Factors affecting regional SMEs progression to Digital Business Ecosystems

SMEs are widely recognized as an important driving force of economic growth, yet, their uptake of ICT is still very low. Tosupport SMEs ICT adoption and to foster regional development, in 2000, the Lisbon Strategy on the Information Society andKnowledge-based economy created a vision for 2010 towards the creation of the European Digital Business Ecosystems(DBE). This paper is positioned within that context and reports upon a project involving 6000 SMEs whose aim was tosupport ICT adoption and to encourage SME networks through the creation of a Regional Business Portal. The papere xplores factors affecting the regional SMEs participating in the DBE. An in-depth longitudinal case study approach was adopted and multiple sources of evidence were used. Many factors affecting SMEs progression to DBE were identified:including people and organization, environmental, diffusion networks, technological, regional and time factors

Synapses in digital medium: computational investigations of neural basis of anticipation

Anticipation is an emerging concept that can provide a bridge between the deepest philosophical theories about the nature of life and cognition on one hand and the empirical biological sciences steeped in reductionist and Newtonian conception of causality. Three conceptions of anticipation have been emerging from the literature that may be operationalised in a way leading to a viable empirical programme. The discussion of the research into a novel dynamical concept of anticipating synchronisation lends credence to such a possibility and suggests further links between the three anticipation paradigms. A careful progress mindful to the deep philosophical concerns but also respecting empirical evidence will ultimately lead towards unifying theoretical and empirical biological sciences and may offer progress where reductionist science have been so far faltering.

Videography as production nexus : digital film cameras, media mangement and the distribution of creativity

This thesis is about new digital moving image recording technologies and how they augment the distribution of creativity and the flexibility in moving image production systems, but also impose constraints on how images flow through the production system. The central concept developed in this thesis is ‘creative space’ which links quality and efficiency in moving image production to time for creative work, capacity of digital tools, user skills and the constitution of digital moving image material. The empirical evidence of this thesis is primarily based on semi-structured interviews conducted with Swedish film and TV production representatives.This thesis highlights the importance of pre-production technical planning and proposes a design management support tool (MI-FLOW) as a way to leverage functional workflows that is a prerequisite for efficient and cost effective moving image production.

Decomposing Consumer Wealth Effects: Evidence on the Role of Real Estate Assets Following the Wealth Cycle of 1990-2002

During the period of 1990-2002 US households experienced a dramatic wealth cycle, induced by a 369% appreciation in the value of real per capita liquid stock market assets followed by a 55% decline. However, consumer spending in real terms continued to rise throughout this period. Using data from 1990-2005, traditional life-cycle approaches to estimating macroeconomic wealth effects confront two puzzles: (i) econometric evidence of a stable cointegrating relationship among consumption, income, and wealth is weak at best; and (ii) life-cycle models that rely on aggregate measures of wealth cannot explain why consumption did not collapse when the value of stock market assets declined so dramatically. We address both puzzles by decomposing wealth according to the liquidity of household assets. We find that the significant appreciation in the value of real estate assets that occurred after the peak of the wealth cycle helped sustain consumer spending from 2001 to 2005.

A percepção de valor de uma biblioteca médica digital para o embasamento das condutos assistenciais adotadas em um hospital privado no Rio de Janeiro

Este estudo foi desenvolvido em um hospital privado, no Rio de Janeiro, com o intuito de demonstrar o valor de uma biblioteca médica digital, como ferramenta de suporte para fundamentação científica das condutas assistenciais adotadas pela equipe médica, que resultaram em glosas técnicas e perda de faturamento para a instituição. Para isso, por meio do método revisão integrativa, foi coletada a literatura clínica referente às glosas, ocorridas durante o período de janeiro a setembro de 2014, e analisada sob a perspectiva do modelo conceitual apresentado pela Cochrane (LEFEBVRE et al., 2011) que identifica o nível da evidência científica e estabelece o seu grau de recomendação para a prática clínica. Durante a análise de conteúdo, considerando as técnicas propostas por Bardin (1977), foram identificadas as evidências científicas que conferem valor à prática assistencial, conforme proposto pelo modelo conceitual. Além disso, o valor dos itens glosados foi incluído na análise dos resultados, reforçando a tendência do estudo para a validação do modelo conceitual que recomenda a prática clínica baseada em evidências científicas para geração de resultados mais efetivos e de melhor custo/benefício na saúde. Com base nos achados, são discutidas as implicações teóricas e práticas, assim como sugestões para futuros estudos sobre o tema.

Compreendendo a educação para a inclusão digital: uma análise dos sentidos atribuidos pelos monitores das escolas de inclusão digital e cidadania da EMATER-RN

According to the methodological presuppositions of the understanding interview (KAUFMAAN, 1996), the present work aims to understand the Digital Inclusion starting from the oral speeches of eight monitors of Digital Inclusion and Citizenship Schools of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company EMATER, located in municipal districts that belong to six regions of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. It also had the intention to analyze it (the Digital Inclusion), while educational process and its relation with the citizenship. In its first part, an analysis of the discussions about digital inclusion was developed, and a reflection about the new technologies in current times, followed by a contextualization of the rural space and the methodological course of the study, when its guiding axis and the travelled roads were presented, where the object of study is built slowly and progressively through a theoretical elaboration that increases day by day, as of the technologies forged in the field of research and formation of the subject. The second part presents the study of the collected information, that is organized in three chapters denominated as follows: Conceptions of the local context; What does digital inclusion mean? and The monitor as an educator. The reports do evidence a peculiar dissatisfaction with the social reality where they are found, that contradicts the positive reflections and perspectives of the studied authors, once that, within the actual conjuncture, the rural space has acquired another meaning, no longer being seen as a far late place. By trying to define the digital inclusion, the monitors make an association with change, the access to knowledge, active participation in society and improvement of the life conditions. Here a mission sense stands out, related to the ideological precept, which has been managing its activities. Towards the monitor‟s relation within the classroom, the senses evidence how they are and how they have been developing their daily activities. Tensions, fears and insecurities are identified, but at the same time, a compromise. The final considerations implicate to the need of reorientations in the formative process of this professionals, detaching the importance of their activities while agents of inclusion and social transformation

Poesia digital: três leituras da Obra de Jason Nelson

The development of digital technologies has opened up a new niche for artistic production. It began to emerge artworks that could only happen in the digital context. In this study, we investigated the syntax of defining digital poetry, recognized internationally as one of the possibilities of this new artistic practice, and how happens the meaning during the reading process. As research corpus, we chose the poem "Birds Still Warm From Flying", by american poet Jason Nelson. And we structure our analysis looking through three perspectives: the digital poem as a game; as the evolution of experimental trends of twentieth-century poetry; and as a representation of Rubik`s Cube, a famous three-dimensional puzzle from the 1970`s. Initially, we made some considerations about the construction of digital poetry as a hypermedia artwork, looking through convergence and hybridization of artistic and media languages. Then, we saw some similarities between Nelson`s poem and electronic games, based on our critical observations about the concept of interactivity. Subsequently, we wrote a historical overview about the poetic experimentation in the twentieth century, bringing examples of sound poetry and visual poetry as evidence that the birth of digital poetry is also the result of the evolution of these experiments. Finally, we use the Charles Sanders Peirce`s semiotics to analyze the signs that give references able to make us recognize the Rubik`s Cube in "Birds Still Warm From Flying"

Confiabilidade inter e intraexaminadores nas mensurações angulares por fotogrametria digital e goniometria

INTRODUÇÃO: A utilização da fotogrametria computadorizada em prol da goniometria, ou vice-versa, na prática clínica ainda necessita de fundamentações consistentes. OBJETIVOS: Os objetivos deste estudo foram: verificar a confiabilidade inter e intraexaminadores avaliadores na quantificação das medidas angulares obtidas a partir da fotogrametria computadorizada e a goniometria e determinar a confiabilidade paralela entre esses dois diferentes instrumentos de avaliação. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: 26 voluntários e 4 examinadores foram utilizados no estudo. A coleta foi realizada em 4 etapas sequenciais: demarcação dos pontos anatômicos de referência, mensuração e registro dos valores goniométricos, captação da imagem do voluntário com os marcadores fixados no corpo e avaliação do registro fotográfico no programa ImageJ. RESULTADOS: O goniômetro é um instrumento confiável na maioria das evidências, porém, a confiabilidade das medições depende principalmente da uniformização dos procedimentos. Considerações metodológicas relativas ao estabelecimento de confiabilidade e padronização da colocação dos marcadores se fazem necessárias, de modo a oferecer opções de avaliação ainda mais confiáveis para a prática clínica. CONCLUSÃO: Ambos os instrumentos são confiáveis e aceitáveis, porém, mais evidências ainda são necessárias para suportar a utilização desses instrumentos, pois poucos pesquisadores têm utilizado o mesmo desenho de estudo, e a comparação dos resultados entre eles muitas vezes são difíceis.

Development trends and challenges for local e-governments: evidence from municipalities in Chile and Peru

Includes bibliography

Avaliação das características do líquido ruminal associada à termografia digital e atividade pedométria em vacas holandesas

Pós-graduação em Medicina Veterinária - FMVZ

Tecnologia da informação, discurso e poder: análise de domínio a partir do conceito de exclusão digital na perspectiva da teoria centro-periferia

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC

Experimental evidence for the sensitivity of the air-shower radio signal to the longitudinal shower development

We observe a correlation between the slope of radio lateral distributions and the mean muon pseudorapidity of 59 individual cosmic-ray-air-shower events. The radio lateral distributions are measured with LOPES, a digital radio interferometer colocated with the multidetector-air-shower array KASCADE-Grande, which includes a muon-tracking detector. The result proves experimentally that radio measurements are sensitive to the longitudinal development of cosmic-ray air showers. This is one of the main prerequisites for using radio arrays for ultra-high-energy particle physics and astrophysics.

Correlation between carotid bifurcation calcium burden on non-enhanced CT and percentage stenosis, as confirmed by digital subtraction angiography

Objectives: Previous evidence supports a direct relationship between the calcium burden (volume) on post-contrast CT with the percent internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis at the carotid bifurcation. We sought to further investigate this relationship by comparing non-enhanced CT (NECT) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Methods: 50 patients (aged 41-82 years) were retrospectively identified who had undergone cervical NECT and DSA. A 64-multidetector array CT (MDCT) scanner was utilised and the images reviewed using preset window widths/levels (30/300) optimised to calcium, with the volumes measured via three-dimensional reconstructive software. Stenosis measurements were performed on DSA and luminal diameter stenoses >40% were considered "significant". Volume thresholds of 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.12 cm(3) were utilised and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was calculated to correlate the calcium volume with percent stenosis. Results: Of 100 carotid bifurcations, 88 were available and of these 7 were significantly stenotic. The NECT calcium volume moderately correlated with percent stenosis on DSA r=0.53 (p<0.01). A moderate-strong correlation was found between the square root of calcium volume on NECT with percent stenosis on DSA (r=0.60, p<0.01). Via a receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.06 cm(3) was determined to be the best threshold (sensitivity 100%, specificity 90.1%, negative predictive value 100% and positive predictive value 46.7%) for detecting significant stenoses. Conclusion: This preliminary investigation confirms a correlation between carotid bifurcation calcium volume and percent ICA stenosis and is promising for the optimal threshold for stenosis detection. Future studies could utilise calcium volumes to create a "score" that could predict high grade stenosis.