O Brasil é um grande formigueiro’: território, ecologia e a história ambiental da América portuguesa, parte 1

Neste artigo compósito, proponho uma leitura não-antropoc êntrica da história territorial brasileira. Na parte I, reconstruo teoricamente o conceito de território de modo a ‘subjetificar’ toda e qualquer coisa terrena, descentrando a agência histórica. Para isso, sugiro encarar o território como um campo vital contínuo (i.e., sem ‘buracos’), diversificado e todo-abrangente de que os seres humanos participam, como condição necessária de sua existência terrena. A partir dessa pers pectiva, estar no território significa ‘vibrar’ na mesma faixa de frequência vital dos outros seres e coisas naturais, influenciando suas atividades e sendo influenciado por elas. Desenvolvida essa teoria, passo a utilizá-la, na parte II, para a construção de uma breve narrativa acerca do encontro e das adaptações recíprocas entre florestas costeiras, ameríndios, colonos neoeuropeus e formigas cortadeiras, durante a colonização portuguesa. A título de co nclusão, ressalto o contraste entre a atitude ‘dialogal’ e a atitude ‘colonial’ com que ameríndios e neoeuropeus, respectivamente, participavam dos encontros ecológicos, mais-do-que-humanos, que proponho chamar de territórios. (parte II, próximo número de HALAC

People counting system using existing surveillance video camera

The Casa da Música Foundation, responsible for the management of Casa da Música do Porto building, has the need to obtain statistical data related to the number of building’s visitors. This information is a valuable tool for the elaboration of periodical reports concerning the success of this cultural institution. For this reason it was necessary to develop a system capable of returning the number of visitors for a requested period of time. This represents a complex task due to the building’s unique architectural design, characterized by very large doors and halls, and the sudden large number of people that pass through them in moments preceding and proceeding the different activities occurring in the building. To achieve the technical solution for this challenge, several image processing methods, for people detection with still cameras, were first studied. The next step was the development of a real time algorithm, using OpenCV libraries and computer vision concepts,to count individuals with the desired accuracy. This algorithm includes the scientific and technical knowledge acquired in the study of the previous methods. The themes developed in this thesis comprise the fields of background maintenance, shadow and highlight detection, and blob detection and tracking. A graphical interface was also built, to help on the development, test and tunning of the proposed system, as a complement to the work. Furthermore, tests to the system were also performed, to certify the proposed techniques against a set of limited circumstances. The results obtained revealed that the algorithm was successfully applied to count the number of people in complex environments with reliable accuracy.A Fundação Casa da Música, responsável pela gestão do edifício da Casa da Música, tem a necessidade de obter dados estatísticos relativos ao número de visitantes. Esta informação é uma ferramenta valiosa para a elaboração periódica de relatórios de afluência para a avaliação do sucesso desta instituição cultural. Por este motivo existe a necessidade da elaboração de um sistema capaz de fornecer o número de visitantes para um determinado período de tempo. Esta tarefa é dificultada pelas características arquitetônicas, únicas do edifício, com portas largas e amplos halls, e devido ao súbito número de pessoas que passam por estas áreas em momentos que antecedem e procedem concertos, ou qualquer outras actividades. Para alcançar uma solução técnica para este desafio foi inicialmente elaborado um estado da arte relativo a métodos de processamento de imagem para deteção de pessoas com câmeras de vídeo. O passo seguinte foi, utilizando bibliotecas de OpenCV e conceitos de visão computacional, o desenvolvimento de um algoritmo em tempo real para contar pessoas com a precisão desejada. Este algoritmo inclui o conhecimento científico e técnico adquirido em métodos previamente estudados. Os temas desenvolvidos nesta tese compreendem os campos de manutenção do fundo, deteção de zonas sub e sobre iluminadas e deteção e seguimento de blobs. Foi também construida uma interface gráfica para ajudar o desenvolvimento, teste e afinação do sistema proposto como complemento ao trabalho desenvolvido. Além disso, perante um conjunto limitado de circunstâncias, foram efectuados testes ao sistema em ordem a certificar as técnicas propostas. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que o algoritmo foi aplicado com sucesso para contar pessoas em ambientes complexos com precisão

Neurosurgical anatomy of the insular cortex

OBJETIVOS: Com este estudo procurámos clarificar e aprofundar o conhecimento existente sobre a morfologia do córtex insular, focando-nos não só na forma da ínsula, como também na organização dos seus sulcos e circunvoluções. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Após a devida exposição, as ínsulas de sessenta hemisférios humanos adultos previamente fixados em formaldeído foram fotografadas. As dimensões de cada circunvolução e de cada sulco foram medidas com recurso a um software de análise de imagem. Os dados morfométricos obtidos foram depois analisados estatisticamente. RESULTADOS: A forma do córtex insular alterna entre triangular e trapezoide, sendo a primeira mais frequente (75%). O ângulo formado pelos sulcos peri-insulares posterior e inferior nas ínsulas trapezoides apresentava uma amplitude média de 131.17 (DP = 12.277). Um número mínimo de 3 e um número máximo de 6 circunvoluções por ínsula foram observadas, sendo que 5 era o número mais frequentemente observado. A circunvolução acessória estava presente em 66% das ínsulas, encontrando-se bem desenvolvida em 38% dos casos. Foi encontrada uma associação estatística entre o número de circunvoluções do lobo posterior e a presença de uma nova circunvolução no lobo anterior ou de uma circunvolução acessória mais desenvolvida (p = 0.006). A circunvolução posterior curta era a mais longa do lobo anterior (p < 0.001), sendo seguida pela circunvolução anterior curta (p < 0.001). No lobo posterior, a circunvolução anterior longa demonstrou ser mais larga que a circunvolução posterior longa (p = 0.003). A contribuição de cada circunvolução para a formação do ápex insular revelou-se muito inconsistente. O padrão mais frequentemente observado foi a combinação da circunvolução anterior curta com a circunvolução média curta. CONCLUSÕES: O presente estudo faz uma contribuição robusta e relevante para o conhecimento da anatomia do córtex insular, auxiliando os neurocirurgiões na decisão sobre as melhores formas de abordar esta área cortical.OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to clarify the morphology of the insular cortex focusing not only on the shape of the insula, but also on sulcal and gyral organization. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty formalin-fixed adult brain hemispheres had their insula exposed and photographed. The dimensions of each gyrus and sulcus were measured using an image analysis software. The morphometric data obtained was statistically analysed. RESULTS: The insular cortex shape alternates between triangular and trapezoid, being the triangular shape the most common (75%). The angle between the posterior and inferior peri-insular sulcus in the trapezoid insulae had a mean range of 131.17 (SD = 12.277). A minimum of 3 and a maximum of 6 insular gyri were observed, being 5 the most common total number of gyri observed. The accessory gyrus was present in 66% of the insulae and well-developed in 38% of the cases. A statistical association between the number of gyri in the posterior lobe and the presence of a novel gyrus or a more developed accessory gyrus in the anterior lobe was found (P = 0.006). The posterior short gyrus was the longest of the short gyri (P < 0.001), followed by the anterior short gyrus (P < 0.001). The anterior long gyrus was the largest of the long gyri (P = 0.003). The contribution of each of the short gyri to the formation of the insular apex was inconstant. The most common observed apex arrangement was the combination of the anterior and of the middle short gyri. CONCLUSIONS: This study makes a strong contribution to the understanding of the insular cortex anatomy, allowing neurosurgeons to be more capable to decide the best approach to this cortical area

Video interaction using pen-based technology

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em InformáticaVideo can be considered one of the most complete and complex media and its manipulating is still a difficult and tedious task. This research applies pen-based technology to video manipulation, with the goal to improve this interaction. Even though the human familiarity with pen-based devices, how they can be used on video interaction, in order to improve it, making it more natural and at the same time fostering the user’s creativity is an open question. Two types of interaction with video were considered in this work: video annotation and video editing. Each interaction type allows the study of one of the interaction modes of using pen-based technology: indirectly, through digital ink, or directly, trough pen gestures or pressure. This research contributes with two approaches for pen-based video interaction: pen-based video annotations and video as ink. The first uses pen-based annotations combined with motion tracking algorithms, in order to augment video content with sketches or handwritten notes. It aims to study how pen-based technology can be used to annotate a moving objects and how to maintain the association between a pen-based annotations and the annotated moving object The second concept replaces digital ink by video content, studding how pen gestures and pressure can be used on video editing and what kind of changes are needed in the interface, in order to provide a more familiar and creative interaction in this usage context.This work was partially funded by the UTAustin-Portugal, Digital Media, Program (Ph.D. grant: SFRH/BD/42662/2007 - FCT/MCTES); by the HP Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative 2006; by the project "TKB - A Transmedia Knowledge Base for contemporary dance" (PTDC/EAT/AVP/098220/2008 funded by FCT/MCTES); and by CITI/DI/FCT/UNL (PEst-OE/EEI/UI0527/2011

Communicating conflict and ambiguity in requirements engineering

Lancaster UniversityEffective requirements engineering in the presence of imperfection remains a major research problem. There is a lack of metaphors to aid communication about such imperfections during consultation with stakeholders. The aim of this thesis research is to improve the identification, communication, and handling of ambiguity and conflict in non-functional requirements, inadvertently introduced during the RE process. The thesis proposes a new approach based in the jigsaw puzzle metaphor, which is a novel contribution in the area of visual metaphors, and as a communication mechanism to make conflict and ambiguity explicit during stakeholder consultation meetings. This metaphor is based on jigsaw puzzles, where each puzzle piece represents a requirement. When the requirement text contains ambiguities and/or conflicts with other requirements, the respective puzzle pieces almost fit together but not perfectly. The approach presents heuristics to identify the most pertinent conflicts and ambiguities to handle and thus to make explicit through the badly-fitting matches. The gamming nature of the jigsaw puzzle metaphor, the fact it presents an easy to understand and learn language, as well as the analogy with misshapen graphical visualization (the badly-fitting matches) to represent that there is a problem, and its adequacy to a creative task as RE is; altogether are key characteristics that contribute to the adequacy and success of the jigsaw puzzle metaphor when used in stakeholder consultation meetings. In fact the jigsaw puzzle metaphor used together with the proposed method for conducting the consultation meetings with the stakeholders proved successful in: Increasing effectiveness when compared with text presentation. Fostering team work and communication, and improving commitment of stakeholders in co-authoring of requirements and co-responsibility in ambiguity and conflict handling. Promoting a relaxed environment to improve team cooperation and creativity. A key contribution of this thesis is its focus on separating the processing of the information about the imperfection from the issue of communicating that imperfection. Such a separation, though critical, has not been proposed to date

The influence of data analysis on football teams to increase sports´ performance

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceAs we know, football is the most popular sport among the fans all over the world and, in today’s world a very lucrative business for club owners and stakeholders, and sometimes its own supporters. With the board and supporters’ expectations being higher with the money spent on new players and conditions to attract valuable assets for the clubs, the teams tend to invest their money on infrastructures and other type of conditions for their players, including a better staff. The teams’ staff normally gather many data during the training sessions, other teams’ observation, and post-match observations, meaning that the investment is now increasing on hiring new data analysts. Additionally, there are scouting teams that gather data as well. With that, the question that arises is how can football teams increase their performance, using data analysis? The goal of this dissertation is to understand how the existing tools are helping teams improving their performance in and off the pitch and propose new ways on how future analysis can be conducted. To meet this goal, an extended systematic literature review will be taken, to present a discussion and conclusions on how data analysis can influence football clubs and players’ performance

Mobile and web tools for participative learning

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia InformáticaThe combination of different media formats has been a crucial aspect on teaching and learning processes. The recent developments of multimedia technologies over the Internet and using mobile devices can improve the communication between professors and students, and allow students to study anywhere and anytime, allowing each student progress at its own pace. The usage of these new platforms and the increase of multimedia sharing applied to educational environments allow a more participative learning, and make the study of interfaces a relevant aspect of existing multimedia learning systems. The work done in this dissertation explores interfaces and tools for participative learning,using multimedia educational systems over Internet broadband and mobile devices. In this work, aWeb-based learning system was developed, which enables to store, transmit, search and share the contents of courses captured in video and its extension to support Tablet PCs. The Web system, developed as part of the VideoStore project, explores video interfaces and video annotations, which encourage the participative work. The usage of Tablet PCs, through the mEmLearn project, has the aim to encourage the participative work, allowing the students to augment the course materials and to share them with other students or instructors

Evaluation of the different thresholding strategies for quantifying choriocapillaris using optical coherence tomography angiography

Background: In this paper, we evaluate the different thresholding strategies that have been used for the quantification of the choriocapillaris (CC) and explore their repeatability and the interchangeability of the measurements resulting from its application. Methods: Observational study. Eighteen eyes from nine healthy volunteers aged >18 years were imaged four consecutive times with a SD-OCTA system (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany) using a 10°×10° high-resolution protocol centered on the fovea. Projection artifacts were removed, and the CC was bracketed between 10 and 30 µm below Bruch’s membrane. For the quantification of CC, we used four flow deficits (FD) parameters: FD number, mean FD size, total FD area and FD density. We performed a systematic review of literature to collect the thresholding methods that have been used for the quantification of CC. The CC quantification parameters were then evaluated after applying each of the thresholding strategies. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Pearson’s correlation analysis were used to compare the repeatability and interchangeability among the different thresholding strategies for quantifying the CC. Results: A total of 72 optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) examinations were considered. The systematic review allowed us to conclude that three local thresholding strategies (Phansalkar, mean and Niblack) and three global thresholding strategies (mean, default, Otsu) have been used for CC quantification. These strategies were evaluated in our observational study. We found a high agreement within the same method in the quantification of FD number, mean FD size, total FD area and FD density but a poor agreement with different strategies. Local strategies achieved a significantly superior ICC than global ones in CC quantification. Conclusions: In conclusion, the interchangeability of the CC quantification using different thresholding strategies is low, and direct comparisons should not be performed. Local thresholding strategies are significantly superior to global ones for quantifying CC and should be preferred. There is an unmet need for a uniform strategy to quantify CC in future studies.publishersversionpublishe

The fair value of forestry assets : analysis of precious woods and green resources

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the Fair Value concept in the context of biological assets, more precisely forestry assets. In order to evaluate how Fair Value has been employed in the forestry assets field, I first approach the Fair Value in general terms in the Literature Review, and the Fair Value in the specific context of biological assets (IAS 41). Further, I develop an analysis of two standing timber companies, namely Precious Woods and Green Resources. This analysis encompasses both the methodologies undertaken by each company to value its forestry assets and the impacts on the Financial Statements of changes in fair value of biological assets performed by each company in each year under analysis. Based on the results obtained, both Precious Woods and Green Resources use the Income approach to value its forestry assets and these assets have an overall heavy weight on the financial statements of both companies. Besides, throughout the study one can notice that slight shifts in judgement concerning one or more variables relevant for the DCF model to measure forestry assets can have significant impacts on Financial Statements. Moreover, one can conclude that there is room for improvement not only in the disclosures but also in the accuracy and reliability of financial information reported in the Annual Reports of Precious Woods and Green Resources