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There is an increasing interest in forest biomass for energy throughout Europe, which is seen as a way of promoting forest mobilization and economic development locally, in particular in regions where forest biomass is available but its use is limited by lack of demand. This study was conducted to define, evaluate and select viable forest industry scenarios to increasing forest mobilisation in the North of Portugal using AppTitudefi, a Forest Management Decision Support Systems (FMDSS) considering spatially explicitly supply (biomass growth and yield), demand (industry), and supply-demand interactions (markets). The protocol followed combined a set of indicators of sustainable forest management to guide the selection of the best industry solutions in terms of location, dimension, forest biomass and other variables defined as objectives. The simulations allowed the selection of a small set of industry scenarios compatible with an existing plant outside the study area, increasing wood mobilization, preventing overexploitation and competition among industries but increasing value and price of forest biomass. The results of the application of this FMDSS showed that introducing new biomass plants in the region will increase sustainable forest mobilization and related local development. AppTitudefi revealed to be a powerful and reliable tool to assist forest planning. ; This research was funded through the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development, and Demonstration (agreement no. 613762: SIMWOOD—Sustainable Innovative Mobilisation of Wood). J.C.A received partial support from Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal through CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020). F.P_R received partial support from the Department of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, Spanish Government, grant no. PTQ-16-08633. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Dissertação de Mestrado em Marketing apresentada à Faculdade de Economia ; Esta investigação pretende estudar as Comunidades de Marca num contexto político, identificando alguns dos seus antecedentes e o seu impacto nas atitudes e comportamentos do eleitor, nomeadamente na satisfação com o voto anterior, intenção de votar, intenção de mudar, lealdade e satisfação com a vida. Com este estudo pretende-se aplicar o conceito e modelo de Comunidades de Marca sem torno de partidos políticos, e analisar os resultados destes nas relações e comportamentos dos membros destas comunidades de partidos. Este estudo denota um caráter inovador, sendo que ainda não foram estudas em conjunto as dinâmicas das comunidades de marca dentro do universo do marketing político. A presente investigação possui uma índole quantitativa, tendo sido suportada através dos dados recolhidos a partir da elaboração de um questionário estruturado em formato on-line e escrito, baseado numa amostra de 261 inquiridos no território português. Os resultados demonstram claramente que a participação dos indivíduos em comunidades de marca de partidos resulta numa lealdade para com o partido, bem como na intenção de voto no mesmo e consequentemente na satisfação da vida dos integrantes dessas comunidades. Das conclusões deste estudo, podem surgir ferramentas fulcrais para os partidos políticos, uma vez que a utilização destas pode facilitar a interação dos mesmos com os eleitores fomentando assim os laços entre ambos e a criação de valor.This study aims to analyze Brand Communities in a political context, identifying some of its antecedents and impacts in the attitudes and behaviors of the voter, namely in the satisfaction with the previous vote, intention to change, loyalty and satisfaction with life. With this study we try to apply a concept and model of Brand Communities around political parties, and analyze the results in the relations and behaviors of the members of these political communities.This investigation shows an innovating aspect, as the dynamics between brand communities inside a political marketing universe haven't been studied yet. This study has a quantitative nature to it and was supported by the data recovered by the survey made in physical and digital format, with 261 people interviewed inside the Portuguese country. The results show clearly that the participation of individuals in brand communities of political parties result in loyalty towards the party, as intention of vote in the same party and life satisfaction of the members of those communities.With the conclusions of this study, some important tools for the political parties can show up, as the use of these tools may facilitate the interactions of both parties and voters, increasing the bonds between both and generation value ; This study aims to analyze Brand Communities in a political context, identifying some of its antecedents and impacts in the attitudes and behaviors of the voter, namely in the satisfaction with the previous vote, intention to change, loyalty and satisfaction with life. With this study we try to apply a concept and model of Brand Communities around political parties, and analyze the results in the relations and behaviors of the members of these political communities.This investigation shows an innovating aspect, as the dynamics between brand communities inside a political marketing universe haven't been studied yet. This study has a quantitative nature to it and was supported by the data recovered by the survey made in physical and digital format, with 261 people interviewed inside the Portuguese country. The results show clearly that the participation of individuals in brand communities of political parties result in loyalty towards the party, as intention of vote in the same party and life satisfaction of the members of those communities.With the conclusions of this study, some important tools for the political parties can show up, as the use of these tools may facilitate the interactions of both parties and voters, increasing the bonds between both and generation value.Esta investigação pretende estudar as Comunidades de Marca num contexto político, identificando alguns dos seus antecedentes e o seu impacto nas atitudes e comportamentos do eleitor, nomeadamente na satisfação com o voto anterior, intenção de votar, intenção de mudar, lealdade e satisfação com a vida. Com este estudo pretende-se aplicar o conceito e modelo de Comunidades de Marca sem torno de partidos políticos, e analisar os resultados destes nas relações e comportamentos dos membros destas comunidades de partidos. Este estudo denota um caráter inovador, sendo que ainda não foram estudas em conjunto as dinâmicas das comunidades de marca dentro do universo do marketing político. A presente investigação possui uma índole quantitativa, tendo sido suportada através dos dados recolhidos a partir da elaboração de um questionário estruturado em formato on-line e escrito, baseado numa amostra de 261 inquiridos no território português. Os resultados demonstram claramente que a participação dos indivíduos em comunidades de marca de partidos resulta numa lealdade para com o partido, bem como na intenção de voto no mesmo e consequentemente na satisfação da vida dos integrantes dessas comunidades. Das conclusões deste estudo, podem surgir ferramentas fulcrais para os partidos políticos, uma vez que a utilização destas pode facilitar a interação dos mesmos com os eleitores fomentando assim os laços entre ambos e a criação de valor.This study aims to analyze Brand Communities in a political context, identifying some of its antecedents and impacts in the attitudes and behaviors of the voter, namely in the satisfaction with the previous vote, intention to change, loyalty and satisfaction with life. With this study we try to apply a concept and model of Brand Communities around political parties, and analyze the results in the relations and behaviors of the members of these political communities.This investigation shows an innovating aspect, as the dynamics between brand communities inside a political marketing universe haven't been studied yet. This study has a quantitative nature to it and was supported by the data recovered by the survey made in physical and digital format, with 261 people interviewed inside the Portuguese country. The results show clearly that the participation of individuals in brand communities of political parties result in loyalty towards the party, as intention of vote in the same party and life satisfaction of the members of those communities.With the conclusions of this study, some important tools for the political parties can show up, as the use of these tools may facilitate the interactions of both parties and voters, increasing the bonds between both and generation value

Forests provide different services and products in processes involving diverse groups of stakeholders with particular perceptions and perspectives. The relationship between forest uses and stakeholders can be more or less compatible, which affects forest management decisions. Part of the solution for potential conflicts among forest uses and stakeholders relies on the definition of the best locations for different uses: it depends on gathering and processing information and on establishing a framework for optimal (or satisfactory) forest management decision making. The AppTitude© software was developed to evaluate the suitability of landscape for different forest uses based on stakeholder's judgment and minimummaximum limitations (inputs). The software implements and automatized Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methodologies were used to evaluate suitability according to a hierarchy of different types of criteria (e.g. social, economic, environmental, political, and technical) associated with spatial information through attributes connected to vector or raster files. Finally, the software solves automatically the hierarchy and spatial probability distribution to obtain spatial suitability surfaces (output raster files) for particular use and regions.

In this paper we propose a goal programming model that provides a consensual aggregated solution minimizing conflicts to guide multi-stakeholder decision-making processes and gen-erates information regarding stakeholder groups to be exploited for negotiation purposes. This model permits to quantify variations in conflicts when the relative contribution of each criteria changes and gives insight to negotiation strategies with application in conservation areas. A dataset of a case study in the Meseta Ibérica Biosphere Reserve (Portugal-Spain) was used to test and vali-date the model. Fifty people belonging to four groups (scientists, government, farmers and busi-nesspersons) assessed 20 management objectives in four dimensions: conservation, logistical sup-port, development, and governance. The results showed the highest conflicts to be found for fauna and flora, education, and guarantees objectives while the most conflictive groups were scientists and farmers. The proposed model substantially reduced the global and intergroup conflicts associ-ated to the same objectives, modelling the weights assigned to each objective in each dimension to find the most consensual/least conflictive solutions. This model can be a useful tool to improve complex decision-making processes in conservation areas with strong conflicts between stakehold-ers, such as transboundary biosphere reserves. ; This research was partially funded by FCT/MCTES through project grant UIDB/00690/2020 ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The packaging industry has a considerable impact in the economy, environment and society. Along with its increasing importance, comes a high responsibility regarding its effect on sustainability, a growing matter of concern in the recent years. Political pressure and consumer perceptions are pushing the packaging industry to adopt sustainable practices such as the use of alternative sustainable materials. Packaging is divided in primary, secondary and tertiary levels and tertiary packaging plays a major role in transportation processes to increase the logistics efficiency of supply chains. However, tertiary transport packaging is generating excessive waste. For reasons like this, the Circular Economy emerges as an alternative economic model, in which Supply Chain Management assumes high relevance for implementing a logistics network design that entails Closed-Loop Supply Chains. This Thesis has the objective of designing alternative logistics networks, based on sustainable tertiary transport packaging solutions, under a context of Circular Economy, meanwhile contributing for the practical solution of a company's business challenge. Based on a literature review, insights on important areas are systematized to proceed with an analyzis of packaging suppliers' logistics networks with sustainable closed-loop practices that impact sustainability performance of their supply chains. The best material-supplier option is selected to proceed with a case study where different scenarios are assumed. Finally, important conclusions and solutions are presented to improve the performance of the selected logistics network. ; A indústria das embalagens gera um impacto considerável na economia, ambiente e sociedade. Existe uma responsabilidade maior no que diz respeito ao seu efeito na sustentabilidade, uma questão cada vez mais preocupante nos últimos anos. A pressão política e a perceção do consumidor estão a forçar a indústria das embalagens a adotar práticas sustentáveis tais como o uso de materiais alternativos sustentáveis. As embalagens dividem-se em primárias, secundárias e terciárias, sendo que as terciárias desempenham um papel importante no transporte, de forma a aumentar a eficiência logística das cadeias de abastecimento. Contudo, as embalagens terciárias de transporte geram desperdício excessivo. Posto isto, a Economia Circular surge como um modelo económico alternativo, onde a gestão da cadeia de abastecimento assume elevada relevância para implementar um design de rede logística que envolva Cadeias de Abastecimento de Circuito Fechado. Esta Tese tem como objetivo conceber redes logísticas alternativas, baseadas em soluções sustentáveis de embalagens terciárias de transporte, num contexto de Economia Circular, enquanto contribui para a resolução prática do desafio de uma empresa. Com base numa revisão de literatura, procede-se a uma sistematização de conhecimento em áreas importantes para analisar redes logísticas de fornecedores de embalagens, com práticas sustentáveis de circuito fechado que impactam o desempenho de sustentabilidade das suas cadeias de abastecimento. A melhor opção de material-fornecedor é selecionada para prosseguir com um estudo de caso onde diferentes cenários são assumidos. Por fim, são apresentadas conclusões e soluções importantes para melhorar o desempenho da rede logística selecionada.

The sweet chestnut productive area in Portugal has augmented in the last decades due to EU and Portuguese government funding schemes and favorable international market for the chestnut fruit. Farmers have been encouraged to replace traditional crops by chestnut plantations. A rising demand for sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) in Portugal and elsewhere in the world has led to more intensive management practices in order to increase nut production. This intensification has contributed to the decline of sweet chestnut orchards as a result of the widespread of ink disease (Phytophthora cinnamomi) and chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) which have caused important losses in chestnut production as well as limited the establishment of new planted areas. The balance between mortality and the establishment of new plantations is difficult to quantify based on field observations only because often new plantations are placed where chestnut mortality occurred. However, changes in chestnut orchards are registered in remotely sensed data collected over time that can be used to reconstruct regional and local history of this and other land use classes. Time Series Analysis (TSA) and Geostatistical analyses can be combined with analogical conventional aerial photographs (CAP) and modern digital orthophotographs using photogrammetric techniques and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In this work we developed a methodology integrating the tools above to estimate chestnut decline for the last twenty years (1986-2006) in the Trás-os-Montes region (Northeastern Portugal). We used aerial photography from 1986, 1995, and 2006 to map chestnut occupation and to quantify tree damage according to a categorical scale at the tree level within fixed sample plots. Decline surfaces were created by Kriging interpolation in a GIS based on the spherical model which provided the lowest Mean Absolute Errors by an iterative process in the variography analysis. The results showed an expansion of total chestnut orchards in the study area from 1742 ha (14.3% of the area) in 1986 to 2562 ha (21.1%) in 2006 although chestnut mortality affected 1061 ha during the same period. More importantly, the results of the methodology developed here, showed the distribution and configuration of turnover areas and their spatial relationship with the degree of chestnut decline which can support the decision making process relative to sweet chestnut plantations establishment and management.

The 2015 Millennium Development Goal to cut in half the share of the world's population living in extreme poverty was met with time to spare. By 2013, the percentage of developing-country populations living in extreme poverty decreased from 43 percent in 1990 to 21 percent by 2010. Clearly, there is still a long way to go, with 1.2 billion people without enough to eat. What can we learn from the recent success? This volume presents recent methods to decompose the contributions to poverty reduction. What was the main contributor to poverty reduction? Using a simple accounting approach, we find

Sustainable forest management requires decision support systems to evaluate possible scenarios and anticipate the consequences of decisions. Forest modellers typically develop complex systems of equations to predict the behaviour of forests which makes the use of forest models difficult for end-users in general, affecting transfer of knowledge and technology. To overcome these difficulties and facilitate their practical use, models can be integrated into software to generate user-friendly forest simulators. In this paper we introduce and describe ForestMTIS, a cloud computing compiled and editable open-source project to generate forest simulators which was developed for statistical, non-spatial, deterministic, disaggregated, single species even-aged stand growth and yield models. We demonstrate the use of ForestMTIS based on the development of FlorNExT®, its first practical application, based on a collaborative approach to make growth and yield modelling and sustainable forest management available to a large community of users in the Northeast of Portugal. ; This work was funded by the EU-FP7 SIMWOOD project (Sustainable Innovative Mobilisation of Wood) under Grant Agreement No. 613762, the Spanish Government through INIA; and the Galician Regional Government (Xunta de Galicia) through INGACAL. The authors acknowledge also the support provided by the Mountain Research Centre and the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal, during a research stay of the first author. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion