Implementação de gabinete gráfico na empresa Marques Soares, SA, com o objetivo de produção do produto gráfico “Catálogo de Vendas”

Introdução Tendo desenvolvido a minha atividade profissional no apoio a empresas e profissionais que desenvolvem atividade na área gráfica são vários os trabalhos realizados na consultoria informática, formação e apoio à produção de conteúdos gráficos. Desses escolhi um trabalho que considero demonstrativo dessas várias vertentes e das minhas capacidades e competências na área das Artes Gráficas permitindo contextualizar essas capacidades com a docência de várias unidades curriculares que leciono no Departamento de Artes da Imagem, Escola Superior de Música, Artes e Espetáculo do Instituto Politécnico do Porto. O trabalho em questão consistiu no apoio à criação do departamento gráfico na empresa Marques Soares com vista à produção de um catálogo de vendas e outros materiais como sejam cartazes, folhetos, decoração de lojas,... Esta empresa comercializa diversas gamas de produtos em loja e através de um catálogo de vendas com distribuição nacional, com especial implantação no Norte e Centro de Portugal. Foi uma das primeiras empresas a apostar no segmento de vendas por catálogo, desde 1980. Ao longo dos anos, o catálogo foi produzido por diversas empresas da área gráfica, no entanto, por questões de custo e controlo de qualidade, entendeu a administração passar a executar o catálogo internamente, tendo para isso contratado a empresa LOJApple. Foi proposto que se criasse um gabinete gráfico adstrito ao departamento de marketing e dada formação ao funcionário responsável pela gestão da produção catálogo e que embora sendo um profissional com conhecimentos de artes gráficas não tinha conhecimentos na utilização de informática. Foi ainda decidido que como condição de compra dos equipamentos e serviços deveria o primeiro catálogo ser realizado com acompanhamento da empresa LOJApple. Na qualidade de responsável técnico pela área gráfica fui designado para gerir este projeto. Tratando-se de um projeto com uma forte componente na área informática considerei se deveria propor-me a especialista na área informática, no entanto a Portaria n.º 316/2001, de 2 de abril, que aprovou a Classificação Nacional de Áreas de Formação (CNAF), a área de Audiovisuais e Produção dos Media, integrada na área de estudo Artes do grupo Artes e Humanidades indica que: “213 Audiovisuais e produção dos media Os programas de formação em audiovisuais e produção dos media dizem respeito às técnicas necessárias à produção de livros, jornais, programas de rádio e televisão, filmes, vídeos, música gravada e à reprodução gráfica. Esta área também se refere aos métodos de reprodução a cores, à fotografia e à computação gráfica, assim como à associação de imagens, texto e ilustrações para a produção de livros, revistas, anúncios, documentos publicitários, etc. Esta área inclui os programas cujo conteúdo principal incida sobre as seguintes formações: 2 Composição de texto; Composição de texto informatizada; Composição tipográfica; Concepção gráfica/design gráfico; Encadernação; Fotografia; Ilustração; Impressão; Produção assistida por computador; Produção cinematográfica; Produção de rádio e televisão; Produção multimédia; Produção musical; Realização gráfica/maquetização; Reprodução gráfica; Técnicas de som e imagem; Técnicas dos media” Nesse sentido, e dado que leciono no Departamento de Artes da Imagem, com uma forte incidência nos cursos tecnológico/artísticos das áreas audiovisual e multimédia considerei mais adequado submeter a minha candidatura nesta área

UNCERTAINTY AND DECISION-MAKING IN THE HUMAN BRAIN

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Biology, NeuroscienceUncertainty pervades most of the events and decisions that we face every day. Uncertainty exists in previously acquired knowledge (prior) and on what our senses currently tell us (likelihood). Moreover, uncertainty exists in both non-social and social settings (social uncertainty). Understanding how the brain responds to and uses information about uncertainty thus seems crucial if we want to understand decision-making.(...

An Efficient and Low Density Crossbar Switch Design for NoC

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a sort of multiplexing that facilitates various signals to occupy a single transmission channel. In this medium, sharing is enabled in the code space by assigning a limited number of N-chip length orthogonal spreading codes to the processing elements sharing interconnect. Serial and parallel overloaded CDMA interconnect (OCI) architecture variants are presented to adhere to different area, delay, and power requirements. Compared with the conventional CDMA crossbar, on a  Xilinx  Artix-7  AC701  FPGA  kit,  the  serial  OCI crossbar achieves 100% higher bandwidth, 31% less resource utilization, and 45% power saving, while the parallel OCI crossbar achieves N times higher  bandwidth  compared with the serial OCI crossbar at the expense of increased area  and power consumption. A 65-node OCI-based star NoC is implemented, evaluated, and compared with an equivalent space division multiple access based torus NoC for various synthetic traffic patterns. The evaluation results in terms of the resource utilization and throughput highlight the OCI as a promising technology to implement the physical layer of NoC routers

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC EXPERIENCES IN OTT: WITH A MIXED-METHODS APPROACH

This paper addresses the challenge of 'poverty in the midst of abundance' in OTT services, where a vast array of content makes it difficult for users to find what suits their tastes, often leading to subscription cancellations. U.S. market studies show users spend an average of 10.5 minutes searching for content, while in South Korea, they experience psychological fatigue during this process. This indicates a need for improved recommendation algorithms to enhance user experience and reduce service churn The research focuses on identifying attributes in OTT recommendation algorithms that users prefer, aiming to understand which specific features of recommendations are most valued by users. Findings reveal that effective recommendation systems, tailored to user preferences and feedback, can significantly enhance the user experience. Improved search interfaces and content curation are crucial for increasing user trust and satisfaction. The paper provides an academic foundation for understanding algorithmic interplay in OTT services and practical guidance for companies to develop more effective recommendation strategies. This research underscores the importance of user-centric approaches in OTT platforms to address the content overload problem and enhance overall service qualit

Ayurveda provides complete package for healthy progeny !!

The woman is an axle around whom not only the family or the society but the whole Universe revolves. A good progeny probably is the only prime thing on the earth that any couple would expect child is one who protects his race from grief, miseries etc. Today due to changing lifestyle Medical world is concerned about increasing rate of congenital imperfections in the new born which is posing confront to the aim of healthy humanity. Science reveals the fact that the anatomical, physiological, psychological built up of offspring is dependent on parents who provide ‘genes’ for specific characters to the child. Best of male and female gamete (sperm and ovum – through Shodhana and following regimes before conception) Atma, Suddha Garbhashaya, proper Kala (Ritukala), and observing Garbhini Paricharya properly will ensure timely and normal delivery of a healthy offspring. The contented, positive, enthusiastic but controlled state of mind of parents during conjugation results in static equilibrium of Manogunas, increment of Satvaguna leading to high ranked Satva of Garbha grating noble qualities like piousness, dexterity, intelligence, memory, quickness for work, gratitude & positive thoughts etc. Thus, Ayurveda- A complete and holistic health science, not only deal with preventive and curative aspects of health but also has a strong footings in the field of healthy progeny from choosing of life-partner to care during pregnancy

EFFECTS OF AVURVEDIC SHODHANA (PROCESSING) ON DRIED TUBEROUS ACONITE (Aconitum napellus Linn.) ROOT

Aconite (Aconitum napellus Linn.) commonly known as atis is a poisonous plant used extensively as antihypertensive, antipyretic, analgesic and antirheumatic. Ayurveda recommended the administration of aconite roots only after purification, i.e., boiling roots in cow’s urine (Gomutra). In the present study an attempt was made to compare the pro-arrhythmic and antihypertensive effects of powdered aconite root purified by shodhana process with that of unpurified form of aconite roots in order to provide scientific support of the claim in ayurvedic texts that purification of aconite root by shodhana process retains its antihypertensive activity and is devoid of pro-arrhythmic activity. Aconite root treatment in both forms purified and unpurified) caused significant reduction in BP when compared with diseased control group (P<0.05). The unpurified aconite root group showed significant increase in heart rate, increase in QRS complex time and increase in QT interval, however these parameters were statistically insignificant in purified aconite root treated group. The PRA, SC and BUN levels was significantly decreased in aconite root treatment groups. The probable mechanism of antihypertensive activity of aconite root can be attributed to decrease in plasma renin activity, decrease in oxidative stress and increase in NO levels. Key words: Aconite, shodhana process, antihypertensive, proarrhythmi

EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL AND SYNERGISTIC ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES OF PTEROCARPUS SANTALINUS

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate antibacterial and synergistic antimicrobial properties of leaf, stem and bark of Pterocarpus santalinus. Methods: The extraction was done by decoction method. The antimicrobial activity was done by agar well diffusion assay and the synergistic antimicrobial activity was done by agar disc diffusion assay.  Results: The synergistic activity was studied with plant extracts plus antibiotics viz. Ampicillin , Polymyxin-B,  Clotrimazole and  Fluconazole.  Conclusions: Amongst the three parts, the best antimicrobial activity was shown by bark extract. All the three parts showed synergistic antimicrobial activity with antibiotics but their level varied.  The results suggest that all the three parts phytochemicals that enhance the antimicrobial efficacy of the antibiotics against some microorganisms and hence can be developed as a new therapeutic weapon against infectious diseases

The Growth Effect Of Unemployed Resources And Inflation In Nigeria

This paper investigates the growth effect of human resource unemployment, natural resource unemployment and inflation in Nigeria between 1986-2010 through the application of ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique and Augmented Dickey-Fuller technique in testing the unit root property of the series. The results of unit root suggested that all the variables of the model were stationary. The Johansen cointegration result shows that there existed 2 cointegrating equation, implying the existence of long run relationship between economic growth, unemployment (human and natural resources) and inflation (total, headline, core, and food inflation). The results further revealed that unemployment (both human and natural resources), total inflation and core inflation impacted positively on economic growth while headline and food inflation impacted negatively on economic growth in Nigeria. The result also shows that unemployment does not significantly affect economic growth, but inflation does. Hence, a good performance of an economy in terms of per capita growth may therefore be attributed to the rate of inflation in the country. A major policy implication of this result is that concerted effort should be made by policy makers to increase the level of output in Nigeria by diversifying the economy to including exploitation and exploration of natural resources in order to reduce unemployment and the prices of goods and services (inflation) so as to boost the growth of the economy. Another policy implication of this study is that government should adjust its production techniques to be labour intensive as against capital intensive and also close the border to some extent which is the likely measure to reduce unemployment and Inflation and increase domestic output level (GDP). The study found that when natural resources which Nigeria is blessed with were harness unemployment, inflation, poverty and income inequality will be a history. Key words: Unemployment, Inflation, tapped natural resources, economic growth (RGDP), and cointegration

Sleep and insulin sensitivity in type 1 diabetes mellitus

The studies performed in this thesis show that type 1 diabetes mellitus is characterized not only by insulin deficiency, but also by insulin resistance. Both hepatic and peripheral insulin sensitivity were decreased in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, as well as inhibition of lipolysis. However, insulin resistance is not a fixed pathophysiological condition in type 1 diabetes. We demonstrated that a single night of partial sleep deprivation decreased insulin sensitivity by 14-20% in patients with type 1 diabetes and by 20-25% in healthy controls. These effects of partial sleep restriction could not be explained by a reduction of total slow wave sleep in patients with type 1 diabetes. Sleep duration is a determinant of insulin sensitivity, also in patients with diabetes. In addition, various aspects of diabetes could be linked to increased prevalence of sleep disturbances. Impaired sleep and type 1 diabetes might potentiate each other in some patients, thereby creating a negative vicious circle. Optimizing sleep duration and sleep quality could therefore be considered as a potential therapeutic target to improve metabolic control in patients with type 1 diabetes.Amgen, Novo Nordisk, SanofiUBL - phd migration 201

Rodents in agriculture and public health in Malawi: Farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices

Given that rodents are responsible for nearly 280 million cases of undernutrition worldwide and that about 400 million people are affected by rodent-associated zoonoses annually, management of rodent populations that are agricultural pests and/or reservoirs of pathogens is a major food security and public health matter. In sub-Saharan Africa, the median crop loss due to rodents is about 16% in the field and around 8% during storage. The impact on public health is not well-established, albeit over 60 zoonotic diseases can be spread to humans via rodents. Therefore, focusing on rodent-related community knowledge, attitudes, and practices is crucial to establishing robust baseline information as a springboard for future targeted studies. The study was conducted in September 2020 in Lilongwe and Nkhata Bay districts in Central and Northern Malawi, respectively. A semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, and interviews with key informants were used. Farmers reported rodents were a major problem for staple crops (maize, rice, and cassava) and the main species responsible were the Natal multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis), silver mole-rat (Heliophobius argenteocinereus), and house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus). Awareness of rodent-associated health risks is very low, as exemplified by reports of rodent–human bites, eating rodent-contaminated food, and processing and consumption of wild rodents in poor hygienic conditions, and these practices were flourishing when Malawi was a bubonic plague endemic country. Rodent management is less practiced, and when practiced, it is symptomatic. It is considered a matter of individual households and typically relies on the use of rodenticides and insecticides without proper dosage and user instructions. We recommend rigorous campaigns to create better awareness among the public regarding the impacts of rodents on agriculture and community health and the need for community engagement for effective rodent management. A paradigm shift is needed by adapting and adopting practices of ecologically-based rodent management and reducing dependence on synthetic chemical rodenticides