Sistema de teste de algoritmos de recuperação de relógio em redes ATM: uso de componentes do tipo EPLD da Altera

O documento apresenta a descrição de um Sistema desenvolvido para efectuar o teste de Algoritmos de Recuperação de Relógio de Serviços de Débito Binário Constante, em Redes ATM. O Hardware desenvolvido foi essencialmente suportado por dispositivos lógicos programáveis do tipo EPLD (Família 7000) do fabricante Altera. O sistema apresentado constitui um exemplo prático de aplicação destes componentes no desenvolvimento de sistemas constituídos maioritariamente por funções lógicas (e.g. equações booleanas, circuitos sequenciais, máquinas de estado). O sistema de desenvolvimento MAXPLUS II não só permitiu desenhar os blocos funcionais como também simular o seu funcionamento (lógico e temporal). Com efeito, esta ferramenta permite economizar gastos de tempo no test and debugging necessários no desenvolvimento destes sistemas num passado bem recente. A descrição exaustiva do sistema não será feita neste contexto uma vez que o objectivo deste documento é evidenciar as particularidades das ferramentas do sistema e mostrar alguns exemplos de implementação tais como: Máquinas de Estado, Circuitos Combinatórios e Sequenciais (e.g. Contadores, Shift-Registers), Circuitos Aritméticos e Multiplexers. O documento está estruturado em 6 secções. Nas duas primeiras é efectuado o enquadramento do sistema desenvolvido na área das redes de comunicação de banda larga além da descrição funcional do sistema e suas aplicações. Na secção 3 é feita a introdução aos dispositivos lógicos programáveis usados (EPM7096LC-12) e na secção 4 são apresentados alguns exemplos de funções implementadas. A secção 5 apresenta alguns exemplos do uso da ferramenta de simulação comparando os resultados desta com os verificados experimentalmente. Finalmente são apresentadas algumas conclusões, evidenciando as vantagens do uso deste tipo de componentes

International Trade Patterns over the Last Four Decades: How does Portugal Compare with other Cohesion Countries?

This paper compares the international trade pattern of Portugal with the other three EU15 Cohesion countries - Spain, Greece and Ireland - over the last forty years. The paper adopts a fact-finding approach, investigating the degree of openness of these economies and making extensive use of the standard Balassa (1965) index to assess the technological content of these countries' manufacturing trade. In order to infer on international trade specialization and on the persistence of trade patterns, the paper provides empirical evidence on the shape of the cross-sector distribution of 120 manufacturing exports and examines the intra-distribution dynamics. The Balassa index is also computed using import data, which allows for an assessment on the similitude of relative import structures and a crude identification of major vertical specialization activities. The paper concludes that there was a significant increase in the degree of openness of all economies, particularly in Ireland. Over the last four decades, Portugal shows a tendency to reduce its overall extent of export specialization, but significant differences with the world average still remain. The same behaviour is found in Greece and, more strongly, in Spain, which is the least specialized country. Conversely, Ireland shows the strongest export specialization and there is evidence of an increase in the last twenty years. The overall degree of specialization is higher on the export than on the import side, as the four countries analyzed show an import structure very close to the world average in the 2000-04 period. In the Portuguese case, we also find evidence that the degree of persistence of export patterns is higher than that of imports, in particular over longer horizons.

Assessing the Quality of Public Services: A Conceptual Model

One of the major challenges faced by Public Administration is how to create more value for both citizens and firms, mainly because of the increasing budgetary constraints and challenging demands from society. In fact, over the past two decades there has been a general movement of public reform in most developed countries, and for this reason it is essential to understand how users assess the quality of public services. The aim of this paper is to clarify the determinants of public service quality. Due to the nature of the research problem, we have adopted a case-study methodology. The research involved extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection with managers, citizens and front and back-office public servants by means of interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. The paper presents the case of Public Service Citizens’ Shops (Loja do Cidadão) in Portugal, a recent and innovative channel for the delivery of public services. Firstly, it explores the kind of relationships that develop during the public service encounter between the citizen, the public organization and society. Secondly, citizen satisfaction and dissatisfaction with public services are both investigated. The basic premise is that these two concepts are not opposite but have different determinants. Furthermore, the paper also explores the nature of tolerance and emphasizes the importance of managing emotions in the public service encounter. Finally, it also considers how the quality assessment of public services should also take into account implications regarding value to society.public services; quality determinants; satisfaction; dissatisfaction; zone of tolerance; emotions; citizens’ shops

Quality of the Azores destination in the perspective of tourists

Tourism is a growing industry in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. However, little is known about how tourists evaluate this destination, something which certainly constitutes a shortcoming if one takes into consideration that this is a very competitive industry, with new destinations appearing every year and others increasing their market share. This paper focuses on the quality of the Azores destination in the perspective of tourists and, to an extent, has the goal of contributing to reduce this shortcoming. According to our findings, 74% of the tourists interviewed consider the global quality of the Azores destination to be very good or excellent, with the landscape, the climate/weather, the hospitality, the cleanliness and the security being the most highly-rated partial indicators. Additionally, a regression analysis indicates that the evaluation of the global quality of this destination varies according to the individual characteristics of tourists.N/

Relative Export Structures and Vertical Specialization: A Simple Cross-Country Index

Relative export structures have changed substantially over the last forty years. We map these changes using a new cross-country specialization index - the B* -, defined as the export weight of a given product on total domestic exports, “normalized” by the average weight across all countries of the world. This indicator is close to the Revealed Comparative Advantage index suggested in Balassa (1965); it has been used as an intermediate calculation in some papers but it has never been highlighted or interpreted as an alternative index in its own right. We provide empirical evidence on the shape of the distribution of the B* for different technological sectors (high, medium-high, medium-low and low-technology sectors), how it has evolved through time and how its intra-distribution dynamics behave. The results indicate a relatively important degree of persistence, although the cross-country specialization distributions depict substantial differences as we move up the technology ladder. Special attention is given to the G5 countries and China. These economies are relatively more specialized in high-tech and medium high-tech products. China shows a striking increase in specialization in high-tech products and a substantial decrease in low-tech. Finally, by computing the B* for both exports and imports, we have identified countries with significant vertical specialization activities. These activities are predominant in high-tech industries and seem to be geographically concentrated in East-Asia.

A satisfação dos turistas escandinavos relativamente ao destino Açores

A secção UAciência é coordenada pelo Professor Universitário Armindo Rodrigues.[…]. No caso concreto dos Açores, os quais podem beneficiar deste crescimento da procura mundial, o turismo surge como um setor estratégico por, pelo menos, três tipos de razões. Em primeiro lugar, a aposta no desenvolvimento de um setor em expansão a nível mundial constitui um fator importante para o sucesso da estratégia de crescimento e desenvolvimento da região. Em segundo lugar, a exportação constitui um veículo determinante para o desenvolvimento de pequenas regiões insulares com base no aproveitamento das potencialidades endógenas, como é o caso dos Açores, constituindo o turismo uma das poucas atividades que podem ser promovidas com vista ao alargamento da respetiva base económica de exportação. Finalmente, o turismo, até pelos efeitos multiplicadores e de arrasto sobre os diversos setores económicos, contribui para a criação de emprego e a entrada de novos ativos no mercado de trabalho, sendo este um elemento a ter cada vez mais em consideração, dadas as elevadas taxas de desemprego e o aumento da taxa de atividade feminina. […].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The determinants of length of stay in the Azores : a count model approach

This paper employs count data models to estimate the determinants of length of stay, as count data models naturally lend themselves to overcome the censoring and truncation data issues associated with the non-negative, integer nature of length of stay. This paper employs a rich micro data set gathered through questionnaires ministered to a representative sample of tourists departing from the Azores: the fastest growing touristic region in Portugal. It is found that sociodemographic profiles, such as nationality and Azorean ascendancy, and trip attributes, such as repeat visitation rates and type of flight, are important determinants of length of stay. In addition, it is found that destination image and attitudes regarding environmental initiatives, constructed from a factor analysis exercise, also influence length of stay. In particular, the results suggest that marketing strategies that promote the Azores for its nature, landscape, remoteness, weather and safety may increase length of stay, whereas cultural heritage has the opposite effect.N/