Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'P-distances'

Dans le but de realiser des bases pour cellules solaires, des couches minces de cuinse#2 ont ete fabriquees a partir d'une methode de transport a courte distance. La methode a tout d'abord ete etudiee thermiquement, pour determiner la distribution des temperatures et le mode de transport de matiere. La connaissance des temperatures vraies de source et de substrat nous a permis de cerner les conditions experimentales permettant d'obtenir des couches minces quasi-stoechiometriques de conductivite electrique pouvant varier du type p au type n. La qualite cristalline de ces couches a ete controlee au moyen des rayons x, de la microscopie electronique et de l'absorption optique. Des depots sur electrodes de sno#2 ont ete realises, montrant, dans certains cas, une orientation preferentielle (100) ou (001) induite par le substrat.

Le sujet de cette thèse est l'étude expérimentale de la dynamique réactionnelle de réactions chimiques simples entre l'atome de magnésium protoxyde d'azote ou le chlore. La technique employée pour obtenir un diagnostic sur la réaction chimique est la fluorescence Induite par laser (FIL) de l'un des produits de réaction, MgO ou MgCI. Les données spectroscopiques disponibles sur les états triplets de MgO étant Insuffisantes, Il a été nécessaire de faire une étude approfondie de ces états. Dans les expériences de spectroscopie, des spectres d'excitation laser à haute résolution (laser à colorant pulsé avec étalon Intra-cavité) ont été enregistrés, avec détection sélective de la fluorescence dans des réglons spectrales choisies de façon à simplifier le spectre d'excitation. Plusieurs transitions électroniques nouvelles ont été attribuées et analysées en rotation. Les états triplets de MgO a v=0,1 et d v=0, et partiellement v=1, ont été caractérisés, et ces résultats ont permis en retour d'extraire les populations de vibration-rotation de MgO à partir des spectres de FIL de MgO «naissant» produit par réaction entre Mg et le protoxyde d'azote. Les populations naissantes de MgCI formé par la réaction de Mg avec le chlore ont été obtenues avec un montage de type jet sur gaz. Les deux réactions chimiques étudiées sont des réactions de «harponnage», dans lesquelles le saut d'électron de l'atome métallique vers la molécule a lieu à courte distance; les deux systèmes diffèrent profondément du point de vue de la structure électronique de l'ion négatif Intermédiaire. Pour les deux réactions, nous avons observé que l'énergie de vibration du produit (MgO ou MgCI) est extrêmement faible, alors qu'il est admis que les réactions de harponnage conduisent à une grande excitation vibrationnelle dans les produits de réaction; nous avons montré que ce résultat est compatible avec le mécanisme de harponnage, et que la faible excitation vibrationnelle obtenue est due à la faible distance internucléaire du saut d'électron. Les énergies de rotation de MgO et MgCI sont par contre très différentes, et peuvent être reliées à la différence de structure électronique de l'ion négatif Intermédiaire.

It is evident that the failure rate is higher among online students than in-class students at Hopkinsville Community College. An analysis of the academic records of students who enrolled in online courses for the first time at Hopkinsville indicated a 13% higher withdrawal and failure rate than those who took in-class courses over the same period between 2000 and 2010. Colleges are taking potentially all of the necessary steps to reduce the student failure rates among online students because high withdrawal and failure rates often reflect badly on the quality of education by the providing institutions (C. Segura, personal communication, November 2009). The purpose of this study is to determine if there is any statistically significant difference in the success rates between first-time online students who participated in the orientation for first-time online students, and first-time online students who did not participate in the orientation at Hopkinsville Community College. The study also determined if any relationships exist between success in an online course and student gender, student course load, student grade point average (GPA), student age, student readiness for online learning score, and student level of technology experience score. Studying the relationships between orientation of first-time online students and withdrawal and failure rates among first-time online students may lead to finding ways of reducing the high failure and withdrawal rates of online students at the community college.

Cette thèse étudie deux axes de recherches reposant sur les codes. Chaque axe porte sur un paramètre particulier. Le premier axe est celui de la correction d'erreur, et nous nous intéressons à la distance minimale des codes. Notre objectif est de construire des codes sur Fp ayant une bonne distance minimale. Pour cela nous utilisons conjointement le relèvement de Hensel et la Zpk-linéarité. Nous donnons la distance minimale en petite longueur d'une généralisation des codes de Kerdock et de Preparata, ainsi que des relevés des codes de résidus quadratiques. Parmi ces codes, nous en obtenons quatre égalant les meilleurs codes linéaires. Nous donnons également une construction visant à augmenter le cardinal des codes Zpk-linéaires par ajout de translatés. Cette construction nous conduit à une borne supérieure sur le cardinaux des codes Zpk-linéaires. Le second axe, disjoint du premier dans son objectif, mais le rejoignant sur les objets étudiés, est la construction de schémas de dissimulation. Nous relions cette problématique, relevant de la stéganographie, à la construction de codes de recouvrement. Nous envisageons deux modàles de schémas. Ces modàles sont prouvés équivalents aux cette équivalence pour mettre à jour la structure des recouvrements utilisés dans les travaux déjà publiés. Cette équivalence nous sert également à déduire des bornes supérieures sur la capacité des schémas, et en donnant des constructions fondées sur les recouvrements linéaires nous obtenons des bornes inférieures.

Nous étudions plusieurs problèmes de coloration dans les graphes, pour certains avec une composante ludique. La coloration à distance 2 d'un graphe est une coloration de ses sommets telle que deux sommets à distance au plus 2 ont des couleurs différentes. Le L(p; q)-étiquetage est une généralisation de ce problème ou les contraintes à distance 1 et 2 sont différentes. Nous donnons des résultats pour ces deux problèmes dans plusieurs classes de graphes peu denses (ayant un faible degré moyen maximum).Le jeu de coloration sur un graphe est un jeu ou deux joueurs, Alice et Bob, colorent tour à tour un des sommets non coloriés d'un graphe, construisant ainsi une coloration propre partielle de plus en plus étendue de ce graphe. Alice tente d'étendre la coloration à l'ensemble du graphe, et Bob tente de l'en empêcher. Nous travaillons sur un invariant de graphe, le degré minmax, dont l'étude permet de déduire des résultats pour le jeu de coloration via l'étude d'un problème structurel, la (1; k)-décomposition d'un graphe, c'est-à-dire la partition de ses arêtes en une forêt et un sous-graphe de degré inférieur ou égal à k.Nous travaillons enfin sur une variante du jeu de coloration nommée jeu de coloration d'incidences, ou Alice et Bob colorient les incidences d'un graphe, pour lequel nous donnons une stratégie efficace pour Alice.Enfin, tout au long de notre mémoire, nous étudions les liens entre la notion de coloration est celle de marquage. Un marquage est un ordre sur les sommets (ou arêtes, ou incidences...) d'un graphe possédant des caractéristiques utiles pour le colorer. Pour nos différents problèmes, nous questionnons l'utilité ou les limites de l'usage de cette notion<br>We study several problems of graph coloring, some of them with a game component.A 2-distance coloring of a graph is a vertex coloring where two vertices at distanceat most two have different colors. A L(p; q)-labeling is a generalisation of the distance-2coloring where constraints are different at distance 1 and 2. We give results for thesetwo problems in several classes of sparse graphs (with a low maximal average degree).The coloring game on a graph is a game where two players, Alice and Bob, taketurns coloring an uncolored vertex of the graph, constructing together a proper partialcoloring of the graph extending as time moves on. Alice try to extend the coloringto the whole graph, and Bob try to prevent her to win. We study a graph invariant,the minmax degree, who has consequences on the coloring game through the notion of(1; k)-decomposition of a graph, which is the partition of its edge set into a forest and asubgraph of degree bounded by k.We finally study a variant of the coloring game named incidence coloring game, whereAlice and Bob are coloring the incidences of a graph, and for which we give an efficientstrategy for Alice.Finally, during our thesis, we study the connections between coloring and marking,which is an order on the vertices of a graph (or its edges, or its incidences) havingproperties usefull for its coloring. For our problems, we try to determine the utility andthe limits of a marking-based approach of coloring problems

Sympatry is characterized by the existence of two or more species phylogenetically related occupying the same ecological niche. This event has already been recorded in species of crabs of the genus Aegla in Brazil between two species, and though morphological characteristics only. For Aegla, as in most crustaceans, there are few studies to verify if there is any relationship between sympatry and genetic diversity of populations living in this association. In the present study, besides a new record of sympatry between two species of Aegla for Brazil, Aegla platensis and Aegla spinipalma, occurring in Batú River, the occurrence of sympatry among three species, A. platensis, Aegla sp. (in preparation) and Aegla grisella, living in Cambará River, is also presented. To verify the existence of sympatry at the sampling points, besides the morphological characteristics used for the identification of individuals, the technique of DNA-Barcoding was applied using a fragment of 207 bp of the gene COI amplified in 22 individuals and from these sequences interspecific, intra- and interpopulation p-distance values were obtained. Sympatry between two species in Batú River was verified by both morphological and molecular data. For the species living in Cambará River mitochondrial and morphological data were not completely congruent, because some sequences of A. grisella clustered with individuals of other species, presenting low values of interspecific distance. However, these sequences probably are nuclear pseudogenes and when they were removed from the analysis, three species were identified in Cambará River. To verify if there is any relationship between sympatry and genetic diversity of A. platensis, two populations living in sympatry (Cambará and Batú rivers) and one allopatric population from Fiuza River were used. The technique of AFLP was applied to 120 individuals (20 from each population) revealing a high genetic variability for all populations and no relationship between sympatry and level of genetic diversity was found in A. platensis. A high population structuring was observed among populations, which is probably due to the distance among populations and to the low dispersion capability in aeglids. Results from the COI mitochondrial data and from the AFLP nuclear data presented some incongruence when compared, since using AFLP all the A. platensis populations and also the other species were separated through Bayesian analysis and UPGMA, but the same was not found for COI data. The incongruence between mitochondrial and nuclear data reinforces the idea that some A. grisella sequences are in fact nuclear pseudogenes co-amplified in PCR, due to the utilization of degenerated universal primers.<br>Simpatria é caracterizada pela existência de duas ou mais espécies filogeneticamente próximas ocupando um mesmo nicho ecológico. Este evento já foi registrado em espécies de caranguejos do gênero Aegla no Brasil, sendo estes registros realizados apenas entre duas espécies e utilizando para isto, apenas características morfológicas. Para Aegla, assim como na maioria dos crustáceos, existem poucos estudos destinados a avaliar se há alguma relação entre a simpatria e a diversidade genética das populações que vivem em tal associação. Neste estudo, além de ser apresentado mais um registro de simpatria entre duas espécies de eglídeos para o Brasil, sendo estas Aegla platensis e Aegla spinipalma ocorrendo no Rio Batú, também é apresentada ocorrência de simpatria entre três espécies, sendo estas A. platensis, Aegla sp. (em preparação) e Aegla grisella ocorrendo no Rio Cambará. Para verificar a existência de simpatria nos pontos de amostragem, além das características morfológicas utilizadas para a identificação dos indivíduos, foi realizada a técnica de DNA Barcoding com um fragmento de 207 pb do gene COI, amplificado em 22 indivíduos e a partir dessas sequências foram obtidos os valores de distâncias interespecífica, intra e interpopulacional através do modelo de distância p. A constatação da existência de simpatria entre duas espécies no Rio Batú foi verificada tanto pelos dados morfológicos quanto para os dados moleculares, porém para as espécies do rio Cambará os dados mitocondriais não foram totalmente congruentes com os morfológicos, pois algumas sequências de A. grisella agruparam com sequências de indivíduos de outras espécies e apresentaram baixos valores de distância interespecífica. Entretanto, estas sequências provavelmente são pseudo-genes nucleares e quando retiradas das análises permitiram a identificação de três espécies simpátricas no Rio Cambará. A fim de avaliar se existe alguma relação entre a simpatria e a diversidade genética de A. platensis foram utilizadas duas populações simpátricas desta espécie (Rios Cambará e Batú) e uma população alopátrica, oriunda do Rio Fiúza. A técnica de AFLP foi utilizada em 120 indivíduos (20 de cada população), onde constatou-se a existência de uma alta variabilidade genética em todas as populações, não tendo sido encontrada relação entre a simpatria e o nível de diversidade genética em A. platensis. Uma alta estruturação genética observada entre as populações, que provavelmente está associada à distância entre elas e à baixa capacidade de dispersão dos eglídeos. Os resultados do marcador mitocondrial COI e do marcador nuclear AFLP apresentaram algumas incongruências, quando comparados, visto que usando AFLP todas as populações de A. platensis e das demais espécies foram separadas por meio de análise Bayesiana e UPGMA, o mesmo não ocorrendo para o COI. A incongruência entre os dados nucleares e mitocondriais reforça a ideia de que algumas sequências de A. grisella são na verdade pseudo-genes nucleares coamplificados com o gene COI, devido à utilização de primers universais degenerados na PCR.

The p-median problem is often used to locate p service centers by minimizing their distances to a geographically distributed demand (n). The optimal locations are sensitive to geographical context such as road network and demand points especially when they are asymmetrically distributed in the plane. Most studies focus on evaluating performances of the p-median model when p and n vary. To our knowledge this is not a very well-studied problem when the road network is alternated especially when it is applied in a real world context. The aim in this study is to analyze how the optimal location solutions vary, using the p-median model, when the density in the road network is alternated. The investigation is conducted by the means of a case study in a region in Sweden with an asymmetrically distributed population (15,000 weighted demand points), Dalecarlia. To locate 5 to 50 service centers we use the national transport administrations official road network (NVDB). The road network consists of 1.5 million nodes. To find the optimal location we start with 500 candidate nodes in the network and increase the number of candidate nodes in steps up to 67,000. To find the optimal solution we use a simulated annealing algorithm with adaptive tuning of the temperature. The results show that there is a limited improvement in the optimal solutions when nodes in the road network increase and p is low. When p is high the improvements are larger. The results also show that choice of the best network depends on p. The larger p the larger density of the network is needed.

Il primo capitolo della presente tesi mette a confronto le performance di banche estere e domestiche operanti in un vasto numero di paesi –sviluppati e in via di sviluppo- durante il dispiegarsi di una crisi bancaria. A questo scopo utilizzo un dataset da me costruito fondendo i dati di bilancio e quelli relativi alla proprietà di un ricco panel di banche stanziate in diversi papesi tra il 1996 e il 2007 con informazioni riguardanti le date delle crisi bancarie accadute nei vari paesi durante il medesimo arco temporale. Le banche estere sembrano contrastare il ciclo negativo generato da una crisi bancaria e sembrano esercitare piuttosto un effetto stabilizzante in tali periodi perchè il loro bilancio non subisce riduzioni e il loro levello di “total asset” resta superiore a quello delle banche domestiche suggerendo che il credito fornito dalle banche estere alle economie locali non subisce affatto una contrazione. Nel secondo capitolo viene presentato uno studio sull’effetto generato dalla distanza fra sportelli bancari e top management delle banche (distanza funzionale) sulla probabilità di innovazione di un campione di piccole e medie imprese italiane presenti nel database Capitalia-Medio Credito Centrale dal 1995 al 2003. Si assume che all’aumentare di questa distanza risulti piu difficile trasmettere l’informazione relativa ai creditori (in questo caso le piccole imprese innovative) attraverso i vari livelli di una banca e che questa situazione possa impedire l’ottenimento di un credito per le piccole imprese che intendano apportare delle innovazioni di prodotto o di processo; l’effetto finale si sostanzia in un minore livello di innovazione da parte delle imprese che non vedono finanziati i propri pogetti di innovazione. I risultati empirici confermano l’esistenza di una relazione negativa fra distanza funzionale e probabilità di innnovazione delle imprese. Il terzo capitolo analizza le determinanti del “frustrated achievement” ovvero della situazione in cui da una anno all’altro un individuo registra una variazione positiva di reddito associata ad una contemporanea variazione negativa della propria felicità. Studiando un campione di più di 30,000 individui presenti nel “German Socio Economic Panel” per un periodo di tempo dal 1992 al 2004 si osserva che una variazione annua negativa di benessere riguarda un terzo delle variazioni annue positive di reddito presenti nel campione ed è associato alla perdita del lavoro, ad un deterioramento della salute, ad effetti di reddito relativo, a shock negativi nella situazione familiare e/o matrimoniale e ad una scarsa vita sociale.<br>The first chapter of the present thesis compares the performance of foreign and domestic banks in a set of -developed and developing- countries during the occurrence of a banking crisis. To this purpose I exploit a unique dataset obtained by merging data about the balance sheets and the ownership of a rich panel of banks settled in different countries from 1996 to 2007 with information on the banking crises occurred in the latest years. Foreign banks seem to be countercyclical and likely to have a stabilizing effect in tough times as they continue to have higher level of total assets (among other relevant variables) than domestic ones during banking crises. These results are proved to be robust to several checks aimed at controlling for country characteristics and for crisis features. The second chapter studies the effect of bank's organizational complexity on the probability of innovation of small firms. The distance between bank's branches and headquarter is a possible source of organizational frictions within a financial institution and has been defined in literature as “functional distance”. There exist several measures of functional distance and all of them give a measure of the distance between the hierarchical levels of a bank; a higher functional distance leads to a higher difficulty in passing soft information through banking layers. My analysis includes variables of relationship lending and multiple banking relationships but enriches the traditional setting with a set of functional distance measures; the empirical investigation highlights that functional distance negatively affects firms’ probability of process innovation which -not by chance- is the innovation type mostly related with soft information and with all the difficulties of passing soft information to a bank (first) and through the bank (subsequently). The third chapter is an investigation of the determinants of “frustrated achievement” in the German socioeconomic panel on more than 30,000 individuals collected between 1992 and 2004. An increase in real per capita income is generally expected to be associated with nonnegative variations in life satisfaction. The alternative (association with negative changes) is generally defined as “frustrated achievement”. What is observed is a parallel reduction in self-declared life satisfaction corresponding to almost one-third of yearly increases in (equalised) real household income. The econometric findings show that the lack of a full-time job, health deterioration, relative income effects, marital status shocks and poorer social life are the main factors associated with this phenomenon.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:24:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 KalineSA_DISSERT.pdf: 2243045 bytes, checksum: 9dabba13b96342942efddd4c92702632 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-19<br>The considerable expansion of Distance Education registered in recent years in Brazil raises the importance of debate about how the implementation of this policy has been happening so that formulators and implementers make better informed decisions, maximizing results, identifying successes and overcoming bottlenecks. This study aims to evaluate the implementation process of Distance Education policy by Secretary of Distance Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. For this, we sought to use an evaluation proposal consistent with this policy, and came to the one developed by Sonia Draibe (2001), which suggests an analysis called anatomy of evaluation general process. To achieve the objectives, we made a qualitative research, case study type, using documentary research and semi-structured interviews with three groups of subjects who belong to the policy: managers, technicians and beneficiaries. It was concluded that: the implementation process needs a open contact channel between the management and technicians and beneficiaries; the lack of clarity in the dissemination of information between technicians produces noises that affects the outcomes; the absence of dissemination of internal and external actions contributes to the perpetuation of prejudice in relation to Distance Education; using selection criteria based on competence and merit contributes to form a team of skilled technicians to perform their function within the policy; an institution that do not enable technicians generates gaps that possibly will turn into policy implementation failures; all subjects involved in politics need internal evaluations to contribute to improvements in the implementation process, however, a gap is opened between the subjects if there is no socialization of results; the existence of an internal structure that manipulates financial resources and balances the budget from different maintainer programs is essencial; the consortium between IES and municipalities in presential support poles are bottlenecks in the process, since beneficiaries are exposed to inconsistency and lack of commitment of these local municipalities<br>A consider?vel expans?o da Educa??o a Dist?ncia (EaD) registrada nos ?ltimos anos no Brasil levanta a import?ncia do debate sobre como vem sendo feita a implementa??o desta pol?tica, para que formuladores e implementadores tomem decis?es com maior conhecimento, maximizando resultados, identificando ?xitos e superando pontos de estrangulamento. Este trabalho procura avaliar o processo de implementa??o da pol?tica de EaD pela Secretaria de Educa??o a Dist?ncia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Para isso, buscou-se utilizar uma proposta de avalia??o compat?vel com a referida pol?tica, chegando-se ? desenvolvida por Sonia Draibe (2001), a qual sugere uma an?lise denominada anatomia do processo geral de implementa??o. Para alcan?ar os objetivos, realizou-se uma pesquisa de car?ter qualitativo do tipo estudo de caso, utilizando-se de pesquisa documental e de entrevistas semiestruturadas com tr?s grupos de sujeitos pertencentes ? pol?tica: gestores, t?cnicos e benefici?rios. Concluiu-se, principalmente, que: o processo de implementa??o carece de um canal de contato aberto da gest?o com os t?cnicos e benefici?rios; a falta de clareza na dissemina??o de informa??es entre os t?cnicos produz ru?dos que interferem nos outcomes (produtos); a aus?ncia de divulga??o das a??es interna e externamente contribui com a perpetua??o do preconceito em rela??o ? modalidade a dist?ncia; utilizar crit?rios de sele??o pautados na compet?ncia e no m?rito contribui para formar um corpo de t?cnicos habilitados para exercer a sua fun??o dentro da pol?tica; uma institui??o que n?o capacita t?cnicos gera lacunas que possivelmente ir?o se transformar em falhas de execu??o da pol?tica; todos os sujeitos envolvidos na pol?tica necessitam de avalia??es internas para contribuir com melhorias no processo de implementa??o, no entanto, abre-se uma lacuna entre os sujeitos caso n?o haja a socializa??o dos resultados; a exist?ncia de uma inst?ncia interna que gerencie os recursos financeiros e balanceie o or?amento oriundo dos diferentes programas mantenedores ? fundamental; os cons?rcios entre IES e munic?pios nos polos de apoio presencial se revelam como um ponto de estrangulamento do processo, pois os benefici?rios ficam expostos ? inconst?ncia e ? falta de compromisso das prefeituras nestes locais

Le aziende a controllo familiare sono considerate in molti Paesi la struttura proprietaria dominante, e la ricerca accademica si è progressivamente concentrata negli ultimi decenni sugli aspetti peculiari che differenziano le aziende familiari dalle altre strutture proprietarie. Nonostante questa convergenza, molti studi hanno sviluppato teorie contrastanti, in modo particolare sulla capacità delle aziende familiari di generare performance finanziarie superiori. Di converso, pochi studi hanno concentrato l’attenzione sulle scelte strategiche che posso spiegare il (maggiore o minore) differenziale di performance delle aziende familiari. Partendo dall’assunto che punti di forza e di debolezza possano coesistere nelle aziende familiari, identificare se siano gli uni o gli altri a prevalere è una sfida complessa se non si prendono in considerazione le scelte strategiche effettuate dalle aziende familiari. Partendo da questo gap nella letteratura, il presente lavoro cerca di misurare l’impatto che la proprietà familiare può avere sulle performance aziendali concentrandosi su tre aspetti principali della strategia d’impresa: il livello di conformità strategico alla media di settore (mediante la creazione di un indice che approssima le principali determinanti della business strategy), l’avvio di un processo di internazionalizzazione attraverso investimenti diretti esteri (IDE), e le implicazioni delle strategie di acquisizione.<br>The family business is widely considered the dominant property structure around the world and the research on this field has increased rapidly in the last decades to understand whether and in which aspects family firms differ from other organizations. Despite this convergence, the actual body of research on family firms is populated by conflicting theories and findings, especially on the relationship with financial performance. On the other hand, few studies focus their attention on which strategic choices may explain the financial differences between family firms and non-family peers. Starting from this research gap, we think that both positive and negative aspects may coexist in family firms, and it would be difficult to identify which predominate without considering how family principals frame strategic decisions. In our thesis, we try to disentangle the effect of family ownership on firm performance focusing on three main aspects of firm strategy: the level of strategic conformity through the creation of a composite index (in which we incorporated six items that can be considered as key determinants of the business strategy), the departure of the internationalization process through foreign direct investments (FDI), and the implications of acquisition strategies.

Le aziende a controllo familiare sono considerate in molti Paesi la struttura proprietaria dominante, e la ricerca accademica si è progressivamente concentrata negli ultimi decenni sugli aspetti peculiari che differenziano le aziende familiari dalle altre strutture proprietarie. Nonostante questa convergenza, molti studi hanno sviluppato teorie contrastanti, in modo particolare sulla capacità delle aziende familiari di generare performance finanziarie superiori. Di converso, pochi studi hanno concentrato l’attenzione sulle scelte strategiche che posso spiegare il (maggiore o minore) differenziale di performance delle aziende familiari. Partendo dall’assunto che punti di forza e di debolezza possano coesistere nelle aziende familiari, identificare se siano gli uni o gli altri a prevalere è una sfida complessa se non si prendono in considerazione le scelte strategiche effettuate dalle aziende familiari. Partendo da questo gap nella letteratura, il presente lavoro cerca di misurare l’impatto che la proprietà familiare può avere sulle performance aziendali concentrandosi su tre aspetti principali della strategia d’impresa: il livello di conformità strategico alla media di settore (mediante la creazione di un indice che approssima le principali determinanti della business strategy), l’avvio di un processo di internazionalizzazione attraverso investimenti diretti esteri (IDE), e le implicazioni delle strategie di acquisizione.<br>The family business is widely considered the dominant property structure around the world and the research on this field has increased rapidly in the last decades to understand whether and in which aspects family firms differ from other organizations. Despite this convergence, the actual body of research on family firms is populated by conflicting theories and findings, especially on the relationship with financial performance. On the other hand, few studies focus their attention on which strategic choices may explain the financial differences between family firms and non-family peers. Starting from this research gap, we think that both positive and negative aspects may coexist in family firms, and it would be difficult to identify which predominate without considering how family principals frame strategic decisions. In our thesis, we try to disentangle the effect of family ownership on firm performance focusing on three main aspects of firm strategy: the level of strategic conformity through the creation of a composite index (in which we incorporated six items that can be considered as key determinants of the business strategy), the departure of the internationalization process through foreign direct investments (FDI), and the implications of acquisition strategies.

L'emergenza climatica e l'esaurimento ambientale sono diventati problemi importanti per i paesi delle Nazioni Unite e i governi singolarmente stanno imponendo politiche di regolamentazione ambientale rigorose per muoversi verso una crescita sostenibile. In questo scenario, perseguire una crescita verde richiede alle imprese l'adozione di nuove strategie in termini di risparmio energetico, utilizzo di fonti rinnovabili e adozione di processi produttivi sostenibili. Questi cambiamenti hanno delle conseguenze economiche significative per le imprese e le industrie coinvolte. Tuttavia, pochi studi si sono occupati del ruolo della regolamentazione ambientale a livello settoriale. Attraverso la nostra ricerca, contribuiamo a questo filone di studio, indagando le conseguenze della regolamentazione ambientale sulla produttività a livello industrial in Italia e in Europa. Questa tesi si focalizza nello studio dell'effetto di questi strumenti sulla produttività misurando la crescita della produttività rettificata in tredici industrie manifatturiere Italiane e successivamente, il campione è stato ampliato includendo altri quattro paesi dell'UE. La crescita della produttività viene misurata utilizzando l'indice Malmquist-Luenberger, il quale si basa sulla funzione Directional Distance Function (DDF). Il principale risultato dell'indagine nel contesto italiano, è che la regolamentazione ambientale non ha un impatto negativo in quasi tutti i settori. Per valutare la solidità dei risultati stimati abbiamo utilizzato la tecnica di bootstrapping, la quale conferma la solidità della nostra ricerca. Invece, nel contesto europeo, troviamo che le normative ambientali hanno un effetto negativo sulla crescita della produttività in diverse industrie del settore manifatturiero per quasi tutti i paesi Europei inclusi nell'analisi.<br>The climate emergency and environmental depletion have become important issues for United Nations countries, and Governments are imposing stringent environmental regulation policies to move towards sustainable growth. In this scenario, pursuing green growth requires firms to adopt new strategies in terms of energy saving, the use of renewable power sources, and the adoption of sustainable production processes. These changes have significant economic consequences for firms and industries, as recent and large literature has pointed out. However, few studies have dealt with the role of environmental regulation at the sectoral level. This dissertation contributes to this topic by investigating how environmental regulation affects productivity at the sectoral level in a sample of selected European economies. It studies the effect of these instruments on productivity by measuring the adjusted productivity growth in thirteen Italian manufacturing industries and enlarged the sample by including other four EU countries. Productivity growth is measured using the Malmquist-Luenberger index, which is based on the Directional Distance Function (DDF). The main result of the Italian context investigation is that environmental regulation does not have a negative impact on almost all industries. A bootstrapping approach has been then used to assess the robustness of estimated results. Instead, in the European context, we find environmental regulations have a negative effect on productivity growth in several industries in the manufacturing sector for almost all the countries included in the analysis.

Technical progress, prevention and patient health outcomes: a new look of technical progress in health care -L’obiettivo di questo lavoro e’ la stima quantitativa del diverso ruolo che pazienti, medici e tecnologia medica hanno sull’esito dei trattamenti sanitari. L’analisi e’ basata sull’uso di una vasta e dettagliata banca dati di pazienti italiani raccolta dalla SIMG (Società Italiana di Medicina Generale) per il periodo 2001-2006. Nel caso particolare di pazienti in terapia statinica per malattie cardio-vascolari, i dati mostrano l’esistenza di eterogeneità per quanto riguarda la velocità con la quale essi raggiungono il livello di colesterolo ottimale. L’analisi empirica si concentra su due livelli: il primo di essi analizza se pazienti che mostrano una convergenza più rapida al livello di colesterolo ottimale, ottengono anche benefici in termine di riduzione dell’ospedalizzazione. I risultati confermano che un incremento del 10% della velocità di convergenza riduce dello 0,8% la probabilita’ di ospedalizzazione. Ad un secondo livello, si dimostra empiricamente che tale convergenza e’ un fenomeno nel quale ognuno degli attori in causa (paziente, medico e tecnologia) gioca un ruolo significativo, con la la tecnologia che riesce a spiegare fino al 62% dell’effetto totale. I risultati ottenuti forniscono spunti di discussione in termini di politica sanitaria. Stochastic Frontiers and Technical Efficiency: evidences from a panel of Italian hospitals -In questo paper si studia come l’efficienza tecnica ospedaliera venga influenzata della struttura produttiva e del livello di specializzazione. I dati disbonibili provengono dal Ministero della Sanita’ e si basano sulle schede di dimissione ospedaliera (SDO) raccolte nel periodo 2000-2005 nella Regione Lazio. L’analisi empirica effettuata utilizza un approccio di fontiera stocastica con funzione di distanza output e input oriented. Il modello adottato controlla per un gruppo di variabili ambientali e per il case-mix ospedaliero. L’inefficienza stimata risulta associata negativamente con la specizlizzazione e positivamente con la capitalizzazione delle strutture. La capitalizzaztione della struttura produttiva e’ tipica degli ospedali privati i quali, in media, utilizzano le risorse in maniera meno efficiente rispetto a quelli pubblici e nonprofit. Infine, dall’osservazione dell’elasticita’ di scala, e’ possibile notare come ci sia evidenza di economie di scala inesplorate, suggerendo l’ipotesi di un maggiore accorpamento delle strutture. A stochastic frontier approach to assess the efficiency of English councils with social services responsibility -Attraverso l’uso di un modello di frontiera stocastica, in questa analisi vengono esplorate le dinamiche dell’efficienza relative al commissioning dei servizi sociali da parte di 148 municipalita’ inglesi, per gli anni inclusi tra il 2002 ed il 2007. Nel lavoro viene creato un modello specifico per il caso dell’assistenza di tipo residenziale, nei centri polivalenti e a domicilio. Stimare l’efficienza di questa componente della spesa pubblica risulta fondamentale nell’ambito dell’ottimizzazione delle decisioni relative all’organizzazione e alla gestione dei servizi sociali. I risultati suggeriscono una leggera riduzione dell’inefficienza media nel tempo, la quale passa da un valore di 1,080 nel primo anno a un valore di 1,076 nell’ultimo. L’elasticita’ stimata della spesa rispetto al livello dell’assistenza residenziale e’ sette volte superiore a quella domiciliare e quindici volte superiore rispetto agli altri tipi di assistenza non-residenziale. Si evidenzia inoltre che maggiori risparmi di spesa sono ottenuti quando il mercato e’ allargato in misura maggiore agli operatori privati e appartenenti al terzo settore.<br>Technical progress, prevention and patient health outcomes: a new look of technical progress in health care -The aim of the paper is to disentangle the roles that patients, physicians and technology can have on patient health outcomes using a large and detailed dataset of Italian patients collected by the Italian College of General Practitioners (SIMG) over the period 2001- 2006. As our data show the existence of heterogeneity in the time needed to reach an optimal level of health stock, we concentrate on this measure of health outcome rather than simply on the level of patient health stock. The empirical work will then be based on two different analyses. We first explore whether patients recovering faster (in terms of time needed to reach cholesterol levels suggested by international clinical guidelines) exhibit a lower hospitalization rate for cardiovascular diseases and then the determinants of the speed of recovery to a good health status. The results confirm that a 10% increase in the speed of recovery can reduce hospitalization rates by 0.8%. Furthermore, we show that recovering to a good health status is a multifaceted phenomenon and that each single actor plays an important role in reducing the time needed to achieve the therapeutic goal, with technology that explain at the best 62% of the combined effect. These results are then discussed in terms of policy. Stochastic Frontiers and Technical Efficiency: evidences from a panel of Italian hospitals -We evaluate how the productive structure and level of specialization of a hospital affect technical efficiency by analyzing a six-year panel database (2000/2005) drawn from hospital discharge records and Ministry of Health data. We adopt a distance function approach, while measuring the technical efficiency level with stochastic frontier techniques. After controlling for environmental variables and hospital case-mix, inefficiency is negatively associated with specialization and positively associated with capitalization. Capitalization is typical of private structures which, on average, use resources less efficiently with respect to public and not-for-profit hospitals. Finally, by looking at scale elasticities, we find some evidence of unexploited economies of scale, leaving room for centralization. A stochastic frontier approach to assess the efficiency of English councils with social services responsibility -Using a stochastic frontier approach, this paper explores efficiency in the commissioning of publicly funded social services among 148 English Councils through a six-year panel database (2002-2007). It creates a specific framework for the analysis of social services commissioning, covering institutional care, day-care centres and care at home services. Our estimates of economic inefficiency provide key policy evidence about how to organise and commission social care in a context in which optimization is critical both for social and financial purposes. The results suggest a slight decrease through time in the average inefficiency score, whose sample average moves from 1.080 in the first year to 1.076 in the last year of the panel. Residential and nursing care show a cost-output elasticity around 7 times greater than that of home care and 15 times greater than that of other community care services. Significantly, greater savings are obtained when the market is open to private and voluntary providers.

Gemeinsamer Workshop von Universitaetsrechenzentrum und Professur Rechnernetze und verteilte Systeme (Fakultaet fuer Informatik) der TU Chemnitz. Workshop-Thema: Infrastruktur der ¨Digitalen Universitaet¨

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1991.<br>Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

碩士<br>玄奘大學<br>資訊管理學系碩士班<br>104<br>Due to the image transferring in the internet will produce noise, removing image noise is very important.General processing for the use of median filter, median or average of its neighborhood in the spatial domain to replace, but does make image blur. Bilateral filtering is a popular denoising technique that smooths images while preserving edges by means of a non-linear combination of adjacent pixel values. The denoising performance is sensitive to the choice of the bilateral filter parameters. Refer to other existing models, we propose a different working template size, different distance formula ( Norm ) of modified bilateral filter.

The expansion of the physical dimension of enterprises across national boundaries, through direct control exercised over other production units, has shown to have not negligible effects on the commercial flows. International trade, therefore, represents the engine driving the global economy. In a difficult time like what is going through the global economy, business strategy decisions have a key role in the international economies of each country. Offshoring is the process of overseas relocation of certain business activities in order to gain greater benefits, such as labor supply at a lower cost of labor. In recent decades, this phenomenon has become increasingly important, as there are many companies that have adopted this type of strategy, thanks to the many economic benefits it brings. However, this type of choice entails certain disadvantages. The attention of the international press is increasingly attracted by the growing instances of reshoring: the relocation. The objective of the following work is to analyze the backshoring, the return of companies’ previously relocated activities to home country. United States and Italy, respectively, are the two countries that have had the largest number of reshoring cases. More than half of back/near-shoring manoeuvres result from a return action from China (especially US companies). In addition, the phenomenon of backshoring has played an important role in industrial policy in overcoming the economic crisis. This theses investigates the phenomenon of production relocation, and in particular the backshoring, and therefore the return to the country of origin. The theoretical approaches adopted for this research are the classical theories of internationalization, organizational theories and theories on business strategy, in particular the perspective of the psychic distance to be included among the hidden costs taken into consideration by the Schulte model. The work, therefore, intends to offer a look at the phenomenon from within the company, focusing on the key processes of perceiving distance (geographical, cultural and psychic) that influence localization choices.

Angelo Zago<br>Traditionally, the main economic analysis of agricultural policies has centered on quantity, price, and risk implications of different policies. A growing part of the literature now deals with quality issues. A market failure for quality provision is often the starting point for the analysis of some form of public regulation or for granting Producers’ Organizations authority over quality regulation. Along these lines, in 1996 the European Union introduced a reform of the fruit and vegetable common European market allowing these groups of producers to plan production in order to meet demand, decide and enforce quality standards, help reducing production costs and promote environmental-friendly technology adoption. Other examples are common all over the world, for instance in Canada for maple syrup producers; in Colombia, for coffee producers; in Italy and France, for wine producers. In this dissertation I analyze the quality choices of a group of producers. In the first essay I analyze some of the problems of the self-regulation by a group of producers. Using mechanism design, I study the interaction of asymmetric information and the democratic process in the quality choices of a group of heterogenous producers. With a simple model of adverse selection I present the pricing rules and the quality provision in a group of producers facing an opportunity to gain from their collective capacity to establish a reputation for their quality products. In the essay I make the choice of the PO`s pricing mechanism endogenous, and I compare different equilibria, according to which type of producer is in the majority and to different demand and technology parameter values. I consider a situation in which only one group can be formed. I find an asymmetry in the possible equilibria between the high and the low quality majorities. If market demand and producers differences allow the group to form, the quality level provided by the group with a low quality majority is lower than the first best. In addition, the high quality producers in the minority are left with some rents above their reservation utility. When high quality producers are the majority, two different equilibria may emerge. If demand conditions are favorable and the group not very heterogeneous, the quality level provided by the group is higher than the first best and the minority`s type left with some rents. If demand and group conditions are not very favorable and the group still forms, the quality level provided by the group is the same as in the first best but the low quality producers in the minority are left with no rents. In the second essay I propose a methodology to measure the characteristics and composition of intermediate products, i.e., grapes for wine production, when quality is multidimensional. First, with the methodological contribution, I use a general representation of the technology modeling the quality attributes with a multioutput technology represented with directional distance functions and I construct quality indicators. Second, I characterize the technology by investigating the relationships among the different quality attributes and the production level by a systematic investigation of the disposability properties of the technology, showing that some quality attributes are substitute, while others are complement in production. The quality aggregate measures I propose using directional distance functions may be used to evaluate firms' output taking into account the whole set of quality attributes. In addition, I show how aggregate quality may vary with the production level. Moreover, these aggregates measure can be compared with the standard practice in the industry of using only one attribute, for instance the sugar content. The third essay shows how to design an optimal payment system for a group of producers and how to implement the first best through higher prices for better quality commodities. In the essay I first show how it is possible to implement the first best through higher prices for better quality commodities deriving the optimal pricing schedule. I take into account producers' heterogeneity by modeling inefficiency and illustrating how technical efficiency interacts with producers' ability to produce outputs for a given level of inputs and hence affects revenues. The technology and the technical efficiency of producers are then estimated with a stochastic production function model. The estimation results are then used to simulate the pricing scheme. I show that the pricing scheme depends on the quality-quantity relationship, which varies across cultivars and across years.

Bruhat-Tits buildings are a fundamental concept in the study of linear algebraic groups over general fields. The general goal of this thesis is to introduce buildings in the basic case of SLd(Qp) and to explicitly describe some of their geometrical and combinatorial properties - building are abstract simplicial complexes. After the general construction (Chapter 1) we focus in detail to the case of SL2(Qp). We work with simplices using certain matrix representatives. We explicitly describe the building and give a formula for graph distance. In Chapter 3 we consider the general case SLd(Qp), d ≥ 2. There we introduce a new concept of distance formulas. In Chapter 4 we prove some theorems which are satisfied by buildings in general. Chapter 5 studies the problem of determining so-called gallery distance of two simplices. In the last Chapter 6 we generalize the distance formulas to the case of three vertices. 1

Questa tesi esamina le interazioni tra l'incertezza e la politica monetaria mediante l'utilizzo di metodi econometrici non lineari. Si compone di tre capitoli distinti. Il primo capitolo si occupa degli effetti degli stimoli inattesi (shock da ora in avanti) di politica monetaria condizionali a diversi livelli di incertezza. Sulla base della letteratura teorica, diverse spiegazioni si pensa siano in grado di ridurre l'efficacia della politica monetaria in tempi incerti (ad esempio, l'esistenza di opzioni reali, un differente comportamento price-maker delle imprese e un maggiore risparmio precauzionale). Al fine di valutare empiricamente le supposizioni teoriche si stima un modello Interacted-VAR non lineare dove, in maniera innovativa rispetto alla letteratura, si modella la variabile condizionante - un indicatore di incertezza nel mio caso - endogenamente nel VAR. Questo implica la necessità di adottare le funzioni di risposta generalizzate (GIRFs, dall'inglese Generalized Impulse Response Functions) à la Koop et al. (1996). I risultati suggeriscono che gli shock di politica monetaria sono significativamente meno efficaci in tempi incerti, con le reazioni di picco di diverse variabili reali circa due terzi più lievi di quelle durante i periodi tranquilli. Trovo anche che l'incertezza diminuisce dopo uno shock di politica monetaria espansiva. Inoltre, mostro che, coerentemente con i risultati teorici di Vavra (2014), la reazione dei prezzi risulta più grande durante i periodi di maggiore incertezza a livello di impresa. Il secondo capitolo (lavoro congiunto con G. Caggiano e E. Castelnuovo) si interessa dell'impatto di aumenti inattesi (shock) di incertezza in presenza di un tasso di interesse a breve periodo pari a zero (in breve ZLB, dall'inglese zero lower bound), una situazione in essere negli Stati Uniti a partire dal dicembre 2008. Diversi recenti studi teorici suggeriscono che, in questa evenienza, gli shock di incertezza dovrebbero generare un calo molto più grande e persistente dell'attività reale (si veda Fernandez-Villaverde et al. (2015), Johannsen (2013), Nakata (2013), and Basu and Bundick (2014, 2015)). Tuttavia, sul lato empirico, non è stata ancora proposta alcuna analisi che modelli esplicitamente la non linearità degli effetti reali degli shock di incertezza dovuta allo ZLB. A questo scopo, ci si avvale di un parsimonioso modello Interacted-VAR non lineare allo scopo di valutare empiricamente le predizioni teoriche. I risultati mostrano che gli effetti recessivi degli shock di incertezza sono statisticamente maggiori in presenza dello ZLB, con differenze che sono economicamente importanti. Si mostra che tali differenze non sono dovute al verificarsi contemporaneo della Great Recession. Il terzo capitolo ritorna sull'argomento del capitolo 1, con l'obiettivo di indagare sulle ragioni strutturali alla base della minore efficacia degli shock di politica monetaria durante i tempi incerti. A questo scopo si adotta un affermato modello DSGE (dall'inglese Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium) Neo-Keynesiano. In particolare, si propone una semplice strategia econometrica per stimare con metodo Minimum Distance il modello DSGE condizionalmente a due regimi identificati sulla base dei dati per mezzo di modello Threshold VAR. Questa strategia poi si applica al modello di Altig, Christiano, Eichenbaum e Lindé (ACEL, 2011). Si trova che il modello di ACEL risulta essere notevolmente in grado di eguagliare le risposte del VAR, soprattutto in tempi tranquilli. Questa performance è guidata da dei valori stimati per alcuni parametri strutturali del tutto differenti tra i due regimi. In particolare, una maggiore pendenza della curva di Phillips Neo-Keynesiana, un maggior costo per variare il tasso di utilizzo del capitale, e un minore grado di abitudini nel consumo sono i principali driver della capacità del modello di predire inferiori effetti reali degli shock di politica monetaria in periodi di elevata incertezza.<br>This thesis assesses the interactions between uncertainty and monetary policy by means of nonlinear econometric methods. It consists of three separate chapters. The first chapter is concerned with the effects of monetary policy shocks conditional on different levels of uncertainty. On the basis of the theoretical literature, several explanations are thought to be able to reduce the effectiveness of monetary policy during uncertain times (e.g., real option effects, …firm-price setting behavior and precautionary savings). In order to empirically assess theoretical predictions I estimate a nonlinear Interacted VAR model, where, in a novel way with respect to the literature, I model the conditioning indicator - uncertainty, in my case, which discriminate "high" from "low" uncertainty states - endogenously in the VAR. This implies the necessity to adopt the Generalized Impulse Response Functions à la Koop, Pesaran and Potter (1996). This strategy enables me to consider both the possible endogenous reaction of uncertainty to the policy shock and its feedbacks on the dynamics of the system. My findings suggest that monetary policy shocks are significantly less effective during uncertain times, with the peak reactions of a battery of real variables being about two-thirds milder than those during tranquil times. I also find that uncertainty decreases after an expansionary monetary policy shock. Further, I show that, consistently with Vavra's (2014) predictions, the reaction of prices appears greater during firm-level uncertain times. The second chapter (coauthored with G. Caggiano and E. Castelnuovo) is concerned with the impact of uncertainty shocks at the zero lower bound (ZLB), which has been hit since December 2008 in the U.S. On the theoretical side, several recent studies suggest that when monetary policy is constrained by the ZLB, uncertainty shocks should generate a much larger and persistent drop in real activity (see Fernandez-Villaverde, Guerron-Quintana, Kuester, and Rubio-Ramirez (2015), Johannsen (2013), Nakata (2013), and Basu and Bundick (2014, 2015)). However, on the empirical side, no analysis explicitly modeling the nonlinearity of the real effects of uncertainty shocks due to the ZLB has been proposed so far. To this aim we employ a parsimonious nonlinear Interacted-VAR model to examine whether the real effects of uncertainty shocks are greater when the economy is at the ZLB. Our results show that the contractionary effects of uncertainty shocks are statistically larger when the ZLB is binding, with differences that are economically important. Such differences are shown not to be driven by the contemporaneous occurrence of the Great Recession. The third chapter returns on the argument of Chapter 1 with the aim of enquiring on the structural reasons behind the lower effectiveness of monetary policy shocks during uncertain times. To do so I adopt the lens of the workhorse New Keynesian model. In particular, I propose a simple state-conditional Minimum Distance estimation strategy of a DSGE model, which I apply to the Altig, Christiano, Eichenbaum and Lindè's (ACEL, 2011) model. The estimator matches as closely as possible the regime-dependent responses coming from an unrestricted Threshold VAR model with the corresponding model-based responses. This approach may capture possibly unmodelled mechanisms through regime-specific estimates of structural parameters. I find the ACEL model to be remarkably able to match the VAR impulse responses, particularly in tranquil times. This performance is driven by very different estimated values for some key-structural parameters in the two states. A higher slope of the new-Keynesian Phillips curve, a higher cost of the variation in capital utilization, and a lower degree of habit formation in consumption are shown to be behind the model ability to predict the lower real effects of monetary policy shocks in periods of high uncertainty.

The accounting profession continually has problems with hiring and keeping qualified staff; and many accounting scandals have shown a lack of ethical behavior on the part of Certified Public Accountants (CPA). This suggest a misfit between those in the profession and the ethics that the profession strives towards. Research has shown that the congruity of personal values with organizational values, person-organization fit (P-O fit), is an important factor in the hiring, socialization, and retention of employees. In addition, ethical behavior has been found related to P-O fit. Accounting educators have been called upon to address these problems by inculcating accounting students with the values of the accounting profession. This research firstly reports on the results of a comparison of the personal values of upper level accounting students in Georgia with the personal values of CPA leaders in Georgia. Personal value priorities were measured with the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). The findings indicated that these samples of Georgia CPA leaders (N = 193) and accounting students (N = 516) significantly differed in the priority given to 24 of the 36 (66.7%) RVS values. This result suggests a lack of P-O fit between accounting students and the accounting profession. Secondly, this research reports on the effectiveness of two education interventions designed to improve the P-O fit of accounting students: a Curriculum Modification Intervention and a Value Self-Confrontation (VSC) Intervention. These education interventions were delivered online as part of the content of two distance learning classes on accounting ethics. The curriculum of both classes were augmented with content aimed at increasing the priority given to the value of courageous. The two classes were designated as either Group 1 or Group 2. Group 1 received only the Curriculum Modification Intervention. Group 2 received both the Curriculum Modification Intervention and the VSC Intervention, which was targeted at increasing the priority given to the four values of capable, courageous. honest, and responsible—values related to the Code of Professional Conduct and Bylaws (2012) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The results indicated that Group 1, from the beginning to the end of class (short-term value change), did not increase the priority given to courageous. Thus, the stand-alone Curriculum Modification Intervention did not result in the desired effect. Group 2, on the other hand, did increase the short-term priority given to all four of the targeted values. Moreover, Group 2 increased the long-term priority given to two of the four targeted values: capable and courageous. The higher priority given to these values at the end of class persisted for 15-16 weeks. The effect sizes indicated practical significance. These results suggest that the VSC Intervention was effective at inducing both short-term and long-term value change in the priority given to values of importance to the ethics of the accounting profession. These findings have implications for CPA firms, specifically with regard to hiring ethically “fitting” staff and fostering an ethical culture in accounting firms. The results of this research also provide input that may be helpful in improving accounting pedagogy, especially the pedagogy of accounting ethics education and distance education. Key words: person-organization fit, P-O fit, CPA firm turnover, personal values, value change, value self-confrontation, VSC, Rokeach Value Survey, RVS, Certified Public Accountant, CPA, ethics education, accounting students, online education, distance learning.<br>Business Management<br>D.B.L.

Gemeinsamer Workshop von Universitaetsrechenzentrum und Professur Rechnernetze und verteilte Systeme (Fakultaet fuer Informatik) der TU Chemnitz. Workshop-Thema: Infrastruktur der ¨Digitalen Universitaet¨