General Insights into Word Choice in Business Communication

Words are the smallest units of messages. Attention should be given to each word used to be sure it is the most effective one. An effective word is one that the receiver will understand and that will elicit the wanted response. The ability to choose words by (a) using a dictionary and a thesaurus and (b) following some of the principles of business communication described in this text can be improved.

The telegraph as an omen of the future in James W. Carey's vision

In the history of modern communication, after the development of the printing press, the telegraph unleashed a revolution in communications. Today, Internet is in many ways its heir. Reflections on the telegraph may open up perspectives concerning tendencies, possibilities and pitfalls of the Internet. The telegraph has been well explored in important literature on communication and media which tends to emphasize the history of this technology, its social context and institutional meaning [e.g. Robert L. Thompson, 1947, Tom Standage, 2007 [1998]. James W. Carey, the North- American critical cultural studies' mentor, in his essay "Technology and Ideology. The Case of the Telegraph" (2009 [1983]), suggests a distinctive approach. In the telegraph, Carey sees the prototype of many subsequent commercial empires based on science and technology, a pioneer model for complex business management; an example of interest struggle for the patents control; an inductor of changes both in language and in structures of knowledge; and a promoter of a futurist and utopian thought of information technologies. Having in mind a revolution in communications promoted by the Internet, this paper revisits this seminal essay to explore its great attainment, as well as the problems of this kind of approach which conceives the innovation of the telegraph as a metaphor for all the innovations announcing the modern stage of history and determining still today the major lines of development in modern communication systems.

Durability performance of concrete made with fine recycled concrete aggregates

Fine recycled aggregates are seen as the last choice in recycling for concrete production. Many references quote their detrimental influence on the most important characteristics of concrete: compressive and tensile strength; modulus of elasticity; water absorption; shrinkage: carbonation and chloride penetration. These two last characteristics are fundamental in terms of the long-term durability of reinforced or prestressed concrete. In the experimental research carried out at IST, part of which has already been published, different concrete mixes (with increasing rates of substitution of fine natural aggregates sand - with fine recycled aggregates from crushed concrete) were prepared and tested. The results were then compared with those for a reference concrete with exactly the same composition and grading curve, but with no recycled aggregates. This paper presents the main results of this research for water absorption by immersion and capillarity, chloride penetration (by means of the chloride migration coefficient), and carbonation resistance, drawing some conclusions on the feasibility of using this type of aggregate in structural concrete, while taking into account any ensuing obvious positive environmental impact.

Agentes fitoquímicos como radio-sensibilizadores na terapêutica em medicina nuclear

Mestrado em Medicina Nuclear. Área de especialização: Radiofarmácia.

As políticas e práticas culturais no seio da Rede Nacional de Teatros e Cineteatros

Artigo baseado na comunicação proferida no 7º Congresso SOPCOM: Comunicação Global, Cultura e Tecnologia, realizado na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal, 15 -17 dezembro de 2011

James W. Carey as critical theorist of the information age

This paper suggests that the thought of the North-American critical theorist James W. Carey provides a relevant perspective on communication and technology. Having as background American social pragmatism and progressive thinkers of the beginning of the 20th century (as Dewey, Mead, Cooley, and Park), Carey built a perspective that brought together the political economy of Harold A. Innis, the social criticism of David Riesman and Charles W. Mills and incorporated Marxist topics such as commodification and sociocultural domination. The main goal of this paper is to explore the connection established by Carey between modern technological communication and what he called the “transmissive model”, a model which not only reduces the symbolic process of communication to instrumentalization and to information delivery, but also politically converges with capitalism as well as power, control and expansionist goals. Conceiving communication as a process that creates symbolic and cultural systems, in which and through which social life takes place, Carey gives equal emphasis to the incorporation processes of communication.If symbolic forms and culture are ways of conditioning action, they are also influenced by technological and economic materializations of symbolic systems, and by other conditioning structures. In Carey’s view, communication is never a disembodied force; rather, it is a set of practices in which co-exist conceptions, techniques and social relations. These practices configure reality or, alternatively, can refute, transform and celebrate it. Exhibiting sensitiveness favourable to the historical understanding of communication, media and information technologies, one of the issues Carey explored most was the history of the telegraph as an harbinger of the Internet, of its problems and contradictions. For Carey, Internet was seen as the contemporary heir of the communications revolution triggered by the prototype of transmission technologies, namely the telegraph in the 19th century. In the telegraph Carey saw the prototype of many subsequent commercial empires based on science and technology, a pioneer model for complex business management; an example of conflict of interest for the control over patents; an inducer of changes both in language and in structures of knowledge; and a promoter of a futurist and utopian thought of information technologies. After a brief approach to Carey’s communication theory, this paper focuses on his seminal essay "Technology and ideology. The case of the telegraph", bearing in mind the prospect of the communication revolution introduced by Internet. We maintain that this essay has seminal relevance for critically studying the information society. Our reading of it highlights the reach, as well as the problems, of an approach which conceives the innovation of the telegraph as a metaphor for all innovations, announcing the modern stage of history and determining to this day the major lines of development in modern communication systems.

A leitura, a escrita e os textos de literatura

Apresenta-se um trabalho de investigação realizado numa turma de 3.º e 4.º ano de 1.ºciclo de ensino básico. Focalizou-se o ensino explícito, sistemático e partilhado da escrita a partir da leitura e compreensão de textos de literatura infantil, sob mediação do docente. O trabalho surge após tomada de consciência de fragilidades que os alunos revelam na área do Português, nomeadamente nos domínios da compreensão leitora e da escrita. A leitura e análise de textos integrais de literatura infantil foram centrais no estudo, dando atenção à linguagem, em geral, e ao léxico e aos processos retóricos utilizados pelos autores, em particular. Os textos de autor foram explorados como fonte tanto de ideias, para escrever, como de modos de escrever. A leitura e discussão do que se lê e a discussão do que se escreve envolvem os alunos com o trabalho de escrita, comprometendo-os com a reflexão sobre o que leem e sobre o que escrevem.

Non-uniform microstrip antenna array for RX DSRC communications

The urgent need to mitigate traffic problems such as accidents, road hazards, pollution and traffic jam have strongly driven the development of vehicular communications. DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) is the technology of choice in vehicular communications, enabling real time information exchange among vehicles V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) and between vehicles and infrastructure V2I (Vehicle-Infrastructure). This paper presents a receiving antenna for a single lane DSRC control unit. The antenna is a non-uniform array with five microstrip patches. The obtained beam width, bandwidth and circular polarization quality, among other characteristics, are compatible with the DSRC standards, making this antenna suitable for this application. © 2014 IEEE.