Factors affecting SMEs' strategic decisions to approach international markets

[EN] The internationalisation challenges that face all companies are no longer the exclusive concern of multinationals. Participation in the international marketplace has become a reality for large firms and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) alike. This kind of participation can be rewarding for both companies and employees. The markets that SMEs enter and the success of this entry depend on several factors such as cultural differences, company tradition, venture capital, products and competitors. The goal of this study is therefore to understand whether the characteristics of the external market, the characteristics of the company itself and the barriers to internationalisation influence the strategic approach that SMEs adopt in their internationalisation processes. Using data on 320 Portuguese SMEs, we apply multivariate analyses to test the dimensions of internationalisation. We find that the decision of SMEs to internationalise involves an institutional change in response to external pressures in the home country. SMEs under greater institutional pressure not only tend to expand further but also engage in their initial international activities more radically.This work is supported by FEDER funds from COMPETE 2020 and Portuguese funds - PORTUGAL 2020. Project IEcPBI - Interactive Ecosystem for Portuguese Business Internationalization - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032139.Azevedo Lobo, C.; Fernandes, CI.; Ferreira, JJ.; Peris-Ortiz, M. (2020). Factors affecting SMEs' strategic decisions to approach international markets. European J of International Management. 14(4):617-639. https://doi.org/10.1504/EJIM.2020.107607S61763914

Influence of temperature and pressure on the density and speed of sound of 2-hydroxyethylammonium propionate ionic liquid

The alkanolammonium ILs are protic ionic liquids (PILs) with huge potential in a variety of industrial fields. Among other advantages, these PILs have low cost of preparation, simple synthesis and purification methodologies and low toxicity. This study aims at obtaining significant data on the fundamental thermophysical properties of hydroxyethylammonium-based PILs with carboxylate anions. The density was measured within the temperature and pressure intervals (298.15–343.15) K and (0.1–35.0) MPa for 2-hydroxyethylammonium propionate, [2-HEA][Pr]. The speed of sound was determined in the ranges (303.15–353.15) K and (0.1–20.0) MPa for the same substance. The estimated combined standard uncertainties are ±0.45 kg·m−3 for density and ±1.6 m·s−1 for speed of sound. The experimental pVT data were fitted using the Goharshadi–Morsali-Abbaspour equation of state (GMA EoS) with average relative absolute deviation (%AARD) of 0.03%. Thermomechanical coefficients as the thermal expansivity, isothermal compressibility, and internal pressure, were calculated using GMA EoS with the internal pressure being further compared with calculated values of cohesive energy density. The experimental pVT data were further successfully described by the predictive methods of Gardas and Coutinho and Paduszyńki and Domańska.publishe

Ecotoxicity variation through parabens degradation by single and catalytic ozonation using volcanic rock

Parabens are widely used as antimicrobial and preservative ingredients in pharmaceutical and personal care products. Nevertheless, these compounds have been increasingly seen as emerging contaminants that can be toxic to a wide range of species. In this study, the toxic effect of a mixture of parabens (10 mg/L of each paraben: methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, benzyl- and butylparaben) and its degradation products through single and catalytic ozonation (using volcanic rock as low-cost catalyst) was investigated over several non-target species: cladocerans, microalgae, clams, macrophytes and cress. The analysis of the toxicity of parabens mixture is relevant since usually these compounds are used as blends rather than individually. While parabens were totally removed both by single and catalytic ozonation the toxicity of the samples resulting from both treatments was generally high. This toxicity was still compared to the one obtained for several dilutions of the initial parabens mixture and it was concluded that the by-products formed are more toxic than the most diluted parabens mixture sample (0.625 mg/L). While catalytic ozonation allows reducing the amount of ozone (about 3-fold) required for total removal of parabens, the resulting treated solution was more toxic than the sample taken at the endpoint of the single ozonation treatment. This suggests that the highest amount of ozone used for single ozonation allowed the elimination of toxic by-products such as hydroquinone and 1,4-benzoquinone. Still, the effect of by-products and parabens interaction depends on the species analyzed due to their different tolerances to potentially toxic products.publishe

Best Frame Selection to Enhance Training Step Efficiency in Video-Based Human Action Recognition

In recent years, with the growth of digital media and modern imaging equipment, the use of video processing algorithms and semantic film and image management has expanded. The usage of different video datasets in training artificial intelligence algorithms is also rapidly expanding in various fields. Due to the high volume of information in a video, its processing is still expensive for most hardware systems, mainly in terms of its required runtime and memory. Hence, the optimal selection of keyframes to minimize redundant information in video processing systems has become noteworthy in facilitating this problem. Eliminating some frames can simultaneously reduce the required computational load, hardware cost, memory and processing time of intelligent video-based systems. Based on the aforementioned reasons, this research proposes a method for selecting keyframes and adaptive cropping input video for human action recognition (HAR) systems. The proposed method combines edge detection, simple difference, adaptive thresholding and 1D and 2D average filter algorithms in a hierarchical method. Some HAR methods are trained with videos processed by the proposed method to assess its efficiency. The results demonstrate that the application of the proposed method increases the accuracy of the HAR system by up to 3% compared to random image selection and cropping methods. Additionally, for most cases, the proposed method reduces the training time of the used machine learning algorithm

Surface crystallization of ionic liquid crystals

The evidence for surface crystallization in ionic liquids is scarce. The existing reports seem to be contradictory as for its driving forces, since in the two compounds investigated in the literature, the contribution of coloumbic and van der Waals forces is very different. In this work 1-dodecyl-3- methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate was studied and its surface crystallization characterized by surface tension, ellipsometry and optical microscopy. The results obtained seem to reconcile previous observations, and it was further shown, using the same techniques, that this phenomenon is prevalent in other ionic liquids. MD simulation results illustrate the different possibilities of organization, providing reasonable models to rationalize the experimental observations.This work was developed with the scope of the project CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, UID/CTM/50011/2019, Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM, UID/EQU/50020/2019, and of Instituto de Telecomunicaço˜es/IT (UID/EEA/50008/2013) – funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). M. A. R. M. acknowledges financial support from NORTE-01-0145-FEDER- 000006 – funded by NORTE2020 through PT2020 and ERDF, and P. J. C. acknowledges the FCT for the contract IF/00758/2015. A. R. Bastos from UA is acknowledged for help in the ellipsometry measurements. M. C. C. aknowledges FAPESP (2012/05027-1) and CNPq (310272/2017) for financial support.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Printing bio-hybrid materials for bioelectronic cardio-3D-cellular constructs

Conductive hydrogels are emerging as promising materials for bioelectronic applications as they minimise the mismatch between biological and electronic systems. We propose a strategy to bioprint bio-hybrid conductive bioinks based on decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. These inks contained conductive features and morphology of the dECM fibres. Electrical stimulation (ES) was applied to bioprinted structures containing human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs). It was observed that in the absence of external ES, the conductive properties of the materials can improve the contractile behaviour of the hPSC-CMs and this effect is enhanced under the application of external ES. Genetic markers indicated a trend towards a more mature state of the cells with upregulated calcium handling proteins and downregulation of calcium channels involved in the generation of pacemaking currents. These results demonstrate the potential of our strategy to manufacture conductive hydrogels in complex geometries for actuating purposes

Fitomassa de adubos verdes e controle de plantas daninhas em diferentes densidades populacionias de leguminosas.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a fitomassa de calopogônio, mucuna-preta, mucunarajada,feijão-de-porco, guandu de porte alto, Crotalaria spectabilis e C. breviflora sob diferentes densidades de semeadura (10, 20, 40, 80 e 160 sementes viáveis m-2), e o crescimento de plantas daninhas nessas densidades, em área de tabuleiros costeiros. O experimento foi desenvolvido de maio a agosto de 1996, no Campo Experimental “Antônio Martins”(EMDAGRO/Embrapa-CPATC), em Lagarto, SE. O número de plantas vivas na floração (NPVF) e a matéria seca da parte aérea das leguminosas (MSPA) foram determinados quando, em cada espécie, cerca de 50% das plantas floresceram. Maiores incrementos de MSPA, em resposta ao adensamento populacional, foram observados em C. spectabilis e C. breviflora, seguidas pelo calopogônio, mucuna-preta e mucuna-rajada. Em relação ao feijão-de-porco, a resposta foi negativa, enquanto com o guandu não houve influência. Quanto ao NPVF, as respostas ao adensamento foram lineares e positivas em C. spectabilis, C. breviflora e calopogônio, e quadráticas com ponto de máxima em feijão-de-porco,guandu e mucuna-rajada. Embora nenhum modelo tenha sido ajustado para expressar a relação entre NPVF e adensamento na semeadura de mucuna-preta, a sobrevivência dessa espécie foi reduzida em todas as densidades. Maiores inibições de plantas daninhas ocorreram nas parcelas de mucuna-preta e feijão-de-porco

Relationship between functional fitness, medication costs and mood in elderly people

Objective: to verify if functional fitness (FF) is associated with the annual cost of medication consumption and mood states (MSt) in elderly people. Methods: a cross-sectional study with 229 elderly people aged 65 years or more at Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Coimbra, Portugal. Seniors with physical and psychological limitations were excluded, as well as those using medication that limits performance on the tests. The Senior Fitness Test was used to evaluate FF, and the Profile of Mood States - Short Form to evaluate the MSt. The statistical analysis was based on Mancova, with adjustment for age, for comparison between men and women, and adjustment for sex, for comparison between cardiorespiratory fitness quintiles. The association between the variables under study was made with partial correlation, controlling for the effects of age, sex and body mass index. Results: an inverse correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness and the annual cost of medication consumption was found (p < 0.01). FF is also inversely associated with MSt (p < 0.05). Comparisons between cardiorespiratory fitness quintiles showed higher medication consumption costs in seniors with lower aerobic endurance, as well as higher deterioration in MSt (p < 0.01). Conclusion: elderly people with better FF and, specifically, better cardiorespiratory fitness present lower medication consumption costs and a more positive MSt