A crise da indústria da cultura: visões de Adorno e de Attali sobre a música contemporânea

Dissertação de mestrado em Comunicação, Arte e Cultura

Trabalho infantil: as crianças no mundo do espetáculo, moda e publicidade

Dissertação de mestrado em Direitos Humanos

O novo luxo: um novo olhar sobre o fenómeno

Dissertação de mestrado em Design e Marketing da Moda

Acabamentos químicos em tecidos

Dissertação de mestrado em Técnicas de Caracterização e Análise Química

The internet in young people's everyday life: listening to portuguese teens' voices

[Excerto] Children and young people today go about their lives in an increasingly mediatized fashion. Their daily lives are inhabited by a variety of media, ranging from the so-called new media to the more traditional ones, which have an impact on how they perceive, get to kno,v and represent the world, how they interact with others, how they build their identity, and how they study, have fun and organize their daily lives. The media ecosystem, namely the digit.:tl environments, opened up opportunities to communicate, participate, create and produce information. Apparently, children and young people now have more means and opportunities at their disposal to express and share their ideas, interests and opinions, but are they actually taking advantage of such potential? \'(that uses are they making of these means? Does the Internet, in fact, enable the younger generations to create a new communication culture of expression and participation (...)?

A representação da masculinidade na publicidade da imprensa masculina

Dissertação de Mestrado em Comunicação Social

Automating the testing process of image processing algorithms

As digital imaging processing techniques become increasingly used in a broad range of consumer applications, the critical need to evaluate algorithm performance has become recognised by developers as an area of vital importance. With digital image processing algorithms now playing a greater role in security and protection applications, it is of crucial importance that we are able to empirically study their performance. Apart from the field of biometrics little emphasis has been put on algorithm performance evaluation until now and where evaluation has taken place, it has been carried out in a somewhat cumbersome and unsystematic fashion, without any standardised approach. This paper presents a comprehensive testing methodology and framework aimed towards automating the evaluation of image processing algorithms. Ultimately, the test framework aims to shorten the algorithm development life cycle by helping to identify algorithm performance problems quickly and more efficiently.

Energy from waste (EfW): a feasibility study on the economic and the environmental co-benefits of biogas production within rural communities

Energy from waste (E/W) technologies in the form o f biogas plants, CHP plants and other municipal solid waste (MSW) conversion technologies, have been gaining steady ground in the provision o f energy throughout Europe and the UK. Urban Waste Water Treatment Plants (UWWTP) are utilising much o f the same biochemical processes common to these E/W plants. Previous studies on Centralised Anaerobic Digestion (CAD) within Ireland found that the legislative and economic conditions were not conducive to such an operation on the grounds o f low energy price for electric and heat energy, and due to the restrictive nature o f the allowable feedstocks. Recent changes to the Irish REFIT tariff on energy produced from Anaerobic digestion; alterations to the regulation o f the allowable use o f animal by products(ABP); the recent enactment o f the Renewable Energy D irective (09/28/EC) and a subsequent review o f the draft Biowaste Directive (2001) required that the issue o f decentralised energy production in Ireland be reassessed. In this instance the feasibility study is based on a extant rural community, centred around the village o f Woodford Co Galway. The review found that the prevailing conditions were now such that it was technically and economically feasible for this biochemical process to provide energy and waste treatment facilities at the above location. The review also outlines the last item which is preventing this process from becoming achievable, specifically the lack o f a digestate regulation on land spreading which deals specifically with biowaste. The study finds that the implementation o f the draft EU biowaste regulations, with amendments for Cr and Hg levels to match the proposed Irish regulation for compost, would ensure that Ireland has some o f the most restrictive regulations in Europe for this application. The delay in completing this piece o f legislation is preventing national energy and waste issues from being resolved in a planned and stepwise fashion. A proposed lay out for the new Integrated Waste from Energy Plant (IW/EP) is presented. Budget economic projections and alternative revenue streams are outlined. Finally a review o f the national policies regarding the Rural Development Plan (RDP), the Rural Planning Guidelines (RPG) and the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) are examined against the relevant EU directives.

IFRS adoption in Europe: the case of Germany

From 2005 onwards, consolidated financial statements of listed European companies will have to comply with IFRS (IAS). Many German companies began adopting those standards in the 1990s, on a voluntary basis, because of their need to access international capital funding. Spanish companies, by contrast, are not permitted to adopt IFRS before 2005. This paper has two purposes: first, it analyses the financial impact of initial IFRS adoption on the statement of changes in equity and the income statement of individual German companies. Second, and taking into account the German experience, it focuses on the expected impacts on a sample of listed Spanish companies in two industrial sectors: chemical-pharmaceutical and fashion. Our analysis of German companies comprised all non-financial DAX groups applying IFRS plus additional listed companies in the two selected industrial sectors identified above. The impact of initial adoption of IFRS on German companies was, both individually and overall, very significant. The analysis suggests that the expected impact on Spanish companies is likely to be significant but to a lesser degree than in respect of the German companies in the study.

The Rise of democracy in Europe and the fight against mass poverty in Latin America: the implications for marxist thought of some recent mainstream papers

Recently a number of mainstream papers have treated the rise of democracy in 19th century Europe and its instability in Latin America in an eminently Marxist fashion. This paper sets out their implications for Marxist thought. With respect to Europe, Marx's emphasis on political action backed by the threat of violence is vindicated but his justification for socialism is not. With respect to Latin America, the unequal distribution of wealth is the cause of political instability that is, in turn, the root cause of mass poverty. In addition it is possible to explain some of the paradoxical characteristics of neo-liberalism and to make a weak argument for socialism in spite of its rejection in Europe.

Marxian insights from the mainstream

Starting in 1999 a group of papers have appeared in mainstream journals that treat of the relation between capitalism and democracy in an eminently Marxian fashion. These analyses bear on a number of papers published mainly in S&S, specifically those of Castañada, Ellman, Harnacker, Nimtz and Petras. This paper provides résumés of all of these works and then sets out the implications of the mainstream papers for the left wing ones. It concludes by emphasising the importance for the left of the mainstream results.

Where Has the Old Debate Gone? Realism, Institutionalism, and IR Theory

This paper resorts to the contribution of the science philosopher Gerald Holton to map some of the IR arguments and debates in an unconventional and more insightful way. From this starting point, it is sustained that the formerly all-pervading neorealism-neoinstitutionalism debate has lost its appeal and is attracting less and less interest among scholars. It does not structure the approach of the theoretically-oriented authors any more; at least, not with the habitual intensity. More specifically, we defend that the neo-neo rapprochement, even if it could have demonstrated that international cooperation is possible and relevant in a Realist world, it has also impoverished theoretical debate by hiding some of the most significant issues that preoccupied classical transnationalists. Hence, some authors appear to be trying to rescue some of these arguments in an analytical and systematic fashion, opening up a theoretical querelle that may be the next one to pay attention to.

Gestión de productos de una empresa dedicada a la moda

Aquesta memòria ha estat realitzada per donar a conèixer el project que du per títol "Gestió de productes d'una empresa dedicada a la moda". Aquesta aplicació intentarà introduir en el mercat una solució per a les petites empreses que volen fer-se un lloc en el món de la moda i que necessiten un programari per poder gestionar les seves botigues. En aquest sector existeixen petits empresaris que van començar realitzant les peces de roba a les seves fàbriques i que han decidit fer petites col·leccions i posar-les a la venda al detall, a les seves propies franquícies. Aquesta aplicació mostra un mòdul d'un projecte molt més gran. El mòdul s'encarrega de la gestió dels articles creats a fàbrica, per poder distribuir-los entre les botigues. Un possible segon mòdul es dedicaria a la gestió de les vendes a les botigues.

Insulin secretion is regulated by the glucose-dependent production of islet beta cell macrophage migration inhibitory factor.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), originally identified as a cytokine secreted by T lymphocytes, was found recently to be both a pituitary hormone and a mediator released by immune cells in response to glucocorticoid stimulation. We report here that the insulin-secreting beta cell of the islets of Langerhans expresses MIF and that its production is regulated by glucose in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. MIF and insulin colocalize by immunocytochemistry within the secretory granules of the pancreatic islet beta cells, and once released, MIF appears to regulate insulin release in an autocrine fashion. In perifusion studies performed with isolated rat islets, immunoneutralization of MIF reduced the first and second phase of the glucose-induced insulin secretion response by 39% and 31%, respectively. Conversely, exogenously added recombinant MIF was found to potentiate insulin release. Constitutive expression of MIF antisense RNA in the insulin-secreting INS-1 cell line inhibited MIF protein synthesis and decreased significantly glucose-induced insulin release. MIF is therefore a glucose-dependent, islet cell product that regulates insulin secretion in a positive manner and may play an important role in carbohydrate metabolism.

3-T direct MR arthrography of the wrist: value of finger trap distraction to assess intrinsic ligament and triangular fibrocartilage complex tears.

PURPOSE: To determine the value of applying finger trap distraction during direct MR arthrography of the wrist to assess intrinsic ligament and triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) tears. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty consecutive patients were prospectively investigated by three-compartment wrist MR arthrography. Imaging was performed with 3-T scanners using a three-dimensional isotropic (0.4 mm) T1-weighted gradient-recalled echo sequence, with and without finger trap distraction (4 kg). In a blind and independent fashion, two musculoskeletal radiologists measured the width of the scapholunate (SL), lunotriquetral (LT) and ulna-TFC (UTFC) joint spaces. They evaluated the amount of contrast medium within these spaces using a four-point scale, and assessed SL, LT and TFCC tears, as well as the disruption of Gilula's carpal arcs. RESULTS: With finger trap distraction, both readers found a significant increase in width of the SL space (mean Δ = +0.1mm, p ≤ 0.040), and noticed more contrast medium therein (p ≤ 0.035). In contrast, the differences in width of the LT (mean Δ = +0.1 mm, p ≥ 0.057) and UTFC (mean Δ = 0mm, p ≥ 0.728) spaces, as well as the amount of contrast material within these spaces were not statistically significant (p = 0.607 and ≥ 0.157, respectively). Both readers detected more SL (Δ = +1, p = 0.157) and LT (Δ = +2, p = 0.223) tears, although statistical significance was not reached, and Gilula's carpal arcs were more frequently disrupted during finger trap distraction (Δ = +5, p = 0.025). CONCLUSION: The application of finger trap distraction during direct wrist MR arthrography may enhance both detection and characterisation of SL and LT ligament tears by widening the SL space and increasing the amount of contrast within the SL and LT joint spaces.