Com base no questionamento se as pequenas empresas e seus gestores podiam usar como ferramentas de gestão as principais teorias administrativas com a mesma eficiência que nas grandes empresas nas quais, via de regra, estas teorias foram desenvolvidas, este trabalho buscou analisar especificamente se os conceitos da teoria da intenção estratégica aplicam-se nas pequenas empresas. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo exploratório baseado na técnica da entrevista em profundidade, a qual foi realizada com pequenos empresários de empresas localizadas em incubadoras universitárias, no período de junho a agosto de 2011. Os resultados deste trabalho indicam que, apesar das pequenas empresas, geralmente, não conseguirem realizar um planejamento ao longo prazo e controlar o seu próprio destino, dois dos preceitos da intenção estratégica, elas são capazes de mostrar evolução na aplicação da intenção estratégica quanto a mudar o seu setor, de ter as competências necessárias para tal e de ser autor do seu próprio destino. Em síntese, conclui-se que, de maneira geral, a intenção estratégica pode ser aplicada nas pequenas empresas e que os limitadores desta aplicação são as próprias dificuldades inerentes às pequenas empresas como, por exemplo, fragilidade perante as frequentes mudanças do mercado, sobrecarga de questões operacionais por parte dos gestores e falta de recursos financeiros e humanos. / This investigation will look at whether the concepts of the strategic intent theory could be applicable specifically to small companies, with regards to whether they and their managers could use administration theories as managerial tools as effectively as they would in large corporations, where, by and large, those theories are usually developed. This is merely an exploratory study and relies on an in-depth interview technique, which was conducted with small business entrepreneurs from corporations located in university incubators, from June to August 2011. The results of this study show that despite the overall inability of small companies to conduct long-term planning and control their own futures, which are two of the precepts of strategic intent, they are able to show improvements in terms of its applicability when it comes to changing their sectors, as well as having the necessary competencies for such a move and being the authors of their own destiny. To sum up, we can assume that strategic intent can generally be applied in small companies and that the limiting factors of such application are the hardships that are inherent to small companies, such as fragility in the face of frequent market changes, excessive operational issues with regards to managers and a lack of financial and human resources.

O objetivo geral desta tese consisitiu na proposição e teste de um modelo teórico que buscou relacionar o efeito da visualização de fotografias de viagem em redes sociais na alteração da percepção da imagem do destino turístico retratado e na intenção futura de visitá-lo. O estudo foi realizado a partir de uma abordagem multimétodos que incluiu uma fase qualitativa, de caráter exploratório, seguida de um estudo quantitativo. Na primeira etapa do estudo, intentou-se identificar os principais fatores que afetam a percepção da imagem de destinos pelos usuários de rede social. A partir da realização de entrevistas individuais e em grupo, foi possível verificar a existência de três fatores centrais: 1) envolvimento temporal e afetivo com a rede social; 2) perfil dos usuários em relação às suas motivações para o uso da rede social. Foram identificados três perfis motivacionais, incluindo: obter informações sobre destinos turísticos (caçadores de destinos), interagir com colegas a partir de curtidas e comentários (interacionistas) e bisbilhotar a vida privada de amigos da rede (investigadores sociais); 3) força dos laços e identificação entre emissor (postador de fotos) e receptor (visualizador de fotos) da mensagem visual. Posteriormente, procedeu-se à elaboração de um survey on line com seiscentos usuários do Facebook para verificar os efeitos destes fatores na imagem do destino e na intenção futura de visitá-lo. Os dados coletados a partir deste questionário permitiram a elaboração de dois modelos de regressão logística. Para o primeiro modelo apresentado, verificou-se que somente três características dos usuários tiveram efeito estatisticamente significativo sobre a alteração positiva da imagem do destino turístico. O maior efeito estatístico foi verificado pela variável caçador de destinos, seguida de identificação com os pares. Embora em um nível de significância estatística de 10%, verificou-se que o perfil interacionista também possui certa relação com a alteração da imagem. As outras variáveis não tiveram relação estatisticamente significativa. O segundo modelo proposto analisou o efeito das mesmas variáveis anteriores na intenção/probabilidade de visitar o destino retratatado no futuro. Novamente, os perfis caçador de destinos e identificação com os pares apresentaram os maiores efeitos na variável dependente que foi testada. A variável envolvimento temporal-afetivo também foi estatiscamente significativa, em um nível superior a 5%. No entanto, o perfil investigador social apresentou um efeito não esperado na intenção de visita futura. Os resultados indicaram que ser caracterizado por esse perfil reduz as chances de se visitar o destino retratado quase pela metade. Especula-se que esse efeito seja decorrente da forte orientação desses usuários para a comparação social e a busca por prestígio. Tendo em vista investigações anteriores que apontam que a familiaridade com o destino apresenta uma relação negativa com a mudança da imagem do lugar, optou-se por verificar o efeito da familiaridade como variável de controle nos dois modelos implementados. No primeiro modelo, ao se inserir a familiaridade com o destino, observou-se um aumento da medida relativa à identificação com pares. Ao mesmo tempo, o perfil envolvimento temporal e afetivo também se tornou estatisticamente significativo ao nível de 10%. No entanto, no segundo modelo logístico apresentado, a inclusão desta variável não foi estatisticamente significativa, tampouco alterou significativamente o efeito das variáveis testadas. Esse resultado fornece indícios de que, embora a familiaridade tenha um efeito negativo sobre a alteração da imagem do destino, ela pode não ser relevante para a intenção de revisitar, pois existe uma predisposição inata na maioria dos viajantes em buscar novos destinos de viagem. / The general objective of this thesis is to propose and test a theoretical model that related the effects generated by the viewing of travel photographs posted by users of social networks in the image formation/change of tourist destinations, as well as to verify its influence in the intention of future visits. The study was conducted from a multimethod approach that included a qualitative phase, exploratory, followed by a quantitative study. In the first part of the research, an exploratory study to identify the main factors which affect the perception of the image of destinations by users of social media was carried out. From individual and group interviews, it was possible to verify the existence of the main factors: 1) Temporal and Affective involvement with the social network (Facebook); 2) profile of users in relation to their motivations for the use of the social network. Three motivational profiles were identified, including: to obtain information about tourist destinations (destination hunters), interact with peers from “likes” and comments (“interactors”) and prying the private lives of online friends (social investigators); 3) affective closeness between issuer (photo “poster”) and receiver (photo viewer) of the visual message. Subsequently, it proceeded to draw up a survey on line with six hundred Facebook users to check the effects of these factors on the image destination and the future intention to visit him. Data collected from this survey allowed the development of two logistic regression models. For the first model presented, it was verified that only three characteristics of the users had a statistically significant effect on the alteration of image of the tourist destination in positive terms. The biggest statistical effect was verified by the variable “destination hunters”, followed by “peer identification”. Although on a significance level of 10%, it was verified that the interactor profile also has a certain relation to the alteration of image. The other variables did not have a statistically significant relation. The second study proposed analyzed the effect of the same variables on the intention/probability of visiting the portrayed destination in the future. Again, the profiles “destination hunter” and “identification with peers presented the biggest effects on the dependent variable that was tested. The variable “temporal-affectionate involvement” was also statistically significant, on a level above 5%. However, the “social investigator” profile showed an unexpected effect on the intention of future visit. The results indicated that belonging to that profile reduces the chances of visiting the portrayed destination by half. It is speculated that such effect is a result of the strong need of those users for social comparison and search for prestige. In spite of that, it is suggested that new researches be carried out to assess this relation. Bearing in mind the previous investigations which showed that familiarity with the destination presents a negative relation with a change of image of the place, we chose to verify the effect of familiarity as a variable in the control of the two models implemented. In the first model, while inserting “familiarity with destination” as a control variable, it was possible to observe a rise on the level of peer identification. Also, the temporal/affectionate profile involvement also became statistically significant at the level of 10%. However, contrary to the first model presented, the inclusion of this control variable did not behave in a statistically significant way in the second model, and it did not significantly alter the effect of the tested variables. This result showed signs that, although familiarity has a negative effect over the alteration of destination image, it may not be relevant to the intention of revisiting, as there is an innate predisposition in the majority of travelers to seek new vacation destinations.

Esta tese consiste em um estudo da composição musical como resposta a estímulos e motivações, a partir de reflexões sobre um grupo de peças compostas durante o doutoramento. O intuito é compreender e exemplificar o modo como vivências do compositor motivam suas intenções composicionais e expressivas e como o percurso criativo é responsivo a elas. A reflexão sobre a produção artística e teórica de outros compositores, bem como de pesquisas na área de teoria e da performance musical, contribui com a construção argumentativa do estudo. A tese está organizada em três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo aborda a composição musical como resposta, à luz do conceito de enunciado, segundo o entendimento de Mikhail Bakhtin, para quem a enunciação é delineada pela intenção do sujeito em um contexto específico, como parte de uma cadeia responsiva contínua. O segundo apresenta o conceito de intenção expressiva, o qual é compreendido como as primeiras conjecturas, reflexões e planejamentos do conteúdo sonoro da composição, a partir de escritos de Roger Reynolds. No terceiro capítulo, é focalizado o conceito de imaginário sonoro para abordar vivências e experiências musicais do compositor como motivação de suas intenções composicionais e expressivas. Neste capítulo, a concepção de imaginário sonoro apresentada por Fernando Cerqueira contribui para o entendimento do conceito. As conclusões traçam uma revisão sobre esta tese, evidenciam a realização dos objetivos e indicam possibilidades de desenvolvimentos futuros do estudo da composição musical como resposta. Constata-se que a composição musical como resposta ao imaginário sonoro do compositor é constituinte das diversas facetas que se desdobram do processo criativo do portfólio, colaborando para o entendimento da composição musical em âmbito mais abrangente. / This thesis consists in a study of musical composition as response to stimuli and motivations using a set of pieces composed during the doctorate as the starting point for the reflections. The purpose of this study is to understand and exemplify how the composer’s experiences motivate their compositional and expressive intentions, and how the creative process is responsive. The reflection on the artistic and theoretical production of other composers as well as researches in the music theory and performances field contributes to the argumentative construction of the study. The thesis is organized in three chapters. The first chapter approaches the musical composition as response in the light of the concept of utterance according to the understanding of Mikhail Bakhtin, for whom the utterance is delineated by the subject’s intents in a specific context as part of a continuous responsive chain. The second chapter introduces the concept of expressive intent which is understood as the first adumbration, reflections and planning of the content on the composition according to the writings of Roger Reynolds. The third chapter refers to the composer’s musical and affective experiences that motivate his compositional and expressive intent, by the concept of sound imagery. In this section Fernando Cerqueira’s ideas on sound imagery contributes to understanding the concept. The conclusions give a review of this thesis, demonstrate the accomplishment of the objectives and point to further developments in the study of musical composition as response. This reflection ascertains that the approach of musical composition as a response to the composer’s sound imagery is constitutive of various facets which make up the creative process of the portfolio, contributing to the understanding of musical composition on a broader scope.

Com base no questionamento se as pequenas empresas e seus gestores podiam usar como ferramentas de gestão as principais teorias administrativas com a mesma eficiência que nas grandes empresas nas quais, via de regra, estas teorias foram desenvolvidas, este trabalho buscou analisar especificamente se os conceitos da teoria da intenção estratégica aplicam-se nas pequenas empresas. Esta pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo exploratório baseado na técnica da entrevista em profundidade, a qual foi realizada com pequenos empresários de empresas localizadas em incubadoras universitárias, no período de junho a agosto de 2011. Os resultados deste trabalho indicam que, apesar das pequenas empresas, geralmente, não conseguirem realizar um planejamento ao longo prazo e controlar o seu próprio destino, dois dos preceitos da intenção estratégica, elas são capazes de mostrar evolução na aplicação da intenção estratégica quanto a mudar o seu setor, de ter as competências necessárias para tal e de ser autor do seu próprio destino. Em síntese, conclui-se que, de maneira geral, a intenção estratégica pode ser aplicada nas pequenas empresas e que os limitadores desta aplicação são as próprias dificuldades inerentes às pequenas empresas como, por exemplo, fragilidade perante as frequentes mudanças do mercado, sobrecarga de questões operacionais por parte dos gestores e falta de recursos financeiros e humanos. / This investigation will look at whether the concepts of the strategic intent theory could be applicable specifically to small companies, with regards to whether they and their managers could use administration theories as managerial tools as effectively as they would in large corporations, where, by and large, those theories are usually developed. This is merely an exploratory study and relies on an in-depth interview technique, which was conducted with small business entrepreneurs from corporations located in university incubators, from June to August 2011. The results of this study show that despite the overall inability of small companies to conduct long-term planning and control their own futures, which are two of the precepts of strategic intent, they are able to show improvements in terms of its applicability when it comes to changing their sectors, as well as having the necessary competencies for such a move and being the authors of their own destiny. To sum up, we can assume that strategic intent can generally be applied in small companies and that the limiting factors of such application are the hardships that are inherent to small companies, such as fragility in the face of frequent market changes, excessive operational issues with regards to managers and a lack of financial and human resources.

The impact of computer programs in safety-critical systems has increased in the past decades and computer-based systems can now be found in a wide range of applications. A new approach for developing dependable systems is documenting all design rationale that affects safety using Intent Specifications. A recent approach for developing complex systems efficiently and in an upgradeable manner is Component-Based System Engineering. In this thesis, these approaches are combined in the development and upgrade of a Remote Robot Control Unit by using the tool SpecTRM. The case study showed that Intent Specifications and CBSE could successfully be combined. The tool SpecTRM was also studied during this work. It showed that traceability is of great importance during system upgrades. Since SpecTRM does not support formal verification of safety properties in design models, the SpecTRM-RL models were translated to Esterel code. Further analysis showed that functional verification can be efficient and useful when using the automatic model-checking tool available in Esterel Studio. This work also proposes a practical guideline for system upgrades in component-based systems, presented as the Sigma model. The work also showed some shortcomings. First of all, the tool SpecTRM is at an early development stage and not yet mature for industrial use. Secondly, neither of the two languages SpecTRM-RL and Esterel was expressive enough for some of the numerical computations and data-exchange structures needed for navigation in the system. Finally, the verifier was not able to prove any data properties since valued signals are abstracted into pure signals during verification in Esterel Studio.

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors and pre-transfer navigation experiences of community college students enrolled in Associate of Arts (AA), Associate in Science (AS), or Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degrees with transfer intent to Florida’s public universities. The population included adult students aged 26 and above enrolled in Florida state/community college AA, AS, or AAS programs. One hundred and seventy-five students from two community colleges participated in this study with a response rate of 10%. The valid data set included 101 respondents, AA (n =17), AS (n =76), AAS (n =4), other (n = 4), and missing degree (n = 1). There were more females (n = 75, 74.3%) than males (n = 26, 25.7%) who participated in this study. The students had a mean age of 34.09 years. Most respondents (total = 89.6%) reported having an intent to transfer to a 4-year public or private university. Data were collected using the STEM Student Success Literacy Survey (SSLS), a 63-item questionnaire launched and administered via Qualtrics. The purpose of the instrument was to measure Community College Students Self-Efficacy, Social Capital, and Transfer Knowledge. The SSLS was adapted to a 66-item questionnaire to include new items regarding transfer experiences, navigation experiences, and intent to transfer. Results indicated that adult students enrolled in non-transfer degree programs had intent to transfer to a four-year college. Significant relationships were found for four predictors (research 4-year college, visit transfer center, highest degree, college chemistry) of 240 variables in combination to predict the discrete outcome of intent to transfer (yes vs. no). Implications included /AS/AAS students had intent even though the degree itself does not indicate intent; therefore, community/state colleges should treat this population with intent and advisors, policy makers, and administrators need to ensure that the correct information is readily available to those intending to transfer to Florida’s public universities.

Thesis is separeted into two parts - theoretical and practical. Principal goals of a small publishing company business plan is to offer general overview of the company market position and to specify the market position of it's magazines. For this purpose was used SWOT, SLEPT and Porters five forces analysis and BCG matrix. Plan includes also business intents for firm's future expansion. The idea organising wine trade fairs seams profitable and could be another company's activity.

The purpose of this research was to determine the antecedents to the intention to quit in an occupation characterized by a high degree of voluntary attrition. This study posits that job satisfaction and affective commitment are antecedents to voluntary turnover. The study concerns the application of Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory to determine the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction factors and affective commitment on the intention to quit among drivers in the solid waste management industry. Participants were volunteers taken from an industry leading publicly listed company, a premier privately held organization, and a unionized operation which represent all three principle lines of business. The research sample has 380 drivers randomly selected from the commercial, industrial, and residential driver classifications. Each of the participants responded to questionnaires which included items about demographics, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and the intent to quit. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Graduate Pack 16.0 with Amos. Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation was used to determine the correlation between the job satisfaction factors, affective commitment, and the intention to quit. Independent- samples t-tests were used to test the difference between groups such as union versus non-union, public versus privately held companies, and between lines of business. The outcome of the study supports Herzberg's theory and reveals that affective commitment has greater influence on the intent quit than job satisfaction. This study is the most comprehensive of its kind to address a qualitative organizational behavior issue in the solid waste management industry. In addition, the results reveal opportunities for employers to align human capital strategies with key job satisfaction factors to gain affective commitment and improve operational performance. Comparisons within the three lines of business and between union and non-union operations were included in the analysis with the results revealing no significant differences between operations or positions.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2017-07-03T19:49:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Augusto Palazzi Junior.pdf: 1484789 bytes, checksum: ca07ecd2ab4ad55d68b682538b543193 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-03T19:49:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Augusto Palazzi Junior.pdf: 1484789 bytes, checksum: ca07ecd2ab4ad55d68b682538b543193 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23 / This dissertation aims to identify the factors that impact on the intention to hire or on consumer loyalty of the personal trainer service and to verify if there are differences between the variables surveyed between these two audiences. The constructs chosen through the literature, mainly international scientific articles, were: social skills, customer orientation, customer perceived expertise, personal trainer physical appearance, consumer familiarity and physical results obtained from the student, being analyzed through the conceptual framework of relationship marketing. The type of the research was confirmatory and the quantitative method, composed of a sample of 577 people obtained through an online questionnaire, and among the respondents, 245 have personal trainer and 332 do not have. In order to reach the objective of this dissertation, the closed questionnaire and the partial least square (PLS) analysis were used as data collection instrument to validate the hypotheses. As results, it was possible to perceive that there are differences between the models studied, in the intention-to-purchase model, consumers have the physical appearance of the personal trainer with greater significance when making the decision to acquire this service, followed by their familiarity by moderating the Professional knowledge, that is, the more previous knowledge of physical activity the consumer has, the more he or she will expect from the professional's expertise. In the loyalty model, it can be verified that the social skills of the personal trainer and the physical results conquered by the students through the personalized classes had greater significations, followed by the physical appearance of the professional and the familiarity moderating the expertise of the service provider. It is concluded that the personal trainer as its own manager, should use different methods and techniques to conquer different audiences. One of the main suggestions in the search intention model is that the personal trainer should show a personal physical appearance that demonstrates health care and muscular tone, as it inspires his clients, besides having superior knowledge to the consumer, since the more information the customer has, the more demanding it will be. In the loyalty model, the personal trainer should emphasize social skills, allowing a better relationship with the client, as well as reaching the expectations of the students regarding the physical results when hiring their services, not forgetting their good physical appearance and demonstrating knowledge regarding physical activity, physiology and physical exercises in relation to their students. / Essa dissertação tem como objetivo identificar os fatores que impactam na intenção de contratar ou na lealdade do consumidor do serviço de personal trainer e verificar se existe diferenças entre as variáveis pesquisadas entre esses dois públicos. Os construtos escolhidos por meio da literatura, principalmente de artigos científicos internacionais, foram: as habilidades sociais, a orientação para o cliente, a expertise percebida pelo cliente, a aparência física do personal trainer, familiaridade do consumidor e dos resultados físicos obtidos do aluno, sendo analisado por meio da estrutura conceitual do marketing de relacionamento. O tipo da pesquisa foi confirmatório e o método quantitativo, composto por uma amostra de 577 pessoas obtidos por meio de questionário online, sendo que, entre os respondentes, 245 possuem personal trainer e 332 não possuem. Para atingir o objetivo dessa dissertação, foi utilizado como instrumento para a coleta de dados o questionário fechado e a análise dos mínimos quadrados parciais PLS (partial least square) para validar as hipóteses. Como resultados, foi possível perceber que existe diferenças entre os modelos estudados; no modelo de intenção de contratar, os consumidores têm a aparência física do personal trainer com maior significância na hora de tomar a decisão em adquirir esse serviço, seguido pela sua familiaridade moderando a expertise do profissional, ou seja, quanto mais conhecimento prévio de atividade física o consumidor tiver, mais cobrará da expertise do profissional. No modelo de lealdade, pode-se verificar que as habilidades sociais do personal trainer e os resultados físicos conquistados pelos alunos por meio das aulas personalizadas tiveram maiores significâncias, seguidos pela aparência física do profissional e a familiaridade moderando a expertise do prestador de serviço. Conclui-se que o personal trainer como seu próprio gestor, deve utilizar métodos e técnicas diferentes para conquistar diferentes públicos. Uma das principais sugestões no modelo de intenção de contratar pesquisado, é que o personal trainer deve mostrar uma aparência física pessoal que demonstre cuidados com a saúde e a tonicidade muscular, pois isso inspira seus clientes, além de ter conhecimento superior ao consumidor, pois quanto mais informações o cliente tiver, mais exigente ele será. No modelo de lealdade, o personal trainer deve dar ênfase às habilidades sociais, permitindo um melhor relacionamento com o cliente, além de atingir as expectativas dos alunos em relação aos resultados físicos ao contratar seus serviços, sem esquecer da sua boa aparência física e de demonstrar conhecimento superior em relação a atividade física, fisiologia e exercícios físicos em relação aos seus alunos.

El proyecto de investigación propuesto se enmarca dentro del área de diseño de producto con aplicaciones de modelado sólido CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing). Concretamente, se pretende hacer un estudio de las herramientas de anotación asociativas disponibles en las aplicaciones comerciales de modelado CAD con el fin de analizar su uso, viabilidad, eficiencia y efectos en la modificación y reutilización de modelos digitales 3D, así como en la gestión y comunicación del conocimiento técnico vinculado al diseño. La idea principal de esta investigación doctoral es establecer un método para representar y evaluar el conocimiento implícito de los ingenieros de diseño acerca de un modelo digital, así como la integración dinámica de dicho conocimiento en el propio modelo CAD, a través de anotaciones, con el objetivo de poder almacenar y comunicar eficientemente la mayor cantidad de información útil acerca del modelo, y reducir el tiempo y esfuerzo requeridos para su alteración y/o reutilización. / Dorribo Camba, J. (2014). ANNOTATION MECHANISMS TO MANAGE DESIGN KNOWLEDGE IN COMPLEX PARAMETRIC MODELS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ALTERATION AND REUSABILITY [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/45997 / TESIS