This research had an objective of exploring the role of MSEs in LED through analysis of wood-work MSE value chain. The basic research questions underscore what the domestic wood-work value chain looks like; what major weaknesses and challenges confront the operation of MSEs; what major areas of upgrading and inter-firm relations are evident in the sector; and what MSE value chains contribute to LED. The research exercise was based on review of related literature and a field survey, involving MSE operators drawn from the study area (Addis Ababa). Mixed method of analysis (quantitative and qualitative) was employed to deal with the data collected through questionnaires and interviews. Porter’s model of VC (1985) and UNIDO’s description of wood-work VC (2005) were used to provide conceptual framework. The wood-work sub-sector in Ethiopia has a domestic value chain since main inputs are from local sources, designs are by local producers, and products are for domestic markets. Domestic actors govern the allocation of resources and the distribution of benefits. Public enterprises control plantations hence primary inputs. Wholesalers in turn control inputs, which finally reach MSEs through retailers. Design, production and marketing decisions are made by MSE operators. Middlemen are minor as most of the products reach consumers directly. The value-chain’s downstream is thus described by a short distribution-channel. Horizontal, non-market, linkages characterize inter-firm relations; whereas, arm’s length market linkages dominate the supplier-MSE-buyer relations. In the absence of “lead firms”, wood-work MSE value chains fail to qualify for the mainstream “buyer-driven” model. Without buyer-dominated quasi-hierarchical relationship, MSEs exercise “incremental upgrading” through learning-by-doing. Measures taken to upgrade the production process are considerably inclined to the physical (hardware) aspects of the firm. The MSE value-chain is restrained by internal and external problems. The current state of design marks underdeveloped links in the chain and delays entry into competitive markets. Despite the drawbacks, MSEs enable localities mobilize fragmented resources and create employment. MSEs contribute to LED through the value chain, right from input-sourcing to production and marketing. Inter-firm relations and upgrading efforts uphold the contributions. / Development Studies / Ph. D. (Development Studies)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:40:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valdir Donizete Segato.pdf: 1566486 bytes, checksum: 0466b46a2ebe3438da9eeeeefc33df35 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-18 / This study aims to reflect on the main difficulties encountered in the adoption of International Accounting Standards by Micro and Small Entities (MSEs) in Brazil, whose annual gross income is up to R$ 3,600,000.00, based on Technical Interpretation General, established in Resolution n. 1418/12 (ITG 1000), the Federal Accounting Council (CFC). Methodologically, the research is categorized as the objectives in exploratory and descriptive and on the procedures in literature and documents. For the literature review was conducted bibliographic research and in electronic media, content analysis of documents relating to accounting standards, raising opinions through questionnaires and interviews, and a description of the data, based on the elaboration of a materiality matrix, which pondered priorities established by key stakeholders, who are the users of accounting information in relation to the issues involved. The research is justified because of the economic and social importance of this segment which contributes to boost supply chains of large corporations and represents - the Brazilian Service of Support for research Micro and Small Entities (SEBRAE) - 99% of the total of 6.4 millions of existing businesses in Brazil, accounting for 52% (16.1 million) of formal jobs in the private sector. The results showed that the main difficulties for the adoption of this International Accounting Standards by MSEs are not related to the conceptual part of these standards, but the difficulties of structural and operational, as prices services charged (fees) incompatible with the responsibility and technical risk of the work, the absence of management and internal control system, the standard practice of tax evasion, among others, added to some of fact interest that the entrepreneur owner of MSEs demonstrates in relation to accounting as a management tool / Este estudo tem por objetivo refletir sobre as principais dificuldades encontradas na adoção do padrão contábil internacional pelas Microempresas e Empresas de Pequeno Porte (MPEs) no Brasil, cuja receita bruta anual é de até R$ 3.600.000,00, com base na Interpretação Técnica Geral, instituída na Resolução nº. 1.418/12 (ITG1000), do Conselho Federal de Contabilidade (CFC). Metodologicamente, a pesquisa se classifica quanto aos objetivos em exploratória e descritiva e quanto aos procedimentos em bibliográfica e documental. Foram realizados levantamentos bibliográficos e em meio eletrônico, análise de conteúdo dos documentos referentes às normas contábeis, levantamento de opiniões por meio de questionários e entrevistas, bem como a descrição dos dados, com base na elaboração de uma matriz de materialidade, que ponderou as prioridades estabelecidas pelos principais stakeholders, que são os usuários das informações contábeis, em relação aos temas envolvidos. A pesquisa se justifica em razão da importância econômica e social deste segmento que contribui para dinamizar as cadeias produtivas das grandes corporações e representa  pela pesquisa do Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (SEBRAE)  99% do total de 6,4 milhões de empresas existentes no Brasil, respondendo por 52% (16,1 milhões) dos empregos com carteira assinada no setor privado. Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que as principais dificuldades, para a adoção deste padrão contábil internacional pelas MPEs, não estão relacionadas com a parte conceitual destas normas, e sim às dificuldades de ordem estrutural e operacional, como os preços dos serviços cobrados (honorários) incompatíveis com a responsabilidade e risco técnico do trabalho, a inexistência de sistema de gestão e controle interno, a prática recorrente de sonegação de impostos, entre outros, somado ao fato do pouco interesse que o empresário, proprietário das MPEs demonstra em relação à Contabilidade como instrumento de gestão

This research project addresses the following: how topical talk operates in the organisation and management of MSE interactions; and how topical talk operates in the co-ordination of specific service requests and service provisions. It draws on a corpus of audio-recorded and transcribed interactions between general practitioners and persons seeking general medical services in suburban clinics in Brisbane, Australia. The corpus comprised a total of 67 medical service events (henceforth MSEs), audio-taped with the full informed consent of the participants. Many contemporary medical sociological accounts of the operation of topical talk in MSEs, typified by the work of Mishler (1981, 1984) and Waitzkin (1991), remain anchored to the 'professional dominance' thesis (Freidson 1970a; 1970b), arguing for the fundamental conflict between two perspectives - lay and professional. Topical talk has been formulated as one expression of this conflict in 'doctor-centred' communicative 'styles' (Byrne and Long 1976; Silverman 1987). Within such accounts, familiar interactional patterns in MSEs, including the content and structure of topics, have been theorised as instruments of power and control whereby the dominance of specialised medical knowledge and expertise are established and maintained. Mishler's (1984) characterisation of the conflict between a biomedically oriented 'voice of medicine' used by professional physicians (henceforth GPs) and a 'voice of the lifeworld' used by persons seeking medical services (henceforth Ps) is an expression of the 'professional dominance' thesis. The voices are characterised as attesting to a fundamental, theoretically problematic, asymmetry of power relations between GPs and Ps, thereby reinforcing the ideological status of professionals in general and the medical profession in particular. Further, recommendations regarding correctives to 'professional dominance' centre on advice GPs to attend to the primacy of Ps' talk on their experiences of illnesses rather than apparently 'ignoring' or transforming these topics into biomedical accounts of disease. This research project critiques this formulation of topical talk and the traditional theoretical and empirical bases on which it has drawn. This critique arises from the application of ethnomethodological approaches to the study of MSEs. Such approaches, as outlined in Chapters 2 and 3, are characterised by a number of conceptual and analytic premises: First, particular social structural features of social activities and the institutional contexts within which activities occur should not be assumed to be the primary criteria for judging the import and adequacy of situated action. Second, the parties to situated social events mutually constitute those events in the real world. Third, issues of agency are collaborative situated accomplishments such that the management of everyday social activities is accomplished by the people involved who show one another the rationalities of their actions as they assemble the familiar scenic features of those same institutional events (Garfinkel 1967; Sacks 1992a, 1992b). These assumptions have been applied in ethnomethodological analyses of social action, including the analysis of professional service encounters that have critiqued the 'professional dominance' thesis (Eglin and Wideman 1986; Sharrock 1979). The novelty of this study is the analysis of the operation of topic organisation as a phenomenon of order. This study also draws on recommendations within Ethnomethodology (Hester & Eglin 1997b; Watson 1997) that sequential and categorial organisations are mutually informative in the analysis of the rationality of situated social action. One of the particular contributions of this thesis is that it not only jointly applies both conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis but also extends this recommendation to the inclusion of topic analysis as was originally provided for by Sacks (1992a , 1992b) and Garfinkel and Sacks (1970). Within this study a model of analysis has been constructed that has enabled the analytical consideration of four dimensions of social organisation: local sequential, extended sequential, topical and categorial organisations. The theoretical and empirical concepts of ethnomethodogical analysis have thus been developed and extended within this project. The central findings of this study are that in institutional service events, the 'service topic' is both significant and consequential, and that persons constitute themselves as bona fide incumbents of the categories GP or P by attending to their actions as topically organised. The local adequacy of any particular interactional move (such as questioning-answering, greetings, the design of a topic proposal, etc) is shown to be referenced to the service topic. This study found no evidence of potential or actual "struggles" between the 'voice of the life-world and the voice of medicine'. Rather, this study finds routine recognition on the part of both Ps and GPs of the centrality of the service topic and, thereby, the service task, and no evidence of orientation to distinctive biographical contributions staged in competition with biomedically relevant service topics. It is found that Ps' biographical references were made in the context of an assembled service topic such that particular service tasks, however conventional, were constituted as both relevant and reasonable as medical goods and service for the specific service recipient and provider. At the most general level, it is concluded that the service topic operates as a phenomenon of order in MSEs where order, as defined by Garfinkel and Weider (1992: 202), refers to all of the rationalities evident in the generic features of institutional events and settings, that is, the situated logic and intelligibility as well as the procedures whereby they are constituted as recognisable social events. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for the theorisation, policy-making, medical education, and practices of GPs and Ps within MSEs. Overall, the significance of this work for researchers into medical interactions is that the relevance of the service topic and its pervasive organisational consequences need to be considered analytically. A major outcome of this thesis is the establishment of a new order of interest within the study of institutional interactions. The project demonstrates the pervasive consequences of service topics and thus provides a step forward in the study of institutional service interactions and ways of theorising their rationality, a step that extends beyond social structural pre-theorisations of power and domination and also beyond interactional accounts of the primary relevance of turn taking structures.

No description available.

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2015-09-28T20:12:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RodrigoSiqueiraMartins_TESE.pdf: 3898946 bytes, checksum: 0606c73d62c01f99eaf21d5af3faf852 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Elisangela Moura (lilaalves@gmail.com) on 2015-10-01T13:50:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 RodrigoSiqueiraMartins_TESE.pdf: 3898946 bytes, checksum: 0606c73d62c01f99eaf21d5af3faf852 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-01T13:50:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RodrigoSiqueiraMartins_TESE.pdf: 3898946 bytes, checksum: 0606c73d62c01f99eaf21d5af3faf852 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-27 / A detec??o e o diagn?stico de falhas, ou seja, descobrir como, onde e porque as falhas acontecem, ? uma importante ?rea de estudo desde que o homem passou a ser substitu?do pelas m?quinas. No entanto, nenhuma t?cnica estudada at? hoje consegue resolver em definitivo o problema. As diferen?as em sistemas din?micos, sejam eles lineares, n?o lineares, variantes ou invariantes no tempo, com redund?ncia f?sica ou mesmo anal?tica dificultam as pesquisas no sentido de obter uma solu??o ?nica. Neste trabalho, ser? apresentada uma t?cnica de detec??o e diagn?sticos de falhas (FDD) em sistemas din?micos utilizando observadores de estado em conjunto com outras ferramentas de maneira a criar um FDD h?brido. Um observador de estado modificado ser? utilizado para a cria??o de um res?duo que permita a detec??o e tamb?m o diagn?sticos de falhas. Um banco de assinaturas de falhas ser? criado a partir de recortes utilizando ferramentas estat?sticas e por fim uma aproxima??o usando erro m?dio quadr?tico (MSE) servir? de infer?ncia e auxiliar? no estudo do comportamento das falhas e no diagn?stico das mesmas, ainda que na presen?a de ru?dos. Essa metodologia ser? ent?o aplicada a uma planta did?tica de tanques acopladas e outra com instrumenta??o industrial com fim de validar o sistema. / The detection and diagnosis of faults, ie., find out how , where and why failures occur is an important area of study since man came to be replaced by machines. However, no technique studied to date can solve definitively the problem. Differences in dynamic systems, whether linear, nonlinear, variant or invariant in time, with physical or analytical redundancy, hamper research in order to obtain a unique solution . In this paper, a technique for fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) will be presented in dynamic systems using state observers in conjunction with other tools in order to create a hybrid FDD. A modified state observer is used to create a residue that allows also the detection and diagnosis of faults. A bank of faults signatures will be created using statistical tools and finally an approach using mean squared error ( MSE ) will assist in the study of the behavior of fault diagnosis even in the presence of noise . This methodology is then applied to an educational plant with coupled tanks and other with industrial instrumentation to validate the system.

This master's thesis deals with methods of increasing the image resolution. It contens as a description of theoretical principles and description of calculations which are wellknown nowdays and are usually used for increasing image resolution both description of new methods which are used in this area of image procesing. It also contens a method which I suggested myself. There is also a description of methods for an evaluation of image similarity and a comparation of results from methods which are described in this thesis. This thesis includes implementations of selected methods in programming language MATLAB. It was created an application, which realizes some methods of increasing image and evaluate their results relation to the original image using PSNR and SSIM index.

La capacidad y las buenas prácticas de producción son base para el desarrollo de las empresas y más con la competitividad actual. Por ello, el caso de estudio presentado analiza las operaciones de una MYPE peruana del sector plástico, que habría dispuesto previamente mudarse a una nueva planta. En base a un diagnóstico se identificó un déficit en su capacidad de producción con costos representativos equivalentes al 9% de su facturación anual, derivados de la falta de máquinas e ineficiencias, las cuales aun siendo solucionadas no permitirían satisfacer la demanda, por lo que se confirmó que la decisión de la empresa era correcta. De tal forma, se planteó un proyecto que permitiría el diseño de las nuevas instalaciones de la empresa en un local de mayores dimensiones, con el objetivo de optimizar su capacidad de producción y evitar que las malas prácticas detectadas en la actualidad se repitan, validando su viabilidad mediante un prototipo virtual. Asimismo, en base a los cálculos se lograría aumentar la capacidad instalada en 53.5%, superando a la demanda proyectada dentro de tres años en un 24.90 %, lo que permitiría un mayor crecimiento organizacional en el futuro. / The capacity and good production practices are the basis for the development of companies and more with the current competitiveness. Therefore, the case study presented analyzes the operations of a Peruvian MSE in the plastics sector, which would have previously arranged to move to a new plant. Based on a diagnosis, a deficit in its production capacity was identified with representative costs equivalent to 9% of its annual turnover, derived from the lack of machines and inefficiencies, which, even being solved, would not allow to satisfy the demand, therefore confirmed that the company's decision was correct. In this way, a project was proposed that would allow the design of the company's new facilities in a larger premises, with the aim of optimizing its production capacity and preventing the bad practices detected at present from being repeated, validating their viability through a virtual prototype. Furthermore, based on the calculations, it would be possible to increase the installed capacity by 53.5%, surpassing the projected demand in three years by 24.90%, which would allow greater organizational growth in the future. / Trabajo de investigación

No description available.

Lightweight cellular concrete (LCC) is mainly a mixture of water, cement, and foam bubbles. LCC generally has a cast density between 20-60 pcf and an air content between 49-84%. LCC is often used as a fill material because it has a low unit weight which reduces settlement. LCC is increasingly being considered as a backfill behind Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls and embankments. Although engineers are using LCC in MSE walls or free face walls (MSE wall without the concrete panels or reinforcements), there is presently a lack of information regarding the performance and behavior of LCC to guide them. This research attempts to answer questions on the design of MSE walls backfilled with LCC and free face LCC walls by providing a well-documented case history and evaluating if LCC can be modeled as a c-ϕ material. A steel frame test box (10 ft wide x 12 ft long x 10 ft high) with a MSE wall on one side was constructed for the research. The box was filled with four lifts of LCC with steel ribbed-strip reinforcements extending into the LCC behind the MSE wall panels at the center of each lift. After the LCC was cured, two static load tests were performed by applying a surcharge load to the surface of the LCC. In one test, surcharge pressure was applied adjacent to the MSE wall to produce failure of the wall system. In a second test, the surcharge pressure was placed adjacent to a free face of the LCC to produce failure. String potentiometers (string pots), load cells, pressure plates, and strain gages were used to measure the behavior of the MSE wall and free face wall during testing. These two tests provided a comparison between LCC behavior with a MSE wall relative to a LCC free face. Failure of the free face wall with unreinforced LCC backfill in this test can be predicted using Rankine’s lateral force equation using a c-ϕ model. Failure angle at the base of the free face wall was between 51-63° which corresponds with an average friction angle (ϕ) of 24° and cohesion (c) of 1575 psf with an upper bound ϕ = 34° and a c = 1285 psf. The presence of reinforcements in the LCC backfill behind the MSE wall increased the capacity of the wall to hold a surcharge load. The presence of reinforcements in the LCC behind MSE walls also led to a much more ductile surcharge pressure vs. lateral deflection curve for the MSE wall compared to the free face wall.

L’industrie des produits de l’érable est particulièrement importante en Amérique du Nord. Elle est touchée par un phénomène naturel qui se produit en fin de saison de récolte. Il s’agit de l’altération du goût du sirop ; un goût fort désagréable se développe et se nomme goût de bourgeon vu qu’il coïncide au bourgeonnement des feuilles d’érable. Des coûts et du temps sont impliqués à sa récolte et sa production. Cependant, un sirop d’érable avec un goût de bourgeon est vendu à moindre prix. Il constitue donc une perte potentielle d'argent pour les producteurs. Au fil du temps, ils ont appris à se fier à des signes distincts de la nature pour déterminer le début du bourgeonnement. Néanmoins, il est important de le détecter hâtivement pour les producteurs et de mieux comprendre les changements moléculaires associés au défaut de saveur de type bourgeon. Plusieurs travaux sur les produits de l’érable ont été effectués durant le dernier siècle, mais ce n’est que récemment que des projets de recherche sont centrés sur le goût de bourgeon. La détection de celui-ci est certes importante, mais il y est aussi question de mieux connaître la variation de la composition du sirop ou de la sève d’érable, afin de mieux comprendre le phénomène. Tel que décrit dans l’introduction de ce mémoire, on connaît maintenant mieux la composition du sirop d’érable, même que quelques solutions ont été proposées à notre problème, mais beaucoup de questions restent sans réponse que ce mémoire tentera de résoudre. C'est dans ce contexte que cette étude se pose. En visant à identifier les molécules responsables du défaut de goût de type bourgeon que l’on peut retrouver dans le sirop d’érable, nous espérons aider à mieux cibler le problème et à mieux comprendre le métabolisme et, éventuellement, comprendre comment ce goût se développe. Dans un second temps, la découverte de molécules pas encore rapportées, au meilleur de notre connaissance, comme étant présentes dans le sirop d’érable est aussi visée, sans égard à la classification du sirop. Les travaux de ce mémoire contribueront, ultimement, à trouver une façon d’empêcher la formation de ce goût et surtout un moyen de l’éliminer. Pour ce, une première partie correspondant à l’analyse des composés volatils a été effectuée par SPME et GC-MS sur 78 échantillons de sirop d’érable. L’analyse statistique des résultats par PCA cible 42 composés et associe chacun d’entre eux au sirop d’érable avec le défaut de saveur ou alors au sirop sans défaut de saveur. Parmi elles, seules 36 ont pu être identifiées par leurs spectres de masse. La seconde partie correspond à l’analyse des composés non volatils par UPLC-QTOF et UPLCMS/MS. La méthode a été optimisée pour cibler les molécules relativement apolaires par rapport aux sucres et aux acides aminés présents dans le sirop d’érable. Au total, 20 échantillons de sirop ont été analysés, dont 10 à défaut de saveurs de type bourgeon et 10 sans défaut. Pour cette partie, l’analyse de composantes principales a encore une fois été utilisée pour classer les types de sirop à l’étude selon les composés détectés. Ainsi, le mémoire avance les connaissances moléculaires liées à l’émergence du défaut de bourgeon dans le sirop d’érable. / The maple products industry is particularly important in North America. It is affected by a natural phenomenon that occurs at the end of the harvest season. It’s the alteration of the taste of the syrup; a very unpleasant taste develops and is called buddy flavour since it coincides with the budding of maple leaves. Costs and time are involved in its harvest and production. When maple syrup is associated with the buddy taste, its commercial value is lower. Therefore, it contributes to a loss of money for producers. Over time, they have learned to rely on distinct signs from nature to determine the onset of budding. However, methods are needed to detect it and research is needed to better understand the molecular changes in maple syrups. Several research projects on maple products have been carried out during the last century, but it is only recently that research projects have focused on the buddy flavour. They focus on determining the variation in the composition of maple syrup or sap, but also on better understanding of the phenomenon. We now know more than ever about the composition of maple syrup, on top of that some solutions have been proposed to our problem, but many questions remain unanswered and it is obvious that there is still so much to discover. It is in this context that this study arises. By aiming to identify the molecules responsible for the buddy flavour defects that can be found in maple syrup, we hope to help on targeting the problem and better understanding the metabolism of maple trees and, eventually, how the buddy taste develops. Secondly, it is aimed at discovering molecules not yet reported, to the best of our knowledge, as being present in maple syrup regardless of the classification of the syrup. This will contribute, ultimately, in finding a way to prevent the formation of this taste and a way to eliminate it. Thus, the first part of this master’s thesis corresponds to the analysis of volatile compounds by SPME and GC-MS on 78 maple syrup samples. Statistical analysis of the results targets 42 compounds and associates them with either maple syrup with flavour defects or with maple syrup with regular flavour maple syrup. Among these, 36 molecules could be identified by mass spectrometry. To extract correlations from our data, the principal component analysis (PCA) ensued. The second part corresponds to the analysis of non-volatile compounds by UPLC QTOF and UPLC-MS/MS. The method has been optimized to target molecules that are relatively apolar compared to sugars and most of the amino acids present in maple syrup. A total of 20 syrup samples were analyzed, including 10 with bud-like flavour defects and 10 with no defects. For both parts, PCA was once again used to determine which types of syrup under study are the compounds associated with. Taken together, the results presented in this master’s thesis advances knowledge on the molecular origins of the buddy flavour defect in maple syrups.