Embracing transience and subjectivity in the conservation of complex contemporary artworks: contributions from ethnographic and psychological paradigms

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Conservação e Restauro, Perfil Ciências da Conservação Especialização em Arte Contemporânea

Why aren't brand names regognized as intangible assets in the financial Statements? A study of the subjectivity of brand valuation

The goal of this paper is to determine and to quantify how subjective brand valuation is. To do so, we review the different valuation methods and apply the Hirose model to a sample of 20 US companies from the technology sector. Even if the results vary in function of the rankings we choose as a comparison, we may identify the trend that brands are usually overvalued in those rankings. It explains why internally generated goodwill (which includes brand names) is not recognized as an intangible asset in the financial statements.

Introduction: Guinea-Bissau Today - The Irrelevance of the State and the Permanence of Change

African Studies Review, Volume 52, Number 2, pp. 35–

Insights into human carboxylesterase 2 stability and activity in vivo and in vitro

Dissertation to obtain a Master Degree in Biotechnology

Aircraft Engines Maintenance Costs and Reliability: An Appraisal of the Decision Process to Remove an Engine for a Shop Visit Aiming at Minimum Maintenance Unit Cost

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação.

Evolution of Diplodocid Sauropod dinosaurs with emphasis on specimens from Howe Ranch, Wyoming (USA)

Diplodocidae are among the best known sauropod dinosaurs. Several species were described in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Since then, numerous additional specimens were recovered in the USA, Tanzania, Portugal, as well as possibly Spain, England, and Asia. To date, the clade includes about 12 to 15 different species, some of them with questionable taxonomic status (e.g. ‘Diplodocus’ hayi or Dyslocosaurus polyonychius). However, intrageneric relationships of the multi-species, iconic genera Apatosaurus and Diplodocus are still poorly known. The way to resolve this issue is a specimen-based phylogenetic analysis, which was done for Apatosaurus, but is here performed for the first time for the entire clade of Diplodocidae. New material from different localities and stratigraphic levels on the Howe Ranch (Shell,Wyoming, USA) sheds additional light on the evolution of Diplodocidae. Three new specimens are described herein, considerably increasing our knowledge of the anatomy of the group. The new specimens (SMA 0004, SMA 0011, and SMA 0087) represent two, to possibly three new diplodocid species. They preserve material from all parts of the skeleton, including two nearly complete skulls, as well as fairly complete manus and pedes, material which is generally rare in diplodocids. Thereby, they considerably increase anatomical overlap between the sometimes fragmentary holotype specimens of the earlier described diplodocid species, allowing for significant results in a specimenbased phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, clavicles and interclavicles are identified, the latter for the first time in dinosaurs. Their presence seems restricted to early sauropods, flagellicaudatans, and early Macronaria, and might thus be a retained plesiomorphy, with the loss of these bones being synapomorphic for Titanosauriformes and possibly Rebbachisauridae. The new material allows to test previous hypotheses of diplodocid phylogeny. In order to do so, any type specimen previously proposed to belong to Diplodocidae was included in the study, as are relatively complete referred specimens, in order to increase the degree of overlapping material. For specimens subsequently suggested to be non-diplodocid sauropods, their hypothesized sister taxa were included as outgroups. The current phylogenetic analysis thus includes 76 operational taxonomic units, 45 of which belong to Diplodocidae. The specimens were scored for 477 morphological characters, representing one of the most extensive phylogenetic analyses done within sauropod dinosaurs. The resulting cladogram recovers the classical arrangement of diplodocid relationships. Basing on a newly developed numerical approach to reduce subjectivity in the decision of specific or generic separation, species that have historically been included into well-known genera like Apatosaurus or Diplodocus, were detected to be actually generically different. Thereby, the famous genus Brontosaurus is resuscitated, and evidence further suggests that also Elosaurus parvus (previously referred to Apatosaurus) or ‘Diplodocus’ hayi represent unique genera. The study increases our knowledge about individual variation, and helps to decide how to score multi-species genera. Such a specimen-based phylogenetic analysis thus proves a valuable tool to validate historic species in sauropods, and in paleontology as a whole.

A semi-automatic approach to code smells detection

Eradication of code smells is often pointed out as a way to improve readability, extensibility and design in existing software. However, code smell detection remains time consuming and error-prone, partly due to the inherent subjectivity of the detection processes presently available. In view of mitigating the subjectivity problem, this dissertation presents a tool that automates a technique for the detection and assessment of code smells in Java source code, developed as an Eclipse plugin. The technique is based upon a Binary Logistic Regression model that uses complexity metrics as independent variables and is calibrated by expert‟s knowledge. An overview of the technique is provided, the tool is described and validated by an example case study.

Complex networks and data mining: toward a new perspective for the understanding of complex systems

Complex systems, i.e. systems composed of a large set of elements interacting in a non-linear way, are constantly found all around us. In the last decades, different approaches have been proposed toward their understanding, one of the most interesting being the Complex Network perspective. This legacy of the 18th century mathematical concepts proposed by Leonhard Euler is still current, and more and more relevant in real-world problems. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that network-based representations can yield relevant knowledge about complex systems. In spite of that, several problems have been detected, mainly related to the degree of subjectivity involved in the creation and evaluation of such network structures. In this Thesis, we propose addressing these problems by means of different data mining techniques, thus obtaining a novel hybrid approximation intermingling complex networks and data mining. Results indicate that such techniques can be effectively used to i) enable the creation of novel network representations, ii) reduce the dimensionality of analyzed systems by pre-selecting the most important elements, iii) describe complex networks, and iv) assist in the analysis of different network topologies. The soundness of such approach is validated through different validation cases drawn from actual biomedical problems, e.g. the diagnosis of cancer from tissue analysis, or the study of the dynamics of the brain under different neurological disorders.

Support in decision-making under uncertainty: a project risk assessment tool development and supplementary advances

A foremost dispute that persists on the contemporary world’s agenda is change. The on-going social/technological/economic changes create a competitive and challenging environment for companies to endure. To benefit from these changes, world economies partially depend on emerging Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and their adaptability skills, and subsequently the development of an integrated capability to innovate has become the prime strategy for most of SMEs to subsist and grow. However, innovation and change are always somewhat bonded to an inherent risk development, which subsequently brings on the necessity of a revision of risk management approaches in innovative processes, whose importance SMEs tend to disregard. Additionally, little efforts have been made to improve and create empirical models, metrics and tools to assist SMEs managing latent risks in their innovative projects. This work seeks to present and discuss a solution to support SMEs in engaging on systematic risk management practices, which consists on an integrated risk assessment and response support web-based tool - Spotrisk® - designed for SMEs. On the other hand, an inherent subjectivity is linked with risk management and identification processes, due to uncertainty trait of its nature, for each individual perceives situations according to his own idiosyncrasy, which brings complications in normalizing risk profiles and procedures. This essay aims to bring insights concerning the support in decision-making processes under uncertainty, by addressing issues related with the risk behavior character among individuals. To address such issues, subjects of neuroscience or psychology are explored and models to identify such character are proposed, as well as models to improve presented tool. This work attempts to go beyond the restrictive aim of endeavoring on technical improvement dissertation, and in embraces an exploratory conceptualization concerning micro, small and medium businesses’ traits regarding risk characters and project risk assessment tools.

Voice and presence

De que forma pode a voz ser considerada enquanto tema de investigação filosófica? Utilizando principalmente aproximações fenomenológicas, esta tese é uma tentativa de mapear uma constelação transdisciplinar de pontos-­‐chave temáticos, onde a voz surge como uma manifestação expressa de presença e de processos vitais. Simultaneamente situada, corpórea e transgressora no contexto da noção de território acústico, a ambiguidade da voz e o seu potencial enquanto fenómeno, conceito e ressonância tangível de subjetividade, são explorados através do recurso a análise de fontes pertencentes à Filosofia Antiga, aos Estudos Sonoros, à Ciência Acústica, à Fenomenologia e à Pesquisa Artística.