International Tourism and Economic Growth: a Panel Data Approach

On average, tourism-specialized countries grow more than others. This fact is inconsistent with economic theory as, in particular, endogenous growth theory suggests that economic growth is linked with: (1) sectors with high intensity in R&D and thus high productivity; (2) large scale. In this paper, we use panel data methods to go further in treating the endogeneity problem. In general and contrary to previous works, we conclude that tourism, on its own, cannot explain the higher growth rates of these countries.Tourism, Economic growth, Panel data

The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation Initiatives on Consumer Satisfaction: the mediating role of Corporate Reputation

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementThe current demand made to companies for the adoption of innovative measures and corporate social responsibility activities is due to the growing number of problems related to the economic instability and destruction of the environment but also, because of the increasing amount of sentient and attentive stakeholders towards businesses daily behaviours. This study aims to analyse the influence that corporate social responsibility activities and innovations adopted by companies have over their own reputation and consumer satisfaction. To measure this influence, a quantitative research method, a questionnaire, was used to collect the information needed to test the conceptual model developed in this research using the PLS-SEM technique. This study results prove the direct and positive influence that both corporate social responsibility activities and innovation initiatives have over consumer satisfaction and businesses reputation. This investigation can help companies through its recommendations of which actions firms should adopt to allure more consumers given that, for the respondents of this specific study, corporate social responsibility activities are considered a successful tactic to boost public perceptions which, consequently, improves companies’ reputation and leads to consumer satisfaction.A atual exigência feita às empresas pela adoção de medidas inovadoras e atividades relacionadas com a sua responsabilidade social deve-se ao crescente número de problemas associados à instabilidade económica e destruição do meio ambiente, mas também, pelo aumento de stakeholders conscientes e atentos aos comportamentos diários das empresas. Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar a influência que as atividades de responsabilidade social empresarial e inovações adotadas pelas empresas têm sobre a sua própria reputação e a satisfação do consumidor. Para medir esta influência, recorreu-se a um método de pesquisa quantitativa, um questionário, para recolher a informação necessária para testar o modelo conceptual desenvolvido neste estudo através da técnica PLS-SEM. Os resultados desta pesquisa comprovam a influência positiva e direta que tanto as atividades de responsabilidade social empresarial como as iniciativas de inovação têm sobre a satisfação do consumidor e a reputação empresarial. Esta investigação pode ajudar as empresas através da recomendação de quais ações estas devem adotar para cativar mais consumidores, uma vez que, para os inquiridos deste estudo em específico, práticas relacionadas com a responsabilidade social das empresas aparentam ser uma boa tática para melhorar as perceções do público que em consequência, melhora a reputação da empresa e leva à satisfação do consumidor

Maker Networks Fighting Covid-19: Design Guidelines for Redistributed Manufacturing (RDM) Models

Maker Networks indicate how society organizes itself to overcome significant challenges, such as the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze initiatives that produced PPE for frontline health staff to propose design guidelines for implementing RDM-Maker Networks: networks of people and organizations in the Maker Movement that collaboratively produce goods or services organized in a redistributed manufacturing (RDM) model. This paper has two main results: five Maker Networks in Brazil analyzed in terms of their RDM features and the subsequent design guidelines. We selected cases through several criteria like their location and the type of one of their nodes. Those criteria also represent limitations that further works can address

Meanings of family constructed with health professionals in the family health strategy

A participação da família no cuidado em saúde tem ganhado destaque na construção das políticas públicas no Brasil. Neste estudo, buscamos compreender sentidos construídos com profissionais de saúde sobre famílias e suas implicações na produção de práticas de cuidado na Estratégia Saúde da Família. Realizamos um estudo qualitativo, cujo corpus foi composto pela transcrição de áudio-gravações de 16 reuniões de “discussão de famílias”, realizadas no cotidiano de duas equipes de saúde da família. A análise foi feita com base no referencial das práticas discursivas e produção de sentidos no cotidiano, sendo explicitados quatro sentidos: família como pessoas que moram juntas; como responsável pelo cuidado; como problema; e como rede de relações. Concluímos que há esforços dos profissionais em focalizar a assistência na família, porém ações centradas no indivíduo e ainda pouco pautadas na análise do contexto e das condições de vida dos familiares são mais comuns em suas práticas discursivas.The participation of the families in health care has been emphasized in the construction of policies in Brazil. In this study, we aim to understand meanings constructed with health professionals about families and the implications of these meanings for the production of health care practices in the Family Health Strategy. We conducted a qualitative study, whose corpus was composed by the transcription of 16 meetings of "Family discussion groups", helded as part of the routine of two Family Health Program´s teams. The analysis of the transcriptions was based on the theoretical perspective of the discursive practices and production of meanings in everyday life. As a result, four meanings were constructed: Family aspeople who live together; as responsible for the care; as a problem; and as a net - work of relationships. We conclude that there are efforts of professionals to consider the family in their practice, however, actions centered on the individual, and still not guided by the analysis of the context and living conditions, are more common in their discursive practices

Cuando los dispositivos sociotécnicos de la hidroenergía colonizan el agua de las comunidades: ¿controversias o comunidades energéticas?

El presente artículo analiza las implicancias sociales de la red sociotécnica creada por la apertura del mercado hidroeléctrico en Chile. En particular nos centramos en las controversias que generan los dispositivos sociotécnicos de la energía sobre el uso tradicional del agua en territorios de la región de La Araucanía. En este territorio el agua ha tenido ancestralmente otros usos, los que hasta ahora no han sido reconocidos por la política nacional. Al observar estos dispositivos como una forma política y tecnológica que interviene los territorios y coloniza el agua para el funcionamiento del mercado energético, se reflexiona sobre la dicotomía “sociedad-naturaleza” que transforma el agua en un bien de intercambio económico dejando en desventaja otros campos de conocimiento y usos colectivos del agua. En particular, aquellos que se representan desde los “mundos de la diferencia”, donde el agua puede ser al mismo tiempo vida, paisaje, espíritu, energía y desarrollo. Metodológicamente se aborda la etnografía multisitio para describir esta situación en los territorios de Curacautín-Malalcahuello, permitiéndonos dar cuenta de los obstáculos que los dispositivos sociotécnicos imponen a la conformación de comunidades energéticas

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci in oral and nasal cavities

Staphylococcus infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to the growing number of resistant strains to old and new antibiotics. Staphylococcus aureus is referenced as the most clinically relevant but other species, known as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), have emerged as major causes of serious infections. Although nostrils are considered Staphylococcus preferred host habitat, the oral cavity has also been appointed as a relevant reservoir. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility (AS) of nasal and oral staphylococci isolates. Therefore, AS was determined to 102 nasal and 90 oral isolates, previously recovered from dentistry students, by disc diffusion agar for amoxicillin, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, quinupristin-dalfopristin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim+sulfamethoxazole following the EUCAST/CLSI guidelines. In either nasal (N) or oral (O) cavities, the Staphylococcus isolates included 22% of S. aureus and 78% of CoNS isolates, namely S. epidermidis (41%-N,37%-O), S. warneri (15%-N,16%-O), S. capitis (10%-N,4%-O), S. saprophyticus (9%-N,6%-O), S. pasteuri (7%-O), S. lugdunensis (3%-O), and other (S. haemolyticus, S. hominis, S. sciuri, S. cohnii, and S. condimenti/S. carnosus). All S. aureus isolates presented resistance to at least one antibiotic, and 36% in oral and 25% in nasal cavities presented multidrug resistance (MDR). Among CoNS 65% in oral and 49% in nasal cavities presented resistance to at least one antibiotic, and ~5% presented MDR, namely isolates of S. epidermidis, S. pasteuri, S. haemolyticus, and S. hominis. In conclusion, this study revealed the relevance of the oral cavity as a colonization site for Staphylococcus, including S. aureus, and as a potential source/reservoir of antibiotic resistance, which has been widely neglected so far, highlighting the need for oral cavity inclusion in the Staphylococcus carriage and antibiotic screening.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Experimental Comparison of Micromilling Pure Titanium and Ti-6Al-4V

International audiencePure titanium is the ideal metallic material to be used for producing dental implants due to its good corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. However, pure titanium does not present high mechanical resistance, which can be a limiting factor. Recently, the pure titanium is being replaced by titanium alloy with aluminum and vanadium (Ti-6Al-4V). This study deals with micromilling machinability of pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V considering mechanical properties, the forces measured during the process, surface roughness, top burr height, and chips morphology. The cutting tests are performed for the constant depth of cut and cutting speed, and a range of feed per tooth from 0.5 to 4.0 µm/tooth. Results show no significant differences in roughness and burr formation whereas higher forces are found for the titanium alloy compared to pure metal. Both materials produce long chips for smaller feeds

Improving cork polymer composites for the automotive industry

[Excerpt] The pressure imposed by legislations and treaties to adopt more sustainable and eco-friendly alternative materials is rising. Therefore, the use of cork-polymer composites (CPC) in the automotive industry could bridge the difficulties they have complying with the environmental laws and the need of giving a second life to the cork industrial wastes. From the cork processing, residues are generated, also called cork subproducts, with granulometries that wouldn’t be possible to use in other cork typical applications. With the purpose of implementing a circular economy model and reduce the waste that would be generated in normal conditions by burning or by throwing the cork residues in a landfield, the investigation and the development of new products involving these residues are taking place. [...

An Overview of the Application of Viruses to Biotechnology

Viruses may cause devastating diseases in several organisms; however, they are simple systems that can be manipulated to be beneficial and useful for many purposes in different areas. In medicine, viruses have been used for a long time in vaccines and are now being used as vectors to carry materials for the treatment of diseases, such as cancer, being able to target specific cells. In agriculture, viruses are being studied to introduce desirable characteristics in plants or render resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Viruses have been exploited in nanotechnology for the deposition of specific metals and have been shown to be of great benefit to nanomaterial production. They can also be used for different applications in pharmacology, cosmetics, electronics, and other industries. Thus, viruses are no longer only seen as enemies. They have shown enormous potential, covering several important areas in our lives, and they are making our lives easier and better. Although viruses have already proven their potential, there is still a long road ahead. This prompt us to propose this theme in the Special Issue “The application of viruses to biotechnology”. We believe that the articles gathered here highlight recent significant advances in the use of viruses in several fields, contributing to the current knowledge on virus applications

White matter lesions by magnetic resonance: an assessment between DWI and T2 FLAIR techniques

RESUMO: Objetivos – Determinar a sensibilidade e especificidade das ponderações Difusão (DWI) e T2 Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) na avaliação de lesões da substância branca (SB) e verificar em que medida se complementam, por forma a criar um conjunto de boas práticas na RM cranioencefálica de rotina. Metodologia – Recorrendo-se a uma metodologia quantitativa, efetuou-se uma análise retrospetiva da qual foram selecionados 30 pacientes, 10 sem patologia e 20 com patologia (2 com EM, 7 com Leucoencefalopatia, 6 com doença microangiopática e 5 com patologia da substância branca indefinida). Obteve-se uma amostra de 60 imagens, nomeadamente: 30 imagens ponderadas em DWI e 30 em T2 FLAIR. Recorrendo ao programa Viewdex®, três observadores avaliaram um conjunto de imagens segundo sete critérios: visibilidade, deteção, homogeneidade, localização, margens e dimensões da lesão e capacidade de diagnóstico. Com os resultados obtidos recorreu-se ao cálculo de sensibilidade e especificidade pelas Curvas ROC, bem como à análise estatística, nomeadamente, Teste-T, Índice de Concordância Kappa e coeficiente de correlação de Pearson entre as variáveis em estudo. Resultados – Os resultados de sensibilidade e de especificidade obtidos para a ponderação T2 FLAIR foram superiores (0,915 e 0,038, respetivamente) aos da ponderação DWI (0,08 e 0,100, respetivamente). Não se verificaram variâncias populacionais significativas. Obteve-se uma elevada correlação linear entre as variáveis com um valor r situado entre 0,8 e 0,99. Verificou-se também uma variabilidade considerável entre os observadores. Conclusões – Dados os baixos valores de sensibilidade e especificidade obtidos para a DWI, sugere-se que esta deva ser incluída no protocolo de rotina de crânio como auxiliar no diagnóstico diferencial com outras patologias.ABSTRACT: Objectives – To determine the sensitivity and specificity of diffusion weighted (DWI) and Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery (T2 FLAIR) in the evaluation of white matter lesions and to verify what is his extended complement in order to create a set of best practices in the MRI routine of the brain. Methodology – Was carried out a quantitative study with a retrospective analysis. From database, were selected 30 patients, 20 with and 10 without disease. We obtained a sample of 60 images, including 30-weighted images of T2 FLAIR and 30 of DWI. Using the program Viewdex®, the set of images were observed by three observers. The images were assessed according seven criteria: visibility, detection, consistency, location, size and margins of the lesion and diagnostic capability. We used the calculation of sensitivity and specificity by ROC curves, as well as statistical analysis, namely, T-test, Kappa index and the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the variables under study. Results – The sensitivity and specificity obtained for the weighted T2 FLAIR were higher (0.915 and 0.038 respectively) to the weighting DWI (0.08 and 0.100 respectively). There were no significant population variances. We obtained a high linear correlation between variables with an r value located between 0.8 and 0.99. There was a considerable variability among observers. Conclusions – Although the values of sensitivity and specificity for DWI have been lower than expected, we suggest that this sequence should be included in the routine protocol of the brain to help the differential diagnosis with other pathologies