Using perspective schema and a reference model to design the ETL process

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Informática

A process-based control for evolvable production systems

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Digital storytelling: student ID in higher education

Identity achievement is related to personality, as well as cognitive and interpersonal development. In tandem with the deep structural changes that have taken place in society, education must also shift towards a teaching approach focused on learning and the overall development of the student. The integration of technology may be the drive to foster the needed changes. We draw on the literature of multiple subject areas as basis for our work, namely: identity construction and self-representation, within a psychological and social standpoint; Higher Education (HE) in Portugal after Bologna, college student development and other intrinsic relationships, namely the role of emotions and interpersonal relationships in the learning process; the technological evolution of storytelling towards Digital Storytelling (DS) – the Californian model – and its connections to identity and education. Ultimately we propose DS as the aggregator capable of humanizing HE while developing essential skills and competences. Grounded on an interpretative/constructivist paradigm, we implemented a qualitative case study to explore DS in HE. In three attempts to collect student data, we gathered detailed observation notes from two Story Circles; twelve student written reflections; fourteen Digital Stories and detailed observation notes from one Story Show. We carried out three focus groups with teachers where we discussed their perceptions of each student prior to and after watching the Digital Stories, in addition to their opinion on DS in HE as a teaching and learning method and its influence on interpersonal relationships. We sought understandings of the integration of DS to analyze student selfperception and self-representation in HE contexts and intersected our findings with teachers’ perceptions of their students. We compared teachers’ and students’ perspectives, through the analysis of data collected throughout the DS process – Story Circle, Story Creation and Story Show – and triangulated that information with the students’ personal reflections and teacher perceptions. Finally we questioned if and how DS may influence teachers’ perceptions of students. We found participants to be the ultimate gatekeepers in our study. Very few students and teachers voluntarily came forth to take part in the study, confirming the challenge remains in getting participants to see the value and understand the academic rigor of DS. Despite this reluctance, DS proved to be an asset for teachers and students directly and indirectly involved in the study. DS challenges HE contexts, namely teacher established perception of students; student’s own expectations regarding learning in HE; the emotional realm, the private vs. public dichotomy and the shift in educational roles.

Establishing a high titer transient gene expression process in conditioned media for CHO-DG44 cells

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Biotecnologia

System Level Simulation and Radio Resource Management for Distributed Antenna Systems with Cognitive Radio and Multi-Cell Cooperation

4th International Conference on Future Generation Communication Technologies (FGCT 2015), Luton, United Kingdom.

Dynamics of cork mycobiota throughout stopper manufacturing process: from diversity to metabolite

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Biology

Reconstitution of the failure of the Fonte Santa mine tailings dam. Modelling of the dam breaching process

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil Perfil de Estruturas e Geotecnia

A terapia ocupacional como recurso para idosos institucionalizados: um estudo de avaliação das necessidades ocupacionais

RESUMO: O envelhecimento populacional está associado a necessidades de saúde, incluindo aspectos ligados à realização das actividades quotidianas e à vertente ocupacional em geral.O presente estudo procurou identificar as necessidades ocupacionais de uma amostra de idosos institucionalizados e avaliar alterações no desempenho ocupacional e na satisfação após participação num programa de actividades terapêuticas. A amostra foi constituída por 20 indivíduos, com uma média de idades de 86,2 anos (DP=6,0), maioritariamente do sexo feminino e viúvos, com níveis de escolaridade diversos, sem défice cognitivo grave, provenientes de duas instituições para idosos em Lisboa. Os instrumentos utilizados foram entrevista de caracterização sócio-demográfica. Mini- Mental State Examination. Índice de Katz e Medida Canadiana de Desempenho Ocupacional. Após a participação no programa de actividades, oito indivíduos mantiveram as notas de desempenho e de satisfação na Medida Canadiana; cinco apresentaram aumento em ambas as notas; para dois, o desempenho permaneceu inalterado e o grau de satisfação diminuiu; finalmente, três deixaram de ter pelo menos um problema no desempenho, destacando-se um indivíduo que deixou de ter problemas para se alimentar, tornando-se independente nesta área. Comparando as avaliações iniciais e as reavaliações pósintervenção, não se registaram diferenças significativas nas pontuações de desempenho nem de satisfação da Medida Canadiana. Em conclusão, muitos dos participantes do estudo referiram um desempenho deficiente em muitas actividades ocupacionais que valorizavam, assim como um grau elevado de insatisfação em relação a esse desempenho. Apesar de ter tido algum impacto nas necessidades ocupacionais dos participantes, o programa de actividades não pareceu trazer benefícios generalizados nesta pequena amostra.------------ABSTRACT:The aging process in institutionalized populations has implications that encompass various issues related to health, including occupational development and the performance of daily activities. It was this study’s objective to identify the occupational needs of a sample of institutionalized elderly and to identify the existence of changes in occupational performance and satisfaction after participation in a program of therapeutic activities. The sample consisted of 20 individuals (mostly female and widowed) from two nursing homes in Lisbon, having various levels of education and an average age of 86,2 years (SD=6,0) as well as the ability of verbal expression without severe cognitive deficit. The instruments used were a structured interview for socio-demographic characterization, the Mini Mental State Examination, the Katz Index and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. We found that older respondents claimed that the performance of daily activities constituted a problem. They stated that the activities of self-care and leisure were the most problematic, that they had negative self-perceptions regarding their own performance, and that they were dissatisfied with this performance of their daily activities. After participating in program activities, eight respondents experienced no change in their respective grades of performance and satisfaction, five showed increases in both grades and, for two respondents, the performance remained unchanged while the satisfaction level showed a decline. Three stopped having at least one problem in performance, and one participant even stopped referring feeding problems, having become independent in this area. Regarding the evolution of the Canadian Measure performance and satisfaction scores (before versus after the intervention), we found no significant differences. In conclusion, most participants stated that they were performing badly in what concerned the occupational activities they valued the most. The same applies to low levels of satisfaction regarding that performance. In this small sample, and despite some benefits, the program of therapeutic activities did not prove to be significantly effective.

Comprehensive treatments for social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia: A critical review and effect-size analysis of controlled studies

Recent advances in psychosocial treatments for schizophrenia have targeted social cognitive deficits. A critical literature review and effect-size (ES) analysis was conducted to investigate the efficacy of comprehensive programs of social cognitive training in schizophrenia. Results revealed 16 controlled studies consisting of seven models of comprehensive treatment with only three of these treatment models investigated in more than one study. The effects of social cognitive training were reported in 11/15 studies that included facial affect recognition skills (ES=.84) and 10/13 studies that included theory-of-mind (ES=.70) as outcomes. Less than half (4/9) of studies that measured attributional style as an outcome reported effects of treatment, but effect sizes across studies were significant (ESs=.30-.52). The effect sizes for symptoms were modest, but, with the exception of positive symptoms, significant (ESs=.32-.40). The majority of trials were randomized (13/16), selected active control conditions (11/16) and included at least 30 participants (12/16). Concerns for this area of research include the absence of blinded outcome raters in more than 50% of trials and low rates of utilization of procedures for maintaining treatment fidelity. These findings provide preliminary support for the broader use of comprehensive social cognitive training procedures as a psychosocial intervention for schizophrenia.

Sustainability Improvement of a composite materials’ industry through recycling and re-engineering process approaches

Recent Advances in Mechanics and Materials in Design

Process engineering of liver cells for drug testing applications

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Bioengenharia

A comparison between thin film solar cells made from co-evaporated CuIn1-xGaxSe2using a one-stage process versus a three-stage process

Until this day, the most efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells have been prepared using a rather complex growth process often referred to as three-stage or multistage. This family of processes is mainly characterized by a first step deposited with only In, Ga and Se flux to form a first layer. Cu is added in a second step until the film becomes slightly Cu-rich, where-after the film is converted to its final Cu-poor composition by a third stage, again with no or very little addition of Cu. In this paper, a comparison between solar cells prepared with the three-stage process and a one-stage/in-line process with the same composition, thickness, and solar cell stack is made. The one-stage process is easier to be used in an industrial scale and do not have Cu-rich transitions. The samples were analyzed using glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, current–voltage-temperature, capacitance-voltage, external quantum efficiency, transmission/reflection, and photoluminescence. It was concluded that in spite of differences in the texturing, morphology and Ga gradient, the electrical performance of the two types of samples is quite similar as demonstrated by the similar J–V behavior, quantum spectral response, and the estimated recombination losses.

Decision-making process in radiology: the magnetic resonance example in the TA context

Based on the report for “Project IV” unit of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment (Doctoral Conference) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 2011). This thesis research has the supervision of António Moniz (FCT-UNL and ITAS-KIT) and Michael Decker (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-ITAS). Other members of the thesis committee are Carlos Alberto da Silva (University of Évora), José Maria de Albuquerque (Institute of Welding and Quality), Lotte Steuten (University of Twente), Mário Forjaz Secca (FCT-UNL) and Nelson Chibeles Martins (FCT-UNL).

Safety function analysis in an industrial production process

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial