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1 – 10 of 49Nuno Antonio, Ana Maria de Almeida, Luís Nunes, Fernando Batista and Ricardo Ribeiro
This paper aims to develop a model to predict online review ratings from multiple sources, which can be used to detect fraudulent reviews and create proprietary rating indexes, or…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a model to predict online review ratings from multiple sources, which can be used to detect fraudulent reviews and create proprietary rating indexes, or which can be used as a measure of selection in recommender systems.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies machine learning and natural language processing approaches to combine features derived from the qualitative component of a review with the corresponding quantitative component and, therefore, generate a richer review rating.
Findings
Experiments were performed over a collection of hotel online reviews – written in English, Spanish and Portuguese – which shows a significant improvement over the previously reported results, and it not only demonstrates the scientific value of the approach but also strengthens the value of review prediction applications in the business environment.
Originality/value
This study shows the importance of building predictive models for revenue management and the application of the index generated by the model. It also demonstrates that, although difficult and challenging, it is possible to achieve valuable results in the application of text analysis across multiple languages.
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Inclusive tourism has the potential to counter balance some of the disadvantages relating to tourism development and effectively exert positive impacts on society at large and…
Abstract
Purpose
Inclusive tourism has the potential to counter balance some of the disadvantages relating to tourism development and effectively exert positive impacts on society at large and specifically on tourist destinations. However, there is a research gap in studies on inclusiveness related to the promotional efforts of national destination management organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Data science-based methods, mainly text mining and image mining, were used to analyze both the explicit and implicit content in text and images in the English brochures published by nine European official destination management organizations.
Findings
Results highlighted that the countries' attitudes towards inclusion were aligned with what the countries’ destination management organizations were promoting, especially in the case of highly ranked countries on an inclusiveness index. However, there were differences between their explicit content (what they write in text) and their implicit content (what they show in images).
Originality/value
The combined analysis of text and image content allowed for a complete understanding as to how national’s destination management organizations are promoting inclusion, showing that destination management organizations should make an effort in improving their promotional material and above all the images they use.
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Luís Paulino Ferreira, Nuno Filipe Ribeiro and Marco António Duarte
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with risk of suicide and chronic psychological impairment. The continued exposure to stress suffered by health-care workers…
Abstract
Purpose
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with risk of suicide and chronic psychological impairment. The continued exposure to stress suffered by health-care workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered a mass traumatic event and contribute to higher rates of PTSD in this population. The purpose of this research is to find out the prevalence and factors associated with PTSD among HCW in a general hospital.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors devised a survey to assess the prevalence of PTSD among HCWs in a general hospital and its relationship with sex, social support, profession, work experience in health care, time spent caring for COVID-19 patients and place in which the COVID-19-related activities were carried out. PTSD symptoms were assessed using the PCL-5, Portuguese version.
Findings
A total of 226 HCWs were included in the study. Provisional diagnosis of PTSD was made based on the PCL-5 responses, considering DSM-5 criteria and the cutoff score of 33. In total, 79 (35.0%) HCWs had a provisional diagnosis of PTSD, and a significant association was found between PTSD and time spent working with COVID-19 patients and between PTSD and place of work, namely, the COVID-19 emergency room and intensive care unit.
Originality/value
The results highlight the need for a reflection on the importance of mental health promotion among HCWs, specially in adverse conditions such as the current pandemic.
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Teresa Silva Dias, Katerina Novotná, Helder Zimmermann Oliveira, Carlos Azevedo, Nuno Corte-Real, Pavel Slepička and António Manuel Fonseca
The purpose of this paper is to perceive the perspective of Portuguese and Czech’ talented athletes regarding: the main reasons pointed to drop out of sport, putting into analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to perceive the perspective of Portuguese and Czech’ talented athletes regarding: the main reasons pointed to drop out of sport, putting into analysis motivational factors; the conciliation of School and Sport, and how the organization of schools and sports contexts are articulated in relation to the training and promotion of students, athletes and citizens; and the contributions (positive/negative) of sports to daily life and society.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative approach to interview eight talented athletes from different sports that had to drop out the practice of sport and explores their narratives regarding experiences and the relational dynamics between sports contexts and schools.
Findings
Athletes identify factors that led to drop out: the coach profile or the methodology and dynamics of practicing/training; time consuming; and the impossibility of reconciling sports with school/job. Athletes can identify the sport’s culture, self-development and health being as positive contributions of sports, whereas injuries were referred as the main negative factor of sport. As proposal of changes, athletes referred to the need of a more professional organization of the sport contexts and to more proximity between school policies and sport policies allowing conciliating both.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation that could be pointed to this research is the difference between the Czech and Portuguese socio-cultural and political situation, not only in the concept and organization of sports activities (since scholar years) but also in the general society. This difference could have more visibility when interpreting the data that led to this fact referred above.
Practical implications
It is recommended a more proximity relationship between researchers and the contexts of practice (sport contexts) being that it is important that these contexts should have feedback from the investigations carried out. Only in this way coaches, federations and confederations can be aware of the motivational factors that lead to talented athletes drop out, and make a greater investment in initial formation of the coaches and propose policies that try to establish partnerships with schools or professional contexts which could help the management of athletes’ times outside of sport.
Originality/value
Departing from the athletes’ feelings, concerns and motivations related to sport and the reasons that led to their drop out, we argue for the definition of public policies, in both countries, that promote non-discrimination of young people who wish to maintain a path linked to sports in articulation with other areas of their lives.
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Francisco Barros, Susana Aguiar, Pedro J. Sousa, António Cachaço, Nuno V. Ramos, Paulo Tavares, P.M.G. Moreira, Luís Oliveira Santos, Min Xu and Elsa Franco
Part of the runway at Madeira Airport is a platform above the sea at a 60 m height, supported by a series of frames. When aircraft land on this section, a load is exerted on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Part of the runway at Madeira Airport is a platform above the sea at a 60 m height, supported by a series of frames. When aircraft land on this section, a load is exerted on the structure, resulting in bending of the beams which constitute the frames. A vision-based monitoring system was devised and implemented to measure the deflection of the runway's beams when a landing occurs.
Design/methodology/approach
An area on the midspan of two beams, located on the area where aircraft are most likely to land, was prepared with a speckle pattern, and a camera was assembled above a column on each of the adjacent frames, enabling the computation of displacements using digital image correlation (DIC). The camera continuously acquires images of the monitored area and compares them to a reference using DIC. If a displacement is detected, a number of frames before and after this event are saved for further DIC processing.
Findings
The installed systems successfully detected several events corresponding to landings and, for each of those events, measured the deflection of the beams over time and computed displacement fields for critical images, with strain values obtained up to this point being too small to measure using the current system.
Originality/value
This work provides novel insights into the behaviour of a unique structure and constitutes the first use of a vision system in its structural monitoring operations. It is also a valuable development in the implementation of automated DIC monitoring systems in locations of difficult access.
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The West African Republic of Guinea-Bissau has been unstable since gaining its independence in 1974. The 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections are being closely analyzed…
Abstract
Purpose
The West African Republic of Guinea-Bissau has been unstable since gaining its independence in 1974. The 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections are being closely analyzed to study how the United Nations and the Guinean people have reacted to the outcomes of these elections. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Sociological methodologies and a comparative approach have been used in this paper to understand why the elections in 2014 were so important in this country.
Findings
The author finds that stability is possible in Guinea-Bissau after years of political uncertainties.
Originality/value
Particular focus has been paid to studying the responses of specific aspects of society, including the youth population, the political elite, the main political party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, the opposition parties and the army and whether these different groups will be able to cooperate after electing a sustainable and relatively wide-ranging government.
Costa’s Socialist Party (PS), which is now led by Pedro Nuno Santos, is tied in opinion polling with the centre-right opposition Democratic Alliance (AD). The far-right Chega is…
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DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB285242
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
This chapter seeks to describe the successive stages in the training and recruitment of economists at the service of the political regime that ruled over Portugal between 1926 and…
Abstract
This chapter seeks to describe the successive stages in the training and recruitment of economists at the service of the political regime that ruled over Portugal between 1926 and 1974. This chapter presents the main institutional settings for the education and practices of those who served the government in economic functions throughout this period. Its main aim is to show the changes that occurred in the understanding of the problems related with the development of the Portuguese economy, seeking to elucidate the processes of legitimation of an authoritarian regime, but also to show the signs of a critical break with a model of economic and social organization and a political regime that had reached the point of exhaustion.
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Nuno R.P. Costa, António R. Pires and Celma O. Ribeiro
The purpose of this paper is to focus the application of design of experiments (DOE) using industrial equipments, reinforcing idea that non‐statistical aspects in planning and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus the application of design of experiments (DOE) using industrial equipments, reinforcing idea that non‐statistical aspects in planning and conducting experiments are so important as formal design and analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
Two case studies are presented to illustrate typical industrial applications and difficulties. Supported on these case studies and literature, this paper presents guidelines to planning, conducting and analysis involving technical and organizational aspects.
Findings
Solving problems in industry, including in companies recognized as competent in the respective industrial sector, is not just a question of applying the right technique. Ceramic industry case study illustrates how important are non‐statistical issues in DOE application. Paint industry case study illustrates the strong relationship of the results with incorporating presented guidelines into practice. Moreover, both case studies consolidating a fundamental advantage of DOE: experimentation provides more knowledge about products, processes and technologies, even in unsuccessful case studies.
Research limitations/implications
Unsuccessful cases studies are very useful for identifying pitfalls and others limitations. This paper highlight difficulties aroused from non‐statistical aspects, although it is possible to find unsuccessful case studies due to statistical issues also. So, papers illustrating inadequate application of statistical techniques are welcome.
Practical implications
Successful DOE implementation depends on statistical and non‐statistical aspects. Although none of them shall be neglected, technical skills and technological knowledge about processes and products, management understanding of potential possibilities of statistical techniques and statistical fundamentals and knowledge about techniques of DOE must be ensuring to successful case studies in industrial setting.
Originality/value
This paper highlights non‐statistical aspects instead of the statistical ones. Tob overcome difficulties structured guidelines were designed to support DOE application in industrial setting.
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António Jorge Gamboa and Nuno Filipe Melão
The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits, disadvantages and success factors associated with the adoption of ISO 9001:2000 in educational organizations, more…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits, disadvantages and success factors associated with the adoption of ISO 9001:2000 in educational organizations, more specifically in Portuguese vocational schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a rigorous literature review, an a priori model was developed which was then refined and validated by case studies in five Portuguese vocational schools.
Findings
The findings reveal rich and meaningful insights into a much under‐researched area, including four internal benefits, two external benefits, three disadvantages and four success factors. This research uncovered that vocational schools are using the standard as a means to provide strategic focus and as a foundation for planning. Interestingly, contrarily to previous studies, bureaucracy is depicted in a more positive light and, management commitment and support is not seen as the most important success factor.
Practical implications
The findings suggest the need, on the one hand, for schools to be more proactive in showing the benefits of quality concepts and the certification to stakeholders, and, on the other hand, for international and national quality bodies to make more efforts to produce, divulge and maintain ISO 9000 interpretation guides tailored to the specific needs of educational institutions. Overall, the findings may assist practitioners in identifying courses of action to make the implementation of this standard more effective.
Originality/value
This paper validates and extends the dispersed findings of existing literature by providing a useful unifying conceptual model of the impacts and success factors of ISO 9001 in vocational education, which can be tested in other levels of education, countries and application domains. This is also perhaps the first reported study of its kind conducted at a European country.
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