Estudo do comportamento dinâmico do Punto Troféu FEUP 2

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Mecânica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

Contexto de trabalho e estilo de tomada de decisão : efeitos da satisfação e da percepção de desempenho

Mestrado em Ciências EmpresariaisA tomada de decisão desempenha um aspecto central na gestão das organizações, sendo muitas vezes considerada como o critério mais relevante para a avaliação do desempenho dos gestores. Dada a importância do processo de tomada de decisão, vários estudos têm vindo a ser desenvolvidos procurando identificar estilos de tomada de decisão dos gestores, bem como as suas consequências e factores antecedentes. Este estudo procura analisar os efeitos da satisfação e da percepção de desempenho num modelo integrativo de estilos de tomada de decisão, que parte dos dois elementos fundamentais do processo de tomada de decisão: a utilização de informação e a utilização de cursos de acção alternativos. Os resultados permitem identificar os estilos de tomada de decisão considerados mais correctos no contexto organizacional Português, podendo ser utilizados para futuros cursos de formação sobre desenvolvimento de competências de tomada de decisão e desenvolvimento de competências interculturais.Decision-making is a core activity in management and it is often used as the most relevant criterion for assessing managers' performance. Given the importance of the decision-making process, several studies have attempted to identify different decision-making styles, as well as their consequences and antecedent factors. This study attempts to analyse the effects of satisfaction and performance perceptions on an integrative model of decision-making styles, integrating two fundamental elements of the decision-making process: The use of information and the use of alternative courses of action. Results allow for the identification of the decision-making styles considered to be the most correct in the Portuguese organizational context. These results may be used for future training courses regarding the development of decision-making skills, as well as the development of intercultural skills

Improving WiFi communication with surface nodes at near-shore on tidal waters

Wireless radio links deployed in aquatic areas (e.g., sea, rivers, lakes, estuaries) are affected by the conductive properties of the water surface, strengthening signal reflections and increasing destructive interference. Recurrent natural phenomena (e.g. tides or waves) cause shifts in water levels further impairing propagation over water surfaces. In this work, we aim to mitigate the detrimental impact of tides on link quality by providing tailored link distance/height-design regions that minimize average path losses. We focus on line-of-sight (LOS) over-water links between onshore stations and different types of surface nodes, namely AUVs, buoys, or USVs, using 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands. Analytical results targeting mission data transfer scenarios demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms, in both frequency bands, the common practice of placing (i) onshore antennas at the largest possible height and/or (ii) surface nodes at a short but arbitrary distance from the shore. A longer version of this summary was presented at IEEE/MTS OCEANS 2021.This work was partially supported by National Funds through FCT/MCTES (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology), within the CISTER Research Unit (UIDP/UIDB/04234/2020) and by FCT through the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Regional Operational Programme (ROP) Norte 2020, under grant 2020.06685.BDinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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Unmanned vehicles used in ocean science, defense operations and commercial activities collect large amounts of data that is further processed onshore. For real-time information exchange, the wireless link between the unmanned vehicle and onshore devices must be reliable. In this work, we empirically evaluate a WiFi link between an autonomous underwater vehicle on the surface and an onshore device under real-world conditions. This work allowed i) collecting a large-scale realistic dataset and ii) identifying major factors impairing communication in such scenarios. The TX-RX antenna alignment, the operation mode (manual vs automatic) and varying reflecting surface induced by AUV mobility lead to sudden changes (e.g. nulls) in the received signal strength that can be larger than 20 dB. This study provides useful insights to the design of robust vessel-to-shore short-range communications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Post-stroke patients functional task characterization through accelerometry data for rehabilitation intervention and monitoring

An increasing ageing society and consequently rising number ofpost-stroke related neurological dysfunction patients are forcing therehabilitation field to adapt to ever-growing demands. Compensatorymovements related to available motor strategies, can be observed inpost-stroke patients when performing functional tasks due to apathological synergy as in reaching for an object. Studies of post-strokemotor recovery suggest that such maladaptive strategies may limit theplasticity of the nervous system to enhance neuromotor recovery.Strategies for rehabilitation protocols monitoring and validation arepresently a necessity, moreover considering data recording is oftenabsent of the rehabilitation process or subjective in nature.Characterization strategies of patient performance during functional taskare key aspects for clinical protocols validation, progress monitoring andmethodologies comparison. This project seeks to characterize patientsupper limb performance through accelerometry, gathered with a lowcostwearable system, for compensatory movement avoidance throughfeedback response

SENSEMAKING AS A COMMUNICATIVE PROCESS IN THE MIDDLE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF AN ORGANIZATION FROM THE IT INDUSTRY

O artigo tem como objetivo analisar evidências do processo de sensemaking como resultado das práticas comunicativas, promovidas pela liderança intermediária, em uma organização do setor de Tecnologia da Informação (TI) a respeito da busca pelo constante aperfeiçoamento técnico dos profissionais. Foram estudados os processos de comunicação do ponto de vista da interação e da organização social, que ultrapassa a mera transmissão da informação (CASALI, 2005), conceito embasado em James Taylor (2004) no discurso como ação, e no entendimento de Karl Weick (1995) sobre sensemaking. Foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa e, como estratégia de pesquisa, foi realizado um estudo de caso (YIN, 2001) na empresa Teevo, com matriz em Caxias do Sul (RS) e filiais em cinco outras cidades. Foram realizadas oito entrevistas, utilizando-se um protocolo de pesquisa semiestruturada, bem como sete horas de observação, as quais, posteriormente, foram analisadas segundo a Análise de Conteúdo (BARDIN, 1977). Os resultados indicam que os líderes intermediários procuram realizar constantes interações e se comunicam com cada colaborador com alguma periodicidade a respeito do desempenho, das expectativas e do desenvolvimento da carreira. Tais encontros promovem um processo comunicativo que pode estar deflagrando um processo de sensemaking, por meio do aumento da ambiguidade entre o conhecimento necessário dos colaboradores e o atual (gap de conhecimento). Para diminuir a ambiguidade, líderes intermediários e colaboradores empreendem um processo de sensemaking em que podem ser evidenciadas características das sete propriedades de sensemaking; evidenciou-se, ainda, que essas conversas servem como base de ação coletiva para a definição de um plano de carreira dos colaboradores envolvidos. Sugestões e limitações são especificadas ao final das considerações finais.This article aims to analyse evidences of the sensemaking process as a result of communicative practices promoted by the middle management in an organization from the Information Technology (IT) industry, regarding the focus on technical skills development. We studied communicative processes from the perspective of interaction and social organization, which goes beyond the mere transmission of information (CASALI, 2005), a concept grounded in James Taylor (2004) on verbal action, and from the understanding of sensemaking (WEICK, 1995). A qualitative research strategy was used and a case study (YIN, 2001) was conducted at Teevo S/A, an IT company headquartered in Caxias do Sul (RS) and branches in five other cities. Eight interviews were conducted using a semi-structured research protocol, as well as seven hours of observation, which were subsequently analyzed using Content Analysis (BARDIN, 1977). The results indicate that middle management seeks to accomplish constant interactions and they establish a frequent communicative process with each employee about their performance, expectations and career development. These meetings promote a communicative process that may be triggering a process of sensemaking by increasing the ambiguity between the knowledge that employees need and the current knowledge (knowledge gap). To reduce the ambiguity, middle management and employees conduct a sensemaking process that can be observed from the seven properties of sensemaking perspective. Moreover, these conversations can be considered as the basis for collective action in defining a career path to the employees involved. Suggestions and limitations are then specified

Lymphocyte activation after a high-intensity street dance class

Intense dance training leads to inflammation, which may impair the health and performance of the practitioners. Herein, we evaluate the effect of a single street dancing class on the profile of muscle enzymes, lymphocyte activation, and cell surface CD62L expression. We also investigated the correlation between muscle enzymes, adhesion molecules, and lymphocyte activation in dancers. Fifteen male participants (mean ± standard error: age 22.4 ± 1.08 years, body mass index 24.8 ± 0.69 kg/m2, body fat 12.3 ± 1.52%), who were amateur dancers, had blood samples collected previously and subsequent to a high-intensity street dance class. After the class, dancers showed an increase in total lymphocyte count (2.0-fold), creatine kinase (CK)-NAC (4.87%), and CK-MB (3.36%). We also observed a decrease (2.5-fold) in reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by lymphocytes, under phorbol myristate acetate-stimulated environments. Following the dance class, CD62L expression in lymphocytes decreased (51.42%), while there was a negative correlation between the intensity of the exercise and CD62L expression (r = -0.73; p = 0.01). Lymphocytes were less responsive to stimuli after a single bout of street dancing, indicating transient immunosuppression

Intracellular nucleic acid delivery by the supercharged dengue virus capsid protein

© 2013 Freire et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Supercharged proteins are a recently identified class of proteins that have the ability to efficiently deliver functional macromolecules into mammalian cells. They were first developed as bioengineering products, but were later found in the human proteome. In this work, we show that this class of proteins with unusually high net positive charge is frequently found among viral structural proteins, more specifically among capsid proteins. In particular, the capsid proteins of viruses from the Flaviviridae family have all a very high net charge to molecular weight ratio (> +1.07/kDa), thus qualifying as supercharged proteins. This ubiquity raises the hypothesis that supercharged viral capsid proteins may have biological roles that arise from an intrinsic ability to penetrate cells. Dengue virus capsid protein was selected for a detailed experimental analysis. We showed that this protein is able to deliver functional nucleic acids into mammalian cells. The same result was obtained with two isolated domains of this protein, one of them being able to translocate lipid bilayers independently of endocytic routes. Nucleic acids such as siRNA and plasmids were delivered fully functional into cells. The results raise the possibility that the ability to penetrate cells is part of the native biological functions of some viral capsid proteins.This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – Ministério da Educação e Ciência (FCT-MEC, Portugal) [PTDC/QUI-BIQ/112929/2009], by the European Union [projects FP7-PEOPLE IRSES (MEMPEPACROSS) and FP7-HEALTH-F3-2008-223414 (LEISHDRUG)], by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2011-24899), the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009 SGR 492), by the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnoloógico (CNPq), Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), and the National Institute of Science and Technology in Dengue (INCT-Dengue). JMF also acknowledges FCT-MEC for Ph.D. fellowship SFRH/BD/70423/2010

Gestão Social e os processos de tomada de decisão entre os Krahô

O trabalho é parte integrante do Projeto de Educação Escolar Indígena Krahô Bilingue e Intercultural financiado pelo Observatório da Educação OBEDUC/CAPES que tem como proposta a realização de pesquisas e intervenções na aldeia Manoel Alves, distante 295 Km da capital Palmas, no estado do Tocantins, a fim de subsidiar a construção de material pedagógico e políticas públicas adequadas a localidade. Especificamente, nosso trabalho visa verificar os mecanismos particulares de organização social e os processos de tomada de decisão desse grupo específico e verificar as similaridades dessa forma de gestão com a Gestão Social. Para tanto fizemos duas visitas a aldeia com a permanência de um total de 10 dias, realizando atividades do projeto geral e observações do cotidiano que permitissem visualizar seus modos de gerenciamento e estruturação social da aldeia, foram realizadas também entrevistas semi-estruturadas com lideranças indígenas políticas, religiosas e indivíduos sem qualquer papel de destaque social. Tivemos como resultado que a estruturação social dos Krahô segue um modelo transmitido por gerações que vislumbra uma organização estruturada de maneira a privilegiar processos democráticos de escolha dos caciques, alternância de poder entre os grupos, participação democrática nas reuniões diárias realizadas no pátio, porém com especificidades de sua cultura. Notamos que os elementos elencados como descritores da Gestão Social, entre eles, interesse bem compreendido, solidariedade, transparência, esfera pública, são percebidos na gestão dos indígenas, permitindo apontarmos algumas relações entre as formas de gestão. Inferimos que tanto as práticas sócio-políticas dos Krahô podem contribuir para nossa formação em Gestão Social, quanto os elementos apontados de formação dessa população podem contribuir aos gestores públicos e a própria comunidade em como pensar intervenções na aldeia, que se firmem a partir da dialogicidade do “pátio” dos Krahô