Using a human capital perspective, this study investigates the relationship between the specific human capital of the top management teams of venture capital firms (VCFs) and the firms’ investment performance. The results of this study demonstrate that, in the early-stage information technology and communication (ICT) industry, VCFs’ technological expertise strongly predict better venture capital firm performance in the form of greater portfolio exit ratio. While financial expertise shows a positive but not significant effect. This study finds that although venture capital investing is a financial activity, technological expertise is the human capital characteristic that is more appropriate for this sub-environment. Future research is suggested.

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / This practitioner research longitudinal study examines the effects of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and the Race To The Top (RTTT) initiative on a high performing middle school in Massachusetts between 2003 and 2013. Utilizing a theoretical framework that combines Cochran-Smith and Lytles (2009) "inquiry as stance" and Ball's concept of (1990b) "policy cycles," the study analyzes the programmatic and structural changes enacted in response to NCLB, RTTT and their effects on special education and low income students, their teachers, parents, and the principal. The study's findings show that federal mandates and related state regulations placed unrealistic, unfair and unreasonable demands on students, teachers and the school. Staff often felt as if we were riding on a rollercoaster. Massachusetts' rating of "High" and "Very High" performance on the state test contrasted with the NCLB school report cards that labeled the school as in need of "improvement," "corrective action," and eventually "restructuring" because of the failure of special education or low income students to meet constantly rising targets. NCLB's and RTTT's requirements caused the school to prioritize courses providing remediation in tested subjects--English language arts and mathematics--reducing the availability of related arts classes and thereby narrowing the curriculum. The school's obsessive focus on the annual state tests produced an atmosphere of anxiety for all stakeholders. Unwanted changes in the school culture eventually generated a schoolwide movement to resist the obsession with testing, reduce anxiety and expand interdisciplinary learning. The study concludes with recommendations for further research of the effects of federal mandates on "good" schools across the US. It recommends that policymakers recognize that "one size fits all" school reform is detrimental to public schools and calls for the recognition of local knowledge in the making of policy. A further recommendation encourages school leaders to study their own practice, becoming practitioner researchers for the benefit of their schools. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Cette thèse porte sur deux aspects de l'International Linear Collider (ILC) qui est un projet d'un collisionneur linéaire électron-positron avec une énergie dans le centre de masse pouvant aller jusqu'à 500 GeV.Le premier aspect est l'élaboration d'un calorimètre électromagnétique silicium-tungstène (SiW-ECAL) pour l'un des détecteurs de l'ILC. Le concept de ce détecteur est piloté par les spécifications du faisceau de l'ILC et par l'algorithme du Particle Flow (PFA). Cela nécessite un calorimètre hautement granulaire et très compact avec l'électronique directement intégrée à l'intérieur. Pour prouver les capacités du SiW-ECAL, un prototype technologique a été construit et testé en faisceau de test à DESY. Les résultats sont présentés ici et montrent, après la procédure de calibration, un signal sur bruit de 10, même en mode power pulsing.Le deuxième aspect est l'étude de l'un des canaux physique importants de l'ILC, la production de pairs de quark top anti-top. L'objectif principal de cette étude est de déterminer la précision que nous pouvons attendre à l'ILC sur le couplage du top avec le boson W et le photon. Pour obtenir cette précision différentes observables sont utilisées, la section efficace, l'asymétrie avant-arrière et la distribution d'hélicité de la production de pairs de quark top anti-top. L'analyse est basée sur les événements avec des faisceaux polarisés et reconstruit avec la simulation complète du détecteur ILD, qui est le détecteur du SiW-ECAL, pour le Detector Baseline Design de l'ILD. Au final l'erreur attendue sur le couplage du quark top est de l'ordre de 2%. / This thesis deals with two aspects of the International Linear Collider (ILC) which is a project of a linear electron-positron collider of up to at least 500 GeV center of mass energy.The first aspect is the development of a silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter (SiW-ECAL) for one of the detectors of the ILC. The concept of this detector is driven by the ILC beam specifications and by the Particle Flow Algorithm (PFA). This requires highly granular calorimeter and very compact one with integrated electronics. To prove the capability of the SiW- ECAL a technological prototype has been built and tested in test beam at DESY. The results are presented here, and show, after the calibration procedure a signal over noise ratio of 10, even in the power pulsing mode.The second aspect is the study of one of the important physics channels of the ILC, the top anti-top quark pairs production. The main goal of this study is to determine the precision that we can expect at the ILC on the top coupling with the W boson and the photon. To get this precision differents observables are used, the cross- section, the forward- backward asymmetry and the helicity distribution of the top anti-top quark pairs production. The analysis is based on the events with polarized beams and reconstructed with the full simulation of the ILD detector, which is the detector of the SIW- ECAL, for the Detector Baseline Design of the ILD. The final expected errors on the top coupling is of the order of 2%.

No description available.

[pt] O presente trabalho, de cunho sociológico, efetua um mapeamento do perfil dos professores de escolas consideradas de excelência no município do Rio de Janeiro. Parte da hipótese de que, para além da situação sócio-econômica da clientela e das condições institucionais, o corpo docente é um dos principais aspectos que contribui para a qualidade do ensino escolar e para a construção da imagem de prestígio das instituições investigadas. Esta pesquisa é um recorte de outra mais ampla, intitulada Processos de Produção de Qualidade de Ensino: Escola, família e cultura que o SOCED/PUC-Rio - Grupo de Pesquisa em Sociologia da Educação - vem desenvolvendo há alguns anos. Utilizou o material empírico derivado do survey composto por três questionários (professores, alunos, pais) e aplicados em nove escolas anualmente apontadas pela imprensa como as melhores do Rio de Janeiro. Visando a articulação das dimensões macro e micro e a ampliação do corpus da pesquisa, utilizou, num segundo momento, dados qualitativos do trabalho de campo realizado em três das nove escolas da amostra. A partir da análise de dados como o nível socioeconômico, condições de trabalho, trajetórias escolares e profissionais e práticas pedagógicas, foi possível traçar as características do corpo docente que atende a clientela dessas escolas e levantar algumas hipóteses sobre o efeito-professor na produção de trajetórias escolares de sucesso. / [en] This paper, trough a sociological perspective, builds a map of teachers profiles of schools perceived as excellence institutions in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Our hypothesis is that, in the institutions investigated, beyond socialeconomic situation of customers and institutional conditions, teachers qualities are one of the main contributors to the quality of school education and the construction of the prestigious image detained by then. This research is a cutting from a broader research called: Procedures for Producing Quality in Education: School, family and culture developed by SOCED / PUC-Rio - Group Research in Sociology of Education - some years ago. It uses material derived from an empirical survey, composed of three questionnaires (teachers, students, parents) and applied annually in nine schools identified by the press as the best educational institutions in the city of Rio de Janeiro. To articulate macro and micro dimensions and also to expand the corpus of research, this investigation uses, in a second time, qualitative data acquired in fieldwork activities centralized in three of the nine schools of the sample. From the analysis of data such as socialeconomic level, working conditions, school and professional trajectories and teaching practices were possible to trace some characteristics of the teachers that serves the customers of these schools and raise some assumptions about the teachers effect in the production of well succeed school trajectories.

[pt] Este trabalho situa-se no contexto das pesquisas que investigam as instituições escolares consideradas de excelência. Objetivou identificar o clima de uma escola de prestígio, orientado pelas características das escolas eficazes. Pretendeu articular as dimensões macro e micro, que permitissem uma aproximação à singularidade da instituição. Na primeira parte foram construídos perfis de alunos, pais e professores, a partir de um survey realizado pelo SOCED - Grupo de Pesquisa em Sociologia da Educação da PUC-Rio, do qual participo, na pesquisa Processos de Produção de Qualidade de Ensino, da qual constam nove escolas consideradas pela mídia, como algumas das melhores da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Na segunda parte, foi realizado um trabalho de campo, buscando um olhar mais próximo, que apontasse as peculiaridades e as razões de sua distinção no universo pesquisado. O clima escolar da instituição, recorte específico desta pesquisa, parece decorrer, principalmente, da forma como se articulam os recursos disponíveis, a partir do engajamento e a predisposição da maioria dos agentes escolares, para superação das dificuldades, e o fortalecimento das equipes. / [en] This study finds itself in the context of other similar investigations dealing with school institutions considered of superior quality. It was aimed at identifying the general atmosphere of a prestigious educational institution, emphasizing the characteristics of such efficient organizations. It attempted to articulate both macro and micro perspectives, which would then allow us to narrow down the singularity of this institution. During the first half of the study, student, parent and staff profiles were built based on previous research conducted by SOCED - Research Group in Education Sociology from PUC- Rio, which I am part of, titled Teaching Quality Production Process, where nine institutions, crowned by local media as some of Rio de Janeiro s finest schools, were included. During the second half, a field research was conducted attempting to take a closer look at some of the peculiarities and reasons that set this institution apart from others in the same researched universe. The institution s school climate - the specific focus of this research - seems to be the result of how available resources are articulated, and triggered by the engagement and the predisposition of the majority of the school agents to overcome dificulties and strengthen its teams.

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo na área de mesas interativas e uso de gestos como forma de entrada. Primeiramente é analisado um conjunto representativo de métodos de elicitação existentes que geram um vocabulário de gestos para aplicações de superfícies multitoque, como mesas interativas. Algumas das características analisadas são: custos, clareza de informações e se avalia o vocabulário final criado. São obtidos, assim, os pontos positivos e negativos dos métodos. Em seguida, as informações obtidas na análise feita, juntamente com outras informações e definições na área, permitiram a criação de um metamétodo. Esse metamétodo pode ser utilizado como base para criação de métodos, pois define desde a escolha de quais usuários utilizar nos testes até o desenvolvimento da aplicação utilizando o vocabulário de gestos criado. / This work details a study in the area of interactive tables and the use of gestures as input. First, a representative set of elicitation methods that create a vocabulary of gestures for multitouch surface application, such as interactive tables, are analyzed. Some of the characteristics analyzed are: costs, clarity of informations and whether the final vocabulary of gestures is evaluated afterwards. This way the pros and cons of the methods are established. The insights obtained in the analysis, along with other information and definitions on the area, allowed the creation of a metamethod. This metamethod can be used as a basis for creating other methods, since it defines all the steps required, from the selection of users for the test to the development of the application that will use the vocabulary of gestures created.

Os métodos geoelétricos, principalmente a eletrorresistividade, estão sendo cada vez mais requisitados na área da mineração, indicando espessura de capeamento de solo, zonas fraturadas e heterogeneidades do material, viabilizando economicamente, ou não, um projeto minerário. Este trabalho, realizado no município do Cabo de Santo Agostinho -PE, apresenta e discute resultados de aplicações do método geofísico, da eletrorresistividade, como instrumento de auxílio na abertura de uma nova frente de lavra para extração de blocos graníticos de grande porte. Foi investigada a espessura do capeamento de solo, bem como as principais zonas locais de falhas e fraturas. Para isso foram realizadas 32 SEVs (03 SEVs por perfil, à exceção da Linha 11, com 02) com arranjo Schlumberger de AB/2 máximo de 60metros, e 11 caminhamentos elétricos com arranjo dipolo-dipolo de AB=MN=20 metros,com aproximadamente 1000m de extensão cada perfil. As SEVs foram dispostas nas linhas de modo a cobrir adequadamente a área do terreno, possibilitando a confecção de um mapa de contorno da profundidade do topo rochoso e a caracterização do perfil de alteração pedológico. Os caminhamentos elétricos foram dispostos paralelamente entre si e espaçados de 60 metros, podendo ser observadas as possíveis configurações do topo rochoso, como rocha não fraturada e zonas fraturadas. A partir dos dados dos caminhamentos elétricos foram elaboradas simulações 3D de resistividade e para a estimativa de volume de rocha não fraturada na área de estudo (com base nas resistividades mais elevadas).Os resultados obtidos mostraram a eficiência da eletrorresistividade na determinação do topo da rocha sã e detecção das zonas fraturadas no maciço granítico. / The geoeletric methods, especially electroresistivity, are being progressively more required on mining, for identifying soil thickness, fractured zones and geological heterogeneities, to check economical viability of mining projects. This work, held in Cabo de Santo Agostinho-PE city, presents and discusses geophysics application results of electroresistivity as a tool for helping the opening of a new granitic blocks exploitation front. The soil thickness was investigated, as well as the main local fault zones and fractures. A total of 32 VESs (03 VESs per section, exception made to line 11, with 02 VESs) using Schlumberger array with AB/2 maximum of 60 m, and 11 geoelectrical profilings using dipole-dipole array (AB=MN=20 m), with section lengths close to 1000 m. The VESs lines were organized in order to cover the studied area properly, allowing mapping the top of the rock massif and characterizing the soil profile. The geoelectrical profilings were disposed parallel with 60 m gap among each other, enabling the observation of the massif top configurations, such as fractured and non fractured zones. 3D resistivity simulations were performed using the geoelectrical profilings data in order to estimate the total volume of non fractured rock in the studied area (based on the highest resistivities). The obtained data showed the efficiency of electroresistivity for fractured zones detection and for mapping the top of the fresh rock massif.

No description available.

The top quark is the most massive fundamental particle in the Standard Model of particle physics. Only experimentally observed in 1995, it can be used as a precise test of Standard Model predictions, and it could lend insight to the problem of what lies beyond the Standard Model. This thesis presents a measurement of top-quark pair production using data collected at a center-of-mass energy √s=7 TeV in 2011, and a search for production of vector-like quarks using data collected at √s=8 TeV in 2012. Both datasets were recorded by the ATLAS detector, a multipurpose proton-proton collider located at the CERN LHC outside of Geneva Switzerland. The top-quark pair production cross-section is measured as a function of four different variables and the results are presented as normalized, differential spectra. The variables considered are the transverse momentum of the top quark, and the mass, rapidity, and transverse momentum of the top-quark pair system. Events are selected in the lepton+jets channel, and the measured spectra are corrected for detector resolution and efficiency. The final results are compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo generators, theoretical calculations and proton parton distribution functions and found to be in reasonable agreement. Data is found to be softer than all predictions, particularly for high values of top-quark transverse momentum and the top-quark pair invariant mass. The search for vector-like quarks focuses on new heavy quarks that decay with a large branching ratio to a Z boson and a third generation Standard Model quark. Events are selected with at least two leptons (electrons or muons), and two of the leptons are required to reconstruct a Z boson with high transverse momentum. No significant excess of events is observed above the Standard Model prediction. Upper limits on the masses of vector-like T and B quarks are derived for various branching ratio hypotheses.