Spectroscopic characterization of natural dyes by their non-invasive identification on pre-Columbian codices: the Maya yellow

Mesoamerican cultures had a strong tradition of written and pictorial manuscripts, called the codices. In studies already performed it was found the use of Maya Blue, made from a mixture of indigo and a clay called palygorskite, forming an incredibly stable material where the dye is trapped inside the nanotubes of the clay, after heating. However, a bigger challenge lies in the study of the yellows used, for these civilizations might have used this clay-dye mixture to produce their yellow colorants. As a first step, it was possible to provide identification, by non-invasive methods, of two colorants (a flavonoid and a carotenoid). While the flavonoid absorbed between 368-379 nm, the carotenoid would absorb around 455 nm. A temperature study also conducted allowed to set 140ºC as the desirable temperature to heat the samples without degrading them. FT-IR, conventional Raman and SERS allowed us to understand the existence of a reaction between the dyes and the clays (palygorskite and kaolinite), however it is difficult to understand it in a molecular point of view. As a second step, five species of Mexican dyes were selected on the basis of historical sources. The Maya yellow samples were produced adapting the recipe proposed by Reyes-Valerio, supporting the yellow dyes extracted from the dried plants on the clays, with addition of water, and then heated at 140ºC. It was found that the addition of water in palygorskite would increase the pH, hence deprotonating the molecules having a clear negative effect in the color. A second recipe was developed, without the addition of water; however, it was found that the use of water based binders would still alter the color of the samples with palygorskite. In this case, kaolinite without heating yield better results as a Maya yellow hybrid. It was found that the Maya chemistry might not have been the same for all the colors. The Mesoamericans might have found that different dyes could work better to their desires if matched with different clays. It was noticeable that for a clear distinction between flavonoids and carotenoids the reflectance and emission studies suffice, but when clay is added, Raman techniques will perform better. For this reason, conventional Raman and SERS were employed in order to create a database for the Mesoamerican dyestuffs for a future identification.

Past/present and future worries: na fMRI study

For the past decade, numerous imaging techniques gave rise to remarka-ble progresses in the understanding of brain’s structure and function. Amongst the wide variety of studies onto the field of neuroscience, neuropsychiatric re-searches with resource to neuroimaging have attracted increasing attention. The present study will focus on the identification of brain areas recruited while normative subjects read sentences related to past/present or future wor-ries. Our main aim was to accurately characterize these brain areas while providing them with a time-stamp that would hopefully help us understand the implications of past/present memories and future envisioning in worrying episodes. With that purpose, functional magnetic resonance imaging data was collected from ten healthy individuals. The obtained data was processed and statistically treated using the General Linear Model and both Fixed and Ran-dom Effects Analysis for group-level results. Thereafter, a Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis with Searchlight Mapping was performed in order to find patterns of activation that allow differentiation between conditions. The obtained results indicate higher brain activation while reading sen-tences related to past/present worries when compared to future worry or neu-tral sentences. The main areas include frontal cortex, posterior parietal, occipital and temporal areas. Worrying, per se, was characterized by activation of the medial posterior parietal cortex, left posterior occipital lobe and left central temporal lobe. With the searchlight mapping approach we were able to further identify patterns of distinction between conditions, which were located in the parietal, limbic and frontal lobes.

How can clusters help in the product type choice? The case of a specialized retail store

This work project (WP) is a study about a clustering strategy for Sport Zone. The general cluster study’s objective is to create groups such that within each group the individuals are similar to each other, but should be different among groups. The clusters creation is a mix of common sense, trial and error and some statistical supporting techniques. Our particular objective is to support category managers to better define the product type to be displayed in the stores’ shelves by doing store clusters. This research was carried out for Sport Zone, and comprises an objective definition, a literature review, the clustering activity itself, some factor analysis and a discriminant analysis to better frame our work. Together with this quantitative part, a survey addressed to category managers to better understand their key drivers, for choosing the type of product of each store, was carried out. Based in a non-random sample of 65 stores with data referring to 2013, the final result was the choice of 6 store clusters (Figure 1) which were individually characterized as the main outcome of this work. In what relates to our selected variables, all were important for the distinction between clusters, which proves the adequacy of their choice. The interpretation of the results gives category managers a tool to understand which products best fit the clustered stores. Furthermore, as a side finding thanks to the clusterization, a STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) was initiated, being this WP the first steps of a continuous process.

Hybrid investment strategy active portfolio management – US stock market

This thesis aims to develop an alternative active managed portfolio strategy based on companies‟ Fundamental and Technical Analysis and analyze its finals results. There is a big distinction between the two approaches and the main objective is to understand if it is possible to take advantage of both. With this in mind a Hybrid investment strategy for the US stock market, due to its dimension and liquidity, which was able to outperform the S&P 500 index, the benchmark, during both Bear and Bull Markets between 2000 and 2015.

O ecrã da (hiper) televisão: novos olhares a partir das emissões dedicadas ao Euro 2012 na TV portuguesa

Dando continuidade a uma série de estudos já realizados no âmbito do projecto de investigação em que se insere, o presente trabalho questiona a evolução do ecrã televisivo como dispositivo supostamente convergente. Contrariando uma tendência discursiva dominante, quer na esfera dos media quer na própria produção académica sobre o medium televisivo, clarificam-se aqui alguns dos desenvolvimentos teóricos mais significativos, resultantes dos anos de trabalho que este projecto de investigação já tem. Propõe-se, pois, uma distinção conceptual entre o ecrã prometido pela cultura da convergência, que designamos como ecrã convergente, e o ecrã verdadeiramente resiliente da instituição-televisão, o ecrã centrípeto, que ainda obedece aos princípios de sequência e fluxo enunciados por Raymond Williams nos anos 1970.

Application of acoustic emission technique for bond characterization in FRP-masonry systems

The acoustic emission (AE) technique is used for investigating the interfacial fracture and damage propagation in GFRP-and SRG-strengthened bricks during debonding tests. The bond behavior is investigated through single-lap shear bond tests and the fracture progress during the tests is recorded by means of AE sensors. The fracture progress and active debonding mechanisms are characterized in both specimen types with the aim of AE outputs. Moreover, a clear distinction between the AE outputs of specimens with different failure modes, in both SRG-and GFRP-strengthened specimens, is found which allows characterizing the debonding failure mode based on acoustic emission data.

Integrated management systems as complex adaptive systems

It is a difficult task to avoid the “smart systems” topic when discussing smart prevention and, similarly, it is a difficult task to address smart systems without focusing their ability to learn. Following the same line of thought, in the current reality, it seems a Herculean task (or an irreparable omission) to approach the topic of certified occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) without discussing the integrated management systems (IMSs). The available data suggest that seldom are the OHSMS operating as the single management system (MS) in a company so, any statement concerning OHSMS should mainly be interpreted from an integrated perspective. A major distinction between generic systems can be drawn between those that learn, i.e., those systems that have “memory” and those that have not. These former systems are often depicted as adaptive since they take into account past events to deal with novel, similar and future events modifying their structure to enable success in its environment. Often, these systems, present a nonlinear behavior and a huge uncertainty related to the forecasting of some events. This paper seeks to portray, for the first time as we were able to find out, the IMSs as complex adaptive systems (CASs) by listing their properties and dissecting the features that enable them to evolve and self-organize in order to, holistically, fulfil the requirements from different stakeholders and thus thrive by assuring the successful sustainability of a company. Based on the revision of literature carried out, this is the first time that IMSs are pointed out as CASs which may develop fruitful synergies both for the MSs and for CASs communities. By performing a thorough revision of literature and based on some concepts embedded in the “DNA” of the subsystems implementation standards it is intended, specifically, to identify, determine and discuss the properties of a generic IMS that should be considered to classify it as a CAS.

Potencialidades de elementos pré-fabricados de madeira na reabilitação

Dissertação de mestrado em Construção e Reabilitação Sustentáveis

Microphysical evidence of the transition between predominant convective/stratiform rainfall associated with the intraseasonal oscillation in the Southwest Amazon

The distinction between convective and stratiform precipitation profiles around various precipitating systems existent in tropical regions is very important to the global atmospheric circulation, which is extremely sensitive to vertical latent heat distribution. In South America, the convective activity responds to the Intraseasonal Oscillation (IOS). This paper analyzes a disdrometer and a radar profiler data, installed in the Ji-Paraná airport, RO, Brazil, for the field experiment WETAMC/LBA & TRMM/LBA, during January and February of 1999. The microphysical analysis of wind regimes associated with IOS showed a large difference in type, size and microphysical processes of hydrometeor growth in each wind regime: easterly regimes had more turbulence and consequently convective precipitation formation, and westerly regimes had a more stratiform precipitation formation.

A liberdade de circulação de pessoas no contexto da cidadania da União Europeia: acesso aos benefícios sociais

Dissertação de mestrado em Direitos Humanos

As receitas patrimoniais das autarquias locais

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito Tributário e Fiscal

Grupos de facto enquanto fenómeno organizativo plurissocietário: (in)admissibilidade da aplicação analógica dos artigos 501º e 502º do CSC aos grupos de facto qualificados

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito dos Contratos e das Empresas

Culturas de escola e celebração da excelência: cartografia das distinções em Portugal

As orientações de política educativa de âmbito global têm colocado no centro das suas prioridades a promoção da excelência, da qualidade e da eficácia dos sistemas de ensino e formação. Este texto propõe-se debater o impacto desta agenda na realidade educativa portuguesa a partir de um olhar sobre a política em estado prático, isto é, sobre os mecanismos de apropriação ocorridos no espaço organizacional e sua articulação com as especificidades culturais da escola. À luz deste enfoque, pretende-se compreender de que forma a cultura de escola redefine localmente a sua missão educativa, ajustando-a aos propósitos democráticos e igualitários e/ou às exigências de promoção da excelência e do mérito. Partindo da hipótese de que as dimensões culturais exercem um papel central na recontextualização das políticas educativas, procurou-se identificar no sistema educativo português o alcance de um dos rituais mais expressivos da missão da escola: os rituais de distinção dos melhores alunos. Da análise de conteúdo efetuada a cerca de 1500 documentos produzidos no contexto das escolas públicas com ensino secundário, resultou um mapeamento nacional dos rituais de distinção. As conclusões apontam para uma forte adesão das instituições com ensino secundário aos rituais de distinção ou de reconhecimento público do mérito. Contudo, nem a sua configuração nem os critérios de seleção apresentam um carácter uniforme, o que nos aponta para a existência de distintas concetualizações de excelência decorrentes das diferentes culturas de escola e do seu papel na definição da sua política e do seu critério de sucesso.

Percursos formativos e transições profissionais: o caso dos diplomados de um mestrado na área dos recursos humanos

Publicado em "40 anos de democracia(s): progressos, contradições e prospetivas: atas do VIII Congresso Português de Sociologia". ISBN 978-989-97981-2-0

Transições e percursos de alunos distinguidos na escola pública

A implementação de quadros de valor, mérito e excelência nas escolas portuguesas, nos quais se distinguem os alunos com comportamentos e desempenhos académicos exemplares, constitui o ponto de partida desta comunicação. Num primeiro momento, pretendemos abordar o processo de transição dos alunos distinguidos para o ensino superior. No momento seguinte, incidiremos o nosso olhar sobre as disposições destes jovens face ao ofício de aluno, aos atores e às instituições que marcaram os seus percursos e às expectativas que nortearam os diversos investimentos académicos. Os dados empíricos foram recolhidos no âmbito de um estudo de caso numa escola secundária do Norte de Portugal. Em relação aos alunos já ingressados no ensino superior e para aqueles que já concluíram este nível de ensino, tentaremos refletir sobre o grau de ajustamento destas experiências às expectativas inicialmente formuladas e/ou subsumidas nos sentidos das respostas e nas opções declaradas face ao futuro. Dos dados já obtidos, concluímos que a distinção académica parece escapar às lógicas do destino social, sendo a excelência escolar também visível em jovens de classes sociais mais baixas; concluímos também que estes percursos de excelência não têm na atualidade uma recompensa efetiva no acesso ao mercado de trabalho; e dentro do foco principal desta comunicação denotamos ainda a existência de transições não-lineares entre o secundário e o superior, designadamente no acesso ao curso pretendido e ao desempenho académico neste nível de ensino.