A acessibilidade à informação no espaço digital

O trabalho aborda aspectos referentes à acessibilidade no espaço digital. Uma ênfase especial é dada às situações relacionadas à interação das pessoas portadoras de deficiência com a informação, em ambientes de bibliotecas. O texto propõe algumas adequações para a acessibilidade ao espaço digital, conforme categorias de usuários, com o intuito de contribuir para um maior nível de acessibilidade à informação, nesse espaço.

Preservação de documentos digitais

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar o resultado de uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre a preservação digital. São analisadas as questões mais relevantes no estudo das práticas atuais relacionadas com a preservação dos documentos em formato digital. Dados foram coletados na literatura produzida por especialistas experientes na área, os quais proporcionam ampla lista de argumentos que mostram a emergência e importância das atividades de preservação relacionadas aos objetos digitais.

Conteúdos digitais multimídia: o foco na usabilidade e acessibilidade

Abordam-se aspectos referentes à usabilidade e acessibilidade de conteúdos digitais multimídia. São analisados os princípios do projeto de produtos baseados na usabilidade que se aplicam à produção desses documentos digitais, inovando-se ao interpretar os princípios de usabilidade sob o enfoque da acessibilidade. Os cuidados que devem ser tomados para que os documentos digitais adquiram as qualidades da usabilidade e da acessibilidade são assinalados. Uma ênfase especial é dada às situações relacionadas à interação, mediante a utilização de ajudas técnicas, com a informação disponibilizada no espaço digital.

Five essays on bankruptcy

Chapter 2 Bankruptcy Initiation In The New Era of Chapter 11 2.1 Abstract The bankruptcy act of 1978 placed corporate managers (as debtor in possession) in control of the bankruptcy process. Between 2000 and 2001 managers apparently lost this control to secured creditors. This study examines financial ratios of firms filing for bankruptcy between 1993 and 2004 and tests the hypothesis that the change from manager to creditor control created or exacerbated the managerial (and dominant creditor) incentive to delay bankruptcy filing. We find a clear deterioration in the financial conditions of firms filing after 2001. This is consistent with managers (or creditors who control them) delaying filing for bankruptcy. We also observe patterns of operating losses and liquidations that suggest adverse economic consequences from such delay. Chapter 3 Bankruptcy Resolution: Priority of Claims with the Secured Creditor in Control 3.1 Abstract We present new evidence on the violation of priority of claims in bankruptcy using a sample of 222 firms that tiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the 1993-2004 period. Our study reveals a dramatic reduction in the violations of priority of claims compared to research on prior periods. These results are consistent with changes in both court practices and laws transferring power to the secured creditors over our sample period. We also find an increase in the time from the date of a bankruptcy filing to reaching plan confirmation where priority is not violated. Chapter 4 Bankruptcy Resolution: Speed, APR Violations and Delaware 4.1 Abstract We analyze speed of bankruptcy resolution on a sample of 294 US firms filing for bankruptcy in the 1993-2004 period. We find strong association between type of Chapter II filing and speed of bankruptcy resolution. We also find that violations to the absolute priority rule reduce the time from bankruptcy filing to plan confirmation. This is consistent with the hypothesis that creditors are willing to grant concessions in exchange for faster bankruptcy resolution. Furthermore, after controlling for the type of filing and violations to the absolute priority rule, we do not find any difference in the duration of the bankruptcy process for firms filing in Delaware, New York, or other bankruptcy districts. Chapter 5 Financial Distress and Corporate Control 5.1 Abstract We examine the replacement rates of directors and executives in 63 firms filing for bank ruptcy during the 1995-2002 period. We find that over 76% of directors and executives are replaced in the four year period from the year prior to the bankruptcy filing through three years after. These rates are higher than those found in prior research and is consistent with changes in bankruptcy procedures and practice (i.e. the increased secured creditors control over the process due to both DIP financing and changes in the Uniform Commercial Code) having a significant impact on the corporate governance of firms in financial distress. Chapter 6 Financial Statement Restatements: Decision to File for Bankruptcy 6.1 Abstract On a sample of 201 firms that restated their financial statements we analyze the process of regaining investor trust in a two year period after the restatement. We find that 20% of firms that restate their financial statements tile for bankruptcy or restructure out of court. Our results also indicate that the decisions to change auditor or management is correlated with a higher probability of failure. Increased media attention appears to partly explain the decision of firms to restructure their debt or tile for bankruptcy.

Adsorção de nitrato em solos de cerrado do Distrito Federal

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram verificar a adsorção de nitrato e identificar as propriedades do solo que mais influenciam este fenômeno, em um Latossolo Vermelho-Escuro, com 56% de argila, em Planaltina, DF. Em 1996 foram coletadas amostras de solo nas profundidades de 0-20, 20-40, 40-80, 80-100 cm, de um experimento com cinco anos de duração, em uma área de cerrado típico e em duas áreas cultivadas com soja e milho, onde o solo apresentava inversão de carga em profundidade. Também foram coletadas amostras em um solo sob cerradão, com carga elétrica líquida negativa em profundidade. A relação entre nitrato adsorvido e nitrato na solução foi descrita pela equação de Freundlich e as relações entre o nitrato adsorvido e algumas propriedades físico-químicas do solo foram estudadas por meio de regressões múltiplas. O nitrato adsorvido aumentou com a profundidade em todos os tratamentos. Esta adsorção foi maior nos solos sob cerrado e cerradão. O deltapH não afetou a adsorção de nitrato. A correlação entre nitrato adsorvido, matéria orgânica e sulfato extraível foi negativa. A adsorção de nitrato aumentou com a redução da matéria orgânica em profundidade e com a redução de sulfato extraível.

Efeito de inoculante ectomicorrízico produzido por fermentação semi-sólida sobre o crescimento de Eucalyptus dunnii Maiden

O crescimento de Eucalyptus é favorecido por fungos ectomicorrízicos (FECM). De ocorrência comum nas plantações florestais, os FECM diferem, entretanto, em infectividade e eficiência. O objetivo deste estudo foi testar a compatibilidade e a eficiência do inoculante ectomicorrízico produzido por fermentação semi-sólida, em relação a Eucalyptus dunnii Maiden. Neste sentido, o inoculante de Pisolithus sp., produzido por fermentação semi-sólida em vermiculita-solução nutritiva, foi aplicado ao substrato turfa-vermiculita (30:70, v/v) nas concentrações de 0, 1, 3, 5 e 10% (v/v) que foi semeado com E. dunnii, e mantido em casa de vegetação. A inoculação proporcionou colonização radicular e aumento da matéria seca da parte aérea e do conteúdo de P em razão da concentração do inoculante. O peso da matéria seca das plantas com 1% de inoculante não diferiu do peso das testemunhas. A 3% e 5%, a matéria seca aumentou 62%. O maior valor foi obtido com 10% de inoculante, onde o peso das plantas foi 73% superior ao das testemunhas, e o teor de P, 130%. Resultados semelhantes foram obtidos em relação à raiz. Altura e diâmetro foram positivamente afetados pela inoculação, mas não a relação raiz/parte aérea. As doses mais eficientes de inoculante foram aquelas de 3% ou superiores. Este método de produção deverá ser testado com outros FECM, e sua eficiência, avaliada em viveiro e no campo.

Appropriateness of therapy for active Crohn's disease: results of a multidisciplinary International Expert Panel (EPACT II)

Introduction: The development of novel therapies and the increasing number of trials testing management strategies for luminal Crohn's disease (CD) have not filled all the gaps in our knowledge. Thus, in clinical practice, many decisions for CD patients need to be taken without high quality evidence. For this reason, a multidisciplinary European expert panel followed the RAND method to develop explicit criteria for the management of individual patients with active, steroid-dependent (ST-D) and steroid-refractory (ST-R) CD. Methods: Twelve international experts convened in Geneva, Switzerland in December 2007, to rate explicit clinical scenarios, corresponding to real daily practice, on a 9-point scale according to the literature evidence and their own expertise. Median ratings were stratified into three categories: appropriate (7-9), uncertain (4-6) and inappropriate (1-3). Results: Overall, panelists rated 296 indications pertaining to mild-to-moderate, severe, ST-D, and ST-R CD. In anti-TNF naïve patients, budesonide and prednisone were found appropriate for mildmoderate CD, and infliximab (IFX) when those had previously failed or had not been tolerated. In patients with prior success with IFX, this drug with or without co-administration of a thiopurine analog was favored. Other anti-TNFs were appropriate in case of intolerance or resistance to IFX. High doses steroids, IFX or adalimumab were appropriate in severe active CD. Among 105 indications for ST-D or ST-R disease, the panel considered appropriate the thiopurine analogs, methotrexate, IFX, adalimumab and surgery for limited resection, depending on the outcome of prior therapies. Anti-TNFs were generally considered appropriate in ST-R. Conclusion: Steroids, including budesonide for mild-to-moderate CD, remain first-line therapies in active luminal CD. Anti-TNFs, in particular IFX with respect to the amount of available evidence, remain second-line for most indications. Thiopurine analogs are preferred to anti-TNFs when steroids are not appropriate, except when anti-TNFs were previously successful. These recommendations are available online (www.epact.ch). A prospective evaluation of these criteria in a large database in Switzerland in underway to validate these criteria.

Polyembryony and identification of Volkamerian lemon zygotic and nucellar seedlings using RAPD

The objectives of this work were to evaluate the frequency of polyembryony, and to identify zygotic and nucellar seedlings of Citrus volkameriana using RAPD. Twenty-five polyembryonic and eight monoembryonic seeds were cultivated in vitrofor six months. DNA from seedlings was extracted and used in combination with five RAPD primers to identify zygotic or nucellar origin of the seedlings. Environmental conditions of the year affected significantly (P<0.05) the morphological characteristics of fruitsand the number ofembryos per seed. Polyembryonic seeds ranged from 30.9%, 44.8% to 54.4% over three years. Morphological characteristic was not correlated with polyembryony. In vitro culture enable all embryos of each seed to grow, favoring the percentage of seedlings identified as zygotic. In polyembryonic and monoembryonic seeds, 25.9% and 87.5% of the seedlings, respectively, were sexually originated. In polyembryonic seeds, not all zygotic seedlings were produced by small embryos located at the micropyle.

Growth, selection and appropriate contracts

We study a dynamic model where growth requires both long-term investmentand the selection of talented managers. When ability is not ex-ante observable and contracts are incomplete, managerial selection imposes a cost, as managers facing the risk ofbeing replaced choose a sub-optimally low level of long-term investment. This generates atrade-off between selection and investment that has implications for the choice of contractualrelationships and institutions. Our analysis shows that rigid long-term contracts sacrificingmanagerial selection may prevail at early stages of economic development and when heterogeneity in ability is low. As the economy grows, however, knowledge accumulation increasesthe return to talent and makes it optimal to adopt flexible contractual relationships, wheremanagerial selection is implemented even at the cost of lower investment. Measures of investor protection aimed at limiting the bargaining power of managers improve selection undershort-term contract. Given that knowledge accumulation raises the value of selection, theoptimal level of investor protection increases with development.

Secado y almacenamiento de semillas de mandarino 'Cleopatra'

Los objetivos del trabajo fueron evaluar el efecto del tratamiento con productos químicos y contenido de humedad en la conservación de semillas de mandarino 'Cleopatra' (Citrus reshni Hort ex Tan). Semillas con 14,7% de humedad tratadas con cuatro funguicidas y 8-hidroxiquinoleina, fueron almacenadas a 4±2°C durante un año, al igual que tres lotes de semillas con 5,0%, 14,7% y 26,8% de humedad, tratadas con y sin 8-hidroxiquinoleina. Se evaluó la germinación y emergencia al inicio del experimento, a los seis y 12 meses de almacenamiento. En la prueba con productos químicos, el almacenamiento de semillas con 14,7% de humedad sólo fue viable hasta los seis meses, con mayores porcentajes de germinación y emergencia (59,3% y 54,0%, respectivamente), mientras que, en las semillas sin tratamiento químico fue de 33,3% y 27,3%, respectivamente. En relación con el contenido de humedad de las semillas, a los seis meses de almacenamiento se obtuvo mayor emergencia de plántulas (63,6% y 58,0%) en semillas con 26,8% y 5%, mientras que a los 12 meses, las semillas con 5%, de humedad tuvieron 75,6% de emergencia.

Behavioural queueing : cellular automata and a laboratory experiment

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions les aspects comportementaux d'agents qui interagissent dans des systèmes de files d'attente à l'aide de modèles de simulation et de méthodologies expérimentales. Chaque période les clients doivent choisir un prestataire de servivce. L'objectif est d'analyser l'impact des décisions des clients et des prestataires sur la formation des files d'attente. Dans un premier cas nous considérons des clients ayant un certain degré d'aversion au risque. Sur la base de leur perception de l'attente moyenne et de la variabilité de cette attente, ils forment une estimation de la limite supérieure de l'attente chez chacun des prestataires. Chaque période, ils choisissent le prestataire pour lequel cette estimation est la plus basse. Nos résultats indiquent qu'il n'y a pas de relation monotone entre le degré d'aversion au risque et la performance globale. En effet, une population de clients ayant un degré d'aversion au risque intermédiaire encoure généralement une attente moyenne plus élevée qu'une population d'agents indifférents au risque ou très averses au risque. Ensuite, nous incorporons les décisions des prestataires en leur permettant d'ajuster leur capacité de service sur la base de leur perception de la fréquence moyenne d'arrivées. Les résultats montrent que le comportement des clients et les décisions des prestataires présentent une forte "dépendance au sentier". En outre, nous montrons que les décisions des prestataires font converger l'attente moyenne pondérée vers l'attente de référence du marché. Finalement, une expérience de laboratoire dans laquelle des sujets jouent le rôle de prestataire de service nous a permis de conclure que les délais d'installation et de démantèlement de capacité affectent de manière significative la performance et les décisions des sujets. En particulier, les décisions du prestataire, sont influencées par ses commandes en carnet, sa capacité de service actuellement disponible et les décisions d'ajustement de capacité qu'il a prises, mais pas encore implémentées. - Queuing is a fact of life that we witness daily. We all have had the experience of waiting in line for some reason and we also know that it is an annoying situation. As the adage says "time is money"; this is perhaps the best way of stating what queuing problems mean for customers. Human beings are not very tolerant, but they are even less so when having to wait in line for service. Banks, roads, post offices and restaurants are just some examples where people must wait for service. Studies of queuing phenomena have typically addressed the optimisation of performance measures (e.g. average waiting time, queue length and server utilisation rates) and the analysis of equilibrium solutions. The individual behaviour of the agents involved in queueing systems and their decision making process have received little attention. Although this work has been useful to improve the efficiency of many queueing systems, or to design new processes in social and physical systems, it has only provided us with a limited ability to explain the behaviour observed in many real queues. In this dissertation we differ from this traditional research by analysing how the agents involved in the system make decisions instead of focusing on optimising performance measures or analysing an equilibrium solution. This dissertation builds on and extends the framework proposed by van Ackere and Larsen (2004) and van Ackere et al. (2010). We focus on studying behavioural aspects in queueing systems and incorporate this still underdeveloped framework into the operations management field. In the first chapter of this thesis we provide a general introduction to the area, as well as an overview of the results. In Chapters 2 and 3, we use Cellular Automata (CA) to model service systems where captive interacting customers must decide each period which facility to join for service. They base this decision on their expectations of sojourn times. Each period, customers use new information (their most recent experience and that of their best performing neighbour) to form expectations of sojourn time at the different facilities. Customers update their expectations using an adaptive expectations process to combine their memory and their new information. We label "conservative" those customers who give more weight to their memory than to the xiv Summary new information. In contrast, when they give more weight to new information, we call them "reactive". In Chapter 2, we consider customers with different degree of risk-aversion who take into account uncertainty. They choose which facility to join based on an estimated upper-bound of the sojourn time which they compute using their perceptions of the average sojourn time and the level of uncertainty. We assume the same exogenous service capacity for all facilities, which remains constant throughout. We first analyse the collective behaviour generated by the customers' decisions. We show that the system achieves low weighted average sojourn times when the collective behaviour results in neighbourhoods of customers loyal to a facility and the customers are approximately equally split among all facilities. The lowest weighted average sojourn time is achieved when exactly the same number of customers patronises each facility, implying that they do not wish to switch facility. In this case, the system has achieved the Nash equilibrium. We show that there is a non-monotonic relationship between the degree of risk-aversion and system performance. Customers with an intermediate degree of riskaversion typically achieve higher sojourn times; in particular they rarely achieve the Nash equilibrium. Risk-neutral customers have the highest probability of achieving the Nash Equilibrium. Chapter 3 considers a service system similar to the previous one but with risk-neutral customers, and relaxes the assumption of exogenous service rates. In this sense, we model a queueing system with endogenous service rates by enabling managers to adjust the service capacity of the facilities. We assume that managers do so based on their perceptions of the arrival rates and use the same principle of adaptive expectations to model these perceptions. We consider service systems in which the managers' decisions take time to be implemented. Managers are characterised by a profile which is determined by the speed at which they update their perceptions, the speed at which they take decisions, and how coherent they are when accounting for their previous decisions still to be implemented when taking their next decision. We find that the managers' decisions exhibit a strong path-dependence: owing to the initial conditions of the model, the facilities of managers with identical profiles can evolve completely differently. In some cases the system becomes "locked-in" into a monopoly or duopoly situation. The competition between managers causes the weighted average sojourn time of the system to converge to the exogenous benchmark value which they use to estimate their desired capacity. Concerning the managers' profile, we found that the more conservative Summary xv a manager is regarding new information, the larger the market share his facility achieves. Additionally, the faster he takes decisions, the higher the probability that he achieves a monopoly position. In Chapter 4 we consider a one-server queueing system with non-captive customers. We carry out an experiment aimed at analysing the way human subjects, taking on the role of the manager, take decisions in a laboratory regarding the capacity of a service facility. We adapt the model proposed by van Ackere et al (2010). This model relaxes the assumption of a captive market and allows current customers to decide whether or not to use the facility. Additionally the facility also has potential customers who currently do not patronise it, but might consider doing so in the future. We identify three groups of subjects whose decisions cause similar behavioural patterns. These groups are labelled: gradual investors, lumpy investors, and random investor. Using an autocorrelation analysis of the subjects' decisions, we illustrate that these decisions are positively correlated to the decisions taken one period early. Subsequently we formulate a heuristic to model the decision rule considered by subjects in the laboratory. We found that this decision rule fits very well for those subjects who gradually adjust capacity, but it does not capture the behaviour of the subjects of the other two groups. In Chapter 5 we summarise the results and provide suggestions for further work. Our main contribution is the use of simulation and experimental methodologies to explain the collective behaviour generated by customers' and managers' decisions in queueing systems as well as the analysis of the individual behaviour of these agents. In this way, we differ from the typical literature related to queueing systems which focuses on optimising performance measures and the analysis of equilibrium solutions. Our work can be seen as a first step towards understanding the interaction between customer behaviour and the capacity adjustment process in queueing systems. This framework is still in its early stages and accordingly there is a large potential for further work that spans several research topics. Interesting extensions to this work include incorporating other characteristics of queueing systems which affect the customers' experience (e.g. balking, reneging and jockeying); providing customers and managers with additional information to take their decisions (e.g. service price, quality, customers' profile); analysing different decision rules and studying other characteristics which determine the profile of customers and managers.

Leverage and beliefs: Personal experience and risk taking in margin lending

What determines risk-bearing capacity and the amount of leverage in financial markets? Thispaper uses unique micro-data on collateralized lending contracts during a period of financialdistress to address this question. An investor syndicate speculating in English stocks wentbankrupt in 1772. Using hand-collected information from Dutch notarial archives, we examinechanges in lenders' behavior following exposure to potential (but not actual) losses. Before thedistress episode, financiers that lent to the ill-fated syndicate were indistinguishable from therest. Afterwards, they behaved differently: they lent with much higher haircuts. Only lendersexposed to the failed syndicate altered their behavior. The differential change is remarkable sincethe distress was public knowledge, and because none of the lenders suffered actual losses ? allfinanciers were repaid in full. Interest rates were also unaffected; the market balanced solelythrough changes in collateral requirements. Our findings are consistent with a heterogeneousbeliefs-interpretation of leverage. They also suggest that individual experience can modify thelevel of leverage in a market quickly.

Gestión de la convivencia con alumnado magrebí

La escuela es el espacio social por excelencia para educar en el principio de acogida como elemento básico para la convivencia intercultural, así como en la conciencia crítica para saber detectar y modificar los factores generadores de incomprensión e injusticia. Este artículo narra cómo educar ciudadanos con diferentes identidades culturales, acercándonos a la comprensión cultural y ética del otro, a partir de unos valores comunes para que se favorezca así la cohesión social. Esta solidaridad moral acerca de la pluralidad cultural significa un cambio de percepción basado en la confianza depositada en las posibilidades de cada ser humano. Por eso se reclama al profesorado de educación secundaria, a través de la elaboración de una guía didáctica en valores, una actitud abierta, plural y acogedora, que genere elementos de cohesión social y superación de prejuicios.

Projecte Gutenberg : l'aplicació del mètode de treball per projectes per a l'edició d'un llibre

L’objectiu prioritari d’aquesta intervenció, presentada en el marc dels MQD (Mòduls de qualitat docent) del curs 2010-2011, titulada Projecte Gutenberg, ha estat la pràctica de realitzar uns treballs cooperatius amb un grup classe per tal d’assolir la competència bàsica de saber treballar en equip i de ser conscient de la responsabilitat que aquest treball requereix per part de cada alumne. La finalitat, però, d’aquest projecte ha estat també la publicació d’un opuscle (llibret amb ISBN) amb un total de deu articles a partir de cinc temàtiques diferents triades pels mateixos alumnes. Cada un d’aquests temes s’ha tractat des de dues perspectives diferents: una més global, des d’una visió social, i l’altra més concreta, des d’una visió educativa. Aquest projecte proposava tanmateix una activitat transversal programada duta a terme en el marc de la Trobada Internacional per la Pau celebrada a Barcelona i organitzada per la Comunitat de Sant Egidi, dels dies 3 al 5 d’octubre del 2010. El grup classe que ha participat d’aquest esdeveniment ha estat el de segon curs de Magisteri del Grau de Primària (EP, tarda). El projecte s’ha realitzat des del mòdul d’Humanitats Cristianisme i Cultura i des dels seminaris corresponents al mòdul 2, amb la col·laboració dels seus tutors/es durant el primer semestre del curs 2010-2011.