A evolução do subsistema armas e munições: implicações para a Artilharia de Campanha portuguesa

O carácter da conflitualidade actual evoluiu, para guerras assimétricas, sem frentes, sem uniformes, de objectivos pouco claros, estando os combatentes misturados com a população, que é utilizada como escudo ou moeda de troca, se necessário. O emprego da Artilharia de Campanha no actual espectro de missões mantém-se decisivo, necessariamente mais alargado e com novas especificidades, exigindo cada vez mais especialização, modernização e flexibilidade. Neste artigo é analisado o impacto e as implicações que as recentes evoluções no subsistema armas e munições de Artilharia de Campanha têm no Exército Português. Abstract The character of the current conflicts has evolved to asymmetric warfare without clear fronts and goals with combatants mixed in the civil population. The employment of Field Artillery in the current spectrum of military operations remains decisive, requiring more expertise, innovation and flexibility. In this paper, is analyzed the impact and implications of recent developments in Field Artillery weapons and ammunition systems may have to the Portuguese Army

Detecting indicators for startup business success: Sentiment analysis using text data mining

The main aim of this study is to identify the key factors in User Generated Content (UGC) on the Twitter social network for the creation of successful startups, as well as to identify factors for sustainable startups and business models. New technologies were used in the proposed research methodology to identify the key factors for the success of startup projects. First, a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model was used, which is a state-of-the-art thematic modeling tool that works in Python and determines the database topic by analyzing tweets for the #Startups hashtag on Twitter (n = 35.401 tweets). Secondly, a Sentiment Analysis was performed with a Supervised Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm that works with Machine Learning in Python. This was applied to the LDA results to divide the identified startup topics into negative, positive, and neutral sentiments. Thirdly, a Textual Analysis was carried out on the topics in each sentiment with Text Data Mining techniques using Nvivo software. This research has detected that the topics with positive feelings for the identification of key factors for the startup business success are startup tools, technology-based startup, the attitude of the founders, and the startup methodology development. The negative topics are the frameworks and programming languages, type of job offers, and the business angels’ requirements. The identified neutral topics are the development of the business plan, the type of startup project, and the incubator’s and startup’s geolocation. The limitations of the investigation are the number of tweets in the analyzed sample and the limited time horizon. Future lines of research could improve the methodology used to determine key factors for the creation of successful startups and could also study sustainable issues

A Hybrid Human-Data Methodology for the Conception of Operational Performance Management Systems

To excel in the overall business performance, daily processes and activities connected to produce a good or service need to be outperformed. Even though there is extensive literature on performance management and performance management systems, there is still no consensus over the conceptual model of such systems, in what is designated as Operational Performance Management Systems (OPMS). This chapter proposes a new approach to conceive feasible and desirable OPMS tools to assist managers on controlling and responding to operational needs, by combining Design Thinking (DT) and Data Analytics (DA), that provide holistic and deep business knowledge, as well as a data-driven based management. The authors conduct an empirical application through a case study within the context of a European airport’s Baggage Handling System (BHS). The case study procedure follows the proposed methodology’s stages, where the authors construct the problem space with a wide array of collected data, along with the solution exploration and refinement

Interaction between Calpain 5, Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma and Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-delta genes: a polygenic approach to obesity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Context</p> <p>Obesity is a multifactorial disorder, that is, a disease determined by the combined effect of genes and environment. In this context, polygenic approaches are needed.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To investigate the possibility of the existence of a crosstalk between the <it>CALPAIN 10 </it>homologue <it>CALPAIN 5 </it>and nuclear receptors of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors family.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>Cross-sectional, genetic association study and gene-gene interaction analysis.</p> <p>Subjects</p> <p>The study sample comprise 1953 individuals, 725 obese (defined as body mass index ≥ 30) and 1228 non obese subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the monogenic analysis, only the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (<it>PPARD</it>) gene was associated with obesity (OR = 1.43 [1.04–1.97], p = 0.027). In addition, we have found a significant interaction between <it>CAPN5 </it>and <it>PPARD </it>genes (p = 0.038) that reduces the risk for obesity in a 55%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that <it>CAPN5 </it>and <it>PPARD </it>gene products may also interact in vivo.</p

How attitudes, vision and ability to capture opportunities affect startups’ business creativity

This article examines the main factors that affect creativity in startups and how these factors influence entrepreneurial initiative strategies. Fifty individuals from the Extremadura region, Spain, participated in an online questionnaire in 2018 and 2019. SmartPLS was used to create a model of the interactions between variables. The results obtained have important theoretical and practical implications as they add new findings to the current literature on the role played by different factors in the creativity processes used by startups. The model has a strong predictive power (R2 = 42.7%). This work describes internal factors such as the improvement in intellectual and attitudinal skills for identifying business opportunities as a preliminary step to taking creative business decisions, as well as shaping the future by coordinating potential efforts and actions. Santrauka Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjami pagrindiniai veiksniai, darantys įtaką startuolių kūrybiškumui ir prisidedantys prie antrepreneriškų iniciatyvinių strategijų. Penkiasdešimt žmonių iš Ekstramadūros regiono (Ispanija) 2018–2019 m. dalyvavo internetinėje apklausoje. Kintamųjų sąveikos modeliui sukurti buvo naudojamasi SmartPLS kompiuterine programa. Gauti rezultatai yra svarbūs teoriškai ir praktiškai, nes naujausioje literatūroje jie papildė naujus atradimus apie tai, kokį vaidmenį įvairūs veiksniai atliko startuolių kūrybiškumo procesuose. Modeliui būdinga stipri prognostinė galia (R2 = 42,7 %). Šiame straipsnyje aprašomi vidiniai veiksniai, tokie kaip intelektiniai ir su požiūriu susiję gebėjimai, kuriuos pasitelkiant, verslo galimybės nustatomos kaip parengiamasis žingsnis prieš priimant kūrybinius verslo sprendimus, taip pat sudarant palankias sąlygas ateityje derinant galimas pastangas ir veiksmus. Reikšminiai žodžiai: kūrybiškumas, antreprenerystė, mažiausiųjų dalinių kvadratų struktūrinių lygčių modeliavimas, startuolių verslas

Development of a New Method for the Determination of Manganese, Cadmium, Mercury and Lead in Whole Blood and Amniotic Fluid by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

Environmental exposure to metals among women, revealed their adverse effects on pregnancy. During this stage, blood levels of some metals increase so research on heavy metals transference from the mother’s blood to the developing foetus is of special interest and much attention has been paid to this matter. The amniotic fluid can be considered as a valuable marker of this prenatal exposure to exogenous factors. The aim of this study was to develop a method for the simultaneous determination of Mn, Cd, Hg, and Pb in whole maternal blood and amniotic fluid by ICP-MS. Strategies were given to minimise memory effects related to mercury and two widespread digestion procedures (open-vessel and microwave-assisted) were compared. Several quality controls, such as methodological and reagent blanks, spiked samples and duplicates were used to test the goodness of the developed method. Once optimised, the method was applied for the monitoring of Mn, Cd, Hg and Pb in 15 maternal blood and amniotic fluid samples obtained at delivery after informed consent. This study establishes that heavy metals pass into and accumulate in amniotic fluid and maternal blood. Thus, mean concentrations of Mn were similar in the two biological fluids studied, 21.6 ng/mL in maternal blood and 20.5 ng/mL in amniotic fluid. Mean Cd and mercury levels in blood and amniotic fluid were 1.3 and 6.3 ng/mL and 3.4 and 3.8 ng/mL, respectively. Concentrations of Pb were 16.4 ng/mL in blood and 13.7 ng/mL in amniotic fluid. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term health effects derived from this exposure.Plan Propio of the University of SevilleFundación Farmacéutica Avenzoa

MATRIZ A3 – UMA ABORDAGEM ACERCA DAS DIFERENTES COMPLEXIDADES DOS PROBLEMAS

Idealizado na década de 20 por Walter A. Shewhart, amplamente divulgado nos anos 50 por W. Edwards Deming e aplicado sistematicamente na indústria japonesa, mais especificamente na montadora de automóveis Toyota, o ciclo PDCA (Plan – Do – Check – Action) tem demonstrado que sua utilização na solução de problemas e na melhoria contínua aplicada se mostra muito eficaz, pois apresenta um modelo lógico e de fácil entendimento além de uma proposta de padronização que é o ponto fundamental para não reincidência dos problemas e a sustentação das melhorias a longo prazo. Diversas nomenclaturas têm sido utilizadas para difundir sua aplicação no mercado, principalmente no automotivo. Um dos mais conhecidos métodos de solução de problemas baseado no ciclo PDCA têm sido a matriz A3. O objetivo desse artigo é demonstrar a aplicação prática do ciclo PDCA por meio da matriz A3 em uma empresa do ramo automotivo, cujo modelo de matriz a ser utilizada depende da complexidade do problema a ser solucionado. Pautado por pesquisa bibliográfica e apresentação de formulários ilustrativos, este artigo torna-se uma excelente fonte de pesquisa para profissionais do ramo industrial e do meio acadêmico que buscam maior entendimento sobre a metodologia em questão

Dynamic Programming Optimization of Multi-rate Multicast Video-Streaming Services

In large scale IP Television (IPTV) and Mobile TV distributions, the video signal is typically encoded and transmitted using several quality streams, over IP Multicast channels, to several groups of receivers, which are classified in terms of their reception rate. As the number of video streams is usually constrained by both the number of TV channels and the maximum capacity of the content distribution network, it is necessary to find the selection of video stream transmission rates that maximizes the overall user satisfaction. In order to efficiently solve this problem, this paper proposes the Dynamic Programming Multi-rate Optimization (DPMO) algorithm. The latter was comparatively evaluated considering several user distributions, featuring different access rate patterns. The experimental results reveal that DPMO is significantly more efficient than exhaustive search, while presenting slightly higher execution times than the non-optimal Multi-rate Step Search (MSS) algorithm