Internet in the intermediation role of travel agents: The Portuguese case

This article attempts to assess the impact that Internet has in the intermediation of travel agencies operating in Portugal. Firstly, the study discusses theoretical concepts related to the topic such as: tourism, internet, characterization of tourism distribution, disintermediation, reintermediation and new integrated management systems for travel agents. Then, a questionnaire was developed which resulted in 125 valid responses. The data analysis showed that travel agencies are committed to a new type of intermediation based on new technologies, using new technology platforms to distribute their tourism products and services and to adopt new business models. The study concludes that, only this way, organisations will achieve sustainable growth.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Income inequality and technological adoption

We relate technological adoption (of different technologies) with income inequality. We discovered that some technologies such as aviation, cell phones, electric production, internet, telephone, and TV are skill-complementary in raising inequality. We constructed standardized indexes of skill-complementary technological adoption for modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), older ICT, production and transport technologies. We found strong evidence that older ICT and transport technologies (and less frequently modern ICT) tend to increase inequality. Additionally, we discovered that results are much stronger in rich countries than in poor ones. Our results are quite robust to a series of changes in specifications, estimators, samples, and measurement of technology adoption. These results may bring insights to the design of incentive-schemes for technology adoption

I love you… but not unconditionally: Perceptions about luxury fashion brands

The Generation Y (1978-2000) live in a constant change and are always interacting among them and the brands that they love. The current study aims to contribute to better understand the perceptions that Y's have about Corporate Social Responsibility in fashion luxury brands. Therefore, 31 in-depth interviews were conducted with a group of people belonging to Generation Y. The findings reveal that Y's are concerned about transparent procedures and helping business and society to improve as a consequence of their sustainable and responsible attitudes. The environmental issues and labour practices are the most cited, commented and recommended factors of corporate social responsibility (CSR) proposed by participants. The article provides a framework presenting the seven core factors to incorporate CSR.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Exponential behavior of the interlayer exchange coupling across non-magnetic metallic superlattices

It is shown that the coupling between magnetic layers separated by non-magnetic metallic superlattices can decay exponentially as a function of the spacer thickness $N$, as opposed to the usual $N^{-2}$ decay. This effect is due to the lack of constructive contributions to the coupling from extended states across the spacer. The exponential behavior is obtained by properly choosing the distinct metals and the superlattice unit cell composition.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

The use of robots in the workplace: Conclusions from a health promoting intervention using social robots

Workplace wellness programs constitute a preventive measure to help avoid healthcare costs for companies, with additional benefits for employee productivity and other organizational outcomes. Interventions using social robots may have some advantages over other conventional telemedicine applications, since they can deliver personalized feedback and counseling. This investigation focused on a health-promoting intervention within work environments, and compared the efficacy of the intervention on two distinct groups, one guided by a human agent and the other by a robot agent. Participants (n = 56) were recruited from two Portuguese organizations and led through eight sessions by the social agent, the goal being to encourage health behavior change and adoption of a healthier lifestyle. The results indicate that the group led by the robot agent revealed better post-intervention scores than the group led by the human agent, specifically with regard to productivity despite presenteeism and regard of their level of mental well-being. No effects were found concerning the work engagement level of participants in either group. By demonstrating the potential of using social robots to establish therapeutic and worth relationships with employees in their workplaces, this study provides interesting new findings that contribute to the literature on health behavior change and human–robot interaction.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Primary and Immortalized Human Respiratory Cells Display Different Patterns of Cytotoxicity and Cytokine Release upon Exposure to Deoxynivalenol, Nivalenol and Fusarenon-X.

The type B trichothecene mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV) and fusarenon-X (FX) are structurally related secondary metabolites frequently produced by <i>Fusarium</i> on wheat. Consequently, DON, NIV and FX contaminate wheat dusts, exposing grain workers to toxins by inhalation. Those trichothecenes at low, relevant, exposition concentrations have differential effects on intestinal cells, but whether such differences exist with respiratory cells is mostly unknown, while it is required to assess the combined risk of exposure to mycotoxins. The goal of the present study was to compare the effects of DON, NIV and FX alone or in combination on the viability and IL-6 and IL-8-inducing capacity of human epithelial cells representative of the respiratory tract: primary human airway epithelial cells of nasal (hAECN) and bronchial (hAECB) origin, and immortalized human bronchial (16HBE14o-) and alveolar (A549) epithelial cell lines. We report that A549 cells are particularly resistant to the cytotoxic effects of mycotoxins. FX is more toxic than DON and NIV for all epithelial cell types. Nasal and bronchial primary cells are more sensitive than bronchial and alveolar cell lines to combined mycotoxin mixtures at low concentrations, although they are less sensitive to mycotoxins alone. Interactions between mycotoxins at low concentrations are rarely additive and are observed only for DON/NIV and NIV/FX on hAECB cells and DON/NIV/FX on A549 cells. Most interactions at low mycotoxin concentrations are synergistic, antagonistic interactions being observed only for DON/FX on hAECB, DON/NIV on 16HBE14o- and NIV/FX on A549 cells. DON, NIV and FX induce, albeit at different levels, IL-6 and IL-8 release by all cell types. However, NIV and FX at concentrations of low cytotoxicity induce IL-6 release by hAECB and A549 cells, and IL-8 release by hAECN cells. Overall, these data suggest that combined exposure to mycotoxins at low concentrations have a stronger effect on primary nasal epithelial cells than on bronchial epithelial cells and activate different inflammatory pathways. This information is particularly relevant for future studies about the hazard of occupational exposure to mycotoxins by inhalation and its impact on the respiratory tract

Silvicultural intensification and agroforestry systems in secondary tropical forests: a review.

Florestas secundárias são as vegetações lenhosas que resultam dos processos sucessionais depois da perda da floresta primária original. As aberturas nas florestas primárias ocorrem devido a distúrbios causados por fatores naturais como tempestades, furacões, deslizamentos de terra ou fogo. Atividades humanas como o desmatamento para implementar lavouras, pastos, minas e estradas podem também promover o aumento de florestas secundárias. Este artigo discute os problemas em atingir rentabilidade econômica em florestas secundárias tropicais, dando como exemplo a região Nordeste do Pará na Amazônia brasileira. Uma alternativa para transformar florestas secundárias tropicais em um uso da terra economicamente mais competitivo é a intensificação de tratamentos silviculturais, a fim de aumentar a produtividade das espécies para fins madeireiros e não‑madeireiros. A intensificação silvicultural pode ser implementada por meio de Distúrbios Organizados na floresta para promover: a) a melhoria da regeneração natural; b) plantio de enriquecimento em clareiras; c) condução de mudas de espécies comerciais naturalmente estabelecidas; e d) Densificação Assistida de espécies com baixa densidade. Além desses tratamentos silviculturais, propõe-se um sistema agroflorestal cíclico dentro clareiras artificiais em pequenas propriedades rurais cobertas por florestas secundárias. Este sistema agroflorestal cíclico pode manter a produção de grãos e frutas com a conservação da floresta secundári

Electrochemical synthesis of diaminodicarboxylic acid derivatives

Diaminoadipic acid derivatives were synthesized in good yields by electrolysis of N,N-diacyidehydroalanines. Cyclic voltammetry measurements on the precursors are presented and interpreted as supporting formation of a nucleophilic intermediate generated by electrochemical reduction. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (project no. POCTI/1999/QUI/32689)

Synthesis of non-proteinogenic amino acids from N-(4-toluenesulfonyl)dehydroamino acid derivatives

By treating N-(4-toluenesulfonyl)-N-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl)-dehydroamino acid derivatives with different reactants under different conditions, a variety of new amino acids are obtained, viz. (i) alpha-alcoxy-alpha-amino acids, (ii) alpha,alpha-diamino acids and (iii) novel beta-substituted dehydroamino acids. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for financial support (project no. POCTI/ 1999/QUI/32689)