Brokering Votes With Information Spread Via Social Networks

Throughout much of the developing world, politicians rely on political brokers to buy votes prior to elections. We investigate how social networks help facilitate vote-buying exchanges by combining village network data of brokers and voters with broker reports of vote buying. We show that networks diffuse politically-relevant information about voters to brokers who leverage it to target voters. In particular, we find that brokers target reciprocal voters who are not registered to their party and about whom they can hear more information through their social network. These results highlight the importance of information diffusion through social networks for vote buying and ultimately for political outcomes

Comparison of Work-Related Values and Leadership Preferences of Mexican Immigrants and Caucasians

Globalization has made it easier for people to migrate, thus increasing diversity within organizations. One problem with this migration is that 1st and 2nd generation immigrants may prefer different leadership styles than those of the mainstream culture. The purpose of this survey-based quantitative comparative study was to investigate the effects of acculturation on the work-related cultural values and leadership style preferences of Mexican immigrants living in the United States. The research question that guided this study focused on the differences in work-related cultural values and preferred leadership styles between 2 generations of Mexican immigrants, Mexicans, and U.S.-born Caucasians. Two hundred and forty-five participants completed the survey. The researcher used a Likert-type self-assessing questionnaire adapted from existing instruments to measure the work-related cultural values and preferred leadership styles of two generations of Mexican immigrants, native Mexicans, and U.S.-born Caucasians. Statistical tools, such as correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test measurement reliability and to test for differences in the mean scores of the criterion variables among the 4 groups. The researcher found that, in the aggregate, Mexican immigrants did not acculturate to the mainstream values of the United States, 2nd generation Mexican immigrants’ scores were similar to those of U.S.-born Caucasians in work-related values, and all groups prefer the servant leadership style. Implications for social change may include raising the awareness of human resource managers of the differences and similarities in values and preferences of their staff, which may help improve the relationships between managers and the employees

Repair of composite and wood structures

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Mecânica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto. 200

COMO ESTAMOS ESCREVENDO A HISTÓRIA: UM RESUMO CRÍTICO CONTRIBUTIVO À SEMÂNTICA DE PAUL VEYNE.

Resumo: Este artigo se propõe a construir uma síntese conceitual acerca das diretrizes historiográficas teorizadas por Paul Veyne em seu livro “Como se escreve a história”, que em edição posterior recebe à adição do texto “Foucault revoluciona a História”. Além disso, comentar as críticas que este conteúdo engendrou nas discussões do meio acadêmico, pontuando seus méritos metodológicos.   Abstract: This article proposes to build a conceptual synthesis about the historiographical guidelines theorized by Paul Veyne in his book “Writing History: Essay on Epistemology”. Additionally, comment on the criticism that was engendered by this content in the academic world, highlighting his methodological merits

Atenção: inteligência não é tudo: um estudo comparativo utilizando a TCT e a TRI

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada no ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção do grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações.Através da literatura e do estado atual da arte foi possível perceber que ainda existe muita dúvida sobre se é preferível utilizar a Teoria de Resposta ao Item ou a Teoria Clássica dos Testes. Assim, utilizando um dos conceitos mais utilizados para esta comparação, este estudo compara os scores obtidos num teste de inteligência (D70) e a média escolar atual do sujeito. Cada sujeito teve dois scores, o score TCT e o score TRI. Adicionalmente, foi possível encontrar na literatura que a atenção e a confiança têm impacto nesta relação. A atenção, por estar também correlacionada com a média escolar, foi analisada como preditor nesta relação. A confiança, por estar relacionada com a inteligência, poderia ser eventualmente uma variável moderadora e foi neste sentido que se analisou. Este estudo é constituído por uma amostra de 132 participantes, com idades contidas entre os 20 e os 56, em que 66.6% são do género feminino e 33.3% do género masculino. Os participantes responderam a um teste de inteligência (D70), um teste de atenção (D2), uma pergunta sobre a confiança e uma sobre a média. Os resultados demonstraram, que para esta amostra não existe nenhuma correlação significativa entre os resultados do D70 e a média escolar, independentemente do método de correção. Foi encontrada uma relação positiva e significativa entre os resultados no teste de atenção e a média escolar, como seria de esperar. A confiança não se revelou um moderador na relação que se estabelece entre a inteligência e a média escolar.Through previous research it was possible to understand that there is still, a big conflict about weather is better to use the Item Response Theory (IRT) or the Classical Test Theory (CTT). Therefore, using one of the most studied relations (for this purpose), this study compares the scores on an intelligence test (D70) and the current academic results. Each subject has 2 different scores, the one using CTT and the one using IRT. Furthermore, it was found in the research that the attention and the self-confidence also had a part on this relationship. As the attention could also be correlated with the academic success it was testes as a predictor. The self-confidence as it was related to the intelligence was tested as a moderator in this relation. This study consisted in a sample of 132 subjects with ages between 20 and 56. 66.6% are female and 33.3% are male. The subjects answered one intelligence test (D70), one attention test (D2), one question about confidence and one about the academic success. The results showed that, for this sample, there was no significative correlation between the scores on the D70 and the academic success, despite of the correction method. It was found, however a positive and significative correlation between the attention and the academic success. To finish it the confidence was not considered a moderator between the intelligence and the academic success

Estudio de tecnologías para la mejora de la eficiencia en el transporte de energía eléctrica en redes saturadas convencionales expuestas a la producción masiva de origen renovable: aplicación a la red eléctrica española

[ES] El presente trabajo, tiene como finalidad el estudio comparativo de alternativas tecnológicas que den solución a las diversas necesidades que aquejan los Sistemas Eléctricos de Potencia (SEP) en la actualidad, en especial aquellos problemas relacionados con el sector del transporte de energía eléctrica de manera eficiente y segura. Para ello, se realizará un modelo del sistema eléctrico español (donde se aplicarán las alternativas estudiadas) y se analizará el nivel de implantación tecnológica en éste. Asimismo, se analizará el impacto de utilización de diversas tecnologías emergentes en el campo de la gestión de los sistemas eléctricos, tales como los dispositivos flexibles de transporte de corriente alterna (FACTS) e implantación de enlaces de corriente continua en alta tensión (HVDC). Ello permitirá determinar la factibilidad técnica de su implantación para una mejor gestión del sistema, para lo que también se realizará el análisis de los beneficios técnicos, económicos y medioambientales que supone la consideración de nuevas tecnologías en redes, las cuales presentan en la actualidad una alta penetrabilidad de fuentes renovables intermitentes. El presente estudio, analiza, interpreta y propone a través de su misma formulación, la aportación de un nuevo enfoque de control y gestión de la energía que se genera, transmite y consume en un SEP real, en un entorno donde se han desarrollado técnicas de generación de energía limpia, pero no tanto tecnologías ni de implantación en la red ni de nuevos métodos ni dispositivos tecnológicos de control flexible ante la naturaleza de las nuevas fuentes de generación. Esto consigue dar un valor notable a este estudio, pues hace una evaluación de un sistema saturado basado en tecnologías y técnicas de control convencionales y lo mejora a través de diversas propuestas tecnológicas basadas en la implementación de nuevos dispositivos que re-definen la forma de operar los sistemas de potencia, haciendo esta implantación tecnológica a distintos niveles de depuración técnica y pudiendo, de esta manera, representar un notable cambio en los SEP actuales.[EN] The purpose of this work, is the comparative study of technological alternatives that provide a solution to the various needs that currently affect the Electric Power Systems (SEP), especially those problems related to the electric energy transport sector in an efficient and safe manner. For this, a model of the Spanish electricity system is made (where the alternatives studied will be applied) and the level of technological implementation in it, will be analyzed. Likewise, the impact of the use of various emerging technologies in the field of electrical systems management will be discussed, such as flexible alternating current transport devices (FACTS) and the implementation of high voltage direct current links (HVDC). This will make it possible to determine the technical feasibility of its implementation for a better management of the system, for which an analysis of the technical, economic and environmental benefits of considering new technologies in networks will also be carried out, which currently present a high penetrability of intermittent renewable sources. The present study analyzes, interprets and proposes, through its same formulation, the contribution of a new approach to control and management of the energy that is generated, transmitted and consumed in a real SEP, in an environment where techniques of generation of clean energy, but not so much technologies or implementation in the network or new methods or technological devices for flexible control given the nature of the new generation sources. This manages to give a remarkable value to this study, as it makes an evaluation of a saturated system based on conventional control technologies and techniques and improves it through various technological proposals based on the implementation of new devices that redefine the way of operating. power systems, making this technological implementation at different levels of technical debugging and may, in this way, represent a notable change in current SEPs.Duarte Sosa, BR. (2021). Estudio de tecnologías para la mejora de la eficiencia en el transporte de energía eléctrica en redes saturadas convencionales expuestas a la producción masiva de origen renovable: aplicación a la red eléctrica española. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/171527TFG

Webstorm - Utilização de Web e Brainstorming num contexto de Webart

A internet sempre foi considerada pelos artistas como uma nova forma de expressão, a natureza não material, a ausência de barreiras geográficas e a mais fácil captação de público permitiu o surgimento de um novo tipo de arte, a Web art. É neste contexto que se propõem o projecto webstorm, que tem como principal objectivo representar visualmente as ideias escritas por um grupo acerca de um determinado tema, utilizando o brainstorming electrónico, e a Web como técnica e repositório de imagens respectivamente. Como suporte aplicacional do projecto, foi desenvolvida uma ferramenta que faz uso das mais recentes tecnologias para as aplicações Web, as “Rich Internet Applications”, mais concretamente o “Ajax”, tornando-a mais fácil e amigável de utilizar. Para a obtenção de opiniões e resultados foram efectuados testes à aplicação, após estes são apresentadas as conclusões do projecto Webstorm.Artists always considered the internet as a new form of expression, of an immaterial nature, without geographical barriers and therefore broadening interaction with the public, this brought about a new form of art, Web art. It is this context that Project Webstorm is proposed, it’s primary objective is to visually represent a group’s written ideas about a certain subject or theme, using electronic brainstorming for processing and the web as a repository of images. As applicable support for the project, a tool has been developed which uses the most recent technologies for web applications, such as “Rich Internet Applications”, or “Ajax” to be more precise, thus making it more user friendly. Opinions and results were gathered by testing the application, prior to these the conclusions of Project Webstorm are presented

Uncovering the promiscuous activity of IL-6 proteins: a multi-dimensional analysis of phylogeny, classification and residue conservation

The IL-6 family of cytokines, known for their pleiotropic behavior, share binding to the gp130 receptor for signal transduction with the necessity to bind other receptors. Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor is triggered by the IL-6 family proteins: leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), oncostatin-M (OSM), cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), and cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1 (CLCF1). Besides the conserved binding sites to the receptor, not much is known in terms of the diversity and characteristics of these proteins in different organisms. Herein, we describe the sequence analysis of LIF, OSM, and CT-1 from several organisms, and m17, a LIF ortholog found in fishes, regarding its phylogenetics, intrinsic properties, and the impact of conserved residues on structural features. Sequences were identified in seven classes of vertebrates, showing high conservation values in binding site III, but protein-dependent results on binding site II. GRAVY, isoelectric point, and molecular weight parameters were relevant to differentiate classes in each protein and to enable, for the first time and with high fidelity, the prediction of both organism class and protein type just using machine learning approaches. OSM sequences from primates showed an increased BC loop when compared to the remaining mammals, which could influence binding to OSM receptor and tune signaling pathways. Overall, this study highlights the potential of sequence diversity analysis to understand IL-6 cytokine family evolution, showing the conservation of function-related motifs and evolution of class and protein-dependent characteristics. Our results could impact future medical treatment of disorders associated with imbalances in these cytokines.This work was supported by the “Contrato-Programa” UIDB/04050/2020 funded by national funds through the FCT I.P. and project FUN2CYT: Harnessing the potential for biomedical applications of pleiotropic cytokines LIF and oncostatin M (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030568) supported by Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizaçao (FEDER) and FCT, I.P. Raul ˜ Machado acknowledges FCT I.P. for funding within the Scientific Employment Stimulus instrument (CEECIND/00526/2018)