The main objective of this study was to determine the relationship between household characteristics and the expenditure shares allocated among various categories of women's clothing for U.S. households belonging to different ethnic groups. The study also estimated unobserved latent quality variables based on household characteristics, and examined the effects of the latent quality variables on the expenditure shares for the various apparel categories. A Multiple Indicator-Multiple Cause Model, which is a special case of the general Structural Equations Model, was used to estimate separate Engel equations for 15 expenditure shares for women's clothing categories, for four different ethnic groups. The results of the study showed that household characteristics had a significant impact on the latent quality variables associated with different categories of women's clothing, and the latent quality variables themselves impacted the clothing expenditure shares. Also, for different ethnic groups, household characteristics had differing effects on women's clothing expenditure shares. Of all the characteristics examined, annual total household expenditures and numbers of children and adults in the household had significant effects on the largest numbers of latent quality variables associated with the clothing categories for the four ethnic groups. The socio-economic variables also significantly affected several clothing expenditure shares for the four ethnic groups. These results imply that socio-economic variables impact consumers' quality choices, and presumably prices paid, for women's clothing. The results support the conclusions of Paulin (1998), and Wagner and Soberon-Ferrer (1990), in that different ethnic groups have distinct expenditure patterns possibly due to differences in socio-economic characteristics; such characteristics may signify resources and constraints faced by a household. The distinct expenditure patterns and tastes of the four ethnic groups are reflected in the significantly different effects of annual total expenditures on the expenditure shares for each category of women's clothing, as well as in the significantly different effects of the latent quality variables on several expenditure shares, for the four ethnic groups. / Ph. D.

Macroscopic changes in the urban environment and in the built transportation infrastructure, as well as changes in household demographics and socio-economics, can lead to spatio-temporal variations in household travel patterns and therefore regional travel demand. Dynamics in travel behavior may also simply arise from the randomness associated with values, perceptions, attitudes, needs, preferences and decision-making process of the individual travelers. Most urban travel behavior models and analysis seek to explain variations in travel behavior in terms of characteristics of the individuals and their environment. Spatial extents and temporal variation in an individual’s travel pattern may represent a measure of the individual’s spatial appetite for activity and the variability-seeking nature on his/her travel behavior. The objective of this dissertation effort is to develop a methodology to predict activity participation using revealed spatial extents and temporal variability as variables that represent the spatial appetite and variability-seeking nature associated with individual household. Activity participation is defined as a set of activities in which an individual or household takes part, to satisfy the sustenance, maintenance and discretionary needs of the household. To accomplish the goals of the dissertation, longitudinal travel data collected from the Commute Atlanta Study are used. The raw Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data are processed to summarize trip data by household travel day and individual travel day data. A methodology was developed to automatically identify the activity at the end of each trip. Methods were then developed to estimate travel behavior variability that can represent the variability-seeking nature of the individual. Existing methods to estimate activity space were reviewed and a new Modified Kernel Density area method was developed to address issues with current methods. Finally activity participation models using structural equation modeling methods were developed and the effects of the variability-seeking nature and spatial extent of activities were applied to the models. The variability-seeking nature was presented in the activity participation model as a latent variable with coefficient of variation of trips and distance as indicator variables. The dissertation research found that inclusion of activity space variables can improve the activity participation modeling process to better explain travel behavior.

O estudo e medição da imagem, especialmente de um Conselho Profissional são essenciais para auxiliar os gestores destas instituições a tomarem decisões. Como não há uma escala válida e confiável que permita a medição da imagem corporativa de um Conselho Profissional, o presente trabalho busca confirmar, através do método de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais MEE, o modelo hipotético proposto por Peres (2004) e Carvalho (2009) que tomam por base o estudo de Folland, Peacock e Pelfrey (1991) que conclui que a imagem corporativa é composta por dois fatores e a percepção desta imagem impacta na avaliação de seu desempenho. Os resultados obtidos na pesquisa demonstram, com grande segurança estatística, que o modelo proposto é consistente, tem ótimo ajuste, e pode ser aplicado em futuras amostras semelhantes. / Both the analysis and measurement of institutional image have been shown as essential tools to help managerial decisions, and much more so in the case of professional councils. During the bibliographical survey completed for the present research no valid and reliable scale has been identified for image measurement of a professional council. This dissertation intends to present such a scale by means of a confirmatory analysis of a prior two-factor model due to Folland, Peacock and Pelfrey (1991) and exploratorily studied by Peres (2004) and Carvalho (2009). The confirmatory analysis is the first step of a structural equations model that additionally allowed to show the influence of image on organizational performance as perceived by a sample of potential members of a council of professional accountants in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Findings indicate that there is a significant statistical support for the proposed model so that the scale deserves further attention as a reliable tool for measuring the image of professional councils. In addition, since its components impact significantly upon performance, measured image may be useful for organizational management in the case of professional councils as well.

O estudo e medição da imagem, especialmente de um Conselho Profissional são essenciais para auxiliar os gestores destas instituições a tomarem decisões. Como não há uma escala válida e confiável que permita a medição da imagem corporativa de um Conselho Profissional, o presente trabalho busca confirmar, através do método de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais MEE, o modelo hipotético proposto por Peres (2004) e Carvalho (2009) que tomam por base o estudo de Folland, Peacock e Pelfrey (1991) que conclui que a imagem corporativa é composta por dois fatores e a percepção desta imagem impacta na avaliação de seu desempenho. Os resultados obtidos na pesquisa demonstram, com grande segurança estatística, que o modelo proposto é consistente, tem ótimo ajuste, e pode ser aplicado em futuras amostras semelhantes. / Both the analysis and measurement of institutional image have been shown as essential tools to help managerial decisions, and much more so in the case of professional councils. During the bibliographical survey completed for the present research no valid and reliable scale has been identified for image measurement of a professional council. This dissertation intends to present such a scale by means of a confirmatory analysis of a prior two-factor model due to Folland, Peacock and Pelfrey (1991) and exploratorily studied by Peres (2004) and Carvalho (2009). The confirmatory analysis is the first step of a structural equations model that additionally allowed to show the influence of image on organizational performance as perceived by a sample of potential members of a council of professional accountants in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Findings indicate that there is a significant statistical support for the proposed model so that the scale deserves further attention as a reliable tool for measuring the image of professional councils. In addition, since its components impact significantly upon performance, measured image may be useful for organizational management in the case of professional councils as well.

The interest in telecommuting stems from the potential benefits in alleviating traffic congestion, decreasing vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and improving air quality by reducing the necessity for travel between home and the workplace. Despite the potential economic, environmental, and social benefits, telecommuting has not been widely adopted, and there is little consensus on the actual impacts of telecommuting. One of the major hurdles is lack of a sound instrument to quantify the impacts of telecommuting on individuals’ travel behavior. As a result, the telecommuting phenomenon has not received proper attention in most transportation planning and investment decisions, if not completely ignored. This dissertation addresses the knowledge gap in telecommuting studies by examining several factors. First, it proposes a comprehensive outline to reveal and represent the complexity in telecommuting patterns. There are various types of telecommuting engagement, with different impacts on travel outcomes. It is necessary to identify and distinguish between those people for whom telecommuting involves a substitution of work travel and those for whom telecommuting is an ancillary activity. Secondly, it enhances the current modeling framework by supplementing the choice/frequency approach with daily telework dimensions, since the traditional approach fails to recognize the randomness of telecommuting engagement in a daily context. A multi-stage modeling structure is developed, which incorporates choice, frequency, engagement, and commute, as the fundamental dimensions of telecommuting activity. One pioneering perspective of this methodology is that it identifies non-regular telecommuters, who represent a significant share of daily telecommuters. Lastly, advanced statistical modeling techniques are employed to measure the actual impacts of each telecommuting arrangement on travelers’ daily activity-travel behavior, focusing on time-use analysis and work trip departure times. This research provides a systematic and sound instrument that advances the understanding of the benefits and potentials of telecommuting and impacts on travel outcomes. It is expected to facilitate policy and decision makers with higher accuracy and contribute to the better design and analysis of transportation investment decisions.

Nas metodologias de mapeamento de QTLs tradicionais, a relação de causalidade entre os caracteres fenotípicos e QTLs normalmente não são consideradas. O desenvolvimento deste trabalho contou com a utilização de dados longitudinais de crescimento de progênies oriundas do cruzamento entre os parentais PB217 e PR255 de um plantio de seringueira, localizado em uma área com dois períodos bem definidos ao longo do ano (altas e médias temperaturas; altas e baixas taxas precipitação). O experimento contém 4 medidas de incremento em diâmetro e altura, que são componentes periódicos do crescimento total da cultura, mensurados em um intervalo de dois anos (entre os 18 aos 52 meses de idade das plantas), sendo dois períodos em estação climática favorável ao desenvolvimento e dois em estação desfavorável, intercalados. Dessa forma foram estudados os parâmetros de relacionamento fenotípico e genético com objetivo de construir um diagrama de arquitetura genética que pondere relações de causalidade. Para modelar os dados fenotípicos foi realizado um elaborado modelo multi-caracteres que contemplou a variação espacial das parcelas experimentais e a variação entre os períodos de medição. Para tanto, foram ajustadas matrizes de variância-covariância (VCOV) adequadas à realidade dos dados, e incorporados dados meteorológicos que descrevessem cada um dos períodos. A partir destes modelos, os valores genotípicos ajustados foram utilizados na detecção dos QTLs. Posteriormente, fenótipos e genótipos foram articulados em um diagrama causal estrutural capaz de inferir sobre padrões genéticos de comportamento de crescimento da cultura. Foram mapeados um total de 13 QTLs, sendo que dois deles foram coincidentes para componentes periódicos de diâmetro nos períodos de estação desfavorável. Foi possível identificar efeitos aditivos e devido à dominância interessantes para o desenvolvimento em períodos de menores temperaturas, apontar o parental PR255 como portador de alelos importantes no desenvolvimento em clima adverso, estimar efeitos indiretos de QTLs não mapeados para determinadas características e explicar o padrão comportamental de crescimento no período em que as progênies foram avaliadas. Esta abordagem demonstrou-se proficiente para utilização em programas melhorando genético assistido por marcadores, por agregar informações pertinentes à seleção dos melhores materiais genéticos. / In traditional methodologies of QTL mapping, the causal relationship between phenotypic characters and QTLs are usually not considered. The development of this work involved the use of longitudinal growth data of progenies from parental PR255 and PB217 of a rubber tree plantation, located in an area with two periods of high and medium temperature and low and high precipitation rates well defined throughout the year. The experiment contains four measures of increment of diameter and height, which are periodic growth components of the total crop growing at an interval of two years (from 18 to 52 months old plants), two periods in a favorable climate station and two in a adverse station, intercalated. Was studied the parameters of phenotypic and genetic relationships in order to construct a diagram of genetic architecture to examine these causal relationships. A multi-trait-multi-occasion model that take into consideration spatial variation and climatic variation was developed. It also contains a variation-covariation matrix with appropriate to the reality of the data were adjusted and incorporated meteorological data was conducted to describe each of the periods. From these models the adjusted genotypic values were used in the detection of QTLs and later phenotypes and genotypes were linked in a structural causal diagram to infer about the genetic patterns of behavior. A total of 13 QTLs were mapped to the periodic growth components and total growth. The genetic architecture was able to identify additive effects and effects due dominance interesting to the development in periods of lower temperatures and drought, pointing parental PR255 as carrier of important alleles to development in adverse weather, estimating indirect effects of QTLs that were not mapped to certain characteristics and explain the physiological behavior pattern of growth in the period in which progenies were evaluated. This approach proved to be proficient to use in breeding programs aiming to implement marker assisted selection.

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta algumas contribuições ao estudo da estimação da satisfação do consumidor. As contribuições originais são: a) uma resenha abrangente sobre os métodos de estimação da satisfação, principalmente sobre os baseados em Modelos de Equações Estruturais, categorizados em: modelos baseados em estruturas de covariâncias (MEC) e modelos baseados em mínimos quadrados parciais (MQP); b) uma análise comparativa dos métodos de estimação de escores dos modelos MEC e MQP, através da quantidade de informação dos escores estimados em relação aos verdadeiros, com base no modelo de Satisfação do Consumidor da ANEEL (IASC); c) um modelo alternativo unidimensional para o IASC baseado no modelo de Respostas Graduadas de Samejima, da Teoria da Resposta ao Item (TRI). Sobre a análise comparativa dos métodos de estimação de escores, verificou-se que o MQP estimou escores com maior precisão principalmente quando as relações do modelo foram, em módulo, mais fracas; ao contrário do MEC que se destacou quando as relações do modelo foram mais fortes. Sobre o modelo baseado na TRI, algumas vantagens foram observadas em relação aos Modelos de Equações Estruturais, principalmente no que tange à análise individual e comparativa dos itens da pesquisa. Por último, constatou-se que ambas as metodologias são relevantes para o IASC e por isso deveriam ser aplicadas em conjunto para orientar as ações dos gestores e os investimentos para a melhoria dos serviços prestados pelas distribuidoras. / [en] This work presents a study of statistical models used for estimation of the customer satisfaction. The main contributions are: a) a general description about the estimation methods of the customer satisfaction, mainly about the methods based on Structural Equation Models, grouped by: CSM (Covariance Structure Model) and PLS (Partial Least Square); b) a comparison between the estimation methods of the LISREL (Linear Structural Relations) and PLS with base on information function between the estimated scores and the true ones. The used model was the Brazilian Customer Satisfaction Index for Electric Energy (IASC) of the ANEEL (Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency); c) an alternative unidimentional model for the IASC based on the Samejima´s Model for Graded Response of the Item Response Theory (IRT). About the comparative analysis of the scores estimation methods, the PLS was better than LISREL if the latent variables relations were weak, in module. In opposite, LISREL was the best when the latent variables relations were stronger. However, this analysis was based on simulated data and it was necessary to consider some conditions to guarantee validity, estimation convergence and good fit of the models. About the proposed model based on IRT, many benefits were observed if compared with Structural Equation Models, mainly with regard to survey item analysis. Finally, it was observed that both methodologies are important to improve IASC methodology, so they have to be used together to guide the manager actions and the investments to improve utilities services for the customers.

Vehicle ownership and utilization have a profound influence on activity-travel patterns of individuals, vehicle emissions, fuel consumption, highway capacity, congestion and traffic safety. The influence could be further skewed by the diversity of the vehicle fleet. This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the 2001 National Household Travel Survey data to understand the vehicle ownership patterns, fleet mix, allocation and utilization in the context of household and person socio-demographic characteristics. Along with a rich descriptive analysis, models of vehicle ownership and utilization are estimated to distinguish four vehicle types; cars, SUVs (sport utility vehicles), vans and pickup trucks based on their ownership by households and utilization patterns by household members. The primary driver level vehicle utilization analysis provides insights into the extent of allocation of a vehicle to a single person. In addition to confirming many perceptions about the ownership, acquisition and utilization patterns of different types of vehicles, this analysis brings out some subtle differences and similarities among the vehicle types. The analysis results indicate a greater propensity to acquire and use larger vehicles such as minivans, sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks among certain socio-demographic segments of population. Increased ownership and use of vans and SUVs, and their usage as personal vehicles rather than just work vehicles warrants a need to revise vehicle type specific policies, transportation planning and control measures.

Flourishing economy, rapid industrialization and increasing trend of motorization have been shaping societies in the developing countries like India in an unprecedented manner.Infrastructure backlog amid such rapid growth in all imaginable directions has heavily exacerbated the urban transport crisis in these countries by alarming increase in vehicular travel demand, road fatalities, and environmental pollution. To address urban transport challenges, the necessary development and implementation of effective transport planning and policies have generally lagged in the developing countries compared to that seen in the developed countries due to several constraints including resource constraints, knowledge constraints, institutional constraints and so on. However, in the recent past, with the rapid development seen by several emerging economies and the explosive growth in transportation infrastructure investment, there is a growing interest in the development and implementati on of advanced travel demand modeling systems in developing countries. But lack of necessary research and exploration of travel behavior in a developing country context has left very limited knowledge for us to understand the extent of applicability of these advanced theories and methodologies in a different socio-cultural perspective. Assessing the practical relevance of the subject, this research adopts a comprehensive approach to explore the activity engagement pattern and time use behavior from a developing country standpoint. To accomplish this goal, a series of empirical and analytical studies are performed on a household travel survey data set available from Thane Metropolitan Area in India. The study also introduces new concepts and facilitates enhancements of existing modeling methodologies in the field of travel behavior and time use research. The study results provide very insightful findings and plausible interpretations consistent with a developing country perspective reco gnizing a wide spectrum of differences and similarities in activity patterns and time use behavior between a developed and a developing country. Specified model structures are meaningfully able to incorporate various socio-cultural and institutional constraints and reflected sensitivity to the behavioral variability between the contexts suggesting that advanced analytical techniques may be satisfactorily applied on the data set from developing countries which may contribute important ingredients in the development of advanced activity-based model system in the countries like India.

Nas metodologias de mapeamento de QTLs tradicionais, a relação de causalidade entre os caracteres fenotípicos e QTLs normalmente não são consideradas. O desenvolvimento deste trabalho contou com a utilização de dados longitudinais de crescimento de progênies oriundas do cruzamento entre os parentais PB217 e PR255 de um plantio de seringueira, localizado em uma área com dois períodos bem definidos ao longo do ano (altas e médias temperaturas; altas e baixas taxas precipitação). O experimento contém 4 medidas de incremento em diâmetro e altura, que são componentes periódicos do crescimento total da cultura, mensurados em um intervalo de dois anos (entre os 18 aos 52 meses de idade das plantas), sendo dois períodos em estação climática favorável ao desenvolvimento e dois em estação desfavorável, intercalados. Dessa forma foram estudados os parâmetros de relacionamento fenotípico e genético com objetivo de construir um diagrama de arquitetura genética que pondere relações de causalidade. Para modelar os dados fenotípicos foi realizado um elaborado modelo multi-caracteres que contemplou a variação espacial das parcelas experimentais e a variação entre os períodos de medição. Para tanto, foram ajustadas matrizes de variância-covariância (VCOV) adequadas à realidade dos dados, e incorporados dados meteorológicos que descrevessem cada um dos períodos. A partir destes modelos, os valores genotípicos ajustados foram utilizados na detecção dos QTLs. Posteriormente, fenótipos e genótipos foram articulados em um diagrama causal estrutural capaz de inferir sobre padrões genéticos de comportamento de crescimento da cultura. Foram mapeados um total de 13 QTLs, sendo que dois deles foram coincidentes para componentes periódicos de diâmetro nos períodos de estação desfavorável. Foi possível identificar efeitos aditivos e devido à dominância interessantes para o desenvolvimento em períodos de menores temperaturas, apontar o parental PR255 como portador de alelos importantes no desenvolvimento em clima adverso, estimar efeitos indiretos de QTLs não mapeados para determinadas características e explicar o padrão comportamental de crescimento no período em que as progênies foram avaliadas. Esta abordagem demonstrou-se proficiente para utilização em programas melhorando genético assistido por marcadores, por agregar informações pertinentes à seleção dos melhores materiais genéticos. / In traditional methodologies of QTL mapping, the causal relationship between phenotypic characters and QTLs are usually not considered. The development of this work involved the use of longitudinal growth data of progenies from parental PR255 and PB217 of a rubber tree plantation, located in an area with two periods of high and medium temperature and low and high precipitation rates well defined throughout the year. The experiment contains four measures of increment of diameter and height, which are periodic growth components of the total crop growing at an interval of two years (from 18 to 52 months old plants), two periods in a favorable climate station and two in a adverse station, intercalated. Was studied the parameters of phenotypic and genetic relationships in order to construct a diagram of genetic architecture to examine these causal relationships. A multi-trait-multi-occasion model that take into consideration spatial variation and climatic variation was developed. It also contains a variation-covariation matrix with appropriate to the reality of the data were adjusted and incorporated meteorological data was conducted to describe each of the periods. From these models the adjusted genotypic values were used in the detection of QTLs and later phenotypes and genotypes were linked in a structural causal diagram to infer about the genetic patterns of behavior. A total of 13 QTLs were mapped to the periodic growth components and total growth. The genetic architecture was able to identify additive effects and effects due dominance interesting to the development in periods of lower temperatures and drought, pointing parental PR255 as carrier of important alleles to development in adverse weather, estimating indirect effects of QTLs that were not mapped to certain characteristics and explain the physiological behavior pattern of growth in the period in which progenies were evaluated. This approach proved to be proficient to use in breeding programs aiming to implement marker assisted selection.