Innovation network in the Portuguese textile and clothing industry

Innovating consists on doing something different or developing new input aggregations, with the goal of achieving a better solution than the current one. The ability to create new knowledge depends on the exploration of complementary skills, which might be internal or external to the operation, reflecting the changes that the organizations have been making in their management style and their relations with other economic agents. Successful innovation results from an interactive learning process between users and producers, between competitors, customers or suppliers and other knowledge and training institutions, such as universities and higher education institutions, or R&D centers.This research aims to contribute to the theme of innovation networks in the Textile and Clothing Industry (TCI) of Portuguese companies by exploring who are the different partners of the existing innovation networks in the Portuguese TCI. A survey with 86 companies suggests that Portuguese TCI companies are preferentially focused on product innovations and process innovations, with customers and suppliers as preferred partners. Therefore, vertical cooperation with suppliers and customers plays a greater role in business innovation of Portuguese TCI companies compared to horizontal cooperation with research centers, universities and technological centers.- This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013

Effect of pH and pressure on syngas fermentation by anaerobic mixed cultures

Syngas fermentation by mesophilic anaerobic mixed cultures was studied, regarding the effect of initial medium pH (5.8, 6.9 and 7.6) and total initial syngas pressure (1.0, 1.75 and 2.5 atm) in methane production and other alternative products (acids and alcohols). Complete consumption of CO and H2 was achieved in less than 72 h at 1.0 atm syngas, and within 240 h for higher syngas pressures. The highest specific CH4 production (normalized to the initial syngas concentration, CO+H2) was 0.89 mol CH4/mol syngas, and was obtained for pH 5.8 and 1.0 atm syngas. Volatile fatty acids (VFA) were produced in methanogenic-inhibited assays, with 0.92 mol VFA/mol syngas as the best conversion yield (at pH 6.9 and 1.0 atm). Only residual concentrations of alcohols (< 0.005 mol alcohols/mol syngas) were produced by methanogenic-inhibited sludge. Syngas pressure had a major effect on conversion yields, which might be related to the susceptibility of microbial communities to the higher CO partial pressures

Portuguese average cost of capital

The oldest Portuguese share index still being calculated is the BVL/PSI-General, one which started the daily series on 5/Jan/1988 with a base value of 1000 points. Everyday a single value is computed based on the closing prices of all the shares included in the sample. Also, all corporate events affecting the price of any share beyond market sentiment are taken into account through proper adjustments, either in the numerator or the denominator of the formula. However, for dates before January 1988, there is nothing comparable to this index since the two different series known either never disclosed the methodology adopted to calculate the index or followed solutions not compatible with the above index. The present paper explains the solutions adopted to replicate as closely as possible the methodology of the BVL-General index to the main market of the Lisbon Exchange for the period 1978 – 1987. This is the first estimate of the historical Equity Risk Premium in Portugal above short-term risk-free rate from the re-opening of the market following the Carnation Revolution (and the accompanying nationalizations), to the present. In showing a value of the same order of magnitude found in other countries, the paper invites further studies on the effects of political decisions such as privatizations and joining the European Union

Performance of business incubators: a systematic review of evidence

As a business incubator is located at the intersection of different actors (e. g. universities, governments, market), processes (e.g. entrepreneurship, innovation), micro and macro levels, investigate your performance is a great challenge for researchers. To understand what has already been done and the new paths to follow, here will be presented the state of the art of this topic in a systematic way. First, using bibliometric techniques. Second, analyzing the main contributions of the papers over the years. The results demonstrate an increase of interest in this topic, especially in the last 10 years. Using the tools of the Web of Science and some indexes (also suggesting a new one), relevant journals and routes for new research were identified. In addition to the greater presence of researchers from the United States of America (USA), Europe and Asia, it was also realized that many questions from the beginning continue today. The relationship with universities and research centers are great opportunities for further studies. Although network behavior is recognized as a relevant factor, many researches still present contradictory or ambiguous results. Delve deeper the dynamics of the incubation process, at each level of analysis, seems to be a more effective strategy for the research field progress.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The academic incubation impact: a selection process evaluation

Among the main issues pointed out in the literature, much of the attention in the research has been related to impact evaluation of business incubation. Although the internal process is considered as a black box by several studies, the main components of incubation are already known. The focus of this work is an evaluation strategy of the first component - the selection process. The effectiveness of this stage was evaluated as the alignment between the incubator desired profile and the companies entrepreneurial orientation. Although innovativeness was perceived as the main characteristic, the survival-of-the-fittest strategy was more evident. The entrepreneurial orientation offers a set of relevant selection criteria because it expands the term weak-but-promise into better-defined concepts and relates to the existing incubation literature. Therefore, this analysis presents a more structured approach to effectiveness evaluation of selection process, opening the incubator black box. As future work, it is suggested to evaluate pre-incubation activities to verify their impact along with this approach

Intensified bioprocess for the anaerobic conversion of syngas to biofuels

Este resumo faz parte de: Book of abstracts of the Meeting of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2, Braga, Portugal, 2010. A versão completa do livro de atas está disponível em: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/1096

Developing a new simulation and visualization platform for researching aspects of mobile network performance

Nowadays, mobile networks represent one of the most innovative and challenging technological and research-oriented fields of work. The growth on user subscriptions and the advances introduced by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), greatly enhanced the complexity and potential of communication networks. The increase on variety of devices and exchanged mobile data traffic resulted in demanding requirements for the network providers. As networks tend to scale and data to increase, some problems start to arise. Traffic congestion, packet loss and high latency being some examples. Therefore, it is important to introduce powerful tools and methods to tackle these challenges. On this perspective, several studies have highlighted AI systems, mainly Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, as the most promising methods, in the context of wireless networks, by improving the overall performance and efficiency. This work proposes to integrate several network optimization algorithms, already developed, in a common and unified visualization platform. These algorithms were developed in C# and Python and some of them use supervised and unsupervised ML techniques. The proposed solution includes multi-threading processes to deal with concurrent simulations, a proxy to communicate between platforms and a dynamic visual interface.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Uso de medicamentos em gestantes

Antecedentes/Objetivos: O uso de medicamentos por gestantes deve ser considerado um problema de saúde pública (Carmo, 2003; Baldon et al, 2006). É um comportamento de alto risco terapêutico com elevados riscos potenciais, sobretudo, para o feto, mas também para a gestante (Olesen et al, 1999; Oliveira & Fonseca, 2006). Os efeitos sobre o feto dependem do fármaco ou substância, da paciente, da época de exposição durante a gestação, da frequência e da dose total, resultando potencialmente em teratogenia ou com consequências farmacológicas e toxicológicas diversas (Sorensen & De Jong-Van, 1997). Foram objetivos desta investigação determinar a prevalência do uso de medicamentos por gestantes em 2 Centros Hospitalares do Norte de Portugal, avaliando se existe relação entre as características maternas, fonte de indicação e os resultados obtidos pelas gestantes na sua experiência com medicamentos. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo quantitativo transversal, observacional e analítico. A recolha de dados foi feita de Março a Maio de 2012. Todas as gestantes foram convidadas a participar, independentemente, do tempo de gestação. Participaram, nesta investigação, 125 gestantes. Resultados: Verificou-se que 79,2% das gestantes declararam utilizar pelo menos um medicamento, destas 5,1% fizeram-no sem prescrição médica. O Ferro (45%) e o Ácido Fólico (25%) foram os mais consumidos, porém, medicamentos considerados de risco para o feto também foram utilizados, nomeadamente, Atarax (2%), Minocin (1%), Omeprazol (1%), Amoxicilina (1%) e Cartia (1%). O trimestre gestacional foi o único parâmetro que registou diferenças na toma de medicação, sendo que foram as gestantes que se encontravam no terceiro trimestre de gravidez as que mais recorreram ao consumo de medicamentos (85,3%). Conclusiones: Embora o consumo de medicamentos durante a gestação seja uma realidade, esta tendência tem vindo a diminuir ao longo dos anos. Como medidas a serem tomadas na tentativa de reduzir o consumo de medicamentos não prescritos, sugere-se a realização de campanhas educativas em saúde e a partilha de informação que alerte para os riscos e contraindicações, bem como, a orientação sobre medidas alternativas não farmacológicas que poderão ser adotadas pelas gestantes

Management of diabetes by a healthcare team in a cardiology unit: a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of healthcare team guidance in the implementation of a glycemic control protocol in the non-intensive care unit of a cardiology hospital. METHODS: This was a randomized clinical trial comparing 9 months of intensive guidance by a healthcare team on a protocol for diabetes care (Intervention Group, n = 95) with 9 months of standard care (Control Group, n = 87). Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01154413. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 61.7±10 years, and the mean glycated hemoglobin level was 71±23 mmol/mol (8.7±2.1%). The mean capillary glycemia during hospitalization was similar between the groups (9.8±2.9 and 9.1±2.4 mmol/l for the Intervention Group and Control Group, respectively, p = 0.078). The number of hypoglycemic episodes (p = 0.77), hyperglycemic episodes (47 vs. 50 in the Intervention Group and Control Group, p = 0.35, respectively), and the length of stay in the hospital were similar between the groups (p = 0.64). The amount of regular insulin administered was 0 (0-10) IU in the Intervention Group and 28 (7-56) IU in the Control Group (