Rural tourism, hospitality and cultural tourism experiences: rural tourism business: case studies in Baixo Alentejo (Portugal)

Rural tourism meets the needs of a growing group of urban consumers who seek to break away from everyday life and gain a reinvigorating, rural and authentic experience that integrates traditions, customs and local identity. Through its peculiar characteristics such as hospitality and its symbolic materials, rural tourism company owners have an opportunity to diversify their activities here. The offer of interactive and dynamic experiences refers to the singularity of places and the personalization of experiences, which are decisive factors in the affirmation of destinations with rural characteristics and for the differentiation of rural tourism establishments. The present research presents the first phases of an investigation using a set of semistructured interviews with the owners of rural settlements (rural tourism), with selection based on their location in the county, their size and the experiential activities they promote and that are disseminated through communication channels. The aspects considered in the collection of data are related to the need to deduce the symbols of hospitality, characterized by history, local culture, gastronomy and tradition, along with other aspects that influence good service. From the analysis of the results, it was possible to conclude that rural tourism establishments, know well what tourists are looking for in rural space and develop several activities (individual or in partnership) to attend their needs. The managers also reveal distinguished behaviour to give a personalized and high-quality customer service

From Observations and Pictures to Images: Learning Lab@PP2 in Tourism Classes

Learning Lab@PP2 is a pedagogical tool that has been applied in a degree course in tourism at the Polytechnic Institute of Beja, specifically in classes of Professional Practice II. It advocates that the learning process should occur in the complex context of society, organizations and professional relations that characterize the tourism industry. The goal is to contribute to the development of professional skills in tourism and educate students as citizens who must be aware of their role in today\u27s increasingly global world. Within Learning Lab methodology, this paper aims to share the benefits of using practical methods in tourism education environments, in this case based on two participatory exercises: (a) visual-based methodologies (photovoice); and (b) participant and non-participant observation as a method of analysing situations. The results from using this methodology will be also presented in addition to a discussion about the educational benefits framed by the experiential learning paradigm

Cooperation between actors for tourism development: the appreciation of heritage and cultural resources in rural territories

Framed by the theoretical context concerning cooperation between tourism agents, the present paper aims to contribute for better understanding South Alentejo tourism agents’ perceptions on the areas in which they can cooperate for promoting development and competitiveness in the region. Furthermore, the paper also looks at the tourist agents’ perception on role that the dynamics of cultural resources play in promotion of development and competitiveness in the region. This paper reports results from a case study conducted in the frame of the thesis developed as requirement to get the PhD in Tourism. Data was gathered by a questionnaire developed for the study from a sample of tourism agents working in the public, private business and associative (non lucrative) sectors. The study results has indicated that valuation of the existing culture, integrated development of tourism resources and products and organization of promotional activities are the areas considered more relevant for the tourism agents to cooperate among them. In particular, leaders of different sectors agree with the need to cooperate focusing on the valorisation of local and regional cultural resources. This is important because the South Alentejo region has excellent cultural resources that, if strategically used, can provide a major differentiating factor

Innovative Tourism Partnership Models: The Case of Nautical Stations in Portugal and Spain

This chapter provides a deeper insight into the concept of a nautical station. More specifically, it tries to determine the importance of partnership models defined by digital platforms as a tool for a cooperation strategy in the development of new products; such is the case of nautical tourism in Portugal, a coastal nation in southwestern Europe. With this objective in mind and framed by the concept of the nautical station as a starting point, a descriptive analysis explores this topic. The case of Spain, with the development of the Nautical Resorts Association, is a model for best practice that must be not replicated but adapted to the situation in Portugal. This chapter advocates that nautical tourism, as a strategic tourist product for Portugal, will gain more prominence and strength if supported by a collaboration model between the various stakeholders of the tourism system framed by partnership models

A COOPERAÇÃO ENTRE OS STAKEHOLDERS E O DESENVOLVIMENTO TURÍSTICO DOS TERRITÓRIOS RURAIS – O CASO DA SUB-REGIÃO DO BAIXO ALENTEJO (ALENTEJO - PORTUGAL)

Este artigo, que resultou de uma investigação de Doutorado, tem como objetivo analisar a importância da cooperação entre os stakeholders para o desenvolvimento turístico dos territórios rurais, numa perspectiva de sustentabilidade. A cooperação entre os atores chave do setor turístico 30representa uma mais valia, no sentido de promover os destinos turísticos rurais. Baseando-se numa investigação empírica de caráter quantitativo, procurou-se, com um questionário estruturado, aplicado via e-mail e correio tradicional aos stakeholders do setor público, setor privado e associativo do turismo, avaliar a percepção daqueles agentes, sobre as medidas e as áreas de atuação prioritária em termos de cooperação de modo a contribuir para o desenvolvimento turístico de uma sub-região de Portugal, o Baixo Alentejo, tipicamente rural. Concluiu-se que os agentes consideram importante haver uma cooperação intersetorial, pois: fortalece o turismo, contribuindo para a revitalização econômica e social dos territórios rurais; aumenta a competitividade empresarial; permite as trocas de recursos onde se inclui o capital, o conhecimento; e reforça a legitimidade das políticas de turismo. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Turismo. Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Cooperação entre Atores

The teaching of mathematics and the external evaluation of schools: a study involving teachers from 1st to 6th grade

ISBN 978-989-8471-21-5The processes and practices of Portuguese education and training are becoming increasingly integrated in agendas globally structured, and whose area of influence is placed in the common frame of European Union policies and transnational organisms such as OCDE (Pacheco, 2009). Evaluation has been acquiring, in the last decades, a critical role, extrapolating its importance beyond the field of education (Afonso, 2010). The emphasis given to schools evaluation derives from two trends that affect most European countries: the decentralization of means and the creation of national goals and of levels of school results (Eurydice, 2011). Departing from the political and economic analysis of globalization on education and making a critical approach to the policies of sharing (Takayama, 2008), it is aimed to analyze the mediation of the pressure applied by curricula policies of homogenization and standardization of results (Afonso, 2012; Santiago, Donaldson, Looney & Nusche,2012) and their influence on teachers of Mathematics. This quantitative study, involves a questionnaire survey to teachers from 1st to 6th grade and primary teachers, in which it is ascertained how the model of external evaluation, implemented in Portugal since 2006, has been contributing to the creation of concrete consequences in school results, namely on the standards of evaluation, and on the dominance of summative tests in Mathematics, taking in account the curricular changes and teaching changes.Operational Program of Competitiveness Factors – COMPETEFCT – Sciences and Technology Foundation under the project PTDC/CPE-CED/116674/201

Structure and mechanism of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase, a candidate huntington’s disease drug target

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Biomédicas (Neurociências), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2013Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a polyglutamine expansion in the huntingtin protein. There are currently no effective therapeutics available to treat this disorder despite intense research in the field. Recently, however, the flavoenzyme kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO) emerged as a promising candidate therapeutic target for HD. KMO is an FAD-dependent outer mitochondrial membrane protein which catalyses the conversion of L-kynurenine (L-KYN) to 3- hydroxykynurenine (3-HK). It has been shown that inhibition of KMO activity is protective in yeast, fruit fly, and mouse models of HD [1–5]. Additionally, it has been also implicated in the pathophysiology of several other neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease, AIDS-dementia complex, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, depression and schizophrenia [6, 7].Despite major interest in pharmacological targeting of KMO, only a few potent inhibitors are currently available, and none are known to appreciably penetrate the bloodbrain barrier in adult animals [3, 8]. Furthermore, the molecular basis of KMO inhibition by available lead compounds has remained unknown and for that reason KMO crystal structures in complex with tight binding inhibitors would be of undeniable interest for the future design of new small molecule inhibitors that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and could ultimately have major therapeutic value.The aim of this thesis was to produce high levels of KMO protein for structural, functional, and mechanistic studies, with the final goal of developing novel inhibitors that possess the selectivity and affinity to open up new opportunities for therapeutic intervention and inform the development of brain-penetrant KMO inhibitors.Several constructs, including both full length and truncated forms of human KMO (HsKMO), were efficiently overexpressed and purified and kinetic analysis of pure recombinant KMO showed a Km value for L-kynurenine of 22.62± 4 M which is very similar to that observed for the rat liver mitochondria preparations (16 M) [9] and human liver enzyme (13.0 ± 3.3 M) [10]. The tight-binding substrate-like inhibitor UPF 648 was found to bind recombinant KMO tightly (Ki 56.7 nM). The poor stability and low expression yield of human KMO however prevented crystallisation. We thus turned our attention to Saccharomyces cerevisiae KMO (ScKMO), which is highly related to human KMO (38 % identity and 51 % similarity). The biochemical characterisation of ScKMO was carried out by using a combination of UV/Visible absorbance spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, HPLC-based assays and stopped-flow analyses and revealed that Sc enzyme was active as a flavin-dependent monooxygenases, generated authentic 3-HK in HPLC-based assays and was inhibited by UPF 648 (Ki 74 nM) with potency similar to that with HsKMO.The structure of ScKMO was determined using selenomethionine single anomalous diffraction and subsequent crystal structures were solved to 1.85 Å resolution. We were unable to obtain a complex with the kynurenine substrate but succeeded in cocrystallising the enzyme with UPF 648, a tight-binding substrate-like inhibitor. UPF 648 binds close to the FAD cofactor and perturbs the local active-site structure, preventing productive binding of the substrate kynurenine.Functional assays and targeted mutagenesis revealed that the active-site architecture and UPF 648 binding are essentially identical in human KMO, validating the ScKMO– UPF 648 structure as a template for structure-based drug design. This will inform the search for new KMO inhibitors that are able to cross the blood–brain barrier in targeted therapies against HD and other neurological diseases.A doença de Huntington é uma doença neurodegenerativa causada por uma mutação no gene que codifica a proteína huntingtina. Apesar do grande desenvolvimento cientifico no campo das neurociências não existe actualmente nenhum tratamento capaz de tratar ou retardar o progresso desta doença. A enzima quinurenina mono oxigenase (KMO) surgiu recentemente como importante alvo terapêutico para a doença de Huntington. KMO é uma flavoproteína mitocondrial que catalisa a conversão do substrato quinorinina em 3-hidroxiquinorinina. Vários estudos mostraram que a inibição da actividade da KMO é neuroprotectora em modelos animais de Huntington, incluindo modelos de levedura, de Drosophila e de rato [1–5]. Esta enzima está igualmente relacionada com outras doenças neurológicas como por exemplo Alzheimer, Parkinson, complexo AIDS demência, esclerose lateral amiotrófica, depressão e esquizofrenia [6, 7]. Apesar do grande interesse terapêutico da KMO, até à data foram desenvolvidos poucos inibidores especificos para esta enzima, e nenhum deles comprovou ser eficiente a atravessar a barreira hemoto-encefálica em modelos animais.O conhecimento da estrutura molecular da KMO em complexo com substratos ou potenciais inibidores é desta forma fundamental para o desenvolvimento de novas moléculas capazes de penetrar a barreira hemoto-encefálica. O objectivo principal da presente tese é produzir quantidades significativas da proteína KMO para o desenvolvimentos de estudos estruturais, funcionais e mecanisticos com o objectivo futuro de desenvolver novos fármacos que possuam a selectividade e afinidade necessárias para intervenções terapêuticas.A proteina humana KMO foi eficientemente expressa e purificada, e estudos cinéticos da respectiva proteina revelaram um valor de Km para quinorinina (22.62± 4 M) bastante semelhante ao valor calculado para preparações mitocondriais de fígado de rato (16 M) [9] e humano (13.0 ± 3.3 M) [10]. Estudos de inibição enzimática com o inibidor forte da KMO (substrato análogo) UPF 648, revelaram também que este se liga com uma afinidade nanomolar (Ki 56.7 nM). Os baixos niveis de expressão proteica em conjunto com a instabilidade da proteina impossibilitaram o processo de crsitalização e futuros estudos estruturais. Consequentemente, o projecto foi direccionado para a proteína homologa KMO de Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ScKMO), que apresenta 38 % de identidade e 51 % de similaridade com a proteina humana.A caracterização bioquimica da proteina Sc foi realizada utilizando uma combinação de várias técnicas biofisicas, como espectroscopia de UV-visivel e de fluorescência, HPLC e ensaios de stopped-flow, mostrando que o mecanismo enzimático da ScKMO se assemelha a maioria das flavoproteinas, e mostrando que esta enzima é inibida pela molécula UPF 648 de modo semelhante a homóloga humana (Ki 74 nM). A estrutura da ScKMO foi inicialmente determinada usando o método da dispersão anómala a um unico comprimento de onda e estruturas subsequentes foram determinadas com uma resolução de 1.85 Å. Foi igualmente determinada a estrutura da ScKMO em complexo com a molécula UPF 648. Este inibidor liga-se na proximidade do cofactor FAD e perturba a estrutura do sitio activo, impossibilitando a ligação do substrato quinorinina.Estudos de mutagenese sitio-dirigida em aminoácidos do sitio activo e respectivos ensaios enzimáticos revelaram que a arquitectura do sitio activo é identico à proteina humana, validando a estrutura ScKMO–UPF 648 como base para o futuro desenvolvimento de moléculas baseadas na estrutura da proteina, e consequentemente a pesquisa de novos farmacos capazes de atravessar a barreira hemato-encefalica e com potencial terapêutico para a doença de Huntington e outras doenças neurológicas.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

O impacto do Covid-19 na oferta de experiências turísticas em turismo em espaço rural: Um estudo exploratório

A experiência é fundamental no turismo. O turista é uma pessoa informada, com novas necessidades e procura mais do que o descanso. Pretende uma experiência única e um serviço diferenciado, adaptado às suas necessidades. Estas novas exigências podem ser um verdadeiro desafio para as empresas no que concerne à criação e cocriação de experiências. No panorama atual, com os impactos da pandemia por Covid-19, este processo exige maior flexibilidade para continuar a proporcionar experiências memoráveis aos clientes num ambiente seguro. O objetivo deste artigo consiste em perceber os impactos da pandemia na oferta de experiências turísticas, tomando como exemplos exploratórios, unidades de Turismo em Espaço Rural (TER) do Baixo Alentejo (BA). Tendo por base um relatório de projeto de fim de curso, tomou-se como estudos de caso, duas empresas de turismo em espaço rural do Baixo Alentejo, que se destacam pelo trabalho desenvolvido na criação de experiências para os seus clientes e que foram também afetadas pela pandemia Covid-19. Através da realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas aos empresários gestores dos empreendimentos turísticos, constatou-se que os impactos mais evidentes assentaram na necessidade de adaptação e reorganização da estrutura organizacional e ao nível da procura e das atividades realizadas para grandes grupos