Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-04-04T12:31:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Gialdi Salvagni_.pdf: 4078552 bytes, checksum: 3046bf3bf4c04b0ca0ff91981f73727e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-04T12:31:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Gialdi Salvagni_.pdf: 4078552 bytes, checksum: 3046bf3bf4c04b0ca0ff91981f73727e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / Este trabalho apresenta o estudo numérico-experimental da dispersão de poluentes e da geometria da chama de uma poça de combustível. Foi realizada A modelagem da combustão em uma poça, com a dispersão da pluma em função do vento incidente, com o objetivo de caracterizar o fenômeno. Foi utilizado um túnel de vento em escala laboratorial para executar a análise experimental de poças de diesel (S-500) e biodiesel (B-100), em um tanque cilíndrico com tamanho reduzido de Ø110 x 57,4 mm. Além disso, foi utilizado o programa FDS para análise e comparação dos dados em escala de mesma grandeza da bancada experimental. A influência da velocidade do vento sobre a geometria da chama – inclinação, altura e comprimento – foi analisada, bem como outras questões pertinentes à estrutura da chama, como temperatura adimensional da chama, da pluma e temperatura periférica. Por último, uma análise da taxa de queima mássica foi feita para complementar os dados experimentais e obter mais informações sobre o comportamento da chama. Os dados experimentais foram aplicados nas correlações semi-empíricas de comprimento e ângulo de chama, a fim de comparar seu comportamento com a previsão de outros autores. Foi observado nos experimentos que, com a mudança da geometria da chama, ocorre a mudança da posição e consequentemente da dispersão da pluma. O ângulo da chama mostrou variação diretamente proporcional à velocidade do escoamento. A variação da altura e comprimento de chama foi inversamente proporcional à velocidade do escoamento. Os comportamentos do ângulo e da altura concordaram com a literatura, mas o comprimento apresentou diferenças. A temperatura adimensional da chama aumentou com o aumento da velocidade, sendo a do biodiesel 49% superior à do diesel. A temperatura adimensional da pluma apresentou um decremento com o aumento da velocidade de escoamento, atingindo, para o diesel, temperaturas cerca de 110% menores em relação ao biodiesel. A mesma tendência ocorreu com a temperatura periférica, que reduziu conforme aumentou a distância de medição da poça, havendo diferença de 20,3% entre os dois combustíveis. A taxa de queima mássica foi verificada e se observou que foi regida por diferentes mecanismos de trocas térmicas e flutuabilidade, o que provocou comportamentos diferentes para o diesel e o biodiesel, sendo as taxas de queima do diesel maiores, em geral. Os dados experimentais obtidos foram comparados com os resultados da análise numérica realizada no FDS. Obteve-se boas aproximações para o ângulo, comprimento, altura e temperaturas da pluma e periférica. As temperaturas da chama mostraram tendência diferente em relação aos dados experimentais. As análises de dispersão de poluentes mostraram uma tendência de redução abrupta das concentrações com o aumento da distância em velocidades menores e uma redução mais suave e constante para as maiores velocidades nos ensaios experimentais, apresentando, no entanto, uma grande diferença em relação aos valores numéricos, embora com tendências semelhantes, para ambos os combustíveis. / This work presents a numerical-experimental study of pollutants dispersion and flame geometry in a pool fire. Combustion modeling in a pool fire with plume dispersion as a function of the incident wind is carried out with the objective of phenomenon characterization. A laboratory-scale wind tunnel is used to perform the experimental analysis of diesel (S-500) and biodiesel (B-100) pool fire in a cylindrical tank with a reduced size of Ø110 x 57.4 mm. In addition, the FDS software was used to analyze and compare the results, using a model in a scale of the same magnitude of the experimental setup. The wind speed influence on the flame geometry – tilt angle, height and length – was analyzed as well as other questions related to the structure of the flame, such as dimensionless flame and plume temperature and outer layer temperature. Finally, an analysis of the mass burning rate was done to complement the experimental data and to obtain more information about the flame behavior. The data obtained were applied in the semi-empirical correlations of flame length and tilt angle to compare their behavior with the prediction of other authors. It Was observed that the change of flame geometry induces a change of plume position and dispersion. The behavior of the flame geometry was observed; the angle changes proportionally to the air flow speed. The variation in flame height and length was inversely proportional to air flow speed. The angle tilt and height agreed with the literature, but the length presented differences. The temperature of the flame increased with increasing of air flow speed being the values for biodiesel 49% higher than for diesel. The plume temperature presented a decrease with the increase of air flow speed, temperatures for diesel were about 110% smaller than for biodiesel. The same trend occurred with the measured outer layer temperature that reduced as the pool fire measurement distance increased, with a 20.3% difference between the fuels. The mass burning rate was governed by different mechanisms of heat feedback and buoyancy, which caused different behaviors for diesel and biodiesel, with diesel mass burning rates being higher in general. The experimental data obtained were compared with the results of the numerical analysis performed in the FDS software, and thus the numerical validation was done. The simulated results for tilt angle length, height and temperature of the plume and the outer layer agree well with experimental ones. The flame temperatures show an inverse trend in relation to experimental data. Pollutant dispersion analyzes showed a trend of abrupt reduction of concentration with increasing distance at lower air flow speed and a smoother and steady reduction at higher speeds, yet presenting a large discrepancy in relation to the numerical values for both fuels.

Who is welcome in the public swimming pool? What makes different spaces and rooms more comfortable and accessible than others? The empirical material of this study is built on four interviews with people who have a non-normative body. Their experiences and emotions concerning the public swimming pool are studied through an intersectional and phenomenological perspective. With these perspectives’ assumptions, emotions and approaches concerning swimming pools in relation to bodynormativity have become noticeable. Specific viewpoints have been centered on ableism, gender and body size. One observation has been made in a public swimming pool with the intention to raise awareness of my own body in the specific context. With that insight I can relate my observation to the statements that were reached through the interviews. Generally, bodynormativity is something that we are all aware of and likely adapted to. Dressing rooms and spaces where naked bodies meet are tending to bring awareness to your own body. The main conclusions of this study are that changing the design of dressing rooms and developing a private space to change and shower in will make the situation safer. Onward highlighting a public dialogue to question stigmas related to non-normative bodies will in the end benefit non-normative bodies to feel more welcome in places like public swimming pools.

Few U.S. nonprofit organizations meet annual operational costs. Facing government funding cuts, U.S. nonprofit leaders have had to seek other revenue streams to remain operable and ensure that the clients they serve continue to receive support. Leaders often seek out large donors but lack strategies for successfully doing so. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies successful nonprofit leaders have used to capture the attention of committed, large donors in Southern California. Government failure theory and independence theory constituted the conceptual framework. The purposeful sampling method consisted of 3 nonprofit agency managers who had operated a nonprofit for at least 5 years, while securing a longstanding partnership of large, committed donors. These managers substantiated having met the criteria in having successfully gained committed large donor(s), and operating in a geographic setting with no less than 50,000 residents. Data included participant interviews and company websites. Transcribed data were analyzed by comparing meanings that formulated clusters into themes, and then triangulated across sources to bolster the trustworthiness of interpretations. From these clusters, 5 distinctive themes were identified: cultivating donors, building personal relationships with donors, promoting the mission, understanding relationship contribution, and detailing directly what the donation will accomplish. Findings impact social change by fortifying nonprofits with committed large donors, to reduce need in society, and create greater financial independence within communities.

Previous research has shown that a range of physical and biological drivers can influence the composition of faunal assemblages occupying localities within streams. There is much debate in the literature about which of these is more important. Descriptive and experimental field studies were conducted in two relatively undisturbed, second order rainforest streams in southeast Queensland, Australia. The principal objectives were to describe spatial and temporal patterns in pool fauna and explore relationships between these patterns and physical attributes of habitat, disturbance and biotic interactions. The macroinvertebrate and vertebrate fauna of 12 small stream pools were sampled approximately monthly over a period of 15 months. Samples were collected from all major within-pool habitat types and concurrent measurements of potentially important environmental parameters were made at landscape scales of stream, pool and habitat patch. Faunal assemblages were consistently different between the two streams and between the various within-pool habitat types, although the latter may partially be explained by differences in sampling protocols applied in the different habitat types. However, spatial and temporal variation in faunal assemblages within habitat types was large at the scales of whole pools and within-pool habitats, and this variation occurred apparently independently of variation in physical habitat attributes. These results indicated that very little of the local scale faunal variation could be explained by abiotic drivers and that some other factors must be responsible for the observed faunal patterns. Previous research had indicated that atyid shrimps can play a significant ecological role in rainforest streams, where they act as 'ecosystem engineers' by removing fine sediment from hard surfaces. This subsequently alters algal dynamics and faunal composition in streams. A pool-scale manipulative experiment was conducted to investigate the role of the atyid Paratya australiensis, which is an abundant and conspicuous component of the fauna. Removal of shrimp from pools had no effect on sediment accrual on hard surfaces and consequently did not affect algal biomass or faunal assemblages. The lack of effect on sediment accumulation was attributed to the low rate of deposition in these streams, which was an order of magnitude lower than in streams where atyids have been demonstrated to play a keystone role. The fish Mogurnda adspersa was found to be the primary predator of pool fauna in the study streams, where it preyed on a wide variety of taxa. Dietary analyses revealed that an ontogenetic shift occurred in both diet and the within-pool habitat where fish fed. Within this general framework, individual fish had strong individual prey preferences. Significant correlations were found between the natural abundance of Mogurnda in pools and faunal assemblage patterns in both gravel habitat and pools in general, indicating that predation had an effect on pool fauna. The nature of this effect varied between habitats. A direct density dependent response was observed in gravel habitat. In contrast, the response in pools varied considerably between individual pools, perhaps reflecting the differing prey preferences of individual fish. Despite these correlations, an experimental manipulation of the density of Mogurnda at a whole-pool scale did not conclusively identify a predation effect. This may have been due to problems with fish moving between treatments, despite attempts to constrain them, and low experimental power due to the inherent high variability of pool fauna. Overall, the results of the study indicated that there was considerable spatial and temporal variation in pool fauna despite similarities in the physical attributes of pools and their close proximity. This variation appeared to occur at random and could not be explained by abiotic or biotic factors. Predation had a small effect, but could not explain the overall patterns, whereas disturbance by spates had very little effect at all. Stochastic processes associated with low level random recruitment were identified as a possible and plausible explanation for observed patterns. These conclusions are discussed in terms of their implications for our understanding of the ecology and management of streams.

<p>Increasing energy needs globally have recently led to an interest in effectively bringing energy services in the trading system. Energy services were part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations, whose main achievement was the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The objective of the GATS is to achieve progressive liberalisation and reduction or elimination of trade barriers of all services sectors, including energy services. The GATS has made commendable progress in liberalising many service sectors, however it has not made meaningful progress with energy services. Furthermore though the SADC region engages in energy services trade through bilateral and regional agreements, a variety of&nbsp / barriers inhibit major successes from being achieved. Effective energy services trade and liberalisation has therefore proved problematic both at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level. This study, seeks to investigate why energy services liberalisation and trade at the multilateral, regional and bilateral level is problematic, with a particular focus on&nbsp / the SADC region.</p>

<p>The co-operative as an economic and social institution has long been recognized for its contribution to economic development as well as its positive effect on local communities. However, over the last decade or so substantial structural changes in the agricultural sector have undermined some of the most prominent North American co-operatives. In some cases, co-ops asked for bankruptcy protection, others ceased operations while some were transformed to for-profit firms. The present study offers three essays that explore the challenges that co-operatives are facing in terms of their relationship with their members in local markets, the decision-making process of their leaders and the co-ops' role in the modern economy.</p> <p>These first two essays are linked by the fact that they both develop models that are about cognitions. Examining cognition offers some new insights to understanding the process behind the decline of agricultural co-ops. In the first essay the model examines consumers' cognitions, while the model in the second essay examines management's cognitions. The essays differ on the agent's ability to change the perceptions that result from those cognitions. Essay One assumes that consumers' perceptions are partially flexible and thus can change over time with some cost; on the other hand, essay Two assumes that beliefs are inflexible due to the high cost of changing them.</p> <p>Essay One examines the relationship between a co-operative and its membership in a local market using an economic psychological approach. More specifically, the essay presents a modified rational-choice model to investigate how cognitive dissonance can influence members' loyalty. The effect of cognitive dissonance is analyzed in a case where a local co-operative operates alongside with an investor-owned firm (IOF) in a market. The model illustrates how cognitive dissonance can give rise to switching costs for those consumers who wish to switch to the IOF. Analytical results demonstrate the effect of these switching costs on equilibrium market shares and discuss how a drop in the dissonance cost because of managerial decisions by the co-op can result in dramatic drops in its market share.</p> <p>Essay Two illustrates how management's mental frame can be incorporated into an economic model and develops a theoretical underpinning for the link between a strong mental frame and the financial difficulties that a firm might experience. The case of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool with its Project Horizon plan is proposed as an example of a situation where the established mental frame gave rise to a belief regarding future member support that had a significant influence on the decision-making process of the co-op's CEO. The analysis includes a game theoretic model of a duopoly between a co-operative and an IOF, where mental framing is explicitly incorporated into the primitives of the model. Analytical results illustrate how the CEO's belief regarding member commitment can influence decision-making and therefore affect the market share and profits of the firm.</p> <p>Essay Three uses non-parametric econometric techniques to examine the stock price effect of a co-op's acquisition by a publicly-traded IOF. The potential for this study emerged as a result of the takeover of Dairyworld, a dairy co-op, by Saputo, a publicly-traded private corporation. The study uses the prediction-error approach to estimate Saputo's returns after the acquisition as a deviation from its expected returns. A non-parametric bootstrap technique simulates Saputo's stock returns and examines its behavior around the acquisition date. The empirical results are consistent with a number of hypotheses, including the pro-competitive role that co-operatives are believed to have in the economy. The essay also includes a comprehensive discussion regarding the greater financial value that co-ops have for IOFs.</p>

En bemanningsanställd har sin dagliga arbetsplats ute hos ett klientföretag, och inte hos sin arbetsgivare. Detta kan göra att kontakten med arbetsgivaren försvagas, vilket kan skapa speciella förutsättningar för organisationsriktad commitment och socialt stöd. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur det upplevs att vara anställd i en vikariepool hos ett bemanningsföretag, med fokus på organisationsriktad commitment och socialt stöd. Frågeställningarna som ligger till grund för undersökningen är hur respondenterna upplever, och vad som påverkar respondenternas upplevelser av organisationsriktad commitment, samt hur respondenterna upplever, och vad som påverkar respondenternas upplevelser av socialt stöd. För att besvara frågeställningarna genomfördes intervjuer med sju anställda i en vikariepool hos ett bemanningsföretag. Resultatet visar att affektiv commitment är en betydande del av förklaringen till varför de för tillfället stannar kvar i bemanningsföretaget. Visst socialt stöd erhålls från bemanningsföretaget, medan annat föredras från arbetsplatserna. Det upplevs vara brist på informativt stöd, i form av information kring vad som gäller på respektive arbetsplats. Vidare visar resultatet att kontakten med samordningsansvarige är avgörande för såväl organisationsriktad commitment som socialt stöd. Upplevelsen av socialt stöd främjar upplevelsen av organisationsriktad commitment. Upplevelsen av socialt stöd påverkas av hur lång erfarenhet de har från arbetet inom kommunens skola och barnomsorg. Det framkommer också att synen på anställningens funktion påverkar upplevelsen av organisationsriktad commitment. / The daily workplace for a temporary agency worker takes place at a client company, and not at the employer. This can weaken the contact with the employer, which can create special conditions for organizational commitment and social support. The purpose of the study is to examine the perception of being employed in a pool of substitutes at a temporary work agency, focusing on organizational commitment and social support. The issues underlying the study are how the respondents perceive, and what influence their perceptions of organizational commitment to the temporary work agency, and how the respondents perceive and what influence their perceptions of social support from the temporary work agency. To answer the questions, interviews were conducted with seven employees in a pool of substitutes at a temporary work agency. The results show that affective commitment is a considerable part of the reason why they currently remain in the agency. Some social support is received from the temporary work agency, while other is preferred from the workplaces. A lack of informational support is perceived, regarding information about the routines in each workplace. Furthermore the results show that the contact with the coordinator is essential for organizational commitment as well as for social support. The perception of social support promotes the perception of organizational commitment. The perception of social support is influenced by the length of experience they have from working in the municipal schools and childcare. It also emerges that the view of the function of the employment influences the perception of organizational commitment.

<p>The co-operative as an economic and social institution has long been recognized for its contribution to economic development as well as its positive effect on local communities. However, over the last decade or so substantial structural changes in the agricultural sector have undermined some of the most prominent North American co-operatives. In some cases, co-ops asked for bankruptcy protection, others ceased operations while some were transformed to for-profit firms. The present study offers three essays that explore the challenges that co-operatives are facing in terms of their relationship with their members in local markets, the decision-making process of their leaders and the co-ops' role in the modern economy.</p> <p>These first two essays are linked by the fact that they both develop models that are about cognitions. Examining cognition offers some new insights to understanding the process behind the decline of agricultural co-ops. In the first essay the model examines consumers' cognitions, while the model in the second essay examines management's cognitions. The essays differ on the agent's ability to change the perceptions that result from those cognitions. Essay One assumes that consumers' perceptions are partially flexible and thus can change over time with some cost; on the other hand, essay Two assumes that beliefs are inflexible due to the high cost of changing them.</p> <p>Essay One examines the relationship between a co-operative and its membership in a local market using an economic psychological approach. More specifically, the essay presents a modified rational-choice model to investigate how cognitive dissonance can influence members' loyalty. The effect of cognitive dissonance is analyzed in a case where a local co-operative operates alongside with an investor-owned firm (IOF) in a market. The model illustrates how cognitive dissonance can give rise to switching costs for those consumers who wish to switch to the IOF. Analytical results demonstrate the effect of these switching costs on equilibrium market shares and discuss how a drop in the dissonance cost because of managerial decisions by the co-op can result in dramatic drops in its market share.</p> <p>Essay Two illustrates how management's mental frame can be incorporated into an economic model and develops a theoretical underpinning for the link between a strong mental frame and the financial difficulties that a firm might experience. The case of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool with its Project Horizon plan is proposed as an example of a situation where the established mental frame gave rise to a belief regarding future member support that had a significant influence on the decision-making process of the co-op's CEO. The analysis includes a game theoretic model of a duopoly between a co-operative and an IOF, where mental framing is explicitly incorporated into the primitives of the model. Analytical results illustrate how the CEO's belief regarding member commitment can influence decision-making and therefore affect the market share and profits of the firm.</p> <p>Essay Three uses non-parametric econometric techniques to examine the stock price effect of a co-op's acquisition by a publicly-traded IOF. The potential for this study emerged as a result of the takeover of Dairyworld, a dairy co-op, by Saputo, a publicly-traded private corporation. The study uses the prediction-error approach to estimate Saputo's returns after the acquisition as a deviation from its expected returns. A non-parametric bootstrap technique simulates Saputo's stock returns and examines its behavior around the acquisition date. The empirical results are consistent with a number of hypotheses, including the pro-competitive role that co-operatives are believed to have in the economy. The essay also includes a comprehensive discussion regarding the greater financial value that co-ops have for IOFs.</p>

<p>Despite 21 years of protection, sideneck river-turtles (<italic>Podocnemis expansa</italic>, <italic>P. unifilis</italic> and <italic>P. vogli</italic>, arrau, terecay and galápago, respectively), an important food resource for riverine communities (<italic>ribereños</italic>) in the Middle Orinoco, have not recovered. To determine the most effective conservation alternative for recovery, we conducted semi-structured interviews of ribereños and determined their attitudes towards turtle conservation; we collected discarded turtle remains in riverine communities to estimate the level of turtle harvest; and constructed a population model to study the effect of reduced survival and future extraction on arrau turtle population growth. We found that ribereños blame continued commercial extraction for the lack of turtle population recovery. Ribereños have a desire to participate actively in conservation and, despite feeling alienated by governmental officials charged with protecting turtles, prefer to be included in conservation efforts. However, ribereños also fear retaliation from turtle poachers. We found widespread turtle harvest along the Middle Orinoco centered on juvenile arrau turtles, and adult female terecay and galápago turtles. In our population model, reducing harvest causes an increase in population growth. A 10% increase in survival causes rapid exponential growth in arrau turtles. The population continues to grow in over 70% of projected scenarios with limited harvest from a recovered stock. Due to the widespread distribution of turtles and their harvest, we recommend increasing ribereño participation in conservation activities, closing outsider (non-ribereño) access to the resource, increasing enforcement against illegal commercial harvest, instating possession limits for subsistence harvest, and promoting localized captive breeding of faster maturing terecay and galápago turtles to satisfy desire for turtle consumption.</p> / Dissertation

In the thesis, we apply the gene expression programming (GEP) to training profitable trading strategies. We propose a model which utilizes several historical periods that are highly related to the current template period, and the best trading strategies of the historical periods generate the trading signals. To keep stability of our model, we proposed the trading decision mechanism based on simple majority vote in our model. The Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) is selected as our investment target and the trading period starts from 2000/9/14 to 2012/1/17, approximately twelve years. In our experiments, the lengths of our training period are 60, 90, 120, 180, and 270 trading days, respectively. We observe that the model with higher voting threshold usually can make profitable trading decisions. The best cumulative return 236.25\% and the best annualized cumulative return 10.63\% occur when the 180-day training models pairs with available threshold 0.21 and voting threshold 0.88, which are higher than the cumulative return 0.96\% and annualized cumulative return 0.08\% of the buy-and-hold strategy.