Exploring profitability diversity through financial statement analysis

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

Dual track sell-out: Signaling through IPO and Underpricing

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

The Future of services: Uncovering latent needs through trend analysis

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

Logoplaste: Internationalization to South Africa through flexible packaging

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

Understanding the microbial ecology and ecophysiology of enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes through metabolic modelling and experimental studies

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Master in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Spectrum sensing through software defined radio

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Fractionation of hydro-ethanolic extracts from grape pomace through membrane processing: the effect of membrane and extracting media on process performance

The EM3E Master is an Education Programme supported by the European Commission, the European Membrane Society (EMS), the European Membrane House (EMH), and a large international network of industrial companies, research centers and universities

Achieving better service level results, through improvements in procedures

This project aims to prepare Worten Empresas (WE) fulfilling the increasing market demand through process changings, focusing on the Portuguese market, particularly on internal B2B clients1. Several methods were used to measure the current service level provided - process mapping, resources assessment, benchmark and a survey. The results were then used to compare against service level actually desired by WE’s customer, and then to identify the performance gaps in response times and quality of the follow-up during the sales process. To bridge the identified gaps, both a set of recommendations and an implementation plan were suggested to improve and monitor customer experience. This study concluded that it is possible to fulfill the increasing level of demand and at the same time improve customer satisfaction by implementing changes at the operations level.

Res Publica: Citizenship and Political Representation in Portugal, 1820-1926

The term res publica (literally “thing of the people”) was coined by the Romans to translate the Greek word politeia, which, as we know, referred to a political community organised in accordance with certain principles, amongst which the notion of the “good life” (as against exclusively private interests) was paramount. This ideal also came to be known as political virtue. To achieve it, it was necessary to combine the best of each “constitutional” type and avoid their worst aspects (tyranny, oligarchy and ochlocracy). Hence, the term acquired from the Greeks a sense of being a “mixed” and “balanced” system. Anyone that was entitled to citizenship could participate in the governance of the “public thing”. This implied the institutionalization of open debate and confrontation between interested parties as a way of achieving the consensus necessary to ensure that man the political animal, who fought with words and reason, prevailed over his “natural” counterpart. These premises lie at the heart of the project which is now being presented under the title of Res Publica: Citizenship and Political Representation in Portugal, 1820-1926. The fact that it is integrated into the centenary commemorations of the establishment of the Republic in Portugal is significant, as it was the idea of revolution – with its promise of rupture and change – that inspired it. However, it has also sought to explore events that could be considered the precursor of democratization in the history of Portugal, namely the vintista, setembrista and patuleia revolutions. It is true that the republican regime was opposed to the monarchic. However, although the thesis that monarchy would inevitably lead to tyranny had held sway for centuries, it had also been long believed that the monarchic system could be as “politically virtuous” as a republic (in the strict sense of the word) provided that power was not concentrated in the hands of a single individual. Moreover, various historical experiments had shown that republics could also degenerate into Caesarism and different kinds of despotism. Thus, when absolutism began to be overturned in continental Europe in the name of the natural rights of man and the new social pact theories, initiating the difficult process of (written) constitutionalization, the monarchic principle began to be qualified as a “monarchy hedged by republican institutions”, a situation in which not even the king was exempt from isonomy. This context justifies the time frame chosen here, as it captures the various changes and continuities that run through it. Having rejected the imperative mandate and the reinstatement of the model of corporative representation (which did not mean that, in new contexts, this might not be revived, or that the second chamber established by the Constitutional Charter of 1826 might not be given another lease of life), a new power base was convened: national sovereignty, a precept that would be shared by the monarchic constitutions of 1822 and 1838, and by the republican one of 1911. This followed the French example (manifested in the monarchic constitution of 1791 and in the Spanish constitution of 1812), as not even republicans entertained a tradition of republicanism based upon popular sovereignty. This enables us to better understand the rejection of direct democracy and universal suffrage, and also the long incapacitation (concerning voting and standing for office) of the vast body of “passive” citizens, justified by “enlightened”, property- and gender-based criteria. Although the republicans had promised in the propaganda phase to alter this situation, they ultimately failed to do so. Indeed, throughout the whole period under analysis, the realisation of the potential of national sovereignty was mediated above all by the individual citizen through his choice of representatives. However, this representation was indirect and took place at national level, in the hope that action would be motivated not by particular local interests but by the common good, as dictated by reason. This was considered the only way for the law to be virtuous, a requirement that was also manifested in the separation and balance of powers. As sovereignty was postulated as single and indivisible, so would be the nation that gave it soul and the State that embodied it. Although these characteristics were common to foreign paradigms of reference, in Portugal, the constitutionalization process also sought to nationalise the idea of Empire. Indeed, this had been the overriding purpose of the 1822 Constitution, and it persisted, even after the loss of Brazil, until decolonization. Then, the dream of a single nation stretching from the Minho to Timor finally came to an end.

Morphological diversification through the evolution of developmental hierarchies

Changes in development impact the final form of organisms and compose the natural variation that is the raw material for evolution. Development is hierarchically structured in progressive series of cell fate determination and differentiation. How does variation in different stages of development contribute to morphological diversification?

Divulgar ciência para diferentes públicos. Uma experiência no projeto STOL - Science Through Our Lives

O estágio que aqui se relata enquadra-se no âmbito do mestrado em Comunicação de Ciência, da Faculdade de Ciências Sociais Humanas (FCSH) da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL) e do Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB). Foi realizado no projeto STOL – Science Through Our Lives, do Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental (CBMA) da Escola de Ciências da Universidade do Minho (ECUM), e teve a duração de três meses. Esta componente prática do mestrado permitiu desenvolver um trabalho in loco, com o objetivo de servir, sobretudo, a comunicação de ciência informal. As principais atividades desenvolvidas foram exposições (Homo numericus; “Ponto a Ponto Enche a Ciência o Espaço), produção de materiais educativos (Objetos Educativos para a Casa das Ciências), campanhas de sensibilização (Comemoração do Dia Mundial da Água), auscultação do público (Vox Pop), crónicas de jornal (coluna “Aqui há Ciência”) e estabelecimento de parcerias estratégicas entre o STOL e outras forças vivas da região (AVianense e “Diário do Minho”). Ao integrar as atividades a decorrer no projeto STOL, foi possível contribuir com sugestões e novos materiais, e implementar projetos cujo principal objetivo foi o contacto direto com o público. De todo o trabalho se obteve um feedback positivo, conforme se documenta neste relatório e respetivos anexos. Se alguns constrangimentos podem ser enunciados (falta de recursos económicos e humanos, fraca tradição de envolvimento da população com a ciência e vice-versa, e a considerável falta de apoio institucional a atividades de divulgação de ciência), também devem ser evidenciados aspetos muito positivos como a dinâmica do grupo STOL, a capacidade de envolver diferentes públicos nas suas atividades, diferenciar estratégias para esses grupos, e finalmente, avaliar, sempre que possível, o seu desempenho, incluindo os resultados nas atividades seguintes. Neste contexto foram aplicados os conhecimentos adquiridos durante o primeiro ano curricular do mestrado, permitindo o ganho de experiência na área de trabalho onde a autora se sente realizada e pretende permanecer.

The consumption of media contents through mobile devices in Finland

O campo dos media na Finlândia encontra-se num processo de mudanças aparentemente imparáveis, com os dispositivos móveis, tal como os smartphones e tablets, a influenciarem cada vez mais os padrões de produção e consumo de media. Nesta dissertação é defendido que esta situação é influenciada por factores históricos, sociais e culturais: desde os livros e jornais como meio de manter a língua finlandesa até aos benefícios da Segurança Social que permitiram que até as pessoas com menos rendimentos comprassem o jornal para se manterem a par dos desenvolvimentos do país, bem como a grande tradição de leitura que é associada aos finlandeses, assim como as condições que ao longo da história fazem fizeram com que os finlandeses sejam fascinados pelas novas tecnologias. Adicionalmente, presto especial atenção às estratégias que são adoptadas pelas cada vez mais convergentes companhias de media para enfrentarem a competição de elementos como os social media.

Improving Learners’ Motivation through Feedback in English Language Teaching and Learning at Polytechnic School in Benguela, Angola

Currently, it is widely perceived among the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching professionals, that motivation is a central factor for success in language learning. This work aims to examine and raise teachers’ awareness about the role of assessment and feedback in the process of language teaching and learning at polytechnic school in Benguela to develop and/or enhance their students’ motivation for learning. Hence the paper defines and discusses the key terms and, the techniques and strategies for an effective feedback provision in the context under study. It also collects data through the use of interview and questionnaire methods, and suggests the assessment and feedback types to be implemented at polytechnic school in Benguela

Improvement of Lipton’s business model through wholesalers and traditional supermarkets channel

Field Lab in Entrepreneurial Innovative Ventures