Overcoming the objectification of western classical music with the concept of music as a process

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Master in Music - Artistic Interpretation

Decision-making on childhood vaccination by highly educated parents

OBJECTIVE To analyze the sociocultural aspects involved in the decision-making process of vaccination in upper-class and highly educated families.METHODS A qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with 15 couples from the city of Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, falling into three categories: vaccinators, late or selective vaccinators, and nonvaccinators. The interpretation of produced empirical material was performed through content analysis.RESULTS The study showed diverse and particular aspects surrounding the three groups’ decisions whether to vaccinate their children. The vaccinators’ decision to vaccinate their children was spontaneous and raised no questions. Most late or selective vaccinators experienced a wide range of situations that were instrumental in the decision to delay or not apply certain vaccines. The nonvaccinator’s decision-making process expressed a broader context of both criticism of hegemonic obstetric practices in Brazil and access to information transmitted via social networks and the internet. The data showed that the problematization of vaccines (culminating in the decision to not vaccinate their children) occurred in the context of humanized birth, was protagonized by women and was greatly influenced by health information from the internet.CONCLUSIONS Sociocultural aspects of the singular Brazilian context and the contemporary society were involved in the decision-making on children’s vaccination. Understanding this process can provide a real basis for a deeper reflection on health and immunization practices in Brazil in light of the new contexts and challenges of the world today.

Emissions of nanoparticles during friction stir welding (FSW) of aluminium alloys

Friction stir welding (FSW) is now well established as a welding process capable of joining some different types of metallic materials, as it was (1) found to be a reliable and economical way of producing high quality welds, and (2) considered a "clean" welding process that does not involve fusion of metal, as is the case with other traditional welding processes. The aim of this study was to determine whether the emission of particles during FSW in the nanorange of the most commonly used aluminum (Al) alloys, AA 5083 and AA 6082, originated from the Al alloy itself due to friction of the welding tool against the item that was being welded. Another goal was to measure Al alloys in the alveolar deposited surface area during FSW. Nanoparticles dimensions were predominantly in the 40- and 70-nm range. This study demonstrated that microparticles were also emitted during FSW but due to tool wear. However, the biological relevance and toxic manifestations of these microparticles remain to be determined.

Drilling process of composite laminates – a tool based analysis

“Drilling of polymeric matrix composites structures”

Towards the rational biosynthesis of substituted phenazines and phenoxazinones by laccases

Laccases are multi-copper oxidases that oxidise a wide range of substrates including phenol and aniline derivatives, which could be further involved in coupling reactions leading to the formation of dimeric and trimeric structures. This paper describes the enzyme-mediated dimerisation of several ortho and meta, para-disubstituted aromatic amines into phenazine ("head-to-tail" dimers) and phenoxazinone chromophores. The redox properties of substituted aromatic amines were studied by cyclic voltammetry and the kinetic constants of CotA and Trametes versicolor laccases were measured for selected aromatic amines. The structure of novel enzymatically synthesised phenazine and phenoxazinone dyes using CotA laccase was assessed by NMR and MS. Overall our data show that this enzymatic green process is an efficient alternative to the classic chemical oxidation of aromatic amines and phenols, with an impact on the broad field of applications of these heterocyclic compounds.

Abelian realization of phenomenological two-zero neutrino textures

In an attempt at explaining the observed neutrino mass-squared differences and leptonic mixing, lepton mass matrices with zero textures have been widely studied. In the weak basis where the charged lepton mass matrix is diagonal, various neutrino mass matrices with two zeros have been shown to be consistent with the current experimental data. Using the canonical and Smith normal form methods, we construct the minimal Abelian symmetry realizations of these phenomenological two-zero neutrino textures. The implementation of these symmetries in the context of the seesaw mechanism for Majorana neutrino masses is also discussed. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

On semigroups of endomorphisms of a chain with restricted range

Let X be a finite or infinite chain and let be the monoid of all endomorphisms of X. In this paper, we describe the largest regular subsemigroup of and Green's relations on. In fact, more generally, if Y is a nonempty subset of X and is the subsemigroup of of all elements with range contained in Y, we characterize the largest regular subsemigroup of and Green's relations on. Moreover for finite chains, we determine when two semigroups of the type are isomorphic and calculate their ranks.

TRAILER – e-Portfolio for collecting and recognizing informal learning process and outcomes

Informal learning is becoming more and more important: Nowadays people learn more this way, through the Internet, than in schools or normal trainings. But they don’t get any certificateswhich attest this fact. So they can't show the employer or teacher etc. that they have learned something. TRAILER project aim is to solve this problem by developing a special tool for managing of all competences and skills acquired through informal learning experiences. Both from the perspective of the user and the perspective of an institution or a company. We’ll present the IT tool to show how people can make their informal learning outcomes visible. TRAILER helps users to gather all information about process and outcomes of their informal learning. Users can share this with friends, colleagues or their employees, teachers and so on. They can create an interactive e-portfolio which can be attached to their CV, cover letter or Knowledge Management system etc. After the presentation of the tool we will discuss possible areas and fields to use this tool. Also we would like to discuss all possible use of the tool by the participants and another needs in this area. Moreover we want to discuss other problems in informal learning process, ways to solve the problems and discuss other ideas of different IT tools which could help in informal learning process. During the discussion we’ll use an interactive respond system which can be used on mobile devices: it makes possible for participants to share their opinions individually before knowing another persons' opinion.

Anticorpos neutralizantes contra poliovírus em soros de recém-nascidos antes e após imunização em massa da população brasileira de zero a cinco anos de idade. São Paulo, Brasil (1980)

Foram colhidas amostras de sangue de 178 recém-nascidos (RN) em berçários de hospital localizado no Município de São Paulo. Noventa crianças foram puncionadas antes do primeiro "Dia Nacional de Vacinação Contra a Poliomielite" e as outras 88, após o segundo "Dia Nacional de Vacinação Contra a Poliomielite", realizados em 1980. Nessas campanhas foram imunizadas as crianças com idade de zero a cinco anos, em todo o Brasil. No presente trabalho pesquisou-se os títulos de anticorpos neutralizantes contra poliovírus nos dois grupos de recém-nascidos. Após a imunização em massa verificou-se que a taxa de recém-nascidos triplo suscetíveis decresceu de 8,9% para 4,5%, enquanto que o aumento observado do triplo imunes foi de 38,9% para 52,3%; essas diferenças mostraram-se estatisticamente significantes ao nível de 5,0%. A proporção de recém-nascidos, com títulos de anticorpos neutralizantes contra poliovírus iguais ou maiores do que 8, aumentou após as campanhas de imunização, quando passaram de 68,9% para 81,8%, de 73,3% para 83,0% e de 57,8% para 70,5%, respectivamente, para os sorotipos 1, 2 e 3. Essas diferenças mostraram se estatisticamente significantes, ao nível de 5,0%, em relação aos poliovírus 1 e 3.

MBR activated sludge filterability characterization in cross flow filtration

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, perfil Sanitária

Risk management of new product development process

Dissertation submitted to Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa for the achievement of Integrated Master´s degree in Industrial Management Engineering

Study of thermochemical treatments of cork in the 150-400ºC range using colour analysis and Ftir spectroscopy

A study of chemical transformations of cork during heat treatments was made using colour variation and FTIR analysis. The cork enriched fractions from Quercus cerris bark were subjected to isothermal heating in the temperature range 150–400 ◦C and treatment time from 5 to 90 min. Mass loss ranged from 3% (90 min at 150 ◦C) to 71% (60 min at 350 ◦C). FTIR showed that hemicelluloses were thermally degraded first while suberin remained as the most heat resistant component. The change of CIE-Lab parameters was rapid for low intensity treatments where no significant mass loss occurred (at 150 ◦C L* decreased from the initial 51.5 to 37.3 after 20 min). The decrease in all colour parameters continued with temperature until they remained substantially constant with over 40% mass loss. Modelling of the thermally induced mass loss could be made using colour analysis. This is applicable to monitoring the production of heat expanded insulation agglomerates.

A recursive process related to a partisan variation of Wythoff

Wythoff Queens is a classical combinatorial game related to very interesting mathematical results. An amazing one is the fact that the P-positions are given by (⌊├ φn⌋┤┤,├ ├ ⌊φ┤^2 n⌋) and (⌊├ φ^2 n⌋┤┤,├ ├ ⌊φ┤n⌋) where φ=(1+√5)/2. In this paper, we analyze a different version where one player (Left) plays with a chess bishop and the other (Right) plays with a chess knight. The new game (call it Chessfights) lacks a Beatty sequence structure in the P-positions as in Wythoff Queens. However, it is possible to formulate and prove some general results of a general recursive law which is a particular case of a Partizan Subtraction game.

Influence of the Sodium/Proton replacement on the structural, morphological and photocatalytic properties of titanate nanotubes

Titanate nanotubes (TNT) with different sodium contents have been synthesised using a hydrothermal approach and a swift and highly controllable post-washing processes. The influence of the sodium/proton replacement on the structural and morphological characteristics of the prepared materials was analysed. Different optical behaviour was observed depending on the Na+/H+ samples’ content. A band gap energy of 3.27±0.03 eV was estimated for the material with higher sodium content while a value of 2.81±0.02 eV was inferred for the most protonated material, which therefore exhibits an absorption edge in the near visible region. The point of zero charge of the materials was determined and the influence of the sodium content on the adsorption of both cationic and anionic organic dyes was studied. The photocatalytic performance of the TNT samples was evaluated in the rhodamine 6G degradation process. Best photodegradation results were obtained when using the most protonated material as catalyst, although this material has shown the lowest R6G adsorption capability.

Competência intercultural: conteúdos culturais na aquisição da língua estrangeira e sua integração didáctica no ensino do alemão

Dissertação apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Cultura Alemã.