Design and radical innovation: a strategic perspective based upon a comparative case study between emergent and traditional industries in Portugal

The survival challenge faced by the Portuguese companies nowadays has promoted Innovation as the main management strategy to be applied. This research reveals the importance and the role of Design as the basic and integrative tool for the success of this strategy, focused on Radical or Breakthrough Innovation. The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of a conceptual model developed from a comparative case study research, made among Portuguese companies from the emergent sectors connected to new technologies and Portuguese companies from the traditional sectors. That work allowed the definition of the Success Critical Factors to consider for the development of radical new products: integrating new technologies (Science Knowledge), market sensibility (Marketing Knowledge), forecasting new needs or user interfaces and disruptive creativity (Design Knowledge)

Chestnut health monitoring by aerial photographs obtained by unnamed aerial vehicle

A doença da tinta (Phytophthora cinnamomi) e o cancro (Cryphonectria parasitica) são as doenças que causam mais danos ao castanheiro europeu (Castanea sativa). Decorridas duas décadas, após a introdução do cancro do castanheiro em Portugal, a hipovirulência começou a observar-se nalguns locais. A população dessas estirpes caracteriza-se pela baixa diversidade em termos de grupos de compatibilidade. Em Portugal muitas das sub-populações pertencem apenas ao grupo EU-11, que aparece somente nalguns locais em Itália. O sucesso dos tratamentos contra o cancro através da hipovirulência depende da forma como a população do fungo se estende na área que se pretende tratar. Neste estudo é apresentada uma alternativa para monitorizar a sanidade de castanhais, através da realização de voos aerofotogramétricos com veículo aéreo não tripulado. Para a monitorização da área tratada e também avaliar o declínio do castanheiro, realizaram-se voos aerofotogramétricos, que abrangem 231 ha. Para o voo foi usado o Veículo Aéreo Não Tripulado (UAV) eBee da Sensefly. Obtiveram-se fotografias aéreas policromadas e de infravermelho próximo (NIR), que foram comparadas com imagens de 2006. Verificou-se que apesar das novas plantações (11%), a área de coberto pelo castanheiro sofreu uma regressão, pois em 129 ha (56%) a condição dos soutos piorou. Grande parte do declínio deve-se aos agentes bióticos, o que pode ser comprovado com observações de campo

Spatio-temporal water hyacinth monitoring in the lower Mondego (Portugal) using remote sensing data

Monitoring invasive plant species is a crucial task to assess their presence in affected ecosystems. However, it is a laborious and complex task as it requires vast surface areas, with difficult access, to be surveyed. Remotely sensed data can be a great contribution to such operations, especially for clearly visible and predominant species. In the scope of this study, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was monitored in the Lower Mondego region (Portugal). For this purpose, Sentinel-2 satellite data were explored enabling us to follow spatial patterns in three water channels from 2018 to 2021. By applying a straightforward and effective methodology, it was possible to estimate areas that could contain water hyacinth and to obtain the total surface area occupied by this invasive species. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used for this purpose. It was verified that the occupation of this invasive species over the study area exponentially increases from May to October. However, this increase was not verified in 2021, which could be a consequence of the adopted mitigation measures. To provide the results of this study, the methodology was applied through a semi-automatic geographic information system (GIS) application. This tool enables researchers and ecologists to apply the same approach in monitoring water hyacinth or any other invasive plant species in similar or different contexts. This methodology proved to be more effective than machine learning approaches when applied to multispectral data acquired with an unmanned aerial vehicle. In fact, a global accuracy greater than 97% was achieved using the NDVI-based approach, versus 93% when using the machine learning approach (above 93%).This research activity was funded by POCI-FEDER as part of the project “BioComp_2.0—Produção de compostos orgânicos biológicos para o controlo do jacinto de água e para a valorização de subprodutos agropecuários, florestais e agroindustriais” (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-070123).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ground reaction forces and plantar pressure distribution during occasional loaded gait

This study compared the ground reaction forces (GRF) and plantar pressures between unloaded and occasional loaded gait. The GRF and plantar pressures of 60 participants were recorded during unloaded gait and occasional loaded gait (wearing a backpack that raised their body mass index to 30); this load criterion was adopted because is considered potentially harmful in permanent loaded gait (obese people). The results indicate an overall increase (absolute values) of GRF and plantar pressures during occasional loaded gait (p < 0.05); also, higher normalized (by total weight) values in the medial midfoot and toes, and lower values in the lateral rearfoot region were observed. During loaded gait the magnitude of the vertical GRF (impact and thrust maximum) decreased and the shear forces increased more than did the proportion of the load (normalized values). These data suggest a different pattern of GRF and plantar pressure distribution during occasional loaded compared to unloaded gait