Management accounting and power: A contested relationship

This paper is structured in two parts. In the first part we undertake a brief discussion on the concept of power and we explore the way this concept has been regarded in several strands of literature on management accounting – the conventional, the contingency, the pluralist, the interpretive, the critical and the post-structuralist. Some of these strands – for instance, the pluralist, the critical and the post-structuralist – explicitly recognise the importance of (some conception of) power in their approach to management accounting in society and organisations. Other approaches are less explicit in that recognition or simply overlook/reject it. The second part of the paper takes sides, departing from the idea that there is a relationship between management accounting and power and proposes a framework for conceptualising that relationship. This framework attempts to bring together different dimensions/conceptions of power, and is proposed as a way to study management accounting and its change within organisations.power, management accounting, change, circuits of power

Robot orientation with histograms on MSL

One of the most important tasks on robot soccer is localization. The team robots should self-localize on the 18 x 12 meters soccer field. Since a few years ago the soccer field has increased and the corner posts were removed and that increased the localization task complexity. One important aspect to take care for a proper localization is to find out the robot orientation. This paper proposes a new technique to calculate the robot orientation. The proposed method consists of using a histogram of white-green transitions (to detect the lines on the field) to know the robot orientation. This technique does not take much computational time and proves to be very reliable.(undefined

Minho MSL: a new generation of soccer robots

This paper describes the new generation of Minho Team robots since the last RoboCup participation. Robots have been rebuilt from top to bottom, keeping the essence of the previous generation, but lighter, faster, improved sight, new algorithms and new technology. The demands of RoboCup MSL are very high and a new breed of robots was necessary to cope with it. This paper describes a bottom-up view of the robot, the hardware used, the vision head, the high level software and some conclusions

Development of a prototype robot for transportation within industrial environments

This paper describes the design and development of an autonomous robot for the Robot@Factory league at “Festival Nacional de Robótica 2016”, held in Bragança, Portugal. This paper describes all the hardware and software components developed for a localization and performance of the robot according to the rules. The challenge consists of a table setup that recreates an industrial environment where a robot has to successfully transport boxes from an initial warehouse to the final warehouse. The destination to which the robot has to carry each box, depends on the state of the box, i.e., depending on the box LED color, even though in some cases the robot has to leave the box temporarily in the called processing machines (which are intermediate stations). The most significant innovation feature of this robot prototype consists of the possibility of carrying up to three boxes simultaneously while being able to select which box to drop. This project was developed with great success, since the team managed to reach the 3rd place in the competition.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Avaliação do stresse hídrico em videiras submetidas a diferentes regimes hídricos

Nas regiões de clima mediterrânico onde as videiras são plantadas sem rega, verificam-se com frequência no Verão situações de elevado stresse hídrico para a planta. Estas surgem como consequência das baixas reservas hídricas do solo, devido às baixas precipitações estivais, elevada temperatura e elevado défice de pressão de vapor. A aplicação de diferentes regimes de rega pode alterar substancialmente a fisiologia da videira afectando desta forma a produção e a composição da uva, sendo, por isso, necessária a sua avaliação. Este estudo, enquadrado num projecto mais amplo de estudo das relações hídricas da vinha, teve como objectivo avaliar, em condições de stresse hídrico acentuado, duas metodologias indicadoras do estado hídrico de videiras submetidas a diferentes regimes hídricos: o potencial hídrico foliar e a temperatura da canópia. Os resultados mostram que potencial hídrico foliar mostrou ser o método mais fiável para avaliar o estado hídrico na videira em condições de stresse hídrico severo evidenciando uma melhor correlação com os parâmetros fisiológicos. A temperatura do copado tende a aumentar com o incremento do stresse hídrico em consequência do encerramento estomático mostrando uma correlação significativa com o potencial hídrico foliar mas correlações não significativas com os parâmetros fisiológicos.In regions with a Mediterranean type of climate, where grapevine is a traditionally non-irrigated crop, the periods of marked plant water stress are very common. Water deficits occurs as a consequence of low soil water content that usually develops gradually during summer, owing to low precipitation, and is normally associated with high temperature and high vapor pressure deficits. Different irrigation regimes can bring about substantial alteration in grapevine physiology, affecting yield and grape composition and thus need to be properly assessed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the leaf water potential and canopy temperature as grapevine water status indicators. The results shows that leaf water potential is the best reliable indicator of grapevine water status under severe water stress conditions, showing a good correlation with other physiological parameters. Canopy temperature have a tendency to increase due to stomata close showing a high correlation with leaf water potential but low correlations with physiological parameters

Entrepreneurship research: A bibliometric study of the EnANPADs 1997-2008

We have witnessed a fast growth in academic interest on entrepreneurship over the past two to three decades, although at disparate paces in different countries. A wealth of papers presented and published, books, dedicated journals, websites, professional and research groups have emerged accompanying this increased interest. It is thus important to understand what are these scholars studying. In this paper we examine the state of the art in entrepreneurship research in Brazil, by scrutinizing the entire track record of the papers presented at the EnANPAD over a twelve years period: 1997 -to 2008. The results of the bibliometric analysis revealed that entrepreneurship research maintains a broad spectrum of interests, focusing both on contextual, individual and process issues. Less visible is a unified theoretical background or the use of established theories foundational to other management disciplines. It is notable the increase in Brazilian entrepreneurship research, both empiric, theoretical and case-study based. We conclude with an umbrella discussion and suggestions for future research.entrepreneurship research, entrepreneur, bibliometric study, EnANPAD

Mergers & Acquisitions research: A bibliometric study of top strategy journals, 2000 - 2009

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are important modes through which firms undertake their domestic and international strategies. This bibliometric review examines the extant research on M&As in the top five strategic management journals during a ten years period ? from 2000 to 2009. The 90 articles identified in these top journals denote an eclectic theoretical focus with the prevalence of four theories ? resource-based view, transaction costs, agency theory and institutional theory. We present a brief analysis of the key issues in M&A research, as well as the samples and theories more commonly used. We conclude by presenting a broad discussion comprising the methods used, the research questions investigated, the type of articles, as well as limitations and avenues for future enquiry.mergers & acquisitions; strategic management journals, bibliometric study

Stability of the transthyretin molecule as a key factor in the interaction with a-beta peptide--relevance in Alzheimer's disease

Transthyretin (TTR) protects against A-Beta toxicity by binding the peptide thus inhibiting its aggregation. Previous work showed different TTR mutations interact differently with A-Beta, with increasing affinities correlating with decreasing amyloidogenecity of the TTR mutant; this did not impact on the levels of inhibition of A-Beta aggregation, as assessed by transmission electron microscopy. Our work aimed at probing differences in binding to A-Beta by WT, T119M and L55P TTR using quantitative assays, and at identifying factors affecting this interaction. We addressed the impact of such factors in TTR ability to degrade A-Beta. Using a dot blot approach with the anti-oligomeric antibody A11, we showed that A-Beta formed oligomers transiently, indicating aggregation and fibril formation, whereas in the presence of WT and T119M TTR the oligomers persisted longer, indicative that these variants avoided further aggregation into fibrils. In contrast, L55PTTR was not able to inhibit oligomerization or to prevent evolution to aggregates and fibrils. Furthermore, apoptosis assessment showed WT and T119M TTR were able to protect against A-Beta toxicity. Because the amyloidogenic potential of TTR is inversely correlated with its stability, the use of drugs able to stabilize TTR tetrameric fold could result in increased TTR/ABeta binding. Here we showed that iododiflunisal, 3-dinitrophenol, resveratrol, [2-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)amino] (DCPA) and [4- (3,5-difluorophenyl)] (DFPB) were able to increase TTR binding to A-Beta; however only DCPA and DFPB improved TTR proteolytic activity. Thyroxine, a TTR ligand, did not influence TTR/A-Beta interaction and A-Beta degradation by TTR, whereas RBP, another TTR ligand, not only obstructed the interaction but also inhibited TTR proteolytic activity. Our results showed differences between WT and T119M TTR, and L55PTTR mutant regarding their interaction with A-Beta and prompt the stability of TTR as a key factor in this interaction, which may be relevant in AD pathogenesis and for the design of therapeutic TTR-based therapies

Translocating the blood-brain barrier using electrostatics

Copyright © 2012 Ribeiro,Domingues, Freire,Santos and Castanho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc.Mammalian cell membranes regulate homeostasis, protein activity, and cell signaling. The charge at the membrane surface has been correlated with these key events. Although mammalian cells are known to be slightly anionic, quantitative information on the membrane charge and the importance of electrostatic interactions in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics remain elusive. Recently, we reported for the first time that brain endothelial cells (EC) are more negatively charged than human umbilical cord cells, using zeta-potential measurements by dynamic light scattering. Here, we hypothesize that anionicity is a key feature of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and contributes to select which compounds cross into the brain. For the sake of comparison, we also studied the membrane surface charge of blood components—red blood cells (RBC), platelets, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).To further quantitatively correlate the negative zeta-potential values with membrane charge density, model membranes with different percentages of anionic lipids were also evaluated. From all the cells tested, brain cell membranes are the most anionic and those having their lipids mostly exposed, which explains why lipophilic cationic compounds are more prone to cross the blood-brain barrier.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia — Ministério da Educação e Ciência (FCT-MEC, Portugal) is acknowledged for funding (including fellowships SFRH/BD/42158/2007 to Marta M.B. Ribeiro, SFRH/BD/41750/2007 to Marco M. Domingues and SFRH/BD/70423/2010 to João M. Freire) and project PTDC/QUI-BIQ/119509/2010. Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (European Commission) is also acknowledged for funding (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-3-1-IAPP, Project 230654)

Glasses and glass-ceramics of the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 obtained from natural sedimentary raw materials

Common and low-cost natural sedimentary raw materials such as ball clay, dolomite, quartz sand and diatomite were used as the main constituents for the production of glasses and glass-ceramics of the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2. The crystallization of the glassy batch was promoted by the addition of a nucleation agent (TiO2). The crystallization sequence was examined by DTA, XRD, SEM, and thermal expansion analyses. Wollastonite and diopside are the main phases detected and the amount and grain size/shape of crystals were found to be strongly dependent on titania additions and on the annealing conditions. The characterization of relevant functional parameters of glass and glass-ceramic samples revealed interesting results