Opening Pousada da Serra da Estrela in Covilh��: A two-way impact analysis - Interacting with public agents

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 CMMI-compliant requirements management and development process

Requirements Engineering has been acknowledged an essential discipline for Software Quality. Poorly-defined processes for eliciting, analyzing, specifying and validating requirements can lead to unclear issues or misunderstandings on business needs and project���s scope. These typically result in customers��� non-satisfaction with either the products��� quality or the increase of the project���s budget and duration. Maturity models allow an organization to measure the quality of its processes and improve them according to an evolutionary path based on levels. The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) addresses the aforementioned Requirements Engineering issues. CMMI defines a set of best practices for process improvement that are divided into several process areas. Requirements Management and Requirements Development are the process areas concerned with Requirements Engineering maturity. Altran Portugal is a consulting company concerned with the quality of its software. In 2012, the Solution Center department has developed and applied successfully a set of processes aligned with CMMI-DEV v1.3, what granted them a Level 2 maturity certification. For 2015, they defined an organizational goal of addressing CMMI-DEV maturity level 3. This MSc dissertation is part of this organization effort. In particular, it is concerned with the required process areas that address the activities of Requirements Engineering. Our main goal is to contribute for the development of Altran���s internal engineering processes to conform to the guidelines of the Requirements Development process area. Throughout this dissertation, we started with an evaluation method based on CMMI and conducted a compliance assessment of Altran���s current processes. This allowed demonstrating their alignment with the CMMI Requirements Management process area and to highlight the improvements needed to conform to the Requirements Development process area. Based on the study of alternative solutions for the gaps found, we proposed a new Requirements Management and Development process that was later validated using three different approaches. The main contribution of this dissertation is the new process developed for Altran Portugal. However, given that studies on these topics are not abundant in the literature, we also expect to contribute with useful evidences to the existing body of knowledge with a survey on CMMI and requirements engineering trends. Most importantly, we hope that the implementation of the proposed processes��� improvements will minimize the risks of mishandled requirements, increasing Altran���s performance and taking them one step further to the desired maturity level.

O contributo da farm��cia comunit��ria no envelhecimento ativo

RESUMO: A popula����o mundial est�� a envelhecer de forma sustentada. O setor das farm��cias em Portugal est�� a passar por um conjunto de altera����es que conduzir�� a uma a����o mais interventiva ao n��vel da presta����o de cuidados de sa��de. Deste modo delineou-se um estudo descritivo, transversal e explorat��rio sem interven����o, de car��cter qualitativo e quantitativo que compara diferentes grupos et��rios com o objectivo de compreender melhor o papel do farmac��utico no ��mbito do envelhecimento das popula����es. Pretendemos assim optimizar pr��ticas e servi��os que podem ser realizados nas farm��cias e alertar os utentes, para gerir melhor a sua condi����o de sa��de, sensibilizando-os para o pr��prio processo de envelhecimento. Como principais resultados destacamos o papel de interven����o crucial da farm��cia, quer pela sua acessibilidade quer pela contribui����o que pode ter para a condi����o de sa��de das popula����es. Pela amostra estudada em 100% das farm��cias s��o feitos despistes e controlo da hipertens��o arterial e hipercolesterolemia, factores fundamentais no controlo da aterosclerose e das doen��as cardiovasculares. Podemos ainda concluir que a farm��cia pode ser o elemento de otimiza����o, revis��o e reconcilia����o das terap��uticas dos resistentes em lares e ao domic��lio, junto da popula����o 65+. Em termos das pessoas idosas, o nosso estudo indicia que, apesar da crise s��cio econ��mica dos ��ltimos anos, continuam a tomar os medicamentos mais essenciais, o que se relaciona com a pol��tica do medicamento implementada. Este trabalho pretende tamb��m, contribuir para o desenvolvimento de uma rede de compet��ncias da farm��cia ao n��vel do envelhecimento ativo, podendo ser uma oportunidade futura.--------------ABSTRACT: World population is getting older in a sustained way. Portuguese community pharmacies are going through a change process, leading to a higher intervention in healthcare delivery. The study designed is descriptive, transversal and exploratory, with no intervention, with a qualitative and quantitative component that compares different age groups. The purpose is to better understand pharmacists��� role in population aging. One of our main goals is to optimize practices and services with potential to be performed in pharmacies and aware patients to better manage their health, becoming more conscious of their aging process. As main results we highlight the intervention of pharmacies, not only by its accessibility but also sustained on the unique contribution pharmacies deliver in the best benefit of populations��� health condition. In the sample studied, 100% of pharmacies perform screening and vigilance of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, essential for the control of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. We may also determine the importance of pharmacies intervention over therapeutics optimization, revision and reconciliation in nursing homes and in domicile, mostly focusing patients over 65. In what concerns to elderly population our study indicates that, despite social and economic crises of recent years, the elderly keeps taking its essential medicines, which is related with medicines politics implemented at the present moment. This project intends to pay a relevant contribution to the development of a group of core competencies in pharmacies, related to the promotion of an active and healthy aging process, which represents an important future opportunity for Portuguese Pharmacies.

On an organizational level: How can the emergency department at Rouge Valley Centenary hospital improve their wait times?

The prolonged wait times may arguably put into question the Canadian Health Act of 1984. Statistics show throughput wait times are 5.5 hours and output wait times for admitted patients are 32.4 hours. After probing and analyzing best practices through a qualitative/quantitative Value Stream Mapping and a qualitative SWOT Analysis; Team Triage and an Overcapacity Protocol is suggested to improve non-admitted patients wait times by 1.89 hours and admitted patients wait times by 16 hours by eliminating wasteful steps in the patient process and upon overcapacity, effectively sharing already stabilized and admitted patients with all wards in the hospital.

The economics of Vieira da Silva

This paper investigates the time valuation and the age valuation profile of art-works created by the Portuguese female painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. It uses data from records from her paintings auction sales between 1986 and 2014, taken from Artprice.com. The study explores three aspects regarding her artistic career: (1) estimation of Age-valuation profile, defining her creativity pattern and the age at which she produced her most valuable paintings; (2) estimation of time valuation profile, through a creation of an individual hedonic price index for Vieira da Silva; (3) internationalization phenomenon of the artist, investigating whether selling prices are primarily set in euros or in US dollar. The results suggest that Vieira da Silva peaked quite early in her career; her paintings prices are not very sensible to economic cycles and tends to slightly increase afterlife; the empirical results are not suggestive on which currency is the best predictor of her paintings��� price.

Launching platforms for user-generated content

Field lab: Entrepreneurial and innovative ventures

Measuring social impact: A guideline to implement a tableau de bord

Many impact-seeking organisations cannot measure and demonstrate their social impact because they either lack technical expertise or requisite financial and human resources. This report clarifies the process of social impact measurement to help these organisations engage in social impact measurement practices. It presents a simple guideline to create a measurement approach based on the Tableau de Board. The guideline has been developed through a theoretical revision of best practices in social impact measurement, academic research and the author's individual thoughts and ideas. While a first testing of the approach revealed positive feedback, only future broad-scale testing will demonstrate the approach���s validity and feasibility.

Technical optimization of the synthesis of flavours

The goal of this thesis is the investigation and optimization of the synthesis of potential fragrances. This work is projected as collaboration between the University of Applied Sciences in Merseburg and the company Miltitz Aromatics GmbH in Bitterfeld���Wolfen (Germany). Flavoured compounds can be synthesized in different ways and by various methods. In this work, methods like the phase transfer catalysis and the Cope���rearrangement were investigated and applied, for getting a high yield and quantity of the desired substances and without any by���products or side reactions. This involved the study of syntheses with different process parameters such as temperature, solvent, pressure and reaction time. The main focus was on Cope���rearrangement, which is a common method in the synthesis of new potential fragrance compounds. The substances synthesized in this work have a hepta���1,5���diene���structure and that is why they can easily undergo this [3,3]���sigma tropic rearrangement. The lead compound of all research was 2,5���dimethyl���2���vinyl���4���hexenenitrile (Neronil). Neronil is synthesized by an alkylation of 2���methyl���3���butenenitrile with prenylchloride under basic conditions in a phase���transfer system. In this work the yield of isolated Neronil is improved from about 35% to 46% by according to the execution conditions of the reaction. Additionally the amount of side product was decreased. This synthesized hexenenitrile involved not only the aforementioned 1,5���diene���structure, but also a cyano group, that makes this structure a suitable base for the synthesis of new potential fragrance compounds. It was observed that Neronil can be transferred into 2,5���dimethyl���2���vinyl���4���hexenoic acid by a hydrolysis under basic conditions. After five hours the acid can be obtained with a yield of 96%. The following esterification is realized with isobutanol to produce 2,5���dimethyl���2���vinyl���4���hexenoic acid isobutyl ester with quantitative conversion. It was observed that the Neronil and the corresponding ester can be converted into the corresponding Cope���product, with a conversion of 30 % and 80%. Implementing the Cope���rearrangement, the acid was heated and an unexpected decarboxylated product is formed. To achieve the best verification of reaction development and structure, scrupulous analyses were done using GC���MS, 1H���NMR and 13C��� NMR.

Management consulting labs- Galp social media

The purpose of this project was to study a possible presence of Galp at Social Media. The importance of this study appears as a consequence of the company���s need to adapt to a new mean of communication that is changing our society and the companies way of doing business. In the consulting labs, the analysis was done taking into account the best practices for business at Social Media and the singularities of the company. The output of this study was a collection of specific guidelines concerning several fields to develop a strategic presence at Social Media.

Management consulting labs Galp loyalty

The main objective of this project was to investigate methods to create a new loyalty approach for Galp Energia in order to improve customer retention and reduce churn, related with the expansion of hypermarket chains��� in the Fuel Retail Market and the country���s economical situation. The team carried out on-spot surveys and focus groups, researched loyalty programs��� best practices, analyzed peers practices and the company���s past performance in order to find important customer insights. These were used to develop the final recommendations resulting in a new paradigm to the group���s loyalty approach alongside incremental improvements to the current loyalty solutions.

Analysis and design of sinusoidal quadrature RC-oscillators

Modern telecommunication equipment requires components that operate in many different frequency bands and support multiple communication standards, to cope with the growing demand for higher data rate. Also, a growing number of standards are adopting the use of spectrum efficient digital modulations, such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). These modulation schemes require accurate quadrature oscillators, which makes the quadrature oscillator a key block in modern radio frequency (RF) transceivers. The wide tuning range characteristics of inductorless quadrature oscillators make them natural candidates, despite their higher phase noise, in comparison with LC-oscillators. This thesis presents a detailed study of inductorless sinusoidal quadrature oscillators. Three quadrature oscillators are investigated: the active coupling RC-oscillator, the novel capacitive coupling RCoscillator, and the two-integrator oscillator. The thesis includes a detailed analysis of the Van der Pol oscillator (VDPO). This is used as a base model oscillator for the analysis of the coupled oscillators. Hence, the three oscillators are approximated by the VDPO. From the nonlinear Van der Pol equations, the oscillators��� key parameters are obtained. It is analysed first the case without component mismatches and then the case with mismatches. The research is focused on determining the impact of the components��� mismatches on the oscillator key parameters: frequency, amplitude-, and quadrature-errors. Furthermore, the minimization of the errors by adjusting the circuit parameters is addressed. A novel quadrature RC-oscillator using capacitive coupling is proposed. The advantages of using the capacitive coupling are that it is noiseless, requires a small area, and has low power dissipation. The equations of the oscillation amplitude, frequency, quadrature-error, and amplitude mismatch are derived. The theoretical results are confirmed by simulation and by measurement of two prototypes fabricated in 130 nm standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The measurements reveal that the power increase due to the coupling is marginal, leading to a figure-of-merit of -154.8 dBc/Hz. These results are consistent with the noiseless feature of this coupling and are comparable to those of the best state-of-the-art RC-oscillators, in the GHz range, but with the lowest power consumption (about 9 mW). The results for the three oscillators show that the amplitude- and the quadrature-errors are proportional to the component mismatches and inversely proportional to the coupling strength. Thus, increasing the coupling strength decreases both the amplitude- and quadrature-errors. With proper coupling strength, a quadrature error below 1�� and amplitude imbalance below 1% are obtained. Furthermore, the simulations show that increasing the coupling strength reduces the phase noise. Hence, there is no trade-off between phase noise and quadrature error. In the twointegrator oscillator study, it was found that the quadrature error can be eliminated by adjusting the transconductances to compensate the capacitance mismatch. However, to obtain outputs in perfect quadrature one must allow some amplitude error.

Going Public: Conservation of Contemporary Artworks. Between Backstage and Frontstage in Contemporary Art Museums

In museum studies and history of art, what happens behind the scenes of museums stays relatively unseen and unspoken about. In the arts, generally speaking, what is dismissed as irrelevant (e.g. the realm of practices) is deliberately detached from what is thought to really matter; theory, discourse, content and meaning. Up till recently, backstage activities such as conservation practices are merely discussed among specialists and museum professionals. Only the outcomes of these discussions are sometimes ��� if at all ��� explicitly communicated to a larger public. Studies into the practices of contemporary art conservation however show that practices behind the scenes play an important role in the perpetuation of these artworks. What happens behind the scenes in terms of conservation has, in several ways, important effects on the ongoing life of these artworks in a museum context. Conservation practices, I argue, should therefore become a necessary part of museum studies and history of art. How can the working practices of conservators become more visible and transparent to a diversity of audiences, including researchers? And what does this mean in terms of research methodology?

Facebook como o novo canal de distribui����o de not��cias

As redes sociais est��o a mudar a forma como os leitores acedem a conte��dos noticiosos e interagem com eles, n��o s�� recomendando not��cias como facilitando conversas. Hoje, o Facebook �� parte do quotidiano de um quinto da popula����o mundial. Mas poder�� esta rede social ser um canal de distribui����o de not��cias online? Esta investiga����o a que nos propomos tem por base o estudo de caso do Correio da Manh��, um dos jornais portugueses com maior circula����o em papel e que se tornou l��der no digital, em grande parte, gra��as �� sua estrat��gia nas redes sociais. A an��lise e a aplica����o de conceitos sobre o uso do Facebook, com vista ao aumento das audi��ncias de um site noticioso, permitem tirar conclus��es, quantitativas e qualitativas, sobre a problem��tica em quest��o. Como podem as publica����es jornal��sticas tirar melhor partido do Facebook? Dever�� o jornalismo digital especializar-se na distribui����o de not��cias atrav��s das redes sociais? Quais as estrat��gias a aplicar para incrementar as audi��ncias de um website atrav��s do Facebook como canal de distribui����o? Neste contexto, pretendeu-se fazer uma an��lise sobre a forma como os meios de comunica����o social est��o a usar o Facebook para uma abordagem das melhores pr��ticas jornal��sticas nesta rede social. �� nosso prop��sito examinar o papel das not��cias no Facebook e a forma como os jornalistas se devem comportar, numa tentativa de criar regras para se tirar o melhor proveito do Facebook em fun����o das audi��ncias

Improving Millennium Bank's personal finance manager

Double Degree

How to improve urban mobility in Lisbon: intermodality and information and ticketing systems

Urban mobility is one of the main challenges facing urban areas due to the growing population and to traffic congestion, resulting in environmental pressures. The pathway to urban sustainable mobility involves strengthening of intermodal mobility. The integrated use of different transport modes is getting more and more important and intermodality has been mentioned as a way for public transport compete with private cars. The aim of the current dissertation is to define a set of strategies to improve urban mobility in Lisbon and by consequence reduce the environmental impacts of transports. In order to do that several intermodal practices over Europe were analysed and the transport systems of Brussels and Lisbon were studied and compared, giving special attention to intermodal systems. In the case study was gathered data from both cities in the field, by using and observing the different transport modes, and two surveys were done to the cities users. As concluded by the study, Brussels and Lisbon present significant differences. In Brussels the measures to promote intermodality are evident, while in Lisbon a lot still needs to be done. It also made clear the necessity for improvements in Lisbon���s public transports to a more intermodal passenger transport system, through integration of different transport modes and better information and ticketing system. Some of the points requiring developments are: interchanges��� waiting areas; integration of bicycle in public transport; information about correspondences with other transport modes; real-time information to passengers pre-trip and on-trip, especially in buses and trams. After the identification of the best practices in Brussels and the weaknesses in Lisbon the possibility of applying some of the practices in Brussels to Lisbon was evaluated. Brussels demonstrated to be a good example of intermodality and for that reason some of the recommendations to improve intermodal mobility in Lisbon can follow the practices in place in Brussels.