Your search

This paper presents an algorithm that applies metrics derived from automatic QRS detection and segmentation in electrocardiogram signals for analyzing Heart Rate Variability to study the evolution of metrics in the frequency domain of a clinical procedure. The analysis was performed on three sets of elderly people, who are categorized according to frailty phenotype. The first set was comprised of frail elderly, the second pre-frail elderly, and the third robust elderly. Investigators from many disciplines have been encouraged to contribute to the understanding of molecular and physiological changes in multiple systems that may increase the vulnerability of frail elderly. In this work, the frailty phenotype can be characterized by unintentional weight loss, as self-reported, fatigue assessed by self-report, grip strength (measured directly), physical activity level assessed by self-report and gait speed (measured). The results obtained demonstrate the existence of significant differences between Heart Rate Variability metrics for the three groups, especially considering a higher preponderance for sympathetic nervous system for the group of robust patients in response to postural maneuver.

In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fashion industry was surprised and quickly had to adapt to digital media. However, the relationship between fashion and the multiplicity of screens is not new. Fashion emerged and took its first steps with Cinema, in Modernity. Although there are times when these two systems are further apart from each other, the alliance survived. To analyse contemporaneity, we take as main reference the studies of Gilles Lipovetsky, and his reflections on aesthetic capitalism. The fashion system has many Western fields of life, including art and technology. In this article we discuss how this relationship of fashion adapts and develops with aesthetic capitalism and post-digital art while we analyse representative artefacts from/about fashion. We propose to put the recent digital fashion artefacts in dialogue with post-digital aesthetics theories, discussing the blurred boundaries between the digital and the post-digital, and proposing the instantiation of a post-digital creation cycle applied to fashion artefacts.

This research explores innovation of traditional SMEs that do not actively invest in innovation. Elements of open innovation have been identified in these firms in their effort to build social capital which they perceive as pertinent to their businesses. The result of the research shows that instead of using social capital as means for innovation, the unintentional practice of open innovation has contributed to the development of social capital, which further opens up potential for globalization. As a result, a model of open innovation as means of developing social capital for enhancing globalization potential for SMEs was developed.

This dissertation reports on a study which aims to add to the theoretical understanding of how social capital is transferred from one generation to the next in business families. Studies in the field of family business have emphasized the importance of succession for the survival of family businesses, but while the succession process and planning have been widely studied, the examination of social capital succession is scarce. As for the studies in family business’s social capital, the importance of social capital as a source of competitive advantage which already exists in business families have often been expressed, but there is a lack of research in the means of transferring this form of capital from the family business leaders to their successors. The study presented here addresses this gap in family business succession literature and social capital literature, explaining the means of transgenerational succession of social capital in family businesses. This is a qualitative research using the multiple case study method which aims to investigate the means of social capital transmission by comparing the cases of five different Chinese family businesses in Macau, which are in the succession process, with the successor currently managing the firm while the former generation business leaders are in the process of handing over the business and preparing for retirement. In doing so, this research offers a theoretical framework of explaining how social capital is transmitted from the incumbents to the successors throughout a five-stage succession process developed for this research. The forms of social capital that exists in family businesses are identified from previous literature, in order to clearly explain how these different forms of social capital are passed on from generation to generation based on the review on succession process introduced in published literature. A theoretical iii framework is formed from the two parent theories on family business succession and social capital, and is then verified empirically from five Chinese family businesses in Macau. The cases are developed through in-depth interviews with the incumbents and successors of the family businesses, informal interviews with stakeholders (including family members, business associates, non-family employees and customers), direct observation on the premises of the Chinese family businesses and secondary data, in order to study the process of intergenerational transmission of social capital in these Chinese family businesses

Family business are the dominant form of business in the world, and Chinese family business (CFB) is a unique type of family business that relies on collective action to survive. This paper argues that in CFBs, entrepreneurial actions are transgenerational collective endeavors, and successors are groomed as stewards of the family legacy. Work-life relationship in CFBs is about synergy and not balance because the family identity is the business identity, and vice-versa. Using five in-depth case studies, this research introduces an alternative understanding of CFBs and proposes a model of work-life synergy in transgenerational entrepreneurship based on discussion of five theory-based propositions. This model explains that through emphasizing on the business family's shared value and entrepreneurial legacy, elements of trust, shared identity and stewardship of family members are enhanced which leads to collective action and goal of the business family, resulting in transgenerational entrepreneurship. Limitations and future research are presented.

In recent years, entrepreneurship and innovation have been highly propagandised for Macau's economic development, diversification, and the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Since 2013, efforts have been exerted by the Macau government to encourage and support entrepreneurship, from the launching of the Young Entrepreneurs' Aid Scheme in 2013 and the Macau Young Entrepreneur Incubation Centre in 2015. While the failure rate of startups has been considered high in most parts of the world, the rate was only as low as 14% in Macau, with many businesses created every year. This research aims to study the unique entrepreneurial environment for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) starting up in Macau from the experience of local entrepreneurs who are benefactors of government support. In-depth interviews were conducted to understand the experience and perceptions of these entrepreneurs as they go through each stage of the entrepreneurial process. Existing research on entrepreneurial processes varies from the two-stage process, which focuses on the beginning of an enterprise, to the different models of various stages from ideas generation to exit or long-term development. From the consolidation of the literature on the entrepreneurial process, five key stages were taken to guide this qualitative research. Findings suggested that idea validation at the start of the entrepreneurial process is almost non-existent amongst our research subjects. Yet it does not affect the implementation and growth of these SMEs. The growth strategies tend to be steady and for the long term, with most SMEs having no consideration of an exit plan.