Dinâmicas industriais do franchising em Portugal

JEL Codes: L110; L160; L800Como pode a abordagem das dinâmicas setoriais contribuir para a identificação das continuidades e descontinuidades no setor do franchising em Portugal? Consegue a teoria do ciclo de vida das indústrias explicar a evolução de um setor de serviços sofisticados como o franchising? A presente Dissertação visa compreender como as movimentações das entradas, saídas e sobrevivências das marcas condicionaram a evolução do setor do franchising na economia portuguesa entre 1996 e 2013. Foram recolhidos e identificados os factos estilizados sobre o franchising e as dinâmicas industriais na literatura existente. A compilação da base de dados, com origem no próprio setor, englobou 1460 marcas de franchising distintas a operar em Portugal entre 1996 e 2013. Na generalidade os resultados foram coerentes com a teoria das dinâmicas industriais. Esta dissertação permite ainda dar pistas para uma nova interpretação do negócio do franchising em Portugal e aumentar a pertinência para o levantamento estatístico nas áreas de maior interesseHow can the industrial dynamics approach contribute to the identification of the continuities and discontinuities in the franchise sector in Portugal? Can the life-cycle theory of industries explain the evolution of a sophisticated services industry such as franchise? This Dissertation aims to understand how the movement of births, deaths and survivals of companies affected the evolution of the franchise sector in the Portuguese economy between 1996 and 2013. For the effect of the franchising sector analysis in the Portuguese economy was used the theoretical approach based on industrial dynamics and focused on theory of industry life cycle and demographics. Additionally, stylized facts about franchise and industrial dynamics were identified the in existing literature. The database gathered from the industry itself encompassed 1460 distinct franchise brands operating in Portugal between 1996 and 2013. At the beginning of this study, the aim was to contribute to the explanation of the evolutionary behavior of franchise in Portugal based on theory of industry life cycle. Generally, the results were consistent with the industrial dynamics theory as well as with the franchising literature. Other analytical approaches could have been deepened, as for example in terms of the dimensions of the brands or the development of an econometric model, but we believe that this study serves as a starting point for future analysis. This thesis also gives clues to a new interpretation of the franchise business in Portugal and increase relevance to the statistical survey in the areas of greatest interes

Influence of the hip joint modeling approaches on the kinematics of human gait

The influence of the hip joint formulation on the kinematic response of the model of human gait is investigated throughout this work. To accomplish this goal, the fundamental issues of the modeling process of a planar hip joint under the framework of multibody systems are revisited. In particular, the formulations for the ideal, dry, and lubricated revolute joints are described and utilized for the interaction of femur head inside acetabulum or the hip bone. In this process, the main kinematic and dynamic aspects of hip joints are analyzed. In a simple manner, the forces that are generated during human gait, for both dry and lubricated hip joint models, are computed in terms of the system’s state variables and subsequently introduced into the dynamics equations of motion of the multibody system as external generalized forces. Moreover, a human multibody model is considered, which incorporates the different approaches for the hip articulation, namely ideal joint, dry, and lubricated models. Finally, several computational simulations based on different approaches are performed, and the main results presented and compared to identify differences among the methodologies and procedures adopted in this work. The input conditions to the models correspond to the experimental data capture from an adult male during normal gait. In general, the obtained results in terms of positions do not differ significantly when the different hip joint models are considered. In sharp contrast, the velocity and acceleration plotted vary significantly. The effect of the hip joint modeling approach is clearly measurable and visible in terms of peaks and oscillations of the velocities and accelerations. In general, with the dry hip model, intra-joint force peaks can be observed, which can be associated with the multiple impacts between the femur head and the cup. In turn, when the lubricant is present, the system’s response tends to be smoother due to the damping effects of the synovial fluid.The first and third authors express their gratitude to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the PhD grants SFRH/BD/76573/2011 and SFRH/BD/64477/2009, respectively. The authors would like to thank to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through the project UID/EEA/04436/2013. The authors are also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from QREN (Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional - National Strategic Reference Framework), for this study “INOVSHOES - Padronizar para Customizar Calçado Ortopédico”, project n.º 2010/12032

Space without smoke: uma experiência em microgravidade

Em 11 e 13 de Setembro de 2002 realizaram- se os voos da 5th Student Parabolic Flight Campaign promovido pela Agência Espacial Europeia (ESA), na qual participaram 32 equipas de 15 países, uma das quais portuguesa. A experiência do projecto português Space without Smoke foi bem sucedida e despertou grande interesse dos responsáveis da organização

Production of electroactive filaments by coextrusion

The development of new products for i-textiles (interactive textiles) or e-textiles (electronic textiles) applications shows a significant growth in the most recent years due to their huge potential. Although much scientific work has been published in the last years, actual practical applications are still limited. This is due, on one hand, to unsatisfactory state of development of the technology and, on the other, to difficulties on the integration of technologies and methods of the textile and electronic areas. Products for e/i-textiles very often involve the use of sensors, preferably in the form of films, filaments or fibres, due to the inherent easy insertion in the product. For this purpose, electroactive filaments, that benefit from the piezoelectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, can be an interesting choice. There aresome works published in the literature related to the development of films with piezoelectric properties [1], that employ PVDF as the electroactive material. However, despite its importance, the manufacture methodologies employed are very difficult to use in industrial scale production. In this work a novel methodology for the production of electroactive filaments, by coextrusion of PVDF and an electrical conductive polymer composite, is proposed and tested. The developed methodology involves a conventional coextrusion line, and can be easily scaled up for industrial massive production. It is shown that The PVDF filament with a conductive PP/carbon black composite core crystallizes in the crystalline phase related just to the temperatures and stretch ratio conditions, independently of the existence of the conductive core: for 80ºC the material crystallizes in the -phase and undergoes increasing to phase transformation for increasing stretch ratios from 1 to 5.FCT- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through the projects PTDC/CTM/69316/2006, NANO/NMed-SD/0156/2007 and PTDC/CTM/108801/2008 and FEDER via FCT, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, under the POCI 2010 and Pluriannual programs. A.F., P.C. and V. S. thank the FCT grants SFRH/BD/69796/2010, SFRH/BD/64267/2009 and SFRH/BPD/63148/200

Comparison of the biocompatibility of different root canal irrigants

The purpose of this study was to compare the reaction of rat subcutaneous connective tissue to 0.9% sterile saline, 2.5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), 5.25% NaOCl and 2% chlorhexidine gluconate solution or gel. Six circles were demarcated on the dorsal skin of 24 male Wistar rats, leaving 2 cm between each circle. Using a syringe, 0.1 mL of each root canal irrigant was injected subcutaneously into 5 circles. In the 6th circle, the needle of an empty syringe was introduced into the skin, but no irrigant was injected (control group). Evaluations were undertaken at 2 h, 48 h, 14 days and 30 days post-procedure. Tissue samples were excised, embedded in paraffin blocks and 3-µm-thick sections were obtained and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The areas of inflammatory reaction were evaluated and analyzed statistically by ANOVA and Tukey's test. The control group showed few or no inflammatory reaction areas in the subcutaneous tissue. 0.9% saline solution, 2.0% chlorhexidine solution and 2.5% NaOCl showed a good biocompatibility, as very mild inflammatory reaction was detected at 14 days and tissue repair occurred at 30 days. 5.25% NaOCl was the most toxic irrigant, as the number of inflammatory cells remained elevated at 14 and 30 days. The group treated with 2.0% chlorhexidine gluconate gel presented a moderate inflammatory response at 14 days, which decreased at 30 days, being considered similar to that of the control group, 0.9% saline solution, 2.0% chlorhexidine solution and 2.5% NaOCl at this experimental period

Exposição profissional a citostáticos: caracterização da exposição em unidades hospitalares portuguesas

Os citotóxicos constituem um grupo farmacoterapêutico que interfere por vários mecanismos de ação com o DNA, levando à destruição celular. Estes agentes terapêuticos são preparados diariamente em Unidades Hospitalares Portuguesas, e utilizados no tratamento de várias doenças, nomeadamente neoplasias. Dependendo do mecanismo de ação, estes fármacos podem ser agrupados em vários subgrupos: agentes alquilantes, antibióticos, antimetabolitos, geradores de radicais livres e inibidores mitóticos (Despacho nº 21 844/2004). Os agentes alquilantes interagem diretamente com o DNA de células tumorais; os antibióticos interferem com a transcrição de DNA; os antimetabolitos bloqueiam a síntese de DNA e RNA; os geradores de radicais livres produzem radicais livres reactivos que se ligam ao DNA e, finalmente, os inibidores mitóticos actuam no mecanismo mitótico necessário à cariocinese. Os fármacos antineoplásicos são cada vez mais utilizados quer na terapêutica de doenças malignas quer com intuitos profiláticos (terapêutica adjuvante) e num espetro crescente de patologia benigna (doenças autoimunes, doenças inflamatórias crónicas do foro gastroenterológico ou reumatológico, entre outras). Têm em comum o facto de poderem lesar o genoma celular (efeito genotóxico). Idealmente, deveriam afetar apenas as células neoplásicas; os fármacos disponíveis, no entanto, embora afetem preferencialmente as células malignas, são relativamente inespecíficos, afetando simultaneamente o genoma das células normais e condicionando assim efeitos adversos para a saúde quer dos doentes tratados quer dos profissionais de saúde a eles expostos. Neste contexto importa aprofundar o saber em 3 vertentes essenciais: a caracterização das exposições, os critérios de avaliação das repercussões sobre o organismo e os processos de organização dos programas preventivos. O estudo que se apresenta visou, assim, desenvolver conhecimento nas 3 vertentes assinaladas, designadamente, a exposição, a monitorização biológica e a programação da prevenção. Julgámos relevante o seu desenvolvimento face a dois grandes aspectos, designadamente a atualidade do estudo científico e a inexistência de estudos sobre esta realidade em hospitais portugueses. O estudo que se propôs pretendeu contribuir para a caracterização da exposição a citotóxicos num contexto profissional específico (salas limpas da Farmácia Hospitalar e Hospitais de Dia), identificando os fatores que a condicionam e os eventuais efeitos para a saúde dos trabalhadores decorrentes dessa exposição

Phenotypic and genotypic profile of susceptibility to neuraminidase inhibitors of influenza A(H3) circulating in Portugal during 2016/2017 season

Background: The influenza antiviral surveillance is one of the key areas for influenza control. The neuraminidase inhibitors (NAI) play an important role in flu treatment especially for high risk patients. This study aims to determine the NAI susceptibility profile of influenza A(H3) detected during 2016/2017 season in Portugal and to evaluate the emergence of new variants by deep sequencing analysis related to NAI resistance. Methods: Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from patients with influenza like illness (ILI) selected in primary care settings in the scope of the National Influenza Surveillance Program during 2016/2017 season. For 134 A(H3) viruses, isolated in MDCK-Siat1 cells, the phenotypic antiviral drug susceptibility assay to NAI (Oseltamivir and zanamivir) was performed. Viral RNA was extracted directly from biological samples and after multiplex PCR amplification, the whole genome was sequenced for 84 influenza A(H3) viruses by deep sequencing on a MiSeq platform. The neuraminidase gene sequences were assembled using a in-house multi-software pipeline with a mean depth of coverage of 1144x. Multiple gene alignments and mutational analysis was performed on MEGA software 6.0. All neuraminidase sequences were submitted to Flusurver(http://flusurver.bii.a-star.edu.sg/) in order to detect any mutation associated with susceptibility to neuraminidase inhibitors. Results: All 134 A(H3) strains had IC50 compatible with susceptibility to both NAI. The IC50 mean values were 0,30 (IQR 0,22-0,36) for oseltamivir and 0,49 (IQR 0,40-0,59) for zanamivir. The IC50 were unchanged for viruses that belonged to both co-circulating clades 3C.2a (A/Hong Kong/4801/2014-like) and 3C.2a1 (A/Bolzano/7/2016-like) although amino acid replacements were observed in NA. By deep sequencing analysis no variations were identified in any of the known resistant markers for NAI. Intrahost single nucleotide variants (iSNV) (frequency above 20% and under 95%) were detected in 4/84 (5%) viruses in nucleotide positions not related with NAI susceptibility. A further synonymous iSNV was observed in 23/84 (27%),with a frequency range 97,8-100,0%, at position 666 (amino acid 222). Curiously, non-synonymous changes affecting this codon ( I222V/L substitution) have been associated with reduced susceptibility to oseltamivir and NA activity, although wild-type I222 was observed in 100% of viruses in this study. Majority of these viruses belonged to the 3C.2a1clade(A/Bolzano/7/2016-like). Conclusions: All of the tested A(H3)viruses were susceptible to oseltamivir and zanamivir. Isolates possessing iSNV`s expressed the wild-type aa residue and had IC50 compatible with NAI susceptible. NAI`s should be considered a good therapeutic options for influenza A(H3) infection, prioritized to high risk groups. Whole genome deep sequencing, directly from the biological samples, proved to be a good laboratory method to monitor the emergence of iSNV that could lead to a resistant genotype. This approach could be used in management of influenza severe infections under NAI treatment.N/

FROM ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTION TO ACTION: CROSS-COUNTRIES EMPIRICAL EVIDENCES

As research on entrepreneurship matured, the activators and inhibitors of entrepreneurial intention has been widespread. However, the implementation of ideas and development of new innovative enterprises is more than intent. It requires action. Therefore, to clarify what is known about the intention of entrepreneurship and shed light on important issues that could help entrepreneurs and policy makers to develop a more comprehensive understanding of why some countries tend to be more entrepreneurial than others, the intent of this study is to use existing theories and change the ratio of the fundamental variables. The main variables were compared directly using a probit model applied to a sample of 10,267 entrepreneurs from twenty-seven countries. The results of the study offer a different perspective from previous research in our understanding of entrepreneurship beyond the entrepreneurial intention and therefore, provides insight into the decision in creating new