Are basic schools more effective than secondary schools?

The present essay focuses on the effectiveness of Portuguese public schools’ provision of 7th, 8th and 9th grades, using data from the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science for 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12. At least two school types offer these grades: Basic and Secondary. Based on previous findings, a production function is estimated for 9th grade students in the regular academic track, including a variable that indicates the specific school type attended by each student. After concluding that Basic Schools add more value, some explanations are presented as well as recommendations and possible further research.NSBE - UN

Establishment of pancreatic cancer zebrafish xenografts for personalized medicine in oncology practice

Tese de mestrado, Oncobiologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2021O cancro do pâncreas é das malignidades mais agressivas e mortais. Esta doença raramente é diagnosticada num estadio em que a resseção cirúrgica é viável. A maioria dos doentes, a quando do diagnóstico, encontram-se num estadio avançado onde as opções terapêuticas são limitadas. Para além disso, as características peculiares do microambiente tumoral do cancro do pâncreas, com um estroma fibrótico extremamente denso, compromete a distribuição eficaz dos fármacos anticancerígenos. A quimioterapia sistémica é a única opção terapêutica para doentes com cancro do pâncreas avançado – FOLFIRINOX ou gemcitabina+nab-paclitaxel. No entanto, ainda não existe na clínica marcadores eficazes com valor preditivo que permitem identificar qual a melhor terapêutica para cada doente. Consequentemente, os doentes são submetidos a múltiplas rondas de tratamento e toxicidades desnecessárias, até encontrar a terapia que seja mais eficaz. A imunoterapia também tem sido explorada como terapia complementar para o tratamento do cancro do pâncreas, incluindo inibidores de checkpoint imunológicos. Contudo, o microambiente tumoral rico em fibroblastos e células imunes com atividade imunossupressora, constitui um obstáculo significativo. Além disso, muitos dos doentes não são elegíveis para este tipo de terapia e portanto estratégias mais personalizadas estão a ser a investigadas em ensaios clínicos. Desta forma, um teste capaz de prever as respostas de cada doente antes do tratamento, seria de grande valor para o tratamento personalizado do cancro do pâncreas. O principal objetivo deste projeto de investigação foi testar as principais opções terapêuticas para o cancro do pâncreas em estadio avançado - FOLFIRINOX e gemcitabina+nab-paclitaxel - utilizando o modelo xenógrafo de peixe-zebra. Com este objetivo, xénografos de peixe-zebra foram gerados utilizando linhas celulares humanas de cancro do pâncreas (Panc-1 e MIA PaCa-2), e várias características tumorais foram analisadas por microscopia confocal, incluindo dinâmica tumoral – proliferação e morte celular – e composição do microambiente tumoral. Os efeitos citotóxicos do nivolumab em monoterapia e em combinação com gemcitabina+nabpaclitaxel (ensaio clínico a decorrer) também foram avaliados. Os resultados demonstraram que as linhas celulares de cancro do pâncreas apresentam diferentes capacidades de implantação no modelo de xénografos de peixe-zebra. Relativamente às terapias anticancerígenas, os nossos resultados demonstraram que os xénografos de peixe-zebra são capazes de revelar respostas tumorais ao FOLFIRINOX e gemcitabina+nab-paclitaxel, incluindo comprometimento da proliferação celular e indução da apoptose. Neste projeto, testámos também a imunoterapia com o anticorpo anti-PD-1- nivolumab. Surpreendentemente os xénografos de peixe-zebra submetidos ao nivolumab em monoterapia e em combinação com gemcitabina+nab-paclitaxel também revelaram sensibilidade celular, com indução significativa da apoptose e redução do tamanho tumoral. De seguida, decidimos caracterizar o microambiente tumoral em particular o infiltrado de neutrófilos e macrófagos. Aos 4 dias pós-injeção, a percentagem de neutrófilos aumentou em relação ao primeiro dia, e os macrófagos do tipo M2 (atividade pró-tumoral) passaram a dominar o microambiente tumoral. Para estudar o papel destes infiltrados na tumorigénese, gerámos xenógrafos em mutantes hipomórficos. A redução de neutrófilos, levou a um aumento do tamanho tumoral, enquanto que a redução de macrófagos, levou a um efeito contrário – diminuição do tamanho tumoral. Estes dados sugerem que os neutrófilos e macrófagos têm um papel antagónico, os neutrófilos com um papel anti-tumoral e os macrófagos pró-tumoral. Sumariamente, os nossos resultados realçam a viabilidade de usar xénografos de peixe-zebra como um modelo in vivo para o screening de respostas tumorais às opções terapêuticas do cancro do pâncreas, e para o estudo da complexidade do microambiente tumoral.In the modern era of cancer research, pancreatic cancer has proven to be one of the most aggressive and lethal malignancies. Pancreatic cancer is rarely diagnosed at a time when surgical resection is feasible. Therefore, most of the patients present with an advanced disease, at the time of diagnosis, in which treatment options are limited. In addition, the pancreatic cancer microenvironment has peculiar characteristics with a thick layer of stroma, which builds up around the tumor and compromises an efficient drug delivery. Systemic chemotherapy remains the only treatment option for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer – FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine+nab-paclitaxel. However, effective biomarkers to help predict treatment responses for each patient are still lacking. Consequently, patients go through several trial-and-error approaches and subjected to unnecessary side effects, until the best therapy is found. Immunotherapy has also been explored as a complementary therapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, including immune checkpoint inhibitors. But, the tumor microenvironment enriched in fibroblasts and immune cells with immunosuppressive activity poses a major obstacle. Besides, many patients are not eligible for this type of treatment, and therefore more personalized regimens are being investigated in clinical trials. In this way, a test able to predict individual responses before treatment would be of great value for personalized pancreatic cancer treatment. The ultimate goal of this research project was to screen the major therapeutic options for PC treatment, FOLFINIROX and gemcitabine+nab-paclitaxel, using the zebrafish xenograft model. Additionally, the cytotoxic effects of nivolumab as a monotherapy, and in combination with gemcitabine+nab-paclitaxel (clinical trial ongoing) were also evaluated. To address this, zebrafish xenografts were generated with established human pancreatic cancer cell lines (Panc-1 and MIA PaCa-2), and several cancer hallmarks were analyzed through confocal microscopy, including tumoral dynamics – proliferation and cell death – and composition of the tumor microenvironment. Data revealed that pancreatic cancer cell lines have different capacities to engraft in the zebrafish xenograft model. Regarding anticancer therapies, results showed that zebrafish xenografts are able to reveal anti-tumor responses to both FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine+nab-paclitaxel regimens, leading to impaired cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis. In this project, we also tested anti-PD-1-nivolumab immunotherapy. Surprisingly, zebrafish xenografts subjected to nivolumab and nivolumab in combination with gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel also revealed cellular sensitivity, with significant induction of apoptosis and tumor size shrinkage. Next, we decided to characterize the tumor microenvironment, in particular neutrophil and macrophage populations. At 4 days post-injection, the percentage of neutrophils increased in comparison with the first day, and M2-like macrophages (protumoral activity) started to dominate the tumor microenvironment. To study the role of both populations in tumorigenesis, zebrafish xenografts were generated using hippomorphic mutants as hosts. Reduction of neutrophils induced an increase in the tumor size, while reduction of macrophages induced an opposite effect – decrease of the tumor size. These results suggest that neutrophils and macrophages are playing opposing roles, neutrophils as anti-tumoral and macrophages as pro-tumoral. Altogether, and most importantly, our results highlight the feasibility of using the zebrafish xenograft model as an in vivo screening platform for pancreatic cancer therapy, and to study the complexity of the tumor microenvironment

The impact of a happy positioning on willingness to pay for utilitarian products

This study intends to examine the relationship between a happy positioning, utilitarian products and willingness to pay. After reviewing existent literature, it is hypothesised that by associating utilitarian products to a happy positioning, willingness to pay will be positively impacted. In order to test this hypothesis, research was conducted following an experimental design involving one pre-test and one main study. The main study consisted of a between subjects experiment with two conditions: happiness vs performance positionings. Against the hypothesis, results suggest that willingness to pay for utilitarian products does not differ significantly depending on the condition individuals were allocated to

A eficiência dos mercados bolsistas na forma fraca - G7 e Portugal

O objetivo principal desta dissertação é avaliar a hipótese de eficiência dos mercados na forma fraca, utilizando as cotações diárias dos principais índices bolsistas dos países pertencentes ao G7 e de Portugal. Foram utilizados testes de estacionariedade, de correlação linear e à independência temporal das séries. Pretende-se perceber se as séries em estudo exibem autocorrelação temporal, seja linear ou não-linear. Os resultados apontaram para a evidência de memória, havendo indícios para a rejeição da eficiência na forma fraca dos 8 índices bolsistas; Weak form of Efficient Market Hypothesis – G7 and Portugal Abstract: The main objective of this dissertation is to evaluate the efficiency market hypothesis on its weak form, using the daily prices of the main stock indexes of the G7 and Portugal. We perform several statistical and econometric tests, linear autocorrelation tests and serial independence tests. It is intended to understand if the series under analysis exhibit serial autocorrelation, either linear or non-linear. The results pointed to evidence of serial memory, which somehow may be an indication to the rejection of efficiency in the weak form of the 8 stock indexes

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and tourist’s views on the need to rethink tourism

Parceria com a Universidade de Lisboa - Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território.Tourism has been a target of substantial technology investments to keep pace with the acceleration of globalisation and the increasingly demanding needs of consumers. Since tourism is an activity constantly adapting to social and economic adversities, the atypical situation of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic has highlighted the need to question tourism habits. The moment of global lockdown resulted in the partial or total cancellation of travel and leisure experiences and even cast doubt on consumers' habits as tourists in the sense of environmental and social sustainability. Therefore, it is feasible to agree that this pandemic has forced businesses and all entities to rethink tourism to respond to new demands and maintain related business activities. New alternatives have been implemented in restricted periods of constraint, such as the provision of virtualmuseums or visits to a virtual street. Given that this technological reality is increasingly pervasive in consumers’ day-to-day life and that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has been accelerating some processesregarding the reformulation of the tourism activity, this dissertation aims to study what personal characteristics and attitudes influence tourists’ intention to experience VT in a post pandemic period. Based on a sample of 229 individuals, the survey’s results suggest that younger tourists, who perceive VT as an alternative for conventional tourism in atypical situations and value authenticity in VT, are the ones with higher interest to experience virtual tourism. A cluster analysis revealed two clusters, named “the digital youngsters” and “the conservative adults”. Theoretical and practical implications are derivedO Turismo tem vindo a ser alvo de inúmeros investimentos a nível tecnológico, de forma a acompanhar a aceleração da globalização e das necessidades, cada vez mais exigentes, dos consumidores. Uma vez que o turismo é um setor em constante adaptação às adversidades sociais e económicas, a situação atípica da pandemia SARS-COV-2 sublinhou a necessidade de questionar o turismo. O momento de confinamento mundial traduziu-se na anulação parcial ou total de viagens e experiências de lazer, e chegou a colocar em dúvida os próprios hábitos dos consumidores enquanto turistas, no âmbito da sustentabilidade ambiental e social. É viável concordar, portanto, que esta pandemia obrigou as empresas e todas as entidades a repensar o turismo, para conseguirem responder às novas procuras e à sobrevivência de negócios relacionados. Novas alternativas têm vindo a ser implementadas em períodos de confinamento restritos, como a disponibilização de museus virtuais ou visitas a uma virtual street. Uma vez que esta realidade tecnológica é cada vez mais transversal ao dia-a-dia do consumidor, e já que a pandemia SARS-COV-2 tem vindo a acelerar alguns processos no que toca à reformulação do setor turístico, o estudo pretende analisar se os turistas reconhecem a urgência em repensar o turismo e adotar a Realidade Virtual como alternativa, ao perspetivar situações atípicas. Com o recurso a uma amostra de 229 pessoas, os resultados do questionário sugerem que turistas mais novos, que veem o TV como uma alternativa ao turismo convencional em situações atípicas e que valorizam a autenticidade no TV, tendem a ser os que têm maior interesse em experienciar virtualmente o turismo. Uma análise de clusters revelou dois grupos independentes, chamados de “os jovens digitais” e “os adultos conservadores”. As implicações teóricas e práticas são derivadas

Development of a LC-MS method for analysis of thiol ratios as an indicator of oxidative stress

Reactive oxygen species are free radicals capable of damaging the cellular components in a process called oxidative stress. Among the different biomarkers that are used to determine level of oxidative stress is the ratio between reduced and oxidized thiols, such as glutathione and oxidized glutathione. The use of glutathione ratio as a biomarker of oxidative stress is possible because the thiols are responsible for reducing the oxidizing species in a process that oxidizes the thiols into their disulfides. Under normal conditions, the cells can regenerate the reduced thiols by the action of reductases, which keeps the ratio constant. However, under oxidative stress, the cell cannot regenerate the reduced thiols rapidly enough. This in turn increases the concentration of the disulfide, and the ratio decreases. The ratio can also be inadvertently altered during sample manipulation because thiols can autoxidize. Therefore, for their accurate determination, thiols should be derivatized prior to analysis. The existing protocols using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for thiol analysis largely focus on urine or plasma analysis, and do not consider exposure to oxidation during sample handling, while the few studies on intracellular thiol concentrations employ derivatization after cell lysis. The main objective of this thesis was to develop a LC-MS method to accurately measure individual thiols and disulfides, and their ratios in Jurkat cells. To achieve this goal, the selectivity and efficiency of two different derivatizing agents that are able to permeate the cell membrane were first compared in detail: N-ethyl maleimide (NEM) and N-phenyl ethyl maleimide (NPEM). They were compared in terms of their derivatization efficiency, electrospray ionization enhancement, stability and selectivity/side product formation with focus on four abundant intracellular thiols: cysteine (CYS), homocysteine (HCY), N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), glutathione (GSH) and their corresponding disulfides. While NPEM provided greater ionization efficiency than NEM (NPEM/NEM varies from 2.1x for GSH to 5.7x for CYS), it was also more unstable, forming more side-products. The instability of its maleimide ring led to reaction with amines, as well as double derivatization and cyclization reactions, which corresponded to about 10% of the signal of CYS. NEM showed only minor contribution of side reactions (about 1.5% of the signal of CYS), so it was chosen as the derivatizing reagent for the protocol. The derivatizing conditions with NEM were further optimized to minimize side product formation, and pH 7.0 was selected for further assay development while being compatible with cell handling. In the next step, a full cell extraction protocol was developed to quantify the thiol ratios in Jurkat T cells. Briefly, the optimized protocol required 1 × 106 cells and combined NEM derivatization prior to cell lysis, cell lysis and extraction using 20% methanol (v/v) and protein precipitation by methanol. The thiols were then chromatographically separated using a biphenyl, reversed-phase, separation in combination with Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (QToF-MS) analysis. Protocol optimization included evaluation of different lysis solvents, recovery, matrix effects, and evaluation of the number of washes required to ensure as complete removal of extracellular metabolites as possible without compromising cellular integrity. The final method was tested for its capacity to evaluate oxidative stress in cells stimulated by hydrogen peroxide, a known inducer of oxidative damage. The results show that the method was capable of differentiating between the control, mild and intense oxidative stress conditions. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first cellular protocol that combines NEM derivatization prior to cell lysis with LC-MS determination of individual thiol ratios. An innovative aspect of this procedure is the protection of reduced thiols prior to lysis, which minimizes changes in the ratio caused by sample manipulation, as opposed to the typical procedure which has the derivatization after extraction. This work is also the first systematic comparison of NEM versus NPEM derivatization for LC-MS analysis and shows clearly the propensity of NPEM for side-product formation under conditions commonly used for maleimide derivatization. In summary, this research contributes towards more accurate measurement of thiol ratios as readouts of oxidative stress

The impact of in-store activations (communication) in the consumer's emotions: Consumer behavior

Consumer behavior: Sport Zone. The analysis of "The impact of in-store activations (communication) in the consumer's emotions" Several studies have been conducted on the consumer behavior. This study aims to analyze and understand which factors are important to consumers’ emotions when the purchase decision occurs, the brand awareness, brand loyalty and the campaigns/activations’ impact in the above factors. Two research surveys were conducted to realize this study, the first online and the other was an interview to the Agency Up Partner who conceived and put into practice this Fitness campaign. First of all, was the consumer’s survey, a survey with 100 answers, to understand which factors are taken into account when a campaign in-store is held, in which the atmosphere is mainly used to arouse consumer’s desire to purchase, and also emotions. Second, the interview with the agency was realized to find out on what they were based on when they delineate it, and if the raise of emotions was taken into account in the origin of it. Concluding, emotions have a significant impact on formation of consumer in-store behavior, satisfaction and loyalty. As we could assay through of how this Fitness campaign was carried out as well as the optimal feedback received by consumers, improved attention over in-store marketing activity strongly influences consumer behavior at the point of purchase. “Sport Zone: A new store concept where the love for sports is combined with functionality

The role of social networks on financial products subscription : the case of Millennium bcp

During a financial crisis, like the one we are facing today, financial institutions more than ever need to guarantee that they are able to keep their customer base, namely the most profitable customers, and acquire new customers, especially younger people with high potential like undergraduate and master’s students. Customer satisfaction and loyalty play an important role in this matter and that is one of the main concerns of banks in tough times. To acquire and retain new costumers among the youngsters, Millennium bcp created and launched a bundle of products specially designed for this segment. To reach and engage with this target, Millennium bcp invested in a Facebook page specially designed to communicate the new offer. The aim of this dissertation is to study the effect of social networks in the subscription of financial products. This paper studies the example of Millennium Go Facebook page, from the Bank Millennium bcp, which is a financial product page where informative and entertainment contents are inserted on a regular basis in order to keep its attractiveness and the relationship with the target public. Despite being quite hard to measure the impact of engagement with this channel, it was possible to reach some conclusions through market research. This example will help students and their instructor understand all the process of creating the Millennium Go bundle: from the first concept design to its development and marketing communication campaigns. Market research was done with a main objective: to perceive who has pressed “like” on the Facebook page; when they have decided to do that, if before or after a purchase; and the reason why they have become fans of a financial institution Facebook page. The different perceptions of this channel between people who have and have not a “like” on the Facebook page were also studied. At the end of the study, it was possible to perceive that this new channel is usually used to seek information about a product or to have access to special content about the brand. It was also possible to conclude that there is a significant difference in terms of attitudes and perceptions among users and non-users of Facebook.Durante uma crise financeira, como a que vivemos atualmente, as instituições financeiras têm uma necessidade, ainda maior, de defender a sua base de clientes, em especial os clientes mais rentáveis, e de captar novos clientes com particular enfoque nos jovens de elevado potencial como é o caso dos estudantes finalistas do secundário ou universitários. A satisfação e a fidelização dos clientes assumem um papel relevante neste contexto e essa é pois uma das principais preocupações dos bancos em tempos adversos. Para captar e reter novos clientes entre os jovens, o Millennium bcp criou e lançou um pacote de produtos desenhado especificamente para o segmento. Com o intuito de gerar uma ligação mais envolvente com os jovens o Millennium bcp investiu numa página no Facebook concebida especialmente para comunicar a nova oferta. Esta dissertação tem por objetivo estudar a influência das redes sociais na subscrição de produtos financeiros. O estudo incide sobre a página do Facebook do Millennium Go, do Banco Millennium bcp, uma página de um produto financeiro alimentada regularmente com conteúdos lúdicos e informativos com o intuito de manter a atratividade e a relação. Apesar de ser extremamente difícil medir o impacto do envolvimento do canal na relação do cliente com o produto e a marca foi possível retirar algumas conclusões com base no estudo de mercado efetuado. Tendo por base o exemplo utilizado, estudante e orientador poderão conhecer o processo de criação do pacote Millennium Go desde a fase de desenho do conceito, passando pela fase de desenvolvimento e acabando nas campanhas de comunicação. No âmbito do trabalho foi desenvolvido um estudo de mercado com um objetivo claro: perceber quem fez um “like” na página do Facebook, quando decidiram fazê-lo, antes ou depois da compra, e a razão porque se tornaram fãs de uma página no Facebook de uma Instituição Financeira. No final do estudo foi possível concluir que este novo canal é fundamentalmente utilizado para recolha de informação sobre um produto ou para ter acesso a conteúdos específicos da marca. Foi ainda possível concluir que existe uma diferença significativa em termos de atitudes e perceções entre utilizadores e não utilizadores do Facebook