Esta é uma etnografia sobre práticas de trabalho que visa a entender os dispositivos presentes na constituição de um tipo específico de trabalhador que emerge na região industrializada no nordeste do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, no Brasil, conhecida como Serra Gaúcha. A pesquisa coloca em perspectiva uma fábrica de calçados na cidade de Farroupilha. Focalizo as experiências dos trabalhadores migrantes em processo de inserção na fábrica como uma forma estratégica de acompanhar, por meio dos estranhamentos iniciais, as experiências pelas quais passam a incorporar capacidades de ação e propensões para pensar, sentir e emocionar-se naquele contexto. Ao inserirem-se na fábrica, os sujeitos aprendem novas competências para trabalhar que também se tratam de uma competência social. Destaco, nesse contexto, os discursos do mito do imigrante e do mito neoliberal, que convergem e participam das ações dos sujeitos motivados a aderir a práticas econômicas como a intensificação do trabalho. As dinâmicas geridas são parte de acontecimentos econômicos mais amplos de um processo dialético que evidencia os impactos da expansão dos mercados nas circunstâncias materiais, nas práticas culturais e nos novos arranjos espaciais locais que colocam em funcionamento o amplo “sistema” do capitalismo. / This is an ethnography of work practices which intends to understand the present devices in the constitution of a specific kind of worker who emerges in the industrialized region in the northwest of the Rio Grande do Sul state, in Brazil, also known as Serra Gaúcha. The research puts a shoes factory of Farroupilha city into perspective. We focus on migrant workers in process of adaptation as a strategic way to follow the experiences they live, based on the initial unfamiliarity, to incorporate capacity to act and tendency to think, to fell and to become moved in that context. When they become part of the factory, the subjects learn new skills to work which can be considered a social skill. We highlight, in this sense, the speech of the immigrant myth and the neoliberal myth, which converge and take part in the actions of the subjects who are motivated to adhere to the economic practices as work intensification. The managed dynamics are part of broader economic events of a dialectic process which points the impacts of market expansion in material circumstances, in cultural practices and in the new local spatial arrangements which make the large capitalism “system” work.

Esta é uma etnografia sobre práticas de trabalho que visa a entender os dispositivos presentes na constituição de um tipo específico de trabalhador que emerge na região industrializada no nordeste do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, no Brasil, conhecida como Serra Gaúcha. A pesquisa coloca em perspectiva uma fábrica de calçados na cidade de Farroupilha. Focalizo as experiências dos trabalhadores migrantes em processo de inserção na fábrica como uma forma estratégica de acompanhar, por meio dos estranhamentos iniciais, as experiências pelas quais passam a incorporar capacidades de ação e propensões para pensar, sentir e emocionar-se naquele contexto. Ao inserirem-se na fábrica, os sujeitos aprendem novas competências para trabalhar que também se tratam de uma competência social. Destaco, nesse contexto, os discursos do mito do imigrante e do mito neoliberal, que convergem e participam das ações dos sujeitos motivados a aderir a práticas econômicas como a intensificação do trabalho. As dinâmicas geridas são parte de acontecimentos econômicos mais amplos de um processo dialético que evidencia os impactos da expansão dos mercados nas circunstâncias materiais, nas práticas culturais e nos novos arranjos espaciais locais que colocam em funcionamento o amplo “sistema” do capitalismo. / This is an ethnography of work practices which intends to understand the present devices in the constitution of a specific kind of worker who emerges in the industrialized region in the northwest of the Rio Grande do Sul state, in Brazil, also known as Serra Gaúcha. The research puts a shoes factory of Farroupilha city into perspective. We focus on migrant workers in process of adaptation as a strategic way to follow the experiences they live, based on the initial unfamiliarity, to incorporate capacity to act and tendency to think, to fell and to become moved in that context. When they become part of the factory, the subjects learn new skills to work which can be considered a social skill. We highlight, in this sense, the speech of the immigrant myth and the neoliberal myth, which converge and take part in the actions of the subjects who are motivated to adhere to the economic practices as work intensification. The managed dynamics are part of broader economic events of a dialectic process which points the impacts of market expansion in material circumstances, in cultural practices and in the new local spatial arrangements which make the large capitalism “system” work.

Submitted by Roberto Amaral de Castro Prado Santos (rcpass_272@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-06-05T02:17:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Natural Gas Vehicles in Brazil - Consequences to Fuel Markets - Roberto Amaral C P Santos - EESP-FGV - versão final.pdf: 944438 bytes, checksum: 1c0da5644a3a1d8c63a9f60d618a9325 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Katia Menezes de Souza (katia.menezes@fgv.br) on 2018-06-05T13:35:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Natural Gas Vehicles in Brazil - Consequences to Fuel Markets - Roberto Amaral C P Santos - EESP-FGV - versão final.pdf: 944438 bytes, checksum: 1c0da5644a3a1d8c63a9f60d618a9325 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-06-05T14:01:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Natural Gas Vehicles in Brazil - Consequences to Fuel Markets - Roberto Amaral C P Santos - EESP-FGV - versão final.pdf: 944438 bytes, checksum: 1c0da5644a3a1d8c63a9f60d618a9325 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-05T14:01:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Natural Gas Vehicles in Brazil - Consequences to Fuel Markets - Roberto Amaral C P Santos - EESP-FGV - versão final.pdf: 944438 bytes, checksum: 1c0da5644a3a1d8c63a9f60d618a9325 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-10 / This Master Thesis consists of one empirical article on the field of Microeconomy. Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) are very popular in many countries around the world, including Brazil. The Brazilian State of Rio de Janeiro has the largest NGV fleet of the country. Using a panel database extending for 15 years, we evaluate the impact of the NGV fleet penetration growth in Rio de Janeiro on the retailers’s prices and margins of gasoline and sugarcane ethanol. By correcting for endogeneity, we are able to identify a negative impact of the former variables on the last ones. The result is generally robust to different specifications of our model and instrument, as well as to data adjustment. We also calculate that the NGV fleet growth has benefited the environment through lower pollutant emissions. Hence, the increase in the NGV fleet is benefitial to society not only through less polution, but also by lowering the prices of gasoline and ethanol, therefore benefiting its consumers. / Esta dissertação de mestrado consiste em um artigo empírico no campo da Microeconomia. Veículos movido a gás natural são populares em diversos países do mundo, incluindo o Brasil. O estado brasileiro do Rio de Janeiro tem a maior frota desse tipo de veículos no Brasil. Usando 15 anos de dados em painel, nós avaliamos o impacto do crescimento da penetração dos veículos movidos a gás natural no Rio de Janeiro sobre os preços e margens da gasolina e do etanol de cana-de-açúcar nos postos de gasolina fluminenses. Ao corrigir pela endogeneidade, identificamos um impacto negativo da primeira variável nas posteriores. Tal resultado é geralmente robusto a diferentes especificações do nosso modelo e instrumento, além de a ajustes nos dados. Além disso, calculamos que o crescimento da frota de veículos movidos a gás natural foi benéfico para o meio-ambiente por meio de menores emissões de poluentes. Assim, um aumento da frota de veículos movidos a gás natural beneficiou a sociedade não apenas através de uma menor poluição, mas também por diminuir o preço da gasolina e etanol, beneficiando, consequentemente, seus consumidores.

In the last two decades, more than half of the countries in the world have introduced a reform process in their power industries and billions of dollars have been spent on liberalizing electricity markets around the world. This thesis presents a doctoral research concerned with the cross-country empirical analysis of the electricity market reforms. The thesis is in three-paper format; that is, we present three independent but related stand-alone papers. The first paper focuses on the impact of power market reforms on electricity price-cost margins and industrial/residential price ratios. It investigates this issue by looking at the impact of the electricity industry reforms on residential and industrial electricity price-cost margins and their effect on industrial/residential price ratios. Using panel data from 63 developed and developing countries covering the period 1982–2009, empirical models are developed and analysed. The results suggest that each individual reform step has different impact on price-cost margins and industrial/residential price ratios for each consumer and country group. That is to say, our findings imply that similar reform steps may have different impacts in different countries, which supports the idea that reform prescription for a specific country cannot easily be transferred to another one with similar success. The second paper explores whether the question of why some countries are able to implement more extensive reforms is closely related to the question of why some countries have better institutions than others. It analyses this question by using an empirical econometric model based on Poisson regression with cross-section data covering 51 states in US, 13 provinces in Canada and 51 other countries. The study concludes that both the background of the chairperson and the minister/governor and institutional endowments of a country are important determinants of how far reforms have gone in a country. Considering the fact that ideological considerations, political composition of governments and educational/professional background of leaders have played and will play a crucial role throughout the reform process; the third paper attempts to discover the impact of political economic variables on the liberalization process in electricity markets. It develops and analyses empirical models using panel data from 55 developed and developing countries covering the period 1975–2010. The results suggest that a portion of the differences in the reform experiences of reforming countries in the past three decades can be explained by differences in the political structure, in the ideology of the government and in the professional and educational backgrounds of the political leaders.

The purpose of this project is to analyze whether i3 Strategy of Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) was necessary to meet the fast-moving IT industry. i3 Services Strategy is an integrated corporate strategy to reengineer the organizational structure of ADS.

Quality drives customer satisfaction, improved business performance, and safer products. Reducing waste and variation is critical to the financial success of organizations. Today, it is common to see Lean and Six Sigma used as the two main strategies in improving Quality. As advancements in information technologies enable the use of big data, defect reduction and continuous improvement philosophies will benefit and even prosper. Predictive Quality Analytics (PQA) is a framework where risk assessment and Machine Learning technology can help detect anomalies in the entire ecosystem, and not just in the manufacturing facility. PQA serves as an early warning system that directs resources to where help and mitigation actions are most needed. In a world where limited resources are the norm, focused actions on the significant few defect drivers can be the difference between success and failure

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Change has become a prevalent feature of today’s organizations, resulting in an increased demand for workers who are able to adapt to the dynamic nature of the environment. Recently, many have suggested that traditional models of job performance should be expanded to include an adaptive performance dimension. Research in this relatively new domain has focused on defining adaptive performance and understanding how it may be predicted. This study contributes to these efforts by testing the personality trait of conscientiousness as a predictor of adaptive performance, with both constructs being studied at their domain and facet levels. The incremental validity of conscientiousness over cognitive ability is also examined, and autonomy is investigated as a moderator of the conscientiousness-adaptive performance relationships. A sample of 212 undergraduate students who work at least 20 hours per week participated in the study by completing an online survey and a cognitive ability assessment. Conscientiousness was supported as a good predictor of adaptive performance overall. However, the predictor-outcome results did vary over the domain and facet levels, emphasizing the importance of studying both levels. At the two-facet level of conscientiousness, the achievement motivation facet was shown to have stronger relationships with the adaptive performance dimensions compared to the dependability facet. At the six-facet level of conscientiousness, the three achievement motivation facets and one dependability facet (i.e., dutifulness) were significantly related to all eight performance dimensions, but the other two dependability facets (i.e., orderliness and cautiousness) were not significantly related to all of the adaptive performance dimensions. Conscientiousness did provide significant incremental validity over cognitive ability at the domain level and for almost all of the facet-level relationships, but cognitive ability was not related to adaptive performance or any other study variables. Autonomy was supported as a moderator with 16 significant interactions uncovered at the facet level. However, these significant interactions only involved three (i.e., interpersonal, learning, and cultural) of the eight adaptive performance dimensions. Overall, these results supported the conscientiousness-adaptive performance relationship and contributed new findings to the adaptive performance domain that have implications for employee selection and performance management.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

<p>\textbf{Chapter 1}\\</p> <p>This paper explores the implications of the mismatch hypothesis in the context of the labor market using a survey on newly licensed US lawyers called the After the JD Study. Using a triple difference approach, I measure the impact of diversity quotas on marginal minority workers’ future salaries, promotion rates, and leaving rates for occupation and job. With middling statistical power, my findings are in line with the mismatch hypothesis in that beneficiaries of the diversity quota policy are made ex-ante worse off. My findings are also in line with recent literature on diminishing racial outcome gaps by skill.</p> <p><br></p> <p>\textbf{Chapter 2}\\</p> <p>In this paper, we provide theoretical framework for three models of Digital Media Firm behavior called \textit{Premium}, \textit{Free-to-Play}, and \textit{Play-to-Earn} as well as suggest an empirical measure of firm ponzi-likeness. First, we study a baseline model optimal price and quality of a digital product, the premium model. Second, we extend the baseline model where some customers, called minnows, receive the product for free and other customers, called whales, pay a price for a better version of the product, this is the free-to-play model. Finally, we explore a model where customers receive a security-like asset from the firm and this asset acts like a negative price while also subsidizing the firm's revenue. This final model provides an environment for much research. We show that, even when firms are ponzi-schemes in this final model, quality of the product need not be at a minimum. We also briefly discuss how one would measure the ponzi-likeness of a digital media firm in the third model setting. </p> <p><br></p> <p>\textbf{Chapter 3}\\</p> <p>In this paper, I explore unique measures of racial prejudice and their impact on black wages in the labor market using the General Social Survey, Current Population Survey and the NLSY79. I generate two variables to proxy for racial prejudice which are extracted from the GSS and the NLSY79. The first variable, drawn from the GSS, measures prejudice sentiment towards blacks and the second, drawn from the NLSY79, measures individual experience with racial discrimination. I use these measurements to proxy for racial prejudice and its impact on the black-white wage gap. I find that these variables are two distinctly different measures of racial discrimination in the labor market, providing a powerful instrument for measuring racial discrimination in the labor market. They also provide the insight that, while racial prejudice may be high in certain occupations and regions, this sentiment does not directly impact black outcomes. Specifically, wages are more sensitive to racial prejudice in WC jobs than in BC jobs. </p>

Enterprise Architecture endeavours to resolve the complexity of increasingly distributed systems by aligning business vision with IT strategy, which in turn should reduce the overall costs of IT in the business and provide simpler, better and faster solutions to business problems. There are many Enterprise Architecture frameworks. The main purpose of most of these frameworks is to assist with the challenges of managing the increased complexity of distributed systems, aligning business vision with IT strategy and reducing IT costs. Many of the studies which produced the results stating Enterprise Architecture aligns business vision and reduces IT costs, were based on Zachman’s work, and most of the published Enterprise Architecture success stories focus on the benefits provided to the company with regards to IT. In contrast very little documentation could be found that addresses the impact of Enterprise Architecture implementations on the individuals and systems within a company. If the individuals as the main implementers of any strategy are impacted negatively by Enterprise Architecture management decisions, there would be a negative impact on the return on investment of the company. Enterprise Architecture allows the use of overlapping departments’ processes and data, which translates into less development time as system components would already exist. Changes that are made to the Enterprise Architecture result in several additional changes that had to be implemented by the software developers. These changes influenced the workload, roles and responsibilities of the developers in such a way that the development team became negative about the additional work. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Enterprise Architecture management decisions on the responsibilities, work experience and attitude towards Enterprise Architecture of the software developers in a company that develops software by exploring and describing the nature of software development. Based on the findings of this study, a list of impact of Enterprise Architecture decisions on the responsibilities of software developers in companies that develop software were identified. In this respect, the study identified impacts of Enterprise Architecture management decisions as well as possible solutions to these impacts. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)