Evaluating the Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture (ECOC): a Tourist Perception Approach

Guimarães has hosted, during the year of 2012, one of the European Capital of Culture (ECOC). The evaluation of the event is needed as public, private and community funds are involved. The approach considers the tourists (domestic and international) as external and independent stakeholders who assessed the cultural activities developed during the event and the attributes of the city. The results of the survey show that hosting the 2012 ECOC was a major contribution for attracting new visitors to the city, although many of them just for a short period of time. The main source of general information collected by tourists was the Internet, and the traditional media. Only a small amount of respondents demonstrated a specialized knowledge of the cultural program. The most cited and appreciated performances came from the areas of music, exhibitions, and theatre. According to the perceptions of tourists, the tangible assets were clearly detached from the set of attributes of Guimarães, including buildings, churches and chapels, whereas intangible assets were less noted. Overall, Guimarães received a very positive evaluation related to city image and stay and is highly recommended by tourists to friends and relatives.

A laparoscopic surgery training interface

Laparoscopy is a surgical procedure on which operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions using several specialized instruments. The laparoscopic surgery success greatly depends on surgeon skills and training. To achieve these technical high-standards, different apprenticeship methods have been developed, many based on in vivo training, an approach that involves high costs and complex setup procedures. This paper explores Virtual Reality (VR) simulation as an alternative for novice surgeons training. Even though several simulators are available on the market claiming successful training experiences, their use is extremely limited due to the economic costs involved. In this work, we present a low-cost laparoscopy simulator able to monitor and assist the trainee’s surgical movements. The developed prototype consists of a set of inexpensive sensors, namely an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer and a flex sensor, attached to specific laparoscopic instruments. Our approach allows repeated assisted training of an exercise, without time constraints or additional costs, since no human artificial model is needed. A case study of our simulator applied to instrument manipulation practice (hand-eye coordination) is also presented.

Injustiça para com a cidade de Barcelos

Começarei com um Princípio Fundamental Constitucional que está (ainda) em vigor: o Direito à Justiça. Art. 20º da Constituição da República Portuguesa: “Acesso ao direito e tutela jurisdicional efectiva”: “1. A todos é assegurado o acesso ao direito e aos tribunais para defesa dos seus direitos e interesses legalmente protegidos, não podendo a justiça ser denegada por insuficiência de meios económicos.”. Abstract: I will begin with a Constitutional Fundamental Principle that is (still) in force: the Right to Justice. Art 20 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. "Access to law and effective judicial protection": "1. Everyone is guaranteed access to the law and the courts to defend their legally protected rights and interests, and justice may not be denied for insufficient economic means. ".

Vitória da Alemanha constitucional e de direito social!

O poder judicial é hoje independente na RFA, sendo ainda o direito baseado no direito romano, com algumas referências germânicas. O Tribunal Federal Constitucional é uma instituição sagrada que prima pela reverência absoluta ao Estado de Direito social e controla a constitucionalidade. Existe ainda o Tribunal de Justiça Federal e os Tribunais Federais do Trabalho, o Social Federal, o Federal das Finanças e o Administrativo Federal. O sistema penal alemão é destinado à recuperação do criminoso. O Völkerstrafgesetzbuch/“Código Penal Internacional” dá aos tribunais alemães jurisdição universal caso a acusação por um tribunal do país onde o crime foi praticado, ou por um tribunal internacional, não for possível. Abstract: The judiciary is independent today in the Germany, still being the right based on Roman law with some Germanic references. The Federal Constitutional Court is a sacred institution that excels in absolute reverence for the rule of law and social controls constitutionality. There is also the Federal Court of Justice and the Federal Courts of Labor, the Federal Social, the Federal Finance Administration and the Federal. The German penal system is aimed at the criminal recovery. The Völkerstrafgesetzbuch / "International Criminal Code" gives German courts universal jurisdiction if prosecution by a court of the country where the crime was committed, or by an international court, is not possible.

Conceptual design of a conveyer system for supporting basic quality of life of bedridden elderly people

With the increasing number of aged people, especially in developed countries, Ambient Assisted Living solutions have become an important subject to be explored and developed. Currently, as specialized Institutions in geriatric care cannot cope with the increasing requests for support of quality of life, patients have to remain at their homes having as caregiver the other member of the couple or a member of close family. A solution for supporting the caregiver, during assisting the bedridden person with some basic tasks as eating, taking a bath and/or hygiene care is of utmost importance. This paper presents an approach for supporting the caregiver in moving and repositioning the bedridden elderly people (BEP) with the assistance of a mechanical system conveyer. The conceptual design of the mechanical system must be devoted to assist the caregiver in the handling and repositioning of the BEP. The proposed mechatronic system must, ideally, minimize the system's handling complexity, reduce the number of caregivers and the amount of spended and needed effort.

Hand-held robotic device for laparoscopic surgery and training

Laparoscopic surgery (LS) has revolutionized traditional surgical techniques introducing minimally invasive procedures for diagnosis and local therapies. LSs have undeniable advantages, such as small patient incisions, reduced postoperative pain and faster recovery. On the other hand, restricted vision of the anatomical target, difficult handling of the surgical instruments, restricted mobility inside the human body, need of dexterity to hand-eye coordination and inadequate and non-ergonomic surgical instruments may restrict LS only to more specialized surgeons. To overcome the referred limitations, this work presents a new robotic surgical handheld system – the EndoRobot. The EndoRobot was designed to be used in clinical practice or even as a surgical simulator. It integrates an electromechanical system with 3 degrees of freedom. Each degree can be manipulated independently and combined with different levels of sensitivity allowing fast and slow movements. As other features, the EndoRobot has battery power or external power supply, enables the use of bipolar radiofrequency to prevent bleeding while cutting and allows plug-and-play of the laparoscopic forceps for rapid exchange. As a surgical simulator, the system was also instrumented to measure and transmit, in real time, its position and orientation for a training software able to monitor and assist the trainee’s surgical movements.

Responsabilidade Criminal por Dinheiros Públicos, Branqueamento de Capitais/Lavagem de Dinheiro e Direitos Sociais

Em termos de dinheiros públicos, devemos ter em consideração a necessidade de ter que existir uma boa governança. É importante a participação. Também a transparência. E se os direitos e deveres sociais fundamentais estão interligados, não é menos verdade que é preciso a apresentação de boas contas à população. E aqui temos que falar também em plena responsabilidade pública. Num sentido lato, podemos falar num princípio geral de anticorrupção. O mau uso dos dinheiros públicos pode conduzir à responsabilidade de índole criminal. O crime de branqueamento/lavagem, um crime secundário, pode ter por origem ilícitos e/ou crimes que se relacionam com a utilização indevida de dinheiros públicos. A responsabilidade financeira e criminal pode aliás constituir um incremento na boa gestão dos dinheiros públicos. Deste modo – não tendo o direito penal finalidades de promoção ou de “combate”, mas ainda assim retributivos, preventivos gerais e especiais positivos e restaurativos -, podemos estar a caminhar para uma melhor concretização dos direitos, e dos deveres, que são garantidos do ponto de vista constitucional-constitucional. Afinal, todas as áreas do direito, são peças do mesmo jogo de xadrez. O Tribunal Constitucional em Portugal, o Supremo Tribunal Federal no Brasil, o Supremo Tribunal de Justiça em Portugal, o Superior Tribunal de Justiça no Brasil, os Tribunais de Contas em ambos os países. § In terms of public money, we should take into account the need to have to be good governance. It is important to participate. Also transparency. And if fundamental rights and social duties are interrelated, it is also true that we need to present good accounts to the population. And here we must also speak in full public accountability. In a broad sense, we can speak of a general principle of anti-corruption. The misuse of public funds can lead to criminal nature of responsibility. The crime of money laundering, a secondary crime, may have as illicit origin and / or crimes that relate to the misuse of public funds. The financial and criminal liability may in fact be an increase in the sound management of public funds. Thus - not having the criminal law purposes of promotion or "combat", but still remunerative, general and special preventive and restorative positive - we may be heading for a better realization of the rights, and duties, which are guaranteed the constitutional-constitutional point of view. After all, all areas of the law are parts of the same game of chess. The Constitutional Court in Portugal, the Supreme Court in Brazil, the Supreme Court in Portugal, the Superior Court of Justice in Brazil, the Audit Courts in both countries.