How did Science4you manage people through Covid-19 internal change? : a case study

This dissertation aims to study the way the changes processes were conducted inside a company and the importance of workers' engagement during those changes. The example that will be analyzed will be the company that started as a Portuguese start up, Science4You. During Covid-19 pandemic a giant crisis got installed in the whole world and companies had to reinvent themselves by changing their internal and external way of working. In this project, the way internal changes were approached by the company leaders, and perceived by the workers, will be taken into consideration and explored. The main goal is to try to prove that workers' engagement during changes processes is crucial to its success. This dissertation is designed as a case study and resort to a mixed approach. To understand what/ when/ how/ why the changes were applied and communicated with the rest of the Science4You team, there was an interview with the company CEO and five other employees (heads of departments). In order to have some perspective on the workers' side regarding this process of change, sixty one anonymous surveys were answered from a universe of one hundred and twenty employees. The objective with the survey is to determine if the employees were aware of the changes, if they were engaged with it, and if they followed the new protocol imposed by their leaders. The interviews and surveys proved that the majority of employees believe the change process was successful. On the other hand, the plurality of the sample would have managed the process differently. For companies who decide to implement changes in their way of working, this dissertation presents the importance of creating a sense of commitment among the workers to be successful with those changes

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved