The Acquisition of Aspect in L2 Portuguese & Spanish: Exploring Native/Non-Native Performance Differences.

This study investigates the possibility of native-like ultimate attainment by analyzing L2 knowledge of aspect as seen in the Preterit/Imperfect contrast of highly successful English L2 learners of Portuguese and Spanish. Building on innovative work by Montrul & Slabakova (2003) and Slabakova & Montrul (2003), we test knowledge of semantic entailments associated with the acquisition of [+/- perfective] features checked in higher AspP. Additionally, we investigate the possibility of a specific pattern of associated target-deviant L2 performance. We hypothesize that L2 performance can be affected by explicit positive evidence (pedagogical rules) despite otherwise demonstrable native-like competence. Indeed, the data reveal a pattern of target-deviant performance noted only in three specific contexts, all of which can be linked to traditional instruction: (a) with particular stative verbs not used in the Preterit (b) when preceded by certain adverbial phrases (e.g.,siempre) and (c) so-called semantic shifting verbs (e.g., sabía vs. supe).

Age-related differences in postural control: effects of the complexity of visual manipulation and sensorimotor contribution to postural performance

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

STRATEGIES FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE IN RECESSIONS: PRO OR COUNTER-CYCLICAL?

Recessions are recurring events in which most firms suffer severe impacts while others are less affected or may even prosper. Strategic management has made little progress in understanding such performance differences. In a scenario of decreased demand, intensified competition, and higher uncertainty, most firms try to survive by pro-cyclically cutting costs and investments. But firms could take advantage of undervalued resources in the market to counter-cyclically invest in new business opportunities to overtake competitors. We survey Brazilian firms in various industries about the 2008-2009 recession and analyze data using PLS-SEM. We find that while most firms pro-cyclically reduce costs and investments in recessions, a counter-cyclical strategy of investing in opportunities created by changes in the market enables superior performance. Most successful are firms with a propensity to recognize opportunities, an entrepreneurial orientation to invest, and the flexibility to efficiently implement investments.

Performance evaluation of hospitals that provide care in the public health system, Brazil

OBJECTIVE To analyze if size, administrative level, legal status, type of unit and educational activity influence the hospital network performance in providing services to the Brazilian Unified Health System.METHODS This cross-sectional study evaluated data from the Hospital Information System and the Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (National Registry of Health Facilities), 2012, in Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. We calculated performance indicators, such as: the ratio of hospital employees per bed; mean amount paid for admission; bed occupancy rate; average length of stay; bed turnover index and hospital mortality rate. Data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. The groups were compared using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni correction.RESULTS The hospital occupancy rate in small hospitals was lower than in medium, big and special-sized hospitals. Higher hospital occupancy rate and bed turnover index were observed in hospitals that include education in their activities. The hospital mortality rate was lower in specialized hospitals compared to general ones, despite their higher proportion of highly complex admissions. We found no differences between hospitals in the direct and indirect administration for most of the indicators analyzed.CONCLUSIONS The study indicated the importance of the scale effect on efficiency, and larger hospitals had a higher performance. Hospitals that include education in their activities had a higher operating performance, albeit with associated importance of using human resources and highly complex structures. Specialized hospitals had a significantly lower rate of mortality than general hospitals, indicating the positive effect of the volume of procedures and technology used on clinical outcomes. The analysis related to the administrative level and legal status did not show any significant performance differences between the categories of public hospitals.

Measuring sustained superior performance at the firm level

This paper proposes a two-dimensional Strategic Performance Measure (SPM) to evaluate the achievement of sustained superior performance. This proposal builds primarily on the fact that, under the strategic management perspective, a firm's prevalent objective is the pursuit of sustained superior performance. Three basic conceptual dimensions stem from this objective: relativity, sign dependence, and dynamism. These are the foundations of the SPM, which carries out a separate evaluation of the attained superior performance and of its sustainability over time. In contrast to existing measures of performance, the SPM provides: (i) a dynamic approach by considering the progress or regress in performance over time, and (ii) a cardinal measurement of performance differences and its changes over time. The paper also proposes an axiomatic framework that a measure of strategic performance should comply with to be theoretically and managerially sound. Finally, an empirical illustration of the Spanish banking sector during 1987-1999 is herein provided by discussing some relevant cases.

Measuring sustained superior performance at the firm level

This paper proposes a two-dimensional Strategic Performance Measure (SPM) to evaluate the achievement of sustained superior performance. This proposal builds primarily on the fact that, under the strategic management perspective, a firm's prevalent objective is the pursuit of sustained superior performance. Three basicconceptual dimensions stem from this objective: relativity, sign dependence, and dynamism. These are the foundations of the SPM, which carries out a separate evaluation of the attained superior performance and of its sustainability over time. In contrast to existing measures of performance, the SPM provides: (i) a dynamic approach by considering the progress or regress in performance over time, and (ii) a cardinal measurement of performance differences and its changes over time. The paper also proposes an axiomatic framework that ameasure of strategic performance should comply with to be theoretically and managerially sound. Finally, anempirical illustration of the Spanish banking sector during 1987-1999 is herein provided by discussing some relevant case

Effect of multiple oral doses of androgenic anabolic steroids on endurance performance and serum indices of physical stress in healthy male subjects.

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are doping agents that are mostly used for improvement of strength and muscle hypertrophy. In some sports, athletes reported that the intake of AAS is associated with a better recovery, a higher training load capacity and therefore an increase in physical and mental performances. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, the effect of multiple doses of AAS on different physiological parameters that could indirectly relate the physical state of athletes during a hard endurance training program. In a double blind settings, three groups (n = 9, 8 and 8) were orally administered placebo, testosterone undecanoate or 19-norandrostenedione, 12 times during 1 month. Serum biomarkers (creatine kinase, ASAT and urea), serum hormone profiles (testosterone, cortisol and LH) and urinary catecholamines (noradrenalin, adrenalin and dopamine) were evaluated during the treatment. Running performance was assessed before and after the intervention phase by means of a standardized treadmill test. None of the measured biochemical variables showed significant impact of AAS on physical stress level. Data from exercise testing on submaximal and maximal level did not reveal any performance differences between the three groups or their response to the treatment. In the present study, no effect of multiple oral doses of AAS on endurance performance or bioserum recovery markers was found.

Dynamic Capabilities and Firm Performance

Firms operating in a changing environment have a need for structures and practices that provide flexibility and enable rapid response to changes. Given the challenges they face in attempts to keep up with market needs, they have to continuously improve their processes and products, and develop new products to match market requirements. Success in changing markets depends on the firm's ability to convert knowledge into innovations, and consequently their internal structures and capabilities have an important role in innovation activities. According 10 the dynamic capability view of the firm, firms thus need dynamic capabilities in (he form ofassets, processes and structures that enable strategic flexibility and support entrepreneurial opportunity sensing and exploitation. Dynamic capabilities are also needed in conditions of rapid change in the operating environment, and in activities such as new product development and expansion to new markets. Despite the growing interest in these issues and the theoretical developments in the field of strategy research, there are still only very few empirical studies, and large-scale empirical studies in particular, that provide evidence that firms'dynamic capabilities are reflected in performance differences. This thesis represents an attempt to advance the research by providing empirical evidence of thelinkages between the firm's dynamic capabilities and performance in intenationalization and innovation activities. The aim is thus to increase knowledge and enhance understanding of the organizational factors that explain interfirm performance differences. The study is in two parts. The first part is the introduction and the second part comprises five research publications covering the theoretical foundations of the dynamic capability view and subsequent empirical analyses. Quantitative research methodology is used throughout. The thesis contributes to the literature in several ways. While a lot of prior research on dynamic capabilities is conceptual in nature, or conducted through case studies, this thesis introduces empirical measures for assessing the different aspects, and uses large-scale sampling to investigate the relationships between them and performance indicators. The dynamic capability view is further developed by integrating theoretical frameworks and research traditions from several disciplines. The results of the study provide support for the basic tenets of the dynamic capability view. The empirical findings demonstrate that the firm's ability to renew its knowledge base and other intangible assets, its proactive, entrepreneurial behavior, and the structures and practices that support operational flexibility arepositively related to performance indicators.

Russian Enterprise Restructuring - the Effect of Privatisation and Market Liberalisation on the Performance of Large Enterprises

The fundamental question in the transitional economies of the former Eastern Europe and Soviet Union has been whether privatisation and market liberalisation have had an effect on the performance of former state-owned enterprises. This study examines the effect of privatisation, capital market discipline, price liberalisation and international price exposure on the restructuring of large Russian enterprises. The performance indicators are sales, profitability, labour productivity and stock market valuations. The results do not show performance differences between state-owned and privatised enterprises. On the other hand, the expansion of the de novo private sector has been strong. New enterprises have significantly higher sales growth, profitability and labour productivity. However, the results indicate a diminishing effect of ownership. The international stock market listing has a significant positive effect on profitability, while the effect of domestic stock market listing is insignificant. The international price exposure has a significant positive increasing effect on profitability and labour productivity. International enterprises have higher profitability only when operating on price liberalised markets, however. The main results of the study are strong evidence on the positive effects of international linkages on the enterprise restructuring and the higher than expected role of new enterprises in the Russian economy.

Strategic groups and performance: an empirical analysis of strategic groups in the wind energy industry in Europe

The strategic group theory provides an intermediate level of analysis between a single company and the whole industry for identifying issues about the company's competitive position and strategic choices. Strategic groups are companies within an industry with similar strategic characteristics or competing on similar bases. Strategic choices are aligned with the firms’ resources. The purpose of this study was to identify the strategic groups in the wind energy industry in Europe, and study, whether a certain group membership results in financial performance differences. Altogether 80 European wind energy companies were included in the study, which were clustered into four strategic groups according to their age and growth rate. Each group corresponds to a different strategy. The results show that the wind energy companies can be clustered according to the chosen strategic characteristics. Strategic decisions were investigated with characteristic variables. Performance variables were used in the analysis measuring profitability, liquidity and solvency of the groups. These strategic choices of the companies did not have a significant influence on the firms’ performance. The more mature and slower growing group proved to be the most successful. However, the differences between groups were generally not statistically significant. The only statistically significant difference found was in the solvency ratio between Mature Slow and Young Rapid groups. Measured with these variables, more mature and slower growing companies performed better. Therefore, a certain strategic group membership results in performance differences.

Financial performance of segments in the intelligent home network

The goal of this study is to examine the intelligent home business network in order to determine which part of the network has the best financial abilities to produce new business models and products/services by using financial statement analysis. A group of 377 studied limited companies is divided into four examined segments based on their offering in producing intelligent homes. The segments are customer service providers, system integrators, subsystem suppliers and component suppliers. Eight different key figures are calculated from each of the companies to get a comprehensive view of their financial performances, after which each of the segments is studied statistically to determine the performances of the whole segments. The actual performance differences between the segments are calculated by using the multi-criteria decision analysis method in which the performances of the key figures are graded and each key figure is weighted according to its importance for the goal of the study. The results of this analysis showed that subsystem suppliers have the best financial performance. Second best are system integrators, third are customer service providers and fourth component suppliers. None of the segments were strikingly poor, but even component suppliers were rather reasonable in their performance; so, it can be said that no part of the intelligent home business network has remarkably inadequate financial abilities to develop new business models and products/services.

Measuring sustained superior performance at the firm level

This paper proposes a two-dimensional Strategic Performance Measure (SPM) to evaluate the achievement of sustained superior performance. This proposal builds primarily on the fact that, under the strategic management perspective, a firm's prevalent objective is the pursuit of sustained superior performance. Three basic conceptual dimensions stem from this objective: relativity, sign dependence, and dynamism. These are the foundations of the SPM, which carries out a separate evaluation of the attained superior performance and of its sustainability over time. In contrast to existing measures of performance, the SPM provides: (i) a dynamic approach by considering the progress or regress in performance over time, and (ii) a cardinal measurement of performance differences and its changes over time. The paper also proposes an axiomatic framework that a measure of strategic performance should comply with to be theoretically and managerially sound. Finally, an empirical illustration of the Spanish banking sector during 1987-1999 is herein provided by discussing some relevant case

Effect of energy intake on performance and carcass composition of broiler chickens from two different genetic groups

In order to evaluate the effect of energy intake and broiler genotype on performance, carcass yield, and fat deposition, 600 one-day-old male chicks from two different genetic groups (AgRoss 308 - commercial line and PCLC - Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) non-improved line) were fed diets with different metabolizable energy level (2950, 3200 and 3450 kcal/kg). A completely randomized experimental design in a 2X3 factorial arrangement with four replications of 25 birds per treatment was applied. In order to ensure different energy intake among treatments within each strain, feed intake was daily adjusted by pair-feeding schemes. AgRoss 308 broilers had better performance and carcass yield, and presented lower abdominal fat deposition rate. In both genetic groups, the highest dietary energy level increased weight gain, heart relative weight, and fat deposition. However, it reduced the difference between AgRoss 308 and PCLC for feed conversion ratio and carcass protein deposition. These findings allow concluding that genetic improvement had a significant effect on broiler energy metabolism, and that the highest performance differences between genetic groups are found when low-energy intake is imposed.

Physiological plasticity to water flow habitat in the damselfish, Acanthochromis polyacanthus: linking phenotype to performance

The relationships among animal form, function and performance are complex, and vary across environments. Therefore, it can be difficult to identify morphological and/or physiological traits responsible for enhancing performance in a given habitat. In fishes, differences in swimming performance across water flow gradients are related to morphological variation among and within species. However, physiological traits related to performance have been less well studied. We experimentally reared juvenile damselfish, Acanthochromis polyacanthus, under different water flow regimes to test 1) whether aspects of swimming physiology and morphology show plastic responses to water flow, 2) whether trait divergence correlates with swimming performance and 3) whether flow environment relates to performance differences observed in wild fish. We found that maximum metabolic rate, aerobic scope and blood haematocrit were higher in wave-reared fish compared to fish reared in low water flow. However, pectoral fin shape, which tends to correlate with sustained swimming performance, did not differ between rearing treatments or collection sites. Maximum metabolic rate was the best overall predictor of individual swimming performance; fin shape and fish total length were 3.3 and 3.7 times less likely than maximum metabolic rate to explain differences in critical swimming speed. Performance differences induced in fish reared in different flow environments were less pronounced than in wild fish but similar in direction. Our results suggest that exposure to water motion induces plastic physiological changes which enhance swimming performance in A. polyacanthus. Thus, functional relationships between fish morphology and performance across flow habitats should also consider differences in physiology.

Projectile Combustion Effects on Ram Accelerator Performance

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06