"Golden Goa is Really a Romanticized Myth"

Interview with Maria de Lima Pereira, Herald reporter on the eve of the release of the new edition of *Medieval Goa* in Panjim, Goa

Preponderância do feminino na obra literária: The golden notebook: a análise como exercício de pré-tradução

Curso de Mestrado em Tradução e Interpretação Especializada Orientadora: Mestre Paula Almeida

10 kVp rule – An anthropomorphic pelvis phantom imaging study using a CR system: impact on image quality and effective dose using AEC and manual mode

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the influence of tube potential (kVp) variation in relation to perceptual image quality and effective dose (E) for pelvis using automatic exposure control (AEC) and non-AEC in a Computed Radiography (CR) system. Methods and materials - To determine the effects of using AEC and non-AEC by applying the 10 kVp rule in two experiments using an anthropomorphic pelvis phantom. Images were acquired using 10 kVp increments (60–120 kVp) for both experiments. The first experiment, based on seven AEC combinations, produced 49 images. The mean mAs from each kVp increment were used as a baseline for the second experiment producing 35 images. A total of 84 images were produced and a panel of 5 experienced observers participated for the image scoring using the two alternative forced choice (2AFC) visual grading software. PCXMC software was used to estimate E. Results - A decrease in perceptual image quality as the kVp increases was observed both in non-AEC and AEC experiments, however no significant statistical differences (p > 0.05) were found. Image quality scores from all observers at 10 kVp increments for all mAs values using non-AEC mode demonstrates a better score up to 90 kVp. E results show a statistically significant decrease (p = 0.000) on the 75th quartile from 0.37 mSv at 60 kVp to 0.13 mSv at 120 kVp when applying the 10 kVp rule in non-AEC mode. Conclusion - Using the 10 kVp rule, no significant reduction in perceptual image quality is observed when increasing kVp whilst a marked and significant E reduction is observed.

Image quality and dose analysis for a PA chest X-ray: comparison between AEC mode acquisition and manual mode using the 10 kVp ‘rule���

Purpose - To compare the image quality and effective dose applying the 10 kVp rule with manual mode acquisition and AEC mode in PA chest X-ray. Method - 68 images (with and without lesions) were acquired using an anthropomorphic chest phantom using a Wolverson Arcoma X-ray unit. These images were compared against a reference image using the 2 alternative forced choice (2AFC) method. The effective dose (E) was calculated using PCXMC software using the exposure parameters and the DAP. The exposure index (lgM provided by Agfa systems) was recorded. Results - Exposure time decreases more when applying the 10 kVp rule with manual mode (50%–28%) when compared with automatic mode (36%–23%). Statistical differences for E between several ionization chambers' combinations for AEC mode were found (p = 0.002). E is lower when using only the right AEC ionization chamber. Considering the image quality there are no statistical differences (p = 0.348) between the different ionization chambers' combinations for AEC mode for images with no lesions. Considering lgM values, it was demonstrated that they were higher when the AEC mode was used compared to the manual mode. It was also observed that lgM values obtained with AEC mode increased as kVp value went up. The image quality scores did not demonstrate statistical significant differences (p = 0.343) for the images with lesions comparing manual with AEC mode. Conclusion - In general the E is lower when manual mode is used. By using the right AEC ionising chamber under the lung the E will be the lowest in comparison to other ionising chambers. The use of the 10 kVp rule did not affect the visibility of the lesions or image quality.

10 kVp rule – An anthropomorphic pelvis phantom imaging study using a CR system: impact on image quality and effective dose using AEC and manual mode

Background - Pelvis and hip radiography are consistently found to be amongst the highest contributors to the collective effective dose (E) in all ten DOSE DATAMED countries in Europe, representing 2.8 to 9.4% of total collective dose (S) in the TOP 20 exams list. The level of image quality should provide all the diagnostic information in order not to jeopardise the diagnosis, but being able to provide the needed clinical information with the minimum dose. A recent study suggests further research to determine whether the “10 kVp rule��� would have value for a range of examinations using Computed Radiography (CR) systems. As a “rule of thumb” increasing the kVp by 10 whilst halving the mAs is suggested to give a similar perceptual image quality when compared to the original exposure factors. Aims - In light of the 10kVp rule, this study aims to investigate the influence of tube potential (kVp) variation in relation to perceptual image quality and E for pelvis imaging using automatic exposure control (AEC) and non-AEC in a Computed Radiography (CR) system. Research questions - Does the 10kVp rule works for the pelvis in relation to image quality in a CR system? Does the image quality differs when the AEC is used instead of manual mode using the 10kVp rule and how this impacts on E?

Image quality and dose analysis in PA chest x-ray: comparison between AEC and manual mode acquisition using the 10 kVp rule

Purpose: To compare image quality and effective dose when the 10 kVp rule is applied with manual and AEC mode in PA chest X-ray. Methods and Materials: A total of 68 images (with and without lesions) were acquired of an anthropomorphic chest phantom in a Wolverson Arcoma X-ray unit. The images were evaluated against a reference image using image quality criteria and the 2 alternative forced choice (2 AFC) method by five radiographers. The effective dose was calculated using PCXMC software using the exposure parameters and DAP. The exposure index (lgM) was recorded. Results: Exposure time decreases considerably when applying the 10 kVp rule in manual mode (50%-28%) compared to AEC mode (36%-23%). Statistical differences for effective dose between several AEC modes were found (p=0.002). The effective dose is lower when using only the right AEC ionization chamber. Considering image quality, there are no statistical differences (p=0.348) between the different AEC modes for images with no lesions. Using a higher kVp value the lgM values will also increase. The lgM values showed significant statistical differences (p=0.000). The image quality scores did not present statistically significant differences (p=0.043) for the images with lesions when comparing manual with AEC modes. Conclusion: In general, the dose is lower in the manual mode. By using the right AEC ionising chamber the effective dose will be the lowest in comparison to other ionising chambers. The use of the 10 kVp rule did not affect the detectability of the lesions.

10 kVp rule - An anthropomorphic pelvis phantom imaging study using a CR system: impact on image quality and effective dose using AEC and manual mode

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the influence of tube potential (kVp) variation in relation to perceptual image quality and effective dose for pelvis using automatic exposure control (AEC) and non-AEC in a computed radiography (CR) system. Methods and Materials: To determine the effects of using AEC and non-AEC by applying the 10 kVp rule in two experiments using an anthropomorphic pelvis phantom. Images were acquired using 10 kVp increments (60-120 kVp) for both experiments. The first experiment, based on seven AEC combinations, produced 49 images. The mean mAs from each kVp increment were used as a baseline for the second experiment producing 35 images. A total of 84 images were produced and a panel of 5 experienced observers participated for the image scoring using the 2 AFC visual grading software. PCXMC software was used to estimate the effective dose. Results: A decrease in perceptual image quality as the kVp increases was observed both in non-AEC and AEC experiments, however no significant statistical differences (p> 0.05) were found. Image quality scores from all observers at 10 kVp increments for all mAs values using non-AEC mode demonstrates a better score up to 90 kVp. Effective dose results show a statistical significant decrease (p=0.000) on the 75th quartile from 0.3 mSv at 60 kVp to 0.1 mSv at 120 kVp when applying the 10 kVp rule in non-AEC mode. Conclusion: No significant reduction in perceptual image quality is observed when increasing kVp whilst a marked and significant effective dose reduction is observed.

Welcome to the golden land: sexual and gender-based violence against women refugees from Burma

European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation Academic Year 2005/2006

Ambivalent Islam: the identity construction of Muslims under Portuguese colonial rule

This article wishes to contribute to the study of the historical processes that have been spotting Muslim populations as favourite targets for political analysis and governance. Focusing on the Portuguese archives, civil as well as military, the article tries to uncover the most conspicuous identity representations (mainly negative or ambivalent) that members of Portuguese colonial apparatus built around Muslim communities living in African colonies, particularly in Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The paper shows how these culturally and politically constructed images were related to the more general strategies by which Portuguese imagined their own national identity, both as ‘European’ and as ‘coloniser’ or ‘imperial people’. The basic assumption of this article is that policies enforced in a context of inter-ethnic and religious competition are better understood when linked to the identity strategies inherent to them. These are conceived as strategic constructions aimed at the preservation, the protection and the imaginary expansion of the subject, who looks for groups to be included in and out-groups to reject, exclude, aggress or eliminate. We think that most of the inter-ethnic relationships and conflicts, as well as the very experience of ethnicity, are born from this identity matrix.

A rule-based grapheme-to-phone converter for TTS systems in european portuguese

In this paper, a linguistically rule-based grapheme-to-phone (G2P) transcription algorithm is described for European Portuguese. A complete set of phonological and phonetic transcription rules regarding the European Portuguese standard variety is presented. This algorithm was implemented and tested by using online newspaper articles. The obtained experimental results gave rise to 98.80% of accuracy rate. Future developments in order to increase this value are foreseen. Our purpose with this work is to develop a module/ tool that can improve synthetic speech naturalness in European Portuguese. Other applications of this system can be expected like language teaching/learning. These results, together with our perspectives of future improvements, have proved the dramatic importance of linguistic knowledge on the development of Text-to-Speech systems (TTS).

Ambivalent Islam: the identity construction of Muslims under Portuguese colonial rule

This article wishes to contribute to the study of the historical processes that have been spotting Muslim populations as favourite targets for political analysis and governance. Focusing on the Portuguese archives, civil as well as military, the article tries to uncover the most conspicuous identity representations (mainly negative or ambivalent) that members of Portuguese colonial apparatus built around Muslim communities living in African colonies, particularly in Guinea- Bissau and Mozambique. The paper shows how these culturally and politically constructed images were related to the more general strategies by which Portuguese imagined their own national identity, both as ‘European’ and as ‘coloniser’ or ‘imperial people’. The basic assumption of this article is that policies enforced in a context of interethnic and religious competition are better understood when linked to the identity strategies inherent to them. These are conceived as strategic constructions aimed at the preservation, protection and imaginary expansion of the subject, who looks for groups to be included in and out-groups to reject, exclude, aggress or eliminate. The author argues that most of the inter-ethnic relationships and conflicts, as well as the very experience of ethnicity, are born from this identity matrix.

The activity of azithromycin against Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis in the golden hamster model

New therapeutic alternatives against leishmaniasis remain a priority. The activity of azithromycin against Leishmania (Leishmania) major has been previously demonstrated. Different responses among species of Leishmania make species-specific drug screening necessary. The activity of azithromycin against Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis was evaluated in golden hamsters infected through footpad injections of metacyclic promastigotes, and compared with untreated controls and animals treated with meglumine antimoniate. Footpad thickness, lesion cultures and dissemination sites were analyzed. Treatment of golden hamsters with oral azithromycin at 450mg/kg had no activity against infections with Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis. For infections due to Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, azithromycin demonstrated significant activity relative to untreated controls, but inferior to meglumine antimoniate, for controlling lesion size. Neither drug was able to totally eliminate parasites from the lesions. It was concluded that azithromycin has activity against Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis but not against Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis in this model.

Harvest control rule vs optimal harvesting of an age-structured population: The case of the Ibero-Atlantic Sardine Fishery

Research Masters

Nutrição mineral de plantas ornamentais XII: Deficiências de N, P, Ca, Mg, S e B em crisântemo (Chrysanthemum morifolium cv golden polaris)

Com o objetivo de determinar: Os sintomas de deficiência de macronutrientes e de boro, de modo a relacioná-los com a composição química da planta; Foi conduzido um experimento em casa-de-vegetação com plantas de crisântemo cultivadas em substrato de sílica e irrigadas com soluções nutritivas, submetidas aos tratamentos: completo, omissão e nitrogênio (-N), omissão de fósforo (-P), omissão de potássio (-K), omissão de cálcio (-Ca), omissio de magnésio (-Mg), omissão de enxofre (-S) e omissão de boro (-B). O desenvolvimento dos sintomas foi acompanhado e, ao final do ciclo, as plantas foram colhidas e separadas em folhas novas, folhas velhas, hastes e inflorescências para serem analisadas quanto a concentração dos nutrientes. Os autores concluiram que: A sintomatologia de carência de nutrientes aparece, em sequência, para os elementos N, B, S, K, Ca, P e Mg, sendo mais pronunciada nos tratamentos -N, -K, -B e -Ca. Os níveis de nutrientes nas folhas de plantas sadias, expressos em função da matéria seca, estão na faixa de:N-1,02% -2,25%; P-0,08%-0,13%; K-2,79%-2,87%; Ca -1,18%-1 ,68%; Mg-0,70%-0,93%; S- 0,93%-0,13% e B-56,5 ppm-67,25 ppm. Os níveis de nutrientes nas folhas de plantas com sintomas de carência, expressos na matéria seca, são: N-0,73%; P-0,03%; K-0,42%; Ca-0,46%; Mg-0,48%; S-0,10% e B-33 ppm.