An embodied approach to language: the role of bodily feedback in discourse processing

Theories of embodied cognition argue that language processing arises not from amodal symbols that redescribe sensorimotor and affective experiences, but from partial simulations (reenactments) of modality-specific states. Recent findings on processing of words and sentences support such a stance emphasizing that the role of the body in the domain of language comprehension should not be overlooked or dismissed. The present research was conducted to extend prior work in two important ways. First, the role of simulation was tested with connected discourse rather than words or sentences presented in isolation. Second, both “online” and “offline” measures of discourse comprehension were taken. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants’ facial postures were manipulated to show that preparing the body for processing of emotion-congruent information improves discourse comprehension. In Experiment 3 the direction of body posture was manipulated to show that implicit properties of simulations, such as spatial dimension or location, are at least somewhat involved in processing of large language segments such as discourse. Finally, in Experiments 4 and 5 participants’ body movement and body posture were manipulated to show that even understanding of language describing metaphorical actions physically impossible to perform involves constructing a sensorimotor simulation of the described event. The major result was that compatibility between embodiment and language strongly modulated performance effectiveness in experiments on simulation of emotion and metaphorical action. The effect of simulation on comprehension of discourse implying spatial dimension was fragile. These findings support an embodied simulation account of cognition suggesting that sensorimotor and affective states are at least partially implicated in “online” and “offline” discourse comprehension.

Tourism in Timor Leste: contributions to a sustainable development

The main goal of this thesis is to analyse tourism as a contributor to sustainable development, from a supply and demand perspective, in Timor-Leste, a destination not only “young” but also framed in an early stage of touristic development. From the supply side, studies 1 and 2 present a literature review on the concept of sustainable development, in small islands destinations, its weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and whose attractiveness lies in an integrated set of natural resources (attractive beaches, biodiversity, the coral triangle, a rich fauna and flora), its geographic location, tropical climate, socio cultural tradition and a Luso-Timorense cultural mix, that can meet the needs of important segments of the tourist demand. In these studies, the focus is on the residents’ attitudes in relation to sustainable development and, in particular, on the perceptions of local leaders about the importance of the operationalization of the concept. As Timor-Leste is a “young” destination, it is travel industry is still faced with several problems in order to be able to satisfy the demand and to meet the tourists’ motivations, preferences and requirements. In this perspective, the study 3 examines diaspora tourism, while a niche market, allowing for not only the entry of Timor-Leste in the international tourism market, but also an articulation between the people of Timor-Leste in the diasporas and the development of sustainable tourism . In general, the results show that the development of sustainable tourism cannot be successfully implemented without the involvement of all stakeholders such as residents, public sector (local government, policy makers, planners), private sector (tourism operators), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that include civil society, religious institutions, the academic community (the supply side), and Timorese diasporas tourists as consumers (the demand side).

Comparing segmentation strategies for efficient video passage retrieval

We compare the effect of different text segmentation strategies on speech based passage retrieval of video. Passage retrieval has mainly been studied to improve document retrieval and to enable question answering. In these domains best results were obtained using passages defined by the paragraph structure of the source documents or by using arbitrary overlapping passages. For the retrieval of relevant passages in a video, using speech transcripts, no author defined segmentation is available. We compare retrieval results from 4 different types of segments based on the speech channel of the video: fixed length segments, a sliding window, semantically coherent segments and prosodic segments. We evaluated the methods on the corpus of the MediaEval 2011 Rich Speech Retrieval task. Our main conclusion is that the retrieval results highly depend on the right choice for the segment length. However, results using the segmentation into semantically coherent parts depend much less on the segment length. Especially, the quality of fixed length and sliding window segmentation drops fast when the segment length increases, while quality of the semantically coherent segments is much more stable. Thus, if coherent segments are defined, longer segments can be used and consequently less segments have to be considered at retrieval time.

Os romances de Lygia Fagundes Telles : uma tessitura narrativa na senda do humano

Tese de doutoramento, Estudos de Literatura e de Cultura (Estudos Brasileiros), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2015

Influence of Different Performance Levels on Pacing Strategy During the Women's World Championship Marathon Race.

Purpose To analyse pacing strategies displayed by athletes achieving differing levels of performance during an elite level marathon race. Methods Competitors in the 2009 IAAF Women’s Marathon Championship were split into Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 comprising the first, second, third, and fourth 25% of finishers respectively. Final, intermediate, and personal best (PB) times of finishers were converted to mean speeds, and relative speed (% of PB speed) was calculated for intermediate segments. Results Mean PB speed decreased from Group 1 to 4 and speed maintained in the race was 98.5 + 1.8%, 97.4 + 3.2%, 95.0 + 3.1% and 92.4 + 4.4% of PB speed for Groups 1-4 respectively. Group 1 was fastest in all segments and differences in speed between groups increased throughout the race. Group 1 ran at lower relative speeds than other groups for the first two 5 km segments, but higher relative speeds after 35km. Significant differences (P<0.01) in the percentage of PB speed maintained were observed between Groups 1 and 4, and 2 and 4 in all segments after 20 km, and Groups 3 and 4 from 20-25 km and 30-35 km. Conclusions Group 1 athletes achieved superior finishing times relative to their PB than athletes in other Groups who selected unsustainable initial speeds resulting in subsequent significant losses of speed. It is suggested that psychological factors specific to a major competitive event influenced decision making by athletes and poor decisions resulted in final performances inferior to those expected based on PB times.

The Influence of Performance Level, Age and Gender on Pacing Strategy During a 100-km Ultramarathon

The aim of this study is to analyse the influence of performance level, age and gender on pacing during a 100-km ultramarathon. Results of a 100-km race incorporating the World Masters Championships were used to identify differences in relative speeds in each 10-km segment between participants finishing in the first, second, third and fourth quartiles of overall positions (Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively). Similar analyses were performed between the top and bottom 50% of finishers in each age category, as well as within male and female categories. Pacing varied between athletes achieving different absolute performance levels. Group 1 ran at significantly lower relative speeds than all other groups in the first three 10-km segments (all P < 0.01), and significantly higher relative speeds than Group 4 in the 6th and 10th (both P < 0.01), and Group 2 in the 8th (P = 0.04). Group 4 displayed significantly higher relative speeds than Group 2 and 3 in the first three segments (all P < 0.01). Overall strategies remained consistent across age categories, although a similar phenomenon was observed within each category whereby ‘top’ competitors displayed lower relative speeds than ‘bottom’ competitors in the early stages, but higher relative speeds in the later stages. Females showed lower relative starting speeds and higher finishing speeds than males. ‘Top’ and ‘bottom’ finishing males displayed differing strategies, but this was not the case within females. Although pacing remained consistent across age categories, it differed with level of performance within each, possibly suggesting strategies are anchored on direct competitors. Strategy differs between genders and differs depending on performance level achieved in males but not females.

Modular Form as a Curatorial Practice

This article discusses a curatorial approach to authorship as a model for thinking about what I describe as an iterative modular poem, a poetic text composed of appropriated segments. As a response to contemporary proliferation of literary and artistic works created by iterative means, i.e. through acts of appropriation, remixing and remediation, the article is an attempt at putting forward ‘the curatorial’ as an emerging paradigm of writing for the twenty-first century. The article approaches established paradigms of authorship, creativity and originality as inadequate with respect to contemporary experimental poetic practices to suggest a shift from creating to collecting and curating as a possible alternative model for thinking about instances of iterative creative writing. The argument focuses on Robert Fitterman’s Holocaust Museum (2011) as an example of an iterative modular poem and a text emblematic of such curatorial approach to authorship.

Risk Modelling Framework for Emergency Hospital Readmission, Using Hospital Episode Statistics Inpatient Data

The objective of this study was to develop, test and benchmark a framework and a predictive risk model for hospital emergency readmission within 12 months. We performed the development using routinely collected Hospital Episode Statistics data covering inpatient hospital admissions in England. Three different timeframes were used for training, testing and benchmarking: 1999 to 2004, 2000 to 2005 and 2004 to 2009 financial years. Each timeframe includes 20% of all inpatients admitted within the trigger year. The comparisons were made using positive predictive value, sensitivity and specificity for different risk cut-offs, risk bands and top risk segments, together with the receiver operating characteristic curve. The constructed Bayes Point Machine using this feature selection framework produces a risk probability for each admitted patient, and it was validated for different timeframes, sub-populations and cut-off points. At risk cut-off of 50%, the positive predictive value was 69.3% to 73.7%, the specificity was 88.0% to 88.9% and sensitivity was 44.5% to 46.3% across different timeframes. Also, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 73.0% to 74.3%. The developed framework and model performed considerably better than existing modelling approaches with high precision and moderate sensitivity.

Understanding the Effect of Television Advertising on Women's Attitudes and Purchase Intentions Towards Beer: A Study of Three Major Brands.

Abstract Purpose of Paper: The market for beer in the UK is now mature and sales have been stable at around £16bn for about ten years (Mintel 2014). More recently, there have been changes in the market as consumers have switched from bigger mainstream brands to a growing number of smaller craft beers. However, in order to grow further significantly, the industry needs to explore new market segments and find new consumers for beer. So far, it is estimated that only 1.3m women in the UK drink beer (O'Reilly, 2014; Mail Online, 2015). Women are therefore an underexplored segment and present the main growth opportunity for beer drinking in the UK. However, most beer television advertising has traditionally been aimed at the male audience and there have been suggestions that some of this advertising has been seen as unpopular with or even insulting to women (Jackson, 2013; Zwarun et al., 2006). The Chief Executive of major brewer SAB Miller, which owns the Foster's brand, has recently written that, 'We have to acknowledge that core lager advertising, for many years, was either dismissive of, or insulting to, women.' (Shubber, 2015). If women are to be the new consumers and the future target for beer advertising, there is therefore a significant gap in the knowledge and literature concerned with how women differ from men in responding to the television advertising produced by beer brands and it is important that this gap in knowledge is addressed. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore the effect of the television advertising of the three top selling UK beer brands on women's attitudes and purchase intentions towards those brands. More specifically, the objectives are: 1) To gain an understanding of how female consumers respond to existing beer television advertising, specifically in terms of the ‘likeability’ of the content of TV commercials produced by the three leading UK beer brands among female consumers. 2) To examine the effect of the rational and emotional content, including the use of humour, in television commercials produced by the three leading UK beer brands on the attitudes of female consumers towards those brands. 3) To explore in-depth female consumer attitudes towards the content (message cues and symbolism) of the television commercials produced by the three leading beer brands in the UK and their effect on subsequent purchase intentions for each brand.

Statistical classification of road pavements using near field vehicle rolling noise measurements

Low noise surfaces have been increasingly considered as a viable and cost-effective alternative to acoustical barriers. However, road planners and administrators frequently lack information on the correlation between the type of road surface and the resulting noise emission profile. To address this problem, a method to identify and classify different types of road pavements was developed, whereby near field road noise is analyzed using statistical learning methods. The vehicle rolling sound signal near the tires and close to the road surface was acquired by two microphones in a special arrangement which implements the Close-Proximity method. A set of features, characterizing the properties of the road pavement, was extracted from the corresponding sound profiles. A feature selection method was used to automatically select those that are most relevant in predicting the type of pavement, while reducing the computational cost. A set of different types of road pavement segments were tested and the performance of the classifier was evaluated. Results of pavement classification performed during a road journey are presented on a map, together with geographical data. This procedure leads to a considerable improvement in the quality of road pavement noise data, thereby increasing the accuracy of road traffic noise prediction models.

Tradução e legendagem do documentário: memórias do ofício

Trabalho de Projeto apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Tradução e Interpretação Especializadas, sob orientação do Dr. Manuel Fernando Moreira da Silva

Reorganização do controlo postural do tronco e a sua influência na distribuição de carga na posição ortostática em indivíduos com Acidente Vascular Encefálico

Introdução: O Acidente Vascular Encefálico (AVE) consiste numa das primeiras causas de mortalidade e morbilidade em Portugal. Esta lesão do Sistema Nervoso Central (SNC) desencadeia alterações ao nível do controlo postural (CP), que interferem com a recuperação funcional dos indivíduos. Objetivo: Deste modo, torna-se premente descrever as alterações do CP do tronco através da análise dos alinhamentos dos segmentos corporais do tronco no grupo de indivíduos selecionados, face à aplicação de um programa de intervenção baseado nos princípios do Conceito de Bobath. Metodologia: Estudo de série de casos, em seis indivíduos com alterações neuromotoras decorrentes de AVE, os quais foram avaliados antes e após o plano de intervenção segundo a abordagem baseada nos princípios do Conceito de Bobath, através do registo observacional, da Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade Incapacidade e Saúde (CIF), da utilização do Software de Avaliação Postural (SAPO) e da Plataforma de Pressões da Emed (PPE), modelo AT. Os dados recolhidos foram trabalhados em função do valor médio através do software Excel. Resultados: A análise do SAPO, na posição ortostática observam-se mudanças quer na vista posterior quer nas laterais, indicando uma maior simetria entre hemitroncos, e mudanças nos alinhamentos verticais indicando uma maior aproximação dos 180º. Na PPE observam-se os valores da área plantar, da pressão plantar média e do centro de pressão, tendem globalmente a uma maior semelhança e simetria. Quanto à CIF também se verificou uma diminuição da restrição na participação e limitação na atividade. Conclusão: A intervenção baseada no processo de raciocínio clínico aparenta introduzir os estímulos necessários à reorganização funcional do SNC lesado, produzindo melhorias ao nível dos alinhamentos dos segmentos corporais e desta forma melhorar a atividade muscular.

Controlo postural na sequência de movimento de sentado para de pé em crianças com alterações do desenvolvimento neuromotor

A Sequência de Movimento de Sentado para de Pé (SMSP) é um marco importante na independência funcional da criança, sendo a sua qualidade afetada em casos de alteração do controlo postural do tronco. É por isso motivo de especial foco neste estudo, como elemento avaliativo e interventivo. Este estudo tem como objetivo a análise da modificação de componentes motores relacionados com o controlo postural, durante a SMSP, em 5 crianças com alterações neuromotoras, face à aplicação de um programa de intervenção baseado no Tratamento de Neuro Desenvolvimento (TND). Foi para tal utilizada a análise cinemática da SMSP - nomeadamente as variáveis “variação do deslocamento dos segmentos cabeça e tronco” e “variação do ângulo perna-pé” entre o momento inicial e o seat-off – complementada com a aplicação do Teste de Medida da Função Motora 88 (TMFM-88) e a Classificação Internacional da Funcionalidade Incapacidade e Saúde-Versão Crianças e Jovens (CIF-CJ), bem como a avaliação de componentes de movimento com recurso a registo de imagem. A análise cinemática demonstrou uma diminuição do deslocamento dos segmentos cabeça e tronco na maioria dos casos, bem como uma maior mobilidade da tíbia sobre pé. Verificou-se um aumento do score final do TMFM-88, em todos os casos. A CIF-CJ não evidenciou alterações entre o início e o término do período de intervenção. O registo de imagem demonstrou alterações positivas visíveis no alinhamento de segmentos, nível de atividade, controlo postural, e recurso a estratégias compensatórias no conjunto postural sentado e na SMSP. Após o período de intervenção as crianças deste estudo evidenciaram modificações positivas nas variáveis em estudo, nomeadamente 1) diminuição do deslocamento dos segmentos cabeça e tronco na fase inicial da SMSP, 2) aumento da variação do ângulo perna-pé na fase inicial da SMSP, 3) aumento do score total da TMFM-88, 4) alteração positiva dos componentes de movimento alinhamento de segmentos e nível de atividade e 5) redução do recurso a estratégias compensatórias de movimento na SMSP. Estas modificações sugerem um controlo postural mais eficiente.

Promoção no ponto de venda: percepções e comportamentos do consumidor

Este estudo enquadra-se no âmbito do Marketing e Comportamento do Consumidor e tem como tema Promoção no Ponto de Venda. Esta investigação tem como objectivo conhecer a percepção e comportamento de grupos de consumidores face a promoções no ponto de venda. O desenvolvimento deste projecto procurou encontrar resposta para os objectivos de investigação propostos através da realização de um inquérito por questionário. Toda a investigação empírica teve por base os resultados obtidos através de 156 questionários online a consumidores, maiores de 18 anos, de super e hipermercados e centros comerciais. Foi utilizada uma amostra por conveniência, para a qual foi enviado questionário online através de email e redes sociais. Realizou-se então este estudo e os resultados demonstraram que as promoções continuam a motivar o consumo e a despoletar a compra imediata e em maior quantidade. Estas conclusões são diferenciadas face às categorias de produto, com maior interesse por parte do consumidor em relação às promoções nos bens essenciais e moda, e face às tipologias de promoção, cuja preferência de promoção são as que têm incidência no preço. No nosso estudo encontramos quatro segmentos de consumidores, que de uma forma global registam auto percepção de consumidores inteligentes, que procuram com a promoções optimizar a relação qualidade preço, e que são pouco impulsivos no consumo. Concluímos que as promoções no ponto de venda são técnicas de marketing em que os gestores de marketing devem continuar a apostar pois é um factor critico de sucesso no incremento de vendas.

Real-time communications over wired/wireless PROFIBUS networks supporting inter-cell mobility

PROFIBUS is an international standard (IEC 61158, EN 50170) for factory-floor communications, with several thousands of installations worldwide. Taking into account the increasing need for mobile devices in industrial environments, one obvious solution is to extend traditional wired PROFIBUS networks with wireless capabilities. In this paper, we outline the major aspects of a hybrid wired/wireless PROFIBUS-based architecture, where most of the design options were made in order to guarantee the real-time behaviour of the overall network. We also introduce the timing unpredictability problems resulting from the co-existence of heterogeneous physical media in the same network. However, the major focus of this paper is on how to guarantee real-time communications in such a hybrid network, where nodes (and whole segments) can move between different radio cells (inter-cell mobility). Assuming a simple mobility management mechanism based on mobile nodes performing periodic radio channel assessment and switching, we propose a methodology to compute values for specific parameters that enable an optimal (minimum) and bounded duration of the handoff procedure.