Os alimentos funcionais são utilizados como alternativa ao uso de antibióticos na nutrição de aves, visto que são destinados a reforçar ou restabelecer a probiose do trato intestinal e consequentemente favorecer a formação de uma microbiota saudável e equilibrada. Portanto, o presente estudo teve como objetivo verificar a influência do probiótico sobre o desempenho e a morfologia intestinal de codornas japonesas. Foram utilizadas 400 codornas, criadas até 35 dias de idade, em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com dois tratamentos: sem probiótico e com probiótico, 3 repetições/tratamento, sendo que o box (1) do tratamento com probiótico e o box (4) do tratamento sem probiótico possuíam 60 aves, o restante dos boxes (2); (3); (5); (6) possuíam 70 aves. Quanto ao desempenho, considerando o período total de criação e nas condições em que o experimento foi conduzido, é possível mostrar influência do aditivo para o peso médio (PM) a partir do 14a dia de idade e efeito no ganho de peso (GP) a partir do 21a dia de idade. Para os dados de morfologia, ocorreu influência do aditivo para profundidade de cripta aos 35 dias de idade. / The functional foods are used as an alternative to the use of antibiotics in poultry nutrition, since they are intended to enhance or restore the probiose of the intestinal tract and thus promote the formation of a healthy and balanced microbiota. Therefore this study aimed to verify the influence of probiotics on performance and intestinal morphology of Japanese quail. 400 quails were used in place until 35 days of age, in a randomized design with two treatments: with and without probiotic probiotic, 3 replicates / treatment, and the box (1) treatment with probiotic and box (4) of without probiotic treatment had 60 birds, the rest of the boxes (2), (3), (5) (6) had 70 birds. The performance, considering the whole period of creation and the conditions under which the experiment was conducted, it is possible to show the influence of additive weight (MW) from the 14th day of age and the effect of weight gain (WG) to from the 21st day of age. For data from morphology, was added to the influence of crypt depth at 35 days of age.

Introdução - Nos últimos anos diversas hipóteses foram investigadas sobre a relação entre gordura corporal e a massa óssea. Objetivo - O presente estudo visa avaliar a associação de índices de gordura corporal e massa óssea em adultos e idosos. Metodologia - O estudo foi desenvolvido com os dados obtidos do estudo transversal de base populacional intitulado Inquérito Domiciliar de Saúde no Município de São Paulo (ISA Capital 2015), realizada de janeiro de 2015 a maio de 2016. A amostra foi composta por 296 indivíduos, sendo 129 adultos (18 a 59 anos) e 167 idosos (60 anos ou mais), de ambos os sexos. Utilizando os dados antropométricos, foram calculados os índices: Índice de Massa Corpórea (IMC), Índice de Conicidade (IC), Índice de Circularidade Corporal (ICC), Índice de Formato Corporal (IFC), Índice de Adiposidade Corporal (IAC), Índice de Gordura Corporal (IGC) e Índice de Adiposidade Visceral (IAV). Além disso, foram avaliados os dados de gordura corporal (GC) em kg, gordura visceral (GV em gramas), porcentagem de gordura corporal ( por centoGC) e densidade mineral óssea de corpo total (DMO CT), coluna lombar (DMO L1- L4) e do colo do fêmur (DMO femoral), obtidos pelo DXA (modelo Lunar iDXA Advance, GE Healthcare, Madison, WI, USA). Foram calculadas estatísticas descritivas (média, desvio-padrão, percentis); a normalidade foi testada por Anderson- Darling, foi aplicado o teste Mann-Whitney e a correlações de Spearman. A GC (kg) foi ajustada por sexo e idade e a DMO CT, L-L4 e femoral foram ajustadas por gênero, classe etária, atividade física, ingestão de álcool e tabagismo com o uso de Modelos Lineares Generalizados. Uma vez identificado o modelo mais adequado a uma variável resposta, procurou-se reduzir o número de parâmetros com uso do Critério de Informação Akaike (AIC). Para realizar essas análises foi utilizado o software SPSS, 23.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago IL, USA) e R (Projeto para estatística em sistema computacional) for Windows, versão 3.4.1. O nível de significância adotado foi de 5 por cento. Resultados - No artigo 1 é apresentado uma revisão sobre a relação entre os índices antropométricos e de gordura corporal com Doenças Crônicas Não-Transmissíveis (DCNT) como diabetes mellitus, hipertensão arterial sistêmica, síndrome metabólica entre outras. No artigo 2, foi observado baixa proporção de osteoporose nos participantes. Na relação entre os índices antropométricos com a GC (kg), verificamos que com exceção do IFC e IAV, os demais índices apresentaram correlação positiva e significante com a GC em kg (p<0,001). Entretanto, o modelo que apresentou o melhor ajuste e associação para a GC foi o IGC (89,97 por cento), seguido do IMC (83,93 por cento). Na associação dos índices com a DMO nos 3 sítios (DMO CT, L-L4 e femoral), observamos baixos valores de predição dos modelos avaliados, sendo que o modelo que apresentou melhor associação foi o IMC para DMO femoral. Conclusão O índice antropométrico que mais se aproximou da GC (kg) foi o IMC, como observado na análise de correlação e confirmado na análise inferencial, uma vez que as fórmulas para obtenção de ambos os índices são muito semelhantes. Na relação com a DMO, nenhum índice antropométrico é capaz de predizer a DMO nos 3 sítios avaliados na amostra estudada. / Introduction - In recent years several hypotheses have been investigated on the relationship between body fat and bone mass. Objective - The present study aims to evaluate the association of body composition indexes and bone mass in adults and the elderly. Methods - The study was conducted in a subsample from the populationbased cross-sectional study titled Health Study of São Paulo (ISA-Capital Study- 2015), held from january 2015 to may 2016. This 396 individuals, 129 adults (18 to 59 years) and 167 elderly (60 and over), of both sexes. Data on demographic, anthropometric [weight (kg), height (m), waist circumference and hip (cm)], body composition (body fat distribution) and bone (bone mineral density and composition) analyzed. The ratios was calculated, ranked and analyzed: Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Adiposity Index (BAI), Body Roundness Index (BRI), a Body Shape Index (ABSI) and the Conicity Index (C index) and as a comparison method was the Fat Mass Index (FMI) obtained by DXA. Bone mineral density (BMD) was evaluated in the lumbar spine L1-L4 and femoral neck through energy dual beam absorptiometry technique, issued by an X-ray source - DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) Lunar model iDXA Advance (GE Healthcare, Madison, WI, USA). Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, percentiles) were calculated; the normality was tested by Anderson-Darling, thus the Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlations were applied. The BF (kg) was adjusted by gender and age and the CT, L-L4 and femoral BMD were adjusted for gender, age group, physical activity, alcohol intake e smoking, with the use of Generalized Linear Models. Once the most appropriate model was identified for a response variable, we attempted to reduce the number of parameters using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The SPSS software, 23.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago IL, USA) and R (Computer statistical system design) for Windows, version 3.4.1 for data analysis were used. The level of significance was set at 5 per cent. Results - In article 1, it presents revision about the relationship between anthropometric and body fat indexes with chronic-degenerative diseases (CDC) such as diabetes mellitus, systemic arterial hypertension, metabolic syndrome, among others. In article 2 a low proportion of osteoporosis was observed in the participants. In the relationship between the anthropometric indices with the BF (kg), we observed that, with the exception of the IFC and VAI, the other indexes presented a positive and significant correlation with the BF in kg (p <0.001). However, the model that presented the best fit and association for BF was FMI (89.97 per cent), followed by BMI (83,93 per cent). In the association of the indexes with BMD in the 3 sites, we observed low values of prediction of the models evaluated, and the model that presented the best association was the BMI for femoral BMD. Conclusion - The anthropometric index that most approached the BF (kg) was BMI, as observed in the correlation analysis and confirmed in the inferential analysis, since the formulas to obtain both indices are very similar. In relation to BMD, no anthropometric index is able to predict BMD at the 3 sites evaluated in the studied sample.

This study investigates FTSE/JSE All Share index monthly and daily equity returns for evidence of the January and TY effect. Four different measures of monthly return are analysed for the 1995-2006 period, whilst daily returns are analysed during the 1995-2005 period. In addition to this, analysis is conducted on monthly Fama-MacBeth risk premium estimates tor the FTSE/JSE All Share Index. Descriptive statistics are first analysed, followed by ANOV A or Kruskai-Wallis tests, the paired t-test and finally dummy variable regression analysis in investigating the seasonality of FTSE/JSE All Share Index returns and risk premia. Analysis on monthly returns reveals an absence of the January effect, however a positive slightly statistically significant December effect is found. Thus, investors earn abnormal returns on equity during the month of December. The results from the Fama-MacBeth risk premia estimates reveals highly statistically significant negative risk premia seasonal patterns during March, July and September. Thus, investors are in fact penalised for investing in equities during these months. In addition, the analysis reveals an absence of a December effect in risk premia, which contradicts the risk-return trade-off central to modem finance. The daily return analysis reveals a highly significant Turn-of-the-Year effect (TY), which suggests that investors earn abnormal returns on days at the turn of the year. Therefore, it is concluded that a December effect is apparent in South African equity monthly returns, whilst a March, July and September effect is apparent in South African equity risk premia contradicting the risk-return trade-off central to modem finance. In addition to this, a TY effect is present in South African equity daily returns.

This dissertation focuses on Austrian housing policy measures and regional housing markets. It places the Austrian situation into a European context and evaluates singular housing policy measures in detail. The evaluation includes aspects of effectiveness, equity, costs, and efficiency. This contribution brings together three empirical essays, each of which has a different focus and addresses particular elements of housing policy. All three papers use empirical methods, but with adjusted approaches according to their underlining research questions: from state finance comparisons, to subsidy calculations for specific households, to hedonic apartment price index construction. Quantitative methods, mainly based on administrative and survey data, are accompanied by qualitative research in the form of expert interviews. Across the three papers, the level of analysis differs and increases in focus: from the level of nation states, to the nine Austrian regions, to the 117 (as of 2015) administrative districts into which the Austrian territory is divided. The first two papers focus on state housing policy measures and evaluate them in an international comparative framework. Both follow different levels of aggregation. The first one takes a very broad view and quantifies the sum of expenses on various state housing policy measures in six EU countries at the level of nation states (Austria, Czech Republic, Great Britain, France, The Netherlands, and Spain). It investigates the structure of state support for the housing sector and establishes numeric estimates of its components (supply-side subsidies, housing benefits, tax advantages and concessions). The second paper focuses on a particular housing policy instrument in Austria: means-tested, income-dependent housing benefits. It analyses the nine regional housing benefit schemes in the context of minimum income schemes. The paper applies a comprehensive residual income approach to housing affordability and identifies market segments and household types where affordability is at risk, in spite of existing benefit schemes. The third paper calculates regional price indexes for second-hand apartments in Austria at the level of administrative districts. It is based on state-of-the-art hedonic methods of house price index construction that control for the varying distribution of apartment characteristics and locations over time. The resulting indexes are an important improvement over indexes based on average prices. All three papers address specific elements of Austrian housing policy and identify areas for policy improvements and necessary future research activity.

The goal of this thesis is to analyse the influence of income taxeson the inequality rate in the Czech Republic. The incometaxes in this paper include the person income tax, the health insuranceand the social security insurance. In the relevant period a significant change in the system of income tax was implemented. While the year 2007 was the last year when tax brackets, i.e. the concept of the progressive tax system, were used, since 2008 we encounter the so-called flat tax where the rate is set at 15%, i.e. the linear tax system. The first chapter of this paper looks into the possibilities of analysing the tax progressiveness in general. The presentation of the methods proceeds from the simplest to the more complicated ones. The second part sums up the results of several foregoing researches in this field. The third chapter deals with an analysis of gross monetary income of households and their tax burden. This analysis and the one carried out in the fourth chapter are based on data provided by the Czech Statistical Office. The fourth chapter of this thesis studies the development of tax progressivity in the relevant period. For this analysis four methods were chosen: the Lorenz 5 curve and the Gini coefficient,the Musgrave-Thin index, the Kakwani index and the Robin Hood index. From the results reached by these indexes can be concluded that the level of income tax progressivity in the Czech Republic is low.

The main goal of my disertation work was to analyze the development of the Czech insurance market from 2000 until 2011 and create a forecast until the year 2015 at this market. In the first part of my work I will focus on demarcation of the commercial insurance, I will mention few interesting information about history of the Czech insurance market and its regulation. We will also describe important indicators of the insurance market. In the second section of my work we will analyze the branch of the life and non-life insurance in the Czech Republic from 2000 to 2011. In the third part we will create the concrete forecast of the Czech insurance market until the year 2015 using analysis of time series of written premium and GDP.

The main target of the thesis is analysing of short-term indirect cross-sectoral impacts of taxation of electricity, solid fuels and natural gas on particular sectors of NACE in the Czech Republic, especially impacts on production prices. The key instrument for the analysis is the short-term price model for the Czech Republic, created as a component of the thesis. A secondary target is focused on the analysis of direct impacts, especially impacts on prices and expenditures of particular sectors of NACE. Within the scope of the main target, there are five different variants of taxation. For each of them the impact of taxation of particular commodities on changes in production prices of particular sectors of NACE is simulated. Than two different variants, both of them including taxation of all commodities, are compared. The thesis includes also two hypotheses, which are going to be confirmed or disproved on the basis of obtained results. For achieving the main target the methodology of Leontief input – output analysis was chosen (Leontief, 1966). This is the key instrument for creating short-term price model for the Czech Republic. This method is suitable especially for analysing short-term cross-sectoral impacts, however under necessary condition of no changes in current technologies, agreements and cross-sectoral relations. This condition represents strict limitation for the price model created for the thesis. Regarding scientific contribution, the main asset of this thesis is creation of macroeconomic short-term price model for the Czech Republic, which is based on methodology of Leontief input – output analysis. The additional contribution is calculation of the short-term impacts of new environmental taxation on production prices of particular sectors of NACE. Considering available information, environmental taxes in the Czech Republic have not been analysed by Leontief input - output methodology yet. There is not also sufficient analysis of environmental taxes impacts on particular sectors of NACE in the Czech Republic. The thesis is divided to seven chapters. The first chapter focuses on introduction to environmental tax regulation issue. The second chapter presents theories and concepts of taxation impact analysis. The third chapter focuses on models and empirical research in environmental taxation area. The fourth chapter is dealing with basic practical aspects of introduction of new energy taxation in the Czech republic and presents data useful for the following analysis. The fifth chapter consists of describing of applied methodology and describing of creation of the price model. The sixth chapter summarises results of simulation of direct impact of taxation on average prices for companies and on expenditures of particular sectors of NACE. The seventh chapter presents results of cross-sectoral analysis of indirect macroeconomic impacts for all variants; the chapter includes also testing of hypotheses and comments of final results.

By using neural network, the relationship between the low price and the closing price in IMKB is developed by a fuzzy membership function.

As empresas são constantemente avaliadas, no que tange a resultados financeiros e econômicos, bem como as suas estratégias. As demonstrações financeiras são relatórios importantes na avaliação do desempenho da evolução patrimonial das organizações, fornecendo uma visão global da organização. Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar a relação entre Grau de Investimento, definido pelo rating do método de Guth, com o das certificadoras Standard & Poor's, Moody's e Fitch Ratings, com base nos dados das empresas listadas no IBRX 50. O grau de investimento de uma empresa concede um selo de “bom pagador”, esta avaliação ocorre de forma quantitativa e qualitativa, permitindo uma visão ampla dos negócios da organização. Para analisar a aderência do método que utiliza apenas indicadores financeiros e o divulgado pelas principais certificadoras será realizada uma pesquisa pelo método quantitativo-descritivo, utilizando as empresas listadas no IBRX50. A pesquisa é classificada como aplicada, com abordagem quantitativa, sendo apurado o grau de investimento pelo método de Guth através das demonstrações contábeis das empresas listadas no IBRX50, no ano de 2016, comparando com o divulgado pelas agencias certificadoras. Quanto ao objetivo é descritiva, utilizando procedimentos documentais, baseada em relatórios contábeis financeiros para calcular o grau de investimentos e os pareceres divulgados pelas certificadoras para comparar o rating divulgado como o apurado a partir dos seguintes indicadores financeiros: liquidez, rentabilidade, lucratividade, , solvência, endividamento e giro do ativo. Como resultados verificou-se a existência de diferenças entre o rating divulgado pelas agências, empresas que não possuem classificação divulgada pelas três certificadoras concomitantemente. A lista do IBRX50 contempla empresas que não foram avaliadas pelas certificadoras. / Companies are constantly evaluated in terms of financial and economic results as well as their strategies. The financial statements are important reports in assessing the performance of the organization's equity evolution, providing a global view of the organization. This study has as general objective to identify the relation between Investment Grade, defined by the rating of Guth’s Method, with the certifiers Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings, based on the data of the companies listed in the IBRX 50. The degree of investment of a company grants it a "good payer" seal, this evaluation occurs quantitatively and qualitatively, allowing a broad view of the organization's business. In order to analyze the adherence of the method that uses only financial indicators and that disclosed by the main certifiers, a research based on a quantitative-descriptive method will be done, using the companies listed in the IBRX50, in 2016. The objective is descriptive, using documentary procedures, based on financial accounting reports to calculate the degree of investments and the opinions published by the certifiers to compare the rating disclosed as calculated from the financial indicators: Liquidity indebtedness, Immediate liquidity, Profitability of the asset, Profitability, Current liquidity, Dry liquidity, Solvency, Indebtedness of Liquid Equity, Return on Liquid Equity and Asset turnover. As results it was verified that there are differences between the ratings disclosed by the three agencies. The IBRX50 list includes companies that have not been evaluated by the certifiers. / Companies are constantly evaluated in terms of financial and economic results as well as their strategies. The financial statements are important reports in assessing the performance of the organization's equity evolution, providing a global view of the organization. This study has as general objective to identify the relation between Investment Grade, defined by the rating of Guth’s Method, with the certifiers Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings, based on the data of the companies listed in the IBRX 50. The degree of investment of a company grants it a "good payer" seal, this evaluation occurs quantitatively and qualitatively, allowing a broad view of the organization's business. In order to analyze the adherence of the method that uses only financial indicators and that disclosed by the main certifiers, a research based on a quantitative-descriptive method will be done, using the companies listed in the IBRX50, in 2016. The objective is descriptive, using documentary procedures, based on financial accounting reports to calculate the degree of investments and the opinions published by the certifiers to compare the rating disclosed as calculated from the financial indicators: Liquidity indebtedness, Immediate liquidity, Profitability of the asset, Profitability, Current liquidity, Dry liquidity, Solvency, Indebtedness of Liquid Equity, Return on Liquid Equity and Asset turnover. As results it was verified that there are differences between the ratings disclosed by the three agencies. The IBRX50 list includes companies that have not been evaluated by the certifiers.

A grande quantidade de dados gerada em diversas áreas do conhecimento cria a necessidade do desenvolvimento de técnicas de mineração de dados cada vez mais eficientes e eficazes. Técnicas de agrupamento têm sido utilizadas com sucesso em várias áreas, especialmente naquelas em que não há conhecimento prévio sobre a organização dos dados. Contudo, a utilização de diferentes algoritmos de agrupamento, ou variações de um mesmo algoritmo, pode gerar uma ampla variedade de resultados. Tamanha variedade cria a necessidade de métodos para avaliar e selecionar bons resultados. Uma forma de avaliar esses resultados consiste em utilizar índices de validação de agrupamentos. Entretanto, uma grande diversidade de índices de validação foi proposta na literatura, o que torna a escolha de um único índice de validação uma tarefa penosa caso os desempenhos dos índices comparados sejam desconhecidos para a classe de problemas de interesse. Com a finalidade de obter um consenso entre resultados, é possível combinar um conjunto de agrupamentos ou índices de validação em uma única solução final. Combinações de agrupamentos (clustering ensembles) foram bem sucedidas em obter soluções robustas a variações no cenário de aplicação, o que faz do uso de comitês de agrupamentos uma alternativa interessante para encontrar soluções de qualidade razoável, segundo diferentes índices de validação. Adicionalmente, utilizar uma combinação de índices de validação pode tornar a avaliação de agrupamentos mais completa, uma vez que uma maioria dos índices combinados pode compensar o fraco desempenho do restante. Em alguns casos, não é possível lidar com um único conjunto de dados centralizado, por razões físicas ou questões de privacidade, o que gera a necessidade de distribuir o processo de mineração. Combinações de agrupamentos também podem ser estendidas para problemas de agrupamento de dados distribuídos, uma vez que informações sobre os dados, oriundas de diferentes fontes, podem ser combinadas em uma única solução global. O principal objetivo desse trabalho consiste em investigar técnicas de combinação de agrupamentos e de índices de validação aplicadas na seleção de agrupamentos para combinação e na mineração distribuída de dados. Adicionalmente, algoritmos evolutivos de agrupamento são estudados com a finalidade de selecionar soluções de qualidade dentre os resultados obtidos. As técnicas desenvolvidas possuem complexidade computacional reduzida e escalabilidade, o que permite sua aplicação em grandes conjuntos de dados ou cenários em que os dados encontram-se distribuídos / The large amount of data resulting from different areas of knowledge creates the need for development of data mining techniques increasingly efficient and effective. Clustering techniques have been successfully applied to several areas, especially when there is no prior knowledge about the data organization. Nevertheless, the use of different clustering algorithms, or variations of the same algorithm, can generate a wide variety of results, what raises the need to create methods to assess and select good results. One way to evaluate these results consists on using cluster validation indexes. However, a wide variety of validation indexes was proposed in the literature, which can make choosing a single index challenging if the performance of the compared indexes is unknown for the application scenario. In order to obtain a consensus among different options, a set of clustering results or validation indexes can be combined into a single final solution. Clustering ensembles successfully obtained results robust to variations in the application scenario, which makes them an attractive alternative to find solutions of reasonable quality, according to different validation indexes. Moreover, using a combination of validation indexes can promote a more powerful evaluation, as the majority of the combined indexes can compensate the poor performance of individual indexes. In some cases, it is not possible to work with a single centralized data set, for physical reasons or privacy concerns, which creates the need to distribute the mining process. Clustering ensembles can be extended to distributed data mining problems, since information about the data from distributed sources can be combined into a single global solution. The main objective of this research resides in investigating combination techniques for validation indexes and clustering results applied to clustering ensemble selection and distributed clustering. Additionally, evolutionary clustering algorithms are studied to select quality solutions among the obtained results. The techniques developed have scalability and reduced computational complexity, allowing their usage in large data sets or scenarios with distributed data