The Bergsonian intuition of duration : the time of science is space

According to Bergson, the philosophical tradition had been unanimous in declaring the question of time essential. However, it had neglected its correct framing which, for the author, lies in the metaphysical approach of an immediate and inner experience of concrete duration. In the current paper, we shall present Henri Bergson's concept of time, particularly the author's critique to the scope scientific discourse has of this concept. Simultaneously, we shall explore the central role of time in the Bergsonian thought, metaphorically understood as the very stuff of reality. We shall not, therefore, explore Bergson's ideas on Physics, but some of the metaphysical consequences that he withdraws from certain physics' concepts or theories.

Voices in search of a reader: the polyphonic writing of António Lobo Antunes

This paper aims at analysing the writing of the Portuguese author António Lobo Antunes, considered one of the major writers in European Literature with 26 books published, by focusing on the strategies deployed in his texts of creating micro-narratives within the main frame, and conveying the elements of individual and collective memory, past and present, the self and the others, using various voices and silences. Lobo Antunes incorporates in his writing his background as a psychiatrist at a Mental Hospital in Lisbon, until 1985 (when he decided to commit exclusively to writing), his experience as a doctor in the Portuguese Colonial War battlefield, but also the daily routines of the pre and post 25th of April 1974 (Portuguese Revolution) with subtle and ironic details of the life of the middle and upper class of Lisbon‘s society: from the traumas of the war to the simple story of the janitor, or the couple who struggles to keep their marriage functional, everything serves as material to develop and interweave a complex plot, that a lot of readers find too enwrapped and difficult to follow through. Some excerpts taken from his first three novels and books of Chronicles and his later novel – Ontem não te Vi em Babilónia (2006) – will be put forward to exemplify the complexity of the writing and the main difficulties of the reader, lost in a multitude of narrators‘ voices. Recently, Lobo Antunes has commented on his work stating: What I write can be read in the darkness. This paper aims at throwing some light by unfolding some of the strategies employed to defy new borders in the process of reading.

Concept of Customer Relationship Management as an example of innovation in banking sector

Banks that has introduced CRM system, had to make some difficult changes in their organization in order to become more customer oriented. Beside the pure CRM banks try to adopt other innovative tools related with the core CRM. Some of these solutions are constructed in such a way so that ensured could be also access to the information beside to bank’s organization.

On the performance limits of slotted CSMA/CA in IEEE 802.15.4 for broadcast transmissions in wireless sensor networks

The IEEE 802.15.4 has been adopted as a communication protocol standard for Low-Rate Wireless Private Area Networks (LRWPANs). While it appears as a promising candidate solution for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), its adequacy must be carefully evaluated. In this paper, we analyze the performance limits of the slotted CSMA/CA medium access control (MAC) mechanism in the beacon-enabled mode for broadcast transmissions in WSNs. The motivation for evaluating the beacon-enabled mode is due to its flexibility and potential for WSN applications as compared to the non-beacon enabled mode. Our analysis is based on an accurate simulation model of the slotted CSMA/CA mechanism on top of a realistic physical layer, with respect to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard specification. The performance of the slotted CSMA/CA is evaluated and analyzed for different network settings to understand the impact of the protocol attributes (superframe order, beacon order and backoff exponent), the number of nodes and the data frame size on the network performance, namely in terms of throughput (S), average delay (D) and probability of success (Ps). We also analytically evaluate the impact of the slotted CSMA/CA overheads on the saturation throughput. We introduce the concept of utility (U) as a combination of two or more metrics, to determine the best offered load range for an optimal behavior of the network. We show that the optimal network performance using slotted CSMA/CA occurs in the range of 35% to 60% with respect to an utility function proportional to the network throughput (S) divided by the average delay (D).

A straightforward method to obtain the cohesive laws of bonded joints under mode I loading

A simple procedure to measure the cohesive laws of bonded joints under mode I loading using the double cantilever beam test is proposed. The method only requires recording the applied load–displacement data and measuring the crack opening displacement at its tip in the course of the experimental test. The strain energy release rate is obtained by a procedure involving the Timoshenko beam theory, the specimen’s compliance and the crack equivalent concept. Following the proposed approach the influence of the fracture process zone is taken into account which is fundamental for an accurate estimation of the failure process details. The cohesive law is obtained by differentiation of the strain energy release rate as a function of the crack opening displacement. The model was validated numerically considering three representative cohesive laws. Numerical simulations using finite element analysis including cohesive zone modeling were performed. The good agreement between the inputted and resulting laws for all the cases considered validates the model. An experimental confirmation was also performed by comparing the numerical and experimental load–displacement curves. The numerical load–displacement curves were obtained by adjusting typical cohesive laws to the ones measured experimentally following the proposed approach and using finite element analysis including cohesive zone modeling. Once again, good agreement was obtained in the comparisons thus demonstrating the good performance of the proposed methodology.

A fractional calculus perspective in the evolutionary design of combinational circuits

This paper analyses the performance of a genetic algorithm (GA) in the synthesis of digital circuits using two novel approaches. The first concept consists in improving the static fitness function by including a discontinuity evaluation. The measure of variability in the error of the Boolean table has similarities with the function continuity issue in classical calculus. The second concept extends the static fitness by introducing a fractional-order dynamical evaluation.

A retrospective study of histopathological findings in 894 cases of megacolon: what is the relationship between megacolon and colonic cancer?

Patients with megaesophagus (ME) have increased prevalence of cancer of the esophagus. In contrast, a higher incidence of colorectal cancer is not observed in patients with megacolon (MC). MC is very common in some regions of Brazil, where it is mainly associated with Chagas disease. We reviewed the pathology records of surgical specimens of all patients submitted for surgical resection of MC in the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (HC-FMRP), from the University of São Paulo. We found that 894 patients were operated from 1952 until 2001 for MC resection. Mucosal ulcers, hyperplasia and chronic inflammation were frequently found, while polyps were uncommon. No patients with MC presented any type of colonic neoplasm. This observation reinforces the hypothesis that MC has a negative association with cancer of the colon. This seems to contradict the traditional concept of carcinogenesis in the colon, since patients with MC presents important chronic constipation that is thought to cause an increase in risk for colon cancer. MC is also associated with other risk factors for cancer of colon, such as hyperplasia, mucosal ulcers and chronic inflammation. In ME these factors lead to a remarkable increase in cancer risk. The study of mucosal cell proliferation in MC may provide new insights and useful information about the role of constipation in colonic carcinogenesis.

A Fractional Calculus Perspective in the Evolutionary Design of Combinational Circuits

This paper analyses the performance of a genetic algorithm (GA) in the synthesis of digital circuits using two novel approaches. The first concept consists in improving the static fitness function by including a discontinuity evaluation. The measure of variability in the error of the Boolean table has similarities with the function continuity issue in classical calculus. The second concept extends the static fitness by introducing a fractional-order dynamical evaluation.

The characteristic time of glucose diffusion measured for muscle tissue at optical clearing

The study of agent diffusion in biological tissues is very important to understand and characterize the optical clearing effects and mechanisms involved: tissue dehydration and refractive index matching. From measurements made to study the optical clearing, it is obvious that light scattering is reduced and that the optical properties of the tissue are controlled in the process. On the other hand, optical measurements do not allow direct determination of the diffusion properties of the agent in the tissue and some calculations are necessary to estimate those properties. This fact is imposed by the occurrence of two fluxes at optical clearing: water typically directed out of and agent directed into the tissue. When the water content in the immersion solution is approximately the same as the free water content of the tissue, a balance is established for water and the agent flux dominates. To prove this concept experimentally, we have measured the collimated transmittance of skeletal muscle samples under treatment with aqueous solutions containing different concentrations of glucose. After estimating the mean diffusion time values for each of the treatments we have represented those values as a function of glucose concentration in solution. Such a representation presents a maximum diffusion time for a water content in solution equal to the tissue free water content. Such a maximum represents the real diffusion time of glucose in the muscle and with this value we could calculate the corresponding diffusion coefficient.

From the portolan chart of the mediterranean to the latitude chart of the atlantic

Thesis submitted to the Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação da Universidade Nova de Lisboa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management – Geographic Information Systems

Epidemology and clinical aspects of human rabies in Minas Gerais, Brasil: misdiagnosis and misunderstandings on the psychopathological disturbances

This paper reports 40 cases of human rabies studied at the Carlos Chagas Hospital of UFMC, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from 1963 through 1976. From the epidemioiogical point of view it is concluded that the magnitude of the problem of human rabies in underdeveioped countries remains quite unknown. Speciai emphasis is given to the lack of apropriate knowledge of the recommended preventive measures, and to the influence of health education and socio-economic-cultural structure of the communities. The classic clinical picture of human rabies is briefiy described, particular attention being drawn to psychopathologic features of rabies encephalomyeiitis. it is pointed out that in some cases the mental symptoms may predominate from the onset of the illness, adding difficuity to the diagnosis. According to the Authors, human rabies must be differentiated from several psychopathologic syndromes and also from encephalomyelitis due to other central nervous system infections. It is discussed whether the fataiistic concept of human rabies would be somehow contributing to delay a better understanding of the natural history of the disease.

On the cloud deployment of a session abstraction for service/data aggregation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

The accounting system of the Hieronymite Monastery of Santa Maria de Belém circa 1833

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

The internationalization process of born global firms in high-tech and low-tech industries: Is there any difference?

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

Of Structural Denial: A Narratological Study of the Structural Disintegration of the Novel Form

If an opening to the argument of this dissertation is of imperative necessity, one might tentatively begin with Herbert Quain, born in Roscommon, Ireland, author of the novels The God of the Labyrinth (1933) and April March (1936), the short-story collection Statements (1939), and the play The Secret Mirror (undated). To a certain extent, this idiosyncratic Irish author, who hailed from the ancient province of Connacht, may be regarded as a forerunner of the type of novels which will be considered in this dissertation. Quain was, after all, the unconscious creator of one of the first structurally disintegrated novels in the history of western literature, April March. His first novel, The God of the Labyrinth, also exhibits elements which are characteristic of structurally disintegrated fiction, for it provides the reader with two possible solutions to a mysterious crime. As a matter of fact, one might suggest that Quain’s debut novel offers the reader the possibility to ignore the solution to the crime and carry on living his or her readerly life, turning a blind eye to the novel itself. It may hence be argued that Quain’s first novel is in fact a compound of three different novels. It is self-evident that the structure of Quain’s oeuvre is of an experimental nature, combining geometrical precision with authorial innovation, and one finds in it a higher consideration for formal defiance than for the text itself. In other words, the means of expression are the concern of the author and not, interestingly, the textual content. April March, for example, is a novel which regresses back into itself, its first chapter focussing on an evening which is preceded by three possible evenings which, in turn, are each preceded by three other, dissimilar, possible evenings. It is a novel of backward-movement, and it is due to this process of branching regression that April March contains within itself at least nine possible novels. Structure, therefore, paradoxically controls the text, for it allows the text to expand or contract under its formal limitations. In other words, the formal aspects of the novel, usually associated with the restrictive device of a superior design, contribute to a liberation of the novel’s discourse. It is paradoxical only in the sense that the idea of structure necessarily entails the fixation of a narrative skeleton that determines how plot and discourse interact, something which Quain flouts for the purposes of innovation. In this sense, April March’s convoluted structure allows for multiple readings and interpretations of the same text, consciously germinating narratives within itself, producing different texts from a single, unique source. Thus, text and means of expression are bonded by a structural design that, rather than limiting, liberates the text of the novel.