The present study examined the extent to which the U.S. STEM labor market is stratified in terms of quality of employment. Through a series of cluster analyses and Chi-square tests on data drawn from the 2008 Survey of Income Program Participation (SIPP), the study found evidence of segmentation in the highly-skilled STEM and non-STEM samples, which included workers with a subbaccalaureate diploma or above. The cluster analyses show a pattern consistent with Labor Market Segmentation theory: Higher wages are associated with other primary employment characteristics, including health insurance and pension benefits, as well as full-time employment. In turn, lower wages showed a tendency to cluster with secondary employment characteristics, such as part-time employment, multiple employment, and restricted access to health insurance and pension benefits. The findings also suggest that women have a higher likelihood of being employed in STEM jobs with secondary characteristics. The findings reveal a far more variegated employment landscape than is usually presented in national reports of the STEM workforce. There is evidence that, while STEM employment may be more resilient than non-STEM employment to labor restructuring trends in the new economy, the former is far from immune to secondary labor characteristics. There is a need for ongoing dialogue between STEM education (at all levels), employers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to truly understand not only the barriers to equity in employment relations, but also the mechanisms that create and maintain segmentation and how they may impact women, underrepresented minorities, and the foreign-born.

No description available.

Ecosystem services constitute a precondition for human welfare and survival. This concept has also become increasingly popular among both scientists and policymakers. Several initiatives have been taken to identify and value ecosystem services. Several services are threatened, and it has been concluded that in order to better manage ecosystem services they need to be further investigated and valued. By measuring them using a common metric—monetary value—they can be more easily compared and included in decision-making tools. This thesis contributes to this goal by presenting values for several ecosystem services and also including them in decision-making tools. Starting with a discussion of the concept of ecosystem services, this thesis aims to present values for certain ecosystem services and to illustrate the use of these values in systems-analysis tools such as cost-benefit analyses (CBA) and a weighting set. Links between ecology, economics and policy are discussed within a broader framework of ecosystem services. Five papers are included, in which two contingent valuation studies (CV) have been used to find values for different ecosystem services. One valuation study is focused on the effects from tributyltin (TBT) in Swedish marine waters. In addition, a quantitative assessment framework has been developed in order to simplify analysis of environmental status, progress in environmental surveillance and the relevance of different measures. It is suggested that the framework should also be used when assessing the impacts of other substances affecting the environment. The second valuation study investigates the risk of an oil spill in northern Norway. The results have been included in two CBAs and a weighting set. The first CBA compares costs for remediation of polluted sediments, caused by TBT, with the benefits of reducing TBT levels. The second CBA compares costs and benefits for reducing the probability of an oil spill. The weighting set includes monetary values on a number of impact categories where marine toxicity is based on the valuation study on TBT.  One study also examines the inclusion of environmental costs in life cycle costing (LCC) in different sectors in Sweden. Results show that respondents consider ecosystem values to be important. The values of Swedish marine waters and coastal areas outside Lofoten-Vesterålen in Norway have been identified and quantified in terms of biodiversity, habitat, recreation and scenery. In the Norwegian case, an ongoing debate on the issue of oil and gas exploration has had an impact on the number of protest bids found in the study. Based on the cost and benefits of limiting impacts on ecosystem services derived from the valuation studies, CBAs show that the suggested measures are most likely beneficial for society, and the results contribute to policy recommendations. A weighting set has been updated with new values through value transfer. The weighting set is compatible with LCA. The final study shows that companies and public organisations use environmental costs (internal and external) in a limited manner. In this thesis the ecosystem service concept is used both as an introduction and a guiding thread for the reader, as a way to frame the studies undertaken. The concept of ecosystem services can be useful, as it emphasises the importance of the services to humans. By finding and presenting values of ecosystem services, such services are more easily incorporated into decision-making. / <p>QC 20141121</p>

A contingent valuation study was done to investigate the value of Fijian reefs by households in the Metro Atlanta area. Individuals were surveyed and asked questions about their Willingness-to-Pay for coral reef conservation, personal views on the scope/magnitude of coral reef problems, and experience around ocean related activities as well as knowledge. Results from this data, find individuals would donate on average $0.18 taking into account sample and response bias. Less conservative estimates calculated contributions per person to equal $13.9 for the conservation of Fijian reefs. These results imply Atlanta, which is very distant from Fiji, has the potential to contribute to Fijian coral reef conservation programs. Although little empirical work exists on valuation measure for reefs of non-users and groups distant to reefs, this study suggests nonprofits and developing countries could benefit from the inclusion or previously excluded (due to distance to reefs) participants. The study discusses donor characteristics as well as possible market strategies these organizations could utilize to maximize revenue. Findings from this work highlight two important issues rarely discussed in the policy literature: 1-the use of non-market valuation methods to identify stakeholders and 2-the effects of distance on use and non-use value ultimately impacting conservation.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Before a context where the process of decision-making is considered complex and studies in this area focus on this complexity, as well as analysis of the individual, their bounded rationality and issues related to information for decision-making the research aims analyze the process of decision-making in agriculture, in terms of social, institutional, cultural, organizational and personal aspects. Thus, for its development was used a descriptive and quantitative survey, that is, was carried out a survey of data from 77 properties in the city of Boa Vista das Missões - Rio Grande do Sul. The analyses of data collected were due to quantitative methods, such as the description of the sample by frequency and the other data over the relationship between variables. With base on the results of the study, it is possible to verify a relationship between social, cultural, personal, institutional and organizational aspects and decision-making. These relationships are more present in aspects of basement (decisions based on information or experience, cost/benefit or intuition/impulse), nature (routine or innovative decisions) and response time (fast decisions and thoughtful and time consuming decisions) for the decisions. Thus, it is suggest that the studies will help to specify some relevant characteristics to the process of decision-making of the farmers, which so far in the literature were little explored. / Diante de um contexto onde o processo de tomada de decisão é considerado complexo e os trabalhos desta área focalizam essa complexidade, assim como análises do indivíduo, sua racionalidade limitada e aspectos relacionados às informações para o processo decisório a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo geral analisar o processo de tomada de decisão na agricultura, sob os aspectos sociais, institucionais, culturais, organizacionais e pessoais. Assim, para o desenvolvimento da mesma foi utilizado um survey descritivo e quantitativo, ou seja, realizou-se um levantamento de dados, através de um questionário, junto a 77 propriedades do município de Boa Vista das Missões Rio Grande do Sul. As análises dos dados coletados se deram por métodos quantitativos, como a descrição da amostra através de freqüências e os demais dados através de relação entre variáveis. Com base nos dados e análises, pode-se verificar que há relação entre aspectos de interesse da investigação e o processo de tomada de decisão. Estas relações são mais presentes em aspectos de embasamento (decisões baseadas em informações ou experiência; custo/beneficio ou intuição/impulso), natureza (decisões rotineiras ou inovadoras) e tempo de resposta (decisões rápidas e ágeis ou reflexivas e demoradas) para as decisões, porém, ressalta-se que alguns deles com maior e outros com menor intensidade. Deste modo, sugere-se que o trabalho contribui para especificar algumas características relevantes ao processo de tomada de decisão dos agricultores, que até então na literatura eram pouco exploradas.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-11T14:41:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AnaBAA_DISSERT.pdf: 1764620 bytes, checksum: 054479552af058811657b501569cbe17 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research aimed to identify the disposal for paying for the recovery/preservation of Apodi-Mossoró river. This purpose, accentuated by the large number of existing pollutants in the river, based on the understanding that this occurs due to the direct and indirect use of the river Apodi-Mossoró, believing in a co - participation of the entire local society. In this sense, we used a tool of neoclassical microeconomic theory, specifically of environmental economics, and among the several methods of environmental economic valuation that this theoretical branching works, opting for the use of the contingent valuation method, it is based on the revelation of consumer preferences and seeks to capture the maximum provision or reserve price, reflecting a cost-benefit analysis. Its choice was also linked to the ability to trap heat method of option and existence, by simulation of a hypothetical market, since there is no specific market for biodiversity values and environmental quality of a river. The work now composed will be developed through a dense literature review, mainly economic value of the environment since it is not trivial and therefore needs to be understood. Later, in the application of the pilot research, were made some adjustments in the questionnaire and then the final search was performed with 300 questionnaires, 150 were applied to the riverside and 150 population with the general population of the city. As tools for collecting, there were semi-structured and with easy language objective questions covering economic, social environmental data among others. The collected data were compiled and analyzed using statistical software performing multiple linear regression and applying the logit model, resulting in three demand functions for three different scenarios (general population sample, population and distant population around the river) for recovery/preservation of river Apodi-Mossoró, the observed pattern was consistent with that estimated in the three scenarios, thus validating the research. The average estimated disposal to pay by the general population was R$ 20.49. The monthly total economic value was R$ 5.323.609,35 and an annual amount of R$ 63.888.331,22. In this sense, this result confirms the preferences revealed the importance of environmental good for the city of Mossoró, which in part was willing to pay for the restoration and preservation of the natural resource population. From the learning provided by the application of the interviews was reached the following conclusion: the decision to contribute depends mainly on income, which acts as a limiting factor and decision-making, especially for the local population who had this as the main explanatory variable of willingness to fundamentador pay / A presente pesquisa objetivou identificar a disposição a pagar da população pela preservação/recuperação do rio Apodi-Mossoró. Finalidade essa acentuada pelo grande número de poluentes existentes no rio, partindo do entendimento que este ocorre em função do uso direto e indireto do rio Apodi-Mossoró, acreditando em uma co-participação de toda a sociedade local. Neste sentido, utilizou-se uma ferramenta da teoria microeconômica neoclássica, especificamente da economia ambiental, e entre os diversos métodos de valoração econômica ambiental que esta ramificação teórica trabalha, optando-se pela utilização do método de valoração contingente, o mesmo é baseado na revelação das preferências dos consumidores e busca capturar a disposição máxima, ou preço de reserva, refletindo uma análise custo-benefício. Sua escolha também estava atrelada à capacidade do método capturar valor de opção e existência, via simulação de mercado hipotético, já que não existe mercado específico para os valores da biodiversidade e qualidade ambiental de um rio. O trabalho ora composto se desenvolveu por meio de uma revisão bibliográfica densa, principalmente valor econômico do meio ambiente, visto que não é corriqueiro e, portanto necessita de ser compreendido. Posterior à aplicação de pesquisa piloto foram feitos alguns ajustes no questionário e em seguida foi executada a pesquisa final, na qual foram aplicados 300 questionários, 150 com a população ribeirinha e 150 com a população em geral do município. Como instrumentos de coleta, teve-se questões objetivas semi-estruturadas de fácil linguagem que abrangiam os dados socioeconômicos, ambientais entre outros. Os dados coletados foram compilados e analisados por meio de software estatístico realizando regressão linear múltipla e aplicando o modelo logit, tendo como resultado três funções de demanda para três cenários distintos (população geral da amostra, população distante e população próxima do rio) pela recuperação/preservação do rio Apodi-Mossoró, o modelo observado foi compatível com o estimado nos três cenários, validando assim a pesquisa. A disposição média a pagar estimada da população geral foi de 20,49. O valor econômico total mensal foi de R$ 5.323.609,35 e um valor anual de R$ 63.888.331,22. Neste sentido, tal resultado confirma as preferências revelada a importância do bem ambiental para população do município de Mossoró, que em parte se dispôs a pagar pela recuperação e preservação do recurso natural. A partir do aprendizado proporcionado pela aplicação das entrevistas, foi possível chegar à seguinte conclusão: a decisão de contribuir depende principalmente da renda, na qual atua como fator limitador e decisório, principalmente para a população ribeirinha, que teve essa variável explicativa como principal fundamentador de sua disposição a pagar

Cette thèse a pour objet, d’une part, de décrire les pratiques du budget quand l’outil est utilisé dans un rôle de communication financière, et d’autre part, d’observer si, dans ce cadre-là, il conserve ses fonctions de gestion interne de l’organisation. Au travers d’une enquête qualitative menée auprès de dix-huit groupes français, puis d’une enquête quantitative auprès de 53 sociétés du SBF 250, nous avons étudié les principales caractéristiques du budget dans un rôle de communication financière.Nous avons montré que les pratiques du processus budgétaire étaient modifiées par la nécessité de rendre compte de cette nouvelle fonction du budget, au regard notamment de l’implication des acteurs, du rapprochement de la comptabilité de gestion et des IFRS et de l’importance des re-prévisions. / The purpose of this thesis is, on one hand, to describe the budgeting practices when the budget is used in a role of financial disclosure, and on the other hand, to observe if, in this case, it maintains its functions of internal management of the organization.Through a qualitative survey of eighteen French groups, and then through a quantitative survey of 53 firms of the SBF 250, we studied the main characteristics of the budget in a role of financial disclosure.We showed that the practices of the budget process were modified by the need to report this new function, particularly with regard to the attention of the actors, the link between management accounting and the IFRS and the primacy of the forecasts.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T21:42:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Simone Costa .pdf: 1155252 bytes, checksum: 16c5a111e65a37625357bf6e59a9c8f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-14 / This research studies the organization and the structure of three support centers in distance education modality, including their management process and autonomy in the context they operate. Therefore, it has two analysis moments, whereas the first one is a descriptive exploratory study about the support centers organization and structure from a pre-established guidelines and the discussion about the cultural and contingency reality at the same time in this area; the second one uses the interview technique to analyze the autonomy and management process in the support centers surveyed. For the research application the support centers were visited (two of them in São Paulo State and one in Parana State) and the coordinators were interviewed, and it is important to emphasize that two of these support centers are private and the third one is from the public reality. Although the pre-established guidelines, these analyses indicated respectively that the support centers surveyed have a contingent model, thus a cultural adaptation to their reality, and the semi-structured interviews about the management process showed a clear proposal by the coordinators in working the distance education, resulting in a management focused on adjustments and readjustments in face of a constantly development context. In the autonomy process the factors that deserve attention are directly connected with the comprehension of the non-negotiable procedures existence, respectively related to the legal basis that regulate the support centers, therefore, set these parameters, the autonomy is determined by the management decision-making in face up to the current reality. / Esta pesquisa estuda a organização e estruturação de três polos de apoio presencial ligados a modalidade a distância, bem como os processos de gestão e autonomia no contexto em que atuam. Trata-se, portanto, de dois momentos de análise, considerando que o primeiro se relaciona a um estudo descritivo-exploratório no que se refere a organização e estruturação dos polos, a partir de diretrizes preestabelecidas e da discussão sobre a realidade cultural e, ao mesmo tempo contingencial existente neste espaço; o segundo, relacionado à utilização da técnica da entrevista para a análise do processo de gestão e autonomia existente nos polos pesquisados. Para a aplicação da pesquisa, foram realizadas visitas aos polos de apoio presencial (dois localizados no Estado de São Paulo e um no Estado do Paraná) e entrevistas com seus coordenadores, sendo importante destacar que dois destes polos estão ligados à realidade privada e um deles à realidade pública. Respectivamente, tais análises e entrevistas indicaram que apesar das diretrizes preestabelecidas, os polos pesquisados possuem um modelo contingencial e, portanto, cultural de adaptação à realidade em que se instalam; sendo que no caso das entrevistas semiestruturadas e, respectivamente do processo de gestão, existe uma proposta clara por parte dos coordenadores no exercício em se fazer EAD, compreendendo assim, uma gestão voltada a adequações e readequações diante de um contexto em constante desenvolvimento. No que se refere ao processo de autonomia, os fatores que merecem atenção estão diretamente relacionados à compreensão dos sujeitos sobre a existência de trâmites não negociáveis, respectivamente relacionados às bases legais que regulamentam a existência dos polos de apoio presencial, contudo, estabelecidos estes parâmetros, a autonomia se determina pela tomada de decisão deste gestor diante da realidade em que se instala.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:00:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2763.pdf: 2681165 bytes, checksum: 7237b8c3b1ff40a69103153b0c034e41 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-26 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The purpose of this work is to evaluate, according to the population s perception, the benefit to the environment by treating the sanitary sewers flowing into the Limoeiro stream located in Presidente Prudente, in the state of Sao Paulo. It is sometimes difficult to place a value on natural resources and this research attempts to develop a method to place a value to this particular natural resources, the Limoeiro stream. By making it possible to have a base of common comparison, the financial value, provides a justification for investments in environment conservation projects. With this objective, the contingent valuation method was used to evaluate the natural resource which investigated the disposition of the population to pay for this process in two types of scenarios. In the first scenario, which presents the legal view of the conservation, determined that it would be R$ 5,12 with 95% of entrust and a plus or minus 10% margin of error. In the second scenario, which presents the ideal view of the water course conservation would be R$ 7,35 also showing a 95% entrust and a plus or minus 10% margin of error. A period of 30 years was stipulated and the global liquid present value between R$ 9.126.914,16 to R$ 16.011.288,26 with a discount tax of 12% of the capital. / O presente trabalhou teve por objetivo valorar, conforme a percepção da população, o ganho de qualidade ambiental produzido pelo tratamento dos esgotos sanitários no curso de água córrego Limoeiro, município de Presidente Prudente, estado de São Paulo. Os recursos naturais não têm seu valor estipulado pelo mercado, sendo assim, necessita-se de outros meios, como a presente pesquisa, para contribuir no sentido de valorar os recursos naturais, sendo então possível ter uma base de comparação comum, qual seja, o valor financeiro, para justificar investimentos e projetos na área da conservação ambiental. Com esse objetivo, de valorar o recurso natural, utilizou-se o método de valoração contingente que buscou captar a disposição a pagar (DAP) da população para dois Cenários. No Cenário que atendia a disposição legal foi captada uma DAP per capta da ordem de R$ 5,12, com 95% de confiabilidade e uma margem de erro de 10% para mais ou para menos. No Cenário que atingia a situação ideal de conservação do curso de água a DAP per capta captada foi de R$ 7,35, também com 95% de confiabilidade e uma margem de erro de 10% para mais ou para menos. Foi estipulado um período de 30 anos e o valor presente líquido global encontrado está na faixa de R$ 9.126.914,16 a R$ R$ 16.011.288,26, para uma taxa de desconto do capital de 12% ao ano.

Esta pesquisa examinou se a tomada de decisão dos agentes considera os custos e benefícios do planejamento tributário e se boas práticas de governança corporativa reduzem o engajamento dos gestores na prática de planejamento tributário. Adicionalmente, investigouse a relação entre utilidade esperada/valor esperado do planejamento tributário e o endividamento das empresas. Para mensurar se a prática do planejamento tributário tem relação com a maximização da utilidade esperada do agente (maximização dos benefícios gerados), desenvolveu-se um modelo baseado na proposta de Alligham e Sandmo (1972), segundo a qual, a prática do planejamento tributário está relacionada a uma análise econômica dos custos e benefícios desta ação. As premissas utilizadas foram o período de 13 anos de discussão administrativa e judicial do débito tributário, correção do débito tributário, custo de capital de terceiros e encargos de 100% do valor do tributo (multa, juros e honorários advocatícios). Os resultados foram expandidos para diversos cenários de tempo (períodos de 8, 13 e 18 anos), encargos de 50%, 100% e 150% e variável dependente calculada com base nos valores registrados como passivos contingentes (notas explicativas), contingências fiscais prováveis (reconhecida nas demonstrações contábeis), e soma de ambas. Além disso, as análises foram feitas em nível (nominal escalonada pelo ativo total) e logaritmo. A amostra pesquisa foi composta pelas empresas brasileiras de capital aberto que fizeram parte do índice IBrX100 e abrange o período de 2008 a 2015. As análises empíricas confirmam que na maior parte dos casos a utilidade esperada do agente (valor esperado) é positiva, indicando que a tomada de decisão sobre a prática de planejamento tributário é fruto da maximização da utilidade esperada do agente, o que pode explicar os elevados números registrados de provisões e passivos contingentes nas demonstrações financeiras e notas explicativas das empresas. Além disso, identificou-se que regras rígidas de governança corporativa possuem correlação negativa com a utilidade esperada do agente, podendo ser considerada como um desincentivo à prática de planejamento tributário. Identificou-se ainda, que a variável endividamento apresentou correlação negativa com a utilidade esperada ou o valor esperado do planejamento tributário. A utilização de um modelo para avaliação da utilidade esperada/valor esperado do planejamento tributário pode contribuir para a melhor compreensão desse fenômeno e para a proposição futuras de políticas públicas. / This study examined whether the decision-making of the agents considers the costs and benefits of tax avoidance and if good practices of corporate governance reduces the engagement of managers in the practice of tax avoidance. Additionally, it was investigated the relationship between the expected utility/expected value of tax avoidance and the indebtedness of the companies. In order to measure if the practice of tax avoidance is related to the maximization of the expected utility of the agent (maximization of the benefits generated), a model based on the proposal of Alligham and Sandmo (1972) was developed, according to which the practice of tax avoidance is related to an economic analysis of the costs and benefits. The premises used were the period of time of 13 years of administrative and judicial lawsuit, correction of the tax debt, cost of debt and charges of 100% (fine, interest and legal fees) over the tax unpaid. The results were expanded to several time scenarios (periods of 8, 13 and 18 years), charges of 50%, 100% and 150% and dependent variable calculated based on the amounts recorded as contingent liabilities (footnotes), tax provisions (financial statements), and sum of both. Furthermore, the analyses were done at level (nominal staggered by total assets) and logarithm. The research sample was composed of Brazilian publicly traded companies that were part of the IBrX100 index and covers the period between 2008 and 2015. Empirical analysis confirms that in most of the cases, the expected utility of the agent (expected value) is positive, indicating that the decision on the tax avoidance practice is a result of the maximization of the agent\'s expected utility, which may explain the large numbers of provisions and contingent liabilities in the financial statements and the footnotes of the companies. In addition, it was identified that rigid rules of corporate governance practices has a negative correlation with the expected utility of the agent, and can be considered as a disincentive to the practice of tax avoidance. It was also identified that the indebtedness variable presented a negative correlation with the expected utility or the expected value of the tax avoidance. The use of a model to evaluate the expected utility/expected value of tax avoidance can contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon and to the future proposition of public policies.