Range of motion measurements based on depth camera for clinical rehabilitation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Calcareous nannofossil assemblages around the Pliensbachian/Toarcian boundary in the reference section of Peniche (Portugal)

The Pliensbachian/Toarcian boundary (Lower Jurassic) is well represented in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal), mainly in the Peniche area, recorded by a marl/limestone series. Calcareous nannofossil assemblages are described herein, with the aim to contribute to the Toarcian GSSP definition. Marly samples were collected 3 m below and 7 m above this boundary and analysed for calcareous nannofossils. The main nannofossils observed were Biscutum finchii, B. grande, Calcivascularis jansae, Crepidolithus crassus, C. granulatus, C. impontus, Lotharingius hauffii, L. sigillatus, L. aff. L. velatus, Schizosphaerella spp. and Tubirhabdus patulus. This assemblage indicates that the Pliensbachian/Toarcian boundary in Peniche lies in the upper part of the NJ5b Subzone. Schizosphaerella and Lotharingius dominate the assemblage. The abundant occurrence of C. jansae and the common occurrence of B. grande indicate a strong Tethyan influence.

Paleontologia e evolução a problemática da espécie em Paleozoologia

The concept of species in Paleontology is of paramount importance since the correct taxonomic determinations are essential to establish the age of the beds where fossils are collected. Particularly since 1940, the concept of species from a biological context, corresponding to the variability of a set of interpopulation compatibility, led us to a new approach, in which a typological conception has been replaced by a populationist one. If the notion of species is not necessarily identical for all living organisms, the greater the difficulties of interpretation in the private world of cephalopod fossils. The latter, lend themselves well to population systematics, and where this concept of species rests primarily on the morphological similarities. Thus, the introduction of general ideas analyse "typological species", "biological species", the problem of the definition of a "population" in Paleontology, and also the importance of the biometric analysis of fossil associations. The classic examples of polymorphism amd polytypism, in existing or extinct organisms, show that the concept of fossil species, observed in a well-defined period of its lifetime, is no different from that of biological species. The study of the evolution of fossil organisms allow us to understand the modelities of evolution and the mechanisms of speciation here synthesized and fully documented, namely the anagenesis or sequential evolution and the cladogenesis or divergent evoltuion; these mechanisms are the basis of the synthetic or gradualist theory of evolution developed by Dobzhansky, Mayr, Huxley, Rensch and impson. This summary ends with a reference to the theory of punctuated (or intermittent) equilibria proposed by Gould and Eldredge, who presented a more objective interpretation of morphological gaps, considered as elements of evolution itself. The interdisciplinary collaboration between zoologists, geneticists and paleontologists, is compulsory in this domain. Paleozoology has a key role since it conveys the dynamism and depth to the dimension of space-time duality.

Using perspective schema and a reference model to design the ETL process

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática

Methodology for collaborative enterprise reference ontology building

Dissertation presented at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa to obtain the Master degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Pipelined analog-to-digital conversion using current-mode reference shifting

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Reference-free high-speed cmos pipeline analog-to-digital converters

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Project of a bandgap voltage reference and a temperature sensor for "energy harvest" systems

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e Computadores

Diving into the depth of primary motor cortex: a high-resolution investigation of the motor system using 7Tesla fMRI

Dissertação para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Enterprise reference lexicon building from business models

Nowadays, a significant increase on the demand for interoperable systems for exchanging data in business collaborative environments has been noticed. Consequently, cooperation agreements between each of the involved enterprises have been brought to light. However, due to the fact that even in a same community or domain, there is a big variety of knowledge representation not semantically coincident, which embodies the existence of interoperability problems in the enterprises information systems that need to be addressed. Moreover, in relation to this, most organizations face other problems about their information systems, as: 1) domain knowledge not being easily accessible by all the stakeholders (even intra-enterprise); 2) domain knowledge not being represented in a standard format; 3) and even if it is available in a standard format, it is not supported by semantic annotations or described using a common and understandable lexicon. This dissertation proposes an approach for the establishment of an enterprise reference lexicon from business models. It addresses the automation in the information models mapping for the reference lexicon construction. It aggregates a formal and conceptual representation of the business domain, with a clear definition of the used lexicon to facilitate an overall understanding by all the involved stakeholders, including non-IT personnel.

Financial depth, stock markets and economic growth in the EU-15 countries

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of financial depth on economic growth in the EU-15 countries from 1970 until 2012, using the two-step System GMM estimator. Even though it might be expected a positive impact, the results show it is negative and sometimes even negative and statistically significant. Among the reasons presented for this, the existence of banking crises seems to better explain these results. In tranquil periods, financial deepening appears to have a positive impact, whereas in banking crises it is persistently negative and statistically significant. Also, after an assessment of the impact of stock markets on economic growth, it appears that more developed countries in the EU-15 have an economy more reliant on this segment of the financial system rather than in bank intermediation.

Characterization of earth-based mortars for rammed earth repair

All over the world, many earth buildings are deteriorating due to lack of maintenance and repair. Repairs on rammed earth walls are mainly done with mortars, by rendering application; however, often the repair is inadequate, resorting to the use of incompatible materials, including cement-based mortars. It has been observed that such interventions, in walls that until that day only had presented natural ageing issues, created new problems, much more dangerous for the building than the previous ones, causing serious deficiencies in this type of construction. One of the problems is that the detachment of the new cement-based mortar rendering only occurs after some time but, until that occurrence, degradations develop in the wall itself. When the render detaches, instead of needing only a new render, the surface has to be repaired in depth, with a repair mortar. Consequently, it has been stablished that the renders, and particularly repair mortars, should have physical, mechanical and chemical properties similar to those of the rammed earth walls. This article intends to contribute to a better knowledge of earth-based mortars used to repair the surface of rammed earth walls. The studied mortars are based on four types of earth: three of them were collected from non-deteriorated parts of walls of unstabilized rammed earth buildings located in Alentejo region, south of Portugal; the fourth is a commercial earth, consisting mainly of clay. Other components were also used, particularly: sand to control shrinkage; binders stabilizers such as dry hydrated air-lime, natural hydraulic lime, Portland cement and natural cement; as well as natural vegetal fibers (hemp fibers). The experimental analysis of the mortars in the fresh state consisted in determining the consistency by flow table and the bulk density. In the hardened state, the tests made it possible to evaluate the following properties: linear and volumetric shrinkage; capillary water absorption; drying capacity; dynamic modulus of elasticity; flexural and compressive strength.

Depois de Orpheu : 1916-1935

O objetivo deste trabalho era verificar como, nos jornais e revistas, o Primeiro Modernismo tinha sido acolhido. Depois do escândalo de Orpheu e da forma agressiva como os seus colaboradores tinham sido recebidos, cabia verificar se tinha havido, ou não, uma evolução na análise da sua obra ao longo dos anos, de 1916 a 1935, tanto mais que as vidas de cada um destes tinha evoluído de forma diferenciada. As mortes prematuras de uns, a subida a postos de influência e poder, ou a longevidade de outros foram fatores que poderiam ter condicionado a evolução da crítica jornalística. Por um lado, os críticos poderiam ter alterado a sua visão face a estes criadores, podendo o tempo ter funcionado a favor destes. O que em 1915 era estranho e bizarro poderia em 1935 ser inédito e original. Por outro lado, a conjuntura política poderia condicionar não só a criação artística, mas também o seu enquadramento social. Em 1915, a guerra entre monárquicos e republicanos foi marcada pelas referências a Orpheu. Mais tarde com a ditadura militar e a ascensão do Estado Novo poderão os nossos artistas voltar a ser alvo de referências políticas. A verdade é que tal não acontece. O poder político menospreza-os, apesar de nalguns casos terem uma participação ativa nas suas fileiras. A verdade é que os autores mais importantes e significativos foram, pouco a pouco, e com o passar dos anos, integrados na sociedade literária e começaram a ser vistos como criadores a ter em conta, senão mesmo de referência. O seu aparecimento em jornais e revistas na qualidade de escritores, jornalistas, artistas plásticos ou mesmo críticos fez com que estivessem sob os holofotes da imprensa e como tal sujeitos a uma análise permanente. E esta foi-se alterando com o passar do tempo e com o reconhecimento dos mesmos. Hoje ninguém duvida do seu valor, mas entre 1915 (data da publicação de Orpheu e 1935 (ano da morte de Pessoa) todos eram vistos como loucos, jovens com alguma habilidade para a escrita, promessas do panorama literário e finalmente, em alguns casos, motivos de orgulho para o nosso património artístico. Só uma leitura dos periódicos mais relevantes permitiria estudar a receção do nosso Primeiro Modernismo. E foi esse o objetivo desta tese.