Impacte da qualidade e inovação do produto nas exportações nacionais

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Industrial especialidade em Sistemas de Gestão pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia.As práticas de Gestão pela Qualidade Total (TQM) são muitas vezes consideradas um precursor para uma performance superior da empresa, mas a sua conceptualização como recurso da empresa e o seu efeito em diferentes dimensões de performance ainda não estão bem estabelecidos na literatura. A presente investigação utiliza a teoria baseadas nos recursos para compreender como é que um determinado conjunto de recursos (ao nível da TQM, da inovação e das relações) influencia a vantagem competitiva (diferenciação pela qualidade e inovação do produto) e a performance das exportações (estratégica, económica e relacional). Tendo por base a teoria baseada nos recursos, é feita a distinção entre três tipos de recursos no âmbito da TQM e é examinado o seu efeito na vantagem competitiva da empresa e na performance: TQM como um recurso cultural da organização, capacidades TQM relacionadas com a melhoria do processo e capacidades TQM relacionadas com o design (concepção e desenvolvimento do produto). O estudo foi efectuado a partir das respostas a 112 questionários, preenchidos por 224 gestores de topo de empresas portuguesas exportadoras. A actividade de exportação foi escolhida como campo de aplicação da tese, pela sua constante crescente importância dentro do contexto nacional e internacional. Os resultados mostraram que a cultura TQM é o principal determinante da diferenciação pela qualidade do produto. Foi também encontrada uma associação positiva significativa entre as capacidades TQM de design do produto e a diferenciação pela inovação do produto. A capacidade de inovação do produto medeia o efeito da orientação para a inovação na diferenciação pela inovação do produto. Os resultados encontrados também indicaram que as capacidades relacionais são um antecedente importante da diferenciação do produto, quer em termos da qualidade quer em termos da inovação. Além disso, os resultados revelaram que a diferenciação pela qualidade do produto está associada à performance estratégica e relacional, enquanto que a diferenciação pela inovação do produto está associada à performance estratégica e económica. As capacidades relacionais têm também um impacto positivo na performance relacional. Por outro lado, ainda que através duma relação indirecta, estas capacidades também influenciam a performance económica

ALTERAÇÕES NA MORFOLOGIA ESPERMÁTICA EM TOUROS DE CORTE COM E SEM SUPLEMENTAÇÃO DE ZINCO NA MISTURA MINERAL

rebanho sem Zn na suplementação mineral (ZN-0, n=4, 0mg/Zn/kg/dia) foram comparadas com as de touros contemporâneos criados com suplementação adequada (ZN-60FI, n=4, 60mg/Zn/kg/dia). O sêmen foi colhido quinzenalmente, entre 17 e 29 meses de idade. Incluíram-se no exame a análise da cromatina espermática e o perfil morfométrico da cabeça espermática, com base no comprimento, largura superior e inferior (µm) e área (µm2). Os touros do ZN-0 apresentaram redução de espermatozoides normais em relação ao ZN-60FI (62,4 ±2,88% x 74,5 ±2,83), sendo que a prevalência de anormalidades de cromatina (16,7 ±2,05%) e de defeitos de peça intermediária (9,3 ±0,81%) foi superior aos do ZN-60FI (9,5 ±2,03 e 3,2 ±0,80, respectivamente). A microscopia eletrônica de transmissão mostrou irregularidades mitocondriais e ruptura dos feixes de fibras densas externas.  Nos touros do ZN-60FI, a área da cabeça espermática foi proporcionalmente inferior a do ZN-0. Conclui-se que touros criados e mantidos a campo, provenientes de rebanhos com deficiência na suplementação de Zn, estão sujeitos à redução da qualidade seminal, por apresentarem maior frequência de anormalidades morfológicas, na cromatina, e nos padrões morfométricos da cabeça espermática com predomínio de lesões na estrutura mitocondrial e nos feixes de fibras densas na peça intermediária. PALAVRAS-CHAVES: Bovino, cromatina, morfometria espermática, nutrição, qualidade seminal, zinco

Ischemic stroke caused by large-artery atherosclerosis: a red flag for subclinical coronary artery disease

BackgroundThe coronary calcium score (CAC) measured on chest computerized tomography is a risk marker of cardiac events and mortality. We compared CAC scores in two multiethnic groups without symptomatic coronary artery disease: subjects in the chronic phase after stroke or transient ischemic attack and at least one symptomatic stenosis ≥50% in the carotid or vertebrobasilar territories (Groupathero) and a control group (Groupcontrol).MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, Groupathero included two subgroups: GroupExtraorIntra, with stenoses in either cervical or intracranial arteries, and GroupExtra&Intra, with stenoses in at least one cervical and one intracranial artery. Groupcontrol had no history of prior stroke/transient ischemic attacks and no stenoses ≥50% in cervical or intracranial arteries. Age and sex were comparable in all groups. Frequencies of CAC ≥100 and CAC > 0 were compared between Groupathero and Groupcontrol, as well as between GroupExtraorIntr, GroupExtra&Intra, and Groupcontrol, with bivariate logistic regressions. Multivariate analyses were also performed.ResultsA total of 120 patients were included: 80 in Groupathero and 40 in Groupcontrol. CAC >0 was significantly more frequent in Groupathero (85%) than Groupcontrol (OR, 4.19; 1.74–10.07; p = 0.001). Rates of CAC ≥100 were not significantly different between Groupathero and Groupcontrol but were significantly greater in GroupExtra&Intra (n = 13) when compared to Groupcontrol (OR 4.67; 1.21–18.04; p = 0.025). In multivariate-adjusted analyses, “Groupathero” and “GroupExtra&Intra” were significantly associated with CAC.ConclusionThe frequency of coronary calcification was higher in subjects with stroke caused by large-artery atherosclerosis than in controls

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

The seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positively to precipitation when rainfall is  < 2000 mm yr⁻¹ (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall  < 2000 mm yr⁻¹

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022 : a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

A list of authors and their affiliations appears online. A supplementary appendix is herewith attached.Background: Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods: We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI 2 SD above the median). Findings: From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation: The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesity.peer-reviewe