Gesture based persuasive interfaces for public ambient displays

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática 2º Semestre, 2011/2012

Modelos Masculinos e Femininos no Oeste Americano de Annie Proulx

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Línguas, Literaturas e Culturas – Estudos Ingleses e Norte-Americanos

Sustainable urban planning: parameters to the operational process

In modern society, energy consumption and respect for the environment have become essential aspects of urban planning. The rising demand for alternative sources of energy, coupled with the decline in the construction sector and material usage, gives the idea that the thinking on modern cities, where attention is given to reduced energy consumption, savings, waste recycling and respect for the surrounding environment, is being put into practice. If we examine development of the city over recent centuries, by means of the theories of the most famous and influential urban planners, it is possible to identify the major problems caused by this type of planning. For this reason, in recent urban planning the use of systems of indicators that evaluate and certify land environmentally and energetically guides the master plan toward a more efficient city model. In addition the indicators are targeted on key factors determined by the commissioner or the opportunities the territory itself provides. Due the complexity of the environmental mechanics, the process of design and urban planning has become a challenging issue. The introduction of the indicators system has made it possible to register the life of the process, with a spiral route that allows the design itself to be refined. The aim of this study, built around the creation of a system of urban sustainability indicators that will evaluate highly eco-friendly cities, is to develop a certification system for cities or portions of them. The system will be upgradeable and objective, will employ real data and will be concerned with energy production and consumption.

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).

Aspectos fundamentais da experiência da vida

A tese que de seguida se esboça assenta sobre uma inquietação fundamental: o facto de cada um dar por si atirado na vida, de, quando cada um dá por si, dar por si a ser vida, etc. Acontece que, logo que se tenta focar mais precisamente de que é de que se trata quando se trata da “vida”, nota-se que esse fenómeno tem habitualmente a forma de um acontecimento anónimo: não se sabe bem a que é que corresponde, que conteúdos tem, que estruturas fundamentais a suportam, etc. Isto é: somos levados pela vida (passamos pela vida, atravessamo-la, estamos expostos a ela, etc.) sem saber exactamente a que é que estamos expostos, o que é que nos leva, sobre que pilares assenta a nossa vivência e a nossa compreensão dela, etc. A tese que se segue não tem a pretensão de deixar definitivamente respondidas estas perguntas; tudo o que faz, na verdade, é meramente proceder a um breve levantamento ou a um registo de algumas das estruturas fundamentais da vida a partir do ângulo da experiência da vida. E, como se espera deixar claro, procurar a resposta a partir do ângulo da experiência (do ângulo da experiência da vida) não é algo acidental ou fortuito. O que se procurará apurar é se não haverá tais laços de afinidade entre “vida” e “experiência” que todas as operações próprias da experiência têm lugar numa vinculação e estão subordinadas às estruturas fundamentais da vida (estruturas que ultrapassam o âmbito da “experiência”) e que, assim também, a vida tenha, de raiz, no modo como nela somos levados e conduzidos, a estrutura ou a forma da “experiência”.

Arts management

For the purpose of analyzing how did the considerable increase in the Portuguese tourism has influenced its cultural sector, this paper seeks to explore how has the company AntiFrame | Art Consulting replied to it. Arts Management: Contemporary Art Guides. Alibi – The Portuguese Case reviews some Arts Management literature whilst a multi-method approach is used. A market research was conducted, in which existing contemporary guides were analyzed as well as interviews made to tourists in Lisbon. Findings show that there is a flaw in the Portuguese contemporary art market, which the project Alibi aims to solve. Metrics on how the project’s results should be monitored, as part of a follow-up phase, were included, as well as limitations.

Aprendizagem, mobilidade e convergência digital no ambiente formativo da Portugal Telecom

Com o desenvolvimento das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação, as mesmas têm permitido dotar as pessoas de conhecimentos, através de formas mais rápidas e eficientes como é o caso da formação em e-learning. O número de organizações a apostar na formação em e-learning é cada vez maior, tornando-se importante perceber em que medida é que o método é eficaz e quais as vantagens que proporciona à organização, bem como o seu impacto no capital humano. Assim e visando averiguar como esta situação é vivenciada na prática decidiu-se pela realização de um estágio, na PT PRO pertencente Grupo Portugal Telecom. Para a construção deste relatório de estágio foi preciso para além da consulta e análise documental de aquivos internos e intranet, reuniões tidas com os elementos do departamento da Gestão de Formação, onde decorreu o estágio, visando dar uma resposta mais cabal à questão de partida que norteia o estágio: “Qual o impacto gerado pelas ações de e-learning, sua aplicabilidade e satisfação dos colaboradores face às mesmas na PT PRO?” O método utilizado neste estudo foi do tipo quantitativo, tendo sido aplicado um inquérito por questionário construído para o efeito. Face aos resultados obtidos, concluímos que na PT PRO, os colaboradores encontram-se globalmente satisfeitos com o conhecimento gerado e acima de tudo com a aplicabilidade do mesmo nas suas funções de trabalho.

Refinement and variability techniques in model transformation of software requirements

Tese de Doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação

Learning joint representations for order and timing of perceptual-motor sequences: a dynamic neural field approach

Many of our everyday tasks require the control of the serial order and the timing of component actions. Using the dynamic neural field (DNF) framework, we address the learning of representations that support the performance of precisely time action sequences. In continuation of previous modeling work and robotics implementations, we ask specifically the question how feedback about executed actions might be used by the learning system to fine tune a joint memory representation of the ordinal and the temporal structure which has been initially acquired by observation. The perceptual memory is represented by a self-stabilized, multi-bump activity pattern of neurons encoding instances of a sensory event (e.g., color, position or pitch) which guides sequence learning. The strength of the population representation of each event is a function of elapsed time since sequence onset. We propose and test in simulations a simple learning rule that detects a mismatch between the expected and realized timing of events and adapts the activation strengths in order to compensate for the movement time needed to achieve the desired effect. The simulation results show that the effector-specific memory representation can be robustly recalled. We discuss the impact of the fast, activation-based learning that the DNF framework provides for robotics applications.

Big data e data analysis: visualização de informação

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de Informação

Prospecção de ocorrências filonianas do tipo LCT nas formações metassedimentares entre Boticas e Montalegre (N de Portugal)

Dissertação de mestrado em Geologia (área de especialização em Valorização de Recursos Geológicos)

Evaluation de la douleur chez les personnes cérébrolésées non-communicantes aux soins intensifs

La douleur est fréquente en milieu de soins intensifs et sa gestion est l'une des missions des infirmières. Son évaluation est une prémisse indispensable à son soulagement. Cependant lorsque le patient est incapable de signaler sa douleur, les infirmières doivent se baser sur des signes externes pour l'évaluer. Les guides de bonne pratique recommandent chez les personnes non communicantes l'usage d'un instrument validé pour la population donnée et basé sur l'observation des comportements. A l'heure actuelle, les instruments d'évaluation de la douleur disponibles ne sont que partiellement adaptés aux personnes cérébrolésées dans la mesure où ces personnes présentent des comportements qui leur sont spécifiques. C'est pourquoi, cette étude vise à identifier, décrire et valider des indicateurs, et des descripteurs, de la douleur chez les personnes cérébrolésées. Un devis d'étude mixte multiphase avec une dominante quantitative a été choisi pour cette étude. Une première phase consistait à identifier des indicateurs et des descripteurs de la douleur chez les personnes cérébrolésées non communicantes aux soins intensifs en combinant trois sources de données : une revue intégrative des écrits, une démarche consultative utilisant la technique du groupe nominal auprès de 18 cliniciens expérimentés (6 médecins et 12 infirmières) et les résultats d'une étude pilote observationnelle réalisée auprès de 10 traumatisés crâniens. Les résultats ont permis d'identifier 6 indicateurs et 47 descripteurs comportementaux, vocaux et physiologiques susceptibles d'être inclus dans un instrument d'évaluation de la douleur destiné aux personnes cérébrolésées non- communicantes aux soins intensifs. Une deuxième phase séquentielle vérifiait les propriétés psychométriques des indicateurs et des descripteurs préalablement identifiés. La validation de contenu a été testée auprès de 10 experts cliniques et 4 experts scientifiques à l'aide d'un questionnaire structuré qui cherchait à évaluer la pertinence et la clarté/compréhensibilité de chaque descripteur. Cette démarche a permis de sélectionner 33 des 47 descripteurs et valider 6 indicateurs. Dans un deuxième temps, les propriétés psychométriques de ces indicateurs et descripteurs ont été étudiés au repos, lors de stimulation non nociceptive et lors d'une stimulation nociceptive (la latéralisation du patient) auprès de 116 personnes cérébrolésées aux soins intensifs hospitalisées dans deux centres hospitaliers universitaires. Les résultats montrent d'importantes variations dans les descripteurs observés lors de stimulation nociceptive probablement dues à l'hétérogénéité des patients au niveau de leur état de conscience. Dix descripteurs ont été éliminés, car leur fréquence lors de la stimulation nociceptive était inférieure à 5% ou leur fiabilité insuffisante. Les descripteurs physiologiques ont tous été supprimés en raison de leur faible variabilité et d'une fiabilité inter juge problématique. Les résultats montrent que la validité concomitante, c'est-à-dire la corrélation entre l'auto- évaluation du patient et les mesures réalisées avec les descripteurs, est satisfaisante lors de stimulation nociceptive {rs=0,527, p=0,003, n=30). Par contre la validité convergente, qui vérifiait l'association entre l'évaluation de la douleur par l'infirmière en charge du patient et les mesures réalisés avec les descripteurs, ainsi que la validité divergente, qui vérifiait si les indicateurs discriminent entre la stimulation nociceptive et le repos, mettent en évidence des résultats variables en fonction de l'état de conscience des patients. Ces résultats soulignent la nécessité d'étudier les descripteurs de la douleur chez des patients cérébrolésés en fonction du niveau de conscience et de considérer l'hétérogénéité de cette population dans la conception d'un instrument d'évaluation de la douleur pour les personnes cérébrolésées non communicantes aux soins intensifs. - Pain is frequent in the intensive care unit (ICU) and its management is a major issue for nurses. The assessment of pain is a prerequisite for appropriate pain management. However, pain assessment is difficult when patients are unable to communicate about their experience and nurses have to base their evaluation on external signs. Clinical practice guidelines highlight the need to use behavioral scales that have been validated for nonverbal patients. Current behavioral pain tools for ICU patients unable to communicate may not be appropriate for nonverbal brain-injured ICU patients, as they demonstrate specific responses to pain. This study aimed to identify, describe and validate pain indicators and descriptors in brain-injured ICU patients. A mixed multiphase method design with a quantitative dominant was chosen for this study. The first phase aimed to identify indicators and descriptors of pain for nonverbal brain- injured ICU patients using data from three sources: an integrative literature review, a consultation using the nominal group technique with 18 experienced clinicians (12 nurses and 6 physicians) and the results of an observational pilot study with 10 traumatic brain injured patients. The results of this first phase identified 6 indicators and 47 behavioral, vocal and physiological descriptors of pain that could be included in a pain assessment tool for this population. The sequential phase two tested the psychometric properties of the list of previously identified indicators and descriptors. Content validity was tested with 10 clinical and 4 scientific experts for pertinence and comprehensibility using a structured questionnaire. This process resulted in 33 descriptors to be selected out of 47 previously identified, and six validated indicators. Then, the psychometric properties of the descriptors and indicators were tested at rest, during non nociceptive stimulation and nociceptive stimulation (turning) in a sample of 116 brain-injured ICLI patients who were hospitalized in two university centers. Results showed important variations in the descriptors observed during the nociceptive stimulation, probably due to the heterogeneity of patients' level of consciousness. Ten descriptors were excluded, as they were observed less than 5% of the time or their reliability was insufficient. All physiologic descriptors were deleted as they showed little variability and inter observer reliability was lacking. Concomitant validity, testing the association between patients' self report of pain and measures performed using the descriptors, was acceptable during nociceptive stimulation (rs=0,527, p=0,003, n=30). However, convergent validity ( testing for an association between the nurses' pain assessment and measures done with descriptors) and divergent validity (testing for the ability of the indicators to discriminate between rest and a nociceptive stimulation) varied according to the level of consciousness These results highlight the need to study pain descriptors in brain-injured patients with different level of consciousness and to take into account the heterogeneity of this population forthe conception of a pain assessment tool for nonverbal brain-injured ICU patients.

Choix professionnels, orientations temporelles et scripts sexués des professions

Les trois recherches (mixed method) que nous avons menées sur les professions supérieures (enseignant.e.-chercheur.e.s du monde académique, cadres de l'administration publique et enseignant.e.s de la scolarité post-obligatoire) ont montré que les organisations professionnelles jouent un rôle important dans la manière dont les deux sexes articulent temps professionnels et temps privé, orientant ainsi leur carrière selon des références prioritaires qui peuvent tenir à l'identité professionnelle ou à celle de genre. Ces résultats nous amènent à discuter du pouvoir d'imposition des « images-guides » de l'orientation temporelle, intériorisées et fortement sexuées du fait d'une socialisation différencielle, et du rôle des contextes professionnels dans leur activation. Dans certains cas l'organisation professionnelle favorise un partage inégal et traditionnel des tâches éducatives alors que ses normes peuvent dans d'autres cas être à la source d'une remise en cause du régime de genre.