The problems of the european union film industry: an evolution from "subsidy trap" to the advent of "virtual print fee" model

Disserta����o de Mestrado, Gest��o de Empresa (MBA), 16 de Julho de 2013, Universidade dos A��ores.

Sistema de apoio �� gera����o de ideias em grupo considerando as emo����es e os aspectos sociais

As emo����es dos indiv��duos e o contexto social do grupo onde estes est��o inseridos t��m influ��ncia no seu desempenho no que se refere ao desenvolvimento de v��rias tarefas, incluindo as que s��o realizadas via electr��nica. O processo de gera����o de ideias em grupo mediado por computador tem vantagens consider��veis em rela����o ao processo de gera����o de ideias em grupo tradicional, nomeadamente no que se refere ao aumento da sinergia entre os elementos do grupo, �� exist��ncia da mem��ria de grupo e �� possibilidade dos elementos estarem dispersos no espa��o e no tempo. Com isto em mente, o presente trabalho pretende analisar a import��ncia do estado de esp��rito do participante e a influ��ncia que os v��rios aspectos sociais t��m no participante, para assim ser poss��vel tomar determinadas ac����es com o objectivo de potenciar o desempenho dos utilizadores ao longo da reuni��o de gera����o de ideias. Neste trabalho �� analisada a influ��ncia que o estado de esp��rito dos participantes e o contexto social das reuni��es podem ter no sucesso de uma reuni��o de gera����o de ideias electr��nica. Considerando a influ��ncia de estes factores, �� proposto um modelo que inclui essas vari��veis no processo de gera����o de ideias em grupo mediado por computador. Com isto pretende-se demonstrar que a inclus��o do modelo proposto numa ferramenta de apoio �� gera����o de ideias em grupo permite melhorar o desempenho individual e consequentemente o desempenho do grupo, bem como a interac����o entre todos os elementos. Assim, este trabalho pretende gerar sugest��es com o objectivo de manter os participantes atentos e motivados para as tarefas que t��m de realizar, nomeadamente a tarefa de gera����o de ideias. Com o objectivo de aplicar o modelo proposto �� tamb��m apresentado neste trabalho uma nova ferramenta de gera����o de ideias em computador que considera o contexto emocional e social da reuni��o, o S-IGTAI (Social Idea Generation Tool for Ambient Intelligence). Atrav��s das interac����es entre os participantes e a ferramenta S-IGTAI, �� recolhida informa����o que ser�� o input do modelo proposto, sendo que o output ser��o as sugest��es enviadas para o facilitador. Estas sugest��es t��m o prop��sito que o facilitador realize recomenda����es aos participantes no sentido de manter os seus estados de esp��rito num n��vel positivo e eliminar a influ��ncia negativa dos v��rios aspectos sociais, potenciando dessa forma o desempenho de todos os participantes. Com a finalidade de validar o modelo proposto e a nova ferramenta (S-IGTAI) �� apresentado um caso de estudo neste documento que permite realizar a avalia����o do trabalho desenvolvido.

The rebirth of an old language: issues of gender equality in Kazakhsstan

The existing language situation in Kazakhstan, while peaceful, is not without some tension. We propose to analyze here some questions we consider relevant in the frame of cultural globalization and gender equality, such as: free from Russian imperialism, could Kazakhstan become an easy prey of Turkey���s ���imperialist dream���? Could these traditionally Muslim people be soon facing the end of religious tolerance and gender equality, becoming this new old language an easy instrument for the infiltration in the country of fundamentalism (it has already crossed the boarders of Uzbekistan), leading to a gradual deterioration of its rich multicultural relations? The present structure of the language is still very fragile: there are three main dialects and many academics defend the re-introduction of the Latin alphabet, thus enlarging the possibility of cultural ���contamination��� by making the transmission of fundamentalist ideas still easier through neighbour countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (their languages belong to the same sub-group of Common Turkic), where the Latin alphabet is already in use, and where the ground for such ideas shown itself very fruitful.

O feminino na obra de Uanhenga Xitu

Interessa-nos para este artigo perscrutar as representa����es da vida social em narrativas do escritor angolano Uanhenga Xitu, mormente no que diz respeito �� personagem feminina e ao papel da mulher nas sociedades tradicionais angolanas. Nas narrativas cujas a����es se passam no interior de Angola, as representa����es sociais da mulher revelam um modus vivendi diferenciado daquele experimentado por mulheres que migram para a capital, Luanda, espa��o em que a no����o de vida comunit��ria, t��o significativa nas sociedades tradicionais, perde seu significado. Os trabalhos l�� executados, por exemplo, ser��o em favor do colono, como os dos empregados dom��sticos, e n��o para a coletividade. J�� nos espa��os interiores, mais distantes da m��o pesada do colonizador, as representa����es da vida social dos angolanos s��o mais expressivas e essa diferencia����o revela que a migra����o do campo para a cidade, no caso de um pa��s dominado pela coloniza����o, metaforiza o abandono de um tipo de (con)viv��ncia social em favor de outro. Como a pol��tica colonial portuguesa foi assimilacionista, essa migra����o ser�� sin��nimo de busca de ades��o ao modus vivendi do outro, muitas vezes para sofrer menos os efeitos da domina����o. Para essa discuss��o, n��o �� por livre escolha que se tratar�� das personagens femininas na obra de Xitu, posto que as mulheres em seus textos ganham vez e voz para a express��o do proprium angolano, como se o autor as quisesse homenagear em sinal do reconhecimento de sua import��ncia na constru����o e preserva����o da mem��ria, que �� capaz de criar la��os identit��rios entre as milenares gera����es passadas e as futuras, como esbo��aremos (Esta reflex��o teve origem no estudo desenvolvido no doutoramento, intitulado Entre dois contares: o espa��o da tradi����o na escrita de Uanhenga Xitu, defendida em 1996 na FFLCH-USP, e orientada pela Dra. Maria Aparecida Santilli, falecida em mar��o de 2008).

Beyond methodological nationalism: The contribution of Robert E. Park to the history of intercultural communication

The legacy of nineteenth century social theory followed a ���nationalist��� model of society, assuming that analysis of social realities depends upon national boundaries, taking the nation-state as the primary unit of analysis, and developing the concept of methodological nationalism. This perspective regarded the nation-state as the natural - and even necessary - form of society in modernity. Thus, the constitution of large cities, at the end of the 19th century, through the intense flows of immigrants coming from diverse political and linguistic communities posed an enormous challenge to all social research. One of the most significant studies responding to this set of issues was The Immigrant Press and its Control, by Robert E. Park, one of the most prominent American sociologists of the first half of the 20th century. The Immigrant Press and its Control was part of a larger project entitled Americanization Studies: The Acculturation of Immigrant Group into American Society, funded by the Carnagie Corporation following World War I, taking as its goal to study the so-called ���Americanization methods��� during the 1920s. This paper revisits that particular work by Park to reveal how his detailed analysis of the role of the immigrant press overcame the limitations of methodological nationalism. By granting importance to language as a tool uniting each community and by showing how the strength of foreign languages expressed itself through the immigrant press, Park demonstrated that the latter produces a more ambivalent phenomenon than simply the assimilation of immigrants. On the one hand, the immigrant press served as a connecting force, driven by the desire to preserve the mother tongue and culture while at the same time awakening national sentiments that had, until then, remained diffuse. Yet, on the other hand, it facilitated the adjustment of immigrants to the American context. As a result, Park���s work contributes to our understanding of a particular liminal moment inherent within many intercultural contexts, the space between emigrant identity (emphasizing the country of origin) and immigrant identity (emphasizing the newly adopted country). His focus on the role played by media in the socialization of immigrant groups presaged later work on this subject by communication scholars. Focusing attention on Park���s research leads to other studies of the immigrant experience from the same period (e.g., Thomas & Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America), and also to insights on multi-presence and interculturality as significant but often overlooked phenomena in the study of immigrant socialization.

Effects of international diffusion of a general purpose technology on wage inequality

This paper studies the effects of the diffusion of a General Purpose Technology (GPT) that spreads first within the developed North country of its origin, and then to a developing South country. In the developed general equilibrium growth model, each final good can be produced by one of two technologies. Each technology is characterized by a specific labor complemented by a specific set of intermediate goods, which are enhanced periodically by Schumpeterian R&D activities. When quality reaches a threshold level, a GPT arises in one of the technologies and spreads first to the other technology within the North. Then, it propagates to the South, following a similar sequence. Since diffusion is not even, neither intra- nor inter-country, the GPT produces successive changes in the direction of technological knowledge and in inter- and intra-country wage inequality. Through this mechanism the different observed paths of wage inequality can be accommodated.

Estudo sobre a mem��ria longa na volatilidade dos pre��os do ouro : uma abordagem com base nos modelos de tipo ARCH

Mestrado em Contabilidade e An��lise Financeira

The impact of national cultures on international marketing strategy and subsidiary performance of portuguese SME���s

The dynamic of the international business and its multidimensional nature requires the understanding of the complexities of different contexts dictated by cultural differences between countries. The purpose of this paper is to study, in depth howsmall and medium-sized companies develop their international marketing mix strategy in their overseas subsidiaries. We use the theoretical construct of Hofstede (1980, 1991) in the dimensions of Power Distance (PD), Uncertainty Avoidance (UA), Individualism (IND), Masculinity (MASC) and Long-Term Orientation (LTO) to assess the cross cultural differences between countries and the business practices to analyze the adaptation or standardization of the international marketing mix strategy of foreign Portuguese subsidiaries. Ourstudy uses an exploratoryand qualitative methodology. We conducted semi-structured interviews in order to achieve a good understanding ofinternational marketing mix strategy of four companies from different sectors. Our results show that the national cultural differences have great influence in the marketing strategy of the subsidiary. The business practices adjustments in the subsidiary company that proved to be necessary conditions for their performance are conducted by the products augmented offerings concerning the characteristics of the product, design and brand name in order to meet the requirements and specificities of the host country of the subsidiary.

Write-erase and read paper memory transistor

Applied Physics Letters, Vol.93, issue 20

Cooperative memory and database transactions

Disserta����o apresentada na Faculdade de Ci��ncias e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Inform��tica

Optimizing memory transactions for large-scale programs

Even though Software Transactional Memory (STM) is one of the most promising approaches to simplify concurrent programming, current STM implementations incur significant overheads that render them impractical for many real-sized programs. The key insight of this work is that we do not need to use the same costly barriers for all the memory managed by a real-sized application, if only a small fraction of the memory is under contention lightweight barriers may be used in this case. In this work, we propose a new solution based on an approach of adaptive object metadata (AOM) to promote the use of a fast path to access objects that are not under contention. We show that this approach is able to make the performance of an STM competitive with the best fine-grained lock-based approaches in some of the more challenging benchmarks. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Five Cases of Atypical Rickettsial Infections

Background: Rickettsia conorii is the most frequent species of RickettsiaI causing disease in Portugal. In general the disease manifests itself by fever, exanthema, headaches and the presence of an eschar. However atypical forms can be present and physicians should be aware. Aims: Analyse the atypical presentation of rickettsiosis. Material and Methods: Children admitted at the CHLC Hospital from 2000 to 2010 with atypical presentation of rickettsiosis. Clinical diagnosis was confirmed by serology and molecular techniques (PCR). Results: Five cases of children with a median age of 2 years, 1 of which female, were admitted between June and August. The diagnoses were: myositis (1), synovitis (1), cholecystitis (1), orchiepididymitis (1) and meningitis (1). Myositis developped with functional disability, CPK 9600 U/L, lower limbs��� edema, hypoalbuminemia (1,6 g/dL) and arterial hypertension. Synovitis developped with functional disability, synovial fluid increase and CRP 16,2 mg/dL. The child with cholecystitis had abdominal pain, intraabdominal fluid increase, leukopenia (1900/��L), thrombocytopenia (75000/��L) and CRP 15,3 mg/dL. Orchiepididymitis developped with testicle���s inflammatory signs, leukopenia (2900/��L), thrombocytopenia (90000/��L) and CRP 14,45 mg/dL. The patient with meningitis, who had pleocytosis (320 cells/��L), hyperproteinorrachia (284 mg/dL), hypoglicorrachia (36 mg/dL), presented only with fever and headaches. The tache noire and the classical triad were present in 3/5 cases. The clinical course was favourable in all cases. Antibodies against Rickettsia of spotted fever group were detected in 3/5 cases. In one patient Rickettsia conorii Malish strain was identified by PCR and sequencing. Conclusions: Rickettsial infection may present itself unusually. In a country of high prevalence, especially during summer months and in the presence of an inoculation eschar, it is of the uttermost importance to study the atypical presentations for a possible rickettsial infection.

Internationalization strategy of Altis Hotels to Madrid, Spain

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA ��� School of Business and Economics

Partial replication in distributed software transactional memory

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Inform��tica

How to improve supply chain performance of a specialized retailer: Managing landed costs of Zippy���s global supply chain

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA ��� School of Business and Economics