Talent management in the t echnological sector in Portugal

This research aims to understand what the human resource practices being utilized in the technological sector in Portugal are. Aiming to get a better understanding regarding how companies in this sector attract and recruit the best talent, develop their skills and how they maintain these types of employees working with them. All of these research guiding topics leading to the following focus question: do companies in the technological sector in Portugal have a defined Employee Value Proposition and do they use it for their benefit? To understand this, three interviews were conducted with human resource professionals from companies with different sizes and based in different areas of the technological sector present in Portugal – Company A, Warpcom and Huawei, which are companies from the telecommunications, service providers, and information and communications technology provider ranging from small and medium enterprises, multinational companies and one of the top 10 companies in the portuguese market. Even though the companies considered have very different characteristics, there are common human resources practices among them. However, an important factor for all employers in this sector in the future should be to companies invest in the development and differentiation of their Employee Value Proposition and to divulge it among their candidates and employees. Besides that, it is also clear the impact that globalisation has on this sector and the difficulty it imposes to employers.Esta investigação visa compreender quais são as melhores práticas de recursos humanos que estão a ser utilizadas no setor tecnológico em Portugal. Com o objetivo de compreender melhor como é que as empresas deste setor atraem e recrutam os melhores talentos, desenvolvem as suas competências e como retêm este tipo de colaboradores. Todos estes tópicos orientadores da investigação conduzem à seguinte questão: as empresas do setor tecnológico em Portugal têm uma Proposta de Valor definida e utilizam-na para seu benefício? Para compreender isso, foram realizadas três entrevistas com profissionais de recursos humanos de empresas de diferentes dimensões e situadas em diferentes áreas do setor tecnológico em Portugal – Empresa A, Warpcom e Huawei, que são empresas dos setores de telecomunicações, prestadores de serviços e fornecedores de tecnologias da informação e comunicação que variam desde pequenas e médias empresas, empresas multinacionais e uma das empresas do top 10 no mercado português. Embora as empresas consideradas tenham características muito diferentes, há práticas de recursos humanos comuns entre as mesmas. No entanto, um fator importante para todas as chefias deste setor, no futuro, deverá ser o de investirem no desenvolvimento e diferenciação da sua Proposta de Valor e divulgá-la junto dos seus candidatos e colaboradores. Além disso, também fica claro o impacto que a globalização tem neste setor e a dificuldade que impõe aos empregadores

Digestion, blood-brain barrier transposition and neuroprotective effect

"This thesis is organized in five parts: introduction, three chapters of experimental work and a general discussion. In the introduction section, major topics necessary for a broad comprehension of this thesis is described. Major aspects about neurodegenerative diseases and (poly)phenols importance in the disease prevention are present. State of art of major cellular models used for studying (poly)phenols role in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is also described. Emphasis to the knowledge gaps of (poly)phenols potential to act inside the brain was considered such as their ability to cross and/or interact with the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Finally, a thesis rational and major work objectives are concluding the introductory section. Part of this section was included in a review published in Current Neuropharmacology.(...)"N/

Strategies for the engagement of youth in health-related activities in Portugal: the CO-CREATE project

Introduction: The lack of attention paid by policymakers to the views and role of young people in societal matters, including health, has been a contributor factor for the poor youth involvement in the development of health-related policies. The CO-CREATE (CC) project aims to collaborate with adolescents across Europe in developing policy ideas that contribute to overweight and obesity prevention. Aim: Present the strategies for the recruitment and engagement of youth in CC project in Portugal. Methods: In order to recruit for a diversity of youths, the Portuguese CC Team identified the scout organization CNE (Corpo Nacional de Escutas) as the most relevant gatekeeper, being the biggest Portuguese youth association. The principles of youth-led participatory action research were employed to design 3 Youth Alliances, temporal gathering of a group of young people that work together towards a common goal: Scout groups of Oeiras, Parque das Nações and São Domingos de Rana. Results: Several opportunities were created to promote the Portuguese youth engagement in the project such as the planning and organization of local and national Dialogue Forums and the presentation of youth policy ideas to three political parties of the Portuguese Parliament. Recommendations from the CC youth for encouraging youth involvement in the development of policies are highlighted below: - Promote training and empower youth, for example, through and in schools; - Create opportunities for youth to be part of national and international projects as active partners is needed, and facilitating youth promoting this via their channels; - Establish partnership with existing youth organizations to foster synergies; - Use tools that ensure equal and balanced participation in discussions between youth and stakeholders. Conclusion: Nowadays young people’s voices remain underrepresented in health policy processes, however CC is an example of a successful initiative that was able to motivate and mobilize youth in Portugal.The CO-CREATE project has received funding from the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Union under funding agreement No 774210.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

a quantitative and qualitative study

Funding Information: The study was funded by the National Association of Pharmacies. The sponsor had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Background: Point-of-care tests can contribute to earlier diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, thereby affording the opportunity to prevent chronic stages and the spread to others. As part of the Fast-Track Cities initiative, a pilot study was initiated in community pharmacies in Portugal. Aim: To characterize the individuals choosing to have point-of-care testing or screening for human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B virus infections in community pharmacies, their risk behaviours and motivations to perform the tests, as well as to understand the facilitators and barriers from the perspective of pharmacists. Method: A quantitative and qualitative study was conducted. A survey was applied to test users in pharmacies between May and December 2019, and three focus groups were conducted with six, four, and five pharmacists involved in the initiative. Qualitative data were analysed according to thematic content analysis. Results: A total of 210 questionnaires were collected (57.9% response rate). Point-of-care test users were predominantly male, mean age of 35 (± 13.0) years, the majority had higher education level, and 22.8% were born outside of Portugal. Almost half of the users were first time tested and the main reason for screening was unprotected sexual intercourse. Pharmacists identified speed, confidentiality, counselling provided to users, pharmacists’ initial training to perform the tests, and trust in the pharmacist as facilitators of these tests. Stigma associated with infections, the procedure, logistical conditions, and the referral process were considered as barriers. Conclusion: Pharmacies are a screening site with special importance for individuals who are first tested, heterosexuals, and some migrants. Nevertheless, it is necessary to understand and reduce barriers and increase the support to specific groups.publishersversionpublishe

Desenvolvimento de um sistema de mapeamento de veias sanguíneas por imagiologia de infravermelho

Tese de Mestrado Integrado, Engenharia Física, 2022, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de CiênciasThe technique of vein pattern analysis has been developed in Biometrics as a method of identifying an individual. This technique has potential in the detection of skin cancer, where increased vascular activity is known to occur in the development of a tumor. The human body has present in the blood a respiratory protein called deoxygenated hemoglobin that is found in the veins, and presents a high absorption in the infrared (IR), allowing the observation of veins through an illumination and image capture system specially adapted to this range of radiation. In this work we studied the implementation of the IR imaging technique for the identification of subcutaneous veins, and analysis of the potential application in the early detection of skin cancer. Using an image detection system consisting of a Near-Infrared (NIR) camera, an NIR radiation source and two optical polarizing filters for glare reduction, the mapping of superficial veins of the forearm and hand was characterized. The application of the technique has the innovation of using a laser radiation source in the NIR (wavelength of approximately 808;nm) that is currently being used to test techniques for surface tumor therapy. The experimental setup was implemented along with the development of a user-friendly interface for image processing, where algorithms for contrast, noise and image segmentation were selected to ensure good quality for vein pattern extraction. The feature extraction falls on vein recognition algorithms that allow highlighting in the image the geometric shape of a vessel, obtaining the venous network of a given body area. The early detection of cancer requires continuous monitoring of the patient and an interface has been developed that will allow, in the future, the vein pattern to be compared at two different times

a systematic review of economic evaluations

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Background: Deprescribing can reduce the use of inappropriate or unnecessary medication; however, the economic value of such interventions is uncertain. Objective: This study seeks to identify and synthetise the economic evidence of deprescribing interventions among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Full economic evaluation studies of deprescribing interventions, conducted in the community or primary care settings, in community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 65 years were systematically reviewed. MEDLINE, EconLit, Scopus, Web of Science, CEA-TUFTS, CRD York and Google Scholar databases were searched from inception to February 2021. Two researchers independently screened all retrieved articles according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The main outcome was the economic impact of the intervention from any perspective, converted into 2019 US Dollars. The World Health Organization threshold of 1 gross domestic product per capita was used to define cost effectiveness. Studies were appraised for methodological quality using the extended Consensus on Health Economics Criteria checklist. Results: Of 6154 articles identified by the search strategy, 14 papers assessing 13 different interventions were included. Most deprescribing interventions included some type of medication review with or without a supportive educational component (n = 11, 85%), and in general were delivered within a pharmacist-physician care collaboration. Settings included community pharmacies, primary care/outpatient clinics and patients’ homes. All economic evaluations were conducted within a time horizon varying from 2 to 12 months with outcomes in most of the studies derived from a single clinical trial. Main health outcomes were reported in terms of quality-adjusted life-years, prevented number of falls and the medication appropriateness index. Cost effectiveness ranged from dominant to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $112,932 per quality-adjusted life-year, a value above the country’s World Health Organization threshold. Overall, 85% of the interventions were cost saving, dominated usual care or were cost effective considering 1 gross domestic product per capita. Nine studies scored > 80% (good) and two scored ≤ 50% (low) on critical quality appraisal. Conclusions: There is a growing interest in economic evaluations of deprescribing interventions focused on community-dwelling older adults. Although results varied across setting, time horizon and intervention, most were cost effective according to the World Health Organization threshold. Deprescribing interventions are promising from an economic viewpoint, but more studies are needed.publishersversionpublishe

A influência da criação de jogos didáticos na aprendizagem e motivação dos estudantes nas aulas de Português e História e Geografia de Portugal no 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

O presente relatório foi desenvolvido no âmbito da unidade curricular de Prática de Ensino Supervisionada (PES), numa escola de 2.º e 3.º Ciclos, da cidade de Portimão, mais concretamente, numa turma de 5.º ano, no âmbito da disciplina de Português, e numa turma de 6.º ano, no âmbito da disciplina de História e Geografia de Portugal (HGP). Esta investigação tem como objetivo compreender se a criação de jogos didáticos influencia a aprendizagem e a motivação dos(as) alunos(as) nas disciplinas de Português e História e Geografia de Portugal do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. Para o desenvolvimento deste estudo, foram dinamizadas várias atividades, tendo os/as estudantes elaborado jogos didáticos digitais, com base nos conteúdos programáticos referentes às duas disciplinas, recorrendo à plataforma wordwall. Assim, na disciplina de Português, foram criados: i) um quiz sobre a obra “A fada Oriana”, ii) um jogo de verdadeiro ou falso sobre a obra “O príncipe Nabo” e iii) uma sopa de letras sobre as caraterísticas do texto dramático. Já na disciplina de HGP, foram construídos: i) dois quizzes, subordinados aos títulos “Salazar e o Estado Novo” e “O Ultramar e Guerra Colonial”, ii) duas sopas de letras respetivamente designadas “A Oposição ao Estado Novo” e “As Condições de Vida dos Portugueses" e iii) um jogo de verdadeiro ou falso sobre a “Difusão dos Ideais do Estado Novo”. Verificou-se que a criação dos jogos didáticos teve um impacto positivo no processo de aprendizagem dos alunos, ajudando-os(as) a ultrapassar algumas das dificuldades registadas inicialmente. No que diz respeito à perceção dos(as) estudantes acerca destes jogos no seu processo de aprendizagem, todos demonstraram gostar de elaborar o jogo, afirmando que este método de trabalho, assim como as ferramentas criadas, são uma forma lúdica e diferente de aprender e estudar. Esta metodologia de trabalho foi cativante e motivadora para os alunos, especialmente para aqueles com mais dificuldades de aprendizagem pois desta forma foi possível trabalhar em grupo e compreender melhor os conteúdos que foram trabalhados.This report was developed within the scope of the Supervised Teaching Practice curricular unit, in a school of 2nd and 3rd Cycle, in the city of Portimão, more specifically two groups, in a 5th year class, in the scope of the Portuguese subject, and in a 6th year class, in the scope of the subject of History and Geography of Portugal (HGP). This investigation aims to understand if the creation of didactic games influences the learning and motivation of students in the scope of the Portuguese subject and History and Geography of Portugal (HGP) 2nd Cycle of Basic Education. For the development of this study, several activities were dynamized, in which the students developed digital didactic games about the syllabus contents related to the two subjects, using the Wordwall Platform. Thus, in the scope of the Portuguese subject students created the following games: i) a quiz about the book “A fada Oriana”, ii) a true or false game about the book “O Príncipe Nabo” and iii) a word search puzzle about the characteristics of the dramatic text. In the scope of the HGP subject, the following were elaborated: i) two quizzes, under the titles “Salazar e o Estado Novo” and “O Ultramar e Guerra Colonial”, ii) two word search puzzle called “A oposição ao Estado Novo” and “As condições de vida dos Portugueses" and iii) a game of true or false about the “Difusão dos ideais do Estado Novo”. It was found that the creation of didactic games had a positive impact on the students' learning process, helping to overcome some of the difficulties initially presented. Regarding the students' perception of these games in their learning process, all students showed to enjoy making these games and said that this strategy helped them to overcome some of the difficulties they felt. Most of the students said they believe that this method of work, as well as the respective tools, are a playful and different way of learning and studying. This work methodology was captivating and motivating for the students, especially for those with more learning difficulties, as this way it was possible to work in groups and better understand the contents that were worked on

Realização de testes rápidos (point-of-care) em farmácias comunitárias: perspetiva dos utentes e farmacêuticos

RESUMO - No âmbito do projeto Fast Track Cities, foi implementado um projeto piloto de testes rápidos point-of-care para o vírus da imunodeficiência humana, o vírus da hepatite B e o vírus da hepatite C, nas farmácias de Cascais. Este trabalho pretendeu caracterizar os utentes que aderem aos testes, identificar facilitadores e barreiras à adesão nesse local. O estudo apresenta duas componentes: uma quantitativa com aplicação de um questionário a 210 utentes no momento dos testes e outra qualitativa com a realização de grupos focais com 15 farmacêuticos envolvidos no projeto. Avaliou-se a associação entre diversos fatores e a adesão a cada teste, recorrendo-se ao teste Qui-Quadrado e ao coeficiente de correlação de Spearman com um intervalo de confiança de 95% (IC 95%). Os dados qualitativos foram estudados segundo uma análise de conteúdo. Os homens, pessoas nativas, com maior nível de escolaridade e heterossexuais aderiram mais aos testes. A média de idades foi de 35 anos. Quase metade dos utentes indicou nunca ter feito os testes. O motivo mais frequente para os rastreios foram as relações sexuais desprotegidas. Foram reportados como facilitadores para os utentes a rapidez, confidencialidade e confiança no farmacêutico, e como barreiras o estigma associado às infeções e o processo de referenciação. Os farmacêuticos consideraram como facilitadores a formação inicial, o protocolo orientador e a relação com o utente, identificando como barreiras os materiais de testagem, as condições logísticas, o tempo, o desconhecimento da continuidade do processo do utente e o autoteste. A farmácia constitui assim um local de rastreio efetivo, com particular relevância para quem é testado pela primeira vez, heterossexuais e alguns migrantes, embora seja necessário compreender e reduzir barreiras e aumentar a adesão de grupos específicos.ABSTRACT - As part of the Fast Track Cities project, a pilot project of rapid point-of-care screening tests for human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus has been implemented in pharmacies in Cascais. This study aimed to characterise the pharmacy users who adhere to the tests, to identify access facilitators and barriers of that place. The study has two components: a quantitative one with the application of a questionnaire to 210 users at the time of the tests and a qualitative one with the realization of focus groups with 15 pharmacists involved in the project. The association between different several factors and the adherence was evaluated using the Q-Square test and the Spearman coefficient with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Qualitative data were studied according to content analysis. Men, native people, people with higher education and heterosexuals adhered more to the tests. The mean age was 35 years. Almost half of the pharmacy users indicated that they had never done the tests. The most frequent reason for screening was unprotected sexual intercourse. Speed, confidentiality and trust in the pharmacist were reported as facilitators, and as barriers the stigma associated with infections and the referral process. Pharmacists considered initial training, the guiding guidance protocol and the relationship with the user as facilitators, identifying as barriers the testing materials, logistical conditions, time, lack of knowledge about the continuity of the user process and the self-test as barriers. The pharmacy is thus an effective screening site, with particular relevance for those who are first tested, heterosexuals and some migrants, although it is necessary to understand and reduce barriers and increase the support of specific groups

Estudo sobre abusos sexuais de crianças em Portugal (estudantes universitários dos 18-25 anos)

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia especialidade de Psicologia Clínica.O presente estudo analisa a prevalência do abuso sexual de crianças numa amostra portuguesa de estudantes Universitários. O estudo tenta clarificar alguns mitos e responder a algumas definições e conceitos ambíguos, comparando-o com resultados de estudos internacionais, para uma melhor compreensão do fenómeno do abuso sexual de crianças. À presente investigação com 230 indivíduos, juntou-se uma amostra previamente recolhida de 200 estudantes universitários para aumentar a dimensão desta e para uma consequente fiabilidade dos resultados. Os 430 jovens adultos (com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 25 anos) realizaram questionários online e presenciais sobre o tema do abuso sexual de crianças. Um total de 41% (n=177) dos participantes reportaram terem sido vítimas de pelo menos uma forma de abuso sexual até aos 12 anos. Aproximadamente 47% dos indivíduos abusados aponta o “exibicionismo” como a principal forma de abuso “sem contacto” e 70% a refere as “carícias” como a principal forma de abuso “com contacto”. No que diz respeito ao perpetrador, mais de metade dos participantes (53%) afirma que são os “amigos” os abusadores mais frequentes. A presente investigação fornece ainda esclarecimentos acerca das diferenças existentes nas taxas de prevalências dos abusos sexuais de crianças, assim como dados importantes relacionados com o tipo de agressor, tipo de abuso sexual e a implementação de futuras ações preventivas como tentativa de evitar este tipo de abusoThe present study analyzes the prevalence of child sexual abuse in a sample of Portuguese University students. Firstly, the study tries to clarify some myths and answer some ambiguous definitions and concepts, comparing the results of a series of international studies for a better understanding of the child sexual abuse phenomenon. The present study combined to a previous existing sample of 200 university students a new sample of 230 individuals in order to increase the sample size and therefore achieve more reliable results. A sample of 430 young adults (aged 18-25) completed a structured online and in person form survey on experiences of child sexual abuse. A total of 41% (n=177) of participants reported at least one form of child sexual abuse victimization before the age of 12. Approximately 47% of the sample of abused individuals reported “exhibitionism” as the main form of “hands off” abuse and 70% state “foundling” as the main “hands on” abuse. Regarding the abuser, more than half of the participants (53%) stated that “Friends” take up this role. The present investigation provides more insights into the differences within prevalence rates of child sexual abuse as well as some important data regarding perpetrators, types of abuse and the implementation of future prevention actions to avoid such abuses