Contract-program evaluation: Impact of the DRG classification system on hospitals' outputs

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 Economics

The effectiveness of a teacher���s training workshop on Media Smart Program

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 Economics

The effectiveness of the Media Smart Program on promoting the critical thinking of children towards the use of celebrities in television advertising

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 Economics

A private library in the Mateus Palace (Vila Real). The D. Lu��s Ant��nio de Sousa Botelho Mour��o (1722-1798) Books Collection

Funda����o para a Ci��ncia e Tecnologia no ��mbito de Bolsa de Doutoramento (SFRH/BD/86280/2012)

Archaeometallurgical study of the Proto-historic collection of Moinhos de Golas (North Portugal): a forecast for technological changes?

This work presents the archaeometallurgical study of a group of metallic artefacts found in Moinhos de Golas site, Vila Real (North of Portugal), that can generically be attributed to Proto-history (1st millennium BC, Late Bronze Age and Iron Age). The collection is composed by 35 objects: weapons, ornaments and tools, and others of difficult classification, as rings, bars and one small thin bent sheet. Some of the objects can typologically be attributed to Late Bronze Age, others are of more difficult specific attribution. The archaeometallurgical study involved x-ray digital radiography, elemental analysis by micro-energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, microstructural observations by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The radiographic images revealed structural heterogeneities frequently related with the degradation of some artefacts and the elemental analysis showed that the majority of the artefacts was produced in a binary bronze alloy (Cu-Sn) (73%), being others produced in copper (15%) and three artefacts in brass (Cu-Zn(-Sn-Pb)). Among each type of alloy there���s certain variability in the composition and in the type of inclusions. The microstructural observations revealed that the majority of the artefacts suffered cycles of thermo-mechanical processing after casting. The diversity of metals/alloys identified was a discovery of great interest, specifically due to the presence of brasses. Their presence can be interpreted as importations related to the circulation of exogenous products during the Proto-history and/or to the deposition of materials during different moments at the site, from the transition of Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age (Orientalizing period) onwards, as during the Roman period.

Social impact bond feasibility study: Children and youth at risk: the Projecto Fam��lia program

Social impact bonds are an increasingly popular method of unlocking typical social investment barriers and fuelling social innovation. This feasibility study aims to understand whether a social impact bond is a suitable tool for decreasing unnecessary foster care placements in Portugal, which have been proven to cause significant social and financial damage to societies. This research question is answered through a financial model which combines the costs of this social problem with Projecto Fam��lia���s intervention model, a leading intensive family preservation service. Main findings suggest using SIB funding for a 5-year project with the goal of generating the proper impact measurement metrics lacking in the field.

A description of the Australian early psychosis intervention model and a proposal to establish a Pilot Early Intervention Program in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bol��via

RESUMO: Em 2011, a Associa����o Psiqui��trica Mundial lan��ou um programa de bolsas de investiga����o para psiquiatras em in��cio de carreira a partir de pa��ses de renda baixa ou m��dia-baixa, no ��mbito deste programa, o autor foi selecionado para uma bolsa de pesquisa no Centre for Youth Mental Health/Orygen Youth Health Research Centre da Universidade de Melbourne. Orygen, �� a principal organiza����o de pesquisa e tradu����o do conhecimento do mundo com foco em problemas de sa��de mental em pessoas jovens. O est��gio foi baseado em Preven����o e Interven����o Precoce Psychosis Centre (EPPIC), que faz parte do Orygen. EPPIC fornece programa de tratamento abrangente e integrada, baseada na comunidade para o primeiro epis��dio de psicose. Esta disserta����o descreve o modelo EPPIC, e seus componentes essenciais e fatores que s��o necess��rios para uma implementa����o de servi��o direito. Al��m disso, uma proposta de cria����o de um programa-piloto de interven����o psicose precoce �� discutido. Este programa inclui um programa de extens��o inovadora que combina princ��pios comerciais s��lidos, com metas sociais, a fim de combater especificamente a maior barreira para o tratamento da psicose precoce na Bol��via: o estigma da doen��a mental. Ao utilizar uma equipe de tratamento m��vel, multidisciplinar, que enfatiza os pap��is dos gerentes do caso treinados focada em fornecer indiv��duo intensiva e apoio familiar no lar, este programa ir�� prestar cuidados culturalmente apropriados que ir�� alavancar contribui����es de um suprimento limitado de psiquiatras e mudar longe da depend��ncia um sistema m��dico fragmentado. ---------------------------- ABSTRACT: In 2011, the World Psychiatric Association launched a programme of research fellowships for early-career psychiatrists from low- or lower-middle income countries, within this programme, the author was selected to a research fellowship at the Centre for Youth Mental Health/Orygen Youth Health Research Centre at University of Melbourne. Orygen, is the world���s leading research and knowledge translation organization focusing on mental ill-health in young people. The traineeship was based on Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC), which is part of Orygen. EPPIC provides comprehensive, integrated, community-based treatment program for first-episode psychosis. This dissertation describes the EPPIC model, and its core components and factors which are necessary to a right service implementation. Additionally, a proposal to establish a pilot early psychosis intervention programme is discussed. This programme includes an innovative outreach programme that combines sound business principals with social goals in order to specifically target the largest barrier to early psychosis treatment in Bolivia: the stigma of mental illness. By utilizing a mobile, multidisciplinary treatment team that emphasizes the roles of trained case managers focused on providing intensive individual and family support in the home, this programme will provide culturally appropriate care that will leverage contributions from a limited supply of psychiatrists and shift dependence away from a fragmented medical system.

Essays in health economics: Volume-Outcome Effect, upcoding behaviour and the evaluation of a short-term intervention program

Evidence in the literature suggests a negative relationship between volume of medical procedures and mortality rates in the health care sector. In general, high-volume hospitals appear to achieve lower mortality rates, although considerable variation exists. However, most studies focus on US hospitals, which face different incentives than hospitals in a National Health Service (NHS). In order to add to the literature, this study aims to understand what happens in a NHS. Results reveal a statistically significant correlation between volume of procedures and better outcomes for the following medical procedures: cerebral infarction, respiratory infections, circulatory disorders with AMI, bowel procedures, cirrhosis, and hip and femur procedures. The effect is explained with the practice-makes-perfect hypothesis through static effects of scale with little evidence of learning-by-doing. The centralization of those medical procedures is recommended given that this policy would save a considerable number of lives (reduction of 12% in deaths for cerebral infarction).

Public perspective towards social impact of chang e lunar probe program

The present article is based on the MA thesis of Hou Bowen (Ph.D candidate) and on the presentation made at the ISA World Congress of Sociology held in Yokohama (Japan) on July 2014 at the Session on ���Assessing Technologies: Global Patterns of Trust and Distrust��� of RC23-Sociology of Science and Technology.

How can Biotherm grow in the selective skincare channel in Portugal?

Branding Lab

Frequency-domain receiver design for doubly-selective channels

This work is devoted to the broadband wireless transmission techniques, which are serious candidates to be implemented in future broadband wireless and cellular systems, aiming at providing high and reliable data transmission and concomitantly high mobility. In order to cope with doubly-selective channels, receiver structures based on OFDM and SC-FDE block transmission techniques, are proposed, which allow cost-effective implementations, using FFT-based signal processing. The first subject to be addressed is the impact of the number of multipath components, and the diversity order, on the asymptotic performance of OFDM and SC-FDE, in uncoded and for different channel coding schemes. The obtained results show that the number of relevant separable multipath components is a key element that influences the performance of OFDM and SC-FDE schemes. Then, the improved estimation and detection performance of OFDM-based broadcasting systems, is introduced employing SFN (Single Frequency Network) operation. An initial coarse channel is obtained with resort to low-power training sequences estimation, and an iterative receiver with joint detection and channel estimation is presented. The achieved results have shown very good performance, close to that with perfect channel estimation. The next topic is related to SFN systems, devoting special attention to time-distortion effects inherent to these networks. Typically, the SFN broadcast wireless systems employ OFDM schemes to cope with severely time-dispersive channels. However, frequency errors, due to CFO, compromises the orthogonality between subcarriers. As an alternative approach, the possibility of using SC-FDE schemes (characterized by reduced envelope fluctuations and higher robustness to carrier frequency errors) is evaluated, and a technique, employing joint CFO estimation and compensation over the severe time-distortion effects, is proposed. Finally, broadband mobile wireless systems, in which the relative motion between the transmitter and receiver induces Doppler shift which is different or each propagation path, is considered, depending on the angle of incidence of that path in relation to the direction of travel. This represents a severe impairment in wireless digital communications systems, since that multipath propagation combined with the Doppler effects, lead to drastic and unpredictable fluctuations of the envelope of the received signal, severely affecting the detection performance. The channel variations due this effect are very difficult to estimate and compensate. In this work we propose a set of SC-FDE iterative receivers implementing efficient estimation and tracking techniques. The performance results show that the proposed receivers have very good performance, even in the presence of significant Doppler spread between the different groups of multipath components.

A import��ncia da comunica����o estrat��gica na altera����o de comportamentos na sociedade : o caso Sociedade Ponto Verde

A comunica����o estrat��gica poder�� ser entendida como a comunica����o alinhada com a estrat��gia global de uma organiza����o para alcan��ar o seu posicionamento estrat��gico. Ou seja, para alcan��ar o sucesso, uma organiza����o precisa de ter uma comunica����o consistente com a sua identidade e, ao mesmo tempo, adequada ao seu p��blico-alvo e ao tipo de sector onde se insere. S�� desta forma consegue conquistar a confian��a e fidelidade dos consumidores, essenciais para o alcance dos objectivos. Em rela����o �� altera����o comportamentos, �� essencial que as empresas costruam uma estrat��gia de comunica����o coerente e consistente, adaptando as mensagens e os p��blicos-alvo escolhidos. Neste ��mbito da altera����o de comportamentos, estudou-se neste trabalho a Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV), uma associa����o portuguesa sem fins lucrativos, que actua no ��mbito da gest��o e reciclagem de res��duos de embalagens. Procurou estudar-se a evolu����o da sua comunica����o ao longo dos anos e a forma como adaptou as suas mensagens, de forma a conseguir incutir na sociedade portuguesa a import��ncia do comportamento de reciclagem de res��duos. Neste estudo, procedeu-se a uma an��lise individualizada de cada uma das campanhas de comunica����o da SPV e, posteriormente, aplicou-se um inqu��rito por question��rio, para verificar a efic��cia das mesmas campanhas perante o p��blico-alvo. A metodologia utilizada neste trabalho consistiu na distribui����o de um inqu��rito por question��rio online, que permitiu recolher uma amostra probabil��stica por conveni��ncia. Em seguida, recolhidos e tratados os dados referentes ��s 482 respostas recebidas, utilizou-se o programa SPSS (Stastitical Package for the Social Sciences) para analisar, tratar e discutir os resultados obtidos. Estes resultados demonstraram que, de facto, n��o houve uma grande percentagem de inquiridos que se lembram das campanhas da SPV. Os resultados s��o positivos e n��o desmentem a qualidade e coer��ncia das mensagens, mas a verdade �� que a percentagem de indiv��duos que n��o se lembra de algumas campanhas chega a ser elevada (em especial nas campanhas iniciais da organiza����o, quando existia falta de uma estrat��gia coerente). Justifica-se este facto, em parte, pelo excesso de informa����o e est��mulos a que as pessoas est��o sujeitas, pelo que a informa����o que ret��m n��o fica para sempre, acabando por dar lugar a outras informa����es. Os indiv��duos s��o inconscientemente selectivos com a informa����o que processam e guardam, pois n��o seria poss��vel guardar toda a informa����o que lhes �� transmitida. No que diz respeito �� comunica����o estrat��gica que visa alterar uma atitude e, posteriormente, um comportamento, conclui-se que, no geral, o comportamento das pessoas inquiridas aparenta ter sido influenciado pela comunica����o da SPV, caso contr��rio, as respostas afirmativas quanto �� reciclagem e de concord��ncia com algumas das afirma����es teriam sido inferiores. Ou seja, mesmo reconhecendo o car��cter um pouco enviesado da amostra (n��o dever�� ser considerada representativa da popula����o portuguesa), �� poss��vel dizer que a estrat��gia de comunica����o da SPV (em especial a partir de 2005) foi eficiente. Palavras-

How can digital help biotherm growing in the Portuguese selective skincare channel?

Branding Lab

Connect to success- consulting program of the U.S. embassy Lisbon creation of a business plan for ���Quinta dos I���s���

The purpose of this project is to analyse and evaluate if the rural tourism cottage Quinta dos I���s will be profitable within the first five years of operation. It starts with a brief description of the business, followed by an industry analysis of the rural tourism market in Portugal and an intensive competitor analysis to evaluate Quinta dos I���s��� competitive advantages. The project then defines a marketing plan to generate awareness and establish the cottage in the market. Finally, a financial analysis is performed to examine the outcome of Quinta dos I���s��� recommended strategic activities. The results of this project show that the cottage is profitable after the first year of operation and expects to grow annually.