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Publicações

Publicações por Fernando Luís Almeida

2023

Influencing factors of social entrepreneurship intentions in a higher education context

Autores
Almeida, F; Sousa, JM;

Publicação
JOURNAL OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract
The teaching of entrepreneurship has been progressively included in the curricula of several university courses to stimulate the development of empowering attitudes and an entrepreneurial mentality. However, a new form of entrepreneurship has emerged with a focus on sustainability and the creation of new projects that aim to reduce social asymmetries and contribute to a fairer and more balanced society. The role of universities is also to foster the emergence of these projects through the implementation of practices aimed at fostering social entrepreneurship among students. This study aims to understand the determinant dimensions that characterise the students' social entrepreneurial intention. For this purpose, a sample of 177 students attending a social entrepreneurship course in a higher education institution was employed. The findings indicate that individual, organisation, and context constructs are determinants of students' entrepreneurial intention. However, not all organisational factors contribute equally. Mentoring and social networks are relevant elements for the entrepreneurial intention of individuals, while curriculum and critical pedagogy are not recognised as determinants.

2023

Perceived Importance of Metrics for Agile Scrum Environments

Autores
Almeida, F; Carneiro, P;

Publicação
INFORMATION

Abstract
Metrics are key elements that can give us valuable information about the effectiveness of agile software development processes, particularly considering the Scrum environment. This study aims to learn about the metrics adopted to assess agile development processes and explore the impact of how the role performed by each member in Scrum contributed to increasing/reducing the perception of the importance of these metrics. The impact of years of experience in Scrum on this perception was also explored. To this end, a quantitative study was conducted with 191 Scrum professionals in companies based in Portugal. The results show that the Scrum role is not a determining factor, while individuals with more years of experience have a higher perception of the importance of metrics related to team performance. The same conclusion is observed for the business value metric of the product backlog and the percentage of test automation in the testing phase. The findings allow for extending the knowledge about Scrum project management processes and their teams, in addition to offering important insights into the implementation of metrics for software engineering companies that adopt Scrum.

2023

Communication and coordination issues in managing distributed scrum teams

Autores
Almeida, F;

Publicação
Perspectives on Workplace Communication and Well-Being in Hybrid Work Environments

Abstract
Software development companies have progressively been experiencing the need to migrate their traditional development processes to agile environments. Several frameworks have emerged that support this paradigm, and Scrum is one of the most widely adopted on a global scale. However, Scrum was originally designed to work in small, local team environments. The challenge lies in designing its adoption in large-scale environments with geographically distributed teams. This chapter seeks to explore this challenge by identifying communication and coordination issues that may arise when adopting distributed Scrum. Three case studies are considered to allow comparison of different approaches considering structural and contextual factors associated with each organization.

2023

Prospects of Cybersecurity in Smart Cities

Autores
Almeida, F;

Publicação
FUTURE INTERNET

Abstract
The complex and interconnected infrastructure of smart cities offers several opportunities for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities and carry out cyberattacks that can have serious consequences for the functioning of cities' critical infrastructures. This study aims to address this phenomenon and characterize the dimensions of security risks in smart cities and present mitigation proposals to address these risks. The study adopts a qualitative methodology through the identification of 62 European research projects in the field of cybersecurity in smart cities, which are underway during the period from 2022 to 2027. Compared to previous studies, this work provides a comprehensive view of security risks from the perspective of multiple universities, research centers, and companies participating in European projects. The findings of this study offer relevant scientific contributions by identifying 7 dimensions and 31 sub-dimensions of cybersecurity risks in smart cities and proposing 24 mitigation strategies to face these security challenges. Furthermore, this study explores emerging cybersecurity issues to which smart cities are exposed by the increasing proliferation of new technologies and standards.

2020

Modeling and Estimating the COVID-19 Incidence and Fatality in Europe

Autores
Almeida, F;

Publicação
Journal of Health Sciences and Surveillance System

Abstract
Background: The estimation of the real number of COVID-19 infected people is one of the concerns of the governments around the world. In this sense, this study seeks to assess the incidence and fatality of COVID-19 in Europe considering the expected number of the infected cases. Methods: A quantitative exploratory study was performed on the top 10 countries most affected by COVID-19 by 9th June in Europe. Furthermore, this study presents three propagation estimation models of the COVID-19 that help us to understand the real incidence of the pandemic in each country. Each model is briefly explained and applied. Results: The findings revealed a great heterogeneity of COVID-19 cases and deaths among the countries. The indicator of the number of deaths reveals the greatest disparity between other countries with the United Kingdom, recording about 6 or 7 times more deaths than Russia or Germany. Infection fatality rate (IFR) tends to be a more reliable indicator when analyzing data because it is less dependent on the number of tests performed. Conclusion: Several estimation models can be used to determine the incidence of COVID-19. However, their results in European countries are still quite asymmetrical although they are more reliable than just looking at the perspective of the number of cases or deaths recorded. The infection fatality rate (IFR) emerges as a more accurate indicator by estimating the expected number of registered cases, which includes asymptomatic cases and patients with mild symptoms that are not known and reported by health authorities. © 2020 The authors.

2023

A platform sandbox for the assessment of municipal sustainable development goals

Autores
Ferreira, F; Briga, P; Teixeira, SR; Almeida, F;

Publicação
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Abstract
PurposeThis study aims to present an innovative sandbox platform that implements a decision support system (DSS) to assess the sustainable development goals (SDGs) addressed at the municipal level. It intends to determine the relative importance of each SDG in municipalities and explore the synergies that can be discovered among them. Design/methodology/approachParticipatory action research is used to develop a DSS and an algorithm designated as discrete heavy fuzzy was also developed, which extends the Apriori algorithm to include discrete quantitative assessments of the level of SDG compliance by each project. A scenario consisting of three municipalities in Portugal (i.e. Porto, Loule and Castelo de Vide) was chosen to demonstrate the implementation of the sandbox platform and to interpret the observed results. FindingsThe results reveal significant differences in the typology of SDGs addressed by each municipality. It was found that municipal sustainable projects are strongly influenced by the contextual factors of each municipality. Porto has projects that address the first five SDGs. Loule appears projects that promote innovation, the fight against climate change and the development of sustainable cities. Castelo de Vida has initiatives related to innovation and infrastructure and decent work and economic growth. Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides knowledge about the relative importance of the SDGs in Portuguese municipalities and explores the synergies among them. The proposed sandbox platform fills the gaps of the ODSlocal Webtool by proposing a dynamic and interactive approach for the exploration of quantitative indicators regarding the implementation status of the SDGs established in the 2030 Agenda. Originality/valueThis study provides knowledge about the relative importance of the SDGs and the various synergies that exist between them considering the Portuguese municipalities. The sandbox platform presented and developed within this study allows filling the gaps of the ODSlocal Webtool that gathers essentially qualitative information about each project and offers a dynamic and interactive exploration with quantitative indicators of the implementation status of the SDGs established in the 2030 Agenda.

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