Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2021-03"
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- A Two-Stage DEA Model to Evaluate the Technical Eco-Efficiency Indicator in the EU CountriesPublication . Moutinho, Victor; Madaleno, MaraThis paper evaluates the evolution of eco-efficiency for the 27 European Union (EU) countries over the period 2008–2018, provided the traditional high concerns of the EU concerning the economic growth-environmental performance relationship. The EU has triggered several initiatives and regulations regarding environmental protection over the years, but as well the Sustainable Development Goals demand it. Under this setting, we conduct a two-stage analysis, which computes eco-efficiency scores in the first stage for each of the pairs EU 27-year, through the nonparametric method data envelopment analysis (DEA), considering the ratio GDP per capita and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). In the second stage, scores are used as a dependent variable in the proposed fractional regression model (FRM), whose determinants considered were eight pollutants (three greenhouse gases and five atmospheric pollutants). CO2/area and N2O/area effects are negative and significant, improving the eco-efficiency of the EU 27 countries. When the efficient European countries are excluded from the estimations, the results evidence that CO2/area and CH4/area decrease the DEA score. The country with the lowest GHG emissions and pollutant gases was Ireland, being the country within the considered period that mostly reduced emissions, particularly SOx and PM10, increasing its score.
- Analysis of the New Kuznets Relationship: Considering Emissions of Carbon, Methanol, and Nitrous Oxide Greenhouse Gases - Evidence from EU CountriesPublication . Madaleno, Mara; Moutinho, VictorDecreased greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are urgently needed in view of global health threat represented by climate change. The goal of this paper is to test the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, considering less common measures of environmental burden. For that, four different estimations are done, one considering total GHG emissions, and three more taking into account, individually, the three main GHG gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane gas (CH4)—considering the oldest and most recent economies adhering to the EU27 (the EU 15 (Old Europe) and the EU 12 (New Europe)) separately. Using panel dynamic fixed effects (DFE), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS), and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) techniques, we validate the existence of a U-shaped relationship for all emission proxies considered, and groups of countries in the short-run. Some evidence of this effect also exists in the long-run. However, we were only able to validate the EKC hypothesis for the short-run in EU 12 under DOLS and the short and long-run using FMOLS. Confirmed is the fact that results are sensitive to models and measures adopted. Externalization of problems globally takes a longer period for national policies to correct, turning global measures harder and local environmental proxies more suitable to deeply explore the EKC hypothesis.
- The promise of prodrugs and nanosystems in nose-to-brain delivery of poorly soluble drugsPublication . Pires, Patrícia Sofia Cabral; Santos, Adriana Oliveira dos; Alves, Gilberto Lourenço; Rodrigues, Márcio José de Abreu MarquesIn brain-targeted drug delivery, the intranasal route can be a good alternative to parenteral administration. In addition to being associated with a greater comfort for the patient, intranasal drug delivery can reduce systemic drug distribution, resulting in an increased safety, and can allow direct drug transport to the brain, resulting in an increased therapeutic efficacy. For example, benzodiazepines administration for the treatment of acute epileptic episodes has been proven to be at least as effective as their intravenous administration. Nevertheless, their solubilization requires substantial amounts of organic solvents, which can cause lacrimation and nose and throat irritation. Additionally, benzodiazepines can cause somnolence, deleterious cognitive effects and dependence/tolerance. Phenytoin is also an antiepileptic drug, being non-inferior in efficacy, while not having these adverse effects. Although its systemic administration can cause other adverse events (such as cardiovascular complications or liver toxicity), its intranasal administration could increase its safety and even efficacy compared to other non-invasive routes in the treatment of status epilepticus. Yet, phenytoin has low aqueous solubility, being difficult to formulate at a high strength. However, its hydrophilic prodrug, fosphenytoin, has high water solubility. Hence, aqueous liquid water-based formulations of fosphenytoin for intranasal administration were developed. Pharmacokinetic results in mice showed that a fosphenytoin formulation containing hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and albumin prolonged drug concentration in the brain, also producing a high absolute drug bioavailability. The study demonstrated that phosphate ester prodrugs (such as fosphenytoin) can be an efficient strategy to increase the intranasal bioavailability of low solubility drugs (such as phenytoin). In addition, we hypothesized that if there was phenytoin in the formulation, in the active and diffusible form, brain drug delivery could be increased and/or made faster. Thus, nano and microemulsions containing phenytoin (internalized in the oil droplets) and fosphenytoin (solubilized in the aqueous phase) in combination were developed. A microemulsion having good characteristics (reasonably homogeneous, with small droplet size and physically stable for at least 1 week) was selected for pharmacokinetic evaluation in mice. In addition to the intranasal administration of this selected microemulsion, containing both phenytoin and fosphenytoin, a second microemulsion was also administered intranasally, having an identical composition but without phenytoin (with fosphenytoin only), for comparison purposes. Despite the existence of a small amount of phenytoin in the formulation not inducing accelerated brain drug delivery, it led to prolonged and increased drug levels. Moreover, the intranasal administration of the microemulsion containing both drugs led to a maximum brain concentration that was similar to that obtained with the intravenous fosphenytoin solution, also leading to prolonged drug retention. The microemulsion containing both drugs also had a higher bioavailability than any of the intranasally administered formulations containing fosphenytoin only (microemulsion without phenytoin, and simple fosphenytoin formulations). Furthermore, both microemulsions (the one containing both drugs and the one containing fosphenytoin only) led to higher drug concentrations at initial time points than those obtained with the simple intranasal fosphenytoin solution, which suggests that the microemulsion had a drug permeation enhancement effect. Thus, in general this work allowed to prove that the use of phosphate ester prodrugs can be an effective strategy in increasing the intranasal bioavailability of low solubility drugs, albumin is a good strategy to prolong brain targeting, the existence of a small amount of active drug (in addition to the prodrug), in an emulsified form, can increase drug levels at longer time points, and the use of microemulsions can increase brain drug delivery at shorter time points.
- Responsabilidade Social Empresarial e a Comunicação EstratégicaPublication . Vilchez, Thais dos Reis; Santos, Ana Leonor Serra Morais dosCada vez mais, as organizações se veem desafiadas a manterem-se atualizadas com o ambiente em constante mudança que a globalização traz. As organizações se adaptaram e criaram estratégias para conseguir enfrentar o desafio que o desenvolvimento global trouxe. Uma das indústrias mais afetadas é o objeto deste estudo. A indústria do tabaco enfrenta desafios diários com a rápida disseminação de informações, na sua grande maioria negativas, e as regulamentações contra o consumo do tabaco. Uma das estratégias desse setor é a Responsabilidade Social Empresarial. Com base nisso, a organização escolhida neste estudo é a Japan Tobacco International, multinacional do segmento e que possui a segunda maior participação do mercado de tabaco em Portugal e está entre as líderes mundiais nesse setor. A JTI tem como uma de suas estratégias empresariais a Responsabilidade Social Empresarial e faz demonstrações de ações e projetos sociais regularmente. Sendo assim, este estudo tem como objetivo perceber se as ações sociais realizadas pela indústria do tabaco são comunicadas de forma efetiva e qual a perceção do público, com isso, propõe-se investigar os relatórios anuais da organização bem como observar/participar de ações por ela realizadas e pesquisar a opinião pública. Para isso, investigou-se conceitos de Responsabilidade Social Empresarial, da Comunicação Estratégica, além da importância dos atores sociais. Em síntese, podemos compreender que apesar de a RSE ser usada como uma estratégia empresarial, a grande maioria das ações sociais realizadas é voltada para as áreas mais afetadas pela indústria, ou seja, para comunidades fumiculturas. Apesar do empenho das tabaqueiras em aplicar as estratégias de RSE, suas ações não têm tido efeito na imagem negativa do público em relação à indústria do tabaco.
- Criação de uma marca de moda sustentávelPublication . Alves, Érica Carina Santos; Rousseau, José AntónioEste projeto apresenta a construção de uma marca de moda sustentável, que pretende mostrar e transmitir “uma nova forma de ver o desperdício” ao analisar a forma como a sociedade consome produtos de moda sustentável, do ponto de vista filosófico e prático, compreender como a moda é vista e o que se pode fazer para alterar essa visão para uma concepção mais sustentável. A investigação aborda temas com moda, branding, design, sustentabilidade, economia circular, indústria, reciclagem e reutilização têxtil, modelos de negócios e ainda o consumo e os consumidores. No desenvolvimento deste projeto foram estudadas e utilizadas 3 metodologias na criação da marca tais como a TXM Branding, prisma da identidade da marca de Kapferer, o naming foi desenvolvido através do método do GAD Design. O projeto conta com um questionário, que pretende perceber se os consumidores têm noção de determinados conceitos e se os mesmos são aplicados no seu dia-a-dia, para compreender se a sustentabilidade está nas marcas de moda e se a loopentty é um modelo de nogócio viável.
- Deployment of Beyond 4G Wireless Communication Networks with Carrier AggregationPublication . Khan, Bahram; Velez, Fernando J.With the growing demand for new blend of applications, the user’s dependency on the Internet is increasing day by day. Mobile Internet users are giving more attention to their own experience, especially in terms of communication reliability, high data rate and service stability on the move. This increase in the demand is causing saturation of existing radio frequency bands. To address these challenges, many researchers are finding the best approach, Carrier Aggregation (CA) is one of the newest innovations which seems to fulfil the demands of future spectrum, CA is one the most important feature for Long Term Evolution - Advanced. In direction to get the upcoming International Mobile Telecommunication Advanced (IMT-Advanced) mobile requirements 1 Gb/s peak data rate, the CA scheme is presented by 3GPP to sustain high data rate using widespread frequency bandwidth up to 100 MHz. Technical issues containing the aggregation structure, its implementation, deployment scenarios, control signal technique and challenges for CA technique in LTE-Advanced, with consideration backward compatibility are highlighted. Performance evaluation in macrocellular scenarios through a simulation approach shows the benefits of applying CA and low-complexity multi-band schedulers in service quality and system capacity enhancement. The Enhanced multi-band scheduler is less complex than the General multi-band scheduler and performs better for cell radius longer than 1800 m (and a PLR threshold of 2%).
- O Feminino no Cinema: As comédias românticas teens dos anos 90Publication . Santos, Karoline Leandro; Pereira, Ana Catarina dos SantosA construção da imagem feminina no cinema tem sido questionada desde os anos 70 pelas teorias e críticas feministas. O modo como a mulher é representada nas telas, desde seu papel como personagem, sua aparência como objeto de desejo masculino até seus comportamentos e atitudes, se baseia em valores machistas e patriarcais que permeiam a sociedade ocidental. As comédias românticas, produzidas especialmente para atrair o público feminino, disseminam suas mensagens sobre true love e happy ending. Devido ao grande alcance do cinema hollywoodiano, essas mensagens são transmitidas por todo o mundo, fomentando o imaginário social das pessoas e reafirmando a desigualdade de gênero através de retratos irrealistas e estereotipados sobre as mulheres e sua função como indivíduo social. Assim, esta pesquisa busca identificar quais são essas mensagens reproduzidas pelos filmes de comédia romântica teen dos anos 90 e debater de que modo eles podem influenciar na vida real das espectadoras.
- Representação Mediática Sobre Mulheres na Política em PortugalPublication . Reis, Maria João Pimenta; Sá, Sónia Manuela Martins deA presença da mulher no espaço político é recente e a sua aceitação como igual ao homem, apesar de ter registado alguns avanços, ainda está longe de acontecer. O espaço mediático apresenta-se aqui com um papel preponderante para que a igualdade seja alcançada. Com uma comunicação estratégica ativa, tanto de partidos políticos como dos média, torna o percurso da igualdade mais acessível. Apresentando os média como o elo de ligação e potencial molde de opiniões, sendo que, este trabalho conclui que só com uma abertura mais assertiva dos órgãos noticiosos, dos partidos e das assessorias é que será possível diminuir a atual desigualdade acentuada entre homens e mulheres na política e na opinião política mediática. Com uma metodologia assente em recolha bibliográfica, análise documental e de conteúdo e entrevistas semiestruturadas, o estudo contribui para a reflexão sobre o caminho para a igualdade de género numa sociedade marcadamente patriarcal como é a portuguesa.
- Succession planning and strategies in Family Business: a multiple case studyPublication . Paço, Arminda; Fernandes, Cristina; Nave, Edgar; Alves, Helena; Ferreira, João José de Matos; Raposo, MárioFamily businesses represent a significant percentage of GDP and employability in developed economies, and their continuity and transition to a new generation is a crucial challenge. This study aims to analyse the nature of succession processes in small and medium-sized family business, exploring critical skills and succession strategies. A qualitative methodology was adopted through the formation of a focus group with eight senior and junior members of family business from different sectors of activity. The results show that family businesses have characteristics that distinguish them from other companies, presenting experiences and obstacles that can put its continuity in cause, particularly the succession. Furthermore, these businesses generally adopt a long-term perspective, with family-centred decision-making and greater stability while the founder is the leader. This research contributes to extending knowledge about family business, especially the problems arising and experienced in succession processes from the first to the second generation.
- Ecoenergetic Comparison of HVAC Systems in Data CentersPublication . Santos, Alexandre F.; Gaspar, Pedro Dinis; Souza, Heraldo J. L. deThe topic of sustainability is of high importance today. Global efforts such as the Montreal Protocol (1987) and the Kigali Amendment (2016) are examples of joint work by countries to reduce environmental impacts and improve the level of the ozone layer, the choice of refrigerants and air conditioning systems, which is essential for this purpose. But what indicators are to be used to measure something so necessary? In this article, the types of air conditioning and GWP (Global Warming Potential) levels of equipment in the project phase were discussed, the issue of TEWI (Total Equivalent Warming Impact) that measures the direct and indirect environmental impacts of refrigeration equipment and air conditioning and a new methodology for the indicator was developed, the TEWI DC (DC is the direct application for Data Center), and using the formulas of this new adapted indicator it was demonstrated that the TEWI DC for Chicago (USA) was 2,784,102,640 kg CO2/10 years and Curitiba (Brazil) is 1,252,409,640 kg CO2/10 years. This difference in value corresponds to 222.30% higher annual emissions in Chicago than in Curitiba, showing that it is much more advantageous to install a Data Center in Curitiba than in Chicago in terms of environmental impact. The TEWI indicator provides a more holistic view, helping to combine energy and emissions into the same indicator.