Industrial symbiosis potential of the Sines oil refinery ��� environmental and economic evaluation

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente ��� Perfil Gest��o e Sistemas Ambientais

Mental health care assessed based on structure, process and outcome : a retrospective cohort study

RESUMO: As doen��as mentais s��o comuns, universais e associadas a uma significativa sobrecarga pessoal, familiar, social e econ��mica. Os Servi��os de Sa��de Mental devem abordar de forma adequada as necessidades dos pacientes e familiares tanto ao n��vel cl��nico como tamb��m ao n��vel social. O presente estudo foi realizado num per��odo de grande transforma����o nos sistemas de sa��de prim��rio e de sa��de mental em Portugal, num Departamento de Psiquiatria desenvolvido com base nos princ��pios da OMS. Os objectivos incluem a caracteriza����o: 1) das Unidades Funcionais do Departamento; 2) dos pacientes internados pela primeira vez no internamento de agudos; 3) da utiliza����o dos servi��os nas equipas comunit��rias ap��s a alta; e 4) da avalia����o de alguns dos indicadores de qualidade do departamento, com recurso ao modelo de Donabedian sobre a articula����o entre a Estrutura-Processo-Resultados. Metodologia: Foi escolhido um estudo de coorte retrospectivo. Todos os pacientes internados pela primeira vez entre 2008 e 2010 foram inclu��dos no estudo. Os seus processos cl��nicos e a base de dados do hospital onde s��o registados todos os contactos que estes tiveram com os profissionais de sa��de mental foram revistos de forma a obter dados sociodemogr��ficos e cl��nicos, durante o per��odo do estudo e ap��s a alta. Os instrumentos utilizados foram o WHO-ICMHC (Classifica����o Internacional de Cuidados de Sa��de Mental), para caracterizar o Departamento, o AIESMP (Avalia����o Inicial de Enfermagem em Sa��de Mental e Psiquiatria) para recolha dos dados sociodemogr��ficos, e o VSSS (Escala de Satisfa����o com os Servi��os de Verona) de forma a avaliar a satisfa����o dos pacientes em rela����o aos cuidados recebidos. A an��lise estat��stica incluiu a an��lise descritiva, quantitativa e qualitativa dos dados. Resultados: As Unidades Funcionais do Departamento revelaram n��veis elevados de articula����o e consist��ncia com as necessidades de cuidados psiqui��tricos e reabilita����o psicossocial dos pacientes. Os 543 pacientes admitidos pela primeira vez eram maioritariamente (56.9%) mulheres, caucasianas (81.2%), com diagn��stico de perturba����es do humor (66.3%), internadas voluntariamente (59.7%), e uma idade m��dia de 45.1 anos. Estas eram significativamente mais velhas, mais frequentemente empregadas, casadas/coabitar e tinham uma preval��ncia mais elevada de perturba����es do humor, comparativamente aos homens. O internamento compulsivo era mais significativo nos homens (54.7%). A taxa de abandono no p��s-alta (4.2%) e a taxa de reinternamentos (2.9%) na quinzena ap��s a alta revelaram-se inferiores aos padr��es na literatura internacional. De forma global, a satisfa����o dos pacientes com os cuidados de sa��de mental foi positiva. Conclus��es: Os cuidados prestados mostraram-se eficazes, adaptados e baseados nas necessidades e problemas espec��ficos dos pacientes. A continuidade e a abrang��ncia de cuidados foram difundidos e mantidos ao longo do processo de cuidados. Este Departamento pode ser considerado um exemplo de como proporcionar tratamento digno e eficiente, e uma refer��ncia para futuros servi��os de psiquiatria.-------------- ABSTRACT: Mental health disorders are common, universal, and associated with heavy personal, family, social and economic burden. Mental health services should be aimed at adequately addressing patients��� and families��� needs at clinical and social level. The current study was carried out at a time of great transformation in the health and mental health systems in Portugal, in a Psychiatric Department developed taking in consideration the WHO principles. The objectives included characterizing: 1) the Psychiatric Department���s different units; 2) the patients admitted for the first time to the inpatient unit; 3) their use of community mental health services after discharge; and 4) assessing some of the department���s quality indicators, with resource to Donabedian���s Structure-Process-Outcome model. Methodology: A retrospective cohort design was chosen. All the firstly admitted patients in the period between 2008 and 2010 were included in the study. Their clinical records and the hospital���s database which registers all of the contacts the patients had with the mental health professionals during the study period, were reviewed to retrieve sociodemographic and clinical data and information on follow-up. The instruments used were the WHO International Classification of Mental Health Care (ICMHC) to characterize the department, the Initial Nurses��� Assessment in Mental Health and Psychiatry (AIESMP) for patients��� sociodemographic data, and the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale (VSSS) to assess patients��� satisfaction with care received. Statistical analysis included descriptive, quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data. Results: The Department���s Functional units revealed high levels of articulation, and were consistent with patients��� needs for psychiatric care and psychosocial rehabilitation. The 543 patients firstly admitted were mainly (56.9%) female, Caucasian (81.2%), diagnosed with mood disorders (66.3%), voluntarily admitted (59.7%), and with a mean age of 45.1 years. Female patients were significantly older, more frequently employed, married/cohabiting and had a higher prevalence of mood disorders when compared to males. Involuntary admission was more significant in males (54.7%). Dropout rates during follow-up (4.2%) and readmission rates (2.9%) in the fortnight following discharge were lower than standards in international literature. Overall patients��� satisfaction with mental health care was positive. Conclusions: The care delivered was effective, adapted and based on the patients��� specific needs and problems. Continuity and comprehensiveness of care was endorsed and maintained throughout the care process. This department may be considered an example of both humane and effective treatment, and a reference for future psychiatric care.

InnovationCity Ruhr: a prime example for social and technological innovation

The project ���InnovationCity Ruhr��� deals with the reconstruction of the city of Bottrop with regard to energy saving measures. The aim is to make the city more environmental friendly in order to create a model for other industrial cities. Until the conclusion of the project in the year 2020, it is planned to change the surface of Bottrop in several positive ways. This paper focuses on the description of the project to give the reader an example of what exactly is done within the scope of InnovationCity Ruhr. Besides that, the link to the subject of sociology shall be given in order to show that the project is a prime example for social innovation.

Life cycle and reproductive patterns of Triatoma rubrovaria (Blanchard, 1843) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) under constant and fluctuating conditions of temperature and humidity

The aim of this study was to evaluate the temperature and relative humidity influence in the life cycle, mortality and fecundity patterns of Triatoma rubrovaria. Four cohorts with 60 recently laid eggs each were conformed. The cohorts were divided into two groups. In the controlled conditions group insects were maintained in a dark climatic chamber under constant temperature and humidity, whereas triatomines of the ambiental temperature group were maintained at room temperature. Average incubation time was 15.6 days in the controlled conditions group and 19.1 days in the ambiental temperature. In group controlled conditions the time from egg to adult development lasted 10 months while group ambiental temperature took four months longer. Egg eclosion rate was 99.1% and 98.3% in controlled conditions and ambiental temperature, respectively. Total nymphal mortality in controlled conditions was 52.6% whereas in ambiental temperature was 51.8%. Mean number of eggs/female was 817.6 controlled conditions and 837.1 ambiental temperature. Fluctuating temperature and humidity promoted changes in the life cycle duration and in the reproductive performance of this species, although not in the species mortality.

How to increase and attract more tourists into Kenya throught experiental marketing

This marketing plan project is a culmination of extensive strategies with the use of experiential marketing to address issues confronting the Kenyan tourism industry in order to have a sustainable tourism sector. Following the terrorist attack carried out by Islamist militants��� belonging to al-Shabaab terrorist organization on Nairobi���s Westgate shopping mall in September 2013, tourist forecast has gone down sharply with an average of 20% fall in tourists��� arrivals which is likely to have an impact on the tourism sector in Kenya. Even before the deadly attack on Westgate, the most lethal attack by Islamist terrorists in 15 years in Kenya, the government through the Kenya tourist board had announced that in 2013 tourist arrivals were down by 12%, at 495,978, according to an October 2013 report by Bloomberg. Tourism revenues were also down by 7.4%, over FY12/13 (July-June) to reach KES96.24bn, according to a September 2013 report on the local Capital FM website. Beyond 2013, much will depend on how quickly the Kenya tourist board can regain control of the situation. The Kenyan government believes that the Westgate mall attack was a 'one-off' incident, with a low probability of a similar event happening again over the short term period. Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, France and Canada continue to be the key source market however; the Kenya tourist board can make continued growth stronger from new emerging markets in order to increase new arrivals into the country. The marketing plan outlines the objectives to be implemented and provides the implementation strategy, activity plans, monitoring and evaluation plans, financial requirements projections and proposes a new structure of experiential marketing. A number of regional forces are identified that will impact tourism into the country including global, social and economic forces, emerging trends in visitor motivations and behavior, emerging forces in experiential marketing. A major component of the strategy identifies target markets for Kenya to commensurate with the level of resources that will be available for marketing and promotion, in keeping with the forces and trends identified and the nature of the Kenya tourism environment. The agreed upon target market segments are: generic/mass travel, experiential travel, creative travel, adventure seeking travel, senior/extended/long stay travel, and business related travel. The strategy phases the development of the target markets over the years of the marketing strategies in order to yield the best opportunity for results. A core activity in developing a marketing strategy is determining the nature of experiences Kenya offers in tourism. The strategy���s experience development process will continue to develop within the context of the products identified which will be promoted regionally: culture/heritage, nature, community-based. Each county in the country has a significant number of attractions and experiences and the challenge of the country is to bring these together in a creative and innovative way in order to encourage tourists to visit more than one county in Kenya.

Financial depth, stock markets and economic growth in the EU-15 countries

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of financial depth on economic growth in the EU-15 countries from 1970 until 2012, using the two-step System GMM estimator. Even though it might be expected a positive impact, the results show it is negative and sometimes even negative and statistically significant. Among the reasons presented for this, the existence of banking crises seems to better explain these results. In tranquil periods, financial deepening appears to have a positive impact, whereas in banking crises it is persistently negative and statistically significant. Also, after an assessment of the impact of stock markets on economic growth, it appears that more developed countries in the EU-15 have an economy more reliant on this segment of the financial system rather than in bank intermediation.

The effect of social and environmental sustainability on firm resilience

Double degree

Breaking the Pattern and Creating New Paths ��� Feminist Mizrahi Women Artists in Israel

This article addresses the work of Mizrahi women artists, i.e., Israeli-Jewish women of Asian or African ethnic origin, using the artist Vered Nissim as a case study. Nissim seeks to affirm the politics of identity and recognition, as well as feminism in order to create a paradigm shift with regards to the local regime of cultural representations in the Israeli art scene. Endeavouring to find ways of undermining the rigid imbalances between different social groups, she calls for a comprehensive reform of the status quo through artistic activism. Nissim employs a style, content, and medium that disrupts the accepted social order, using humour and irony as unique weapons with which she takes liberties with conventional moral, social, and economic values. Placing issues of race, class and gender at the centre of her work, she seeks to undermine and problematize essentialist attitudes, highlighting the political intersections of different identity categories as the critical analysis of intersectionality unfolds.

Literacy practices in adult learning biographies: possibilities and constraints

[Extrat] The answer to the social and economic challenges that it is assumed literacy (or its lack) puts to developed countries deeply concerns public policies of governments namely those of the OECD area. In the last decades, these concerns gave origin to several and diverse monitoring devices, initiatives and programmes for reading (mainly) development, putting a strong stress on education. UNESCO (2006, p. 6), for instance, assumes that the literacy challenge can only be met raising the quality of primary and secondary education and intensifying programmes explicitly oriented towards youth and adult literacy. (...)

Analysis and selection of indicators for a sustainability assessment method for school buildings based on SBTool ��� PT

Nowadays, the sustainability of buildings has an extreme importance. This concept goes towards the European aims of the Program Horizon 2020, which concerns about the reduction of the environmental impacts through such aspects as the energy efficiency and renewable technologies, among others. Sustainability is an extremely broad concept but, in this work, it is intended to include the concept of sustainability in buildings. Within the concept that aims the integration of environmental, social and economic levels towards the preservation of the planet and the integrity of the users, there are, currently, several types of tools of environmental certification that are applicable to the construction industry (LEED, BREEAM, DGNB, SBTool, among others). Within this context, it is highlighted the tool SBTool (Sustainable Building Tool) that is employed in several countries and can be subject to review in institutions of basic education, which are the base for the formation of the critical masses and for the development of a country. The main aim of this research is to select indicators that can be used in a methodology for sustainability assessment (SBTool) of school buildings in Portugal and in Brazil. In order to achieve it, it will also be analyzed other methodologies that already incorporate parameters directly related with the schools environment, such as BREEAM or LEED.

Comparison of oleate conversion under microaerophilic and anaerobic conditions

Excessive accumulation of Long Chain Fatty Acids (LCFA) in methanogenic bioreactors is the cause of process failure associated to a severe decrease in methane production. In particular, fast and persistent accumulation of palmitate is critical and still not elucidated. Aerobes or facultative anaerobes were detected in those reactors, raising new questions on LCFA biodegradation. To get insight into the influence of oxygen, two bioreactors were operated under microaerophilic and anaerobic conditions, with oleate at 1 and 4 gCOD/(L d). Palmitate accumulated up to 2 and 16 gCOD/L in the anaerobic and microaerophilic reactor, respectively, which shows the importance of oxygen in this conversion. A second experiment was designed to understand the dynamics of oleate to palmitate conversion. A CSTR and a PFR were assembled in series and fed with oleate under microaerophilic conditions. HRT from 6 to 24 h were applied in the CSTR, and 14 to 52 min in the PFR. In the PFR a biofilm was formed where palmitate accounted for 82% of total LCFA. Pseudomonas was the predominant genus (42 %) in this biofilm, highlighting the role of aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria in LCFA bioconversion.

Social entrepreneurship: does institutional environment make a difference?

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the link between social entrepreneurs and institutional environment in Portugal. A quantitative approach is used in the study, and primary data were collected through an online survey. A questionnaire was emailed to, both, Portuguese Non-Governmental organizations and projects available on the Portuguese social stock exchange. In the analysis of the data were used descriptive statistics, factorial analysis and t-student tests to validate (or not) the research hypotheses. The results show that a favorable institutional environment has a low importance in the decision to develop social initiatives. This conclusion supports the idea that many social entrepreneurs can emerge even in developing regions where the institutional environment is weak. Therefore, social entrepreneurship could be an instrument of regional development and contribute to attenuate the social and economic differences among Portuguese regions.

Self-compacting concrete and conventional concrete in the arena Pernambuco: comparative study of durability indicators and economic feasibility

This study addressed the application, strength and durability of self-compacting concrete (SCC) in a large-scale construction site, comparing its performance with vibrated conventional concrete (CC) with similar characteristics, assessing its economic feasibility. The studies were undertaken in the Arena Pernambuco project and involved the concreting during May, June and July 2012, for data collection, accompanying the routine concrete control tests and performing specific strength and durability tests. The SCC compressive strength was on average 4.5% higher than the CC one, and its formwork reinforced to withstand greater lateral pressure of the fresh concrete. The durability indicators results were in favour of SCC, which cost was 13.5% higher than CC.

Development of folate-targeted liposomes for rheumatoid arthritis therapy

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia Molecular e Ambiental (��rea de especializa����o em Biologia Celular e Sa��de).

Utentes da Consulta Externa de Ginecologia/Obstetr��cia da Maternidade J��lio Dinis

Com o objectivo de fazer a caracteriza����o da situa����o social e demogr��fica e das condi����es de sa��de m��dica e psicol��gica das utentes da Consulta Externa de Ginecologia/Obstret��cia da Maternidade J��lio Dinis e de seus companheiros, duzentas mulheres e cento e setenta e cinco homens (N=375) foram entrevistados com base num question��rio desenhado para o efeito, durante o primeiro trimestre de gesta����o. Observamos o desfavorecimento social e econ��mico da amostra, particularmente no grupo das mulheres. Constatamos que a situa����o matrimonial e familiar �� est��vel; no entanto, muitos agregados familiares s��o recentes, incluem outros familiares e este �� um primeiro filho do casal. A rede de apoio social e emocional da amostra �� geralmente constitu��da por familiares, estando mais presente para as mulheres do que para os homens e muitas vezes o companheiro n��o �� referido como confidente, sobretudo pelas mulheres. A gesta����o n��o �� geralmente de risco; n��o obstante, a presen��a frequente de problemas psicol��gicos uma pior aceita����o inicial da gravidez no caso das mulheres. Os h��bitos de vida tornam-se mais saud��veis com a gesta����o; no entanto, �� ainda elevado o consumo de subst��ncias, como o tabaco, pela gr��vida. Problemas ginecol��gicos e obst��tricos foram referidos, assim como a presen��a de adversidades na hist��ria psicol��gica e desenvolvimental dos participantes. Conclu��mos que as utentes da Consulta Externa de Ginecologia/Obstetr��cia da Maternidade J��lio Dinis e seus companheiros apresentam indicadores relevantes de risco m��dico, psicol��gico e social que devem ser considerados na presta����o de melhores cuidados de sa��de.