Rádio peão: estudo dos mecanismos, tipologia e os efeitos dos rumores nas organizações

Esta dissertação tem como tema o estudo da rádio peão, equivalente brasileiro da grapevine americana e dos rumores e boatos que circulam nas organizações. O trabalho contém a revisão da teoria existente sobre o assunto, abrangendo seus principais mecanismos de . surgimento e transformação, a tipologia, e classificação dos rumores, segundo seus aspectos sociais e psicológicos. Também analisa as diversas metodologias de pesquisa do assunto. Ao final são feitas algumas recomendações para as empresas e sugeridos alguns temas para aprofundamento futuro do assunto.

Localisation of B2C Marketing Communications on the Internet. Case: New Product Launch

Tavoitteena on tutkia kuluttajille suunnatun markkinointiviestinnän lokalisointia Internetissä uuden tuotteen lanseerauksen yhteydessä. Vaikka Internet on globaali media, sen haasteena on tarjota paikallisesti kuluttajille merkityksellistä sisältöä, sekä ylläpitää yhtenäistä brandia. Tutkimus on toteutettu deskriptiivisenä tapaustutkimuksena globaalissa tietoliikenneyrityksessä, ja se perustuu haastatteluihin sekä valmiiseen aineistoon. Lyhentyneet kulutuselektroniikan elinkaaret, nopeat tuotelanseeraukset, kasvava yhteistyö ulkopuolisten kumppanien kanssa sekä markkinointiviestinnän integraation tarve aiheuttavat ajoitusongelmia lokalisointiin. Yhtenäinen web infrastruktuuri, työkalut ja globaalit prosessit mahdollistavat kustannustehokkaan lokalisoinnin business-tilanteen muuttuessa ja kultturieroista johtuen. Tässä tutkimuksessa on selvitetty neljän tekijän (ympäristö, tuote, kuluttaja, organisaatiostrategia) vaikutusta lokalisointiin. Jotta maiden parhaita menettelytapoja voidaan hyödyntää nykyistä paremmin ja välttää kultturierojen sivuuttaminen, tarvitaan sekä ’virallista’ että vapaamuotoista seurantaa. Globaalin Internet-sivuston ja lukuisten kansallisten sivustojen ylläpitäminen vaatii Internet-sivustojen fokuksen tarkkaa noudattamista, globaalia segmentointia, ja sen mukaista sisällön tarjontaa kuluttajille.

European Union Trade Policy after Enlargement: Larger Crowds, Shifting Priorities and Informal Decision-Making

The article focuses on the effects of Eastern enlargement on EU trade policy-making. On interest constellation, the article makes a case that protectionist forces have been strengthened relative to liberal forces. This slight protectionist turn is mostly witnessed in the area of anti-dumping and with respect to the Doha trade round. On preference aggregation, guided by a principal–agent framework, it is argued that the growth in the number of actors (principals and interest groups) has not constrained the role of the European Commission (agent). However, it has led to an increase in informal processes and has empowered large trading nations vis-a`-vis smaller and less ‘comitology-experienced’ member states.

Risk optimization of a steel frame communications tower subject to tornado winds

The structural engineering community in Brazil faces new challenges with the recent occurrence of high intensity tornados. Satellite surveillance data shows that the area covering the south-east of Brazil, Uruguay and some of Argentina is one of the world most tornado-prone areas, second only to the infamous tornado alley in central United States. The design of structures subject to tornado winds is a typical example of decision making in the presence of uncertainty. Structural design involves finding a good balance between the competing goals of safety and economy. This paper presents a methodology to find the optimum balance between these goals in the presence of uncertainty. In this paper, reliability-based risk optimization is used to find the optimal safety coefficient that minimizes the total expected cost of a steel frame communications tower, subject to extreme storm and tornado wind loads. The technique is not new, but it is applied to a practical problem of increasing interest to Brazilian structural engineers. The problem is formulated in the partial safety factor format used in current design codes, with all additional partial factor introduced to serve as optimization variable. The expected cost of failure (or risk) is defined as the product of a. limit state exceedance probability by a limit state exceedance cost. These costs include costs of repairing, rebuilding, and paying compensation for injury and loss of life. The total expected failure cost is the sum of individual expected costs over all failure modes. The steel frame communications, tower subject of this study has become very common in Brazil due to increasing mobile phone coverage. The study shows that optimum reliability is strongly dependent on the cost (or consequences) of failure. Since failure consequences depend oil actual tower location, it turn,,; out that different optimum designs should be used in different locations. Failure consequences are also different for the different parties involved in the design, construction and operation of the tower. Hence, it is important that risk is well understood by the parties involved, so that proper contracts call be made. The investigation shows that when non-structural terms dominate design costs (e.g, in residential or office buildings) it is not too costly to over-design; this observation is in agreement with the observed practice for non-optimized structural systems. In this situation, is much easier to loose money by under-design. When by under-design. When structural material cost is a significant part of design cost (e.g. concrete dam or bridge), one is likely to lose significantmoney by over-design. In this situation, a cost-risk-benefit optimization analysis is highly recommended. Finally, the study also shows that under time-varying loads like tornados, the optimum reliability is strongly dependent on the selected design life.

Adaptive Carrier Tracking for Mars to Earth Communications During Entry, Descent, and Landing

We propose a robust and low complexity scheme to estimate and track carrier frequency from signals traveling under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions in highly nonstationary channels. These scenarios arise in planetary exploration missions subject to high dynamics, such as the Mars exploration rover missions. The method comprises a bank of adaptive linear predictors (ALP) supervised by a convex combiner that dynamically aggregates the individual predictors. The adaptive combination is able to outperform the best individual estimator in the set, which leads to a universal scheme for frequency estimation and tracking. A simple technique for bias compensation considerably improves the ALP performance. It is also shown that retrieval of frequency content by a fast Fourier transform (FFT)-search method, instead of only inspecting the angle of a particular root of the error predictor filter, enhances performance, particularly at very low SNR levels. Simple techniques that enforce frequency continuity improve further the overall performance. In summary we illustrate by extensive simulations that adaptive linear prediction methods render a robust and competitive frequency tracking technique.

Spectral properties of chaotic signals with applications in communications

This paper investigates the characteristics of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of chaotic signals generated by skew tent maps. The influence of the Lyapunov exponent on the autocorrelation sequence and on the PSD is evaluated via computational simulations. We conclude that the essential bandwidth of these signals is strongly related to this exponent and they can be low-pass or high-pass depending on the family`s parameter. This way, the PSD of a chaotic signal is a function of the generating map although this is not a one-to-one relationship. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

'Lots of little kindnesses': valuing the role of older Australians as informal volunteers in the community

This paper describes the ways in which older people contribute to their communities and families as informal volunteers. It challenges current ways of thinking that assign an economic value to the productive activities undertaken by older people. Using qualitative data from a study of older people resident in Queensland, Australia, the paper explores the ways that older people contribute to their families and to the community and the outcomes associated with these activities. Two specific themes emerged from the data: first, the ways' in which older people contribute to strong inter-generational relations, and second, how they provide essential mutual support that permits many older people to remain living in the community. These contributions, while often small in themselves, are in aggregate critical both to family functioning and to the maintenance of sustainable and healthy communities. Many are reciprocal interactions that add value to the lives of individuals and offer positive social roles in later life, and they may be particularly important for those from minority cultural backgrounds or at risk of social isolation. The findings suggest that older people are integral to community and civil society and, therefore, that social policy should respond to the ageing of Australia's population and recognise the positive contributions of older people, rather than emphasising the costs of demographic change.

Quantum noise limits to terabaud communications

From a general model of fiber optics, we investigate the physical limits of soliton-based terabaud communication systems. In particular we consider Raman and initial quantum noise effects which are often neglected in fiber communications. Simulations of the position diffusion in dark and bright solitons show that these effects become increasingly important at short pulse durations, even over kilometer-scale distances. We also obtain an approximate analytic theory in agreement with numerical simulations, which shows that the Raman effects exceed the Gordon-Haus jitter for sub-picosecond pulses. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.