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- Organizational purpose : a qualitative and quantitative approach to conceptualization and categorizationPublication . Spínola, Susana Pacheco; Gomes, JorgeIn recent years, the concept of organizational purpose has gained particular attention among researchers, reflecting a significant change in the corporate environment which is drifting away from its purely profit-driven purpose. Despite this growing interest, there is a clear lack of literature, particularly in terms of its composition and definition. This thesis aimed to address these gaps through the examination of the definition of organizational purpose and its implications. Employing a mixed-method approach, the research integrated qualitative and quantitative analyses to uncover how employees perceive purpose statements and its impact on job satisfaction and perceived individual performance. The qualitative phase involved a detailed examination of purpose statements through a multiple coding technique, focusing on their strategic focus and their potential to be transformative, aspirational, and passionate. Meanwhile, the quantitative phase involved the administration of a survey to Siemens Portugal employees to investigate the relationship between perceived organizational purpose and individual experiences, such as job satisfaction and individual performance. The results from the qualitative approach showed that there are diverse interpretations of purpose statements, indicating that some statements are widely agreed upon as transformative and aspirational, others faced disagreement – the passionate ones- suggesting ambiguity according to personal perceptions. This demonstrated the complexity in defining what constitutes a truly impactful organizational purpose. These findings are complemented by the quantitative data, which confirmed significant correlations between organizational purpose, job satisfaction, and perceived performance. The significant mediation effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between the organization’ purpose positively, the clarity and impact of this purpose directly influence their job satisfaction and, consequently, their work engagement. This alignment of qualitative insights with quantitative evidence underlines the importance of developing purpose statements that are both specific and inspiring to effectively drive employee engagement, bridging the gap between theoretical understanding and practical application. This integrated approach demonstrates that an organizational purpose can be effectively used to enhance both individual and organizational outcomes
- Predicting the expansion of invasive species: how much data do we need?Publication . Santana, Joana; Sillero, Neftalí; Ribeiro, Joana; Capinha, César; Lopes, Ricardo Jorge; Reino, LuísEcological niche models (ENMs) are a powerful tool to predict the spread of invasive alien species (IAS) and support the implementation of actions aiming to reduce the impact of biological invasions. While calibrating ENMs with distribution data from species’ native ranges can underestimate the invasion potential due to possible niche shifts, using distribution data combining species’ native and invasive ranges may overestimate the invasion potential due to a reduced fitness and environmental tolerance of species in invaded ranges. An alternative may be using the increasingly available distribution data of IAS as they spread their invaded ranges, to iteratively forecast invasions as they unfold. However, while this approach accounts for possible niche shifts, it may also underestimate the species’ potential range, particularly at the early stages of the invasion when the most suitable conditions may not yet be represented in the distribution range data set. Here, we evaluate the capacity of ENMs to forecast the distribution of IAS based on distribution data on invaded ranges as these data become available. We further use dispersion models to assess the expansion process using the predicted potential distributions. Specifically, we used the common waxbill (Estrilda astrild) in the Iberian Peninsula as a model system. We built ENMs with 10×10 km grid cells distribution records cumulatively for each decade from 1960 to 2019, and yearly bioclimatic variables, to forecast the species potential range in the coming decades. Then, we assessed the performance of the models for each decade in forecasting the species’ observed range expansion in the following decades and evaluated how the number of distribution records determined the quality of the forecasts. Finally, we performed dispersal estimates (based on species traits, topography, climate and land cover) to analyse the prediction capacity of models as their uncertainty may be reduced when projecting them to the next decades. Our results show that invasion-only ENMs successfully forecasted the species’ range expansion over three decades after invasion, while dispersion models were not important in forecasting common waxbill expansion. Our study highlights the importance of constantly monitoring alien species, suggesting that iterative updating of ENMs with observed distribution data may accurately forecast the range expansion of alien species.
- Biotic interactions as structuring factors of mesocarnivore communities in human-altered landscapesPublication . Barros, Ana Luisa; Reis, Margarida Santos; MacKenzie, DarrylThe conversion of natural landscapes for agricultural purposes is a main driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, but in Europe many of these agroecosystems still maintain a high species richness. Low-intensity farming systems are mostly preserved in the Mediterranean region creating a mosaic of natural and cultural landscapes. Mammalian carnivores assume complex regulatory roles on ecosystems as top predators. In Europe, mostly mesocarnivores persist as many species thrive in humanized landscapes and in the absence of large carnivores. The taxonomic and ecological diversity of this group leads to species-specific responses to human disturbance and sub-lethal interactions between similar-sized species are thought to shape mesocarnivore community structure. In this thesis, I investigated the species and community ecology of a mesocarnivore guild in human-altered landscapes. The reliance on extensive camera-trapping datasets led me to first examine recent technological and methodological developments for camera traps, providing evidence on their performance and cost-benefit for carnivore research. I then assessed the species-specific response to agroforestry practices and demonstrated the conservation value of sustainable and dynamic management in these systems. To determine the potential for interspecific interactions, I explored the mechanisms of coexistence through niche segregation at multiple dimensions and different scales. Empirical evidence of spatial association seems to support similar habitat preferences between species and could also be a consequence of the largely generalist requirements of this carnivore guild. Nonetheless, fine adjustments in trophic resource use and temporal activity somewhat explained mesocarnivore coexistence. Lastly, I assessed the geographical variation in mesocarnivore community structure by addressing assumptions of conservation-surrogacy and ecological regulation from large carnivores. Across Europe’s humanized landscapes, the environmental and anthropogenic context structures the mesocarnivore communities, as the occurrence of low-density wolf populations weakens spatial signatures of top-down effects. The research from this thesis contributes to mesocarnivore community ecology in human-altered landscapes and supports the capacity of predator species to coexist with human presence and potential competitors.
- Cork Façades as an Innovative and Sustainable Approach in Architecture: A Review of Cork Materials, Properties and Case StudiesPublication . Miranda, Isabel; Pereira, HelenaFaçades give the first impression of a structure, reflecting the overall aesthetic appeal, archi- tectural styles, cultural influences, and technological advancements. Emphasis on sustainability is increasing, with a shift towards eco-friendly and energy-saving materials, triggered by decreasing the environmental impact of construction. Cork is a green competitive material for various engineering and design applications due to its biological formation, sustainable production and a portfolio of properties including low density, impermeability, viscoelastic behaviour and high thermal insulation that derive from its cellular and chemical features. This work presents cork materials used in build- ing façades and their properties, also giving information on cork production and processing into cork-based products as a review of the existing published research, while also identifying knowledge gaps and further research needed. Historical examples of cladding of constructions with raw cork are given, while the contemporary innovative use of cork façades was triggered by some designs of well-known architects with outdoor application of expanded cork agglomerates. Examples of different historical and contemporary constructions were assembled and critically assessed by the authors. The aim is to give integrated information of cork as a natural, renewable and sustainable material to raise the interest of designers, architects and engineers to explore cork, blending aesthetics with environmental responsibility, targeting a more sustainable and resilient built environment.
- Triclustering three-way temporal and heterogeneous dataPublication . Soares, Diogo F.; Madeira, Sara; Henriques, RuiTriclustering, targeting the discovery of coherent subspaces within three-way data, is becoming increasingly relevant in data science, especially for pattern discovery and knowledge acquisition from complex datasets in the biomedical field. This technique can reveal hidden patterns such as putative regulatory modules, disease progression profiles, and individuals with coherent behaviors. When applied to labeled data, triclustering aids in class differentiation and supports real-world decision-making. However, learning from 3W biomedical data is typically challenged by the rich temporal and heterogeneous nature, having mixed-type features and different structure compositions. In response to these challenges, this thesis establishes the foundations for pattern-centric 3W data analysis, focusing on triclustering for temporal and heterogeneous three-way data, targeting both descriptive and predictive tasks. In this context, this thesis includes six major contributions. It provides a literature review and comparative study of current triclustering algorithms for temporal data, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods. It presents new tools to support the development and assessment of pattern discovery approaches in descriptive and predictive contexts, including a new data generator capable of creating heterogeneous three-way datasets with annotated triclustering solutions and benchmark datasets for comparative evaluation. It proposes a novel approach to capture time-contiguous triclusters, enhancing the search for temporal coherence. It introduces a new triclustering approach able to handle heterogeneous data by applying sequential pattern mining principles to identify relevant patterns and derive triclusters capturing temporal data dynamics. Additionally, it presents a new method for learning pattern-centric predictors. Finally, it proposes an extension and integration of principles for learning from static and temporal data structures. The developed methods were comprehensively validated in concrete real-world clinical scenarios, showing promising results concerning two progressive diseases. They were used to predict clinically relevant endpoints and identify disease-specific progression patterns, supporting medical decisions and identifying significant patient profiles.
- Reconstituição de fortificações luso-brasileiras do séc. XVI ao séc. XVIII : metodologia baseada em ferramentas multidisciplinaresPublication . Melo, Marina da Silveira e; Januário, Pedro Miguel Gomes; Espadinha, António José Canau
- Environmental risk of diclofenac in European groundwaters and implications for environmental quality standardsPublication . Duarte, Cláudia; Di Lorenzo, Tiziana; Sofia Reboleira, AnaGroundwater harbours unique species adapted to perpetual darkness. Groundwater fauna plays a crucial role in global ecosystem services, but contamination poses a threat to this keystone ecosystem. Diclofenac is a common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug of particular concern, due to its presence in both surface and groundwater. We assess the environmental risk of diclofenac in European groundwaters using different scenarios, analyzing Measured Environmental Concentrations (MECs) of diclofenac and estimating the Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNECs) through two approaches: considering the sensitivity of the groundwater crustacean Proasellus lusitanicus (Isopoda: Asellidae), and using surface water species as proxies. Our results show that scenarios based on surrogate species predict that groundwater ecosystems are at risk due to diclofenac contamination. On the other hand, the MECs of diclofenac were consistently lower than the PNEC of P. lusitanicus, suggesting that the current MECs do not pose a significant threat to this groundwater-adapted species. However, risk scenarios differ considering the sensitivity of other groundwater species, emphasizing the importance of considering multiple species’ sensitivities in risk assessment. Therefore, we recommend establishing an environmental quality standard for diclofenac in groundwater at 5 ng/L, a value that accounts the need for precautionary measures to safeguard groundwater ecosystems, essential for preserving their unique biota and services.
- The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable biodiversity genomicsPublication . Mc Cartney, Ann M.; Formenti, Giulio; Mouton, Alice; De Panis, Diego; Marins, Luísa S.; Leitão, Henrique G.; Diedericks, Genevieve; Kirangwa, Joseph; Morselli, Marco; Salces-Ortiz, Judit; Escudero, Nuria; Iannucci, Alessio; Natali, Chiara; Svardal, Hannes; Fernández, Rosa; De Pooter, Tim; Joris, Geert; Strazisar, Mojca; Wood, Jonathan M. D.; Herron, Katie E.; Seehausen, Ole; Watts, Phillip C.; Shaw, Felix; Davey, Robert P.; Minotto, Alice; Fernández, José M.; Böhne, Astrid; Alegria, Carla; Alioto, Tyler; Alves, Paulo C.; Amorim, Isabel R.; Aury, Jean-Marc; Backstrom, Niclas; Baldrian, Petr; Baltrunaite, Laima; Barta, Endre; BedHom, Bertrand; Belser, Caroline; Bergsten, Johannes; Bertrand, Laurie; Bilandija, Helena; Binzer-Panchal, Mahesh; Bista, Iliana; Blaxter, Mark; Borges, Paulo; Dias, Guilherme Borges; Bosse, Mirte; Brown, Tom; Bruggmann, Rémy; Buena-Atienza, Elena; Burgin, Josephine; Buzan, Elena; Cariani, Alessia; Casadei, Nicolas; Chiara, Matteo; Chozas, Sergio; Čiampor, Fedor; Crottini, Angelica; Cruaud, Corinne; Cruz, Fernando; Dalen, Love; De Biase, Alessio; del Campo, Javier; Delic, Teo; Dennis, Alice B.; Derks, Martijn F. L.; Diroma, Maria Angela; Djan, Mihajla; Duprat, Simone; Eleftheriadi, Klara; Feulner, Philine G. D.; Flot, Jean-François; Forni, Giobbe; Fosso, Bruno; Fournier, Pascal; Fournier-Chambrillon, Christine; Gabaldon, Toni; Garg, Shilpa; Gissi, Carmela; Giupponi, Luca; Gomez-Garrido, Jessica; González, Josefa; Grilo, Miguel L.; Grüning, Björn; Guerin, Thomas; Guiglielmoni, Nadege; Gut, Marta; Haesler, Marcel P.; Hahn, Christoph; Halpern, Balint; Harrison, Peter W.; Heintz, Julia; Hindrikson, Maris; Höglund, Jacob; Howe, Kerstin; Hughes, Graham M.; Istace, Benjamin; Cock, Mark J.; Janžekovič, Franc; Jonsson, Zophonias O.; Joye-Dind, Sagane; Koskimäki, Janne J.; Krystufek, Boris; Kubacka, Justyna; Kuhl, Heiner; Kusza, Szilvia; Labadie, Karine; Lähteenaro, Meri; Lantz, Henrik; Lavrinienko, Anton; Leclère, Lucas; Lopes, Ricardo Jorge; Madsen, Ole; Magdelenat, Ghislaine; Magoga, Giulia; Manousaki, Tereza; Mappes, Tapio; Marques, Joao Pedro; Redondo, Gemma I. Martinez; Maumus, Florian; McCarthy, Shane A.; Megens, Hendrik-Jan; Melo-Ferreira, Jose; Mendes, Sofia L.; Montagna, Matteo; Moreno, João; Mosbech, Mai-Britt; Moura, Mónica; Musilova, Zuzana; Myers, Eugene; Nash, Will J.; Nater, Alexander; Nicholson, Pamela; Niell, Manuel; Nijland, Reindert; Noel, Benjamin; Noren, Karin; Oliveira, Pedro H.; Olsen, Remi-Andre; Ometto, Lino; Oomen, Rebekah A.; Ossowski, Stephan; Palinauskas, Vaidas; Palsson, Snaebjorn; Panibe, Jerome P.; Pauperio, Joana; Pavlek, Martina; Payen, Emilie; Pawlowska, Julia; Pellicer, Jaume; Pesole, Graziano; Pimenta, Joao; Pippel, Martin; Pirttilä, Anna Maria; Poulakakis, Nikos; Rajan, Jeena; M.C. Rego, Rúben; Resendes, Roberto; Resl, Philipp; Riesgo, Ana; Rodin-Morch, Patrik; Soares, Andre E. R.; Fernandes, C; Romeiras, Maria M.; Roxo, Guilherme; Rüber, Lukas; Ruiz-Lopez, Maria Jose; Saarma, Urmas; da Silva, Luis P.; Sim-Sim, Manuela; Soler, Lucile; Sousa, Vitor C; Santos, Carla Sousa; Spada, Alberto; Stefanovic, Milomir; Steger, Viktor; Stiller, Josefin; Stöck, Matthias; Struck, Torsten H.; Sudasinghe, Hiranya; Tapanainen, Riikka; Tellgren-Roth, Christian; Trindade, Helena; Tukalenko, Yevhen; Urso, Ilenia; Vacherie, Benoit; Van Belleghem, Steven M.; Van Oers, Kees; Vargas-Chavez, Carlos; Velickovic, Nevena; Vella, Noel; Vella, Adriana; Vernesi, Cristiano; Vicente, Sara; Villa, Sara; Pettersson, Olga Vinnere; Volckaert, Filip A. M.; Voros, Judit; Wincker, Patrick; Winkler, Sylke; Ciofi, Claudio; Waterhouse, Robert M.; Mazzoni, Camila J.A genomic database of all Earth’s eukaryotic species could contribute to many scientific discoveries; however, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. In 2018, scientists across the world united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), aiming to produce a database of high-quality reference genomes containing all ~1.5 million recognized eukaryotic species. As the European node of the EBP, the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) sought to implement a new decentralised, equitable and inclusive model for producing reference genomes. For this, ERGA launched a Pilot Project establishing the first distributed reference genome production infrastructure and testing it on 98 eukaryotic species from 33 European countries. Here we outline the infrastructure and explore its effectiveness for scaling high-quality reference genome production, whilst considering equity and inclusion. The outcomes and lessons learned provide a solid foundation for ERGA while offering key learnings to other transnational, national genomic resource projects and the EBP.
- Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of the Mucus of the Tropical Sea Slug Elysia crispataPublication . Lopes, Diana; Cunha, Eva; Conde, Tiago; Moreira, Anthony; Cruz, Sónia; Domingues, Pedro; Oliveira, Manuela; Cartaxana, PauloElysia crispata (Sacoglossa, Gastropoda) is a tropical sea slug known for its ability to incorporate functional chloroplasts from a variety of green macroalgae, a phenomenon termed kleptoplasty. This sea slug, amenable to laboratory cultivation, produces mucus, a viscous secretion that serves diverse purposes including protection, locomotion, and reproduction. In this study, we profiled the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities of the mucus of this sea slug. Results revealed inhibitory activity against several bacterial strains, more pronounced for Gram–negative bacteria. Particularly interesting was the strong inhibitory effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterial species classified by the WHO as a high-priority pathogen and associated with high-risk infections due to its frequent multidrug-resistant profile. Similar inhibitory effects were observed for the mucus native protein extracts, indicating that proteins present in the mucus contributed significantly to the antimicrobial activity. The mucus also showed both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The latter activities were associated with the low molecular weight (<10 kDa) fraction of the mucus rather than the native protein extracts. This study opens the way to further research on the biotechnological applications of the mucus secreted by this unique marine organism, particularly as an antimicrobial agent.
- The macroeconomic impact of COVID 19 on occupationsPublication . Li, XinruWe adopt a pandemic-macroeconomic model to simulate the macroeconomic impact of COVID-19 on various occupations under both laissez-faire and government lockdown scenarios. We integrate a SIR model of virus transmission into a simplified neoclassical model and categorize occupations into two groups based on their ability to work remotely. Subsequently, we assess the shock impact of the pandemic on GDP, consumption, and working hours of flexible and rigid occupations. We find that these three variables declined during the pandemic, yet the consumption varied among individuals with different health status. The labour market experienced a recession, with workers in flexible occupations experiencing a relatively milder impact compared to those in rigid occupations. A larger proportion of remote work mitigated the recessionary effects, although it accentuated the disparities between occupations’ income and working hours. The implementation of lockdown policies detrimentally affects welfare, similar to the pandemic itself, but the impact on flexible and rigid occupations differs from that in a laissez-faire scenario.