Projecto de fundações e estrutura de um edifício

Trabalho de Projecto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização de Estruturas

Healthcare-associated infections: challenges to public health in Brazil

This study presents a critical evaluation of the scientific literature related to this subject, aiming to assess the policies and administrative issues regarding the prevention and magnitude of healthcare-associated infections and discuss the challenges for their prevention in Brazil. The topics discussed included historical and administrative issues, challenges imposed by the characteristics of the healthcare system and the territorial dimension, laboratorial support limitations, costs, institutional culture, professional qualification, and patient engagement. It is urgent to hold a nationwide discussion among government representatives, institutions, and healthcare workers and users to overcome these challenges.

Evaluating a co-creation model for social businesses: The case of ‘Linhas sobre rodas’

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

A relational algebra approach to ETL modeling

The MAP-i Doctoral Programme in Informatics, of the Universities of Minho, Aveiro and Porto

A vegetação na envolvente exterior dos edifícios: impactos, condicionantes e estratégias de intervenção ecoeficientes

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Arquitectura

Recommendations on quality control and quality assurance in cervical cytology

Objective: We aimed to critically evaluate the importance of quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) strategies in the routine work of uterine cervix cytology. Study Design: We revised all the main principles of QC and QA that are already being implemented worldwide and then discussed the positive aspects and limitations of these as well as proposing alternatives when pertinent. Results: A literature review was introduced after highlighting the main historical revisions, and then a critical evaluation of the principal innovations in screening programmes was conducted, with recommendations being postulated. Conclusions: Based on the analysed data, QC and QA are two essential arms that support the quality of a screening programme.

El comportamiento penalmente relevante en el delito de defraudación tributaria: una propuesta político-criminal

El sistema tributario es fundamental en el Estado social y democrático de Derecho, pues el ejercicio y efectivo disfrute de muchos derechos fundamentales depende del correcto funcionamiento de la actividad tributaria. Además de esto, la situación económica actual demanda una adecuada política en contra del fraude tributario, lo que necesariamente implica analizar si el modelo penal vigente es el más adecuado para enfrentar el fraude fiscal. Teniendo en cuenta que muchas de las características de la criminalidad tributaria no son exclusivas de un país, pues ésta trasciende habitualmente las fronteras de los países por medio del recurso a empresas multinacionales o la localización de empresas en “paraísos fiscales”, el análisis del fraude tributario no debe limitarse al examen jurídico del modelo legislativo español, debiendo trascender a un estudio de política criminal que vincula consideraciones criminológicas y jurídicas. En consecuencia, en esta investigación se propone un análisis que no se reduce a los debates exclusivamente jurídicos. Se busca, además, efectuar un examen que tenga por fundamento una perspectiva criminológica y de Law in action a fin de evaluar críticamente la respuesta a la criminalidad tributaria por parte del modelo de regulación penal vigente en España. Esta orientación permitirá una más amplia comprensión del fenómeno de la criminalidad tributaria, así como de las categorías jurídicas adecuadas político criminalmente para su prevención. Este estudio interdisciplinario nos conducirá, al final de la investigación, tanto a proponer la interpretación del modelo de legislación penal vigente, como una reforma al mismo que pretenda solucionar algunos de los problemas de prevención que a lo largo de la investigación se señalan.

K.O. Apel: transcendentalisme i praxi de la veritat.

L'objectiu d'aquest treball és explicar i fer la crítica de la Teoria de la Veritat recentment defensada per Apel. En primer lloc, el consens i pragmàtica de la Teoria de la Veritat d'Apel es presenta en relació amb el projecte de la Teoria Crítica de la Societat de Habermas i el problema dels fonaments en el raonament ètic. En segon lloc, la seva versió idealitzada i transcendental de la Veritat que invoca la noció de convergència en una comunitat ideal d'investigadors lliures és analitzada. Finalment, les entranyes de l'esperit wingensteinià i després de l'últim anàlisi de Putnam, s’ha intentat fer una avaluació crítica. El resultat de tot això serà una més modesta concepció de la Veritat com a tan sols una qualitat de la praxi lingüística humana, però no la seva primera pedra

Measuring Instruments In Cardiology Adapted Into Portuguese Language Of Brazil: A Systematic Review

This was a systematic review aimed at identifying and characterizing measuring instruments, developed in the context of cardiology, which were adapted into Portuguese language of Brazil. Systematic searches were performed in six databases. Information extracted included cultural adaptation process and measurement properties. To assess the methodological quality of studies, criteria based on international guidelines for cultural adaptation of instruments were used. Among the 114 articles found, 14 were eligible for review. Of these, most evaluated quality of life (35.7%) and health knowledge/learning (28.6%). Most studies followed all stages of the adaptation process recommended in the literature. With respect to measurement properties, internal consistency, verified by Cronbach’s alpha, was the property reported in the majority of the studies, as well as construct and criterion validity. This study is expected to provide to the scientific community a critical evaluation of adapted questionnaires available in the context of cardiology.


Stationarity analysis of historical flood series in France and Spain (14th-20th centuries)

Interdisciplinary frameworks for studying natural hazards and their temporal trends have an important potential in data generation for risk assessment, land use planning, and therefore the sustainable management of resources. This paper focuses on the adjustments required because of the wide variety of scientific fields involved in the reconstruction and characterisation of flood events for the past 1000 years. The aim of this paper is to describe various methodological aspects of the study of flood events in their historical dimension, including the critical evaluation of old documentary and instrumental sources, flood-event classification and hydraulic modelling, and homogeneity and quality control tests. Standardized criteria for flood classification have been defined and applied to the Isère and Drac floods in France, from 1600 to 1950, and to the Ter, the Llobregat and the Segre floods, in Spain, from 1300 to 1980. The analysis on the Drac and Isère data series from 1600 to the present day showed that extraordinary and catastrophic floods were not distributed uniformly in time. However, the largest floods (general catastrophic floods) were homogeneously distributed in time within the period 1600¿1900. No major flood occurred during the 20th century in these rivers. From 1300 to the present day, no homogeneous behaviour was observed for extraordinary floods in the Spanish rivers. The largest floods were uniformly distributed in time within the period 1300-1900, for the Segre and Ter rivers.

Did tool-use evolve with enhanced physical cognitive abilities?

The use and manufacture of tools have been considered to be cognitively demanding and thus a possible driving factor in the evolution of intelligence. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that enhanced physical cognitive abilities evolved in conjunction with the use of tools, by comparing the performance of naturally tool-using and non-tool-using species in a suite of physical and general learning tasks. We predicted that the habitually tool-using species, New Caledonian crows and Galápagos woodpecker finches, should outperform their non-tool-using relatives, the small tree finches and the carrion crows in a physical problem but not in general learning tasks. We only found a divergence in the predicted direction for corvids. That only one of our comparisons supports the predictions under this hypothesis might be attributable to different complexities of tool-use in the two tool-using species. A critical evaluation is offered of the conceptual and methodological problems inherent in comparative studies on tool-related cognitive abilities.

Calculation of Activity Coefficients of Uni-Univalent Electrolytes by Equations Containing No Adjustable Parameters in Aqueous Solutions at 298.15 K

Normally either the Güntelberg or Davies equation is used to predict activity coefficients of electrolytes in dilute solutions when no better equation is available. The validity of these equations and, additionally, of the parameter-free equations used in the Bates-Guggenheim convention and in the Pitzerformalism for activity coefficients were tested with experimentally determined activity coefficients of HCl, HBr, HI, LiCl, NaCl, KCl, RbCl, CsCl, NH4Cl, LiBr,NaBr and KBr in aqueous solutions at 298.15 K. The experimental activity coefficients of these electrolytes can be usually reproduced within experimental errorby means of a two-parameter equation of the Hückel type. The best Hückel equations were also determined for all electrolytes considered. The data used in the calculations of this study cover almost all reliable galvanic cell results available in the literature for the electrolytes considered. The results of the calculations reveal that the parameter-free activity coefficient equations can only beused for very dilute electrolyte solutions in thermodynamic studies.

In silico pathway reconstruction: Iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Background: Current advances in genomics, proteomics and other areas of molecular biology make the identification and reconstruction of novel pathways an emerging area of great interest. One such class of pathways is involved in the biogenesis of Iron-Sulfur Clusters (ISC). Results: Our goal is the development of a new approach based on the use and combination of mathematical, theoretical and computational methods to identify the topology of a target network. In this approach, mathematical models play a central role for the evaluation of the alternative network structures that arise from literature data-mining, phylogenetic profiling, structural methods, and human curation. As a test case, we reconstruct the topology of the reaction and regulatory network for the mitochondrial ISC biogenesis pathway in S. cerevisiae. Predictions regarding how proteins act in ISC biogenesis are validated by comparison with published experimental results. For example, the predicted role of Arh1 and Yah1 and some of the interactions we predict for Grx5 both matches experimental evidence. A putative role for frataxin in directly regulating mitochondrial iron import is discarded from our analysis, which agrees with also published experimental results. Additionally, we propose a number of experiments for testing other predictions and further improve the identification of the network structure. Conclusion: We propose and apply an iterative in silico procedure for predictive reconstruction of the network topology of metabolic pathways. The procedure combines structural bioinformatics tools and mathematical modeling techniques that allow the reconstruction of biochemical networks. Using the Iron Sulfur cluster biogenesis in S. cerevisiae as a test case we indicate how this procedure can be used to analyze and validate the network model against experimental results. Critical evaluation of the obtained results through this procedure allows devising new wet lab experiments to confirm its predictions or provide alternative explanations for further improving the models.

Distribuição de coprostanol (5beta(H)-colestan-3beta-ol) em sedimentos superficiais da Baía de Guanabara: indicador da poluição recente por esgotos domésticos

A critical evaluation is presented on the use of faecal sterols for the identification of sewage contamination in Guanabara Bay. Sediments were collected from 8 stations in the bay selected as representative of different contamination levels. GC/MS determination of faecal sterols gave: coprostanol, 335 - 40000 ng g-1; coprostanone, 112-4136 ng g-1; cholesterol, 1407-7800 ng g-1; cholestanol, 2011 - 10900 ng g-1 and cholestanone, 655-7954 ng g-1. The observed concentration is in accordance with the presence of known pollution sources, however, concentration ratios of different sterols species produced unclear results evidently influenced by primary production and microbial processes.