Proposta de um modelo de gestão de custos para pequenas propriedades rurais familiares com foco na tomada de decisão

This work was general-purpose, develop a proposal of a theoretical model of decisionmaking with a focus on management of small family farms costs, which enables support for decision making. And the following objectives: i) develop a structured methodology, which allows to form a literary basis to provide scientific support for the implementation of research; ii) develop based on the literature the dimensions and variables of the necessary models to propose an application and iii tooling) to implement the proposed model within the dimensions and variables, and validate every stage background and perform the necessary conclusions to verify the effectiveness of applied model. In terms of methodology, we used a structured methodology, which allowed forming a bibliographic portfolio of 29 articles, and through the research constructs developed, based on an existing model, an activity segmentation model for aid farmer of small family farms in the decision-making process with emphasis on cost management. The model was applied in six family farms in the South West region of Parana and Santa Catarina West. With regard to the search results, it was identified that the model can be applied to the specific context for which it was created. It was also possible to identify that the proposed model was valid and relevant to aid in the management of family farms by identifying, through the targeting of productive activities, investment priorities guided by the balance between managing costs and return activities. Moreover, possible to target the activities of six surveyed properties, demonstrating that the property 02, has the shape of more complex segmentation should be divided into three groups of activities, which can be conducted in parallel without any restrictions between activities. Other properties have the segmentation of the simplest activities, allowing viewing in this way that there are activities of groups that require prioritizing investments. Specifically the property 01 and 04 have the highest priority investment target groups, the most prominent activities of groups representing respectively 49.32% and 47.40%, which are represented by grain production activities on the property 01 and grain production, beef cattle and eggs on the property 04.

Contactless Spectral-Dependent Measurement of Bulk Lifetime and Surface Recombination Velocity in Silicon Photovoltaic Materials

Charge carrier lifetime measurements in bulk or unfinished photovoltaic (PV) materials allow for a more accurate estimate of power conversion efficiency in completed solar cells. In this work, carrier lifetimes in PV- grade silicon wafers are obtained by way of quasi-steady state photoconductance measurements. These measurements use a contactless RF system coupled with varying narrow spectrum input LEDs, ranging in wavelength from 460 nm to 1030 nm. Spectral dependent lifetime measurements allow for determination of bulk and surface properties of the material, including the intrinsic bulk lifetime and the surface recombination velocity. The effective lifetimes are fit to an analytical physics-based model to determine the desired parameters. Passivated and non-passivated samples are both studied and are shown to have good agreement with the theoretical model.

A "Greater Britain": colonial kin in fictions of settlement, 1850-1890

This dissertation traces the ways in which nineteenth-century fictional narratives of white settlement represent “family” as, on the one hand, an abstract theoretical model for a unified and relatively homogenous British settler empire and on the other, a fundamental challenge to ideas about imperial integrity and transnational Anglo-Saxon racial identification. I argue that representations of transoceanic white families in nineteenth-century fictions about Australian settler colonialism negotiate the tension between the bounded domesticity of an insular English nation and the kind of kinship that spans oceans and continents as a result of mass emigration from the British isles to the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the Australian colonies. As such, these fictions construct productive analogies between the familial metaphors and affective language in the political discourse of “Greater Britain”—-a transoceanic imagined community of British settler colonies and their “mother country” united by race and language—-and ideas of family, gender, and domesticity as they operate within specific bourgeois families. Concerns over the disruption of transoceanic families bear testament to contradictions between the idea of a unified imperial identity (both British and Anglo-Saxon), the proliferation of fractured local identities (such as settlers’ English, Irish Catholic, and Australian nationalisms), and the conspicuous absence of indigenous families from narratives of settlement. I intervene at the intersection of postcolonial literary criticism and gender theory by examining the strategic deployments of heteronormative kinship metaphors and metonymies in the rhetorical consolidation of settler colonial space. Settler colonialism was distinct from the “civilizing” domination of subject peoples in South Asia in that it depended on the rhetorical construction of colonial territory as empty space or as land occupied by nearly extinct “primitive” races. This dissertation argues that political rhetoric, travel narratives, and fiction used the image of white female bourgeois reproductive power and sentimental attachment as a technology for settler colonial success, embodying this technology both in the benevolent figure of the metropolitan “mother country” (the paternalistic female counter to the material realities of patriarchal and violent settler colonial practices) and in fictional juxtapositions of happy white settler fecund families with the solitary self-extinguishing figure of the black aboriginal “savage.” Yet even in the narratives where the continuity and coherence of families across imperial space is questioned—-and “Greater Britain” itself—-domesticity and heteronormative familial relations effectively rewrite settler space as white, Anglo-Saxon and bourgeois, and the sentimentalism of troubled European families masks the presence and genocide of indigenous aboriginal peoples. I analyze a range of novels and political texts, canonical and non-canonical, metropolitan and colonial. My introductory first chapter examines the discourse on a “Greater Britain” in the travel narratives of J.A. Froude, Charles Wentworth Dilke, and Anthony Trollope and in the Oxbridge lectures of Herman Merivale and J.R. Seeley. These writers make arguments for an imperial economy of affect circulating between Britain and the settler colonies that reinforces political connections, and at times surpasses the limits of political possibility by relying on the language of sentiment and feeling to build a transoceanic “Greater British” community. Subsequent chapters show how metropolitan and colonial fiction writers, including Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Marcus Clarke, Henry Kingsley, and Catherine Helen Spence, test the viability of this “Greater British” economy of affect by presenting transoceanic family connections and structures straining under the weight of forces including the vast distances between colonies and the “mother country,” settler violence, and the transportation system.

Essays on educational production functions in England

Despite the expansion of the literature on the implications that different inputs have on the educational outcomes of students, empirical research has so far lacked the full capacity to provide unequivocal findings. Essentially, this deficiency is mainly attributed to two main factors; the lack of reliable data and the lack of full dimensionality in the theoretical model adopted to explain such data (Levaččićć and Vignoles, 2002; Knoeppel, Verstegen, and Rinehart, 2007). This dissertation aims to fill those gaps by first building a unique large dataset that covers all aspects of the educational process and second by adopting an integrated theoretical model and advanced quantitative methodological approaches to analyze it. With the fulfillment of such aim the dissertation manages to fill some of the gaps identified in the Education Economics literature related to the relationships between the cognitive and affective educational outcomes of English adolescents on one hand and three main inputs representing each of the three indentified factors in the theoretical model on the other hand controlling for other possible heterogeneities. Specifically, the thesis examines the effect of school process inputs in Chapter 2, family structure as a key family background input in Chapter 3 and finally religion and religiosity as a key adolescent’s personal input in Chapter 4.

Ferramentas de apoio à implementação da sustentabilidade na gestão da cadeia de abastecimento

O presente trabalho tem como principal objetivo contribuir para o desenvolvimento de um modelo de gestão da cadeia de abastecimento sustentável, posteriormente operacionalizado num conjunto de empresas. O principal elemento diferenciador do modelo apresentado é o seu cariz operacional, focado na fase da implementação com a integração de um conjunto de práticas de apoio à sustentabilidade. Para responder às pressões da conjuntura económica atual, das alterações climáticas, da escassez de recursos e das desigualdades sociais é necessário desenvolver de forma consolidada e abrangente um novo paradigma de gestão nas empresas. Muitas destas pressões fazem-se sentir nas atividades da Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento. O grande desafio é conseguir que as empresas obtenham bons resultados económicos, sociais e ambientais. A sustentabilidade tem sido abordada como a área de estudo donde deverá emergir este novo paradigma de gestão. Atendendo a esta problemática, a principal questão de investigação do presente trabalho é “Como se implementa a Sustentabilidade na Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento?” A metodologia de investigação partiu da revisão da literatura que permitiu estruturar um conjunto de pressupostos teóricos, estruturados num modelo conceptual sobre a implementação da sustentabilidade na Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento. O modelo foi aplicado em dois grupos de estudos empíricos: Análise Qualitativa de Relatórios de Sustentabilidade publicados por seis empresas com atividade em Portugal (Sonae; Lipor, Galp; EDP; Portucel e AutoEuropa); e o desenvolvimento de dois Estudos de Caso nas empresas Bosch Termotecnologia e Gestamp Aveiro. Os resultados permitiram o desenvolvimento de um Modelo Teórico de Implementação da Sustentabilidade na Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento. Bem como, um modelo de classificação das ferramentas de apoio à implementação da sustentabilidade adequadas a cada etapa que constitui o modelo de implementação. No desenvolvimento deste trabalho, acreditou-se que o caminho da sustentabilidade é possível e tangível. Os modelos desenvolvidos explicam que a integração da sustentabilidade se enceta pela estruturação da área da sustentabilidade na organização, prosseguindo com o processo de implementação constituído por quatro etapas: Envolvimento, Execução, Monitorização e Comunicação. A implementação necessita de ser abrangente a toda a cadeia de valor e apoiada num conjunto de ferramentas adequadas a cada fase de implementação.

Supply Chain Adaptation of Finnish Companies in Chinese Institutional Environment

Within the last few decades of operations and supply chain management, the field has seen the rise of so called best practices, methods that will help supply chains obtain their business goals and gain a competitive edge. These methods were thought to be universal. This however is not always the case, as the surrounding business environment could have a significant impact on what will be effective in gaining competitive edge. Contingency theory states that the success of a supply chain is determined by both internal capabilities, as well as external context aligning. This creates a strategic fit, which is a major determinant of success. In order for supply chains to reach this strategic fit, they must adapt. As China has seen rapid growth and over the last few decades become one of the major economies of the world, Western companies have tried to establish themselves there, only to find that the Chinese market is extremely difficult to operate in. The aim of this thesis was to investigate from contingency theory perspective, what are the institutional factors that affect supply chain management of Finnish companies operating in China, and how do Finnish companies adapt their supply chains to better fit the Chinese institutional environment. A theoretical model was created for this thesis, in which supply chains possess resources, which can be combined in a meaningful manner to create capabilities. Both resources and capabilities are affected by the surrounding institutional environment, which forces supply chains to adapt in order to find a better strategic fit. A total of six Finnish managers from three large and three small companies operating in China were interviewed. The results indicated that the Chinese business environment is significantly different, than that of Finland or Western countries in general. Three institutional factors were identified: Confucian though, fast-paced business environment, and managing labor force. These three institutional factors made the relationship and delivery capabilities particularly important, as well as human resources, reputation, physical resources and technological resources. In conclusion, it was discovered that the Chinese institutional environment is heavily affected by Confucian thought, as well as the rapid market growth. These are the two most important institutional factors that shape the Chinese market. If supply chains wish to be successful in China, adaptation regarding these two institutional factors should yield good results.

Programa de aquisição de alimentos (2003-2010): avaliação da implementação pela CONAB no Rio Grande do Norte

This thesis aimed to evaluate the implementation of the Food Acquisition Program(PAA) through CONAB RN in the period of 2003-2010 with the perception of all agents involved in the implementation of the government program.For the methodological trajectory it was adopted a descriptive bibliographical and documentary approach with triangular qualitative and quantitative, also called evaluative research.The theoretical model was supported by the authors Draibe (2001), Aguilar and Ander-Egg (1994) and Silva(2001), among others, that focused on family farming and evaluation of implementation of public policy having as a category of analysis the size implementation of policy and the latter divided into 10 theoretical dimensions.The universe consisted of three groups: the first were the managers and technicians from CONAB(RN and Brasilia), totaling 15 subjects. The second group was of associations/cooperatives that participated in the programin 2010, totaling a sample in each access of 15 representatives. The third group of subjects totaled with 309 representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations that received donations of food for the same period. Semi-structured interviews and forms were adopted as instruments of data collection.The data were processed qualitatively by the analysis of content (interviews and documents) and quantitatively by means of statistical tests that allowed inferences and adoption of frequencies. Among the key find ingests that the program is not standing as a structure supported by planning. The interests of the performers do not necessarily converge with the objectives of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA). A shockof goals was identified (within the same program) when comparingthe financial agent (Ministry of Rural Development and of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger Ministry r) and the executor, CONAB/RN. Within the assessed dimensions, the most fragileis the sub-managerial decision-making and Organizational Environment and internal assessment, still deserves attention the sizeof logistical and operational Subsystem, as this also proved weak.The focusin the quest toexpand thequantificationof the resultsof theFood Acquisition Program (PAA)by CONAB/RN does forget a quality management focused on what really should be:the compliance with the institutional objectives of the government program.Finally, the perspective for the traded implementation should be re-examined because excessive discretion by managers along with technical staff has characterized there al role of the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) as public policy. We conclude that the implementation model, which apparently aggregates values to the benefitted citizens, has weakened the context of work on family farms having the management model of the implementation process be reviewed by the Federal Government and point too ther paths, which have as a guide line the emancipation and developmentof the field or in the field andat the same time enables the reduction of nutritional deficiency of beneficiaries in a balanced and coherent way

Uncertainty Management in Acquisitions: What Scenario Analysis Could Offer

This study answers to How scenario analysis could help acquiring companies to reduce uncertainty in the acquisition process? It is due to the mismatch between academic world’s caveat emptor and business world’s eagerness to pursue acquisitions that motivated this study. Acquisitions are as popular as ever, thus, managing the uncertainty surrounding these transactions is relevant. This study creates a generic theoretical model with a strategy-level scope. Thus, the study does not discuss nor does it seek answers to operational issues related in both fields. This study is explorative and constructivist in nature. It discusses briefly the concepts and relatedness of risk and uncertainty and establishes a hierarchy between these two: Risks being a “sub-section” of uncertainty, although not with clear boundaries. Acquisition theory follows the process view that understands acquisitions as a process with various levels – some strategic, some operational. Scenario analysis is presented as tool for management to enrich their strategic discussion and understand their future options. The empirical data collection is done through interviewing. The results are reflected on literature on strategic management, scenario literature, and on a consultancy’s report picturing firm’s strategies in accordance with their acquisition processes. The study has an abductive approach as it tries to combine multiple views and generates discussion between literature review, interviews, the report, and second round of literature. The model suggests three propositions: First, at the strategic decision making level, when the decision whether or not to pursue an acquisition growth strategy has been made, it provides firms new data and enriches the strategic discussion. Second, when the acquisition strategy has been created, it can be applied as a tool to measure possible acquisition targets against the backdrop of the first set of scenarios. Third, due to the scenario analysis’ requirement to include people with various backgrounds and from multiple levels of the corporate hierarchy, it could help managers to avoid biases stemming from hubris.

Tutors as mediators of exchange student experiences: evaluation of the international student tutor system at the University of Turku

As academic student mobility is increasing, improving the functionality of international operations is recognised as a competitive advantage at tertiary education institutions. Although many scholars have researched the experiences of exchange students, the role of student tutors and their contribution to exchange students’ experiences is still an unknown factor. This research examines international tutoring at the University of Turku, and aims to understand better the way tutoring contributes to exchange experiences and to explore the functionality of the tutor system and discover areas for improvements. To achieve these goals, the research seeks to answer the fundamental research question: What is the role of tutors in mediating exchange experiences? The theoretical framework combines literature on mediating exchange experiences, the phenomenon of studying abroad, the process of adaptation, the importance of cross-cultural communication, and the role of student tutors as mediators. Based on the literature review, a theoretical model for studying the mediation of exchange experiences is introduced. The model’s applicability and validity is examined through a case study. Three methods were used in the empirical research: surveys, participant observations, and interviews. These methods provided extensive data from three major parties of the tutor system: tutors, exchange students, and the international office. The findings of the research reveal that tutoring – instrumental leading and social and cultural mediating – generates both negative and positive experiences depending on the individuals’ expectations, motivations, relationships, and the nature of the tutoring. Although functional, there are a few weaknesses in the tutor system. Tutors tend to act as effective instrumental leaders, but often fail to create a friendship and contribute to the exchange students’ experience through social and cultural mediation, which is significantly more important in the exchange students’ overall experience in terms of building networks, adapting, gaining emotional experiences, and achieving the stage of personal development and mental change. Based on the weaknesses, three improvements are suggested: (1) increasing comprehensive sharing of information, effective communication, and collective cooperation, (2) emphasising the importance of social and cultural mediation and increasing the frequency of interaction between tutors and exchange students, and (3) improving the recruitment and training, revising the process of reporting and rewarding, and finally, enhancing services and coordination.

Culture stratégique et libéralisation politique au Myanmar

Le Myanmar traverse un processus de libéralisation politique qui a été entamé par le haut. Le régime militaire a tenu des élections générales en 2010, lesquelles ont placé au pouvoir un nouveau gouvernement composé à la fois de civils et de militaires. Depuis, la majorité des sanctions imposées par plusieurs États occidentaux au Myanmar ont été levées, et on observe une diversification des relations internationales du pays. Imbriqué à la sphère d’influence chinoise depuis quelques années, celui-ci rétablit des contacts diplomatiques et économiques avec l’Occident. Peu de chercheurs ont tenté d’expliquer les causes de cette transition politique, et le lien entre libéralisation politique et diversification des relations internationales n’a pas encore été expliqué. Ce mémoire propose de le faire en utilisant un modèle théorique issu de deux types de littérature, celle sur la culture stratégique et celle sur les transitions politiques. Il suggère que la libéralisation politique du Myanmar s’explique par les luttes d’influences au sein du régime entre deux sous-cultures stratégiques, les hardliners et les softliners. L’application des normes favorisées par les hardliners ayant échoué dans l’atteinte des objectifs stratégiques du régime, les softliners ont pu imposer leurs propres préférences normatives. Il propose également que la libéralisation politique était une étape nécessaire pour que le gouvernement birman puisse diversifier ses relations internationales.

Entwicklung eines empirisch überprüfbaren Modells musikpraktischer Kompetenz (KOPRA-M)

Nachdem für das Schulfach Musik mit dem Kompetenzmodell „Musik wahrnehmen und kontextualisieren" ein erstes empirisch validiertes Kompetenzmodell vorliegt (Jordan et al., 2012), soll mit dieser Studie in Form eines theoriebasierten Modells musikpraktischer Kompetenz der erste Schritt zur empirischen Modellierung eines weiteren Bereichs, nämlich des musikpraktischen, vorgenommen werden. (DIPF/Orig.)

Explaining economic growth in developed economies after 1980

We use the Aguion and Howitt (2009) theoretical model of endogenous economic growth to explain the declining economic growth in developed economies in the period 1981-2009. Aguion and Howitt theoretical framework combines Solownian and Schumpeterian elements in a single scenario, so that labor-augmenting technological progress and capital accumulation per efficiency unit of labor are both caused not only by exogenous changes in the investment rate but also by shocks to the degree of efficiency in the Research and Development (R&D) expenditure process. Empirical results revealed that per worker output growth rates and capital stock per efficiency unit of labor growth rates both have a common panel unit root. Since the panel cointegration tests and estimates revealed a statistical significant negative long-run relationship between per worker output growth rate and capital stock per efficiency unit of labor, the interpretation of the econometric results analized from the Aguion and Howitt ́s theoretical perspective is that labor-augmenting technological progress is endogenously falling over time mainly because of an exogenous deterioration of the environment conditions for the transformation of the investment rate and R&D expenditures in technological progress.

Soziale Ungleichheiten beim Übergang von der Grundschule in die Sekundarstufe I. Theorie, Forschungsstand, Interventions- und Fördermöglichkeiten

Auf der Basis eines theoretischen Modells zum Übergangsprozess, in dem primäre und sekundäre Herkunftseffekte nach Boudon unterschieden werden, fasst der vorliegende Beitrag den empirischen Kenntnisstand zum Einfluss der familiären Herkunft auf den Übergang von der Grundschule in die Sekundarstufe I zusammen. Dabei wird neben den primären Effekten zwischen verschiedenen Arten von sekundären Herkunftseffekten unterschieden: sekundäre Effekte der Leistungsbeurteilung, der Schullaufbahnempfehlung und des Übergangsverhaltens. Die Befunde sprechen für die Existenz primärer und sekundärer Herkunftseffekte im deutschen Schulsystem: Kinder aus sozial schwachen Familien haben schlechtere Schulleistungen, erhalten jedoch selbst bei gleichen Testleistungen noch schlechtere Beurteilungen durch die Lehrkräfte (Noten und Schullaufbahnempfehlungen) und gehen bei gleichen Testleistungen und Schulnoten und gleicher Empfehlung häufiger auf niedrigere Schulformen über. Weiterhin werden Ergebnisse aus Studien zur Quantifizierung und Neutralisation von primären und sekundären Herkunftseffekten vorgestellt und diskutiert sowie mögliche Interventions- und Fördermöglichkeiten zur Verringerung der Herkunftseffekte beim Übergang aufgezeigt.

Fatores que influenciam a aceitação de práticas avançadas de gestão de segurança da informação: um estudo com gestores públicos estaduais no Brasil

This study examines the factors that influence public managers in the adoption of advanced practices related to Information Security Management. This research used, as the basis of assertions, Security Standard ISO 27001:2005 and theoretical model based on TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) from Venkatesh and Davis (2000). The method adopted was field research of national scope with participation of eighty public administrators from states of Brazil, all of them managers and planners of state governments. The approach was quantitative and research methods were descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multiple linear regression for data analysis. The survey results showed correlation between the constructs of the TAM model (ease of use, perceptions of value, attitude and intention to use) and agreement with the assertions made in accordance with ISO 27001, showing that these factors influence the managers in adoption of such practices. On the other independent variables of the model (organizational profile, demographic profile and managers behavior) no significant correlation was identified with the assertions of the same standard, witch means the need for expansion researches using such constructs. It is hoped that this study may contribute positively to the progress on discussions about Information Security Management, Adoption of Safety Standards and Technology Acceptance Model

Gestão colegiada da cadeia produtiva da cajucultura: o papel do comitê gestor no Rio Grande do Norte à luz do desenvolvimento regional sustentável

The theme of this dissertation is the collegiate management in the cashew cultivation s productive chain by the reading of the Managerial Committee s role in accordance with Sustainable Regional Development. The research had as aim to reveal the way as Managerial Committee s members of cashew cultivation s productive chain interpret the economic, social and environmental dimensions to the sustainability of entrepreneurships, using as interpretative base Sachs (2004) theoretical model. The theoretical reference is based in precepts of Solidarity Economy as a strategy to the Sustainable Regional Development. To reach this aim was done a case study, based in analysis of contents and semi-structured interviews with the solidarities economic entrepreneurships that integrate the Committee and with the group of Entities of Support and Fomentation responsible for formulating and conducting actions in favour of development of the chain. The research permitted to conclude that the economic, mainly, and social dimension, secondly, to super-impose the environmental dimension. The actions in favour of the chain are yet restricted and with low effectiveness when interpreted, in an integrated way, by a side, by the informers of this research and, by another side, in accordance with precepts of sustainable development