O setor sucroalcooleiro vem ganhando cada vez mais destaque no agronegócio brasileiro. O Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) do setor na safra de 2015 gerou mais de US$113 bilhões ao longo de toda cadeia produtiva (UNICA, 2016). Esse período de ascensão é acompanhado de novos desafios e oportunidades, o que torna o setor um tema fértil para a pesquisa acadêmica, teórica e aplicada. Dada à pluralidade do setor que hoje extravasa seu nicho tradicional, álcool e açúcar, e atua cada vez mais intensamente nos setores energéticos, eletricidade e combustíveis renováveis, faz-se necessário a incorporação da nova dinâmica de produção que esses produtos trazem à realidade administrativa do setor. Assim, além de discutir teoria e metodologia correlatas à modelagem matemática empregada no auxilio à gestão do setor, esse trabalho visa contribuir com a literatura, incorporando e discutindo as novas possibilidades produtivas que a produção de biogás trás ao mix de produção tradicional. As principais ferramentas utilizadas nessa análise são a teoria de portfólios e o arcabouço teórico da otimização robusta. A partir dessas técnicas construiu-se um modelo de otimização onde se busca a minimização do risco para um dado retorno, princípio da teoria de portfólios, avaliando o risco com o CVaR, uma medida de risco mais adequada do que a tradicional variância. Construído esse modelo, analisa-se o papel do biogás, um produto ainda pouco usual nas usinas brasileiras, no portfólio produtivo de uma usina hipotética. Com base nesse modelo implementou-se as técnicas de otimização robusta com o intuito de aferir se os resultados verificados no modelo determinístico se mantém no caso robusto. / The sugarcane sector is gaining a huge prominence in the Brazilian agribusiness. The GDP of the sector in 2015 crop was over then US$ 113 billion along the entire production chain (UNICA, 2016). This auspicious period is accompanied by new challenges and opportunities, which makes the sector a hot field for academic research, theoretical and applied. Given the industry plurality which today goes beyond its traditional niche, alcohol and sugar, the sector is increasingly strongly its share in the energy sector, electricity and renewable fuels. Thus it is necessary to incorporate the new dynamic of production that these products bring to the administrative reality of the sector. Therefore, in addition to discussing theory and methodology related to the mathematical modeling used as a support to sector management, this work aims to contribute to the literature by incorporating and discussing the new production possibilities that biogas production brings to the traditional production mix. The main tools used in this analysis are the portfolio theory and the theoretical and applied framework of robust optimization. From these techniques it is built up an optimization model where one seeks to minimize risk for a given return, the principle of portfolio theory, assessing the risk with CVaR, a better measure of risk than traditional variance. Through this model, the role of biogas, an unusual product in the Brazilian plants, is analyzed considering a hypothetical plant. Based on this model it is implemented robust optimization techniques in order to assess whether the results observed in the deterministic model remains in the case robust.

Com o ambiente corporativo amplamente competitivo, a necessidade de inovação e geração de novos produtos e serviços se tornou ainda maior para as organizações. O desenvolvimento desses novos produtos e serviços dentro das organizações é representado através de projetos que compete recursos com outros empreendimentos e deve fazer parte da estratégia corporativa. Dentro deste contexto, as organizações possuem um conjunto de projetos quem devem ser identificados, selecionados, priorizados e desenvolvidos. O gerenciamento de portfólio de projetos surge como uma alternativa que visa operacionalizar a estratégia de uma organização através de métodos, processos e ferramentas. Neste sentido, percebeu-se, por meio de uma pesquisa do tipo qualitativa com abordagem exploratória, a necessidade de um trabalho que pudesse verificar o desempenho do portfólio de projetos das organizações e proporcionasse um entendimento sobre as práticas de gerenciamento de portfólio utilizadas por duas empresas selecionadas. Como resultado do estudo, pode-se perceber que houve uma tendência de avaliações positivas por parte dos entrevistados em relação ao desempenho do portfólio de suas empresas, talvez até devido a um cenário anterior de pouca organização. As empresas estudadas apresentaram também processos definidos de gerenciamento de portfólio de projetos, bem documentados, adaptados ao negócio e à realidade das empresas. Em ambos os casos tais processos aparecem suportados por um elemento da estrutura organizacional chamado de Escritório de Projetos ou PMO, contando também com o apoio da alta administração das empresas. Concluiu-se também que os processos apresentados podem ser melhorados com a adoção de práticas presentes na literatura e ainda não utilizadas nas empresas. Por fim, as diferenças observadas entre as empresas pesquisadas não pareceram de grande magnitude, nem tanto significativas, o que sugere a realização de outros estudos nessa área. / In a competitive environment, the need for innovation and new products and services development has become even more important for organizations. The development of new products and services within the organization is represented through projects that compete with other businesses and resources should be part of corporate strategy. In this context, organizations have a set of projects that should be identified, selected, prioritized and developed. The project portfolio management is an alternative that aims to operationalize the strategy of an organization through methods, processes and tools. Therefore, through a qualitative study with an exploratory approach, the need for a research that could check the project portfolio performance and an understanding of the portfolio management practices used by two companies selected. As a result of the study, we could observe that there was a trend of positive ratings by the respondents regarding the portfolio performance, perhaps due to a previous scenario with less organization. The companies studied also had defined processes for project portfolio management, well documented, adapted to their business needs and reality. In both cases these processes appear supported by an element of the organizational structure called the Project Management Office or PMO, also supported by their senior management. It was also shown that the processes can be improved by adopting practices from the literature and not used in business. Finally, the differences between the companies researched did not seem of great magnitude, nor significant, which suggests the need of further studies in this area.

A maior evidência da globalização financeira é o crescente fluxo de capitais entre os países. Esse movimento procura capturar as oportunidades de ganhos de capital oferecidas pelos países emergentes aumentando o retorno total ou reduzindo o risco do portfolio. Isso se deve ao baixo grau de correlação entre os países desenvolvidos e alguns países emergentes. Raj (1994), Fry (1994) e Solnik (1991, 2004) encontraram evidências de redução de risco e aumento do retorno via diversificação internacional. Para além da redução do risco, outros benefícios observados para os países receptores foram: o desenvolvimento do mercado de capitais local, a maior liquidez das ações negociadas e o desenvolvimento do mercado financeiro. Este estudo objetiva analisar a contribiuição dos mercados africanos na diversificação do portfolio de investimento internacional. A amostra considera os sete maiores mercados acionários (EUA, Japão, Inglaterra, Hong Kong, Alemanha, Espanha e Suiça), os BRICs (Brasil, China, Rússia e Índia) e os mercados africanos (Namíbia, Botswana, Quénia, Mauritius, Nigéria, Egito, África do Sul e Tunísia). Os outros mercados africanos, não considerados no estudo, devem-se às restrições encontradas nos dados históricos dos mercados de ações. O estudo refere-se ao período do mês de Janeiro de 2000 a Junho de 2007. Os mercados africanos, em geral, tiveram um desempenho superior comparativamente aos mercados desenvolvidos. Usando o modelo Portfolio Selection, encontra-se o portfolio eficiente para o investidor estrangeiro de vários países. O baixo coeficiente de correlação registrado entre os países desenvolvidos e os países africanos reduziu o risco total do portfolio. Botswana, Nigeria, Mauritius e Tunisia foram os países que mais contribuíram na melhoria dos portfolios. A ponderação dos mercados africanos totalizou, aproximadamente, 81% do total do portfolio eficiente. / The greatest evidence of financial globalization is the increasing capital flows among countries. Those investments seek to capture the opportunities provided by emerging economies increasing the total return, or even reducing the risks associated with the portfolios. This is due to the low degrees of correlation among developed markets and some emerging countries. Raj (1994), Fry (1994) and Solnik (1991, 2004) found evidences of risk reduction and of increasing returns of an international diversified portfolio. Other benefits observed for recipient countries were the capital markets development higher levels of liquidity, and more financial development. This aims to evaluate the contributions of African countries to a global diversified portfolio of investments. The sample considered the seven largest equity markets (USA, Japan, UK, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain and Switzerland), the BRICs (Brazil, China, Russia and India) and African markets (Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Egito, South Africa and Tunisia). Other African markets were not included in the analysis due to some restrictions of stock markets data. The study refers to the January 2000 to June 2007 period. African markets in a general way achieved a superior performance compared to developed markets. Using a Portfolio Selection Model we found an optimal portfolio for an international investor. The low correlation coefficient among developed and African countries reduced the risks of the total portfolio. Botswana, Nigeria, Mauritius and Tunisia were the countries that have greater potential for improving the portfolios, the weight of African securities was over 81% of the total portfolio.

O setor sucroalcooleiro vem ganhando cada vez mais destaque no agronegócio brasileiro. O Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) do setor na safra de 2015 gerou mais de US$113 bilhões ao longo de toda cadeia produtiva (UNICA, 2016). Esse período de ascensão é acompanhado de novos desafios e oportunidades, o que torna o setor um tema fértil para a pesquisa acadêmica, teórica e aplicada. Dada à pluralidade do setor que hoje extravasa seu nicho tradicional, álcool e açúcar, e atua cada vez mais intensamente nos setores energéticos, eletricidade e combustíveis renováveis, faz-se necessário a incorporação da nova dinâmica de produção que esses produtos trazem à realidade administrativa do setor. Assim, além de discutir teoria e metodologia correlatas à modelagem matemática empregada no auxilio à gestão do setor, esse trabalho visa contribuir com a literatura, incorporando e discutindo as novas possibilidades produtivas que a produção de biogás trás ao mix de produção tradicional. As principais ferramentas utilizadas nessa análise são a teoria de portfólios e o arcabouço teórico da otimização robusta. A partir dessas técnicas construiu-se um modelo de otimização onde se busca a minimização do risco para um dado retorno, princípio da teoria de portfólios, avaliando o risco com o CVaR, uma medida de risco mais adequada do que a tradicional variância. Construído esse modelo, analisa-se o papel do biogás, um produto ainda pouco usual nas usinas brasileiras, no portfólio produtivo de uma usina hipotética. Com base nesse modelo implementou-se as técnicas de otimização robusta com o intuito de aferir se os resultados verificados no modelo determinístico se mantém no caso robusto. / The sugarcane sector is gaining a huge prominence in the Brazilian agribusiness. The GDP of the sector in 2015 crop was over then US$ 113 billion along the entire production chain (UNICA, 2016). This auspicious period is accompanied by new challenges and opportunities, which makes the sector a hot field for academic research, theoretical and applied. Given the industry plurality which today goes beyond its traditional niche, alcohol and sugar, the sector is increasingly strongly its share in the energy sector, electricity and renewable fuels. Thus it is necessary to incorporate the new dynamic of production that these products bring to the administrative reality of the sector. Therefore, in addition to discussing theory and methodology related to the mathematical modeling used as a support to sector management, this work aims to contribute to the literature by incorporating and discussing the new production possibilities that biogas production brings to the traditional production mix. The main tools used in this analysis are the portfolio theory and the theoretical and applied framework of robust optimization. From these techniques it is built up an optimization model where one seeks to minimize risk for a given return, the principle of portfolio theory, assessing the risk with CVaR, a better measure of risk than traditional variance. Through this model, the role of biogas, an unusual product in the Brazilian plants, is analyzed considering a hypothetical plant. Based on this model it is implemented robust optimization techniques in order to assess whether the results observed in the deterministic model remains in the case robust.

Research into learner autonomy has confirmed the importance of learner competencies such as effective strategy use, goal setting and planning, maintaining motivation, and the ability to reflect and self-evaluate to the development of autonomy. The introduction of key competency frameworks to develop learner autonomy has been a focus of recent curriculum development from primary through to tertiary levels in the New Zealand education system. However, facilitating and managing the development of these learning competencies in a programme of study that has a number of different papers and staff, can be problematic. The learning portfolio is emerging as a possible medium to provide the required framework. This study investigated the effectiveness of an ePortolio in enhancing learner autonomy in the context of a language learning programme. The aim of this study was to gain insight from a student perspective into the usfulness of ePortfolios as a tool to enhance student learning. Investigating learner autonomy and the development of self-reflection resulting from the use of ePortfolios was the main focus of the study. It also examined some of the practicalities of using an ePortfolio to develop the desired learner competencies, and discussed whether an ePortfolio provides an effective framework to record, monitor and provide feedback to students. The results of the study reinforce the findings of previous studies in that there are benefits of ePortfolios as they encourage reflection. ePortfolios also have the potential to support the reflective process by making learning outcomes visible and they promote goal-setting. However, despite these apparent benefits, the findings suggest that there are many challenges, which have the potential to negatively influence its effectiveness. The ePortfolio in this study was used with varying degrees of success. The findings have raised several issues regarding the introduction of an ePortfolio. The time it takes for teachers to give individual feedback and maintain an adequate level of feedback throughout the semester was one major challenge. The extent to which learners need to be trained in the purpose of the ePortfolio and its link to reflection and developing autonomy was another issue that was raised. In addition, getting students to reflect on their learning holistically also proved to be problematic. Overall however, findings as to the effectiveness of the ePortfolio in promoting autonomous learning appear promising, but they have highlighted the need to make changes to the ePortfolio itself. Its integration into the curriculum needs to be reconsidered to maximize its use and gain maximum benefit.

This study of the use of e-portfolios by organizations, including businesses, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and other communities of individuals joined together to accomplish a goal discovers that e-portfolios are robust tools for extensible authentication of group endeavor. The article examines the ways these organizations are currently appropriating the advantages of e-portfolios and some of the directions in which best practice appears to be headed. It discusses three directions related to the use of e-portfolios. First it observes the use of e-portfolio methodology to present an inside look at organizations to the outside world through reports to investment and support communities, for auditing purposes, for presenting evidence-based competencies, for marketing, and for honoring excellence. Second it observes the ways that organizations use e-portfolios to engender good decision-making as they receive information from outside sources such as prospective employees and prospective vendors or partners to inform inside operations. Third it observes the impact of e-portfolios when used internally by organizations and businesses as a framework that allows for new levels of management and internal communication.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

We compare the performance of the perturbation-based (local) portfolio solution method of Devereux and Sutherland (2010a, 2011) with a global solution method. We find that the local method performs very well when the model is designed to capture stylized macroeconomic facts and countries/agents are symmetric, i.e. when the latter have similar size, face similar risks and trade assets with similar risk properties. It performs less satisfactory when the agents engaged in financial trade are asymmetric. The global solution method performs substantially better when the model is parameterized to match the observed equity premium, a key stylized finance fact. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

A review of British Columbia’s legislation and annual reports from the Ministries responsible for K-12 education in BC has found six different purposes of the report card over time. They include: teacher accountability; assisting the child to evaluate growth; encouragement of parents to co-operate with the teacher; improvement of home and school relationship; easy comparison of students to each other and to standards; and transferability of student achievement information. Four teachers interviewed identified the purpose of the report card as communicating to parents what their child is doing in the classroom and they are using e-portfolios to do so. They found that e-portfolios can allow for more personalized reporting for teachers and students and can address many of the legislated purposes of the report card but do not easily address comparison of students to each other and to standards or transferability of student achievement information. / Graduate / 0515 / 0520 / sbeloin@uvic.ca

This thesis examines the potential for pre-service teacher training of video portfolios of elementary students doing school tasks. Study 1 investigates pre-service teachers' use of such records to assess student progress. Ten undergraduate education students each viewed two video portfolios, one for mathematics and one for reading. Each portfolio consisted of four video records. Participants watched the four records in an incorrect order and attempted to put them in their original order. Their orders by-and-large were correct. Most ordered the records according to task characteristics and provided detail interpretations and justifications for their ordering. Since the usefulness of video portfolios in teacher training rests on their ability to highlight characteristics of student learning, Study 2 further analyzes eleven mathematics video records selected from Study 1 to investigate whether the task condition constructed in the adult-student interaction allows sufficient presentations of student achievement. Potential threats in task administrator's instructional behaviors to video quality were discussed.