Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:56:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 renata lima.pdf: 1488304 bytes, checksum: ac63cb565b8e8e01ea02f4ca2d38d8e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-14 / The main objective of this research was to describe and analyze the image that amateur runners, members of the runners´ team Run & Fun, in São Paulo, have of themselves: how they perceive themselves as runners and what are the values that characterize and unite them. An ethnographic research was conducted during one year in which the runners´ routine and their relationship among themselves and with the trainers were observed and described, as well as their clothes (the team´s uniform and the sneakers). Considering that there are beginner and initiate runners in the group, this research tried to identify if both kinds of runners share the same image or if beginner´s image is built by their companionship with initiate runners. The research also tried to identify the role that the main sneakers´ brands, Asics, Mizuno and Nike, play in the idealized runners´ image. Living together with these athletes during one year revealed that beginners and initiates do not share the same idealized image of being an amateur runner. Each of them create their own athlete´s fantasy . In other words, they use different symbols to be connected with running and with the runners´ team. In a sense, sneakers´ brands and runners´ teams are brands that have different meanings built up by the runners to create their athlete´s fantasies / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo descrever e analisar a imagem que os corredores amadores participantes do grupo de corrida Run & Fun, em São Paulo, fazem de si: como eles se vêem e que valores os caracterizam e os unem. Para tal, foi realizada uma pesquisa etnográfica durante um ano, em que se observou e descreveu a rotina dos corredores e seus relacionamentos entre si, com os treinadores e a vestimenta usada (o uniforme e o tênis). Considerando que existem corredores iniciantes e corredores experientes ou iniciados no grupo, a pesquisa buscou identificar se ambos compartilham uma mesma imagem ou se a imagem dos corredores iniciantes é construída ao longo do tempo, através da convivência com corredores iniciados. A pesquisa também buscou analisar o papel que as principais marcas de tênis, Asics, Mizuno e Nike, desempenham nesta imagem idealizada dos corredores. A convivência durante um ano com os atletas deste grupo mostrou que corredores iniciantes e iniciados não compartilham a mesma imagem idealizada do que é ser um corredor amador. Cada um deles constrói a sua própria fantasia de atleta , ou seja, se relaciona com a corrida e com o grupo de corrida através de diferentes simbologias. Neste sentido, não apenas as marcas de tênis, mas também os grupos de corrida, são marcas que carregam distintos significados incorporados ou construídos pelos próprios corredores, constituindo as fantasias de atleta

FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) dinamicamente reconfiguráveis (DR-FPGAs) são soluções promissoras para muitos sistemas embarcados devido a potencial redução de área de silício. Metodologias de projeto e ferramentas CAD relacionadas são ainda muito limitadas para auxiliarem os projetistas a encontrarem soluções dinamicamente reconfiguráveis para diferentes aplicações. Este trabalho propõe uma metodologia de projeto que combina modelos de alto nível em SystemC, técnicas de projeto de baixo nível e a metodologia de projeto modular da XILINX. SystemC foi utilizada para representar o comportamento de alto nível não temporizado e não-RTL, bem como o baixo nível RTL-DCS (Chaveamento Dinâmico de Circuitos). Um estudo de caso da Banda Base de um Controlador Bluetooth foi desenvolvido. Duas partições temporais foram testadas em nove diferentes DR-FPGAs. A exploração espacial mostrou que 33% das soluções investigadas atenderam a restrição da especificação de 625µs de tempo do quadro do pacote Bluetooth, deixando diferentes parcelas de recursos livres que podem ser explorados para acomodar outros módulos IP de sistemas mais complexos no mesmo dispositivo. / Dynamically Reconfigurable Field Programmable Gate Arrays (DR-FPGAs) are promising solutions for many embedded systems due to the potential silicon area reduction. Design methodologies and related CAD tools are still very limited to assist designers to encounter dynamically reconfigurable solutions for different applications. This work proposes a design methodology that combines high level SystemC models and design techniques with the low level modular design proposed by Xilinx. SystemC has been used to represent the high level untimed non-RTL behavior as well as the low level RTL-DCS (Dynamic Circuit Switching). A Bluetooth Baseband unit case study was performed. Two temporal-functional partitions were evaluated on nine different target DR-FPGAs. The design space exploration showed that 33% of the investigated solutions complied with the 625µs Bluetooth packet time frame specification leaving different amounts if free resources that may be explored to accommodate other IP modules of more complex systems on the same device.

Nesta tese se estudam as duas pontas da atividade bancária. A relacionada com os depositantes e a relacionada com empréstimos e financiamentos. A ligação subjacente entre os artigos é o estudo da mudança de fases. Do lado do depósito o foco está no estudo de corridas bancárias. Explica-se o acontecimento de corridas bancárias pela decisão do depositante de retirar dinheiro prematuramente pelo medo do banco não ter recursos para honrar o contrato. Utiliza-se um modelo de simulação baseado em agentes para avaliar o comportamento dos depositantes sob diversos cenários. Ao impor regras simples, as simulações mostram que, no longo prazo, corridas por boatos tendem a zero conforme os bancos aumentam de tamanho e o mercado fica concentrado. Na outra ponta, a do crédito, se mediu o tempo que demora até uma operação de crédito se tornar inadimplente através de modelos de sobrevivência. Três modalidades de crédito são estudadas: financiamento de capital de giro para pessoas jurídicas e financiamento de veículos e empréstimo pessoal não consignado para pessoas físicas. Os resultados mostram claramente que o comportamento de cada modalidade de crédito é único. Além disso, a qualidade dos empréstimos concedidos durante a recessão causada pela crise de 2008 não é diferente da de outros períodos. A mudança na política de preços dos bancos públicos fez a qualidade do crédito do capital de giro piorar nestas instituições. O Banco Central do Brasil aumenta os fatores de ponderação de risco para novos empréstimos de automóvel mais arriscados. Porém, a decisão não afetou os financiamentos alvo / This thesis studies two main activities of banking. Deposit taking and lending. The theme that links the different chapters in the thesis is the study of phase transitions. On the deposit end it simulates bank runs by using an agent based approach to assess the depositors behavior under various scenarios. Simulations show that in the long run the number of bank runs goes to zero as banks grow and the market concentration increases. At the credit side, it measures the time it takes for a credit operation to become delinquent through the methodology of survival analysis. Three different loan operations are studied: working capital finance for companies and automobile financing and personal loans for individuals. The results clearly show that the behavior of each single type of credit is unique. Moreover, the quality of loans granted during the recession caused by the 2008 crisis isn\'t different from those granted in others periods. The change in the price policy of public banks makes the quality worse of working capital loans in those financial institutions. Banco Central do Brasil raises the risk weight factors to riskier new auto loans in 2010. However, the decision doesn\'t influence the targeted loans.

Data-flow (DF) testing was introduced more than thirty years ago aiming at verifying a program by extensively exploring its structure. It requires tests that traverse paths in which the assignment of a value to a variable (a definition) and its subsequent reference (a use) is verified. This relationship is called definition-use association (dua). While control-flow (CF) testing tools have being able to tackle systems composed of large and long running programs, DF testing tools have failed to do so. This situation is in part due to the costs associated with tracking duas at run-time. Recently, an algorithm, called Bitwise Algorithm (BA), which uses bit vectors and bitwise operations for tracking intra-procedural duas at run-time, was proposed. This research presents the implementation of BA for programs compiled into Java bytecodes. Previous DF approaches were able to deal with small to medium size programs with high penalties in terms of execution and memory. Our experimental results show that by using BA we are able to tackle large systems with more than 250 KLOCs and 300K required duas. Furthermore, for several programs the execution penalty was comparable with that imposed by a popular CF testing tool. / Teste de fluxo de dados (TFD) foi introduzido há mais de trinta anos com o objetivo de criar uma avaliação mais abrangente da estrutura dos programas. TFD exige testes que percorrem caminhos nos quais a atribuição de valor a uma variável (definição) e a subsequente referência a esse valor (uso) são verificados. Essa relação é denominada associação definição-uso. Enquanto as ferramentas de teste de fluxo de controle são capazes de lidar com sistemas compostos de programas grandes e que executam durante bastante tempo, as ferramentas de TFD não têm obtido o mesmo sucesso. Esta situação é, em parte, devida aos custos associados ao rastreamento de associações definição-uso em tempo de execução. Recentemente, foi proposto um algoritmo --- chamado \\textit (BA) --- que usa vetores de bits e operações bit a bit para monitorar associações definição-uso em tempo de execução. Esta pesquisa apresenta a implementação de BA para programas compilados em Java. Abordagens anteriores são capazes de lidar com programas pequenos e de médio porte com altas penalidades em termos de execução e memória. Os resultados experimentais mostram que, usando BA, é possível utilizar TFD para verificar sistemas com mais de 250 mil linhas de código e 300 mil associações definição-uso. Além disso, para vários programas, a penalidade de execução imposta por BA é comparável àquela imposta por uma popular ferramenta de teste de fluxo de controle.

Valuation draws heavily on the economic theory of demand. This tells us that users have preferences for water and are willing to pay different amounts for units of water put to different uses. Water should be allocated between these uses to the point that equalises the value of the last or 'marginal' unit. In other words, it is impossible to find a higher value for this marginal unit. Application of this principle of equi-marginal returns requires us to have some clarity about water values in competing uses. This is also important since water is rarely free to supply, and therefore suppliers need to charge a price that is in some sense equal to the supply cost and value to achieve full cost recovery. Even though inclusion of this economic rationale in the management of water resources has been a widely accepted principle, and is included in national and the EU policies, the actual practice does not fully reflect this endorsement. While many countries recognise the vital nature of water resources, few, if any, pursue a rigorous analysis of revealing the explicit value of water as a basis for determining whether water is actually being allocated to sectors in order to maximise its overall benefit to society. Aspiring to be the first Hydro Nation, maximising the social return from its water uses ought to be a policy objective in Scotland. This thesis constructs a portfolio of different water uses, estimating the approximate value for each and their current allocation in Scotland. This aims to stimulate an informed debate on actual allocation of water among different uses, relative values and trade-offs of these allocations in Scotland so that alternative allocation scenarios can also be discussed. I then focus on the valuation of water by manufacturing industries, the biggest consumptive use and a significant added value creator in Scotland. I investigate the factors that affect the valuation of water and the responsiveness to prices in manufacturing industries using a meta-analysis technique. These values are obviously not the same for each manufacturing sector due the nature of their use and value of their final output. Some sectors create premium value out of their use. The whisky industry stands out as a water-intensive and high value creating sector, as well as a vital contributor to the rural and overall Scottish economy. It is analysed here as the first case study using water footprint and marginal productivity analyses methods, both analyses highlighting the importance of quality and quantity of local water resources in Scotland and its value to the industry. The second case study is the livestock industry, which has been overlooked in the valuation of water use literature yet is significant for livelihoods in rural Scotland where reduced land capability limits agricultural production options. Following the portfolio of water uses, meta-analysis and case studies that analyse the current situation of value and allocation, I explore how the current situation can be improved through the application of tradability. Currently the main problem in Scotland is not the amount of water used or abstracted, but the pollution reaching water bodies as the result of run-off and leaching from agricultural fields. Therefore, the feasibility of trading water rights is more concerned with the permits to pollute rather than the rights to use. Using a linear optimisation I look into the potential of designing a payment for ecosystem services scheme based on tradability of water pollution in agricultural catchments that are affected by from diffuse pollution. The results indicate that trading schemes help reduce the cost of pollution to all users while creating additional income for farms. For constructing more precise pollution rights and robust schemes more research efforts are required.

Esta dissertação trata a questão dos espaços comuns em alguns empreendimentos de habitação de interesse social em São Paulo. Resgata historicamente as diversas manifestações, nas cidades, de espaços comuns próprios de construções residenciais e de conjuntos habitacionais. Com estudos de caso específicos, recupera quatro experiências dos primeiros programas de construção de moradias por mutirão e autogestão realizados em São Paulo, entre os anos 1989 e 2004, em razão de suas peculiaridades e qualidades que os tornaram bons modelos de projetos de arquitetura habitacional de interesse social. Procura, a partir da análise das condicionantes dos projetos de arquitetura e urbanismo, avaliar como os espaços comuns são geridos, como foram apropriados pelos moradores, e em que medida tal apropriação se relaciona ou não com os usos pensados e propostos (ou não) nos projetos originais. / This dissertation covers the matter of communal areas in some public-funded housing projects in São Paulo. It recalls the historical and varied advent, throughout cities, of such communal areas that are usual to residential and housing project construction. Using studies of specific cases, this research analyzes four experiences from the first public occupant-run housing project construction programs carried out in São Paulo, between 1989 and 2004. They were selected because of the peculiarities and features that made them such good models for public-funded architectural housing projects. The aim is to assess, by analyzing the conditioning factors of the architectural and urbanization projects, how the communal areas were put together, how they were utilized by the occupants, and how such utilization is related, or not, to the possibilities previously planned or proposed in the original projects.

This dissertation consists of two self-contained chapters that empirically examine bidder firm returns of U.S. companies in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. In chapter one I examine how cultural distance between bidder and target country impacts internalization benefits. The results suggest that shareholders are initially concerned about the acquisition in culturally distant countries, which outweighs any potential benefits from internalization. However, in the long-run we observe a significant reversal of these findings. In the second and third year following the announcement, greater cultural distance positively impacts the bidder firm's operating performance and the bidder experiences significant internalization benefits from technological know-how when cultural distance is great. Long-run calendar-time returns further support this finding. These results add to the existing literature by highlighting the importance of cultural distance when examining internalization benefits. In chapter two I attempt to explain abnormal bidder firms' returns in cross-border mergers and acquisitions by comparing the first-mover hypothesis to the late-mover hypothesis. I also study the reactions of rival firms to bidder firm announcements as a further test of the first-mover hypothesis. The findings suggest that cross-border acquisitions are generally value-destroying for strategic pioneers unless cultural distance between the U.S. and the target country is great. Further, I find positive announcement effects for followers as long as cultural distance is small.

The Military Police Corps' active shooter preparedness plan is inadequate because several updated tactics, techniques, and procedures that have been developed over the past 20 years and implemented by civilian law enforcement agencies have not been incorporated, leaving the Corps less prepared during active shooter events. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how Military Police Corps leaders trained their law enforcement and support personnel to respond to an active shooter event. The institutional analysis and development framework was used to analyze the day-to-day operational decisions within the Military Police Corps. Data for the qualitative case study were collected through semi structured interviews with 15 Military Police Corps leaders and soldiers across 5 military police battalions in the United States and Europe and military police training records. These data were subjected to axial and open coding, followed by a thematic analysis procedure. Participants perceived that the Corps' active shooter preparedness training hours and methodology are insufficient to maintain proficiency in active shooter preparedness, that dispatchers are not properly trained on receiving active shooter calls, and that live exercise training for first responders is inadequate. Recommendations for Military Police Corps leadership include updating the training methodology for first responders and dispatchers, providing better tactical equipment for first responders, and revising policies in order to improve the Military Police Corps' active shooter preparedness program. Implementation of these recommendations may promote public safety.

Processing power is a key technical challenge holding back the development of a high-performance software defined radio (SDR). Traditionally, SDR has utilized digital signal processors (DSPs), but increasingly complex algorithms, higher data rates, and multi-tasking needs have exceed the processing capabilities of modern DSPs. Reconfigurable computers, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), are popular alternatives because of their performance gains over software for streaming data applications like SDR. However, FPGAs have not yet realized the ideal SDR because architectures have not fully utilized their partial reconfiguration (PR) capabilities to bring needed flexibility. A reconfigurable processor architecture is proposed that utilizes PR in reconfigurable computers to achieve a more sophisticated SDR. The proposed processor contains run-time swappable blocks whose parameters and interconnects are programmable. The architecture is analyzed for performance and flexibility and compared with available alternate technologies. For a sample QPSK algorithm, hardware performance gains of at least 44x are seen over modern desktop processors and DSPs while most of their flexibility and extensibility is maintained.

This dissertation includes two chapters that investigate the role venture capitalists (VCs) play in the underpricing and in the long-run performance of IPOs. The first chapter focuses on the underpricing of IPOs and attempts to determine the role that VCs play in this underpricing process. The evidence is consistent with a view that VCs agree to underpricing to ascertain benefits from both "grandstanding" and "spinning." The second chapter examines the long-run performance of IPOs and tries to determine the role that VCs play in the development of IPOs. Here, the evidence suggests that VC-backed IPOs appear to have better access to capital than non-VC-backed IPOs, but the long-run performance of VC-backed IPOs is generally mixed.