Unidade de Investigação Aplicada em Gestão

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Publications

Vocal acoustic analysis – classification of dysphonic voices with artificial neural network

Publication . Teixeira, João Paulo; Fernandes, Paula Odete; Alves, Nuno Filipe Ribeiro

Voice acoustic analysis is becoming nowadays a useful tool for detection of laryngological pathologies. This techniques enables a non-invasive and low cost assessment of voice disorders allowing a more efficient fast and objective diagnosis, permitting the patients to get a suitable treatment. In this work, the best predictors/parameters for diagnose of dysphonia were experimented. A vector made up of 4 Jitter parameters, 4 Shimmer parameters and Harmonic to Noise Ratio (HNR), determined from 3 different vowels at 3 different tones, in a total of 81 features, was used. Variable selection and dimension reduction techniques such as hierarchical clustering, multilinear regression analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) was applied. For the classification models based on artificial neural network (ANN) was used. The methods/models found allowed us to obtain an Accuracy of 100% for female voices and 90% for male voices using only Jitter Shimmer and HNR parameters

2017Conference object

Restricted access

Analysis of portuguese local government efficiency: an application of data envelopment analysis

Publication . Nogueira, Sónia P.; Saraiva, Pedro de Camargo; Silva, Christian L.; Ribeiro, Nuno A.

This study intends to analyse the relative efficiency of expenditure in local government, through data envelopment analysis. As the production measure, indicators of outputs regarding expenditure per municipal function were defined, using data for Portuguese local government. This allows assessment of the possible extent of improved municipal performance in relation to the frontier of “best practice”, regarding expenditure per function. The results reveal that, for the selected functions of municipal expenditure, Portuguese local government obtained average efficiency oriented to inputs of 79% nationally. The results obtained also indicate a great variety in efficiency levels in relation to the groups of local governments and functions analysed, where medium-sized governments, those on the coast, and in the regions of the Algarve, Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the Autonomous Region of Madeira present efficiency levels above the national average. The paper contributes to the empirical-theoretical literature by supplying new evidence concerning the efficiency analysis of local government. Indeed, studies of local spending efficiency are still not abundant in the economic literature and, as far the authors know, are not available for Portugal, in particularly for municipalities’ after the global economic crisis.

2018Conference object

Open access

Audiobook- the paradigm of the portuguese publishing market

Publication . Pinheiro, Paulo; Fernandes, Paula Odete; Teixeira, João Paulo

Initially, the audiobook was not a product to be marketed, being produced only for libraries, in order to allow access to information for the blind. In 2005, with the appearance of the first specialized audiobook, publishers in Portugal, the audiobooks began to be produced in order to be commercialized. The audiobook market in Portugal is small, having only 2 companies: Boca palavras que alimentam e a Companhia Nacional de Música. The Portuguese companies have very low sales volumes; which do not exceed a hundred thousand euros. The paper presents the business and production models of audiobooks in USA and proposes their adaptation to Portugal. In order to obtain the degree of acceptance of this format among the Portuguese society, two recordings of a book by a renowned Portuguese writer were made. The two records were made according to a set of technical requirements in order to ensure the quality of the audiobook. The two recordings were evaluated through a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire are presented and analysed. From the analysis of the questionnaire, it seems that the Portuguese market of audiobooks has yet to be explored. It also seems that it worth the effort because Portuguese community is very open to new technologies and easily uses the internet market. Anyhow, it seems that some marketing campaigns are needed in order to change the actual preference of the printed book face to the virtual version.

2019Journal article

Open access

Análise da satisfação dos participantes em eventos no concelho de Mirandela. Um contributo para a tomada de decisão na gestão de eventos

Publication . Fernandes, Amável S.; Nogueira, Sónia P.; Fernandes, Paula Odete

Os eventos assumem-se cada vez mais como uma das mais importantes estratégias utilizadas pelas entidades públicas e empresariais, de forma atrair um maior número de turistas. O presente trabalho de investigação pretendeu analisar a satisfação dos participantes presentes em eventos realizados no concelho de Mirandela, com vista a um melhor contributo para a tomada de decisão na gestão dos eventos. Deste modo, realizou-se uma análise relativa aos eventos de maior relevo na região, de forma a identificar o perfil dos seus intervenientes, nomeadamente os visitantes, assim como aferir o seu grau de satisfação. Desta forma, para a realização deste estudo, foram aplicados inquéritos por questionário a visitantes, nos eventos selecionados: a Feira do Vinho e Morango, o Campeonato da Europa de Jet Ski e Aquabike e as Festas de Nossa Senhora do Amparo. A amostra foi constituída por 297 visitantes. Neste estudo foi utilizada a análise descritiva e a análise inferencial, de forma a verificar as relações existentes entre as variáveis em análise. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que podemos comprovar que existe associação entre o tipo de evento e o local de residência dos visitantes, entre a situação profissional do visitante e o evento visitado, assim como a existência de diferentes níveis de satisfação de acordo com o evento. Constatou-se, também, a existência de relação entre o evento visitado e os gastos efetuados pelos visitantes.

2018Conference object

Open access

The impact of the national culture on expectations of services: the case of sightseeing in Porto

Publication . Oliveira, Fabiana; Moutinho, Raquel Filipa do Amaral; Correia, Ricardo

The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of the national culture on expectations of services. With the increasing trend of globalization, it is crucial for managers to understand the main cultural differences across the world. If companies want to succeed and create satisfied customers, they must know what each one expects from the service. So, the goal is to determine if customers from different cultures have different expectations on the same service. The empirical case of this study is the international tourist service the Sightseeing, in Porto, Portugal. Five nationalities were selected - French, British, Spanish, German and Brazilian - and a mixed method research was adopted. The results obtained determined that different nationalities mean different expectations. This is useful to international services that want to create satisfied customers.

2018Conference object

Restricted access