Defini����o de uma estrat��gia de comunica����o online para a ag��ncia excentricGrey

Relat��rio de est��gio apresentado �� Escola Superior de Comunica����o Social como parte dos requisitos para obten����o de grau de mestre em Publicidade e Marketing.

A survey of e-learning content aggregation standards

As e-learning gradually evolved many specialized and disparate systems appeared to fulfil the needs of teachers and students, such as repositories of learning objects, authoring tools, intelligent tutors and automatic evaluators. This heterogeneity raises interoperability issues giving the standardization of content an important role in e-learning. This article presents a survey on current e-learning content aggregation standards focusing on their internal organization and packaging. This study is part of an effort to choose the most suitable specifications and standards for an e-learning framework called Ensemble defined as a conceptual tool to organize a network of e-learning systems and services for domains with complex evaluation.

GLODS: Global and Local Optimization using Direct Search

Locating and identifying points as global minimizers is, in general, a hard and time-consuming task. Difficulties increase in the impossibility of using the derivatives of the functions defining the problem. In this work, we propose a new class of methods suited for global derivative-free constrained optimization. Using direct search of directional type, the algorithm alternates between a search step, where potentially good regions are located, and a poll step where the previously located promising regions are explored. This exploitation is made through the launching of several instances of directional direct searches, one in each of the regions of interest. Differently from a simple multistart strategy, direct searches will merge when sufficiently close. The goal is to end with as many direct searches as the number of local minimizers, which would easily allow locating the global extreme value. We describe the algorithmic structure considered, present the corresponding convergence analysis and report numerical results, showing that the proposed method is competitive with currently commonly used global derivative-free optimization solvers.

Optimization of cruciform specimens for biaxial fatigue loading with direct multi search

In order to correctly assess the biaxial fatigue material properties one must experimentally test different load conditions and stress levels. With the rise of new in-plane biaxial fatigue testing machines, using smaller and more efficient electrical motors, instead of the conventional hydraulic machines, it is necessary to reduce the specimen size and to ensure that the specimen geometry is appropriate for the load capacity installed. At the present time there are no standard specimen's geometries and the indications on literature how to design an efficient test specimen are insufficient. The main goal of this paper is to present the methodology on how to obtain an optimal cruciform specimen geometry, with thickness reduction in the gauge area, appropriate for fatigue crack initiation, as a function of the base material sheet thickness used to build the specimen. The geometry is optimized for maximum stress using several parameters, ensuring that in the gauge area the stress distributions on the loading directions are uniform and maximum with two limit phase shift loading conditions (delta = 0 degrees and (delta = 180 degrees). Therefore the fatigue damage will always initiate on the center of the specimen, avoiding failure outside this region. Using the Renard Series of preferred numbers for the base material sheet thickness as a reference, the reaming geometry parameters are optimized using a derivative-free methodology, called direct multi search (DMS) method. The final optimal geometry as a function of the base material sheet thickness is proposed, as a guide line for cruciform specimens design, and as a possible contribution for a future standard on in-plane biaxial fatigue tests

Search of intravascular hemolysis in patients with the cutaneous form of loxoscelism

Haptoglobin assay, a highly sensitive method to detect intravascular hemolysis was carried out in the sera of 19 patients referred to Hospital Vital Brazil with the cutaneous form of loxoscelism in order to investigate the occurrence of mild intravascular hemolysis. Data from this series did not show decreased levels haptoglobin, ruling out intravascular hemolysis in these patients with cutaneous form of loxoscelism.

An Approach To Publish a Data Warehouse Content as Linked Data

Mestrado em Engenharia Inform��tica - ��rea de Especializa����o em Tecnologias do Conhecimento e Decis��o

Personal learning environments: integration of Web 2.0 applications and content management systems

This paper presents an ongoing project that implements a platform for creating personal learning environments controlled by students, integrating Web 2.0 applications and content management systems, enabling the safe use of content created in Web 2.0 applications, allowing its publication in the infrastructure controlled by the HEI. Using this platform, students can develop their personal learning environment (PLE) integrated with the Learning Management System (LMS) of the HEI, enabling the management of their learning and, simultaneously, creating their e-portfolio with digital content developed for Course Units (CU). All this can be maintained after the student completes his academic studies, since the platform will remain accessible to students even after they leave the HEI and lose access to its infrastructure. The platform will enable the safe use of content created in Web 2.0 applications, allowing its protected publication in the infrastructure controlled by HEI, thus contributing to the adaptation of the L&T paradigm to the Bologna process.

Teaching and learning with social software in higher education: content management systems integrated with Web-based applications as a key factor for success

The change of paradigm imposed by the Bologna process, in which the student will be responsible for their own learning, and the presence of a new generation of students with higher technological skills, represent a huge challenge for higher education institutions. The use of new Web Social concepts in teaching process, supported by applications commonly called Web 2.0, with which these new students feel at ease, can bring benefits in terms of motivation and the frequency and quality of students' involvement in academic activities. An e-learning platform with web-based applications as a complement can significantly contribute to the development of different skills in higher education students, covering areas which are usually in deficit.

A lightweight distributed super peer election algorithm for unstructured dynamic P2P systems

Disserta����o apresentada na Faculdade de Ci��ncias e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obten����o do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrot��cnica e de Computadores

Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks Training Through Charged System Search and its Application for Non-Technical Losses Detection

The non-technical loss is not a problem with trivial solution or regional character and its minimization represents the guarantee of investments in product quality and maintenance of power systems, introduced by a competitive environment after the period of privatization in the national scene. In this paper, we show how to improve the training phase of a neural network-based classifier using a recently proposed meta-heuristic technique called Charged System Search, which is based on the interactions between electrically charged particles. The experiments were carried out in the context of non-technical loss in power distribution systems in a dataset obtained from a Brazilian electrical power company, and have demonstrated the robustness of the proposed technique against with several others natureinspired optimization techniques for training neural networks. Thus, it is possible to improve some applications on Smart Grids.

INFLUENCE OF DIETARY PROTEIN CONTENT ON Trypanosoma cruzi INFECTION IN GERMFREE AND CONVENTIONAL MICE

Germfree (GF) and conventional (CV) mice were fed on diets containing 4.4, 13.2 or 26.4% of protein (weight/weight). CV mice fed on low protein diet did not gain weight during four weeks, whereas the protein deficient diet did not affect the growth of GF mice. After four weeks on these diets, the mice were inoculated with 5x103 trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. The protein deficiency affected less the GF than the CV mice, according to the following parameters: weight gain, hemoglobin, plasma protein and albumin levels and water and protein contents of the carcass. Infection with T. cruzi produced a significant decrease in hemoglobin levels, red blood cell count, and water and protein contents in the carcass. This decrease was more pronounced in the GF mice. Histopathologically, there was no difference between the treatments in animals with the same microbiological status (GF or CV). However, the disease was more severe in the GF than in the CV mice.

Estudo do ��xido de c��lcio como catalisador para a transesterifica����o de ��leos alimentares usados

O inst��vel mas tendencialmente crescente pre��o dos combust��veis associado a preocupa����es ambientais cada vez mais enraizadas nas sociedades, t��m vindo a despoletar uma maior aten����o �� procura de combust��veis alternativos. Por outro lado, v��rias projec����es indicam um aumento muito acentuado do consumo energ��tico global no curto prazo, fruto do aumento da popula����o e do n��vel de industrializa����o das sociedades. Neste contexto, o biodiesel (��steres de ��cidos gordos) obtido atrav��s da transesterifica����o de triglicer��deos de origem vegetal ou animal, surge como a alternativa ���verde��� mais vi��vel para utiliza����o em equipamentos de combust��o. A reac����o de transesterifica����o �� catalisada, por norma com recurso a catalisadores homog��neos alcalinos (NaOH ou KOH). Este tipo de processo, o ��nico actualmente com express��o a n��vel industrial, apresenta algumas desvantagens que, para al��m de aumentarem o custo do produto final, contribuem para reduzir a benignidade do mesmo: a impossibilidade de reutiliza����o do catalisador, o aumento do n��mero e complexidade das etapas de separa����o e a produ����o de efluentes resultantes das referidas etapas. Com o intuito de minimizar ou eliminar estes problemas, v��rios catalisadores heterog��neos t��m vindo a ser estudados para esta reac����o. Apesar de muitos apresentarem resultados promissores, a grande maioria n��o tem viabilidade para aplica����o industrial seja devido ao seu pr��prio custo, seja devido aos pr��-tratamentos necess��rios �� sua utiliza����o. Entre estes catalisadores, o ��xido de c��lcio �� talvez o que apresenta resultados mais promissores. O crescente n��mero de estudos envolvendo este catalisador em detrimento de outros, �� por si mesmo prova do potencial do CaO. A realiza����o deste trabalho pretendia atingir os seguintes objectivos principais: ��� Avaliar a elegibilidade do ��xido de c��lcio enquanto catalisador da reac����o de transesterifica����o de ��leos alimentares usados com metanol; ��� Avaliar qual a sua influ��ncia nas caracter��sticas dos produtos finais; ��� Avaliar as diferen��as de performance entre o ��xido de c��lcio activado em atmosfera inerte (N2) e em ar, enquanto catalisadores da reac����o de transesterifica����o de ��leos alimentares usados com metanol; ��� Optimizar as condi����es da reac����o com recurso ��s ferramentas matem��ticas disponibilizadas pelo planeamento factorial, atrav��s da varia����o de quatro factores chave de influ��ncia: temperatura, tempo, rela����o metanol / ��leo e massa de catalisador utilizado. O CaO utlizado foi obtido a partir de carbonato de c��lcio calcinado numa mufla a 750 ��C durante 3 h. Foi posteriormente activado a 900 ��C durante 2h, em atmosferas diferentes: azoto (CaO-N2) e ar (CaO-Ar). Avaliaram-se algumas propriedades dos catalisadores assim preparados, for��a b��sica, concentra����o de centros activos e ��reas espec��ficas, tendo-se obtido uma for��a b��sica situada entre 12 e 14 para ambos os catalisadores, uma concentra����o de centros activos de 0,0698 mmol/g e 0,0629 mmol/g e ��reas espec��ficas de 10 m2/g e 11 m2/g respectivamente para o CaO-N2 e CaO-Ar. Efectuou-se a transesterifica����o, com cat��lise homog��nea, da mistura de ��leos usados utilizada neste trabalho com o objectivo de determinar os limites para o teor de FAME���s (abreviatura do Ingl��s de Fatty Acid Methyl Esters���) que se poderiam obter. Foi este o par��metro avaliado em cada uma das amostras obtidas por cat��lise heterog��nea. Os planos factoriais realizados tiveram como objectivo maximizar a sua quantidade recorrendo �� rela����o ideal entre tempo de reac����o, temperatura, massa de catalisador e quantidade de metanol. Verificou-se que o valor m��ximo de FAME���s obtidos a partir deste ��leo estava situado ligeiramente acima dos 95 % (m/m). Realizaram-se tr��s planos factoriais com cada um dos catalisadores de CaO at�� �� obten����o das condi����es ��ptimas para a reac����o. N��o se verificou influ��ncia significativa da rela����o entre a quantidade de metanol e a massa de ��leo na gama de valores estudada, pelo que se fixou o valor deste factor em 35 ml de metanol / 85g de ��leo (rela����o molar aproximada de 8:1). Verificou-se a elegibilidade do CaO enquanto catalisador para a reac����o estudada, n��o se tendo observado diferen��as significativas entre a performance do CaO-N2 e do CaO-Ar. Identificaram-se as condi����es ��ptimas para a reac����o como sendo os valores de 59 ��C para a temperatura, 3h para o tempo e 1,4 % de massa de catalisador relativamente �� massa de ��leo. Nas referidas condi����es, obtiveram-se produtos com um teor de FAME���s de 95,7 % na cat��lise com CaO-N2 e 95,3 % na cat��lise com CaO-Ar. Alguns autores de estudos consultados no desenvolvimento do presente trabalho, referiam como principal problema da utiliza����o do CaO, a lixivia����o de c��lcio para os produtos obtidos. Este facto foi confirmado no presente trabalho e na tentativa de o contornar, tentou-se promover a carbonata����o do c��lcio com a passagem de ar comprimido atrav��s dos produtos e subsequente filtra����o. Ap��s a realiza����o deste tratamento, n��o mais se observaram altera����es nas suas propriedades (aparecimento de turva����o ou precipitados), no entanto, nos produtos obtidos nas condi����es ��ptimas, a concentra����o de c��lcio determinada foi de 527 mg/kg no produto da reac����o catalisada com CaO-N2 e 475 mg/kg com CaO-A. O ��xido de c��lcio apresentou-se como um excelente catalisador na transesterifica����o da mistura de ��leos alimentares usados utilizada no presente trabalho, apresentando uma performance ao n��vel da obtida por cat��lise homog��nea b��sica. N��o se observaram diferen��as significativas de performance entre o CaO-N2 e o CaO-Ar, sendo poss��vel obter nas mesmas condi����es reaccionais produtos com teores de FAME���s superiores a 95 % utilizando qualquer um deles como catalisador. O elevado teor de c��lcio lixiviado observado nos produtos, apresenta-se como o principal obst��culo �� aplica����o a n��vel industrial do ��xido de c��lcio como catalisador para a transesterifica����o de ��leos.

Automated image tagging through tag propagation

Trabalho apresentado no ��mbito do Mestrado em Engenharia Inform��tica, como requisito parcial Para obten����o do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Inform��tica

Genetics of berry colour and anthocyanin content variation in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.subsp. vinifera)

Dissertation presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology (Molecular Genetics) at the Instituto de Tecnologia Qu��mica e Biol��gica da Universidade Nova de Lisboa