Discourses on Research and Researchers: The Case of Portuguese Associated Laboratories

This paper aims to map knowledge produced by associated laboratories in Portugal using the two-phase model of discourse analysis proposed by Sousa and Magalhães(2013). We analyse the mission of associated laboratories to understand what is (are) the privileged form(s) of knowing in science and the actors involved in that process. Weidentify discourse organisers (phase one of the model) and the way discourses become dominant/excluded (phase two of the model). The application of the two-phase model of discourse analysis enables us to conclude that research is being constructed as academic science in a post-academic world and researchers are presented as “in training” or as professors

Exploring the relation between consumer motivations & engagement with brands in Facebook

This thesis aims to explore the digital consumer behavior and proposes a conceptual framework that allows to comprehend the consumer’s Motivations and Engagement types to interact with brands in Facebook. Specifically, the research goal is to explore the relationship between the two and point out which Motivations better explain Engagement. Lastly, the analysis consists of segmenting Facebook users based on their Motivations and exploring their Engagement levels. The present research addresses the Portuguese Facebook users’ behavior based on Motivational and Engagement variables. Those were chosen with the intention of recognizing their importance in this context and exploring the connection between both. Scales from previous literatures were adapted and used to explore the Motivations, Enginkaya and Yilmaz (2014), and the Engagement, Malciute (2012). A quantitative and exploratory study was conducted and an online questionnaire was applied to a convenience sample of 350 Facebook users. Results indicated that the main Motivations to interact with brands in Facebook are Opportunity Seeking, Conversation and Entertainment. Moreover, the main Consumer Engagement dimension is Emotional. Further, there is a significant relation between Motivations and Engagement, and the Motivations that better help to predict Engagement are Brand Affiliation, Entertainment and Investigation. Moreover, three segments of Facebook users were identified and the main one presents the highest Engagement levels. The framework might serve as a tool for managers to better understand Facebook users’ behaviors regarding brands, thus enabling them to improve the allocation of digital resources, especially regarding Facebook and their marketing strategies with a suitable segmentation approach.Esta tese tem como objetivo explorar o comportamento do consumidor digital e propõe um quadro conceptual que visa facilitar a compreensão das Motivações que levam o consumidor a interagir com as marcas no “Facebook” e o seu “Engagement”. A intenção fulcral desta pesquisa é investigar a relação entre Motivações e “Engagement” e realçar as Motivações que melhor explicam o “Engagement”. O propósito final é segmentar os usuários de “Facebook” consoante as suas Motivações e explorar o seu nível de “Engagement”. A presente pesquisa relativa aos usuários do “Facebook” portugueses tem como base variáveis de Motivação e “Engagement”, sendo que as mesmas foram retiradas e adaptadas do estudo de Enginkaya e Yilmaz (2014) e do de Malciute (2012), respetivamente. Estas variáveis foram selecionadas com a finalidade de verificar a sua importância neste contexto e explorar a relação entre ambas. Um estudo quantitativo e exploratório foi elaborado. Foi aplicado um questionário “online” a uma amostra de 350 usuários de “Facebook”. Os resultados indicam que as principais Motivações são: Procura de Oportunidades, Conversacional e Entretenimento. Relativamente ao “Engagement” a dimensão com maior relevância é a Emocional. Os resultados comprovam a relação entre Motivações e “Engagement” e destacam a Filiação às Marcas, o Entretenimento e a Investigação como sendo as Motivações, que melhor explicam o “Engagement”. O quadro conceptual poderá assim servir como ferramenta para que as marcas compreendam o comportamento do consumidor “facebookiano”, tornando mais eficientes a alocação de recursos “online” e estratégias de marketing com uma boa abordagem de segmentação

Deposição eletroforética de caulino

Mestrado em Engenharia de MateriaisA deposição eletroforética (EPD) é uma técnica interessante do ponto de vista de processamento de materiais permitindo a formação de filmes dos mais variados materiais em diferentes substratos condutores. É uma técnica simples, versátil e de baixo custo associado. No presente trabalho, conduziram-se estudos que permitiram estabelecer as condições apropriadas para a produção de filmes espessos de caulino por EPD. Depositaram-se filmes de caulino em verde, com cerca de 5 mg, em três tipos de substrato: aço inoxidável, folha de platina e silício platinizado. Para a identificação das condições de deposição, contribuiu o estudo sistemático das condições de preparação da suspensão de caulino que incluíram a avaliação do potencial zeta de suspensões com o pH da mesma, do efeito da composição do meio suspensor (água, etanol, ou mistura de ambos), do recurso ao iodo como aditivo, e da variação com o tempo da transmitância da luz UV por parte dos diferentes meios suspensores, com ou sem iodo. Os resultados obtidos permitiram concluir que as melhores condições de deposição são as que combinam a adição de alguma água ao etanol, enquanto meio suspensor, e o uso de iodo como aditivo. Os filmes preparados por EPD foram sinterizados a 1200 e 1300 oC, durante 2 h. A microestrutura dos filmes, antes e após sinterização, observada por microscopia eletrónica de varrimento (SEM) permitiu concluir que as partículas de caulino tendem a depositar de uma forma orientada em que as suas superfícies basais se alinham paralelamente ao substrato. Os filmes de caulino sinterizados foram submetidos a ensaios de nanoindentação e determinou-se a sua dureza Vickers e módulo de Young para os quais se obtiveram, respetivamente, 300 MPa e 40 GPa. Este trabalho contribuiu para identificar condições para obter filmes espessos de caulino de cuja a microestrutura anisotrópica se aponta a possibilidade de aceder a propriedades maximizadas segundo determinadas direções o que do ponto de vista das suas aplicações pode abrir novas oportunidades.Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is an interesting technique from the point of view of materials processing. The technique allows the formation of films of many different materials on different conductive substrates. Besides that, EPD is a simple, versatile and low cost technique. The studies conducted, in the present work, allowed the establishment of appropriate conditions to produce kaolin thick films by EPD. Green kaolin films with around 5 mg were deposited on three types of substrate: stainless steel, platinum foil and platinized silicon. A systematic study about the preparation conditions of the kaolin suspension contributed to identify the deposition conditions. This study included the assessment of the pH dependence of zeta potential of the suspension and the effect of the suspension media (water, ethanol or a mixture of both) as well as the use of iodine as additive. Transmittance variation of the UV light with time was also assessed for the different suspension media with and without iodine. The obtained results allowed to conclude that the best deposition conditions are those that combine the use some water in the ethanol based suspension media added also with iodine. The kaolin films produced by EPD were sintered at 1200 and 1300 oC for 2 h. The observation of the films microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), before and after sintering, allowed to conclude that the kaolin particles tend to deposit in an oriented way in which their basal surfaces align parallel to the substrate. The sintered kaolin films were submitted to nanoindentation tests and their Vickers hardness and Young’s modulus was determined as 300 MPa and 40 GPa, respectively. This work contributed to identify the conditions to obtain kaolin thick films of which the anisotropic microstructure is expected the possibility of assessing maximized properties under certain directions. From the point of view of applications, this can open new possibilitie

Asylum Seekers' Trajectories of Exclusion: An Analysis Through the Lens of Intersectionality

The recent increase in asylum seekers in Portugal has drawn attention to the need for effective social integration. The experiences of asylum seekers reveal the existence of social exclusion before migration and the need for them to be included to participate in host societies. This research employs a qualitative methodology, analysed through the lens of intersectionality. In 2021, twenty‐six semi‐structured interviews were conducted with asylum seekers, detailing their trajectories to Europe from their countries of origin in the Global South. The interviews explored their experiences and the reception they encountered in their final or intermediate destinations. The findings indicate that the departures from the countries of origin are associated with contexts of human rights violations - discrimination and persecution due to respondents' religious, social, ethnic, or sexual orientation. The routes to Europe involved long and perilous journeys by land or sea facilitated by smugglers who charged exorbitant amounts without ensuring protection. The results also reveal that the exclusion asylum seekers experience continues even after requesting international protection in a European country. The findings of this empirical research are important because Portugal has been identified as a safe alternative for the secondary movements of asylum seekers. However, structural issues associated with a struggling welfare state push migrants into new contexts of social exclusion. Our analysis helps to identify trajectories of exclusion among new waves of asylum seekers with implications for decision‐makers and policy actors

Design and power consumption analysis of a NB-IoT End device for monitoring applications

As the number of connected things increases at a very fast pace, the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem expands and nowadays covers a vast number of application domains, providing a large portfolio of solutions that are based on an evolving system, from the physical sensors (end devices) to the Cloud. When designing battery-powered end devices, previous research has identified several challenges such as wireless connectivity, battery lifetime, embedded intelligence, security and privacy concerns, and costs (modem unit, communication link and maintenance, among others). This paper focuses on the design and development of battery-powered IoT devices in which NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) is used to provide seamless wireless connection, reduce power consumption, enhance communication coverage and minimize maintenance costs. The paper describes a typical use case where an Arm Cortex -M0+ and its low-power modes are exploited in order to design a low-power end device. Two different approaches, bare-metal and freeRTOS, for implementing the end device firmware are compared. Additionally, performance tests prove that increasing the clock frequency of the processor does not bring any advantage to this kind of applications. ® ®This work has been supported by NORTE-06-3559-FSE 000018, integrated in the invitation NORTE-59-2018-41, aiming the Hiring of Highly Qualified Human Resources, co financed by the Regional Operational Programme of the North 2020, thematic area of Competitiveness and Employment, through the European Social Fund (ESF). This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020. The authors would like to thank the support team of NOS Comunicações for providing the NB-IoT connection and server service, and for technical support throughout the installation

Hazard analysis and critical control point system: A compliance analysis of food security in Portugal

Atualmente, a sociedade moderna está mais preocupada e alerta sobreperigos como a falta de segurança, a higiene e o controle de sistemas e serviços que podem afetar o consumidor. O sistema de Análise de Perigos e Ponto de ControloCrítico (HACCP) é baseado numa metodologia preventiva, para evitar potenciais riscos que podem causar danos aos consumidores, eliminando ou reduzindo estes perigos. Este sistema tenta garantir que os alimentos não seguros não sejam disponibilizados ao consumidor. A Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica (ASAE) é um órgão de polícia criminal especializado nas áreas de segurança alimentar e inspeção económica em Portugal. É responsável pela avaliação e comunicação de riscos na cadeia alimentar, bem como pelo cumprimento legal de atividades económicas nos setores alimentar e não alimentar. O sistema HACCP é reconhecido mundialmente e desenvolvido para evitar riscos potenciais ao consumidorsendo também seguido pela ASAE. A ASAE gera um grande e complexo volume de dados nas diversas inspeções que realiza, na receção de reclamações, na sua classificação, no seu registo e na monitorizaçãoaté o final do processo. Os dados analisados nesta dissertação referem-se a reclamações sobre entidades e pedidos de informações de 2014 a 2018.Nos anos de 2014 a 2018, fazendo uma análise estatística com o Python,pode-se verificarque as reclamações relacionadas ao sistema HACCP são maiores do que em 2014, 2017 e 2018.A percentagem relativa àsegurança alimentar é superior à segurança económicaem três anos,entre 2014 e 2018. Assim sendo, uma vez que o sistema HACCP é responsável por garantir a segurança alimentar, este estudo torna-se relevantedevido à sua análisededados,expressa com medidas estatísticas e visualização gráfica de reclamações relacionadas a este sistema.Nowadays, modern society is more concerned and alert about the dangers, lack of security, hygiene, control of systems and services that can affect the consumer. The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is based on a preventive methodology to avoid potential hazards that may cause harm to consumers by eliminating or reducing these hazards. This system attempts to ensure that unsafe food is not made available to the consumer.The Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) is a criminal police body specialized in the areas of food security and economic inspection in Portugal. It is responsible for risk assessment and communication in the food chain, as well as legal compliance with economic activities in the food and non-food sectors. The HACCP system is recognized worldwide and designed to avoid potential consumer risks and is also followed by ASAE. ASAE generates a large and complex volume of data in the various inspections it performs, in receiving complaints, classifying them, registering them and monitoring them until the end of the process.The data analyzed in this dissertation refer to complaints about entities and information requests from 2014 to 2018.In the years 2014 to 2018, making a statistical analysis with Python, it can be seen that complaints related to the HACCP system are higher than in 2014, 2017 and 2018. The percentage relative to food security is higher than the economic security in three between 2014 and 2018.Therefore, since the HACCP system is responsible for ensuring food safety, this study becomes relevant due to its data analysis, expressed with statistical measures and graphical visualization of complaints related to this system

EPIREUMAPT PROTOCOL - PORTUGUESE EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES

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