Adaptive Game Design Study of a fully adaptive framework

Adventure! The Paladin Order foi um projecto ambicioso que começou por ser desenvolvido como um video jogo completo. Tinha como objéctivo implementar uma ferramenta diferente que permitisse tornar o jogo completamente adaptativo às decisões do jogador tanto nas interacções e no diálogo com outras personagens, assim como no combate contra os variados inímigos do jogo. Devido à inexperiência do autor uma grande parte do tempo foi passado a estudar e a pesquisar várias possíveis soluções que permitissem criar um ambiente que fosse adaptativo de uma forma simples e interessante, não só para os programadores mas também para qualquer pessoa que fosse responsável por editar o diálogo e a história do jogo. Os resultados foram bastante interessantes, revelando um sistema que depende simultaneamente dos ficheiros de onde é retirado o diálogo, e de um sistema de personalidades que permite definir qual será o comportamento de qualquer objecto do jogo ou, pelo menos, como as outras personagens irão reagir. O produto final é uma ferramenta de bases sólidas que permite uma implementação relativamente simples de um sistema abrangente e adaptativo, com poucas falhas e apenas algumas questões de simplicidade de código.

Politics, Commerce, and Colonization in Angola at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em História Moderna e dos Descobrimentos

Um Bongo and sport: How can a brand communicate through its mascots

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

Biodemes and zymodemes of Trypanosoma cruzi strains: correlations with clinical data and experimental pathology

With the objective of establishing biological and biochemical characteristics of a significant number of Trypanosoma cruzi strains from different geographical areas, 138 strains isolated from naturally infected humans, triatomine or vertebrate hosts were studied; 120 were isolated from different areas of Brazil and 18 from other South and Central American countries. Inocula from triatomine or culture forms were injected into suckling Swiss mice, followed by passages into mice 10 to 12 g. Biological characters and histopathological study permitted the inclusion of the strains into three Types or biodemes: I, II, III. Isoenzymic analysis confirmed a correspondence between the biodemes and zymodemes : Type I and Z2b, Type II and Z2, Type III and Z1. Results showed the ubiquitary distribution of the several types of strains. The predominance of the same Type and zymodeme in one geographical area was confirmed : Type II strains among the human cases from eastern Bahia and east of Goiás; Type III strains from humans of north Brazil and Central America and from silvatic vectors or vertebrates from other geographical areas. The biological types of strains correlate with different histopathological lesions considering cardiac involvement and neuronal lesions. These findings suggest that the biological behavior together with isoenzymes patterns and pathological pictures in the vertebrate host can be an important tool for establishing correlations between strains behavior and clinico-pathological manifestations of Chagas' disease in different geographical areas.

Studying urban space and literary representations using GIS: Lisbon, Portugal, 1852-2009

This article proposes a methodology to address the urban evolutionary process, demonstrating how it is reflected in literature. It focuses on “literary space,” presented as a territory defined by the period setting or as evoked by the characters, which can be georeferenced and drawn on a map. It identifies the different locations of literary space in relation to urban development and the economic, political, and social context of the city. We suggest a new approach for mapping a relatively comprehensive body of literature by combining literary criticism, urban history, and geographic information systems (GIS). The home-range concept, used in animal ecology, has been adapted to reveal the size and location of literary space. This interdisciplinary methodology is applied in a case study to nineteenth- and twentieth-century novels involving the city of Lisbon. The developing concepts of cumulative literary space and common literary space introduce size calculations in addition to location and structure, previously developed by other researchers. Sequential and overlapping analyses of literary space throughout time have the advantage of presenting comparable and repeatable results for other researchers using a different body of literary works or studying another city. Results show how city changes shaped perceptions of the urban space as it was lived and experienced. A small core area, correspondent to a part of the city center, persists as literary space in all the novels analyzed. Furthermore, the literary space does not match the urban evolution. There is a time lag for embedding new urbanized areas in the imagined literary scenario.

Estimativa de parâmetros genéticos, correlações fenotípicas e ambientais no girassol do cerrado do Distrito Federal.

RESUMO: O propósito deste trabalho foi avaliar a estima - tiva de parâmetros genéticos, correlações fe - notipicas e ambientais no girassol do Cerrado do Distrito Federal. Os caracteres analisados foram: rendimento de grãos, tamanho do ca - pítulo, peso de mil aquênios, altura de plantas e dias para floração inicial. Foram constatadas diferenças altamente significativas entre os ge - nótipos para todas as características morfoa - gronômicas avaliadas. Para o coeficiente CVr a maioria dos valores foram superior a 1 nos dois anos considerados, indicando que para a maioria dos caracteres aferidos há a possibi - lidade de êxito na seleção fenotípica uma vez que a variância genética superou a ambiental. Na herdabilidade, a maior estimativa verifica - da foi para o caráter PMA (98,76%) em 2013 e para DFI (99,68%) em 2014. Foram cons - tatadas diferenças altamente significativas en - tre os genótipos para todas as características morfoagronômicas avaliadas. O alto coeficiente de variação genético destaca a possibilidade de obter ganhos genéticos para todas as caracte - rísticas analisadas salvo em tamanho de capi - tulo. Materiais genéticos com potencial para as características agronômicas pesquisadas foram identificados no trabalho, podem ser indicadas ao sistema de produção irrigado no Cerrado. abstract: The purpose of this study was to estimate ge - netic parameters, phenotypic and environmen - tal correlations in sunflower of Brazilian savan - nah. The characters analyzed were: grain yield, chapter length, weight of a thousand achenes, plant height and days to start flowering. Hi - ghly significant differences were observed among genotypes for all morphoagronomic cha - racteristics evaluated. For the most CVr coe - fficient values were higher than 1 in the two years under consideration, indicating that for the majority of measured characters there is the possibility of successful phenotypic selection once the genetic variance exceeded the envi - ronmental. The heritability estimate was the hi - ghest for the PMA character (98,76%) in 2013 and DFI (99,68%) in 2014. Highly significant differences were observed among genotypes for all morphoagronomic characteristics evalu - ated. The high coefficient of genetic variation show the possibility of obtaining genetic gain for all examined characteristics except in chap - ter length. Genetic material with potential for the researched agronomic characteristics were identified in the work, can be indicated to the irrigated production system in the Brazilian sa - vannah.

Avatars and the «Imitation Game» – can machines smile?

Considering Alan Turing’s challenge in «Computing Machinery and Intelligence» (1950) – can machines play the «imitation game»? – it is proposed that the requirements of the Turing test are already implicitly being used for checking the credibility of virtual characters and avatars. Like characters, Avatars aim to visually express emotions (the exterior signs of the existence of feeling) and its creators have to resort to emotion codes. Traditional arts have profusely contributed for this field and, together with the science of anatomy, shaped the grounds for current Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and their databases. However, FACS researchers have to improve their «instruction tables» so that the machines will be able, in a near future, to be programmed to carry out the operation of recognizing human expressions (face and body) and classify them adequately. For the moment, the reproductions have to resort to the copy of real life expressions, and the presente smile of avatars comes from mirroring their human users.

Evolution of Diplodocid Sauropod dinosaurs with emphasis on specimens from Howe Ranch, Wyoming (USA)

Diplodocidae are among the best known sauropod dinosaurs. Several species were described in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Since then, numerous additional specimens were recovered in the USA, Tanzania, Portugal, as well as possibly Spain, England, and Asia. To date, the clade includes about 12 to 15 different species, some of them with questionable taxonomic status (e.g. ‘Diplodocus’ hayi or Dyslocosaurus polyonychius). However, intrageneric relationships of the multi-species, iconic genera Apatosaurus and Diplodocus are still poorly known. The way to resolve this issue is a specimen-based phylogenetic analysis, which was done for Apatosaurus, but is here performed for the first time for the entire clade of Diplodocidae. New material from different localities and stratigraphic levels on the Howe Ranch (Shell,Wyoming, USA) sheds additional light on the evolution of Diplodocidae. Three new specimens are described herein, considerably increasing our knowledge of the anatomy of the group. The new specimens (SMA 0004, SMA 0011, and SMA 0087) represent two, to possibly three new diplodocid species. They preserve material from all parts of the skeleton, including two nearly complete skulls, as well as fairly complete manus and pedes, material which is generally rare in diplodocids. Thereby, they considerably increase anatomical overlap between the sometimes fragmentary holotype specimens of the earlier described diplodocid species, allowing for significant results in a specimenbased phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, clavicles and interclavicles are identified, the latter for the first time in dinosaurs. Their presence seems restricted to early sauropods, flagellicaudatans, and early Macronaria, and might thus be a retained plesiomorphy, with the loss of these bones being synapomorphic for Titanosauriformes and possibly Rebbachisauridae. The new material allows to test previous hypotheses of diplodocid phylogeny. In order to do so, any type specimen previously proposed to belong to Diplodocidae was included in the study, as are relatively complete referred specimens, in order to increase the degree of overlapping material. For specimens subsequently suggested to be non-diplodocid sauropods, their hypothesized sister taxa were included as outgroups. The current phylogenetic analysis thus includes 76 operational taxonomic units, 45 of which belong to Diplodocidae. The specimens were scored for 477 morphological characters, representing one of the most extensive phylogenetic analyses done within sauropod dinosaurs. The resulting cladogram recovers the classical arrangement of diplodocid relationships. Basing on a newly developed numerical approach to reduce subjectivity in the decision of specific or generic separation, species that have historically been included into well-known genera like Apatosaurus or Diplodocus, were detected to be actually generically different. Thereby, the famous genus Brontosaurus is resuscitated, and evidence further suggests that also Elosaurus parvus (previously referred to Apatosaurus) or ‘Diplodocus’ hayi represent unique genera. The study increases our knowledge about individual variation, and helps to decide how to score multi-species genera. Such a specimen-based phylogenetic analysis thus proves a valuable tool to validate historic species in sauropods, and in paleontology as a whole.

Support in decision-making under uncertainty: a project risk assessment tool development and supplementary advances

A foremost dispute that persists on the contemporary world’s agenda is change. The on-going social/technological/economic changes create a competitive and challenging environment for companies to endure. To benefit from these changes, world economies partially depend on emerging Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and their adaptability skills, and subsequently the development of an integrated capability to innovate has become the prime strategy for most of SMEs to subsist and grow. However, innovation and change are always somewhat bonded to an inherent risk development, which subsequently brings on the necessity of a revision of risk management approaches in innovative processes, whose importance SMEs tend to disregard. Additionally, little efforts have been made to improve and create empirical models, metrics and tools to assist SMEs managing latent risks in their innovative projects. This work seeks to present and discuss a solution to support SMEs in engaging on systematic risk management practices, which consists on an integrated risk assessment and response support web-based tool - Spotrisk® - designed for SMEs. On the other hand, an inherent subjectivity is linked with risk management and identification processes, due to uncertainty trait of its nature, for each individual perceives situations according to his own idiosyncrasy, which brings complications in normalizing risk profiles and procedures. This essay aims to bring insights concerning the support in decision-making processes under uncertainty, by addressing issues related with the risk behavior character among individuals. To address such issues, subjects of neuroscience or psychology are explored and models to identify such character are proposed, as well as models to improve presented tool. This work attempts to go beyond the restrictive aim of endeavoring on technical improvement dissertation, and in embraces an exploratory conceptualization concerning micro, small and medium businesses’ traits regarding risk characters and project risk assessment tools.

A arbitragem como alternativa para diminuir a morosidade do sistema judiciário brasileiro

This thesis is about arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution, as a solution for the slowness of the Brazilian Judiciary. The paper starts with an approach of the fundamental rights, highlighting their positivation, important to distinguish them from human rights, the four dimensions of the fundamental rights and, lastly, the analysis of their features, emphasizing their characters of complementarity and universality. After, it starts to discourse about the “access to Justice”, an important fundamental right, and, to delimitate the role of the Judiciary and the problems related to solve cases in a reasonable amount of time. Next, it exposes other alternative forms of dispute resolutions that, like the arbitration, can help to the concretization of a faster and more effective Justice. Then, it discusses the historical evolution of the arbitration in Brazil, highlighting the contemporary features of the institute, which were more visible with the ratification of the New York Convention and the promulgation of Law nº 9.307/1996. In addition, it analyses the possible changes that will come with the New Brazilian Procedure Law Code and the PL 7.108/2014, intended to change the current Arbitration Law. It also explains the main arbitration attributes, describing the peculiarities of the arbitral convention, the arbitrator role, and the arbitral award aspects. At least, it lists the main reasons someone should choose arbitration instead the Judiciary, considering the Brazilian Courts reality.

Potential M&A between TIM Brazil and Oi S.A: The irreversible force of Telecommunications convergence

The intrinsic forces of market aiming for telecom industry convergence has arrived to Brazil. This case presents real characters, a sequence of events and other public information that has been impacting two corporations studied in this case. TIM Brazil and Oi S.A, two top players in the Brazilian telecom industry mobile and fixed segment respectively. While a merge between the two of them looks perfect and simple in an operational perspective due to its vertical complementarity, bring to them opportunities to win over a bundle offer (multi service package) that will consolidate their market predominance. Macroeconomic and internal corporate contrasts between these companies’ environment might signal that an impulsive could have a high price to pay in the future.

Evolution of Teeth and Quadrate in Non-avian Theropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia), with the Description of Torvosaurus Remains from Portugal

Theropods form a highly successful and morphologically diversified group of dinosaurs that gave rise to birds. They include most, if not all, carnivorous dinosaurs, yet many theropod clades were secondarily adapted to piscivory, omnivory and herbivory, and theropods show a large array of skull and dentition morphologies. This work aims to investigate aspects of the evolution of theropod dinosaurs by analyzing in detail both the anatomy and ontogeny of teeth and quadrates in non-avian theropods, and by studying embryonic and adult material of a new species of theropod. A standardized list of terms and notations for each anatomical entity of the tooth, quadrate, and maxilla is here proposed with the goal of facilitating descriptions of these important cranial and dental elements. The distribution of thirty dental characters among 113 theropod taxa is investigated, and a list of diagnostic dental characters is proposed. As an example, four isolated theropod teeth from the Lourinhã Formation (Kimmeridgian‒Tithonian) of Portugal are described and identified based on a cladistic analysis performed on a data matrix of 141 dentition-based characters coded in 60 taxa. Two shed teeth are referred to an abelisaurid, providing the first record of Abelisauridae in the Jurassic of Laurasia and the one of the oldest records of this clade in the world, suggesting a possible radiation of Abelisauridae in Europe well before the Upper Cretaceous. The consensus tree resulting from this phylogenetic analysis, the most extensive on theropod teeth, indicates that theropod teeth provide reliable data for identification at approximately family level, and this method will help identifying theropod teeth with more confidence. A detailed description of the dentition of Megalosauridae is also provided, and a discriminant analysis performed on a dataset of numerical data collected on the teeth of 62 theropod taxa reveals that megalosaurid teeth are hardly distinguishable from other theropod clades with ziphodont dentition. This study highlights the importance of detailing anatomical descriptions and providing additional morphometric data on teeth with the purpose of helping to identify isolated theropod teeth. In order to evaluate the phylogenetic potential and investigate the evolutionary transformations of the quadrate, a phylogenetic morphometric analysis as well as a cladistic analysis using 98 discrete quadrate related characters were conducted. The quadrate morphology by its own provides a wealth of data with strong phylogenetic signal, and the phylogenetic morphometric analysis reveals two main morphotypes of the mandibular articulation of the quadrate linked to function. As an example, six isolated quadrates from the Kem Kem beds (Cenomanian) of Morocco are determined to be from juvenile and adult individuals of Spinosaurinae based on phylogenetic, morphometric, and phylogenetic morphometric analyses. Morphofunctional analysis of the spinosaurid mandibular articulation has shown that the posterior parts of the two mandibular rami displaced laterally when the jaw was depressed due to a mediolaterally oriented intercondylar sulcus of the quadrate. Such lateral movement of the mandibular ramus was possible due to a movable mandibular symphysis in spinosaurids, allowing the pharynx to be widened. A new species of theropod from the Lourinhã Formation of Portugal, Torvosaurus gurneyi, is erected based on a right maxilla and an incomplete caudal centrum. This taxon supports the mechanism of vicariance that occurred in the Iberian Meseta during the Late Jurassic when the proto-Atlantic was already well formed. A theropod clutch containing several crushed eggs and embryonic material is also assigned to this new species of Torvosaurus. Investigation on the maxilla ontogeny in basal tetanurans reveals that crown denticles, elongation of the anterior ramus, and fusion of interdental plates appear at a posthatchling stage. On the other hand, maxillary pneumaticity is already present at an embryonic stage in non-avian theropods.

A new species of Hibiscus from the Amazon basin.

A new species, Hibiscus amazonicus, is described from the Amazon Basin. Characters distinguishing the new species from its nearest relatives presented.

Eggs and eggshells of Crocodylomorpha from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal

Crocodylomorph eggs are relatively poorly known in the fossil record when compared with skeletal remains, which are found all over the world, or when compared with dinosaur eggs. Herein are described crocodiloid eggshells from the Upper Jurassic Lourinhã Formation of Portugal, recovered from five sites: Cambelas (clutch), Casal da Rola, Peralta (eggshell fragments), and Paimogo North and South (three partial crushed eggs and eggshell fragments). The clutch of Cambelas, composed of 13 eggs, is the only sample not found in association with dinosaur eggshells. Morphological characters of the eggshells described herein, such as shell units and microstructure, are consistent with the crocodiloid morphotype. As such, this material is assigned to the oofamily Krokolithidae, making them the oldest known crocodylomorph eggs so far and the best record for eggs of non-crocodylian crocodylomorphs. Two new ootaxa are erected, Suchoolithus portucalensis oogen. et oosp. nov, for the clutch of Cambelas, and Krokolithes dinophilus, oosp. nov., for the remaining eggshells. The basic structure of crocodilian eggshells has remained stable since at least the Late Jurassic. Additionally, the findings suggest previously unknown biological associations with contemporary archosaurs, shedding light on the poorly understood egg morphology, reproduction strategies and paleobiology of crocodylomorphs during the Late Jurassic.

A pictorial field guide for the rapid identification of sandflies (DIPTERA: PSYCHODIDAE), commonly encountered in Pará state, Brazil.

A pictorial field guide to the 30 species of sandfly most commonly encountered in Pará State is presented, based on the easily recognised external characters of the length of the 5th palpal segment, thoracic infuscation, abdominal colour and head and body size. In most cases this allows identification to the species. In others, especially with females, it gives an indication of the species, which may then be confirmed with data from more detailed taxanomix studies. This type of field guide helps in teaching, rapid sorting of flies prior to dissection and in acquainting visitors with the variety of species present in a given area.A rapid technique for the taxonomic sorting of unmounted, freshly killed female sandflies is required, prior to the dissection of large numbers of a particular species. Such a method is useful in areas where numerous species occur in studies on natural flagellate infections, age determination and for ecological studies. With the above points in mind a pictorial field guide has been designed that enables the identification of unmounted, unmacerated specimens of the 30 more commonly encountered species of phleboto-mine sandflies (***) in Pará State, North Brazil. It is based on the easily recognised external characters of the length of the 5th palpal segment, thoracic infuscation, ad-dominal colour and proboscis and body size.Taxonomy of male phlebotomine sandflies is based on the structure of the genitalia and, as most of this is external, a wholly external character key is readily made. Female taxonomy, however, is based on the internal character of the cibarium, pharynx and sperma thecae. In order to produce an external character key we therefore return to an unso phisticated "phlebotometry" (see Martins et al., 1978 p. 3 for review), using relative lengths of the proboscis, palpal segments and body, along with the degree of infuscation. Ihis idea is not new; indeed many sandfly specialists presently use external characters to separate certain species (H. Fraiha, R. P. Lane, P. D. Ready, D. G. Young and R. D. Ward personal communications 1983 & 1984).A key used to separate five anthropophillic sandflies by Biagi (1966), in Mexico, was based mainly on palpal segment length and infuscation. Floch and Abonnenc (1952) stressed the use of relative lengths of palpal segments in their keys to the sandflies of French Guiana, and four members of the shannoni group have been similarly separated according to the degree of infuscation by Morales et al. (1982). The use of thoracic infuscation as a reliable character seems to be gaining favour, having been used by young & Fairchild (1974) and Ready & Fraiha (1981). Indeed Chariotis 1974) showed the usefulness of thoracic infuscation to sepenate 7 anthropophillic species, during studies onvesicular stomatitis in Panama. Identification using external characters is essential for work on viral isolations from sandflies, where bulk samples of whole sandflies are used.Perhaps the major advantage of a simple visual guide is for teaching purposes. Technical staff in this lnstitute are able to identify most of the species they encounter without having to use the standard, more unwieldly (and in many cases unavailable) internal character keys, and the guides presented below have allowed rapid species sorting prior to the dissection of sandflies in our leismaniasis study areas (Ryan et at. ,1985).