Reliance and Self-transcendence in Tacitus’ Work. Some Perspectives

AbstractShowing a deep perception of the human soul, which never lets itself explored and revealed with more power and accuracy than in times of danger, Tacitus proves to be a molder of consciences. The historian's role is that of facilitating our self- transcendence. This idea marks Tacitus's work, as he was obsessed with the mechanisms that lead to the degradation of the human being and of society, but also with the means through which original harmony may be re-established

Genre Categorization in Contemporary British and US-American Novels

In his article Genre Categorization in Contemporary British and US-American Novels Carlos Ceia discusses a certain type of resistance to genre categorization in many novels in contemporary literature. Many British and US-American contemporary novels show patterns in narrative creativity where novel-writing techniques are sometimes more important than the traditional subject matter driven work of fiction. Ceia reviews experimental/metafictional novels which do not show intent to fulfil an aesthetic role pre-determined in a certain moment in history. Not having this kind of burden before them, many contemporary British and US-American novelists devote their artistic imagination more to the potential of the narrative text rather than to the act of the work of a specific literary art

Populist Constitutionalism in Brazil and Peru: Historical and Contextual Issues

Given populism's common practice in South America, the region provides a crucial case to identify populism as a prevalent strategy by different ideologies. The link between populism and constitutionalism is paramount because populist governments typically use constituent power and constitutional identity to reach political goals. This study aimed to provide a comparative constitutional analysis of the recent development of populism in Brazil and Peru. The first was the rhetoric and practices of Jair Bolsonaro's government in Brazil, whereas the second was Pedro Castillo's government in Peru regarding constitutional reforms and human rights issues. This comparison justified that Brazil and Peru are presidential republics where harsh political polarization shakes their societies. Bolsonaro and Castillo have anti-corruption discourses and support a new constituent process but present antagonistic economic views. This study was comparative in nature that used a qualitative approach, sourced from bibliographic and documentary research that included specialized literature on South American populism and constitutionalism and the government's plans and legislation. This study showed that both governments have difficulties executing their respective agendas on customs and constituent referendums due to governability problems and important features of the constitutional design, such as eternity clauses, judicial review, and constitutional rigidity. It concluded that the populist strategies of Bolsonaro and Castillo are different. Bolsonarism is antiliberal and promotes human rights regression, whereas Castillo's populism is conservative but democratic. In common, both face the coalitional presidentialism and constitutional protection mechanisms as constraints to putting their political goals entirely into practice. KEYWORDS: Authoritarianism, Constitutionalism, Fundamental Rights, Populism

How can Brazil's leading role in South America contribute to boosting security cooperation between the EU and Mercosur?

The primary goal of this paper is to discuss how the leading position of Brazil in South America could contribute to boost security cooperation between the European Union and Mercosur. Both parties share common foreign and security policy concerns, including immigration, terrorism and drug trafficking. Through its great influence on the regional security agenda, Brazil could seek closer bilateral cooperation with Europe in tackling these global challenges, acting at the same time as a representative of regional interests.L'objectiu principal d'aquest treball és discutir com la posició de lideratge del Brasil a Amèrica del Sud podria contribuir a impulsar la cooperació en seguretat entre la Unió Europea i el Mercosur. Ambdues parts comparteixen política exterior i de seguretat comuna, inclosa la política d'immigració, el terrorisme i el narcotràfic. A través de la seva gran influència en l'agenda de seguretat regional, Brasil podria buscar una major cooperació bilateral amb Europa en la lluita contra aquests desafiaments globals, actuant a la vegada com a representant dels interessos regionals

Blogue: a literatura multifacetada e multimedial

Tese de mestrado em Estudos Comparatistas apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, 2008Dentro da plataforma da internet, o blogue tem vindo a crescer como um novo medium nos últimos quinze anos. Apesar de, inicialmente, não ser considerado um medium literário, a popularidade adquirida em anos recentes, juntamente com a crescente produção com origem no consumidor, tornou o blogue num dos media mais criativos de sempre. Partindo da Teoria dos Polissistemas proposta por Itamar Even- Zohar, e tendo por corpus de análise o material de um ano do blogue Baghdad Burning, equacionamos nesta dissertação a possibilidade de o blogue ser um (novo) medium literário. Para tal, colocamos o conceito de literatura no quadro de uma dialéctica, que julgamos também subjacente à construção do cânone, entre o desejo de reconhecimento do produtor e a validação comunitária necessária. Os media existem em relação uns com os outros num universo polissistémico. Os media são incapazes de ter significado cultural sem outros media, uma vez que o espaço em que operam nunca é um espaço puro. O modo como os media melhoram e representam outros media é chamado remediação. Nesta dissertação exploramos o modo como o blogue remedeia o livro, bem como o modo como o livro remedeia o blogue, na convicção de que a remediação funciona em ambos os sentidos, e por isso o medium sucessor remedeia e é remediado pelo medium precursor.For the past fifteen years, the blog has been growing as a new medium within the internet. Although it was not regarded as a literary medium in the beginning, the popularity it achieved in recent years, along with the overwhelming user-generated content, made it one of the most creative media of all times. Having Itamar Even- Zohar's Polysystem Theory as our starting point, and taking one year of the blog Baghdad Burning as our corpus, we consider the possibility of the blog being a (new) literary medium. We see the concept of literature in a dialectical relation, and in terms that can also be applied to the construction of the canon, between the desire of recognition of the producer and the validation of the community. Media exist in relation with each other in a polysystemic universe. Media are unable to find their cultural significance without other media, for there is not an ideal pure space in which they operate. The way media improve and depict other media is called remediation. In this dissertation we explore the way the blog remediates the book and the book remediates the blog, for remediation works both ways, and therefore the successor media remediates and is remediated by its predecessor

Avaliação dos custos da manutenção de dentes periodontalmente comprometidos

A periodontite é uma doença infeciosa crónica dos tecidos de suporte do dente que pode levar à perda dentária. Esta doença multifatorial está diretamente relacionada com doenças sistémicas, entre elas, a doença cardiovascular e a Diabetes Mellitus. Efetuou-se uma pesquisa bibliográfica na PubMed, RCAAP, B-on, SciELO, utilizando como palavras-chave: “terapia periodontal”, “periodontite”, “custos”, “tratamento periodontal”. Considerando os critérios de inclusão/exclusão impostos, foram selecionados 11 artigos científicos e utilizados 12 artigos presentes nas referências bibliográficas dos 11 artigos previamente seleccionados. Livros de referência na área foram consultados. A presente revisão bibliográfica teve como objetivo analisar os custos associados à manutenção de dentes periodontalmente comprometidos, considerando fatores relacionados com o dente e com o indivíduo e a pertinência, do ponto de vista de saúde pública, da inclusão do tratamento periodontal no tratamento de pacientes com doença cardiovascular e Diabetes Mellitus.Periodontitis is a chronic infectious disease of tooth-bearing tissues that can lead to tooth loss. This multifatorial disease is directly related to systemic diseases, among them, cardiovascular disease and Diabetes Mellitus. A bibliographic search was done in PubMed, RCAAP, B-on, SciELO, using as keywords: "periodontal therapy", "periodontitis", "costs", "periodontal treatment". Considering the inclusion/exclusion imposed criteria, 11 scientific articles were selected and 12 articles were used in the bibliographic references of the 11 previously selected articles. Reference books in the area were consulted. The objective of this bibliographic review was to understand the costs associated with the maintenance of periodontally compromised teeth, considering factors related to the tooth and the individual and the relevance, from the point of view of public health, of the inclusion of periodontal treatment in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease and Diabetes Mellitus

Cost-to-serve customers’ optimization: macro project Unilever – Jerónimo Martins

The objective of this work project is to analyse and discuss the importance of the “Cost to Serve” as a differentiation key factor, by accessing cost to serve customers of a Portuguese subsidiary of a multinational company, which is operating in the sector of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) – Unilever – Jerónimo Martins (UJM). I will also suggest and quantify key proposals to decrease costs and increase customers’ value. Hence, the scope of this work project is focused on logistics and distribution processes of the company supply chain.NSBE - UN

O comprimento descritivo mínimo na amostragem por transectos pontuais

Oral communication at the XIX Congresso Anual da Sociedade Portuguesa de Estatística (Nazaré, Set. 28th - Oct. 1st, 2011). The minimun descriptive length in point transects

Equity valuation using accounting numbers in high and low market cap companies

Most firms’ and individual analysts’ decisions depend on information obtained by valuation to make assessments. The several factors influencing that same valuation process are not always straightforward, and a small difference in methodologies used, time period considered or even assumptions made, can dictate a difference in the agent’s economic decisions. The present dissertation proposes to ascertain which models of equity valuation based on figures from accounting procedures put up a better alternative on explaining market prices when a market capitalization division (small/large) is put in place. Four different methodologies are compared in terms of efficiency, usability and limitations, two of those being stock-based models while the other two flow-based ones. A literature review is firstly conducted to identify previous research on the matter, highlighting the superior theoretical background of flow-based methods, especially the RIVM and OJ Model, due to their attractiveness to the use of the net income figure rather than a derivation. On the following section, a large sample examination is performed, with an analysis of errors, explanative power, sensitivity to small variable changes and even industry sub-divisions. Using the market price as reference, the Price to earnings multiple model has yielded the best results across the board, despite the differences in performance found across the divisions implemented. Also, a small sample analysis is conducted, in which a set of forty broker’s reports is chosen to ascertain if the small/large market cap division is also considered by practitioners when issuing recommendations. Although some differences are found, the main dissimilarity seems to be more closely related to the brokerage houses own preferences than to firm size, but inherit limitations on this type of analysis do not allow for definite conclusions

Connect to success consulting program Portugal 4All senses: how to effectively reach the Brazilian market?

This paper attempts to assist Portugal 4all Senses, an online incoming tour agency for people with disabilities, in their effort to reach and acquire Brazilian customers. Hence, the work project centered on the “Get-Keep-Grow” framework with a particular focus on the “Get” stage. Using primary and secondary data sources our findings suggested that the online channels are the target’s preferred communication channel. Moreover, we proposed a 3-year communication plan as well as its financial plan to assess the project’s viability