The continuous search to improve productivity leads organizations to rationalize and manage better their available resources. The benefits are huge and recognized. But, each organizational component must be engaged to reach better productivity levels, helping the whole organization result. And within this context, the present study was developed. It concerns about the results analysis of a productivity improvement program implemented in a physical and chemical analysis lab of a petroleum refinery, located in São Paulo state. Three aspects were analysed: management adjust of lab labor, costs minimization and client service improvement. The methodology of this program was based on PDCA Cycle and also on Productivity Cycle. Five productivity measures were used to follow the program analysis, with two physical indexes, related to labor, and three monetary indexes, related to labor, materials, and service. It was used a production measure as well, the standard time applied in assays, focused in the client service. These indexes were calculated monthly, before and after the productivity program start. Than, the results of these two periods were compared and analyzed. The conclusion was that the introduction of the productivity program reached partially the expected goals, bringing positive results as the better profitability of laboratory labor and the better attendance for laboratory clients. Related to costs, the benefit of interrupting the labor costs increase tendency was obtained, but it is still necessary to continue with this program, in order to pursue better results. / A busca contínua pela melhoria da produtividade remete as organizações a um esforço de racionalização e melhor aproveitamento dos recursos disponíveis. Os benefícios são amplos e reconhecidos. Contudo, cada componente organizacional deve estar engajado na obtenção de melhores níveis de produtividade na organização contribuindo para o resultado do todo. É neste contexto que o presente trabalho foi desenvolvido. Este trata da análise dos resultados de um programa de produtividade implantado em um laboratório de análises físico-químicas, integrado a uma refinaria de petróleo, localizada no estado de São Paulo. Três aspectos foram analisados: a adequação do aproveitamento da mão-de-obra do laboratório, a minimização dos custos e o aprimoramento do atendimento aos seus clientes. Para a estruturação do programa utilizou-se como metodologia o Ciclo PDCA combinado ao Ciclo da Produtividade. Visando o acompanhamento e a avaliação do referido programa, foram utilizados cinco indicadores de produtividade, sendo duas medidas físicas, relacionadas a mão-de-obra, e três medidas monetárias, relacionadas a mão-de-obra, materiais e serviços. Também foi utilizado um indicador de produção, o tempo padrão aplicado em ensaios, voltado ao atendimento dos clientes. Estes indicadores foram apurados mensalmente, antes e após o início de implantação do referido programa. Os resultados dos dois períodos foram então comparados e analisados. Concluiu-se que a implantação do programa de produtividade atingiu parcialmente os objetivos propostos, trazendo como resultados positivos o melhor aproveitamento da mão-deobra e a melhoria no atendimento aos clientes do laboratório. Em relação aos custos, obteve-se o benefício da interrupção da tendência de aumento dos custos de mão-deobra, sendo necessária a continuidade do programa para se buscar melhores resultados.

The thesis assesses the financial and economic situation of the company Balky, s. r.o. based on selected methods of financial analysis. For financial analysis, business data is used from the period 2007 - 2009. It includes proposals of solutions to improve the current financial situation.

Orientador: Carolina dos Santos Batista Bonini / Resumo: Os solos sob um manejo inadequado, têm suas qualidades físicas, químicas e biológicas afetadas negativamente, dando origem a sua degradação. No estado de São Paulo, grande parte das pastagens estão degradadas e/ou em degradação. Entender como um funciona um solo degradado e sua resiliência e iniciar seu processo de restauração, são fundamentais para desenvolver técnicas de manejo adequado do solo. Inúmeras técnicas estão sendo utilizadas para recuperação de solo degradado, descobrir e detalhar os índices físicos do solo ajuda em como proceder, e com qual técnica de recuperação utilizar; visando isso, este projeto teve por objetivo desenvolver um programa interativo (analisar e classificar) com a utilização das redes neurais artificiais (RNA) para estimar os níveis de recuperação do solo (recuperado (R), parcialmente recuperado (PR) e não recuperado (NR) em função dos atributos físicos e comparar com os dados obtidos via estatística convencional. O experimento foi realizado na Agência Paulista de Tecnologias dos Agronegócios – APTA do Extremo Oeste, no município de Andradina/SP no período de 2015 a 2017, em solo classificado como Argissolo Vermelho Amarelo cultivado com pastagem de Urochloa, com diferentes formas de introdução de Estilosantes cv. Campo Grande (Stylosanthes capitata e S. macrocephala). Os atributos do solo estudados foram: densidade do solo, porosidade do solo (macroporosidade e microporosidade), resistência mecânica a penetração, infiltração de água no solo e ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Soils under inadequate management have their physical, chemical and biological qualities negatively affected, giving rise to their degradation. In the state of São Paulo, most of the pastures are degraded and / or in degradation. Understanding how a degraded soil and its resilience works and starting its restoration process are essential to develop proper soil management techniques. Countless techniques are being used to recover degraded soil, discovering and detailing the physical indexes of the soil helps in how to proceed, and with which recovery technique to use; with this in mind, this project has developed an interactive program (analyze and classify) using artificial neural networks (ANN) to estimate soil recovery levels (recovered (R), partially recovered (PR) and not recovered ( NR) as a function of physical attributes and compare with data obtained using conventional statistics.The experiment was carried out at the São Paulo Agribusiness Technologies Agency - APTA in the Far West, in the city of Andradina / SP from 2015 to 2017, on classified soil as Red Yellow Argisol cultivated on Urochloa decumbens pasture in recovery since 2012, with different ways of introducing Estiloantes cv. Campo Grande (Stylosanthes capitata and S. macrocephala). The studied soil attributes are: soil density, soil porosity (macroporosity and microporosity), mechanical resistance to penetration, water infiltration in the soil and weighted average diameter, in soil layers: 0-10; 0.10-0.20 an... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Luis Eduardo Blumer Rosa / Coorientador: Estevão Tomomitsu Kimpara / Banca: Rodrigo Máximo de Araújo / Banca: Luiz Alfredo Pavanin / Resumo: As mudanças radicais no cenário político-sócio-econômico brasileiro, exigem que os administradores adotem as melhores práticas e técnicas de gestão que possibilitem atingir os resultados planejados a despeito do segmento em que atuam. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar o perfil gestor dos dentistas do município de São José dos Campos, e elencar as principais carências e necessidades de capacitação destes profissionais para a melhor organização e administração de suas clínicas. Os métodos e recursos utilizados para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho foram as pesquisas bibliográficas e a avaliação quantitativa por meio de questionário elaborado com perguntas estruturadas para respostas de múltipla escolha, formatado em três seções: I - Perfil do Entrevistado, II - Perfil Empreendedor, III - Rotina Operacional, para mapear e diagnosticar as práticas adotadas na gestão clínica. Os recursos utilizados para a submissão do questionário aos dentistas foram: Criação de QR Code para captura por meio de tecnologia móvel, criação de URL para acesso via internet e material impresso para resposta presencial. O estudo avaliou 219 dentistas e o indicador de estabilidade da pesquisa é de 95%. Os resultados confirmaram estatisticamente que os dentistas durante a formação, recebem pouca ou nenhuma informação de como realizar a gestão adequada de um consultório odontológico. Ficou evidenciado que os dentistas majoritariamente não utilizam as ferramentas e as técnicas administrativas fundame... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The radical changes in Brazilian socio-economic political scenario require managers to adopt the best practices and management techniques that allow them to achieve the planned results regardless of the segment in which they operate. The objective of this research was to identify the management profile of dentists in São José dos Campos city and to highlight the main needs and qualification needs of these professionals for the best organization and administration of their clinics. The methods and resources used for the development of this work were the bibliographical researches and the quantitative evaluation through a questionnaire elaborated with structured questions for multiple choice answers, compounded in three sections: I - Interviewee Profile, II - Entrepreneur Profile, III - Routine Operational, to map and diagnose the practices adopted in clinical management. The resources used to submit the questionnaire to the dentists were: Creation of QR Code for capture through mobile technology, creation of URL for access by internet and printed material for personaly response. The study evaluated 219 dentists and the indicator of stability of the research is 95%. The results confirmed statistically that dentists during training receive little or no information on how to properly manage a dental practice. It was evidenced that mostly dentists do not use the tools and administrative techniques that are vital to business management. Another deficit aspect is the lack of knowled... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Ainsworth's Magazine: A Miscellany of Romance, General Literature, and Art made its first appearance in February, 1842. Owned and edited by William Harrison Ainsworth, illustrated by George Cruikshank, published in London by Hugh Cunningham, it was a bargin at eighteen pence. To a greater extent than any of its predecessors, Ainsoworth's was a literary magazine. Previous successful monthlies had been owned by publishing houses, with literary editors at the finanical and ideological mercy of the publishers--according to the literary men. Ainswroth's hope was that a plan, which invests the real property and the real responsibility of a Magaine in literary hands, may give great freedom to writers...and therefore be more favourable to the prosperous exercise of their talents, than is frequently the case under established arrangements.1 This freedom, however, was not to be licence. Although free of a publisher's restrictions, this was to be a family magazine, "addressed not to Mothers only, but to Daughers."2 The necessity to preserve the virture and vacuity of the minds of these young persons was laready beginning to diminate the Victorian literary scene. Ainsworth's Magazine had its initial success assured in the person of its owner-editor, William Harrison Ainsworth. By the time he undertook proprietorship of a magazine, Ainsworth had been a publisher, an editor, a contributor to the popular annuals and monthlies of the day, and had written six best-selling romances. Historical romances; sporting, domestic, and social novels; travel books; scientific and pseudoscientific studies; and biographies were among the books with wied appeal, and they were given serious consideration in the magazine. Not only the books reviewed, but the reviews themselves, are an important part of the context of the writings of the novelists and prose writers of the era to whom we give our serious consideration today.

No description available.

The problem of determining an objective means for assessing local characteristics of television subpictures in a Hadamard transform multicoder scheme is stated and discussed. Detailed investigations of transform domain coefficient statistical characteristics for different test images have been conducted. Both monochrome and colour signals were used, as well as different transform sizes and shapes. " Directing Indexes " are proposed which, depending on the inter-relationships among transform coefficients and groups of coefficients, direct each subpicture to the appropriate coder. Three indexes in the case of monochrome signals are proposed, each with its own computational procedures and application requirements. Necessary modifications and changes for application of some indexes on colour signals are also discussed. The proposed technique of indexing eliminates the necessity of equal distribution of subpictures among 'activity classes', a major disadvantage encountered in present activity index. Coders to be used with each directing index are devised and tested, subject to an arbitrary bit rate of 2 bits per pixel, with satisfactory performance compared with some published results for other techniques.

The accounting literature contains no evidence on the reliability of the link-chain variant of dollar-value LIFO as a method of inventory accounting as compared to the double-extension variant. The research produced the first evidence on the topic. Process analyses of the two methods found both to be flawed, with the link-chain method seriously flawed. The link-chain method inappropriately incorporates the price-levels of periods when there is no annual layer to be restated. The resulting, and all subsequent, inventory valuations are misstated. The link-chain and double-extension methods can both produce misstated valuations in periods with layer erosion. The study identifies procedures to correct these errors. Two quantitative experiments were conducted to evaluate the relationship of the inventory valuations produced by the two methods. The first experiment used a small amount real data; the second experiment used a large amount of synthesized data. The experimental results indicated the relationship of the valuations to be circumstantial. Based on the process analyses and the quantitative experiments, the link-chain LIFO method was determined to be an unreliable method of inventory accounting. The quantitative experiments were also used to investigate related issues. The first experiment concluded that a dollar-value LIFO method based on Fisher’s "ideal" index methodology was practicable. The second experiment concluded that adopting the method used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to assign base-date costs to new or changed items that enter the CPI market basket of goods and services to the double-extension LIFO method was practicable and would not diminish tax revenues. The study recommended that consideration be given to replacing the current double-extension and link-chain methods with a double-extension LIFO with the BLS method. The second experiment also concluded that the IRS’s inventory "turnover" test is probably based on the IRS’s perception of what constitutes taxpayer practicality. The definition of practicality, however, is questioned and alternative definitions are suggested. The study indicated that further research on the relationship of inventory valuations to the income taxation process is needed. / Ph. D.

This dissertation examines the process by which buyers encode and store price information in their memories and how the information is retrieved when such a need arises. Using theories in human learning and memory, it has been argued that buyers’ learning of price information is primarily influenced by their learning plans and the criteria they use pin choice decisions. Because of the differences in learning and choice task orientations, buyers are postulated to encode and store the information differently and therefore, different memory tests are necessary to investigate the retrieval mechanisms and thereby making inferences about their knowledge of price. While it is recognized that buyers may encode and retrieve price information in many different ways, this research has examined the differential impact of learning and choice task orientations on their recall, recognition, and ranking performances. The hypotheses developed in this research were tested in a laboratory experiment using ninety women shoppers as subjects. The two levels of learning (incidental and intentional) and the three levels of choice task orientations (non-price, mixed, and price) were fully crossed in a 2 x 3 full-factorial between-subjects design. Subjects, after being randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions took part in a simulated grocery shopping. Having made their selections, subjects responded to recall, recognition, and ranking memory tests involving prices of the items selected. Subjects also indicated their confidence about the accuracy of their responses. The accuracy and confidence ratings were used as dependent measures when testing the hypotheses. Since accuracy measures were dichotomous (correct or incorrect) in nature, loglinear modes were tested using maximum likelihood estimation procedure. For continuous dependent measure (e.g. confidence), ordinary least square estimations were carried out in a univariate ANOVA framework. In addition, several multiple comparison procedures were used to test differences between mean accuracy and confidence scores. The data analysis supported fifteen out of sixteen hypothesized relationships. The results supported the argument that buyers’ learning of price information improves with greater use of price in their choice decisions and with greater need to remember the information for later use. Overall, recognition was found to be a more appropriate retrieval mechanism than recall. Need for remembering specific prices did not significantly improve buyers° ability to rank items in terms of their expensiveness. The conceptualization and the research results are expected to make both theoretical and methodological contributions in pricing research. Particularly, the issues involving formation of reference prices and the manner in which the internal reference prices are retrieved and used in iii choice decisions are partially addressed using a consumer information processing perspective. Nonetheless, future research is needed to resolve additional issues in price perception research. / Ph. D.

The concept of measurement invariance is essential in ensuring psychological and educational tests are interpreted consistently across diverse groups. This dissertation investigated the practical challenges associated with measurement invariance, specifically on how measurement invariance delta fit indexes are affected by non-normal data. Non-normal data distributions are common in real-world scenarios, yet many statistical methods and measurement invariance delta fit indexes are based on the assumption of normally distributed data. This raises concerns about the accuracy and reliability of conclusions drawn from such analyses. The primary objective of this research is to examine how commonly used delta fit indexes of measurement invariance respond under conditions of non-normality. The present research was built upon Cao and Liang (2022a)’s study to test the sensitivities of a series of delta fit indexes, and further scrutinizes the role of non-normal data distributions. A series of simulation studies was conducted, where data sets with varying degrees of skewness and kurtosis were generated. These data sets were then examined by multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) using the Satorra-Bentler scaled chi-square difference test, a method specifically designed to adjust for non-normality. The performance of delta fit indexes such as the Delta Comparative Fit Index (∆CFI), Delta Standardized Root Mean Square residual (∆SRMR) and Delta Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (∆RMSEA) were assessed. These findings have significant implications for professionals and scholars in psychology and education. They provide constructive information related to key aspects of research and practice in these fields related to measurement, contributing to the broader discussion on measurement invariance by highlighting challenges and offering solutions for assessing model fit in non-normal data scenarios.