THE USE of CONSORTIA for the INTERNATIONALIZATION of FIRMS – MOTA-ENGIL CASE STUDY

Internationalization has been widely studied throughout the years. Broadly, it has been predicted as irrevocable and having increasing impact on firm-related strategy. Within entry modes, consortium, has not received as much attention as others. Hence, it seems important to understand how this specific entry mode allows the entrance of firms in the international markets. This study intends to answer the question of “how” to internationalize, anticipating the consortium as the most feasible way for construction firms to enter certain markets. The reasons that determine its choice concern the specificness of the projects, markets and of the firm. In the first part of the study, we review the existent literature on consortia as an entry mode and as a tool of internationalization used by construction firms. Through this review we build a framework that reveals the motivations that lead to this choice. In the second part, we present the case study of Mota-Engil, as a potential source of valuable information which may contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon under study. This case study corroborates the motivations found to create consortia. The paper closes with its contributions, limitations and suggestions for future researches.consortia, internationalization, cooperation, construction

Nutritional interventions in sarcopenia in older adults: a review of the literature

Trabalho Complementar apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciada em Ciências da NutriçãoSarcopenia is defined as the progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and functional performance and is considered a major threat to healthy ageing. There is a growing body of evidence linking nutrition with sarcopenia parameters in the elderly. Therefore, the present study aims to review the literature and to analyze the existent information regarding nutritional interventions for preventing or treating sarcopenia in older adults. Nutritional interventions present as a promising strategy when it comes to prevent or delay the development of sarcopenia, especially in sedentary individuals. The most studied approaches are a balanced diet, adequate intake of proteins (especially those rich in leucine) and there is also data regarding the role of supplementation with leucine or/and HMB in this condition. Moreover, there is also evidence linking omega-3 fatty acids to the management of sarcopenia. The effect of minerals such as selenium and magnesium in sarcopenia are worth further exploring since the little evidence existing on this topic shows that they can be relevant on the prevention of sarcopenia. In conclusion, there is promising evidence on nutrition and diet as key strategies to prevent and treat sarcopenia while promoting physical function and quality of life. Notwithstanding this, further studies are needed in order to strengthen the evidence and to establish specific nutritional recommendations for preventing or treating sarcopenia in older adults.esquelética e do desempenho funcional e é considerada uma grande ameaça ao envelhecimento saudável. Existe um conjunto crescente de evidência que associa a nutrição e a sarcopenia nos idosos. Assim, o presente estudo tem como objetivo rever a literatura e analisar a informação existente sobre intervenções nutricionais que previnam ou tratem a sarcopenia em idosos. As intervenções nutricionais apresentam-se como a estratégia mais promissora quando se trata de prevenir ou retardar o desenvolvimento da sarcopenia, especialmente em indivíduos sedentários. As abordagens mais estudadas são uma alimentação equilibrada, a ingestão adequada de proteínas (especialmente as ricas em leucina) e existe também evidência sobre o papel da suplementação com leucina e/ou HMB nesta condição. Além disso, existem alguns estudos sobre a associação dos ácidos gordos ómega-3 com o tratamento da sarcopenia. O efeito de minerais como o selénio e o magnésio na sarcopenia necessita de mais investigação, uma vez que a pouca evidência existente sobre este tópico mostra que podem ser relevantes para a prevenção da sarcopenia. Em conclusão, existe informação promissora acerca da nutrição e da alimentação como estratégias-chave para a prevenção e tratamento da sarcopenia, além da promoção da função física e da qualidade de vida. No entanto, são necessários mais estudos para reforçar esta evidência de forma a que seja possível estabelecer recomendações nutricionais específicas para a prevenção ou tratamento da sarcopenia nas pessoas idosas.N/

The use of consortia for the internationalization of firms - Mota-Engil case study

Internationalization has been widely studied throughout the years. Broadly, it has been predicted as irrevocable and having increasing impact on firm-related strategy. Within entry modes, consortium, has not received as much attention as others. Hence, it seems important to understand how this specific entry mode allows the entrance of firms in the international markets. This study intends to answer the question of “how” to internationalize, anticipating the consortium as the most feasible way for construction firms to enter certain markets. The reasons that determine its choice concern the specificness of the projects, markets and of the firm. In the first part of the study, we review the existent literature on consortia as an entry mode and as a tool of internationalization used by construction firms. Through this review we build a framework that reveals the motivations that lead to this choice. In the second part, we present the case study of Mota-Engil, as a potential source of valuable information which may contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon under study. This case study corroborates the motivations found to create consortia. The paper closes with its contributions, limitations and suggestions for future researches

Synthesis of sugar-biguanide hybrids to study their potential biological effects

Synthesis of sugar-biguanide hybrids was attempted by starting the approach from dicyanamide salts, by use of acidic medium to activate the dicyanamide for amine addition to create a biguanide compound to be connected to a sugar by a triazole ring. Green Chemistry principles were considered to try and maintain the reaction as “green” as possible and that was partially achieved in the biguanide synthesis pathway. NMR was the primary tool for monitoring the success of the reactions. The reactions with the sugars were already known in literature, Galactose and Mannose derivatives were obtained, dimethyl, β-naphtyl and imidazole cyanoguanidine were obtained as well, the yields obtained varied, between 20-60%. The carbon NMRs allowed for a fast way to know if the guanidine reactions happened, with the appearance of a signal around 160 ppm, this facilitates identification and doesn’t waste as much resources.A síntese de híbridos açúcar-biguanida foi tentada começando a abordagem a partir de sais de dicianamida, pelo uso de meio ácido para ativar a dicianamida adicionando a amina para criar um composto de biguanida, a ser conectado a um açúcar por um anel triazole. Os princípios da Química Verde foram considerados para tentar manter a reação o mais “verde” possível e isso foi parcialmente alcançado na via de síntese da biguanida. RMN foi a principal ferramenta para monitorar o sucesso das reações. As reações com os açúcares já eram conhecidas na literatura, foram obtidos derivados de Galactose e Manose, foram obtidos também dimetil, β-naftil e imidazol cianoguanidinas, os rendimentos obtidos variaram, entre 20-60%. Os RMNs de carbono possibilitaram uma maneira rápida de saber se ocorreram as reações de guanidina, com o aparecimento de um sinal em torno de 160 ppm, o que facilita a identificação e não desperdiça tantos recursos

Evaluation of Policies and Programs in Educational ICT : analysis of the Technological Plan for Education in Portugal (release year 2006-2007)

Nos últimos anos temos assistido, um pouco por toda a Europa, a múltiplas iniciativas no sentido de promover o uso de computadores e outras tecnologias digitais e de rede, no sentido de responder aos desafios da Sociedade da Informação. Em Portugal, a mais relevante dessas iniciativas sucedeu em 2005 com a aprovação do Plano Tecnológico (Resolução do Conselho de Ministros, nº 190/2005), em que a Educação era um dos principais eixos estratégicos, tendo sequência em 2006 com o Plano Tecnológico da Educação. Do lançamento e implementação de políticas, programas e projectos decorre, como sustentam diversos autores, a necessidade da sua avaliação, tanto mais premente quando estamos a viver uma mudança de paradigma sociocultural em que as TIC são um dos vectores dessa mudança. É neste contexto que se apresenta esta comunicação, pretendendo-se efectuar uma síntese da análise efectuada aos Planos Tecnológicos das Escolas, referente ao ano de lançamento do PTE (2006-2007), tendo por base os relatórios de avaliação elaborados por 483 escolas provenientes das cinco regiões educativas do país. Esta comunicação encontra-se organizada em quatro pontos. No primeiro, os autores reflectem sobre o “novo” paradigma sociocultural e suas repercussões na educação e na escola, bem como da necessidade de se avaliar os programas e projectos em TIC. No segundo, aborda-se a metodologia adoptada na análise e avaliação dos relatórios, descrevendo as várias etapas, desde a sistematização do material recepcionado à integração dos dados, passando pela concepção dos diversos instrumentos de recolha e análise de dados, nomeadamente o guião de entrevista aos Coordenadores TIC e a grelha de análise dos relatórios referentes ao Plano TIC das escolas. No terceiro, faz-se a apresentação dos resultados, terminando (quarto ponto) com uma síntese final – onde se ressaltam as principais forças e potencialidades, as fraquezas, as oportunidades identificadas e as ameaças emergentes – e com recomendações orientadoras para a elaboração dos relatórios dos Planos TIC.In the last years, many European countries have set several initiatives to promote the use of computers and other digital and network technologies, in order to meet the challenges of the Information Society. In Portugal, the most important initiative, were the approval of the Technology Plan (Resolution of the Council of Ministers n.o 190/2005) in 2005, in which education was a major strategic priorities, and the approval of the Technological Plan for Education, in 2006. When we launch innovation policies, programs and projects, as several authors argue, we also need to decide and to design their evaluation for their early beginning. This is very important in the area of innovation with technologies, in times in which ICT is one of the keys of the sociocultural paradigm shift in which we live. With this paper we pretend to present a summary of the analysis of the activity reports about “technology and information school activities” written by 483 schools from the five educational regions of Portugal and related to 2006/2007 school year, the first year of the Technological Plan for Education. This paper is organized into four points. At first, the authors reflect on the "new" sociocultural paradigm and its impact on education and school, as well as on the need to evaluate ICT programs and projects. In a second moment, the paper deals with the methodology adopted in the analysis and evaluation of reports, describing the various stages, from systematization of the received material to the integration of data, via the design of several instruments data collection, including the analysis grid and the interview guide for ICT Coordinators. In third, we present the data collected and the main conclusions of our analyses. Finally, we end (quarter point) with a final synthesis, where we try to highlight the main strengths and capabilities, weaknesses, opportunities and threats identified and we propose some recommending guidelines for written ICT activity reports

Avaliação de cursos em e-learning

Temos vindo a verificar o crescente interesse e envolvimento das instituições de ensino e formação, nomeadamente ao nível do ensino superior, em novas modalidade de formação centradas em torno do conceito de e-learning. Numerosas iniciativas têm sido desenvolvidas de forma mais ou menos sistemática e institucionalizada. A avaliação constitui-se como um pilar estruturante de qualquer projecto neste domínio, dando coerência ao processo de de-senvolvimento do mesmo numa perspectiva de investigação-desenvolvimento

Population divergence along a genetic line of least resistance in the tree species Eucalyptus globulus

The evolutionary response to selection depends on the distribution of genetic variation in traits under selection within populations, as defined by the additive genetic variance-covariance matrix (G). The structure and evolutionary stability of G will thus influence the course of phenotypic evolution. However, there are few studies assessing the stability of G and its relationship with population divergence within foundation tree species. We compared the G-matrices of Mainland and Island population groups of the forest tree Eucalyptus globulus, and determined the extent to which population divergence aligned with within-population genetic (co)variation. Four key wood property traits exhibiting signals of divergent selection were studied—wood density, extractive content, and lignin content and composition. The comparison of G-matrices of the mainland and island populations indicated that the G-eigenstructure was relatively well preserved at an intra-specific level. Population divergence tended to occur along a major direction of genetic variation in G. The observed conservatism of G, the moderate evolutionary timescale, and close relationship between genetic architecture and population trajectories suggest that genetic constraints may have influenced the evolution and diversification of the E. globulus populations for the traits studied. However, alternative scenarios, including selection aligning genetic architecture and population divergence, are discussedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Performance-based inference of selection on stomatal length and specific leaf area varies with climate-of-origin of the forest tree, Eucalyptus ovata

Understanding how functional traits affect plant performance and fitness is a key step in unravelling the role of natural selection in shaping the evolutionary trajectory of populations. We examined early-age selection acting on leaf traits via their effects on growth performance and fitness, measured in Eucalyptus ovata trees planted in a common-garden field trial embedded in a reforestation planting in Tasmania, Australia. We focused on two important leaf traits - stomatal length and specific leaf area (SLA) - measured two years after planting, and compared interplanted E. ovata groups originating from dry and wet home-site climates, with the trial site having intermediate long-term mean annual rainfall. Two-year height growth was used as the performance attribute, and the time-averaged tree survival over the subsequent six years as the fitness component. There was evidence for performance-based selection on the leaf traits, with the strength and form of selection depending on the trait and climate group being considered. In this sense, selection in the dry group operated mainly on stomatal length where a combination of directional (favouring longer stomata) and stabilizing selection was detected, whereas selection in the wet group acted only on SLA and was purely stabilizing. Estimates of performance-based correlational selection were not statistically significant. For both climate groups, estimates of fitness-based selection gradients provided evidence for significant directional (but not quadratic) selection on height performance, favouring individuals with faster growth, but did not indicate statistical support for direct effects of the leaf traits on tree survival, conditional on measured performance. These results validated qualitative inferences of selection from the performance-based analysis, and suggested that selection on the leaf traits appeared to be mediated by their effects on early-age height performance, which in turn directly influenced later-age survival. We discuss the mechanisms by which the focal traits may have affected height performance, and likely factors contributing to the different patterns of phenotypic selection observed in the two groups experiencing the same environment. We also provide expressions of analytical derivatives that were developed for the estimation of selection gradients based on a logistic regression model relating a binary fitness response to linear and nonlinear covariate terms for the target regressor variables.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sensibilização às línguas no pré-escolar com o quadro interativo

Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar e Ensino no 1º Ciclo do Ensino BásicoVivemos num mundo linguística e culturalmente diversificado, sendo pertinente consciencializar as crianças, desde cedo, para a importância deste fenómeno. Neste âmbito, vários estudos têm mostrado como a sensibilização à diversidade linguística possibilita o desenvolvimento da consciencialização linguística, bem como a formação de atitudes de abertura e de respeito pelo Outro. Por outro lado, numa época em que as tecnologias desempenham um papel fundamental no quotidiano das crianças, também os quadros interativos, suporte de natureza tecnológica, podem favorecer o processo de aprendizagem. Estes proporcionam uma maior interatividade, promovem um maior envolvimento das crianças e despertam a capacidade de concentração. O presente trabalho teve como principal objetivo compreender de que forma podemos sensibilizar as crianças à diversidade linguística, recorrendo ao quadro interativo, partindo de um conto em formato digital. Como pretendíamos atender ao significado dos fenómenos educativos observados, podemos afirmar que o nosso estudo se insere numa investigação qualitativa com características de investigação-ação, tendo utilizado instrumentos de recolha de dados como a observação direta, o registo de videogravação, as notas de campo, o inquérito por questionário e as fichas de registo das crianças. Os resultados que obtivemos permitem-nos concluir que o contacto precoce das crianças com uma multiplicidade de línguas, permite o desenvolvimento de uma consciência linguística através da identificação e comparação de diferentes línguas. Além disso, através do recurso ao quadro interativo e da abordagem a um conto, verificámos um maior envolvimento na realização das atividades, por parte das crianças, possibilitando a aquisição de conhecimentos tecnológicos, assim como literácitos.Nowadays in a world of many languages and cultures, there is a need for making children aware of languages and it’s diversity importance quite early. In this context, some studies have been showing how awakening to languages enables the development of language awareness, as well as attitude of openness and respect for the Other. On the other hand, when technology plays a major role in a child's daily life, the interactive whiteboards, supporting this technology, may also promote the learning process. They provide greater interactivity, promote a higher commitment of children and awake the capacity to concentrate. The main target of this study has been to understand how can we awake children to languages, by using interactive whiteboards, starting with a story in a electronic form. We wanted to follow the meaning of the observed educational events, we may say that our study belongs to the category of qualitative research, with action-research characteristics. We have used several tools to collect data such as direct observation, video-recording, field notes, questionnaire survey and the children’s sheets. The results allowed us to conclude that children’s early contact with multiple languages enables the development of language awareness, through the identification and comparison of different languages. Additionally, by using the interactive whiteboard and the story approach, we could see children's higher commitment In performing activities, making them get technological knowledge, as well as literacy