A Prelude to Joyce’s Chamber Music

It seems appropriate not to overlook the documentary value of Chamber Music in so far as it might be profitably approached as a kind of aesthetic laboratory where Joyce experimented with various styles, forms, and modes of expression. In particular, the book documents an early Joycean attempt to explore the interaction between sound and meaning, with a view to the ideal blending of two com plementary discourses, i.e. poetry and music. Such a revaluation would redress the balance in establishing the literary interest of Chamber Music, which might then emerge as a significant step both in the progress of Joyce’s art and in the development of the poetry and poetics of the pre-modernist generation.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Entrepreneurial attitude, geographical isolation and university students - some evidence from the Atlantic

Some regions like Island of Madeira show high levels of firm birth rate. But the entrepreneurial experience is quite different from the European reality given the high level of micro-business owing o subsistence reasons, as a response to the reduced opportunity costs, the lack of profitable employment options and the high levels of unemployment. As a consequence the high level of entrepreneurship is only partially related to high tech innovative firms, qualified employment growth and economic diversification. The majority of the new firms are linked with traditional sectors (restaurants, boutiques, personal services and civil construction. Firm creation is also a result of the EU integration and cohesion policies. On the other hand infra-structure development policies explain the increasing importance of the public administration in terms of employment and consequently the low levels of unemployment. Traditionally, in the islands, the government intervention in terms of employment, economic planning is considered excessive. The island economies have been able to benefit from large streams of international solidarity in terms of high external aid per capita especially due to their strategic relevance. But the global economic and political change associated with the globalisation put increasing pressure on the island forcing them to reformulate their economic, social and political options. International donors and institutions like World Bank stresses issues such as economic diversification, economic and social modernisation and macroeconomic policies focused o supply side effects and the development of economic growth determining factors. Due to the reduced levels of international aid, islands are obliged to diminish levels of government intervention connected to public employment and direct production activities and to enhance private initiatives and entrepreneurship. In what concerns the outermost regions the EU enlargement demands increasing levels of competitivity, financial autonomy, economic diversification and entrepreneurial attitude. Given the lack of studies in this geographical area, the on-going economic, social and cultural modernisation induced by the integration in The EU sphere and the widespread perception about the changing times, we intend in this study to give some answers to the following questions: .how is the entrepreneurial attitude affected by the historical record of high levels of government intervention and public employment? .what kind of impacts results from the perceived “island penalty”, in terms of propensity towards entrepreneurship? .What is the main obstacle to the entrepreneurial event? .Should one wish to create a firm, what is the probability of the stated preference is in the high tech sectors? What kind of support will be required and welcomed from the public institutions? Studies and academic studies in islands have some advantages. The agglomeration of institutions, populations, firms and social networks in a reduced geographical space enable us to capture in some detail a vast group of variables, relationships and cause effects linked to a specific subject. Islands societies have a large and cohesive social capital, and share a homogenous set of values and cultural attitudes, which facilitates experiences of collective action. To conduct an empirical test in order to find out the most influential variables in the entrepreneurship attitude we use logit equations. The sample is made up of local university students, theoretically the most apt in developing innovative firms. We investigate also the differences between economics and managements and humanities students in terms of entrepreneurship propensity. An important matter in isolated, peripheral and underdeveloped regions is the diffusion of innovations. Consequently, student’s sources of information and knowledge regarding the overall tendencies of profitable, innovative and fashionable entrepreneurial experiences must be identified. Therefore, this paper describes the changing and uncertain economic and political environment faced by islands societies. A contextualisation of the relationship between entrepreneurship, economic growth and insular penalty is stretched and lastly, we provide an empirical study related to the entrepreneurial attitude in an insular region: The Island of Madeira.

Large scale railway renewal planning with a multiobjective modeling approach

Conferência realizada na Filândia, Helsinquia, de 20-24 de agosto de 2018A multiobjective modeling approach for managing large scale railway infrastructure asset renewal is presented. An optimized intervention project schedule is obtained considering operational constraints in a three objectives model: evenly spreading investment throughout multiple years, minimizing total cost, minimizing work start postponements on higher priority railway sections. The MILP model was based on a real world case study; the objectives and constraints specified by an infrastructure management company. Results show that investment spreading greatly influences the other objectives and that total cost fluctuations depend on the overall condition of the railway infrastructure. The model can produce exact efficient solutions in reasonable time, even for very large-sized instances (a test network of similar size to the USA railway network, the largest in the world). The modeling approach is therefore a very useful, practical methodology, for generating optimized solutions and analyzing trade-offs among objectives, easing the task of ultimately selecting a solution and produce the works schedule for field implementation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bi-objective modeling approach for repairing multiple feature infrastructure systems

A bi-objective decision aid model for planning long-term maintenance of infrastructure systems is presented, oriented to interventions on their constituent elements, with two upgrade levels possible for each element (partial/full repairs). The model aims at maximizing benefits and minimizing costs, and its novelty is taking into consideration, and combining, the system/element structure, volume discounts, and socioeconomic factors. The model is tested with field data from 229 sidewalks (systems) and compared to two simpler repair policies, of allowing only partial or full repairs. Results show that the efficiency gains are greater in the lower mid-range budget region. The proposed modeling approach is an innovative tool to optimize cost/benefits for the various repair options and analyze the respective trade-offs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

O Caso Português

O presente trabalho tem como objecto as Informações Estratégicas em Portugal. A primeira parte consistiu em efectuar um levantamento da situação actual; seguiu-se uma análise do sistema de informações, no sentido de se averiguar a forma de funcionamento do mesmo como instrumento da estratégia total. Concluímos o trabalho com a identificação de algumas disfunções e contributos para a sua resolução, por forma a melhorar o sistema. Abstract: The aim of this paper is the study of Strategic Intelligence in Portugal. It was done an investigation on the current situation. Afterwards, there was a review on the efficacy and appropriateness of strategic intelligence system as a support of the global national strategy. In closing, we identify several issues. Some call for change; on those we made recommendations in order to improve the system

O papel da orientação para o mercado e orientação empreendedora no desempenho das júnior empresas

This study explores the market orientation (MO), entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and its relationship with the performance of Junior Enterprises (JEs). Using a sample of 93 Junior Enterprises, we tested the suitability of the MO and EO scales proposed by Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar (1993) and Hughes and Morgan (2007) respectively, and new dimensions and scales were created that better fit JEs characteristics. With these new dimensions, we tested the effect of MO and EO on performance and the mediating effect of EO between MO and performance. Results suggest that both MO and EO dimensions have a positive impact on JEs’ performance and that EO dimensions partially or totally mediate the link between MO dimensions and performance. The study provides a more detailed understanding of JEs organizational characteristics and the impact of strategic orientations in their performance, providing, on the one hand, implications for research through the analysis of these constructs in a new context and through the analysis of EO as mediator. On the other hand, implications for JEs and national/international federations that can adapt their strategies and training plans bearing in mind these topics, as well as for universities that can better understand the context and potential of JEs and thus support them more effectively.Este estudo explora a orientação para o mercado (MO), a orientação empreendedora (EO) e as suas relações com o desempenho das Júnior Empresas (JEs). Utilizando uma amostra de 93 Júnior Empresas, foi testada a adequação das escalas MO e EO propostas por Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar (1993) e Hughes and Morgan (2007) respetivamente, tendo sido criadas novas dimensões e escalas que melhor se adequam às características das JEs. Com estas novas dimensões, foi testado o efeito de MO e EO no desempenho das JEs e o efeito mediador de EO na relação entre MO e desempenho. Os resultados sugerem que tanto as dimensões de MO e como de EO têm um impacto positivo no desempenho das JEs e que as dimensões de EO mediam, parcial ou totalmente, a ligação entre as dimensões de MO e o desempenho. Este estudo oferece um entendimento mais detalhado das características das JEs e o impacto das orientações estratégicas no seu desempenho, fornecendo por um lado implicações para a investigação pela análise destes constructos num novo contexto e pela análise de EO como mediador, algo pouco discutido na literatura. Por outro lado, implicações para as JEs e federações nacionais e internacionais que podem assim adaptar as suas estratégias e planos de formação tendo em conta estes tópicos, bem como para as universidades que podem perceber melhor o contexto e potencial das JEs e assim apoiar estas mais eficazmente.FCT - PTDC/IVC-PEC/5514/2014Mestrado em Gestã

Multi-objective model for optimizing railway infrastructure asset renewal

Trabalho inspirado num problema real da empresa Infraestruturas de Portugal, EP.A multi-objective model for managing railway infrastructure asset renewal is presented. The model aims to optimize three objectives, while respecting operational constraints: levelling investment throughout multiple years, minimizing total cost and minimizing work start postponements. Its output is an optimized intervention schedule. The model is based on a case study from a Portuguese infrastructure management company, which specified the objectives and constraints, and reflects management practice on railway infrastructure. The results show that investment levelling greatly influences the other objectives and that total cost fluctuations may range from insignificant to important, depending on the condition of the infrastructure. The results structure is argued to be general and suggests a practical methodology for analysing trade-offs and selecting a solution for implementation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ownership structure and initial public offerings in Portugal

This study aims to answer three different questions. First, whether we could observe short-term abnormal return anomaly or long-term underperformance in IPOs of a small economy. Second, if these anomalies do appear to exist, whether they are distinct when ownership categories (private versus state owned) are compared. Third, if these categories show different patterns, whether private placements show significantly different under/overpricing phenomena compared with placements made by state owned companies. In order to do this, we selected the Portuguese market to test whether cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) or the wealth relative (WR) of a set of portfolios were statistically and significantly different from zero. We found significant short-term abnormal returns both for IPOs placed by private firms and for IPOs placed by state owned firms. In addition, state owned IPOs have been more profitable for short-term investments than private IPOs. Secondly we observed weak signs for one-year time period underperformance, but we found new evidence, as reported in the literature, for significant differences for one-year performance according to the ownership structure. Contrary to what the literature on economic and financial performance of privatized firms would lead us to expect, we found that IPOs placed by private companies tend to perform better in a one-year term than IPOs placed by state owned firms. However our results are quite sensitive to the methodology being used.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio