferred by means of a stochastic work content defined per resource within an activity and following a known distribution and the total cost is the sum of the resource allocation cost with the tardiness cost or earliness bonus in case the project finishes after or before the due date, respectively. The model was computationally implemented relying upon an interchange of two global optimization metaheuristics – the electromagnetism-like mechanism and the evolutionary strategies. Two experiments were conducted testing the implementation to projects with single and multiple resources, and with or without maximum availability constraints. The set of collected results shows good behavior in general and provide a tool to further assist project manager decision making in the planning phase.