The worker as a whistleblower : the legal regimes in the United Kingdom, France and Portugal

It is a fact that the European Union legal framework does not expressly protect workers who formalize a report regarding a misconduct that occurred at their workplace. Even though some advances in the past years have already been verified, there is still a legislative gap that needs to be fulfilled, in order to guarantee a more effective and consistent scope of protection, and the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law, of 23.04.2018, as well as the European Parliament legislative resolution of 16.04.2019 on the Proposal for a Directive already mentioned, in a long term, will combat precisely that. In the light of some aspects regulated in both legal documents, this paper aims to analyse the discrepancies between Member States, by comparing the systems in the United Kingdom, France and Portugal

A influência do paterfamilias na educação da elite política romana de finais da República: o exemplo de Marco Túlio Cícero

Tomando por fonte a vastíssima colecção de cartas escritas (e recebidas) por Cícero em meados do século I a.C., este estudo, que se centrará na análise de algumas das referências feitas pelo epistológrafo à educação e entrada na vida pública do filho, permitir-nos-á perceber em que medida o percurso educativo e a integração na vida pública do jovem aristocrata romano foram condicionados pela acção do paterfamilias

estudo de caso das empresas do PSI20

O governo das sociedades tem vindo a ser alvo de uma atenção crescente, visível através de um conjunto de regras e de procedi-mentos cuja finalidade é otimizar o desempenho das organizações. A responsabilidade social é assumida pela adoção voluntária de preocupações e de medidas para com a Comunidade, daí que ser socialmente responsável é estar muito para além do mínimo exigido legalmente. Ao analisar a relação entre o governo das sociedades e a respon-sabilidade social, constata-se que ambos têm sido investigados de forma crítica e independente. Com este trabalho procura-se compre-ender e simultaneamente interpretar e transmitir como é que as sociedades emitentes de ações, admitidas a negociação no merca-do de cotações oficiais da NYSE Euronext Lisbon, observam essa relação à luz de três modelos empíricos. Neste âmbito, apresenta-se um estudo de caso para se apreciar o comportamento das em-presas que constituem o PSI201, à data de 31 de dezembro de 2012, para o período compreendido entre 2010 e 2012. Da análise pode-se concluir da existência de uma relação entre o governo das sociedades e a responsabilidade social

Locomotion gait optimization for a quadruped robot

This article describes the development of a gait optimization system that allows a fast but stable robot quadruped crawl gait. We focus in the development of a quadruped robot walking gait locomotion that combine bio-inspired Central Patterns Generators (CPGs) and Genetic Algorithms (GA). The CPGs are modelled as autonomous differential equations, that generate the necessary limb movement to perform the walking gait, and the Genetic Algorithm perform the search of the CPGs parameters. This approach allows to explicitly specify parameters such as amplitude, offset and frequency of movement and to smoothly modulate the generated trajectories according to changes in these parameters. It is therefore easy to combine the CPG with an optimization method. A genetic algorithm determines the best set of parameters that generates the limbs movements. We intend to obtain a walking gait locomotion that minimizes the vibration and maximizes the wide stability margin and the forward velocity. The experimental results, performed on a simulated Aibo robot, demonstrated that our approach allows low vibration with a high velocity and wide stability margin for a quadruped walking gait locomotion

Head motion stabilization during quadruped robot locomotion: combining CPGs and stochastic optimization methods

In this work, the authors propose a combined approach based on a controller architecture that is able to generate locomotion for a quadruped robot and a global optimization algorithm to generate head movement stabilization. The movement controllers are biologically inspired in the concept of Central Pattern Generators (CPGs) that are modelled based on nonlinear dynamical systems, coupled Hopf oscillators. This approach allows for explicitly specified parameters such as amplitude, offset and frequency of movement and to smoothly modulate the generated oscillations according to changes in these parameters. The overall idea is to generate head movement opposed to the one induced by locomotion, such that the head remains stabilized. Thus, in order to achieve this desired head movement, it is necessary to appropriately tune the CPG parameters. Three different global optimization algorithms search for this best set of parameters. In order to evaluate the resulting head movement, a fitness function based on the Euclidean norm is investigated. Moreover, a constraint-handling technique based on tournament selection was implemented

Multiobjective optimization of a quadruped robot locomotion using a genetic algorithm

In this work, it is described a gait multiobjective optimization system that allows to obtain fast but stable robot quadruped crawl gaits. We combine bioinspired Central Patterns Generators (CPGs) and Genetic Algorithms (GA). A motion architecture based on CPGs oscillators is used to model the locomotion of the robot dog and a GA is used to search parameterizations of the CPGs parameters which minimize the body vibration, maximize the velocity and maximize the wide stability margin. In this problem, there are several conflicting objectives that leads to a multiobjective formulation that is solved using the Weighted Tchebycheff scalarization method. Several experimental results show the effectiveness of this proposed approach.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Traffic light optimization of an intersection: a portuguese case study

Smart cities aim to rise strategies that reduce issues caused by the urban population growth and fast urbanization. Thus, traffic light optimization emerges as an important option for urban traffic management. The main goal of this study is to improve traffic light management at a specific intersection, in the City of Guimarães (Portugal), where high-intensity traffic and an active pedestrian area were observed, generating traffic queues. To achieve the goals, a simulation-based optimization strategy using the Particle Swarm Optimization combined with the Simulation of Urban Mobility software was used to minimize the average waiting time of the vehicles by determining the optimal value of the traffic light cycle. The computational results showed it is possible to decrease by 78.2% the average value of the waiting time. In conclusion, by better managing the traffic light cycle time, traffic flow without congestion or queues can be achieved.This work has been supported by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020 and the project “Integrated and Innovative Solutions for the well-being of people in complex urban centers” within the Project Scope NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000086

Smart governance's marketing mix focused on promotion

The present thesis is the result of a Management Consulting Field Lab, which took place at CAVEDIGITAL, an Information and Technology (IT) company, with a core business on Corporate Governance digital solutions. The aim of the project was to create and develop a marketing mix focused on promotion, in order to increase product’s awareness and, consequently, to enlarge CAVEDIGITAL clients’ portfolio. The final outcomes were management and communication tools such as: Business Intelligence, Use-Cases, Case Studies, Opportunity Report Card and Extra-Challenges

Anatomy and Imaging of Rat Prostate: Practical Monitoring in Experimental Cancer-Induced Protocols

[EN] The rat has been frequently used as a model to study several human diseases, including cancer. In many research protocols using cancer models, researchers find it difficult to perform several of the most commonly used techniques and to compare their results. Although the protocols for the study of carcinogenesis are based on the macroscopic and microscopic anatomy of organs, few studies focus on the use of imaging. The use of imaging modalities to monitor the development of cancer avoids the need for intermediate sacrifice to assess the status of induced lesions, thus reducing the number of animals used in experiments. Our work intends to provide a complete and systematic overview of rat prostate anatomy and imaging, facilitating the monitoring of prostate cancer development through different imaging modalities, such as ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)SIThis research was funded by National Funds by FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2019 and FEDER/COMPETE/POCI—Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Program, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016728 and National Funds by FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project PTDC/DTP-DES/6077/201