How human schematization and systematic errors take effect on sketch map formalizations

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

In the midst of confusion : da dança em cinema e da adaptação de dança para o ecrã: processos de criação intermediais: trabalho de projecto

Trabalho de Projeto submetido à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desenvolvimento de Projeto Cinematográfico - especialização em Dramaturgia e Realização

Relatório de Estágio: Análise da eficiência do Sistema de controlo de tráfego da cidade do Porto

No âmbito da unidade curricular Dissertação/Estágio/Projeto, foi desenvolvido, durante um estágio na Câmara Municipal do Porto, o estudo da eficiência do sistema inteligente de controlo de tráfego implementado na cidade. Este sistema é designado como Sistema Inteligente de Gestão Autónoma - SIGA e tem como base de funcionamento o software de gestão de tráfego GERTRUDE da empresa GERTRUDE SAEM. O sistema de controlo de tráfego encontra-se repartido em 10 zonas interligadas, focadas essencialmente no centro da cidade do Porto. O estudo foi aplicado apenas a uma parte da zona da Constituição, nomeadamente a rua da Constituição, desde a Praça Marquês até à rua Antero de Quental. A eficiência mediu-se pela comparação de duas situações, a circulação e comportamento das correntes de tráfego com o sistema em funcionamento normal e com o sistema desativado. Por sua vez, o indicador utilizado que permitiu avaliar o sistema, foi o nível de serviço obtido pelo atraso médio por veículo em cada ramo de cada interseção. Para determinação do atraso, foram testados diferentes métodos, para se tentar perceber qual aquele que melhor se adequava à situação e que exigia menor número de recursos humanos. À frente serão exaradas algumas conclusões acerca da metodologia de cada um deles e condicionantes que levaram à não utilização de todos os métodos. Depois de aplicadas as metodologias que permitiram determinar o nível de serviço em cada grupo semafórico das diferentes interseções, percebeu-se que existe uma grande diferença na circulação entre as duas situações, sendo que a mais-valia que este sistema apresenta é a coordenação das diferentes interseções que se encontram abrangidas pelas 10 zonas pertencentes ao SIGA.

Reconceptualising public spaces of (IN)equality: sensing and creating layers of visibility

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Geografia e Planeamento Territorial - Especialidade: Geografia Humana

Breaking the Pattern and Creating New Paths – Feminist Mizrahi Women Artists in Israel

This article addresses the work of Mizrahi women artists, i.e., Israeli-Jewish women of Asian or African ethnic origin, using the artist Vered Nissim as a case study. Nissim seeks to affirm the politics of identity and recognition, as well as feminism in order to create a paradigm shift with regards to the local regime of cultural representations in the Israeli art scene. Endeavouring to find ways of undermining the rigid imbalances between different social groups, she calls for a comprehensive reform of the status quo through artistic activism. Nissim employs a style, content, and medium that disrupts the accepted social order, using humour and irony as unique weapons with which she takes liberties with conventional moral, social, and economic values. Placing issues of race, class and gender at the centre of her work, she seeks to undermine and problematize essentialist attitudes, highlighting the political intersections of different identity categories as the critical analysis of intersectionality unfolds.

Mineralizações associadas a shear zone networking na vertente oriental da Serra de Arga (Minho, Portugal)

Dissertação de mestrado em Ordenamento e Valorização de Recursos Geológicos

Questões de género nas revistas generalistas de informação em Portugal: cruzamentos temáticos na Sábado e Visão

As revistas de informação generalista configuram uma interseção entre as representações socioeconómicas, políticas e culturais e os quotidianos da população. Neste artigo apresentamos uma análise temática das revistas de informação generalista Sábado e Visão, as mais lidas do segmento em Portugal. O corpus de análise foi composto por 440 peças jornalísticas de 104 edições que correspondem a todos os números editados em 2011 por estas duas publicações. O estudo empírico, realizado com recurso ao software NVivo 10, revela uma transversalidade da abordagem aos temas político-económicos, espelho da conjuntura nacional e internacional no ano de 2011. As diferenças mais visíveis entre as duas revistas revelam uma maior opção pelos temas Sexualidades e Relações de Intimidade e Jet set na Sábado e Saúde, Lazer e bem-estar na Visão. Além disso, no que concerne às representações de género, presentes em vários temas, surgem na generalidade assentes num binarismo que transpõe o olhar da dimensão de género para o sexo biológico e que opõe as representações tradicionais da feminilidade e masculinidade, condicionando o surgimento de representações alternativas.

Geometry and physics of knots

KNOTS are usually categorized in terms of topological properties that are invariant under changes in a knot's spatial configuration(1-4). Here we approach knot identification from a different angle, by considering the properties of particular geometrical forms which we define as 'ideal'. For a knot with a given topology and assembled from a tube of uniform diameter, the ideal form is the geometrical configuration having the highest ratio of volume to surface area. Practically, this is equivalent to determining the shortest piece of tube that can be closed to form the knot. Because the notion of an ideal form is independent of absolute spatial scale, the length-to-diameter ratio of a tube providing an ideal representation is constant, irrespective of the tube's actual dimensions. We report the results of computer simulations which show that these ideal representations of knots have surprisingly simple geometrical properties. In particular, there is a simple linear relationship between the length-to-diameter ratio and the crossing number-the number of intersections in a two-dimensional projection of the knot averaged over all directions. We have also found that the average shape of knotted polymeric chains in thermal equilibrium is closely related to the ideal representation of the corresponding knot type. Our observations provide a link between ideal geometrical objects and the behaviour of seemingly disordered systems, and allow the prediction of properties of knotted polymers such as their electrophoretic mobility(5).

Three-dimensional slope stability analysis of South Peak, Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada

South Peak is a 7-Mm3 potentially unstable rock mass located adjacent to the 1903 Frank Slide on Turtle Mountain, Alberta. This paper presents three-dimensional numerical rock slope stability models and compares them with a previous conceptual slope instability model based on discontinuity surfaces identified using an airborne LiDAR digital elevation model (DEM). Rock mass conditions at South Peak are described using the Geological Strength Index and point load tests, whilst the mean discontinuity set orientations and characteristics are based on approximately 500 field measurements. A kinematic analysis was first conducted to evaluate probable simple discontinuity-controlled failure modes. The potential for wedge failure was further assessed by considering the orientation of wedge intersections over the airborne LiDAR DEM and through a limit equilibrium combination analysis. Block theory was used to evaluate the finiteness and removability of blocks in the rock mass. Finally, the complex interaction between discontinuity sets and the topography within South Peak was investigated through three-dimensional distinct element models using the code 3DEC. The influence of individual discontinuity sets, scale effects, friction angle and the persistence along the discontinuity surfaces on the slope stability conditions were all investigated using this code.

Holy harlots : authority, gender, and the body in medieval English hagiography

This doctoral dissertation aims at describing the representation of holy harlots (Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, Pelagia, Thai's, Afra of Augsburg) in medieval English hagiography. These saints are unique representatives that combine both extremes of the feminine in the medieval imaginaire: she is both, as a saint, the Virgin Mary, the pure and virtuous woman, and, in her past as a prostitute, Eve, the evil female tempter who led all mankind to destruction. The initial question of this thesis is how did hagiographers negotiate the representation of a formerly sinful, sexually active, long- living woman as an authoritative saint? This thesis aims at finding elements of answer to this question, investigating the intersections between gender and authority in the saints' lives of repentant prostitutes in all the vernaculars of medieval England: Old English, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English. It posits that the portrayal of holy harlots' authority and gender is dependent upon social, religious and literary shifts during the medieval period. My contention is that the harlot's gender portrayal changes over the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, due notably to the rise of affective piety and the important influence of the romance genre over hagiography. In Anglo-Saxon England, the harlot's gender changes with the saint's conversion: a woman beforehand, her gender is portrayed after her repentance as ambiguous in order for her to become a saint. Her authority derives from her own sanctity in this case. From the twelfth century onward, however, the harlot, now often turned into a beautiful and landed romance lady, is more and more represented as a woman throughout her life, and becomes after her conversion a Bride of Christ. In this way, the dangerously free woman who roamed the streets and prostituted her body becomes less threatening after her conversion, being (re-)inscribed within the male dominated institution of marriage. She now draws her authoritative stance from her gendered intimacy with Christ: although she submits to Christ as his bride, she also gains greater authority than before by way of her privileged relationship with the Savior.

Diffusion spectrum imaging shows the structural basis of functional cerebellar circuits in the human cerebellum in vivo.

BACKGROUND: The cerebellum is a complex structure that can be affected by several congenital and acquired diseases leading to alteration of its function and neuronal circuits. Identifying the structural bases of cerebellar neuronal networks in humans in vivo may provide biomarkers for diagnosis and management of cerebellar diseases. OBJECTIVES: To define the anatomy of intrinsic and extrinsic cerebellar circuits using high-angular resolution diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI). METHODS: We acquired high-resolution structural MRI and DSI of the cerebellum in four healthy female subjects at 3T. DSI tractography based on a streamline algorithm was performed to identify the circuits connecting the cerebellar cortex with the deep cerebellar nuclei, selected brainstem nuclei, and the thalamus. RESULTS: Using in-vivo DSI in humans we were able to demonstrate the structure of the following cerebellar neuronal circuits: (1) connections of the inferior olivary nucleus with the cerebellar cortex, and with the deep cerebellar nuclei (2) connections between the cerebellar cortex and the deep cerebellar nuclei, (3) connections of the deep cerebellar nuclei conveyed in the superior (SCP), middle (MCP) and inferior (ICP) cerebellar peduncles, (4) complex intersections of fibers in the SCP, MCP and ICP, and (5) connections between the deep cerebellar nuclei and the red nucleus and the thalamus. CONCLUSION: For the first time, we show that DSI tractography in humans in vivo is capable of revealing the structural bases of complex cerebellar networks. DSI thus appears to be a promising imaging method for characterizing anatomical disruptions that occur in cerebellar diseases, and for monitoring response to therapeutic interventions.

Espacio y tiempo en el imaginario digital. La construcción técnico estética de la espacio-temporalidad contemporánea.

Partiendo de la idea ampliamente aceptada de que las TIC (Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación) han tenido una profunda influencia en los modos en que la sociedad contemporánea experimenta y concibe las nociones de espacio y tiempo, y sustentándose en el contexto de la importancia adquirida por dichas nociones en la comprensión de los procesos sociales en general y estéticos en particular, esta investigación ha tenido por objetivo analizar la espacio-temporalidad en el contexto específico de la era digital. Poniendo en relación la fenomenología de los dispositivos tecnológicos con las nuevas estrategias de representación y puesta en imagen del espacio y el tiempo, nuestro propósito ha sido mostrar no sólo cómo a través de las prácticas artísticas digitales puede identificarse y analizarse el imaginario espacio-temporal de la era digital, sino también cómo éstas –basadas en una larga trayectoria estética de intersecciones entre arte y tecnología- han revestido al espacio y al tiempo de nuevas fenomenologías posibles, dando lugar a nuevas formas de percibirlos y cumpliendo, por tanto, un papel activo en la configuración de dicho imaginario y sus sucesivas transformaciones. La perspectiva teórica adoptada para esta investigación parte de las teorías postmodernas del espacio y el tiempo –considerando autores como Harvey o Jameson-, recurriendo a la sociología del Imaginario Social desarrollada por Castoriadis, Castro-Nogueira o J. L. Pintos para comprender cómo el espacio y el tiempo adquieren significaciones particulares. Combinando estas bases teóricas con los estudios visuales y los trabajos de teóricos de los medios como McLuhan, De Kerckhove o Lev Manovich, se establecerían las posibles relaciones entre las tecnologías, las representaciones sociales del espacio y el tiempo – analizadas a partir de metáforas como “compresión espacio-temporal”, “espacio de los flujos” o “tiempo atemporal” y sus relaciones con el Ciberespacio- y la fenomenología espacio-temporal de las prácticas artísticas y sus estrategias de representación visual –tomando como objeto de estudio tipologías artísticas que van desde el Hipercine a la Realidad Virtual y Aumentada, los Medios Locativos o la Telepresencia. La conclusión que hemos podido extraer de este estudio es que si bien distintos tipos de tecnologías afectan operacional y perceptivamente a la construcción social de la espacio-temporalidad, los modos en que estas tecnologías han estetizado la propia realidad y los modos en que condicionan la construcción estética de las nociones de espacio y tiempo, tanto a partir de la propia fenomenología del dispositivo como de la experimentación creativa con el mismo, ejercen una profunda influencia sobre el imaginario social y espacio-temporal propios de la era digital.

Mapping complex tissue architecture with diffusion spectrum magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods are presented to map complex fiber architectures in tissues by imaging the 3D spectra of tissue water diffusion with MR. First, theoretical considerations show why and under what conditions diffusion contrast is positive. Using this result, spin displacement spectra that are conventionally phase-encoded can be accurately reconstructed by a Fourier transform of the measured signal's modulus. Second, studies of in vitro and in vivo samples demonstrate correspondence between the orientational maxima of the diffusion spectrum and those of the fiber orientation density at each location. In specimens with complex muscular tissue, such as the tongue, diffusion spectrum images show characteristic local heterogeneities of fiber architectures, including angular dispersion and intersection. Cerebral diffusion spectra acquired in normal human subjects resolve known white matter tracts and tract intersections. Finally, the relation between the presented model-free imaging technique and other available diffusion MRI schemes is discussed.

Diffusion spectrum magnetic resonance imaging (DSI) tractography of crossing fibers.

MRI tractography is the mapping of neural fiber pathways based on diffusion MRI of tissue diffusion anisotropy. Tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) cannot directly image multiple fiber orientations within a single voxel. To address this limitation, diffusion spectrum MRI (DSI) and related methods were developed to image complex distributions of intravoxel fiber orientation. Here we demonstrate that tractography based on DSI has the capacity to image crossing fibers in neural tissue. DSI was performed in formalin-fixed brains of adult macaque and in the brains of healthy human subjects. Fiber tract solutions were constructed by a streamline procedure, following directions of maximum diffusion at every point, and analyzed in an interactive visualization environment (TrackVis). We report that DSI tractography accurately shows the known anatomic fiber crossings in optic chiasm, centrum semiovale, and brainstem; fiber intersections in gray matter, including cerebellar folia and the caudate nucleus; and radial fiber architecture in cerebral cortex. In contrast, none of these examples of fiber crossing and complex structure was identified by DTI analysis of the same data sets. These findings indicate that DSI tractography is able to image crossing fibers in neural tissue, an essential step toward non-invasive imaging of connectional neuroanatomy.

DEL FESTIVAL A LA ACADEMIA. Informe sobre la institucionalización de una disciplina híbrida (arte digital)

Aquest document és un esborrany. Amb l'objectiu d'aprofundir en el procés d'institucionalització, vam dissenyar una investigació empírica que permetés visualitzar les tendències discursives i àmbits d'activitats de les pràctiques relacionades amb les interseccions entre l'art, la ciència i la tecnologia. La metodologia va consistir en la implementació de tres bases de dades que recullen l'activitat dels últims anys en relació a: 1) els congressos (i festivals associats) realitzats a nivell internacional 2) les publicacions acadèmiques i divulgatives centrades en aquest àmbit interdisciplinar 3) els programes acadèmics.