1,245 research outputs found
Barriers to Innovation faced by Manufacturing Firms in Portugal: How to overcome it?
This paper aims to identify the barriers to innovation that influence the innovation capability of Portuguese industrial firms. The literature review about innovation makes use of two references approaches: (i) the systemic; and (ii) the networks and inter-organizational relationships. The database is obtained through the Community Innovation Survey II (CIS II) conducted by EUROSTAT. Furthermore, from the results several public policies are proposed in order to overcome the restraining factors of the entrepreneurial innovative capability.Innovation; Entrepreneurial Innovative Capability
Chemical and physical pretreatments of microalgal biomass
Non-axenic microalga Chlorella sorokiniana was cultivated in batch cultures, and its total sugar composition was determined. The microalga under study showed a total sugar concentration of 21.44 ± 0.46% (w/w). The effects of freeze-drying, oven-drying, freezing and thawing, chemical and the combination of hydrothermal and chemical pretreatments were evaluated. In the combined pretreatment different concentrations of H2SO4 and reaction times were also optimized. It was possible to determine that the sugar extraction yields more significant were 59.5% for the lyophilization, 6.2% with 6 cycles of freeze and thawing and around 100% for 2 and 4% (v/v) of H2SO4 at 121 °C for 30 min. Some of the methods that were described in this study are interesting to facilitate cost-efficient conversion of microalgal biomass into biofuels.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Consumer behaviour changes in the cosmetic industry
The cosmetic industry, particularly the makeup segment, has grown despite economic difficulties experienced globally. Consumer segments shifted as consumer behaviour evolved, justifying the need to study it. There are several studies on the cosmetic industry, yet consumer behaviour influencing factors remain unexplored. This study’s main purpose is to understand the influence of personal traits – demographic, preferences, personality and skin type – on makeup consumption and usage. To this purpose, a four-step research method was employed: Firstly, secondary data research took place; secondly, exploratory qualitative research, through individual interviews among two consumers, sampling consumer experiences; thirdly, quantitative research was performed through an online survey, understanding consumption profiles; and lastly, individual interviews with five market experts were performed, confirming and comparing findings from previous steps. Through this dissertation, it was possible to derive the importance of personal factors on this market’s consumer profile: there is a gender effect - mainly women – , an age effect – 18 to 64 year olds tend to use makeup, with 18 - 34 year-olds tending to see it as creative and having distinct purchase motivations – and there is an effect of net income on preferred shopping outlets - higher income consumers prefer lux retailers. Consumers attribute most importance to price and performance, with skin type not having an effect on makeup usage, but on the products chosen; and personality not having an effect on either variable. For the mentioned reasons, brands need to consider these traits, to differentiate segmenting techniques and suit target consumers.A indĂşstria cosmĂ©tica, particularmente o segmento de maquilhagem, cresceu apesar de dificuldades econĂłmicas experienciadas globalmente. Os segmentos de consumidores evoluĂram consoante o comportamento do consumidor, justificando a necessidade de o estudar. Existem estudos acerca da indĂşstria cosmĂ©tica, porĂ©m fatores influenciadores do comportamento do consumidor mantĂ©m-se por explorar. O propĂłsito deste estudo Ă© compreender a influĂŞncia de caracterĂsticas pessoais – demografia, preferĂŞncias, personalidade e tipo de pele – no consumo e uso de maquilhagem. A este propĂłsito, um mĂ©todo de pesquisa de quatro passos foi usado: Primeiramente, pesquisa de data secundária foi executada; segundamente, pesquisa qualitativa exploratĂłria, por entrevistas individuais a dois consumidores, explorando a experiĂŞncia dos mesmos; terceiramente, pesquisa quantitativa por um questionário online, percebendo os perfis de consumo; Por Ăşltimo, entrevistas individuais com cinco experts de mercado foram executadas, confirmando e comparando resultados dos passos anteriores. AtravĂ©s desta dissertação, foi possĂvel derivar a importância de atributos pessoais no perfil de consumidor deste mercado: existe um efeito de gĂ©nero – maioritariamente mulheres –, de idade – pessoas entre 18 e 64 anos tendem a usar maquilhagem, com pessoas de 18 - 34 anos a ver maquilhagem como criativa e tendo motivações de compra distintas – e de rendimentos lĂquidos em lojas preferidas. Consumidores atribuem maior importância a preço e performance, com o tipo de pele nĂŁo tendo efeito no uso de maquilhagem, mas sim nos produtos escolhidos; e personalidade nĂŁo tendo efeito em nenhuma variável. Pelas razões mencionadas, as marcas necessitam de considerar estas caracterĂsticas para diferenciar tĂ©cnicas de segmentação e adequá-las aos consumidores-alvo
Plantar pressure gait analysis in children with cerebral palsy
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common childhood neurologic impairment. Children with CP are often prescribed ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) as an intervention meant to improve gait, but the evidence that supports its generalized use is scarce. Gait analysis is considered a gold standard in CP rehabilitation, and plantar pressure analysis can provide useful information about the way that the foot interacts with the orthoses and the ground. Plantar pressure insoles are a simple and non-invasive technology, but still an underused tool in this context. By combining the use of two rehabilitation tools (AFO and plantar pressure analysis), this PhD thesis aims to contribute to deepen the knowledge and available evidence on the field. Three separate scientific investigations were conducted: a scoping review, aiming to systematize the available evidence about the effects of different types of AFO on the gait of children with spastic bilateral cerebral palsy, showing that AFO have a positive impact in the gait of children with cerebral palsy; a test-retest reliability analysis and minimal detectable change of plantar pressure insoles in a sample of children with CP when walking in regular footwear, that determined high reliability (ICC ≥ 0.60) for 21 of the 24 parameters that were tested; and lastly a descriptive study of the plantar pressure distribution characteristics of children with cerebral palsy, while wearing plantar pressure insoles and walking with AFO, where there were positive changes in plantar pressure measurements, approximating them to the reference percentiles of typically developing children. There is a need to continue to invest in these lines of investigation, namely producing consistent evidence about the effects of AFO, unwavering prescription guidelines and producing a normative database for plantar pressure measurements in children with Cerebral Palsy.A Paralisia Cerebral Ă© o comprometimento neurolĂłgico mais comum na infância. OrtĂłteses de pĂ© e tornozelo sĂŁo comumente prescritas a crianças com Paralisia Cerebral, com o objetivo de melhorar o padrĂŁo de marcha, mas a evidĂŞncia que suporta seu uso generalizado Ă© escassa. A análise da marcha Ă© considerada um gold standard na reabilitação da Paralisia Cerebral, e a análise de pressões plantares pode fornecer informações Ăşteis sobre a maneira como o pĂ© interage com as ortĂłteses e o solo. Neste sentido, as palmilhas de pressĂŁo plantar sĂŁo uma tecnologia simples e nĂŁo invasiva, mas ainda uma ferramenta subutilizada neste contexto. Ao combinar o uso de duas ferramentas de reabilitação (ortĂłteses de tornozelo e pĂ© e palmilhas de pressĂŁo plantar), esta dissertação visa contribuir para aprofundar o conhecimento e a evidĂŞncia disponĂvel na área. Foram realizadas trĂŞs investigações cientĂficas distintas: uma scoping review, com o objetivo de sistematizar a literatura sobre os efeitos de diferentes tipos de ortĂłteses de tornozelo e pĂ© na marcha de crianças com paralisia cerebral bilateral espástica, mostrando que as ortĂłteses de tornozelo e pĂ© tĂŞm um impacto positivo na marcha de crianças com paralisia cerebral; uma análise de confiabilidade teste-reteste e diferença mĂnima detetável em palmilhas de pressĂŁo plantar com uma amostra de crianças com Paralisia Cerebral, utilizando o seu calçado regular, que determinou alta confiabilidade (ICC ≥ 0,60) para 21 dos 24 parâmetros testados; e por Ăşltimo um estudo descritivo das caracterĂsticas da distribuição da pressĂŁo plantar de crianças com paralisia cerebral, usando palmilhas de pressĂŁo plantar e ortĂłteses tornozelo-pĂ©, onde se registaram mudanças positivas nos valores de pressĂŁo plantar, aproximando-os dos percentis de referĂŞncia de crianças de desenvolvimento tĂpico. É necessário continuar a investir nestas linhas de investigação, nomeadamente produzindo evidĂŞncia consistente sobre os efeitos das ortĂłteses de tornozelo e pĂ©, indicações de prescrição concretas e criando uma base de dados normativa para as medições de pressĂŁo plantar em crianças com Paralisia Cerebral
Traditional Portuguese Lullabies: what do they sing about?
This research project was developed at Instituto de Estudos da Crianca(1) (University of Minho, Braga, Portugal) in 2008 and 2009. It focused on promoting Portuguese traditional music as a privileged field for educational practice. Considering the scarcity of good quality published Portuguese musical repertoire for musical activities in preschool, the project started with the collection and recovery of traditional Portuguese lullabies in old song books and libraries across the country; musical activities based on the musical concepts found in the lullabies were experimented in pre-school context and organized in didactic sequence. The lullabies' lyrics were studied in order to identify recurrent themes and topics. Five main themes were found in the collection of studied lullabies. This article presents the conclusions of the project concerning the types of textual contents and themes found in the collected lullabies.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT), PortugalFundos Nacionais através da FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) e cofinanciado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) com a referência POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Uma vida no meio de tantas outras
Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia (área de especialização em Psicologia ClĂnica e da SaĂşde)O presente relatĂłrio de atividades profissionais tem como objetivo destacar a
experiĂŞncia e competĂŞncias profissionais da autora no domĂnio da Psicologia ClĂnica e da
Saúde. Pretende-se assim descrever as funções exercidas e papéis desempenhados pela autora
na prática da Psicologia, bem como as competências teórico-práticas adquiridas e fortalecidas
ao longo do seu percurso académico e profissional. Na generalidade, será abordado o trabalho
desenvolvido no Serviço de Psiquiatria do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra –
Hospital Sobral Cid, descrevendo, sobretudo, atividades clĂnico-assistenciais (avaliação e
intervenção psicoterapêutica) e, igualmente, de formação e investigação.
O presente trabalho incluirá ainda uma reflexĂŁo crĂtica acerca da pertinĂŞncia e limitações dos
modelos teóricos e interventivos no âmbito da Patologia Dual.The present professional activities report has the objective of pointing out the
author’s experience and professional competencies in the domain of Clinical and Health
Psychology. It is aimed to describe the functions and roles performed by the author in the
field of psychology practice as well as the theoretical and practical skills acquired and
strengthened throughout her academic and professional career. In general, the work in the
Psychiatric Service on the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre - Sobral Cid Hospital will
be addressed, describing, mainly, the clinical-care activities (assessment and
psychotherapeutic intervention) and, equally, the training and research activities. The present
work will also include a critical reflection about the relevance and limitations of the theoretic
and psychotherapeutic models on the Dual Pathology field
- …