Some of the largest United States bankruptcies of publicly-traded non-financial firms have occurred within the last decade. The continuing need to improve bankruptcy prediction has generated numerous research studies utilizing various prediction models. The purpose of this study is to test the usefulness of the multiple discriminant, probit, and artificial neural network (ANN) models in predicting bankruptcy in the United States textile-related industry. Financial data is examined for 47 bankrupt and 104 non-bankrupt publicly-traded firms in the textile-related industry during the time period 1998-2004, which includes the events of the Asian currency crisis and increased competition from China. Models developed by Altman (1968), Altman (1983), Zmijewski (1984) are compared to ANNs based upon each of these models. A comparison to an ANN including all of the ratios of the previous models and variables for firm size and domestic sales is also made. The Altman (1968) model and ANN 68 model are found to have the higher predictive power for one and two years prior to bankruptcy, respectively, for bankrupt firms. The ANN 84 model and the ANN 83 model have the highest correct classification results for nonbankrupt firms for the entire time period. Solvency and leverage variables appear to have the most impact on the bankruptcy prediction of textile-related firms. The additional variables of firm size and domestic sales are not found to improve the predictive accuracy. This study supports the continued use of the original Altman (1968) model for predicting bankruptcy in a manufacturing industry. Simultaneous utilization of the ANN 83 model to predict nonbankrupt firms is also suggested since the majority of the Altman (1968) variables can be used and the higher potential for improved predictability. This study may be extended to years after 2004 with consideration given to quarterly information, NAICs codes, and leverage variable alternatives.

Bakgrund: Det nyfödda barnet är en patient som är särskilt känslig för förändringar i kroppstemperaturen och risken är stor för både hypotermi och hypertermi. För att undvika ökad risk för sjuklighet och dödlighet är det därför viktigt att det nyfödda barnets kroppstemperaturen hålls inom gränserna 36,5–37,5 ℃. Detta är en utmaning inom neonatalvården och utmaningen blir större i och med sjunkande gestationsålder och födelsevikt. Motiv: Att med hitta en fungerande metod för beröringsfri temperaturmätning så att barnet ej störs vid kontroll av kroppstemperaturen. Syfte: Attstudera överensstämmelsen mellan beröringsfri infraröd termometer och två vedertagna metoder, axill- och rektalmätning av kroppstemperatur på nyfödda barn som vårdas på en neonatal intensivvårdsavdelning. Syftet var också att studera om överenstämmelsen mellan metoderna skiljer sig om barnet vårdas i kuvös, öppenvårdskuvös eller säng.Design: En prospektiv studie med upprepade mätningar. Metod: 35 barn inkluderades i studien och temperaturmätningar genomfördes vid tre mättillfällen med de tre olika metoderna. Datan analyserades enligt Bland-Altmans analysmetod för att bedöma överensstämmelse mellan kliniska mätmetoder. Resultat: Denna studie visade att det fanns överensstämmelsen mellan infraröd mätning och axillmätning, men att dess 95%-iga konfidensintervall var för vida för att kunna accepteras i klinisk praxis. Överensstämmelse mellan infraröd- och rektaltemperaturmätning samt mellan axill- och rektaltemperaturmätning kunde inte påvisas. Konklusion: Kroppstemperaturmätning med beröringsfri infraröd termometer är en tilltalande metod för temperaturmätning hos nyfödda barn med tanke på dess fördelar. Metodutveckling och mer forskning med större urval krävs dock för att användning av infraröd temperaturmätning inom neonatal intensivvård ska kunna etableras.

Purpose: To investigate if Altman´s Z´-score model, which calculates financial distress, can be applied on companies established in Sweden and if the financial crisis in 2008 made previously healthy companies go bankrupt. Methodology: Quantitative studies with a positivistic foundation. Empirical data will be collected in order to examine if there is generalizability among the studied objects. Conclusions will be made by comparing the empirical data with the theoretical foundation. Financial distress in firms will be measured. Theoretical perspectives: Altman´s Z´-score model, designed to predict financial distress in private firms. Empirical foundation: A selection of 93 private firms that have gone bankrupt in the years 2008, 2009 or 2010. The firms selected all have a turnover that exceeds 20 million SEK. The years examined will be 2005 to 2009. Conclusion: As this study is carried out, the conclusion is that Altman´s Z´-score model cannot be applied on companies established in Sweden.

O filme Short Cuts - Cenas da Vida (1993), do diretor norte-americano Robert Altman (1925-2006), foi baseado numa coletânea de contos do escritor Raymond Carver (1938- 1988). Nosso trabalho tem por objetivo o estudo dos modos pelos quais são figurados, no filme de Altman, os processos de virtualização da realidade e de fragmentação sóciohistórica (bem como suas possíveis causas) reinantes na sociedade contemporânea norteamericana e facilmente reconhecíveis em outras sociedades do mundo globalizado, inclusive na brasileira. Short Cuts se passa nos subúrbios da cidade de Los Angeles, metrópole socialmente fragmentada, caracterizada pela invasão da mídia em todos os domínios e assolada pela violência. Procuramos fazer um levantamento da fortuna crítica escrita sobre o filme e percebemos que os críticos se mostraram parcialmente equivocados em suas interpretações pela utilização de categorias inapropriadas para interpretá-lo, posto que ele está estruturado com base em preceitos épicos, ao invés de dramáticos, como a maioria da crítica pressupôs. Em seguida, tentamos analisar, a partir da tradição seguida por teóricos como Walter Benjamin, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Peter Szondi e Susan Willis, dentre outros, determinados aspectos do filme que demonstram não apenas a ideologia dominante e as crises cíclicas enfrentadas pelo sistema capitalista de produção, como também o desejo pela coletividade. Altman, valendo-se de técnicas como a rima visual e a filmagem através de superfícies, procura mostrar as conexões inevitáveis entre personagens que acreditam estar isoladas umas das outras, demonstrando, assim, o caráter ideológico da virtualização e da fragmentação. / Directed by Robert Altman (1925-2006), the film Short Cuts (1993) was based on a compilation of short stories written by Raymond Carver (1938-1988). Our work\'s objective is to study the means through which the processes of reality\'s virtualization and sociohistorical fragmentation, largely diffused in contemporary societies, are figured in Altman\'s film. Short Cuts is set on the suburbs of Los Angeles, a socially fragmented metropolis, characterized by the media invasion in all domains and fraught with violence. We have attempted to gather some thoughts that the critics have expressed toward the film, and we have noticed that their interpretations have proven to be partially mistaken, due to the use of improper categories to interpret it, considering that Altman\'s film is structured upon epic categories rather than dramatic ones, unlike most critics presupposed. We have also tried to analyze, based on the tradition followed by theoreticians such as Walter Benjamin, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Peter Szondi and Susan Willis, to name a few, certain aspects of the film that not only demonstrate the dominating ideology and the cyclic crises faced by the capitalist mode of production, but also the desire for collectivity. Through techniques such as the visual rhyme and the filming through surfaces, Altman attempts to show the inevitable connections between characters who believe to be isolated from each other, thus demonstrating the ideological essence of both virtualization and fragmentation.

Lançado em 1975, Nashville é uma das últimas produções de um período da cinematografia norte-americana conhecido como Nova Hollywood ou Renascença Hollywoodiana. Tomando a capital da música country nos EUA como objeto de crítica e pano de fundo espacial da narrativa, o filme reflete sobre problemas políticos e sociais de seu tempo. A tese que orienta o presente trabalho é a de que a imagem da História evocada em sua narração só foi possível porque o diretor e seus colaboradores fizeram um esforço consciente para apropriar-se do repertório fílmico industrial de técnicas, formas e até mesmo clichês, refuncionalizando-o de modo a torná-lo adequado à expressão de sua visão crítica. O resultado é, ao mesmo tempo, um retrato dialético dos EUA no início dos anos 1970, uma prova da possibilidade da encenação épica no contexto industrial e um exemplo de resistência cultural a partir da organização produtiva dos trabalhadores do cinema. / Launched in 1975, Nashville is one of the last productions of a period in American cinema known as the New Hollywood or Hollywood Renaissance. Taking the capital of country music in the USA as the object of criticism and spatial backdrop of its narrative, the film reflects upon social and political problems of its time. The thesis that guides the present study is that the image of history evoked by its narration was possible only because the director and his collaborators made a conscious effort to apropriate the repertoire of industrial filmic techniques, forms and even clichés, refunctioning it to make it suitable to the expression of their critical point of view. The result is, all at the same time, a dialectical picture of the USA at the beginning of the 1970s, concrete evidence of the possibility of epic mise-en-scène in the industrial context and an example of cultural resistance built upon the productive organization of cinema workers.

Problem: Konkurser drar med sig höga kostnader på olika sätt, och genom åren har många försök gjorts att finna modeller som kan förutse konkurser och därigenom undvika dem. Några av de mest beprövade modellerna är Altmans olika Z-scoremodeller, som genom åren visat olika resultat. Allt fler företag blir också verksamma inom tjänstesektorn, och forskningen menar att dessa företag skiljer sig från tillverkande företag när det gäller dess nyckeltal, vilket alltså borde påverka möjligheterna att förutse konkurser enligt de modeller som idag finns. Syfte: Kontrollera huruvida Altmans Z´´-scoremodell fungerar på små- och medelstora tjänsteföretag i Sverige, men även om korrelation mellan ett företags kreditbetyg och dess Z´´-score föreligger. Metod: Uppsatsen är skriven utifrån ett positivistiskt synsätt med deduktiv ansats, och bygger på kvantitativ sekundärdata. Analyser görs genom hypotesprövning. Slutsats: Altmans Z´´-scoremodell fungerar dåligt på tjänsteföretag inom segmentet små- och medelstora företag i Sverige. Resultatet blir detsamma, även om modellen tillämpas på    tillverkande företag och handelsföretag. Däremot går det se skillnad på nyckeltal i företag försatta i konkurs och friska företag, bland annat genom att konkursföretag har sämre lönsamhet, balanslikviditet och skuldsättningsgrad. Fortsatt forskning: Forskningen går isär när det gäller möjligheterna att förutse konkurser, och det finns fortfarande många aspekter att pröva. Förslag på fortsatt forskning är därför att undersöka hur nyckeltalen verkligen skiljer sig åt, och om det därigenom är möjligt att undvika konkurser. Ytterligare alternativ kan vara att undersöka variablerna i Z´´-scoremodellen, och eventuellt justera dessa för bättre utfall. / Problem: Bankruptcy is associated with a high cost in different ways, and over the years, many attempts have been made to find models that can predict failures and thru that avoid them. Some of the most proven models are Altmans Z-score in various forms, which over the years have shown different results. More and more companies work with services, and research says that these companies differ from manufacturing companies when it comes to its economic ratios, which should affect the possibilities in predicting bankruptcy according to today available models. Purpose: Check whether the Altman Z´´-score model works on small- and medium-sized services companies in Sweden, but also check if correlation exist between a company's credit rating and its Z´´-score. Method: The thesis is written with a positivist and deductive approach, based on quantitative secondary data. Analyses are made by hypothesis testing. Conclusion: Altman's Z´´-score does not work on small- and medium-sized service companies in Sweden. The result is the same, even if the model is applied to manufacturing and trading companies. However, it is possible to see differences between bankrupt companies and healthy companies. Some ratios that show differences are profitability, balance sheet liquidity and leverage, which all are lower in bankrupt companies. Continued research: Researchers are divided when it comes to the possibilities to predict bankruptcy, and there are still many aspects to consider. Suggestions for continued researchis to examine how ratios really differ, and if it is thru that is possible to avoid bankruptcy. Another angle might be to examine the variables of the Z´´-score-model, and maybe adjust them for more accurate result.

Bakgrund: Många företag går i konkurs varje år vilket är förknippade med kostnader för de enskilda intressenterna och för samhället i stort. För att kunna vidta eventuella åtgärder innan konkursen är ett faktum är det av intresse att veta om någon av de modeller som forskare tagit fram för att förutspå konkurser faktiskt fungerar. Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att ta reda på om det går att applicera någon av ett urval av etablerade konkursmodeller på svenska industri- och tillverkningsföretag. Teori: Studien kommer att testa tre olika forskares modeller och metoder: Altmans, Platts och Platts samt Pompes och Bilderbeeks. Metod: I denna studie kommer enbart en deduktiv forskningsansats att användas och datainsamlingen är kvantitativ då nyckeltal hämtas från de aktuella företagens årsredovisningar. Urvalet baseras på de företag som ansökte om konkurs under år 2011 och de som representerar kontrollgruppen har slumpmässigt valts ut bland de företag inom avgränsningen som inte gått i konkurs det aktuella året. Resultat och slutsats: Altmans och Platts och Platts modeller visar sig inte vara applicerbara på svenska företag. Dock är vissa av Pompes och Bilderbeeks nyckeltal tillämpliga till att använda för konkursprognostisering för svenska företag. / Background: Companies are going bankrupt every year which is associated with costs for individual parties with interests in the company and for society in general. To be able to take any action before bankruptcy is a fact, it is interesting to know if any of the models that scientists developed to predict bankruptcies actually works. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether it is possible to apply a selection of the established bankruptcy models on Swedish manufacturing companies. Theory: The study will test three different researchers' models and methods: Altman's, Platt's and Platt's, as well as Pompe's and Bilderbeek's. Methodology: In this study, only a deductive research approach will be used and the data collection is quantitative since the ratios are obtained from the relevant companies' financial statements. The selection is based on the companies that filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and the firms which represent the control group were selected at random among the companies within the delimitation that didn't go bankrupt during the current year. Result and conclusion: Altmans and Platts and Platts models turn out not to be applicable on Swedish companies. Some of Pompes and Bilderbeeks ratios are relevant for use in bankruptcy prediction for Swedish companies though.

Lançado em 1975, Nashville é uma das últimas produções de um período da cinematografia norte-americana conhecido como Nova Hollywood ou Renascença Hollywoodiana. Tomando a capital da música country nos EUA como objeto de crítica e pano de fundo espacial da narrativa, o filme reflete sobre problemas políticos e sociais de seu tempo. A tese que orienta o presente trabalho é a de que a imagem da História evocada em sua narração só foi possível porque o diretor e seus colaboradores fizeram um esforço consciente para apropriar-se do repertório fílmico industrial de técnicas, formas e até mesmo clichês, refuncionalizando-o de modo a torná-lo adequado à expressão de sua visão crítica. O resultado é, ao mesmo tempo, um retrato dialético dos EUA no início dos anos 1970, uma prova da possibilidade da encenação épica no contexto industrial e um exemplo de resistência cultural a partir da organização produtiva dos trabalhadores do cinema. / Launched in 1975, Nashville is one of the last productions of a period in American cinema known as the New Hollywood or Hollywood Renaissance. Taking the capital of country music in the USA as the object of criticism and spatial backdrop of its narrative, the film reflects upon social and political problems of its time. The thesis that guides the present study is that the image of history evoked by its narration was possible only because the director and his collaborators made a conscious effort to apropriate the repertoire of industrial filmic techniques, forms and even clichés, refunctioning it to make it suitable to the expression of their critical point of view. The result is, all at the same time, a dialectical picture of the USA at the beginning of the 1970s, concrete evidence of the possibility of epic mise-en-scène in the industrial context and an example of cultural resistance built upon the productive organization of cinema workers.

O filme Short Cuts - Cenas da Vida (1993), do diretor norte-americano Robert Altman (1925-2006), foi baseado numa coletânea de contos do escritor Raymond Carver (1938- 1988). Nosso trabalho tem por objetivo o estudo dos modos pelos quais são figurados, no filme de Altman, os processos de virtualização da realidade e de fragmentação sóciohistórica (bem como suas possíveis causas) reinantes na sociedade contemporânea norteamericana e facilmente reconhecíveis em outras sociedades do mundo globalizado, inclusive na brasileira. Short Cuts se passa nos subúrbios da cidade de Los Angeles, metrópole socialmente fragmentada, caracterizada pela invasão da mídia em todos os domínios e assolada pela violência. Procuramos fazer um levantamento da fortuna crítica escrita sobre o filme e percebemos que os críticos se mostraram parcialmente equivocados em suas interpretações pela utilização de categorias inapropriadas para interpretá-lo, posto que ele está estruturado com base em preceitos épicos, ao invés de dramáticos, como a maioria da crítica pressupôs. Em seguida, tentamos analisar, a partir da tradição seguida por teóricos como Walter Benjamin, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Peter Szondi e Susan Willis, dentre outros, determinados aspectos do filme que demonstram não apenas a ideologia dominante e as crises cíclicas enfrentadas pelo sistema capitalista de produção, como também o desejo pela coletividade. Altman, valendo-se de técnicas como a rima visual e a filmagem através de superfícies, procura mostrar as conexões inevitáveis entre personagens que acreditam estar isoladas umas das outras, demonstrando, assim, o caráter ideológico da virtualização e da fragmentação. / Directed by Robert Altman (1925-2006), the film Short Cuts (1993) was based on a compilation of short stories written by Raymond Carver (1938-1988). Our work\'s objective is to study the means through which the processes of reality\'s virtualization and sociohistorical fragmentation, largely diffused in contemporary societies, are figured in Altman\'s film. Short Cuts is set on the suburbs of Los Angeles, a socially fragmented metropolis, characterized by the media invasion in all domains and fraught with violence. We have attempted to gather some thoughts that the critics have expressed toward the film, and we have noticed that their interpretations have proven to be partially mistaken, due to the use of improper categories to interpret it, considering that Altman\'s film is structured upon epic categories rather than dramatic ones, unlike most critics presupposed. We have also tried to analyze, based on the tradition followed by theoreticians such as Walter Benjamin, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Peter Szondi and Susan Willis, to name a few, certain aspects of the film that not only demonstrate the dominating ideology and the cyclic crises faced by the capitalist mode of production, but also the desire for collectivity. Through techniques such as the visual rhyme and the filming through surfaces, Altman attempts to show the inevitable connections between characters who believe to be isolated from each other, thus demonstrating the ideological essence of both virtualization and fragmentation.

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo analizar el desempeño financiero de las principales empresas cementeras de Perú, Chile y Colombia que cotizan en bolsa durante los años 2015 al 2019. Para ello se utilizarán la metodología de análisis Du Pont, se determinará el Valor Económico Agregado (EVA) y el riesgo de quiebra usando el modelo Z de Altman. Este trabajo de investigación tiene como propósito identificar la condición financiera de las empresas más representativas de cada país seleccionado, tomando como base sus estados financieros, donde se evaluará sus principales indicadores y aplicará modelos para determinar la salud financiera de estas empresas y como se relacionan con la realidad económica de cada una con sus respectivos países. El sector cementero en los países objeto de estudio, representa uno de los principales medidores del comportamiento económico de cada país, ya que este sector está muy relacionado con las actividades de construcción tanto privada como pública en beneficio de la población. Es un sector altamente competitivo, ya que la inversión en infraestructura siempre ha constituido un pilar en el desarrollo tanto de países emergentes como desarrollados, resultando interesante la búsqueda de mercados rentables, la optimización de procesos y estrategias de reducción de costos para obtener una mayor y mejor rentabilidad. Así también, el presente análisis busca ser una guía para inversionistas, donde se pueda determinar qué país logra brindar las mejores condiciones económicas y financieras para obtener un mejor retorno de la inversión. / The objective of this research work is to analyze the financial performance of the main cement companies in Peru, Chile and Colombia that are listed on the stock market during the years 2015 to 2019. For this, the Du Pont analysis methodology will be used, the Economic Value will be determined Aggregate (EVA) and bankruptcy risk using Altman's Z model. The purpose of this research work is to identify the financial condition of the most representative companies of each selected country, based on their financial statements, where their main indicators will be evaluated and models will be applied to determine the financial health of these companies and how they relate to the economic reality of each one with their respective countries. The cement sector in the countries under study represents one of the main measures of the economic behavior of each country, since this sector is closely related to both private and public construction activities for the benefit of the population. It is a highly competitive sector, since investment in infrastructure has always been a pillar in the development of both emerging and developed countries, making it interesting to search for profitable markets, process optimization and cost reduction strategies to obtain greater and better profitability. Also, this analysis seeks to be a guide for investors, where it can be determined which country manages to provide the best economic and financial conditions to obtain a better return on investment. / Trabajo de investigación