Culture, politics and identity: critical readings on gender in southeast Asia

Indian Journal of Gender Studies October 2012 vol. 19 no. 3 437-467

Estágio no Departamento Financeiro do Município de Penafiel

Relatório de estágio para obtenção do grau de mestre em Finanças Empresariais

Comfort and functionality of pregnant women's feet study of kinetic parameters with silicon insoles

As gestantes, fruto das suas alterações fisiológicas e biomecânicas, constituem uma população de risco relativamente a dores ou lesões do sistema músculo-esquelético, nomeadamente, nos membros inferiores e coluna. Os objectivos deste estudo consistiram em avaliar: (i) a dor e o conforto dos pés durante a marcha: sem o uso de qualquer palmilha nas gestantes e no grupo de controlo; com a aplicação de uma palmilha de retropé e com a aplicação de uma palmilha completa (nas gestantes); (ii) a distribuição das pressões plantares e, (iii) as forças de reacção do solo nas mesmas condições experimentais. Avaliámos ainda a duração das diferentes fases do ciclo de marcha nas gestantes, com e sem palmilhas, e no grupo de controlo, sem o uso de palmilha. Os nossos resultados mostraram que: (i) as gestantes demoram mais tempo a completar a fase de apoio da marcha, (ii) têm um aumento significativo de dores nos pés, face ao grupo de controlo, (iii) as gestantes sentem menos dor e mais conforto quando realizam marcha, com palmilhas, especialmente com a palmilha completa, (iv) a palmilha completa redistribui as forças, diminui os valores de pressão e aumenta a área de contacto do pé com o solo. Os nossos resultados sugerem que, o uso da palmilha completa de silicone, durante a marcha, pode ser eficaz na melhoria da sintomatologia dolorosa e no aumento do conforto da grávida.

Caminhamento fotogramétrico com arranjo triangular de câmaras fotográficas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Quality of life, life satisfaction and happiness in shift- and non-shiftworkers

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the quality of life, life satisfaction, happiness and demands of work in workers with different work schedules. METHODS: The survey was carried out on professional workers in social care. Some were shiftworkers whose schedule included night shifts (N=311), some were shiftworkers without night shifts (N=207) and some were non-shiftworkers (N=1,210). Surveys were mailed and the response rate was 86%. For the purpose of this study several variables were selected from the Survey: The Quality of Life Profile, which measures importance, satisfaction, control and opportunities in nine domains of life plus measures of happiness, life satisfaction and demands of work. RESULTS: While both groups of shiftworkers, compared to non-shiftworkers, reported needing more physical effort to complete their work, and reported 'being' more physically tired, no differences were found in reports of overall happiness, life satisfaction or total quality of life. However, night-shiftworkers reported greater percentage of time unhappy than the other two groups of workers. In analyses of the quality of life, night-shiftworkers were less satisfied with domains of spiritual 'being' and physical and community 'belonging' than day-shiftworkers and non-shiftworkers. They also reported having fewer opportunities to improve their physical 'being', leisure, and personal growth than the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life in specific domains in night-shiftworkers was rated worse than in other groups of workers. Domain-based quality of life assessment gives more information regarding the particular needs of workers than overall or global measures of well-being.

Identificação e análise de movimento humano com ultrassons

Faz-se nesta dissertação a análise do movimento humano utilizando sinais de ultrassons refletidos pelos diversos membros do corpo humano, designados por assinaturas de ultrassons. Estas assinaturas são confrontadas com os sinais gerados pelo contato dos membros inferiores do ser humano com o chão, recolhidos de forma passiva. O método seguido teve por base o estudo das assinaturas de Doppler e micro-Doppler. Estas assinaturas são obtidas através do processamento dos ecos de ultrassons recolhidos, com recurso à Short-Time Fourier Transform e apresentadas sobre a forma de espectrograma, onde se podem identificar os desvios de frequência causados pelo movimento das diferentes partes do corpo humano. É proposto um algoritmo inovador que, embora possua algumas limitações, é capaz de isolar e extrair de forma automática algumas das curvas e parâmetros característicos dos membros envolvidos no movimento humano. O algoritmo desenvolvido consegue analisar as assinaturas de micro-Doppler do movimento humano, estimando diversos parâmetros tais como o número de passadas realizadas, a cadência da passada, o comprimento da passada, a velocidade a que o ser humano se desloca e a distância percorrida. Por forma a desenvolver, no futuro, um classificador capaz de distinguir entre humanos e outros animais, são também recolhidas e analisadas assinaturas de ultrassons refletidas por dois animais quadrúpedes, um canino e um equídeo. São ainda estudadas as principais características que permitem classificar o tipo de animal que originou a assinatura de ultrassons. Com este estudo mostra-se ser possível a análise de movimento humano por ultrassons, havendo características nas assinaturas recolhidas que permitem a classificação do movimento como humano ou não humano. Do trabalho desenvolvido resultou ainda uma base de dados de assinaturas de ultrassons de humanos e animais que permitirá suportar trabalho de investigação e desenvolvimento futuro.

Symbolic dynamics and renormalization of non-autonomous k periodic dynamical systems

The purpose of this paper was to introduce the symbolic formalism based on kneading theory, which allows us to study the renormalization of non-autonomous periodic dynamical systems.

Family and non-family businesses on internal factors of entrepreneurship

Small firms are a major player in development. Thus, entrepreneurship is frequently attached to these rms and it must be present in daily management of factors such as planning and cooperation. We intend to analyze these factors, comparing familiar and non-familiar businesses. This study was conducted in a Portuguese region in the north of Portugal - Vale do Sousa . The results allow us to conclude that even with some managerial di erences it was not possible to identify distinct patterns between them. The main goal of this paper is to open research lines on important issues to distinguish familiar from non-familiar businesses.

Entrepreneurship Strategies in Family and Non-family Businesses

The goal of the present paper is to analyse the classic entrepreneurship strategies (Innovation, Risk and Proactivity) in small and medium-sized businesses. However as presented in the title, the study will go further by comparing the results of those strategies in familiar and nonfamiliar businesses. This study was carried on in construction and industry sectors, in the region of Vale do Sousa, in the north of Portugal. In order to classify businesses as familiar or non-familiar types two criterion were adopted: (1) Management Control, (2) Family Employability. On the opposite to some studies that present a larger percentage of familiar businesses in national and European entrepreneurial fabric, the criterion used leaded to a larger number of non-familiar businesses (53%). The results showed that in general SMEs in this region are not following entrepreneurship strategies. Analysing the entire sample without a separation of businesses by nature (familiar/non-familiar) only proactivity showed to be more present in the managerial decisions. There is a lack of innovation and risk culture. Comparing the groups only on proactivity tests was possible to verify some differences. It was concluded that non-familiar businesses are more proactive than familiar ones. Between those groups there are no statistical differences on the means of the variables innovation and risk. At the same time some tests were conducted to test the differences on the variable entrepreneurship. The results were similar to innovation and risk strategies: There are no significant differences on entrepreneurship between these groups of businesses.

Formar leitores no ensino básico: a mais-valia da implementação de um clube de leitura

Não nascemos leitores, nem tão pouco não leitores. Tornamo-nos leitores ou não, em função das experiências motivadoras ou das experiências desmotivadoras que vivemos, ao longo da nossa vida. Este artigo apresenta uma experiência de promoção leitora através da actividade do clube de leitura. Esta actividade foi realizada entre os anos de 2007-2008, com uma metodologia de investigação-acção, tendo sido implementada em quatro turmas do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e duas do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, representativas do universo de um agrupamento de escolas. Pretendia-se constatar em que medida os clubes de leitura potenciavam o desenvolvimento da competência literária e da literacia dos alunos envolvidos. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que o clube de leitura permitiu um contacto mais dinâmico dos alunos com obras de literatura infantil e juvenil, potenciando a fruição leitora, a competência literária e um incremento nas actividades de natureza literácica

Show me your body and I tell you how hold you are: a non-invasive methodto define 6 life history-classes in Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), using an identified trial population in the Atlantic

European Cetacean Society Conference Workshop, Galway, Ireland, 25th March 2012.

Non-coding RNAs: multi-tasking molecules in the cell

In the last years it has become increasingly clear that the mammalian transcriptome is highly complex and includes a large number of small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Here we review the biogenesis pathways of the three classes of sncRNAs, namely short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs) and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). These ncRNAs have been extensively studied and are involved in pathways leading to specific gene silencing and the protection of genomes against virus and transposons, for example. Also, lncRNAs have emerged as pivotal molecules for the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression which is supported by their tissue-specific expression patterns, subcellular distribution, and developmental regulation. Therefore, we also focus our attention on their role in differentiation and development. SncRNAs and lncRNAs play critical roles in defining DNA methylation patterns, as well as chromatin remodeling thus having a substantial effect in epigenetics. The identification of some overlaps in their biogenesis pathways and functional roles raises the hypothesis that these molecules play concerted functions in vivo, creating complex regulatory networks where cooperation with regulatory proteins is necessary. We also highlighted the implications of biogenesis and gene expression deregulation of sncRNAs and lncRNAs in human diseases like cancer.

Prevalence of tobacco use in individuals with severe mental illnesses, São Paulo, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prevalence of cigarette smoking in individuals with severe mental illnesses in a large urban centre of a middle income country. METHODS: Cross-sectional study carried out in São Paulo. The sample (N=192) comprised individuals diagnosed with severe mental illnesses who had contact with public psychiatric care services from September to November 1997 and were aged between 18 and 65 years. Prevalence of daily tobacco smoking in the 12 months previous to the interview and characteristics associated were studied. RESULTS: Out of 192 subjects with severe mental illnesses interviewed, 115 (59.9%; 95% CI: 52.6%; 66.9%) reported smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. Male gender, marital status separated or widowed, irregular use of neuroleptic drugs and history of ten or more psychiatric admissions were independently associated with cigarette smoking. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of cigarette smoking in the present sample was higher than that found in the general Brazilian population. Mental care services should implement non-smoking policies and mental health providers need to help patients with severe mental illness who want to quit smoking.

The use of non-standard CT conversion ramps for Monte Carlo verification of 6 MV prostate IMRT plans

Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculation algorithms have been widely used to verify the accuracy of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) dose distributions computed by conventional algorithms due to the ability to precisely account for the effects of tissue inhomogeneities and multileaf collimator characteristics. Both algorithms present, however, a particular difference in terms of dose calculation and report. Whereas dose from conventional methods is traditionally computed and reported as the water-equivalent dose (Dw), MC dose algorithms calculate and report dose to medium (Dm). In order to compare consistently both methods, the conversion of MC Dm into Dw is therefore necessary. This study aims to assess the effect of applying the conversion of MC-based Dm distributions to Dw for prostate IMRT plans generated for 6 MV photon beams. MC phantoms were created from the patient CT images using three different ramps to convert CT numbers into material and mass density: a conventional four material ramp (CTCREATE) and two simplified CT conversion ramps: (1) air and water with variable densities and (2) air and water with unit density. MC simulations were performed using the BEAMnrc code for the treatment head simulation and the DOSXYZnrc code for the patient dose calculation. The conversion of Dm to Dw by scaling with the stopping power ratios of water to medium was also performed in a post-MC calculation process. The comparison of MC dose distributions calculated in conventional and simplified (water with variable densities) phantoms showed that the effect of material composition on dose-volume histograms (DVH) was less than 1% for soft tissue and about 2.5% near and inside bone structures. The effect of material density on DVH was less than 1% for all tissues through the comparison of MC distributions performed in the two simplified phantoms considering water. Additionally, MC dose distributions were compared with the predictions from an Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS), which employed a pencil beam convolution (PBC) algorithm with Modified Batho Power Law heterogeneity correction. Eclipse PBC and MC calculations (conventional and simplified phantoms) agreed well (<1%) for soft tissues. For femoral heads, differences up to 3% were observed between the DVH for Eclipse PBC and MC calculated in conventional phantoms. The use of the CT conversion ramp of water with variable densities for MC simulations showed no dose discrepancies (0.5%) with the PBC algorithm. Moreover, converting Dm to Dw using mass stopping power ratios resulted in a significant shift (up to 6%) in the DVH for the femoral heads compared to the Eclipse PBC one. Our results show that, for prostate IMRT plans delivered with 6 MV photon beams, no conversion of MC dose from medium to water using stopping power ratio is needed. In contrast, MC dose calculations using water with variable density may be a simple way to solve the problem found using the dose conversion method based on the stopping power ratio.

Cultivo de Eucalyptus urograndis em atmosfera enriquecida com CO2: mudanças no proteoma cloroplastidial

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)