L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi doctoral consisteix en determinar si el model de gestió dels recursos humans de les empreses matrius japoneses es transferible a les filials japoneses de Catalunya.Per tot això després d'un estudi teòric sobre la literatura existent del model de gestió dels recursos humans japonès i la internacionalització dels recursos humans, s'ha realitzat un treball empíric mitjançant una enquesta a les filials japoneses instal.lades a Catalunya. En el qüestionari s'analitzen diferents àmbits de la gestió dels recursos humans i que constitueixen les 7 hipòtesis del nostre treball de camp basades en el model de recursos humans japonès referides a: 1- Reclutament i selecció, 2- Promoció i Rotació, 3- Lideratge, comunicació i treball en equip, 4- Motivació, clima laboral i cultura empresrial, 5- Formació i desenvolupament, 6- Avaluació de l'acompliment, y 7- Retribució i beneficis socials. Tot això ens ha indicat quina es la tendència del model japonès de recursos humans a les filials catalanes tenint en compte que estem analitzant un contexte cultural diferent a la idiosincrasia dels treballadors japonesos. El treball ens ha permés de proposar dues línies d'investigació, una a determinar en el temps i una altre en l'espai. En el temps amb la nova generació s'està produint un canvi cultural en el qual els joves japonesos intenten importar part dels valors occidentals que es veurà reflectit al llarg de 10-20 anys. I en l'espai l'aplicació de l'estudi a altres països europeus, com Anglaterra, França i Alemanya que són els principals països on els japonesos prefereixen instal.lar-se. / The objective of this doctoral thesis is to consider if the Human Resource Management model of the Japanese head office is transferable to the Japanese subsidiaries settled in Catalonia.After a theoretical study about the existent literature of the Japanese Human Resource Management model and the internationalization of Human Resources an empirical research has been carried out by means of a survey in the Japanese subsidiaries set up in Catalonia. In this survey different aspects of the Human Resource Management have been analysed and they constitute the seven hypotheses of our research based on the Japanese Human Resources model conerning:1- Recruitment and Selection, 2- Promotion and Rotation, 3- Leardership, communication and Teamwork, 4- Motivation, labour atmosphere and Management culture, 5- Training and development, 6- Personnel Appraisal and 7- Retribution and Social Benefits. All this has shown us what the tendency of the Japanese Human Resources model in the Catalan subsidiaries is, taking into account that we are analysing a different cultural context to the idiosyncrasy of Japanese workers.

Spatial transferability of travel demand models has been an issue of considerable interest, particularly for small and medium sized planning areas that often do not have the resources and staff time to collect large scale travel survey data and estimate model components native to the region. With the advent of more sophisticated microsimulation-based activity-travel demand models, the interest in spatial transferability has surged in the recent past as smaller metropolitan planning organizations seek to take advantage of emerging modeling methods within the limited resources they can marshal. Traditional approaches to identifying geographical contexts that may borrow and transfer models between one another involve the exogenous a priori identification of a set of variables that are used to characterize the similarity between geographic regions. However, this ad hoc procedure presents considerable challenges as it is difficult to identify the most appropriate criteria a priori. To address this issue, this thesis proposes a latent segmentation approach whereby the most appropriate criteria for identifying areas with similar profiles are determined endogenously within the model estimation phase, customized for every model type. The end products are a set of optimal similarity measures that link regions to one another as well as a fully transferred model, segmented to account for heterogeneity in the population. The methodology is demonstrated and its efficacy established through a case study that utilizes the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) dataset for information on weekday activities unemployed individuals within 9 regions in the states of California and Florida engage in. A multiple discrete continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model is developed that simulates the discrete nature of activity selection as well as the continuous nature of activity participation. The estimated model is then applied onto the Austin–San Marcos MSA, a context withheld from the original estimation in order to assess its performance. The performance of the segmented model was then examined vis-à-vis that of other models that are similar to the local region in only one dimension. It is found that the methodology offers a robust mechanism for identifying latent segments and establishing criteria for transferring models between areas. / text

This thesis deals with question of Scandinavian social model's transferability on Baltic countries and Iceland. The aim of the thesis is to establish whether and to what extent Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland are ready to adopt the system. Three main methods are used in the thesis, namely: analysis of macroeconomic indicators and competitiveness indices, synthesis using the magic pentagon and comparison via coefficient of variation. The thesis comprises three main parts. The first one deals with theory and methodology. The second part applies information gained from databases of world organisations and follows their development. The last part then compares these figures.

The master's thesis discusses an alternative concept of development aid in the form of charter cities created by Paul Romer, American economist. It describes this mechanism, institutional framework and analyzes its potential to work in practice. Besides the first attempts to put model cities into practice, the thesis also points to a number of myths that have appeared around the project and which are the subject of study. Due to absence of direct charter cities the concept is compared (based on ex-post analysis) with cities and economic zones that were established with goal to achieve economic growth. Similar procedure is applied even in testing of basic assumptions of this model to find out whether this is a viable project.

La fragilisation des aciers de cuve des réacteurs nucléaires sous irradiation aux neutrons est le facteur limitant la durée de vie des centrales nucléaires françaises. Ceci est dû au mouvement des dislocations qui se trouve être entravé par des amas de Cu, P, Si, Mn et Ni. Plus particulièrement, les amas induits de Mn et de Ni sont à l'origine d'un durcissement significatif à forte dose. Afin de prédire la dégradation des propriétés mécaniques, les expériences sont généralement réalisées à l'aide d'accélérateurs de particules. Cependant, les flux d'irradiation atteints sont compris entre 10⁻⁴ 10 ⁻ ⁶ dpa/s⁻ ¹, tandis qu'il est limité à 10⁻ ¹ ⁰ dpa/s⁻ ¹ dans les réacteurs de puissance actuels. Ce point est essentiel étant donné que le dommage d'irradiation dépend du flux de particules incidentes. La transférabilité ion/neutron constitue donc la problématique centrale. Celle-ci a été étudiée dans les alliages austénitiques seulement. Ce travail de thèse se propose donc d'étudier, dans des alliages ferritiques, l'effet du flux d'irradiation sur l'endommagement dans deux alliages différents : le Fe-Ni et le Fe-Mn, dans le but d'évaluer également l'effet de chaque soluté sur la microstructure obtenue après irradiation.Les alliages ont été analysés expérimentalement par Microscopie Electronique en Transmission (TEM), Microscopie Electronique à Balayage par Transmission (STEM) couplée à l'Analyse Dispersive en Energie des Rayons-X (EDS) et à la Spectroscopie de Perte d'énergie des Electrons (EELS), ainsi que par Sonde Atomique Tomographique (APT).Les irradiations ont été réalisées avec des ions Fe³⁺ de 2 MeV et des ions Fe⁹⁺ de 27 MeV, à 400°C, à des taux de dommage de 10⁻⁴ et 10⁻ ⁶ dpa/s⁻ ¹ respectivement, jusqu'à un même dommage de 1.2 dpa.Les résultats obtenus montrent que le Ni et le Mn ont des comportements sous irradiation très différents en termes de nature de nano-défauts créés.Des irradiations aux particules légères ont également été réalisées de manière à apprécier l'effet des cascades de déplacement.Enfin, une irradiation séquentielle, en deux étapes, a été effectuée à l'aide d'ions Fe⁹⁺ à température ambiante, puis de protons à 400°C, dans le but d'isoler la contribution au durcissement des amas de défauts ponctuels de celle des zones enrichies en soluté. / Reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel embrittlement under neutron irradiation is the main lifetime limiting factor of nuclear reactors. This is due to the impeding of dislocation glide by nanometric clusters composed of Cu, P, Si, Mn and Ni. More specifically, radiation induced Mn and Ni enriched clusters cause a significant hardening at high dose. To predict this change in mechanical properties, particle accelerator based experiments are conducted. However, the achieved flux ranges between 10⁻⁴ and 10 ⁻ ⁶ dpa/s⁻ ¹, whereas it is limited to 10⁻ ¹ ⁰ dpa/s⁻ ¹ in modern nuclear power technologies. This point is of high importance since radiation damage highly depends on irradiation flux. The reproducibility ion-neutron is thus the key point. It has been studied in austenitic steels but little is known regarding any dose rate dependence in ferritic alloys. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the effect of ion fluxes on radiation damage in two different alloys : Fe-Ni and Fe-Mn in order to investigate, additionally, the effects of each solute on the microstructure after irradiation.The alloys were experimentally investigated using conventional Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy coupled to Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy and by Atom Probe Tomography.Irradiations were performed with 2 MeV Fe³⁺ ions and 27 MeV Fe⁹⁺ ions at 400°C at a nominal damage rate of 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻ ⁶ dpa/s respectively, up to a nominal displacement damage of 1.2 dpa. The detailed analysis shows that Ni and Mn behave in a very different way in terms of nano-defects formed under irradiation.Besides, light particle irradiations were also performed in order to ascertain the cascade effects.Finally, a two-series irradiation was carried out using Fe ions at room temperature and protons at 400°C, to isolate the contribution of point defect clusters to hardening from that of solute enriched zones.

Aim: The abundances and distributions of some species are more closely matched to variations in climate than others. Species traits that might influence how well the distribution and abundance of a species are matched to climatic variation include life history (e.g., body size and dispersal ability), ecology (e.g., habitat specialization and territoriality) and demography (e.g., population size). Here, we used a survey of bird abundances across the USA to assess the extent to which species abundances and distributions are predicted by climate (i.e., climate matching) and how species traits relate to interspecific variation in climate matching. Location: USA. Time period: 1983–2018. Major taxa studied: Birds. Methods: Species abundances were obtained from the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Climate matching was estimated as the predictive performance of species–climate models fitted using boosted regression trees and generalized additive models and modelled as a function of species traits. Results: Species traits explained 56% of the variation in climate matching among species. Intermediate-sized species were more well matched to climate than smaller or larger species, as were species that lived primarily in forested compared with open habitats, species that were locally more abundant and species that were more territorial. Alternatively, species that were more specialized or had high variability in abundance among sites were less well matched to climate. We also found that species classified as “near threatened” were more well matched to climate, suggesting that these species might be more vulnerable to climate change. However, species classified as “vulnerable” were more decoupled from climate than those of “least concern”, possibly owing to ecological drift associated with progressive population declines. Main conclusions: Our findings provide an ecological basis for understanding the extent to which species abundances and distributions match broad climatic gradients, which can provide the groundwork to improve our ability to predict distributions under global change.

The diversity of fish species found in warmwater stream systems provides a perplexing challenge when selecting species for Instream Flow Incremental Methodology (IFIM) studies. An often-suggested approach has been to use habitat guilds to incorporate the diversity found in these systems. My goal is to determine the feasibility of developing habitat suitability criteria (HSC) for the entire fish assemblage in the North and South Fork Shenandoah River, Virginia, using habitat guilds. I examined the strengths and weaknesses of direct underwater observation via snorkeling and throwable anode electrofishing to sample fish habitat use (e.g., depth, velocity, distance to cover, dominant and subdominant substrate, cover, and embeddedness) indicates that using the data collected from both techniques may produce better criteria than using just one of the two sampling techniques. To develop habitat suitability criteria using habitat guilds I placed each species a priori into a guild based on a hypothesized guild structure. Transitional life stages with significantly different habitat use were placed separately into the guild structure. The four guilds (riffle, fast generalist, pool-run, and pool-cover) were found to be significantly different from each other using the data collected for the species assigned to the guilds. Criteria were then developed for representative species from each guild and the entire guilds. Criteria developed for depth, velocity, Froude number, cover, distance to cover, substrate, and embeddedness were used to estimate a habitat response function (i.e., the relations between usable habitat and stream flow) for a representative species from each guild, the guild itself, and for a second species from each guild for comparisons. Both the representative species and guild criteria showed similar habitat response functions for the riffle guild, fast generalist guild, and pool-run guild. However, neither set of criteria performed well for the pool-cover guild. For guilds, other than pool-cover, either the guild or the representative species approach may be a viable option to developing habitat suitability criteria. The transferability tests were performed to determine if criteria developed in the North Fork Shenandoah River, Virginia would transfer to the South Fork Shenandoah River, Virginia. Only criteria for the margined madtom (Noturus insignis) and the juvenile smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) transferred for both suitable and optimal habitat. Criteria for mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdi), Cyprinella sp. (spotfin and satinfin shiners), river chub (Nocomis micropogon), adult and juvenile redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus), and adult smallmouth bass did not transfer. Only the pool-cover guild criteria transferred for both suitable and optimal habitat, while riffle guild, fast generalist guild, and pool-run guild criteria did not transfer. I recommend the use of site-specific criteria for the South Fork Shenandoah or different variable combinations. / Master of Science

O objetivo do presente trabalho é desenvolver e aplicar um método para avaliação do potencial de transferência de um índice de mobilidade sustentável, com base em três questões. O índice de mobilidade sustentável para campus universitário (IMSCamp), proposto por Oliveira (2015), é transferível para outros contextos? Em caso afirmativo, qual o potencial de transferência do mesmo? A partir das respostas das questões anteriores, qual seria a estrutura mínima para a concepção de um índice de mobilidade para campus universitário possível de ser transferido para qualquer contexto? O método proposto para o estudo foi assim organizado: aplicação do IMSCamp a um novo contexto; análise do seu potencial de transferência por meio de critérios desenvolvidos especificamente para este fim; e organização de um painel de especialistas com o intuito de elencar possíveis indicadores para um índice global de mobilidade sustentável para campus universitário. A avaliação do potencial de transferência, objetivo principal deste estudo, resultou em um valor que indica um baixo potencial de transferência (cerca de 40% do máximo possível) para o índice. Este resultado indica que foram necessárias mudanças expressivas para adaptá-lo a um novo campus; sendo assim, não se trata de um índice global diretamente aplicável, sem mudanças, a diversos contextos. Apesar disso, foi possível reproduzir o método de aplicação do IMSCamp no campus da USP de Piracicaba, que resultou em um valor de 0,491 (cerca de 50% do máximo possível), mostrando a viabilidade de seu uso em diferentes contextos, desde que feitos alguns ajustes. Isto obviamente depende da existência de recursos para sua adaptação, o que neste caso não se configurou em uma barreira intransponível. Por fim, o painel de especialistas trouxe evidências de que, dentre os 20 indicadores originais do IMSCamp, 13 mereceram destaque, em termos de relevância e adequação, para compor um índice aplicável a contextos distintos. Seriam eles: Infraestrutura de transporte público urbano, Qualidade das calçadas dentro e de acesso ao campus, Vagas para usuários com restrição de mobilidade, Transporte público urbano, Segurança pública, Acessibilidade dos prédios, Infraestrutura de estacionamento, Bicicletários e paraciclos, Infraestrutura de acesso ao campus, Adequação do modo de transporte, Qualidade das vias no campus, Infraestrutura cicloviária e Ações de educação no trânsito. / This study aims to develop and to apply a method for assessing the transferability of a sustainable mobility index for university campus. Three main questions guide the research: Is IMSCamp (an index created by Oliveira, 2015) transferable to a new context? In this case, what is its transferability potential? According to the previous answers, what should be the framework of a sustainable mobility index for university campus that is transferable to any context? The proposed method was organized as follows: application of IMSCamp to a new context; assessment of the transferability potential of this index by means of rating criteria that have been specially developed for this purpose; and organization of a panel of experts to select indicators for a global sustainable mobility index for university campus. The evaluation of the transferability potential, which was the main purpose of this study, indicated a low level of transferability (around 40% of the maximum value) for the index. This result indicates that considerable adjustments had been required in order to adapt it to a new campus. It means that it is not the case of a global index that may be directly applied without adjustments to various contexts. Nevertheless, it was possible to reproduce the IMSCamp method at the University of São Paulo campus in Piracicaba, which resulted in a value of 0.491 (around 50% of the maximum possible value), bringing evidence that the index can be applied in different campuses after some adjustments. The application obviously depends on the availability of resources for the adaptations needed, what was not a unsurmountable obstacle in the case studied. Finally, the experts\' panel brought evidences that 13 out of the 20 original indicators of IMSCamp have enough relevance and suitability to constitute an index transferable to different contexts. These indicators are: Public transport infrastructure, Quality of sidewalks (inside and around the campus), Parking spaces for people with disability, Public transport, Public safety, Buildings accessibility, Parking infrastructure, Bicycle racks, Infrastructure to access the campus, Suitability of transport modes, Pavement quality inside the campus, Cycling infrastructure and Traffic education initiatives.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:28:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Octavio de Almeida Prado Filho.pdf: 861416 bytes, checksum: c9abd03d29ec13845de3c1609ea8d5a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-17 / This dissertation deals with the study of administrative discretion applied specifically to the legislation concerning administrative sanctions, with regard to the principles and rules that apply to the administrator when sanctions are used. When applied to infringement and administrative sanctions, the discretion theory shows some unique characteristics that are not to be encountered in other areas, especially as far as undetermined legal concepts are concerned. Chapter One will therefore describe the constitutional structure of the Brazilian state, showing the main functions performed by the said state in creating, using and controlling infringement and administrative sanctions. Chapter Two will cover the principle of legal security and the legality principle as the expression of the democratic principle and the fundamentals of the administration activity. Chapter Three will deal particularly with jurisdictional control and discretion, and will explain the limits to the jurisdictional control of administrative acts. Chapter Four will shed light on the legal regime, which may be applicable to infringement and administrative sanctions that are considered as an expression of the government jus puniendi. Chapter Five will address discretion when applied to sanctioning administrative law, with considerations on the use of undetermined legal concepts in the description of infringement. Chapter Six will mention other principles under the control of the Judiciary Power to be considered upon the enforcement of administrative sanctions. Chapter Seven will deal with infringement exculpatory, as well as with the issue of transferability of administrative sanctions to a third party by means of succession. Finally, we will present the conclusions of this study / O tema da presente dissertação envolve o estudo da discricionariedade administrativa aplicada ao campo específico do direito administrativo sancionador, com a indicação dos princípios e regras que vinculam o administrador na aplicação de sanções. Aplicada às infrações e sanções administrativas, a teoria da discricionariedade apresenta peculiaridades não verificadas em outros campos, especialmente no que concerne aos conceitos jurídicos indeterminados. Assim, o capítulo I trata da estrutura constitucional do Estado brasileiro com indicação das principais funções por ele desempenhadas na criação, aplicação e controle das infrações e sanções administrativas. O capítulo II trata do princípio da segurança jurídica e do princípio da legalidade, como expressão do princípio democrático e fundamento da atividade administrativa. O capítulo III trata, particularmente, do controle jurisdicional e discricionariedade, com explicitação dos limites ao controle jurisdicional dos atos administrativos.O capítulo IV trata do regime jurídico aplicável às infrações e sanções administrativas, consideradas expressão do jus puniendi estatal. O capítulo V trata da discricionariedade aplicada ao direito administrativo sancionador, com considerações a respeito da utilização de conceitos jurídicos indeterminados na descrição de infrações. O capítulo VI trata de outros princípios a serem observados na imposição das sanções administrativas, todos eles passíveis de controle pelo Poder Judiciário. O capítulo VII trata das excludentes da infração e da questão da transmissibilidade das sanções administrativas a terceiros e por força da sucessão. Ao final são apresentadas as conclusões do estudo

This thesis covers an experiment which explores how effectively skills that are gained in a digital serious game can be transferred to a real situation. The context of the experiment is the casual restaurant industry, with focus on the task of a food runner. The results showed to be unreliable when ruling out the chance element with the use of t-tests, which points to that the data produced were coincidental, however the limited deviation in the groups’ performances indicate that there is potential in the addition of a digital game to the traditional training material. This is learned from the reports of the experiments and the analysis of the questionnaires filled out by all the participators.