Boundary conditions and renormalized stress-energy tensor on a Poincar\'e patch of AdS2\textrm{AdS}_2

Quantum field theory on anti-de Sitter spacetime requires the introduction of boundary conditions at its conformal boundary, due essentially to the absence of global hyperbolicity. Here we calculate the renormalized stress-energy tensor $T_{\mu\nu}$ for a scalar field $\phi$ on the Poincar\'e patch of $\text{AdS}_2$ and study how it depends on those boundary conditions. We show that, except for the Dirichlet and Neumann cases, the boundary conditions break the maximal $\textrm{AdS}$ invariance. As a result, $\langle\phi^2\rangle$ acquires a space dependence and $\langle T_{\mu\nu}\rangle$ is no longer proportional to the metric. When the physical quantities are expanded in a parameter $\beta$ which characterizes the boundary conditions (with $\beta=0$ corresponding to Dirichlet and $\beta=\infty$ corresponding to Neumann), the singularity of the Green's function is entirely subtracted at zeroth order in $\beta$. As a result, the contribution of nontrivial boundary conditions to the stress-energy tensor is free of singular terms.Comment: 7 pages. Minor Correction. Matches published versio

Healthcare rule-based expert system framework to help, educate and prepare users

Existe neste momento um grande problema com a abundância de informação relativa a saúde, a desinformação. Este problema tem causado que uma grande percentagem de pessoas faça visitas ao hospital desnecessariamente, ou pior. Como não foi possível encontrar uma aplicação móvel que disponibiliza um conjunto de informação cientificamente correta, disponível para todos, organizada e acessível, foi procurado neste documento resolver este problema. Para isto, um estudo foi conduzido para entender o estado da arte sobre aplicações móveis e sobre o ecossistema de aplicações para a saúde, desta forma endereçando diversos tópicos como acessibilidade, UX/UI e usabilidade. Para combater a desinformação, é importante ser capaz de disponibilizar aos utilizadores informação de confiança e para isso concluiu-se que a melhor e mais confiável informação teria que ser recolhida de especialistas os profissionais de saúde. Um protótipo foi construído que incorpora não só um sistema pericial que, baseado em regras criadas através da informação recolhida dos especialistas, podes disponibilizar um sistema de pesquisa de sintomas, mas também diversas funcionalidades de usabilidade e opções de acessibilidade. Este protótipo abre a possibilidade de desenvolver conjunto de novas funcionalidades e/ou melhorar aquelas já implementadas, como um algoritmo baseado em regras mais dinâmico ou testes de utilizadores mais extensos que permitem uma aplicação móvel mais completa em termos de acessibilidade e usabilidade.There is currently a major problem with the abundance of information regarding health, misinformation. This problem causes a large percentage of people that take unnecessary trips to the hospital or worse. As there is not a suitable mobile app that conveys a set of scientifically correct, easily available, and organized information that is accessible to everyone, in this document we sought to solve this issue. For this, a study was done to understand the state of the art of mobile applications and about the current ecosystem of healthcare apps, addressing several issues such as accessibility, UX/UI and usability. To tackle misinformation, it was important being able to provide reliable information to users, and therefore it was concluded that the best and most reliable information had to be gathered from experts, health professionals. A prototype was built that not only encompasses an expert-system that can, based on rules made with the information gathered from experts, provide a symptom search system, but also incorporates several usability features and accessibility options. This prototype opens the opportunity to develop a range of new features and/or enhance those already implemented, such as an improved and more dynamic rule-based algorithm or extensive user testing that allows for a full- fledged accessible and easy to use mobile application

Saving our savings: A beauty contest of monetary alternatives to keep reserve value and to allow for companies and individuals to transact more efficiently

Purpose – The main objective of this thesis is to study what commodities/assets/currencies can be considered as “feasible alternatives” to fulfill the role of “money” in society in comparison to the already established fiat currencies in circulation. Between those same alternatives, which specific advantages each have and what is their potential future. Design/Methodology/Approach – Dividing the study into two main sectors, the quantitative part looking into past prices of each possible currency and a qualitative part looking specifically into the characteristics that they have. For the first part, the main focus is on the concept of reserve of value, driven by the more or less stable the currency has been, and for the second part, six characteristics are laid down as thru them, a specific commodity can be analyzed properly. Findings - Gold is clearly the one performing the best for the quantitative analysis while Nano and Monero are the currencies with “the best characteristics for money”. Surprisingly, in general, the quantitative analysis is not so good for precious metals while some cryptocurrencies do perform better than what was expected. Research limitations/implications – A 2-year period of analysis while making all assumptions and conclusions in a context of a bull market and with historically very low interest rates. Originality/value – The study provides a methodology easily appliable to more commodities while crossing a comprehensive and extended multi-factor criteria.Meta – O principal objetivo desta tese é estudar quais ativos/moedas podem ser consideradas como “alternativas viáveis” para preencherem o papel de “dinheiro” na sociedade em comparação com as já estabelecidas moedas fiduciárias em circulação. Entre essas alternativas, quais vantagens específicas cada tem e qual o potencial futuro. Design/Metodologia/Abordagem – Dividindo o estudo em dois principais setores, a parte quantitativa observando preços passados de todas as potenciais moedas e a parte qualitativa, observando especificamente as caraterísticas que detêm. Para a primeira parte, o principal foco é no conceito de reserva de valor, conduzido pela mais ou menos estabilidade que a moeda tem mostrado e a segunda parte onde seis caraterísticas são analisadas para cada ativo em específico. Resultado – O ouro é claramente aquele que mais se destaca na análise quantitativa enquanto Nano e Monero são as moedas que detêm “as melhores caraterísticas como dinheiro”. Surpreendentemente, em geral, a análise quantitativa não mostra uma clara supremacia dos metais preciosos enquanto algumas cripto moedas preformam melhor do que o esperado. Restrições da Pesquisa – O período de 2 anos de análise enquanto todas as suposições e conclusões são feitas e retiradas no contexto de um “bull market” e com taxas de juro historicamente baixas. Originalidade/Valor – O estudo fornece uma metodologia facilmente aplicável a mais ativos enquanto cruza uma análise compreensiva com um critério de múltiplos fatores

De la régulation par l’offre scolaire à la régulation par la demande : le cas de Lisbonne

Cet article présente les résultats principaux d’une étude empirique réalisée dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche plus vaste sur l’émergence de nouveaux modes de régulation des politiques éducatives. Nous avons analysé les trajectoires des élèves dans la transition entre la fin de la scolarité obligatoire et le début de l’enseignement secondaire, dans un ensemble de neuf établissements appartenant à un territoire urbain précis, dans une municipalité limitrophe de Lisbonne. Les résultats obtenus montrent que (contrairement aux critères uniformes de la carte scolaire) les écoles d’un même territoire occupent des positions distinctes quant à l’attraction qu’elles exercent sur les élèves. L’étude montre aussi que le jeu entre l’offre et la demande scolaire, les logiques d’action des chefs d’établissement et les stratégies familiales pour le « choix de l’école » créent un espace d’interdépendance entre les établissements qui favorise l’émergence d’un nouveau mode de régulation intermédiaire de la politique et de l’action éducatives

A emergência de um mercado educativo no planeamento da rede escolar: de uma regulação pela oferta a uma regulação pela procura

O presente artigo visa a reflectir sobre a emergência de lógicas de mercado na regulação da oferta educativa, nomeadamente a partir de processos formais e informais de "escolha da escola" pelos alunos e suas famílias. Com base numa investigação em curso no Centro de Estudos da Escola da Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, da Universidade de Lisboa, foi possível identificar "desvios" às normas da "carta escolar" (que estabelece, em Portugal, a obrigatoriedade da frequência de uma determinada escola em função da residência dos alunos). Esses desvios configuram uma evolução, no planeamento da rede escolar, de "uma regulação pela oferta" para "uma regulação pela procura" e põem em evidência o aparecimento de novos espaços de interdependência/concorrência entre as escolas, com visível efeito sobre o modo como é (ou não) garantida a igualdade de oportunidades

Predicting calcium in grape must and base wine by FT-NIR spectroscopy

Calcium content in sparkling wines may not exceed 80 mg/L due to the risk of aggregation with alginate capsules. The high calcium content usually found in wine and must emphasizes the need to develop alternative and appropriate techniques faster and cleaner than atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). To obtain a robust model to predict calcium content, FT-NIR spectroscopy was used in 98 base white wine samples and 60 must samples from an Alentejo winery. The reference method for calcium determination was AAS technique, with a dry ashing sample procedure, as a prior treatment. Results confirmed the ability of FT-NIR as an alternative technique to AAS, to predict calcium content in grape must and base wine. Advance knowledge of the calcium content in the grape must will help avoid obtaining a mixture of musts with a high calcium content in the same container

Current Technologies and Considerations for Drug Bioanalysis in Oral Fluid

Oral fluid analysis for drugs was first used almost 30 years ago for the purpose of therapeutic drug monitoring. Since then, oral fluid bioanalysis has become more popular, mainly in the fields of pharmacokinetics, workplace drug testing, criminal justice, driving under the influence testing programs, and therapeutic drug monitoring. In fact, oral fluid can provide a readily available and non-invasive medium, without any privacy loss by the examinee, which occurs for instance during the collection of urine samples. It is believed that drug concentrations in oral fluid may parallel those measured in blood. This feature makes oral fluid an alternative analytical specimen to blood, which assumes particular importance in roadside testing, the most published application of this sample. Great improvements in the development of accurate and reliable methods for sample collection, in situ detection devices (on-site drug detection kits), and highly sensitive and specific analytical methods for oral fluid testing of drugs have been observed in the last years. However, without mass spectrometry-based analytical methods, e.g. liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC/MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), the desired sensitivity would not be met, due to the low amounts of sample usually available for analysis. This review will discuss a series of published papers on the applicability of oral fluid in the field of analytical, clinical and forensic toxicology, with special focus on its advantages and drawbacks over the normally used biological specimens and the main technological advances over the last decade, which made possible oral fluid bioanalysis for drugs

Adaptive immunity increases the pace and predictability of evolutionary change in commensal gut bacteria

Co-evolution between the mammalian immune system and the gut microbiota is believed to have shaped the microbiota's astonishing diversity. Here we test the corollary hypothesis that the adaptive immune system, directly or indirectly, influences the evolution of commensal species. We compare the evolution of Escherichia coli upon colonization of the gut of wild-type and Rag2(-/-) mice, which lack lymphocytes. We show that bacterial adaptation is slower in immune-compromised animals, a phenomenon explained by differences in the action of natural selection within each host. Emerging mutations exhibit strong beneficial effects in healthy hosts but substantial antagonistic pleiotropy in immune-deficient mice. This feature is due to changes in the composition of the gut microbiota, which differs according to the immune status of the host. Our results indicate that the adaptive immune system influences the tempo and predictability of E. coli adaptation to the mouse gut.EU-FP7 infrastructure grants: (EMMA and InfrafrontierI3), LAO/ITQB, FCT grant: (SFRH/BD/80257/2011)

La régulation locale de l’éducation et la direction des établissements scolaires au Portugal

L’article présente une analyse interprétative de l’évolution récente de la gestion scolaire au Portugal, dans le contexte d’un processus cumulatif d’intégration du local dans la définition des politiques éducatives. Cette analyse s’appuie sur un ensemble de recherches conduites par l’auteur sur la problématique de la régulation de l’éducation et elle porte sur les éléments suivants : le local comme référentiel des politiques éducatives ; les référentiels utilisés pour définir l’action des chefs d’établissement ; la formation comme instrument de régulation.This article presents an interpretive analysis of recent developments in school management in Portugal within the context of a cumulative process of integrating the educational policies. This analysis is based on the author’s research on the issue of regulating education, and covers the following: the local as a reference of educational policies, the frames of reference used to define the principal’s action, and training as a regulatory tool

Identidade, intuição, intenção : uma leitura

Intento / coordenação [de] Mário João Alves Chaves. - Lisboa : Universidade Lusíada, 2022. - ISBN 978-989-640-253-2. - P. 1-184.Onde é que começa e termina a nossa identidade? Será que a nossa percepção do Eu é mesmo nossa? E isso é sequer importante? É, pois. Nós somos seres sensíveis ao mundo, com um profundo sentido de identidade enraizado nesse mesmo mundo. Sem ele andamos perdidos. Dele nascem os porquês da nossa vida, a nossa missão. A obra da nossa vida gira em torno desta grande questão existencial e será intimamente informada por aquilo com que nos identicamos consciente e inconscientemente. Mas quem somos realmente? Três I’s, uma leitura crítica do ethos actual sob o pretexto de três ideias chave: a identidade, a intuição e a intenção