Avaliação do desempenho de fundos de investimento de obrigações: evidência para o mercado Brasileiro

Dissertação de mestrado em Finanças

Detection of road accident accumulation zones with a visual analytics approach

Nowadays, road accidents are a major public health problem, which increase is forecasted if road safety is not treated properly, dying about 1.2 million people every year around the globe. In 2012, Portugal recorded 573 fatalities in road accidents, on site, revealing the largest decreasing of the European Union for 2011, along with Denmark. Beyond the impact caused by fatalities, it was calculated that the economic and social costs of road accidents weighted about 1.17% of the Portuguese gross domestic product in 2010. Visual Analytics allows the combination of data analysis techniques with interactive visualizations, which facilitates the process of knowledge discovery in sets of large and complex data, while the Geovisual Analytics facilitates the exploration of space-time data through maps with different variables and parameters that are under analysis. In Portugal, the identification of road accident accumulation zones, in this work named black spots, has been restricted to annual fixed windows. In this work, it is presented a dynamic approach based on Visual Analytics techniques that is able to identify the displacement of black spots on sliding windows of 12 months. Moreover, with the use of different parameterizations in the formula usually used to detect black spots, it is possible to identify zones that are almost becoming black spots. Through the proposed visualizations, the study and identification of countermeasures to this social and economic problem can gain new grounds and thus the decision- making process is supported and improved.

Análise do sistema bancário da União Europeia

Dissertação de mestrado em Economia Monetária, Bancária e Financeira

The inverse along a product and its applications

In this paper, we study the recently defined notion of the inverse along an element. An existence criterion for the inverse along a product is given in a ring. As applications, we present the equivalent conditions for the existence and expressions of the inverse along a matrix.

From software extensions to product lines of dataflow programs

Abstract Dataflow programs are widely used. Each program is a directed graph where nodes are computations and edges indicate the flow of data. In prior work, we reverse-engineered legacy dataflow programs by deriving their optimized implementations from a simple specification graph using graph transformations called refinements and optimizations. In MDE-speak, our derivations were PIM-to-PSM mappings. In this paper, we show how extensions complement refinements, optimizations, and PIM-to-PSM derivations to make the process of reverse engineering complex legacy dataflow programs tractable. We explain how optional functionality in transformations can be encoded, thereby enabling us to encode product lines of transformations as well as product lines of dataflow programs. We describe the implementation of extensions in the ReFlO tool and present two non-trivial case studies as evidence of our work’s generality

Integration of geometric consistency contributory factors in three-leg junctions collision prediction models of Portuguese two-lane national highways

This paper aims at developing a collision prediction model for three-leg junctions located in national roads (NR) in Northern Portugal. The focus is to identify factors that contribute for collision type crashes in those locations, mainly factors related to road geometric consistency, since literature is scarce on those, and to research the impact of three modeling methods: generalized estimating equations, random-effects negative binomial models and random-parameters negative binomial models, on the factors of those models. The database used included data published between 2008 and 2010 of 177 three-leg junctions. It was split in three groups of contributing factors which were tested sequentially for each of the adopted models: at first only traffic, then, traffic and the geometric characteristics of the junctions within their area of influence; and, lastly, factors which show the difference between the geometric characteristics of the segments boarding the junctionsâ area of influence and the segment included in that area were added. The choice of the best modeling technique was supported by the result of a cross validation made to ascertain the best model for the three sets of researched contributing factors. The models fitted with random-parameters negative binomial models had the best performance in the process. In the best models obtained for every modeling technique, the characteristics of the road environment, including proxy measures for the geometric consistency, along with traffic volume, contribute significantly to the number of collisions. Both the variables concerning junctions and the various national highway segments in their area of influence, as well as variations from those characteristics concerning roadway segments which border the already mentioned area of influence have proven their relevance and, therefore, there is a rightful need to incorporate the effect of geometric consistency in the three-leg junctions safety studies.

Assessment of national parks affected by naturbanization processes in Southern Europe

This paper assesses land-use changes related to naturbanization processes on three biosphere reserves in Southern Europe. A comparative analysis has been done on the National Parks in Peneda-Ger^es in North Portugal, C_evennes in South France and Sierra Nevada in South Spain, using Corine Land Cover data from 1990 until 2006. Results indicate that the process of land-use intensification is taking place in the frame of naturbanization dynamics that could jeopardize the role of Protected Areas. Focusing on the trends faced by National Parks and their surrounding territories, the analysis demonstrates, both in quantitative and spatial terms, the intensification processes of land-use changes and how it is important to know them for coping with increasing threats. The article concludes that in the current context of increasing stresses, a broader focus on nature protection, encompassing the wider countryside, is needed if the initiatives for biodiversity protection are to be effective.

A case study of product usability of a pelvic device used by children with neuromotor impairments

On assistive technology targeted for people with activity limitations and participation, usability issues becomes an essential tool to ensure that the product has the appropriate ergonomics characteristics, in other words, ensure that it fits the specific user´s needs. The aim of this study was to analyze the usability of an adaptive seating device for children with neuromotor impairments, by using kinematic indicators of the reaching movement. The study sample consisted of 13 children with associated neurologic conditions. The tests were developed by using a wooden bench height adjustable, integrated with the adaptive seating device under study, and a system to capture three-dimensional image, called Qualisys Track Manager. The following reaching kinematics variables were measured: maximum reaching velocity, movement duration, index of curvature, and unit movements. It was found that the use of the adaptive seating device had a positive impact on upper limb function in children with neuromotor impairments. It was also noticed an improvement in the reaching movement kinematics, which was statistical significant for the index of curvature and unit movements. As main conclusions, it is possible to point out some positive effects that the product under study seems to have on users' movements, such as the improved movement quality of the upper limb, which could mean a better postural adjustments and higher trunk postural control. By identifying new measures of usability in terms of effectiveness and efficiency for the analyzeddevice, the results obtained may serve also as performance indicators, providing new data that may help to improve the product and eventually modifying it, in order to turn it more compatible with the needs of the considered target population.

Changes in institutional governance and management of higher education in Laos: National University of Laos

PhD thesis in Educational Sciences (specialization in Politics of Education).

Da 'portugalidade' à lusofonia

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Comunicação (Especialidade em Teoria da Cultura)

Inovação como fator de competitividade da cadeia de valor da moda

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Têxtil

Adult learning and education policies in Germany, Portugal and Sweden: An analysis of national reports to CONFINTEA VI

The chapter presents a theoretical proposal of three analytical models of Adult Learning and Education (ALE) policies. Some analytical categories and the corresponding dimensions are organised according to the ALE rationale which is typical of each social policy model. Historical, cultural and educational features are mentioned in connexion with the different policy models and its interpretative capacity to making sense of policies and practices implemented in Germany, Portugal and Sweden. !e analysis includes the states of the art and the official representations of ALE produced by the respective national authorities through national reports which were presented to CONFINTEA VI (2009).

A demonstration case on the derivation of process-level logical architectures for ambient assisted living ecosystems

When representing the requirements for an intended software solution during the development process, a logical architecture is a model that provides an organized vision of how functionalities behave regardless of the technologies to be implemented. If the logical architecture represents an ambient assisted living (AAL) ecosystem, such representation is a complex task due to the existence of interrelated multidomains, which, most of the time, results in incomplete and incoherent user requirements. In this chap- ter, we present the results obtained when applying process-level modeling techniques to the derivation of the logical architecture for a real industrial AAL project. We adopt a V-Model–based approach that expresses the AAL requirements in a process-level perspec- tive, instead of the traditional product-level view. Additionally, we ensure compliance of the derived logical architecture with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reference architecture as nonfunctional requirements to support the implementa- tion of the AAL architecture in cloud contexts.

The group inverse of a product

In this paper, we characterize the existence and give an expression of the group inverse of a product of two regular elements by means of a ring unit.

Further results on the inverse along an element in semigroups and rings

In this paper, we introduce a new notion in a semigroup $S$ as an extension of Mary's inverse. Let $a,d\in S$. An element $a$ is called left (resp. right) invertible along $d$ if there exists $b\in S$ such that $bad=d$ (resp. $dab=b$) and $b\leq_\mathcal{L}d$ (resp. $b\leq_\mathcal{R}d$). An existence criterion of this type inverse is derived. Moreover, several characterizations of left (right) regularity, left (right) $\pi$-regularity and left (right) $*$-regularity are given in a semigroup. Further, another existence criterion of this type inverse is given by means of a left (right) invertibility of certain elements in a ring. Finally we study the (left, right) inverse along a product in a ring, and, as an application, Mary's inverse along a matrix is expressed.