Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:19:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3171.pdf: 1824903 bytes, checksum: f8b361fb67df2b6e406968b3ada5b339 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-07-19 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / Manual preference has been regarded as derived from innate performance advantage of one hand over the other. The main purpose of this work was to investigate the relationship between manual preference and intermanual performance asymmetry on a task of reaching for static targets in five-month-old infants. Secondary purposes were to assess the effects of spatial target position and gender on manual preference, and the relationship between the infants‟ and the parents‟ manual preference. Manual preference was evaluated through frequency of right- and left-handed reaching toward targets at right, midline and left positions, regarding the midsagittal plane of the infant‟s body. Intermanual asymmetry was assessed through kinematic analysis of reaching toward the target at the midline position. Dependent variables were the following: movement time, movement straightness, number of movement units, median velocity, peak velocity, and deceleration time. Analysis of manual preference indicated similar frequency of rightand left-handed reaching at midline and ipsilateral reaching toward lateral targets. Analysis of manual preference regarding toy positions indicated the equivalence between the incidence of infants presenting right and left manual preference. Kinematic analysis showed similar patterns of reaching between the right and left hands, except for deceleration time. Manual preference was not correlated with performance asymmetry. These results suggest that early manual preference in reaching does not derive from a superior capacity of control of one hand over the other. Manual preference was not significantly different between males and females, and it was not correlated with parents‟ manual preference. Results are discussed in terms of environmental versus genetic factors associated with formation of manual preference. / A preferência manual tem sido considerada como proveniente da vantagem inata de desempenho motor de uma mão sobre a outra. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal investigar a relação entre preferência manual e assimetrias intermanuais de desempenho na tarefa de alcançar alvos estáticos em bebês aos cinco meses de idade. Como objetivos secundários foram analisados os efeitos da posição espacial do alvo e sexo sobre a preferência manual, e a correlação entre a preferência manual dos bebês e dos respectivos pais. Para a avaliação da preferência manual, foi analisada a frequência de alcances com as mãos direita e esquerda a alvos posicionados na linha média, à direita e à esquerda em relação ao eixo sagital mediano do corpo dos bebês. A avaliação da assimetria intermanual foi feita por meio de análise cinemática de movimentos de alcance a alvos posicionados na linha média. Foram calculados tempo de movimento, índice de retidão, quantidade de unidades de movimento, velocidade média, pico de velocidade e tempo relativo de desaceleração. A análise da preferência manual indicou frequência de alcance semelhante com as mãos direita e esquerda ao alvo medial e alcances predominantemente ipsilaterais aos alvos laterais. Esse resultado revela o efeito da disposição ambiental sobre a preferência manual primária. A análise da preferência manual considerando todas as posições do brinquedo indicou equivalência entre a incidência de bebês apresentando preferência manual direita e esquerda. Não foram encontradas diferenças significantes na preferência manual em função do sexo, e no geral a preferência manual do bebê não apresentou congruência com a preferência manual dos pais. A análise cinemática revelou padrões de alcance predominantemente semelhantes entre as mãos direita e esquerda, exceto para a variável tempo relativo de desaceleração. Esses resultados sugerem que a preferência manual primária no alcançar não deriva de vantagem de desempenho de uma das mãos sobre a outra.Não foi encontrada correlação entre preferência manual e assimetria intermanual de desempenho. Os resultados são discutidos em termos da atuação do ambiente versus a atuação de fatores genéticos sobre a formação da preferência manual.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:00:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Alves da Cunha.pdf: 1338248 bytes, checksum: 3c0a0afbc1261b492ec0b2813288fea5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-07 / CAPES / O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar as contribuições de Akerlof, Spence e Stiglitz, discutindo como os elementos fornecidos por estas contribuições permitem a definição de programa de pesquisa, no sentido proposto por Lakatos (1980). Buscou-se demonstrar que as pesquisas desses autores são incompatíveis com as análises padrão da teoria econômica, identificadas neste trabalho como aquelas pertencentes ao programa de pesquisa Neoclássico. Na primeira parte do trabalho é apresentada a Metodologia do Programa de Pesquisa Científico de Imre Lakatos, situando-a em relação aos trabalhos de Karl Popper e Thomas Kuhn. Na segunda parte, é proposta uma definição do Programa de Pesquisa Neoclássico, utilizando-se como ponto de partida a definição proposta por Weintraub (1985). Por último, são apresentados os principais trabalhos de Akerlof, Spence e Stiglitz, identificando-se como estes são incompatíveis com o programa de pesquisa Neoclássico, e permitem a definição do programa de pesquisa da Nova Economia da Informação / This work presents the contributions of Akerlof, Spence and Stiglitz, discussing how the elements provided allows a research programme to be defined, in the sense of Lakatos (1980). The research aims to demonstrate how the work of those authors were incompatible with the standard economic analysis, this late identified with those analysis pertaining to the Neoclassical research programme. In the first part, the Methodology of Research Programme is presented, relating it to the works of Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. In the second part, a definition of the Neoclassical research programme is established, with the definition provided by Weintraub (1985) as a starting point. In the third part, the main works of Akerlof, Spence and Stiglitz were presented, identifying how they were incompatible with the definition of the Neoclassical research programme provided in the second part, and allows the definition of the New Information Economics research programme

A crescente globalização financeira e integração desses mercados resultaram em relações cada vez mais próximas entre os países, sejam eles desenvolvidos ou emergentes. Esses fenômenos, somados às crises financeiras recentes, provocaram maior interesse nos eventos de transmissão de volatilidade e de fluxos de informações entre os mercados financeiros. Dentre elas, destaca-se a crise financeira internacional de 2008, conhecida como \"crise do subprime\", considerada a maior e mais importante desde a Grande Depressão de 1929. Neste contexto, o mercado de recibos americanos de depósito (ADRs) apresentou uma importância crescente nas últimas décadas, especialmente para companhias sediadas em países emergentes, como os da América Latina. Essa região, particularmente, exibiu uma grande expansão neste mercado. De maneira geral, as empresas de países emergentes emissoras de ADRs possuem características mais similares às companhias sediadas nos mercados desenvolvidos, comparadas às demais de seu país de origem. Por isso, como objetivo geral deste estudo, buscou-se detectar e mensurar o fenômeno da interdependência, englobando os transbordamentos (spillovers) de retornos e de volatilidade e suas assimetrias, entre os principais mercados de capitais da América Latina - Brasil, Argentina, Chile e México - e dos países desenvolvidos - Estados Unidos, Japão, Reino Unido e França - no âmbito da última crise financeira internacional. Esse fenômeno foi investigado considerando tanto seus índices acionários de mercado, como os índices de ADRs criados neste estudo, um para cada mercado da América Latina. Estes foram compostos pelas cotações de seus respectivos ADRs níveis 2 ou 3, sendo que a metodologia desenvolvida para sua criação foi uma das contribuições deste trabalho. A partir das séries temporais de retornos diários logarítmicos dos índices dos oito países no período de junho de 2008 a maio de 2015, foi empregada uma metodologia abrangente. Foram aplicadas três abordagens univariadas para modelagem das volatilidades dos mercados (GARCH, EGARCH e TARCH) e dois modelos multivariados assimétricos VAR-MGARCH, com representação Diagonal VECH, para identificação dos transbordamentos de retornos e volatilidade, bem como a análise de suas correlações condicionais. Além disso, foram estimados dois modelos autorregressivos multivariados (VAR) para análise das relações conjuntas dos mercados, e a análise das Funções de Resposta a Impulso (IRF) e dos efeitos sobre a variância por meio de sua decomposição. Os resultados indicaram que as séries de retornos dos mercados de ADRs de empresas latino-americanas não apresentam comportamento mais similar, no tocante à volatilidade, ao dos principais mercados de capitais desenvolvidos. No entanto, há evidências de que os índices de ADRs possuem maior interdependência com os principais mercados de capitais desenvolvidos, por apresentarem relações mais próximas com esses, comparados aos mercados acionários latino-americanos analisados. Essa conclusão corrobora as hipóteses elaboradas sobre esse tema a partir da teoria de segmentação de mercado e das próprias características dessas companhias. Outro resultado relevante foi que os mercados emergentes da América Latina são mais suscetíveis a efeitos locais e regionais que globais, confirmando o benefício do uso dos ativos financeiros desses países para diversificação de carteiras internacionais, mesmo durante uma crise financeira internacional, como a do subprime. / The growing financial globalization and integration of this markets resulted in increasingly close links between the countries, both developed and emerging ones. These phenomena, added to the recent financial crises, provoked greater interest in the events of volatility and information flows transmission between the financial markets. Among them, stands out the international financial crisis of 2008, known as the \"subprime crisis\", considered the largest and most important since the Great Depression of 1929. In this context, the American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) market showed an increasing importance in recent decades, especially for companies based in emerging markets, such as the Latin America. This region, particularly, exhibited a large expansion in this market. In general, companies in emerging countries issuers of ADRs have more similar characteristics to companies based in developed markets, compared to the rest of their country of origin. Therefore, the general objective of this study was to detect and measure the interdependence phenomenon, encompassing returns and volatility spillovers and their asymmetries, among the major capital markets in Latin America - Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico - and developed countries - United States, Japan, UK and France - within the last international financial crisis. This phenomenon was investigated considering both their stock market indices and the ADRs indices created in this study, one for each Latin America country. They were compound of the quotes from their respective ADRs levels 2 or 3, and the methodology developed for their creation was one of the contributions of this assignment. Using the time series of daily logarithmic returns of the eight countries indices in the period from June 2008 to May 2015, it was applied an embracing methodology. It was estimated three univariate approaches to modeling the markets volatility (GARCH, EGARCH and TARCH) and two asymmetric multivariate models VAR-MGARCH, with Diagonal VECH representation, for identification of the returns and volatility spillovers, as well as analysis of their conditional correlations. In addition, two multivariate autoregressive models (VAR) were estimated for analysis of joint relations of markets, and analysis of Impulse Response Functions (IRF) and the effects on the variance through its decomposition. The results indicated that the returns series from Latin American ADR markets doesn\"t have behavior more similar, with regard to volatility, to the major developed capital markets. However, there is evidence that the ADR indices present greater interdependence with the major developed capital markets, because they have closer relationships with these, compared to the Latin American equity markets analyzed. This finding supports the hypothesis elaborated on this subject from the market segmentation theory and the characteristics of these companies. Another important result was that the emerging markets of Latin America are more susceptible to local and regional effects than global ones, confirming the benefit of the use of the financial assets of these countries for diversification of international portfolios, even during an international financial crisis, such as the subprime.

L’objet de la thèse est d’analyser la pertinence de la théorie financière, référencée aux modèles théoriques qui servent à la compréhension du comportement financier des entreprises de grande taille, dans l’explication de la spécificité de la structure financière des PME françaises. Plus spécifiquement, il s’agit d’identifier et d’analyser empiriquement les déterminants de la structure du capital (taux d’endettement total) et de la structure de la dette (taux d’endettement à court, moyen et long terme) de ces entreprises qui a fait l’objet d’une large réflexion théorique dont le point de départ est le théorème de Modigliani & Miller(1958). Le chapitre 1 est consacré à la présentation et à la définition de notre cadre d’analyse. Le chapitre 2 expose les besoins et les sources de financement de ces entreprises. Le chapitre 3 examine les décisions d’investissement et de financement en se référant aux enseignements de la théorie du compromis, de la théorie de l’agence, de la théorie du signal, de la théorie du financement hiérarchique et de la théorie du rationnement du crédit ; la prise en compte des conflits d’intérêt et des asymétries d’information donne un pouvoir explicatif de la spécificité de la structure financière des PME. Les deux derniers chapitres (4 et 5) étudient le comportement de financement de 1520 PME françaises sélectionnées dans la base de données DIANE sur la période 2000-2004. Les résultats des régressions statistiquement significatives montrent que le crédit interentreprises joue un rôle de signal pour les créanciers qui ne disposent pas d’une information privée sur l’entreprise ; l’accès à la dette est très dépendant de la capacité de l’entreprise à offrir des garanties ; enfin, les résultats montrent l’existence de contraintes d’accès aux ressources financières pour les entreprises de petite taille ; l’âge de l’entreprise et son secteur d’activité influencent son choix de financement. / This thesis attempts to analyze the relevance of existing financial theory, referenced to the theoretical models that shed light on the financial behaviour of large enterprises, in explaining the specificity of the financial structure of French Small and Middle Enterprises (SMEs).More specifically, it identifies and analyzes empirically the determinants of capital structure (total debt ratio) and debt structure (debt ratio over the short, medium and long term) of these enterprises. There is a large body of literature on this issue the theorem of Modigliani and Miller (1958). The first chapter 1 is devoted to the presentation and definition of ouranalytical framework. Chapter 2 outlines the requirements and sources of financing of French SMEs. Chapter 3 discusses the investment and financing decisions, with reference to the theory of compromise, agency theory, signal theory, pecking order theory, and creditrationing theory ; the specific financial structure of SMEs can be better understood when one takes into account conflicts of interest and information asymmetries. In the last two chapters,we study the behaviour of finance from a sample of 1520 French SMEs released from DIANE dataset over the period from 2000 to 2004. The regression results show that inter-companycredits play a role as signal to creditors, which do not have private information about the company. Access to debt is strongly dependent on the ability of the company to offer guarantees. Finally, our results indicate the existence of constraints on access to finance forsmall businesses and the financing choices are affected by their age and the industry to which they belong.

This thesis examines the governance framework of two Venture Capital funds within the Private Equity industry; EQT Ventures II and Norrsken22. Building upon the research of Appelbaum and Batt (2021) concerning the general and limited partner relationship asymmetries of power, information, and incentives, the study further audits the imbalances from the perspective of the funds' general partners. An empirical basis was formed by conducting two interviews with suitable representatives from EQT, along with one interview and a governance document with Norrsken22. The paper finds that both are actively working on reducing asymmetries on a strategic and operating level. EQT has divisions and digital tools whose primary purpose is to bridge information gaps, a comprehensive due diligence process to increase the understanding of the power balance, and a financial framework to ensure that conflicts of interest are avoided. Norrsken22 tries to involve their Limited Partners in their operational work by creating a community of Limited Partners, thus bringing them closer to the General Partner role. The study could have involved a Limited Partner perspective instead of limiting the scope to the company's and General Partners' thoughts. Regardless, it depicts an inside perspective of the asymmetries shown and the counteractions initiated in response, a perspective not previously explored in academic papers. / Denna avhandling undersöker styrningsramen för två riskkapitalfonder inom Private Equity-branschen: EQT Ventures II och Norrsken22. Med utgångspunkt i Appelbaum och Batts (2021) forskning om asymmetrierna i förhållandet mellan fondförvaltare och investerare när det gäller makt, information och incitament, granskas dessa obalanser ytterligare i studien ur fondernas generalägares perspektiv. En empirisk grund bildades genom att genomföra två intervjuer med lämpliga representanter från EQT samt en intervju och ett styrdokument med Norrsken22. I studien konstateras att båda arbetar aktivt med att minska asymmetrierna på strategisk såväl som operativ nivå. EQT har avdelningar och digitala verktyg vars främsta syfte är att överbrygga informationsbrister, en omfattande due diligence-process för att öka förståelsen för maktbalansen och ett finansiellt ramverk för att säkerställa att intressekonflikter undviks. Norrsken22 försöker involvera sina investerare i det operativa arbetet genom att skapa en gemenskap sinsemellan och på så sätt föra dem närmare rollen som fondförvaltare. Studien kunde ha involverat ett investerarperspektiv i stället för att begränsa undersökningen till företagets och generalägarens tankar. Oavsett detta visar avhandlingen ett inifrånperspektiv på de asymmetrier som uppvisas och de motåtgärder som initieras som svar, ett perspektiv som inte tidigare har utforskats i akademiska artiklar.

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Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Les objectifs de ce mémoire sont d’étudier la rétinotopie et les asymétries fonctionnelles du cortex visuel chez l’humain avec la spectroscopie proche de l’infrarouge fonctionnelle (SPIRf), tout en confirmant la fiabilité de cette technique. Tel qu’attendu, les résultats montrent une activation plus forte dans l’hémisphère controlatéral et dans le cortex haut/bas inverse à l’hémichamp stimulé. Nous avons également mesuré une activation significativement plus forte dans le cortex visuel supérieur (lorsque le champ visuel inférieur était stimulé) que l’activation dans le cortex visuel inférieur (lorsque le champ visuel supérieur était stimulé), surtout lorsque ces stimuli étaient présentés dans le champ visuel droit. Il s’agit de la première étude en SPIRf à observer les asymétries horizontale et verticale du cortex visuel et à ainsi confirmer l’existence de ces asymétries. Cette étude témoigne également de la fiabilité de la SPIRf comme technique d’imagerie pour cartographier le cerveau humain. / The present study aimed to further investigate retinotopic mapping and functional asymmetries within the human visual cortex using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), as well as the reliability of this technique. As expected, results showed a stronger visual cortical activation in the controlateral hemisphere and in the inverse upper/lower quadrant to the stimulation. We also measured significant stronger activations in the upper visual cortex (when lower hemifield stimuli were presented) compared to activations in the lower visual cortex (when upper hemifield stimuli were showed), especially when the visual stimulation was presented in the right visual field. This is the first study to confirm the vertical and horizontal asymmetries of the visual cortex with fNIRS technique. The present work also settles the reliability of this technique for functional mapping of the human brain.

Les Indications Géographiques (IG), désignent un label particulier utilisé pour assurer la qualité, l’origine et protéger les produits de la contrefaçon. Elles lient la qualité et la réputation d’un produit à un térritoire et sont très présentes en Europe, notamment en France. A l’heure où les consommateurs demandent davantage de transparence et d’information sur l’origine des biens qu’ils consomment, la valorisation des produits locaux représente un enjeu important. Nous analysons dans cette thèse, le consentement à payer des consommateurs pour les produits sous indications géographiques à l’aide de la base de données Kantar WorldPanel, qui regroupe des données d’achats des ménages français. L’accent étant mis sur les fromages AOP d’Auvergne, nous travaillons sur la période 2008-2010 qui représente la période de réforme et de restructuration des acteurs des filières AOP fromagères auvergnates. Dans un premier temps nous réalisons une méta-analyse afin d’observer ce que les études nous disent sur le sujet. Sachant que le consentement à payer est une prime du prix, nous estimons la dispersion et les déterminants des prix des fromages AOP d’Auvergne dans un second temps. Enfin, dans un troisième temps, nous répondons à notre question de recherche principale en estimant les déterminants de choix et le consentement à payer (CAP) des consommateurs. De façon globale, nous trouvons que l’indication géographique joue un rôle important dans l’esprit des consommateurs durant les actes d’achats, mais pour qu’elle soit plus efficace, elle doit être accompagnée par des stratégies de promotion initiée par les distributeurs et producteurs. De même les attributs des produits et les conditions de distributions jouent un rôle plus important dans les décisions d’achats, par rapport aux caractéristiques propres aux consommateurs. Enfin, nous notons que les consommateurs ont des CAP très différents d’un fromage AOP d’Auvergne à l’autre, mais ces CAP convergent tous vers un prix unique, qui représente le prix espéré par les consommateurs pour ces produits. / Geographical Indications (GIs) designate a particular label used to ensure quality, origin and protect products from counterfeiting. They bind the quality and the reputation of a product to a territory and are very present in Europe, especially in France. At a time when consumers are demanding more transparency and informations about the origin of the goods they consume, valuing local products represents an important issue. In this thesis, we analyze consumers' willingness to pay for products under geographical indications by using the Kantar WorldPanel database, which includes data of purchases of French households. With a focus on Auvergne PDO cheeses, we work on the period 2008-2010, which represents the period of reform and restructuring of actors in the Auvergne PDO cheeses sector. In a first step, we carry out a meta-analysis in order to observe what the studies tell us about the subject. Knowing that the willingness to pay is a price premium, we estimate the dispersion and the price determinants of Auvergne PDO cheeses in a second step. Finally, in a third step, we answer to our main research question by estimating determinants of choices and the consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Globally, we find that the geographical indication plays an important role in the minds of consumers during purchasing activities, but in order to be more effective, it must be accompanied by promotion strategies initiated by distributors and producers. Similarly attributes of product and conditions of distribution play a more important role in the decisions of purchases, with regard to, the characteristics of consumers. Finally, we note that consumers have WTPs very different from a PDO cheese from Auvergne to another, but all these WTPs converge towards a single price, which represents the expected price of consumers for these products.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:36:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ROBERTO BRITO DE CARVALHO.pdf: 1599967 bytes, checksum: 1cdee7729a669a4eb8c5c375d56d5cc8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-18 / This work discusses a new possibility of investment analysis, complementing the existing ones, oriented by the strategic information focus as a competitive differential at the financial market, based on the Information Science insight. It begins with a discussion about its own field, surpassing the most orthodox limits, linked to its origin, such as Biblioteconomy, Museoconomy, Documentation and Archivist, moving towards a postmodern and multidiscipline discussion referred to the understandings of Science Information attributions. It is necessary a synthesis about the financial system comprehension in order to focus on the object of study: information mediation. The study starts from the identification of the most significant daily oscillations (consider oscillations greater than 5% - up or down) happened at S?o Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA), from July/1994 to October/2006, to the Petrobras S.A. shares and the IBOVESPA index. Based on quantitative data and also a qualitative search through documental research, it is sought the information source that is responsible for the financial effects, compiling and organizing them into a database which could allow the development of the mediational analysis, suggested in this work. / Este trabalho discute uma nova possibilidade de an?lise de investimentos complementar ?s existentes, orientado sob o foco das informa??es estrat?gicas como diferencial competitivo no mercado financeiro, ?s luzes do entendimento da Ci?ncia da Informa??o. Inicia-se com uma discuss?o sobre a pr?pria ?rea em quest?o, transcendendo os limites mais ortodoxos, vinculados a sua origem como a Biblioteconomia, Museoconomia, Documenta??o e Arquiv?stica, caminhando para uma discuss?o p?s-moderna e multidisciplinar no que se refere ao entendimento das atribui??es da Ci?ncia da Informa??o. Faz-se necess?ria uma s?ntese sobre o entendimento do sistema financeiro para que se possa focar o objeto de estudo: media??o da informa??o. O estudo parte da identifica??o das oscila??es di?rias mais significativas (entenda-se, oscila??es superiores ao percentual de 5% - positiva ou negativa) ocorridas na Bolsa de Valores de S?o Paulo (BOVESPA) no per?odo julho/1994 a outubro/2006, das a??es da Petrobr?s S. A. e do ?ndice IBOVESPA. Baseado nos dados quantitativos e numa busca qualitativa atrav?s de uma pesquisa documental, busca-se a origem de informa??es respons?veis pelos efeitos financeiros, compilando-as e organizandoas numa base de dados que possa permitir o desenvolvimento do conceito de an?lise mediacional, proposto no trabalho.