Use and Perception of the Internet as a Marketing Tool to Promote Rural Tourism

Businesses and communities in rural areas face increased challenges to compete in the globalized tourism market. Rural areas and small communities often have rich endogenous natural resources, which may appeal to a stressed urban public, however, simply possessing these attributes is not sufficient, the must be communicated and promoted to the right people. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of Internet and online marketing tools to improve the competitiveness of small-scale rural tourism companies. The paper presents an overview of the perception, knowledge and use of Internet as a marketing toll by small-scaled rural tourism companies located in Portugal centre region and discusses the challenges and motivations involved in promoting rural tourism in a globalized market. A sample of small-scaled rural tourism companies was inquired about their attitudes toward the use of Internet marketing tools. The results show that Rural Tourism companies have limited knowledge of web marketing tools potential to support the rural tourism and highlight the need to increase the use of Internet as a marketing tool to globally communicate, promote and positioning rural tourism in order to leverage resources and create sustainability.Rural tourism, SMEs, Internet, Marketing, e-Commerce

Analyzing customer profitability in hotels using activity based costing

This paper investigates the use of customer profitability analysis (CPA) in four and five star hotels located in Algarve (Portugal). Traditional accounting systems have been criticized for focusing on product, service or department profitability, and not on customer profitability, thus failing to provide effective information to marketing-related decisions. Results are reported by operating departments, whilst marketing activities focus on customer market segments. Recognizing the growing emphasis on customer value creation, and to overcome the mismatch between the provision and use of information in hotels, CPA techniques have been suggested. Notwithstanding their benefits, namely a strategic focus, hotels still apply traditional techniques. A structured questionnaire collected through personal interviews showed that CPA is far from widespread in hotel management; instead, hotels accumulate costs in profit centers and in cost centers. None of the surveyed hotels had adopted activity based costing, despite this technique being viewed as the most appropriate to calculate individual customer profitability.Este artigo investiga a análise de rendibilidade de clientes nos hotéis de quatro e cinco estrelas do Algarve (Portugal). Os sistemas de contabilidade tradicionais focalizam-se na rendibilidade dos produtos, serviços ou departamentos não fornecendo informação eficaz para decisões de marketing. Os resultados são relatados por departamentos, sendo as atividades de marketing direcionadas para segmentos de mercado. Reconhecendo o foco na criação de valor para o cliente e o “desencontro” entre fornecimento e utilização de informação nos hotéis, a literatura tem sugerido técnicas de análise de rendibilidade de clientes. Apesar dos beneficios destas técnicas, nomeadamente o foco estratégico, os hotéis utilizam técnicas tradicionais. Um questionário estruturado recolhido presencialmente revelou que a técnica CPA está pouco difundida no setor; os hotéis acumulam custos por centros de resultados e por centros de custos. Nenhum adopta o custeio baseado nas actividades, embora seja o método mais apropriado para atribuir custos a clientes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Os novos agentes criativos: as bibliotecas universitárias

Relatório de estágio de mestrado, Cultura e Comunicação, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2012O presente relatório de estágio é uma investigação acerca das bibliotecas universitárias como agentes mediadores culturais. O tema deste relatório foi gerado durante o meu estágio na Biblioteca da Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, aquando me apercebi da legitimidade de um centro de conhecimento como intermediário cultural e educador no ambiente académico. As bibliotecas universitárias têm sido vistas como sistema de apoio ao ensino superior que contribuem para a inserção no universo da investigação científica e para o mundo profissional, a partir do desenvolvimento de actividades que abrangem os conhecimentos científicos e culturais desempenhado, desta forma, o seu papel de mediador educador. Neste relatório tenho a intenção de expôr o papel das bibliotecas universitárias, como equipamentos culturais que desenvolvem a sensibilidade artística e a crítica no público. São mediadores entre a criação e o consumo, assegurando a difusão das criações culturais. Com a transformação da biblioteca tradicional, esta deixa de prestar apenas serviços de divulgação e armazenamento de informação passando a desempenhar funções de intermediação através de expressões de cultura humana, conjuntos de actividades culturais, e como instrumento de democratização cultural.ABSTRACT: The following internship report is an investigation about academic libraries as mediating cultural agents. This report´s subject was generated during my internship in the Lisbon´s Faculty of Letters Library when I noticed the legitimacy of a knowledge center as a cultural and educational intermediary in a academic environment. Academic Libraries have been seen as a backup system to higher education. They contribute on his insertion of students in the scientific investigation universe and also in the work market by developing activities that embrace their scientific and cultural knowledge and in this way performing as an educational mediator. In this report, I aim to expose the academic libraries role as cultural industry that develop artistic sensitive and criticism in the public. Cultural intermediation is considered from gathering points of view and functional located in the cultural process stages. They mediate between creation consumption ensuring the dissemination of cultural creations. With the transformations of traditional library, it ceases to provide services only for the dissemination and storage of information, starting to act as intermediary through expressions of human culture, sets of cultural activities as a tool of cultural democratization

Fatores psicológicos preditores do grau de funcionalidade em idosos

Mestrado em Psicologia da Saúde e Reabilitação NeuropsicológicaA velhice pode estar associada ao sofrimento, aumento da dependência física, declínio funcional, isolamento social, depressão e improdutividade. No envelhecimento observam-se lentificação no processamento cognitivo, redução da atenção, dificuldades na retenção das informações aprendidas (memória de trabalho) e diminuição na velocidade de pensamento e habilidades visuoespaciais. Por outro lado, as que se mantêm inalteradas são: inteligência verbal, atenção básica, habilidade de cálculo e a maioria das habilidades de linguagem (Moraes, Moraes & Lima, 2010). O objetivo deste estudo é comparar funções executivas com grau de funcionalidade para averiguar em que medida estas variáveis predizem funcionalidade. Trinta idosos de três valências diferentes constituíram a amostra deste estudo. Os instrumentos de avaliação administrados foram os seguintes: Escala de Barthel, MontrealCognitiveAssessment (MoCA), Trail Making Test (TMT), Teste de Aprendizagem Audio-Verbal de Rey (RAVLT), Figura Complexa de Rey, Teste Stroop de Cores e Palavras (TSCP), DigitSpan, Escala Geriátrica de Depressão. Dos resultados obtidos destacam-se a existência de relações estatisticamente significativas entre a saúde mental e a funcionalidade. Quanto melhor é a saúde mental, maior é o grau de funcionalidade e os participantes do “Domicílio” possuem melhor saúde mental, atenção, planeamento e construção visuo-espacial do que os do “Centro de Dia”, e estes melhor do que os do “Lar”. A Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) destaca a capacidade funcional e a independência como fatores preponderantes para o diagnóstico de saúde física e mental na população idosa. Alguns autores indicam que a avaliação cognitiva deve ser sempre acompanhada de uma avaliação funcional e vice-versa.Aging can be associated with suffering, physical dependence increase, functional decline, social isolation, depression and unproductivity. aging is observed reducedspeed in cognitive processing, attention reduction, difficulties in retention of apprehended information (work memory) and decrease in thought quickness and visual-spatial abilities. On the other hand, the ones that are kept unaltered are: verbal intelligence, basic attention, calculation ability and the major language abilities (Moraes, Moraes & Lima 2010). The aim of this study is to compare executive functions with functional degree to assess in which extension these variables predict functionality. Thirty elderly of three different valences consist in this study sample. The evaluation instruments administrated were the following: Barthel scale, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Trail Making Test (TMT), The Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), The Rey complex figure, The Stroop Color and Word Test (TSCP),DigitSpan,The Geriatric Depression Scale. From the results we can highlight the existence of statistically significant relations between mental health and functionality. The better the mental health the bigger is the functionality degree. “Domicílio” participants have better mental health, attention, planning and visual-spatial construction than the ones from “Centro de Dia”, and these better than the ones from “Lar”. The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights functional capacity and independence as preponderating factors to physical and mental health diagnose in elderly population. Some authors indicate that cognitive evaluation should always be accompanied by a functional evaluation and vice versa

The joint effects of product uniqueness and brand awareness on consumers’ attitudes and intentions

Brands often try to attract consumers with desire for uniqueness by offering customizable or one-of-a-kind items. However, brand awareness might decrease the perception of uniqueness associated to these items: a widespread brand may cause the products to seem less unique, while an unknown brand may enhance the consumers’ feeling of differentness. In this research, after verifying that consumers’ perceptions about an item’s uniqueness are influenced by its brand’s brand awareness, I investigate the effects of the interactions between a product’s uniqueness (or its perceived uniqueness), its brand and the consumers’ need for uniqueness on consumer-related variables

Use of natural deep eutectic systems as new cryoprotectant agents in the vitrification of mammalian cells

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement No ERC-2016-CoG 725034. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).In this work we present the potential of Natural Deep Eutectic Systems (NADES) as new vitrification media for the cryopreservation of mammalian cells. Several NADES composed of natural metabolites were prepared and tested as CPAs in two cell lines, L929 and HacaT cells. After the harvesting, cells were mixed with the eutectic systems, and frozen directly into liquid nitrogen to achieve a vitreous state. Then, the cells were thawed and it was observed that NADES were able to exert a significant cryoprotective effect in L929 cells, when compared with DMSO or in the absence of a CPA. For HacaT cells, only a eutectic system showed a slightly improvement in cell survival, while DMSO caused complete cell death. Moreover, the thermal behaviour of the best systems was studied for further understanding the protective properties of NADES as CPAs, and have shown a significant difference in terms of Tm and Tc when compared with DMSO and water. Additionally, the results obtained showed that NADES can be maintained in the growth media after the thawing step, without compromising cell viability. In summary, we have shown the great potential of NADES to be used as CPAs for the cryopreservation of different cell types, using the vitrification method.publishersversionpublishe

Current developments and future perspectives on biotechnology applications of natural deep eutectic systems

Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement No ERC-2016-CoG 725034. This work was also supported by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry – LAQV, financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/QUI/50006/2019) and by FCT/MCTES through the project CryoDES (PTDC/EQU-EQU/29851/2017). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier B.V.Natural Deep Eutectic Systems (NADES) have emerged in the past years as alternative solvents to traditional organic solvents and ionic liquids. NADES are easy to produce, sustainable, biocompatible, eco-friendly, remarkable solubilizing agents, and highly task-specific. The outstanding properties of this new liquid media have attracted the attention of researchers in the last decade in many fields and biotechnology is probably one of the fields where NADES have gained more relevance. Nonetheless, the progress beyond the state of the art in this field is not yet fully explored. Most research papers regarding the use of NADES in biotechnology are related to their use as solubility enhancers for poorly soluble active ingredients, particularly for pharmaceutical applications. However, the applicability of NADES in applications such as cryopreservation, stabilization of proteins and DNA, as well as other biomedical applications, has only recently been explored and presents still a plethora of discoveries to be unravelled. The current developments in this scientific field and future perspectives will be discussed herein.publishersversionpublishe

Performance of earth based products reinforced with rice husk for indoor refurbishment

The use of environment friendly materials, with low environmental impact and low production costs is becoming an issue of great interest in the building sector. It is known that there is a need to reduce the energy requirement in buildings, once they account for 40% of total energy consumption in European Union (EU). The adoption of sustainable and efficient solutions could be the answer to improve the energy performance of buildings, leading to a reduction of the energy demand and cost for the building sector. From a global point of view the use of bio-based materials provides low-cost and short-term opportunities to contribute to the EU objective to have nearly zero-energy buildings and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Bio-based materials are known for their environmental benefits but specially for being materials with high hygroscopic behaviour. The use of natural fibres in earth composites reinforcement has become an interest matter in the construction world, not only due to the availability, embodied energy and hygroscopic behaviour of the earth but also due to the properties and advantages of the use of reinforcement fibres. Earth is a construction material with high advantages but the negative aspects are also relevant, whereas the use of binders to reduce the negative aspects is very common. Based on these fundaments, the present thesis studies the production of a novel bio-based insulation material with earth, stabilised with gypsum and lime and reinforced with rice husk. The objective was to produce a high-performance material that not only could be used as an insulation material but also as a regulator of the indoor air humidity. The implementation of an image analysis method enables to assess of the influence of the length and orientation of the natural fibres on the physical and thermal properties of the composite. In order to evaluate the influence of these factors on the performance of a bio-based material, a comparison was made with previously produced earth blocks, with different natural fibre contents, different production methods and dimensions. The experimental tests showed promising results, especially on the hygrothermal properties of the earth panels. Despite having a relatively low thermal conductivity, the results still do not allow the panels to be considered an insulation material but they could contribute to the indoor thermal comfort. As a regulator of the humidity the panels show great ability to adsorb and desorb the air moisture with relative humidity changes, proving the effectiveness of earth and natural fibres on the hygrothermal comfort

Entrevista com Stephen Hunt

We had the opportunity to interview Stephen Hunt for this special issue of Redisco. Stephen Hunt is an English fantasy, science fiction and thriller/crime author. His best-known works, the Jackelian series of fantasy novels, originally appeared in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, through the Voyager imprint of HarperCollins and these novels are now published all around the world. He has a major new fantasy series – the Far-called Sequence – the first novel of which has now come out in 2014, called In Dark Service and published by Gollancz (an imprint of Orion Publishing and Hachette Livre). Website: http://stephenhunt.net.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Countless lives inhabit us: Pessoa meets zombies

Review of the book A Vida Oculta de Fernando Pessoa (The Hidden Life of Fernando Pessoa). Bicho Carpinteiro, 2016. Comic Book.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio