In 2003, the Florida legislature appropriated funds to finance pilot programs (1012.231, Florida Statutes) to prepare for the 2004-2005 school year in which pay for performance initiatives were to be implemented in each district. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine and describe the planning, processes, and implications of a pilot career ladder program that was implemented into a large Florida school district in the spring of 2004. During data collection, the program was terminated therefore creating a second purpose that sought to describe residual implications of a program when it is discontinued. Data collected for this study were used to respond to six specific research questions. The first inquired about the planning process prior to implementation. Archival documents were used to determine whether research-based strategies were involved. The second through the fifth questions rely heavily on survey and structured interview data collected by the district and the primary researcher respectively and seek to determine critical perspectives from teachers and administrators regarding the career ladder including knowledge, fairness, and implications for school and district. The sixth question asks whether residual effects remain in place after an initiative has been terminated. Particularly, as a major finding, time for implementation was a theme throughout the study as most respondents were concerned about the short timeline this program had to develop fully. Stakeholder buy-in and understanding of program roles emerged from the data. However, the notion of a mentor that was given the time and resources was frequently mentioned as a benefit to new teachers and the school overall. Furthermore, respondents saw the potential long-term benefit of staff development that would allow highly trained master teachers to coach new and struggling teachers during the day in a clinical setting. There was evidence that this program did have an initial negative impact on the culture of the schools in the district. One unplanned aspect of this case study was the fact that the program was terminated at the state level. This had implications for all stakeholders and could be a strong factor in later implementations; therefore, this would require further study.

Nos sistemas produtivos contemporâneos, vários processos são executados simultaneamente por meio de um conjunto finito de recursos, que são fortemente compartilhados. No chão de fábrica desses sistemas produtivos, ocorrem também eventos não programados como a quebra de máquina, isto é, indisponibilidade imprevista de recursos que pode dar origem a muitos problemas como o travamento (deadlock) dos processos. Existem várias abordagens para resolver o problema, mas, em geral, elas envolvem o suporte de um sistema computacional especifico para a realocação de recursos. Por outro lado, na prática, os sistemas produtivos já possuem uma arquitetura física de controle dos processos estabelecida por normas internacionalmente aceitas, ou seja, a IEC 61131 e a IEC 61499, que prescrevem as diretrizes para o desenvolvimento de soluções de controle baseadas em CLPs. Nesse contexto, é necessário rever o problema de realocação de recursos para se adequar essa realidade à existência de uma arquitetura baseada em controladores programáveis que compõem o sistema de controle de processos desses sistemas produtivos. No presente trabalho, parte-se de requisitos de uma arquitetura física de controle de sistemas produtivos segundo as normas IEC 61131 e IEC 61499 para implementar uma solução de controle de processos que envolve recursos de uma nova natureza, ou seja, que possuem flexibilidade funcional, não prevista nas correspondentes normas. Além disso, desenvolve-se uma nova arquitetura de controle para realocação de recursos que; mediante a indisponibilidade imprevista de recursos como, por exemplo, a quebra de máquinas; considera a flexibilidade funcional das MFMs (Máquinas-Ferramenta Multifuncionais) como uma característica de seu comportamento a ser explorada em tempo real. Nesse contexto, a arquitetura proposta possui três módulos básicos: Controle de Processo (CP), que é responsável pela execução da sequência de atividades de cada processo, Designação de Funcionalidade (DF), que é responsável pela integração e organização de todas as sequências de funcionalidades dos processos, e Designação de Recurso (DR), que é responsável pela alocação/realocação de recursos, incluindo as MFMs. O trabalho define, também, um método para a implementação dos módulos que constituem o novo sistema de controle de alocação de recursos em sistemas produtivos. / In contemporary productive systems, several processes are executed simultaneously through a finite set of resources, which are shared intensively. On the shop floor of these productive systems, unscheduled events also occur, such as machine breakdowns. In other words, unexpected unavailability of resources may give rise to many problems, such as the deadlocking of processes. Several approaches exist to solve this problem, but in general they involve the support of a specific computer system to resolve the reallocation of resources. In practice, however, the productive systems already have a physical architecture for procedural control established by internationally accepted standards, i.e. IEC 61131 and IEC 61499, which prescribe guidelines for the development of control solutions. In this context, the reallocation of resources problem should be reviewed to suit this reality where there exist an architecture based on programmable controllers that make up the process control system of these productive systems. This work starts with the requirements of a physical architecture for the control of productive systems according to the IEC 61131 and IEC 61499 standards to implement a process control solution that involves resources of a new nature. In other words, resources that have a functional flexibility not provided for in the corresponding standards. In this work, a new control architecture was developed for the reallocation of resources that become unavailable because of such events as the breakdown of machinery. This architecture considers the functional flexibility of MMTs (Multifunction Machine Tools) as a characteristic of their behavior to be exploited in real time. In this context, the proposed architecture has three basic modules: Process Control (PC), which is responsible for the execution of the sequence of activities of each process; Functionality Designation (FD), which is responsible for the integration and organization of all functionality sequences of the processes; and Resource Designation (RD), which is responsible for the allocation/reallocation of resources, including the MMTs. This work also defines a method to implement the modules that make up the new resource allocation control system in production systems.

Nos sistemas produtivos contemporâneos, vários processos são executados simultaneamente por meio de um conjunto finito de recursos, que são fortemente compartilhados. No chão de fábrica desses sistemas produtivos, ocorrem também eventos não programados como a quebra de máquina, isto é, indisponibilidade imprevista de recursos que pode dar origem a muitos problemas como o travamento (deadlock) dos processos. Existem várias abordagens para resolver o problema, mas, em geral, elas envolvem o suporte de um sistema computacional especifico para a realocação de recursos. Por outro lado, na prática, os sistemas produtivos já possuem uma arquitetura física de controle dos processos estabelecida por normas internacionalmente aceitas, ou seja, a IEC 61131 e a IEC 61499, que prescrevem as diretrizes para o desenvolvimento de soluções de controle baseadas em CLPs. Nesse contexto, é necessário rever o problema de realocação de recursos para se adequar essa realidade à existência de uma arquitetura baseada em controladores programáveis que compõem o sistema de controle de processos desses sistemas produtivos. No presente trabalho, parte-se de requisitos de uma arquitetura física de controle de sistemas produtivos segundo as normas IEC 61131 e IEC 61499 para implementar uma solução de controle de processos que envolve recursos de uma nova natureza, ou seja, que possuem flexibilidade funcional, não prevista nas correspondentes normas. Além disso, desenvolve-se uma nova arquitetura de controle para realocação de recursos que; mediante a indisponibilidade imprevista de recursos como, por exemplo, a quebra de máquinas; considera a flexibilidade funcional das MFMs (Máquinas-Ferramenta Multifuncionais) como uma característica de seu comportamento a ser explorada em tempo real. Nesse contexto, a arquitetura proposta possui três módulos básicos: Controle de Processo (CP), que é responsável pela execução da sequência de atividades de cada processo, Designação de Funcionalidade (DF), que é responsável pela integração e organização de todas as sequências de funcionalidades dos processos, e Designação de Recurso (DR), que é responsável pela alocação/realocação de recursos, incluindo as MFMs. O trabalho define, também, um método para a implementação dos módulos que constituem o novo sistema de controle de alocação de recursos em sistemas produtivos. / In contemporary productive systems, several processes are executed simultaneously through a finite set of resources, which are shared intensively. On the shop floor of these productive systems, unscheduled events also occur, such as machine breakdowns. In other words, unexpected unavailability of resources may give rise to many problems, such as the deadlocking of processes. Several approaches exist to solve this problem, but in general they involve the support of a specific computer system to resolve the reallocation of resources. In practice, however, the productive systems already have a physical architecture for procedural control established by internationally accepted standards, i.e. IEC 61131 and IEC 61499, which prescribe guidelines for the development of control solutions. In this context, the reallocation of resources problem should be reviewed to suit this reality where there exist an architecture based on programmable controllers that make up the process control system of these productive systems. This work starts with the requirements of a physical architecture for the control of productive systems according to the IEC 61131 and IEC 61499 standards to implement a process control solution that involves resources of a new nature. In other words, resources that have a functional flexibility not provided for in the corresponding standards. In this work, a new control architecture was developed for the reallocation of resources that become unavailable because of such events as the breakdown of machinery. This architecture considers the functional flexibility of MMTs (Multifunction Machine Tools) as a characteristic of their behavior to be exploited in real time. In this context, the proposed architecture has three basic modules: Process Control (PC), which is responsible for the execution of the sequence of activities of each process; Functionality Designation (FD), which is responsible for the integration and organization of all functionality sequences of the processes; and Resource Designation (RD), which is responsible for the allocation/reallocation of resources, including the MMTs. This work also defines a method to implement the modules that make up the new resource allocation control system in production systems.

Firms' participation in exporting or foreign direct investment is an extremely rare behavior: only 4 percent of over 5.5 million U.S. firms were exporters in 2000. Exporters are generally larger (e.g. output and employment) and more productive than firms serving only domestic markets. Such heterogeneity within a narrowly defined industry cannot be fully explained by either comparative advantage arguments or the presence of scale economies and consumers' love of variety. Recent studies of heterogeneous firms show that a reduction in trade costs, i.e. policy, geographic and institutional barriers, has two effects within an industry previously not recognized in trade literature: (i) exit of low productivity firms, and (ii) resource reallocation in favor of high productivity firms. These two effects combine to raise an industry's average productivity and overall welfare, but can adversely affect some regions of an economy with firm closures or job losses. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the effects of trade costs on firm entry, exit, and employment at a regional level in the United States. For this purpose, industry-specific trade costs by U.S. regions are derived and their underlying sources are examined. The chosen trade-costs measure, based on the gravity equation, captures the variation over time in trade fictions among countries. Data from the Census Bureau and the World Bank are employed to quantify trade costs by U.S. industries and regions. Results show that a single measure of trade costs for the United States does not adequately represent the large number of and diverse regions through which trade in agriculture and manufacturing occurs. Moreover, geographic factors appear to be relatively more important than policy barriers in explaining the level of trade costs faced by U.S. regions. Drawing on recent heterogeneous firms models, this dissertation specifies an empirical framework to examine: (i) firm entry or exit arising from changes in trade costs, i.e. extensive margin, and (ii) changes in employment of surviving firms creation arising from changes in trade costs, i.e. intensive margin. These two hypotheses are tested using regional business dynamics data from the Census Bureau and trade cost measures derived earlier. Results show that trade cost changes affect firm exit and employment as hypothesized. That is, lowering trade costs increases the likelihood of firm exit, presumably of the low-productivity ones. Thus, trade costs, by way of the extensive margin, affect an industry's average productivity. Similarly, trade costs appear to affect the employment of surviving firms suggesting that the intensive margin also operates to improve average productivity of an industry, such as through resource reallocation towards high-productivity firms. The intra-industry reallocation of resources to high productivity firms is an important source of gains from trade to the whole economy. Nonetheless, some regions face firm exit and job losses. In assessing the gains from trade, attention must be paid to the distributional consequences of resource reallocation within an industry as well as a country. / Graduation date: 2013