This thesis consists of three self-contained essays. Essay 1, "Dispatchers", is a study of a specialized service sector that has arisen in many developing countries. It is a well-established fact that the government bureaucracy in many developing countries is large, difficult to understand, non-transparent and time-consuming. However, "de jure" procedures sometimes have little to do with how firms or individuals actually go about when dealing with the government bureaucracy. One institution that has emerged is a specialized intermediary, henceforth called dispatcher, that assists individuals and firms in their contacts with the public sector. A model is developed to study the effects of dispatchers on time and resources spent in obtaining licenses, on informality and on the incentives of bureaucrats and dispatchers to make regulation more/less complicated. Essay 2, "Informal firms, investment incentives and formalization", studies informal firms in developing countries. In a typical developing country, the majority of small firms are informal and entry costs into formality are high. What can we expect in terms of firm investment, growth and formalization in such a setting? I show that investment and growth trajectories differ substantially between firms that choose to formalize and those that do not. The formalization decision depends non-trivially on the informal firm's productivity. This, in turn, has an effect on how policies should be designed. The long-run firm size distribution exhibits a "missing middle" and depends on the initial firm-level stock of capital, a result that can be interpreted as a poverty trap. Essay 3, "Compositional and dynamic Laffer effects in a model with constant returns to scale", studies dynamic effects of tax cuts. The possibility of tax cuts paying for themselves over time seems like an attractive option for policy makers. In a constant returns to scale model, I study conditions under which reductions in capital taxes are self-financing

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the formalization of inter-organizational partnerships and collaboration among staff members working together across primary care, mental health and addition organizations to provide services to adults with complex mental health and addiction needs. Phase I of the study provided an environmental scan of existing partnerships among Family Health Teams (FHTs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs), and the Mental Health and/or Addiction (MHA) organizations they partner with, in the province of Ontario (Canada). Phase II explored the relationship between formalization and a) administrative collaboration and b) and service delivery collaboration. The hypotheses proposed that staff members who are part of formalized partnerships would report higher levels of collaboration. Phase III explored how formal and informal partnerships and collaboration are experienced by the administrative and service provider staff members who work across FHTs, CHCs and MHAs organizations. Using a mixed methods approach, data were collected using electronic surveys and telephone interviews. The results of Phase I indicated that FHTs and CHCs in Ontario have between 1-3 partnerships with MHA organizations. Most are informal partnerships, have existed for less than 5 years, and most staff members (partners) interact on a monthly basis. The quantitative results of Phase II showed no significant relationship between formalization and either form of collaboration. The qualitative findings from Phase III provide two key contributions. First, the results of the interviews may help explain why collaboration was not higher in formalized partnerships, as demonstrated by the range of advantages and disadvantages experienced by administrators and service providers in both formal and informal partnerships. Second, the findings illuminate factors related to the process of creating and/or formalizing partnerships, suggesting that there may be other factors that mediate or have a direct impact on the relationship between formalization and collaboration. By bringing together the study findings, the study addresses a gap in the literature by proposing a pathway through which formalization may be associated with collaboration. The results of the study provide opportunities for future research to help improve the quality and accessibility of services to adults with complex mental health and addiction needs.

The Generalized Constraint Language (GCL), introduced by Zadeh, is the essence of Computing with Words (CW). It provides an genda to represent the meaning of imprecise words and phrases in natural language and introduces advanced techniques to perform reasoning on imprecise knowledge. Despite its fundamental role, the definition of GCL has remained informal since its introduction by Zadeh and, to our knowledge, no attempt has been made to formalize GCL or to build a working GCL deduction system. In this dissertation, two main interrelated objectives are pursued: First, the syntax and semantics of GCL are formalized in a logical setting. The notion of soundness of a GCL argument is defined and Zadeh's inference rules are proven sound in the defined language. Second, a CW Expert System Shell (CWSHELL) is implemented for the realization of a GCL deduction system. The CWSHELL software allows users to express their knowledge in terms of GCL formulas and pose queries to a GCL knowledge base. The richness of GCL language allows CWSHELL to greatly surpass current fuzzy logic expert systems both in its knowledge representation and reasoning capabilities. While many available fuzzy logic toolboxes can only represent knowledge in terms of fuzzy-if-then rules, CWShell goes beyond simple fuzzy conditional statements and performs a chain of reasoning on complex fuzzy propositions containing generalized constraints, fuzzy arithmetic expressions, fuzzy quantifiers, and fuzzy relations. To explore the application of CWSHELL, a realistic case study is developed to compute the auto insurance premium based on an imprecise knowledge base. The alpha version of CWSHELL along with the case study and documentation is available for download at http://cwjess.cs.siu.edu/.

New information technologies bring with them new possibilities for defining and simulating complex physical systems. A huge amount of progress was made in this field with the Modelica language standard, developed by the worldwide nonprofit Modelica Association. Using the Modelica language specification, new chemical, hydraulic, thermal and population components for human physiology were designed for the implementation of the physiological principles in this thesis. The presented free Modelica libraries was named PHYSIOLIBRARY and CHEMICAL. Similarly to the electrical circuits already implemented in the Modelica Standard Library, it is also possible to connect the components of these libraries to the diagrams and, in this way, define more complex components of physiological systems. Using this kind of implementation, this thesis presents an extension and improvement of the HumMod version 1.6 model, developed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson, MS), which has more than 5,000 variables. As a result of the use of graphical diagrams, our implementation is more expandable and more modifiable at each point. The precise rules of connections lead to fewer implementation errors. In addition, the visual verification of the model is achieved, because the physiological connections of...

nÃo hà / Esta tese à um estudo do entrecruze da oferta e da demanda por trabalho. O locus de anÃlise privilegiado à o espaÃo das oportunidades intermediadas pelo Sistema PÃblico de Emprego. A pesquisa tomou como caso o mercado de trabalho metropolitano de Fortaleza que apresenta um enraizamento muito presente da populaÃÃo local em recorrer a este tipo de serviÃo pÃblico de intermediaÃÃo. Tal observaÃÃo à particularmente densa devido ao momento vivenciado pela economia e pelo mercado de trabalho em que a reduÃÃo dos nÃveis de desemprego està acompanhada da maior oferta de postos de trabalho, especialmente no perÃodo do âgoverno Lulaâ (2003-2010), quando se passou a formular a ideia que o paÃs estava muito prÃximo do âpleno empregoâ. Para tanto, foram utilizadas diferentes formas de coleta de dados, mesclando os recursos quantitativos e qualitativos da pesquisa cientÃfica. A tese mostra que, em meio ao revigoramento do assalariamento formal, pode estar ocorrendo a mais recente onda de flexibilizaÃÃo das relaÃÃes de trabalho, cuja intensificaÃÃo desse processo favoreceu maiores assimetrias entre a oferta e a demanda por trabalho, bem como de desafios para as polÃticas pÃblicas e para os trabalhadores. / This thesis is a study of it depends on both demand and supply for a labour. The space of opportunities brokered by the Public Employment System is the privileged locus of analysis. The empirical research examines the case of the metropolitan labour market of Fortaleza that local people used this type public service intermediary. The analysis focused the period particularly dense the economy and labour market in which the reduction in unemployment is accompanied by greater availability of jobs, especially in the period of "Lula" (2003-2010), when began to formulate the idea that the country was very close to "full employment". Therefore, we used different forms of data collection, mixing quantitative and qualitative features of scientific research. The thesis shows that, amid the revival of formal salaried employment, there may be the latest wave of relaxation of labor relations, intensification of this process which favored larger imbalances between supply and demand for labor, as well as challenges for public policy and workers.

O objetivo deste estudo é investigar a relação entre a formalização integral e o desempenho econômico-financeiro em micro e pequenas empresas brasileiras (MPEs).A formalização integral foi considerada sob as dimensões: societária, gerencial e fiscal.A formalização societária contempla ações entre os proprietários que poderão levar ao bom andamento da sociedade empresarial e à remuneração adequada do capital investido na empresa. A base conceitual é a profissionalização da sociedade (MOREIRA JÚNIOR, 2006; DRUCKER, 1995; BERNHOEFT e CASTANHEIRA, 1995, entre outros) e a observação de normas civis brasileiras que tratam das relações entre pessoas físicas e jurídicas. Os conceitos planejamento e controle financeiro (FREZATTI, 2003; WELSCH, 1983) e competências gerenciais (LE BOTERF, 2003; DUTRA, 2004; FLEURY e FLEURY, 2001) foram abordados para dar sustentação à formalização gerencial. A formalização fiscal, entendida pela estruturação da empresa, física e financeiramente, para o cumprimento das regras estabelecidas pelos governos e passíveis de fiscalização e autuação (MONTAÑO, 1999; ZANGARI JÚNIOR, 2007). Os conceitos relativos ao desempenho econômico-financeiro foram analisados no sentido de evidenciar a relação deste com a competitividade, ganho de eficiência e eficácia, criação de valor para o negócio, geração de caixa para os investidores e continuidade do negócio (COPELAND, et al., 2002; RAPPAPOR, 2001; EHRHARDT e BRIGHAM, 2012; ELKINGTON, 1999). A amostra deste estudo é não-probabilística e formada por 100 empresas que manifestaram o interesse em participar. Foram utilizados dados primários, coletados por levantamento de campo (survey), utilizando entrevista focalizada e a técnica do balanço perguntado(MARTELANC, 1998). Submeteram-se os dados a técnicas descritivas multivariadas, inclusive modelagem de equações estruturais. As hipóteses foram construídas na suposição de que o desempenho econômico-financeiro se dá pela formalização societária, gerencial e fiscal e que a expectativa de sobrevivência aumenta com melhor desempenho econômico-financeiro. Os resultados comprovaram que a formalização societária, a gerencial e a fiscal têm relação estatística positiva, significante e indireta com o desempenho econômico-financeiro e este explica a expectativa de sobrevivência das empresas estudadas. O achado é relevante visto que traz um novo meio para tratar dos problemas da informalidade e sobrevivência das micro e pequenas empresas brasileiras, porém requer avanços e novos estudos. / This study aims to investigate the relationship between full formalization and economic and financial performance of Brazilian micro and small companies (MSCs). The full formalization was considered under tree the dimensions: corporate, managerial and fiscal. The corporate formalization encompasses actions among the owners that may lead to the good progress of the corporate society and the adequate remuneration of the capital invested in the company. The conceptual basis is the professionalization of society (MOREIRA JÚNIOR, 2006; DRUCKER, 1995; BERNHOEFT and CASTANHEIRA, 1995, among others) and the observation of Brazilian civil norms that deal with relations between individuals and legal entities. The concepts of planning and financial control (Frezatti, 2003; Welsch, 1983) and managerial competencies (LE BOTERF, 2003; DUTRA, 2004; FLEURY and FLEURY, 2001) were approached to support management formalization. The fiscal formalization, understood by the structuring of the company, physically and financially, for the fulfillment of the rules set up by the governments and are subject to inspection and assessment (MONTAÑO, 1999; ZANGARI JÚNIOR, 2007). The concepts related to economic and financial performance were analyzed in order to show the relationship between this and competitiveness, achieve efficiency and effectiveness, create value for the business, generate capital for investors and business continuity (Edwards et al., 2002). Sample of this study is non-probabilistic and consists of 100 companies that showed interest in participating. The primary data employed was collected by field survey, using a focused interview and the requested balance technique (MARTELANC, 1998). Data were submitted to multivariate descriptive techniques, including modeling of structural equations. The hypotheses were constructed under the assumption that economic and financial performance is obtained through corporate, managerial and fiscal formalization, and also that the expectation of business survival increases with a better economic-financial performance. The results showed that corporate, managerial and fiscal formalization have a positive, significant and indirect statistical relationship with economic and financial performance and this explains the expected business survival of the companies studied. The finding is relevant since it brings a new way of dealing with the problems of informality and business survival of micro and small Brazilian companies, but it requires advances and new studies.

The concept of a recursive function has been extensively studied using traditional tools of computability theory. However, with the development of category-theoretic methods it has become possible to study recursion in a more general (abstract) sense. The particular model this thesis is structured around is known as a Turing category. The structure within a Turing category models the notion of partiality as well as recursive computation, and equips us with the tools of category theory to study these concepts. The goal of this work is to build a formal language description of this computation model. Specifically, to use the Coq proof assistant to formulate informal definitions, propositions and proofs pertaining to Turing categories in the underlying formal language of Coq, the Calculus of Co-inductive Constructions (CIC). Furthermore, we have instantiated the more general Turing category formalism with a CIC description of the category which models the language of partial recursive functions exactly.

Users with different types of handicaps access web pages with wide scale of device. Thus, it is often difficult to develop web sites in order to be accessible for everyone. This thesis takes into consideration specific guidelines for accessible content of web pages as well as formalization of their rules and subsequent validation of these rules.

Traveling salespeople usually play an integral part in exporting firms’ strategy. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions have forced many businesses to rely on digital communication technologies for communication with distant customers and partners they usually would meet with in person. For collaborative relationships to function well, both parties must be able to understand and make sense of each other, which is why the sensemaking process has been a topic of interest. An aspect laid forth by research as a potentially prominent issue in inter-cultural relationships is ambiguity and misunderstandings, for which previous research has underlined two main mechanisms to mitigate ambiguity and misunderstandings, formalization, and socialization. However, this research has been conducted in a context where both in-person and digital communication has been available options. This qualitative study aims to examine export sellers' perception of sensemaking, misunderstandings, and ambiguity when relying on digital communication through semi-structured interviews. This paper's result suggests that digital communication tended to be more formal than in-person communication and that relying solely on digital communication has imposed significant challenges for establishing a new relationship while being less problematic to maintaining relationships.

This thesis describes a Coq formalization of realizability interpretations of arithmetic. The realizability interpretations are based on partial combinatory algebras—to each partial combinatory algebra there is an associated realizability interpretation. I construct two partial combinatory algebras. One of these gives a realizability interpretation equivalent to Kleene’s original one, without involving the usual recursion-theoretic machinery. / Den här uppsatsen beskriver en Coq-formalisering av realiserbarhetstolkningar av aritmetik. Realiserbarhetstolkningarna baseras på partiella kombinatoriska algebror—för varje partiell kombinatorisk algebra finns det en motsvarande realiserbarhetstolkning. Jag konstruerar två partiella kombinatoriska algebror. En av dessa ger en realiserbarhetstolkning som är ekvivalent med Kleenes ursprungliga tolkning, men dess konstruktion använder inte det sedvanliga rekursionsteoretiska maskineriet.