Analysable software language translations

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Informática

Improvements on the KNN classifier

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

HOMO-raising strategies in aminocatalysis, from Enamine to Tetraenamine

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Bioorgânica

Proposion pour un module de cours d'anthropologie de l'espace

Présentation de la thématique: identités locales, régionales et nationales. Définition d’un objet d’étude: les représentations de l’espace. Questions relatives aux transformations qui proviennent de l’augmentation progressive de la mobilité spatiale. Nécessité de repenser les échelles d’approche anthropologique.

Portuguese Ministers, 1851-1999: Social Background and Paths to Power

Disponível em: http://193.136.113.6/Opac/Pages/Search/Results.aspx?SearchText=UID=bb8aa8d5-c6b6-466a-81bb-fe8a67693cee&DataBase=10449_UNLFCSH

Characterization of processed materials by electrical currents: development of equipment and applications

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Contributo para a validação da versão portuguesa do instrumento de avaliação VOICE (service users perceptions of impatient care, Views on Inpatient Care)

RESUMO: Nos últimos anos assistiu-se a um reposicionamento das pessoas portadoras de doença mental na sociedade, no sentido de viverem em pleno os seus direitos, sem restrições. Esta tendência acompanhou as transformações que se têm vivido na forma como os utentes dos serviços de saúde interagem com os mesmos e com os profissionais de saúde, de forma a permitir uma maior autonomização e responsabilização no que concerne ao tratamento da sua doença, a relação que estabelecem com o seu médico, e a participação na avaliação e monitorização da qualidade dos serviços. Mais recentemente, também no mundo científico, esta afirmação se fez sentir, com o surgimento de investigação liderada por utentes, no sentido de estudar de forma adequada questões que partem do seu ponto de vista, e que possibilitem a produção de conhecimento significativa no contexto das suas experiências. Com o presente trabalho pretende-se contribuir para a validação da versão portuguesa do VOICE (Service Users’ Perceptions of Inpatient Care, Views on Inpatient Care) (Evans et al., 2012), instrumento para a avaliação dos serviços de internamento de agudos em psiquiatria, construído a partir de um investigação liderado por utentes e partindo das suas perspectiva. O VOICE é constituído por 19 questões, agrupadas em sete domínios: admissão; cuidados e tratamento; medicação; equipa de técnicos do internamento; terapia e atividades; ambiente e diferenças. O presente estudo envolveu uma amostra de 85 utentes de um serviço de internamento de agudos de uma instituição psiquiátrica do Norte de Portugal. A versão portuguesa do VOICE apresentou boa aceitação por parte dos utentes e boas características psicométricas - a consistência interna foi alta (α = 0,87) e todos, exceto um item (item 6), apresentam elevadas correlações item-total (variando de 0,18 - item 6 a 0,71 - item 11; M = 0,54, DP = 0,15), sugerindo ser um instrumento útil na avaliação dos serviços de internamento de agudos. No futuro torna-se necessário alargar o estudo a outros contextos de internamento e envolvendo amostras mais alargadas.-------------- ABSTRACT: In recent years there has been a gradual process to help people with the experience of mental illness regaining their full rights. Following the advances in the understanding of mental health problems, and the use of medication to help patients overcome symptoms, service-users have become more autonomous and responsible in the way they deal with health professionals, and are now called to participate in assessing and monitoring mental health services and policies. In the context of these transformations we have assisted to the emergence of research led by service-users (in this case of psychiatric and mental health services) in order to emphasize their point of view, and to enable the production of significant knowledge resulting from their experiences, and perceptions. The present study aims to contribute to the dissemination of service-user led research, based on the adaptation and validation of the Portuguese version of the VOICE - Service Users' Perceptions Questionnaire, Views on Inpatient Care. (Evans et al., 2012). The VOICE is composed of 19 questions, grouped in seven domains: admissions, care and treatment, medication, team of technicians during hospitalization, therapy and activities, environment and diversity. The present study involved a sample of 85 inpatient of a psychiatric institution in Northern Portugal. The Portuguese version of the VOICE showed good psychometric properties and was well accepted by patients [high internal consistency (α = 0,87); and high correlation of each item, except item 6, with the total score (ranging from 0.18 on item 6 to 0.71 on item 11; average=0,54; SD=0,15), suggesting it to be a useful tool for assessing inpatient services. In the future there is a need to extend the study to other contexts and include larger samples.

O Conselho de Estado na monarquia constitucional: uma reflexão preliminar

This article summarises the transformations in the State Council’s functions and membership throughout the Portuguese Constitutional Monarchy, and makes a preliminary attempt to scrutinise the political role played by an institution designed since its inception to advise the monarch. In spite of the parsimony of contemporary sources, and even contradictory empirical evidence, it seems indisputable that in several critical occasions the monarch’s political decisions were influenced by the dominant view in the State Council. Finally, the article presents the collective biography of the 73 individuals appointed to the State Council between 1833 and 1910 – who may be defined as the inner circle of the ruling elite - focusing on basic background features (birthplace, age, education, occupation, noble titles and political experience).

UAV - based imagery processing using structure from motion and remote sensing technology

With the recent advances in technology and miniaturization of devices such as GPS or IMU, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles became a feasible platform for a Remote Sensing applications. The use of UAVs compared to the conventional aerial platforms provides a set of advantages such as higher spatial resolution of the derived products. UAV - based imagery obtained by a user grade cameras introduces a set of problems which have to be solved, e. g. rotational or angular differences or unknown or insufficiently precise IO and EO camera parameters. In this work, UAV - based imagery of RGB and CIR type was processed using two different workflows based on PhotoScan and VisualSfM software solutions resulting in the DSM and orthophoto products. Feature detection and matching parameters influence on the result quality as well as a processing time was examined and the optimal parameter setup was presented. Products of the both workflows were compared in terms of a quality and a spatial accuracy. Both workflows were compared by presenting the processing times and quality of the results. Finally, the obtained products were used in order to demonstrate vegetation classification. Contribution of the IHS transformations was examined with respect to the classification accuracy.

Untitled: Figurations of memory

The next pages will describe my experience and results of making connections between cognitive sciences and art; the transformations of my memories being the object of study and motivation for this process of self-discovery. The human body reacts according to innumerable neural functions and external stimuli. Neurons respond to the evocation of experienced events, building virtual images, map-like constellations sometimes fulfilled by imagination, desires or knowledge promoting in this way their constant reshaping. This document offers an insight into my recollections as matter. As matter these recollections take on different states and I hope to give you a better sense of my personal voice using my experience with glass to explore this transformation and accompanying my journey with lectures and scientific readings about the mind functions.

Evolution of Teeth and Quadrate in Non-avian Theropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia), with the Description of Torvosaurus Remains from Portugal

Theropods form a highly successful and morphologically diversified group of dinosaurs that gave rise to birds. They include most, if not all, carnivorous dinosaurs, yet many theropod clades were secondarily adapted to piscivory, omnivory and herbivory, and theropods show a large array of skull and dentition morphologies. This work aims to investigate aspects of the evolution of theropod dinosaurs by analyzing in detail both the anatomy and ontogeny of teeth and quadrates in non-avian theropods, and by studying embryonic and adult material of a new species of theropod. A standardized list of terms and notations for each anatomical entity of the tooth, quadrate, and maxilla is here proposed with the goal of facilitating descriptions of these important cranial and dental elements. The distribution of thirty dental characters among 113 theropod taxa is investigated, and a list of diagnostic dental characters is proposed. As an example, four isolated theropod teeth from the Lourinhã Formation (Kimmeridgian‒Tithonian) of Portugal are described and identified based on a cladistic analysis performed on a data matrix of 141 dentition-based characters coded in 60 taxa. Two shed teeth are referred to an abelisaurid, providing the first record of Abelisauridae in the Jurassic of Laurasia and the one of the oldest records of this clade in the world, suggesting a possible radiation of Abelisauridae in Europe well before the Upper Cretaceous. The consensus tree resulting from this phylogenetic analysis, the most extensive on theropod teeth, indicates that theropod teeth provide reliable data for identification at approximately family level, and this method will help identifying theropod teeth with more confidence. A detailed description of the dentition of Megalosauridae is also provided, and a discriminant analysis performed on a dataset of numerical data collected on the teeth of 62 theropod taxa reveals that megalosaurid teeth are hardly distinguishable from other theropod clades with ziphodont dentition. This study highlights the importance of detailing anatomical descriptions and providing additional morphometric data on teeth with the purpose of helping to identify isolated theropod teeth. In order to evaluate the phylogenetic potential and investigate the evolutionary transformations of the quadrate, a phylogenetic morphometric analysis as well as a cladistic analysis using 98 discrete quadrate related characters were conducted. The quadrate morphology by its own provides a wealth of data with strong phylogenetic signal, and the phylogenetic morphometric analysis reveals two main morphotypes of the mandibular articulation of the quadrate linked to function. As an example, six isolated quadrates from the Kem Kem beds (Cenomanian) of Morocco are determined to be from juvenile and adult individuals of Spinosaurinae based on phylogenetic, morphometric, and phylogenetic morphometric analyses. Morphofunctional analysis of the spinosaurid mandibular articulation has shown that the posterior parts of the two mandibular rami displaced laterally when the jaw was depressed due to a mediolaterally oriented intercondylar sulcus of the quadrate. Such lateral movement of the mandibular ramus was possible due to a movable mandibular symphysis in spinosaurids, allowing the pharynx to be widened. A new species of theropod from the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal, Torvosaurus gurneyi, is erected based on a right maxilla and an incomplete caudal centrum. This taxon supports the mechanism of vicariance that occurred in the Iberian Meseta during the Late Jurassic when the proto-Atlantic was already well formed. A theropod clutch containing several crushed eggs and embryonic material is also assigned to this new species of Torvosaurus. Investigation on the maxilla ontogeny in basal tetanurans reveals that crown denticles, elongation of the anterior ramus, and fusion of interdental plates appear at a posthatchling stage. On the other hand, maxillary pneumaticity is already present at an embryonic stage in non-avian theropods.

Fostering e-participation sustainability through a BPM-driven semantic model

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey (2014), 68% of Europeans tend not to trust national governments. As the increasing alienation of citizens from politics endangers democracy and welfare, governments, practitioners and researchers look for innovative means to engage citizens in policy matters. One of the measures intended to overcome the so-called democratic deficit is the promotion of civic participation. Digital media proliferation offers a set of novel characteristics related to interactivity, ubiquitous connectivity, social networking and inclusiveness that enable new forms of societal-wide collaboration with a potential impact on leveraging participative democracy. Following this trend, e-Participation is an emerging research area that consists in the use of Information and Communication Technologies to mediate and transform the relations among citizens and governments towards increasing citizens’ participation in public decision-making. However, despite the widespread efforts to implement e-Participation through research programs, new technologies and projects, exhaustive studies on the achieved outcomes reveal that it has not yet been successfully incorporated in institutional politics. Given the problems underlying e-Participation implementation, the present research suggested that, rather than project-oriented efforts, the cornerstone for successfully implementing e-Participation in public institutions as a sustainable added-value activity is a systematic organisational planning, embodying the principles of open-governance and open-engagement. It further suggested that BPM, as a management discipline, can act as a catalyst to enable the desired transformations towards value creation throughout the policy-making cycle, including political, organisational and, ultimately, citizen value. Following these findings, the primary objective of this research was to provide an instrumental model to foster e-Participation sustainability across Government and Public Administration towards a participatory, inclusive, collaborative and deliberative democracy. The developed artefact, consisting in an e-Participation Organisational Semantic Model (ePOSM) underpinned by a BPM-steered approach, introduces this vision. This approach to e-Participation was modelled through a semi-formal lightweight ontology stack structured in four sub-ontologies, namely e-Participation Strategy, Organisational Units, Functions and Roles. The ePOSM facilitates e-Participation sustainability by: (1) Promoting a common and cross-functional understanding of the concepts underlying e-Participation implementation and of their articulation that bridges the gap between technical and non-technical users; (2) Providing an organisational model which allows a centralised and consistent roll-out of strategy-driven e-Participation initiatives, supported by operational units dedicated to the execution of transformation projects and participatory processes; (3) Providing a standardised organisational structure, goals, functions and roles related to e-Participation processes that enhances process-level interoperability among government agencies; (4) Providing a representation usable in software development for business processes’ automation, which allows advanced querying using a reasoner or inference engine to retrieve concrete and specific information about the e-Participation processes in place. An evaluation of the achieved outcomes, as well a comparative analysis with existent models, suggested that this innovative approach tackling the organisational planning dimension can constitute a stepping stone to harness e-Participation value.

Cultural journalism in a digital environment : new models, practices and possibilities

Both culture coverage and digital journalism are contemporary phenomena that have undergone several transformations within a short period of time. Whenever the media enters a period of uncertainty such as the present one, there is an attempt to innovate in order to seek sustainability, skip the crisis or find a new public. This indicates that there are new trends to be understood and explored, i.e., how are media innovating in a digital environment? Not only does the professional debate about the future of journalism justify the need to explore the issue, but so do the academic approaches to cultural journalism. However, none of the studies so far have considered innovation as a motto or driver and tried to explain how the media are covering culture, achieving sustainability and engaging with the readers in a digital environment. This research examines how European media which specialize in culture or have an important cultural section are innovating in a digital environment. Specifically, we see how these innovation strategies are being taken in relation to the approach to culture and dominant cultural areas, editorial models, the use of digital tools for telling stories, overall brand positioning and extensions, engagement with the public and business models. We conducted a mixed methods study combining case studies of four media projects, which integrates qualitative web features and content analysis, with quantitative web content analysis. Two major general-interest journalistic brands which started as physical newspapers – The Guardian (London, UK) and Público (Lisbon, Portugal) – a magazine specialized in international affairs, culture and design – Monocle (London, UK) – and a native digital media project that was launched by a cultural organization – Notodo, by La Fábrica – were the four case studies chosen. Findings suggest, on one hand, that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in culture coverage in a digital environment, challenging traditional boundaries related to cultural themes and scope, angles, genres, content format and delivery, engagement and business models. Innovation in the four case studies lies especially along the product dimensions (format and content), brand positioning and process (business model and ways to engage with users). On the other hand, there are still perennial values that are crucial to innovation and sustainability, such as commitment to journalism, consistency (to the reader, to brand extensions and to the advertiser), intelligent differentiation and the capability of knowing what innovation means and how it can be applied, since this thesis also confirms that one formula doesn´t suit all. Changing minds, exceeding cultural inertia and optimizing the memory of the websites, looking at them as living, organic bodies, which continuously interact with the readers in many different ways, and not as a closed collection of articles, are still the main challenges for some media.

Entre a plasticidade do corpo e da imagem : contributos para uma viagem interactiva pelos territórios incertos da arte contemporânea

Este trabalho de investigação começou por ser estruturado em torno de quatro grandes capítulos (quatro grandes linhas de orientação temática), todos eles amplamente desenvolvidos no sentido de podermos cartografar alguns dos principais territórios e sintomas da arte contemporânea, sendo certo também, que cada um deles assenta precisamente nos princípios de uma estrutura maleável que, para todos os efeitos, se encontra em processo de construção (work in progress), neste caso, graças à plasticidade do corpo, do espaço, da imagem e do uso criativo das tecnologias digitais, no âmbito das quais, aliás, tudo se parece produzir, transformar e disseminar hoje em dia à nossa volta (quase como se de uma autêntica viagem interactiva se tratasse). Por isso, a partir daqui, todo o esforço que se segue procurará ensaiar uma hipótese de trabalho (desenvolver uma investigação) que, porventura, nos permita desbravar alguns caminhos em direcção aos intermináveis túneis do futuro, sempre na expectativa de podermos dar forma, função e sentido a um desejo irreprimível de liberdade criativa, pois, a arte contemporânea tem essa extraordinária capacidade de nos transportar para muitos outros lugares do mundo, tão reais e imaginários como a nossa própria vida. Assim sendo, há que sumariar algumas das principais etapas a desenvolver ao longo desta investigação. Ora, num primeiro momento, começaremos por reflectir sobre o conceito alargado de «crise» (a crise da modernidade), para logo de seguida podermos abordar a questão da crise das antigas categorias estéticas, questionando assim, para todos os efeitos, quer o conceito de «belo» (Platão) e de «gosto» (Kant), quer ainda o conceito de «forma» (Foccilon), não só no sentido de tentarmos compreender algumas das principais razões que terão estado na origem do chamado «fim da arte» (Hegel), mas também algumas daquelas que terão conduzido à estetização generalizada da experiência contemporânea e à sua respectiva disseminação pelas mais variadas plataformas digitais. Num segundo momento, procuraremos reflectir sobre alguns dos principais problemas da inquietante história das imagens, nomeadamente para tentarmos perceber como é que todas estas transformações técnicas (ligadas ao aparecimento da fotografia, do cinema, do vídeo, do computador e da internet) terão contribuído para o processo de instauração e respectivo alargamento daquilo que todos nós ficaríamos a conhecer como a nova «era da imagem», ou a imagem na «era da sua própria reprodutibilidade técnica» (Benjamin), pois, só assim é que conseguiremos interrogar este imparável processo de movimentação, fragmentação, disseminação, simulação e interacção das mais variadas «formas de vida» (Nietzsche, Agamben). Entretanto, chegados ao terceiro grande momento, interessa-nos percepcionar a arte contemporânea como uma espécie de plataforma interactiva que, por sua vez, nos levará a interpelar alguns dos principais dispositivos metafóricos e experimentais da viagem, neste caso, da viagem enquanto linha facilitadora de acesso à arte, à cultura e à vida contemporânea em geral, ou seja, todo um processo de reflexão que nos incitará a cartografar alguns dos mais atractivos sintomas provenientes da estética do flâneur (na perspectiva de Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Long e Benjamin) e, consequentemente, a convocar algumas das principais sensações decorrentes da experiência altamente sedutora daqueles que vivem mergulhados na órbita interactiva do ciberespaço (na condição de ciberflâneurs), quase como se o mundo inteiro, agora, fosse tão somente um espaço poético «inteiramente navegável» (Manovich). Por fim, no quarto e último momento, procuraremos fazer uma profunda reflexão sobre a inquietante história do corpo, principalmente com o objectivo de reforçar a ideia de que apesar das suas inúmeras fragilidades biológicas (um ser que adoece e morre), o corpo continua a ser uma das «categorias mais persistentes de toda a cultura ocidental» (Ieda Tucherman), não só porque ele resistiu a todas as transformações que lhe foram impostas historicamente, mas também porque ele se soube reinventar e readaptar pacientemente face a todas essas transformações históricas. Sinal evidente de que a sua plasticidade lhe iria conferir, principalmente a partir do século XX («o século do corpo») um estatuto teórico e performativo verdadeiramente especial. Tão especial, aliás, que basta termos uma noção, mesmo que breve, da sua inquietante história para percebermos imediatamente a extraordinária importância dalgumas das suas mais variadas transformações, atracções, ligações e exibições ao longo das últimas décadas, nomeadamente sob o efeito criativo das tecnologias digitais (no âmbito das quais se processam algumas das mais interessantes operações de dinamização cultural e artística do nosso tempo). Em suma, esperamos sinceramente que este trabalho de investigação possa vir a contribuir para o processo de alargamento das fronteiras cada vez mais incertas, dinâmicas e interactivas do conhecimento daquilo que parece constituir, hoje em dia, o jogo fundamental da nossa contemporaneidade.

Segurança e criminalidade organizada

Globalization brought some deep changes to the world (dis)order. Nowadays, more than in other moment in history, we are closer to the ones physically far, living in “global village” called by Marshall McLuhan (1962). The concepts and premises built in this new order, have totally broken with the ones that “came out from Westphalia”, which had last to the end of the cold war, like, for example, the concept of security. Since then, security has been facing one of its biggest transformations ever, completely disrupting the state border based idea and starting to be extended to other domains, as human, economic, environmental and IT security, among others. In this global and interdependent environment, “new” threats and risks have raised, which are demanding a comprehensive approach from the States, international organizations and other actors, to allow the analysis and understanding its impacts on the various society sectors and orders. Inside the enormous challenges to the global security, it is important to regard the organized crime, which covers, by itself, a set of threats and risks, enhanced by its connection to other types of criminality, such as terrorism. The goals pursued and the tactics used by criminal organizations during the perpetration of illegal activities, specially the drug smuggling, have impact in an wide spectrum of the social, economic financial and politic dimensions, which should not be underestimated, otherwise our own security may be compromised. Therefore, the current investigation intends to be an important catalyst to the idea debate inside security scope, through the analysis of the organized crime and the drug smuggling, adding to a discussion of this issue, which should be deeper and holistic, aiming a better understanding of the challenges provided by our society.