Evidence of market anomalies in the Eurozone: A practical implementation

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Master’s Double Degree in Finance and Financial Economics from NOVA – School of Business and Economics and Maastricht University

Contribution to a strategic plan for the implementation of continuous improvement process in an MRO

This Work Project studies the Continuous Improvement and Processes (CIP) department at TAP Maintenance & Engineering. The project has the objective to provide insights to align the activities of the department with the strategy of the organization. For such, two focuses were taken: (i) an internal analysis which highlighted a need for transversal change to ensure the adoption of Continuous Improvement at TAP, and (ii) a process which outlined objectives and projects to be pursued to prioritize CIP’s activities in accordance with the organization’s goals. The outcome includes (a) important recommendations concerning strategic planning and competition evaluation and (b) a process’ output that reflects a balance among factors influencing the priority of projects.

Fruta com cheiro: The implementation of a new brand of fruit in the Portuguese market

‘’Fruta com Cheiro’’ is an idea for a new brand of fruit that would be introduced in the Portuguese market that would differentiate itself from the brands already in the market and from other non-branded fruit producers. In order to prove that the idea was valid and would have a place in the market, two methods of exploratory research were used – in-depth interviews and focus groups – to understand attitudes and behaviors regarding fruit selection and purchase and also people’s perceptions to ‘’Fruta com Cheiro’’. After these two steps, several considerations were made in relation to preliminary marketing aspects such as brand creation and positioning. There was also a final remark on the fact that this thesis is not a business plan and its purpose was to show how viable would the project be.

Analysis and implementation of a multi-ratio switched capacitor DC-DC converter for a supercapacitor power supply

An energy harvesting system requires an energy storing device to store the energy retrieved from the surrounding environment. This can either be a rechargeable battery or a supercapcitor. Due to the limited lifetime of rechargeable batteries, they need to be periodically replaced. Therefore, a supercapacitor, which has ideally a limitless number of charge/discharge cycles can be used to store the energy; however, a voltage regulator is required to obtain a constant output voltage as the supercapacitor discharges. This can be implemented by a Switched-Capacitor DC-DC converter which allows a complete integration in CMOS technology, although it requires several topologies in order to obtain a high efficiency. This thesis presents the complete analysis of four different topologies in order to determine expressions that allow to design and determine the optimum input voltage ranges for each topology. To better understand the parasitic effects, the implementation of the capacitors and the non-ideal effect of the switches, in 130 nm technology, were carefully studied. With these two analysis a multi-ratio SC DC-DC converter was designed with an output power of 2 mW, maximum efficiency of 77%, and a maximum output ripple, in the steady state, of 23 mV; for an input voltage swing of 2.3 V to 0.85 V. This proposed converter has four operation states that perform the conversion ratios of 1/2, 2/3, 1/1 and 3/2 and its clock frequency is automatically adjusted to produce a stable output voltage of 1 V. These features are implemented through two distinct controller circuits that use asynchronous time machines (ASM) to dynamically adjust the clock frequency and to select the active state of the converter. All the theoretical expressions as well as the behaviour of the whole system was verified using electrical simulations.

Social impact bond feasibility study: Children and youth at risk: the Projecto Família 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 Família’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.

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.

Uma cultura de segurança comum na UE através de um programa de formação europeu para as polícias

This master dissertation is to bring a contribution to the reflection on the need to strengthen cross-border cooperation, among the various entities applying the law with a view to building a European security culture through police training. On this basis, it proposes a reflection on the new security paradigm, focused on the demanding and informed security needs by the citizen due to an increasingly transnational crime throughout the different States. This development, coupled with globalization itself, led to the definition of strategies to gear the work of the police in preventing and combating new criminal phenomena such as the European Internal Security Strategy. However, without a true safety culture, which fosters trust among the various actors and ensures a coordinated and uniform action of the police, it will not be easy to achieve the desired effectiveness in protecting the fundamental rights that underpin European integration. Against this background, attempts to explain that the implementation of a common European training program for the police (LETS) is the way forward, with a view to a more effective security in the Union, based on values that embody a genuine European security culture, coveted by all, based on an idea of governance held at different levels of intervention, European, regional and national levels.

A formação em rastreio e intervenções breves do álcool muda as atitudes dos profissionais de saúde ocupacional? : estudo quasi experimental exploratório para uma estratégia para o meio laboral

RESUMO - Estudos anteriores nos Cuidados de Saúde Primários (CSP) apontam para um incremento da Deteção Precoce (DP) e Intervenções Breves (IB) em pacientes com Problemas Ligados ao Álcool (PLA) após formação apropriada dos profissionais de saúde (com melhoria das suas atitudes). Este estudo quasi experimental, exploratório, é pioneiro no âmbito da Saúde Ocupacional (SO) para a implementação de Rastreio/DP e IB nos PLA. O objetivo principal foi avaliar se uma formação sobre Rastreio/DP e IB pode melhorar as atitudes dos profissionais de SO ao lidar com os PLA em Meio Laboral (PLAML). Foi aplicado um questionário em duas partes: Q1/pré-formação (variáveis sociodemográficas, profissionais, competências em alcoologia, experiência pessoal com álcool/familiares com PLA, dificuldades em lidar com trabalhadores com PLA, AUDIT-C e SAAPPQ) e Q2/pós-formação (avaliação da formação e das atitudes SAAPPQ - Adequação, Legitimidade, Motivação, Autoestima e Satisfação). Os resultados na amostra (N=39) revelaram um aumento sobretudo na Adequação e Satisfação. No entanto, naqueles com níveis baixos das atitudes pré-formação constou-se melhoria das atitudes à excepção da Autoestima e foram encontradas algumas associações com as características do perfil inicial dos participantes. Sugerem-se estudos posteriores para identificação de pacotes formativos mais efetivos e propostas para um Plano integrador de RIB para PLAML

The World Health Organization Multi-Professional Patient Safety Curriculum : implementation of key modules and its impact on patient safety knowledge, skills, and attitudes of medical students at the University of Algarve

ABSTRACT - Objectives: We attempted to show how the implementation of the key elements of the World Health Organization Patient Safety Curriculum Guide Multi-professional Edition in an undergraduate curriculum affected the knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards patient safety in a graduate entry Portuguese Medical School. Methods: After receiving formal recognition by the WHO as a Complementary Test Site and approval of the organizational ethics committee , the validated pre-course questionnaires measuring the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to patient safety were administered to the 2nd and3rd year students pursuing a four-year course (N = 46). The key modules of the curriculum were implemented over the academic year by employing a variety of learning strategies including expert lecturers, small group problem-based teaching sessions, and Simulation Laboratory sessions. The identical questionnaires were then administered and the impact was measured. The Curriculum Guide was evaluated as a health education tool in this context. Results: A significant number of the respondents, 47 % (n = 22), reported having received some form of prior patient safety training. The effect on Patient Safety Knowledge was assessed by using the percentage of correct pre- and post-course answers to construct 2 × 2 contingency tables and by applying Fishers’ test (two-tailed). No significant differences were detected (p < 0.05). To assess the effect of the intervention on Patient Safety skills and attitudes, the mean and standard deviation were calculated for the pre and post-course responses, and independent samples were subjected to Mann-Whitney’s test. The attitudinal survey indicated a very high baseline incidence of desirable attitudes and skills toward patient safety. Significant changes were detected (p < 0.05) regarding what should happen if an error is made (p = 0.016), the role of healthcare organizations in error reporting (p = 0.006), and the extent of medical error (p = 0.005). Conclusions: The implementation of selected modules of the WHO Patient Safety Curriculum was associated with a number of positive changes regarding patient safety skills and attitudes, with a baseline incidence of highly desirable patient safety attitudes, but no measureable change on the patient safety knowledge, at the University of Algarve Medical School. The significance of these results is discussed along with implications and suggestions for future research.

Implementation of membrane processes for improvement of the detection of food contaminants

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 centres and universities (http://www.em3e.eu)

Rely-guarantee protocols for safe interference over shared memory

Mutable state can be useful in certain algorithms, to structure programs, or for efficiency purposes. However, when shared mutable state is used in non-local or nonobvious ways, the interactions that can occur via aliases to that shared memory can be a source of program errors. Undisciplined uses of shared state may unsafely interfere with local reasoning as other aliases may interleave their changes to the shared state in unexpected ways. We propose a novel technique, rely-guarantee protocols, that structures the interactions between aliases and ensures that only safe interference is possible. We present a linear type system outfitted with our novel sharing mechanism that enables controlled interference over shared mutable resources. Each alias is assigned separate, local roles encoded in a protocol abstraction that constrains how an alias can legally use that shared state. By following the spirit of rely-guarantee reasoning, our rely-guarantee protocols ensure that only safe interference can occur but still allow many interesting uses of shared state, such as going beyond invariant and monotonic usages. This thesis describes the three core mechanisms that enable our type-based technique to work: 1) we show how a protocol models an alias’s perspective on how the shared state evolves and constrains that alias’s interactions with the shared state; 2) we show how protocols can be used while enforcing the agreed interference contract; and finally, 3) we show how to check that all local protocols to some shared state can be safely composed to ensure globally safe interference over that shared memory. The interference caused by shared state is rooted at how the uses of di↵erent aliases to that state may be interleaved (perhaps even in non-deterministic ways) at run-time. Therefore, our technique is mostly agnostic as to whether this interference was the result of alias interleaving caused by sequential or concurrent semantics. We show implementations of our technique in both settings, and highlight their di↵erences. Because sharing is “first-class” (and not tied to a module), we show a polymorphic procedure that enables abstract compositions of protocols. Thus, protocols can be specialized or extended without requiring specific knowledge of the interference produce by other protocols to that state. We show that protocol composition can ensure safety even when considering abstracted protocols. We show that this core composition mechanism is sound, decidable (without the need for manual intervention), and provide an algorithm implementation.