Organizational Characteristics and Performance of Export Promotion Agencies: Portugal and Ireland compared

Export Promotion Agencies (EPAs) have been in operation in developed countries since the beginning of the 20th century to improve the competitiveness of firms by increasing knowledge and competences applied to export market development.Export Promotion Agencies; Organizational Performance; Portugal; Ireland

Body image-related cognitive fusion as a main mediational process between body-related experiences and women's quality of life

Ferreira, C., & Trindade, I.A. (2015). Body image-related cognitive fusion as a main mediational process between body-related experiences and women's quality of life. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 20 (1), 91-97. doi: 10.1007/s40519-014-0155-y.Purpose: Although the experience of body image has been considered an important indicator of women’s psychological quality of life (QoL), it has also been suggested that the impact of unwanted body-related experiences on QoL may be mediated by emotional regulation processes. The aim of the current study was therefore to explore for the first time the role of body image-related cognitive fusion on these associations. Methods: This study comprised 779 young females who completed self-report measures. A path analysis was conducted to explore whether BMI, body dissatisfaction, and feelings of inferiority based on physical appearance would impact on psychological QoL through body image-related cognitive fusion. Results: The model explained 39% of psychological health, and revealed an excellent fit. Results showed that BMI did not directly impact on psychological health. Furthermore, the effects of increased body dissatisfaction and feelings of inferiority based on physical appearance on psychological health were fully and partially mediated by body image-related cognitive fusion, respectively. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the presence of body image-related negative experiences does not necessarily lead to impairment in women’s quality of life, which is rather dependent upon one’s ability to observe these unwanted experiences as transient and subjective. Therefore, intervention programs aiming at increasing women’s quality of life should focus on targeting emotional regulation processes in order to develop the ability to pursue life goals and values, even in the presence of unwanted experiences concerning body image

A Framework for the Design and Implementation of Learning Objects: a Competence-based Approach

This paper presents a framework for the design and implementation of learning objects using a competence-based approach. This framework is illustrated by the development of a standalone Windows application (Trilho GOA) whose primary purpose is to create standardized pedagogical contents trough the aggregation and standardization of instructional resources in several formats that can be used later on a Learning Management System (LMS) supporting SCORM 1.2. The paper contains a brief introduction to the developed software, its system architecture, main features and several pedagogical advantages for its users

Explaining rigid dieting in normal-weight women: The key role of body image inflexibility

Ferreira, C., Trindade, I.A., & Martinho, A. (2016). Explaining rigid dieting in normal-weight women: the key role of body image inflexibility. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 21(1), 49–56. doi: 10.1007/s40519-015-0188-x.Restrictive dieting is an increasing behavior presented by women in Western societies, independently of their weight. There are several known factors that motivate diet, namely a sense of dissatisfaction with one’s body and unfavorable social comparisons based on physical appearance. However, dieting seems to have a paradoxical effect and has been considered a risk factor for weight gain and obesity in women, and associated with maladaptive eating. Nevertheless, the study of the emotional regulation processes that explain the adoption of inflexible and rigid dietary patterns still remains little explored. In this line, the present study aims to explore why normal-weight women engage in highly rigid and inflexible diets. We hypothesize that body and weight dissatisfaction, and unfavorable social comparisons based on physical appearance with peers explain the adoption of inflexible eating rules, through the mechanism of body image inflexibility. The study comprised 508 female college students who presented BMIs between 18.5 and 25. Path analyses were conducted to explore the study’s hypotheses. Results revealed that the model explained 43% of inflexible eating and revealed excellent fit indices. Furthermore, the unwillingness to experience unwanted events related to body image (body image inflexibility) mediated the impact of body dissatisfaction and unfavorable social comparisons on the engagement in inflexible eating rules. This study highlights the relevance of body image inflexibility to explain rigid eating attitudes, and it seems to be an important avenue for the development of interventions focusing on the promotion of adaptive attitudes towards body image and eating in young women

The effects of electrical currents on foods and other biological systems

To extend shelf life of food products a heat treatment is generally required. This may be provided through the use of e.g. tubular heat exchangers or scraped surface devices, where heat is generated outside the food and transmitted to it by conduction and/or convection. For products containing particles, e.g. fruit bits, or for highly viscous fluids, the mentioned heat treatments frequently cause overheating of parts of the product in order to achieve proper heat treatment of the products’ cold spot. This fatally leads to losses of nutritional as well as organoleptic properties. In the aseptic processing of these food systems, the application of electric fields (ohmic heating) to the heat treatment of food products is seen has a potential alternative to conventional heating processes, essentially due to the fact that heat is internally generated due to the electrical resistance of foods, thus providing a uniform heating of the product. Our work has been centred in determining the influence of the application of an electric field on food components (enzymes, other proteins, carbohydrates and lipids) and on microorganisms (both vegetative cells and spores). Further, we have also evaluated the effects of electricity on the performance of fermentation systems, while seeking for other applications (e.g. fostering chemical reaction performance). The results of our research on these subjects will be presented here

The effect of the electric field on lag-phase, ethanol and β-galactosidase production of a recombinant S. cerevisiae growing on lactose

The production of ethanol and β-galactosidase from cheese whey and other sub-products from industries can be a good way of minimizing environmental problems and producing valuable products from low-cost raw materials. A recombinant S. cerevisiae NCYC869-A3/pVK1.1 flocculent strain expressing the lacA gene (coding for β-galactosidase) of Aspergillus niger under ADHI promotor and terminator was used in the experiments, once this strains has higher ethanol and β-galactosidase productivities. Batch culture experiments were performed in SSlactose medium with 50 g/L lactose. A 2 dm3 bioreactor with agitation, temperature and pH measurement and control, was used. The experiments were conducted under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The temperature was maintained at 30 ◦C and the pH at 4.0. Moreover, electrodes were placed inside the bioreactor and experiments were conducted at three different electric fields, ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 V.cmˉ¹ to determine the effect of the electric field in the fermentation profile. For all the experiments the biomass, protein, β-galactosidase activity, lactose, glucose, galactose and ethanol were measured. Finally, the lag phase and specific growth rate were calculated. Significant changes in lag phase and biomass yields were found when using 2.0V.cmˉ¹. The results show that ohmic heating enhances early stages of the fermentation, indicating that ohmically heated fermentations may be extremely useful in food industry.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

O T H E R V I S U A L : Onto the Audiovisual Cooking

This paper inquiries about the kitchen as space of vibrant materiality for representation and agency for art, design and architecture practices. On meeting the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, it is not incidental that the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial curated by Mariana Pestana under the theme “Empathy Revisited: designs for more than one” has chosen the kitchen as a means to create spaces of discourses, exchange and collective reflection. Taking into account Jeffrey and Shaowen Bardzell’s view of “What Is ‘Critical’ about Critical Design?” (2013), this paper surveys the biennial’s programme “The Critical Cooking Show” which presents a digital programme of films, lectures and performances that reimagine the kitchen as a space central to design thinking and production. Deepening our sensibilities as to how criticality occupies design practices, we have to further understand the expanded space of the kitchen and what it really offers to expand the space of design. From the triangulation kitchen, design and process, evidence is searched for bridging process between the fields of kitchen and design following Buchanan’s theory of rethinking placements over categories by way of signs, things, actions and thoughts. Kitchen and design are thus understood as liberal arts disciplines seeking to privilege a placement-based approach to projectual practice where observations on the speculative allow reflections of the self and modes of action. Pallasmaa’s conception of an architecture of the senses, for whom the role of the body is understood as the locus of perception, thought and consciousness, helps explore and convoke the space of kitchen visited by artists and designers throughout recent history, as a means to establish relations between theories, processes, and projectual methodologies in kitchen and design. The reading of the space finds its translation through diverse processes applied by these creators leading to an understanding of a kitchen milieu: process as context. From the interpretation of the empirical work it is suggested that kitchen multiplies design (k x d). It implies that the context of kitchen multiplies the space of the discipline of design, becoming, in Buchanan’s term, a “quasi-subject matter of design thinking”. If so, kitchen as other placements may offer, or are open to receive and edify, an expanded view of the discipline of design.   Deepening our sensibilities as to how criticality occupies design practices, we have to further understand the expanded space of the kitchen and what it really offers to expand the space of design. From the triangulation kitchen, design and process, evidence is searched for bridging process between the fields of kitchen and design following Buchanan’s theory of rethinking placements over categories by way of signs, things, actions and thoughts. Kitchen and design are thus understood as liberal arts disciplines seeking to privilege a placement-based approach to projectual practice where observations on the speculative allow reflections of the self and modes of action. Pallasmaa’s conception of an architecture of the senses, for whom the role of the body is understood as the locus of perception, thought and consciousness, helps explore and convoke the space of kitchen visited by artists and designers throughout recent history, as a means to establish relations between theories, processes, and projectual methodologies in kitchen and design. The reading of the space finds its translation through diverse processes applied by these creators leading to an understanding of a kitchen milieu: process as context. From the interpretation of the empirical work it is suggested that kitchen multiplies design (k x d). It implies that the context of kitchen multiplies the space of the discipline of design, becoming, in Buchanan’s term, a “quasi-subject matter of design thinking”. If so, kitchen as other placements may offer, or are open to receive and edify, an expanded view of the discipline of design

Poisson Structures of Calogero-Moser and Ruijsenaars-Schneider Models

We examine the Hamiltonian structures of some Calogero-Moser and Ruijsenaars-Schneider N-body integrable models. We propose explicit formulations of the bihamiltonian structures for the discrete models, and field-theoretical realizations of these structures. We discuss the relevance of these realizations as collective-field theory for the discrete models.Comment: 15 pages, no figures; v2 references added, typos correcte