Properties of patchy colloidal particles close to a surface: a Monte Carlo and density functional study

We investigate the behavior of a patchy particle model close to a hard-wall via Monte Carlo simulation and density functional theory (DFT). Two DFT approaches, based on the homogeneous and inhomogeneous versions of Wertheim's first order perturbation theory for the association free energy are used. We evaluate, by simulation and theory, the equilibrium bulk phase diagram of the fluid and analyze the surface properties for two isochores, one of which is close to the liquid side of the gas-liquid coexistence curve. We find that the density profile near the wall crosses over from a typical high-temperature adsorption profile to a low-temperature desorption one, for the isochore close to coexistence. We relate this behavior to the properties of the bulk network liquid and find that the theoretical descriptions are reasonably accurate in this regime. At very low temperatures, however, an almost fully bonded network is formed, and the simulations reveal a second adsorption regime which is not captured by DFT. We trace this failure to the neglect of orientational correlations of the particles, which are found to exhibit surface induced orientational order in this regime.

Web GIS to support irrigation management: a prototype for SAGRA network, Alentejo Portugal

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies

Modelling a network of heterogeneous e-learning systems

In recent years emerged several initiatives promoted by educational organizations to adapt Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) to e-learning. These initiatives commonly named eLearning Frameworks share a common goal: to create flexible learning environments by integrating heterogeneous systems already available in many educational institutions. However, these frameworks were designed for integration of systems participating in business like processes rather than on complex pedagogical processes as those related to automatic evaluation. Consequently, their knowledge bases lack some fundamental components that are needed to model pedagogical processes. The objective of the research described in this paper is to study the applicability of eLearning frameworks for modelling a network of heterogeneous eLearning systems, using the automatic evaluation of programming exercises as a case study. The paper surveys the existing eLearning frameworks to justify the selection of the e-Framework. This framework is described in detail and identified the necessary components missing from its knowledge base, more precisely, a service genre, expression and usage model for an evaluation service. The extensibility of the framework is tested with the definition of this service. A concrete model for evaluation of programming exercises is presented as a validation of the proposed approach.

Social network analysis applied to knowledge creation and transfer in the portuguese agricultural R&D field: an exploratory study

Paper presented at the 9th European Conference on Knowledge Management, Southampton Solent University, Southampton, UK, 4-5 Sep. 2008. URL: http://academic-conferences.org/eckm/eckm2008/eckm08-home.htm

Enterprise information portals: potential for evaluating research for knowledge management and human capital assets using social network analysis

Paper presented at the ECKM 2010 – 11th European Conference on Knowledge Management, 2-3 September, 2010, Famalicão, Portugal. URL: http://www.academic-conferences.org/eckm/eckm2010/eckm10-home.htm

O que é que tem o actor?: figurações de personagens shakespearianas por actores e actrizes portugueses ao longo do século XX (... e um bocadinho do XXI)

O presente artigo pretende dar conta do caminho percorrido pelo teatro português ao longo do século XX, tendo como eixo estruturante a figuração de algumas personagens de William Shakespeare por actores portugueses. Para tal, considerarei o papel que o actor pode assumir dentro de uma estrutura de produção teatral e o significado que pode ter a presença de Shakespeare no reportório de vários grupos com propósitos e orgânicas diversas. Tomarei como exemplos alguns espectáculos representantes de vários momentos e de correntes diversas no teatro português, levantando a hipótese de que se poderá perceber na figuração de personagens shakespearianas alguns dos sentidos do que tem sido a evolução do teatro em Portugal.

An Ethos Theory of Party Positions on European Integration: Poland and Beyond

Since 1989, five parliamentary elections have been the stage for the foundation and demise of political parties aspiring to govern the new democratic Polish state. The demise of the AWS before the 2001 elections after ten years of attempts to create a centre-right core party resulted in a new splintering of the right-wing, and the centre-right became again devoid of a pivotal formation. While Eurosceptic parties in average gain 8 percent of the vote, in the 2001 Polish parliamentary elections Eurosceptic parties gained around 20 percent of the vote. In Poland right-wing parties show an unusual propensity for Euroscepticism. The persistence and increased importance of nationalism in Poland, which has prevented the development of a strong Christian democratic party, effectively explains the levels of Euroscepticism on the right. After the autumn 2005 parliamentary elections the national conservative party, Law and Justice, formed a governing coalition with the national Catholic League of Polish Families, creating one of the first Eurosceptic governments. Although this work does not intend to provide a theorisation of party systems development, it shows that the context of European integration fostered nationalists’ divisiveness of, and provoked the splitting of the right the unusual propensity of parties for Euroscepticism makes Poland a paradigmatic case of the kind of conflicts over European integration emerging in Central and Eastern European party systems.

Reflexão sobre o trabalho do actor a partir da participação em Otelo de William Shakespeare, com encenação de Kuniaki Ida no Teatro do Bolhão em 2009

Uma vez que o meu percurso profissional no Teatro tem sido desenvolvido enquanto actriz, considerei que a apresentação de um trabalho de natureza profissional para o requerimento do título de especialista nesta área deveria incidir sobre a Interpretação em Teatro. O espectáculo escolhido como exemplificativo do meu percurso remonta a 2009 – Otelo de William Shakespeare. A primeira parte da presente comunicação pretende dar conta do processo de trabalho seguido pela encenação de Kuniaki Ida no Teatro do Bolhão, e cuja equipa integrei como intérprete no papel de Emília. Nela se dão conta das várias etapas – do trabalho de mesa ao levantamento das cenas – que conduziram ao espectáculo apresentado primeiramente no Porto (ACE) e depois no Teatro da Trindade, Teatro Municipal de Vila Real e Casa das Artes de Famalicão. A segunda parte é dedicada a uma reflexão sobre o trabalho do actor, processos e dúvidas evidenciadas por este espectáculo em particular. Apesar de o tempo para a reflexão e o debate sobre processos ser muito escasso durante a preparação de um espectáculo, não há trabalho que não despolete um questionamento no actor sobre o melhor modo de aproximação à criação da personagem. Salvaguardamos aqui o facto de estarmos a tratar da criação num contexto logocêntrico, criação de um espectáculo a partir de um texto dramático que inclui intriga, acção e personagens, e não outro tipo de abordagem teatral que suprime os princípios da dramaturgia clássica.

A Hybrid Simulated Annealing approach to handle Energy Resource Management considering an intensive use of Electric Vehicles

The massification of electric vehicles (EVs) can have a significant impact on the power system, requiring a new approach for the energy resource management. The energy resource management has the objective to obtain the optimal scheduling of the available resources considering distributed generators, storage units, demand response and EVs. The large number of resources causes more complexity in the energy resource management, taking several hours to reach the optimal solution which requires a quick solution for the next day. Therefore, it is necessary to use adequate optimization techniques to determine the best solution in a reasonable amount of time. This paper presents a hybrid artificial intelligence technique to solve a complex energy resource management problem with a large number of resources, including EVs, connected to the electric network. The hybrid approach combines simulated annealing (SA) and ant colony optimization (ACO) techniques. The case study concerns different EVs penetration levels. Comparisons with a previous SA approach and a deterministic technique are also presented. For 2000 EVs scenario, the proposed hybrid approach found a solution better than the previous SA version, resulting in a cost reduction of 1.94%. For this scenario, the proposed approach is approximately 94 times faster than the deterministic approach.

Comédia física: the playfull actor: estágio profissional

Relatório de Estágio submetido à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Artes Performativas, Especialidade Interpretação.

Exciting dynamical behavior in a network of two coupled rings of Chen oscillators

We study exotic patterns appearing in a network of coupled Chen oscillators. Namely, we consider a network of two rings coupled through a “buffer” cell, with Z3×Z5 symmetry group. Numerical simulations of the network reveal steady states, rotating waves in one ring and quasiperiodic behavior in the other, and chaotic states in the two rings, to name a few. The different patterns seem to arise through a sequence of Hopf bifurcations, period-doubling, and halving-period bifurcations. The network architecture seems to explain certain observed features, such as equilibria and the rotating waves, whereas the properties of the chaotic oscillator may explain others, such as the quasiperiodic and chaotic states. We use XPPAUT and MATLAB to compute numerically the relevant states.

Generalization of Wertheim's theory for the assembly of various types of rings

We generalize Wertheim's first order perturbation theory to account for the effect in the thermodynamics of the self-assembly of rings characterized by two energy scales. The theory is applied to a lattice model of patchy particles and tested against Monte Carlo simulations on a fcc lattice. These particles have 2 patches of type A and 10 patches of type B, which may form bonds AA or AB that decrease the energy by epsilon(AA) and by epsilon(AB) = r epsilon(AA), respectively. The angle theta between the 2 A-patches on each particle is fixed at 601, 90 degrees or 120 degrees. For values of r below 1/2 and above a threshold r(th)(theta) the models exhibit a phase diagram with two critical points. Both theory and simulation predict that rth increases when theta decreases. We show that the mechanism that prevents phase separation for models with decreasing values of theta is related to the formation of loops containing AB bonds. Moreover, we show that by including the free energy of B-rings ( loops containing one AB bond), the theory describes the trends observed in the simulation results, but that for the lowest values of theta, the theoretical description deteriorates due to the increasing number of loops containing more than one AB bond.

Rheology of the cytoskeleton as a fractal network

We model the cytoskeleton as a fractal network by identifying each segment with a simple Kelvin-Voigt element with a well defined equilibrium length. The final structure retains the elastic characteristics of a solid or a gel, which may support stress, without relaxing. By considering a very simple regular self-similar structure of segments in series and in parallel, in one, two, or three dimensions, we are able to express the viscoelasticity of the network as an effective generalized Kelvin-Voigt model with a power law spectrum of retardation times L similar to tau(alpha). We relate the parameter alpha with the fractal dimension of the gel. In some regimes ( 0 < alpha < 1), we recover the weak power law behaviors of the elastic and viscous moduli with the angular frequencies G' similar to G" similar to w(alpha) that occur in a variety of soft materials, including living cells. In other regimes, we find different power laws for G' and G".