Development of a F.W.M.A.V. with livestreaming capabilities

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Axe’s brand personality and equity, consumers’ perspective on the brand’s personality and equity

search to establish a type of communication which is not only unique but also coherent, in order to ascertain certain types of associations within the minds of consumers. It is the composition of all the associations transmitted that forms the personality of a brand. However, this is a very demanding process, requiring years of investment and a need to be entirely coherent when communicating, through the years. Axe is a perfect example of this intention, with not only a distinctive type of communication but also a consistent one, trespassing always the ideas of sensuality and self-confidence. Nevertheless, not always do the intentions of brand managers coincide with the perceptions of consumers. Additionally, implications of a brand personality in its value, is still somewhat an uncertain subject. This dissertation aims to analyse Axe’s brand personality and its inferences on its own equity, analysing what consumers perceive the brand to be and furthermore how they value those attributes. For that purpose a practical application of Jennifer Aaker’s “Big Five” model was carried out, in order to understand how the brand is perceived, in what way does this perception influence the brand’s equity and what can be the future options for the brand to undertake. The study evidenced the predicted strong facet of the brand, the emotional side, as well as the relationships between the brand personality dimensions and Axe brand equity. This emotional side is in fact the most differentiating asset of the brand, although it is not the dimension with the strongest effect on brand equity.As empresas procuram desenvolver um tipo de comunicação que seja não só único mas também coerente, de maneira a estabelecer certo tipo de associações nas mentes dos consumidores. É a composição de todas estas associações que forma a personalidade de uma marca. Contudo, este processo é bastante exigente, requirindo anos de investimento e uma necessidade de coerência total na comunicação, ao longo desses anos. Axe é um exemplo perfeito desta intenção, apresentando não só um tipo de comunicação distintivo como também consistente, transmitindo ideias de sensualidade e confiançã pessoal. No entanto, nem sempre as intenções dos gestores das marcas coincidem com as percepções dos consumidores. Adicionalmente, as implicações da personalidade de uma marca no seu valor, é ainda de certa maneira um tópico incerto. Esta tese visa analisar a personalidade da marca Axe e as suas repercussões no seu próprio valor, analisando o modo como os consumidores interpretam a marca e adicionalmente como avaliam esses atributos. Com este propósito foi desenvolvida uma aplicação práctica do modelo “Big Five” de Jennifer Aaker, de maneira a compreender como a marca é percebida, de que maneira esta percepção influencia o valor da marca e quais poderão ser as opções futuras para a marca desenvolver. O estudo evidenciou a faceta forte da marca, o seu lado emocional, bem como as relações entre as dimensões da personalidade da marca e o valor da Axe. Este lado emocional é de facto o activo diferenciador da marca, contudo não é a dimensão com o maior efeito no valor da marca

O treino de competências para a vida com jovens atletas do género masculino e a prevenção de comportamentos de risco

O presente trabalho pretende avaliar um projeto de intervenção com jovens na prevenção do VIH. Foram definidos os seguintes objetivos: avaliar se os conhecimentos dos participantes sobre o VIH aumentaram entre o antes e depois da intervenção e verificar se a intervenção modificou as atitudes em relação às pessoas infetadas. Participaram neste estudo 416 sujeitos do género masculino, todos praticantes de modalidades desportivas (futebol, andebol, basquetebol, pólo-aquático e rugby) do Alentejo (Beja, Évora e Redondo), com idades entre os 10 e os 21 anos. O instrumento utilizado foi um questionário relativo a conhecimentos e atitudes sobre o VIH. Os resultados evidenciaram a importância da intervenção realizada com os participantes, nomeadamente o aumento de conhecimentos sobre o VIH e as mudanças nas atitudes dos jovens relativas às pessoas infetadas, que se tornaram mais favoráveis; The life skill´s practice for masculine young athletes and the risk behavior prevention Abstract: This paper aims to evaluate the project of intervention with adolescents preventing HIV, the goals are to evaluate if the knowledge of the participants about HIV increases from before and after the intervention, and to analyze if the programme change the attitude related to the infected people. Participants of the studied were 416 adolescents of masculine gender, all practice sports, (soccer, handball, basketball, water-polo and rugby), from Alentejo (Beja, Évora and Redondo), with age ranged from 10 to 21 years. The instrument that was used is an Inventory of knowledge and attitude of HIV. The results suggest the importance of the intervention with the participants, findings reveal that the knowledge about HIV increase, and there were some changes of the adolescent’s attitudes for the infected people, for a more favourable way

Additive Fabrication of Anepectic Meshes

This work applies additive manufacturing technology to fabricate bi-dimensional lightweight composite anepectic meshes capable of demonstrating auxetic properties (negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR)) in combination with negative thermal expansion (NTE) behaviour, using as constituent materials polymers that do not exhibit NTE behaviour. Each mesh, obtained from varying either the material combination or the design parameter, was tested on a heated silicone bath to study the effects of the different combinations on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). Photographs were taken at different stages during the heating process and were analysed to determine the CTE of each mesh. It was found that all composite meshes studied demonstrated a successful combination of NPR and NTE behaviours, and it was revealed that there is a possibility to tailor the meshes to activate the NTE behaviour within a chosen range of temperatures. For an extreme case, a Poisson’s ratio of −0.06, along with a CTE of −1568 10-6 (ºC-1) has been achieved. These meshes may be applied to structures and equipment in which the disparity in thermal stress has be carefully managed to extend the life of the device, and also to produce biomedical devices such as stents, surgical hernia meshes (SHM), compression garments and others, with many advantages over current designs, namely the ability to counteract any relaxation effects resulting from increases in the service temperature

Microscopy image segmentation by active contour models

In this thesis a semi-automated cell analysis system is described through image processing. To achieve this, an image processing algorithm was studied in order to segment cells in a semi-automatic way. The main goal of this analysis is to increase the performance of cell image segmentation process, without affecting the results in a significant way. Even though, a totally manual system has the ability of producing the best results, it has the disadvantage of taking too long and being repetitive, when a large number of images need to be processed. An active contour algorithm was tested in a sequence of images taken by a microscope. This algorithm, more commonly known as snakes, allowed the user to define an initial region in which the cell was incorporated. Then, the algorithm would run several times, making the initial region contours to converge to the cell boundaries. With the final contour, it was possible to extract region properties and produce statistical data. This data allowed to say that this algorithm produces similar results to a purely manual system but at a faster rate. On the other hand, it is slower than a purely automatic way but it allows the user to adjust the contour, making it more versatile and tolerant to image variations

Forecasting Brazilian economy: think tanks' proposals for economy and business management

This dissertation benchmarks a selection of Brazilian think tanks between them and similar international organizations, in order to understand Brazilian framework and identify the world’s megatrends regarding economy and business management. By analyzing their proposals, the goal is to assess if think tanks in Brazil are following the megatrends or distancing from them. Included in the benchmarking between Brazilian organizations, authors and co-author’s profiles, as well as the administration staff’s personalities, are also scrutinized in order to comprehend the real extent of these organizations influence and independence.Esta dissertação compara uma selecção de think tanks brasileiros entre si e outras organizações similares, com o objetivo de compreender o panorama brasileiro e idenficar as megatendências mundiais no que diz respeito à economia e à gestão de empresas. Ao analisar as suas propostas, o objetivo passa por compreender se os think tanks brasileiros estão a seguir as megatendências ou a distanciar-se delas. Incluído no benchmarking das organizações brasileiras, os perfis dos seus autores e co-autores, bem como da sua staff administrativa, são também alvo de escrutínio para que seja possível entender a verdadeira extensão da sua influência e independência

Chinese investment in Europe and Portugal: the case of EDP

This report addresses the question: “Was the CTG partnership successful for EDP?”. The People’s Republic of China, through years of economic growth, and under the “Go Global” initiative, has increased substantially its investment in foreign economies. Portugal is no exception to this trend. With the purpose of analyzing the impact of these investments to target firms, the China Three Gorges’ 21.35% acquisition of EDP, with a subsequent establishment of a strategic alliance, was studied. This investment constitutes the largest made by a Chinese firm in the Portuguese market. Through data gathered from company reports, press releases and Bloomberg, the success of the partnership was measured. This paper reaches the conclusion that the partnership was successful for the EDP group, and for its shareholders

Os interesses e aptidões dos jovens com dificuldades intelectuais

Dissertação de mestrado em Educação especial - especialização no domínio cognitivo e motor. Instituto Politécnico de Beja, Escola Superior de Educação, 2012."O presente projecto de investigação pretendeu estudar a resposta educativa aos interesses/aptidões dos alunos com dificuldades intelectuais que frequentam a Escola Secundária Públia Hortênsia de Castro de Vila Viçosa. A abordagem teórica debruça-se sobre o tema das Necessidades Educativas Especiais- dificuldades intelectuais, reflecte acerca da educação inclusiva e foca a atenção na transição para a vida activa, assim como na importância do conhecimento das aptidões/interesses dos jovens com dificuldades intelectuais. As temáticas em análise no quadro teórico permitiram o abrir de portas para novos conhecimentos acerca das necessidades educativas especiais, tendo em conta a opinião dos mais diversos autores. O modelo de investigação-acção enquadra metodologicamente este estudo que procurou fazer o levantamento dos interesses e aptidões desses alunos. A recolha de dados foi realizada através da aplicação de questionários e de entrevistas. A amostra foi composta por dez alunos com dificuldades intelectuais e dois professores da escola Secundária Públia Hortênsia de Castro. Através desta pesquisa identificaram-se as barreiras que a escola em estudo enfrenta, como o insuficiente número de professores de Educação Especial e técnicos da área da psicologia. Verificou-se também a dificuldade em envolver empresas locais, para a integração de jovens em processo de transição para a vida activa. A análise dos questionários tornou possível o conhecimento de inúmeras actividades do interesse dos alunos, assim como dos sonhos que todos gostariam de ver realizados.

Development of polymeric anepectic meshes: Auxetic metamaterials with negative thermal expansion

This paper reports the application of additive manufacturing technology to fabricate bi-dimensional lightweight composite meshes capable of demonstrating auxetic properties (negative Poisson's ratio (NPR)) in combination with negative thermal expansion (NTE) behaviour, using as constituent materials polymers that do not exhibit NTE behaviour. To describe the combination of NPR and NTE characteristics, the designation of 'anepectic' is being proposed. Each mesh, obtained from varying either the material combination or the design parameters, was tested on a heated silicone bath to study the effects of the different combinations on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). It was found that all meshes studied demonstrated a successful combination of NPR and NTE behaviours, and it was revealed that there is a possibility to tailor the meshes to activate the NTE behaviour within a chosen range of temperatures. For an extreme case, a Poisson's ratio of-0.056, along with a CTE of-1568 × 10 -6 K -1 has been achieved.authorsversionpublishe

Portugal, guerra colonial e ação psicológica (1965-1973): perspectiva histórica

A guerra colonial portuguesa que decorreu em três teatros de operações colocou as Forças Armadas Portuguesas em oposição aos Movimentos Emancipalistas que emergiram nas colónias portuguesas, com o objetivo de as tornar independentes. Trata-se essencialmente de uma guerra subversiva onde a “conquista da população” era mais importante que o controlo do terreno. Tomando como base os Relatórios Periódicos de Ação Psicológica esta tese analisa a evolução da perceção das Forças Armadas Portuguesas, em particular do Exército Português, sobre a visão e comportamento da população civil - tanto da Metropolitana, como das populações de origem europeia e africana que residiam nas colónias -, bem como da visão e comportamento dos meios militares em relação à guerra colonial; ABSTRACT: The Portuguese colonial war, which took place in three theatres of operation, put the Portuguese Armed Forces Movement in opposition to the Liberation Movements that emerged in the Portuguese colonies, in order to make them independents. It is essentially a subversive war, where the "conquest of the population" was more important than the control of land. Based on the Periodic Reports of Psychological Action, this thesis examines the evolution of the perception of the Portuguese Armed Forces, particularly the Portuguese Army, about the vision and behaviour of the civilian population – not only the Metropolitan, but also the populations of European and African origin residing in the colonies -, as well as the vision and behaviour of military means in relation to the colonial war