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This paper aims to identify the essential skills required by Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals to effectively respond to the various modes of labour organisation implemented due to the mandatory lockdown imposed by the Portuguese government in March 2020 as well as implications for learning and development (L&D) issues.

Data is based on 34 semi-structured interviews with HRD professionals from companies in different activity sectors.

The results reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the development of socio-emotional skills among HRD professionals such as creativity, improvisation, self-exploration, innovation, collaboration, team spirit, resilience, flexibility, problem-solving, adaptability, priority management, emotional intelligence, social influence, social contact, interpersonal relationships, communication and online learning development.

It will be interesting for future research to explore “what” and “how” HRD managers are planning, organising and implementing training and development plans to improve the skills of remote workers, which tend to grow in a post-pandemic COVID-19 phase.

This research emphasises the importance of HRD managers’ role in better coordinating the work of employees who are physically distant from the company. It also highlights the need for different skills required for effective digital HRD, support and monitoring of remote employees. The results provide important inputs to design and implement effective L&D programs for professionals working remotely and to reinforce the HRD role in organisations.

The research is original for twofold reasons: 1) HRD professionals are usually not trained to manage remote workers, which also means that they probably lack the skills to take the most out of remote working models; and 2) HRD professionals and the HRD function need to address the skills required to successfully implement flexible forms of work organisation as well as to implement adequate L&D policies to answer remote work practices.

The objective is to contribute to the development of strategies through the identification of sustainability practices. Thus, the research has a twofold objective: to unveil sustainability practices integrated into last-mile logistics activities by e-commerce retailers, analyze the interrelations among these practices and categorize them based on their significance for small Brazilian e-commerce retailers.

A literature mapping was conducted to identify sustainability practices in last-mile activities adopted by e-retailers, leading to the proposal of a meta-model. A total of 67 articles are part of the final sample. Subsequently, the study applied the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) multicriteria decision-making technique to structure the research problem through cause-and-effect analysis among practices, aiming to prioritize critical practices.

The results indicate a strong dependence on economic practices to enable sustainability in last-mile logistics. In the economic dimension of sustainability, operating costs and quality of services are effect variables and achieved the highest relation concerning the other practices.

The article provides theoretical contributions by addressing two complementary areas of knowledge: Stakeholder Theory and Sustainability, also aligning with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. In practical terms, it stands out for offering valuable insights into the implementation of sustainable strategies by identifying economic, environmental and social practices in last-mile logistics, particularly within the context of small businesses in the e-retail segment.

The results help e-retailers re-evaluate last-mile logistics processes from a sustainability perspective. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap in the current literature on adopting sustainable practices in small e-commerce retail firms.

Considering that one of the pillars of sustainability is a commitment to social development, this study contributes to understanding the view of small e-retailers on the independent goods delivery workers responsible for the delivery of goods.

The originality of this research lies in identifying economic, social and environmental sustainability practices adopted by e-retailers in last-mile logistics processes. Additionally, the study focuses on the small-scale e-commerce retail segment, an area that has been little explored in the Brazilian context. Lastly, the proposed meta-model contributes to addressing practices from the perspective of Stakeholder Theory and the Sustainability approach.

El objetivo es contribuir al desarrollo de estrategias mediante la identificación de prácticas sostenibles. Por lo tanto, la investigación tiene un doble objetivo: revelar las prácticas de sostenibilidad integradas en las actividades logísticas de última milla de minoristas de comercio electrónico, analizar las interrelaciones entre estas prácticas y categorizarlas según su importancia para los pequeños minoristas de comercio electrónico en Brasil.

Se llevó a cabo un mapeo de la literatura para identificar prácticas de sostenibilidad en las actividades de última milla adoptadas por minoristas en línea, lo que llevó a la propuesta de un metamodelo. Un total de 67 artículos forman parte de la muestra final. Posteriormente, el estudio aplicó la técnica de toma de decisiones multicriterio Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) para estructurar el problema de investigación mediante análisis de causa y efecto entre las prácticas, con el objetivo de priorizar las prácticas críticas.

El resultado indica una fuerte dependencia de prácticas económicas para implementar la sostenibilidad en la logística de última milla. En la dimensión económica de la sostenibilidad, los costes operacionales y la calidad de los servicios son variables de efecto y presentan una fuerte correlación.

La originalidad de esta investigación radica en identificar prácticas de sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental adoptadas por minoristas en línea en los procesos logísticos de última milla. Además, el estudio se centra en el segmento minorista de comercio electrónico a pequeña escala, un área poco explorada en el contexto brasileño. Por último, el metamodelo propuesto contribuye a abordar prácticas desde la perspectiva de la Teoría de los Stakeholders y el enfoque de Sostenibilidad.

El artículo proporciona contribuciones teóricas al abordar dos áreas complementarias de conocimiento: la Teoría de los Stakeholders y la Sostenibilidad, alineándose también con las directrices de la Iniciativa de Reporte Global (GRI). En términos prácticos, destaca al ofrecer ideas valiosas sobre la implementación de estrategias sostenibles al identificar prácticas económicas, ambientales y sociales en la logística de última milla, particularmente en el contexto de las pequeñas empresas en el segmento minorista en línea.

Los resultados ayudan a los minoristas electrónicos a reevaluar los procesos logísticos de última milla desde una perspectiva de sostenibilidad. Este estudio pretende contribuir el avance del conocimiento de la literatura actual sobre la adopción de prácticas sostenibles en pequeñas empresas de comercio electrónico.

Teniendo en cuenta que uno de los pilares de la sostenibilidad es el compromiso con el desarrollo social, este estudio contribuye a comprender la visión de los pequeños minoristas electrónicos sobre los trabajadores independientes encargados de la entrega de mercancías.

The growing consumer demand for microbiologically safe and quality products with sensory properties similar to those of natural products has spurred the search for natural flavourings with an antimicrobial effect on foods. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of “malagueta” chili pepper and “dedo de moça” hot pepper on Minas Frescal cheese supplemented with Escherichia coli strains.

Each cheese contained 0, 10, 15 and 20 per cent concentrations of “malagueta” chilli pepper and “dedo de moça” hot pepper supplemented with 200 µL of E. coli/kg cheese. The cheeses were stored under refrigeration at 7 °C for 28 days. The E. coli, pH and titratable acidity were analysed for this cheese.

“Dedo de moça” hot pepper showed a bacteriostatic effect on E. coli strains being more efficient on day 1. However, the “malagueta” hot pepper showed bactericidal effect and was efficient during the 28 days of storage. The pH showed a gradual decrease (p = 0.000) throughout the storage period; therefore, the acidity was increased even when the CFU/g count remained constant. The peppers had an antimicrobial effect on E. coli strains, and thus might be an alternative to extend the shelf life of Minas frescal cheese.

The study of natural condiments as an antimicrobial alternative is important because they prevent infections and food infections, increase shelf life and make it possible to offer differentiated products in the market.

This study aims to report the development of an open-source syringe extrusion head for shear-thinning materials. The target is to adapt open-source 3D printers to be helpful in research lines that use gels, hydrogels, pastes, inks, and bio-inks.

This hardware was designed to be compatible with a Graber i3-based 3D printer; nevertheless, it can be easily adapted to other open-source 3D printers.

The extrusion head successfully deposits the material during the 3D printing process. It was validated fabricating geometries that include scaffold structures, which are a possible application of bioprinting for tissue engineering. As reported, the extruded filaments allowed the porous samples' structuration.

This system expands the applications of open-source 3D printers used at the laboratory scale. It enables low-cost access to research areas such as tissue engineering and biofabrication, energy storage devices and food 3D printing.

The open-source hardware here reported is of simple fabrication, assembly and installation. It uses a Cardan coupling and a three guides system to transfer the stepper motor motion. This approach allows continuous movement transfer to the syringe piston, producing an adequate deposition or retraction. Thus, the effect of misalignments is avoided, considering that these latter can cause skipping steps in the motor, directly affecting the deposition.

This paper aims to highlight the political influences that account for the destination image of a tourist city: Campos do Jordão, São Paulo State, Brazil. The study took into consideration the collective imagination and its influence on the formation of touristic destinations.

Descriptive study based on literature and document review, accompanied by an analysis of texts and photos available on non-official websites – about Campos do Jordão – from November to December 2018 and by visits to selected location.

“Charm”, “refinement” and “sophistication” are the most frequently used words to describe Campos do Jordão, which remains a symbol of exclusiveness and refuge for the highest social classes. These images are shaped by political and economic influences.

The investigation focussed on a single city. Also, as it is an analytical study aimed at showing the permanence of preconceived values used to build the image of a destination it is not possible to talk about extrapolating the present study to other cities. In addition, the research was done by using the reproduction of physical and cultural aspects in addition to the use of European landscapes structures and values in a locality with an exceptional environmental context.

Many of the images connected to Campos do Jordão are replicated by local citizens, a fact that evidences the importance of associative memory, which concerns memories citizens have of their living space. The social implications presented herein seek to recover the formative memories of the assessed city, although it is not the focus of the current study. Assumingly, becoming an active segment of the tourism sector is the only way for local citizens to appropriate the city.

The influence of local government and public actions in tourism construction and in the image linked to the city is used as a case study. Building a touristic imagination demands a wide range of businesses, but this process takes time and effort, as highlighted by the applied documental review; it would not happen without the straight interference of the public sector through the local government.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the possible associations between dietary components and the intestinal microbiota in clinical parameters of inflammatory bowel disease.

In this review, a search in PubMed and Bireme databases was performed. The authors included randomized clinical trials published between 2005 and 2017, only in adult humans with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

Six articles were included by the end of the search. The most widely used intervention was the use of prebiotics, including fructooligosaccharides or fructooligosaccharides with inulin, followed by probiotics. The main findings regarding the microbiota were the increase in the total amount of bacteria and variability (phyla). Clinically, there was improvement in inflammation seen in parameters such as C-reactive protein, interleukins and tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Dietary interventions, especially from symbiotics, can modulate the microbiota, mainly in relation to time, when compared pre- and post-supplementation, and this positively interferes with clinical parameters of inflammatory bowel diseases. However, the studies were quite heterogeneous in population, methodology, intervention, mycobiota analysis and inflammatory markers.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate some numerical integration strategies used in generalized (G)/extended finite element method (XFEM) to solve linear elastic fracture mechanics problems. A range of parameters are here analyzed, evidencing how the numerical integration error and the computational efficiency are improved when particularities from these examples are properly considered.

Numerical integration strategies were implemented in an existing computational environment that provides a finite element method and G/XFEM tools. The main parameters of the analysis are considered and the performance using such strategies is compared with standard integration results.

Known numerical integration strategies suitable for fracture mechanics analysis are studied and implemented. Results from different crack configurations are presented and discussed, highlighting the necessity of alternative integration techniques for problems with singularities and/or discontinuities.

This study presents a variety of fracture mechanics examples solved by G/XFEM in which the use of standard numerical integration with Gauss quadratures results in loss of precision. It is discussed the behaviour of subdivision of elements and mapping of integration points strategies for a range of meshes and cracks geometries, also featuring distorted elements and how they affect strain energy and stress intensity factors evaluation for both strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relation between the values of solidarity economy and the organizational commitment and entrenchment ties.

A quantitative, descriptive and exploratory research was carried out through survey, using the Solidarity Economy Values Scale, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and Organizational Entrenchment Questionnaire, with statistical data analysis.

The results showed that the self-management, quality of life and identification values positively influenced the workers’ behavior, mainly concerning personal fulfillment with performance and autonomy at work. On the other hand, the citizenship and solidarity values revealed an inverse association with the alternatives limitation dimension of entrenchment: the permanence in solidarity economy organizations motivated solely by the lack of employment can impact negatively on social and political involvement.

Theoretically, organizational commitment and entrenchment ties are not limited to individual behaviors but also have a collective dimension to be investigated.

The workers’ organizational commitment implies in a commitment from the organization with human development through work.

In solidarity economy organizations, the bond based on lack of alternatives on the job market does not affect self-management or fulfillment with the work but the participation on the community politics.

The aim of this paper is to present a novel data transfer technique to simulate, by G/XFEM, a cohesive crack propagation coupled with a smeared damage model. The efficiency of this technique is evaluated in terms of processing time, number of Newton–Raphson iterations and accuracy of structural response.

The cohesive crack is represented by the G/XFEM enrichment strategy. The elements crossed by the crack are divided into triangular cells. The smeared crack model is used to describe the material behavior. In the nonlinear solution of the problem, state variables associated with the original numerical integration points need to be transferred to new points created with the triangular subdivision. A nonlocal strategy is tailored to transfer the scalar and tensor variables of the constitutive model. The performance of this technique is numerically evaluated.

When compared with standard Gauss quadrature integration scheme, the proposed strategy may deliver a slightly superior computational efficiency in terms of processing time. The weighting function parameter used in the nonlocal transfer strategy plays an important role. The equilibrium state in the interactive-incremental solution process is not severely penalized and is readily recovered. The advantages of such proposed technique tend to be even more pronounced in more complex and finer meshes.

This work presents a novel data transfer technique based on the ideas of the nonlocal formulation of the state variables and specially tailored to the simulation of cohesive crack propagation in materials governed by the smeared crack constitutive model.

People are increasingly concerned about food and health and are seeking enriched products. One way to add nutritional value to yogurt consists of the addition of nutritional flour. However, it is necessary to optimize formulations that meet the consumers’ expectations. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to aim at sensory optimization of a strawberry yogurt enriched with different flours.

The optimal concentrations of each flour were defined using the Just-about-right-scale test. Then, an acceptance test was used to assess the samples at optimal concentrations.

It was observed that the strawberry yogurt should include 1.275 percent golden flaxseed flour, 1.093 percent green banana flour, 1.075 percent eggplant flour and 3.420 percent oatmeal flour. All formulations had good acceptability and the yogurt added with the addition of golden flax flour and the traditional product received similar sensory acceptance. Thus, it is possible to add nutritional value to strawberry yogurt by maintaining its sensory quality.

More detailed studies on the shelf-life of yogurt are necessary to enable the incorporation of flours into yogurt as heat, light and oxygen can reduce the beneficial effects of flours. Therefore, researchers should test the proposed propositions further.

Optimization of an enriched yogurt is a good alternative to provide a product that meets consumers’ expectations, besides adding value to the product. However, there are technological challenges when adding functional components in foods. Thus, this study aimed at sensory optimization of a strawberry yogurt enriched with different flours.

The authors aimed to provide a healthy product to the market as well as contribute toward product variety in the market.

There are few studies in respect to the sensory aspects of enriched yogurts. Therefore, this work will aid future studies, supporting the optimization of functional products and contributing toward product variety in the market.