About the relations between Management Accounting Systems, Intellectual Capital and Performance

The present study is focused on the contribution of management accounting systems (MAS) in the development of intellectual capital (IC). Based on empirical evidence that supports the proposition that the value creation process is strongly associated to the level of IC, the study also examines the mediating effect of MAS on performance through their positive direct effect on IC. These relationships were consolidated into a model and empirically tested with data from 281 Portuguese firms using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings show that six out of nine hypothesized relationships were supported by data with positive and significant causal links between MAS and the human and structural dimensions of IC. Results confirmed the conceptual validity of the circular model for the interactions among the three IC dimensions. Results also showed a positive and significant direct effect of structural capital on performance. Overall, the results confirmed the validity of the proposed model and contributed to the literature on the role of MAS in supporting the development of the I

Mental Health Disparities for Latino Immigrants & Its Impact on Psychological Well-Being

In the present study, the researcher sought to examine the factors associated with Latino immigrants and the barriers/challenges that are faced in mental health. The main question that the researcher focuses on in the present study is: What are some of the mental health challenges for Latino immigrants & how do these disparities further impact psychological well-being? Furthermore, the research focuses on highlighting the variables that are increasingly damaging to the minority population of Latinos in the United States. These variables include lack of health insurance, stigma, acculturation issues, legal issues, and biopsychosocial factors, such as socioeconomic class. In multiple studies, but particularly one conducted by Cook, Zuvekas, Chen, Progovac, and Lincoln (2016), findings demonstrated that rates of mental illness are similar across most racial and ethnic backgrounds, however the challenges and disparities associated with mental illnesses are greater for individuals who identify with minority populations, or Latino immigrants. These factors negatively impact mental health and the well-being for this marginalized, minority population in the United States. The population in focus for this research are Latino immigrants, both documented and undocumented, that reside throughout the United States, with a sub-focus on those residing in Northern California, Marin County. On top of providing information based on mental health and mental illness through the lens of Latinos in the United States, this manual also hopes to unveil the disparities and challenges associated with help-seeking behaviors, resources, awareness, and stigma, to name a few

Knowledge and Power of the Civil Society: an empirical study of Brazilian professionals working in the NGOs

This study critically analyses the way Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operate in Brazil and their contribution to the development of the Brazilian civil society. The notion of "power fields" and "habitus", proposed by Bourdieu (1989; 1996), provides the theoretical backdrop to our discussions. This focusses largely on the recursive connection between structure and agency which resonates with the work of Fligstein (2006). This study seeks to critically analyse the learning and social practice developed by professionals in NGOs in their daily activities. This study is based on qualitative research and the results indicated that the knowledge produced by Brazilian NGOs, through the recursive connection between the agents of the fields and the structures underpinning them, contributes to the expansion and transformation of the field in which they operate. This perspective shows that the knowledge generated by this NGOs give them a certain level of power and influence in the Brazilian civil society

Query optimizers based on machine learning techniques

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia InformáticaQuery optimizers are considered one of the most relevant and sophisticated components in a database management system. However, despite currently producing nearly optimal results, optimizers rely on statistical estimates and heuristics to reduce the search space of alternative execution plans for a single query. As a result, for more complex queries, errors may grow exponentially, often translating into sub-optimal plans resulting in less than ideal performance. Recent advances in machine learning techniques have opened new opportunities for many of the existing problems related to system optimization. This document proposes a solution built on top of PostgreSQL that learns to select the most efficient set of optimizer strategy settings for a particular query. Instead of depending entirely on the optimizer’s estimates to compare different plans under different configurations, it relies on a greedy selection algorithm that supports several types of predictive modeling techniques, from more traditional modeling techniques to a deep learning approach. The system is evaluated experimentally with the standard TPC-H and Join Order ing Benchmark workloads to measure the cost and benefits of adding machine learning capabilities to traditional query optimizers.Os otimizadores de queries são considerados um dos componentes de maior relevância e complexidade num sistema de gestão de bases de dados. No entanto, apesar de atualmente produzirem resultados quase ótimos, os otimizadores dependem do uso de estimativas estatísticas e de heurísticas para reduzir o espaço de procura de planos de execução alternativos para uma determinada query. Como resultado, para queries mais complexas, os erros podem crescer exponencialmente, o que geralmente se traduz em planos sub-ótimos, resultando num desempenho inferior ao ideal. Os recentes avanços nas técnicas de aprendizagem automática abriram novas oportunidades para muitos dos problemas existentes relacionados com otimização de sistemas. Este documento propõe uma solução construída sobre o PostgreSQL que aprende a selecionar o conjunto mais eficiente de configurações do otimizador para uma determinada query. Em vez de depender inteiramente de estimativas do otimizador para comparar planos de configurações diferentes, a solução baseia-se num algoritmo de seleção greedy que suporta vários tipos de técnicas de modelagem preditiva, desde técnicas mais tradicionais a uma abordagem de deep learning. O sistema é avaliado experimentalmente com os workloads TPC-H e Join Ordering Benchmark para medir o custo e os benefícios de adicionar aprendizagem automática a otimizadores de queries tradicionais.This work is financed by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within project UIDB/50014/2020

Does the market structure matter for firms' profitability? Portuguese manufacturing sectors, 2004-2011

Mestrado em FinançasA presente investigação pretende estudar o impacto da estrutura de mercado na rentabilidade financeira dos sectores da indústria transformadora portuguesa desde 2004 até 2011. A amostra construída para este estudo inclui 257 sectores da indústria transformadora. Adoptamos os modelos Probit e o fenómeno dependente nos mesmos é a rentabilidade financeira (medida alternadamente pelo rácio de rentabilidade e pelo retorno dos activos). A associação entre a estrutura de mercado (medida pelo HHI, quota de mercado e CR4) e a rentabilidade financeira é o centro desta análise. As conclusões mais importantes são: a correlação positiva entre a rentabilidade financeira medida pelo retorno dos activos e pelo rácio de rentabilidade e as medidas de concentração medidas pelo Herfindahl-Hirschman index e pela quota de mercado; Factores como a publicidade e impostos não aparentam ter um impacto na rentabilidade financeira das empresas; quando a quota de mercado e o HHI são incluídos no mesmo modelo, o HHItorna-se inconclusivo e não significante.The present investigation aims to study the impact of market structure in the financial performance of Portuguese manufacturing sectors since 2004 till 2011. The sample build for this study includes 257 manufacturing sectors. Probit models are adopted and the dependent phenomena is financial performance (measure alternatively by profitability and Return on assets). Market structure (measured by HHI, Market Share and CR4) and financial performance association is the core of the analysis. The main conclusions are: positive association between financial performance measured by profitability and ROA and concentration measures measured by Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and Market share; Factors as advertising and taxes do not appear to have an impact in financial performance of firms'; when market share and HHI are included in the same model the HHI gets inconclusive and non-significant

Polimorfismos do gene CYP19 : associação com cancro da mama e com concentrações séricas de hormonas sexuais em mulheres pós-menopáusicas

Dissertação de mestrado em Ginecologia Oncológica, apresentada à Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Coimbr