Culture and endorsed organizational leadership behaviors: Portugal and China

Understanding the cultural diversity that has long characterized mankind and the respective accepted behaviors is more important now than ever. The exponential growth of the last decades in interactions between individuals from different cultures, either due economical reasons or social ones, caused by the globalization phenomenon is an assurance of that necessity. Facing the increasing importance of China in the world juncture this dissertation has as an objective to determine to which extent a Portuguese manager working in China will be successful if he or she displays the same set of leadership behaviors espoused in his or her homeland. In order to achieve the objective, a cross-cultural leadership analysis between the two societies was conducted, where the conclusions obtained during the cross-cultural literature review, where afterwards verified by the findings obtained in result of the empirical study conducted later. The research showed considerable resemblances between both cultural profiles and the respective endorsed leadership profile, nevertheless there were also found several discrepancies which in the end might contribute to undermine the manager’s capacity to lead and to effectively achieve his professional goal targets.Perceber a diversidade cultural que caracteriza a humanidade desde os seus primórdios e os respectivos comportamentos que cada cultura considera desejáveis ou deploráveis é actualmente mais importante do que nunca. O crescimento exponencial das relações económicas, bem como sociais, que se registou nas décadas passadas, entre diferentes culturas, causado pelo fenómeno da Globalização, é um comprovativo desta necessidade. Face ao cada vez mais importante papel da China na conjuntura mundial, esta dissertação tem por objectivo determinar até que grau, um manager português a trabalhar no mercado chinês desempenhará com sucesso as suas funções aplicando o mesmo conjunto de comportamentos de liderança que expressava em Portugal. De forma a atingir o objectivo proposto foi realizada uma análise comparativa dos estilos de liderança aceitáveis por ambas as culturas, em que a validade das conclusões obtidas, aquando da realização da pesquisa bibliográfica realizada, foi verificada tendo em conta os resultados provenientes do estudo empírico posteriormente conduzido. O estudo revelou semelhanças notáveis entre ambos os perfis culturais assim como os respectivos perfis de liderança por elas endossadas, no entanto foram encontradas também diferenças entre os mesmos, as quais podem eventualmente minar a capacidade do manager de liderar e de eficazmente atingir os seus objectivos profissionais

Residents’ perceptions of tourism activity in a rural North-Eastern Portuguese community: a cluster analysis

The recognition of the role of tourism planners in seeking to contribute to local residents’ well-being by mitigating the potential costs of tourism development has been given more attention in the last decades. Several studies on the perception of positive or negative impacts, based on sustainability (namely the three pillars: economic, sociocultural and environmental) have been developed. However, the studies have been somewhat limited in terms of approaches, namely with respect to the contribution and participation of stakeholders. In this study, we attempted to use a bidirectional analysis of involvement and tourism knowledge to segment the residents and analyse their perception of the impacts. A total of 373 valid surveys were applied in a rural mountainous municipality (Boticas) during 2015 and 2016. In this municipality, tourism (activity) is an emergent activity. The results show that more informed and more involved residents have more positive perceptions of tourism than other groups, while less informed and less involved residents have more negative perceptions of it. The study contributes to increasing the knowledge about residents’ perceptions of tourism, adding the aspects of involvement, especially in rural areas. This type of proposal can be applied to any destination to help manage residents’ opinions and, consequently, their support of tourism development. Keywords: rural tourism; perceptions; segmentation; clusters; rural development; botica

Wireless sensors and IoT platform for intelligent HVAC control

Energy consumption of buildings (residential and non-residential) represents approximately 40% of total world electricity consumption, with half of this energy consumed by HVAC systems. Model-Based Predictive Control (MBPC) is perhaps the technique most often proposed for HVAC control, since it offers an enormous potential for energy savings. Despite the large number of papers on this topic during the last few years, there are only a few reported applications of the use of MBPC for existing buildings, under normal occupancy conditions and, to the best of our knowledge, no commercial solution yet. A marketable solution has been recently presented by the authors, coined the IMBPC HVAC system. This paper describes the design, prototyping and validation of two components of this integrated system, the Self-Powered Wireless Sensors and the IOT platform developed. Results for the use of IMBPC in a real building under normal occupation demonstrate savings in the electricity bill while maintaining thermal comfort during the whole occupation schedule.QREN SIDT [38798]; Portuguese Foundation for Science & Technology, through IDMEC, under LAETA [ID/EMS/50022/2013

Epidemiologia do streptococcus pyogenes entre 2008 e 2009 num hospital distrital português

O Streptococcus pyogenes é uma bactéria que pode colonizar o epitélio da mucosa da orofaringe e a camada epidérmica da pele, mas também a vagina, o ânus e o couro cabeludo, em menor proporção. Contudo, esta bactéria apresenta uma grande capacidade de adaptação a diversas condições fisiológicas, permitindo-lhe provocar um largo espectro de patologias divididas em: localização (amigdalite/faringite e infecções de feridas); invasivas (fasceíte necrosante, osteomielite e bacteriémia); mediadas por toxinas (escarlatina e a síndrome de choque tóxico estreptocócico); e pós-estreptocócicas (febre reumática e a glomerulonefrite pós-estreptocócica). Os principais objectivos deste trabalho são avaliar as características epidemiológicas do Streptococcus pyogenes num Hospital Distrital Português determinando a patologia mais frequente causada por esta bactéria de acordo com o diagnóstico clínico, o escalão etário mais afectado pela infecção e a variação sazonal deste agente etiológico durante o período de 1 de Janeiro de 2008 e 31 de Dezembro de 2009. Os dados utilizados para a realização deste estudo retrospectivo foram recolhidos de pacientes que deram entrada nos diversos serviços hospitalares de um Hospital Distrital com cultura positiva para Streptococcus pyogenes entre Janeiro de 2008 e Dezembro de 2009. O tratamento dos dados foi realizado em SPSS 17.0. Após a recolha de dados, foram obtidos um total de 476 amostras com cultura positiva para Streptococcus pyogenes, sendo a maioria exsudatos orofaríngeos (97,9%). Desta forma, optou-se por tratar a parte mais relevante da estatística, restringindo o estudo a esta fracção. A patologia mais frequente de acordo com o diagnóstico clínico foi a amigdalite. Contudo, 7,1% das culturas positivas não indicavam diagnóstico. Para determinar o escalão etário mais afectado pelas infecções de Streptococcus pyogenes no Hospital Distrital durante o período de estudo dividiu-se a população de estudo por 5 escalões, sendo o escalão pré-escolar o mais afectado. Quanto à variação sazonal de um ano para outro ressalta a variabilidade do número de infecções, bem como, a discrepância da percentagem de infecções ao longo do ano. Em 2008, observam-se algumas variações atípicas. Em 2009, o número de infecções encontra-se bem distribuído ao longo do ano, mantendo uma variação sazonal relativamente constante entre os 5 e os 9%. Os Streptococcus pyogenes isolados neste hospital afectam maioritariamente crianças entre os 3 e os 5anos causando amigdalite. Quanto à variação sazonal é inconclusiva, dada a discrepância de 2008 para 2009 e a falta de dados epidemiológicos portugueses publicados sobre a bactéria em questão. Desta forma, seria importante avaliar esta variação em estudos futuros, de modo a conseguir um encadeamento lógico desta variabilidade

D2.1: baseline study of stakeholder & stakeholder initiatives

To initiate the Engagement work package in 4C, a baseline group of stakeholders was identified and an analysis of significant cost modelling and economics-related work in the field of digital curation has been carried out. Also, a small questionnaire has been sent to stakeholders in order to engage them in the project and to better understand their current state of practice in assessing digital curation costs. As such, this document reports on task 2.1 of the 4C project, i.e. Baseline study of stakeholders and initiatives on the domain of digital curation costs; and includes the results of the following subtasks: 1. A collection of relevant work on cost modelling activities in the context of digital curation; 2. An initial registry of stakeholder groups and contacts; 3. The results of the application of a questionnaire sent to stakeholders to grasp the state of practice and current needs in the field of digital curation costs.Project funded by EC under the call FP7-ICT-2011-

Factors affecting the metal recovery yield during induction melting of aluminium swarf

Machining operations of cast parts usually generate considerable amounts of waste in the form of chips (usually 3–5% of the casting weight). Traditionally, swarf is sold to scrapers and remelters, but this option is quite expensive because the selling price is roughly 30% of the acquisition price of the commercial 2nd melt raw material. For most aluminium foundries that incorporate machining operations in their products, reusing aluminium chips as raw material for the melting stocks is perhaps the best option as waste management policy in what concerns to economical and technical aspects. Nevertheless, aluminium swarf is a low density product (0.25 kg/dm3) and is usually covered by a thin film of aluminium oxide and machining fluid. Melting such a product without suitable previous preparation leads to very low metal recovery rates, high energy consumption, gases and smoke generation and very low quality of the final product. During the last years, the authors have developed a high efficient and environmentally friend aluminium swarf recycling technique, using direct incorporation in aluminium melts. The influence of processing parameters, namely melt temperature and holding time, melting atmosphere, swarf briquetting pressure and melting charge composition in the metal recovery yield and dross generation was studied and characterized, and the optimal processing parameters were established. The microstructure of the final product obtained in those conditions was evaluated and is also presented. It is shown that the recycling efficiency depends on the swarf conditioning, the melting technique and the melt treatment methodology. Swarf moisture reduction, induction melting under protective atmosphere and a specially developed degassing technique were found the most important factors influencing the recycling process. By using the developed technique, cast ingots with microstructure and sanity similar to commercially available AlSi12Cu1 2nd melt raw material were successfully obtained with minimal dross formation and metal recovery rates around 90%, without using traditional salts and fluxesFCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi

Database preservation toolkit: state-of-the-art and future plans in the context of the E-ARK project

The project is co-funded by the European Commission under the ICT Policy Support Programme within Call 7 of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (Grant agreement no: 620998). KEEP SOLUTIONS is also a co-funder of this wor

Adequabilidade das técnicas internas de validação de modelos de probabilidade de incumprimento

A presente dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa sobre métodos estatísticos mais adequados que os bancos portugueses podem usar para validar os modelos internos de cálculo de probabilidade de incumprimento de clientes de crédito. Com a implementação do Acordo de Basileia II por volta dos anos 2007 a 2009, os bancos portugueses passaram a ter autonomia para estimar, usando metodologias internas, a probabilidade de incumprimento dos seus clientes. Com essa permissão, veio a obrigação de validar tais metodologias usando algumas técnicas estatísticas como: Curva ROC, índice AUC, Pietra Index, Curva CAP Accuracy Ratio, Matriz de confusão ou BRIER score, sendo que a validação deve ser feita por um departamento interno e independente dentro do banco. Neste sentido, o principal objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar a adequabilidade das técnicas estatísticas usadas pelos bancos para validar os modelos internos de classificação de risco de crédito (cálculo da probabilidade de incumprimento) de modo a aferir, numa base comparativa, sobre a capacidade de validação e qual das técnicas estatísticas acima apresentadas valida de forma mais adequada os modelos desenvolvidos. Para atingir este objetivo, no presente trabalho, foram desenvolvidos três (3) modelos de regressão logística distintos para calcular a probabilidade de incumprimento na amostra selecionada, composta por empresas portuguesas não financeiras (base de dados disponibilizada pelo Banco de Portugal Microdata Research Laboratory - BPLIM). Os resultados mostraram que a regressão logística é um modelo adequado para a classificação dos clientes no que diz respeito ao risco de crédito. Quanto às técnicas estatísticas da Curva ROC, índice AUC, Pietra Index, Curva CAP Accuracy Ratio, Matriz de confusão e BRIER score, usadas para a validação dos três (3) modelos, nenhuma delas se mostrou mais importante em detrimento da outra, pois avaliam aspetos diferentes nos modelos, tendo-se verificado uma complementaridade entre os mesmos.This dissertation presents the results of a research on the most adequate statistical methods that Portuguese banks can use to validate their internal models for calculating the probability of default of credit customers. With the implementation of the Basel II Accord around the years 2007 to 2009, Portuguese banks were given autonomy to estimate, using internal methodologies, the probability of default of their customers. With this permission, came the obligation to validate such methodologies using some statistical techniques such as: ROC Curve, AUC index, Pietra Index, CAP Accuracy Ratio Curve, Confusion Matrix or BRIER score, and the validation should be done by an internal and independent department within the bank. In this sense, the main objective of this work is to analyse the suitability of the statistical techniques used by banks to validate the internal models of credit risk classification (probability of default calculation) in order to assess, on a comparative basis, the validation capacity and which of the statistical techniques presented above more adequately validates the models developed. To achieve this goal, in this work, three (3) distinct logistic regression models were developed to calculate the probability of default in the selected sample, composed of Portuguese non-financial corporations (database provided by the Banco de Portugal Microdata Research Laboratory - BPLIM), the results showed that logistic regression is an adequate model for the classification of customers with respect to credit risk. As for the statistical techniques of ROC Curve, AUC index, Pietra Index, CAP Curve Accuracy Ratio, Confusion Matrix and BRIER score, used for the validation of the three (3) models, none of them proved to be more important in detriment of the other, as they assess different aspects in the models, and a complementarity between them was verified

Um algoritmo genético para programação de projectos em redes de actividades com complementaridade de recursos

Neste artigo abordamos a questão da alocação óptima dos recursos, mais especificamente, a análise da complementaridade dos recursos (recurso principal ou recurso-P e do recurso de suporte ou recurso-S) às actividades de um projecto. Neste artigo apresenta-se um algoritmo genético, baseado num alfabeto de chaves aleatórias, e analisa-se o procedimento para criar soluções a partir de um cromossoma.We address the issue of optimal resource allocation, and more specifically, the analysis of complementarity of resources (primary resource or P-resource and supportive resource or S-resource) to activities in a project. In this paper we present a Genetic Algorithm, based in a random keys alphabet, and we analyse the procedure to build solutions from a chromosome