Determinants of environmental certification of hotel companies. an analysis of the portuguese case

Goal: Sustainability in tourism is one of the major topics of research. Sustainability is also a major issue of interest for all tourism actors in tourism supply and a major concern for tourism demand. From all stakeholders involved in tourism activity, hotel companies are urged to install responsible businesses and investment (Aznar et al., 2016; Claver-Cortés et al., 2007; Geerts, 2014; Park & Kim, 2014;Rodríguez & Cruz, 2007; Singal, 2014). The aim of the present paper is to identify main determinants of environmental certification of hotel companies in Portugal. Method: The present study uses a methodology based on the analysis of hotel companies that have hotel units certified and those not having certified hotels units. Each company is established in Portugal and may operate one or more hotel units. The dataset was created considering two different databases: data from Hotel Establishments, such as hotels, aparthotels and Pousadas nationwide, registered in the Portuguese National Tourism Registry in 2021; data from the Analysis of Iberian Balance Sheets (SABI) database from Bureau van Dijk obtaining the economic and financial data of companies that manage those hotel units. Several variables were selected to assess the determinants of environmental certification related to the characteristics of hotel establishments. Financial indicators were also computed to determine the influence of financial performance on environmental certification. Hypothesis were established concerning hotel companies’ dimension, star rating, affiliation to a brand and financial performance. Data analysis and Tobbit regression were computed to test hypothesis. Findings: The empirical results show that dimension, star rating and affiliation explain environmental certification. In fact, hotel companies with a higher average capacity also have a higher average of certified hotels. Likewise, hotel companies with a higher average on stars rating also have a higher average of certified hotels. Still, hotel companies with a higher average of affiliated hotels also have a higher average of certified hotels. Hotels with higher star rating are more concerned with environmental certification what could be explained by the type of more demanding consumer. Also, brand affiliated hotel companies adopt more frequently environmental certification since management processes are standardized and hotel chains may support individual units adopting certification (Gil et al., 2001). Hotel companies with higher capacity are more concerned with cost savings achieved through environmental certification and since larger hotels have a reater impact on the environment they are exposed to considerable environmental pressures from stakeholders (Gil et al., 2001). Concerning financial indicators it was not possible to obtain statistically significant results. Though, for financial indicators as return on sales and return on equity, we could obtain positive results concerning a positive relation between financial performance and environmental certification. These results are in line with other works studying other countries as is the case of Gil et al. (2001), Duric and Topler 55 (2021), Cavero-Rubio and Amorós-Martínez (2020), Molina-Azorín et al. (2009) and Segarra-Ona et al. (2012). Limitations: Limitations of the study are related to the reduced number of hotel companies in Portugal that have environmental certified hotel units. Practical implications: The results of this study are important for hotel managers specially those managing higher star rating hotels and those managing higher dimension hotels. Future research could address hotel establishments instead of hotel companies and consider other types of indicators that relate to sustainability practices. Originality: This paper intends to fill a gap in literature studying the Portuguese case on the subject of the determinants of environmental certification and how it relates to financial performance of hotel companies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Arrow Plot: a new graphical tool for selecting up and down regulated genes and genes differentially expressed on samples subgroups

Background: A common task in analyzing microarray data is to determine which genes are differentially expressed across two (or more) kind of tissue samples or samples submitted under experimental conditions. Several statistical methods have been proposed to accomplish this goal, generally based on measures of distance between classes. It is well known that biological samples are heterogeneous because of factors such as molecular subtypes or genetic background that are often unknown to the experimenter. For instance, in experiments which involve molecular classification of tumors it is important to identify significant subtypes of cancer. Bimodal or multimodal distributions often reflect the presence of subsamples mixtures. Consequently, there can be genes differentially expressed on sample subgroups which are missed if usual statistical approaches are used. In this paper we propose a new graphical tool which not only identifies genes with up and down regulations, but also genes with differential expression in different subclasses, that are usually missed if current statistical methods are used. This tool is based on two measures of distance between samples, namely the overlapping coefficient (OVL) between two densities and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The methodology proposed here was implemented in the open-source R software. Results: This method was applied to a publicly available dataset, as well as to a simulated dataset. We compared our results with the ones obtained using some of the standard methods for detecting differentially expressed genes, namely Welch t-statistic, fold change (FC), rank products (RP), average difference (AD), weighted average difference (WAD), moderated t-statistic (modT), intensity-based moderated t-statistic (ibmT), significance analysis of microarrays (samT) and area under the ROC curve (AUC). On both datasets all differentially expressed genes with bimodal or multimodal distributions were not selected by all standard selection procedures. We also compared our results with (i) area between ROC curve and rising area (ABCR) and (ii) the test for not proper ROC curves (TNRC). We found our methodology more comprehensive, because it detects both bimodal and multimodal distributions and different variances can be considered on both samples. Another advantage of our method is that we can analyze graphically the behavior of different kinds of differentially expressed genes. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the arrow plot represents a new flexible and useful tool for the analysis of gene expression profiles from microarrays

Patrimônio Cultural e espaços sociais

Ao longo do presente volume, são apresentados trabalhos (apostando alguns na cooperação autoral entre ambos os lados do Atlântico) que analisam o Património em distintas perspectivas e que se expressa, como acima se assinalou, em diferentes categorias, assentando essas abordagens em instrumentação teórica, formal e prática que confirma a sua pertinência.Universidade de Évora; CIDEHUS - Centro Interdisciplinar de História, Culturas e Sociedades (UIDB/00057/2020); FC

caracterização, diagnóstico e terapêutica

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, 2022, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia.As Síndromes Falciformes incluem as hemoglobinopatias em que a mutação falciforme pode ser herdada com outra mutação do gene que codifica a β-globina. Dentro destas podemos encontrar portadores de hemoglobina S ou pessoas com a doença falciforme. A doença falciforme é uma doença hematológica que afeta milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo. Na doença falciforme, os glóbulos vermelhos apresentam forma anormal (forma falciforme) e interrompem o fluxo sanguíneo normal, causando vaso-oclusão. Como consequência, surge isquemia e inflamação, associado a sintomas característicos da doença como crises dolorosas. Recentemente, surgiram novas opções terapêuticas farmacológicas como a L-glutamina, o voxelotor e o crizanlizumab como alternativa à hidroxiureia e numa tentativa de diminuir a frequência das transfusões sanguíneas. O transplante de células estaminais hematopoiéticas e, mais recentemente, a terapia genética, constituem as únicas abordagens terapêuticas curativas. Os métodos de diagnóstico atualmente utilizados são acessíveis nos países desenvolvidos, mas menos acessíveis nos países em vias de desenvolvimento, o que acaba por ser uma barreira ao diagnóstico precoce da doença. Estão a ser desenvolvidas técnicas inovadoras que possam estar mais acessíveis a todos. O rastreio neonatal da Drepanocitose, já implementado em vários países, após um estudo piloto em Lisboa e Setúbal, foi alargado a todo o nosso país, desde fevereiro de 2022, com vista a aferir a necessidade de incluir a drepanocitose no painel das doenças abrangidas pelo Programa Nacional de Rastreio Neonatal.Sickle Cell Syndromes include hemoglobinopathies in which the sickle cell mutation can be inherited with another mutation in the gene that encodes β-globin. Within these we can find people with sickle cell traits or with sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is a hematological disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In sickle cell disease, red blood cells have an abnormal shape (sickle-shaped) and interrupt the normal blood flow, causing vaso-occlusion. As a result, ischemia and inflammation appear, associated with characteristic symptoms of the disease, such as painful crises. Recently, several new therapeutic options have emerged such as L-glutamine, voxelotor and crizanlizumab as an alternative to hydroxyurea and in an attempt to reduce the frequency of blood transfusions. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and, more recently, gene therapy constitute the only curative therapeutic approaches. The diagnostic methods currently used are accessible in developed countries, but less accessible in developing countries, which turns out to be a barrier to early diagnosis of the disease. Innovative techniques that can be more accessible to all are being developed. The neonatal screening for sickle cell disease, already implemented in several countries, after a pilot study in Lisbon and Setúbal was extended to the whole country, since February 2022, , in order to assess the need to include sickle cell disease in the panel of diseases covered by the National Neonatal Screening Program

Os Bronzes do Museu da Sociedade Martins Sarmento: Alfinetes de Toucado.

Volume especial - Actas do Congresso de Proto-História Europeia, 1999, p. 561-586

Optimização dos testes de germinação para monitorização das colecções de plantas autóctones conservadas em bancos de sementes

Mestrado em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaWith the aim to contribute to the optimization of germination tests to monitor the seed collections of native plants conserved in seed banks, germination percentage, germination rate (T50) and lenght of the germination period (T10-90) were evaluated in 16 species studied on four temperatures 15°C, 20°C, 25ºC and 15º/25 ºC. The species were subject to pre-germination treatments to break dormancy: cold stratification (30 days) at 4°C in Scrophulariaceae and Umbelliferae, mechanical scarification in Malvaceae, and Fabaceae, and thermal scarification (115ºC, 10 min.) in Cistaceae. Seeds were incubated in a photoperiod of 8 hours light/16 hours dark. According to results, the species germinated better for the following pretreatements and temperatures: in Cistaceae (thermal scarification): Tuberaria lignosa at 20°C and Halimium lasianthum to 15º/25ºC; in the Fabaceae (mechanical scarification): Adenocarpus complicatus at 15°C and 20°C, Cytisus villosus at 15°C and Vicia sativa subsp.nigra at 20°C; in Malvaceae (mechanical scarification): Alcea rosea at 20°C, Lavatera arborea and Lavatera cretica at 15°C. Pretreatements did not promote the germination of species of the families Scrophulariaceae and Umbelliferae

As memórias de tradução: um estudo de caso na AP - PORTUGAL

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Estudos Interculturais Português/Chinês (área de especialização em Tradução, Formação e Comunicação Empresarial)O presente relatório apresentará as atividades desenvolvidas durante o estágio curricular do Mestrado em Estudos Interculturais Português/Chinês: Tradução, Formação e Comunicação Empresarial, realizado na empresa de tradução AP | PORTUGAL, num período compreendido de seis meses, a partir de fevereiro 2017 até julho 2017. Focar-se-á principalmente na tarefa principal que desenvolvi ao longo do estágio, dedicada à Gestão das Memórias de Tradução. O primeiro capítulo visa apresentar a empresa com uma breve apreciação global do estágio, no segundo capítulo irá ser feita uma apresentação da Tradução Assistida por Computador: CAT (Computer Assisted Translation Tools), irá também ser feita uma abordagem às memórias de tradução recorrendo à descrição da tarefa principal desenvolvida no estágio curricular, nomeadamente, a gestão das memórias de tradução: em que consistiu este projeto, e a enumeração de erros e inconsistências encontradas ao longo do mesmo. No terceiro capítulo será feita uma descrição das três fases do projeto da gestão das memórias de tradução, sendo também apresentadas outras atividades desenvolvidas, sendo estas: o DTP – Desktop Publishing, a tradução, revisão e releitura, o controlo de qualidade, as transcrições, alinhamentos para a criação de memórias de tradução e por fim uma breve descrição dos guias de instrução de trabalho.This report will present the activities developed during the internship of the Master's Degree in Portuguese / Chinese Intercultural Studies: Translation, Training and Business Communication, carried out in the translation company AP | PORTUGAL, in a period of six months, from February 2017 to July 2017. It will focus mainly on the main task that I developed during the internship, dedicated to the Management of Translation Memories. This first chapter aims to present the company with an overall assessment of the internship, in the second chapter will be presented the Computer Assisted Translation (CAT), and an approach to the translation memories will be made using the description of the main task developed during the internship, namely the management of translation memories: in which consisted this project, and the enumeration of errors and inconsistencies found throughout this project. In the third chapter, a brief description of the 3 phases of the management of translation memories project will be made, as well as other activities such as: DTP - Desktop Publishing, translation, revision and proofreading, quality control, transcriptions, alignments for creating translation memories and finally a brief description of work instruction guides.本实习报告将介绍我在AP|PORTUGAL 翻译公司进行的实习活动。该实习从2017 年2 月开始，到同一年7 月结束，前后共计6 个月。这篇报告将着重介绍我在实习期间 完成的主要工作，即翻译记忆管理。 第一章旨在呈现我的实习概况，第二章将介绍计算机辅助翻译（CAT），通过描 述在实习期间的主要工作，我将陈述翻译记忆的方法，即翻译记忆管理法。这一方法 包含本项目，以及对于错误和不一致性的举例说明。 第三章将描述翻译记忆管理的三个步骤,以及其它活动，如：DTP - 桌面出版， 翻译，修订和校对，质量控制，翻译，创建翻译记忆库，和简要的工作说明手册