Electoral opportunism and fiscal policy before and after the EMU

A Masters Thesis, presented as part of the requirements for the award of a Research Masters Degree in Economics from NOVA – School of Business and Economics

English Language Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom in Portugal

This study investigates the way of learning the English language in Portugal. First-year students of the faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of New University of Lisbon were selected as participants in the case study. As data collection tools a questionnaire and focus-groups were used. 115 students completed the designed questionnaire and after that 12 students were selected for the more detailed focus-group discussions. Results of the research show that most part of the students´ English knowledge is received from outside the classroom by means of movies, songs, computer games, the Internet, communication with friends and other sources. Also, the results show that motivation is very important in language learning process and motivated students acquire the language faster and easier.

PROTEIN FOLDING AND DISEASE THE MITOCHONDRIAL PROTEIN FRATAXIN

This dissertation focuses on the study of frataxin, a small mitochondrial protein whose deficiency is associated with the neurodegenerative disease Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Aiming at a better understanding of frataxin conformational and functional properties, two lines of research were followed: first, the effect of FRDA-related mutations in human frataxin (FXN) were studied and the role of oxidative stress related modification addressed; second, yeast frataxin (Yfh1) orthologue was used to explore the conformational and functional properties of the protein.(...)

Marketing plan: How to benefit from the European population ageing and attract the affluent senior segment to choose Lisbon as a tourism destination?

NSBE - UNL

Epidemiological profile of meningococcal disease in the State of Minas Gerais and in the Central, North, and Triângulo Mineiro regions, Brazil, during 2000-2009

INTRODUCTION: Infection by Neisseria meningitidis, termed as meningococcal disease, can cause meningococcal meningitis and septicemia with or without meningitis. Meningococcal disease is endemic in Brazil and has a high potential to cause large-scale epidemics; therefore, it requires the immediate notification of cases to the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) in Brazil. The aim of this study was to describe an epidemiological profile using data from notified and confirmed cases in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from January 2000 to December 2009, obtained from the investigation records of individuals with meningitis registered with SINAN. METHODS: This was a retrospective, population-based study. Descriptive analysis of the data was made using the simple and relative frequencies of the categorical variables in the investigation records. RESULTS: There were 1,688 confirmed patients in Minas Gerais of which 45.5% lived in the Central, North, and Triângulo Mineiro regions. The highest frequencies of cases were in the 1-4-years age group (26.3%), males (54.7%), caucasian (36.4%), and lived in an urban area (80%). In the patients with specified education, 650 (60.9%) patients had secondary education. Serogrouping of meningococci had been performed in 500 (29.6%) patients by age and gender; 285 (57%) belonged to serogroup C, 67 (13.4%) were in the 1-to 4-years age group, and 168 (33.6%) were male. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiological profiles of patients in the Central, North, and Triângulo Mineiro regions were not significantly different from the profile of patients in Minas Gerais.

(Un)ethical leadership, organizational identification and sensemaking: the BES case and its impact on employees

This paper provides an ongoing analysis to one of the biggest ethical and financial scandals in Portugal – Banco Espírito Santo (BES). BES was considered one of the three best banks but it went bankrupted and its employees were transferred to a new entity – Novo Banco. This study was conducted in order to provide an understanding of the employees’ side, which has been forgotten so far. An ethical scandal (sensebreaking) creates ambiguity and uncertainty which triggers new sensemaking processes in order to understand and derive meaning from the new reality. The methodology followed was semi-structured interviews to employees both from the branches and the central services. We found evidence that in organizations with strong identification, unethical behavior has a significant impact on followers’ – the new process of sensemaking is particularly important in this situation because employees suffer more from the disruption of their reality.

Mohammad Yunus and microfinance: The creation of a glocal marketspace

This paper reveals how Grameen has been following a Glocal vision in microfinance and defends that following such will ultimately benefit the social and financial objectives of microfinance institutions. Furthermore, this study identified that microfinance institutions are facing various environmental and organizational constraints in the implementation of a Glocal approach. The research follows a case-study methodology and makes a comparison between Grameen Bank, two of its replicator programs in Pakistan and India and two microfinance organizations in Portugal and France.

Molecular characterization of group A rotavirus before and after the introduction of vaccines in Brazil

ABSTRACTINTRODUCTION:In this study, the molecular characteristics of group A rotavirus (RVA) were compared in samples obtained before and after RVA vaccine-introduction in Brazil.METHODS:Eighty samples were screened for the presence of RVA. Positive samples were molecularly analyzed.RESULTS:RVA positivity was 16.9%, with a predominance of G2P[4]. Periods: pre-vaccination: predominance of IId (G1), IId (G2) lineages, and I1 and E1 genotypes; post-vaccination: predominance of Ib (G1), IIa, and IIc (G2) lineages and I2 and E2 genotypes.CONCLUSIONS:Although changes in RVA-circulation pattern were observed in the post-vaccination period, it could not be attributed to vaccination process.

Share and Strife - The Strait of Melaka and the Portuguese (16th and 17th centuries)

The Strait of Melaka is the longest strait in the world, stretching for about 800 km from the northern tip of Sumatra to Singapore. It exhibits a dual character like no other, being simultaneously a privileged linking passage of two seas and two knots of human civilization – India and China – and a »bottleneck« that constrains the maritime connections between them. Today, the latter aspect is globally dominant. The strait is considered and analysed mostly as an obstacle rather than a linking point: how to reach China from the West or elsewhere is no longer an issue, but securing the vital flows that pass into the strait on a daily basis undoubtedly is. Accidents, natural catastrophes, political local crises or terrorist attacks are permanent dangers that could cut this umbilical cord of world trade and jeopardize a particularly sensitive and vulnerable area; piracy and pollution are the most common local threats and vulnerabilities.

Lovers and Madmen: The Μανία-Φρονεῖν Opposition in Plato’s Phaedrus

In this thesis we propose to examine the first half of the Phaedrus (sc. until the end of the palinode) in light of the opposition between the notions of μανία and φρονεῖν, as they are explicitly and implicitly presented in the erotic speeches. These are read in dialogue with what we have designated as the “implicit speech” or “speeches”, i.e., the plurality of conceptions regarding ἔρως, μανία and φρονεῖν that were part of Ancient Greek culture. Our reading of the two speeches against ἔρως, Lysias’ and Socrates’ first speech, engages with this cultural background, and extracts a conception of μανία and φρονεῖν with which the palinode will primarily confront. Our reading of the palinode divides it into two sections: the first, the presentation of the first three kinds of beneficial μανία; the second, the mythical narrative that deals with erotic μανία. We emphasise the existence of a wide gulf between these two moments in terms of their ontological, theological and anthropological conceptions. The second section of the palinode is revolutionary not only in contrast with the “implicit speech” and the speeches against ἔρως, but also in contrast with the very beginning of the palinode – which preserves many of the conceptions and assumptions found in the previous speeches and in the cultural tradition. It is in order to explain the foundation, meaning and significance of this gulf that we explore and discuss the notion of ὑπόθεσις and its role as an implicit operator in the Phaedrus. From our reading of the second part of the palinode, it is clear how the introduction of the ὑπερουράνιος τόπος brings about a radical revision of the perspectives on the nature of reality and on human nature and condition that were implicit in the previous speeches and in the first part of the palinode. We show that the ὑπερουράνιος τόπος corresponds to the projection of a multiplicity of cognitive and desiderative requirements that our normal perspective demands, but cannot possibly satisfy. In other words, our perspective is shown to be living beyond its means, yearning for something that by far exceeds what it can get in its de facto condition: the superlative. This results in a major revision of the understanding of φρονεῖν and μανία – a revision that challenges the traditional understanding of these two notions as binary opposites, thereby revealing a much more complex landscape.

The trading relationship between the EU and Mercosur: the mediatory role of Brazil

Dissertação de mestrado em European and Transglobal Business Law

Illustrations of the botany and other branches of the natural history of the Himalayan Mountains :and of the flora of Cashmere /by J. Forbes Royle.

v. 2 Plates

Illustrations of the botany and other branches of the natural history of the Himalayan Mountains :and of the flora of Cashmere /by J. Forbes Royle.

v. 1 Text

An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British possessions : from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian / by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Hon. Addison Brown.

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