Definition, implementation and management of m.commerce apps and services

This report aims to analyse the Definition, Implementation and Management of Vodafone Portugal’s Apps and Services, so that possible ways of improvement can be suggested. To do so, Vodafone’s strategy regarding the development/ implementation of specific Apps and Services, as well as the strategy of its competitors are going to be analysed. This analysis is going to be complemented with insights from some key-persons of Vodafone’s Consumer Business Unit team in Portugal. Findings suggest that Vodafone is ahead of its competitors when it comes to developing the most innovative Apps and Services, but there is always room for improvements, especially when it comes to communication

Constipation in pregnancy - a systematic review

Constipation during pregnancy is a common problem. It usually does not require an extensive evaluation and most patients respond to simple measures. Treatment typically consists of dietary measures, such as increasing fiber and fluid intake, behavioral changes, such as physical activity, and the use of probiotics or laxatives. However, the diagnosis of constipation itself is difficult to define and may vary from doctor to doctor. This systematic review aimed to identify the diagnostic criteria of constipation during pregnancy, its prevalence during the three trimesters, as well as the effects and efficacy of different interventions for its prevention or treatment. The survey included items available electronically, using databases such as Pubmed, B -on, RCAAP, UBI catalog, Springer, COCHRANE, Current Opinion in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Green Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, SciELO, EMBASE and EBSCO, and also manual research on textbooks of reference considered relevant to the topic. Despite its clinical relevance, there are few quality studies on gastrointestinal transit in pregnant women, identification and treatment of constipation during pregnancy. The present review concludes that the prevalence of constipation is higher during the second trimester of pregnancy and lower in the third, constituting the Rome III criteria the more acceptable definition. Regarding constipation treatment, during pregnancy abundant fluid intake was associated with a lower prevalence, whereas there is no evidence that dietary fiber and physical activity improve constipation. On the contrary, both the use of probiotics and an electrolyte solution of polyethylene glycol, an osmotic laxative, appear to be effective treatments, but there is insufficient evidence about its effects, therefore subsequent studies may be needed to safely recommend these treatments. Finally, stimulant laxatives may be more effective than bulk-forming laxatives, although adverse effects such as abdominal pain and diarrhea, may limit their use. However, this conclusion is based on an old and very low quality study. In conclusion: despite the importance of the theme there are no quality studies that support grounded proposals on prevention and treatment of constipation during pregnancy.A obstipação durante a gravidez é um problema comum. Habitualmente, não necessita de uma avaliação extensiva e a maioria das pacientes respondem a medidas simples. O tratamento geralmente consiste de medidas dietéticas, como o aumento de ingestão de fibras e fluidos, alterações comportamentais, tais como atividade física, assim como a utilização de probióticos ou laxantes. No entanto, o diagnóstico de obstipação em si é difícil de definir e pode variar de médico para médico. Esta revisão sistematizada teve como objetivo identificar os critérios diagnósticos da obstipação durante a gravidez, a sua prevalência nos três trimestres, bem como os efeitos e a eficácia das diferentes intervenções para a sua prevenção ou tratamento. A pesquisa incluiu os artigos disponíveis eletronicamente, usando as bases de dados Pubmed, B-on, RCAAP, Catálogo UBI, Springer, COCHRANE, Current Opinion in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Green Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Scielo, EMBASE e EBSCO, e ainda pesquisa manual em livros de texto de referência considerados relevantes para o tema. Apesar da sua relevância clínica existem poucos estudos de qualidade sobre o trânsito gastrointestinal em mulheres grávidas, identificação e tratamento da obstipação durante a gravidez. Da revisão efetuada conclui-se que a prevalência de obstipação é maior durante o segundo trimestre da gravidez e menor no terceiro, constituindo os critérios de Roma III a definição mais aceitável. Relativamente ao tratamento da obstipação, durante a gravidez a ingestão abundante de líquidos associa-a a menor prevalência, enquanto que não há evidências de que dieta com fibra e atividade física melhorem a obstipação. Pelo contrário quer o uso de probióticos como duma solução eletrolítica de polietileno-glicol, um laxante osmótico, parecem ser tratamentos eficazes, mas não há provas suficientes sobre seus efeitos, pelo que podem ser necessários estudos subsequentes a fim de recomendar com segurança estes tratamentos. Por fim, os laxantes estimulantes podem ser mais eficazes do que os expansores de volume, embora os efeitos adversos, tais como dor abdominal e diarreia, possam limitar o seu uso. No entanto, esta conclusão está baseada num estudo antigo de e de qualidade muito baixa. Concluindo: apesar da importância do tema não existem estudos de qualidade que suportem propostas fundamentadas sobre prevenção e tratamento da obstipação durante a gravidez

Biclustering electronic health records to unravel disease presentation patterns

Tese de mestrado, Ciência de Dados, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2019A Esclerose Lateral Amiotrófica (ELA) é uma doença neurodegenerativa heterogénea com padrões de apresentação altamente variáveis. Dada a natureza heterogénea dos doentes com ELA, aquando do diagnóstico os clínicos normalmente estimam a progressão da doença utilizando uma taxa de decaimento funcional, calculada com base na Escala Revista de Avaliação Funcional de ELA (ALSFRS-R). A utilização de modelos de Aprendizagem Automática que consigam lidar com este padrões complexos é necessária para compreender a doença, melhorar os cuidados aos doentes e a sua sobrevivência. Estes modelos devem ser explicáveis para que os clínicos possam tomar decisões informadas. Desta forma, o nosso objectivo é descobrir padrões de apresentação da doença, para isso propondo uma nova abordagem de Prospecção de Dados: Descoberta de Meta-atributos Discriminativos (DMD), que utiliza uma combinação de Biclustering, Classificação baseada em Biclustering e Prospecção de Regras de Associação para Classificação. Estes padrões (chamados de Meta-atributos) são compostos por subconjuntos de atributos discriminativos conjuntamente com os seus valores, permitindo assim distinguir e caracterizar subgrupos de doentes com padrões similares de apresentação da doença. Os Registos de Saúde Electrónicos (RSE) utilizados neste trabalho provêm do conjunto de dados JPND ONWebDUALS (ONTology-based Web Database for Understanding Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), composto por questões standardizadas acerca de factores de risco, mutações genéticas, atributos clínicos ou informação de sobrevivência de uma coorte de doentes e controlos seguidos pelo consórcio ENCALS (European Network to Cure ALS), que inclui vários países europeus, incluindo Portugal. Nesta tese a metodologia proposta foi utilizada na parte portuguesa do conjunto de dados ONWebDUALS para encontrar padrões de apresentação da doença que: 1) distinguissem os doentes de ELA dos seus controlos e 2) caracterizassem grupos de doentes de ELA com diferentes taxas de progressão (categorizados em grupos Lentos, Neutros e Rápidos). Nenhum padrão coerente emergiu das experiências efectuadas para a primeira tarefa. Contudo, para a segunda tarefa os padrões encontrados para cada um dos três grupos de progressão foram reconhecidos e validados por clínicos especialistas em ELA, como sendo características relevantes de doentes com progressão Lenta, Neutra e Rápida. Estes resultados sugerem que a nossa abordagem genérica baseada em Biclustering tem potencial para identificar padrões de apresentação noutros problemas ou doenças semelhantes.Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disease with a high variability of presentation patterns. Given the heterogeneous nature of ALS patients and targeting a better prognosis, clinicians usually estimate disease progression at diagnosis using the rate of decay computed from the Revised ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R). In this context, the use of Machine Learning models able to unravel the complexity of disease presentation patterns is paramount for disease understanding, targeting improved patient care and longer survival times. Furthermore, explainable models are vital, since clinicians must be able to understand the reasoning behind a given model’s result before making a decision that can impact a patient’s life. Therefore we aim at unravelling disease presentation patterns by proposing a new Data Mining approach called Discriminative Meta-features Discovery (DMD), which uses a combination of Biclustering, Biclustering-based Classification and Class Association Rule Mining. These patterns (called Metafeatures) are composed of discriminative subsets of features together with their values, allowing to distinguish and characterize subgroups of patients with similar disease presentation patterns. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) data used in this work comes from the JPND ONWebDUALS (ONTology-based Web Database for Understanding Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) dataset, comprised of standardized questionnaire answers regarding risk factors, genetic mutations, clinical features and survival information from a cohort of patients and controls from ENCALS (European Network to Cure ALS), a consortium of diverse European countries, including Portugal. In this work the proposed methodology was used on the ONWebDUALS Portuguese EHR data to find disease presentation patterns that: 1) distinguish the ALS patients from their controls and 2) characterize groups of ALS patients with different progression rates (categorized into Slow, Neutral and Fast groups). No clear pattern emerged from the experiments performed for the first task. However, in the second task the patterns found for each of the three progression groups were recognized and validated by ALS expert clinicians, as being relevant characteristics of slow, neutral and fast progressing patients. These results suggest that our generic Biclustering approach is a promising way to unravel disease presentation patterns and could be applied to similar problems and other diseases

Diversidade genética e fitoquímica em mentas: caracterização, valorização e conservação

Doutoramento em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaMentha cervina (L.) Opiz and Mentha pulegium L. are medicinal and aromatic plants traditionally used in Portugal for aromatic and seasoning purposes and in folk medicine, for treatment of gastric and respiratory problems. Light and scanning electron microscopy of both species indumentum revealed non-glandular and glandular trichomes, corresponding to the common arrangement in Lamiaceae. Gas Chromatography and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry of both species essential oils (EOs) showed no chemical polymorphism in populations with different provenances, in cultivated or in wild growing conditions and at different developmental stages. All populations EOs belonged to the pulegone chemotype. M. cervina EOs antibacterial activity was higher than the main components alone, supporting the hypothesis of a synergistic effect of their different components. The antibacterial activity was more effective against Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumanni, validating their traditional use. The low levels of genetic diversity and the high structuring of M. cervina populations, assessed with Inter-simple sequence repeats markers, were assumed to result from a combination of evolutionary history and its unique biological traits, such as breeding system, clonal growth, low dispersion capacity and habitat fragmentation. The results point the necessity of conserving the maximum possible number of populations and sites for ex situ conservation

Understanding “Baby Boomers” and “Millennials” motivations to interact with brands on Social Media

The emergence and importance of social media and, in particular, social networking sites (SNS), has made it possible for an accessible integration between consumers and brands, by providing unlimited reasons for users to express, share and create content. The aim of this dissertation is to explore what motivates consumers to interact with brands on social media and to understand the relevance of those variables in explaining consumers’ loyalty toward a brand. Members of two distinct generations were studied and compared: Millennials and Baby Boomers. A scale suggested by Enginkaya and Yilmaz (2014) is analysed and comprise five different motivations: Brand Affiliation, Opportunity Seeking, Conversation, Entertainment and Investigation. Concerning brand loyalty, the scale used is proposed by Jacoby and Chestnut (1978). In terms of methodology, the study is exploratory and quantitative. An online, structured and self-administered questionnaire was performed to collect data, resulting in 324 valid responses. The main findings suggest that for Millennials, Brand Affiliation, Opportunity Seeking and Entertainment are the main motivations that drives these consumers to interact with brands. On the other hand, Conversation and Investigation are the principal motivations when concerning Baby Boomers. Additionally, it was concluded that the older generational cohort is more brand loyal when compared to its younger counterpart, where Entertainment, Opportunity Seeking and Brand Affiliation are the motivations that influence their loyalty. Concerning Millennials, Brand Affiliation is the only motivation that influences this behaviour. Lastly, theoretical and managerial contributions are discussed, where some implications for further research are therefore identified.A emergencia e importância do conceito social media e, em particular, das plataformas online, permitiu uma acessível integração entre consumidores e marcas, fornecendo inúmeras razões para os utilizadores se expressarem, partilharem e criarem conteúdo online. O objectivo desta dissertação é explorar o que motiva os consumidores para interagirem com as marcas nas redes sociais e perceber a sua relevância e influência na lealdade dos consumidores para com as marcas. Duas gerações distintas são estudadas e comparadas: Millennials e Baby Boomers. Neste estudo é analisada uma escala sugerida por Enginkaya e Yilmaz (2014) e compreende cinco motivações distintas: Brand Affiliation, Opportunity Seeking, Conversation, Entertainment e Investigation. Relativamente à lealdade, a escala usada para análise é proposta por Jacoby e Chestnut (1978). Metodologicamente, este estudo é exploratório e quantitativo. Assim, é elaborado um questionário online, estruturado e administrado individualmente por cada participante, reunindo 324 respostas válidas. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que para os Millennials, Brand Affiliation, Opportunity Seeking e Entertainment são as principais motivações que os levam a interagir com as marcas. Por outro lado, Conversation e Investigation são as motivações que mais se aplicam aos Baby Boomers. Adicionalmente, é evidenciado que os Baby Boomers são considerados mais leais comparativamente com os Millennials, em que Entertainment, Opportunity Seeking and Brand Affiliation são as motivações que influenciam a lealdade. Para os Millennials, Brand Affiliation é a única motivação que tem influencia este comportamento. Por fim, os contributos académicos e práticos são explicados, onde são posteriormente fornecidas várias recomendações para investigações futuras

Host-induced changes in the cell surface N-linked glycoproteins, from Aspergillus fumigatus. Search for specific targets with potential for clinical therapy and/or diagnosis.

This dissertation is presented to obtain a Master degree in Structural and Functional BiochemistryThe fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is responsible for causing invasive aspergillosis in human lungs, a fatal disease in immunocompromised patients. The development of such diseases is typically associated with a deficient immune response in the host as well as with phenotypic changes at cellular level of the fungus itself. The sequencing of the fungal genome has allowed the study of the proteome and its constituents, making it possible to explain the reason to such changes. The collection of carbohydrate moieties present in N- and O-linked glycoproteins and glycolipids, which protrude outwards from the cell membrane, has been defined as the exoglycome. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that changes suffered by the exoglycome of A. fumigatus are the main cause of the fungus infectious potential. Therefore, identification and characterization of the different carbohydrate structures that comprise the fungal exoglycome has become of great importance in order to increase the knowledge of the fungus pathogenicity. In this study, several experimental techniques developed in proteomics and glycomics areas were used in an attempt to identify the main components of the cell membrane proteome of A. fumigatus as well as the N-linked oligosaccharides structure that comprise the fungal exoglycome. Two methods for glycoprotein detection were used that are based in the non-covalent binding of lectins to specific oligosaccharides and the oxidation of carbohydrate groups followed by conjugation with a chromogenic or tagged substrate. In an attempt to identify the glycoproteins that comprise the proteome was performed, mass spectrometry was used, however the results were inconclusive. Certain factors, such as lack of homology between the sequenced peptides from membrane proteins with protein sequences already described in the databases were evaluated and questioned, but with no conclusive answers

The labour market integration of immigrants and their children

This thesis examine three distinct aspects of the labour market integration of immigrants and their children in the host country. The first chapter looks at the early careers of immigrants to shed light on the mechanisms driving the immigrant wage growth in the first years in the host country. I use a unique linked employer employee panel covering all wage earners in the private sector in Portugal to follow the careers of immigrant men. I show that in the first ten years in the country immigrants close one third of the initial immigrant-native wage gap and that one third of this wage catch-up is accounted for by immigrants gaining access to better paying firms. I then suggest an economic assimilation mechanism which highlights imperfect information about immigrant productivity and show that its predictions are in line with the data. The second chapter offers a longer term perspective of the economic assimilation of immigrants by turning to the labour market performance of the second generation. The chapter uses a unique survey of children of immigrants from Turkey, Morocco and ex-Yugoslavia, and children of natives in 15 European cities to closely compare their educational and labor market outcomes. Although the second generation performs on average worse than the children of natives in most outcomes considered, all differences are explained by differences in socio-economic background. While the first chapter focused on the dynamics of the wage gap over time, the third chapter studies the differences in the level of the wage gap across immigrant populations. The chapter provides a comparison of the wage gaps by country of origin in two major host countries, the UK and the US, in order to disentangle country of origin effects from immigrant selection. I show that the wage gaps by country of origin are strongly correlated in the two host countries and that virtually all the correlation is accounted for by differences in country of origin specific returns to education

Mortgage debt and deleveraging : cross-sectional evidence from the U.S. Great Depression

Mestrado em Economia Monetária e FinanceiraEste trabalho avalia o papel do endividamento e do "balance sheet channel" na Grande Depressão dos EUA entre os anos 1929 e 1933. Recorre-se a uma análise com dados estatísticos secionais, ao nível dos estados americanos. O objetivo é aferir o impacto que a alavancagem e a queda do valor das propriedades agrícolas e da habitação, tiveram sobre o comportamento do rendimento, crédito, salários, emprego e número de bancos. Os resultados mostram que os estados mais alavancados, nos anos anteriores à Grande Depressão, sofreram contrações económicas mais severas. Este resultado é evidência adicional da relação entre a alavancagem e o ciclo económico.This work assesses the role of leverage and of the balance sheet channel in the performance of the U.S. economy during the Great Depression of 1929-1933. I use a cross-sectional approach at the state level and measure the impact of farm and house values and of loan-to-value ratios in personal income, debt, wages, employment, and the number of banks. The results show that the more leveraged states experienced sharper contractions. This result gives additional support to the link between leverage and the business cycle

Contribuição do Estudo da Apatia Para a Compreensão da Doença de Parkinson

Objetivo. A apatia é reconhecida como estando presente numa variedade de perturbações psiquiátricas e condições neurológicas, reportando uma perturbação motivacional no comportamento orientado para objetivos. O principal objetivo do presente estudo é contribuir para a compreensão da doença de Parkinson, através da análise da relação entre a apatia, aspetos demográficos (e.g., idade, sexo) e alguns aspetos clínicos (e.g., sintomas depressivos) de sujeitos com doença de Parkinson. Método. A amostra é constituída por 61 sujeitos, 30 sujeitos da comunidade (grupo não-clínico) e 31 sujeitos com doença de Parkinson (grupo clínico), os quais foram individualmente submetidos a uma entrevista clínica e a um rastreio cognitivo. Resultados. Os resultados mostram que a apatia se apresenta como uma condição prevalente na doença de Parkinson, fortemente associada a sintomas depressivos, sobretudo no sexo feminino. Conclusões. Os dados reforçam a necessidade de um diagnóstico eficaz da apatia na doença de Parkinson, a compreensão das suas especificidades e da sua associação com a depressão