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Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T11:13:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_7728_DISSERTAÇÃO - Herbert PDF.pdf: 1931149 bytes, checksum: bba4328cdb53a0d68a3927a1a3f91860 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-10 / Objetivou-se com o presente trabalho, estudar os efeitos da convergência às normas internacionais de contabilidade (IFRS), da cobertura de analistas financeiros e da emissão de American Depositary Receipts - ADR, sobre o disclosure voluntário das empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. Partindo-se da análise de 14 trabalhos acadêmicos, desenvolveu-se um índice de disclosure voluntário contendo um total de 38 itens, sendo 25 itens de natureza financeira, econômica e organizacional e 13 itens de natureza social e ambiental. O check list do índice desenvolvido foi aplicado sobre 1.406 documentos (notas explicativas e relatórios da administração, contendo 58,2 mil páginas), de uma amostra com 703 observações - ano, obtidas durante os anos de 2006 a 2013. Utilizando-se do teste de Wilcoxon, os resultados apontam incrementos estatisticamente significantes nos níveis de disclosure voluntário durante o período de convergência ao padrão IFRS no Brasil, sendo mais significativos elementos de natureza econômica, financeira e organizacional do que os de natureza social e ambiental. Utilizando-se de modelos OLS robustos, aplicados sobre dados em painel desbalanceado, os resultados dos testes econométricos confirmaram parcialmente a hipótese de que o padrão IFRS contribuiu no desenvolvimento do disclosure voluntário das empresas com maior acompanhamento de analistas financeiros, porém, significativamente para as empresas que emitiram American Depositary Receipts (ADR) durante o período de convergência às normas internacionais de contabilidade. Os resultados são robustos e significativos quando controlados por variáveis representativas do tamanho (TAM), da rentabilidade (RENT), do endividamento (ALAV) e de auditoria de uma big four (AUDI) como determinantes do disclosure voluntário durante o período de convergência ao padrão IFRS no Brasil.

The lack of protection for prospective homeowners from inferior workmanship in homebuilding has led the South African government to introduce legislation that give inspectors powers to enforce compliance with building regulations in order to address this shortcoming. In spite of this endeavor the home building industry still produces houses built with many structural problems caused by poor workmanship. The National Home Building Registration Council (NHBRC) has spent large sums annually on remedial works. It is against this background that this research project has been conducted. The study sought to establish criteria necessary for and barriers to an effective inspectorate function in the South African home building industry. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for the study, including interviews, and knowledge, attitudes, and perception (KAP) surveys of relevant stakeholders such as inspectors and homebuilders. The study presents the perceptions and opinions of building contractors on their interactions with building inspectors in the housing industry. The study demonstrates that having dealings with the inspectorate at various levels does not necessarily mean that, for example, newly constructed houses will be inspected on a more regular basis.The findings of this study provide baseline data for inspectorate departments and researchers, thereby contributing to understanding the importance of an effective inspectorate in the homebuilding industry. The primary study conclusion is that homebuilding contractors do not have regard for the competence and levels of knowledge of inspectors given that these are evidently lacking. The preferred characteristics of inspectors were helpfulness, trustworthiness, fairness and being knowledgeable and thorough. It is clear that one of the major challenges facing the home building inspectorate in South Africa is the lack of competent and knowledgeable inspectors to insure adherence to the National Building Regulations and specifications by building contractors. Considering that the majority of South African contractor in the housing sector are emerging contractors it is imperative that the inspectorate play a developmental role by providing them with useful advice more frequently than is currently the case. If continuous training on technical maters of both inspectors and contractors is applied the desired quality standards and workmanship in the homebuilding industry can be attained.

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Orientador: Marcelo de Castro Meneghim / Dissertação (mestrado profissional) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T18:39:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pecorari_DanielaBerjan_M.pdf: 1237954 bytes, checksum: f85518ddf51eb514f06f89836dc99d39 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: A atenção qualificada ao pré-natal constitui uma estratégia fundamental para tornar as gestações e os partos mais seguros, contribuindo, significativamente, para reduzir o número de óbitos maternos. O pré-natal pode ser conduzido, durante a atenção básica, pelo enfermeiro respaldado na Lei do Exercício Profissional, que o considera competente para o exercício qualificado do processo. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a utilização do protocolo pelos enfermeiros, durante a assistência ao pré-natal, nas unidades Saúde da Família. Coletaram-se os dados por meio de um questionário, elaborado pela pesquisadora, com base no Manual Técnico de Assistência ao Pré-Natal, do Ministério da Saúde. A população participante do estudo compôs-se 34 enfermeiros, todos atuantes nas Unidades de Saúde da Família. O município em estudo não possui protocolo, específico para enfermeiros no sentido da assistência ao pré-natal Os dados, após submeterem-se à análise descritiva, foram apresentados na forma de frequência absoluta e percentual, com a aplicação do teste do qui-quadrado,com vistas a avaliar as associações entre dados. Quando relacionado às associações da utilização ou não de protocolo constamos que os profissionais que participaram de algum treinamento/capacitação ou curso em pré-natal, utilizavam mais o protocolo (p 0,04). Com relação às atividades realizadas com maior frequência na assistência ao pré-natal foi observada a solicitação de exames laboratoriais e os procedimentos clínicos - obstétricos. O estudo também constatou que a enfermagem atuante na assistência ao pré-natal procede conforme as recomendações do Manual Técnico do Ministério da Saúde, embora alguns profissionais em estudo não tenha consciência dessa influência / Abstract: Qualified attention to prenatal care is a key strategy for safer pregnancy and childbirth, leading to a significant reduction in risk factors for maternal deaths. Prenatal care can be conducted in primary care by nurses, deemed competent and well qualified to provide such care, backed by the Professional Practice Act. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of use of the protocol by nurses during the prenatal care in family health units. It was used for data collection a questionnaire prepared by the researcher based on the Technical Assistance Manual Prenatal Ministry of Health; the study participant population consisted of 34 nurses working in family health units. The municipality does not have the study protocol, specific to nurses towards prenatal care. The data were analyzed descriptively and presented as absolute frequency and percentage by applying the chi-square test to evaluate the associations between data. When associations related to the use or not of the Protocol is that the professionals who participated in some training / training or course in prenatal protocol used more (p 0.004). With respect to activities performed more frequently in pre-natal care was observed at the request of laboratory tests and clinical procedures - obstetric. It was noted that the study by providing nursing assistance to the pre - natal use the Technical Manual of the Ministry of Health, even though he is not remembered by most professionals in the study, this being verified by the procedures which the nurses carried out in your query in prenatal care. The study also found that nursing active in prenatal care proceeds according to the recommendations of the Technical Manual of the Ministry of Health, although some professionals in the study is not aware of this influence / Mestrado / Odontologia em Saude Coletiva / Mestre em Odontologia em Saúde Coletiva

M.Com. (International Accounting) / Leases have been used as an alternative means of financing for many years and they form part of the business models of entities in various industries. Many large JSE listed companies in different industries also use leases extensively. Although lease accounting requirements under IFRS have been in place for a number of years, some of the fundamental principles underlying the current lease accounting models have been the subject of much debate by standard setters and practitioners. In particular, the conceptual soundness of lessees not capitalising operating lease commitments has been a key area of consideration. In response to the conceptual debates, the IASB published an exposure draft titled ED/2010/9 Leases (hereafter ED), which will ultimately replace the current lease standard IAS 17. The ED establishes a new “right-of-use model”, which requires lessees to capitalize all leases on their balance sheets. The purpose of the minor dissertation was to determine the impact that the capitalisation of operating lease commitments under the requirements of the ED will have on the financial statements of JSE listed companies. In support of the research problem, the methodology applied in the minor dissertation was a quantitative content analysis, which was designed to obtain ex ante evidence on the potential future impact of the implementation of the ED. In order to assess the impact, the minor dissertation analysed the impact on total liabilities and total assets due to operating lease capitalisation, as well as the impact on certain key financial indicators and ratios. The initial sample was the top 50 companies in terms of market capitalisation that were listed on the JSE at 31 December 2011. After excluding companies with no or immaterial operating lease commitments, the final sample size was 44. The literature review showed that the impact of operating lease capitalisation has been researched in various countries, such as Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the UK and the US. During the completion of the minor dissertation it was found that a South African study was recently published on the impact of operating lease capitalisation on JSE listed companies. The study applied one of the methods identified in the literature for deriving information required to perform the operating lease capitalisation calculation and also assumed a uniform discount rate. The minor dissertation was based on an alternative method of deriving the required information and applied company-specific discount rates. The results of the research showed an increase in total liabilities and total assets due to operating lease capitalization. The impact on the key financial indicators and ratios varied, with some ratios impacted positively and others negatively. The impact was also found to be generally lower than international trends and differed from a similar study performed in South Africa.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the contributions of the CEFR linking process, as stipulated by the Manual for Relating Examinations to the Common European F ramework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment (Council of Europe, 2003), to the validation argument of a university level English language proficiency examination. It also aims to explore the impact of the linking process on the pre-determined or desired level of the examination under study. This study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to address the above areas and is comprised of three phases. Phase 1 explores every stage of the CEFR linking process as they are being carried out through field notes, interviews, questionnaires and statistics in order to investigate how well the Manual suggestions capture aspects of validity and guide users in this respect. In Phase 2, the study focuses on an overall investigation of the process through a questionnaire after all stages of linking, viz. familiarisation, specification, standardisation and empirical validation, have been conducted. Finally, Phase 3 examines the Manual itself and its suggestions with respect to validation through a critical analysis of the Manual, a questionnaire and interviews. The study showed that the CEFR linking process helps users focus on particularly the context, cognitive and scoring aspects of validity at all stages, but mostly at the standardisation stage of the process. Provided that data are accumulated systematically at different stages, at the end of the linking process, those undertaking a linking study can put forward a complete validation argument for the examination in question. However, the Manual fails to provide a model that guides users in this respect. The iii process also highlights areas to be considered, should the users set out to design or modify an existing examination to measure at the set desired standards.

In this thesis, most commonly encountered video compression techniques and international coding standards are studied. The study leads to the idea of a reconfigurable codec which can adapt itself to the specific requirements of diverse applications so as to achieve improved performance. Firstly, we propose a multiple layer affine motion compensated codec which acts as a basic building block of the reconfigurable multiple tool video codec. A detailed investigation of the properties of the proposed codec is carried out. The experimental results reveal that the gain in coding efficiency from improved motion prediction and segmentation is proportional to the spatial complexity of the sequence being encoded. Secondly, a framework for the reconfigurable multiple tool video codec is developed and its key parts are discussed in detail. Two important concepts virtual codec and virtual tool are introduced. A prototype of the proposed reconfigurable multiple tool video codec is implemented. The codec structure and the constituent tools of the codec included in the prototype are extensively tested and evaluated to prove the concept. The results confirm that different applications require different codec configurations to achieve optimum performance. Thirdly, a knowledge based tool selection system for the reconfigurable codec is proposed and developed. Human knowledge as well as sequence properties are taken into account in the tool selection procedure. It is shown that the proposed tool selection mechanism gives promising results. Finally, concluding remarks are offered and future research directions are suggested.