Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / William F. Blankenau / This dissertation investigates two essential features of the US economy. First, it explores how news about future productivity changes business cycle fluctuations. Using the a representative agent model, it shows that implementation labor in workplace organization could be an important channel through which news about the fundamentals can realistically generate US business cycle fluctuations. Further this idea is extended using the perspective of sunspot fluctuations. In particular, the model can lead to multiple equilibria under specific parameterizations. Second, a general equilibrium model has been developed with heterogeneous agents to explain the wage polarization feature of the US labor market, particularly how the price of an important technology is connected to lifetime earnings of agents and affects their college decisions. The following summarizes the three chapters of my dissertation. The first chapter which I co-authored with Dr. Blankenau, argues that purchasing investment goods does not directly increase the productive capacity of a business. Changes in the business through the installation of capital, worker training, and workplace reorganization are often required. These changes themselves are not easily automated. Change requires workers. We build a model where investment requires a complementary labor input. This mechanism is embedded in a representative agent model with capacity utilization, adjustment costs, and separable preferences. We show that this environment can yield positive co-movement between consumption, investment, and labor hours when the economy experiences a news shock about future productivity, thus providing an additional channel through which news shocks can generate key business cycle features. The second chapter is an extension of the first chapter. I investigate the indeterminacy in a representative agent model with implementation labor and increasing returns in production. First, my analysis shows that a representative agent with implementation labor can exhibit increasing returns to scale. Then I show that self-fulfilling beliefs of agents lead to business cycle fluctuations in which multiple equilibria can arise under specific parameterizations. Specifically, implementation labor in the production of capital is the highly important, necessary condition for the self-fulling equilibrium outcome. The third chapter, which is also a joint work with Dr. Blankenau, discusses the wage polarization feature of the US labor market. We build a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents, showing how wage polarization can emerge when the price of computer capital falls. Consequently, we find the share of the population with a college degree decreases. Our findings are consistent with recent empirical data that show a U-shaped wage growth pattern in the US as well as a slower growth rate of college-educated workers despite the high returns of investing in education. In the model, we assume that each agent is born with a portfolio of skills. Specifically, each agent can provide manual labor, routine labor, and abstract labor and must decide how much of each to provide. An agent can increase efficiency in all types of labor by attending college. All three types of labor are valued in the labor market at an endogenously determined wage rate. Computer capital is a substitute for routine labor. As its price falls and its quantity increases, agents with a relative aptitude for routine labor no longer find it advantageous to attend college. Since routinization of tasks harms middle-income agents, the model has government policy implications for observed wage polarization.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2016-07-20T17:18:47Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) versão final dissertação REVISÃO FINAL DIGITAL.compressed.pdf: 2767152 bytes, checksum: 975f022451bd4b5d2001044288a7eb2b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-20T17:18:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) versão final dissertação REVISÃO FINAL DIGITAL.compressed.pdf: 2767152 bytes, checksum: 975f022451bd4b5d2001044288a7eb2b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-25 / CAPES / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo avaliar as implicações da Regulação Urbanística no Ordenamento e Produção do Espaço Urbano, tendo como objeto um estudo analítico sobre as consequências da aplicação dos instrumentos normativos da Lei Municipal Nº 16.176/96 no Bairro de Boa Viagem, em Recife, PE. A dissertação está apoiada em um referencial teórico sobre o Papel do Estado na Regulação do Espaço Urbano, a Função Urbanística da Legislação, os Instrumentos de Regulação Urbana no Brasil no Marco da Constituição Federal de 1988 e a regulação urbana estatal e as suas reformulações a partir do Estatuto da Cidade. O campo empírico centra-se na avaliação dos impactos da Lei de Uso e Ocupação do Solo - 16.176/96, no bairro de Boa Viagem, verificando como a ação do mercado imobiliário se vincula aos parâmetros urbanísticos, na forma como foram aplicados. Analisa-se, também, a influência desses atores - poder público e instituições privadas ligadas ao mercado da construção civil, seus interesses e as consequências para a transformação da paisagem urbana na qual foram aplicadas. / The research presented here aims to evaluate the implications of urbanistic regulation in the ordering and production of urban space, and has as object of study an analytic study about the consequences of the application of the normative instruments of Municipal Law number 16.176/96 in the Boa Viagem district burrough, in Recife, Pernambuco. This thesis is supported by a theoretical background concerning the role of the State in the regulation of urban space, the urbanistic function of legislation, the instruments for urban regulation in the 1988 Federal Constitution, and the State-sponsored urban regulation and its reformulation after the passing of the "Estatuto da Cidade". The empirical portion focuses on the evalution of the impacts of the "Use and Occupation of Land Law" in Boa Viagem, by analyzing how the dynamics of the real estate market are linked to urbanistic parameters, in the manner in which they have been applied. An analysis is also conducted on the influence os this parties -- the State and private institutions related to the construction business, and on their interests and the consequences of such influences and interests, more specifically, how they have influenced the transformation of the urban landscape.

Orientador: Flavio Augusto Picchi / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T21:18:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bulhoes_IamaraRossi_D.pdf: 3095643 bytes, checksum: f334cd2fe1eec7e0b2f48cca80f0b04b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Os sistemas de produção na construção civil são caracterizados por muitas interrupções nos seus fluxos de trabalho, gerando desperdícios e a subutilização de recursos. Tais interrupções ocorrem principalmente devido à alta variabilidade nos processos de produção e à falta de sincronização entre os mesmos, resultando em elevadas percentagens de tempos improdutivos e de grandes estoques em processo. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo propor diretrizes para a implementação de fluxo contínuo na construção civil, com base nos conceitos e ferramentas da Mentalidade Enxuta. A estratégia de pesquisa adotada foi a pesquisa-ação, sendo realizados quatro estudos empíricos, dois em obras de edificações e dois em obras de montagem de estruturas pré-fabricadas de concreto. Duas principais contribuições desta pesquisa podem ser destacadas: (a) as diretrizes para implementar fluxo contínuo, vinculadas às etapas de diagnóstico, criação de condições iniciais, e planejamento e controle da produção; e (b) uma contribuição teórica no sentido de entender um conjunto de conceitos e princípios básicos de gestão da produção e a sua aplicação na indústria da construção. As diretrizes propostas para o contexto de obras de edificações são focadas no sistema de planejamento e controle da produção e na adaptação das ferramentas da Mentalidade Enxuta, tais como Mapa de Fluxo de Valor, Gráfico do Balanceamento do Operador e Tabela do Trabalho Padronizado Combinado, enquanto no contexto de obras de montagem de estrutura pré-fabricada as diretrizes enfatizam a realização do diagnóstico do processo de montagem, a introdução do planejamento integrado do projeto, fabricação e montagem, e a redução do tamanho do lote. Através destas diretrizes propõe-se o uso combinado das ferramentas tradicionais da Mentalidade Enxuta com ferramentas de Planejamento e Controle da Produção adequadas ao ambiente da construção civil. / Abstract: Production systems in the construction industry face many interruptions in work flows, causing waste and under-utilization of resources. Such interruptions are mostly due to high variability in production processes and also to the lack of synchronization between them, resulting in a large percentage of unproductive time and a high level of work in progress. The aim of this research work is to propose guidelines for the implementation of continuous flow in the construction industry, based on the Lean Thinking concepts and tools. Action research was the research strategy adopted in this study, involving four empirical studies, two in building projects and two in the fabrication and assembly of pre-fabricated concrete structures. Two main contributions of this research work are pointed out: (a) a set of guidelines for implementing continuous flow in production systems in the construction industry, which were related to the stages of diagnosis, establishment of the initial conditions, and planning and control; and (b) a theoretical contribution in terms of understanding a set of core production management concepts and principles and its application in the construction industry. The guidelines proposed for the context of building projects are focused on the production planning and control system and on the adaptation of Lean Thinking tools, such as Value Stream Mapping, Operator Balance Chart and Combined Standardized Work Chart, while in the context of prefabrication and assembly of concrete structures the guidelines emphasize the diagnosis of the assembly process, the introduction of an integrated planning and control process, including design prefabrication and assembly, and the reduction of lot size. Through those guidelines, the combined use of traditional Lean Thinking tools and planning and control tools that are suitable for the construction industry context. / Doutorado / Edificações / Doutor em Engenharia Civil

Esta dissertação procurou localizar, identificando e analisando por meio do espaço, como a espacialização da globalização econômica (setor financeiro e de serviços) na cidade de São Paulo, especificamente no centro Berrini, contribuiu para fragmentar ou para desdobrar a centralidade de São Paulo. Nosso objeto de pesquisa foram as possíveis relações e os impactos que o Centro Berrini considerado como uma área das mais recentes na cidade de São Paulo a concentrar um significativo afluxo de investimentos para escritórios de empresas transnacionais, \"um centro de negócios mundial\", estabeleceu e desencadeou provocando ou não transformações em relação ao Centro e a centralidade da Cidade de São Paulo. A globalização da economia influenciou em várias cidades mundiais a formação ou criação de centros com as chamadas atividades do Terciário Moderno (setor de serviços e financeiro) de forma muito semelhante ao que ocorre no Centro Berrini. No entanto, mesmo com o afluxo de investimentos globais, sua gênese não pode ser entendida sem a articulação com o processo de crescimento e expansão urbana da cidade, o desdobramento de sua centralidade que continua a acontecer, de tal forma, que a centralidade expande alcançando áreas que antes eram consideradas como fazendo parte da periferia. O resultado é um novo conflito sócio - espacial induzido por um modelo de produção em que a centralidade econômica ocupa espaços antes periféricos. E, de forma contraditória e desigual, nesses espaços parcelas da população tenta resistir e às vezes incorporando ações e valores do próprio modelo que a produziu. / This dissertation is centred upon identifying and analysing through the space idea how the economic and global spaciousness (financial and trade centres) at São Paulo city, specifically at Berrini center, had been contributing to fragment or increase São Paulo\'s centrality. Our research\'s object focus the possibles relations and impacts that the Berrini centre, considered as the newest area in the city of São Paulo that concentrates a significative investment affluences to world-wide business offices, \"a world business center\", had established and incremented by causing or not transformations between the Centre itself and the centrality of São Paulo. The economic globalization had influenced on many cities of the world the formation or creation of centers whose activities is kown as Modern Third (trade and financial sectors) in the same way that occurs at Berrini centre. Otherwise even with the global investments affluences its genesis can\'t be understand without the articulation with the growing process and the urban expansion of the city , the improvement of its centrality that\'s still being done in such a way that the centrality increases reaching out areas that former were considered as being part of periphery. So the consequence is a new spacious and social conflict induced by a production model where the economic centrality occurs in spaces before considered peripheral. And in a contradictory and unequal way on these spaces some kind of the population intends to resist by incorporating sometimes moral principles and actions of the same model that had created it.

The continuously increasing energy intensity internationally is recognised as one of the greatest dangers the human race is facing nowadays with regards to future climate change and its detrimental consequences. Improving the intensity of energy consumption is an important step towards decreasing greenhouse gas emissions originating from fossil fuel-based electricity generation and consumption. As a result of this, South Africa took the bold step in 2010 to commit itself to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in taking all the necessary actions to decrease the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 34% to below the “business-as-usual” scenario by 2020 (Republic of South Africa, 2010). In order to do so, the country has to substantially reduce its energy consumption. This should be done without affecting the economic output; however, major energy consumers might prefer to decrease their output in order to comply with the rules focusing on the reduction of energy use. In South Africa, harmful environmental effects are created mainly from the electricity consumption’s unprecedented rise. The bulk of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions (more than 60%) originate from the electricity generation sector which is heavily dependent on coal-fired power stations. The purpose of this study is to promote a benchmark-and-trade system to improve electricity efficiency in South Africa with the ultimate objective to improve the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The uniqueness of this study is two-fold. On the one side, South African policy-makers have rarely discussed or proposed the implementation of a cap-and- trade system. On the other side, the same mechanism has never been proposed regarding electricity efficiency. In order to do so, it is first required to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the electricity consumption and efficiency of the South African economy in its entirety and on a sectoral level. The key findings of the empirical analysis are as follows: A decreasing effect of electricity prices to electricity consumption existed during the period 1980 to 2005, contrary to the increasing effect of total output to electricity consumption. Also, the results indicated that the higher the prices, the higher the price sensitivity of consumers to changes in prices (price elasticity) and vice versa. The relationship between electricity consumption and electricity prices differ among various sectors. The findings of the exercise point towards ambiguous results and even lack of behavioural response towards price changes in all but the industrial sector, where electricity consumption increased with price decreases. On the other side, economic output affected the electricity consumption of two sectors (industrial and commercial) presenting high and statistically significant coefficients. Based on a decomposition exercise, the change in production was the main factor that increased electricity consumption, while efficiency improvement was a driver in the decrease of electricity consumption. In the sectoral analysis, increases in production were part of the rising electricity usage for all the sectors with ‘iron and steel’, ‘transport’ and ‘non-ferrous metals’ being the main contributors to the effect. On the decreasing side of consumption, only five out of fourteen sectors were influenced by efficiency improvements. The country’s electricity intensity more than doubled from 1990 to 2007 and the country’s weighted growth of intensity was higher than the majority of the OECD countries by a considerable margin. Also, nine of the thirteen South African sectors were substantially more intensive than their OECD counterparts. Although the picture presented is rather dismal, there is scope for improvement. This study proposes a sectoral benchmark-and-trade system. This system aspires to steadily improve the participants’ efficiency performance by awarding the successful participants with monetary incentives through trading with the less successful ones. The benchmark is chosen to be subject to the average of OECD members for each sector. Depending on the sectors’ performance compared with the standard chosen, they will be awarded credits or allowances to sell if they do better than the benchmark. If they are worse-off, they will have to buy credits in the market created. The price per credit will be determined by the interaction of demand and supply in the market. The findings of a comparison with a carbon tax system show that the proposed system benefits the majority of the sectors and gives them better incentives to change their behaviour and production methods to more efficient ones. The system also fulfils the desired characteristics of a benchmark-and-trade system: certainty of environmental performance; business certainty; flexibility; administrative ease and transparency. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Economics / unrestricted

Model development for incorporating “indigenous” postnatal care into a midwifery healthcare system is of utmost importance in ensuring the provision of culturally congruent care. There has been only limited evidence of the availability of a model which addresses “indigenous” postnatal care practices in midwifery health care systems. As a result, the nurses operate from a modern healthcare point of view only, rather than combining the two worldviews. The main aim of the study was to develop a model for incorporating “indigenous” postnatal care practices into the midwifery health care system in Mopani District, Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study was conducted in three phases. During the first phase the meaning of the concept “incorporation” was analysed. The results guided the researcher during data collection in the second phase, consisting of in-depth individual and focus group interviews to explore the experiences and perceptions of postnatal patients, family members, traditional birth attendants, registered midwives, Midwifery lecturers and the maternal and child healthcare coordinators. The findings confirmed that currently the “indigenous” postnatal care practices are not incorporated in the Midwifery curriculum, books or guidelines for maternity care. As a result there is lack of knowledge amongst midwives regarding the “indigenous” postnatal care practices and it is difficult for them to provide culturally congruent care. Due to inadequate knowledge midwives are displaying negative attitudes towards the family members, traditional birth attendants and patients from diverse cultures. The participants confirmed that there is no teamwork between the registered midwives and the traditional birth attendants (family members). The study findings also confirmed that currently there are no follow-up visits by the midwives for patients during the postnatal period. The midwives are imposing their health beliefs an practices onto the patients on discharge after delivery, without the involvement of the family members or the traditional birth attendants, resulting in sub-standard postnatal care, leading to postnatal complications and an increasing maternal mortality rate. Based on the findings of phases one and two, a model for incorporating “indigenous” postnatal care practices into a midwifery healthcare system was developed and described. The implications for further studies suggested the evaluation and implementation of the model in the healthcare institutions, nursing colleges, clinics and hospitals as an initial step to assist the Department of Health in Limpopo Province in incorporating “indigenous” practices into healthcare systems. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

This thesis deals with the Slovak town Banská Štiavnica in comparison with the Czech town Český Krumlov. The main objective of this thesis is to find deficiencies of Banská Štiavnica within tourist industry and to propound opportunities for increasing revenue and potential benefits based on the comparison of both towns. The thesis in its first part emphasizes the importance of UNESCO in both analyzed towns, through which the outstanding, universal and cultural-historical value is determined. The second part of this thesis deals with comparison methods and through SWOT analysis the opportunities are defined. On the basis of the defined opportunities there is elaborated project of guided night sightseeing tour in Banská Štiavnica.

This thesis deals with the productivity of enterprise, the possibilities of its measurement and increasing productivity through the total productive maintenance. The theoretical part firstly focuses on the measuring total productivity in homogeneous and heterogeneous production and calculation of partial productivities of each production factor. Secondly, it deals with the concept of a total productive maintenance as one of the possible approaches to increasing productivity. In the practical part the analysis of productivity for the years 2004 to 2010 is made and evaluated the use of approaches and tools of total productive maintenance in specific enterprise.

Legalization of Abortion in Argentina: A Path-Dependency Reading of the Influence of the Catholic Church and the Contrast with the Uruguayan Experience Alexa Elleny Quiles Hernández Abstract Argentina's abortion laws only allow women to access a lawful procedure in cases of rape and health or life threat, and this has been driving women who do not wish to continue a pregnancy into criminal considerations and, in many cases, dangerous and unhygienic environments. The aim of this work is to delineate part of the historical path that has forged the strong relations between the Argentinean State and the Catholic Church since the colonial period and the influence this has had on restrictive abortion rights for women today despite the growing number of demands to legalize voluntary termination. To highlight this influence, this study contrasts the Argentinean experience with that of neighboring Uruguay, a country that successfully legalized abortion in 2012 and which drew an effective division between the Church and the State at an early stage, furnishing a more autonomous environment for the government to respond to citizens' needs. For this, this work takes on Paul Pierson's approach to increasing returns and path- dependency theory and researches and analyzes events, dynamics and factors that have paved...

The potential use of polymeric, functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) as drug delivery vectors was explored. Covalent conjugation of albumin to the surface of NPs via maleimide chemistry proved problematic. However, microwave assisted synthesis of NPs was not only time efficient, but enabled the exploration of size control by changing the following parameters: temperature, microwave power, reaction time, initiator concentration, and percentage of monomer used. About 1.5 g of fluorescently-labeled, carboxylic acid-functionalized NPs (100 nm diameter) were synthesized for a total cost of less than $1. Future work will address further functionalization of the NPs for the coupling of albumin (or other targeted proteins), and tests for in vivo biodistribution.