Práticas de gestão de projetos em organizações privadas portuguesas

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia IndustrialA Gestão de Projetos é uma temática que se tem revelado como algo imprescindível ou até mesmo indispensável para a maioria das organizações. Com uma economia competitiva, e com projetos cada vez mais complexos e exigentes, é importante planear e controlar os mesmos da melhor forma, visto que o número de derrapagens nos prazos e orçamentos é elevado. Para além de uma boa gestão dos orçamentos, durações e recursos, é importante avaliar a aplicabilidade das mais variadas ferramentas e técnicas em todas as fases de um projeto, tais como iniciação, planeamento, execução, monitorização e controlo, e encerramento. Os projetos são únicos e cada organização tem a sua estratégia, pelo que a escolha das ferramentas e técnicas deve ser apropriada e adequada para que se possam obter mais benefícios, e cumprir com os objetivos propostos. Esta investigação visa apresentar quais as práticas mais e menos utilizadas pelas Organizações Privadas Portuguesas, a nível de ferramentas e técnicas de Gestão de Projetos, e identificar as diferenças relacionadas com as características pessoais dos respondentes e com os diferentes contextos organizacionais, nomeadamente dimensão, setor de atividade e posicionamento estratégico.The Project Management is a subject that is shown as something crucial for most organizations. With a competitive economy, and increasingly complex and demanding projects, it is important to plan and control them in the best way, since the number of slippage in the deadlines and budgets is high. In addition to good management of budgets, resources and durations, it is important to evaluate the applicability of various tools and techniques in all phases of a project, such as initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure. The designs are unique and each organization has its own strategy, so the choice of tools and techniques must be appropriate and adequate to enable them to get more benefits, and meet those goals. This research aims to present practices which are most and least used by Portuguese Private Organizations, the level of tools and techniques of Project Management, and identify the differences related to the personal characteristics of the respondents and the different organizational contexts, including size, activity sector and strategic positioning

Project management practices in private Portuguese organizations

Organizations are experiencing increasing pressure that is amplified by the current economic crises we are facing, where innovation, cost reduction, resource optimization, quality and customer satisfaction are increasingly even more important issues. Likewise, project management appears as a subject that has been growing over the years helping organizations to meet their goals, through the implementation of their projects, following good practices that are documented in various standards and methodologies. This research focuses on such practices. The goal was to find which are the most used project management tools and techniques in Portuguese Private Organizations and what factors influence their use

Exploiting Leishmania—Primed Dendritic Cells as Potential Immunomodulators of Canine Immune Response

Funding Information: This research was funded by the FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., through research grants PTDC/CVT-CVT/28908/2017 (http://doi.org/10.54499/PTDC/CVT-CVT/28908/2017) and PTDC/CVT-CVT/0228/2020 (http://doi.org/10.54499/PTDC/CVT-CVT/0228/2020) and by national funds within the scope of Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal (CIISA, UIDB/00276/2020), AL4AnimalS—LA/P/0059/2020, Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM, UID/04413/2020), and LA-REAL—LA/P/0117/2020. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 by the authors.Dendritic cells (DCs) capture pathogens and process antigens, playing a crucial role in activating naïve T cells, bridging the gap between innate and acquired immunity. However, little is known about DC activation when facing Leishmania parasites. Thus, this study investigates in vitro activity of canine peripheral blood-derived DCs (moDCs) exposed to L. infantum and L. amazonensis parasites and their extracellular vesicles (EVs). L. infantum increased toll-like receptor 4 gene expression in synergy with nuclear factor κB activation and the generation of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This parasite also induced the expression of class II molecules of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and upregulated co-stimulatory molecule CD86, which, together with the release of chemokine CXCL16, can attract and help in T lymphocyte activation. In contrast, L. amazonensis induced moDCs to generate a mix of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, indicating that this parasite can establish a different immune relationship with DCs. EVs promoted moDCs to express class I MHC associated with the upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules and the release of CXCL16, suggesting that EVs can modulate moDCs to attract cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. Thus, these parasites and their EVs can shape DC activation. A detailed understanding of DC activation may open new avenues for the development of advanced leishmaniasis control strategies.publishersversionpublishe

Exploiting <i>Leishmania</i>—Primed Dendritic Cells as Potential Immunomodulators of Canine Immune Response

Dendritic cells (DCs) capture pathogens and process antigens, playing a crucial role in activating naïve T cells, bridging the gap between innate and acquired immunity. However, little is known about DC activation when facing Leishmania parasites. Thus, this study investigates in vitro activity of canine peripheral blood-derived DCs (moDCs) exposed to L. infantum and L. amazonensis parasites and their extracellular vesicles (EVs). L. infantum increased toll-like receptor 4 gene expression in synergy with nuclear factor κB activation and the generation of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This parasite also induced the expression of class II molecules of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and upregulated co-stimulatory molecule CD86, which, together with the release of chemokine CXCL16, can attract and help in T lymphocyte activation. In contrast, L. amazonensis induced moDCs to generate a mix of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, indicating that this parasite can establish a different immune relationship with DCs. EVs promoted moDCs to express class I MHC associated with the upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules and the release of CXCL16, suggesting that EVs can modulate moDCs to attract cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. Thus, these parasites and their EVs can shape DC activation. A detailed understanding of DC activation may open new avenues for the development of advanced leishmaniasis control strategies

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved