Influência do board interlocking no gerenciamento de resultados

The participation of directors on more than one board is called “board interlocking”. This phenomenon contributes to the spread of management and governance practices, through directors sharing their knowledge and experiences on other boards. Thus, directors could “carry” the earnings management practices present in one company into another in which they sit on the board. It is assumed that the greater directors’ direct or indirect connections on boards, the greater the sharing of information, especially information that can be reflected in company earnings quality. In light of the above, the aim of this study is to verify the influence of board interlocking on earnings management in companies listed on the São Paulo Stock, Commodities, and Futures Exchange (BM&FBovespa). The study is characterized as descriptive, quantitative, and documentary, and uses a sample of companies listed on the BM&FBOVESPA between 2011 and 2013. For earnings management, the model from Kang and Sivaramakrishnan (1995) was used, while for interlocking, degree centrality measures were used for direct board member connections, and intermediation centrality for indirect connections. The results indicate that earnings management is influenced by the interlocking of board members. It is concluded that the greater the degree centrality, the greater positive earnings management is, and that variations in positive and negative accruals are influenced by board member intermediation. The results reinforce the idea that earnings management behavior can be transferred between companies by the directors that make up their boards.A participação de um conselheiro em mais de um conselho de administração é denominada de board interlocking. Tal fenômeno contribui para a disseminação de práticas gerenciais e de governança, a partir do compartilhamento de conhecimentos e experiências dos conselheiros em outros conselhos. Assim, um conselheiro poderia “levar” práticas de gerenciamento de resultados presentes em uma empresa para outra da qual faça parte do conselho. Presume-se que quanto maior for sua conexão, direta ou indireta, em conselhos, maior pode ser o compartilhamento de informações, sobretudo que possam refletir na qualidade do resultado das empresas. Diante do exposto, o objetivo deste estudo é verificar a influência do board interlocking no gerenciamento de resultados das empresas listadas na Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias e Futuros de São Paulo (BM&FBOVESPA). A pesquisa caracteriza-se como descritiva, quantitativa e documental, com uma amostra composta por empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA no período de 2011-2013. Para o gerenciamento de resultados utilizou-se o modelo de Kang e Sivaramakrishnan (1995), enquanto que para o interlocking utilizaram-se as medidas de centralidade de grau, para conexões diretas de conselheiros, e centralidade de intermediação, para conexões indiretas. Os resultados indicam que o gerenciamento de resultados é influenciado pelo interlocking dos membros do conselho de administração. Conclui-se que quanto maior a centralidade de grau, maior o gerenciamento positivo de resultados, bem como variações dos accruals positivos e negativos são influenciadas pela intermediação dos membros do conselho de administração. Os resultados reforçam que o comportamento de gerenciamento de resultados pode ser transmitido entre empresas por meio dos membros que compõem seus conselhos de administração

Comparison of two different debonding techniques in orthodontic treatment

The purpose of this research is to investigate whether and how the adhesive bond failure site varied in relation to the material used for the orthodontic bonding and debonding technique applied

Conservation laws with discontinuous flux

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Improvement of a Parallel System for Image Processing

Digital images are digital signals captured through different means. Sometimes these captured images contain variations combined with the original signal, this variations are called noise. Echo is a particular kind of noise with characteristics that turns it into a very interesting problem to solve. The echo detection process and its subsequent elimination from a digital Image involves extensive mathematical calculations. Differents Parallel approaches taking advantage of new architectures can be implemented to solve this problem. Nevertheless these approaches have time depending characteristics, so the Processing time is still the critical point. One improved version of a Parallel one may be implemented by using a different algorithm and some other techniques that much more reduce the Processing time. In this work, the authors discuss their earlier work, the present approach and the future directions of this experimental application. Finally the resulting values are sketched.Sistemas Distribuidos - Redes ConcurrenciaRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

The public accountants perception in relation to the Brazilian Accounting Standards Applied to the Public Sector (NBCASP)

O estudo objetiva identificar a percepção dos contadores públicos em relação às Normas Brasileiras de Contabilidade Aplicadas ao Setor Público (NBCASP), a partir de um questionário estruturado, enviado aos profissionais dos Municípios da Região da Associação de Municípios do Meio Oeste – Ammoc, SC. A pesquisa, do tipo descritiva, foi dividida em três blocos: o primeiro buscou identificar o perfil do profissional, no segundo abordou-se os problemas enfrentados pelos profissionais quanto à adaptação às normativas e, no terceiro, o entendimento sobre as NBCASP. O estudo revelou ainda que 50% dos entrevistados não possuem amplo conhecimento sobre as NBCASP. As maiores deficiências estão nos procedimentos a serem adotados a partir das normas 16.9 e 16.10. Conclui-se assim que a nova contabilidade pública é importante para a transparência e controle das contas públicas, mas, por outro lado, os contadores ainda não estão aptos a elaborar e analisar as demonstrações contábeis.El estudio tiene como objetivo identificar la percepción de los contadores públicos sobre las Normas Contables Brasileñas Aplicadas al Sector Público (NBCASP) basado en un cuestionario estructurado enviado a los profesionales en los municipios de la región de la Asociación de Municipios del Medio Oeste (Ammoc), Santa Catarina. El estudio descriptivo se dividió en tres partes: la primera fue la de identificar el perfil profesional, la segunda trata de los problemas que enfrentan los profesionales para adaptarse a las normas y, en el tercero, la comprensión de NBCASP. El estudio también reveló que el 50% de los encuestados no tienen un amplio conocimiento sobre NBCASP. Las principales debilidades están en los procedimientos para adopción a partir de las reglas 16.9 y 16.10. Se concluye que los encuestados se dan cuenta de que la nueva contabilidad pública es importante para la transparencia y el control de las cuentas públicas, pero, por otro lado, los contadores no son capaces de preparar y analizar los estados financieros.The study aims to identify the perception of public accountants in relation to Brazilian Standards of Accounting Applied to the Public Sector (NBCASP), from a structured questionnaire sent to professionals in the municipalities of the region of the Association of Municipalities Meio-Oeste - Ammoc, Santa Catarina. The research, descriptive, was divided into three blocks: the first was to identify the professional profile, the second on the problems faced by professionals in adapting to regulatory and third, the understanding of NBCASP. The study also revealed that 50% of respondents do not have extensive knowledge about the NBCASP. The biggest shortcomings are in the procedures to be adopted from the patterns of 16.9 and 16.10. Concludes therefore that the perception of the new public accounting interviewed is important for transparency and control of public accounts, but on the other hand, the counters are not able to prepare and analyze financial statements.Revista do Serviço Público - RSP, v. 66, n. 3, p. 425-448Accountability. Prestação de contasISSN eletrônico: 2357-8017 ISSN impresso: 0034-924

Terahertz Nanoantennas for Enhanced Spectroscopy

Terahertz spectroscopy has great potential for sensing a wide range of elementary excitations. However, terahertz studies are practically limited to macroscopic ensembles of compounds (e.g., thick pellets of crystallized molecules or highly concentrated solutions of nanomaterials) due to the long radiation wavelength (about 300 μm at 1 THz). In this chapter, we show how terahertz nanoantennas can overcome the current limitations of terahertz spectroscopy such as low sensitivity and low spatial resolution. We briefly discuss how to design the resonance characteristics of a dipole nanoantenna through a Fabry-Pérot model, and then we present the experimental characterization of the spectral response of ordered arrays of such devices. Furthermore, we demonstrate how nanoantenna arrays enable the possibility of retrieving the spectroscopic signature of a monolayer of quantum dots and, in principle, of many other organic or inorganic compounds. This technique, based on the idea of increasing the sensitivity through local field enhancement, is named nanoantenna-enhanced terahertz spectroscopy (NETS). A Fano-like interference between the fundamental mode of the nanoantennas and the phonon resonance of the quantum dots is observed, together with an enhancement of the absorption of the dots up to more than a million. Finally, we show how to extract the main spectroscopic information of the quantum dots through a simple coupled harmonic oscillator model. This novel technique can be widely applied in terahertz spectroscopic studies of nanocrystals and molecules, where extremely low concentrations are of concern

Changes in personality factors, locus of control and creativity after a Theater-therapy intervention. Preliminary data

OBJECTIVE: The study assessed whether Theater-therapy based on Grotowski's method can improve creativity, internal locus of control and personality by promoting personal wellbeing. This study investigates the effects of Theater-therapy on: 1) personality, according to the Big five Theory; 2) internal locus of control; 3) verbal and figural creativity. DESIGN: Eight adults took part in a 6-month intervention based on Theater-therapy and were administered the following tests at the beginning and at the end of the activity: Big five questionnaire, Locus of control scale, Torrance test of creative thinking. RESULTS: The results showed an increase in all personality factors of Big Five, a more internal Locus of control, and an increase in creativity in the dimensions of fluidity, elaboration, originality and flexibility. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that Theater-therapy can be regarded as a tool promoting well-bein

Design of an integrated system for on-line test and diagnosis of rotary actuators

In this paper, the design of an on-chip Fault Detection and Diagnosis System for Condition Based Maintenance of electromechanical actuators is presented. The proposed system is based on signal processing algorithms integrated in a customized Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The design was synthesized using a 90nm CMOS standard cell library. As a case study, post-synthesis simulations were performed using signals acquired from a real electromechanical valve, using torque and vibration sensors considering both fault-free and defective situations for the actuator. Results show the effectiveness of the system in performing real-time fault detection and identification, with low power consumption and low silicon area utilization

Analysis of the knowledge and satisfaction with applied behavior analysis as treatment for autism spectrum disorder in parents with affected, with healthy children and childless adults

OBJECTIVE: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an evidence-based approach for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Erroneous beliefs deriving from a reductive conception of ABA partly explain the delay in the spread of ABA treatments in Italy. Nevertheless, an increasing number of parents have been choosing this treatment. The purpose of this survey is to investigate beliefs about ABA, the degree of satisfaction regarding ABA treatments, and the sources of information used to choose the treatment. DESIGN: The sample included 109 Italian participants: 67 parents of children with ASD, 19 parents of healthy children and 23 adults without children. Participants have been invited to complete an online questionnaire. Socio-demographic data was also collected, along with information on the sources consulted to choose a treatment and on the satisfaction for ABA treatments. RESULTS: Participants agree that ABA is an approach of choice that intervenes on socially significant skills, while they do not agree with several reductive and stereotypical statements related to it. Regarding the sources, most parents with children with ASD choose the consultation with other parents who live or have lived the same experience. Finally, although the majority of participants rate ABA treatments positively, findings proved that parents of children with ASD appreciate ABA treatments more than the other two groups. CONCLUSION: There is a broad agreement among participants in correctly identifying the distinctive features of ABA. This data indicates a certain diffusion of correct knowledge and a lower adherence to reductive concepts. The direct experience of applying ABA treatments emerges as an important variable for their positive evaluation. Even though treatment information is more accessible compared to the past, the tendency to seek advice from other parents of children with ASD remains. The results of the survey enable us to give concrete indications for training and dissemination activities

Towards a parallel image mining system

El análisis de imágenes puede revelar información útil para los usuarios El significativo aumento del uso de imágenes en diferentes campos de la ciencia, medicina, negocios, etc., requiere de mayor poder de procesamiento. Con el avance en la adquisición de dato multimedial y de técnicas de almacenamiento, la necesidad de descubrir automáticamente conocimiento de grandes colecciones de imágenes aumenta. La minería de imágenes, área de investigación relativamente nueva y prometedora, trata de facilitar este trabajo proponiendo soluciones para la extracción de patrones significativos y potencialmente útiles a partir de grandes volúmenes de datos. Comprende diferentes etapas demandantes de recursos y de tiempo computacional. El uso de computación paralela representa un buen punto de partida. El proceso de minería de imágenes parece ser algorítmicamente complejo, requiriendo niveles de poder computacional que solamente los paradigmas paralelos pueden proveer. Dado que involucra conjuntos de datos de rápido crecimiento y las imágenes representan una fuente natural de paralelismo, el paralelismo puede manejar semejante colección en forma efectiva. En este trabajo examinamos el problema de la minería de imágenes y su costo computacional, proponemos una posible solución global y local y definimos futuras extensiones para la minería de imágenes paralela.Images can reveal useful information to human users when are analyzed. The explosive growth in applying images as data in many fields of science, business, medicine, etc, demands greater processing power. With the advances in multimedia data acquisition and storage techniques, the need for automatically discovering knowledge from large image collections is becoming more and more relevant. Image mining, a relatively new and very promising field of investigation, tries to ease this problem proposing some solutions for the extraction of significant and potentially useful patterns from these tremendous data volume. This research field implies different stages, most of them demanding so many resources and computational time. The use of parallel computation is a good starting-point. Image mining process appears to be algorithmically complex requiring computing power levels that only parallel paradigms can provide in a timely way. As data sets involved are large, rapidly growing larger and images provide a natural source of parallelism, parallels computers could be organized to handle such big collection effectively. At this work we will examine the image mining problem with its computational cost, propose a possible global or local parallel solution and also identify some future research directions for image mining parallelism.V Workshop de Computación Gráfica, Imágenes Y VisualizaciónRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI