An approach to segmenting wine consumers for the Villa Oeiras brand for the United States market

Mestrado Vinifera Euromaster - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - ULAdega do Casal Manteiga is a publicly owned winery that has recently experienced an increase in demand for their Carcavelos fortified white wine. From this demand, the company wants to expand their market to the United States. Due to the lack of knowledge of their demographics, two surveys were created. One aimed towards a public that is familiar with their product and one towards the U.S. citizens. MCA was used on the results to create segments. Even though the significance of the results is low due to the number of participants, a potential market was identified. The most suitable market for the Villa Oeiras brand has the following characteristics. They are either male or female, aged from late 20’s to mid 30’s. They have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree and have a minimum household income of 35 000$ per year. Their status tends to be either married or living with a significant other. They are frequent wine drinkers and occasionally consume fortified wines. They are enthusiastic about any wine related activityN/

Relation between capacities and bimanual performance in hemiplegic cerebral palsied children: Impact os synkinesis

ObjectiveTo analyse the link between unimanual capacities and bimanual performance in cerebral-palsied (CP) hemiplegic children, aged between 5 and 18 years old, studying specifically the impact of synkinesis.Material and methodsSeventy-one CP hemiplegic children (35 boys and 36 girls, mean age 8,5 years; MACS levels from I to III; GMFCS from I to IV) took part in a transversal study, assessed – Melbourne Test (MUUL) for unimanual capacities, and Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA) for bimanual performance – with a specific scale to analyze synkinesis during Box and Block test for affected and healthy hands, collecting synkinesis type, duration and intensity.ResultsThere is a strong correlation between unimanual capacities (MUUL) and bimanual performance (AHA) (r=0.871). Neither age nor gender contribute to bimanual performance (AHA). Multiple linear regression shows that MUUL contributes to bimanual performance variance (AHA) by 70%. Synkinesis partly correlated to capacities (MUUL) and accounts for 10% of the variance of the gap between capacities and bimanual performance.ConclusionA high relationship between unimanual capacities and bimanual performance is confirmed by this study; some authors demonstrated impact of sensory troubles [1], we demonstrate that synkinesis influences the use of unimanual capacities in bimanual performance

European Union Location Framework Blueprint (4.0)

Location data is fundamental to digital public services and the wider economy, delivering value in combination with other data, and supporting innovation through ‘location intelligence’. In this context, there is a need for interoperability supporting these services across Europe, and an important role for both government-authorised core location data and sector-specific location data. The European Union Location Framework (EULF) project, which was part of the Interoperability Solutions for Public Administrations (ISA) programme took action to tackle these challenges. The EULF vision is to create and promote a coherent European framework of guidance and actions to foster cross-sector and cross-border interoperability and use of location information in digital public services, building on national SDIs and INSPIRE , and resulting in more effective services, savings in time and money, and contributions to increased growth. The EULF Blueprint is a guidance framework for a wide audience to implement the EULF vision. It is based on an extensive EU survey and consultation with stakeholders and therefore embodies a wide range of views and experience. The EULF Blueprint has been updated periodically to keep pace with developments. This updated version (v4) has been produced by the European Location Interoperability Solutions for e-Government (ELISE) project, which is part of the ISA2 programme. The document has six main readers: Policy Maker; Digital Public Service Owner, Manager or Implementer; ICT Manager or Developer; Data Manager or Data Scientist; INSPIRE Data Publisher; and Private Sector Product and Service Entrepreneur / Developer. Readers can also use the Blueprint’s role-based approach to explore the document. The blueprint has five focus areas covering Policy and strategy alignment, digital government integration, standardisation and reuse, return on investment and governance, partnerships and capabilities. For each focus area, the ‘current state’ assessment and ‘vision’ are outlined. The key points for progressing from the current state to the vision are then expanded into a series of 19 recommendations, each describing the rationale and expected benefits (why?), a checklist of associated actions (how?), potential problem areas in implementing the recommendation (challenges), a variety of best practices across Europe where this has been done successfully, cross-references to related recommendations in the European Interoperability Framework (EIF), and further reading related to the recommendation.JRC.B.6-Digital Econom

The Potential of Fasting and Caloric Restriction to Mitigate Radiation Damage—A Systematic Review

Detrimental health effects from ionizing radiation to the living being is one of the key concerns identified and addressed by Radiation Protection institutions, nationally and internationally on Earth and for human spaceflight. Thus, new methods for mitigating the adverse effects of ionizing radiation are urgently needed for terrestrial health and deep space exploration. Caloric restriction and (intermittent-) fasting have been reported to elicit a variety of immediate and long-term physiological effects. The rapidly growing body of evidence of research studies investigating the effects of caloric restriction and dietary fasting points towards a multitude of health benefits affecting numerous physiological systems. Therefore, a systematic literature review was performed to evaluate the evidence of caloric restriction and dietary fasting on the physiological response to ionising radiation in humans and animals. All experimental studies in humans, animals and eukaryotic cell lines available in PubMed, Cochrane library and specialised databases were searched comparing irradiation post-caloric restriction or fasting to a non-nutritionally restricted control group on a broad range of outcomes from molecular to clinical responses. The initial search yielded 2653 records. The final analysis included 11 studies. Most studies investigated the survival rate or cancer occurrence in animals. Included studies did not reveal any benefit from pre exposure caloric restriction, except when performed with post radiation caloric restriction. However, the effects of pre-exposure fasting suggest increased resilience to ionizing radiation

Management of oral secretions in neurological disease.

Sialorrhoea is a common and problematic symptom that arises from a range of neurological conditions associated with bulbar or facial muscle dysfunction. Drooling can significantly affect quality of life due to both physical complications such as oral chapping, and psychological complications such as embarrassment and social isolation. Thicker, tenacious oral and pharyngeal secretions may result from the drying management approach to sialorrhoea. The management of sialorrhoea in neurological diseases depends on the underlying pathology and severity of symptoms. Interventions include anticholinergic drugs, salivary gland-targeted radiotherapy, salivary gland botulinum toxin and surgical approaches. The management of thick secretions involves mainly conservative measures such as pineapple juice as a lytic agent, cough assist, saline nebulisers and suctioning or mucolytic drugs like carbocisteine. Despite a current lack of evidence and variable practice, management of sialorrhoea should form a part of the multidisciplinary approach needed for long-term neurological conditions

Posterior Decompression and Fusion: Whole-Spine Functional and Clinical Outcomes

The mobility of the spine and the change in the angle of the curvatures are directly related to spinal pain and spinal stenosis. The aim of the study was the evaluation of morphology and mobility of the spine in patients who were subjected to decompression and posterior fusion with pedicle screws. The treatment group consisted of 20 patients who underwent posterior fixation of lumbar spine (one and two level fusion). The control group consisted of 39 healthy subjects. Mobility and curvatures of the spine were measured with a non-invasive device, the Spinal Mouse. Pain was evaluated with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the SF-36 were used to evaluate the degree of the functional disability and the quality of life, respectively. The measurements were recorded preoperatively and at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively. The mobility of the lumbar spine in the sagittal plane increased (p = 0.009) at 12 months compared to the measurements at 3 months. The mobility of the thoracic spine in the frontal plane increased (p = 0.009) at 12 months compared to the preoperative evaluation. The results of VAS, ODI and SF-36 PCS improved significantly (p<0.001). The levels of fusion exhibited a strong linear correlation (r = 0.651, p = 0.002) with the total trunk inclination in the upright position. Although pain, quality of life and spinal mobility in the sagittal and frontal planes significantly improved in the treatment group, these patients still had limited mobility and decreased curves/angles values compared to control group

Biliary atresia

Biliary atresia (BA) is a rare disease characterised by a biliary obstruction of unknown origin that presents in the neonatal period. It is the most frequent surgical cause of cholestatic jaundice in this age group. BA occurs in approximately 1/18,000 live births in Western Europe. In the world, the reported incidence varies from 5/100,000 to 32/100,000 live births, and is highest in Asia and the Pacific region. Females are affected slightly more often than males. The common histopathological picture is one of inflammatory damage to the intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts with sclerosis and narrowing or even obliteration of the biliary tree. Untreated, this condition leads to cirrhosis and death within the first years of life. BA is not known to be a hereditary condition. No primary medical treatment is relevant for the management of BA. Once BA suspected, surgical intervention (Kasai portoenterostomy) should be performed as soon as possible as operations performed early in life is more likely to be successful. Liver transplantation may be needed later if the Kasai operation fails to restore the biliary flow or if cirrhotic complications occur. At present, approximately 90% of BA patients survive and the majority have normal quality of life