Automobile use is associated with significant problems such as air pollution and obesity. Decisions to use the automobile or its alternatives, including walk, bicycle, and public transit, are believed to be associated with urban form. However, in contrast to the hypothesis that compact urban form significantly reduces automobile travel, previous studies reported only a modest effect on travel behavior. These studies, largely built on microeconomic utility theory, are not sufficient for assessing the effect of compactness, for several reasons: (1) The studies postulate that travel invokes only disutility, but travel may also provide intrinsic utility or benefits insomuch as people travel for its own sake; (2) the studies have traditionally focused on how urban compactness reduces the distance between trip origin and destination and accordingly reduces trip time, but urban compactness also increases congestion and reduces trip speed, and thus increases trip time; and (3) the studies have mostly examined automobile commuting, but people travel for various purposes, using different travel modes, and the impact of urban compactness on the utility of non-automobile non-commuting travel has not been duly examined. On this ground, to better explain the effects that urban compactness has on travel behavior, this dissertation refines the concept of travel utility using two additions to the microeconomic utility theory: activity-based utility theory of derived travel demand and approaches to positive utility of travel. Accordingly, it designs a conceptual model that specifies travel utility as an intermediary between urban compactness and travel behavior and examines the behavior associated with and utility derived from travel mode choices for alternative purposes of travel. Twenty individual models are derived from the conceptual model and tested within the context of Seoul, Korea, using a confirmatory approach of structural equation modeling and data from geographic information systems and a structured sample survey, which is initially designed and validated by semi-structured interviews and subsequent statistical tests. By comparing the individual models, this research concludes that the urban compactness effect on travel behavior, represented by trip frequencies and supplemented by mode shares, is better explained when travel utility is considered and if travel purposes are separately examined. Major empirical findings are that urban compactness affects travel behavior mainly by increasing the benefits of travel in comparison to its modest effect on the cost reduction and people’s behavioral response to urban compactness is to shift modes of commuting travel, decrease travel for shopping, and increase travel for leisure. These purpose-specific findings have implications for transportation planners and public health planners by assisting them in linking plans and policies concerning urban compactness to travel purposes.

PPSUS / A gestão de custos, em qualquer organização, proporciona uma série de benefícios, como a segurança na boa administração dos recursos, porém é pouco utilizada na área hospitalar pública, o que se configura como um paradoxo, frente à complexidade da organização hospitalar e à situação de subfinanciamento da saúde. Sendo assim, a questão de pesquisa que norteia este estudo é: Qual a contribuição de um modelo de custeio para a governança pública nas unidades hospitalares próprias do Estado do Paraná? Este estudo tem como objetivo propor um modelo de custeio para a gestão de custos em hospitais públicos administrados diretamente pelo Estado, como proposta de aprimoramento para controle, transparência, orçamentação e planejamento das ações estratégicas de saúde. Tal estudo mostra-se relevante, uma vez que a área hospitalar é bastante complexa, tornando-se ferramenta útil para tomada de decisão sobre investimentos, alterações de perfil de atendimento, utilização de capacidade ociosa, ampliações de serviços, entre outros. O sistema de saúde público brasileiro necessita de máxima eficiência, tendo em vista os direitos universais garantidos pela Constituição Federal. Assim, justifica-se pela complexidade hospitalar, um cenário de elevada evolução de custos, seja pela mudança do perfil demográfico e epidemiológico, como o envelhecimento da população brasileira e o crescente número de doenças crônicas, bem como pela crescente evolução tecnológica e seu incremento acelerado. Trata-se de uma pesquisa-ação com base no levantamento de resultados de pesquisas similares para análise da aplicação do modelo de custeio para organizações hospitalares, bem como a análise empírica das informações existentes em dois hospitais selecionados. Com base nos conceitos teóricos e empíricos da aplicação da metodologia de custo por absorção, gera elementos para melhor compreensão do problema para desenvolver o modelo de custeio. A avaliação dos resultados se constitui em importante instrumento de gestão dos hospitais e da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde, pois permite aos dirigentes maior segurança diante das dificuldades e desafios impostos nesse segmento, caso contrário há uma restrição ainda maior na gestão, no financiamento e operacionalização dos hospitais públicos. / Cost management brings about several benefits to any type of organization, such as the certainty that resources are well managed, but it is not much used by the public hospital sector, what is a paradox seeing that hospital management is complex and public health faces an under-financing situation. Based on the aforementioned facts, the present study aims at answering the following question: What is the contribution of costing models to public governance in the State of Paraná public hospitals? So, the study objective is to propose a costing management model addressed to improve health strategy control, transparency, budget and planning actions in public hospitals directly managed by the State of Paraná. Since the hospital sector is complex, our study is highly relevant as a helping tool to: investment decision-making processes, changes of healthcare profile, use of spare capacity and service improvement, among others. Considering the universal rights ensured by the Brazilian Federal Constitution, the country public health system needs to show maximum efficiency. In addition to hospital complexity, the sector increased costs are justified by the change of demographic and epidemiological profiles, Brazilian population aging, chronic disease growth, increased technological evolution and development. The research/action is based on the results of similar researches addressed to analyze the application of costing models addressed to hospital organization, as well as on the empiric analysis of data existing in two hospitals selected by the study. By applying the theoretical and empiric costing absorption methodology, our study provides elements to help understanding the problems involved in the costing model development. Result assessment is an important tool which permits Hospital and the State Health Department managers to deal with the sector challenges and difficulties more easily, since it helps lessen the restrictions imposed to public hospital management, financing and operation.

This study examined the nature and extent of relations between Management of Technology [MOT] and cost management. It explores the roles of competencies and competency measurement in these relations and its associations with company performance. The problem statement asks how the MOT community deals with cost management, whether MOT-based cost management competencies can be isolated and measured, whether a tool for measurement can be created, tested and validated and indeed whether it can be used to assess relations between MOT-based cost management competencies and company performance. To answer these questions, a MOT-based cost management competency index is formulated, consisting of problem statements representing MOT-based cost management insights, knowledge and practices. Designed in the format of a typical research survey, the index is used to source data from sampled companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange [JSE]. Although too small a sample to generalise about the population, sufficient data is collected and processed with statistical software programs. A second set of variables, about financial performance of the responding companies, consists of Asset Turnover [ATO] and Return on Assets Managed [ROAM]. Data for these variables is sourced from their annual financial statements and processed into ATO and ROAM indicators. The combined research data set is used to critically describe statistical qualities of variables such as ATO, ROAM, MOT-based cost management competencies of company executives, their education and exposure to the executive management teams in their respective organizations. The research data is subsequently subjected to correlation analysis, as foundation for hypothesis testing. Among the relationships described by correlation analysis and warranting further examination with regression analysis, are associations between MOT-based cost management competencies and ATO and between Education and MOT-based cost management competencies. The former association is found to be not significant, having the research hypothesis rejected. A significant association between Education and MOT-based cost management competencies is indeed found. Utilizing regression equations yielded by the analyses, the predictive capacity of regression analysis is used to demonstrate results of interventions in those associations postulated in the research hypotheses. The study concludes that it achieved a qualified success in its first objective, which was to formulate a MOT-based cost management competency index, and to demonstrate its application as measurement and management tool on executive managers of JSE-listed companies. The study failed in its second objective, which was to demonstrate a significant association between MOT-based cost management competencies and financial performance of sampled companies. Critical perspectives on the data and the associations tested reveal important shortcomings in the research. These perspectives do though create opportunities for refinement of the MOT-based cost management competency index as measurement and management tool, validation of its status, and indeed demonstration of its business value to the MOT and business community in particular. In closure, the study was meant as a contribution to the discourse on a credo for MOT and the MOT body of knowledge, and it subjects itself to critical analysis by the research community so as to establish whether it succeeded in indeed making such a contribution. / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

Museums and schools evolved as the definition of the concept of education to describe a lifelong process of developing knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that take place not only in the classroom, but also in a variety of formal and informal contexts and settings. In order to fulfil and extend the potential of the partnership, museum educators and school teachers should be assisted to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the museum-school collaboration. They should learn the difference between museums and classrooms. When the Botswana National Museum was established in 1968, the Botswana government aspired to avail information relating to Botswana customs, indigenous knowledge system and values to Botswana‘s future citizens, with the hope that the information and artefacts collected at the time would retell the story of Botswana to learners and the public alike. The Botswana National Museum, through its educational programmes, has the capability to help educate learners; make teaching and learning an exciting undertaking; and provide the opportunities for hands-on activities and interaction with real objects. In order to address the research question posed for this study, the researcher conducted open-ended interviews with a sample comprising 40 participants: 10 teachers, 10 learners, 10 museum employees and 10 curriculum developers. The data collected from the interviews were decoded and presented in narrative form. The responses were presented using three identified categories: the curriculum development process in Botswana; the typical learner activities in the classroom and in the Botswana National Museum; and collaboration between the Botswana National Museum and schools. The data analysis revealed that the curriculum development process in Botswana was exclusively done by curriculum developers. Learners, teachers and museum employees were not involved. The Botswana National Museum‘s education programmes are not familiar to all role-players. All role-players were positive regarding a possible collaboration with the Botswana National Museum. Generic and specific recommendations were put forward to this end. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the costs of a organization with fictitious name PROFIL Ltd. for the period 2007 - 2012 and then propose measures to improve the performance of the company by optimizing various cost types. The theoretical part describes the traditional tools and modern methods of cost management. The application part is focused on the characteristics of organization, evaluation of its financial situation during the reporting period, analysis of cost structures, analysis of break-even point, estimation of cost functions and analysis of organization?s individual cost items, followed by drawing conclusions and action plans.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In despite of the great advantages of adopting computer systems for storing patient's information in hospitals and clinics, such systems are adopted with restrictions in these institutions. Some studies indicate that the rejection of such systems by the clinicians is greats due to computing not consider the particularities of the activities performed by the user in the clinical field. Considering this background, the project ClinicSpace aims to build a prototype tool to help health professionals in performing of their activities, using concepts and technologies of ubiquitous computing, which suggests that the computation must be fully integrated into the environment, disappearing from the user's consciousness and assisting him in their daily activities. This paper proposes an architecture called pEHS - Pervasive Electronic Healthcare System - a electronic health system inserted in the ClinicSpace's proposal, where the computing is oriented to clinical activities and the applications do interact with the ubiquitous environment through context information. The contribution of this paper is the proposal of a new software architecture in which pEHS modular applications follows the medical activities, making the system to adapt to the clinician's activities. In the architecture there are two points in evidence: the possibility of access to any information from the patient's health history and the adaptation of pEHS applications to the context information at runtime. The prototyped architecture will be used in the ClinicSpace project to build the applications needed for the clinicians helping them to carry out their activities. / Apesar das grandes vantagens existentes na adoção de sistemas computacionais para armazenamento das informações do paciente em ambientes hospitalares, tais sistemas são adotados com restrições em hospitais. Estudos indicam que a rejeição destes pelos clínicos é grande devido à computação não levar em consideração as características das atividades desempenhadas pelo usuário e sua forma particular de o fazê-lo. Tendo em vista essa necessidade, o projeto ClinicSpace tem por objetivo prototipar uma ferramenta para auxílio ao profissional de saúde na realização de suas atividades, utilizando conceitos e tecnologias da Computação Ubíqua, a qual propõe que a computação deve ser totalmente integrada ao ambiente de forma a desaparecer da consciência do usuário e auxiliá-lo na realização de suas atividades diárias. Este trabalho propõe uma arquitetura chamada pEHS Pervasive Electronic Healthcare System sistema eletrônicos de saúde inserido na proposta do ClinicSpace, onde a computação é orientada a atividades clínicas e as aplicações interagem com o ambiente ubíquo através das informações de contexto. A contribuição deste trabalho é uma proposta nova de arquitetura de software na qual as aplicações modulares do pEHS acompanham as atividades médicas, fazendo com que o sistema adapte-se às atividades do profissional. Destacam-se dois pontos da arquitetura:a possibilidade de acesso a qualquer informação do histórico de saúde do paciente e a adaptação das aplicações pEHS às informações de contexto em tempo de execução. A arquitetura prototipada será utilizada no andamento do projeto ClinicSpace para a construção das aplicações necessárias aos profissionais de saúde para a realização de suas atividades de forma personalizada.

O objetivo desta pesquisa é validar a hipótese de que o minerador de dados pode ser utilizado como uma ferramenta para previsão dos padrões de viagens, inclusive sob mudança comportamental dos indivíduos. Para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho foi adotada uma postura científica indutiva, utilizando como dados as informações contidas nas duas pesquisas origem-destino realizadas em 1987 e 1997 pelo METRÔ-SP na região metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP). Os dados da primeira pesquisa e as mudanças comportamentais dos indivíduos observadas no período de 1987 a 1997 forneceram as condições para elaboração do cenário futuro a ser usado para projeção da demanda por transporte para 1997. Aplicando a Árvore de Decisão e Classificação, uma das técnicas de mineração de dados disponível no software S-PLUS 6.1, foram obtidas as distribuições das probabilidades das distribuições dos padrões de viagens encadeadas relacionadas a cada grupo homogêneo de viajantes urbanos. Estas probabilidades foram aplicadas aos indivíduos da amostra de 1997, estimando o número de viajantes urbanos por padrão de viagem encadeada em cada uma das 361 zonas de tráfego da RMSP. Os valores estimados pelo modelo foram comparados com os dados observados em 1997 pelo teste estatístico não-paramétrico de Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S). Ao final, concluiu-se que a hipótese proposta foi confirmada em 92,2% das zonas de tráfego analisadas / The main aim of this work is to submit to a validation test the hypothesis that data mining technique can be used as a tool for forecasting the trip-chaining patterns including individual behavioral changes. For the project development, an inductive scientific method point of view was adopted, using as a data resource the information contained in two origin-destination surveys carried out by METRÔ-SP in the São Paulo metropolitan area (SPMA) in 1987 and 1997. The first survey data and the individual behavioral changes observed in the period from 1987 to 1997 provided the information to build a future scenario to predict the 1997’s travel demand. Applying the Classification and Regression Tree which is a data mining technique available in S-PLUS 6.1 software package, it were obtained the probabilities distribution of the trip-chaining patterns and set the contextual socioeconomics characteristics of the urban travelers. These probabilities were applied to the 1997 individuals belonging to the sample collected in 1997 to estimate the number of urban travelers by trip-chaining patterns for each of the 361 traffic zones of SMPA. The estimated results from the model were compared with the real values of 1997 data set using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) non-parametric statistic test. The main conclusion is that the hypothesis was confirmed in 92.2% of the SPMA traffic zones

As questões ambientais são variáveis estratégicas para as organizações do século XXI, pois pressionadas pela legislação ambiental com nível de exigência crescente - exigindo responsabilidades cada vez maiores para as fases finais do ciclo de vida dos produtos - e a sociedade não mais aceitando os custos dos impactos ambientais causados pela ação industrial - as externalidades - impulsionam as empresas a melhorar o desempenho ambiental de seus produtos e processos. É neste ambiente de mudanças que se torna necessário aos gestores e àqueles que tomam decisões conhecer e evidenciar os gastos ambientais em todo o ciclo de vida dos produtos comercializados. Por estes motivos apresentados é que este trabalho trata da evidenciação dos gastos ambientais no ciclo de vida do produto através da aplicação do método de custeio baseado em atividades e subsidiada pela realização de uma pesquisa-ação em uma empresa do setor eletrônico. A escolha do setor eletrônico se deve ao fato de que ao longo dos últimos 5 anos a legislação ambiental internacional de forma impositiva obrigou as companhias a alterar a composição de produtos - pelo banimento de diversas substâncias tóxicas, e a mudar processos - instituição obrigatória de índices de reciclagem por exemplo. Toda esta revolução foi acompanhada de perto pelo pesquisador, por isso a escolha da pesquisa-ação como metodologia, pois propiciou a modelagem de uma proposta de um método para a evidenciação dos gastos ambientais em todo o ciclo de vida do produto. / The environmental questions are strategical variables for the organizations in this century, therefore pressured by the increasing requirement level of the environmental legislation - which demands more responsibilities from the final phases of the products lifecycle - and the society, which is no longer accepting the costs of environmental impacts caused by the industrial actions - the externalities -, stimulating the companies to improve their products and processes environmental performance. This changing situation is the place where managers and other decision makers are asked to know and to evidence the environmental costs in all their traded products. It is because of these reasons that this work deals with the discovery of evidences of environmental costs in products lifecycle, by means of an application of the activity-based cost method, carried out according to the action research methodology in a company of the electronic segment. The choice of the electronic segment is due to the fact that in the last five years the international environmental legislation compelled these companies to change their products composition - by means of banishment of diverse toxic substances, and also to change their processes - by means of the institution of higher recycling rates, for example. All this revolution was closely followed by the researcher. This fact can explain the choice of action research methodology, which provided the proposal of a method for the evidence discovery of environment costs in the product lifecycle.

平衡計分卡（Balanced Scorecard,BSC）被認為是可以解決企業策略執行力不足的最佳良方，藉由與公司策略連結的策略性衡量指標，驅動企業策略之執行。而作業價值管理（Activity Value Management,AVM）為吳安妮教授經過長年對作業基礎成本制度（Activity-Based Costing,ABC）的持續研究及實務運用，進而提出的系統制度，隨著企業營運即時輸出各種回饋資訊及管理報表，確實輔助各管理階層做出營運上的各種決策。平衡計分卡與作業基礎成本制度之結合與應用，在國內外皆有相關研究，而作業價值管理此一嶄新的系統制度尚未有研究探討其與平衡計分卡之結合內容。 本研究係針對國內中小企業中一食品機械製造公司進行個案研究，伴隨個案公司的步伐導入平衡計分卡及作業價值管理，並進一步探討兩者結合後所擬定的策略性衡量指標，如何使得績效管理更有助於個案公司策略之執行，並期盼研究結果可以作為未來中小企業結合兩制度之參考。 / Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is considered the best solution to solve the lack of operating capability within enterprises. By connecting corporate strategy with strategic KPIs, BSC stimulates the operation of strategies. After years of study and practice of Activity-Based Costing (ABC), Prof. Anne Wu has developed the system of Activity Value Management (AVM). With the prompt feedback and management reports generated from corporate operation, AVM assists all kinds of decision making by lower through upper management echelons. Despite that there are domestic and international studies of combination and application of BSC and ABC, there are yet studies combine BSC with the advanced AVM system. This research is based on a case study of a medium-sized domestic food machinery manufacturing enterprise, through tracking the process of which importing both AVM and BSC; meanwhile studying the development of strategic KPIs, and how it benefits performance management which supports the operation of enterprise strategy; longing for that henceforth, the result of this study to be used as reference for small and medium-sized enterprises which combine the two systems.

The diploma thesis deals with the definition, measurement and disclosure requirements for products arising from operating activities of companies. Such requirements are con-sidered from the view of external and internal users of accounting, thus how they are reg-ulated in a system of financial, tax and management accounting. The thesis includes de-scription of the defined issue and a comparative analysis of financial accounting which is supplemented by tax implications in the Czech Republic and management account-ing. Besides it compares the legislative requirements of internationally respected ac-counting standards IAS/IFRS and US GAAP with the requirements of the Czech account-ing legislation and hence with the legislative requirements of the European Union. Based on comparative analysis carried out, this work suggests eventual future adjustments of the Czech accounting legislation.