Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Multidimensional process'

A new Multivariate Statistical Process Monitoring (MSPM) system, which comprises of three main frameworks, is proposed where the system utilizes Classical Multidimensional Scaling (CMDS) as the main multivariate data compression technique instead of using the linearbased Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The conventional method which usually applies variance-covariance or correlation measure in developing the multivariate scores is found to be inappropriately used especially in modelling nonlinear processes, where a high number of principal components will be typically required. Alternatively, the proposed method utilizes the inter-dissimilarity scales in describing the relationships among the monitored variables instead of variance-covariance measure for the multivariate scores development. However, the scores are plotted in terms of variable structure, thus providing different formulation of statistics for monitoring. Nonetheless, the proposed statistics still correspond to the conceptual objective of Hotelling’s T2 and Squared Prediction Errors (SPE). The first framework corresponds to the original CMDS framework, whereas the second utilizes Procrustes Analysis (PA) functions which is analogous to the concept of loading factors in PCA for score projection. Lastly, the final framework employs dynamic mechanism of PA functions as an alternative for enhancing the procedures of the second approach. A simulated system of Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor with Recycle (CSTRwR) has been chosen for the demonstration and the fault detection results were comparatively analyzed to the outcomes of PCA on the grounds of false alarm rates, total number of detected cases and also total number of fastest detection cases. The last two performance factors are obtained through fault detection time. The overall outcomes show that the three CMDS-based systems give almost comparable performances to the linear PCA based monitoring systemwhen dealing the abrupt fault events, whereas the new systems have demonstrated significant improvement over the conventional method in detecting incipient fault cases. More importantly, this monitoring accomplishment can be efficiently executed based on lower compressed dimensional space compared to the PCA technique, thus providing much simpler solution. All of these evidences verified that the proposed approaches are successfully developed conceptually as well as practically for monitoring while complying fundamentally with the principles and technical steps of the conventional MSPM system.

This dissertation is the compilation of two major innovations that rely on a common technique known as multidimensional scaling (MDS). MDS is a dimension-reduction method that takes high-dimensional data and creates low-dimensional versions. Project 1: Visualizations are useful when learning from high-dimensional data. However, visualizations, just as any data summary, can be misleading when they do not incorporate measures of uncertainty; e.g., uncertainty from the data or the dimension reduction algorithm used to create the visual display. We incorporate uncertainty into visualizations created by a weighted version of MDS called WMDS. Uncertainty exists in these visualizations on the variable weights, the coordinates of the display, and the fit of WMDS. We quantify these uncertainties using Bayesian models in a method we call Informative Probabilistic WMDS (IP-WMDS). Visually, we display estimated uncertainty in the form of color and ellipses, and practically, these uncertainties reflect trust in WMDS. Our results show that these displays of uncertainty highlight different aspects of the visualization, which can help inform analysts. Project 2: Analysis of network data has emerged as an active research area in statistics. Much of the focus of ongoing research has been on static networks that represent a single snapshot or aggregated historical data unchanging over time. However, most networks result from temporally-evolving systems that exhibit intrinsic dynamic behavior. Monitoring such temporally-varying networks to detect anomalous changes has applications in both social and physical sciences. In this work, we simulate data from models that rely on MDS, and we perform an evaluation study of the use of summary statistics for anomaly detection by incorporating principles from statistical process monitoring. In contrast to most previous studies, we deliberately incorporate temporal auto-correlation in our study. Other considerations in our comprehensive assessment include types and duration of anomaly, model type, and sparsity in temporally-evolving networks. We conclude that the use of summary statistics can be valuable tools for network monitoring and often perform better than more involved techniques.
Doctor of Philosophy
In this work, two main ideas in data visualization and anomaly detection in dynamic networks are further explored. For both ideas, a connecting theme is extensions of a method called Multidimensional Scaling (MDS). MDS is a dimension-reduction method that takes high-dimensional data (all $p$ dimensions) and creates a low-dimensional projection of the data. That is, relationships in a dataset with presumably a large number of dimensions or variables can be summarized into a lower number of, e.g., two, dimensions. For a given data, an analyst could use a scatterplot to observe the relationship between 2 variables initially. Then, by coloring points, changing the size of the points, or using different shapes for the points, perhaps another 3 to 4 more variables (in total around 7 variables) may be shown in the scatterplot. An advantage of MDS (or any dimension-reduction technique) is that relationships among the data can be viewed easily in a scatterplot regardless of the number of variables in the data. The interpretation of any MDS plot is that observations that are close together are relatively more similar than observations that are farther apart, i.e., proximity in the scatterplot indicates relative similarity. In the first project, we use a weighted version of MDS called Weighted Multidimensional Scaling (WMDS) where weights, which indicate a sense of importance, are placed on the variables of the data. The problem with any WMDS plot is that inaccuracies of the method are not included in the plot. For example, is an observation that appears to be an outlier, really an outlier? An analyst cannot confirm this without further context. Thus, we created a model to calculate, visualize, and interpret such inaccuracy or uncertainty in WMDS plots. Such modeling efforts help analysts facilitate exploratory data analysis. In the second project, the theme of MDS is extended to an application with dynamic networks. Dynamic networks are multiple snapshots of pairwise interactions (represented as edges) among a set of nodes (observations). Over time, changes may appear in some of the snapshots. We aim to detect such changes using a process monitoring approach on dynamic networks. Statistical monitoring approaches determine thresholds for in-control or expected behavior that are calculated from data with no signal. Then, the in-control thresholds are used to monitor newly collected data. We applied this approach on dynamic network data, and we utilized a detailed simulation study to better understand the performance of such monitoring. For the simulation study, data are generated from dynamic network models that use MDS. We found that monitoring summary statistics of the network were quite effective on data generated from these models. Thus, simple tools may be used as a first step to anomaly detection in dynamic networks.

Advances in microcomputing hardware and software over the last several years have resulted in personal computers with exceptional computational power and speed. As the costs associated with microcomputer hardware and software continue to decline, manufacturers have begun to implement numerous information technology components on the shop floor. Components such as microcomputer file servers and client workstations are replacing traditional (manual) methods of data collection and analysis since they can be used as a tool for real-time decision-making. Server-based and web-based shop floor data collection and monitoring software applications are able to collect vast amounts of data in a relatively short period of time. In addition, advances in telecommunications and computer interconnectivity allow for the remote access and sharing of this data for additional analysis. Rarely, however, does the method by which a manager reviews production and quality data keep pace with the large amount of data being collected and thus available for analysis. Visualization techniques that allow the decision maker to react quickly, such as the ability to view and manipulate vast amounts of data in real-time, may provide an alternative for operations managers and decision-makers. These techniques can be used to improve the communication between the manager using a microcomputer and the microcomputer itself through the use of computer-generated, domain-specific visualizations. This study explores the use of visualization tools and techniques applied to manufacturing systems as an aid in managerial decision-making. Numerous visual representations that support process and quality monitoring have been developed and presented for evaluation of process and product quality characteristics. These visual representations are based on quality assurance data and process monitoring data from a high-volume, discrete product manufacturer with considerable investment in both automated and intelligent processes and information technology components. A computer-based application was developed and used to display the visual representations that were then presented to a sample group of evaluators who evaluated them with respect to their ability to utilize them in making accurate and timely decisions about the processes being monitored. This study concludes with a summary of the results and provides a direction for future research efforts.
Ph. D.

Mestrado em Mathematical Finance
O resultado principal desta dissertação é a demonstração da fórmula de serie de soma tripla para o preço de uma opção Europeia induzido por um processo Variance Gamma. Com esta intenção, apresentamos certas propriedades e noções sobre processos de Lévy e análise complexa multidimensional, dando ênfase à aplicação do cálculo de resíduos ao integral Mellin-Barnes. Subsequentemente, iremos construir a representação na forma do integral Mellin-Barnes, em C^3, para o preço de uma opção e, apoiados pelo anteriormente mencionado cálculo de resíduos, deduziremos a representação em serie de soma tripla para o preço de uma opção Europeia e os seus correspondentes gregos. Para terminar, dando uso à nova formula, serão computados e discutidos alguns valores para um caso de estudo particular.
The main result of this dissertation is the proof of the triple sum series formula for the price of an European call option driven by the Variance Gamma process. With this intention, we present some notions and properties of Lévy processes and multidimensional complex analysis, with emphasis on the application of residue calculus to the Mellin-Barnes integral. Subsequently, we construct the Mellin-Barnes integral representation, in C^3, for the price of the option and, buttressed with the aforementioned residue calculus, we deduce the triple sum series representation for the price of the European option and its corresponding greeks. Finally, with the use of the new formula, some values for a particular case study are computed and discussed.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The analysis of Fischer–Tropsch–derived (FT–derived) synthetic crude and derived products is very challenging because of the highly complex nature of these products. In this study, the use of comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography (GCxGC) with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and flame ionisation detection (FID) was investigated for the analysis of these products and the technique was found to be invaluable for the analysis of these complex mixtures. The compositions of FT synthetic crude, produced at low temperature (LT–FT) and high temperature (HT–FT) processes were compared and the effect that changes in FT reaction temperature has on product formation was investigated. Results for conventional onedimensional GC (1D-GC) and GCxGC were compared. It was found that conventional 1D–GC does not have sufficient peak capacity to separate the thousands of compounds in the HT FT products. GCxGC provides a huge peak capacity of tens-of-thousands to separate highly complex mixtures. Structured chromatograms, where groups of compounds with similar properties are grouped together, aid in peak identification. Moreover, sensitivity at low microgram per milliliter levels is obtained. These attributes enabled accurate analysis of various complex feed and product streams in the FT refinery, and also various final fuel products. The use of GCxGC alone was demonstrated, and also combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) when even more separation power was needed. HPLC–GCxGC enabled the separation of alkene and cyclic alkane compound classes in oligomerisation products. These compound classes have similar mass spectra, elute in adjacent regions and co–elute even to some extent on the GCxGC contour plot, making differentiation difficult. SFC is a good replacement for HPLC for these applications because it does not use solvents as mobile phases. CO2 is easily evaporated after the separation and does not interfere with the GCxGC separation of the analytes. SFC is also a very good technique to separate the compound classes of alkanes, alkenes, aromatics and oxygenates, and is therefore highly complementary to GCxGC. The combination of GCxGC with NMR data was also found to be very valuable for the identification of branched alkane isomers in LT–FT diesels. GCxGC provides excellent separation of individual compounds but the identification of isomers (except for mono–methyl branching) is difficult because the mass spectra of most of these isomers are similar and not all compounds are in the mass spectral libraries. NMR, on the other hand, is able to distinguish between the individual types of branched isomers but has limited separation power for the complex mixtures. By combining the two techniques, the best of both was obtained. The study found GCxGC to be invaluable for the analysis of the highly complex FT–derived products, while its combination with other techniques such as HPLC, SFC and NMR provided even more separation power.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoogs komplekse samestelling van sintetiese ru–olie en afgeleide produkte, afkomstig van Fischer–Tropsch (FT) sintese, bied groot uitdagings aan die analis. Die studie het die gebruik van GCxGC met ’n TOF-MS en FID bestudeer vir die analise van FT produkte en het bevind dat die tegniek van onskatbare waarde is vir die analise van die hoogs komplekse mengsels. Die samestellings van produkte van lae- en hoë-temperatuur FT prossesse is vergelyk en die effek van ’n verhoging in die reaksie–temperatuur op die produk samestelling is ondersoek. Resultate vir 1D–GC and GCxGC is vergelyk en dit was duidelik dat 1D-GC nie naastenby voldoende piekkapasiteit het om al die komponente van die produkte wat tydens die hoëtemperatuur prosses gevorm word, te kan skei nie. Die GCxGC se piekkapasiteit daarteenoor is in die orde van tienduisende wat die skeiding van hoogs komplekse mensels moontlik maak terwyl die tegniek hoogs gestruktureerde kontoerplotte verskaf wat help met identfikasie van komponente. Die tegniek is verder ook baie sensitief en kan komponente op lae μg/mL vlakke waarneem. Hierdie eienskappe het akkurate analise van verskeie FT produkstrome moontlik gemaak. Die kombinasie van GCxGC met HPLC, SFC en KMR het selfs meer skeidingskrag verskaf waar nodig. HPLC–GCxGC het die skeiding van alkene en sikliese alkane moontlik gemaak. Hierdie komponent klasse se massaspektra is feitlik dieselfde en terselfdertyd elueer die twee groepe reg langs mekaar, en oorvleuel soms selfs tot ’n mate, op die GCxGC kontoerplot, sodat dit moeilik is om daartussen te onderskei. SFC is ’n goeie alternatief vir HPLC in meeste toepassings aangesien die tegniek net CO2 gebruik, wat maklik verdamp by kamertemperatuur en nie oplosmiddels gebruik wat se pieke steur met die van die laekookpunt komponente op die GCxGC kontoerplot nie. Skeidings van die komponentgroepe alkane, alkene, aromate en oksigenate is moontlik met SFC en daarom komplimenteer dit die GCxGC skeiding goed aan. Die kombinasie van GCxGC met kern–magnetiese resonansie (KMR) is van waarde gevind om die verskillende tipes vertakkings in ’n lae-temperatuur FT diesel te identifiseer. GCxGC verskaf uitstekende skeiding van individuele komponente maar die identifikasie van die verskilende isomere, behalwe vir die mono-metiel vertakkings, is moeilik aangesien die massaspektra van baie van die komponente soortgelyk is en die komponente nie in die massa spektrum–biblioteke voorkom nie. KMR, aan die ander kant, kan tussen die individuele vertakkings onderskei maar het beperkte skeidingskrag vir komplekse mensels. Deur die twee tegnieke te kombineer is die beste van albei tegnieke bekom. Die studie het bevind dat GCxGC van onskatbare waarde is vir die analise van die komplekse sintetiese FT produkte terwyl die kombinasie met ander tegnieke soos HPLC, SFC and KMR selfs meer skeidingskrag verskaf.

Assim como outros investimentos em tecnologia da informação, os sistemas de Business Intelligence (BI) também têm sido questionados em relação aos benefícios e retornos obtidos depois de sua implantação. Isso porque o produto de BI é inteligência, ou, em outras palavras, algum tipo de informação processada, e o valor da informação é difícil de avaliar. A presente pesquisa pretende contribuir ao estudo desse problema de pesquisa, abordando o tema da avaliação dos sistemas de BI por meio do modelo de sucesso de sistemas de informação proposto por DeLone e McLean. Além das dimensões tradicionais inter-relacionadas do modelo: capacidade de BI, qualidade da informação, satisfação dos usuários e nível de uso, foi incluída a variável a abordagem de decisão, pois um dos principais objetivos dos sistemas de BI é processar dados advindos de diferentes fontes, para produzir informação que sirva como suporte para a tomada de decisão. Uma vez que a capacidade de BI e a qualidade da informação são constructos multidimensionais, uma das contribuições desta pesquisa foi realizar um levantamento na literatura sobre as dimensões que operacionalizam esse constructo e avaliá-las empiricamente. A capacidade de BI foi definida em termos de acessibilidade, capacidades analíticas, flexibilidade e integração, e qualidade da informação em termos de atualidade, completude, oportunidade e precisão. O problema de pesquisa foi abordado por meio da metodologia de survey, em que os respondentes foram convidados a participar da pesquisa via e-mail e o questionário foi disponibilizado em forma eletrônica através da ferramenta SurveyMonkey. No total, foram obtidas 483 repostas, das quais 246 foram válidas. Já que o modelo conceitual proposto inclui múltiplas relações de interdependência, a técnica estatística selecionada para analisar os dados foi a modelagem de equações estruturais. O software utilizado foi o SmartPLS que testa o modelo estrutural por meio do método de mínimos quadrados ordinários. Foi possível comprovar empiricamente todas as relações de causalidade propostas entre as dimensões de sucesso dos sistemas de BI, a exceção da relação de moderação da variável abordagem de decisão na relação de causalidade entre satisfação e nível de uso. Um teste subsequente permitiu observar que essa variável poderia ser preditora do nível de uso. Segundo os resultados, é possível afirmar que o sucesso de BI pode ser definido em termos da capacidade de BI, qualidade da informação, satisfação dos usuários e nível de uso. A operacionalização realizada dos constructos multidimensionais \"capacidade de BI\" e \"qualidade da informação\" poderia dar luzes sobre quais características devem ser priorizadas na implantação e/ou desenvolvimento dos sistemas de BI nas empresas.
As well as other investments in Information Technology (IT), Business Intelligence (BI) systems have also been questioned in relation to the benefits and returns obtained after its implementation. These questions arise because the BI product is intelligence, or, in other words, some kind of processed information and the value of information is difficult to assess. This research aims to contribute to this by addressing the issue of evaluation of BI systems through the information systems success model proposed by DeLone and McLean, beyond the traditional dimensions that are interrelated: BI capabilities, quality of information, user satisfaction, and level of use. The decision approach was included as a variable since a key objective of BI systems is to process data coming from different sources to produce information that serves as a basis for the decision-making process. Once the BI capability and information quality are multidimensional constructs, one of the contributions of this study was to review the literature available about the dimensions that operationalize this construct and evaluate them empirically. BI capability was defined in terms of accessibility, analytical capabilities, flexibility and integration, and the information quality in terms of opportunity, completeness, timeliness and accuracy. The research problem was addressed by the survey methodology: the respondents were invited to participate in the survey via email and the questionnaire was made available in electronic form through the SurveyMonckey tool. A number of 246 responses were usable out of the 483 total responses that were obtained. Since the proposed conceptual model includes multiple interdependencies, the statistical technique selected to analyze the data was the structural equation modeling. The software used was the SmartPLS, which tests the structural model using the ordinary least squares method. It was possible to prove empirically all the causal relationships proposed between success dimensions of BI systems, except for the moderation effect of making-decision approach variable on the relationship between satisfaction and usage level. A subsequent test allowed us to observe that this variable could be a predictor of the level of use. According to these results, we can say that the success of BI can be defined in terms of BI capability, the quality of information, user satisfaction and the level of use. The operationalization of the variables BI capability and information quality as a multidimensional construct could enlighten the decision about which features should be prioritized in implementing the development of BI systems in companies.

90 leaves on CD format, preliminary i-ix pages and numbered pages 1-81. Includes bibliography, list of figures in color to pdf format (OCR).
Thesis (MSc (Chemistry and Polymer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The composition of petrochemical products obtained from Fischer Tropsch (FT) technologies is of the highest complexity possible and may contain thousands of components. Chemicals produced from FT feedstocks often contain trace level contaminants that can poison catalysts or that affect product performance in down-line processes. Single dimension GC analysis of these mixtures provides incomplete information because of lack of separation power. This study evaluates the separation power of heart-cut GC-GC, comprehensive GCxGC and sequential GC-GC for three selected challenging petrochemical applications. The fundamental theoretical aspects of the techniques are discussed. Oxygenates are removed as far as possible in C10 – C13 alkylation feedstocks, used in the production of linear alkyl benzenes, because the oxygenates may have deactivating effects on some expensive alkylation catalysts. Residual oxygenates may still be present and can consist of hundreds of components. Detection of individual components at ng/g levels is required. Heart-cut GC-GC is used to illustrate the separation and enrichment power for oxygenates in an alkylation feedstock. The stationary phase in the first dimension column was selected to provide separation of the oxygenates from the hydrocarbons in a relatively narrow window. The oxygenate fraction is then enriched by repeated injections and collection on the cryotrap. After sufficient enrichment, the trap is heated and the oxygenates are analysed on the second dimension column. Comprehensive GCxGC and Sequential GC-GC are compared for the separation and analysis of the oxygenated chemical component classes in the alkylation feedstock, before removal of oxygenates. Cyclic alcohols can occur in detergent alcohols produced from FT feedstocks. These cyclics are regarded as impurities because they affect the physical properties of the detergents. The cyclic and noncyclic alcohols in a narrow C12 – C13 detergent alcohol distillation cut have similar boiling points and polarities, and separation of individual components is thus difficult to achieve. Comprehensive GCxGC and sequential GC-GC are evaluated for the separation of the alcohol component classes. The study shows that both approaches provide component class separation but the high resolving power of the second column and the optimal chromatographic operating conditions of sequential GC-GC provide better separation of the individual components. The study illustrates the immense power of the three multidimensional GC techniques namely heart-cut GC-GC, comprehensive GCxGC and sequential GC-GC. The three multidimensional GC techniques each have their own advantages, disadvantages and unique applications and should be used as complementary rather than as competitive analytical tools.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Fischer Tropsch (FT) petrochemiese produkte is van baie hoë kompleksiteit en kan uit duisende komponente bestaan. Chemikalië afkomstig van dié voerstrome bevat soms spoorhoeveelhede onsuiwerhede wat deaktiverend op kataliste kan inwerk of wat die werkverrrigting van finale produkte kan beïnvloed. Enkeldimensie GC analises van die komplekse mengsels is meesal onakkuraat as gevolg van geweldige piekoorvleueling. Die studie evalueer die skeidingsvermoë van drie multidimensionele tegnieke, Heart-cut GC-GC, Comprehensive GCxGC en Sequential GC-GC vir geselekteerde petrochemiese toepassings. Die fundamentele teoretiese aspekte van die tegnieke word bespreek en drie analitiese toepassings word beskryf. Oksigenate word so ver moontlik verwyder uit C10 – C13 paraffien-voerstrome, wat gebruik word in die vervaardiging van liniêre alkielbenzene, aangesien dit deaktiverend kan inwerk op alkileringskataliste. Die oorblywende oksigenate kan uit honderde komponente bestaan sodat analise van individuele komponente tot op lae ng/g vlakke nodig is. Heart-cut GC-GC word gebruik om die skeiding en verryking van die oksigenate in die alkileringsvoerstroom te illustreer. Die stationêre fase in die eerste-dimensie kolom is so gekies dat skeiding tussen oksigenate en koolwaterstowwe verkry word. Met herhaalde inspuitings verhoog die oksigenaat-konsentrasie op die cryo val en - na voldoende verryking - word die val verhit en die oksigenate geanaliseer op die tweede dimensie kolom. Die skeiding en analises verkry met Comprehensive GCxGC en Sequential GC-GC word vergelyk vir die chemiese klasse-skeiding van die alkileringsvoer (voor verwydering van oksigenate). Sikliese alkohole kan voorkom in detergent-alkohole vervaardig vanaf FT voerstrome. Dit word as onsuiwerhede beskou aangesien dit die fisiese eienskappe van die finale produkte beïnvloed. Die sikliese en nie-sikliese alkohole se kookpunte en polariteite is baie naby aanmekaar sodat skeiding van individuele komponente moeilik verkry word. Comprehensive GCxGC en Sequential GC-GC word evalueer vir die skeiding van die alkohol. Die studie toon aan dat albei die tegnieke skeiding gee van die chemiese komponent-klasse maar dat die hoë-resolusie tweede-dimensie kolom en die optimisering van die experimentele kondisies van die Sequential GC-GC sisteem beter skeiding van individuele komponente gee. Die uitsonderlike skeidingsvermoë van die drie multidimensionele tegnieke, Heart-cut GC-GC, Comprehensive GCxGC en Sequential GC-GC word geïllustreer in die studie. Elke tegniek het sy eie voordele, nadele en unieke toepassings en die drie tegnieke behoort as komplementêre eerder as kompeterende tegnieke gebruik te word.

Creativity appears repeatedly in the curricula for the Compulsory School and the Upper Secondary School in Sweden, as well as in the course syllabi for Art Education.The purpose of this essay is to achieve a better understanding of the building blocks of creativity, in order to widen the range of tools that can be used in teaching situations. Departing from six established models of understanding creativity, the essay attempts to find some common aspects among the models, which can help teachers to unify and organize the models with the ultimate aim of achieving a wider and more comprehensive understanding of creativity.Close reading is used as the method of analysis and interpretation in order to find common categories among the selected models of creativity. The process of close reading is performed and organized using the structure and concepts of Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA), with an inductive approach.The analysis of the six models of creativity results in the identification and classification of two common themes: flexibility and bird’s eye view, the combination of which can be used as a way to achieve a more comprehensive, complete and thus enhanced model to understand creativity, which can give teachers a wider range of tools to apply creatively in the classroom.

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Sob certas hipóteses simplificadoras, o modelo matemático que descreve o escoamento de água e óleo em reservatórios de petróleo pode ser representado por um sistema não linear de Equações Diferenciais Parciais composto por uma equação elíptica de pressão (fluxo) e uma equação hiperbólica de saturação (transporte). Devido a complexidades na modelagem de ambientes deposicionais, nos quais são incluídos camadas inclinadas, canais, falhas e poços inclinados, há uma dificuldade de se construir um modelo que represente adequadamente certas características dos reservatórios, especialmente quando malhas estruturadas são usadas (cartesianas ou corner point). Além disso, a modelagem do escoamento multifásico nessas estruturas geológicas incluem descontinuidades na variável e instabilidades no escoamento, associadas à elevadas razões de mobilidade e efeitos de orientação de malha. Isso representa um grande desafio do ponto de vista numérico. No presente trabalho, uma formulação fundamentada no Método de Volumes Finitos é estudada e proposta para discretizar as equações elíptica de pressão e hiperbólica de saturação. Para resolver a equação de pressão três formulações robustas, com aproximação dos fluxos por múltiplos pontos são estudadas. Essas formulações são abeis para lidar com tensores de permeabilidade completos e malhas poligonais arbitrárias, sendo portanto uma generalização de métodos mais tradicionais com aproximação do fluxo por apenas dois pontos. A discretização da equação de saturação é feita com duas abordagens com característica multidimensional. Em uma abordagem mais convencional, os fluxos numéricos são extrapolados diretamente nas superfícies de controle por uma aproximação de alta resolução no espaço (2ª a 4ª ordem) usando uma estratégia do tipo MUSCL. Uma estratégia baseada na Técnica de Mínimos Quadrados é usada para a reconstrução polinomial. Em uma segunda abordagem, uma variação de uma esquema numérico Verdadeiramente Multidimensional é proposto. Esse esquema diminui o efeito de orientação de malha, especialmente para malhas ortogonais, mesmo embora alguma falta de robustez possa ser observada pra malhas excessivamente distorcidas. Nesse tipo de formulação, os fluxos numéricos são calculados de uma forma multidimensional. Consiste em uma combinação convexa de valores de saturação ou fluxo fracionário, seguindo a orientação do escoamento através do domínio computacional. No entanto, a maioria dos esquemas numéricos achados na literatura tem aproximação apenas de primeira ordem no espaço e requer uma solução implícita de sistemas algébricos locais. Adicionalmente, no presente texto, uma forma modificada desses esquemas “Verdadeiramente” Multidimensionais é proposta em um contexto centrado na célula. Nesse caso, os fluxos numéricos multidimensionais são calculados explicitamente usando aproximações de alta ordem no espaço. Para o esquema proposto, a robustez e o caráter multidimensional também leva em conta a distorção da malha por meio de uma ponderação adaptativa. Essa ponderação regula a característica multidimensional da formulação de acordo com a distorção da malha. Claramente, os efeitos de orientação de malha são reduzidos. A supressão de oscilações espúrias, típicas de aproximações de alta ordem, são obtidas usando, pela primeira vez no contexto de simulação de reservatórios, uma estratégia de limitação multidimensional ou Multidimensional Limiting Process (MLP). Essa estratégia garante soluções monótonas e podem ser usadas em qualquer malha poligonal, sendo naturalmente aplicada em aproximações de ordem arbitrária. Por fim, de modo a garantir soluções convergentes, mesmo para problemas tipicamente não convexos, associados ao modelo de Buckley-Leverett, uma estratégia robusta de correção de entropia é empregada. O desempenho dessas formulações é verificado com a solução de problemas relevantes achados na literatura.
Under certain simplifying assumptions, the problem that describes the fluid flow of oil and water in heterogeneous and anisotropic petroleum reservoir can be described by a system of non-linear partial differential equations that comprises an elliptic pressure equation (flow) and a hyperbolic saturation equation (transport). Due to the modeling of complex depositional environments, including inclined laminated layers, channels, fractures, faults and the geometrical modeling of deviated wells, it is difficult to properly build and handle the Reservoir Characterization Process (RCM), particularly by using structured meshes (cartesian or corner point), which is the current standard in petroleum reservoir simulators. Besides, the multiphase flow in such geological structures includes the proper modeling of water saturation shocks and flow instabilities associated to high mobility ratios and Grid Orientation Effects (GOE), posing a great challenge from a numerical point of view. In this work, a Full Finite Volume Formulation is studied and proposed to discretize both, the elliptic pressure and the hyperbolic saturation equations. To solve the pressure equation, we study and use three robust Multipoint Flux Approximation Methods (MPFA) that are able to deal with full permeability tensors and arbitrary polygonal meshes, making it relatively easy to handle complex geological structures, inclined wells and mesh adaptivity in a natural way. To discretize the saturation equation, two different multidimensional approaches are employed. In a more conventional approach, the numerical fluxes are extrapolated directly on the control surfaces for a higher resolution approximation in space (2nd to 4th order) by a MUSCL (Monotone Upstream Centered Scheme for Conservation Laws) procedure. A least squares based strategy is employed for the polynomial reconstruction. In a second approach, a variation of a “Truly” Multidimensional Finite Volume method is proposed. This scheme diminishes GOE, especially for orthogonal grids, even though some lack of robustness can be observed for extremely distorted meshes. In this type of scheme, the numerical flux is computed in each control surface in a multidimensional way, by a convex combination of the saturation or the fractional flow values, following the approximate wave orientation throughout the computational domain. However, the majority of the schemes found in literature is only first order accurate in space and demand the implicit solution of local conservation problems. In the present text, a Modified Truly Multidimensional Finite Volume Method (MTM-FVM) is proposed in a cell centered context. The truly multidimensional numerical fluxes are explicitly computed using higher order accuracy in space. For the proposed scheme, the robustness and the multidimensional character of the aforementioned MTM-FVM explicitly takes into account the angular distortion of the computational mesh by means of an adaptive weight, that tunes the multidimensional character of the formulation according to the grid distortion, clearly diminishing GOE. The suppression of the spurious oscillations, typical from higher order schemes, is achieved by using for the first time in the context of reservoir simulation a Multidimensional Limiting Process (MLP). The MLP strategy formally guarantees monotone solutions and can be used with any polygonal mesh and arbitrary orders of approximation. Finally, in order to guarantee physically meaningful solutions, a robust “entropy fix” strategy is employed. This produces convergent solutions even for the typical non-convex flux functions that are associated to the Buckley-Leverett problem. The performance of the proposed full finite volume formulation is verified by solving some relevant benchmark problems.

A interação terapêutica tem sido compreendida como um dos principais fatores de mudança na psicoterapia, e sua investigação é denominada pesquisa de processo, contando para isso, com o registro de sessões em áudio e/ou vídeo para a categorização de comportamentos e posterior análise de padrões de interação. O trabalho teve como objetivos o desenvolvimento de um sistema multidimensional de categorização de comportamentos do terapeuta e do cliente para o estudo da interação terapêutica, a verificação da concordância entre observadores ao usar o sistema e a produção de evidências quanto à sua aplicabilidade e validade. A pesquisa foi composta por três estudos: o Estudo 1 consistiu em uma avaliação sistemática da literatura referente à classificação de comportamentos verbais vocais. Constatou-se que os sistemas de categorias já existentes não são satisfatórios para o estudo da terapia analíticocomportamental, havendo a necessidade da construção de um novo sistema. No Estudo 2 foi desenvolvido o Sistema Multidimensional de Categorização de Comportamentos na Interação Terapêutica, composto por três eixos de categorização e quatro qualificadores. O Eixo I foi o de comportamento verbal, contendo 15 categorias para as verbalizações do terapeuta e 13 para as do cliente e tendo como qualificadores o tom emocional (com seis categorias) e gestos ilustrativos (com duas categorias); O Eixo II analisa os temas abordados tendo 16 categorias e seus qualificadores são o tempo no qual o assunto é tratado (com cinco categorias) e condução do tema na sessão (com cinco categorias); O Eixo III é o das respostas motoras contendo cinco categorias. Foi ainda elaborado um treino padronizado para observadores. Sua aplicação a um participante produziu o satisfatório índice de concordância Kappa de 0.73 a 0.84 nas categorias do terapeuta e o insatisfatório índice de -0,09 a 0,36 nas categorias do cliente, requerendo ajuste no treino e nas categorias do cliente. O Estudo 3 consistiu na análise de três sessões de terapia analítico-comportamental, uma inicial, outra intermediária e uma final, que evidenciou a aplicabilidade do sistema de categorização ao estudo da terapia analítico-comportamental ao permitir a identificação de regularidades no comportamento dos participantes.
Therapeutic interaction has been considered as one of the main factors of change in psychotherapy, and its investigation is called process research. It uses sessions audio and/or video recording to code behaviors which, subsequently, permits the analysis of patterns of interactions. The objectives of the study were the development of a multidimensional coding system of therapist and client behavior to study therapeutic interaction, verification of agreement between observers in the use of the coding system and the production of evidences regarding its applicability and validity. Research was composed by three studies: Study 1 consisted in a systematic evaluation of literature referring to behavior classification in its vocal dimension. The already existing coding systems were not satisfactory for studying behavior-analytic therapy, showing the need for construction of a new one. In Study 2, the Multidimensional System for Coding Behavior in Therapeutic Interaction was developed. It was formed by three coding axes and four qualifiers: Axe I contained 15 therapist and 13 client verbal behavior having as qualifiers the emotional tone (with six categories) and illustrative gestures (with two categories); Axe II analyses the theme of the interaction, having 16 categories and as qualifiers the time in which the subject is treated (with five categories) and the conduction of the theme during the session, with five categories; Axe III is of the motor responses containing five categories. A standardized training for observers was also developed. Its application to one participant produced a satisfactory Kappa index of agreement ranging from 0.73 to 0.84 in therapist categories, and an unsatisfactory one, ranging from -0.09 to 0.36 in client categories, requiring adjustment in client´s training and categories. Study 3 consisted in the analysis of three behavior-analytic therapy sessions, an initial, an intermediate and a final session that made evident the applicability of the categorization system to the study of behavior-analytic therapy as it succeeded in the identification of regularities in the three sessions.

COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
As operações de manutenção da paz da ONU surgiram no contexto da Guerra Fria, concebidas, basicamente como forças militares de interposição, com a função de monitorar cessar-fogos entre as partes adversárias em conflitos interestatais. As mudanças operadas no contexto normativo internacional pós Guerra Fria forneceram as bases para o surgimento das operações de paz multidimensionais, voltadas para a resolução de conflitos intra-estatais, através da implementação de acordos de paz entre as partes. Com uma multiplicidade funções e componentes, a atuação dessas missões passou a englobar a reconstrução institucional de estados pós-conflitos. O presente estudo tem como objetivo examinar o processo de institucionalização de um quadro de referência para as operações de paz multidimensionais, contendo princípios, normas e procedimentos gerais orientadores das suas atividades nos campos de direitos humanos, polícia civil e assistência eleitoral. O argumento central é o de que este quadro de referência é o resultado das interações entre o Secretariado e os Estados membros da ONU. É, também, o produto do impacto que os contextos normativos dentro e fora da estrutura onusiana têm nas identidades e nas preferências destes atores acerca das políticas da organização na área de atuação em foco. Neste estudo enfatizamos o papel do burocracia onusiana como ator neste processo.
The UN peacekeeping operations emerged in the context of the Cold War. They were basically conceived as military interposition forces, to monitor cease-fires between parties in interstates conflicts. After the Cold War the normative changes in the international context provided for the emergence of the UN multidimensional peace operations. These operations were aimed at the resolution of intrastate conflicts, by means of the assistance on the implementation of peace agreements between the parties. With multiple functions, as well as components, the purposes of these new missions included the post-conflict reconstruction of states. The objective of this study is to examine the process of institutionalization of a framework for the UN multidimensional peace operations, including principles, norms and guidelines for the fulfillment of their tasks in the fields of human rights, civilian police and electoral assistance. The central argument here is that the current framework is the result of the interactions between the UN Secretariat and the member states. It is also the product of the impact of the normative contexts outside and within the UN structure on the identities and preferences of the actors concerning the policies of the Organization in the area in focus. The role of the UN bureaucracy in this process is emphasized in this study.

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Esta Tese aborda a Gestão Estratégica e apresenta como principal objetivo a elaboração e aplicação de um framework do fazer estratégico de executivos, constituído à luz de quatro abordagens da estratégia: o Posicionamento, a RBV, o Processo da Estratégia e a Estratégia como Prática. Identificou-se em cada teoria contemplada na pesquisa as ações caracterizadoras da atuação gerencial, admitindo-se como hipótese preliminar que estas ações estariam relacionadas de maneira integrada e complementar, e como hipótese principal que estes relacionamentos se estabeleciam mediante o modelo proposto da tese, intitulado Framework Integrado e Multidimensional do Fazer Estratégico. A hipótese principal foi complementada pela definição de nove hipóteses intermediárias que fundamentaram os vínculos conceituais internos, promovendo coerência ao framework, que apresentava em sua versão preliminar um eixo central composto pela articulação teórica entre as abordagens da Estratégia como Prática e do Processo da Estratégia, seguido de uma área caracterizadora da RBV e uma outra região, mais periférica, que contemplava os fundamentos da abordagem do Posicionamento. A tese é considerada fundamentalmente quantitativa, com contornos qualitativos, utilizando questionários como instrumento de coleta de dados. Os cem questionários utilizados na amostra foram analisados por meio do Statsoft Statistica, fazendo-se uso das técnicas de análise multivariada e da Teoria das Facetas para elucidação dos resultados da pesquisa. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciaram que as nove hipóteses intermediárias foram validadas mediante teste de correlação entre as variáveis que as caracterizaram, reafirmando a coerência interna do framework. Aproximadamente oitenta e seis por cento das variáveis caracterizadoras das abordagens teóricas foram classificadas conforme categorias iniciais, quando explicitadas em SSA emergente da análise dos dados, demonstrando coerência interna. Os construtos teóricos propostos foram validados mediante Alfa de Cronbach superior a 0,8 para todas as categorias, porém, a disposição das correntes do framework apresentou configuração diferente proposição inicial. No eixo central, o framework enfatizou a abordagem da RBV, condicionando as três demais teorias, que se apresentaram dispostas de forma periférica e estreitamente relacionadas entre si e com a RBV. O framework pôde, por fim, ser utilizado para melhor compreensão da realidade das IES estudadas e de seus gestores, possibilitando reflexões mais aprofundadas acerca do fenômeno estudado.
This dissertation approaches the Strategic Management and has as its main goal the development and implementation of executives strategic making framework, made out from four approaches of strategy: Positioning, RBV, Strategy Process and the Strategy as Practice. In all these theories, the executives actions were identified and the research had as preliminary hypothesis that the actions would be connected in an integrated and complementary way, and as the main hypothesis that these connections followed the model suggested by the dissertation, under the title Framework Integrado e Multidimensional do Fazer Estratégico (The Integrated and Multidimensional Framework of the Strategic Making). The main hypothesis was complemented by the definition of nine intermediate hypothesis that grounded the internal conceptual connections, promoting congruence to the framework, that presented in its preliminary version a central hub composed by the theoretical articulation between the Strategy as a Practice and the Strategy Process approaches, followed by a RBV area and another region, more peripheral, that contemplated the foundations of the Positioning approach. The dissertation is considered fundamentally quantitative, with qualitative outlines, using surveys as a tool of data collection. One hundred surveys were used at the sample and they were analyzed at Statsoft Statistica, using the multivariate analysis techniques and (Facets Theory) for the research results elucidation. The results of the research showed that the nine intermediate hypothesis were validated by correlation tests among their component variables, reaffirming the framework internal congruence. Approximately eighty-six percent of the variables were classified according initial categories, when made explicit in emergent SSA of data analysis, showing internal congruence. The proposed theoretical constructs were validated by Cronbach Alpha higher than 0.8 for all the categories, but, the disposition of the framework chains showed the configuration framework different from the initial proposition. At the central hub, the framework emphasized the RBV approach, conditioning the three other theories that were presented in a peripheral way and narrowly related to them and with RBV. The framework was able to, at last, be used to a better comprehension of the reality of higher education institutions and their managers, enabling deeper reflections about such phenomenon.

O cuidado integral ao idoso pode ser garantido mediante a utilização do Processo de Enfermagem (PE), aliado a um referencial teórico como, por exemplo, o Modelo Multidimensional de Envelhecimento bem Sucedido (MMES), que possui uma proposta de avaliação do idoso. Há, contudo, uma lacuna para a sua utilização, uma vez que não há estudos que comprovem a sua eficácia na prática clínica da Enfermagem associado à aplicação de sistemas de classificação da disciplina como a NANDA-I, NIC e NOC. O objetivo deste estudo é construir um modelo multidimensional de cuidado ao idoso associado aos Sistemas de Linguagens Padronizadas de Enfermagem NANDA-I, NIC e NOC, aplicável à consulta de enfermagem. O estudo foi conduzido em duas etapas metodológicas distintas. A primeira compreendeu um estudo de validação de conteúdo enquanto a segunda uma pesquisa de resultados, que contemplou um estudo quase experimental. As amostras foram constituídas de 15 especialistas em Enfermagem Gerontológica e 28 idosos em primeira consulta na Cidade do Idoso, local do estudo, com idade igual ou superior a 60 anos, que apresentaram o diagnóstico de enfermagem Risco de Síndrome do Idoso Frágil (RSIF) ou Síndrome do Idoso Frágil (SIF), no período de maio a outubro de 2017. Após a validação do conteúdo do modelo multidimensional, com a opinião dos especialistas, efetuou-se a sua aplicação aos idosos em quatro consultas de enfermagem para cada um. Durante as consultas estabeleceram-se os diagnósticos, mensuraram-se os resultados e implementaram-se as intervenções de enfermagem, conforme o modelo e a avaliação clínica. Os especialistas validaram informações da anamnese e exame físico referentes às características definidoras, fatores relacionados e de risco dos dois diagnósticos e às dimensões fisiológica, psicológica e social, conforme propõe o MMES. A validação também confirmou que dos 13 diferentes resultados de enfermagem validados, 10 foram comuns em ambos os diagnósticos. Os resultados validados para os dois diagnósticos avaliaram Equilíbrio (0202), Cognição (0900), Estado nutricional (1004), Autocontrole da doença crônica (3102), Conhecimento: controle da dor (1843), Participação em programa de exercício físico (1633), Conhecimento: controle da doença crônica (1847), Conhecimento: prevenção de quedas (1828), Conhecimento: controle do peso (1841) e Estado de conforto (2008). Apenas dois dos 13 resultados foram validados para o diagnóstico SIF, sendo eles: Nível de fadiga (0007) e Autocuidado: atividades da vida diária (0300), e um resultado, Conhecimento: medicamento (1808), foi validado apenas para o diagnóstico RSIF. As intervenções de enfermagem da NIC, validadas para os dois diagnósticos de enfermagem, foram praticamente iguais. Das oito diferentes intervenções validadas apenas a Assistência ao Autocuidado (1800) foi validada exclusivamente para o diagnóstico SIF e as outras sete foram validadas para os dois diagnósticos. As intervenções destacam a importância da Promoção do exercício (0200), Aconselhamento nutricional (5246), Controle de medicamentos (2380), Estimulação cognitiva (4720), Melhora na socialização (5100), Prevenção contra quedas (6490) e Ensino sobre o processo da doença (5602). A segunda etapa mostrou que dos 28 idosos a maioria era do sexo feminino (17 - 60,7%), com idade média de 65,6 ± 6,3 anos e, desses, 23 idosos foram diagnosticados com RSIF e cinco com SIF. Dos resultados de enfermagem utilizados para avaliar idosos com RSIF e SIF percebeu-se melhora significativa na média dos escores dos seus indicadores: Participação em programa de exercício físico; Autocontrole da doença crônica; 7 Conhecimento: controle da doença crônica; Conhecimento: controle do peso; Conhecimento: prevenção de quedas e Estado de conforto. Os resultados Estado nutricional e Conhecimento: controle da dor tiveram melhora significativa nos escores dos indicadores somente para idosos com RSIF, assim como a avaliação do Autocuidado: atividades da vida diária para idosos com SIF. As intervenções que apresentaram efetividade estatisticamente significativa na utilização de suas atividades em idosos, com ambos os diagnósticos, foram: Ensino: processo da doença e Promoção do exercício, enquanto a intervenção Prevenção contra quedas foi encontrada somente em idosos com RSIF. Conclui-se que as sete intervenções de enfermagem validadas pelos especialistas foram implementadas aos idosos com diagnóstico de enfermagem RSIF e foram consideradas efetivas, tendo como base a avaliação de nove resultados que apontaram melhora significativa na comparação entre as médias da primeira e quarta consultas. Dentre as oito intervenções de enfermagem implementadas aos idosos com diagnóstico de enfermagem SIF, sete foram consideradas efetivas, tendo como base a avaliação de 11 resultados que apontaram melhora significativa na comparação entre as médias da primeira e quarta consultas. Dessa forma, conclui-se ainda, que o modelo multidimensional de cuidado ao idoso associado aos SLP contribui para a prática assistencial do enfermeiro na consulta de enfermagem, com vistas ao envelhecimento bem sucedido. Dentre as importantes implicações e contribuições dos resultados desta pesquisa está a possibilidade de apoiar a ligação entre resultados e intervenções validados com os diagnósticos de enfermagem RSIF e SIF, facilitando a avaliação de enfermagem e os cuidados de enfermagem aos idosos na prática clínica. Além disso, recomenda-se a construção de definições operacionais para os indicadores dos resultados de enfermagem. Uma limitação do estudo foi o fato de realizarmos a pesquisa com especialistas do mesmo país.
Comprehensive care for the elderly can be guaranteed through the use of the Nursing Process (PE), together with a theoretical framework such as the Multidimensional Model of Successful Aging (MMSA), which has a proposal for the evaluation of the elderly. There is, however, a gap to its use, since there are no studies that prove its effectiveness in the clinical practice of Nursing associated with the application of discipline classification systems such as NANDA-I, NIC and NOC. The objective of this study is to build an elderly care multidimensional model associated with the standardized NANDA-I, NIC and NOC Nursing language systems, applicable to the nursing consultation. The study was conducted in two different methodological steps. The first comprised a content validation study while the second a results research, which included a quasi-experimental study. The samples consisted of 15 specialists in Gerontology Nursing and 28 elderly people in a first consultation in the City of the Elderly, place of study, with age equal to or greater than 60 years, of both sexes, who presented the diagnosis of Nursing Risk of Syndrome of the Elderly (RSIF) or Fragile Elderly Syndrome (SIF), from May to October 2017. After the validation of the multidimensional model content, with the opinion of the specialists, it was applied to the elderly in four every elderly person. During the consultations the diagnoses were established, the results were measured and the Nursing interventions were implemented, according to the multidimensional model and the clinical evaluation. The specialists validated information about the anamnesis and the physical examination referring to the defining characteristics, related and risk factors of the two diagnoses and the physiological, psychological and social dimensions, as proposed by the MMSA. Validation also confirmed that of the 13 different validated Nursing outcomes, 10 were common in both diagnoses. The results validated for the two diagnoses evaluated: Equilibrium (0202), Cognition (0900), Nutritional status (1004), Self-control of chronic disease (3102), Knowledge: pain control (1843), Knowledge: control of chronic disease (1847), Knowledge: prevention of falls (1828), Knowledge: weight control (1841) and Comfort state (2008). Only two of the 13 results were validated for SIF diagnosis, being: Fatigue level (0007) and Self-care: activities of daily living (0300), and a result, Knowledge: medicine (1808), was validated only for the diagnosis RSIF. The Nursing interventions of the NIC, validated for the two Nursing diagnoses, were practically the same. Of the eight different validated interventions, only Self-care Assistance (1800) was validated exclusively for SIF diagnosis and the other seven were validated for both diagnoses. The interventions emphasize the importance of Promoting Exercise (0200), Nutrition Counseling (5246), Medication Control (2380), Cognitive Stimulation (4720), Improving Socialization (5100), Fall Prevention (6490) and Teaching the Process of the disease (5602). The second stage showed that of the 28 elderly, the majority were female (17-60.7%), with a mean age of 65.6 ± 6.3 years, and of these, 23 elderly were diagnosed with RSIF and five with SIF. Nursing results used to evaluate the elderly with RSIF and SIF showed a significant improvement in the mean of the scores of their indicators: Knowledge: control of chronic disease; Self-control of chronic disease; Knowledge: prevention of falls; Weight control; State of comfort and Participation in physical exercise program. The results Knowledge: pain control and nutritional status had significant improvement in the scores of indicators only for the elderly with RSIF, as well as the self-care evaluation: daily life activities for elderly with 9 SIF. The interventions that presented a statistically significant reduction in the use of their activities in the elderly, with both diagnoses, were Teaching: disease process and Exercise promotion, while the intervention Prevention of falls was found only in the elderly with RSIF. It is concluded that the seven nursing interventions validated by the specialists were implemented to the elderly with a diagnosis of RSIF Nursing and were considered effective, based on the evaluation of nine results that indicated a significant improvement in the comparison between the means of the first and fourth visits. Among the eight Nursing interventions implemented to the elderly with SIF Nursing diagnosis, seven were considered effective, based on the evaluation of 11 results that indicated a significant improvement in the comparison between the means of the first and fourth visits. Thus, it can be concluded that the multidimensional model of elderly care associated with standardized Nursing language systems contributes to the nurses practice in the nursing consultation, with a view to successful aging. Among the important implications and contributions of the results of this research is the possibility of supporting the link between results and validated interventions with the RSIF and SIF, facilitating nursing assessment and nursing care for the elderly in clinical practice. In addition, it is recommended to construct operational definitions for indicators of nursing outcomes. One limitation of the study was the fact that we conducted the research with specialists from the same country.

The retailing industry is battling a behemoth – the escalating problem of product returns. The problem is of a graver import for e-tailers. However, the underlying cognitive and affective appraisal process that leads to product returns in case of online purchase still remains unclear. The liberal product returns environment in the context of online purchase has led consumers to proactively consider the option of decision reversal. Nevertheless, the impact of the initial buying context on the post-purchase appraisal process has been neglected in previous studies. To bridge the gaps found after evaluating the current gamut of research work conducted on this topic, a mixed-method approach was employed in the present study. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews (N = 42), the first qualitative study identified three online purchase situations (unplanned, purchase-for-trial and opportunism buying) that frequently provoke product returns. Additionally, the qualitative uncovered the salient post-purchase appraisal factors. To empirically test the underlying appraisal process and the differences caused by the buying situations, a quantitative study was conducted, using scenario-based experiment (N = 620). Findings suggest that contrary to recent studies (e.g., Lee, 2015; Powers & Jack, 2013), cognitive dissonance is not the immediate cause of product returns. It is the affective factor, regret, which leads to decision reversal. Additionally, in opposition to the claim of previous literature that high coping potential reduces stress, this study suggests that the ability to reverse the decision actually increases regret and, in turn, leads to product returns. Results also indicate that buying context (e.g., different buying situations) causes difference in serial mediation pathways from both primary and secondary appraisal to product returns likelihood. E-tailers should utilise consumers’ behavioural profile in order to classify different consumer groups and tailor the means to manage product returns accordingly.

Dado un conjunto de datos, o una distribución, en un espacio de dimensión mayor a uno, las proyecciones aleatorias consisten en proyectar los datos, o calcular la marginal de la distribución, en un subespacio de menor dimensión que ha sido elegido de forma aleatoria. En nuestro caso de dimensión uno. En esta tesis presentamos dos aplicaciones de las proyecciones aleatorias. La primera es una definición de profundidad, que es computacionalmente efectiva, aproxima a la conocida profundidad de Tukey y es válida tanto en espacios multidimensionales como funcionales. La segunda es un test de Gaussianidad para procesos estrictamente estacionarios, que rechaza procesos no Gaussianos con marginal unidimensional Gaussiana.
A random projection consists in projecting a given data set, or in computing the marginal of a distribution, on a randomly chosen lower dimensional subspace. In our case, it is of dimension one.In this thesis, we present two applications of the random projections. The first one is a new definition of depth that is computationally effective, approximates the well-known Tukey depth and works as much in multidimensional spaces as in functional. The second is a test of Gaussianity for strictly stationary processes, which rejects non-Gaussian processes with Gaussian one-dimensional marginal.

Doutoramento em Economia.
Neste trabalho apresenta-se uma história do pensamento económico na medição de pobreza - desde o que pode ser considerado o inicio da economia da pobreza ate a era de redescoberta da pobreza durante a década de 1960 - bern como uma revisão da literatura sobre as principais ferramentas de medição da pobreza apresentadas pela Ciência Económica. E ainda apresentado, no âmbito da abordagem multidimensional, uma proposta de um índice de medição de pobreza, inovadora quanto a ponderação dos diferentes atributos considerados como elementos de privação. 0 propósito do indice proposto e o de medir a pobreza na sua multidimensionalidade, sendo que cada dimensão de privação e ponderada no indice de acordo com a Hierarquia de Necessidades de Maslow. Esta forma de ponderação faz com que o indice proposto seja diferente dos ja existentes pelo facto de se incorporarem elementos de uma teoria psicológica consolidada na sua estrutura. Por fim, o indice apresentado e aplicado atraves de dados do European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) para Portugal em 2007 e comparado com dois outros metodos multidimensionais de medi9ao da pobreza.
This work presents a history of the economic thought on poverty measurement - from what can be considered the beginning of the Poverty Economics until the "Rediscovering Poverty" era during the 1960s - as well as a review of the literature on the main poverty measurement tools presented by the Economic Science. We also present, having the multidimensional approach as background, a proposal for a poverty measurement index, somehow innovative regarding the weighting of different attributes considered as elements of deprivation. The aim of the proposed index is to measure poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon, where each dimension of deprivation is weighted in the index according to the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. This way of weighting makes the proposed index different from the existing indices given that it incorporates elements of a consolidated psychological theory in its structure. Finally, the index is applied using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) microdata for Portugal in 2007, and compared with two other methods of measuring multidimensional poverty.

Understanding cage aquaculture adoption decisions and factors affecting adoption is necessary to ensure that fish production from cage aquaculture in Ghana is both significant and sustainable. The goal of this study was to provide a framework for understanding cage aquaculture adoption decisions and to identify factors affecting adoption, to inform decision makers as they formulate policies aimed at promoting cage aquaculture adoption in Ghana. I surveyed 122 respondents comprising current cage fish farmers, farmers who have abandoned cage aquaculture, and potential adopters of cage aquaculture such as, fish traders, fishermen and land-based fish farmers. Respondents answered questions related to knowledge, interest, constraints in cage aquaculture, and demographics. I used non-metric multidimensional scaling and discriminant function analysis to identify unique groups within the respondents, classify respondents according to their position in the innovation-decision continuum, and identify factors affecting cage aquaculture adoption. Based on their differences in knowledge and interests, I placed respondents into one of three stages of the cage aquaculture innovation-decision process model I developed: (1) Unawareness, (2) Knowledge, Persuasion, and Decision (KPD), and (3) Implementation (Confirmation and Abandonment). Respondents in the KPD and Implementation stages had knowledge, were more interested in cage aquaculture, and were aware of constraints in cage aquaculture, whereas respondents in the Unawareness stage lacked knowledge and interest in cage aquaculture, and did not clearly understand the constraints. Respondents who were males, belonged to the tribes Ewe and Akan, and who had fishing experience tended to be more interested in cage aquaculture. The lack of capital, high input costs, inability to adequately market fish, theft, lack of information sources, conflict over water use, and cage destruction by storms, were identified as the main constraints to cage aquaculture adoption in Ghana. The results of the study suggest that programs aimed at encouraging new entrants into cage aquaculture should focus on demographic characteristics such as gender, and tribe. However, demographic characteristics may affect adoption decisions and it may be important to consider them as such. Some recommendation to address the major constraints in cage aquaculture include: the Fisheries Directorate should (1) develop an efficient extension program that farmers can access regularly, especially, for farmers with no other information sources, (2) provide feed subsidy to enable farmers produce fish at competitive prices, (3) facilitate the formation of fish farmersâ cooperative groups that would purchase large quantities of feed, (4) encourage local production of high quality fish feed, and (5) develop credit facilities that can be accessed by individuals interested in cage aquaculture to assist potential farmers who would, otherwise, not be able to adopt cage aquaculture . In addition, fish farmers should (6) be proactive in marketing their fish by identifying potential niche markets prior to production, and (7) join cooperative groups to ease the burden of accessing loans to increase production.
Master of Science

Les marchés financiers occupent une place prépondérante dans l’économie. La future évolution des législations dans le domaine de la finance mondiale va rendre inévitable l’introduction de frictions pour éviter les mouvements spéculatifs des capitaux, toujours menaçants d’une crise. C’est pourquoi nous nous intéressons principalement, ici, aux modèles de marchés financiers avec coûts de transaction.Cette thèse se compose de trois chapitres. Le premier établit un critère d’absence d’opportunité d’arbitrage donnant l’existence de systèmes de prix consistants, i.e. martingales évoluant dans le cône dual positif exprimé en unités physiques, pour une famille de modèles de marchés financiers en temps continu avec petits coûts de transaction.Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous montrons la convergence des ensembles de sur-réplication d’une option européenne dans le cadre de la convergence topologique des ensembles. Dans des modèles multidimensionnels avec coûts de transaction décroissants a l’ordre n−1/2, nous donnons une description de l’ensemble limite pour des modèles particuliers et en déduisons des inclusions pour les modèles généraux (modèles de KABANOV). Le troisième chapitre est dédié a l’approximation du prix d’options européennes pour des modèles avec diffusion très générale (sans coûts de transaction). Nous étudions les propriétés des pay-offs pour pouvoir utiliser au mieux l’approximation du processus de prix du sous-jacent par un processus intuitif défini par récurrence grâce aux itérations de PICARD
Financial markets play a prevailing role in the economy. The future legislation development in the field of globalfinance will unavoidably lead to friction to prevent speculative capital movements, always threatening with crisis. Thatis why we are interested in the financial market models with transaction costs.This thesis consists of three chapters. The first one establishes a criterion of absence of arbitrage opportunitiesgiving the existence of consistent price systems, i.e. martingale evolving in the dual cone expressed in physical units.The criterion holds for a family of financial market models in continuous time with small transaction costs.In the second chapter, we show the convergence of super-replication sets for a European option in the contextof the topological convergence of sets. In multivariate models with transaction costs decreasing at rate n-1/2, we give adescription of the limit set for specific models. We deduce inclusions for general models (KABANOV's models).The third chapter is dedicated to the approximation of the European option price for models with very generaldiffusion (without transaction costs). We study properties of the pay-off to make best use of the approximation of theunderlying asset price, based on PICARD iterations

This dissertation is about impacts to the capacities for autonomy and collaboration for the cyborg self integrated with brain-machine (BMI) and brain-to-brain interfaces (BTBI). These capacities are dependent on the reorganization of the cyborg self boundaries which are contingent on the development cycle of the underlying BTBI multidimensional systems as evidenced in recent neuroscience research and development (Carmena et al., 2003; Fitzsimmons, Lebedev, Peikon & Nicolelis, 2009; Hochberg et al., 2012; Pais-Vieira, Lebedev, Kunicki, Wang, & Nicolelis, 2013; Pais-Vieira, Chiuffa, Lebedev, Yadav, & Nicolelis, 2015; Ramakrishnan et al., 2015; Wessberg et al., 2000) and speculated by the science fiction of the Nexus trilogy (Naam, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c).

The central accomplishments of this study include furthering the concept of the cyborg by positing a cyborg self with representational, cognitive, and functional dimensions, and identifying the cyborg self as a special case of the “cognitive assemblage” (Hayles, 2017, p 11). My analysis entails understanding an interdisciplinary model of the self that addresses the dynamic nature of the biological self, the self as a process, as a complex system emerging from material, physiological, cognitive, psychological, and social processes that is autobiographical and unified, having ownership and agency of mind and body (Damasio, 2010; Hayles, 2017; Marks-Tarlow, 1999; Ramachandran, 2004) dovetailing (Clark, 2003, 2008) with nonconscious cognitive assemblages (Hayles, 2017). I demonstrate that the dimensions of the cyborg self are reorganized by the development process of BMI and BTBI further affecting the locus or loci of self. The recursive reorganization of the cyborg self boundaries and dimensions leads to greatly fluctuating capacities for autonomy and collaboration.

I discuss the competing cultural forces such as transhumanism, and government and corporate interests promoting and hindering the advancement of NBIC and BTBI research and development, as well as the role of science fiction as a futuring tool, and the possibility, probability, and preferability of a cyborg self in 2040.

The research design is essentially a case study of contemporary and speculative BTBI in which I analyzed the multidimensional systems that comprise BTBI, their functionalities, and their development evolution. I analyzed how the cyborg self, autonomy, and collaboration showed up for the subjects integrated with BTBI. As NBIC and BTBI progresses, autonomy and collaboration face many challenges as they become pendulums swinging between ever increasing and decreasing capacities that are contingent upon the latest development cycle.

O processo de busca de entendimento do mundo, do universo visível e invisível é assumido neste trabalho pela fenomenologia-hermenêutica. O que exige propor a relação entre o pensamento e a experiência através de um movimento que envolve reversibilidade entre o sensível e o inteligível. O trabalho surge da preocupação com questões do existir através do que chamo Estética do Acontecimento. A tentativa é de compreender essa existência, entendida como significações constituídas no campo do sensível pela imaginação simbólica. A Estética Vibracional, objeto dessa dissertação, movimenta-se no campo das teorias do conhecimento das artes, sendo construída pelo princípio da Religação dos Saberes, envolvendo filosofia (fenomenologia), filosofia da fisica e semiótica. A Estética Vibracional se fundamenta a partir dos seguintes conceitos: Consciência, Contínuo e Descontínuo, Experiência Estética e Imaginação Simbólica e se constitui a partir da compreensão dos Campos Vibracionais e dos Campos Híbridos como significação. A idéia é buscar o que chamo de Estética Biocósmica, através da Educação Transdisciplinar, onde o Sujeito Estésico a partir da Experiência Estética, experimentada em Vivência Consciencial, ultrapasse toda dualidade tornando-se um Ser Cósmico As instituições educacionais-culturais: universidades, escolas e centros culturais interrelacionados como espaço de vivências, e as múltiplas Experiências Estéticas permeiam o processo multidimensional de ampliação da consciência. O objetivo da pesquisa Estética Vibracional é, portanto, proporcionar Experiências Estéticas em Vivências Conscienciais no espaço educacional, de forma que as vivências estejam baseadas numa abordagem inter e transdisciplinar, visando um ser humano multidimensional, social e cósmico, e uma ética biocósmica. O trabalho se encaminha à formação de professores e parte da Experiência Estética de dez pessoas no Seminário Vivencial I, realizado num período de três meses, na Faculdade de Educação da UFRGS, no qual eu participo com outras duas colegas do grupo - Movimento pela Transcendência através do Sensível, do NIETE (Núcleo Interdisciplinar de Estudos Transdisciplinares sobre Espiritualidade). Núcleo vinculado a PROREXT - Pró-Reitoria de Extensão da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.
The search process of understanding the world, the visible and invisible universe, is assumed on this paper by the phenomenology-hermeneutic. It demands to propose a relationship between the thought and the experience through a movement that involves reversibility among the sensitive and the intelligible. This paper emerges from questions about the being ( existence ), which I denominate Aesthetic of Happening. The attempt is to comprehend this existence as significations composed on the field o f sensitiveness by the symbolic imagination. The object o f this dissertation, Vibrational Aesthetic, moves itself in a field o f theories of understanding arts, and have been built by the principie of Re-link Knowledge, and involves philosophy (phenomenology), physic's philosophy and semiotics. The Vibrational Aesthetic establishes itself from the following concepts: conscientiousness, Continuous-Discontinuous, Aesthetic Experiences and Symbolic Imagination. It composes itself based on the Vibrational Fields comprehension and Hybrids Fields as meaning The idea is to search what I denominate Biocosmic Aesthetic, through a Transdisciplinar Education, where the sensible Individual, experiencing the Conscientiousness Existence, transcends ali the duality to become one Cosmic Being. The educational-cultural institutions such as universities, schools and cultural centers, are related to each other as existence spaces, and the multiples Aesthetic Experiences that take place in those spaces, permeate the multidimensional process of enlargement the conscientiousness. The purpose of the Vibrational Aesthetic research is, therefore, to provide Aesthetic Experiences in Conscientiousness Existences at the educational space, in order to base the existences on an approach inter and transdisciplinar, aiming a human being multidimensional, social and cosmic, and a biocosmic ethics. This paper sets out for a teachers' development and proceeds from the Aesthetic Experience o f ten individuais at the 1st. Existence Seminar, that took place in a three months period, at Education Faculty - UFRGS, being myself a participant of those existences with two colleagues from the group - Movement for a Transcendence Through the Sensitive ofthe Interdisciplinary Studies Nucleus about Spirituality, linked to the Extension Pro-Rectory of the Federal University ofRio Grande do Sul.

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This research is mainly aimed to assess from a multidimensional perspective that considers varying political, social, economic and technological integration of the stages of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) in 1998 and 2008. The theoretical framework includes topics of the theory of regional economic integration; historical process of economic integration in Latin America; history of the formation process of MERCOSUR and its current situation. The methodology used was the Global Dimension of Regional Integration Model considering a total of 90 variables with 18 political, 16 social, 46 economic and technological 10. For each of the States Parties and Associates were calculated Global Regional Development Index and Regional Global Development, and through them we obtained the value for the Regional Integration Stage Index to the MERCOSUR, which is equal to 0.57037 in 1998 and 0.62222 in 2008, framing it as an integration process in development. Analyzing the indexes for each of the States Parties and Associates notes to uneven development between 1998 and 2008 Brazil showed a more than proportional growth in relation to other countries in all areas surveyed. The conclusion is that although the bloc's integration has improved, the effects obtained were not distributed equally among the countries given their heterogeneity.
Este trabalho tem como objetivo central avaliar a partir de uma perspectiva multidimensional que considera variáveis políticas, sociais, econômicas e tecnológicas, os estágios da integração do Mercado Comum do Sul (MERCOSUL) nos anos de 1998 e 2008. O referencial teórico compreende tópicos sobre a teoria da integração econômica regional; processo histórico da integração econômica na América Latina; histórico do processo de formação do MERCOSUL e sua situação atual. A metodologia utilizada foi o Modelo da Dimensão Global da Integração Regional considerando um total de 90 variáveis sendo 18 políticas, 16 sociais, 46 econômicas e 10 tecnológicas. Para cada um dos Estados Partes e Associados foram calculados o Índice Global de Desenvolvimento Regional e o Índice de Desenvolvimento Global Regional e, através destes obteve-se o valor referente ao Estágio de Integração Regional para o MERCOSUL, sendo este igual a 0,57037 em 1998 e a 0,62222 em 2008, enquadrando o mesmo como um processo integracionista em desenvolvimento. Analisando os índices para cada um dos Estados Partes e Associados constata-se um desenvolvimento desigual entre 1998 e 2008 apresentando o Brasil um crescimento mais que proporcional em relação aos demais países em todas as áreas analisadas. Conclui-se que embora a integração do bloco tenha apresentado avanços, os efeitos obtidos não se distribuíram de forma igualitária entre os países dada sua heterogeneidade.

Neste trabalho apresentamos condições suficientes para a obtenção de taxas exponenciais de convergência na lei multidimensional dos grandes números para campos aleatórios definidos em R^Z_d. Dentre possíveis aplicações do resultado apresentamos medidas não-gibbsianas e não-FKG (limites de saturaçãoo de processos de estacionamento) e medidas estacionárias originárias de sistemas de partículas (rede com perdas, incluindo o caso onde há interação de longo alcance com cauda pesada).
We describe sufficient conditions for the occurrence of exponential rates of convergence in the multidimensional law of large numbers for random fields in RZd . Non-gibbsian and non-FKG measures from statistical mechanics (jamming limits of RSA models) and IPS (stationary measures of loss networks, including heavy-tail long-range interaction) are indicated as examples where the result applies.

Cette thèse traite l'inférence statistique de quelques processus de diffusion affine dans \( \R^m_+ \times \R^n \), avec m,n\in\N. Cette sous-classe de diffusions, notée par \textit{AD}(m,n), est appliquée à la tarification des options sur obligations et des actions, ce qui est illustré pour les modèles de Vasicek, Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) et Heston. Dans cette thèse, nous considérons deux différents modèles: le premier lorsque \( m = 1 \) et \( n \in \mathbb{N} \) et le deuxième lorsque \( m = 2 \) et \( n = 1 \). Pour le modèle \mathit{AD}(1, n), nous introduisons, au Chapitre 2, un résultat de classification où nous distinguons trois cas différents : sous-critique, critique et surcritique. Ensuite, nous étudions la stationnarité et l'ergodicité de sa solution sous certaines hypothèses sur les paramètres du drift. Pour le problème d'estimation paramétrique, nous utilisons deux méthodes différentes : l'estimation par maximum de vraisemblance (MLE) et l'estimation des moindres carrés conditionnels (CLSE). Au Chapitre 2, nous présentons l'estimateur obtenu par la méthode MLE basée sur des observations en temps continu et nous étudions sa consistance et son comportement asymptotique dans des cas ergodiques et non-ergodiques particuliers. Au Chapitre 3, nous présentons l'estimateur obtenu par la méthode CLSE basée sur des observations en temps continu puis discret avec haute fréquence et horizon infini et nous étudions sa consistance et son comportement asymptotique dans des cas ergodiques et non-ergodiques particuliers. Il est à noter ici que nous obtenons les mêmes résultats asymptotiques que dans le cas continu sous des hypothèses supplémentaires sur le pas de discrétisation \( \Delta_N \). Au Chapitre 4, nous étudions le modèle \mathit{AD}(2, 1), également appelé modèle de double Heston. Dans un premier temps, nous introduisons sa classification suivant les cas sous-critique, critique et surcritique. Dans un second temps, nous établissons les théorèmes de stationnarité et d'ergodicité y associés. Dans la partie statistique de ce chapitre, nous étudions les estimateurs par la méthode MLE et la méthode CLSE du modèle de double Heston en se basant sur des observations en temps continu dans le cas ergodique et nous introduisons les théorèmes de consistance et de normalité asymptotique pour chaque estimateur obtenu
This thesis deals with statistical inference of some particular affine diffusion processes in the state space \R_+^m\times\R^n, where m,n\in\N. Such subclass of diffusions, denoted by \mathit{AD}(m,n), is applied to the pricing of bond and stock options, which is illustrated for the Vasicek, Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) and Heston models. In this thesis, we consider two different cases : the first one is when m=1 and n\in\N and the second one is when m=2 and n=1. For the \mathit{AD}(1,n) model, we introduce, in Chapter 2, a classification result where we distinguish three different cases : subcritical, critical and supercritical. Then, we study the stationarity and the ergodicity of its solution under some assumptions on the drift parameters. For the parameter estimation problem, we use two different methods: the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and the conditional least squares estimation (CLSE). In Chapter 2, we present the estimator obtained by the MLE method based on continuous time observations and we study its consistency and its asymptotic behavior in ergodic and particular non-ergodic cases. In Chapter 3, we present the estimator obtained by the CLSE method based on continuous then discrete time observations with high frequency and infinite horizon and we study its consistency and its asymptotic behavior in ergodic and particular non-ergodic cases. It is worth to note here that we obtain the same asymptotic results in both discrete and continuous sets under additional assumptions on the discretization step \Delta_N. In Chapter 4, we study the \mathit{AD}(2,1) model, called also double Heston model, we introduce first its classification with respect to subcritical, critical and supercritical case and we establish the relative stationarity and ergodicity theorems. In the statistical part of this chapter, we study the MLE and the CLSE of the ergodic double Heston model based on continuous time observations and we introduce its consistency and asymtotic normality theorems for each estimation method

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Esta tese tem por objetivo a construção de mecanismos para mensurar o efeito da utilização de dinâmicas de ensino na engenharia de produção. Entre as principais questões envolvendo a educação na engenharia está a incerteza em relação aos efeitos da utilização de práticas de ensino interativas no processo ensino-aprendizagem. A abordagem metodológica utilizada foi a qualitativa, por meio do desenvolvimento de um estudo de caso explanatório do tipo múltiplos, no qual ocorreram aplicações de uma dinâmica de ensino em turmas diversas e tais aplicações foram investigadas por meio de questionários, observação, análise documental, pré e pós-testes. Os questionários aplicados têm como principal referência um modelo teórico-conceitual de avaliação multidimensional, proposto a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica, que avalia a percepção e motivação dos alunos diante da experiência de aprendizagem lúdica. Em complemento, os pré e pós-testes aplicados, buscam evidenciar o incremento da aprendizagem alcançado com a aplicação da dinâmica em questão. As evidências empíricas apontam para o fato de que as atividades lúdicas promoveram nos alunos uma maior motivação para a aprendizagem e que, de fato, houve incremento na aprendizagem. As contribuições originais mais relevantes para a teoria e para a prática são a proposição do modelo teórico-conceitual de avaliação multidimensional, que inclui as dimensões: Atenção, Relevância, Confiança, Satisfação, Interação, dentre outras possíveis; e, do modelo de avaliação, por meio de pré e pós-testes, para a verificação do incremento de aprendizagem. O modelo aqui utilizado permitiu a análise de dinâmicas de ensino na engenharia de produção, mas tem o potencial de ser aplicado em outros conteúdos. Além de avaliar os efeitos da ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
This paper intends to build mechanisms that measure the effectiveness of playful activities in teaching Production Engineering concepts. The uncertainty about this effectiveness regarding these practices in the teaching-learning process is one of the main issues in the engineering education. The methodology used was qualitative, by developing an explanatory case study, applying the case and studying it through observation, surveys, documentary analysis and pre and posttests. The applied surveys are reference of a theoretical-conceptual model regarding multidimensional evaluation, withdrawn from a theoretical background, that assesses the students' perception and motivation in facing the playful experience. On the other hand, pre and posttests point out the learning increase that students acquired with the dynamics. The empirical evidence indicate that the playful activities provided to the students motivation to learn, increasing indeed their learning. The most relevant and original contributions to this theory and its practice are the proposition of a theoretical-conceptual model regarding multidimensional evaluation that includes many dimensions (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction, Interaction, among others) and the assessment model (pretests and posttests) that checks the learning increase. This model allowed the dynamic's analysis in teaching Production Engineering concepts, although it could also be applied in other situations. Besides evaluating the effectiveness of this teaching technique, the suggested model predicates diagnosis and action plans in order to improve instructional design of the playful activity, in view of future applications

Orientador: Fernando Augusto Silva Marins
Coorientador: José Arnaldo Barra Montevechi
Banca: Cecilia Toledo Hermández
Banca: Fabiano Leal
Banca: Messias Borges Silva
Banca: Maurício Cesar Delamaro
Resumo: Esta tese tem por objetivo a construção de mecanismos para mensurar o efeito da utilização de dinâmicas de ensino na engenharia de produção. Entre as principais questões envolvendo a educação na engenharia está a incerteza em relação aos efeitos da utilização de práticas de ensino interativas no processo ensino-aprendizagem. A abordagem metodológica utilizada foi a qualitativa, por meio do desenvolvimento de um estudo de caso explanatório do tipo múltiplos, no qual ocorreram aplicações de uma dinâmica de ensino em turmas diversas e tais aplicações foram investigadas por meio de questionários, observação, análise documental, pré e pós-testes. Os questionários aplicados têm como principal referência um modelo teórico-conceitual de avaliação multidimensional, proposto a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica, que avalia a percepção e motivação dos alunos diante da experiência de aprendizagem lúdica. Em complemento, os pré e pós-testes aplicados, buscam evidenciar o incremento da aprendizagem alcançado com a aplicação da dinâmica em questão. As evidências empíricas apontam para o fato de que as atividades lúdicas promoveram nos alunos uma maior motivação para a aprendizagem e que, de fato, houve incremento na aprendizagem. As contribuições originais mais relevantes para a teoria e para a prática são a proposição do modelo teórico-conceitual de avaliação multidimensional, que inclui as dimensões: Atenção, Relevância, Confiança, Satisfação, Interação, dentre outras possíveis; e, do modelo de avaliação, por meio de pré e pós-testes, para a verificação do incremento de aprendizagem. O modelo aqui utilizado permitiu a análise de dinâmicas de ensino na engenharia de produção, mas tem o potencial de ser aplicado em outros conteúdos. Além de avaliar os efeitos da ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: This paper intends to build mechanisms that measure the effectiveness of playful activities in teaching Production Engineering concepts. The uncertainty about this effectiveness regarding these practices in the teaching-learning process is one of the main issues in the engineering education. The methodology used was qualitative, by developing an explanatory case study, applying the case and studying it through observation, surveys, documentary analysis and pre and posttests. The applied surveys are reference of a theoretical-conceptual model regarding multidimensional evaluation, withdrawn from a theoretical background, that assesses the students' perception and motivation in facing the playful experience. On the other hand, pre and posttests point out the learning increase that students acquired with the dynamics. The empirical evidence indicate that the playful activities provided to the students motivation to learn, increasing indeed their learning. The most relevant and original contributions to this theory and its practice are the proposition of a theoretical-conceptual model regarding multidimensional evaluation that includes many dimensions (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction, Interaction, among others) and the assessment model (pretests and posttests) that checks the learning increase. This model allowed the dynamic's analysis in teaching Production Engineering concepts, although it could also be applied in other situations. Besides evaluating the effectiveness of this teaching technique, the suggested model predicates diagnosis and action plans in order to improve instructional design of the playful activity, in view of future applications
Doutor

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NEIS – Núcleo de Empreendedorismo e Inovação Social da Unisinos
Em um cenário internacional caracterizado por desigualdades sociais, aumento das taxas de pobreza e dissimetriados mercados, um número cada vez maior de pesquisadores tem investigado diferentes teorias que procuram conciliar as práticas de gestão e a busca por soluções inovadoras para a transformação social.Alinhada a esta perspectiva, esta tese possui como objetivocompreender o processo de inovação social e os fatores que influenciam as iniciativas de inovação social em contextos de vazios institucionais.Assim, a inovação social é compreendidacomo o desenvolvimento de novas soluções que geram um impacto na resolução de problemas sociais, envolvendo atores e partes interessadas na promoção de uma mudança nas relações sociais, transformando as realidades locais. Os vazios institucionais ocorrem quando os arranjos institucionais não permitem o pleno funcionamento do mercado acarretando inúmeras desigualdades sociais, seja pela ausência, fraqueza ou não cumprimento do papel que se espera das instituições que formam o tecido social. Para investigar as iniciativas de inovação social em contextos de vazios institucionais, a tese seguiu seis etapas metodológicas, sendo a primeira inspirada numa etapa exploratória, com um caso exploratório em uma comunidade indígena produtora de café orgânico no sul do México, seguida por uma revisão de literatura com a identificação de proposições preliminares de pesquisa que foram investigadas em mais dois estudos de caso no Brasil, um no sul e outro no norte do país. Com estes casos, foi possível reformular as proposições preliminares gerando um documento com sete proposições validadas junto a pesquisadores que integram grupos de pesquisa em inovação social. A tese seguiuo paradigma interpretativista, com uma abordagem de pesquisa qualitativa. Dentre os principaisresultados encontrados, está a forte relação da inovação social com o contexto institucional no qual está inserida, levando a primeira contribuição teórica da tese: a presença de vazios institucionais intensifica desigualdades sociais em contextos de vulnerabilidade socioeconômico e as inovações sociais podem atuar para preencher ou amenizar estes vazios. Esta tese, ainda avança na teoria por incluir a perspectiva de que os vazios institucionais são originários não somente do Estado, do mercado e das organizações sem fins lucrativos, como abordado pela literatura, mas também da ciência e das regras e culturas comunitárias.Identificou-se, ainda, que os vazios também podem ocorrer em contextos com mercado desenvolvido e com alta concentração de instituições.Além do mais, os vazios institucionais são preenchidos por múltiplos atores que possuem objetivos diferentes e complementares e que podem atuar conjuntamente na transformação social.Entretanto, para que esta transformação seja efetiva, há que se respeitar os valores, normas e cultura dos atores envolvidos, por meio de uma negociação partilhada dos ideais coletivos. Outro destaque é a identificação de cinco sistemas para analisar o contexto no qual as iniciativasde inovação social estão inseridas: político, financeiro, econômico, de educação/trabalho, e cultural. A última contribuição teórica que a tese apresenta refere-se à possibilidade de uma formação hibrida de instituições para preencher vazios institucionais, sendo composta pelas comunidades locais e por instituições dominantes no cenário institucional.
In an international scenario characterized by social inequalities, rising poverty rates and market dissymmetry, an increasing number of researchers have investigated different theories that seek to reconcile management practices and search for innovative solutions to social transformation. According to this perspective, this thesis aims to understand the process of social innovation and the factors that influence social innovation initiatives in contexts of institutional voids. Thus, social innovation is understood as the development of new solutions that generate an impact in solving social problems, involving actors and stakeholders in promoting a change in social relations, transforming local realities. Institutional voids occur when institutional arrangements do not allow the full functioning of the market leading to innumerable social inequalities, either through the absence, weakness or non-fulfillment of the role that is expected from the institutions that form the social context. In order to investigate social innovation initiatives in contexts of institutional voids, this thesis followed six methodological steps, the first one inspired in an exploratory case in an indigenous community that produces organic coffee in southern Mexico. The second step is a literature review with the identification of preliminary research proposals that were investigated in two other case studies in Brazil, one in the south and the other in the north of the country. With these cases, it was possible to reformulate the preliminary propositions, generating a document with seven proposals validated by researchers that integrate research groups in social innovation. This thesis followed the interpretative paradigm, with a qualitative research approach. Among the main results, there is the strong relationship between social innovation and the institutional context in which it is inserted, leading to the first theoretical contribution of this thesis: the presence of institutional voids intensifies social inequalities in contexts of socioeconomic vulnerability and social innovations can act to fill or soften these voids. This thesis still advances in theory by including the perspective that institutional voids originate not only from the State, market and non-profit organizations, as addressed in literature, but also from science and community rules and cultures. It was also identified that voids can also occur in contexts with a developed market and with a high concentration of institutions. Moreover, institutional voids are filled by multiple actors who have different and complementary goals and can act together in social transformation. However, for this transformation to be effective, the values, norms and culture of the actors involved must be respected through a shared negotiation of collective ideals. Another highlight is the identification of five systems to analyze the context in which social innovation initiatives are inserted: political, financial, economic, education/work, and cultural. The last theoretical contribution that this thesis presents refers to the possibility of a hybrid formation of institutions to fill institutional voids, being composed by the local communities and by dominant institutions in the institutional scenario.

Les entrepôts de données et les systèmes d'analyse en ligne OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) fournissent des méthodes et des outils permettant l'analyse de données issues des systèmes d'information des entreprises. Mais, seules 20% des données d'un système d'information est constitué de données analysables par les systèmes OLAP actuels. Les 80% restant, constitués de documents, restent hors de portée de ces systèmes faute d'outils ou de méthodes adaptés. Pour répondre à cette problématique nous proposons un modèle conceptuel multidimensionnel pour représenter les concepts d'analyse. Ce modèle repose sur un unique concept, modélisant à la fois les sujets et les axes d'une analyse. Nous y associons une fonction pour agréger des données textuelles afin d'obtenir une vision synthétique des informations issues de documents. Cette fonction résume un ensemble de mots-clefs par un ensemble plus petit et plus général. Nous introduisons un noyau d'opérations élémentaires permettant la spécification d'analyses multidimensionnelles à partir des concepts du modèle ainsi que leur manipulation pour affiner une analyse. Nous proposons également une démarche pour l'intégration des données issues de documents, qui décrit les phases pour concevoir le schéma conceptuel multidimensionnel, l'analyse des sources de données ainsi que le processus d'alimentation. Enfin, pour valider notre proposition, nous présentons un prototype.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção
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Esta tese examina relacionamento entre desempenho, eficiência multidimensional e previsão de performance em assentamentos de Reforma Agrária, no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Demonstra que atores comprometidos com o sucesso dos projetos de assentamento buscam objetivos discordantes e contribuem para multiplicação de unidades ineficientes. Demonstra existência de padrões relacionando unidades bem e mal sucedidas a variáveis ambientais e organizacionais, que lhe são condicionantes. Demonstrando que estas relações permitem estimar possibilidade de sucesso para novas unidades, contribui ao estabelecimento de políticas de intervenção cooperada. Apontando elementos de decisão que, considerados por aqueles atores antecipadamente à constituição dos assentamentos, permitem ampliar a possibilidade de sucesso das novas unidades, contribui positivamente para o desenvolvimento das famílias e regiões onde serão estabelecidas.

La pianificazione e la gestione dei processi è diventata un elemento critico a causa della crescente complessità delle attività all’interno delle organizzazioni. Nell’era dell’impresa digitale, la gestione dei processi di businesss viene coadiuvata mediante l’utilizzo di sistemi software che sono in grado di gestire una grande quantità di informazioni ovvero i sistemi BPM. Il Business Performance Management è una disciplina gestionale che si occupa di descrivere e gestire i processi di business di una organizzazione. L’obiettivo della seguente tesi è verificare se il modello del processo realizzato precedentemente all’implementazione del sistema reale possa permettere una più dettagliata analisi del sistema e anticipare relative problematiche che talvolta si evincono solamente durante il mero sviluppo. Inoltre si vuole verificare se il modello realizzato in fase di discussione di un nuovo progetto cliente possa poi migliorare anche lo scambio di informazioni nel team di sviluppo. A supporto di questa tesi è stato sviluppato un caso di studio reale in una società di gestione del risparmio specializzata in fondi di investimento immobiliare. Inizialmente si è proceduto con una prima fase di raccolta dei requisiti dell’applicativo che si è conclusa con la realizzazione dei modelli creati utilizzando due linguaggi che sono il Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) e il Decision Model and Notation (DMN); il medesimo applicativo è stato successivamente implementato seguendo i modelli realizzati. I tempi globali di sviluppo del sistema e la migliore comprensione del modello da parte del team di sviluppo hanno fatto evincere l’utilità della modellazione a fronte di maggiori giornate uomo. Inoltre è stata riscontata maggiore manutenibilità complessiva del sistema.

This Master's thesis deals with the principles of the data mining process, especially with the mining  of association rules. The theoretical apparatus of general description and principles of the data warehouse creation is set. On the basis of this theoretical knowledge, the application for the association rules mining is implemented. The application requires the data in the transactional form or the multidimensional data organized in the Star schema. The implemented algorithms for finding  of the frequent patterns are Apriori and FP-tree. The system allows the variant setting of parameters for mining process. Also, the validation tests and efficiency proofs were accomplished. From the point of view of the association rules searching support, the resultant application is more applicable and robust than the existing compared systems SAS Miner and Oracle Data Miner.

This research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) presents the results of 60 first-person psycho-phenomenological interviews with 30 New Zealand women. The participants were recruited from the Canterbury and Wellington regions, 10 had recovered. Taking a non-dual, non-reductive embodied approach, the phenomenological data was analysed semiotically, using a graph-theoretical cluster analysis to elucidate the large number of resulting categories, and interpreted through the enactive approach to cognitive science. The initial result of the analysis is a comprehensive exploration of the experience of CFS which develops subject-specific categories of experience and explores the relation of the illness to universal categories of experience, including self, ‘energy’, action, and being-able-to-do. Transformations of the self surrounding being-able-to-do and not-being-able-to-do were shown to elucidate the illness process. It is proposed that the concept ‘energy’ in the participants’ discourse is equivalent to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of ‘contact’. This characterises CFS as a breakdown of contact. Narrative content from the recovered interviewees reflects a reestablishment of contact. The hypothesis that CFS is a disorder of action is investigated in detail. A general model for the phenomenology and functional architecture of action is proposed. This model is a recursive loop involving felt meaning, contact, action, and perception and appears to be phenomenologically supported. It is proposed that the CFS illness process is a dynamical decompensation of the subject’s action loop caused by a breakdown in the process of contact. On this basis, a new interpretation of neurological findings in relation to CFS becomes possible. A neurological phenomenon that correlates with the illness and involves a brain region that has a similar structure to the action model’s recursive loop is identified in previous research results and compared with the action model and the results of this research. This correspondence may identify the brain regions involved in the illness process, which may provide an objective diagnostic test for the condition and approaches to treatment. The implications of this model for cognitive science and CFS should be investigated through neurophenomenological research since the model stands to shed considerable light on the nature of consciousness, contact and agency. Phenomenologically based treatments are proposed, along with suggestions for future research on CFS. The research may clarify the diagnostic criteria for CFS and guide management and treatment programmes, particularly multidimensional and interdisciplinary approaches. Category theory is proposed as a foundation for a mathematisation of phenomenology.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Treino Desportivo para Crianças e Jovens apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física
O modelo de dissertação escolhido foi a transformação do relatório científico do núcleo de treino ao longo da época 2015/2016, cuja função foi a de acompanhar um grupo de atletas da modalidade Karate Shotokan na vertente de Kata. Os dados dos atletas que compunham o respetivo núcleo de treino desportivo foram recolhidos ao do ano curricular do mestrado, analisados os seus resultados no esfera da modalidade e do respetivo escalão etário. A recolha dos dados foi feita em dois momentos, nas variáveis antropométricos, em alguns testes que avaliam as capacidades funcionais e no planeamento das sessões de treino. Concomitantemente a este processo na área do processo ensino aprendizagem produzimos um documento sobre as progressões pedagógicas do ensino das principais técnicas do Kata que poderá ser uma parte importante no futuro do ensino desta técnica. As análises de tratamento dos dados tinham dois objetivos, um primeiro que fosse o conhecimento profundo do núcleo de treino e o segundo a constituição de uma ferramenta útil para o processo de treino colocado à disposição dos outros técnicos da secção. As amostras de atletas, de um universo de dez atletas aptos para o treino do Karate Shotokan, foram analisadas apenas cinco atletas que possuíam a graduação mínima de cinto castanho (3º Kyu), nível necessário com as bases técnicas para competir em Kata, e sendo estes escolhidos para serem acompanhados ao longo da época desportiva. Concluímos afirmando que os dados são apenas descritivos em todo estágio, observamos melhorias nas capacidades funcionais ao longo do ano no processo ensino aprendizagem com efeitos relevantes ao nível competitivo.
The dissertation model chosen was the transformation of the scientific report of the training nucleus along the 2015/2016 season, whose function was to accompany a group of athletes of the Karate Shotokan modality in the Kata. The data of the athletes of the training nucleus were collected during the development of the curricular component of the masters, analysing their results within the modality and the age group. With this work we collected the data in two moments, in the anthropometric variables, in some tests that evaluate the functional capacities and in the planning of session training. Parallel to this process we elaborate the pedagogical progressions of the teaching of the main techniques of Karate Shotokan in the Kata that could be an important part for the learning teaching process. The analysis and treatment of the data had two objectives, one that was the deep knowledge of the training nucleus and the second the constitution of a useful tool for the training process made available to the other section coaches. The samples from a universe of ten athletes fit for the training of Shotokan Karate were analysed only five athletes who had the minimum graduation of brown belt (3th Kyu), level necessary for the technical bases to compete in Kata, and being chosen to be accompanied throughout the sports season. We conclude that the data are descriptive of the whole process, with an improvement in the training and competition resulting from the knowledge acquired during the curricular process of the master's.

碩士
國立成功大學
統計學系碩博士班
97
Process capability indices play the important role in the manufacturing industry to determine whether a process is capable of manufacturing good-quality items. At beginning, process capability analysis only focuses on the process with a single characteristic. With the advent of modern technology, manufacturing process become very sophisticated and merely a single quality characteristic cannot reflect the product quality. Normally, the abnormality of an industrial process is caused by the problems of several interrelated quality characteristics. In contrast with the multivariate manufacturing process, the multidimensional machining process has a special specification called the positional tolerance. Positional tolerance is a type of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) which describes the tolerance region between the location of machining results and the target point. Past researchers proposed the capability index for the positional tolerance of a multidimensional machining process under the assumption that two or more dimensional variances are equal. However, this assumption may not be true in the real situation. In this research, two new capability indices for measuring the precision and accuracy of the positional tolerance of a multidimensional machining process are developed under the normal assumption. The statistical properties of the point estimators for the new capability indices are proved, then their confidence intervals and hypothesis testing methods are established using the approximations. The simulation results show that the new capability indices can better reflect the true performance of a multidimensional machining process then the previous indices.

碩士
國立交通大學
工業工程與管理學系
100
Today, to survive in an extremely competitive and turbulent business environment, enterprises are forced to differentiate themselves from their main competitors along one or multiple dimensions, particularly in product design or service innovation. One of the most important strategies is product positioning that is capable to consolidate customers’ loyalties and even to acquire distinct groups, concurrently. In reality, customers’ overall perceptions of competing brands are usually vaguer and more subjective than their preferences toward product/service attributes. To systematically visualize their underlying structure among respondents, brands, and attributes, this paper proposes a hybrid framework which combines analytical hierarchy process (AHP), multidimensional scaling (MDS), with the importance-performance analysis (IPA). In particular, by integrating AHP with MDS, a perceptual map is employed to display which attributes best characterize/distinguish benchmarking brands. In order to form a basis for customer segmentation, a preference map is generated to reveal how respondents perceive evaluation attributes and how they favor various competing brands. Furthermore, the IPA could offer decision support to assist a target enterprise in carrying out benchmarking analysis. In Taiwan, the results show that the attributes of competitive advantage leading brand HTC, APPLE, and the SAMSUNG, four other brand attributes competition is weaker for backward brand. Respondents to select the ideal brand HTC, is the most preferred brand for all respondents. Finally, the IPA analysis can provide and assist decision-makers to make decisions and analysis.

Identity transformation has emerged as an increasingly significant research focus in the field of teacher education, including considerations relating to who teachers are and what they can/should do in a particular educational context. The sociocultural epistemology (Freeman & Johnson, 1998) proposes to study teachers as learners who develop their pedagogical knowledge through their teaching processes that are interdependent with the school context. At the background of education globalization and multilingualism, more language teachers are involved in overseas education and then work as returnee or mobile teachers. A study on these particular participants hopes to expand the intellectual space of teacher identity research. With social-ecology as the overarching framework, this research explores complexity in identity transformation of returnee language teachers (RLTs) as a form of organic change in an educational ecology. It addresses three interrelated agendas: 1) identity as an intra-personal perception; 2) identity transformation as a complex process embedded in spatial-temporal evolution; and 3) identity transformation as an active process of the ongoing interrelationship between human agency and the surrounding context. This thesis depicts RLTs as learners seeking to understand their identity as teachers within their teaching community. Three social learning theories are employed to analyse these dimensions. In addition, complexity theory is employed as the overarching theoretical framework governing the methodologies, data collection and analysis, and categorisation and interpretation of findings. As an ethnographic narrative inquiry, this cross-case qualitative research studied 17 returnees following their participation in an Australia-China language teacher education program. They are all teaching Chinese or English language in different institutions and were recruited using snowball sampling. Three categories of data were collected: purposive conversational interviews; school observations during interviews; and relevant documents including participants’ theses and related educational policies from public media and websites. The multi-theoretical and multi-dimensional research findings relating to RLTs’ identity transformation led to a holistic reinterpretation, from the perspective of complexity theory. The findings demonstrate that RLTs’ identity transformation embodies features of a complex system: dynamic, emergent, self-organising, nonlinear, self-similar, and interdependent.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Treino Desportivo para Crianças e Jovens apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física
O modelo de dissertação escolhido foi a transformação do relatório científico do núcleo de treino ao longo da época 2015/2016, cuja função foi a de acompanhar um grupo de atletas da modalidade Karate Shotokan na vertente de Kumite. Foram recolhidos dados dos atletas que compunham o respetivo núcleo de treino desportivo ao longo do desenvolvimento da componente curricular do mestrado, analisando os seus resultados no âmbito da modalidade e do escalão etário. Com este trabalho procedemos à recolha dos dados em dois momentos, nas variáveis antropométricos, em alguns testes que avaliam as capacidades funcionais e na aplicação de questionários que determinam o grau de satisfação quanto à prática desportiva. Paralelamente a este processo elaborámos as progressões pedagógicas do ensino das principais técnicas do Karate Shotokan na vertente de Kumite que poderá ser uma parte importante para o processo do ensino de aprendizagem. As análises de tratamento dos dados tinham dois objetivos, um primeiro que fosse o conhecimento profundo do núcleo de treino e o segundo a constituição de uma ferramenta útil para o processo de treino colocado à disposição dos outros técnicos da secção. As amostras de atletas, de um universo de dez atletas aptos para o treino do Karate Shotokan, foram analisadas apenas cinco atletas que possuíam a graduação mínima de cinto vermelho (4º Kyu), nível este necessário para as bases técnicas próprias para competir em Kumite, e sendo estes escolhidos para serem acompanhados ao longo da época desportiva. Concluímos afirmando que os dados são meramente descritivos de todo o processo de estágio realizado ao longo do ano, observamos melhorias nas capacidades funcionais ao longo do ano, que o enriquecimento adquirido ao longo da parte curricular fez com que alguns processos de treino melhorassem com resultados positivos em competições.
The dissertation model chosen was the transformation of the scientific report of the training nucleus along the 2015/2016 season, whose function was to accompany a group of athletes of the Karate Shotokan modality in the Kumite. The data of the athletes of the training nucleus were collected during the development of the curricular component of the masters, analysing their results within the modality and the age group. With this work we collected the data in two moments, in the anthropometric variables, in some tests that evaluate the functional capacities and in the application of questionnaires that determine the degree of satisfaction regarding the sport practice. Parallel to this process we elaborate the pedagogical progressions of the teaching of the main techniques of Karate Shotokan in the Kumite that could be an important part for the learning teaching process. The analysis and treatment of the data had two objectives, one that was the deep knowledge of the training nucleus and the second the constitution of a useful tool for the training process made available to the other section coaches. The samples from a universe of ten athletes fit for the training of Shotokan Karate were analyzed only five athletes who had the minimum graduation of red belt (4th Kyu), level necessary for the technical bases to compete in Kumite, and being chosen to be accompanied throughout the sports season. We conclude that the data are descriptive of the whole process, with an improvement in the training and competition resulting from the knowledge acquired during the curricular process of the master's.

碩士
國立成功大學
統計學系
107
Process capability index (PCI) is commonly used to measure the capability of a manufacturing process and evaluate whether it can meet the engineering specifications in industries. Generally speaking, the multidimensional machining process has a specific specification called the positional tolerance. In the past decades, many scholars including Krishamoorthi (1990), Davis et al. (1992), Pan and Li (2014), etc. have devoted themselves to developing capability indices for multidimensional machining processes based on the assumption of normality. However, in practical applications, many manufacturing processes, such as nano-cutting process may not follow normal distribution. Thus, by relieving the normality assumption, this paper aims to propose new non-normal capability indices that can correctly reflect the true nonconforming rate for multidimensional machining processes. We first use Scaled Weighted Variance (SWV) method to revise NPC_p and NPC_pk indices proposed by Pan and Li (2014). Then, the two new indices RNPC_p and RNPC_pk can be derived accordingly. In the numerical calculation studies, we compare the performance among various multidimensional machining process capability indices under different parameter combinations for non-normal distributions. The numerical calculation results show that our proposed indices can properly reflect the actual performance for non-normal multidimensional machining processes. Finally, a nano-cutting example is used to demonstrate that the proposed indices are suitable to assess the risk of non-normal multidimensional machining processes.

Tese de Doutoramento em Informática
To compete in today's society, enterprise managers need to be able to deal with the arising challenges of the competitive market. The increasing competition and the amount of electronic information imply new challenges related to decision-making processes. Collecting relevant information and using Business Intelligence tools are determining factors in decision-making processes and in gaining competitive advantage. However, gathering and storing relevant information may not be enough. The possibility of simulating business hypothetical scenarios could be the advantage that companies need. What-If analysis can help to achieve this competitive advantage. What-If analysis allows to create simulation models to explore the behavior of a system, by analyzing the effects of changing values of parameters, which cannot otherwise be discovered by a manual analysis of historical data, and so, allowing the analysis of the consequences of those changes. A successful What-If analysis process depends mainly on the user experience, his/her knowledge about the business information and the What-If analysis process itself. Otherwise, it can turn into a long and difficult process, especially in the choice of input parameters for the analysis. In this doctoral thesis, a hybridization methodology is proposed that integrates OLAP preferences in the conventional process of What-If analysis. This integration aims to discover the best recommendations for the choice of input parameters for the analysis scenarios using OLAP preferences, helping the user to overcome the difficulties that normally arise in conventional What- If analysis process. The developed methodology helps to discover more specific, oriented and detailed information that could not be discovered using the conventional What-If analysis process.
Para competir na sociedade atual é necessário que os responsáveis de negócio consigam lidar com os desafios que o mercado lhes coloca no seu quotidiano. A elevada competição e o aumento na quantidade de informação eletrónica envolvida nestes processos implicam novos desafios relacionados com aquilo que designamos por processos de tomada de decisão. A recolha de informação relevante e o uso de ferramentas de Business Intelligence são dois fatores determinantes nos processos de tomada de decisão, e consequentemente na aquisição de vantagem competitiva das empresas. Apesar disto, recolher e armazenar informação relevante pode não ser suficiente. O processo de simular cenários hipotéticos de um negócio pode ser a vantagem que as empresas necessitam para sobreviver no mercado. As técnicas de análise What- If podem ajudar nesta vertente. O processo de análise What-If permite aos utilizadores criarem modelos de simulação para explorarem o comportamento de um dado sistema, analisando os efeitos causados pela alteração de um dado conjunto de variáveis que, usualmente, não podem ser descobertas através de um processo manual de análise de um qualquer conjunto de dados históricos, permitindo, assim, analisar as consequências dessas mesmas alterações. O sucesso de um processo de análise What-If depende crucialmente da experiência do utilizador, do seu conhecimento relativo à informação disponível e, obviamente do próprio processo What-If. Na ausência destes, podemos ter que encarar um processo de análise longo e difícil, especialmente na escolha dos parâmetros de entrada da análise. Nesta tese de doutoramento, é proposta uma metodologia híbrida, que integra preferências OLAP no processo convencional de análise What-If. Esta integração visa descobrir as melhores recomendações para a escolha dos parâmetros de entrada dos vários cenários de análise que considerem um conjunto de preferências OLAP, com vista a ajudar o utilizador a ultrapassar algumas das dificuldades que normalmente surgem durante um processo de análise What-If convencional. A metodologia desenvolvida ajuda a descobrir informações mais específicas, orientadas e detalhadas, que não poderiam ser descobertas usando o processo de análise What-If convencional.

O presente estudo tem como premissa a perspectiva integrativa da criatividade que defende que esta sofre flutuações consoante o impacto de características individuais e organizacionais. Assim procedeu-se a uma análise multidimensional para compreender o que leva os colaboradores a envolverem-se mais, ou menos, no processo criativo. As duas dimensões são representadas por um lado pelo capital psicológico (PsyCap) e pelo clima psicológico e por outro lado pela liderança transformacional e pelas as exigências do trabalho. O bem-estar subjectivo (BES) terá um papel mediador em todas estas relações. Com isto pretende-se compreender o verdadeiro peso de ambas as dimensões no envolvimento no processo criativo (EPC) e o que deve ser explorado por parte de ambas as partes para promover o mútuo desenvolvimento. Os resultados obtidos através da aplicação de questionários online (N=143) revelam que os dois maiores preditores do EPC presentes neste modelo são o capital psicológico seguido da liderança transformacional, comprovando assim que ambas as dimensões têm de facto um papel significativo no EPC.
This study has as a premise the integrationist perspective of creativity that defends that this construt suffers changes depending on the individual and organizational traits. Having this in mind, it was done a multidimensional analyses in order to understand what makes employees more or less involved in the creative process. The individual dimension is composed by the psychological capital (PsyCap) and by the psychological climate and the organizational dimension is composed by transformational leadership and by work demands. The subjective well-being (SWB) is a mediator in all of the relationships. The aim is to understand the real impact that both these dimensions have on creative process engagement (CPE) and what can be developed by both parties in order to promote mutual development. The results obtained in the online questionnaire (N=143) show that PsyCap and transformational leadership are the strongest CPE preditors in this model, validating the argument that both dimensions have a significant impact on CPE

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND INEQUALITIES IN THE EU REGIONS Abstract: This paper focuses on the interactions between social capital and production structure in their relation with regional inequality. Combining survey data with available regional databases for the EU15, it aims at providing a panel data analysis of multidimensional inequalities based on the idea that social capital is a fundamental factor determining its regional levels, along with the economic specialisation of regions. Results confirm an inverse relation between inequality and social capital. At the same time, they highlight the positive impact of production clusters on the regional environment. Findings suggest that the joint effect of predictors is ambiguous though, and may so be dependent on the different sorts of local specialisation and social capital endowment. Keywords: European Union, inequality, region, production specialisation, social capital.
A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE EU REGIONAL INEQUALITIES Abstract: This article illustrates the steps followed to construct a measure that accounts for multidimensional inequality across European regions in terms of human development. First, a multidimensional index to explore the between inequalities across regions has been produced. Referring to UNDP updated methodology (2015) and integrating it with the European Commission contributions (2011, 2014), a Human Development Index has been calculated for 205 regions in the European Union, within the span of time from 2000 to 2011. These estimates have then been adapted to inequality, based on intra-regional distribution of selected variables following the UNDP methodology to calculate an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index. This allowed to explore how the human development pattern changes when accounting for within inequalities, and to estimate the Loss in potential human development due to inequality in the society. The latter can serve as a measure for multidimensional inequality. Results show a generally increased level of human development achievements despite a widespread persistent level of inequalities in its distribution, as well as a spatial connotation of both dynamics. Keywords: Europe, human development economics, inequality, multidimensional, regional.
EXPLORING THE SPATIAL CONTEXT: ECONOMIC SPECIALISATION AND INEQUALITY Abstract: This paper provides an explorative analysis of regional characteristics relevant in the study of spatial disparities. Considering the economic production specialisations of regions and characteristics of their employment dynamics, it aims at describing the regional production structure and its spatial distribution within the EU15. Regional databases for 205 EU regions have been reviewed. Synthetic indicators of local production structures have been obtained through Principal Component Analyses. Spatial distribution of obtained measures has been compared to a previous estimation of multidimensional inequalities across the same regions. Findings show how lower levels of inequality are present in regions with stronger labour markets. At the same time, they appear to be the more economically productive and industrially diversified. Results suggest that different social and institutional settings may be the key for both economic and social development of European regions. Keywords: European Union, industrial clusters, inequality, production structure, region.

Nel presente lavoro, svolto presso l’Istituto Motore del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Napoli, si esaminano le potenzialità di un motore ad elevate prestazioni di funzionamento a carica globalmente povera stratificata ai carichi medio-bassi. La problematica è affrontata principalmente per via numerica, mediante la messa a punto di un modello di simulazione dell’intero ciclo di funzionamento del motore ed il suo successivo accoppiamento con un software di ottimizzazione multi-obiettivo. La metodologia sviluppata nel presente lavoro ha applicabilità generale, ovvero non limitata allo specifico propulsore preso in considerazione. Essa parte da una disamina delle problematiche connesse all’impiego di cariche povere e di miscele stratificate nei propulsori di nuova generazione, prosegue con la messa a punto di un sotto-modello tridimensionale in grado di riprodurre la dinamica di spray generati da iniettori di nuova generazione. Viene sviluppato un sotto-modello versatile e di elevate capacità predittive, validato su quattro diversi iniettori, in base a misure preventivamente effettuate presso il Laboratorio Spray dell’Istituto Motori in Napoli. Si riporta la descrizione del modello di simulazione tridimensionale del motore ad iniezione diretta considerato, ed il confronto con i dati sperimentali ottenuti sul motore al banco prova. È descritta la procedura volta all’ottimizzazione delle prestazione energetiche ed ambientali del motore sia nel caso di iniezione singola, che per iniezione suddivisa in due eventi successivi. È riportato quanto svolto relativamente allo studio del fenomeno della detonazione, ovvero le fasi preliminari di messa a punto di un modello che in futuro sarà incluso nell’ambito del problema di ottimizzazione, e che servirà a scartare le condizioni simulate per le quali è altamente probabile l’insorgere della detonazione.

L’uso dei suoli rappresenta quasi sempre un compromesso fra esigenze sociali, economiche e ambientali diverse. Il paradigma della sostenibilità nella sua duplice accezione “debole” e “forte” intercetta il tema del “consumo” e del “risparmio” di suolo, nella misura in cui le tendenze urbanizzative dimostrano la predilezione politica a promuovere gli interventi di “consumo” della risorsa; pertanto, la molteplicità di valori compresenti nei processi di trasformazioni dell’uso del suolo stimola l’opportunità di “co-generare valore” e la visione di un nuovo progetto di città, basato sulla produttività e competitività di un territorio. Il lavoro di ricerca si sintetizza nel perseguire due macro-obiettivi, uno di carattere concettuale, l’altro di carattere metodologico-operativo: il primo coniuga le definizioni dei concetti che si attribuiscono al suolo con il riconoscimento dei valori ed offre interessanti occasioni di analisi teorica ed empirica soprattutto sugli aspetti legati alla governance degli usi del suolo, in particolare, sulla possibilità di gestire gli usi dei suoli quali commons; il secondo concerne la revisione dell’approccio metodologico di costruzione degli "indicatori compositi" a supporto dei processi di pianificazione, di gestione e di trasformazione del suolo, attraverso l’inserimento di una fase di analisi spaziale che sottenda ragionamenti valutativi nel quadro proposto dal manuale OCSE (OECD, 2008); la definizione sul piano operativo di una metodologia per l’acquisizione dei dati e l’analisi delle informazioni che sia in grado di descrivere lo status quo, proporre possibili scenari futuri di valorizzazione, sulla base di dati oggettivi e preferenze (espresse o meno), punti di vista, suggerimenti e raccomandazioni con un sempre maggiore livello di trasparenza. L’attività di "valutazione degli effetti della pianificazione locale sul consumo di suolo" del progetto CS@Monitor costituisce il caso di studio. L’obiettivo del progetto, affidato dalla Regione Puglia alla società InnovaPuglia e al MITO-Lab, concerne la costruzione di indicatori in grado di descrivere e quantificare le variazioni dell’uso del suolo a fini urbanizzativi, utili all’aggiornamento delle politiche regionali di governo del territorio. L’applicazione della proposta metodologica ad un problema reale evidenzia la natura ciclica del processo valutativo che diventa un “processo di apprendimento” di tipo dinamico, flessibile ed adattivo, in grado di evolversi in base ai possibili cambiamenti. Pertanto, la costruzione di "indicatori compositi spaziali" potrebbe essere integrata negli strumenti di valutazione quali VAS, VIA affinché il dialogo costante tra gli elementi della dimensione globale e quelli della dimensione locale possa realmente monitorare che gli interessi individuali e i benefici economici delle trasformazioni degli usi del suolo non prevalgano sugli interessi collettivi.

Il lavoro di ricerca si pone l’obiettivo di approfondire i processi sociali e i percorsi di impoverimento. Attraverso l’approfondimento teorico e l’analisi multidimensionale dei dati raccolti è stata sviscerata la complessità del fenomeno della povertà, a partire dal lavoro teorico di concettualizzazione, fino alle forme di povertà rintracciabili nella società attuale, (nel contesto romano nello specifico) e su cui vanno ad insistere processi sociali differenti per tipologia, forza e direzione. Dal punto di vista metodologico, l’analisi è stata condotta adottando un approccio mixed method, sfruttando così i vantaggi derivanti dall’unione di due tecniche di rilevazione differenti, ma complementari ai nostri scopi, ovvero un questionario strutturato somministrato agli utenti dei servizi Caritas di Roma, e tre focus group condotti con operatori sociali, su tre ambiti tematici relativi a Lavoro e Formazione, Relazioni sociali e Salute e accesso alla cura

Dissertação de mest., Gestão Empresarial, Faculdade de Economia, Univ. do Algarve, 2010
As unidades hoteleiras no Algarve contribuem para o Turismo de Portugal, área crítica para o desenvolvimento sustentável em termos ambientais, económicos e sociais. É de grande pertinência o entendimento dos atributos de gestão críticos, associados a estas unidades hoteleiras, a sua prioritização quando as estratégias e planos são formulados, bem como a sua performance quando aplicados. Para este propósito pretende-se avaliar a percepção que os gestores das unidades hoteleiras de quatro e cinco estrelas do Algarve têm dos atributos de gestão, no que concerne à sua importância atribuída, que na fase de planeamento determina a afectação de recursos e focalização, e à performance atingida, associada à implementação do planeamento prévio e da resposta obtida na sua execução. Esta avaliação foi efectuada para dois anos consecutivos e em diferentes conjunturas económicas. De acordo com este estudo, foram identificados três tipos de relações, as relações entre os atributos de gestão, entre as unidades hoteleiras e entre os atributos de gestão e as unidades hoteleiras, providenciando assim, uma ferramenta que poderá ser utilizada para melhorar o processo de tomada de decisão. Para serem atingidos os objectivos deste trabalho, foi aplicada uma abordagem alternativa, assente no método HJ-BIPLOT, à Análise Importância-Performance (IPA). A IPA resulta, tradicionalmente, na construção de uma grelha de acções a prioritizar, que de acordo com os quadrantes onde se situem os atributos origina indicações sobre a actuação mais indicada, nomeadamente: concentração manutenção, redução ou desinvestimento.Dado que os atributos em estudo são categóricos ordinais e atendendo a que metodologia IPA tradicional trabalha com medidas de tendência central, verificam-se problemas na retenção de informação ao nível dos 4 quadrantes. Assim, os resultados deste estudo levam-nos a concluir que, a nova abordagem suportada no método HJ-BIPLOT produz melhores resultados que a abordagem tradicional, pois ao considerar todos os níveis de cada atributo, permite-nos ultrapassar os problemas identificados, o que leva a um sistema de suporte à decisão para a gestão, mais adequado.