Understanding social media in everyday life: Ethnomethodological and conversation analytic perspectives

Over the last decade, social media has become a hot topic for researchers of collaborative technologies (e.g., CSCW). The pervasive use of social media in our everyday lives provides a ready source of naturalistic data for researchers to empirically examine the complexities of the social world. In this talk I outline a different perspective informed by ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (EMCA) - an orientation that has been influential within CSCW, yet has only rarely been applied to social media use. EMCA approaches can complement existing perspectives through articulating how social media is embedded in everyday life, and how its social organisation is achieved by users of social media. Outlining a possible programme of research, I draw on a corpus of screen and ambient audio recordings of mobile device use to show how EMCA research can be generative for understanding social media through concepts such as adjacency pairs, sequential context, turn allocation / speaker selection, and repair. In doing so, I also raise questions about existing studies of social media use and the way they characterise interactional phenomena.

Effects of flow regulation in the life-cycles of a mediterranean cyprinid species, the Iberian chub (Squalius carolitertii Doadrio, 1987)

Streamflow is considered a driver of inter and intra‐specific life‐history differences among freshwater fish. Therefore, dams and related flow regulation, can have deleterious impacts on their life‐cycles. The main objective of this study is to assess the effects of flow regulation on the growth and reproduction of a non‐migratory fish species. During one year, samples were collected from two populations of Iberian chub, inhabiting rivers with non‐regulated and regulated flow regimes. Flow regulation for water derivation promoted changes in chub’s condition, duration of gonad maturation and spawning, fecundity and oocyte size. However, this non‐migratory species was less responsive to streamflow regulation than a migratory species analysed. Findings from this study are important to understand changes imposed by regulated rivers on fish and can be used as guidelines for flow requirements implementations; RESUMO: O caudal é um dos fatores responsáveis pelo funcionamento dos ciclos de vida das espécies piscícolas dulciaquícolas. As barragens, e a regularização de caudal associada, podem ter impactes nos ciclos de vida destas espécies. O objetivo deste estudo prende‐se com a avaliação dos efeitos da regularização de caudal no crescimento e reprodução de uma espécie piscícola não‐migradora. A análise de amostras recolhidas em populações de escalo do Norte provenientes de dois rios de caudal regularizado e não regularizado, identificaram impactes significativos a nível da condição corporal, da maturação das gónadas e desova, da fecundidade e da dimensão dos oócitos. Esta espécie não‐migradora parece ser menos responsiva à artificialização do caudal que uma espécie migradora previamente analisada. Estes resultados permitem compreender as alterações impostas pela regularização do caudal e podem ser usados em programas de reabilitação fluvial.

Fatigue and Damage Tolerance in Primary Composite Aeronautical Structures

The challenging requirements set on new full composite aeronautical structures are mostly related to the demonstration of damage tolerance capability of their primary structures, required by the airworthiness bodies. And while composite-made structures inherently demonstrate exceptional fatigue properties, when put in real life working conditions, a number of external factors can lead to impact damages thus reducing drastically their fatigue resistance due to fiber delamination, disbonding or breaking. This PhD aims towards contributing to the better understanding of the behavior of the primary composite aeronautical structure after near-edge impacts which are inevitable during the service life of an aircraft. The behavior of CFRP structures after impacts in only one small piece of the big picture which is the certification of CFRP built aircraft, where several other parameters need to be evaluated in order to fulfill the airworthiness requirements. These parameters are also discussed in this PhD thesis in order to give a better understanding of the complex task of CFRP structure certification, in which behavior of the impacted structure plays an important role. An experimental and numerical campaign was carried out in order to determine the level of delamination damage in CFRP specimens after near-edge impacts. By calibrating the numerical model with experimental data, it was possible, for different configurations and energy levels, to predict the extension of a delamination in a CFRP structure and to estimate its residual static strength using a very simple but robust technique. The original contribution of this work to the analysis of CFRP structures is the creation of a model which could be applicable to wide range of thicknesses and stacking sequences of CFRP structures, thus potentially being suitable for industrial application, as well.

Improvement of The Driver Simulator Control and Comparison Between Driver-Road-Vehicle Interaction in Real and Simulated Environment

The present doctoral thesis discusses the ways to improve the performance of driving simulator, provide objective measures for the road safety evaluation methodology based on driver’s behavior and response and investigates the drivers' adaptation to the driving assistant systems. The activities are divided into two macro areas; the driving simulation studies and on-road experiments. During the driving simulation experimentation, the classical motion cueing algorithm with logarithmic scale was implemented in the 2DOF motion cueing simulator and the motion cues were found desirable by the participants. In addition, it found out that motion stimuli could change the behaviour of the drivers in terms of depth/distance perception. During the on-road experimentations, The driver gaze behaviour was investigated to find the objective measures on the visibility of the road signs and reaction time of the drivers. The sensor infusion and the vehicle monitoring instruments were found useful for an objective assessment of the pavement condition and the drivers’ performance. In the last chapter of the thesis, the safety assessment during the use of level 1 automated driving “ACC” is discussed with the simulator and on-road experiment. The drivers’ visual behaviour was investigated in both studies with innovative classification method to find the epochs of the distraction of the drivers. The behavioural adaptation to ACC showed that drivers may divert their attention away from the driving task to engage in secondary, non-driving-related tasks.

Studio del danno indotto dalla detonazione e della temperatura media di pistoni in lega di alluminio e sviluppo di un modello analitico per il calcolo in Real-Time della temperatura dei gas di scarico

In campo motoristico, negli ultimi anni, la ricerca si è orientata allo studio approfondito dell'efficienza di combustione, individuandone in primo luogo i principali aspetti limitanti. Primo tra tutti la detonazione che, essendo dannosa per i componenti del motore (e in particolare quelli della camera di combustione), è adesso al centro di molti studi. L'obiettivo è di conoscerla a fondo in modo da poterne arginare gli effetti. Questa tesi si colloca in un ampio progetto volto a perseguire tale risultato. Infatti, lo studio del danno che viene indotto sui componenti della camera di combustione (i pistoni in particolare), della sua morfologia, della localizzazione prevalente e i principali parametri ai quali esso risulta correlabile, fanno parte dell'attività sperimentale esposta in questo lavoro. Essa si concentra inoltre sul degrado termico della lega dei pistoni a seguito di prove a banco sul motore, che si pongono l'obiettivo di provocare elevati livelli di detonazione e su eventuali benefici che derivano dal poterne accettare episodi di entità incipiente. A tale proposito, viene esposto e validato un modello di temperatura dei gas di scarico Real Time, tramite il quale è possibile calcolare la temperatura di essi una volta noto il punto motore.

Monitoring and Prediction of Thermal Emergencies in High Performance Computing Systems

Modern scientific discoveries are driven by an unsatisfiable demand for computational resources. High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems are an aggregation of computing power to deliver considerably higher performance than one typical desktop computer can provide, to solve large problems in science, engineering, or business. An HPC room in the datacenter is a complex controlled environment that hosts thousands of computing nodes that consume electrical power in the range of megawatts, which gets completely transformed into heat. Although a datacenter contains sophisticated cooling systems, our studies indicate quantitative evidence of thermal bottlenecks in real-life production workload, showing the presence of significant spatial and temporal thermal and power heterogeneity. Therefore minor thermal issues/anomalies can potentially start a chain of events that leads to an unbalance between the amount of heat generated by the computing nodes and the heat removed by the cooling system originating thermal hazards. Although thermal anomalies are rare events, anomaly detection/prediction in time is vital to avoid IT and facility equipment damage and outage of the datacenter, with severe societal and business losses. For this reason, automated approaches to detect thermal anomalies in datacenters have considerable potential. This thesis analyzed and characterized the power and thermal characteristics of a Tier0 datacenter (CINECA) during production and under abnormal thermal conditions. Then, a Deep Learning (DL)-powered thermal hazard prediction framework is proposed. The proposed models are validated against real thermal hazard events reported for the studied HPC cluster while in production. This thesis is the first empirical study of thermal anomaly detection and prediction techniques of a real large-scale HPC system to the best of my knowledge. For this thesis, I used a large-scale dataset, monitoring data of tens of thousands of sensors for around 24 months with a data collection rate of around 20 seconds.

Development of TNBS-induced colitis: animal model to test new pharmacological approaches

IBD is a gastro-intestinal disorder marked with chronic inflammation of intestinal epithelium, damaging mucosal tissue and manifests into several intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms. Currently used medical therapy is able to induce and maintain the patient in remission, however no modifies or reverses the underlying pathogenic mechanism. The research of other medical approaches is crucial to the treatment of IBD and, for this, it´s important to use animal models to mimic the characteristics of disease in real life. The aim of the study is to develop an animal model of TNBS-induced colitis to test new pharmacological approaches. TNBS was instilled intracolonic single dose as described by Morris et al. It was administered 2,5% TNBS in 50% ethanol through a catheter carefully inserted into the colon. Mice were kept in a Tredelenburg position to avoid reflux. On day 4 and 7, the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. The induction was confirmed based on clinical symptoms/signs, ALP determination and histopathological analysis. At day 4, TNBS group presented a decreased body weight and an alteration of intestinal motility characterized by diarrhea, severe edema of the anus and moderate morbidity, while in the two control groups weren’t identified any alteration on the clinical symptoms/signs with an increase of the body weight. TNBS group presented the highest concentrations of ALP comparing with control groups. The histopathology analysis revealed severe necrosis of the mucosa with widespread necrosis of the intestinal glands. Severe hemorrhagic and purulent exsudates were observed in the submucosa, muscular and serosa. TNBS group presented clinical symptoms/signs and histopathological features compatible with a correct induction of UC. The peak of manifestations became maximal at day 4 after induction. This study allows concluding that it’s possible to develop a TNBS induced colitis 4 days after instillation.

Manobras de condução assistida para veículos submarinos subactuados

A intervenção humana no manuseamento de veículos submarinos operados remotamente (ROVs) é um requisito necessário para garantir o sucesso da missão e a integridade do equipamento. Contudo, a sua teleoperação não é fácil, pelo que a condução assistida destes veículos torna-se relevante. Esta dissertação propõe uma solução para este problema para ROVs de 3DOF (surge, heave e yaw). São propostas duas abordagens distintas – numa primeira propõe-se um sistema de controlo Image Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) tendo em vista a utilização exclusiva de uma câmara (sensor existente neste tipo de sistemas) por forma a melhorar significativamente a teleoperação de um pequeno ROV; na segunda, propõe-se um sistema de controlo cinemático para o plano horizontal do veículo e um algoritmo de uma manobra capaz de dotar o ROV de movimento lateral através de uma trajectória dente-de-serra. Demonstrou-se em cenários de operação real que o sistema proposto na primeira abordagem permite ao operador de um ROV com 3DOF executar tarefas de alguma complexidade (estabilização) apenas através de comandos de alto nível, melhorando assim drasticamente a teleoperação e qualidade de inspecção do veículo em questão. Foi também desenvolvido um simulador do ROV em MATLAB para validação e avaliação das manobras, onde o sistema proposto na segunda abordagem foi validado com sucesso.

Management consulting lab- Galp social media

This study consists of the reflection on a consultancy project developed by four students and one project manager from NOVA SBE. In attempting to assist Galp Energia structure the operationalization of an entry into Social Media, we were confronted with first-time challenges in real-life highly demanding workplace situations. The following considerations attempt to defuse the problem-solving mindset of the practical experience from the methodological development and learning experience extracted from the consulting line of work

Predicting market movement with Artificial Neural Networks

This paper presents an application of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to the prediction of stock market direction in the US. Using a multilayer perceptron neural network and a backpropagation algorithm for the training process, the model aims at learning the hidden patterns in the daily movement of the S&P500 to correctly identify if the market will be in a Trend Following or Mean Reversion behavior. The ANN is able to produce a successful investment strategy which outperforms the buy and hold strategy, but presents instability in its overall results which compromises its practical application in real life investment decisions.

Visual search for normal color and dichromatic observers using a unique distracter color

It is well known that color coding facilitates search and iden- tification in real-life tasks. The aim of this work was to compare reac- tion times for normal color and dichromatic observers in a visual search experiment. A unique distracter color was used to avoid abnormal color vision vulnerability to background complexity. Reaction times for nor- mal color observers and dichromats were estimated for 2◦ central vision at 48 directions around a white point in CIE L∗a∗b∗ color space for systematic examination on the mechanisms of dichromatic color percep- tion. The results show that mean search times for dichromats were twice larger compared to the normal color observers and for all directions. The difference between the copunctual confusion lines and the confusion direction measure experimentally was 5.5◦ for protanopes and 7.5◦ for deuteranopes.

High-throughput hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry for the optimized quantification of the anti-Gram-negatives antibiotic colistin A/B and its pro-drug colistimethate.

Colistin is a last resort's antibacterial treatment in critically ill patients with multi-drug resistant Gram-negative infections. As appropriate colistin exposure is the key for maximizing efficacy while minimizing toxicity, individualized dosing optimization guided by therapeutic drug monitoring is a top clinical priority. Objective of the present work was to develop a rapid and robust HPLC-MS/MS assay for quantification of colistin plasma concentrations. This novel methodology validated according to international standards simultaneously quantifies the microbiologically active compounds colistin A and B, plus the pro-drug colistin methanesulfonate (colistimethate, CMS). 96-well micro-Elution SPE on Oasis Hydrophilic-Lipophilic-Balanced (HLB) followed by direct analysis by Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) with Ethylene Bridged Hybrid - BEH - Amide phase column coupled to tandem mass spectrometry allows a high-throughput with no significant matrix effect. The technique is highly sensitive (limit of quantification 0.014 and 0.006μg/mL for colistin A and B), precise (intra-/inter-assay CV 0.6-8.4%) and accurate (intra-/inter-assay deviation from nominal concentrations -4.4 to +6.3%) over the clinically relevant analytical range 0.05-20μg/mL. Colistin A and B in plasma and whole blood samples are reliably quantified over 48h at room temperature and at +4°C (<6% deviation from nominal values) and after three freeze-thaw cycles. Colistimethate acidic hydrolysis (1M H2SO4) to colistin A and B in plasma was completed in vitro after 15min of sonication while the pro-drug hydrolyzed spontaneously in plasma ex vivo after 4h at room temperature: this information is of utmost importance for interpretation of analytical results. Quantification is precise and accurate when using serum, citrated or EDTA plasma as biological matrix, while use of heparin plasma is not appropriate. This new analytical technique providing optimized quantification in real-life conditions of the microbiologically active compounds colistin A and B offers a highly efficient tool for routine therapeutic drug monitoring aimed at individualizing drug dosing against life-threatening infections.

Influence of the ankle arthropathies on the 3D kinematics of the lower limbs during gait: analysis with an ambulatory system.

Introduction: Ankle arthropathy is associated with a decreased motion of the ankle-hindfoot during ambulation. Ankle arthrodesis was shown to result in degeneration of the neighbour joints of the foot. Inversely, total ankle arthroplasty conceptually preserves the adjacent joints because of the residual mobility of the ankle but this has not been demonstrated yet in vivo. It has also been reported that degenerative ankle diseases, and even arthrodesis, do not result in alteration of the knee and hip joints. We present the preliminary results of a new approach of this problem based on ambulatory gait analysis. Patients and Methods: Motion analysis of the lower limbs was performed using a Physilog® (BioAGM, CH) system consisting of three-dimensional (3D) accelerometer and gyroscope, coupled to a magnetic system (Liberty©, Polhemus, USA). Both systems have been validated. Three groups of two patients were included into this pilot study and compared to healthy subjects (controls) during level walking: patients with ankle osteoarthritis (group 1), patients treated by ankle arthrodesis (group 2), patients treated by total ankle prosthesis (group 3). Results: Motion patterns of all analyzed joints over more than 20 gait cycles in each subject were highly repeatable. Motion amplitude of the ankle-hindfoot in control patients was similar to recently reported results. Ankle arthrodesis limited the motion of the ankle-hindfoot in the sagittal and horizontal planes. The prosthetic ankle allowed a more physiologic movement in the sagittal plane only. Ankle arthritis and its treatments did not influence the range of motion of the knee and hip joint during stance phase, excepted for a slight decrease of the hip flexion in groups 1 and 2. Conclusion: The reliability of the system was shown by the repeatability of the consecutive measurements. The results of this preliminary study were similar to those obtained through laboratory gait analysis. However, our system has the advantage to allow ambulatory analysis of 3D kinematics of the lower limbs outside of a gait laboratory and in real life conditions. To our knowledge this is a new concept in the analysis of ankle arthropathy and its treatments. Therefore, there is a potential to address specific questions like the difficult comparison of the benefits of ankle arthroplasty versus arthrodesis. The encouraging results of this pilot study offer the perspective to analyze the consequences of ankle arthropathy and its treatments on the biomechanics of the lower limbs ambulatory, in vivo and in daily life conditions.

Estudi estratègic del coblisme com a bé cultural

Aquest treball de final de carrera tracta sobre l’aplicació de les modernes tècniques de reflexió estratègica aplicades al sector de la cultura popular catalana, concretament la cultura popular catalana que engloba les manifestacions on el vincle comú és la formació musical pròpia: la cobla. Aprofitar aquest sector, a priori tant complex i tant allunyat en principi del món d’estratègia d’empresa com aquest, és l’excusa per veure el comportament d’aquestes eines i teories, i comprovar-ne la seva eficàcia i adaptabilitat als diferents casos de la realitat, a més de poder treballar un tema tant nou com la valoració d’intangibles. A la vegada, es produeix una síntesi de treballs orientats a l’organització d’entitats sense ànim de lucre existents en la bibliografia especialitzada, i que han tingut un inexistent ressò pràctic. Això pot ser un contrasentit en un país on l’associacionisme és tan arrelat i un dels pilars socials que ens vertebren i diferencien. En el cas de la música per a cobla, especialment destacable en un moment molt important i crític per estar en un temps de transició social molt fort. També, cal destacar vivament que té una sèrie de valors afegits de qualitat i complexitat que la situen en un interessant camí entre la cultura popular i les propostes de caràcter més comercial, en unes condicions actuals de gran desconeixement social. Les vinculacions entre estratègia, innovació, responsabilitat social i cultura del coneixement, donen a aquest treball un fort caràcter actual i adaptat a la realitat en les consideracions sobre el management en general.

Spatiotemporal analysis of forensic case data: a visualisation approach

Whether for investigative or intelligence aims, crime analysts often face up the necessity to analyse the spatiotemporal distribution of crimes or traces left by suspects. This article presents a visualisation methodology supporting recurrent practical analytical tasks such as the detection of crime series or the analysis of traces left by digital devices like mobile phone or GPS devices. The proposed approach has led to the development of a dedicated tool that has proven its effectiveness in real inquiries and intelligence practices. It supports a more fluent visual analysis of the collected data and may provide critical clues to support police operations as exemplified by the presented case studies.