Students' expectations about professional higher technical courses: the case of the Bragança’s Higher Agriculture School

Forms of education for adults have two characteristics in common, namely, voluntary participation and the frequency of a course serving a specific purpose. Although some may make the choice and choose to attend a course for social reasons and others may not know clearly what they want, they all have a purpose in mind and, if they cannot reach it, sooner or later they will leave the course. This research had as objectives to know the student’s expectations about the Professional Higher Technical Course they attend; to perceive which attributes they consider to be most important for their choice; and, to identify the factors that contributed the most to the level of satisfaction with the course. A quantitative and cross-sectional study was developed based on a 62 students sample out a 298 students’ universe. To collect the data, a questionnaire was developed according to the literature. The questionnaire was administered by e-mail and in the classroom, during January to July 2017, after obtaining the authorization from the head of the agriculture school. The data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 software. The Spearman and Mann-Whitney tests were used at a significance level of 5%. The students had a mean age of 21 years old (SD = 4.25), were equally distributed by gender (50%), lived in households composed with 3 people (44.3%), with a monthly income of up to 1000 € (67.3%). Most students were displaced (54.1%), at a distance equal or greater than 50 km from their residence. The distribution of students, by course, was as follows: Veterinary Care (38.7%); Agricultural Production (24.2%); Food Technology (25.8%); Environmental Management (4.8%); Biotechnology and Innovation (3.2%); Viticulture and Enology (3.2%). About 53.2% of the students attended the first year and 41.7% considered that the course has a reasonable degree of difficulty, requiring a lot of effort and work. Regarding the factors that motivated the choice of the course, the most valued were, in descending order of importance, the love for the area (77.0%), the possibility to continue the studies (36.1%), and the career opportunities (37.1%). Most participants were satisfied (36.1%) or very satisfied (26.2%) with the course. Taking into account the location where the course took place, the results show that, in non-displaced courses, the level of satisfaction was higher than that of displaced courses. On the other hand, in non-displaced courses, the factors that are positively and moderately correlated with the level of satisfaction are: the students' opportunities to acquire theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the field, as well as the availability, support and incentive of teachers. For the rest, the level of satisfaction was positively and strongly correlated with factors as the knowledge and competences of the teachers and the methodologies used in the teaching. So, to improve the working conditions of the displaced courses and to intensify the student/school relationship can contribute to improve students’ loyalty toward the institution and to increase their satisfaction level.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and the ERDF under the PT2020 program for the financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Academic self-efficacy in Portuguese public higher education students

Academic self-efficacy refers to the belief of an individual successfully attaining an academic task or achieving a specific academic goal. Self-efficacy is critical to student success because it influences the choices students make along their academic and professional path. This study aimed to determine the level of academic self-efficacy in higher education students and to verify if there were differences statistically significant, taking into account the sociodemographic variables, namely, gender, age and nationality, and the academic variables, such as scientific area, degree, course year, course with or without integrated internship and attendance regimen. To achieve these objectives, an observational, cross-sectional, quantitative and analytical study was carried out based on a random sample of 2152 individuals from a total of 8200 students enrolled, in the 2018/2019 school year, in a public higher education institution located in the Northern of Portugal. The margin of error was 1.81%. The students were aged between 17 and 52 years old. The students registered a moderate level (4.42 ± 0.092) of academic self-efficacy out of 7. It was observed that 45.5% of the students registered a high level of academic self-efficacy; 17.9% revealed a low level; and the remaining 36.6% showed a moderate level. Statistically significant differences were found in academic self-efficacy taking into account the nationality of students (p-value = 0.041). The foreign students registered a highest academic selfefficacy level. Additionally, the comparison analysis demonstrated that there were significant differences between the students' scientific area (p-value = 0.004) and attendance regimen (p-value = 0.043). It was the Technology and Management students as well as the worker students who had the highest levels of academic self-efficacy. Nationality, scientific area and attendance regimen showed to be differentiator factors of academic self-efficacy. Foreigner students, worker students and students from the technology and management scientific area showed more confidence to achieve their academic goals. In fact, students’ confidence in succeeding in their academic assignments will affect their lifelong learning. Therefore, higher education institutions should be able to improve the academic self-efficacy of students, creating innovative learning environments adapted to the needs and knowledge of their students.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and the ERDF under the program PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the intention to create a new business: a cross-sectional study in Portuguese higher education students

Individuals with a higher level of self-efficacy have more entrepreneurial intention to settle on their own, creating and managing their own career. This study aimed to know the level of entrepreneurial selfefficacy of higher education students and to verify the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on entrepreneurial intention or creation of new businesses. To achieve these objectives, a cross-sectional, quantitative and analytical study was carried out based on a probabilistic sample of 2107 students from a rtuguese higher education institution located in the Northern Interior of Portugal. The margin of error was 1.84%. To collect the data, a questionnaire was directly applied to the students, in the classroom in the presence of the teacher, from October 2018 to January 2019. Students’ participation was voluntary and the anonymity and data confidentiality were guaranteed to all participants. The questionnaire had three sections. The first section included sociodemographic variables (gender, age and nationality) and academic variables (scientific area of the course, course degree, year attended, attendance mode and course with or without integrated internship). The second section included the entrepreneurial selfefficacy scale [1]. This scale consists of 23 items related to the individuals' ability to perform tasks, and the answers were coded by a Likert scale ranging from 1 (totally incapable) to 7 (fully capable). Finally, the third section comprised a scale consisting of four items that aimed to evaluate the entrepreneurial intention of the students [2]. The answers were coded using a Likert scale ranging from 1 (a little) to 7 (a lot). A linear regression model was estimated in order to verify if Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (X) is a predictor of Entrepreneurial intention (Y). Students were aged between 17 and 52 years old and attended a degree course within four different scientific areas, existent in the institution, namely Education (60.5%), Technologies and Management (21.2%), Agriculture (6.3%) and Health (12.0%). The majority was female (54.0%), Portuguese (82.9%) and attended a graduation degree (88.8%) in an ordinary full-time attendance mode (96.4%). The students registered a moderate level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. In fact, it was observed that 20.4% of the students registered a high level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy; 64.5% showed a moderate level, and, the remaining 15.1% revealed a low level of entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The estimated regression model was statistically significant. It was found that Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is a predictor of Entrepreneurial intention (creation of new businesses). Moreover, the value of Adjusted R2 shows that this predictor account for 43.9% of Entrepreneurial intention. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy contributes to the generation of ideas and the creation of new businesses with success. Therefore, higher education institutions should be able to improve students’ entrepreneurial skills.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and the ERDF under the program PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Economic literacy: a longitudinal study in Portuguese undergraduate students

Economic literacy can be defined as the ability to use related knowledge and skills to manage financial sources effectively. Economic literacy is about knowing and applying the main economic theories in making rational economic decisions. Higher literacy levels on economy will lead to an increase in society´s and individuals´ economic efficiency and well-being. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impact of the General Principles of Economics (GPE) course on students' economic literacy and to identify subjects in which students show greater difficulty. To collect the data, a questionnaire that included socioeconomic variables and the Economic Literacy Test (ELT) developed by the National Council of Economic Education (NCEE) was applied. The ELT includes twenty questions of multiple choice. There were four choices: a correct answer, two incorrect ones and a fourth choice for the students that did not knew the answer. Basically, the ELT is about basic economic concepts and allows to evaluate the literacy of students and adults in four topics, namely consumer economics; production economics; financial economics; government's economic role and international trade. The ELT was applied to all students that were enrolled in GPE, who were present in the first class, in September 2017. At the end of the semester (January 2018), the same questionnaire was applied. GPE is a course of the Languages for International Relations degree from a public higher education institution, located in the northern of Portugal. Of the 95 students enrolled in GPE, 70 completed the questionnaire at the beginning of the semester. Of these, only 45 answered the questionnaire at the end of the semester that corresponds to a response rate of 47.4%. Data analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 25.0. Descriptive statistics was used to characterize the sample. In order to compare the students’ knowledge level on economics, pre and post-course, the Wilcoxon test was applied. For each question (correct and incorrect answer), the McNemar test was used to compare pre and post-course samples, considering each question, in order to verify if the course was responsible for the changes that occurred between the two moments. For both statistical tests, a significance level of 5% was used. Students were, mainly, female (60%), with a mean age of 19.4 years old (SD = 1.63). Only 20.0% had previous training in economics during high school and 8.9% have already attended the GPE course in previous years without success. Most students came from rural areas (53.0%) and their parents were employed (father: 86.7%; mother: 73.3%), and the monthly income level was up to 1000 euros (59.1%). Most mothers had an educational level between 3rd cycle (33.3%) and high school (31.1%) while the fathers´ educational level ranged between 2nd and 3rd cycles with 24.4% and 33.3%, respectively. The knowledge level pre and post-course was, on average, 12.0 (SD = 2.55) and 12.9 (SD = 3.24) out of 20, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in students' level of knowledge pre and post-course (p-value = 0.091). Students proved to have a fair level of knowledge pre and post-course. At the end of the course, most students showed improvements in the literacy level on economy. However, the improvement was not statistically significant. So, in the future, in order to improve the economic literacy level, some topics must be emphasized by the teacher, namely, financial, consumer and producer economics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of co-creation in design thinking for social innovation : the case of OpenIdeo

Innovation as a tool for creating value for companies stands as the first goal for managers in this competitive world we live today. Design Thinking (DT) has brought the attention of both academics and practitioners as a powerful methodology to connect with human needs and behaviour. The growing awareness of confronting and answering to social world problems has also positioned DT as influential instrument to grow and allowing social innovation (SI) to emerge. Co-creation (CC) transformed the social system that organizations and consumers interacted. Today, institutions promote experiences that better suits the needs of the individuals, with the goal of producing better products and services. Co-design (CD) refers to the methodology of applying co-creation techniques to the DT. It adds value to this innovation process as it enforces the idea of experience between the users/producers. Relevant to this phenomenon, is Internet. It has shaped the large community of users as individuals worried with the difficulties world faces nowadays. This community creates new meanings everyday and introduced the notion that we as humans can design artefacts collectively. This research investigates the committed role of a specific online platform to form a community to solve world challenges, by the implementation of a design thinking methodology. The mission of this dissertation is to understand what occurs when a group of individuals co-create for social innovation, and what can we learn from this interaction

Revisitando a química do bagaço de maçã: o subproduto da indústria de concentrado de sumos

During the extraction of apple juice an insoluble residue, called apple pomace, is generated. Apple pomace represents the fruit cell wall material, identified as a source of polysaccharides and polyphenols. However, apple pomace is mostly discarded by the industries. In the one hand, this occurs because some polysaccharides and polyphenols still correspond to molecules of unknown applications and structures resulting from oxidation phenomena that occur during juice extraction. On the other hand, the industries lack drying methodologies capable of meeting their needs for valorization of apple pomace compounds. The adoption of different extraction and fractionation methodologies gives an overview of the properties and structures of the compounds that can be available from apple pomace after the implementation of a drying process to preserve the byproduct. Based on this hypothesis, apple pomace was subjected to extractions with water, methanol and acetone:water (60:40; v:v), without or with urea, and microwave superheated water extractions to unravel the existence of phenolic structures other than those naturally occurring in the fresh fruit. Additionally, for identification of chemically modified carbohydrates due to polyphenol oxidation, hot water extractions were performed followed by dialysis (12-14 kDa) and ethanol precipitation. Extraction with hot water, methanol and acetone followed by analysis by liquid chromatography allowed to observe the presence of flavan-3-ols, flavonols, dihydrochalcones and hydroxycinamic acids, totaling 5 g/kg of dry apple pomace. Oxidation products of dihydrochalcones and hydroxycinnamic acids were also detected in apple pomace. Alkaline fusion analysis of water-insoluble material demonstrated the occurrence of non-extractable oxidized procyanidins, whose prevalence was 4-fold higher than in native apple polyphenols. Extraction with microwave superheated water followed by ethanol precipitation of the obtained extracts showed that procyanidins were covalently linked to the pectic polysaccharides, xyloglucans and cellulose present in the water-insoluble material and could account for up to 40% of the polyphenols that can be obtained from apple pomace. Solid phase extraction of the hot water-soluble material using C18 cartridges showed that, along with polyphenols, polysaccharides were also extracted, some of them exhibiting a hydrophobic behavior at pH 7 and/or pH 3. Dialysis followed by ethanol precipitation, alongside with glycosidic linkages analysis by gas chromatography, nuclear magnetic ressonance, size-exclusion chromatography, and alkaline fusion, led to the conclusion that polyphenols covalently linked to polysaccharides are responsible for their hydrophobicity, constituting xyloglucan-polyphenols-pectic polysaccharide and arabinan-polyphenol complexes. To understand the formation of polysaccharide-polyphenol complexes established by covalent bonds, the interactions of arabinans with 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid and phloridzin were studied. Through their diffusion along dialysis membranes in the presence or absence of polysaccharide, linear arabinans showed 10-fold and 2-fold greater retention of 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid and phloridzin than branched arabinans suggesting that a higher degree of branching limits polysaccharides interaction with polyphenols. The same trend was observed for the interaction of arabinans with procyanidins by isothermal titration calorimetry, where linear arabinans presented higher affinity constants (Ka 540 M-1) than branched arabinans (Ka 391 M-1). This approach also demonstrated that the occurrence of covalently linked polyphenols to arabinans restricts further interactions with polyphenols (Ka 85 M-1). The analysis of the material that precipitated after interaction between arabinans and procyanidins showed that procyanidins of higher degree of polymerization and less branched polysaccharides tended to form insoluble aggregates. In order to ensure the stability of apple pomace for further extraction of compounds, this byproduct was dried via microwave hydrodiffusion and gravity (MHG) technology using delivery powers of 300-900 W. MHG drying proved to be a three phases process: heating, drying and burning point phase. This methodology presented an estimated 80% energy efficiency, as well as drying times (1-2.6 h) and water flows (5.1-13.9 mL/min) up to 4-fold higher than those verified by hot air drying (3.6-9.9 he 1-3.5 mL/min). Using MHG drying, it was also possible to obtain extracts composed by polyphenols and polysaccharides. The addition of ethanol during the drying process can increase the obtained extract mass. The dried apple pomace was stable for at least 2 years, after which was possible to obtain extracts rich in polyphenols and polysaccharides. In conclusion, the adoption of different extraction and fractionation procedures allowed a better understanding of the structures and chemical properties of the compounds present in apple pomace, especially those derived from oxidation reactions of polyphenols. This, together with the efficient and rapid drying verified for MHG technology, opens new research perspectives and applications that should culminate in the possible mitigation of apple pomace as an agro-industrial residue.Durante a extração do sumo de maçã é gerado um resíduo insolúvel denominado bagaço de maçã. O bagaço de maçã representa o material da parede celular do fruto, identificado como fonte de polissacarídeos e polifenóis. No entanto, o bagaço de maçã é maioritariamente descartado pelas indústrias. Por um lado, pelo facto de alguns polissacarídeos e compostos fenólicos corresponderem a moléculas de aplicações e estruturas desconhecidas, resultantes de fenómenos de oxidação que ocorrem durante a extração de sumo. Por outro, as indústrias carecem de metodologias de secagem capazes de corresponder às suas necessidades para valorização dos compostos do bagaço de maçã. A adoção de diferentes metodologias de extração e fracionamento permitem obter uma visão global das propriedades e estruturas dos compostos passíveis de serem recolhidos do bagaço após implementação de um processo de secagem para preservação do subproduto. Com base nesta hipótese, o bagaço de maçã foi submetido a extrações com água, metanol e acetona:água (60:40; v:v), sem ou com ureia, e água superaquecida por micro-ondas com o objetivo de desvendar a existência de outras estruturas fenólicas além daquelas que ocorrem naturalmente no fruto. Adicionalmente, para identificação de carbohidratos quimicamente modificados como consequência da oxidação de polifenóis, foram realizadas extrações com água quente seguidas de fracionamento por diálise (12-14 kDa) e precipitação em etanol. A extração com água quente, metanol e acetona seguida de análise por cromatografia líquida permitiu identificar a presença de flavan-3-óis, flavonóis, di-hidrocalconas e ácidos hidroxicinâmico, totalizando 5 g/kg de bagaço seco. Também foram detectados produtos de oxidação de di-hidrocalconas e ácidos hidroxicinâmicos no bagaço de maçã. A análise por fusão alcalina do material insolúvel em água demonstrou a ocorrência de procianidinas oxidadas não-extractáveis, cuja prevalência foi 4 vezes superior aos compostos fenólicos nativos da maçã. A extração com água superaquecida por micro-ondas seguida de precipitação em etanol dos extratos obtidos mostrou que estas se encontravam covalentemente ligadas aos polissacarídeos pécticos, xiloglucanas e celulose presentes no material insolúvel em água, podendo corresponder até 40% dos compostos fenólicos possíveis de serem obtidos a partir do bagaço de maçã. A extração em fase sólida do material solúvel em água quente, usando cartuchos C18, mostrou que, juntamente com os polifenóis, foram extraídos polissacarídeos, alguns dos quais apresentando um comportamento hidrofóbico a pH 7 e/ou a pH 3. O fracionamento por diálise e precipitação em etanol, e a análise das ligações glicosídicas por cromatografia em fase gasosa, ressonância magnética nuclear, cromatografia de exclusão molecular e fusão alcalina, permitiu inferir que os polifenóis ligados covalentemente aos polissacarídeos são responsáveis pela sua hidrofobicidade, constituindo complexos de xiloglucanas-polifenóis-polissacarídeos pécticos e complexos de arabinanas-polifenóis. Para compreender a formação dos complexos polissacarídeos-polifenóis, estabelecidos por ligações covalentes, foram estudadas as interações de arabinanas com o ácido 5-O-cafeoilquinico e floridzina. Através da sua difusão ao longo de membranas de diálise na presença ou ausência de polissacarídeo, verificou-se que as arabinanas lineares apresentaram 10 a 2 vezes maior retenção do ácido 5-O-cafeoilquinico e da floridzina do que as arabinanas ramificadas sugerindo que um maior grau de ramificação dos polissacarídeos limita a sua interação com os compostos fenólicos. A mesma tendência foi observada para a interação de arabinanas com procianidinas por calorimetria de titulação isotérmica, onde arabinanas lineares apresentaram maiores constantes de afinidade (Ka 540 M-1) do que arabinanas ramificadas (Ka 391 M-1). Esta abordagem demonstrou também que a ocorrência de polifenóis ligados covalentemente a arabinanas restringe possíveis interações adicionais com os polifenóis (Ka 85 M-1). A análise do material que precipitou após interação entre as arabinanas e as procianidinas mostrou que as procianidinas de maior grau de polimerização e os polissacarídeos menos ramificados são as estruturas que tendem a formar os agregados insolúveis. Com o objetivo de garantir a estabilidade do bagaço de maçã para posterior extração de compostos, este subproduto foi secado via tecnologia de micro-ondas por hidrodifusão e gravidade (MHG), utilizando potências de 300-900 W. A secagem por MHG mostrou-se um processo composto por três fases: aquecimento, secagem e ponto de queima. Esta metodologia apresentou uma estimativa de 80% de eficiência energética, bem como tempos de secagem (1-2.6 h) e fluxos de água (5,1-13,9 mL/min) até 4 vezes superiores às verificadas por secagem com ar quente (3,6-9,9 h e 1-3,5 mL/min). Pela técnica MHG foi possível obter em simultâneo com a secagem, extratos constituídos por polifenóis e polissacarídeos. Através da adição de etanol durante o processo de secagem, a massa de extrato foi incrementada. O bagaço secado mostrou-se estável por pelo menos 2 anos, após os quais foi possível obter extratos ricos em compostos fenólicos e polissacarídeos. Em conclusão, a adoção de diferentes mecanismos de extração e de fracionamento permitiu uma maior compreensão das estruturas e propriedades químicas dos compostos presentes no bagaço de maçã, especialmente aquelas derivadas de reações de oxidação dos compostos fenólicos. Isto, em conjunto com a eficiente e rápida secagem verificada pela tecnologia de MHG abre novas perspetivas de investigação e aplicações que podem culminar na possível mitigação do bagaço de maçã como um resíduo agroindustrial.Programa Doutoral em Ciência e Tecnologia Alimentar e Nutriçã

Senior entrepreneurship: an emerging phenomenon

Silver Economy emerged, just over a decade ago, as a concept associated with the population aging, a demographic trend of the developed countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the current status of a Silver Economy emerging phenomenon, specifically, the senior entrepreneurship. To achieve this objective, a bibliographic search was conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases based on “Silver Economy” and “Entrepreneurship” keywords. Later, data of the sixteen selected articles were collected, namely, authorship, publication date, place where the study was developed (country), study type, methodology, objectives and findings. The studies were developed in four continents, specifically, Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. Most studies (82.4%) used secondary data. Eighth studies were quantitative and the remaining eighth were qualitative. The studies analyzed the association between the level and dynamics of population aging and the development of senior entrepreneurship; investigated the concept of Silver Economy and the senior entrepreneurship phenomenon, in its essence, nature, characteristics, challenges and leadership styles; compared financial literacy between older and younger entrepreneurs; identified internal factors that affect entrepreneurial activity; acknowledged individuals’ perceptions about entrepreneurship and its impact on entrepreneurial intention; highlighted the potential of senior population for businesses and the economy; reported entrepreneurial experiences of older people after retirement; and showed the effects of motives and attitudes on well-being and personal and professional fulfilment of elderly entrepreneurs in comparison with younger entrepreneurs.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploração de conceitos probabilísticos nos primeiros anos de escolaridade através de jogos

Recentemente, o estudo das Probabilidades, conjuntamente com a Estatística, tem sido aprofundado nos programas escolares de Matemática de muitos países, dando-se início ao seu estudo logo nos primeiros anos de escolaridade. Motivado por essa tendência, no presente artigo apresentam-se e discutem-se vários jogos tendo em vista a aprendizagem de conceitos probabilísticos por alunos dos primeiros anos de escolaridade. Com os jogos propostos, vistos numa perspetiva exploratória e de descoberta, promove-se a comparação intuitiva de probabilidades de acontecimentos, o desenvolvimento da compreensão de aspetos lógicos e a descoberta de acontecimentos mutuamente exclusivos, contrários e idênticos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Que perfis concorrem para a satisfação do doente que recorre ao serviço de urgência – aplicação ao CHNE

Ao contrário do que se preconizava até há alguns anos atrás, a medição da qualidade dos serviços hospitalares deixou de assentar, quase exclusivamente, na disponibilidade tecnológica e na capacidade técnica dos colaboradores pois verificou-se que estas duas componentes não são garante suficiente de satisfação do doente. Tornou-se necessário equacionar outros factores como, por exemplo, as expectativas dos doentes em relação ao serviço prestado. Tais factores são abordados no presente trabalho de investigação cujo objectivo é identificar factores que concorrem para a identificação do perfil de um doente satisfeito após recurso ao serviço de urgência do Centro Hospitalar do Nordeste Transmontano (CHNE). A satisfação incentiva a confiança e diálogo com o profissional de saúde. Por outro lado, a adesão ao tratamento também aumenta, favorecendo a recuperação e conduzindo à diminuição de gastos e reincidências. Em simultâneo, sendo o doente o “cliente” que deve ser satisfeito, a sua opinião deve ser o ponto de partida para reestruturações que, sem custos económicos acrescidos, conduzem a elevados níveis de satisfação e qualidade. Partindo das respostas a um questionário, que aborda a problemática aqui em análise, aplicou-se a metodologia de regressão logística na identificação das características sócio-económicas e dos factores relacionados com o atendimento e resultado do serviço com impactos positivos na probabilidade do doente se sentir satisfeito com o serviço, em geral, ou com aspectos particulares relacionados com o mesmo. Os resultados permitem identificar algumas variáveis com impacto estatístico significativo facultando à administração do serviço ferramentas para poder proceder a alterações que, de imediato, causam impacto positivo na satisfação do doente. Contrarily to what was claimed until some years ago, the measurement of hospital services quality has stopped being based almost exclusively on the technological availability and the cooperators’ technical skills, as research showed that these two components alone do not constitute enough guarantee of the user’s satisfaction. It has become necessary to add other factors such as patients’ expectations concerning the rendered service. Such factors are approached in this study whose aim is to identify factors which contribute to the identification of a satisfied patient’s profile after using the emergency service of Centro Hospitalar do Nordeste Transmontano (CHNE). Satisfaction increases trust and dialogue with the health professional. Besides this, acceptance of treatment also increases, favoring recovery and leading to a decrease in expenses and recurrence. Simultaneously, as the patient is the “client” who must be satisfied, their opinion has to be the starting point for restructurings which, without further financial costs, lead to high satisfaction and quality levels. We have used the answers to a survey which approaches the issue in analysis and a logistic regression method to identify socio-economic features as well as the factors related to the service reception and result with positive impacts on the patient’s satisfaction probability concerning both the service as a whole and some of its specific aspects. Results allow us to identify some variables with significant statistic impact, thus giving the service administration the tools which enable them to make changes that cause immediate positive impact on the user’s satisfaction. Contrariamente a lo que se aconsejaba hace unos años, la medición de la calidad de los servicios hospitalarios ha dejado de basarse casi exclusivamente en la disponibilidad tecnológica y en la capacidad técnica de los empleados, ya que se constató que estos dos componentes no son garantía suficiente de satisfacción del usuario. Se hizo necesario considerar otros factores, por ejemplo, las expectativas de los pacientes en relación al servicio prestado. Dichos factores se analizan en este trabajo de investigación cuyo objetivo es identificar los factores que contribuyen a la identificación de un perfil de usuario satisfecho, después del recurso al servicio de urgencias del Hospital del noreste transmontano (CHNE). La satisfacción fomenta la confianza y el diálogo con el profesional de la salud. Por otra parte, aumenta la adhesión al tratamiento, favorece la recuperación y provoca una disminución de los gastos y la reincidencia. Al mismo tiempo, el paciente es el "cliente" debe ser satisfecho, su opinión debería ser el punto de partida para la reestructuración que, sin aumento de los costos económicos, llevan a altos niveles de satisfacción y. Basado en las respuestas a un cuestionario, que aborda el problema que aquí se examina, se aplica la metodología de regresión logística para identificar las características socioeconómicas y los factores relacionados con el resultado de la atención y del servicio, en un impacto positivo en la probabilidad de que el usuario satisfecho con el servicio en general o con aspectos particulares relacionados con lo mismo. Los resultados permiten identificar algunas variables con un impacto estadísticamente significativo permitiendo a la administración del servicio herramientas para hacer los cambios que de inmediato tienen impacto positivo en la satisfacción del usuario

Patterns and controls on fluvial incision in the lower Douro River (Western Iberia) following endorheic-exorheic drainage reorganization

The Douro River, is ~900 km long and has a drainage basin of ~97,600 km2, crossing most of the Iberian Peninsula from east to west. The evolution of the Douro system documents an outstanding example of a continental-scale drainage reorganization, reflecting a transition from endorheic to exorheic conditions. By the middle Cretaceous, the passive Western Iberian Margin was tectonically reactivated by an increasing N-S to NW-SE compression, leading to intraplate deformation. This deformation peaked at ~9.5 Ma (middle Tortonian) resulting in differential uplift of crustal blocks. Until ~3.7 Ma (middle Pliocene) the regional drainage was routed east into the endorheic Douro Cenozoic Basin (DCB). The Lower Douro River Section (LDRS) is limited upstream by a pronounced knickzone called the Arribas do Douro developed into resistant basement bedrock. Along the LDRS, the Douro incises into hard granitic and metamorphic rocks crossed by active fault zones, before reaching the Atlantic coast. The main valley along the LDRS displays a fluvial staircase configuration of 11 levels, with the upper levels occurring as erosional bedrock straths and the 3 lowest levels as straths with a fluvial sediment cover. Recent work has indicated that capture-related re-organization via headwards erosion of a small Atlantic draining system was unlikely due to the high resistance of the basement bedrock and instead overspill is a more plausible explanation (Cunha et al., 2019). Although the endorheic-exorheic reorganization leading to an Atlantic system, has recently been investigated, the fluvial incisional stage of the main river and tributaries is less understood along the LDRS. In this work, the characterization the transient landscape relief of four distinct sectors along the LDRS, in terms of: valley floor widthheight ratio, degree and rates of incision, uplift rates, migration of successive erosion waves and knickpoint propagation, preservation of old plateaus of the regional planation surface, influence of lithology on the relief evolution, and the staircase arrangement along the main course considering the presence/absence of aggradational levels. The LDRS can be divided in four sectors separated by two major NNESSW strike-slip fault zones, which are represented morphologically as river gorges along the uplifted blocks between pull-apart basins (e.g., Régua and Vilariça-Pocinho). The less uplifted areas are also where the aggradational strath terraces are well expressed.The 4 sectors are: I) from the river mouth till the confluence of the main northern tributary, the Tâmega River – adjacent to a wide littoral platform with inland hills (top surface <500 m); II) from the Tâmega confluence to the Mesão Frio-Régua tectonic corridor, corresponding to the uplifted relief of the Occidental Mountain Range; III) from Régua to the Pocinho-Vilariça pull-apart basin, corresponding to the High Plateaus region of Northern Portugal; IV) from Pocinho to the river elbow that marks the DCB margin, the old erosion surface of the Iberian Meseta. Cunha, P.; Martins, A.; Gomes, A.; Stokes, M.; Cabral, J.; Lopes, F.; Pereira, D.; de Vicente, G.; Buylaert, J-P.; Murray, A.; Antón, L. 2019. Mechanisms and age estimates of continental-scale endorheic to exorheic drainage transition: Douro River, Western Iberia. Global and Planetary Change, 181, 102985