As práticas de gestão nas empresas familiares portuguesas do sector textil

A empresa familiar ocupa um espaço importante nas economias industrializadas e emergentes. A relação entre família e empresa confere-lhe características especiais em que se confundem as esferas económica e familiar. Vários trabalhos têm surgido sobre esta realidade empresarial, sendo escasso o estudo dos domínios da gestão propriamente dita. O presente trabalho tem por base uma amostra de empresas familiares do Sector Têxtil do distrito de Castelo Branco, em Portugal. Procura-se estudar a particularidade deste tipo de empresa, identificando as práticas de gestão que orientam a sua actuação como empresa. Na sequência da metodologia de investigação utilizada, foi possível identificar, quanto às práticas de gestão, que se privilegia a manutenção da gestão na família, seguida das práticas relacionadas com os recursos humanos.The family firm occupies an important space in the industrialised and emergent economies. The relationship between family and business adds special characteristic in which economic and family spheres are fused. Various studies have appeared on this business reality, thus dealing little with the areas of management specifically. This study is based on a sample of family firms in the Textile Sector located in the district of Castelo Branco, in Portugal. It seeks to study the particularity of this type of organisation, identifying the management practices that guide its performance as business. Following the research methodology used, it was possible to identify, with regard to management practices, that maintaining the management in the family has priority, followed by practices related to human resources

Complexidade prosódica e segmentação de palavras em crianças dos 4 aos 6 anos de idade

The main goal of the current study is to identify the impact of specific linguistic aspects in the task of word syllabic segmentation. Three prosodic variables were considered: syllabic complexity, word extension and word stress. The instruments for the evaluation of phonological awareness are normally conceived without underlying criteria constraining the shape of the phonological stimuli used for data collection. The present study contributes for the discussion on the relevant variables to be taken into account for the proposal of a linguistically controlled evaluation instrument in the field of phonological awareness. The syllabic segmentation task used contains 42 words and it was presented to a group of 80 Portuguese children with of mean age of 64 months. For the ‘syllabic complexity’ variable, the Onset of the first syllable of the word was controlled (CV, V, CCV). The results showed that children reach a higher rate of success for word-initial CV and V than for branching Onset. The reaction time values obtained show that the segmentation for word-initial V and CV forms are lower than the ones for word-initial CCV. As for the variable ‘word extension’, the success rates depended on this aspect: disyllabic words are easier to segment than disyllabic ones. Finally, the ‘word stress’ variable showed that the penultimate stress pattern in trisyllabic words promote the success in the children’s performance.  O objectivo deste trabalho é o de contribuir para o estudo do efeito de variáveis linguísticas numa tarefa de segmentação silábica de palavras, manipulando-se, especificamente, três variáveis: complexidade silábica; extensão de palavra; acento de palavra. A relevância de um trabalho desta natureza reside na escassez de instrumentos de avaliação da consciência fonológica que tenham em consideração estas variáveis, podendo os resultados aqui obtidos constituir um contributo para a construção linguisticamente controlada de instrumentos desta natureza. Observaram-se 80 crianças portuguesas com uma média de idade de 64 meses, submetidas a uma tarefa de segmentação com 42 palavras. Quanto à variável complexidade silábica, os dados mostram que as crianças segmentam melhor palavras com CV inicial e V inicial do que palavras com ClV e CrV. Os tempos de reacção obtidos mostram que sílabas com V inicial e CV inicial demoram menos tempo a ser segmentadas do que as sílabas com CCV inicial. Por outro lado, as palavras dissilábicas apresentam valores de sucesso mais elevados e tempos de reacção mais baixos do que as palavras trissilábicas e os trissílabos paroxítonos têm percentagens de sucesso e tempos de segmentação mais elevados do que os proparoxítonos

Eco-friendly ZnO/chitosan bionanocomposites films for packaging of fresh poultry meat

UID/EMS/04077/2019 UID/QUI/50006/2019 UID/QUI/00100/2019 Contrato No: IST-ID/154/2018) under Decree-Law No. 57/2016 and 57/2017.The advances on the development of novel materials capable to enhance the shelf life of food products may contribute to reduce the current worldwide food waste problem. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are considered GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and due to their good antimicrobial properties are suitable to be applied as active compounds in food packaging. ZnO NPs were synthesized to be tested in active bionanocomposites through an eco-friendlier route using apple peel wastes. This work aimed to develop bionanocomposites based on chitosan and incorporated with ZnO NPs to characterize its bioactivity via in vitro and in situ studies, using fresh poultry meat as the food matrix. Overall, bio-based biodegradable films presented good antimicrobial activity, being the intrinsic antimicrobial properties of chitosan enhanced by the ZnO NPs added on the system. When used as primary packaging of the meat, the samples protected with the films presented a decrease on the deterioration speed, which was represented by the preservation of the initial reddish color of the meat and reduction on the oxidation process and microbiological growth. The nanoparticles enhanced especially the antioxidant properties of the films and proved to be potential food preservatives agents to be used in active food packaging.publishersversionpublishe

Idosos em contexto comunitário: gestão ineficaz do regime terapêutico e risco de queda

Introduction: Drugs intake is common in the elderly, but pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetic changes associated with multiple pathologiy amplifys the drug interactions and adverted effects

Strategies to Improve the Barrier and Mechanical Properties of Pectin Films for Food Packaging: Comparing Nanocomposites with Bilayers

2020.04441.BD SFRH/BD/144346/2019 UIDB/50006/2020 UIDP/50006/2020 UIDB/04077/2020 UIDP/04077/2020 UIDB /00100/2020Traditional food packaging systems help reduce food wastage, but they also produce environmental impacts when not properly disposed of. Bio-based polymers are a promising solution to overcome these impacts, but they have poor barrier and mechanical properties. This work evaluates two strategies to improve these properties in pectin films: the incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) or sodium montmorillonite (MMT) nanoparticles, and an additional layer of chitosan (i.e., a bilayer film). The bionanocomposites and bilayer films were characterized in terms of optical, morphological, hygroscopic, mechanical and barrier properties. The inclusion of the nanofillers in the polymer reduced the water vapor permeability and the hydrophilicity of the films without compromising their visual properties (i.e., their transparency). However, the nanoparticles did not substantially improve the mechanical properties of the bionanocomposites. Regarding the bilayer films, FTIR and contact angle studies revealed no surface and/or chemical modifications, confirming only physical coating/lamination between the two polymers. These bilayer films exhibited a dense homogenous structure, with intermediate optical and hygroscopic properties. An additional layer of chitosan did not improve the mechanical, water vapor and oxygen barrier properties of the pectin films. However, this additional layer made the material more hydrophobic, which may play an important role in the application of pectin as a food packaging material.publishersversionpublishe

A Contribution to the Bio and Circular Economy

and Cássia H. Barbosa’s Ph.D. fellowship (2021.08154.BD). MMA thanks the Instituto Superior Técnico for the Scientific Employment contract (contract No: IST-ID/154/2018) under Decree-Law No. 57/2016 and 57/2017. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.The development of innovative/sustainable materials capable of enlarging the shelf-life of food products has lately been a focus of research, aiming to reduce food waste. Due to their good antimicrobial properties, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) can add activity to food packaging, improving its performance. Furthermore, these nanoparticles are considered GRAS by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which represents an advantage in their application. Through an innovative and sustainable approach using tomato and passionfruit extracts, ZnO NPs were produced and incorporated into pectin films. The resulting bionanocomposites were tested for their activity via in situ studies, using fresh poultry meat as a food matrix. Overall, the bionanocomposites presented good antimicrobial activity, with the intrinsic antimicrobial properties of pectin having shown to be enhanced by the incorporated ZnO NPs. When used as primary packaging for the meat, the deterioration rate of the poultry meat, measured through microbiological growth and total volatile basic nitrogen content, was reduced. However, the nanoparticles contributed to the increment of discoloration and meat oxidation processes. Nonetheless, it can be concluded that fresh poultry meat protected with the bionanocomposites presented an extension of its shelf-life time, and it was confirmed that this eco-friendly packaging has potential to be employed by the food industry.publishersversionpublishe

The genetic ancestry of American Creole cattle inferred from uniparental and autosomal genetic markers

Cattle imported from the Iberian Peninsula spread throughout America in the early years of discovery and colonization to originate Creole breeds, which adapted to a wide diversity of environments and later received influences from other origins, including zebu cattle in more recent years. We analyzed uniparental genetic markers and autosomal microsatellites in DNA samples from 114 cattle breeds distributed worldwide, including 40 Creole breeds representing the whole American continent, and samples from the Iberian Peninsula, British islands, Continental Europe, Africa and American zebu. We show that Creole breeds differ considerably from each other, and most have their own identity or group with others from neighboring regions. Results with mtDNA indicate that T1c-lineages are rare in Iberia but common in Africa and are well represented in Creoles from Brazil and Colombia, lending support to a direct African influence on Creoles. This is reinforced by the sharing of a unique Y-haplotype between cattle from Mozambique and Creoles from Argentina. Autosomal microsatellites indicate that Creoles occupy an intermediate position between African and European breeds, and some Creoles show a clear Iberian signature. Our results confirm the mixed ancestry of American Creole cattle and the role that African cattle have played in their development

Streptococcus pyogenes Causing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections Are Enriched in the Recently Emerged emm89 Clade 3 and Are Not Associated With Abrogation of CovRS

Although skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are the most common focal infections associated with invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pyogenes (Lancefield Group A streptococci - GAS), there is scarce information on the characteristics of isolates recovered from SSTI in temperate-climate regions. In this study, 320 GAS isolated from SSTI in Portugal were characterized by multiple typing methods and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and SpeB activity. The covRS and ropB genes of isolates with no detectable SpeB activity were sequenced. The antimicrobial susceptibility profile was similar to that of previously characterized isolates from invasive infections (iGAS), presenting a decreasing trend in macrolide resistance. However, the clonal composition of SSTI between 2005 and 2009 was significantly different from that of contemporary iGAS. Overall, iGAS were associated with emm1 and emm3, while SSTI were associated with emm89, the dominant emm type among SSTI (19%). Within emm89, SSTI were only significantly associated with isolates lacking the hasABC locus, suggesting that the recently emerged emm89 clade 3 may have an increased potential to cause SSTI. Reflecting these associations between emm type and disease presentation, there were also differences in the distribution of emm clusters, sequence types, and superantigen gene profiles between SSTI and iGAS. According to the predicted ability of each emm cluster to interact with host proteins, iGAS were associated with the ability to bind fibrinogen and albumin, whereas SSTI isolates were associated with the ability to bind C4BP, IgA, and IgG. SpeB activity was absent in 79 isolates (25%), in line with the proportion previously observed among iGAS. Null covS and ropB alleles (predicted to eliminate protein function) were detected in 10 (3%) and 12 (4%) isolates, corresponding to an underrepresentation of mutations impairing CovRS function in SSTI relative to iGAS. Overall, these results indicate that the isolates responsible for SSTI are genetically distinct from those recovered from normally sterile sites, supporting a role for mutations impairing CovRS activity specifically in invasive infection and suggesting that this role relies on a differential regulation of other virulence factors besides SpeB

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio