Especializações glandulares, musculares e dentárias dos dipsadíneos goo-eaters (Serpentes: Dipsadinae) associadas à ingestão de suas presas

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia) - IBRC

Benefícios e dificuldades na utilização dos jogos de empresas: survey em cursos de graduação em administração na região noroeste do estado de São Paulo

Pós-graduação em Engenharia de Produção - FEB

Semiótica e administração: a comunicação e o relações-públicas como forma de gestão

This work has as objective understand the role of chief public relations professional in the design of strategies for an organization considering the theories of semiotics, particularly the concepts of Firstness, secondness and Thirdness defended and presented by Charles Sanders Peirce, and business administration. We will give attention to the process that the public relations of an organization sets the detection of a problem / opportunity until the moment that takes science for all individuals and is resolved / utilized in an organization. Then to better illustrate the concepts presented, it has been a case study of the performance of a public relations professional in an organization, and its importance in her career

Jogos de empresas e gestão financeira: algumas evidências

This article aims to discuss the use of business games for educational purposes taking into account evidence about the difficulty in managing financial resources. The use of business games is justified because the young generation tha are coming to the education system have grown up using business games, allowing a more motivating learning environment and stimulating investment and on how the concept to provide learning. Instead of pushing content well defined and wel-formatted for the student, promotes the use of games promote at the same time, a chalenge whose solution entails learning effort. Thus, the use of games affect educators, students and aducational institutions, requiring them new attitudes and patterns of thought about schooling. The elaboration of this article was based on experiences gained with the development and use of games for educational purposes, specifically the game "Mercado Virtual". Several articles have been published on research with indergraduates and postgraduate courses in business administration and engineering field. They have shown that the evaluation of the player, based on their decisions during the game, to detect specific aspects of learning. This exploratory research is based on data obteained in various experiments with the game Mercado Virtual.

Gestão democrática, educação e cidadania: um olhar crítico a partir de fontes bibliográficas

Pós-graduação em Educação Escolar - FCLAR

Influence of thermal gradient in vortex states of mesoscopic superconductors

In general, the studies of finite size effects in mesoscopic superconductors have been carried out in such a way that the temperature parameter is constant in the entire system. However, we could have situations where a real sample is near a heater source, as an example. In such situations, gradients of temperature are present. On the other hand, mesoscopic superconductors are interesting systems due to the fact that they present confinement effects which influence all the vortex dynamics. Thus, in this work we studied the influence of thermal gradients on the vortex dynamics in mesoscopic superconductors. For this purposes, we used the time dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. The thermal gradients produce an asymmetric distribution of the currents around the system which, in turn, yield interesting vortex configurations and difficult the formation of giant vortices.

Handgrip strength as a predictor of bone mineral density in cirrhotic outpatients

Osteoporosis is well recognized as a cirrhosis complication; however, most studies assessing this condition included only patients on liver transplantation lists with an elevated rate of bone diseases. While general population studies show that handgrip strength is clearly associated with bone mineral density, until now this tool has not been applied to cirrhotic patients in relation to their bone condition. This study aimed to evaluate whether handgrip strength, bone and liver tests may be useful as predictors of bone disease in cirrhotic outpatients. 129 subjects were included (77 men and 52 women). Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was applied to evaluate lumbar-spine and femoral-neck T scores. Osteoporosis/osteopenia rates were 26.3%/35.6% in the lumbar spine and 6.9%/41.8% in the femoral neck, respectively. Model selections were based on backward procedures to find the best predictors of low T scores. For lumbar spine, only low handgrip strength and high parathyroid hormone levels were clearly related to low T scores. For femoral neck, only age was associated with low T scores. Handgrip strength may serve as an effective predictor of low lumbar spine T score among cirrhotic outpatients. As cirrhosis affects the lumbar spine more than the femoral neck, these results suggest that handgrip strength should be tested in all cirrhotic patients as a first indicator of bone health. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Odontologia baseada em evidências: otimizando a prática e a pesquisa

Clinical decisions in dentistry are often based on the knowledge obtained during graduation, clinical experience, information shared with colleagues and professor, textbooks, seminars, conferences and continuing education courses. However, it is necessary to know if this information is derived from scientifically validated researches since too much information may complicate this process. Initially in medicine and later in other health areas a method which enables a critical evaluation of scientific papers related to a specific issue and also, whenever it is possible, an evaluation of the results by meta-analysis,was developed by Cochrane in order to reduce the bias towards all information obtained. The aim of this work is to present some aspects of the Evidence Based Dentistry (EBD) and to show how this methodology can be used to better substantiate scientifically the clinical decision of the dentist and improve researches design with scientific validity. The paper discusses editorial trends focused on the EBD, shows the differences between a systematic and a conventional review, describes data about Cochrane and the advantages of scientific evidence synthesis and the implications of EBD for clinical practice and research as well as recommendation grades and evidence levels of general scientific studies.

Modelagem matemática: uma abordagem do método gráfico e do método simplex na resolução de problemas de otimização

Pós-graduação em Matemática em Rede Nacional - IBILCE

Profissionalização da estrutura administrativa de empresas familiares: comércio varejista de materiais de construção

One of the existing business models is the family business. This paper deals with the structure of family businesses. With the purpose to analyzing the input and output processes of goods, and management behavior in decision-making, looking for the professionalization of the family business administration. This paper is a case study in a construction materials shop, with an applied research due to their nature, according to his purpose takes the characteristic of exploratory research, using interviews, observation and analysis of company data. During the analysis of processes in the company were noted some shortcomings. Given this fact, made the comparison with the theories found, proposals were generated improvements to be accomplished within the company structure

Undergraduate Scholarship at Winthrop University 2014 Book of Abstracts

University College proudly presents the third Undergraduate Scholarship at Winthrop University Book of Abstracts, which chronicles the scholarly accomplishments of students throughout all five academic colleges in the university: College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), College of Business Administration (CBA), College of Education (COE), the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) and University College (UC). The book also highlights the students who have completed Honors Theses, applied for Nationally Competitive Awards, and were selected as McNair or WISE Scholars.

University students' assessment of entrepreneurial environments

Entrepreneurial intention is a primary step to create new venture in the entrepreneurial process. Environmental conditions are one of the main factors that are strengthening or weakening intention of prospective entrepreneur. Therefore, it is important to develop conducive environments for entrepreneurship to promote entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, the promoted entrepreneurial intention will raise the rate of new venture creation. This paper investigates the relationships between five key environments for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention. The five entrepreneurial environments are: government policies and procedures, socioeconomic conditions, entrepreneurial and business skills, financial assistance, and non-financial assistance, respectively. Conjoint analysis was used to determine the significance of five environmental factors conducive to entrepreneurial intention. In this conjoint experiment, 1370 decisions were made by 137 university students. Significant relationships were found between all of these environmental factors and intention. Comparative importance of environmental factors was also calculated, along with sub-conjoint analyses based on characteristics of the sample.

The Role of CEO Statements of Aggressiveness and the Competitive Aggressiveness of Firms: What is the Impact on Performance?

This research examines the impact of a CEO’s statements of aggressiveness on his or her organization’s competitive moves and subsequent performance. Hypotheses were developed based on previous work in Upper Echelon Theory and competitive dynamics. Based on this prior literature, it was hypothesized aggressive statements by CEOs will be associated with more aggressive organizations. It was also hypothesized these more aggressive organizations would display better performance than less aggressive organizations. A content analysis of letters to shareholders and trade publications was performed. This data was analyzed using multiple regression in SPSS 17 to test the hypotheses that aggressive statements by CEOs are associated with aggressive organizations and higher performance. Aggression scores for the content analysis were generated using the software package DICTION. The sample for the study was the organizations with the most revenue in two industries, automobile manufacturing and retailing. Data collection covered a five-year time span from 2003-2007, with performance data lagged one year. Control variables employed included CEO tenure, CEO background, organization size, and organization age. The findings indicate that CEO statements of aggressiveness do not significantly impact the competitive aggressiveness or the performance of their organizations. The implications of these findings are discussed and potential avenues for future research in the area are outlined.

ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SPILLOVERS

The dissertation consists of three essays on international research and development spillovers. In the first essay, I investigate the degree to which differences in institutional arrangements among Sub-Saharan African countries determine the extent of benefits they derive from foreign research and development spillovers. In particular, I compare the international research and development spillovers for English common law and French civil law Sub-Saharan African countries. I show that differences in the legal origin of the company law or commercial codes in these countries may reflect the extent of barriers they place in the paths of firms that engage in the investment process. To tests this hypothesis, I constructed foreign R&D spillovers variable using imports as weights and employed the endogenous growth framework to estimate elasticities of productivity with respect to foreign R&D spillovers for a sample of 17 English common law and French Civil law Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980-2004. My results find support for the hypothesis. In particular, foreign R&D spillovers were higher in the English common law countries than in the French civil law countries. In the second essay, I examine the question of whether technical cooperation grants and overseas development assistance grants induce R&D knowledge spillovers in Sub-Saharan African countries. I test this hypothesis using data for 11 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980-2004. I constructed foreign R&D spillovers using the technical cooperation grants and overseas development assistance grants as weights and employed the endogenous growth framework to provide quantitative estimates of foreign R&D spillover effects in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries. I find that technical cooperation grants and overseas development assistance grants are major mechanisms through which returns to R&D investments in G7 countries flows to Sub-Saharan African countries. However, their influence has declined over the years. Finally, the third essay tests the hypothesis that the relationship between a country's exporters and their foreign purchasing agents may lead to the exchange of ideas and thereby improve the manufacturing process and productivity in the exporting country. I test this hypothesis using disaggregated export data from OECD countries. The foreign R&D capital stock in this essay was constructed as exports weighted average of domestic R&D capital stock. I find empirical support for the hypothesis. In particular, capital goods exports generate more learning effects and therefore best explain productivity in OECD countries than non-capital goods exports.

Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

The phrase, “never let a crisis go to waste” may take frugality to a whole new level! That’s the sentiment of Lynda Applegate, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, in a recent on-line article, Building Businesses in Turbulent Times.