RCAAP Repository

Cada vez mais os indivíduos necessitam de competências digitais avançadas para participar plenamente na sociedade. Numa Europa em crescente envelhecimento é atualmente reconhecida a importância e o potencial da indústria de serviços para envelhecer bem baseados nas tecnologias de informação e de comunicação (TIC), de que é exemplo o mercado eletrónico de serviços sociais e de cuidados de saúde, o GuiMarket, proposto pelos autores para um município do Norte de Portugal. Com base nos resultados de um inquérito realizado junto de uma amostra de 315 indivíduos, o artigo discute a importância reconhecida a tal serviço e a frequência de utilização prevista, concluindo existir uma íntima relação entre o acesso às TIC e a utilização que os inquiridos preveem fazer do GuiMarket.

The authors are developing a pilot project for a Municipality in the North of Portugal, envisaging the definition and implementation of an e-marketplace for healthcare and social services, in order to facilitate the interaction between healthcare and social services professionals and people with special needs (or their relatives). Based on the results of a survey on user needs analysis and expectations conducted in 2011, the paper discusses the relevance and interest of such platforms and the main drivers and motivations of the population for using such services, as well as which services would motivate citizens to use the platform. The results of the study will be used to select the products and services perceived to be the most desired by the potential users. The paper thus makes three main contributions: (1) the results of the study confirm the interest and the perceived potential of such a service, from the end-users perspective; (2) the findings support the advantage of expanding this pilot project to a full scale implementation; and (3) the performed analysis improves our understanding of the relations between the characteristics of the inquired population and the perceived interest in such platforms.

In a Europe increasingly aging, it is now recognized the importance and potential of the service industry for ageing well based on information and communication technologies (ICT), as exemplified by the electronic market of social services and health care, the GuiMarket, proposed by the authors. However, this new range of services requires that individuals have advanced digital skills to fully participate in society. Based on the results of a survey made on a sample of 315 individuals, this paper discusses the importance granted GuiMarket and the intended frequency of use, concluding there is a close relationship between ICT access and use that respondents anticipate making of GuiMarket and alike services.

Regulating mechanisms of branchingmorphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool formolecular research.This work presents a new methodology to accurately quantify the epithelial, outer contour, and peripheral airway buds of lung explants during cellular development frommicroscopic images. Methods.Theouter contour was defined using an adaptive and multiscale threshold algorithm whose level was automatically calculated based on an entropy maximization criterion. The inner lung epithelium was defined by a clustering procedure that groups small image regions according to the minimum description length principle and local statistical properties. Finally, the number of peripheral buds was counted as the skeleton branched ends from a skeletonized image of the lung inner epithelia. Results. The time for lung branching morphometric analysis was reduced in 98% in contrast to themanualmethod. Best results were obtained in the first two days of cellular development, with lesser standard deviations. Nonsignificant differences were found between the automatic and manual results in all culture days. Conclusions. The proposed method introduces a series of advantages related to its intuitive use and accuracy, making the technique suitable to images with different lighting characteristics and allowing a reliable comparison between different researchers.

Background: Surgical repair of pectus excavatum (PE) has become more popular due to improvements in the minimally invasive Nuss procedure. The pre-surgical assessment of PE patients requires Computerized Tomography (CT), as the malformation characteristics vary from patient to patient. Objective: This work aims to characterize soft tissue thickness (STT) external to the ribs among PE patients. It also presents a comparative analysis between the anterior chest wall surface before and after surgical correction. Methods: Through surrounding tissue segmentation in CT data, STT values were calculated at different lines along the thoracic wall, with a reference point in the intersection of coronal and median planes. The comparative analysis between the two 3D anterior chest surfaces sets a surgical correction influence area (SCIA) and a volume of interest (VOI) based on image processing algorithms, 3D surface algorithms, and registration methods. Results: There are always variations between left and right side STTs (2.54±2.05 mm and 2.95±2.97 mm for female and male patients, respectively). STTs are dependent on age, sex, and body mass index of each patient. On female patients, breast tissue induces additional errors in bar manual

Purpose: Precise needle puncture of the renal collecting system is an essential but challenging step for successful percutaneous nephrolithotomy. We evaluated the efficiency of a new real-time electromagnetic tracking system for in vivo kidney puncture. Materials and Methods: Six anesthetized female pigs underwent ureterorenoscopy to place a catheter with an electromagnetic tracking sensor into the desired puncture site and ascertain puncture success. A tracked needle with a similar electromagnetic tracking sensor was subsequently navigated into the sensor in the catheter. Four punctures were performed by each of 2 surgeons in each pig, including 1 each in the kidney, middle ureter, and right and left sides. Outcome measurements were the number of attempts and the time needed to evaluate the virtual trajectory and perform percutaneous puncture. Results: A total of 24 punctures were easily performed without complication. Surgeons required more time to evaluate the trajectory during ureteral than kidney puncture (median 15 seconds, range 14 to 18 vs 13, range 11 to 16, p ¼ 0.1). Median renal and ureteral puncture time was 19 (range 14 to 45) and 51 seconds (range 45 to 67), respectively (p ¼ 0.003). Two attempts were needed to achieve a successful ureteral puncture. The technique requires the presence of a renal stone for testing. Conclusions: The proposed electromagnetic tracking solution for renal collecting system puncture proved to be highly accurate, simple and quick. This method might represent a paradigm shift in percutaneous kidney access techniques.

This paper presents Palco, a prototype system specifically designed for the production of 3D cartoon animations. The system addresses the specific problems of producing cartoon animations, where the main obj ective is not to reproduce realistic movements, but rather animate cartoon characters with predefined and characteristic body movements and facial expressions. The techniques employed in Palco are simple and easy to use, not requiring any invasive or complicated motion capture system, as both body motion and facial expression of actors are captured simultaneously, using an infrared motion detection sensor, a regular camera and a pair of electronically instrumented gloves. The animation process is completely actor-driven, with the actor controlling the character movements, gestures, facial expression and voice, all in realtime. The actor controlled cartoonification of the captured facial and body motion is a key functionality of Palco, and one that makes it specifically suited for the production of cartoon animations.

The success of the osseointegration concept and the Brånemark protocol is highly associated to the accuracy in the production of an implant-supported prosthesis. One of most critical steps for long-term success of these prosthesis is the accuracy obtained during the impression procedure, which is affected by factors such as the impression material, implant position, angulation and depth. This paper investigates the feasibility of 3D electromagnetic motion tracking systems as an acquisition method for modeling full-arch implant-supported prosthesis. To this extent, we propose an implant acquisition method at the patient mouth and a calibration procedure, based on a 3D electromagnetic tracker that obtains combined measurements of implant’s position and angulation, eliminating the use of any impression material. Three calibration algorithms (namely linear interpolation, higher-order polynomial and Hardy multiquadric) were tested to compensate for the electromagnetic tracker distortions introduced by the presence of nearby metals. Moreover, implants from different suppliers were also tested to study its impact on tracking accuracy. The calibration methodology and the algorithms employed proved to implement a suitable strategy for the evaluation of novel dental impression techniques. However, in the particular case of the evaluated electromagnetic tracking system, the order of magnitude of the obtained errors invalidates its use for the full-arch modeling of implant-supported prosthesis.

Laparoscopic surgery (LS) has revolutionized traditional surgical techniques introducing minimally invasive procedures for diagnosis and local therapies. LSs have undeniable advantages, such as small patient incisions, reduced postoperative pain and faster recovery. On the other hand, restricted vision of the anatomical target, difficult handling of the surgical instruments, restricted mobility inside the human body, need of dexterity to hand-eye coordination and inadequate and non-ergonomic surgical instruments may restrict LS only to more specialized surgeons. To overcome the referred limitations, this work presents a new robotic surgical handheld system – the EndoRobot. The EndoRobot was designed to be used in clinical practice or even as a surgical simulator. It integrates an electromechanical system with 3 degrees of freedom. Each degree can be manipulated independently and combined with different levels of sensitivity allowing fast and slow movements. As other features, the EndoRobot has battery power or external power supply, enables the use of bipolar radiofrequency to prevent bleeding while cutting and allows plug-and-play of the laparoscopic forceps for rapid exchange. As a surgical simulator, the system was also instrumented to measure and transmit, in real time, its position and orientation for a training software able to monitor and assist the trainee’s surgical movements.

This paper assesses the validity and reliability of two instruments measuring quality of service, the SERVPERF and SERVQUAL scales, replicated in a novel cultural settings, a Portuguese energy company. To provide insights and strategies for managerial intervention, a relation between customers’ satisfaction and quality of service is established. The empirical study suggests a superior convergent and predictive validity of SERVPERF scale to measure quality of service in this settings when comparing to SERVQUAL. The main differences of this study with previous ones, are that this one resorts on a confirmatory factor analysis, the validation of the instruments is performed by using the same measures suggested by their creators and extends the line of research to a novel cultural settings, a Portuguese energy company. Concerning the relationship between service quality and customers’ satisfaction, all of the quality of service attributes correlate almost equally to the satisfaction ones, with a lower weight concerning tangibles.

A growing number of predicting corporate failure models has emerged since 60s. Economic and social consequences of business failure can be dramatic, thus it is not surprise that the issue has been of growing interest in academic research as well as in business context. The main purpose of this study is to compare the predictive ability of five developed models based on three statistical techniques (Discriminant Analysis, Logit and Probit) and two models based on Artificial Intelligence (Neural Networks and Rough Sets). The five models were employed to a dataset of 420 non-bankrupt firms and 125 bankrupt firms belonging to the textile and clothing industry, over the period 2003–09. Results show that all the models performed well, with an overall correct classification level higher than 90%, and a type II error always less than 2%. The type I error increases as we move away from the year prior to failure. Our models contribute to the discussion of corporate financial distress causes. Moreover it can be used to assist decisions of creditors, investors and auditors. Additionally, this research can be of great contribution to devisers of national economic policies that aim to reduce industrial unemployment.

Textiles and tourism sectors are two important sectors in Portuguese economy. Its high exposure to both internal and international economy volatility transform the companies operating in these economic sectors especially vulnerable to recent economic crises in Portugal and European Union. The objective of this paper is to evaluate and understand the impact of size and age on the financial health of textile and tourism companies, measured by economic indices. An empirical based model is proposed. Its implications are derived and tested on a sample of 4061 Portuguese companies from textile and tourism sector, during the period 2005-2009. The results conclude that age has a stronger impact on the risk of failure than size. Whereas the effect of age is generally positive regarding the financial health of the company, the effect of size is less clear and depends on the age of the company.

Este estudo tem como objetivo principal explorar as perceções dos residentes sobre o turismo induzido pelos filmes e os impactos destes sobre o desenvolvimento de um destino. Especificamente, o estudo analisou a perceção dos residentes sobre os impactos sociais, económicos e ambientais na vila de Arcos de Valdevez, em resultado da gravação e exibição da telenovela da TVI “Deixa que Te Leve”. Os dados foram recolhidos através de um questionário on-line, onde foram solicitadas as perceções dos residentes deste município dos impactos na localidade induzido pela telenovela. A maioria dos residentes concordam que a gravação e exibição (na televisão) da telenovela foi importante para o município e contribuiu para o aumento do número de turistas. Para os residentes, os impactos positivos foram mais significativos do que os impactos negativos, pelo que eles apoiariam o investimento necessário para a gravação de uma outra telenovela no seu município. Atendendo a que gestores dos destinos e as autoridades ligadas ao desenvolvimento do turismo visam planear um desenvolvimento turístico ideal, ao mesmo tempo que procuram minimizar os impactos negativos deste desenvolvimento nas comunidades locais, monitorizar as opiniões dos residentes sobre os impactos percebidos é uma boa forma de incorporar a reação dos residentes no planeamento e desenvolvimento do turismo. Os resultados deste estudo podem fornecer informações úteis nesse sentido.

Residents tend to have high expectations about the benefits of hosting a mega‐event. So, it was not surprising that the nomination of Guimarães, Portugal, as the 2012 European Capital of Culture (2012 ECOC) had raised great expectations in the local community towards its socio‐economic and cultural benefits. The present research was designed to examine the Guimarães residents’ perceptions on the impacts of hosting the 2012 ECOC approached in two different time schedules, the pre‐ and the post‐event, trying to capture the evolution of the residents` evaluation of its impacts. For getting the data, two surveys were applied to Guimarães` residents, one in the pre‐event phase, in 2011, and another in the post‐event phase, in 2013. This approach is uncommonly applied to Portugal data and it is even the first time it was done to a Portuguese European Capital of Culture. After a factor analysis, the results of t‐tests indicate that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between the samples from the pre‐ and post‐2012 ECOC on two positive impact factors (Community’ benefits and Residents’ benefits) and one negative impact factor (Economic, social and environmental costs). Respondents also showed a negative perception of the impacts in all dimensions, except Changes in habits of Guimarães residents.

In face of the current economic and financial environment, predicting corporate bankruptcy is arguably a phenomenon of increasing interest to investors, creditors, borrowing firms, and governments alike. Within the strand of literature focused on bankruptcy forecasting we can find diverse types of research employing a wide variety of techniques, but only a few researchers have used survival analysis for the examination of this issue. We propose a model for the prediction of corporate bankruptcy based on survival analysis, a technique which stands on its own merits. In this research, the hazard rate is the probability of ‘‘bankruptcy’’ as of time t, conditional upon having survived until time t. Many hazard models are applied in a context where the running of time naturally affects the hazard rate. The model employed in this paper uses the time of survival or the hazard risk as dependent variable, considering the unsuccessful companies as censured observations.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar em que medidas as Culturas da Qualidade facilitam o sucesso de implementação da técnica de gestão Benchmarkting, bem como o impacto destas duas variáveis no Rendimento das organizações. A Industria Têxtil e Vestuário portuguesa é a área de investigação escolhida para analise empírica de um modelo de investigação formado por 7 hipóteses. Todas as hipóteses foram elaboradas após uma exausta da literatura sobre Benchmarkting, Culturas da Empresa na Gestão da Qualidade, e em breve enquadramento da Industria Têxtil em Portugal. No sentido de dar resposta ás correlações supra mencionadas, entre "Culturas de Deteção de Erros, Cultura de Prevenção de Erros, Cultura e Melhoria Continua, Bencharmarkting e Rendimento", desenvolveu-se um questionário já estado em outros estudos análogos(Cameron e Sine, 1999; Costa, 2008; Leal, Roldan e Acedo, 2002). Este foi distribuído por uma amostra de 60 empresas na região norte do país. Dos resultados obtidos, verificou-se a existência de uma Cultura de Qualidade dominante(Cultura de Deteção de Erros), sinónimos de que as Industrias Têxteis portuguesas ainda se orientam popr valores de qualidade ultrapassados, senão obsoletos. De realçar também, uma elevada percentagem de Industrias Têxteis que não aplicam o Benchmarkting. Porém, os resultados revelam também a existência de correlações fortes quanto: Á Cultura Deteção de Erros influenciar negativamente o Benchmarkting; á Cultura Criativa e Melhoria Continua influenciar positivamente o Benchmarkting; á Cultura de deteção de erros influenciar negativamente o Rendimento; á Cultura Criativa e Melhoria Continua influenciar o Rendimento; ao Benchmarkting influenciar positivamente o Rendimento. No final, na verificação de resultados e conclusões, efetuam-se positivamente algumas recomendações que podem ser úteis para a gestão das Industrias têxteis portuguesas.

A nível mundial a implementação e certificação de sistema de gestão e qualidade nas organizações tem-se revelado essencial para o crescimento das mesmas. Nesta linha, desde o ano 2000, que as instituições que fazem parte do sector social começaram a olhar para a gestão da qualidade como forma de melhorarem as suas praticas e ainda, verem verificada a qualidade dos serviços que prestam. este trabalho cientifico tem como principal objetivo caracterizar os sistemas certificados nas instituições pertencentes a três distritos de Portugal continental, e propor um novo modelo de abordagem por processos que seja aplicável a qualquer instituição da área social, bem como os respetivos indicadores para a sua monitorização. A metodologia sugerida sustenta-se em dados recolhidos nas instituições através da realização de entrevistas aos gestores de qualidade e da analise de documentação relativa ao sistema de gestão de qualidade implementado nas organizações. Apesar da bibliografia relativa aos modelos de processos nas respostas sociais ser praticamente inexistente, é possível com este estudo propor um modelo de processos capaz de ser implementado em qualquer instituição, bem como monitorizado por meio dos indicadores propostos. Considerando os resultados obtidos pode-se inferir que parece existir uma relação entre as motivações internas para a certificação de qualidade e os impactos positivos da certificação, bem como entre as dificuldades na implementação do Sistema de Gestao da Qualidade (SGQ) e os impactos negativos da certificação. Também é possível identificar a clausula da ISO 9001 que é mais frequentemente citada nos relatórios de auditoria externa. Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de gestão de qualidade, baseado na abordagem por processos, suscetível de ser aplicado a qualquer instituição.

The wealth on na economy is traditionally measured by its level of productivity. However, do countries with the highest level of productivity report equal levels of happiness and general well-being? As a matter of fact, there is no direct relationship between both variables and there can actually be, from a productive point of view, less wealthy countries reporting higher levels oh hapiness. hence, there have been recente studies and theriores- such as the Economics of Happiness- that are attempting to demonstrate the term hapiness has made its way into economics literature as the result of the dissatisfaction of economists who believe hapiness should become a matter of study in economics. Onde of the variables aconomists most research about- unemployment- has a direst relationship with happiness, which is why it is particular importante for economics to study it. As many authors have been suggesting, arguing and proving, the autonomy- both methodological and philsophial-, reliability and added value of happiness would contribute fo a more complete economic analysis. Althougth there have beeen many failed attempts to incorporate happiness as a study variable in economics, this new current is expected to succeed, not only due to the rising importance of happiness in people`s daily lives, but also, and mostly, due to the increasing number of authors that are investigating and defending it beingn studied by economics. The fact that this time the "happiness" variable is seen as multidisciplinar and not only assigned to na economic point economics will not come to fail this time around.

Atualmente, o mercado de trabalho é um domínio competitivo e não basta ao candidato a emprego deter qualificação superior. Apesar de uma sociedade assente no conhecimento, ciência e tecnologia, assiste-se a uma desvalorização relativa do diploma a quanto do acesso ao mercado de trabalho. As exigências da competitividade apelam á mobilização de varias competências e condições de empregabilidade, desde as mais técnicas e cientificas(hard skills) até ás mais pessoas e sociais(soft skills). No contexto dda ciência do marketing, os conceitos de marketing pessoal e de marca pessoal, embora apresentando ainda escassa pesquisa cientifica e frágil enquadramento concetual, têm assumido discussão e reconhecimento crescente. O marketing pessoal, associado a uma atitude de proatividade e devidamente sustentado, converte-se numa vantagem competitiva, evidenciando o valor e a diferenciação do individuo no processo de procura de emprego. Realizou-se um estudo exploratório, sob uma abordagem qualificativa, utilizando a entrevista semiestruturada e que se aplicou a uma amostra constituída por 12 diplomados em situação de procura de emprego. Considerando o tipo do estudo, as conclusões obtidas devem ser, necessariamente, contextualizadas á investigação. OS resultados demonstram que os diplomados em causa, ainda que de forma inconsciente e não devidamente estratégica, reconhecem importância ao desenvolvimento do seu marketing pessoal e promoção da sua marca e imagem no contexto das praticas de procura de emprego. Apesar da prudencia e limitação quanto á generalização de resultados, a presente dissertação serve de motivação para uma melhor reflexão sobre o binómio marketing pessoal e a procura de emprego.

O presente documento descreve o desenvolvimento de um protótipo de jogo sério tridimensional para ajudar pacientes com necessidades de reabilitação fisioterapêutica a prosseguir a sua recuperação com motivação e entusiasmo através da inclusão de ludicidade. Para isso apostou-se em características do design de videojogos comerciais que potenciam a imersão e na interação com personagens e ambientes virtuais aplicados a um protótipo. Partindo do estudo do papel do desenho no desenvolvimento de videojogos, criou-se um conceito de jogo sério em ambiente 3D - argumento, personagens e cenários que, adaptado às motivações e procurando uma maior imersão de pacientes (jogadores) com necessidades de recuperação fisioterapêutica, ambiciona aumentar os níveis de eficácia dos programas de reabilitação física na persecução e melhoria dos tratamentos que são, em vários dos casos estudados, monótonos e repetitivos e, portanto, pouco apelativos para o doente (jogador). Aqui se descrevem as fases de game design e a criação de conteúdos visuais para um jogo sério focado na reabilitação fisioterapêutica de nome PhysioVinci. O primeiro nível do jogo está terminado e foi já testado em ambiente de laboratório com pessoas saudáveis para validar a atividade de jogo e verificar a existência de erros. Estas primeira fase de testes revelou que os jogadores não demostram nenhuma dificuldade, seja na compreensão do desempenho do jogo, seja na eficácia dos resultados atingidos. Simultaneamente, a equipa de desenvolvimento está já a trabalhar nos restantes níveis de jogo.