Determining factors of environmental management practices in portuguese local entities

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyse the development of environmental management practices by Portuguese local entities and their determining factors. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected by sending a postal questionnaire. In order to measure the degree of development of environmental management practices an index of environmental management practices (EMPI) was developed, which reflects the extent to which a set of 16 environmental management practices have been implemented by the entities included in the sample. Four variables are considered in this study as possible factors that drive the development of environmental management practices by local entities, namely type of entity, size, proactive environmental strategy and Local Agenda 21 Findings: Results indicate the degree of development of environmental management practices in Portuguese local entities is low. Additionally, entity size, the adoption of proactive environmental strategies and the implementation of Local Agenda 21 are explaining factors of the degree of development of such practices. Originality/value: This study adds to the international research on environmental management in public sector by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively limited.

Determining factors of environmental management practices in portuguese local entities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development of environmental management practices by Portuguese local entities and their determining factors. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected by sending a postal questionnaire. In order to measure the degree of development of environmental management practices, an index of environmental management practices (EMPI) was developed, which reflects the extent to which a set of 16 environmental management practices have been implemented by the entities included in the sample. In total, four variables are considered in this study as possible factors that drive the development of environmental management practices by local entities: type of entity; size; proactive environmental strategy; and Local Agenda 21. Findings – Results indicate the degree of development of environmental management practices in Portuguese local entities is low. Additionally, entity size, the adoption of proactive environmental strategies and the implementation of Local Agenda 21 are explaining factors of the degree of development of such practices. Originality/value – The paper adds to the international research on environmental management in the public sector by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively limited.

Egg quality and fecundity in rainbow trout: the determining factors and mechanisms of control

This thesis considers the factors involved in the determination of egg quality and fecundity in farmed stocks of rainbow trout ( Salmo gairdneri R) • Measurements of egg quality, ie. percentage survivals of eggs and fry, from the production batches of eggs of seven fish farms, showed mean survivals of 70% to eying but levels of only 35% to 4.5g fry (approx. 130 days post-fertilisation). Under optimum conditions survivals may reach 85% suggesting that husbandry methods exert significant influences on egg quality. Chemical analyses of the protein, fat, vitellogenin, ash, amino acids, free fatty acid and mineral levels of eggs of varying quality and from parents of different strains showed compositional differences even between individuals of the same stock. However, none of these differences were correlated with egg quality. Egg size showed similar variations but, again under hatchery conditions there was no correlation with differences in egg quality. The only factor which has been shown to exert a significant influence on egg quality is the time of stripping after ovulation. At 1 0°C eggs should be removed from gravid females within ten days of ovulation to achieve optimum egg and fry survival. Studies of egg production from approximately 10,000 broodstock revealed that total fecundity and egg size increased and relative fecundity decreased with increasing fish size. In general, most fish appeared to produce a constant volume of eggs. This is consistent with a hypothesis that egg size can only be increased by parallel reductions in fecundity. Feeding broodstock at half-ration (0.35% body weight day- 1 ) did not affect egg quality but reduced total fecundity and egg size and increased relative fecundity when compared with eggs produced by fish on full-ration. Comparisons of regressions of total fecundity against fish weight for three strains using ANOCO revealed that one strain was significantly more fecund than two other strains considered. Trout of the same strain maintained on different farms behaved similarly suggesting there was some reproducibility of strain characteristics.

Az értékesítés és a marketing kapcsolatának piaci tájékozódásban betöltött szerepe és meghatározó tényezői (Role of the sales and marketing relationship in market orientation and its determining factors)

A szerző kutatásában azt vizsgálja, hogy az értékesítés területén dolgozó munkatársak piaci megfigyeléseit milyen mértékben képesek beépíteni a marketingvezetők a menedzsmentmunkába. Az értékesítési munkatársak piaci megfigyelései mindig naprakészek, ráadásul jelentősebb ráfordítás nélkül hozzáférhetők. A marketing- és a sales munkatársak közötti hagyományosan konfliktusokkal terhelt kapcsolat miatt azonban a vállalatok sokszor mégsem aknázzák ki a piaci tájékozódásnak ezt a lehetőségét. A nagyvállalati mintán empirikusan tesztelt modell szerint a menedzserek azon képessége, hogy felhasználják a vállalaton belül rendelkezésre álló információkat, alapvetően nem egyéni, hanem szervezeti képesség. Azok a menedzserek, akik olyan cégeknél dolgoznak, ahol a vállalati továbbképzések során más részlegek munkájába is bekapcsolódhatnak, nagyobb mértékben támaszkodnak a munkatársak piaci megfigyeléseire döntéseik meghozatala során. _____ The author examines in her research that to what extent marketing leaders can build market experience of sales employees into the management activity. Because of the traditionally problematic relationship between marketing and sales employees, companies do not exploit this opportunity of market orientation. According to the model tested on a big corporation sample, the capacity of managers to use information available within the company is basically not an individual but organisational capacity.

Factors affecting peasants’ empowerment in West Halmahera District – a case study from Indonesia

Agricultural development has not yet created empowered farmers in Indonesia. Most farmers living in eastern Indonesia are peasants with low access to development resources. This condition causes most of the peasants to be classified as poor citizens. This research was meant to formulate improvement strategies for empowerment of the peasants. The data were collected between March – May 2012 using the following methods: observation, interview and focus group discussion. The data was analysed using descriptive statistic and structural equation modelling (SEM) and showed that: (1) the empowerment of peasants was within the lowest category for all variables, namely: the peasant characteristics, the role of the agents for development, program quality, the learning process and access to environmental support, (2) the determining factors affecting the empowerment of the peasants were: program implementation quality, the role of the agents of development, environmental access and support, the peasant characteristics, and the appropriateness of the learning process and (3) the strategy to improve empowerment of the peasants could be through corrective efforts towards program implementation quality, the role of facilitators, environmental access and support while considering the peasant characteristics and the learning process of the peasants.

Factors affecting fish diversity and abundance in drying ponds and lagoons in the upper Paraná River basin, Brazil

Monthly samples were taken from April 1992 to March 1993 of fish assemblages present in six permanent lagoons and four ponds, fragmented from them during the drought period and during the terminal phases of desiccation, to evaluate changes in their diversity, abundance and dominance. Their relationships with hydrological and environment conditions were examined. A total of 63 fish species were identified. Species composition and abiotic factors were heterogeneous among the different water bodies. The proportion of piscivores and oxygen concentration were the determining factors for structuring the assemblages. The impact of piscivory upon fish diversity was neutral at the beginning and negative at the end of the dry season. In the terminal phase of desiccation, diversity was higher in ponds that contained a moderate proportion of piscivores than in these containing a higher proportion.

Extrinsic and intrinsic factors in the Balanced Scorecard adoption: an empirical study in Portuguese organizations

In this article we aim to analyze the relationship between a set of organizational extrinsic and intrinsic factors and the adoption of the Balanced Scorecard(BSC) by privately-owned Portuguese organizations (large companies and small and médium enterprises).These factos are related to companies age,the diversity of products and services,the nature of the ownership structure,the internationalization,and the organizational size. As a primary means of data collection was carried out a postal survey through a questionnaire sent to 549 privately-owned Portuguese organizations, with na overall responserate of 28.2%. The results indicate that the degree of diversity of the products/services of the organization,the owner- ship of foreign groups,and theo rganizational size are positively associated with the implementation of the BSC.Thus,we conclude that the BSC increases with the degree of diversity of the products/services of the organization,that the Portuguese organizations that use the BSC are mainly owned by foreign groups; and larger organizations are most likely to use this tool.

Magyar egyetemi hallgatók vállalkozási attitűdjei és az attitűdöket befolyásoló tényezők elemzése a GUESSS-felmérés adatai alapján - Kik is akarnak ténylegesen vállalkozni? (Entrepreneurial attitudes of the Hungarian students and the analysis of the factors influencing attitudes based on the datas of GUESSS survey – Who want to undertake really?)

A vállalkozóvá válás meghatározó tényezőinek kutatása szakmai berkekben leginkább a Szent Grál keresésére emlékeztet: már lassan azt sem tudjuk, hogy egyáltalán léteznek-e ilyen tényezők. A kutatást nehezítik a többnyire önbevallásos kérdésekre adott torzított válaszok, a szóba jöhető tényezők számossága és a vállalkozói motivációk heterogenitása a különböző demográfiai karakterisztikákkal rendelkező népesség körében. Az egyetemi hallgatók körében némileg egyszerűbb a vizsgálat, hiszen ez egy relatíve homogén minta. Ugyanakkor itt a leginkább áttételesek a hatások, és ráadásul nem a tényleges vállalkozóvá válás, hanem többnyire csak a szándékok tesztelhetők. A vállalkozóvá válás szándékát Bandura társadalmi megismerés-elmélete, Shapero elmozduláselmélete és az Ajzen-féle tervezett magatartás elmélet alapján felállított koncepcionális modell keretén belül vizsgálják és elemzik a szerzők. Arra keresik a választ, hogy az egyes vállalkozói tulajdonságok, az egyetemi környezeti tényezők és a családi háttér hogyan hatnak a vállalkozóvá válásra. A teszteléshez a 21 országra kiterjedő 2011-es GUESSS-felmérésből a magyar egyetemi/ főiskolai hallgatók 5224-es erősségű mintáját használták fel. A multimoniális regressziós vizsgálat eredményei megerősítik, hogy a vállalkozói tulajdonságok és a családban levő vállalkozó megléte mellett a vállalkozói oktatás is pozitívan befolyásolják a vállalkozásindítási szándékot. A klaszterelemzés rámutatott arra, hogy a vállalkozói szándékok, az erre ható tényezők, továbbá a választott szak és más demográfiai tényezők szempontjából a hallgatók meglehetősen heterogének. _______ The search for the determining factors to become an entrepreneur is something like searching for the Holy Grail: After many decades we do not even know if these factors exist or not. The research is difficult because the questionnaires are self esteem, the potential influential factors are numerous, and the motivations do vary across the different cohorts of population. It is easier to conduct a survey amongst university students since this sample is relatively homogenous. At the same times, the determining factors to become an entrepreneur cannot be really tested; the authors can examine mostly the attitudes and the intentions. The conceptual model of entrepreneurial intentions, developed in the paper, based on Bandura, Shaper and Ajzen. The paper is testing eight hypotheses about the influential factors of entrepreneurial intentions such as entrepreneurial traits, the university environment, and the family background. For testing the hypothesis they use a sample of 5224 Hungarian students from the GUESSS 2011 survey. According to the multinomial regression, entrepreneurial intentions are positively influenced by certain entrepreneurial traits, entrepreneur in the family, and entrepreneurship courses at the higher education institutions. The cluster analysis results underline the heterogeneity of the students in terms of entrepreneurial intentions, gender, and the major field of studies

Práticas escolares e desempenho acadêmico de alunos com TDAH

This article reports the results from the research work which objects the critical and profound study about the ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) in the courses for teachers' development in College Education, under its various dimensions - social, cultural, pedagogical, biological. The investigation focused on five adults with diagnosis for ADHD. The methodology used was the Case Study, developed from the Oral History as a source of data. The results that were obtained suggest that the study, proposed in the research, may contribute significantly for the teachers to know determining factors of the school performance of students with this disorder, as well as to guide them in the search of partnership with other professionals - doctors and psychologists, for example - when such partnership becomes necessary.

The Southern Brazilian shelf: general characteristics, quaternary evolution and sediment distribution

Extending from latitude 34ºS to 22ºS the Southern Brazilian shelf constitutes the only part of the Brazilian shelf with a subtropical to temperate environment. The studies on the different geological aspects of the area began in the 1960's and have recently been reassessed after studies related to the determination of the Economic Exclusive Zone. In terms of morphology, the Southern Brazilian shelf may be divided into three sectors, the São Paulo Bight, the Florianópolis-Mostardas Sector and the Rio Grande Cone, characterized by conspicuous differences in terms of geological determining factors, bathymetry, declivities and the presence of canyons and channels. Despite the existence of hundreds of radiocarbon datings the sea level changes curve of southern Brazil during the Last Glacial Cycle is still a matter of debate. A recent controversy on the Middle and late Holocene sea level changes curve raised the question of the amplitude of the oscillations which occurred in the period. Also, a few but relatively consistent radiocarbon datings suggest the occurrence of a high sea level during Isotope Stage 3. In terms of sedimentary cover the Southern Brazilian shelf exhibits a very strong hydrodynamic control, both latitudinal and bathymetrical. The sector southward from 25ºS is characterized by the influence of the plume of water carrying sediments originating from the Río de La Plata. Actually its presence is conspicuous up to 28ºS, with the area between this latitude and 25ºS constituting a transitional zone. In terms of bathymetry the outer shelf is marked by the "floor-polisher" effect of the Brazil Current, which is responsible for the maintenance of a relict facies in areas deeper than 100 meters.

Determinantes do índice de massa corporal em adolescentes de escolas públicas de Piracicaba, São Paulo

O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar os fatores determinantes do índice de massa corporal (IMC) de adolescentes matriculados nas escolas públicas de Piracicaba, São Paulo. A amostra foi constituída por 328 adolescentes de ambos os sexos, com idade mínima de dez anos. Verificou-se peso, estatura, maturação sexual, atividade física e consumo alimentar. Foi usado um modelo de regressão linear múltipla para verificar a associação entre as variáveis independentes e o IMC. Enquanto as meninas consideradas fisicamente ativas apresentaram maior média de IMC do que as insuficientemente ativas, a média do IMC dos meninos não apresentou diferença estatística quando comparada entre meninos ativos e insuficientemente ativos. A maturação sexual foi determinante do IMC, para ambos os sexos, reforçando a ideia de que é fundamental levar em consideração essa variável em estudos que avaliam o estado nutricional em adolescentes. Acredita-se que os métodos utilizados no presente estudo, os quais são normalmente utilizados em pesquisas semelhantes, apresentaram importantes limitações para avaliar a influência do nível de atividade física e do consumo alimentar sobre o IMC dos adolescentes. Dessa forma, ressalta-se a necessidade de aprimoramento desses métodos para adoção em futuros estudos.

Influence of root parallelism on the stability of extraction-site closures

Introduction: In premolar extraction cases, root parallelism is recommended to preserve the stability of space closures. The influence of the degree of root parallelism on relapse of tooth extraction spaces has been a controversial topic in the literature. The aim of this study was to compare the angle between the long axes of the canine and the second premolarin patients with and without stability of extraction-space closures. Methods: A sample of 56 patients, treated with 4 premolar extractions, was divided into 2 groups: group 1, consisting of 25 patients with reopening of extraction spaces; and group 2, consisting of 31 patients without reopening of extraction spaces. Panoramic radiographs of each patient were analyzed at the posttreatment and 1-year posttreatment stages. The data were statistically analyzed by using chi-square tests, t tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: The results showed that the groups did not differ regarding the angle between the canine and the second premolar, and there was no correlation between angular changes and reopening of extraction spaces, showing that dental angular changes are not determining factors for relapse, and other factors should be investigated. Conclusions: The final angle and the posttreatment changes observed in the angle between the long axes of the canine and the second premolar showed no influence on the relapse of extraction spaces. (Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop 2011; 139: e505-e510)

O plano plurianual municipal no sistema de planejamento e or??amento brasileiro

A partir da perspectiva do New Public Financial Management, o artigo traz os aspectos t??cnicos e pol??ticos que permearam o desenvolvimento do sistema de planejamento e or??amento brasileiro. Considerando os condicionantes dos momentos hist??ricos que interferiram em seu desenvolvimento, s??o identificadas caracter??sticas pol??ticas, t??cnicas e metodol??gicas incidentes no controle financeiro, nas melhorias administrativas, no planejamento e, finalmente, na tend??ncia participativa decorrente da amplia????o de espa??os democr??ticos. Em seguida, s??o apresentados o tratamento constitucional dado ao Plano Plurianual e o aperfei??oamento do sistema de planejamento e or??amento trazido pela Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal. S??o destacadas, para o caso municipal, as inova????es contidas no Estatuto da Cidade, com reflexos no Plano Plurianual Municipal. Ressalta-se a import??ncia do processo de planejamento e or??amento na execu????o das pol??ticas p??blicas, enfatizando as dificuldades ainda existentes quanto ?? regula????o do sistema de planejamento e or??amento para permitir o imbricamento dessas pol??ticas entre as tr??s esferas federativas.