Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the technique of improving Web sites visibility in search engines. Since the algorithms that search engines are based on become more intelligent each day, there is a constant urge for new knowledge. In collaboration with RankTrail, new research for discovering insights about SEO has been conducted. Hypotheses around alleged ranking factors have been created based on qualitative interviews. Through a quantitative case study these hypotheses have been analyzed. The first part of the analysis consisted of calculating the Spearman’s Rank-Order Correlation. Secondly, these correlations has been visualised using histograms. Additional statistical tests have been performed. Number of images, use of HTTPS and use of a custom meta-description stand out amongst all factors analyzed. All three have a higher mean, but also a higher effect size calculated from Cohen’s d. However, the results of this study show that none of the factors indicate a strong impact on SEO.

Most American universities and colleges require students to provide faculty evaluation at end of each academic term, as a way of measuring faculty teaching performance. Although some analysts think that this kind of evaluation does not necessarily provide a good measurement of teaching effectiveness, there is a growing agreement in the academic world about its reliability. This study attempts to find any strong statistical evidence supporting faculty evaluation by students as a measure of faculty teaching effectiveness. Emphasis will be on analyzing relationships between instructor ratings by students and corresponding students’ grades. Various statistical methods are applied to analyze a sample of real data and derive conclusions. Methods considered include multivariate statistical analysis, principal component analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Spearman's and Kendall’s rank correlation coefficients, linear and logistic regression analysis.

The relationships between and among questions from a survey in three different areas, namely food and food related health, food safety and hygiene, and information gathering concerning food, with the main focus on the first two areas, are investigated. Data from older people have been analyzed. The questions are both about knowledge and behavior in relation to the areas mentioned above. Earlier studies have shown that people in general do not know about or act according to dietary advises about health and hygiene. The results from this study show that there are fairly strong correlations for all groups but men when it comes to knowledge and behavior about fruit and vegetable consumption. The results also show a significant association between fruit and vegetable consumption and gender and that women consume more than men. A factor model estimating the relationships between health, hygiene and information shows that the fitted factor model can be considered having an acceptable fit, with at least two variables, knowledge about the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables to eat per day and trust for grocery stores concerning food and health, being classified as good indicators.

Objective of this Master's thesis is to evaluate different ways of measuring financial performance of enterprise. Economic Value Added is compared with older, traditional indicators of profitability. Emphasis lies on general applicability. In theoretical part, history of entrepreneurial goals is in addition to the actual analysis of tested indicators outlined. EVA, profitability ratios are assessed using a sample of 100 Czech manufacturing companies. In practical part, outputs of thesis apart from actual testing are stated.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2017-10-02T14:13:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3641228 bytes, checksum: 80b56cb4312cbdff6a22caea86c66a5a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-02T14:13:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3641228 bytes, checksum: 80b56cb4312cbdff6a22caea86c66a5a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present master thesis’ goal is to evaluate the correlations between the Organization Culture, Knowledge Management – KM, and Sustainability in organizations. Therefore, the methodology applied in this study was the analysis of correlation using the Spearman’s Correlation Test in six companies of different branches, featuring a multi-case study, being also applied in one of the companies individually for a case study. The research instrument used was a questionnaire composed of 26 questions based on three themes: Edgar Schein’s cultural typology (artifacts, values and basic assumptions), Barclay and Murray’s model of Knowledge Management (mechanistic, cultural, and systematic), and the Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line (social, environmental, and economic). The results show a Correlation Matrix which distributes the relations in six scenarios, individually analyzed, both in the multi-case study, as in the case study. They were: 1. Organization Culture- Organizational Culture; 2. Knowledge Management – Knowledge Management; 3. Sustainability – Sustainability; 4. Organizational Culture – Sustainability; 5. Knowledge Management – Sustainability; 6. Organization Culture – Knowledge Management. On scenario 1 it was verified that the collaborators perception when the culture is on the first two dimensions of the model, artifacts and values. The scenario 2 called the attention to the absence of a management model knowledge-oriented. The scenario 3 stands out because of the correlation between items from the environmental and social dimensions and the difficulty of involvement with the economic dimension. The majority of weak correlations marked scenario 4, with pairs involving items from the culture model and the items of the environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. Scenario 5 also highlighted a large number of weak correlations explained by the absence of a knowledge management model within organizations that works together with sustainable measures. Lastly, the scenario 6 presented inferior correlation compared to the others, once the pairs of weak relations obtained the minimum level of the allowed range, what mean very close to the null correlations that were also highlighted, fact explained by the superficiality of the knowledge of the culture and absence of a KM model. On the other hand, by the case study it was concluded that for Scenario 1 there is a correlation between the items of the organizational culture highlighting the good perception of employees regarding the culture in which they are inserted, but not in an in-depth way. In Scenario 2, there was no correlation between the items of Knowledge Management, highlighting the absence of a knowledge-driven management, because the Environmental Management System manages the organization. In Scenario 3 it was presented correlations on sustainability, highlighting the environmental and social dimensions as strengths. Finally, Scenario 6 also found no relationship between the items, highlighting the absence of a KM model and the perception of culture focused on the visible characteristics (furniture, architecture, and equipment) and the employees’ behavior. In general, the results of the case and multi-case study showed that the correlations between Organizational Culture, Knowledge Management and Sustainability are lower in number and type than expected. Also highlighting the existence of points in each theme that, when working in organizations, may improve the results of these correlations. / A pressente dissertação tem como objetivo avaliar as correlações entre a Cultura Organizacional, a Gestão do Conhecimento - GC e a Sustentabilidade nas organizações. Para tanto a metodologia adotada estudo foi uma análise de correlação utilizando o Teste de Correlação de Spearman em seis empresas de ramos distintos, caracterizando um estudo multicaso, sendo também aplicado em uma das organizações de forma individual para um estudo de caso. O instrumento de pesquisa utilizado foi um questionário composto por 26 questões baseadas em três construtos: a tipologia cultural de Edgar Schein (artefatos, valores e pressupostos básicos), o modelo de Gestão do Conhecimento de Barclay e Murray (mecanicista, cultural e sistemática), e o Triple Botton Line de Elkington (social, ambiental e econômico). Os resultados apresentaram uma Matriz de Correlação que distribuiu as relações em seis cenários analisados individualmente, tanto no estudo multicaso, como no estudo de caso, foram eles: 1. Cultura Organizacional – Cultura Organizacional; 2. Gestão do Conhecimento – Gestão do Conhecimento; 3. Sustentabilidade – Sustentabilidade; 4. Cultura Organizacional – Sustentabilidade; 5. Gestão do Conhecimento – Sustentabilidade; 6. Cultura Organizacional – Gestão do Conhecimento. No Cenário 1 foi verificado que a percepção dos colaboradores quando a cultura se encontra nas duas primeiras dimensões do modelo, os artefatos e valores. O Cenário 2 chamou atenção para a ausência de um modelo de gestão voltado para o conhecimento. No cenário 3 destacou-se pela correlação entre os itens da dimensão ambiental e social e pela dificuldade de envolvimento com a dimensão econômica. O Cenário 4 foi marcado pela maioria de correlações fracas com pares envolvendo itens do modelo de cultura e os itens das dimensões ambiental e social da sustentabilidade. O Cenário 5 também destacou grande número de correlações fracas explicado pela ausência de um modelo de gestão do conhecimento dentro das organizações que trabalhe junto com as medidas sustentáveis. Por fim, o Cenário 6 apresentou correlações inferiores aos demais, uma vez que os pares de relações fracas obtiveram o nível mínimo do intervalo permitido, ou seja, bem próximos às correlações nulas que também foram destaque, fato explicado pela superficialidade do conhecimento da cultura e ausência de um modelo de GC. Já pelo estudo de caso, concluiu-se que para o Cenário 1 existe correlação entre os itens da cultura organizacional destacando a boa percepção dos colaboradores quanto à cultura em estão inseridos, mas não de forma aprofundada. O Cenário 2 não apresentou correlações entre os itens da Gestão do Conhecimento, destacando a ausência de uma gestão voltada para o conhecimento, pois a organização é gerida pelo Sistema de Gestão Ambiental. O Cenário 3 apresentaram correlações quanto à sustentabilidade, destacando as dimensões ambiental e social como pontos fortes. O Cenário 4 destacou a existência de relações entre a cultura e a sustentabilidade, devido ao clima e ao próprio negócio da organização. No Cenário 5 não foi possível afirmar a existência de correlações entre os itens da GC e da sustentabilidade devido ao modelo de gestão utilizado na organização ser focado na sustentabilidade, diferente do voltado para o compartilhamento do conhecimento. Por fim, no Cenário 6 também não foram encontradas relações entre os itens, destacando a ausência de uma modelo de GC e a percepção da cultura focada nas caraterísticas visíveis (mobiliário, arquitetura, equipamentos) e no comportamento dos colaboradores. De forma geral, os resultados do estudo, de caso e multicaso, apontaram que as correlações entre a Cultura Organizacional, Gestão do Conhecimento e a Sustentabilidade, são inferiores em número e em tipo em relação ao esperado. Destacando ainda a existência de pontos em cada construto que, ao ser trabalhado nas organizações, podem vir a melhorar o resultado dessas correlações.

Neste trabalho foi analisada a influência de um evento sobre o mercado de ações brasileiro a partir das redes, e suas árvores geradoras mínimas, obtidas de medidas de dependência baseadas nas correlações de Pearson, de Spearman e de Kendall. O evento considerado foi a notícia da noite de 17 de maio de 2017 em que o dono da empresa brasileira JBS, Joesley Batista, gravou o então Presidente da República Michel Temer autorizando a compra do silêncio de um Deputado Federal. O dia seguinte a notícia, 18 de maio de 2017, foi definido como o dia do evento. Foram coletados dados de alta frequência de 58 ações do Ibovespa no período de 11 a 25 de maio de 2017. As alterações nas redes das ações do mercado foram analisadas comparando-se o período anterior e posterior ao evento em duas escalas de tempo: (1) Redes diárias: cinco pregões antes do evento, o dia do evento e, cinco pregões depois do evento, com cotações a cada 15 minutos; (2) Agrupadas em antes e depois: agrupando os dados dos 5 dias antes e dos 5 dias depois do evento. O estudo das redes diárias indicou mudança de tendência nas suas propriedades no decorrer do período que contém o evento, com cotações a cada 15 minutos. Isto sugeriu que análise do efeito médio contido nos dados agrupados antes de depois do evento poderiam tornar mais evidente as mudanças na estrutura de rede das ações. As redes antes e depois do evento apresentaram mudanças significativas nas suas métricas que ficaram mais evidenciadas nas árvores geradoras mínimas. As redes geradas pelas correlações de Kendall e Spearman apresentaram um número maior de agrupamentos antes e depois do evento e, após o evento, as árvores geradoras mínimas apresentaram uma redução do número de agrupamentos de ações para todos os tipos de correlação. As distribuições de grau ponderado após o evento indicam uma probabilidade maior de vértices com graus distante da média. As métricas das árvores geradoras mínimas por correlação de Spearman sofreram a maior variação, seguidas pelas de Kendall e Pearson, e também, indicaram que as redes após o evento ficaram mais robustas, ou seja, mais rígidas. A maior robustez das redes após o evento indica maior conectividade do mercado, tornando-o, como um todo, mais suscetível ao impacto de novos acontecimentos. / In this work the influence of an event on the Brazilian stock market was analyzed from networks and its minimum spanning trees obtained from measures of dependence based on the Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall\'s correlations. The event considered was the news in the evening of May 17, 2017 in which the owner of the Brazilian company JBS, Joesley Batista, recorded the Brazilian President Michel Temer authorizing the purchase of the silence of a congress member. The day just after the news, May 18, 2017, was defined as the event day. High-frequency data from 58 Ibovespa shares were collected from 11 to 25 May 2017. Changes in the stocks networks were analyzed comparing the period before and after the event in two time scales: (1) Daily networks: five trade sections before the event, the day of the event and, five trade sections after the event, with price every 15 minutes; (2) Grouped before and after do evento: grouping data from 5 days before and 5 days after event. The study of the daily networks indicated a change of trend in their properties during the period that contains the event, with quotations every 15 minutes. The study of daily networks indicated a change of trend in their properties during the period containing the event. This suggested that analysis of the mean effect of grouped data before and after the event could highlight the changes in the network structure. The networks before and after the event showed significant changes in their metrics, which became more evident from the minimum spanning trees. After the event, the minimum spanning trees for grouped data got a smaller number of clusters in the networks for all kind of correlations. The networks generated by Kendall and Spearman correlations presented a larger number of clusters before and after the event. The weighted degree distributions after the event suggest a power law decay tail for all the correlations considered and indicates a higher probability of vertices with weighted degrees far away from the mean weighted degree. The minimum spanning tree metrics generated by Spearman correlation suffered the greatest variation, followed by those of Kendall and Pearson; and their values indicates that after the event the networks became more robust, that is, more rigid. The increase in the networks robustness after the event indicates a higher market connectivity, making it as a whole, more susceptible to the impact of new events.

The research question addressed by this dissertation is: How is the tourist experience formed and what constitutes the authenticity of the tourist experience for two market segments (motivated and not motivated by learning) of tourists visiting (political) cultural heritage sites in South Africa. The study explores the correlation between three types of authenticity, namely objective, constructed and existential on two independent tourist samples, motivated and not motivated by learning. This research was initiated for three reasons. The first reason forms part of the research problem; South African cultural experiences received the lowest ratings from the international tourists despite the fact that culture and heritage play a role in reimaging South Africa from Big 5 destination into ‘It’s possible’ and ‘Leave ordinary behind’. It was suspected that not all types of cultural heritage products justify such a low ratings, especially not the political cultural heritage sites South Africa is famous for. The second reason emerged from the academic literature on authenticity theories and calls from the influential group of postmodernist scholars to declare the objective authenticity obsolete and replace it with the existential authenticity. The argument that; the hyperreal nature of the postmodern experience and its detachment from reality makes the authenticity of the site redundant, seemed inapt for cultural heritage sites exclusively dependent on their historical and authentic values. The third reason was the inability of the postmodern paradigm to explain the new tourism phenomenon driven by the tourists search for selfdevelopment through authentic experiences. The new emerging paradigm, transmodernity seemed to offer better theoretical framework in explaining the omnivorouessness of tourists’ consumption and the authentic nature of tourist experiences. The correlational character of the research question required a descriptive correlational design and quantitative methodology. The selected research instrument for primary data collection is a self–administered questionnaire. The sampling strategy is a non–probability sampling, and the sampling method is a convenience or accidental sample. The data was collected from November 2010 to February 2011 at the Constitutional Hill National Heritage Site in Johannesburg. The final sample (436) consists of 254 foreign and 182 domestic tourists. The questionnaire was designed to identify the variables pertinent to each type of authenticity of tourists experience and of the resultant tourist experience. The data analysis provided very interesting results. Firstly, the results of crosstabulation proved that more than half (56%) of the tourists expressed strong agreement that the Constitution Hill provided them with authentic experience, hence a proof that political heritage sites are not responsible for the overall low experiential ratings of the country’s culture and heritage. Secondly, the results of the Spearman’s correlation coefficient proved that objective authenticity as an independent variable have strong positive correlation with constructed and existential authenticity hence a proof that objective authenticity cannot be declared obsolete and replaced with existential authenticity. Finally, the results of the t–test proved that motivation for learning and place of birth do not play an important role in how tourist evaluate and experience the authenticity of the site pointing to the omnivorous nature of tourist consumption. In line with the transmodern paradigm, motivation for learning plays a critical role in triggering the transformative, authentic experience distinctive of the existential authenticity. The results of the study also showed that 32% of tourists are in fact the purposeful, New Age, transmodern Cultural Creatives. Proposed theoretical model of authenticity of tourists experience presents a theoretical platform for future research studies. / Thesis (M.A. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The research question addressed by this dissertation is: How is the tourist experience formed and what constitutes the authenticity of the tourist experience for two market segments (motivated and not motivated by learning) of tourists visiting (political) cultural heritage sites in South Africa. The study explores the correlation between three types of authenticity, namely objective, constructed and existential on two independent tourist samples, motivated and not motivated by learning. This research was initiated for three reasons. The first reason forms part of the research problem; South African cultural experiences received the lowest ratings from the international tourists despite the fact that culture and heritage play a role in reimaging South Africa from Big 5 destination into ‘It’s possible’ and ‘Leave ordinary behind’. It was suspected that not all types of cultural heritage products justify such a low ratings, especially not the political cultural heritage sites South Africa is famous for. The second reason emerged from the academic literature on authenticity theories and calls from the influential group of postmodernist scholars to declare the objective authenticity obsolete and replace it with the existential authenticity. The argument that; the hyperreal nature of the postmodern experience and its detachment from reality makes the authenticity of the site redundant, seemed inapt for cultural heritage sites exclusively dependent on their historical and authentic values. The third reason was the inability of the postmodern paradigm to explain the new tourism phenomenon driven by the tourists search for selfdevelopment through authentic experiences. The new emerging paradigm, transmodernity seemed to offer better theoretical framework in explaining the omnivorouessness of tourists’ consumption and the authentic nature of tourist experiences. The correlational character of the research question required a descriptive correlational design and quantitative methodology. The selected research instrument for primary data collection is a self–administered questionnaire. The sampling strategy is a non–probability sampling, and the sampling method is a convenience or accidental sample. The data was collected from November 2010 to February 2011 at the Constitutional Hill National Heritage Site in Johannesburg. The final sample (436) consists of 254 foreign and 182 domestic tourists. The questionnaire was designed to identify the variables pertinent to each type of authenticity of tourists experience and of the resultant tourist experience. The data analysis provided very interesting results. Firstly, the results of crosstabulation proved that more than half (56%) of the tourists expressed strong agreement that the Constitution Hill provided them with authentic experience, hence a proof that political heritage sites are not responsible for the overall low experiential ratings of the country’s culture and heritage. Secondly, the results of the Spearman’s correlation coefficient proved that objective authenticity as an independent variable have strong positive correlation with constructed and existential authenticity hence a proof that objective authenticity cannot be declared obsolete and replaced with existential authenticity. Finally, the results of the t–test proved that motivation for learning and place of birth do not play an important role in how tourist evaluate and experience the authenticity of the site pointing to the omnivorous nature of tourist consumption. In line with the transmodern paradigm, motivation for learning plays a critical role in triggering the transformative, authentic experience distinctive of the existential authenticity. The results of the study also showed that 32% of tourists are in fact the purposeful, New Age, transmodern Cultural Creatives. Proposed theoretical model of authenticity of tourists experience presents a theoretical platform for future research studies. / Thesis (M.A. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

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Neste trabalho foi analisada a influência de um evento sobre o mercado de ações brasileiro a partir das redes, e suas árvores geradoras mínimas, obtidas de medidas de dependência baseadas nas correlações de Pearson, de Spearman e de Kendall. O evento considerado foi a notícia da noite de 17 de maio de 2017 em que o dono da empresa brasileira JBS, Joesley Batista, gravou o então Presidente da República Michel Temer autorizando a compra do silêncio de um Deputado Federal. O dia seguinte a notícia, 18 de maio de 2017, foi definido como o dia do evento. Foram coletados dados de alta frequência de 58 ações do Ibovespa no período de 11 a 25 de maio de 2017. As alterações nas redes das ações do mercado foram analisadas comparando-se o período anterior e posterior ao evento em duas escalas de tempo: (1) Redes diárias: cinco pregões antes do evento, o dia do evento e, cinco pregões depois do evento, com cotações a cada 15 minutos; (2) Agrupadas em antes e depois: agrupando os dados dos 5 dias antes e dos 5 dias depois do evento. O estudo das redes diárias indicou mudança de tendência nas suas propriedades no decorrer do período que contém o evento, com cotações a cada 15 minutos. Isto sugeriu que análise do efeito médio contido nos dados agrupados antes de depois do evento poderiam tornar mais evidente as mudanças na estrutura de rede das ações. As redes antes e depois do evento apresentaram mudanças significativas nas suas métricas que ficaram mais evidenciadas nas árvores geradoras mínimas. As redes geradas pelas correlações de Kendall e Spearman apresentaram um número maior de agrupamentos antes e depois do evento e, após o evento, as árvores geradoras mínimas apresentaram uma redução do número de agrupamentos de ações para todos os tipos de correlação. As distribuições de grau ponderado após o evento indicam uma probabilidade maior de vértices com graus distante da média. As métricas das árvores geradoras mínimas por correlação de Spearman sofreram a maior variação, seguidas pelas de Kendall e Pearson, e também, indicaram que as redes após o evento ficaram mais robustas, ou seja, mais rígidas. A maior robustez das redes após o evento indica maior conectividade do mercado, tornando-o, como um todo, mais suscetível ao impacto de novos acontecimentos. / In this work the influence of an event on the Brazilian stock market was analyzed from networks and its minimum spanning trees obtained from measures of dependence based on the Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall\'s correlations. The event considered was the news in the evening of May 17, 2017 in which the owner of the Brazilian company JBS, Joesley Batista, recorded the Brazilian President Michel Temer authorizing the purchase of the silence of a congress member. The day just after the news, May 18, 2017, was defined as the event day. High-frequency data from 58 Ibovespa shares were collected from 11 to 25 May 2017. Changes in the stocks networks were analyzed comparing the period before and after the event in two time scales: (1) Daily networks: five trade sections before the event, the day of the event and, five trade sections after the event, with price every 15 minutes; (2) Grouped before and after do evento: grouping data from 5 days before and 5 days after event. The study of the daily networks indicated a change of trend in their properties during the period that contains the event, with quotations every 15 minutes. The study of daily networks indicated a change of trend in their properties during the period containing the event. This suggested that analysis of the mean effect of grouped data before and after the event could highlight the changes in the network structure. The networks before and after the event showed significant changes in their metrics, which became more evident from the minimum spanning trees. After the event, the minimum spanning trees for grouped data got a smaller number of clusters in the networks for all kind of correlations. The networks generated by Kendall and Spearman correlations presented a larger number of clusters before and after the event. The weighted degree distributions after the event suggest a power law decay tail for all the correlations considered and indicates a higher probability of vertices with weighted degrees far away from the mean weighted degree. The minimum spanning tree metrics generated by Spearman correlation suffered the greatest variation, followed by those of Kendall and Pearson; and their values indicates that after the event the networks became more robust, that is, more rigid. The increase in the networks robustness after the event indicates a higher market connectivity, making it as a whole, more susceptible to the impact of new events.