PADRÕES DE PRODUTIVIDADE EM PESQUISA NA LITERATURA DE FINANÇAS: UM ESTUDO BIBLIOMÉTRICO NOS PRINCIPAIS PERIÓDICOS CIENTÍFICOS NACIONAIS NO PERÍODO DE 2005 A 2014

A Administração Financeira surge no início do século XIX juntamente com o movimento de consolidação das grandes empresas e a formação dos mercados nacionais americano enquanto que no Brasil os primeiros estudos ocorrem a partir da segunda metade do século XX. Desde entãoo país conseguiu consolidar alguns centros de excelência em pesquisa, formar grupo significativo de pesquisadores seniores e expandir as áreas de pesquisa no campo, contudo, ainda são poucos os trabalhos que buscam retratar as características da produtividade científica em Finanças. Buscando contribuir para a melhor compreensão do comportamento produtivo dessa área a presente pesquisa estuda sua produção científica, materializada na forma de artigos digitais, publicados em 24 conceituados periódicos nacionais classificados nos estratos Qualis/CAPES A2, B1 e B2 da Área de Administração, Ciências Contábeis e Turismo. Para tanto são aplicadas a Lei de Bradford, Lei do Elitismo de Price e Lei de Lotka. Pela Lei de Bradford são identificadas três zonas de produtividade sendo o núcleo formado por três revistas, estando uma delas classificada no estrato Qualis/CAPES B2, o que evidencia a limitação de um recorte tendo como único critério a classificação Qualis/CAPES. Para a Lei do Elitismo de Price, seja pela contagem direta ou completa, não identificamos comportamento de uma elite semelhante ao apontado pela teoria e que conta com grande número de autores com apenas uma publicação.Aplicando-se o modelo do Poder Inverso Generalizado, calculado por Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários (MQO), verificamos que produtividade dos pesquisadores, quando feita pela contagem direta, se adequa àquela definida pela Lei de Lotka ao nível de α = 0,01 de significância, contudo, pela contagem completa não podemos confirmar a hipótese de homogeneidade das distribuições, além do fato de que nas duas contagens a produtividade analisada pelo parâmetro n é maior que 2 e, portanto, a produtividade do pesquisadores de finanças é menor que a defendida pela teoria.

Robust control of nonlinear stochastic systems by modelling conditional distributions of control signals

We introduce a novel inversion-based neuro-controller for solving control problems involving uncertain nonlinear systems that could also compensate for multi-valued systems. The approach uses recent developments in neural networks, especially in the context of modelling statistical distributions, which are applied to forward and inverse plant models. Provided that certain conditions are met, an estimate of the intrinsic uncertainty for the outputs of neural networks can be obtained using the statistical properties of networks. More generally, multicomponent distributions can be modelled by the mixture density network. In this work a novel robust inverse control approach is obtained based on importance sampling from these distributions. This importance sampling provides a structured and principled approach to constrain the complexity of the search space for the ideal control law. The performance of the new algorithm is illustrated through simulations with example systems.

The spatial patterns of pathological brain lesions in 12 patients with corticobasal degeneration

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a rare and progressive neurological disorder characterised by the presence of ballooned neurons (BN) and tau positive inclusions in neurons and glial cells. We studied the spatial patterns of the BN, tau positive neurons with inclusions (tau + neurons), and tau positive plaques in the neocortex and hippocampus in 12 cases of CBD. All lesions were aggregated into clusters and in many brain areas, the clusters were distributed in a regular pattern parallel to the tissue boundary. In the majority of cortical areas, the clusters of BN were larger in the lower compared with the upper laminae while the clusters of tau + neurons were larger in the upper laminae. Clusters of BN and tau + neurons were either negatively correlated or not significantly correlated in the upper and lower cortical laminae. Hence, BN and tau + lesions in CBD exhibit similar spatial patterns as lesions in Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Pick's disease (PD). The location, sizes and distribution of the clusters in the neocortex suggest that the tau + lesions may be associated with the degeneration of the feedforward and the BN the feedback cortico-cortical and/or the efferent cortical pathways. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental trajectories of part-based and configural object recognition in adolescence.

Three experiments assessed the development of children's part and configural (part-relational) processing in object recognition during adolescence. In total, 312 school children aged 7-16 years and 80 adults were tested in 3-alternative forced choice (3-AFC) tasks. They judged the correct appearance of upright and inverted presented familiar animals, artifacts, and newly learned multipart objects, which had been manipulated either in terms of individual parts or part relations. Manipulation of part relations was constrained to either metric (animals, artifacts, and multipart objects) or categorical (multipart objects only) changes. For animals and artifacts, even the youngest children were close to adult levels for the correct recognition of an individual part change. By contrast, it was not until 11-12 years of age that they achieved similar levels of performance with regard to altered metric part relations. For the newly learned multipart objects, performance was equivalent throughout the tested age range for upright presented stimuli in the case of categorical part-specific and part-relational changes. In the case of metric manipulations, the results confirmed the data pattern observed for animals and artifacts. Together, the results provide converging evidence, with studies of face recognition, for a surprisingly late consolidation of configural-metric relative to part-based object recognition.

'Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth':natural law and international relations

This article argues the benefits of including a theological interpretation of natural law morality within the normative discourses of international politics. It challenges the assumption of a Grotian secular natural law arguing that practical reason, in a Thomist interpretation, is better suited to the demands of international political theory. It engages with themes of agency, practical reason, and community in order to enhance the content of the post-territorial community evidenced in ethical cosmopolitan debates. Likewise, it envisions a simultaneously enhancing a rapprochement among cosmopolitan and communitarian discourses of international politics facilitated through an institutional design guided by the morality of natural law.

Myopia control with orthokeratology contact lenses in Spain:a comparison of vision-related quality-of-life measures between orthokeratology contact lenses and single-vision spectacles

Purpose: To compare vision-related quality-of-life measures between children wearing orthokeratology (OK) contact lenses and distance single-vision (SV) spectacles. Methods: Subjects 6 to 12 years of age and with myopia of -0.75 to -4.00 diopters and astigmatism less than or equal to 1.00 diopters were prospectively assigned OK contact lens or SV spectacle correction. A pediatric refractive error profile questionnaire was administered at 12- and 24-month intervals to evaluate children's perceptions in terms of overall vision, near vision, far distance vision, symptoms, appearance, satisfaction, activities, academic performance, handling, and peer perceptions. The mean score of all items was calculated as the overall score. Additionally, parents/guardians were asked to rate their child's mode of visual correction and their intention to continue treatment after study completion. Results: Thirty-one children were fitted with OK contact lenses and 30 with SV spectacles. Children wearing OK contact lenses rated overall vision, far distance vision, symptoms, appearance, satisfaction, activities, academic performance, handling, peer perceptions, and the overall score significantly better than children wearing SV spectacles (all P<0.05). Near vision and handling were, respectively, rated better (P<0.001) and similar (P=0.44) for SV spectacles in comparison to OK contact lenses. No significant differences were found between 12 and 24 months for any of the subjective ratings assessed (all P>0.05). Parents/guardians of children wearing OK contact lenses rated visual correction method and intention to continue treatment higher than parents of children wearing SV spectacles (P=0.01). Conclusion: The results indicate that the significant improvement in vision-related quality of life and acceptability with OK contact lenses is an incentive to engage in its use for the control of myopia in children.

Operating Model of Knowledge Quantum Engineering for Decision-Making in Conditions of Indeterminacy

The operating model of knowledge quantum engineering for identification and prognostic decision- making in conditions of α-indeterminacy is suggested in the article. The synthesized operating model solves three basic tasks: Аt-task to formalize tk-knowledge; Вt-task to recognize (identify) objects according to observed results; Сt-task to extrapolate (prognosticate) the observed results. Operating derivation of identification and prognostic decisions using authentic different-level algorithmic knowledge quantum (using tRAKZ-method) assumes synthesis of authentic knowledge quantum database (BtkZ) using induction operator as a system of implicative laws, and then using deduction operator according to the observed tk-knowledge and BtkZ a derivation of identification or prognostic decisions in a form of new tk-knowledge.

Mechanistic modeling of fracture in asphalt mixtures under compressive loading

When an asphalt mixture is subjected to a destructive compressive load, it experiences a sequence of three deformation stages, as follows: the (1) primary, (2) secondary, and (3) tertiary stages. Most literature research focuses on plastic deformation in the primary and secondary stages, such as prediction of the flow number, which is in fact the initiation of the tertiary stage. However, little research effort has been reported on the mechanistic modeling of the damage that occurs in the tertiary stage. The main objective of this paper is to provide a mechanistic characterizing method for the damage modeling of asphalt mixtures in the tertiary stage. The preliminary study conducted by the writers illustrates that deformation during the tertiary flow of the asphalt mixtures is principally caused by the formation and propagation of cracks, which was signaled by the increase of the phase angle in the tertiary phase. The strain caused by the growth of cracks is the viscofracture strain, which can be obtained by conducting the strain decomposition of the measured total strain in the destructive compressive test. The viscofracture strain is employed in the research reported in this paper to mechanistically characterize the time-dependent fracture (viscofracture) of asphalt mixtures in compression. By using the dissipated pseudostrain energy-balance principle, the damage density and true stress are determined and both are demonstrated to increase with load cycles in the tertiary stage. The increased true stress yields extra viscoplastic strain, which is the reason why the permanent deformation is accelerated by the occurrence of cracks. To characterize the evolution of the viscofracture in the asphalt mixtures in compression, a pseudo J-integral Paris' law in terms of damage density is proposed and the material constants in the Paris' law are determined, which can be employed to predict the fracture of asphalt mixtures in compression. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

The role of law and ethics in developing business management as a profession

Currently, business management is far from being recognised as a profession. This paper suggests that a professional spirit should be developed which could function as a filter of commercial reasoning. Broadly, management will not be organised within the framework of a well-established profession unless formal knowledge, licensing, professional autonomy and professional codes of conduct are developed sufficiently. In developing business management as a profession, law may play a key role. Where the idea is that business management should be more professsionalised, managers must show that they are willing to adopt ethical values, while arriving at business decisions. The paper argues that ethics cannot survive without legal regulation, which, in turn, will not be supported by law unless lawyers can find alternative solutions to the large mechanisms of the official society, secured by the monopolised coercion of the nation state. From a micro perspective of law and business ethics, communities can be developed with their own conventions, rules and standards that are generated and sanctioned within the boundaries of the communities themselves.

Content and drivers of performance management in agency-type organizations of the hungarian public administration

The improving performance of public administration and the reform of public financing system have been on agenda in Hungary for many years, in accordance with the international trends. However, governments have not expected and supported creating of a performance-oriented public administration in a comprehensive and explicit way. Nevertheless, there are bottom-up initiatives at organizational level, which target performance-oriented organizational function. The research focuses on organizations of central public administration where the successful application of performance management methods is most likely based on the international literature. These are the so called agency-type organizations, which are in Hungary called autonomous state-administration organizations independent of the Government (e.g. Hungarian Competition Authority), government bureaus (e.g. Hungarian Central Statistical Office), and central offices subordinated to the government (either the cabinet or a ministry) (e.g. Hungarian Meteorological Service). The studied agencies are legally independent organizations with managerial autonomy based on public law. The purpose of this study is to get an overview on organizational level performance management tools applied by Hungarian agencies, and to reveal the reasons and drivers of the application of these tools. The empirical research is based on a mixed methods approach which combines both quantitative methods and qualitative procedures. The first – quantitative – phase of the author’s research was content analysis of homepages of the studied organizations. As a results she got information about all agencies and their practice related to some performance management tools. The second – qualitative – phase was based on semi-structured face-to-face interviews with some senior managers of agencies. The author selected the interviewees based on the results of the first phase, the relatively strong performance orientation was an important selection criteria.

Elementary classroom teachers' knowledge of tort liability for negligence

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the legal knowledge of Florida's public elementary classroom teachers in the area of tort liability for negligence. A second purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge of school law in the area of negligence according to specific variables to determine if significant differences in knowledge existed among groups of teachers classified by: years of teaching experience, whether or not teachers took a school law course or inservice, college degree held and whether or not teachers had administrative experience. A validated survey instrument consisting of 22 scenarios based on decided court cases in the United States was utilized. These cases included court decisions ranging from 1938–1994, and represented the categories of duty and standard of care, proper instruction, proper supervision, proper maintenance, field trips, and post-injury treatment. ^ A random sample of 420 elementary classroom teachers were sent the survey instrument to complete, and a total of 309 surveys were returned producing a return rate of 77%. The results of this research study revealed that the overall level of legal knowledge of public elementary classroom teachers in the State of Florida produced a mean percent correct of 53%. The range of scores varied from 18%–82%, with the approximate average of correct answers of 12 out of 22. The category of proper instruction produced the lowest mean percent correct of 35%, and the area of post-injury treatment yielded the highest mean percent correct of 78%. ^ The findings of this study emphasize the necessity of preparing teachers regarding their legal rights, duties and responsibilities. The need for teachers to receive training at the preservice and inservice levels has become clear by this study. ^

FIU College of Law Graduation Ceremony May 2010

Florida International University College of Law Commencement Ceremony held at the U.S. Century Bank Arena at Modesto Maidique Campus.

FIU College of Law Graduation Ceremony May 2011

Florida International University College of Law Commencement Ceremony held at the U.S. Century Bank Arena at Modesto Maidique Campus. Among the speakers was US Senator Marco Rubio.

FIU College of Law Graduation Pre-Ceremony May 2011

Montage of photos of FIU Law Students on display before the start of the College of Law Commencement Ceremony, May 2011. Event held at US Century Bank Arena