Senior entrepreneurship: an emerging phenomenon

Silver Economy emerged, just over a decade ago, as a concept associated with the population aging, a demographic trend of the developed countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the current status of a Silver Economy emerging phenomenon, specifically, the senior entrepreneurship. To achieve this objective, a bibliographic search was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases based on “Silver Economy” and “Entrepreneurship” keywords. Later, data of the sixteen selected articles were collected, namely, authorship, publication date, place where the study was developed (country), study type, methodology, objectives and findings. The studies were developed in four continents, specifically, Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. Most studies (82.4%) used secondary data. Eighth studies were quantitative and the remaining eighth were qualitative. The studies analyzed the association between the level and dynamics of population aging and the development of senior entrepreneurship; investigated the concept of Silver Economy and the senior entrepreneurship phenomenon, in its essence, nature, characteristics, challenges and leadership styles; compared financial literacy between older and younger entrepreneurs; identified internal factors that affect entrepreneurial activity; acknowledged individuals’ perceptions about entrepreneurship and its impact on entrepreneurial intention; highlighted the potential of senior population for businesses and the economy; reported entrepreneurial experiences of older people after retirement; and showed the effects of motives and attitudes on well-being and personal and professional fulfilment of elderly entrepreneurs in comparison with younger entrepreneurs.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Robotic process automation framework - The implementation of Robotic Process Automation in Business Processing Outsourcing Organizations

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Marketing Research and CRMDigital transformation is the digitalization of earlier analogue machine and material processes, service operations, and organizational tasks to aggregate new value for clients and employees. There is an increasing number of organizations that are taking advantage of digital transformation, competing in the market of the digital economy. The advances of the global market in competitiveness trigger organizations whose ambition is to distinguish themselves to develop more efficient and effective processes, delivering distinctive services or products to their consumers. When the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) processes are automated with Robot Process Automated (RPA), the organization can raise cost efficiency, acquire efficiency advantages, and increase their rank in the market. Additionally, when repetitive and tedious activities are automated, human employees have time and opportunity to enhance their cognitive judgment, creative thinking, and social skills. This research approaches the steps that lead to the elaboration of a framework that can be adopted in BPO processes, aiming to help in the knowledge of which processes are typical in BPO, and which of those processes can be fully automated, semi-automated or cannot be automated with Robotic Processing Outsourcing. Afterwards, are revealed the assumptions that were the base of the artifact elaboration, following the description of each component and stage that constitute the framework. Lastly, it is referred the validation of the framework by experts and the discussion of the obtained results, conclude the utility of the artifact as support to the automation of BPO with RPA

Unveiling the production of metabolites with flavor enhancement through genome-scale metabolic modelling of a lambic beer microbial community

Dissertação de mestrado em BioinformaticsSystems biology studies biological processes on a global scale, involving different omics. It uses bioinformatic approaches, such as the reconstruction of genome-scale metabolic models to understand the biological system of a cell, organism, or microbial community. Genome-scale metabolic models are metabolic models based on the well-known stoichiometry of biochemical reactions. It offers a whole system view, predicting the metabolic phenotype, based on the genome and biochemical information. These models haves several applications in different areas such as biotechnological and pharmaceutical. Lambic beers are commercial beers from Belgium that still use old brewing styles. This type of beer is gaining interest worldwide due to its unique flavour profile obtained by a mixed yeast-bacteria culture fermentation. Therefore, in this thesis, the lactic acid bacterium Pediococcus damnosus and Brettanomyces bruxellensis yeast, which play an important role in the acidification and maturation phase of the lambic beer fermentation, will be studied. Pediococcus damnosus is a gram-positive bacterium belonging to the lactic acid bacteria group commonly found in brewery environments. Pediococcus damnosus produces only lactate by the sugar metabolism, which confers an acidic and tart flavour to the beer. In turn, Brettanomyces bruxellensis is a facultatively anaerobic yeast, also responsible for the typical aroma of lambic beer. It uses several carbon sources and produces several volatile phenolic compounds not desired in common fermentations crucial in this type of beer. Usually, in nature, the microorganisms appear in communities. Thus, the study of microbial communities is essential to understand their development, interaction and evolution. The main aim of this thesis is to unveil the production of metabolites with flavour enhancement in the acid lambic beer through the reconstruction and simulation of genome-scale metabolic models for each microorganism and therefore for the microbial community composed by them, to understand the interactions between the species and how these affects the lambic beer flavour. Two genome-scale metabolic models were reconstructed: the model of the bacterium Pediococcus damnosus and the model of the yeast Brettanomyces bruxellensis. The tool used for model reconstruction was merlin, which automates several reconstruction processes and having a user-friendly interface. The Pediococcus damnosus genome-scale metabolic model consists of 809 reactions and 589 metabolites. In turn, the Brettanomyces bruxellensis genome-scale metabolic model has 2095 reactions and 1249 metabolites. In the simulations performances, the genome-scale metabolic models showed the ability to grow in the minimal medium provided, as described in the literature. Furthermore, simulations predicted the production of certain compounds, such as butanediol in the bacterium Pediococcus damnosus and 4-ethylphenol in the yeast B. bruxellensis, which may influence the Lambic beer flavour. Interactions between the genome-scale metabolic models, especially amino acid exchanges, were predicted. The model of the Pediococcus damnosus-Brettanomyces bruxellensis community was assembled using ReFramed. The community model’s simulation results show that the interaction of these microorganisms results in the production of compounds that may flavour and thus be responsible for the unique flavour profile of Lambic beer.A biologia de sistemas estuda os processos biológicos numa escala global, envolvendo diferentes ómicas. Utiliza abordagens bioinformáticas, como a construção de modelos metabólicos à escala genómica, de modo a perceber o sistema biológico de uma célula, organismo ou comunidade microbiana. Os modelos metabólicos à escala genómica são baseados na estequiometria bem conhecida das reações bioquímicas de um dado organismo. Oferece uma perspetiva do sistema como um todo, sendo capaz de prever o fenótipo do metabolismo, baseando-se no genoma e em informações bioquímicas. Estes modelos tem várias aplicações em diferentes áreas como a indústria biotecnológica e farmacêutica. As cervejas lambic são cervejas comerciais típicas da Bélgica que ainda utilizam processos de produção de cerveja antigos. Esta cerveja tem vindo a ganhar interesse a nível mundial devido ao seu perfil aromático único que é obtido através da fermentação de uma cultura de bactérias e leveduras. Nesta tese serão estudadas a bactéria ácida láctica Pediococcus damnosus e a levedura Brettanomyces bruxellensis, que possuem um papel importante nas fases de acidificação e maturação da fermentação desta cerveja. Pediococcus damnosus é uma bactéria gram-positiva que pertence ao grupo das bactérias ácidas lácticas e é geralmente encontrada em ambientes de fermentação de cerveja. A bactéria Pediococcus damnosus produz apenas lactato pelo metabolismo dos açucares, conferindo um sabor ácido e azedo à cerveja. Por sua vez, a levedura Brettanomyces bruxellensis é uma levedura anaeróbica facultativa, também responsável pelo aroma típico da cerveja lambic. Utiliza inúmeras fontes de carbono e produz muitos compostos fenólicos voláteis que não são desejados em fermentações comuns, mas são cruciais neste tipo de cerveja. Geralmente, os microrganismos aparecem na natureza, em comunidades. O estudo de comunidades microbianas é importante para perceber o seu desenvolvimento, interação e evolução. O objetivo desta dissertação de mestrado é encontrar metabolitos que conferem o aroma característico da cerveja ácida lambic, de modo a melhorar a sua produção, usando para isso construção e simulação de modelos metabólicos à escala genómica para cada microrganismo e para a comunidade microbiana, de forma a perceber as interações entre espécies e como estas influenciam o aroma da cerveja lambic. Assim foram construídos dois modelos metabólicos à escala genomA ferramenta utilizada para a construção destes modelos metabólicos à escala genómica foi o merlin, uma vez que automatiza vários processo de construção e possui um interface intuitiva. O modelo metabólico à escala genómica da bactéria Pediococcus damnosus é constituído por 809 reações e 589 metabolitos. Por sua vez, o modelo metabólico à escala genómica da levedura Brettanomyces bruxellensis possui 2095 reações e 1249 metabolitos. Nas simulações executadas, os modelos metabólicos à escala genómica mostraram capacidade de crescer no meio mínimo fornecido, como descrito na literatura. Além disso, as simulações preveram a produção de certos compostos, como o butanodiol na bactéria Pediococcus damnosus e o 4-etilfenol na levedura B. bruxellensis, que podem influenciar o sabor da cerveja Lambic. Foram previstas interações entre os modelos metabólicos à escala genómica, sobretudo trocas de aminoácidos. O modelo da comunidade Pediococcus damnosus-Brettanomyces bruxellensis foi construído usando o ReFramed. Analisando os resultados da simulação do modelo da comunidade, pode-se concluir que a interação dos dois microorganismos resulta na produção de compostos que tem a capacidade de conferir sabor e assim serem responsáveis pelo aroma tão único da cerveja lambic

Exhibit Development in a Science Centre - Internship at the Glasgow Science Centre

This report describes an internship at Glasgow Science Centre, in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The internship was integrated into the Floor 1 Refresh Project and in the field of exhibit analysis and improvement. In this work, we consider that exhibits are the interactive objects that explain a certain scientific phenomenon through their use, in science centres and museums. The F1 project consists in reorganising and improving the entire gallery on the Floor 1, but the internship itself focused on a specific cluster of exhibits and in testing new ways of interpretation (referring to the interpretative labels fixed on the exhibits). After doing a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis on the Floor 1 and sharing some general ideas, the work focused on a Prototype Exhibit Cluster with four exhibits regarding the theme of the Sound: the Singing Bowl, the How does the Sound move through air, the Guitar Oscilloscope and the Xylophone and the Soundbox. Different interpretative labels were tried as well as different placements with a randomly selected audience. The original labels in the shape of prisms were tested, as well as some prototype new texts in simple panels with curiosities about sound. It started with front-end evaluation with one observation of the visitor’s interaction with the exhibits as they were before. Then, the exhibits were moved to create the Prototype Sound Cluster and it was made a formative evaluation with two more observations with the new prototype texts. Time spent in each exhibit was tracked as well as signs of Learning Behaviours and the results were treated to access the Visitor Engagement Profile of the exhibits. Final interviews with other visitors and some staff were also made. The data collected, allowed to test gradually changes in the exhibits during this short prototyping process. The interviews help to understand improvements to make in these exhibits for the future

Somersby : a communication strategy to reach young consumers

The company selected to serve as a background for this marketing case study was Unicer. Following the case there is a teaching note that provides useful theory for a better understanding of the case, along with suggested questions to be discussed by students when analyzing it. Unicer is the largest Portuguese soft drinks company with a multi-brand, multi-market strategy with its main operations in the beer and bottled water businesses. Throughout the years, the firm had developed a huge portfolio of well-known brands. In 2011 the company was presented with the challenge of recruiting young adults customers. Somersby, a Carlsberg Group brand of cider was the product chosen to approach the defined target. The first couple of years had questionable results, although a high potential for the brand was identified too. In this way, in 2013, faced with the possibility of internalizing the production of this beverage, a strong communication strategy needed to be employed, as measurable results were required. Hence the brand had to choose between continuing to use event marketing or to switch for a mass media approach, namely to introduce advertisement in TV. The case presents the Portuguese market environment for Somersby, its target consumers, as well as its main competitors. Further it allows students to become familiar with market and competition analysis, and illustrates the above and below the line set of options. After this, they are challenged to identify the best strategic approach, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, given the costs and reach associated with each alternative.Unicer foi a empresa escolhida para servir de base ao desenvolvimento deste estudo de caso na área de marketing. O caso é seguido de uma nota pedagógica que disponibiliza alguma teoria relevante para uma melhor compreensão do caso, bem como questões sugeridas para serem alvo de discussão pelos alunos quando da análise do mesmo. A Unicer é a maior empresa portuguesa de bebidas, com uma estratégia multimarca e multimercado, cuja actividade assenta nos negócios de cervejas e de águas engarrafadas. Ao longo dos anos, esta firma desenvolveu um enorme portfolio de marcas reconhecidas. Em 2011, a empresa deparou-se com o desafio de angariar clientes jovens adultos. Somersby, uma marca de sidra do Grupo Carlsberg foi o produto escolhido para abordar o target definido. Os primeiros dois anos mostraram resultados incertos apesar de ter sido claro o elevado potencial da marca. Deste modo, em 2013, e perante a possibilidade de internalizar a produção, era necessário implementar uma forte estratégia de comunicação que permitisse resultados mensuráveis. Assim, a marca tinha de escolher entre continuar a apostar em marketing de eventos, ou mudar para uma abordagem que incluísse media, nomeadamente introduzir um anúncio em televisão. O caso apresenta o mercado português para a Somersby, o target da marca, bem como os principais concorrentes. Adicionalmente permite aos alunos familiarizarem-se com análises de mercado e concorrência e ilustra as opções de above e below the line. Após isto, serão desafiados a identificar em termos qualitativos e quantitativos a melhor opção estratégica, tendo em conta custos e a taxa de penetração associados a cada alternativa

Tomada de decisão de profissionais sobre a retirada de menores à família biológica

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia (área de especialização em Psicologia Escolar e da Educação)A proteção de menores constitui uma preocupação relativamente recente em Portugal. Nesse âmbito, tem vindo a ser desenvolvido um edifício legislativo e institucional complexo que visa proteger o melhor possível o denominado superior interesse da criança. Alguma indefinição de conceitos, de critérios e de competências, torna complexo e por vezes conflituoso o procedimento relativamente aos menores em risco. O presente estudo, tem como objetivo compreender de que forma sujeitos envolvidos nos complexos processos de proteção de menores ponderam a retirada de crianças e jovens às famílias. Para estudar esta questão foi utilizado um questionário colocado numa plataforma online composto por 4 casos (vinhetas) que retratavam situações de abuso e relativamente aos quais se pedia a opinião e percepção de diversos profissionais potencialmente envolvidos. No estudo, participarem 103 sujeitos, entre Magistrados/ Juristas, Professores, Psicólogos e Educadores/ Assistentes Sociais. A partir das análises verificou-se que os participantes de diferentes grupos profissionais utilizam diferentes tipos de informação e características dos casos aquando da tomada de decisão sobre a retirada de menores. No geral, a gravidade do abuso e o risco de recorrência são as características com ponderação mais elevada no momento da decisão. Contudo, os Educadores/ Assistentes Sociais são os que mais desvalorizam a característica referida. O local de trabalho dos participantes não influencia significativamente as suas percepções no que diz respeito à valoração das características do maltrato. Os resultados do estudo confirmam a complexidade do processo de tomada de decisão referida noutros estudos. A filiação profissional aparenta exercer uma maior influência na tomada de decisão, ao contrário dos fatores pessoais como o sexo e as habilitações literárias e do local de trabalho.The child protection is a recent issue in Portugal. In this extend, it has been developed a set of complex institutional legislation with the objective to protect children’s best interest. Sometimes, there is concept vagueness, as well as a criteria and abilities’ uncertainty, which makes the all process complex and quarrelsome. The present study pretends to understand how professionals involved in making these kind of decisions prioritize and use particular kind of information. In order to study this question, it was used an online questionnaire, which consisted of 4 vignettes (cases) representing child and youth maltreatment situations. A total of 103 participants – Magistrates/ Lawyers, Teachers, Psychologists and Social Educators and Assistants, responded to the questionnaire. Analyses of reactions to the vignettes demonstrated that professional groups use different kinds of information when making decisions about foster care placements. In general, the professionals rely the decision on information about severity of the abuse and likelihood of recurrence. Nevertheless, the Social Educators/ Assistants were the ones who care less about the stated information. The work place does not affect significantly the professionals’ perceptions in what concerns the maltreatment characteristics’ valuation. The decision-making process’s complexity is confirmed by this study results. Professional membership seems to be more influence on decision-making then professionals’ work company and personal factors as sex and academic qualifications

Estudo comparativo entre jovens não institucionalizados e institucionalizados a cumprir pena em Centro Educativo : adversidade na infância, psicopatologia, saúde física e comportamento desviante

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia (área de especialização em Psicologia da Saúde)A adversidade durante a infância constitui um tema para o qual a Psicologia tem orientado os seus estudos, dado o conhecimento sobre a elevada prevalência e os problemas observáveis, que se estendem pela adolescência e idade adulta. O conhecimento dessas consequências no desenvolvimento sugere que um passado com história de adversidade é susceptível de tornar o indivíduo “amputado” daquilo que queria e/ou poderia ser. Os resultados da investigação sugerem que o confronto com acontecimentos ou experiências adversas na infância aumentam o risco de perturbações físicas, psicológicas e até comportamentais. No sentido de perceber a relação da adversidade com essas variáveis, desenhou-se um estudo comparativo, que visou descrever as experiências adversas vividas e os comportamentos de risco, em jovens institucionalizados a cumprir pena e não institucionalizados. Comparou-se, por isso, os dois grupos ao nível da História de Adversidade na infância, Psicopatologia e Comportamentos de Risco. Para melhor compreensão do fenómeno em estudo, procurou-se ainda averiguar a relação entre adversidade na infância e psicopatologia com comportamentos de risco, especificamente no grupo de jovens institucionalizados a cumprir pena. Participaram na investigação 72 sujeitos, divididos por 30 institucionalizados num Centro Educativo e 40 que não se encontravam institucionalizados. No momento da avaliação, utilizaram-se como instrumentos o Questionário Sócio demográfico, o Brief Symptoms Inventory, o Questionário de Hábitos e Estilo de Vida e o Questionário de História de Adversidade na Infância. Os resultados sugerem que a adversidade está significativamente mais presente nos jovens institucionalizados a cumprir pena, tendo este grupo relatado uma média de 4,51 experiências de adversidade (DP=2,04). Todos os jovens a cumprir pena relataram, pelo menos, uma experiência adversa. Este grupo apresenta mais comportamentos de risco, comparativamente aos não institucionalizados, estando a iniciação da actividade sexual precoce em destaque. No que respeita à Psicopatologia, verificou-se que o grupo a cumprir pena está, em média, clinicamente perturbado, com um índice de sintomas positivos médio de 2,78 (DP= 0,42), enquanto a maioria dos participantes do outro grupo demonstra ausência de sintomatologia clínica. Com o recurso às análises realizadas foi possível compreender que no grupo de jovens institucionalizados a cumprir pena, os sujeitos com consumo de tabaco, uso de armas e a actividade sexual desprotegida relatam valores mais elevados de adversidade na infância. A psicopatologia é mais elevada neste grupo entre os que relatam consumo de tabaco e o abuso de substâncias ricas em açúcar. Este estudo permite concluir que jovens agressores de hoje, foram vítimas de experiências ou acontecimentos adversos na infância.Childhood adversity is a main theme for which Psychology, mainly because the high prevalence and inherent problems, later in adolescence and adulthood. The knowledge of these consequences in development, leads us to consider that history of adversity is enough to impact on what happens to the subject. Research results suggest that adverse experiences in childhood increase the risk of physical, psychological and behavioral disorders. In order to understand the relationship between adversity and those variables, this comparative study aimed to describe the adverse experiences and the risk behaviors, both in institutionalized youth who are serving a sentence and not institutionalized participants. These two groups were compared in terms of Adversity, Psychopathology and Risk Behaviors. We also wanted to evaluate the relationship between childhood adversity and psychopathology with risk behaviors, especially among institutionalized youth who are serving a sentence. The participants were 72 adolescents, 30 institutionalized in an Educational Center and 40 non-institutionalized, who filled a Socio-demographic Questionnaire, the Brief Symptoms Inventory, the Mores and Lifestyle Questionnaire and The History of Childhood Adversity Questionnaire. The results suggest that adversity is prevalent in institutionalized youth who are serving a sentence, which is the group who provide more adverse events, with 4,51 adversity’s categories (SD = 2.04). All participants who are serving sentences, reported at least one adverse experience and this group is also the one who presents more risk behaviors, compared to the non-institutionalized, particularly the precipitate of premature sexual involvement. Regarding to psychopathology, it was found that the group who is serving a sentence is, on average, clinically disturbed, with a positive mean symptom index of 2.78 (SD = 0.42), while the other group shows, an average , the absence of clinical symptoms. By analyzing both groups, it was possible to understand that in institutionalized youth who are serving a sentence, smoking, weapons use and unprotected sexual activity are risk behaviors that are related to childhood adversity. In this same group, smoking and sugar abuse are also related to psychopathology. This study emphasizes a reflection already discussed in other investigations: the today’s perpetrators are the victims of adverse experiences or events in the past

Dispensing of food supplements in the treatment and prevention of urinary tract infections

Communication abstract: Proceedings of the 5th International Congress of CiiEM - Reducing inequalities in Health and Society, held at Egas Moniz’ University Campus in Monte de Caparica, Almada, from June 16th to 18th, 2021.Urinary tract infections constitute an important public health issue due to recurrence and antibiotic resistance. Currently, antibiotics are the standard therapy but non-antibiotic approaches, such as food supplements, could be beneficial and reduce bacterial resistance. This work aimed at a better understanding of the perception of health professionals involved in dispensing and counselling, in the community pharmacy, regarding the utility of these products as preventive alternatives and therapeutic approaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionThis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

A snapshot of anti-cellulite products' consumption and pharmaceutical intervention

Abstract of the communication presented at the 3rd International Congress of CiiEM ‘Research and Innovation in Human and Health Sciences. Campus Egas Moniz, Caparica, Portugal, June 20-22, 2018N/