O presente estudo tem por objetivo investigar as características e implicações da divulgação voluntária das medidas de desempenho não-GAAP \"EBITDA\" e \"EBITDA Ajustado\" em relatórios financeiros preparados conforme IFRS no cenário corporativo brasileiro. A principal preocupação relacionada a divulgações voluntárias é se de fato estas informações garantem a qualidade do processo decisório dos usuários. A natureza do estudo é empírico-teórica com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. Os dados documentais foram extraídos de três fontes: Thomson Reuters; relatórios anuais e press releases disponibilizados no site de cada companhia; e formulários de referência disponibilizados no site da CVM. A amostra selecionada é a do índice IBrX 100 e os dados analisados são dos períodos trimestrais e anuais de 2014 e 2015. Para coleta das percepções sobre o uso e divulgação das métricas estudadas, aplica-se o questionário semiestruturado com sócios de firmas BigFour. Os principais resultados qualitativos sugerem, em linhas gerais: que o uso e divulgação das medidas estudadas tem ocorrido de forma ampla, consistente e regular; que 79% dos ajustes adicionais efetuados pelas companhias por meio do EBITDA Ajustado são consequência de princípios e regras contábeis vigentes conforme IFRS; que os ajustes adicionais mais comuns efetuados pelas companhias são Impairment, Provisões, Correção de Erros e Equivalência Patrimonial; e que o uso e divulgação das medidas investigadas se faz necessário uma vez que a contabilidade não é suficiente para prover aos seus usuários uma medida que forneça o desempenho isolado da atividade operacional de uma companhia. Pode-se concluir com base nos resultados quantitativos deste estudo que empresas de maior porte, que aderem a níveis de governança corporativa e que possuem receitas líquidas menores, estão mais propensas a divulgar as medidas \"EBITDA\" e \"EBITDA Ajustado\". As evidências advindas deste estudo podem ser úteis para colaborar com a discussão atual de órgãos reguladores e normatizadores ao apontar o papel informativo de medidas alternativas de mensuração, mas não deixando de alertar que estes números necessitam ser acompanhados e fiscalizados pelos entes e instituições cabíveis. / The present study aims to investigate the characteristics and implications of the voluntary disclosure of non-GAAP performance measures \"EBITDA\" and \"Adjusted EBITDA\" in financial reports prepared under IFRS in the Brazilian corporate scenario. The main concern related to voluntary disclosures is whether this information actually guarantees the quality of the user\'s decision-making process. The nature of the study is empirical-theoretical with a qualitative and quantitative approach. Documentary data were extracted from three sources: Thomson Reuters; annual reports and press releases made available on each company\'s website; and reference forms available on the CVM website. The selected sample is the IBrX 100 index and the data analyzed are from the quarterly and annual periods of 2014 and 2015. To collect the perceptions about the use and disclosure of the metrics studied, the semi-structured questionnaire is applied with partners of BigFour firms. The main qualitative results suggest, in general lines: that the use and disclosure of the measures studied has occurred in a broad, consistent and regular way; that 79% of the additional adjustments made by the companies through Adjusted EBITDA are a consequence of accounting principles and rules according to IFRS; that the most common additional adjustments made by the companies are Impairment, Provisions, Errors and Equity Method; and that the use and disclosure of the measures investigated becomes necessary since accounting is not sufficient to provide its users with a measure that provides the isolated performance of a company\'s operating activity. It can be concluded from the quantitative results of this study that larger companies, which adhere to levels of corporate governance and have lower net revenues, are more likely to disclose the measures \"EBITDA\" and \"Adjusted EBITDA\". Evidence from this study may be useful to collaborate with the current discussion of regulators and regulators by pointing out the informative role of alternative measures of measurement, while noting that these figures need to be monitored and monitored by appropriate bodies and institutions.

Aggregating performance measures considerably reduces the complexity of a performance evaluation system. This dissertation analyzes the nature and characteristics of the aggregation of performance measures in institutional settings of multiple tasks and multiple periods. In multi-task settings, the number of tasks restricts the feasibility of a statistically sufficient aggregation and the nature of an economically sufficient aggregation. Statistical sufficiency of aggregation can be achieved only by multi-dimensional aggregate measures, whose minimum dimensionality is given by the number of tasks. If the number of aggregate measures is less than the number of tasks, an economically sufficient aggregation incurs loss of information even if there is no loss of information through the likelihood ratio. The results support the use of multi-dimensional aggregate measures to preserve the information content of performance measures in multi-task agencies. In a multi-period setting, the inter-temporal correlations among performance measures restrict the feasibility of a statistically sufficient aggregation and the nature of an economically sufficient aggregation. When performance measures are inter-temporally correlated, there is no statistically sufficient aggregation and an economically sufficient aggregation of the basic measures depends on the effort level to induce. The optimal aggregation is characterized by the agent's characteristics and the economic situation of the agency as well as the statistical properties of performance measures. In a long-term contract with multiple tasks, the inter-temporal covariance risk has a monotonic impact on the endogenous allocation of effort through the optimal relative incentive rate. The inter-temporal covariance risk, as well as the within-period risk premium, prevents the first best allocation of effort from being endogenously achieved even if the first best allocation is feasible. / Accounting

Investment decisions grounded in personal values and societal norms has seen a growth in the last decades, to a point where large institutional investors are abstaining from certain industries that share a specific characteristic altogether. The affiliation with sinful industries that promote human vice is not viewed as socially responsible in the eyes of the public, a reason why socially responsible investment funds that screen out these companies has experienced an increase in popularity. This study sets out to investigate the performance of American sin stocks in an attempt to increase the awareness of how these shunned industries has performed. While the existing literature provides evidence which proves sin stocks outperforms the market, we will provide further evidence concentrating on a mix of industries previously not focused on. Additionally we will extend the observation period beyond what has been done in the past. In this study, the definition of sin incorporates the industries of alcohol, defense, gambling and tobacco, and investigates the performance of a survivorship-free sample of 159 companies between July 1973 and June 2012. As performance measure, the four factor model is employed to capture any abnormal performance in relation to the market with three additional risk factors. In addition, we set out to investigate the performance of the different industries individually, to find if there is any that acts as a driver of the performance. Further, we look into the persistency of the performance over time. We find that the sample outperforms the market with 5.8% annually, and where the tobacco industry stands out with the highest abnormal return, the other industries grouped together still produce significant outperformance. The sinful index examined in this degree project has shown persistent performance, with no obvious trends of growth or decline. Unlike what has been found in previous research, the sample has shown a substantial difference in performance depending on the weighting scheme applied, not only individually for the industries, but also collectively.

Šio darbo tikslas – įvertinti pacientų, persirgusių galvos smegenų insultu, prisitaikymą namuose pirmąją savaitę po reabilitacijos. Tyrimo uždaviniai: įvertinti pacientų, persirgusių galvos smegenų insultu, kasdienes veiklos sutrikimus išvykstant iš reabilitacijos; įvertinti veiklos sutrikimus namų aplinkoje pirmą savaitę po reabilitacijos; įvertinti veiklos sutrikimus namų aplinkoje, priklausomai nuo lyties, amžiaus, susirgimo pobūdžio ir gyvenamosios aplinkos. Tyrimas buvo atliktas VšĮ Šiaulių Apskrities Ligoninės, Fizinės medicinos ir reabilitacijos II-ame skyriuje ir pacientų namuose 2009-09 – 2010-02 mėn. Tyrime dalyvavo 55 pacientai, persirgę galvos smegenų insultu. Iš jų 36 (65,5%) moterys ir 19(34,5%) vyrai, amžiaus vidurkis 63,3±10,6 metų. 31 (65,9%) moteris persirgo smegenų infarktu ir 5 (62,5%) hemoragija. 16 (34,5%) vyrų persirgo smegenų infarktų ir 3(37,5) hemoragija. Pacientai buvo apklausti reabilitacijos pabaigoje ir pirmą savaitę po reabilitacijos namuose naudojant Kanadietišką Veiklos Vertinimo Testą (KVVT). Reabilitacijos pabaigoje buvo apklausti 55 pacientai, namuose atklausti 37 pacientai, su 18 pacientų nepavyko susisiekti. Vertinant veiklos sutrikimus KVVT, reabilitacijos pabaigoje, pacientai dažniausiai įvardino apsitarnavimo 62%, produktyviosios veiklos 22% ir laisvalaikio 16% veiklos sutrikimus. Reabilitacijos pabaigoje veiklos atlikimas ir pasitenkinimas atliekama veikla buvo sutrikę. Moterys veiklos atlikimą vidutiniškai įvertino 4,9±1,2 balais... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the research is: to evaluate adjustment at home firs weak after rehabilitation of the persons who suffer from stroke. The objectives of the research are: to evaluate the functional state and disorders of activity of patients who suffer from stroke at the end of rehabilitation; to evaluate the functional state and disorders of activity of patients who suffer from stroke at home; to evaluate the adjustment at home according to the sex, age, the nature of the disease and living environment. The research took place at a Šiauliai Comunity Hospital, Physical medicine and rehabilitation II-nd inpations departments in 2009-09 – 2010-02. 55 patients were examined. 19(34,5%) men and 36(65,6%) women took part in the research. average of age 63,3±10,6 year. 3(5,45%) men had a hemoragia and 16(29,1%) men had an ishemic stroke. 31(56,4%) women had an ishemic stroke and 5(9,1%) women had a hemoragia. Patiens was evaluate at the end of rehabilitation ant first weak after rehanilitation at home using Cannadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). 55 patient was evaluate at the end of rehabilitation, 37 petiens was evaluate at home ant with 18 patient could not be contacted. Evaluated activities disorder with COPM, patient usualy named self care 62%, productive activity 22% and leasure 16% activities disorder. Women performance average evaluate 4,9±1,2 point out of 10 possible points according to the COPM at the end of rehabilitation... [to full text]

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Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health disorders in adolescents. This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between anxiety symptoms and occupational performance in adolescents; no prior literature on this topic has been found. Adolescents ages 13 to 17 (N = 30) referred to anxiety services in a hospital setting were assessed. The five self-reported variables investigated included: (a) perception of occupational performance, (b) satisfaction with occupational performance, (c) levels of anxiety symptoms, (d) levels of depressive symptoms, and (e) stress levels. Occupational performance issues were identified using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. Significant positive correlations were found between perceptions of, and satisfaction with, occupational performance and anxiety symptoms in younger adolescents (ages 13.0 to 15.3), but not older adolescents (ages 15.4 to 17.9). The relationships between anxiety symptoms and occupational performance and satisfaction are complex and may be different for younger adolescents versus older adolescents and adults.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognised as important for the economic success of countries all over the world because of their contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), to innovation, to export revenue, to the provision of goods and services to society and large enterprises, to social stability, to employment creation, and to the improvement of economic welfare. These organisations operate within an economic environment characterised by volatility, highly demanding dynamism and tough competition, which often seriously threaten their performance and their survival. The South African business environment in general is constantly changing in the face of an unreceptive economic environment and a subtle political setting which breeds a highly competitive market. For SMEs to withstand the hazards of such a precarious and unfavourable competitive climate, they need to engage in market-oriented strategies. While market orientation research in large organisations has been studied etensively, little attention has been paid to the market orientation of SMEs. Market orientation models have been developed and tested only for developed countries, which recognise the substantial importance of market orientation in the modern business arena. Despite its importance, market orientation and its implementation and relationship with business performance has not been widely researched in developing economies. This need for a market orientation model that is applicable to developing countries underlies this research, the principal purpose of which is to develop a market orientation–business performance conceptual model and test it in a developing country setting. For this purpose, the researcher applied the market orientation constructs as guided by various proponents in the field. Market orientation was identified from the large body of literature and a conceptual framework of market orientation–business performance was proposed. The conceptual framework considered barriers to market orientation, determinants and enablers of market orientation and market orientation with its dimensions (customer emphasis, information generation, intelligence dissemination and intelligence responsiveness or taking action) and economic and non-economic performance as consequences. This framework was then tested in order to identify the link between barriers to market orientation, determinants of market orientation, overall market orientation and business performance. Such efforts have been observed in previous market orientation literature but those studies did not distinguish barriers from determinants. The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between market orientation and the performance of SMEs measured by financial and non-financial measures of business performance. It also sought to ascertain the barriers to market orientation and the determinants/enablers of market orientation and their relationship with market orientation. Another objective was to examine the extent to which SMEs in South Africa have adopted market-oriented practices. A quantitative method was used. Surveys were conducted with 273 SMEs respondents, which were identified using a convenience sampling method. Data from owners/managers of these SMEs were collected using structured questionnaires. This study is different from previous studies on various grounds. Firstly, this study on market orientation is particularly focused on SMEs. Secondly, this study considered barriers to market orientation and determinants of market orientation separately, as having two divergent effects on market orientation. Thirdly, this study considered both the economic and non-economic performance measures as business performance indicators, factorising all the dimensions and modelling the relationship structures. Finally, this study was conducted in a developing economy (South Africa) where limited market orientation studies have been carried out with emphasis on market orientation among SMEs. Quantitative research methods were used to arrive at a valid and convergent conclusion about market orientation and its relationship with business performance. For this purpose, quantitative survey data were obtained from officials of both marketing and non-marketing departments of SMEs in the Vaal Triangle (South Africa). The hypotheses of the study were tested using t-tests statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) goodness of fit. The findings of the study supported the hypotheses of the study and confirmed the applicability of the proposed market orientation framework. The findings also indicated that the market orientation of SMEs in South Africa is determined by four fundamental factors (top management emphasis, market-based reward system, inter-departmental connectedness and management risk posture). In addition, the findings identified four key barriers to market orientation (centralisation and formalisation, inter-departmental conflict, competitive intensity and turbulence). The study also found a significant effect of market orientation on business performance. The findings of this study are consistent with those of previous market orientation studies undertaken in developed countries. At the final stage, the first conceptual model of market orientation–business performance applicable to SMEs in a developing country (South Africa) was offered on the basis of the findings of this study. This conceptual model provides insights and groundwork for further research. Therefore, in order to verify its generic application, it is hoped that this model will be used as a starting point for further studies and be tested in other countries in the world, both developed and developing. / PhD (Business Management)|cNorth-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus|d2013

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health disorders in adolescents. This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between anxiety symptoms and occupational performance in adolescents; no prior literature on this topic has been found. Adolescents ages 13 to 17 (N = 30) referred to anxiety services in a hospital setting were assessed. The five self-reported variables investigated included: (a) perception of occupational performance, (b) satisfaction with occupational performance, (c) levels of anxiety symptoms, (d) levels of depressive symptoms, and (e) stress levels. Occupational performance issues were identified using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. Significant positive correlations were found between perceptions of, and satisfaction with, occupational performance and anxiety symptoms in younger adolescents (ages 13.0 to 15.3), but not older adolescents (ages 15.4 to 17.9). The relationships between anxiety symptoms and occupational performance and satisfaction are complex and may be different for younger adolescents versus older adolescents and adults.

abstract: Ensemble learning methods like bagging, boosting, adaptive boosting, stacking have traditionally shown promising results in improving the predictive accuracy in classification. These techniques have recently been widely used in various domains and applications owing to the improvements in computational efficiency and distributed computing advances. However, with the advent of wide variety of applications of machine learning techniques to class imbalance problems, further focus is needed to evaluate, improve and optimize other performance measures such as sensitivity (true positive rate) and specificity (true negative rate) in classification. This thesis demonstrates a novel approach to evaluate and optimize the performance measures (specifically sensitivity and specificity) using ensemble learning methods for classification that can be especially useful in class imbalanced datasets. In this thesis, ensemble learning methods (specifically bagging and boosting) are used to optimize the performance measures (sensitivity and specificity) on a UC Irvine (UCI) 130 hospital diabetes dataset to predict if a patient will be readmitted to the hospital based on various feature vectors. From the experiments conducted, it can be empirically concluded that, by using ensemble learning methods, although accuracy does improve to some margin, both sensitivity and specificity are optimized significantly and consistently over different cross validation approaches. The implementation and evaluation has been done on a subset of the large UCI 130 hospital diabetes dataset. The performance measures of ensemble learners are compared to the base machine learning classification algorithms such as Naive Bayes, Logistic Regression, k Nearest Neighbor, Decision Trees and Support Vector Machines. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2017

O presente estudo tem por objetivo investigar as características e implicações da divulgação voluntária das medidas de desempenho não-GAAP \"EBITDA\" e \"EBITDA Ajustado\" em relatórios financeiros preparados conforme IFRS no cenário corporativo brasileiro. A principal preocupação relacionada a divulgações voluntárias é se de fato estas informações garantem a qualidade do processo decisório dos usuários. A natureza do estudo é empírico-teórica com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. Os dados documentais foram extraídos de três fontes: Thomson Reuters; relatórios anuais e press releases disponibilizados no site de cada companhia; e formulários de referência disponibilizados no site da CVM. A amostra selecionada é a do índice IBrX 100 e os dados analisados são dos períodos trimestrais e anuais de 2014 e 2015. Para coleta das percepções sobre o uso e divulgação das métricas estudadas, aplica-se o questionário semiestruturado com sócios de firmas BigFour. Os principais resultados qualitativos sugerem, em linhas gerais: que o uso e divulgação das medidas estudadas tem ocorrido de forma ampla, consistente e regular; que 79% dos ajustes adicionais efetuados pelas companhias por meio do EBITDA Ajustado são consequência de princípios e regras contábeis vigentes conforme IFRS; que os ajustes adicionais mais comuns efetuados pelas companhias são Impairment, Provisões, Correção de Erros e Equivalência Patrimonial; e que o uso e divulgação das medidas investigadas se faz necessário uma vez que a contabilidade não é suficiente para prover aos seus usuários uma medida que forneça o desempenho isolado da atividade operacional de uma companhia. Pode-se concluir com base nos resultados quantitativos deste estudo que empresas de maior porte, que aderem a níveis de governança corporativa e que possuem receitas líquidas menores, estão mais propensas a divulgar as medidas \"EBITDA\" e \"EBITDA Ajustado\". As evidências advindas deste estudo podem ser úteis para colaborar com a discussão atual de órgãos reguladores e normatizadores ao apontar o papel informativo de medidas alternativas de mensuração, mas não deixando de alertar que estes números necessitam ser acompanhados e fiscalizados pelos entes e instituições cabíveis. / The present study aims to investigate the characteristics and implications of the voluntary disclosure of non-GAAP performance measures \"EBITDA\" and \"Adjusted EBITDA\" in financial reports prepared under IFRS in the Brazilian corporate scenario. The main concern related to voluntary disclosures is whether this information actually guarantees the quality of the user\'s decision-making process. The nature of the study is empirical-theoretical with a qualitative and quantitative approach. Documentary data were extracted from three sources: Thomson Reuters; annual reports and press releases made available on each company\'s website; and reference forms available on the CVM website. The selected sample is the IBrX 100 index and the data analyzed are from the quarterly and annual periods of 2014 and 2015. To collect the perceptions about the use and disclosure of the metrics studied, the semi-structured questionnaire is applied with partners of BigFour firms. The main qualitative results suggest, in general lines: that the use and disclosure of the measures studied has occurred in a broad, consistent and regular way; that 79% of the additional adjustments made by the companies through Adjusted EBITDA are a consequence of accounting principles and rules according to IFRS; that the most common additional adjustments made by the companies are Impairment, Provisions, Errors and Equity Method; and that the use and disclosure of the measures investigated becomes necessary since accounting is not sufficient to provide its users with a measure that provides the isolated performance of a company\'s operating activity. It can be concluded from the quantitative results of this study that larger companies, which adhere to levels of corporate governance and have lower net revenues, are more likely to disclose the measures \"EBITDA\" and \"Adjusted EBITDA\". Evidence from this study may be useful to collaborate with the current discussion of regulators and regulators by pointing out the informative role of alternative measures of measurement, while noting that these figures need to be monitored and monitored by appropriate bodies and institutions.