Budgeting process- the case of Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda

Traditional budgeting is almost universally performed, but criticism has been increasing and alternative methods emerging. As the usefulness of budgeting depends on an organiztion’s business and people, a case-study was conducted. This work project aimed to describe and to analyze the budgeting process at Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda. The research revealed that its current system cannot be defined as traditional budgeting, since its organizational structure is not totally centralized. Moreover, the results indicated that no alternative budgeting technique could be used, even though the current procedures could be improved within the limitations of being a public limited company

BeMonitored: monitorização psicofisiológica usando dispositivos móveis

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaThe daily life in modern societies has a high impact in individuals. Long-term stress, changes, traumas and life experiences are some of environmental factors that lead to the development of anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders affects many people in their daily lives, since they may lead to social isolation, clinical depression, and can impair a person’s ability to work, study and routine activities. Nevertheless, there are many effective therapies available for such disease, sufferers do not seek for treatment, because they underestimate the problem, the treatments duration, cost or difficult in access. In result, it is of the utmost importance that researchers can recreate, as accurately as possible, real life conditions in psychological studies. However, that is not always possible. Recent improvements in sensors technology make then a straightforward solution to gather physiological data. However, their standalone use is quite limited. Nevertheless, combining those sensors with a Smartphone creates an independent solution that without any more requirements has an enormous potential, due to the advanced computing power and connectivity features available. In this dissertation it is proposed the BeMonitored, a Smartphone based solution to support more ecological valid monitoring of psychological experiments. BeMonitored delivers customizable specific context dependent audio-visual stimuli and using external resources connected via Bluetooth or Smartphone own resources (camera, gps), is able to capture the subject’s behavior, physiology and environment. As a proof of concept, BeMonitored was tested in a spider phobia population, where it was found that spider phobic was separated from control subjects using solely the face motion captured with the Smartphone camera. Also, heart rate differences were found between spider and neutral stimuli. Although current study focused only on spider phobia, the results support the validity and the potential of using BeMonitored in other phobias related, especially in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) scenarios, either for assessment of the phobia “stage” or to deliver a stepwise sequence of video stimuli according to accepted psychology guidelines.O dia a dia nas sociedades modernas, tem um grande impacto nos indivíduos. O stress continuado, mudanças, traumas e as experiências de vida, são alguns dos fatores ambientais que potenciam o desenvolvimento de doenças de ansiedade. Este tipo de doenças podem conduzir ao isolamento social, a depressões, à diminuição da capacidade de trabalhar, estudar ou executar tarefas do quotidiano. Apesar de existirem inúmeras terapias eficazes no tratamento deste tipo de doenças, os sofredores, não procuram tratamento, ou por desvalorizarem o problema, ou devido à duração e custo associado ou pelo difícil acesso. Deste modo, é da extrema importância que os investigadores consigam recriar as condições da vida real no estudo de doenças do foro psicológico.Contudo, tal nem sempre é possível. As recentes evoluções ao nível dos sensores biomédicos fazem deles uma solução simples para adquirir sinais biológicos. Contudo, o seu uso isolado é de certa forma limitado. Por outro lado, combinando estes sensores com um Smartphone, criamos uma solução independente, com enorme potencial, devido ao avançado poder computacional e conectividade destes dispositivos. Nesta dissertação propomos o sistema BeMonitored: uma solução baseada em Smartphone para suportar um estudo ecologicamente válido a nível da monitorização de doenças do foro psicológico. BeMonitored é uma solução que permite expor os sujeitos a um estímulo audiovisual configurável, que usando sensores biomédicos ligados por Bluetooth ao Smartphone, juntamente com os seus recursos de hardware (ex: câmera, GPS), é capaz de adquirir o comportamento e a fisiologia dos sujeitos, bem como o contexto envolvente. Como prova de conceito, o BeMonitored foi testado num estudo de fobia a aranhas, onde foi possível obter resultados que nos permitem separar os sujeitos fóbicos dos sujeitos de controlo usando apenas o movimento facial capturado com a camara do smartphone. Encontraram-se também diferenças na frequência cardiaca entre os segmentos de vídeo com aranhas e neutros. Apesar do estudo ser focado nas fobias a aranhas, os resultados obtidos confirmam a validade e o potencial de utilização do BeMonitored em outras fobias, bem como em cenários de terapia cognitivo-comportamental(CBT), quer para a avaliação do nível de fobia quer na exposição gradual de estímulos de video de acordo com as directizes aceites na área da psicologia

Direct deduction of chemical class from NMR spectra

This paper presents a proof-of-concept method for classifying chemical compounds directly from NMR data without doing structure elucidation. This can help to reduce time in finding good structure candidates, as in most cases matching must be done by a human engineer, or at the very least a process for matching must be meaningfully interpreted by one. Therefore, for a long time automation in the area of NMR has been actively sought. The method identified as suitable for the classification is a convolutional neural network (CNN). Other methods, including clustering and image registration, have not been found suitable for the task in a comparative analysis. The result shows that deep learning can offer solutions to automation problems in cheminformatics.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, 4 table

Personalized System of Instruction, Distance Learning, and student-centered learning

O Sistema Personalizado de Ensino (PSI), amplamente utilizado nos anos 1970, e a Educação à Distância (EAD) são duas metodologias de ensino que rompem com modelos tradicionais de educação, nos quais o centro crítico de transmissão de informação é o professor. O presente trabalho apresenta as principais características dessas duas formas de ensinar, ressaltando suas similaridades. Alguns estudos nos quais PSI e EAD foram utilizados em conjunto são descritos e as vantagens de tal junção são discutidas. Sugere-se, ao final deste trabalho, que o uso conjunto do PSI e da EAD pode ser uma forma viável de disseminação e democratização de um ensino de qualidade, alicerçado em evidências empíricas de sua eficácia.Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), broadly employed in the 1970's, and Distance Learning (DL) are teaching methodologies that differ from the traditional models of education, in which the critical core of information transmission is the teacher. This work presents the main features of both PSI and DL, highlighting their similarities. Studies in which PSI and DL were used together are described, and the advantages of this junction are discussed. It is suggested, at the end of this work, that using PSI and DL together may be a viable way of dissemination and democratization of quality education, based on empirical evidence of its effectiveness

Análise do comportamento e a construção social do conhecimento

A phenomenon of contemporary interest in social psychology is the social construction of knowledge – knowledge arising out of the interactions of people in communities rather than from interaction with nonsocial environment. A behavior analysis of such social constructed knowledge is presented, based on Skinner’s (1957) functional types of verbal behavior and the social contingencies that maintain them. Socially constructed knowledge occurs as intraverbals, as tacts with loose discrimination, and when there are powerful social controls determining the verbal behavior in a group. The distinction between rule-governed and contingency-governed behavior shows the limits of socially constructed knowledge, whereas the social contingencies involved in minority influence and innovation show how changes can occur in community representations.Keywords: social representations, behavior analysis, social psychology, verbal behavior.Um fenômeno de interesse contemporâneo na psicologia social é a construção social do conhecimento – o conhecimento que surge na interação entre as pessoas em comunidades, ao invés daquele que surge em interações em um ambiente não social. Uma análise comportamental do conhecimento construído socialmente é apresentada, baseada nos tipos funcionais de comportamento verbal de Skinner (1957) e nas contingências sociais que os mantêm. Conhecimento construído socialmente ocorre na forma de intraverbais, tatos com falha na discriminação, ou quando existem poderosos controles sociais determinando o comportamento verbal em um grupo. A diferença entre comportamento governado por regras e governado por contingências mostra os limites do conhecimento construído socialmente, enquanto contingências sociais envolvidas na influência de uma minoria e em inovações mostram como mudanças podem ocorrer nas representações de uma comunidade. Palavras-chave: representações sociais, análise do comportamento, psicologia social, comportamento verbal

The Warburg effect in mycobacterial granulomas is dependent on the recruitment and activation of macrophages by interferon-γ

Granulomas are the hallmark of mycobacterial disease. Here, we demonstrate that both the cell recruitment and the increased glucose consumption in granulomatous infiltrates during Mycobacterium avium infection are highly dependent on interferon-y (IFN-y). Mycobacterium avium-infected mice lacking IFN-y signalling failed to developed significant inflammatory infiltrations and lacked the characteristic uptake of the glucose analogue fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). To assess the role of macrophages in glucose uptake we infected mice with a selective impairment of IFN-y signalling in the macrophage lineage (MIIG mice). Although only a partial reduction of the granulomatous areas was observed in infected MIIG mice, the insensitivity of macrophages to IFN-y reduced the accumulation of FDG. In vivo, ex vivo and in vitro assays showed that macrophage activated by IFN-y displayed increased rates of glucose uptake and in vitro studies showed also that they had increased lactate production and increased expression of key glycolytic enzymes. Overall, our results show that the activation of macrophages by IFN-y is responsible for the Warburg effect observed in organs infected with M. avium.Funded by project ‘NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000002-Host-Pathogen Interactions’ co-funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2—O Novo Norte), under the Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN), through the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) and by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Síndrome metabólica e a atividade física em adolescentes: uma revisão integrativa

The objective was to analyze the impact of physical activity on the health of children in adolescents with any criteria for metabolic syndrome.. An integrative review with paired search was performed in the Medline database (PubMed Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online). Thirteen articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. Results from primary intervention studies showed that moderate to vigorous physical activity programs reduce prevalence and improve indicators related to metabolic syndrome. Physical inactivity, sedentary behavior and low aerobic fitness were risk factors increasing the risck for metabolic syndrome and its components. This review showed the impact of physical activity on children and adolescents with any of the criteria of metabolic syndrome and is useful for designing more efficient interventional models, focusing on the practice of moderate to vigorous physical activity and the reduction of sedentary behavior.O objetivo foi analisar o impacto da atividade física na saúde de crianças em adolescentes com algum critério para síndrome metabólica. Foi realizada uma revisão integrativa com busca pareada na base de dados Medline (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) via PubMed. Foram analisados 13 artigos que atendiam aos critérios de inclusão. Os resultados dos estudos primários com intervenção mostraram que programas de prática de atividade física moderada a vigorosa reduzem a prevalência e melhora os indicadores relacionados a síndrome metabólica. Inatividade física, sedentarismo e baixa aptidão aeróbica mostraram-se fatores de risco aumentando as chances para a síndrome metabólica e seus componentes. Esta revisão permitiu mostrar o impacto da prática da atividade física em crianças e adolescentes com algum dos critérios da síndrome metabólica sendo útil para o delineamento de modelos interventivos mais eficientes, com foco na prática da atividade física moderada a vigorosa e a redução do sedentarismo

Evidence for lack of direct causality between pain and affective disturbances in a rat peripheral neuropathy model

[Epub ahead of print]Chronic pain is frequently accompanied by the manifestation of emotional disturbances and cognitive deficits. While a causality relation between pain and emotional/cognitive disturbances is generally assumed, several observations suggest a temporal dissociation and independent mechanisms. We therefore studied Sprague-Dawley rats that presented a natural resistance to pain manifestation in a neuropathy model (spared nerve injury [SNI]) and compared their performance in a battery of behavioral paradigms-anxiety, depression and fear memory-with animals that presented a pain phenotype. Afterward, we performed an extensive volumetric analysis across prefrontal, orbitofrontal and insular cortical areas. The majority of SNI animals manifested mechanical allodynia (low threshold [LT]), but 13% were similar to Sham controls (high threshold [HT]). Readouts of spontaneous hypersensivity (paw flinches) were also significantly reduced in HT and correlated with allodynia. To increase the specificity of our findings, we segregated the SNI animals in those with left (SNI-L) and right (SNI-R) lesions and the lack of association between pain and behavior still remains. Left-lesioned animals, independent of the LT or HT phenotype, presented increased anxiety-like behaviors and decreased well-being. In contrast, we found that the insular cortex (agranular division) was significantly smaller in HT than in LT. To conclude, pain and emotional disturbances observed following nerve injury are to some extent segregated phenomena. Also, HT and LT SNI presented differences in insular volumes, an area vastly implicated in pain perception, suggesting a supraspinal involvement in the manifestation of these phenotypes.This work has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE) and the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement (project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023). It was also funded by National and International funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the projects POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007038 and PTDC/NEU-SCC/5301/2014 and by the IASP Early Career Research Grant 2015. Researchers were supported by FCT grant numbers PD/BD/114117/2015 (MRG via Inter-University Doctoral Programme in Ageing and Chronic Disease, PhDOC), SFRH/BD/109111/2015 (AMC via PhD Program in Health Sciences), SFRH/BD/52291/2013 (ME via PhDOC), SFRH/BD/89936/2012 (SB via PhD Program in Health Sciences (Applied)), PDE/BDE/113604/2015 (RM via PhD Program in Health Sciences (Applied)), PDE/BDE/113601/2015 (PSM via PhD Program in Health Sciences (Applied)) and SFRH/BPD/80118/2011 (HA). ARS integrated the Master Programme in Health Sciences of the School of Medicine, University of Minho.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Uso de gonadotrofina corionica equina em programas de transferencia de embriões bovinos a tempo fixo

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