Estudo preliminar aos níveis de eliminação em ovinos das raças merina branca e merina preta por estrongilídeos

As raças Merina Branca e Merina Preta apresentam um potencial de produção de carne assinalável, aliado a características de rusticidade, longevidade e resistência a doenças. Animais explorados em regimes extensivos, muitas vezes associados ao ecossistema montado, poderão ter um papel importante no âmbito dos novos modos de produção sustentada (Programa de conservação / Melhoramento Genético, 2007). As estrongiloses nos ovinos são responsáveis por importantes perdas económicas ao nível dos sistemas de produção. Estas perdas reflectem as alterações dos índices produtivos e reprodutivos, assim como no bem-estar e saúde animal. No controlo das estrongiloses gastrointestinais é necessário uma abordagem integrada que contribua para uma produção animal sustentável. Foi objectivo avaliar os níveis de eliminação de ovos/g de EGI (OPG) em ovinos das raças Merina Branca e Merina Preta e determinar a abundancia proporcional média dos diferentes géneros presentes. Procedeu-se à colheita de amostras coprológicas individuais directamente da ampola rectal a 40 fêmeas jovens e a 40 fêmeas adultas. Foram determinados os níveis de eliminação de OPG através da técnica modificada de Mackmaster (Hammond & Sewel, 1978). A abundancia proporcional média foi calculada após estudo morfométrico das L3 obtidas em coprocultura. No tratamento dos dados recorreu-se à análise de variância e análise descritiva. Os resultados obtidos, quanto aos níveis de eliminação de ovos (OPG), indicam claramente uma diferença entre as duas raças, apresentando a raça Merina Preta níveis significativamente inferiores (p<0,01), quer nas fêmeas jovens, quer nas fêmeas adultas. O facto de os animais das duas raças constituírem um mesmo rebanho, sem distinções no tipo de maneio, parece indicar que a diferença se deverá ao factor raça. A diversidade de estrongilídeos observada enquadra-se na esperada, tendo em conta a época do ano e as condições climáticas existentes em Março. Apesar da diferença da abundancia dos diferentes géneros, verifica-se que a Teledorsagia sp. (sin. Ostertagia sp.) prevalece nas fêmeas adultas da raça Merina Branca e que o Trichostrongylus sp. prevalece nas fêmeas adultas da raça Merina Preta. Importante será referir que o género Teledorsagia é considerado mais patogénico que o género Trichostrongylus (Jackson & Coop, 2009; Knox, D.P.,2000). Os resultados obtidos parecem expressar uma diferente capacidade de resistência à infecção por EGI nas duas raças. Sendo a resistência aos EGI um processo multifactorial, deverão ter-se em consideração factores não abordados neste estudo

The New Times of Social Media Marketing in the B2B Framework

Nowadays, we live in the age of Marketing 4.0. Historically, marketing has often depended on changing consumer habits and needs. Thus, it is necessary to understand the new habits and needs of the consumer to make companies more and more effective. Currently, social media marketing (SMM) is ubiquitous in organizations, and is seen as a tool to achieve strategic goals. Therefore, SMM is important for companies to adapt their approach to customer relationship management and advance new marketing competencies to enable customer satisfaction. To drive customer satisfaction and improve customer experience, managers are loading social media applications into their current customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This study seeks to understand the feasibility of implementing SMM in business to business (B2B) companies and how this affects CRM and customer knowledge management (CKM). For this study, data were collected from two Portuguese micro-companies. The methodology used was exploratory qualitative in nature through a multiple case study, wherein semi-structured interviews were applied. It was found that SMM cannot be used in the B2B companies under investigation because CRM needs are much more dependent on CKM than on the mass interactions and indirect communication with the customer that can potentially exist in SMM. In these companies, communication with the client can be adjusted on a case-by-case basis through SMM, without the need for mass communication with all clients. This paper provides implications for the management of micro-enterprises regarding social media marketing. It also contributes to the development of the literature on SMM, CRM and CKM.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Overcoming the “European Paradox”: The role of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) in translating R&D investments into economic and employment growth

The emergence of the so-called “European Paradox” shows that R&D investment is not maximally effective and that increasing the scale of public R&D expenditures is not sufficient to generate employment and sustained economic growth. Increasing Governmental R&D Investment is far from being a “panacea” for stagnant growth. It is worth noting that Government R&D Investment does not have a statistically significant impact on employment, indicating the need to assess the trade-offs of policies that could lead to significant increases in government expenditure. Surprisingly, Governmental R&D Employment does not contribute to “mass-market” employment, despite its quite important role in reducing Youth-Unemployment. Despite the negative side-effects of Governmental R&D Employment on both GVA and GDP, University R&D Employment appears to have a quite important role in reducing Unemployment, especially Youth-Unemployment, while it also does not have a downside in terms of economic growth. Technological Capacity enhancement is the most effective instrument for reducing Unemployment and is a policy without any downside regarding sustainable economical development. In terms of wider policy implications, the results reinforce the idea that European Commission Research and Innovation policies must be restructured, shifting from a transnational framework to a more localised, measurable and operational approach

The challenges of pain management in primary care: a pan-European survey

BACKGROUND: The OPENMinds Primary Care group is a group of European primary care physicians (PCPs) with an interest in pain management, formed to improve the understanding and management of chronic pain in primary care. OBJECTIVE: A survey was conducted to assess the challenges of chronic nonmalignant pain (CNMP) management in primary care in Europe, focusing particularly on pain assessment, opioid therapy, and educational needs. METHODS: A questionnaire was developed for online use by PCPs in 13 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). RESULTS: A total of 1309 PCPs completed the questionnaire, approximately 100 from each country. Most PCPs (84%) perceived CNMP to be one of the most challenging conditions to treat, yet a low priority within healthcare systems. Only 48% of PCPs used pain assessment tools, and 81% considered chronic pain and its impact on quality of life to be underassessed in primary care. PCPs were less confident about prescribing strong opioids for CNMP than for use in cancer pain. Most PCPs (84%) considered their initial training on CNMP was not comprehensive, with 89% recognizing a need for more education on the topic. CONCLUSION: These findings reveal that PCPs in Europe find CNMP a challenge to treat. Areas to address with training include underuse of pain assessment tools and lack of confidence in use of opioid therapy. Guidelines on CNMP management in primary care would be welcomed. The insights gained should provide the basis for future initiatives to support primary care management of chronic pain

Wireless vehicular communications for automatic incident detection and recovery

Incident detection is the process by which an incident is brought to the attention of traffic operators in order to design and activate a response plan. To minimize the detection time is crucial to mitigate the incident severity for victims as well to reduce the risk of secondary crashes. Automated incident information dissemination and traffic conditions is useful to alert in-route drivers to decide alternative routes on unexpected traffic congestion and may be also used for the incident recovery process, namely to optimize the response plan including the “nearest” rescue teams, thereby shortening their response times. Wireless vehicular communications, notably the emergent IEEE 802.11p protocol, is the enabling technology providing timely, dependable and secure properties that are essential for the devised target application. However, there are still some open issues with vehicular communications that require further research efforts. This paper presents an overview of the state of the art in wireless vehicular communications and describes the field operational tests proposed within the scope of the upcoming FP7 project ICSI - Intelligent Cooperative Sensing for Improved traffic efficiency

Gamification as a new trend in the co-creation process

Purpose: Interaction through the use of social media, smartphones, and online games is increasingly growing. Regarding games, it is estimated that part of the population spends more than 12 hours a week in interactions provided by online games. In this context, the objective of the present research is to study and deepen the connection between co-creation and gamification applied to the services sector. Originality/value: This research aims to contribute to the gap reduction in the existing literature in the areas of gamification and co-creation applied to the services sector. The fact that the research is applied to a peripheral region of Europe and to a different business sector contributes to a better understanding of the relationship established between gamified co-creation and the business sector in these types of regions. It also helps companies in the process of developing and implementing new strategies. Design/methodology/approach: By using a qualitative methodology, seven interviews were carried out in different companies located in Portugal and operating in the services sector. Findings: This research will allow a better understanding of the Portuguese business world and if this corporate environment is ready to work with new methodologies. It was possible to point out some good practices related to the implementation of a gamified co-creation methodology, as well as to provide an alert for the negative aspects that may arise when working under this approach. Companies acknowledge that the adoption of a gamified co-creation methodology brings some advantages and increases their competitiveness levels in the market.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

EFICIÊNCIA DE ENGORDAS ALTERNATIVAS DE BOVINOS DE RAÇA ALENTEJANA E MERTOLENGA

O produtor começa a ter dificuldades significativas na definição do tipo de engorda óptimo para a sua exploração e para o mercado que influencia a sua produção, denominadamente com as raças bovinas autóctones como por exemplo a Alentejana e a Mertolenga. O objectivo deste trabalho é avaliar a eficiência de 4 diferentes modalidades de engorda, tendo em conta os preços da alimentação e de venda em leilão, em duas épocas do ano. Após o desmame, foram constituídos 4 grupos com o seguinte maneio: o 1º grupo permaneceu no curral, durante o período de engorda; o 2º esteve em pastoreio até Julho sendo a fase final feita em curral; o 3º e 4º grupos ficaram em pastoreio até Outubro, e posteriormente foram para o curral. A diferença entre os últimos dois grupos foi a altura do desmame. Quando no curral foram alimentados com ração granulada e feno. No final da engorda foi possível verificar que os grupos 1 e 2 eram diferentes dos restantes grupos relativamente ao peso vivo. Quanto ao ganho médio diário, encontraram-se diferenças muito significativas (P<0,01)entre as raças, e entre os vários tipos de engorda (os grupos 3 e 4 são diferentes dos grupos 1 e 2, e o grupo 1 é diferente dos restantes, assim como o grupo 2). No caso das raças o ganho médio diário foi de 1,139 Kg nos Alentejanos e de 0,757 Kg nos Mertolengos. Relativamente aos tipos de engorda, houve um máximo de 1,453 Kg no grupo 1 (curral), e um mínimo de 0,656 Kg no grupo 3 (pastagem tardia e curral em Outubro). Em termos de eficiência alimentar, foram estudados o índice de conversão e uma aproximação à ingestão voluntária residual, tendo sido encontradas diferenças significativas apenas neste último indicador. Assim, os animais da raça Alentejana demonstraram ser mais eficientes (-0,10 UFV) do que estava previsto nas tabelas de necessidades alimentares do INRA (1988). Este ensaio também teve o objectivo de fazer a avaliação económica tendo havido ligeiro lucro nos grupos 1, 2 e 3 presentes quer no leilão em Outubro quer no leilão de Janeiro. O grupo 4 (desmame tardio), que só foi ao leilão de Janeiro, deu prejuízo

International Open Innovation Strategies of Firms in European Peripheral Regions

The involvement of companies in different open innovation activities, through knowledge outputs and inputs, has become increasingly important for the success of companies. However, the existing literature on open innovation is scarce concerning the internationalization process of companies. The internationalization of companies is fundamental in the continuous search to increase the performance of companies externally. The objective of the present research is to explain the strategic processes in the internationalization of companies located in peripheral regions at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of dynamic capabilities. The sample used for this research is composed of seven Portuguese companies. The methodology of qualitative nature is exploratory and uses a case study approach. Regarding the foremost modes of operation in international markets and strategies, we find that (1) companies have partnerships with local distributors or appoint exclusive importers/distributors, and (2) companies prefer to place their products in the market through their brand, “co-branded” projects with retailers, or “private label” projects. Of the seven companies under study, six use a standardization strategy, and one opts for a configuration-coordination strategy. Our findings clarified the literature on export and internationalization strategies in a peripheral country, allowing a closer incept of the organizational and dynamic capabilities and an overview of the supporting tools these companies have to compete in the global market. Our study is original because few articles study the internationalization strategies of companies at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and in peripheral regions of Europe.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio