An RF LC Q-enhanced CMOS iter using integrated inductors with layout optimization

Disserta����o apresentada para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrot��cnica e de Computadores, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ci��ncias e Tecnologia

Adapter module for self-learning production systems

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrot��cnica, Sistemas e Computadores

The national physics and chemistry exams and the learning of sciences

Disserta����o apresentada para obten����o do Grau de Doutor em Ci��ncias da Educa����o, pela Faculdade de Ci��ncias e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Sintomas somatoformes em Medicina Geral e Familiar

RESUMO: Os doentes que v��o �� consulta com sintomas f��sicos para os quais o m��dico n��o encontra uma causa org��nica, s��o frequentes na Medicina Geral e Familiar, embora n��o sejam espec��ficos, e s��o o objecto de estudo do presente trabalho. N��o deixar uma doen��a por diagnosticar (erro de tipo II) sem contudo rotular pessoas saud��veis como doentes (erro de tipo I) �� um dos mais dif��ceis problemas da pr��tica cl��nica di��ria e para o qual n��o existe uma orienta����o infal��vel e n��o �� previs��vel que alguma vez venha a existir. Mas se o diagn��stico de doen��a ou n��o-doen��a �� dif��cil, o tratamento dos que n��o tem doen��a, embora com sofrimento, tamb��m n��o �� mais f��cil, sobretudo, se estivermos conscientes do sofrimento que determina a medicaliza����o e a iatrogenia. O presente trabalho est�� estruturado em 3 partes. Na primeira parte descrevemos a nossa vis��o integrada do que apreendemos da leitura da literatura publicada e �� qual tivemos acesso. �� semelhan��a do que se verifica na maioria das ��reas da Medicina esta �� tamb��m uma em que o conhecimento cresce a ritmo exponencial. No entanto, �� falta de conceitos precisos e de defini����es consensuais sucede um conhecimento, por vezes, pouco consistente, tanto mais que estamos na fronteira entre a cultura leiga e a cultura erudita m��dica em que os significados devem, a todo o momento, ser validados. Fizemos uma revis��o sobre as defini����es do que est�� em quest��o, sobre o que se sabe sobre a frequ��ncia dos sintomas f��sicos na popula����o, quantos recorrem aos servi��os de sa��de e o que lhes �� feito. Pass��mos por uma revis��o da fisiologia destes sintomas e algumas explica����es fisiopatol��gicas para terminarmos sobre o que os doentes pensam sobre os seus sintomas e os cuidados que recebem e o que os profissionais pensam sobre estes doentes. Esta parte termina com uma revis��o das propostas de abordagem para este tipo de doentes. Na segunda parte, descrevemos os estudos emp��ricos focados no problema dos pacientes com sintomas f��sicos mas sem evid��ncia de doen��a org��nica. Come��a por uma apresenta����o dos aspectos processuais e metodol��gicos dos estudos realizados, mais especificamente, de dois estudos quantitativos e um qualitativo. No primeiro estudo pretendeu-se avaliar quais s��o os sintomas f��sicos e a sua frequ��ncia na popula����o em geral e a frequ��ncia de pacientes que procuram (ou n��o) os servi��os de sa��de tendo como motivo este tipo de sintomas. O objectivo deste estudo �� contribuir para a demonstra����o que este tipo de sintomas faz parte da vida do dia-a-dia e que, na maioria das vezes, s�� por si n��o significa doen��a, sem contudo negar que representa sofrimento, por vezes at�� maior do que quando h�� patologia org��nica. Se no primeiro estudo era demonstrar que os sintomas f��sicos s��o frequentes na popula����o, no segundo estudo o objectivo �� demonstrar que pacientes com este tipo de sintomas s��o igualmente frequentes e que o tipo de sintomas apresentados na consulta n��o difere dos referidos pela popula����o em geral. Pretendia-se ainda saber o que �� feito ou proposto pelo m��dico a estes doentes e se estes doentes traziam ou n��o, junto com os sintomas, ideias explicativas para os mesmos. Finalmente e n��o menos importante, �� avaliar o grau de fidedignidade do diagn��stico de sintoma somatoforme, chamando assim ao sintoma f��sico que foi ���levado��� �� consulta e que o m��dico diagnosticou como n��o tendo causa org��nica. O terceiro estudo parte do conhecimento adquirido que a Medicina tem muitas respostas para este problema, mas poucas que se possam considerar satisfat��rias se usadas isoladamente. Que a maioria das solu����es �� procurada entre a cultura m��dica e num paradigma reducionista de separa����o mente-corpo. Contudo, se o sintoma �� ���constru��do��� pelo doente, se o principal problema n��o est�� no sintoma mas na forma como o paciente o v��, ent��o pareceu-nos l��gico que a solu����o tamb��m tem que passar por integrarmos no plano de abordagem o que o doente entende ser melhor para si. Nesta sequ��ncia, entrevistaram-se alguns doentes cujo diagn��stico de sintomas somatoformes estava demonstrado pelo teste do tempo. Por isso, entrevistaram-se doentes que j�� tinham ido �� consulta de MGF h�� mais de 6 meses por sintomas somatoformes e, na data da entrevista, o diagn��stico se mantinha inalterado, independentemente da sua evolu����o. As entrevistas visaram conhecer as ideias dos doentes sobre o que as motivou a procurarem a consulta, o que pensavam da forma como foram cuidados e que ideias tinham sobre o que os profissionais de sa��de devem fazer para os ajudar a restabelecer o equil��brio com o seu ambiente evitando a medicaliza����o, a iatrogenia e a evolu����o para a cronicidade. Na terceira parte, discutem-se e integram-se os resultados encontrados no conhecimento previamente existente. Tenta-se teorizar, fazer doutrina sobre o tema e contribuir para abordagens terap��uticas mais personalizadas, abrangentes, variadas e multimodais, baseadas sempre no m��todo cl��nico centrado no paciente, ou de modo menos correcto mas enf��tico, baseadas no m��todo centrado na rela����o. Apresentam-se algumas hip��teses de trabalhos futuros sobre o tema e, sobretudo, esperamos ter contribu��do para o reconhecimento da necessidade de a comunica����o m��dico-doente ser uma aprendizagem transversal a todos os profissionais de sa��de e ao longo da vida, com a ideia que �� sempre poss��vel fazer melhor, caso contr��rio tenderemos, inexoravelmente, a fazer cada vez pior.-----------ABSTRACT: Patients who go to consultation with physical symptoms, for which the doctor does not find an organic cause, are the subject of the present study. They are common in family medicine, although not specific. Do not let an undiagnosed disease (type II error), but without labeling healthy people as patients with disease (type I error) is one of the most difficult problems in clinical practice and for which doesn���t exist an infallible guide and it is unlikely that any since coming into existence. But, if the diagnosis of disease or non-disease is difficult, the treatment of those who do not have the disease, though suffering, it is not easy, especially if we are aware of the suffering that medicalization and iatrogenic determines. This work is structured in three parts. In the first part we describe our integrated view of what we grasp from reading the published literature and to which we had access. Similar to that found in most areas of medicine, this is also one in which knowledge grows exponentially. However, the absence of precise concepts and consensual definitions determines an inconsistent knowledge, especially because we're on the border between secular culture and medical culture where, at all times, the meaning must be validated. We did a review on the definitions of what is at issue, what is known about the frequency of physical symptoms in the population, how many use the services of health and what they receive as care. We went through a review of the physiology of these symptoms and some pathophysiological explanations, to finish on what patients think about their symptoms and how they perceived the care they received and, finally, what professionals think about these patients. This part ends with a review of the approaches proposed for such patients. In the second part, we describe the empirical studies focused on the problem of patients with physical symptoms but no evidence of organic disease. Begins with a presentation of the procedural and methodological aspects of studies, more specifically, two quantitative and one qualitative. The first study sought to assess which are the physical symptoms, their incidence in the general population and the frequency they seek (or not) health services on behalf of those symptoms. The aim behind this study was to contribute to the demonstration that this type of symptoms is part of life's day-to-day and that, in most cases, does not represent disease by itself, without denying that they represent suffering, sometimes even greater than when there are organic disease. The first study endeavor to demonstrate that the physical symptoms are common in the population. The second study aspires to demonstrate that patients with such symptoms are also common and that the type of symptoms presented in the consultation does not differ from those in the general population. The aim was also to know what is done or proposed by the physician for these patients and if these patients brought or not, along with the symptoms, explanatory ideas for them. Finally and not least, it would try to assess the degree of reliability of diagnosis of somatoform symptoms, thus drawing the physical symptom that patient presents in the consultation and that the doctor diagnosed as having no organic cause. The third study starts from the acquired knowledge that medicine has many answers to this problem, but few can be considered satisfactory if used in isolation. The most solutions are sought in the medical culture and based on a reductionist paradigm of mind-body. However, if the symptom is "built" by the patient, if the main problem is not the symptom but the way the patient sees it, then it seemed logical to us that the solution must integrate the approaches that patients believes are best for them. Subsequently, a few patients, whose diagnosis of somatoform symptoms was demonstrated by the test of time, were interviewed. Therefore, patients who were interviewed had gone to the consultation of family medicine more than 6 months before for somatoform symptoms and. at the moment of the interview, the diagnosis remained unchanged, regardless of their evolution. The interviews aimed to ascertain the patients' ideas about what motivated them to seek consultation, what they thought about the care they got and which ideas they have about what health professionals should do to help these patients to re-establish equilibrium with its environment avoiding medicalization, iatrogenic effects and the evolution to chronicity. In the third section, we discuss and integrate the results found in previously existing knowledge. Attempts to theorize on the subject and contribute to more personalized treatment, comprehensive, varied and multi-modal approaches, always based on patient-centered clinical method, with emphasis on the relationship. We presents some hypotheses for future work on the subject and,above all, defend the recognition of the importance of lifelong learning communication skills for all health professionals, with the idea that we can always do better, otherwise we tend inexorably to do worse.

Robots and humans as co-workers? The human-centred perspective of work with autonomous systems

The design of work organisation systems with automated equipment is facing new challenges and the emergence of new concepts. The social aspects that are related with new concepts on the complex work environments (CWE) are becoming more relevant for that design. The work with autonomous systems implies options in the design of workplaces. Especially that happens in such complex environments. The concepts of ���agents���, ���co-working��� or ���human-centred technical systems��� reveal new dimensions related to human-computer interaction (HCI). With an increase in the number and complexity of those human-technology interfaces, the capacities of human intervention can become limited, originating further problems. The case of robotics is used to exemplify the issues related with automation in working environments and the emergence of new HCI approaches that would include social implications. We conclude that studies on technology assessment of industrial robotics and autonomous agents on manufacturing environment should also focus on the human involvement strategies in organisations. A needed participatory strategy implies a new approach to workplaces design. This means that the research focus must be on the relation between technology and social dimensions not as separate entities, but integrated in the design of an interaction system.

CleverThings: Comercializing the opportunity of an improved e-learning process

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

Analysis of the progress of lifelong learning strategies of Portuguese Economics and Management Schools

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

Machine learning Gaussian short rate

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Doutor em Estat��stica e Gest��o do Risco

Integrated data model and DSL modifications

Companies are increasingly more and more dependent on distributed web-based software systems to support their businesses. This increases the need to maintain and extend software systems with up-to-date new features. Thus, the development process to introduce new features usually needs to be swift and agile, and the supporting software evolution process needs to be safe, fast, and efficient. However, this is usually a difficult and challenging task for a developer due to the lack of support offered by programming environments, frameworks, and database management systems. Changes needed at the code level, database model, and the actual data contained in the database must be planned and developed together and executed in a synchronized way. Even under a careful development discipline, the impact of changing an application data model is hard to predict. The lifetime of an application comprises changes and updates designed and tested using data, which is usually far from the real, production, data. So, coding DDL and DML SQL scripts to update database schema and data, is the usual (and hard) approach taken by developers. Such manual approach is error prone and disconnected from the real data in production, because developers may not know the exact impact of their changes. This work aims to improve the maintenance process in the context of Agile Platform by Outsystems. Our goal is to design and implement new data-model evolution features that ensure a safe support for change and a sound migration process. Our solution includes impact analysis mechanisms targeting the data model and the data itself. This provides, to developers, a safe, simple, and guided evolution process.

Improving Learners��� Motivation through Feedback in English Language Teaching and Learning at Polytechnic School in Benguela, Angola

Currently, it is widely perceived among the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching professionals, that motivation is a central factor for success in language learning. This work aims to examine and raise teachers��� awareness about the role of assessment and feedback in the process of language teaching and learning at polytechnic school in Benguela to develop and/or enhance their students��� motivation for learning. Hence the paper defines and discusses the key terms and, the techniques and strategies for an effective feedback provision in the context under study. It also collects data through the use of interview and questionnaire methods, and suggests the assessment and feedback types to be implemented at polytechnic school in Benguela

Knowledge management framework based on brain models and human physiology

The life of humans and most living beings depend on sensation and perception for the best assessment of the surrounding world. Sensorial organs acquire a variety of stimuli that are interpreted and integrated in our brain for immediate use or stored in memory for later recall. Among the reasoning aspects, a person has to decide what to do with available information. Emotions are classifiers of collected information, assigning a personal meaning to objects, events and individuals, making part of our own identity. Emotions play a decisive role in cognitive processes as reasoning, decision and memory by assigning relevance to collected information. The access to pervasive computing devices, empowered by the ability to sense and perceive the world, provides new forms of acquiring and integrating information. But prior to data assessment on its usefulness, systems must capture and ensure that data is properly managed for diverse possible goals. Portable and wearable devices are now able to gather and store information, from the environment and from our body, using cloud based services and Internet connections. Systems limitations in handling sensorial data, compared with our sensorial capabilities constitute an identified problem. Another problem is the lack of interoperability between humans and devices, as they do not properly understand human���s emotional states and human needs. Addressing those problems is a motivation for the present research work. The mission hereby assumed is to include sensorial and physiological data into a Framework that will be able to manage collected data towards human cognitive functions, supported by a new data model. By learning from selected human functional and behavioural models and reasoning over collected data, the Framework aims at providing evaluation on a person���s emotional state, for empowering human centric applications, along with the capability of storing episodic information on a person���s life with physiologic indicators on emotional states to be used by new generation applications.

Peer interaction and learning opportunities in cohesive and less cohesive L2 classrooms

The present study investigates peer to peer oral interaction in two task based language teaching classrooms, one of which was a self-declared cohesive group, and the other a self- declared less cohesive group, both at B1 level. It studies how learners talk cohesion into being and considers how this talk leads to learning opportunities in these groups. The study was classroom-based and was carried out over the period of an academic year. Research was conducted in the classrooms and the tasks were part of regular class work. The research was framed within a sociocognitive perspective of second language learning and data came from a number of sources, namely questionnaires, interviews and audio recorded talk of dyads, triads and groups of four students completing a total of eight oral tasks. These audio recordings were transcribed and analysed qualitatively for interactions which encouraged a positive social dimension and behaviours which led to learning opportunities, using conversation analysis. In addition, recordings were analysed quantitatively for learning opportunities and quantity and quality of language produced. Results show that learners in both classes exhibited multiple behaviours in interaction which could promote a positive social dimension, although behaviours which could discourage positive affect amongst group members were also found. Analysis of interactions also revealed the many ways in which learners in both the cohesive and less cohesive class created learning opportunities. Further qualitative analysis of these interactions showed that a number of factors including how learners approach a task, the decisions they make at zones of interactional transition and the affective relationship between participants influence the amount of learning opportunities created, as well as the quality and quantity of language produced. The main conclusion of the study is that it is not the cohesive nature of the group as a whole but the nature of the relationship between the individual members of the small group completing the task which influences the effectiveness of oral interaction for learning.This study contributes to our understanding of the way in which learners individualise the learning space and highlights the situated nature of language learning. It shows how individuals interact with each other and the task, and how talk in interaction changes moment-by-moment as learners react to the ���here and now��� of the classroom environment.

O contributo do Projeto Curricular Integrado no desenvolvimento das compet��ncias de pesquisa

Relat��rio de est��gio de mestrado em Educa����o Pr��-Escolar e Ensino do 1.�� do Ensino B��sico

Crescer com os outros: a aprendizagem cooperativa e o trabalho de grupo como estrat��gias fundamentais no desenvolvimento de compet��ncias sociais: o contributo do Projeto Curricular Integrado

Relat��rio de est��gio de mestrado em Educa����o Pr��-Escolar e Ensino do 1�� Ciclo do Ensino B��sico

The tutor's role in student learning

Higher education in Portugal, in the last forty years, has undergone profound changes with the enlargement of public higher education network, the appearance of new institutions, the quantity and the heterogeneity of students. The implementation of the Bologna Process in European community countries led to the redesign of higher education Portuguese courses as well as their corresponding curricula. In recent years, the use of Project-led education was one of the most significant changes in teaching and learning, particularly in engineering in higher education in Portugal. This teaching methodology encourages students and teachers to undertake new roles, new responsibilities and a new learning perspective. This study aims at understanding whether the role of the tutor is to be suitable to the needs and expectations of Project-led education students. These changes however are not only structural. At the University of Minho, new teaching and learning methodologies were adopted, which could guide the training of professionals on to the twenty-first century. The opportunity arising from the implementation of Project-led education in Engineering methodology was used in the University of Minho���s courses. This teaching method is intended to provide students with educational support programs that benefit the academic performance, allowing the opportunity to upgrade, train and develop the ability to study and learn more effectively. Through the Project-led education it is possible to provide students with techniques and procedures and develop the ability to communicate orally and in writing. Students and teachers have assumed new roles in the teaching-learning process allowing in one hand the students to explore, discover and question themselves about some knowledge and on the other hand the teachers to change to a tutor, a companion and to a student project guide. Therefore, surveys were analyzed, comprising questions about the most significant contribution of the tutor as well as if there are some initial expectations that have not been foreseen by the tutor.