Estudo sobre a captação dos fundos de Private Equity e Venture Capital

O estudo tem por objetivo avaliar os fatores que possam explicar a captação de recursos (fundraising) dos fundos de Private Equity e Venture Capital (PE/VC). Em linhas gerais, a proposta é averiguar empiricamente quais são os fatores que impactam na captação de recursos pelos fundos de PE/VC. A amostra foi formada por 25 países e em um espaço temporal de 6 anos (2006-2011). Foram identificados seis fatores: atividade econômica, desenvolvimento do mercado de capitais, governança corporativa, desenvolvimento socioambiental, empreendedorismo e tributação. Assim, construiu-se através de Análise Fatorial seis fatores que foram compostos por 26 variáveis. Por meio de regressão múltipla foram investigadas as relações entre a captação de recursos por parte dos fundos PE/VC e os fatores gerados. Os resultados demonstraram que apesar dos fatores testados serem significativos, a captação dos recursos é fortemente influenciada pelo nível de desenvolvimento do mercado de capitais. Os resultados aqui encontrados se tornam relevantes, pois discutem uma realidade crescente tanto no Brasil quanto no mundo, visto que o mercado de PE/VC solidifica-se como alternativa de captação de recursos.

Determinant factors of the implementation of the balanced scorecard in Portugal: empirical evidence in public and private organizations

In this article we aim to identify and analyze a set of variables that can potentially influence the adoption of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)in Portugal. Hypotheses were tested using data obtained from a questionnaire sent to 591 publicly-owned organizations (local governments, municipal corporations and hospitals) and 549 privately-owned organizations (large companies and small and medium enterprises) in Portugal, with an overall response rate of 31.3%. The results allow us to conclude that although the majority of respondents claimed to know the BSC, its use in Portugal is still limited and very recent, particularly in the public sector organizations. However, it should be noted that its use has increased in Portugal in recent years. Using as theoretical framework the contingency and institutional theories, we found that decentralization, vertical differentiation and the degree of higher education are associated with the implementation of the BSC.

Anotação sintética, numa perspectiva de Direito Público-penal e Direito Privado-civil, ao Acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça Português, de 19 de Abril de 2012-- A poluição sonora e o direito humano ao descanso e à saúde, sem descurar a necessidade duma adequada política tributária.

Resumo: 1 – Sumário do Acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, de 19 de Abril de 2012; 2 – Texto completo do Acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça, de 19 de Abril de 2012: cfr. http://www.dgsi.pt/jstj.nsf/954f0ce6ad9dd8b980256b5f003fa814/fc664c231f3e73cf802579ea003d91d2?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,polui%C3%A7%C3%A3o , 2 de Junho de 2012; 3 – Anotação sintética; 3.1 – Introdução à anotação sintética e suas características neste caso concreto; 4 – Algumas referências constitucionais centrais em relação a Direitos humanos e, nomeadamente, a um Direito humano a um meio-ambiente sadio, saudável em todas as suas vertentes e sentidos – o exemplo central do artigo 9.º da CRP; 4.1 – Algumas referências constitucionais centrais em relação a Direitos humanos e, nomeadamente, a um Direito humano a um meio-ambiente sadio, saudável em todas as suas vertentes e sentidos – o exemplo central do artigo 66.º da CRP e o Regime Geral do Ruído; 5 – O direito humano ao descanso e à saúde, rectius o direito ao ambiente sadio vs o direito ao lazer e/ou exploração económica de indústrias de diversão, rectius o direito à liberdade de iniciativa económica privada; 6 – A violação do direito humano, de personalidade, ao descanso e à saúde, rectius o direito a um ambiente sadio, numa perspectiva de Direito privado e Direito civil; 7 – A criminalização da poluição, designadamente a criminalização da poluição sonora – uma perspectiva de Direito público e Direito penal; 8 - A necessidade duma adequada política tributária que compatibilize desenvolvimento sustentado com a protecção dum meio ambiente sadio e com qualidade de vida; 9 – Conclusões. § Abstract: 1 - Summary of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of April 19, 2012, 2 - Complete text of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of April 19, 2012: cf. http://www.dgsi.pt/jstj.nsf/954f0ce6ad9dd8b980256b5f003fa814/fc664c231f3e73cf802579ea003d91d2?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,polui%C3%A7%C3%A3o , June 2, 2012, 3 - Synthetic Note: 3.1 - Introduction to synthetic annotation and its characteristics in this case 4 - Some references constitutional power over human rights and in particular to a human right to a healthy environment, healthy in all its forms and meanings - the central example of Article 9. of CRP; 4.1 - Some references constitutional power over human rights and in particular to a human right to a healthy environment, healthy in all its forms and meanings - the central example of Article 66. No of CRP and the General Noise; 5 - the human right to rest and health, rectius the right to healthy environment vs. the right to leisure and / or economic exploitation of industries fun, rectius the right to freedom of private economic initiative; 6 - the violation of human personality, to rest and health, rectius the right to a healthy environment, a perspective of private law and civil law; 7 - criminalization of pollution, including the criminalization of noise - a perspective of public law and criminal law; 8 - the need for appropriate tax policy that reconciles sustainable development with the protection of a healthy environment and quality of life; 9 - Conclusions.

Are public officials really less satisfied than private sector workers?A comparative study in Brazil

This research aims to compare the public and private sectors with regard to satisfaction at work. We conducted a survey with 670 professionals from both sectors in Brazil. The results of variance analysis confirm previous researches indicating that public officials are less satisfied with their work than private sector workers. However, this result does not repeat when we evaluate the satisfaction dimensions. For instance, public officials reported being more satisfied than private sector workers with regard to social environment and work stability. Unexpectedly, the results suggest that there is no difference between these sectors when we analyze the satisfaction with supervision. Therefore, this article is relevant for Brazilian managers, by offering an empirical research on the distinction between public and private. The article also discusses the theoretical implications, since Brazilian findings do not completely support the international literature.

Building a bicycle suitability map for Coimbra

The adoption of faster modes of transportation (mainly the private car) has changed profoundly the spatial organisation of cities. The increase in distance covered due to increased speed of travel and to urban sprawl leads to an increase in energy consumption, being the transportation sector a huge consumer responsible for 61.5% of total world oil consumption and a global final energy consumption of 31.6% in EU-27 (2007). Due to unsustainable transportation conditions, many cities suffer from congestion and various other traffic problems. Such situations get worse with solutions mostly seen in the development of new infrastructure for motorized modes of transportation, and construction of car parking structures. The bicycle, considered the most efficient among all modes of transportation including walking, is a travel mode that can be adopted in most cities contributing for urban sustainability given the associated environmental, economic and social advantages. In many nations a large number of policy initiatives have focused on discouraging the use of private cars, encouraging the use of sustainable modes of transportation, like public transportation and other forms such as bicycling. Given the importance of developing initiatives that favour the use of bicycle as an urban transportation mode, an analysis of city suitability, including distances and slopes of street network, is crucial in order to help decision-makers to plan the city for bicycle. In this research Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology was used for this purpose and some results are presented concerning the city of Coimbra.

Práticas de Gestão de Recursos Humanos nas IPSS

As instituições particulares de solidariedade social (IPSS) são entidades constituídas por iniciativa de particulares e sem finalidade lucrativa com o propósito de dar expressão organizada ao dever moral de solidariedade e de justiça entre os indivíduos. Considerando as dificuldades económicas que Portugal atravessa estas instituições assumem um papel fundamental na sociedade de hoje, sendo o mesmo reconhecido por estado e clientes. O capital humano é o elemento central no que concerne aos ativos intangíveis e é formado pelas pessoas que integram a instituição. É essencial analisar a gestão dos recursos humanos das IPSS tendo em conta que estes, alinhados com a direção, são parte fulcral para a instituição atingir os objetivos a que se propõe. Com este estudo pretendemos analisar as práticas de gestão de recursos humanos aplicadas pelas IPSS e para o conseguir utilizamos um questionário diagnóstico, distribuído a uma amostra da população, e analisamos as práticas de uma IPSS através de um estudo de caso. O estudo mostrou que as IPSS aplicam maioritariamente a gestão administrativa de recursos humanos e que a regulamentação das instituições por parte da Segurança Social é um fator importante na tipologia de gestão aplicada. As conclusões baseiam-se na análise do estudo de caso e das respostas ao questionário, pelas IPSS da amostra, razão pela qual a generalização das conclusões deverá ser ponderada.

Private cloud computing platforms. Analysis and implementation in a Higher Education Institution

The constant evolution of the Internet and its increasing use and subsequent entailing to private and public activities, resulting in a strong impact on their survival, originates an emerging technology. Through cloud computing, it is possible to abstract users from the lower layers to the business, focusing only on what is most important to manage and with the advantage of being able to grow (or degrades) resources as needed. The paradigm of cloud arises from the necessity of optimization of IT resources evolving in an emergent and rapidly expanding and technology. In this regard, after a study of the most common cloud platforms and the tactic of the current implementation of the technologies applied at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar and Faculty of Pharmacy of Oporto University a proposed evolution is suggested in order adorn certain requirements in the context of cloud computing.

Hospitalization flow in the public and private systems in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

OBJECTIVE To describe the migration flows of demand for public and private hospital care among the health regions of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. METHODS Study based on a database of hospitalizations in the public and private systems of the state of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, in 2006. We analyzed data from 17 health regions of the state, considering people hospitalized in their own health region and those who migrated outwards (emigration) or came from other regions (immigration). The index of migration effectiveness of patients from both systems was estimated. The coverage (hospitalization coefficient) was analyzed in relation to the number of inpatient beds per population and the indexes of migration effectiveness. RESULTS The index of migration effectiveness applied to the hospital care demand flow allowed characterizing health regions with flow balance, with high emigration of public and private patients, and with high attraction of public and private patients. CONCLUSIONS There are differences in hospital care access and opportunities among health regions in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Prevalência de obstrução numa população exposta ao fumo do tabaco – Projecto PNEUMOBIL

A espirometria não atingiu ainda a divulgação que se justificaria em patologia respiratória, ou indivíduos que se encontram em risco relativamente a esta patologia, cujo diagnóstico é insuficiente, havendo um escasso conhecimento, e consequente controlo, dos custos atribuíveis a estas doenças, com destaque para a doença pulmonar obstrutiva crónica (DPOC). O PNEUMOBIL, iniciativa que visa esta divulgação entre fumadores e ex-fumadores, foi reactivado, após 10 anos de aplicação em Portugal, revelando agora, numa amostra de 5324 indivíduos, em que cerca de 50% ainda mantêm os hábitos tabágicos, sejam do sexo masculino ou feminino, que houve uma elevada prevalência de obstrução detectada por espirometria (30% e 25%, respectivamente) nas pessoas rastreadas perto de centros de saúde (grupo público) e em empresas (grupo privado). Este risco não se explica em regra por exposição ocupacional, nem se relaciona com a maioria dos sintomas respiratórios, muito frequentes nos rastreados. Apenas a dispneia (OR = 1,28; p = 0,02) e os episódios frequentes de expectoração (OR = 1,21; p = 0,008) ou de bronquite aguda (OR = 1,31; p = 0,05) revelam alguma relação com a obstrução. O reconhecimento prévio da DPOC é muito reduzi-do e a presença de obstrução não se correlaciona (p = 0,204) com o assumir da condição de portador.

Proposal for shared services performance management model applied to portugueses public administration

Comunicação apresentada no 8º Congresso Nacional de Administração Pública - Desafios e Soluções, em Carcavelos de 21 a 22 de Novembro de 2011.

Health care marketing: the theory of planned behavior applied to patients' choise between private and public providers in the portuguese health care system.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Master in Statistics and Information Management.

Human papillomavirus status and cervical abnormalities in women from public and private health care in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

This article reports the HPV status and cervical cytological abnormalities in patients attended at public and private gynecological services from Rio de Janeiro State. It also comments the performance of each HPV DNA tests used. A set of 454 women from private health clinics was tested by routine Capture Hybrid II HPV DNA assay. Among these, 58.4% presented HPV and nearly 90% of them were infected by high risk HPV types. However, this group presented few premalignant cervical lesions and no invasive cervical cancer was registered. We also studied 220 women from low income class attended at public health system. They were HPV tested by polymerase chain reaction using My09/11 primers followed by HPV typing with E6 specific primers. The overall HPV prevalence was 77.3%. They also showed a high percentage of high squamous intraepithelial lesion-HSIL (26.3%), and invasive cervical carcinoma (16.3%). HPV infection was found in 93.1% and 94.4% of them, respectively. The mean ages in both groups were 31.5 and 38 years, respectively. In series 1, HPV prevalence declined with age, data consistent with viral transient infection. In series 2, HPV prevalence did not decline, independent of age interval, supporting not only the idea of viral persistence into this group, but also regional epidemiological variations in the same geographic area. Significant cytological differences were seen between both groups. Normal and benign cases were the most prevalent cytological findings in series 1 while pre-malignant lesions were the most common diagnosis in the series 2. HPV prevalence in normal cases were statistically higher than those from series 1 (p < 0.001), indicating a higher exposure to HPV infection. Women from both samples were referred for previous abnormal cytology. However, socio-demographic evidence shows that women from series 1 have access to treatment more easily and faster than women from series 2 before the development of pre-malignant lesions. These data provides baseline support for the role of social inequalities linked to high risk HPV infection leading to cervical cancer. Broadly screening programs and the development of safe and effective vaccines against HPV would diminish the toll of this disease that affect mainly poor women.

Accessing meteorological data in INSPIRE

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.