An approach to the Contextual Design methodology in the context of Information

Based on an operative definition of Information Science (IS) as a study of the mediation aspects of the phenomena: data, information, knowledge and message, and their implementation in the cultural domain, the potential of Contextual Design (CD) as a methodology for the development of optimized interfaces between information resources and users is analyzed. The goals are (i) to identify papers that address or make use of the CD methodology in databases related to IS; (ii) to describe the approaches to the concept of CD in those papers; (iii) to point out the potentials and limitations of this methodology. We draw an exploratory / descriptive study based on a systematic review and categorical analysis. Eight papers were retrieved, being a possible indicator of the reduced use of the methodology, in the IS area, the same is essentially practical. Although the limitation of non-involvement of users throughout the design process is pointed out, the methodology shows the ability to collect implicit information through user activities and the possibility of shared systematization of complex data. These characteristics make CD a potential value for the development of appropriate interfaces between information resources and their users

Mergers and acquisitions : the case of Cimpor and InterCement

In June of 2012 Camargo Corrêa, the Brazilian Family Group that controlled the Brazilian cement producer InterCement, acquired 61% of the Portuguese cement production leader, Cimpor, with an offer price of 5.5 Euros, allowing Camargo Corrêa to take full control of Cimpor by owning 94% of the company. Cement is an industry characterized by huge production scales and high initial investments, with an enduring trend of consolidation among cement’s biggest international producers, and this deal comes at the tail-end of the 2008 financial crisis, which marked the European macroeconomic environment, particularly the sovereign treasury of the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain). According to the model used in this work, Cimpor’s share price at the time of the acquisition announcement is found to be undervalued, with 14.8% upside potential. Moreover, adding the forecasted synergies to the model implies a fair offer price of 6.14 Euros, which results in a 23% premium over Cimpor’s closing price

A Geometric Avalanche Principle

In this thesis we obtain an abstract continuity theorem for the drift associated with a product of isometries in both Gromov hyperbolic spaces and symmetric spaces as well as the Lyapunov exponents for a product of linear operators over some Hilbert space. We obtain these results by following a recipe of having large deviations estimates and an avalanche principle; a result which allows us to take conclusion of global nature from local hypothesis. As a main example, we apply the results to cocycles over Markov systems, where we prove the aforementioned large deviations estimates hold, thus providing a large class of examples. Upon presenting the linear setting we also mention the case of quasi-periodic linear cocycles. Whilst exploring Markov systems we also obtain a Fürstenberg type formula. From the perspective of Gromov hyperbolic spaces, we prove their group of isometries is a topological group and how random products of isometries follow a multiplicative ergodic theorem for the drift, thus describing the behaviour of typical orbits.Financiado pela Universidade de Lisboa ao abrigo do programa de bolsas de doutoramento BD201

A geometrical point of view for the noncommutative ergodic theorems

Tese de mestrado em Matemática, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, em 2018The strong law of large numbers, surely a classical result in probability theory, says that the more an experiment is repeated the closer the sample mean is to the expected value. The attempts at bringing an analogue of this result to statistical mechanics, although hard to formulate from a mathematical point of view, gave rise to Ergodic Theory. Ergodic theory includes itself in the study of dynamical systems, namely it studies asymptotic behaviours of orbits from a measure theory viewpoint by looking at averages. The first results in ergodic theory, von Neumann’s Mean Ergodic Theorem and Birkhoff’s Pointwise Ergodic Theorem as well as the strong law of large numbers all have an important aspect in common - the commutativity of the operation at hand. In the 50’s Furstenberg and Kesten asked themselves how could they extend such results to more general scenarios, specifically the case in which we work with groups whose commutativity may fail. It took until the 60’s for the first answers to such problems to be recorded. These were Furstenberg-Kesten Theorem, Kingman Subadditive Ergodic Theorem and Oseledets Multiplicative Ergodic Theorem. This text aims to present the noncommutative ergodic theorems from a geometrical point of view. The first to notice the relationship between geometry and Oseledets theorem was Kaimanovich by looking at it as a consequence of the action of GL(d;R) on the space of Symmetric Positive Definite Matrices. Later on, Karlsson and Margulis further extended the works of Kaimanovich to semigroups of semicontractions of more general spaces. This allows us to translate the problem into a geometric one on which we can use different machinery. The thesis is comprised of three chapters with the goal of presenting all the results above. The first consists of the classical ergodic theory, the second is about the theory of geodesic metric spaces whilst the proof for the main theorems as well as some of the classic ones are presented in the third

Do velho se faz novo : a integração de imagens de arquivo no telejornalismo

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ciências da Comunicação (área de especialização em Informação e Jornalismo)O presente relatório expõe o conhecimento adquirido ao longo do estágio de três meses na redação da TVI, centrado maioritariamente na edição de conteúdos noticiosos para os principais programas informativos da estação. Deste modo, grande parte desta investigação pretende percorrer esta corrente audiovisual, avaliando, num primeiro momento, a importância da televisão nos hábitos de consumo da população e a transformação que o telejornalismo conheceu com a entrada dos grupos privados no sector da comunicação. Num segundo momento, o objectivo passa por analisar o papel da edição de imagem na construção da mensagem audiovisual, um processo que, embora relevante, é frequentemente esquecido nas investigações bibliográficas. Debruçarnos- emos sobre a figura do editor, dissecando as suas tarefas e dinâmicas de trabalho, assim como as particularidades que o meio televisivo, muito marcado pela rapidez e pelo ritmo frenético, imprimem nas formas narrativas e estéticas. Dentro deste tópico, foi nossa intenção central perceber em que medida os materiais existentes no arquivo são reaproveitados em novas produções: em que situações isso acontece, com que objectivos e quais os cuidados e repercussões que isso acarreta. A problemática explorada foi suportada por uma pesquisa aprofundada, bem como por entrevistas realizadas aos editores das principais secções da redação da TVI e à responsável pela mediateca da estação. Dados e opiniões que nos permitirão refletir sobre a responsabilidade da edição na produção informativa.This report exposes all the knowledge acquired during my three-month internship on the TVI newsroom, particularly focused on editing media contents for the main information programs of the station. Thus, a great part of this investigation intends to explore this audiovisual medium, evaluating, on a first moment, the importance of TV on the consuming habits of the population, and also the transformation that the TV information shows suffered with the entrance of the private groups on the communication business. On a second moment, the purpose is to analyse the role of image editing on the construction of the audiovisual message, a process that, although relevant, is frequently forgotten in bibliographic investigations. We will explore the figure of the editor, dissecting his taks and dynamics of work, as well as the particularities that the TV medium, well-known by it’s speed and frentic rhythm, print on the narrative and aesthetical forms. Inside this topic, it was our main intention to understand to which extent the existing materials on archive are reused in new productions: in which situations does that happen, with which goals and what are the concerns and repercussions that it might bring. The explored problematic was supported by a profund reasearch, as well as the interviews made with the main editors of TVI newsroom departments and also with the responsible for the archive of the station. Data and opinions that will allow us to reflect about the responsabilities of editing on the informative production

Atualização Automática de sistemas SCADA em produção

Esta dissertação consiste na idealização e implementação de um Módulo para a gestão de atualizações automáticas de Sistemas SCADA em produção.O ScateX+ constitui a última geração da solução SCADA da Efacec para redes; aplicações DMS e EMS avançadas para transmissão, distribuição ou geração de energia; aplicações para redes ferroviárias e metropolitanos ou supervisão de infraestruturas técnicas; incluindo sistemas de treino de operadores e gestão de equipas, entre outros.Actualmente a actualização em ambiente de produção do Sistema SCADA, comporta custos consideráveis de mão de obra, bem como tempo de indisponibilidade do Sistema incompatíveis com a eficiência exigida pelo mercado. Com vista a minimizar estes custos, foi idealizado um módulo de gestão de actualizações, que realize automatizadamente o upgrade dos postos de trabalho do Sistema.Este módulo consistirá no desenvolvimento de uma interface web onde será possível fazer upload das atualizações, listar os postos de trabalho ligados à rede, agendar atualizações para os postos de trabalho pretendidos, controlo de versões e configurações gerais dos postos de trabalho. Para além da interface web será também necessário criar uma aplicação Windows que correrá nos postos de trabalho que serve como ponte de comunicação entre o posto e o servidor e será responsável pelo download e atualização nos postos

The exploration of unknown environments by affective agents

Tese de doutoramento em Engenharia Informática apresentada à Fac. de Ciências e Tecnologia de CoimbraIn this thesis, we study the problem of the exploration of unknown environments populated with entities by affective autonomous agents. The goal of these agents is twofold: (i) the acquisition of maps of the environment – metric maps – to be stored in memory, where the cells occupied by the entities that populate that environment are represented; (ii) the construction of models of those entities. We examine this problem through simulations because of the various advantages this approach offers, mainly efficiency, more control, and easy focus of the research. Furthermore, the simulation approach can be used because the simplifications that we made do not influence the value of the results. With this end, we have developed a framework to build multi-agent systems comprising affective agents and then, based on this platform, we developed an application for the exploration of unknown environments. This application is a simulated multi-agent environment in which, in addition to inanimate agents (objects), there are agents interacting in a simple way, whose goal is to explore the environment. By relying on an affective component plus ideas from the Belief-Desire-Intention model, our approach to building artificial agents is that of assigning agents mentalistic qualities such as feelings, basic desires, memory/beliefs, desires/goals, and intentions. The inclusion of affect in the agent architecture is supported by the psychological and neuroscience research over the past decades which suggests that emotions and, in general, motivations play a critical role in decision-making, action, and reasoning, by influencing a variety of cognitive processes (e.g., attention, perception, planning, etc.). Reflecting the primacy of those mentalistic qualities, the architecture of an agent includes the following modules: sensors, memory/beliefs (for entities - which comprises both analogical and propositional knowledge representations -, plans, and maps of the environment), desires/goals, intentions, basic desires (basic motivations/motives), feelings, and reasoning. The key components that determine the exhibition of the exploratory behaviour in an agent are the kind of basic desires, feelings, goals and plans with which the agent is equipped. Based on solid, psychological experimental evidence, an agent is equipped in advance with the basic desires for minimal hunger, maximal information gain (maximal reduction of curiosity), and maximal surprise, as well as with the correspondent feelings of hunger, curiosity and surprise. Each one of those basic desires drives the agent to reduce or to maximize a particular feeling. The desire for minimal hunger, maximal information gain and maximal surprise directs the agent, respectively, to reduce the feeling of hunger, to reduce the feeling of curiosity (by maximizing information gain) and to maximize the feeling of surprise. The desire to reduce curiosity does not mean that the agent dislike curiosity. Instead, it means the agent desires selecting actions whose execution maximizes the reduction of curiosity, i.e., actions that are preceded by maximal levels of curiosity and followed by minimal levels of curiosity, which corresponds to maximize information gain. The intensity of these feelings is, therefore, important to compute the degree of satisfaction of the basic desires. For the basic desires of minimal hunger and maximal surprise it is given by the expected intensities of the feelings of hunger and surprise, respectively, after performing an action, while for the desire of maximal information gain it is given by the intensity of the feeling of curiosity before performing the action (this is the expected information gain). The memory of an agent is setup with goals and decision-theoretic, hierarchical task-network plans for visiting entities that populate the environment, regions of the environment, and for going to places where the agent can recharge its battery. New goals are generated for each unvisited entity of the environment, for each place in the frontier of the explored area, and for recharging battery, by adapting past goals and plans to the current world state computed based on sensorial information and on the generation of expectations and assumptions for the gaps in the environment information provided by the sensors. These new goals and respective plans are then ranked according to their Expected Utility which reflects the positive and negative relevance for the basic desires of their accomplishment. The first one, i.e., the one with highest Expected Utility is taken as an intention. Besides evaluating the computational model of surprise, we experimentally investigated through simulations the following issues: the role of the exploration strategy (role of surprise, curiosity, and hunger), environment complexity, and amplitude of the visual field on the performance of the exploration of environments populated with entities; the role of the size or, to some extent, of the diversity of the memory of entities, and environment complexity on map-building by exploitation. The main results show that: the computational model of surprise is a satisfactory model of human surprise; the exploration of unknown environments populated with entities can be robustly and efficiently performed by affective agents (the strategies that rely on hunger combined or not with curiosity or surprise outperform significantly the others, being strong contenders to the classical strategy based on entropy and cost)

An approach to the Contextual Design methodology in the context of Information

Based on an operative definition of Information Science (IS) as a study of the mediation aspects of the phenomena: data, information, knowledge and message, and their implementation in the cultural domain, the potential of Contextual Design (CD) as a methodology for the development of optimized interfaces between information resources and users is analyzed. The goals are (i) to identify papers that address or make use of the CD methodology in databases related to IS; (ii) to describe the approaches to the concept of CD in those papers; (iii) to point out the potentials and limitations of this methodology. We draw an exploratory / descriptive study based on a systematic review and categorical analysis. Eight papers were retrieved, being a possible indicator of the reduced use of the methodology, in the IS area, the same is essentially practical. Although the limitation of non-involvement of users throughout the design process is pointed out, the methodology shows the ability to collect implicit information through user activities and the possibility of shared systematization of complex data. These characteristics make CD a potential value for the development of appropriate interfaces between information resources and their users

Implementação de métodos estandardizados para avaliação da capacidade de máquinas através de cartas de controlo

Estágio realizado na Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal e orientado pelo Eng.º Daniel VieiraTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Mecânica. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Primus inter (im)pares - an analysis on the presence of academic scholars in the news plateaux of portuguese TV

Os académicos estão a tornar-se uma presença cada vez mais visível nos plateaux informativos da TV portuguesa. Não são um grupo muito diversificado. Pelo contrário. Apresentam-se como uma confraria que é oriunda das universidades de Lisboa e pertence a um reduzido número de campos de saberes. Aos plateaux televisivos portugueses dificilmente chegará o fazer-ciência concreto. O que chega são alguns dos seus actores, o que não significa que o consigam por um efeito de reconhecimento inter pares, mas, antes, por um efeito de verdadeiras imparidades: porque já adquiriram suficiente capital simbólico em zonas exteriores ao campo científico. Zonas mais limítrofes, como o campo institucional-académico, ou zonas mais afastadas, como o campo comunicacional.Scholars are earning an increased presence in the news studios of Portuguese TV. We are not talking of a wide variety of them, though, but of a small brotherhood instead. Our research shows that we are actually facing a quite exclusive group mainly hailing from the Lisbon universities and institutes, and representing a limited number of fields of knowledge. This also means that the actualdoing-science of the country’s research institutions hardly gets to the TV studios. At most, a small amount of its actors, not related or due to a direct effect of an inter pares recognition, but through an effect of true impairments - i.e. because of a previously earned individual symbolic capital in areas exterior to their own specific scientific fields. We both mean bordering areas of the scientific field, such as the correspondent institutional-academic field, but also more distant areas such as the communicational field.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) - "Jornalismo televisivo e cidadania