Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The study aimed at investigating the Admittance, Access and Permanence of Students with Special Educational Needs in the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. To identify the research individuals, it was first necessary to interview the fifty-eight coordinators of the undergraduate courses offered by the institution at eight different campus facilities. Thereafter, the research individuals were selected, that is, the students with Special Educational Needs duly enrolled in undergraduate courses within the institution. The empirical field was the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). This research was based upon the inclusion principle, which considers everybody is entitled to the right to Education, no matter the difficulties, conditions or differences. From the political and social point of view, all educational institutions elementary, secondary or university need to adjust to, recognize and meet these students needs. The qualitative research has used semi-structured interviews, breaking itself of micronsystem until reaching macrosystem, what it was characterized for the methodology of the concentrically circles, being with this gotten the results that show the existing architectural and attitudinal barriers within the institution context. Final considerations highlight the importance of awareness, changes and reforms to eliminate architectural barriers and environmental adverse factors, as well as attitudinal barriers impairing the inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs. We could also highlight the need to increase the scarce mapping studies on these students, in order to locate them and supply them with the deserved conditions to remain in the institution, as well as developing institutional actions to meet their expectations, thus assuring Education for All. Respect for diversity makes us thinking about the importance of understanding the different special conditions that will determine the performance of the school activities by those students with special educational needs within their setting. All school environments are linked to knowledge production and spread; for this reason, awareness, knowledge and respect of these special conditions are essential within this context. / O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar o Ingresso, Acesso e Permanência dos Alunos com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais na Universidade Federal de Santa Maria - UFSM - RS. Para identificar os sujeitos pesquisados foi necessário, inicialmente, entrevistar os cinqüenta e oito coordenadores dos cursos de graduação da instituição, dentro de suas respectivas unidades de ensino, que totalizam oito unidades. Desta análise surgiram, então, os sujeitos da pesquisa, que foram os alunos com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais que estivessem devidamente matriculados nos cursos de graduação desta instituição. Como campo empírico elegeu se a Universidade Federal de Santa Maria UFSM - RS. Embasouse este trabalho no princípio da inclusão, que todos têm direito à educação, independente das dificuldades, condições e das diferenças. Logo, do ponto de vista político e social, todas as instituições de ensino sejam de ensino fundamental, médio ou superior precisam adaptarse, reconhecer e satisfazer as necessidades destes alunos. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida com metodologia qualitativa e, como instrumento de coleta de dados utilizou-se a entrevista semiestruturada, partindo-se do microssistema até alcançarmos o macrossistema, o que se caracterizou pela metodologia dos círculos concêntricos, sendo com isso obtidos os resultados que mostram as barreiras arquitetônicas e atitudinais presentes no contexto da instituição. As considerações finais apontam para a importância da conscientização, transformação e reformas para eliminar as barreiras arquitetônicas e fatores ambientais adversos, assim como as barreiras atitudinais que impedem a inclusão dos alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais. Podemos destacar, também, a necessidade de incrementar os escassos estudos de mapeamento destes alunos, no sentido de localizá-los e poder oferecer-lhes condições dignas de permanência na instituição, juntamente com ações institucionais que venham ao encontro das suas expectativas, de forma a garantir uma educação para todos. O respeito à diversidade nos faz pensar na importância de compreender as diferentes condições especiais, que determinarão o desempenho das atividades acadêmicas dos alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais no seu meio. Todos os ambientes acadêmicos estão ligados à produção de conhecimento e a disseminação deste, logo, a informação e conhecimento destas condições especiais e o respeito a elas, tornam-se relevante neste contexto.

Managed lane refers to the application of various operational and design strategies on highway facilities to improve system efficiency and mobility by proactively allocating traffic capacity to different lanes. One of the key elements to understand the behavior changes and underlying causalities in user responses to managed lanes is to examine the value of time (VOT) and value of reliability (VOR). The breadth of this dissertation encompasses two major dimensions of VOT and VOR estimation – distributions or variations across different users and under different circumstances; and influences of unobserved attitudinal characteristics on roadway pricing valuation. To understand travelers’ choice behavior regarding the usage of managed lanes, combined revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data were used in this study. Mixed logit modeling was applied as the state of the art methodology to capture heterogeneity in users’ choice behavior. The model revealed an average value of $10.68 per hour for VOT and $13.91 per hour for VOR, which are reasonable considering the average household income in the region, and are well within the ranges found in the literature. In terms of user heterogeneity, the mixed logit model was further enhanced by adding interaction effects of variables, which helped recognize and quantify potential sources of heterogeneity in user sensitivities to time, reliability, and cost. The findings indicated that travelers were likely to exhibit higher willingness to pay when they were female, younger (years), older (>54 years), had higher income (> 50 K), driving alone, and traveled on weekdays. Attitudinal aspects are rarely incorporated into roadway pricing analysis. The study herein presents an effort to explore the role of attitudinal factors in drivers’ propensity toward using managed lanes. Model results boded for a significant contribution of attitudinal parameters in the model, both in terms of coefficients and model performance. This study provides a robust approach to quantify user heterogeneity in VOT and VOR and capture the impacts of attitudinal attributes in pricing valuation. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding on what attributes lead to higher or lower VOT and VOR and to what extent.

Submitted by Haroudo Xavier Filho (haroudo.xavierfo@ufpe.br) on 2016-04-19T13:37:12Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Thesis - doutorado - JOSÉ MÁRIO WANDERLEY GOMES NETO - PPGCP.pdf: 3518425 bytes, checksum: 444d5191f5baf897a0a79d96a01bf1c9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-19T13:37:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Thesis - doutorado - JOSÉ MÁRIO WANDERLEY GOMES NETO - PPGCP.pdf: 3518425 bytes, checksum: 444d5191f5baf897a0a79d96a01bf1c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-15 / Por que o Judiciário decidiria a favor do Executivo e contra as suas próprias decisões? Essa questão é explorada teórica e empiricamente com referência ao pedido de suspensão - um mecanismo pelo qual o Poder Executivo nos diversos níveis federativos pode pedir ao Presidente de um Tribunal para suspender os efeitos concretos de uma decisão proferida por órgão judicial de hierarquia inferior. Para responder a questão de pesquisa um conjunto de hipóteses formuladas à luz dos principais modelos teóricos existentes na literatura sobre os processos decisórios das decisões judiciais– legalista, atitudinal e estratégico – são testadas a partir de em uma base dados contendo uma amostra de 319 decisões sobre o pedido de suspensão no STF no período 1993-2012. Os achados dos modelos econométricos estimados (Logit) na tese são consistentes com a interpretação dos modelos estratégico e atitudinal: os juízes atuam como atores que buscam maximizar sua preferências em um contexto de separação de poder e seu padrão decisório é também marcado pela ideologia dos governos responsáveis por sua nomeação. / Why the Judiciary’s bodies would decide in favor of the Executive and against their own decisions? This issue is explored theoretically and empirically with reference to the writ of suspension - a mechanism by which the Executive branch may request the Chief Justice of a Court to suspend the concrete effects of a judgment given by another court of lower hierarchy. To answer the research question a set of assumptions were made based in the main existing theoretical models in the literature on decision-making processes of judicial decisions – legalistic, attitudinal and/or strategic – and were tested from in a database containing a sample of 319 decisions on writ of suspension filled in the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) in 1993-2012 period. The findings of the estimated econometric models (Logit) in this thesis are consistent with the interpretation of strategic and attitudinal models: the judges act as actors seeking to maximize their own preferences in the context of separation of power and its decision-making pattern is also marked by the ideology of governments responsible for their appointment.

in the English language: The Political Character of Constitutional Review. In this thesis, we tried to find out whether constitutional review in the Czech Republic has at least partially a political character. In the Czech Republic, constitutional review is exercised by the Constitutional Court in two types of proceedings: (a) proceedings on derogation of statutes and other regulations (laws) and (b) proceedings on constitutional complaints against decisions or other interferences of public authorities in constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights or freedoms. In proceedings on derogation of laws, we found that judicial decision-making behaviour has at least partially a political character. The reason is, in particular, that (a) judges decide in favour of proposals for derogation of laws filed by legislators (deputies or senators) of the same political affiliation as the judges' appointing president more often than when the legislator's political affiliation is the opposite; (b) ideological assessment of the analysed decisions shows that ideological aspects of the decision-making of judges significantly correlate with the presumed ideology of their appointing president. Moreover, the differences in judicial activism are smaller than the differences between legislators of opposite political...

This dissertation consists of three journal articles that explored the effectiveness of a digital game, called EnerCities, in producing pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors by using a mixed-methods study approach. The first study was conducted as a quasi-experimental study among undergraduate students in the United States. Based on the Attitudinal Learning Instrument (ALI), this study found that the attitudinal learning gained from EnerCities influenced participants’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions significantly. This learning was retained until five weeks after game play according to the qualitative results of the study. The second study, conducted in India, used EnerCities to study the differences in attitudinal learning among high school students who played the game collaboratively or individually, using the ALI and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Results showed that the attitudinal learning and its effect on pro-environmental behavioral intentions between collaborative and individual players was similar. This study also showed that EnerCities had significantly impacted the environmental attitudes and behaviors of the game players when compared to students who did not play any game, although all students had studied environmental studies through traditional instructional methods since elementary school. The third study, conducted among high school students in India, compared the environmental attitudes between game players and students who did not play any game based on the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale. Both the unidimensional and multi-dimensional properties of the NEP were considered. It was found that EnerCities had impacted game players’ environmental attitudes significantly. All the three studies showed that digital games are more effective in promoting attitudinal (cognitive, affective, behavioral and social) learning compared to traditional instructional methods. This supports the implementation of digital games as a pedagogical tool in influencing environmental attitudes and behaviors.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to investigate if card loyalty increases attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of the customers, with a loyalty program (LP) membership.   Theoretical approach: The thesis is based on previous literature on loyalty programs and customer loyalty. The conceptual model proposed in the study ties card loyalty to the two loyalty dimensions of customer loyalty: attitudinal and behavioral loyalty.    Design/methodology: The study is conducted through a quantitative research design where data is collected through a survey. The self-reported questionnaires are sampled from social media users with active loyalty program membership with Coop. Findings: The empirical data from the 93 qualified questionnaires and the data analysis, indicate a significantly positive influence between both card loyalty and attitudinal respectively behavioral loyalty. Furthermore, the findings indicate that composite loyalty is present in the researched setting, since a strong correlation between attitudinal and behavioral loyalty was found. Although, the two-tailed correlation led to a revisiting of the conceptual model, since behavioral and attitudinal loyalty could also influence card loyalty.   Practical implications: The findings of the study provide academic implications by showcasing LP effectiveness and create a methodology for regional LP research. The results also provide managerial implications for managers who contemplate updating or implementing a LP. Originality/value: The study adds to loyalty program literature by investigating how card loyalty influences customer loyalty, within a sparsely researched nation with a regional focus.

Syfte: Kundlojalitet är viktigt för företags framgång då det medför återkommande kunder. Negativ word-of-mouth (NWOM) är något som kan påverka kundlojaliteten och därför är det intressant att studera förhållandet mellan dessa. Därav är syftet med denna studie att bidra med kunskap om negativ word-of-mouths påverkan på kundlojaliteten gentemot snabbmatskedjor. Denna studies forskningsfrågor är “Hur och i vilken utsträckning påverkar negativ word-of-mouth kundlojaliteten gentemot snabbmatskedjor?” samt “Hur påverkar negativ word-of-mouth attitydbaserad- respektive beteendebaserad lojalitet gentemot snabbmatskedjor?”. Metod: Vi har i denna studie haft ett deduktivt tillvägagångssätt och genomfört en kvantitativ undersökning. Dataunderlaget till studien har samlats in genom enkäter som skickats ut via sociala plattformar. Totalt har 318 enkätsvar inkommit vilka har kodats och analyserats. Analysen har genomförts med hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av denna studie tyder på att NWOM har effekt på kundlojaliteten, dock i liten utsträckning. Vidare framkommer det att både den attitydbaserade- och den beteendebaserade lojaliteten har förändrats. Men att den attitydbaserade lojaliteten har minskat mer än den beteendebaserade lojaliteten till följd av NWOM. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar med kunskap om NWOM och dess påverkan på kundlojalitet inom snabbmatsbranschen. Denna studies resultat visar att kundlojalitet påverkas negativt av NWOM, dock i lite utsträckning. Detta stämmer överens med tidigare studier som har gjorts inom området. Resultatet indikerar vidare att både den attitydbaserade- och beteendebaserade lojaliteten påverkas av NWOM, samt att det finns ett samband mellan den attitydbaserade- och beteendebaserade lojaliteten. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning är att genomföra en liknande studie som denna studie men att den studien istället handlar om en annan form av snabbmatskedjor. Ett annat förslag till fortsatt forskning är att fokusera på attitydbaserad- och beteendebaserad lojalitet samt hur dessa påverkas av NWOM. / Aim: Customer loyalty is important for companies because it results in returning customers. Negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) can affect customer loyalty and therefore it is interesting to examine the relationship between the two. Therefore, the aim of this study is to contribute with knowledge about word-of-mouths effect on customer loyalty towards fast-food chains. This study's research questions are “How and to what extent does negative word-of-mouth affect customer loyalty towards fast-food chains?” and “How does negative word-of-mouth affect attitudinal and behavioral loyalty towards fast-food chains?”.  Method: In this study we had a deductive approach and have done a quantitative analysis. The data for the study has been collected through surveys that have been distributed via social platforms. A total of 318 survey answers have been received which have been coded and analyzed. The statistical program SPSS was used to analyze the data.  Result and Conclusions: The result of this study shows that NWOM influences customer loyalty, but to a small extent. Furthermore, the results show that both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty has changed. But the attitudinal loyalty has decreased more than the behavioral loyalty because of NWOM. Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes with knowledge about NWOM and its effect on customer loyalty in the fast-food industry. The result of this study shows that customer loyalty is negatively affected by NWOM, but to a small extent. This result corresponds with previous studies that have been done within this field. The result also shows that both the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty is affected by NWOM, and that there is a relationship between attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Suggestions for future research: A proposal for future research is to do a similar study but to examine another form of fast-food chain. Another proposal for future research is to focus on attitudinal and behavioral loyalty and how they are affected by NWOM.

Titel: Sambandet mellan country-of-origin och svenska konsumenters varumärkeslojalitet och priskänslighet – En kvantitativ studie om huruvida svenska konsumenters associationer till Sverige kan påverka deras lojalitet och priskänslighet mot svenska livsmedelsvarumärken. Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Julia Nordin & Emilia Tušetić Handledare: Blanca Astrid Moreno Datum: 2023 – maj Syfte: I tider då matvarupriser stiger ändrar svenska konsumenter ofta sina köpbeteenden. Tidigare studier har dock visat att varumärkeslojala konsumenter generellt är mindre priskänsliga. Andra studier har även diskuterat om ett varumärkes ursprungsland kan ses som en betydande faktor som gör kunden mer lojal och därmed mindre benägen att byta till ett billigare varumärke då priserna stiger. Få studier har däremot gjorts i svensk kontext, varför denna studie finner ett stort intresse i att undersöka vilket samband country-of-origin har med svenska konsumenters lojalitet och priskänslighet för svenska livsmedelsvarumärken. Studiens frågeställningar blir således: Vilket samband har country-of-origin med svenska konsumenters lojalitet för svenska livsmedelsvarumärken, samt vilken effekt har country-of-origin på valet av svenska livsmedelsvarumärken när dessa ökar i pris?  Metod: Studien grundar sig i den positivistiska forskningsfilosofin med en hypotetisk-deduktiv forskningsansats. Studien åtar en kvantitativ strategi med en surveydesign som bidragit med data från 135 respondenter. Datamaterialet har sedan analyserats i statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat & Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att country-of-origin inte har något signifikant samband med svenska konsumenters lojalitet för svenska livsmedelsvarumärken men att det finns ett positivt signifikant samband mellan country-of-origin och svenska konsumenters val av svenska livsmedelsvarumärken. Studien kunde också fastställa att svenska konsumenter med positiva attityder till Sverige, svenskar och människor som köper kött från svenska varumärken, är mindre priskänsliga beträffande svenska livsmedelsvarumärken än konsumenter med negativa attityder. Examensarbetets bidrag: Examensarbetet har bidragit till det företagsekonomiska forskningsområdet såväl teoretiskt som praktiskt genom att visa vilket samband som finns mellan svenska konsumenters associationer till Sverige och deras lojalitet och priskänslighet mot svenska livsmedelsvarumärken. Kunskapen om de prisrelaterade konsekvenserna av ett varumärkes ursprungsland kan komma till användning när prissättningsstrategier eller strategier för marknadskommunikation ska utformas, framför allt då prisnivån stiger och konsumenternas köpbeteende förändras.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Denna undersökning har gjorts på ett begränsat urval av respondenter. Av denna anledning föreslås att framtida forskning tar del av ett heterogent sannolikhetsurval med ett större antal respondenter. Det finns även möjlighet att utvidga studien till att omfatta andra dimensioner av varumärkeslojalitet, andra produktkategorier och produktklasser, konsumentens grad av etnocentricitet, samt andra länder. / Title: The relationship between country-of-origin and Swedish consumers' brand loyalty and price sensitivity – A quantitative study on whether Swedish consumers' associations with Sweden can influence their loyalty and price sensitivity towards Swedish food brands. Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration.  Authors: Julia Nordin & Emilia Tušetić Supervisor: Blanca Astrid Moreno Date: 2023 – may Aim: In times when food prices are rising, Swedish consumers often change their purchasing behavior by buying less or by switching to cheaper brands. However, previous studies argue that brand loyal consumers are less price sensitive. Other studies have also discussed whether a brand's country of origin is a significant factor that can make the customer more loyal to a brand, and thus less inclined to switch to a cheaper brand as prices are rising. However, few studies have been done in a swedish context, which is why this study finds great interest in investigating the relationship between the country of origin of a brand and Swedish consumers' loyalty and price sensitivity for Swedish food brands. The research questions are: What relationship does country-of-origin have with Swedish consumers' loyalty to Swedish food brands, and what effect does country-of-origin have on the choice of Swedish food brands when these increase in price? Method: The study is based on the positivist research philosophy with a hypothetical-deductive research approach. The study adopts a quantitative strategy with a survey design that contributed data from 135 respondents. The data has then been analyzed in the statistical program SPSS. Results & Conclusion: The results of the study show that country-of-origin has no significant relationship with Swedish consumers' loyalty to Swedish food brands, but that there is a positive significant relationship between country-of-origin and Swedish consumers' choice of Swedish food brands. The study was also able to determine that Swedish consumers with positive attitudes towards Sweden, Swedish people and people who buy food from Swedish brands, are less price sensitive regarding Swedish food brands than consumers with negative attitudes. Contribution of the thesis: This thesis has contributed to the business economics research area both theoretically and practically by showing the connection between Swedish consumers' associations to Sweden and their loyalty and price sensitivity towards Swedish food brands. The knowledge of price-related consequences of a brand's country of origin can be used when pricing strategies or marketing communication strategies are to be designed, especially when the price level rises and consumers' buying behavior changes. Suggestions for future research: This survey has been conducted on a limited sample of respondents. For this reason, it is suggested that future research includes a heterogeneous probability sample with a larger number of respondents. It is also possible to include other dimensions of brand loyalty, different product categories and product classes, the customer's level of ethnocentricity, and other countries.

I flera decennier har det funnits en medvetenhet kring den privata personbilens negativa konsekvenser för både samhälle, människa och miljö. Ambitiösa mål har tagits fram i försök att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser men ändå går vägen till en omställning för långsamt. Dessutom bidrar massbilismen till en ohållbar och ogynnsam utveckling av städer och samhällen, både ekonomiskt, ekologiskt och socialt, där planeringen och utvecklingen av den byggda miljön har varit en bidragande orsak till att många idag sitter fast i ett bilberoende. Dock finns det antydan om att det även kan finnas andra orsaker som gör det svårt för individer att vidta en beteendeförändring som skulle innebära en minskad bilanvändning. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka om ett högt bilanvändande kan bero på vanor, attityder och normer. Vidare har det undersökts ifall detta kan förändras och leda till beteendeförändringar genom minskat bilanvändande med mjuka mobility managementåtgärder och nudging.  Aktionsforskning är den huvudsakliga metoden som har använts i studien. Detta har genomförts genom att låta vanebilister bli testcyklister under en period för att undersöka om det kan leda till ett minskat bilanvändande i Höganäs kommun. Resultatet av aktionsforskningen har därefter mätts genom enkäter, dokumentationer och en fokusgruppsintervju. Resultatet har visat på att testcyklingen haft ett gott resultat genom att det har bidragit till att deltagarnas bilanvändning har minskat i förmån för cykeln. Vanor tycks har varit den huvudsakliga orsaken till deltagarnas höga bilanvändaning före testperioden och att testcyklingen har resulterat i att detta beteende har kunnat brytas. Attityder och normer kan dock inte riktig förklara det höga bilanvändandet bland deltagarna innan testperioden. Detta har troligtvis berott på att deras vanebeteenden har varit så pass starka att det har resulterat i att deras beteenden inte har varit förenliga med deras attityder och normer. Resultatet kan också innebära att testcyklingen främst har lockat personer som upplevde bilkörning som problematisk och därmed har haft viljan och motivationen att vidta förändringar. Därför går det att ifrågasätta om mjuka mobility managementåtgärder fungerar för alla målgrupper av bilister. Dessutom kvarstår det osäkerheter kring testcyklingens långsiktiga effekt på bilanvändningen. / For several decades, there has been an awareness of the negative consequences of the private car both for society, people and the environment. Ambitious goals have been developed in an attempt to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, but the way towards a transition is still too slow. In addition, mass motoring contributes to an unsustainable and unfavorable development of cities and communities, both economically, ecologically and socially, where the planning and development of the built environment has been a contributing factor that we are now stuck in car addiction. However, there are indications that there may also be other causes that make it difficult for the individual to make a behavioral change that would mean a reduction in car use. The purpose of this study has been to examine whether high car use may be due to habits, attitudes and norms. Furthermore, it has been examined whether this can be changed with mobility management measures and nudging and lead to a behavioral change by a reduced care use.  Action research is the main method used in the study. This has been done by letting habitual drivers become test cyclists for a trial to examine whether it can lead to a reduction in car use in Höganäs municipality. The results of the action research have subsequently been measured through surveys, documentation and through a focus group. The results have shown that the test cycling had a good impact and has contributed to a decrease in the participant’s car use in favor of the bike. Habits have been the main reason for their high car use that the participants have been able to change due to the trial. However, attitudes and norms cannot really explain the high car use among the participants before the trial. This is could be explained that their habitual behaviors has been so strong that their behavior has not been in line with their attitudes and norms. The result may also mean that the test cycling project has mainly attracted people who did not experience driving as compatible with their attitudes and thus have had the willingness to make changes. Therefore, you should question if soft mobility management measures work for all target groups of motorists. In addition, there are still uncertainties regarding the long-term effect of the test cycling project on car use.

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