Plataforma de adquisición de imágenes en escenarios virtuales para uso en sistemas de visión

En aquest projecte presentem un mètode per generar bases de imatges de vianants, requerides per a l'entrenament o validació de sistemes d'aprenentatge basats en exemples, en un entorn virtual. S'ha desenvolupat una plataforma que permet simular una navegació d'una càmara en una escena virtual i recuperar el fluxe de vídeo amb el seu groundtruth. Amb l'ús d'aquesta plataforma es suprimeix el procés d'anotació, necesari per obtenir el groundtruth en entorns reals, i es redueixen els costos al treballar en un entorn virtual.

Um estudo da utilização do custeio baseado em atividades (ABC) na apuração dos custos ambientais

Ao longo dos anos o desenvolvimento foi tratado apenas sob o aspecto econômico. Sob essa visão não havia limites para o crescimento. Porém, o esgotamento de alguns recursos e as crises que os sucederam, o aumento de acidentes ecológicos e conseqüente agravamento dos problemas ambientais, impulsionou a sociedade e os organismos que a representam a cobrar maior responsabilidade ambiental das organizações. Essa nova postura mundial impôs às empresas a incorporação em suas estratégias, além do fator econômico, também o fator ambiental como uma necessidade para garantir sua sobrevivência. Apesar da constatação da importância dos Sistemas de Gestão Ambiental e de sua incorporação por um grande número de empresas, são muito incipientes os efeitos alcançados pelos instrumentos utilizados para sua promoção, em especial os instrumentos de controle. Isso se deve especialmente pela não percepção do quanto a questão ambiental influencia na questão econômica das empresas. A gestão ambiental como qualquer prática administrativa requer instrumentos que possibilitem informações confiáveis. Este trabalho objetiva testar a utilização do custeio baseado em atividades como ferramenta para geração de elementos necessários à gestão ambiental. Para tal, foi desenvolvido um modelo para aplicação em uma área-piloto de um curtume. A escolha da empresa deu-se em função do alto nível de rejeitos gerados e por fazer uso de produtos químicos e de água limpa em seu processo produtivo. As conclusões deste estudo demonstram que o custeio ABC é um instrumento capaz de gerar informações úteis à Gestão Ambiental.

Accounting system for activity standard costs formulation in ERP environment

Toiminnanohjausjärjestelmän implementointi ja sen mukanaan tuomat muutokset tuotekustannuslaskentaan asettavat haasteita yritykselle. Metallitoimialalla toimivassa yrityksessä on havaittu samat haasteet implementoitaessa SAP R/3 toiminnanohjausjärjestelmää ja sen tuotekustannuslaskentatoiminnallisuutta. SAP R/3 tuotekustannuslogiikka tarvitsee tietoa järjestelmän ulkopuolelta, minkä huomioimatta jättäminen vaikuttaa suoraan laskentatarkkuuteen. Diplomityössä kehitetään sekä standardoitu prosessi että laskentajärjestelmä, joiden avulla pystytään laskemaan tarvittavat niin toimintokustannukset eri teräspalvelukeskuksen kuormituspisteille kuin kustannustenvyörytysarvot. Lasketut arvot muodostavat tarvittavat tekijät SAP R/3 tuotekustannuslaskennan master dataan. Tavoitteena on edesauttaa läpinäkyvän kustannustiedon muodostumista. Diplomityö pohjautuu ns. vesiputousmalliin (SDLC). Ensin tunnistetaan reunaehdot ympäristöstä, jossa tuotekustannuslaskenta toteutetaan. Tämä asettaa joustamattomia komponentteja kehitettävälle laskentajärjestelmälle. Joustavat komponentit sen sijaan antavat vapautta laskentajärjestelmälle. Yhdistämällä joustamattomat ja joustavat komponentit saavutetaan järjestelmä, jolla voidaan täydentää SAP R/3 tuotekustannuslaskennan puutteellisuutta.

The food business environment and the role of China and Brazil building a ""food bridge""

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the economic crisis of 2008/2009 and the major impacts on developing nations and food-producing countries Within this macro-environment of food chains, there is concern that food inflation might come back sooner than expected The role of China as one of the major food consumers in the future, and Brazil, as the major food producer, is described as the food bridge, and an agenda of common development of these countries suggested. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews literature on muses of food inflation, production shortages, and investigation of programs to solve the problem in the future, it is also based on author`s personal insights and experience of working on this field in the last 15 years, and recent discussions in forums and interviews Findings - The major factors that jointly caused food prices increase in 2007/2008 were population growth, Income distribution, urbanization, dollar devaluations, commodity funds, social programs, production shortages, and bionic`s A list of ten policies is suggested. horizontal expansion of food production, vertical expansion, reduction in transaction costs, in protectionism and other taxes, investment in logistics, technology and better coordination, contracts, new generation of fertilizers and to use the best sources of biofuels. Originality/value - Two major outputs from this paper are the ""food demand model"" that inserts in one model the trends and muses of food inflation and the solutions, and the ""food bridge concept"" that also aligns in one box the imminent major food chain cooperation between China and Brazil

Analysis of workplace injuries in a dental school environment

Workplace injuries at the University of Queensland Dental School during the period 1992-1994 were assessed to determine their incidence, and the associated indirect costs, causal factors, and appropriate preventive strategies. Overall, dental chairside assistants experienced a higher incidence of injuries than students both on a per worker and per time basis. Of the injuries with a low risk of cross-infection, burns and scalds from sterilizing equipment, and eye injuries in laboratories were the most common. This emphasizes the importance of wearing appropriate protective equipment in areas outside the treatment zone, and the need for signage and education. Common causes of sharps injuries were burs left in handpieces, two-handed needle recapping, and cleaning of probes in the sterilizing room. Changes to techniques and equipment would prevent such incidents. A range of factors which contribute to the calculation of indirect costs following injuries in the dental workplace are identified.

Human settlements: Australia state of the environment report, 2001

Australia’s transition to the 21st century has been marked by an extended period of economic prosperity unmatched for several decades, but one in which a series of question marks are being raised in three principal areas: in relation to the environment, the social well-being of the population, and the future path of economic development. The first concern, which is of primary interest in this report, relates to the physical environment of cities and their surrounding regions, and the range of pressures exerted by population and human activity. The report begins by noting the increasing divergence of the prime indicator of national economic performance—gross domestic product (GDP)—from the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). GPI is a new experimental measure of sustainable development that accommodates factors currently unaccounted for in GDP, such as income distribution, value of household work, cost of unemployment, and various other social and environmental costs. The divergence of these two indicators in recent decades suggests that Australia’s growth has been heavily dependent on the draw-down of the nation’s stocks of capital assets (its infrastructure), its human and social capital, and its natural capital (Hamilton 1997).

Why farmers continue to use pesticides despite environmental, health and sustainability costs

Use of chemical inputs such as pesticides has increased agricultural production and productivity. However, negative externalities from such use have increased too. These externalities include damage to agricultural land, fisheries, fauna and flora. Another major externality is the unintentional destruction of beneficial predators of pests thereby increasing the virulence of many species of agricultural pests. Furthermore, increased mortality and morbidity of humans due to exposure to pesticides are recorded especially in developing countries. The costs from these externalities are large and affect farmers' returns. However, despite these high costs, farmers continue to use pesticides and in most countries in increasing quantities. In this paper, we examine this paradox and show why farmers continue to use pesticides despite the increasing costs. We also emphasize 'lock-in' aspects of pesticide use. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Trade and environment: Evidence from China's manufacturing sector

This paper focusing on the Chinese manufacturing sector assesses the environmental impact of trade liberalization in China. The results show that China's experience with the trade liberalization-environment nexus is consistent with international evidence. On one hand, trade liberalization has had various positive effects on the environment. Firstly, it promoted specialization in areas of comparative advantage, which, in general, included industries that contributed less to environmental degradation. Secondly, it allowed China to access and adopt the best international practices in pollution abatement technology. Thirdly, it enabled China to transfer environmental costs to other countries by importing intermediate products whose production contributed to environmental degradation. On the other hand, these positive effects were overwhelmed by a negative scale effect, which was the result of a huge increase in the demand for Chinese exports. The paper concludes that if China is to prevent pollution from reaching a critical threshold, environmental regulations need to be tightened. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The role of transaction costs and institutional forces in the outsourcing of recruitment

This study investigated reasons for the outsourcing of a core HRM function, recruitment. Drawing from transaction costs and institutional theories, it was hypothesised that the pressure to minimise transaction costs and the presence of industry trends towards outsourcing would be positively associated with the outsourcing of recruitment. Survey data were gathered from 1I 7 HR professionals in Australia. Both hypotheses were partially supported. Specifically, the outsourcing of recruitment activities was positively associated with trust in the agency supplying the recruitment service and with the need to reduce internal labour but not fixed costs. With regard to institutional theory, the outsourcing of recruitment was positively associated with mimetic but not coercive forces. The study concludes that although most assumptions about recruitment agency use are expressed in economic terms, in reality, HRM practices are also influenced by forces exerted by the institutional environment in which organisations are located.

Transaction costs: an empirical analysis of their relationship with investment and foreign direct investment

As stated by the New Institutional Economics theory, transaction costs play a relevant role in economics and, according to the extent of such costs, agents make investment decisions. Actually, transaction costs may represent a disincentive to entrepreneurship. This work aims to verify whether transaction costs are related to investment rate and foreign direct investment rate (FDI) in different business environments. The results suggest that foreign investors do not have precise information about other countries as domestic investors do; as it is observed, only the relation between transaction costs and investment rate is significant. Furthermore, there is evidence that the business environments of BRIC countries are less developed when compared to business environments of other countries in the study