Why and how projects in organizations differ? The example of Portuguese profit and non-profit organizations

This research has as a goal to give an overview of what Project Management is in Portugal. The purpose is not to focus on a small picture, but to understand the broad concept and perception of Project Management in Portugal in two very important sectors: Profit- and Non-Profit Sector. Both Profit- and Non-Profit project managers have been interviewed, giving an insight of how different projects are in both sectors and why. This paper will be especially helpful comparing the Project Management maturity of Portugal to other countries regarding these two different point of views.

Product extension services deployment platform

Due to the progresses made in the branch of embedded technologies, manufacturers are becoming able to pack their shop floor level manufacturing resources with even more complex functionalities. This technological progression is radically changing the way production systems are designed and deployed, as well as, monitored and controlled. The dissemination of smart devices inside production processes confers new visibility on the production system while enabling for a more efficient and effective management of the operations. By turning the current manufacturing resources functionalities into services based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), in order to expose them as a service to the user, the binomial manufacturing resource/service will push the entire manufacturing enterprise visibility to another level while enabling the global optimization of the operations and processes of a production system while, at the same time, supporting its accommodation to the operational spike easily and with reduced impact on production. The present work implements a Cloud Manufacturing infrastructure for achieving the resource/service value-added i.e. to facilitate the creation of services that are the composition of currently available atomic services. In this context, manufacturing resource virtualization (i.e. formalization of resources capabilities into services accessible inside and outside the enterprise) and semantic representation/description are the pillars for achieving resource service composition. In conclusion, the present work aims to act on the manufacturing resource layer where physical resources and shop floor capabilities are going to be provided to the user as a SaaS (Software as a Service) and/or IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

Estudo sobre o Grau de Integração de Organizações de Saúde – EGIOS II

RESUMO - O movimento de integração dos cuidados de saúde tem como objectivo a procura de modelos de prestação de cuidados mais compreensivos, integrados e continuados. A determinação do grau de integração de cuidados pode ser realizada a partir da percepção dos profissionais de saúde, sendo os inquéritos por questionários uma fonte comummente utilizada neste tipo de estudos. O presente estudo, designado por EGIOS II, tem como objetivos: a) determinar o grau de percepção de integração, dos profissionais das Unidades Locais de Saúde; b) comparar a percepção do grau de integração dos profissionais entre 2010 e 2015; c) comparar a percepção do grau de integração dos profissionais que trabalham nas Unidades Locais de Saúde e em instituições não organizadas em Unidades Locais de Saúde; e d) identificar as áreas de maior e menor percepção de integração. O instrumento de recolha de dados utilizado, foi um inquérito por questionário, que pretende avaliar a percepção do grau de integração dos profissionais de acordo com as dimensões clínica, informação, normativa, administrativa, financeira e sistémica, em 53 itens. O inquérito foi estruturalmente adaptado do Health System Integration Study, tendo apresentado validade e fiabilidade. O inquérito foi aplicado em 22 instituições, a nível nacional, Unidades Locais de Saúde e a Centros Hospitalares / Hospitais e Agrupamentos de Centros de Saúde. A caraterização EGIOS II dividiu-se em quatro fases: preparação e envio dos ofícios; identificação dos interlocutores; envio dos inquéritos; e avaliação dos resultados. O inquérito apresentou uma taxa de resposta de 27%, representando 2085 respostas ao inquérito. Pode afirmar-se que globalmente o estudo apresenta representatividade estatística, com um intervalo de confiança de 95%. Os resultados indicam que os profissionais das Unidades Locais de Saúde em 2015 reportam maiores níveis de percepção de integração, quando comparados os dados com o estudo de 2010. Acrescenta-se que os profissionais das Unidades Locais de Saúde têm um maior grau de percepção de integração, do que os profissionais dos Centros Hospitalares / Hospitais e Agrupamentos de Centros de Saúde, não organizados em ULS. As dimensões administrativa, financeira e clínica são as que apresentam um menor grau de percepção de integração e as dimensões normativa e informação uma maior percepção de integração. Os órgãos de administração e órgãos de gestão intermédia apresentam uma percepção de integração superior comparativamente aos médicos e enfermeiros dos serviços hospitalares e cuidados de saúde primários. Foram identificadas nove recomendações que poderão servir como base para um plano de ação subsequente do presente estudo ou para aplicação em futuros estudos. Este estudo pode auxiliar no diagnóstico de problemas e barreiras da integração de cuidados, em que serviços atuar e ainda, identificar quais as estratégias e processos a priorizar de forma a melhorar a integração de cuidados de saúde.

The effect of energy and traffic light labeling on parents purchasing decisions of cereals for their children

Objective: Nutritional labeling systems are considered a tool to fight obesity since they aim to contribute for more informed food choices as well as assist consumers to make healthier nutrition options and in this manner, contribute to a decrease in the obesity rate. This study intends to analyze the effect of different types of labeling systems on parents’ purchasing decisions for their children on a specific product: breakfast cereals. More precisely, how labels affect parents’ perception of healthiness regarding cereals and if the nutritional information has an effect on intended purchases for their children. Participants and methods: We conducted a study with 135 Portuguese parents of children aged 4 to12 years. Parents answered a questionnaire with one of three hypothetical cereals menus. Menus only differed in their nutritional labeling technique: no labels (control group), reference intake labels or traffic light labels. In addition, we conducted 20 face-to-face interviews to a different group of parents in order to perform a recall task. Findings: This paper provides no evidence to suggest that energy labeling or traffic light labeling systems alone were successful in helping parents making healthy purchases of cereals for their children. Therefore, there is the need to promote supplementary policies to encourage the consumption of healthier food and help fight obesity.

The names of things: terminology and the practice of art history

This paper aims to explore the ways in which standard art history terminology shapes the practice of art history by conditioning the interpretation of specific works of art and, in certain cases, the definition of a research subject (especially where questions of genre and periodization are concerned). Taking as a case study a painting by Georges de La Tour, the Peasant Couple Eating, I will argue that terms such as realism, realistic, naturalistic etc. used for its description and/or interpretation, far from constituting objective stylistic characterizations, shape our perception of the work in question. Bringing the question of social class to the center of the discourse on realism, I propose to show how the social divide between the painter and his subject matter (in this case, the peasants) is internalized in the painting’s style and meaning, and how it is fundamental for the understanding of its intentionality and function.

Development and modulation of magnetic responsive supported ionic liquid membranes

The work presented in this thesis aims at developing a new separation process based on the application of supported magnetic ionic liquid membranes, SMILMs, using magnetic ionic liquids, MILs. MILs have attracted growing interest due to their ability to change their physicochemical characteristics when exposed to variable magnetic field conditions. The magnetic responsive behavior of MILs is thus expected to contribute for the development of more efficient separation processes, such as supported liquid membranes, where MILs may be used as a selective carrier. Driven by the MILs behavior, these membranes are expected to switch reversibly their permeability and selectivity by in situ and non-invasive adjustment of the conditions (e.g. intensity, direction vector and uniformity) of an external applied magnetic field. The development of these magnetic responsive membrane processes were anticipated by studies, performed along the first stage of this PhD work, aiming at getting a deep knowledge on the influence of magnetic field on MILs properties. The influence of the magnetic field on the molecular dynamics and structural rearrangement of MILs ionic network was assessed through a 1H-NMR technique. Through the 1H-NMR relaxometry analysis it was possible to estimate the self-diffusion profiles of two different model MILs, [Aliquat][FeCl4] and [P66614][FeCl4]. A comparative analysis was established between the behavior of magnetic and non-magnetic ionic liquids, MILs and ILs, to facilitate the perception of the magnetic field impact on MILs properties. In contrast to ILs, MILs show a specific relaxation mechanism, characterized by the magnetic dependence of their self-diffusion coefficients. MILs self-diffusion coefficients increased in the presence of magnetic field whereas ILs self-diffusion was not affected. In order to understand the reasons underlying the magnetic dependence of MILs self-diffusion, studies were performed to investigate the influence of the magnetic field on MILs’ viscosity. It was observed that the MIL´s viscosity decreases with the increase of the magnetic field, explaining the increase of MILs self-diffusion according to the modified Stokes- Einstein equation. Different gas and liquid transport studies were therefore performed aiming to determine the influence of the magnetic behavior of MILs on solute transport through SMILMs. Gas permeation studies were performed using pure CO2 andN2 gas streams and air, using a series of phosphonium cation based MILs, containing different paramagnetic anions. Transport studies were conducted in the presence and absence of magnetic field at a maximum intensity of 1.5T. The results revealed that gas permeability increased in the presence of the magnetic field, however, without affecting the membrane selectivity. The increase of gas permeability through SMILMs was related to the decrease of the MILs viscosity under magnetic field conditions.(...)

Os médicos do trabalho e a nova organização da saúde e segurança do trabalho : quais as consequências na prática profissional? António de Sousa Uv

RESUMO - Em 1994/1995 o modelo legal de organização de serviços de Medicina do Trabalho instituído na década de 1960 foi substituído por uma nova superestrutura de serviços de Segurança, Higiene e Saúde dos Trabalhadores (SHST) nos locais de trabalho. O presente estudo pretende descrever e analisar em que medida o novo enquadramento jurídico de SHST, iniciado em 1994/1995 e correspondente genericamente à fase da Nova Saúde Ocupacional, foi acompanhado de alterações: (1) na percepção do grau de satisfação dos médicos do trabalho quanto ao seu papel e estatuto profissionais e (2) nas repercussões na sua prática profissional. O presente estudo (empírico, descritivo e comparativo) abrangeu um grupo de médicos do trabalho diplomados pela Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública (n = 153), de quem se recolheu, através de um questionário aplicado em 1993 e 2000, a opinião sobre as mudanças organizacionais da SHST. O papel e funções dos médicos do trabalho e as garantias de exercício profissional não se alteraram de forma importante, tendo a prática profissional da medicina do trabalho na modalidade «medicina do trabalho de empresa» (serviços internos e externos) diminuído, apesar de continuar a ser a forma de exercício predominante dos médicos do trabalho. O tempo dedicado à sua actividade situou-se num valor médio próximo das 20 horas semanais, sem alterações importantes entre 1993 e 2000. Concluiu-se que, no essencial, a publicação da nova legislação sobre organização de cuidados de MT/SHST/SO em 1994 e 1995 não reforçou significativamente as condições gerais de exercício da medicina do trabalho.