Attracting investments from Germany to Portugal: a specific value-proposition for automotive suppliers

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsThis thesis work grounds on the investment relations of Portugal and Germany intending to provide investment promotion agencies a more comprehensive model and a more effective set of investment promotion tools. Particularly, it stresses how Portugal can attract more capital from Germany in a specific sub-sector – the automotive Tier1 suppliers industry (manufacturer who provides directly to a company without dealing with other manufacturers or a middleman). It builds on a very strong field work, based essentially on experts and top managers’ opinions of several different spheres. It is also structured around the collection of several case-studies’ insights and carefully designed questionnaires. A main finding is that one as to be realistic with regard to Portugal’s potential to attract investment. Investment promotion analysis shows that investment decisions depend first and foremost on the quality of a country’s business environment; investment promotion agencies can only bridge information gaps and mitigate biased perceptions by leveraging on a country’s strengths. It is offered several recommendations both at a more general and operational level. The need to improve a ‘suboptimal’ choice and prioritization of arguments and metrics or some important investment lead generation activities suggestions are just some examples, among others

FIRST RECORD OF THE CARNIVOROUS PLANT Drosera sessilifolia A. ST. -HIL. (DROSERACEAE) IN THE CHAPADA DAS MESAS NATIONAL PARK, MARANHÃO, BRAZIL

Drosera sessilifolia A.St.-Hil. é o primeiro registro de vegetal carnívoro para o Parque Nacional Chapada das Mesas (PNCM), Maranhão. O trabalho fornece uma descrição detalhada da espécie, fotografias baseadas em material coletado, dados sobre hábito de vida, ambiente de ocorrência, distribuição geográfica, domínios fitogeográficos, fisionomias e comentários adicionais. O registro da espécie para o PNCM é um alerta para a necessidade de práticas de conservação e monitoramento da área de desenvolvimento dos indivíduos de D. sessilifolia no PARNA, uma vez que a presença dessa espécie é considerada rara para o domínio fitogeográfico do Cerrado. Este é também o primeiro registro da espécie para a fisionomia de Campo Rupestre.Palavras-chave: Campo Rupestre, Carnivoria vegetal, Unidade de Conservação.Drosera sessilifolia A.St.-Hil. is the first record of carnivorous vegetable for the Chapada das Mesas National Park (PNCM), Maranhão. The work provides a detailed description of the specie, photographs based on collected material, data on habit of life, environment of occurrence, geographic distribution, phytogeographic domains, physiognomies and additional comments. The specie register for the PNCM is an alert for the need for conservation and monitoring practices of the D. sessilifolia individuals in the PARNA, since the presence of this specie is considered rare for the phytogeographical domain of the Cerrado. This is also the first record of the specie for the physiognomy of Campo Rupestre.Keywords: Campo rupestre; Vegetable carnivory; Conservation unit

Prototype of an affordable pressure-controlled emergency mechanical ventilator for COVID-19

We present a viable prototype of a simple mechanical ventilator intended as a last resort to ventilate COVID-19 patients. The prototype implements the pressure-controlled continuous mandatory ventilation mode (PC-CMV) with settable breathing rates, inspiration/expiration time ratios and FiO2 modulation. Although safe, the design aims to minimize the use of technical components and those used are common in industry, so its construction may be possible in times of logistical shortage or disruption or in areas with reduced access to technical materials and at a moderate cost, affordable to lower income countries. Most of the device can be manufactured by modest technical means and construction plans are provided.Comment: This version differs from version 2 in that it includes toxicological and bio-safety tests and updated electronic

Measurement of vector boson production cross sections and their ratios using pp collisions at √s = 13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract available from publisher's website

Selective Inhibition of Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase by a Designed Covalent Ligand Leads to Potent Therapeutic Efficacy in Blood Cancers Relative to Clinically Used Inhibitors.

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a member of the TEC-family kinases and crucial for the proliferation and differentiation of B-cells. We evaluated the therapeutic potential of a covalent inhibitor (JS25) with nanomolar potency against BTK and with a more desirable selectivity and inhibitory profile compared to the FDA-approved BTK inhibitors ibrutinib and acalabrutinib. Structural prediction of the BTK/JS25 complex revealed sequestration of Tyr551 that leads to BTK's inactivation. JS25 also inhibited the proliferation of myeloid and lymphoid B-cell cancer cell lines. Its therapeutic potential was further tested against ibrutinib in preclinical models of B-cell cancers. JS25 treatment induced a more pronounced cell death in a murine xenograft model of Burkitt's lymphoma, causing a 30-40% reduction of the subcutaneous tumor and an overall reduction in the percentage of metastasis and secondary tumor formation. In a patient model of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the drug response of JS25 was higher than that of ibrutinib, leading to a 64% "on-target" efficacy. Finally, in zebrafish patient-derived xenografts of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, JS25 was faster and more effective in decreasing tumor burden, producing superior therapeutic effects compared to ibrutinib. We expect JS25 to become therapeutically relevant as a BTK inhibitor and to find applications in the treatment of hematological cancers and other pathologies with unmet clinical treatment

Beam-induced backgrounds measured in the ATLAS detector during local gas injection into the LHC beam vacuum

Abstract Inelastic beam-gas collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), within a few hundred metres of the ATLAS experiment, are known to give the dominant contribution to beam backgrounds. These are monitored by ATLAS with a dedicated Beam Conditions Monitor (BCM) and with the rate of fake jets in the calorimeters. These two methods are complementary since the BCM probes backgrounds just around the beam pipe while fake jets are observed at radii of up to several metres. In order to quantify the correlation between the residual gas density in the LHC beam vacuum and the experimental backgrounds recorded by ATLAS, several dedicated tests were performed during LHC Run 2. Local pressure bumps, with a gas density several orders of magnitude higher than during normal operation, were introduced at different locations. The changes of beam-related backgrounds, seen in ATLAS, are correlated with the local pressure variation. In addition the rates of beam-gas events are estimated from the pressure measurements and pressure bump profiles obtained from calculations. Using these rates, the efficiency of the ATLAS beam background monitors to detect beam-gas events is derived as a function of distance from the interaction point. These efficiencies and characteristic distributions of fake jets from the beam backgrounds are found to be in good agreement with results of beam-gas simulations performed with the Fluka Monte Carlo programme.</jats:p