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O fenómeno populista continua a ganhar apoiantes em todo o mundo. Em Portugal, o seu estudo tem-se focado maioritariamente no lado da oferta do populismo. Este facto deveu-se ao país não ter representação populista até 2019, tendo sido considerado uma exceção ao crescimento do movimento na Europa. Atualmente, Portugal carece de análises sobre o apoio ao populismo, ao nível individual. Contribuindo para colmatar esta lacuna, o presente estudo utiliza uma amostra nacional representativa, para analisar a relação entre as atitudes populistas e os traços de personalidade dos cidadãos portugueses. A análise é controlada, ainda, pela eficácia política, identificação partidária, e características sociodemográficas dos inquiridos. Entre os resultados, destaca- se o facto de todos os traços de personalidade surgirem como determinantes das atitudes populistas. Com efeito, os cidadãos portugueses com mais atitudes populistas tendem a ser mais extrovertidos, conscienciosos e neuróticos. Por outro lado, os menos populistas são mais abertos à experiência e mais amáveis. Outras variáveis surgem como importantes preditores de níveis mais elevados de atitudes populistas, como possuir um menor nível de eficácia política, (e em termos de variáveis sociodemográficas) ser do sexo masculino e mais velho. Estes resultados contribuem, não só para aprofundar o conhecimento acerca do populismo ao nível individual, como para enriquecer o debate acerca do caso português, introduzindo uma nova variável explicativa – as características intrínsecas da personalidade dos indivíduos. The populist phenomenon continues to gain supporters all over the world. In Portugal, its study has mostly focused on the supply side of populism. This was due to the country having no populist representation until 2019, and was considered an exception to the growth of the movement in Europe. Currently, Portugal lacks analyses on support for populism at the individual level. Contributing to fill this gap, the present study uses a nationally representative sample, to analyse the relationship between populist attitudes and personality traits of Portuguese citizens. The analysis is also controlled for political efficacy, party identification, and socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents. Among the results, we highlight the fact that all personality traits emerge as determinants of populist attitudes. This means that Portuguese citizens with more populist attitudes tend to be more extroverted, conscientious and neurotic. On the other hand, the less populist ones are more open to experience and more agreeable. Other variables emerge as important predictors of higher levels of populist attitudes, such as having a lower level of political efficacy, (and in terms of socio-demographic variables) being male and older. These results contribute, not only to deepen the knowledge about populism at the individual level, but also to enrich the debate about the Portuguese case, by introducing a new explanatory variable - the intrinsic personality characteristics of individuals. Mestrado em Ciência Política

The manganese(III) porphyrin MnTnHex-2-PyP

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, being non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) sub-types the most prevalent. Since most LC cases are only detected during the last stage of the disease the high mortality rate is strongly associated with metastases. For this reason, the migratory and invasive capacity of these cancer cells as well as the mechanisms involved have long been studied to uncover novel strategies to prevent metastases and improve the patients' prognosis. This narrative review provides an overview of the main in vitro migration and invasion assays employed in NSCLC research. While several methods have been developed, experiments using conventional cell culture models prevailed, specifically the wound-healing and the transwell migration and invasion assays. Moreover, it is provided herewith a summary of the available information concerning chemical contaminants that may promote the migratory/invasive properties of NSCLC cells in vitro, shedding some light on possible LC risk factors. Most of the reported agents with pro-migration/invasion effects derive from cigarette smoking [e.g., Benzo(a)pyrene and cadmium] and air pollution. This review further presents several studies in which different dietary/plant-derived compounds demonstrated to impair migration/invasion processes in NSCLC cells in vitro. These chemicals that have been proposed as anti-migratory consisted mainly of natural bioactive substances, including polyphenols non-flavonoids, flavonoids, bibenzyls, terpenes, alkaloids, and steroids. Some of these compounds may eventually represent novel therapeutic strategies to be considered in the future to prevent metastasis formation in LC, which highlights the need for additional in vitro methodologies that more closely resemble the in vivo tumor microenvironment and cancer cell interactions. These studies along with adequate in vivo models should be further explored as proof of concept for the most promising compounds.

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, being non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) sub-types the most prevalent. Since most LC cases are only detected during the last stage of the disease the high mortality rate is strongly associated with metastases. For this reason, the migratory and invasive capacity of these cancer cells as well as the mechanisms involved have long been studied to uncover novel strategies to prevent metastases and improve the patients’ prognosis. This narrative review provides an overview of the main in vitro migration and invasion assays employed in NSCLC research. While several methods have been developed, experiments using conventional cell culture models prevailed, specifically the wound-healing and the transwell migration and invasion assays. Moreover, it is provided herewith a summary of the available information concerning chemical contaminants that may promote the migratory/invasive properties of NSCLC cells in vitro, shedding some light on possible LC risk factors. Most of the reported agents with pro-migration/invasion effects derive from cigarette smoking [e.g., Benzo(a)pyrene and cadmium] and air pollution. This review further presents several studies in which different dietary/plant-derived compounds demonstrated to impair migration/invasion processes in NSCLC cells in vitro. These chemicals that have been proposed as anti-migratory consisted mainly of natural bioactive substances, including polyphenols non-flavonoids, flavonoids, bibenzyls, terpenes, alkaloids, and steroids. Some of these compounds may eventually represent novel therapeutic strategies to be considered in the future to prevent metastasis formation in LC, which highlights the need for additional in vitro methodologies that more closely resemble the in vivo tumor microenvironment and cancer cell interactions. These studies along with adequate in vivo models should be further explored as proof of concept for the most promising compounds.

This study addresses a long-standing debate as to why escalation in capital costs is so common over the lifecycle of ‘megaprojects’ – the project-based, multi-party organizational contexts that are set up to develop capital-intensive, long-lived infrastructure. We ground our study on three case studies conducted with theoretical alertness to a range of factors that need to be considered from an organizational governance perspective. Our findings trace cost escalation to fundamental changes of the project governance structure and concomitant renegotiations of the value to be created and the value distribution. Specifically we link substantive cost hikes to, first, early negotiations to agree a value proposition that unifies a core group of autonomous actors under a shared form of governance. And second, to collective action problems that arise as key nonmarket stakeholders are brought into a polycentric governance structure to encourage cooperation in joint local value creation activities. We also associate cost hikes, although less substantive, to market transactions with suppliers and to bilateral agreements with other nonmarket stakeholders that stay excluded from direct participation in governance-related decisions. We discuss implications to our theoretical and empirical understanding of megaproject behavior and performance.

In recent years inhaled systems have shown momentum as patient-personalized therapies emerge. A significant improvement in terms of therapeutic efficacy and/or reduction adverse systemic effects is anticipated from their use owing these systems regional accumulation. Nevertheless, whatever safety and efficacy evidence required for inhaled formulations regulatory approval, it still poses an additional hurdle to gaining market access. In contrast with the formal intravenous medicines approval, the narrower adoption of pulmonary administration might rely on discrepancies in pre-clinical and clinical data provided by the marketing authorization holder to the regulatory authorities. Evidences of a diverse and inconsistent regulatory framework led to concerns over toxicity issues and respiratory safety. However, an overall trend to support general concepts of good practices exists. Current regulatory guidelines1 that supports PK/PD (pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamic) assessment seeks attention threatening those inhaled formulations set to be approved in the coming years. A more complex scenario arises from the attempt of implementing nanomedicines for pulmonary administration. Cutting-edge image techniques could play a key role in supporting diverse stages of clinical development facilitating this pharmaceutics take off and speed to patients. The ongoing challenge in adapting conventional regulatory frameworks has proven to be tremendously difficult in an environment where market entry relies on multiple collections of evidence. This paper intention is to remind us that an acceptable pre-clinical toxicological program could emerge from, but not only, an accurate and robust data imaging collection. It is our conviction that if implemented, inhaled nanomedicines might have impact in multiple severe conditions, such as lung cancer, by fulfilling the opportunity for developing tailored treatments while solving dose-related toxicity issues; the most limiting threat in conventional lung cancer clinical management.

We report a case of a 26-year-old female patient treated with nivolumab for peritoneal implants from small-cell ovarian cancer. Pulmonary changes were depicted on follow-up examinations, namely, consolidations and scattered ground glass opacities, without any remarkable pulmonary complaints or laboratory changes. Both infectious and progressive diseases were ruled out. The condition was attributed to nivolumab side effect, and total remission was documented, followed by corticosteroids administration. We present clinical details and imaging findings, followed by a discussion where pulmonary toxicity can often be mistaken with infection or secondary involvement. Keywords: Cancer, Immunotherapy, Pulmonary toxicity

Fernando Pessoa's poem "A Múmia" describes a sort of psychotic experience, which shows the condition of the literary creation by itself. The poem springs from – and describes – the experience of psychic and existential chaos: criticism and clinic overlap in the making and analysis of "A Múmia" This critical reading aims at bringing some intelligibility to the creative processes and, in particular, to Pessoa's heteronyms.

Elevated expression levels of the apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) have been correlated with the more aggressive phenotypes and poor prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to assess the impact of the inhibition of the redox function of APE1 with E3330 either alone or in combination with cisplatin in NSCLC cells. For this purpose, complementary endpoints focusing on cell viability, apoptosis, cell cycle distribution, and migration/invasion were studied. Cisplatin decreased the viability of H1975 cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, with IC50 values of 9.6 &micro, M for crystal violet assay and 15.9 &micro, M for 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay. E3330 was clearly cytotoxic for concentrations above 30 &micro, M. The co-incubation of E3330 and cisplatin significantly decreased cell viability compared to cisplatin alone. Regarding cell cycle distribution, cisplatin led to an increase in sub-G1, whereas the co-treatment with E3330 did not change this profile, which was then confirmed in terms of % apoptotic cells. In addition, the combination of E3330 and cisplatin at low concentrations decreased collective and chemotactic migration, and also chemoinvasion, by reducing these capabilities up to 20%. Overall, these results point to E3330 as a promising compound to boost cisplatin therapy that warrants further investigation in NSCLC.

This study sheds light on polycentric forms of organizing and corresponding performance implications. Organizations with a polycentric architecture supplement their internal hierarchical decision-making structures with egalitarian, local structures in order to encourage collaboration with legally independent stakeholders. We ground our study on the planning stage for four capital-intensive infrastructure development projects (megaprojects) in the UK. We first establish that megaproject planning is carried on by polycentric organizations. We show that in this form of organizing the promoter has decision-making authority over the high-order choices, but shares the authority over the local choices with groups of autonomous stakeholders. We also show how this organizational architecture addresses local disputes and pressures to relax performance targets. Our main contribution is a contingency model that proposes four conditions linking performance to polycentric organizing, whether or not: i) the institutional environment empowers an ‘umpire’ to referee disputes; and ii) the system leader can mobilize substantial slack resources to reconcile conflicting interests. We argue that the four conditions reveal very different classes of managerial problems, and draw implications for practice and policy including but not limited to megaprojects.

This mixed-methods study investigates a dilemma that interorganizational groups formed to develop long-lived capital assets invariably face at the project front end: either invest in flexible design structures that cope economically with change in requirements, this is design to evolve—at risk of the extra costs not paying off if the uncertainties fail to resolve favorably later on, or endorse cheaper but more rigid designs—at risk of higher adaptation costs if the uncertainties materialize in the future. Through an empirical study grounded in the British railway sector, we reveal that groups regularly engage in informal future-proofing discussions to address this dilemma. But faced with tight budgets and timescales as well as differing interests, the groups struggle to achieve consensus over the need for flexible designs. Through lab experiments and taking a flat governance structure as given, we unexpectedly find that an administrative device to facilitate multiparty future-proofing talks has limited impact on the outcomes. Hence, we argue that a collective action problem is central to interorganizational development of flexible capital designs. We conclude by discussing alternative structures to govern the project front end, and how to better exploit the value of flexible designs.

A impressão 3D (ou fabrico aditivo) é uma tecnologia recente que tem vindo a mostrar nos últimos anos um potencial para aplicações industriais cada vez mais útil e atraente para empresas de produção de várias áreas. Contudo, encontra-se na fase comum a todas as tecnologias emergentes em que a falta de regulamentação e metodologias de teste normalizadas dificulta não só a sua implementação à larga escala num contexto industrial como a obtenção de resultados satisfatórios no fabrico de peças, que pode ir de uma situação de prototipagem à sua utilização em peças de uso final. Esta dissertação de mestrado concerne o caso da impressão 3D por extrusão de filamento polimérico, começando por analisar a sua tecnologia inerente, o estado de arte da mesma, as barreiras mais importantes a ultrapassar para a sua otimização e implementação e os materiais que usa. Posteriormente, é feita uma análise das normas para o teste de materiais poliméricos quando processados por este método e da importância e atuais falhas dessa normalização, culminando com uma sugestão de metodologia sustentável de teste de partes processadas por esta tecnologia, num contexto industrial. É feito um esforço constante para abordar esta tecnologia e o seu uso de uma perspetiva metódica e aliada a todos os esforços feitos para a normalização já existentes, de modo a aliar a mitigação de custos e a obtenção de bons resultados com a regulamentação e certificação de materiais poliméricos a utilizar. Tendo em conta este contexto, a grande parte dos textos utilizados e a bibliografia mais importante para trabalho vêm ou de organizações regulamentadoras ou de organizações que as acompanham e fazem pesquisa científica nesta área, orientada para a coordenação das normas com as tecnologias existentes, principais ou acessórias. A aplicabilidade da metodologia proposta é analisada em três instâncias com recurso a ensaios experimentais, usando o Nylon-6 como caso de estudo.

This study sheds light on how project managers can use language as a resource for communicating with local communities and stakeholders alike, and protect the legitimacy of their decisions and actions. The verbal accounts produced by a senior project management team are examined in-depth. The accounts address the claims raised by residents affected by the expansion of the Heathrow airport. The context for the talk-in-interaction is one of conflicting interests: the promoter undertakes actions to mitigate the impacts of the construction works, but some residents feel frustrated that the business can grow at the expenses of their welfare. The findings reveal that managers tend to acknowledge all claims even when perceiving they lack legitimacy. The analysis of the words and phrasing in the conversational turns that form the accounts reveals three tones - caring, assertive, and apologetic - that managers use intentionally to frame linguistically the acknowledgements. The study discusses how the tones fit with the extent to which, first, managers consider that the claims are factually correct, fair, and precise as opposed to unfair, exaggerated, or opportunistic; and second, managers find technical or institutional references available for constructing the accounts. It also discusses the effects of congruence - or the lack of it - between what managers mean to say about what the project team will do, what managers actually say, how listeners interpret what was said, and what the project team actually gets done.

When business strategists use option-like thinking to inform investments in physical infrastructure, developers need to operationalize leaving the options open at project implementation. This study defines safeguard as the design and physical development work for ensuring, or enhancing, the embedment of an option in the project outcome. Safeguards account for design changes stemming from option exercising if the environmental uncertainties resolve favorably in the future. They range from a design effort to secure space in a master plan (passive) to the construction of an integral component (active). A multiple-case study on the expansion of Heathrow airport shows how the confluence of two contingencies underscores decisions to safeguard under a limited budget. Safeguarding is more attractive when: 1) the assumed uncertainty that the option will get in the money is low because the outlay sunk on safeguards is more likely to pay off; and 2) the infrastructure architecture is modular because only the interfaces between components may require safeguarding. Irreversible investments on safeguards increase the option cost and reduce the exercising costs in the future. Safeguards therefore play out as a control point for strategic option-like thinking at project implementation. The empirical findings are summarized in a conceptual framework.

This multiple-case study induces alternative strategies to coordinate the overlap of tasks to detail and physically execute base building with tasks to conceptualize the business-critical fit out. Base-building subsystems provide service space for occupancy, whereas fit-out subsystems make the space functional. Our empirical findings on problem-solving base-building design under uncertainty and ambiguity stem from a number of projects in an airport expansion program. They suggest that base-building subsystems show low sensitivity to incremental changes in fit out as their definitions are seldom optimized to eliminate slack. Yet, base-building subsystems show high sensitivity to radical changes in fit out when the architectures of the two subsystems are integral to one another. Three strategies for problem-solving base building stand out: (1) iterate design when preliminary information about fit out is ambiguous, or precise but unstable; (2) physically decouple the architectures of base building and fit out; and (3) design buffers in base building when preliminary information about fit out lacks precision but it is not ambiguous. These buffers can be designed out if uncertainties in fit out resolve favorably before starting the physical execution for base building.

Environmental changes are common during development of large engineering (infrastructure) projects. To accommodate them when they occur, developers design and physically execute the upstream base building with preliminary information about the downstream business-critical fit-out. Base-building subsystems provide service space for occupancy, whereas fit-out subsystems make the space functional. We build theory on design under uncertainty and ambiguity from case study research, drawing on theory of preliminary information exchange in concurrent development. We find that the base-building subsystem shows low sensitivity to incremental changes in fit-out. However, it shows high sensitivity to radical changes, unless the two subsystems interact in a modular fashion. In the face of slow resolution of downstream uncertainty and difficulties in decoupling the physical interfaces (as is the case in modular design for example), upstream developers avoid starvation by making working assumptions at risk and exploring the space of possible design solutions through an early ldquooptioneeringrdquo stage. Two patterns for problem-solving upstream stand out: 1) iterate design when preliminary information is either ambiguous or precise, but unstable and 2) build buffers in the design definition to absorb foreseeable changes when the preliminary information lacks precision but is not ambiguous. Buffers can be designed out if downstream uncertainties resolve favorably before the buffers are physically executed.

This study investigates the implementation of design reuse and buffers in developing the infrastructure of high-tech production facilities Design reuse entails using the same systems architecture from one project to the next. Design buffers involve building slack into a proven systems architecture to absorb foreseeable change requests. Choosing the appropriate amounts of reuse and slack is dependent on the uncertainty in the manufacturing technology over the infrastructure life cycle. While proven infrastructure designs can economically accommodate incremental changes in technology, adaptation costs escalate when sufficient buffers are not built-in and changes are radical. We uncover opposing stakeholder interests in determining the extent to which reuse or buffers are used. Design reuse is attractive to the client to reduce the risk that a facility fails to perform, but limits the designer's job to tedious customization work. Design buffers are attractive to the designer to do original problem-solving and limit the risks of being unresponsive to uncertainty, but not to the client who is not guaranteed that the investments will pay off. We find that inequalities between the two stakeholders in the governing power on design decision-making compound the difficulties in assessing and implementing the reuse versus buffers tradeoff.

In the field of knowledge management research, socialization means to convert individual into group tacit knowledge. This process matters from the outset of an architecture, engineering, and construction AEC project to enhance collaborative work. Face-to- face meetings and phone calls undoubtedly facilitate socialization. However, meetings can be hard to timetable and expensive when AEC teams are geographically dispersed, whereas phone calls are cheap but offer limited capabilities for problem solving. Further, both media are not good at supporting asynchronous socialization. This study investigates the extent Internet-based media can promote cross-firm socialization and enhance collaborative work. The cross fertilization of findings from an exploratory case study with theory in computer- supported collaborative work CSCW informs the development of a conceptual framework on digital socialization. This framework underpins IDRAK—a proof-of-concept of a rich Internet application prototype to promote socialization in AEC projects. Our main contribution is the design of a novel methodology to evaluate the usability of digital systems to support socialization at the early design stage of an AEC project. The results from our lab experiments suggest that IDRAK can satisfactorily and efficiently enhance collaborative work. However, more research is needed, first, to evaluate the effectiveness of IDRAK to improve design quality and asynchronous socialization; and second, to investigate how other CSCW features can improve the performance of IDRAK-like systems.

This study uses an organizational design perspective to illuminate the front-end of capital projects to develop complex socio-technical systems. The research is grounded on planning activity for four large infrastructure projects in the UK. By modelling the front-end with Design Structure Matrices, the analysis uncovers polycentric structures formed to govern large arenas of collective action. In these structures, the promoter formulates the grand problem but shares the authority to make interdependent strategic choices with independent actors. The findings trace regular slippages in the performance targets to the need to safeguard compromise solutions for emerging disputes rooted in differing interests and visioning. However, context determines the extent the accountability for the front-end outcomes is shared. The main contribution is a contingency model of performance that contains a relationship between the umpiring structure used to resolve internal disputes and the slack resources used to preserve project legitimacy in the public eye. Implications to practice and policy are drawn.

This study discusses the sustainability of highly-fragile, consensus-oriented developments which rely on voluntary contributions of resources. The research is grounded on a dataset of interorganizational controversies that arose during the planning of four mega infrastructure projects in the UK. It uses Design Structure Matrices to qualify the decomposability of the design structures and of the structures that govern high-level decisions to set performance expectations. The analysis shows that fixed deadlines, tight budgets and equity concerns constrain efforts to decentralise governance and seek local consensuses. Time constraints also bring to the fore mutual-gains bargaining and compromise-seeking despite genuine efforts to engage in deliberative decision-making and effective collaboration. Hence, I argue, sustaining these pluralistic enterprises is per se a measure of positive performance. The study suggests four mechanisms that allow carrying the parties along as the development inches forward: loosening local targets, global buffers, flexible designs in use; and an umpireâ�€�”an actor accountable to all parties and empowered to settle disputes.

This study discusses strategic capabilities necessary to improve the performance of the promoters of new developments of large infrastructure so-called megaprojects. To get to the end goal, promoters must assemble vast networks of resource-rich, autonomous actors and share with them direct control over high-level design decisions for indivisible components. Hence promoters are ‘system-architects’, and they need architectural knowledge both of the stakeholder landscape and technical design to carry on their task structure. Promoters that act strategically, we argue, deliberately manipulate the sequence of arrival of the actors and keep a selected few at bay. An ideal sequence aligns the growth of the network with the hierarchy of design choices and creates cohesive groups to strike consensuses on local solutions. We discuss pitfalls ahead of attempts to orderly eliminate development bottlenecks and thus stabilise performance expectations, a prerequisite to sustain public legitimacy for the scheme.

This study explores the governance of new infrastructure development projects. When planning a new scheme, it is common for project promoters to consult prospective users but keep design decision-making authority centralized to preempt scope creep and cost and/or time overruns—often to no avail. A case where authority was decentralized and results were reportedly good sparked this research. The setting is a program to develop school buildings where design decision-making authority was shared across the national government, local government, and the schools’ faculties. To make sense of the empirical observables, the study first extends Ostrom’s theory of polycentric commons governance to design co-production. Using this cognitive lens, the analysis shows that design choices can qualify as a common-pool resource and be subjected to polycentric commons governance. The analysis also reveals a nuanced story about performance. A polycentric commons is advantageous to keep multiple autonomous actors satisfied and encourage unpaid contributions of resources. But there is variance in the extent this structure gets things done to target and yields innovation. The discussion traces this outcome back to, first, how this complex form of governing delineates decision-making authority; and two, its capabilities in preempting an unmanageable number of disputes and chaos from ensuing, and in resolving unavoidable disputes.

A problem facing the management of large engineering design projects is: Why do clients often adopt an early commitment strategy on design decision-making when they want to speed up project delivery, yet allow late changes to the project definition to accommodate the resolution of (un)foreseen external uncertainties? Empirical findings illustrate this problem and underpin a 2-stage model of the concept development process, in which conceptualization is followed by design, and stochastic pre-emption simulates asymmetric changes. Simulation experiments demonstrate that when clients make commitments early on in conditions of high uncertainty, they increase the likelihood (upside risk) of speeding up delivery if external events do not materialize; however, if these events do materialize, they increase the likelihood (downside risk) of causing design rework and losing process predictability-especially when the ability to reuse design work after a change is limited. We show that moderate design postponement is appropriate if clients relinquish some of the upside risk of finishing the design sooner. Moderate design postponement does not increase the downside risk of overrunning the delivery completion date in relation to the risk clients incur when they commit earlier because it reduces expected variability in design. These insights highlight the client's role in foreseeing external uncertainties and judiciously instructing changes to design teams. They also demonstrate the applicability of postponement to large engineering design projects where external uncertainty emerges as a fundamental contingency

Four factors make it challenging to manage semiconductor fabrication facility ~"fabs" ! projects: technical complexity of the product design, need to compress the project duration, need to reduce upfront costs, and unexpected project changes. The strategies employed by practitioners to cope with these challenges form an intricate puzzle. We empirically develop a framework that provides a structure for helping to solve this puzzle, which comprises two principles: investing upfront in a flexible product design and structuring a flexible process. Empirical findings reveal that project teams make commitments early on by overdesigning but also postpone critical decisions by differentiating the scope of their work. Project teams employ other strategies such as increasing communication, using modular architectures, engaging in four-dimensional computer-based modeling, and fabricating components and subsystems off-site. Our analysis yields understanding on the purposes and performance tradeoffs of these strategies, and on how they embody the two principles. Project managers may find the framework useful when deciding which strategies best suit other equally challenging projects.

Pigmented Villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a rare vertebral pathology––around 50 reports, only 3 concerning C1–C2 location. A 64-year-old man, submitted to a right nephrectomy for a clear cell carcinoma, presented with an asymptomatic osteolytic C1–C2 lesion. Even though the diagnosis of metastatic disease was the most probable, the presence of a solitary lesion without other osseous or systemic localization and the predicted low risk of recurrence imposed a surgical biopsy. A pigmented villonodular synovitis diagnosis was made, a rare vertebral pathology––around 50 reports, only 3 concerning C1–C2 location. No further treatment was assigned precluding the iatrogenic consequences of empirical treatments based on clinical diagnosis with no histopathological support. The patient remains stable at 18 months of follow-up. A large differential diagnosis should be made when the typical findings for metastatic disease are absent precluding the iatrogenic consequences of empirical treatments based on clinical diagnosis with no histopathological support.

This chapter discusses the management of distribution networks with an increased microgrid penetration, that is, corresponding to a situation where most of the low voltage (LV) networks turn into active microgrids. It is therefore assumed that the microgrid concept is extended, leading to the development of a new concept - the multi-microgrid. A full exploitation of this concept involves the design of a new control architecture as well as the development of new management tools or the adaptation of existing distribution management systems (DMS) tools. Bearing in mind the relevance of some of the functionalities available at the central autonomous management controller (CAMC) level and the need to perform some of the key studies, the following topics are addressed: coordinated voltage/var support for normal operation; coordinated frequency control for islanded operation; local black start - restoration of the MV grid following a blackout; and definition of dynamic equivalents for microgrids.

This study empirically investigates the relationship between design structure and organization structure in the context of new infrastructure development projects. Our research setting is a capital program to develop new school buildings in the city of Manchester, UK. Instead of creating a controlled, hierarchical organization, which would mirror the buildings�€™ design structure, the Manchester City Council created a �€œcommons organization,�€ and chose to share decision-rights with local claimants. Each school�€™s faculty was thus given rights equal to Council staff to participate in the design process and to approve the school�€™s design. In the natural resources literature, commons theory predicts that, if a robust governance structure is created, this complex form of organizing gives claimants incentives to contribute to the enterprise whilst dampening collective action problems (Ostrom 1990). Here we extend this claim to the production of man-made artifacts. The design commons induced teachers to volunteer time and effort to communicate their practical knowledge, but created corresponding tensions over interdependent choices for the final design. Yet, none of the projects succumbed to collective action problems in the form of budget overruns, bogged-down processes, or users feeling disenfranchised. Applying Ostrom�€™s (1990) principles of robust commons governance, we show that the Manchester design commons organization was robust by her criteria and propose that robustness contributed positively to the outcome. We also discuss design flexibility as an intervening variable that was critical in reconciling differences that governance alone could not resolve. We conclude with the rudiments of a theory describing when and why a commons organization can be advantageous for production of designs.

This study discusses capabilities necessary to strategically plan projects to develop capital-intensive infrastructure. These so-called megaprojects cannot move into implementation without a strate...

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia de Informática, I would like to thank the following people for their help and support over the course of the completion of this thesis. To João Saraiva, my supervisor, for his continued support and encouragement. To Luís Anjos and Nuno Vieira, my co-workers, that helped in everything I needed during my research time in Primavera. To my parents, Carlos and Isabel, that, even though in my life I may have not done everything the way they wanted and wished, were always there for my best interest, caring for me, my life and my future. I feel eternal gratitude for the two of you. To my lovely sister, Catarina, for giving me company even when I didn’t want it, for loving me unconditionally and for bringing a new cat into our household. Life with kittens is always better than life without kittens! To my aunts, Nocas, Sissi and Patrícia, that I am sure have always believed in me. To my grandfather, that age only made of him a more interesting, funny and reliable company. To my grandma, for all the love and food filled of love that fed me during all these years. To my girlfriend Ana, for all the love, patience and understanding, and for staying by my side. To all my friends, who make my life outside of research so enjoyable. Particularly, to my friends Ricardo, Renato, Miguel, Pedro Nuno, Bruno and Sebastião, whose company has been a constant for many years. To Zé and João Nuno, for the great time we have when we are together., PRIMAVERA Business Software Solution dedicou muito tempo e esforço nos últimos anos no desenvolvimento de uma framework que permite a um utilizador modelar uma aplicação e respectivos serviços. Esta framework irá então gerar grande parte do código fonte, assim como a base de dados e o User Interface. O objectivo deste projecto de dissertação é de adicionar uma nova função a esta framework - uma componente de automação de testes. Desta forma, a framework será capaz de gerar casos de teste para validar os requisitos da aplicação. Como gerar todas as possiveis combinações seria impraticável, um dos principais objetivos deste projeto é gerar um conjunto de casos de teste mais pequeno que possa garantir que o sistema está a ser a ser bem testado.

Wood density and pulp yield are key parameters in the evaluation of tree productivity and quality for pulping and their relationships are of high practical importance. The influence of wood density on pulp yield and other pulp quality parameters was investigated using Acacia melanoxylon and its natural variability as a case study. Twenty trees were harvested (five trees in each of four sites in Portugal), and wood discs taken at different height levels, from the base to the top of the tree, providing 100 wood samples, covering the natural variability of wood density ranging from 449 kg m−3 to 649 kg m−3. Under the same experimental conditions of kraft pulping, screened pulp yield ranged 47.0–58.2 %, Kappa number 10.9–18.4, ISO brightness 14.9–45.6, fibre length 0.660–0.940 mm and fibre width 16.2–22.9 μm. The pulp yield and Kappa number were not correlated with wood density. Higher pulp yields were associated with lower Kappa numbers and alkali consumption, suggesting the important role of chemical composition of wood on kraft cooking. The results confirm the high pulping potential of Acacia melanoxylon trees grown in Portugal and suggest the possibility of tree selection using both wood density and pulp yield.

The antioxidant activity of the phenolic compounds present in industrial black liquors obtained from the two cooking processes (kraft and sulphite) used in Portugal to produce Eucalyptus globulus pulp was evaluated. The black liquors treated at several pH values were extracted with ethyl acetate. Phenolic fractions were further separated by liquid chromatography of the crude extracts of kraft liquor at pH = 6 and sulphite liquor at the original pH. Total phenolic content was determined in terms of gallic acid equivalents (Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method), and the antioxidant activity in the crude extracts at several pH values and in the separated fractions was measured using the DPPH test for radical scavenging capacity. The total phenolic content of crude extracts and separated fractions ranged from 92.7 to 181.6 and from 91.6 to 1,099.6 mg GAE/g, respectively, while the antioxidant activity index (AAI) ranged from 2.20 to 3.41 and from 2.21 to 11.47 respectively, showing very strong antioxidant activity in all studied cases. The fractions separated by column chromatography were submitted to mass spectrometry analysis and the results were compared to others in the literature of natural products, mainly from Eucalyptus, and the characteristic bands of functional groups were identified by 1H-NMR and FTIR. These methods allowed the identification of 17 phenolic compounds.

In recent years, infrastructure promoters have become interested in translating the Toyota lean management paradigm into new infrastructure development projects. This approach assumes client and project suppliers are willing to work cooperatively. To enable this prerequisite, clients have started to experiment with relational contracts. An empirical study on the use of a relational contract in the £4.2bn extension of Heathrow airport in London confirms, however, the old adage that the devil is in the details. Unarguably, relational contracts enable the project client and suppliers to work together for a common purpose. However, the interwoven ways in which the client implements the contract - writing up the commercial details, as well as adjusting and interpreting these details throughout the project - are critical to encourage the suppliers to work cooperatively and meet the expectations of the client. This study unpacks five factors for making relational contracts work in projects: suppliers are keen to reap reputation benefits from project participation; suppliers have flexibility in their production processes; client and suppliers choose the right people for the jobs; client learns to relationally contract in response to supplier feedback; and client aligns its practices to control and improve performance with the suppliers' skills.