Mota-Engil: a solution to turnover its negative stock market performance

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsThis project started as an M&A Field Lab, where students are challenged to advise the selected company (Mota-Engil) on typical M&A proposal from an investment bank perspective. However, during the Field Lab path, the source of information to university students proved to be limited, specially in what concerns the searching for an operation abroad. Nevertheless, along the way, I tried to understand the reason why Mota-Engil’s shares were being so bearish in the stock market. So, this project reflects the investigation I did to justify the market valuation of Mota-Engil, to which I proposed opposite solutions to turnaround the negative performance. All the analysis refers to the year end of 2010 and it is important to state that companies’ valuations were done as the base to understand possible changes on corporate value

Selecção omissiva de strokes aplicada à generalização cartográfica de vias

Tese de mestrado em Engenharia Geográfica, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2011A primeira tarefa a executar para efectuar a Generalização Cartográfica de uma rede viária é a selecção omissiva das respectivas vias, operação onde são seleccionadas aquelas que se considerem suficientemente importantes para serem representadas na escala a que se destina a Generalização. Se tal problema está implicitamente resolvido para vias de reconhecida importância, o mesmo não se passa com aquelas que hierarquicamente são consideradas inferiores e cuja utilidade depende do enquadramento que têm com a sua vizinhança ou de factores estratégicos que tornem a sua representação indispensável. Para se poder definir a utilidade de cada elemento da rede viária, a avaliação a que cada um deles deve ser sujeito deve levar em consideração quatro tipos de informação: geométrica, topológica, temática e estatística, devendo cada um deles ter associadas características que sejam inicialmente disponibilizadas ou que sejam possíveis de medir de forma automatizada. Atendendo à estrutura da informação utilizada actualmente para a produção da carta série M782, Escala 1:50000 pelo IGeoE, foi utilizada pelo projecto aqui descrito uma metodologia de selecção omissiva que tem como unidade básica de medida o “Stroke”, que consiste num elemento linear criado a partir de diversos troços de via com continuidade direccional e ao qual pode ser atribuída uma relação funcional única. Definido o objecto de trabalho, foi necessário atribuir a cada Stroke características que representassem cada um dos grupos referidos para no fim lhe associar um valor único representante da sua importância para efeitos de reprodução gráfica. Para isso foi também necessário o estudo de diferentes metodologias para cálculo de densidade, de forma a providenciar ao algoritmo informação estatística que distinguisse a generalização cartográfica em áreas com diferentes tipos de densidades. Finalmente, foi necessária a aplicação persistente do algoritmo a uma amostra, cujos diferentes resultados comparados com os obtidos por meio do processo semi-automático possibilitaram a definição dos parâmetros ideais para o seu processamento. Por proposta paralela e como complemento do projecto principal, foi ainda efectuado um estudo sobre a identificação e substituição automática de rotundas e triângulos na rede viária, acabando essa tarefa por se demonstrar extremamente importante estando intimamente relacionada com a própria selecção omissiva.The objective of this project is to develop a methodological approach for the cartographic generalization of the geographic entity roads. The project was focused on the strategy for road selection. The first task to be performed in cartographic generalization of a road network is the selective omission procedure in which the roads are selected accordingly to their importance within the context and the scale. If this problem is implicitly solved for the most important roads (p.e. high-way, IPs “Itenerarios Principais”, ICs “Itenerarios Complementares”), the same cannot be assumed for less important roads, as the local urban roads or agricultural paths. In order to define the usefulness of each element of the road network, we have considered the following characteristics: geometry , topology, and theme. Considering the present day structure of cartographic data used to produce the 1:50000 scale (series M782) maps in the IGeoE, the selective omission was implemented using the “stroke” measure. The stroke measure is a sequence of segments (of the road network) built from several linear segments with directional continuity and the same function. For each stroke a set of characteristics was assigned related with the geometry, topology and theme aimed at the definition of a score. This score was later used to decide if the stroke will be or not selected to be represented given an empirical threshold. Several tests were made to select the “best” threshold. The threshold was chosen comparing the generalized map with a man made generalized map. Additionally to the main project several other small implementation procedures and algorithms were implemented. Among these, the identification and automatic replacement of round bouts and triangles on the road network was implement with success and is now routinely implement in the production chain of the IGeoE

O ensino da história no Colégio de São Tomás : "o despotismo iluminado"

Relatório da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada, Mestrado em Ensino de História e Geografia, Universidade de Lisboa, 2015O presente Relatório de Prática Supervisionada intitulado “O Ensino da História no Colégio de São Tomás: O Despotismo Iluminado” é o resultado final do Mestrado em Ensino da História e da Geografia da Universidade de Lisboa. O objetivo deste Relatório/Tese foi compreender como é o ensino da História no Colégio de São Tomás, como o seu título denuncia, a partir da lecionação e demonstração de uma Unidade Didática concreta ao 8º ano, denominada “O Despotismo Iluminado”. Para concretizarmos este objetivo procedeu-se em primeiro lugar a uma breve resenha teórica sobre as teorias educativas interiorizadas no Instituto da Educação, demos especial atenção às teorias personalistas, tecnológicas e académicas, que são aquelas com que mais nos identificamos. Para que se compreendesse a pertinência deste trabalho seria fundamental entender a realidade do Colégio de São Tomás, uma Instituição de Ensino Particular e Cooperativo. Assim percorremos a sua história e pedagogia, retratando todas as características que o constituem. Em suma respondemos a uma pergunta a que o leitor deve ter resposta: como é o Colégio de São Tomás? Por fim demonstrámos através das aulas que lecionámos ao 8º ano mas também ao 7º ano as originalidades do ensino da História nesta Escola Privada. Para além de apresentar um programa e manuais escolares próprios e diferentes do Ensino Público, identificou-se uma preocupação clara por uma História de Personagens que combata a tendência historiográfica marxista, onde as estruturas prevalecem. Deste modo estudámos com particular cuidado as figuras de Frederico II da Prússia, de José II e Maria Teresa da Áustria, D. José I de Portugal e de Catarina a Grande, da Rússia.The current report entitled “Teaching History at Colégio de São Tomás: Enlightened despotism” is the outcome of the Master’s in Teaching History and Geography from Lisbon University. The main objective of this report/ thesis was to understand how History is taught at Colégio de São Tomás, using as a starting point the demonstration of a didactic unit from the eighth grade syllabus – “Enlightened despotism.” So as to achieve this aim we briefly presented the educational theories which sustain the Institute of Education, we paid special attention to the theories of the person, and also to technological and academic theories, those which are the most relevant to us. We also tried to answer a fundamental question: what is the current state of the teaching of History? In order to fully understand the relevance of this work it was essential to know the reality of Colégio de São Tomás, a private school. Therefore, we studied its history and pedagogy, portraying all its features. Finally, we demonstrated through the lessons taught to the eighth grade, but also to the seventh, the originality of the teaching of History in this private school. Besides having its own syllabus and course books, different from the ones used in public schools, it was also possible to identify a clear concern for a History of Characters as opposed to a historic Marxist trend, where structures without a face prevail. Hence, we devoted particular attention to the study of historical characters such as Frederick II of Prussia, Joseph II and Maria Theresa of Austria, King Joseph I of Portugal and Catherine the Great of Russia

A review of capture-recapture methods and its possibilities in ophthalmology and vision sciences

Epidemiological information is expected to be used to develop key aspects of eye care such as to control and minimise the impact of diseases, to allocate resources, to monitor public health actions, to determine the best treatment options and to forecast the consequence of diseases in populations. Epidemiological studies are expected to provide information about the prevalence and/or incidence of eye diseases or conditions. To determine prevalence is necessary to perform a cross-sectional screening of the population at risk to ascertain the number of cases.The aim of this review is to describe and evaluate capture-recapture methods (or models) to ascertaining the number of individuals with a disease (e.g. diabetic retinopathy) or condition (e.g. vision impairment) in the population.The review covers the fundamental aspects of capture-recapture methods that would enable non-experts in epidemiology to use it in ophthalmic studies. The review provides information about theoretical aspects of the method with examples of studies in ophthalmology in which it has been used. We also provide a problem/solution approach for limitations arising from the lists obtained from registers or other reliable sources.We concluded that capture-recapture models can be considered reliable to estimate the total number of cases with eye conditions using incomplete information from registers. Accordingly, the method may be used to maintain updated epidemiological information about eye conditions helping to tackle the lack of surveillance information in many regions of the globe.- This study was supported by FCT (COMPETE/QREN) grant reference [PTDC/DPT-EPI/0412/2012] in the context of the Prevalence and Costs of Visual Impairment in Portugal: a hospital-based study (PCVIP-study) and FCT Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2013. PLR is funded by FCT (COMPETE/QREN) grant reference [SFRH/BD/119420/2016]

Behavioural responses of indigenous benthic invertebrates (Echinogammarus meridionalis, Hydropsyche pellucidula and Choroterpes picteti) to a pulse of Acid Mine Drainage: A laboratorial study

The drainage of abandoned mines leads to several ecological problems, particularly the acidification of surface freshwater systems and heavy metal contamination. In order to study the possibility of using the behavioural early warning responses of Portuguese indigenous benthic invertebrates to detect an acute short-term pulse of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), experiments with the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor MFB(TM) were performed and locomotion and ventilation were measured as endpoints. AMD was collected from the "São Domingos" mine (Southeast Portugal) and the following species were selected: Echinogammarus meridionalis (Pinkster, 1973), Hydropsyche pellucidula (Curtis, 1834) and Choroterpes picteti (Eaton, 1870). For simulating the pulsed exposure, AMD was added to river water where invertebrates were collected and pH was lowered until reaching 3.5. The effects of H+ and heavy metals were discriminated using HCl positive controls. In addition to behaviour, mortality was registered. E. meridionalis was the most sensitive species in terms of mortality and behavioural endpoints, followed by C. picteti and H. pellucidula. E. meridionalis early warning responses consisted of increased locomotion with subsequent increase in ventilation, whereas for C. picteti only an increase in locomotion was observed. H. pellucidula showed no early warning responses. This work demonstrates the suitableness of using benthic invertebrates' behavioural early warning responses for detecting spikes of pollutants like AMD.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VB5-4SN92M3-3/1/d6f668cd09b5a2fc28906c7f4eb3dea

Prevention of nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing oral anticancer therapies for solid tumors

Copyright © 2015 Ana Lúcia Costa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is still a common and debilitating side effect despite recent advances in its prevention and treatment. The intrinsic emetogenicity of chemotherapy agents allowed grouping into four risk groups (high, moderate, low, and minimal risk of emetogenicity). The prevention of acute and delayed CINV for intravenous agents and one day regimens is well studied, although, there are few data about management of CINV induced by oral cytotoxic agents and targeted therapies, usually administered in extended regimens of daily oral use. Until now treatment of nausea and vomiting caused by oral antineoplastic agents remains largely empirical. The level of evidence of prophylactic antiemetics recommended for these agents is low. There are differences in the classification of emetogenic potential of oral antineoplastic agents between the international guidelines and different recommendations for prophylactic antiemetic regimens. Herein we review the evidence for antiemetic regimens for the most used oral antineoplastic agents for solid tumors and propose antiemetic regimens for high to moderate risk and low to minimal risk of emetogenicity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Actas da 10ª Conferência sobre Redes de Computadores

Universidade do MinhoCCTCCentro AlgoritmiCisco SystemsIEEE Portugal Sectio

Different Cleat Models do Not Influence Side Hop Test Performance of Soccer Players with and without Chronic Ankle Instability

The lateral ankle sprain is one of the most common sport injury, representing 10-30% of all musculoskeletal disorders. The lateral ankle sprain is induced by sport gestures involving changes of direction and landing manoeuvres and constitutes a risk factor for the occurrence of chronic ankle instability. Although cleat models and performance have been already explored, no study has evaluated this relationship in athletes with chronic ankle instability. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to analyse the influence of different soccer cleat models on Side Hop Test performance of athletes with and without chronic ankle instability. Thirty-nine athletes were divided into two groups, a chronic ankle instability group (n = 20) and a healthy group (n = 19). Each participant performed the Side Hop Test, executing 10 consecutive jumps on dry artificial grass with 4 cleat models. The Qualisys System and two force platforms were used to analyse the test runtime, the distance travelled and the mean velocity. No statistically significant interaction was observed between the group and the cleat model for all variables evaluated. In addition, no differences were observed between models or groups. In this specific test, performance does not seem to be influenced by different cleat models on dry artificial grass in athletes with and without chronic ankle instability.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Anti-saccades in early stages of multiple sclerosis

Eye movements disability is common finding in multiple sclerosis but the exact stage at which changes are visible is not clear. The aim of study was to assess if anti-saccade planning and execution are altered at early stages of the disease.TEM-All with the Mutiple Sclerosis, Braga, Portugalinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Does the cleat model interfere with ankle sprain risk factors in artificial grass?

Background: The cleats-surface interaction has been described as a possible risk factor for lateral ankle sprain. However, their interaction is still unknown in individuals with chronic ankle instability. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of different soccer cleats on kinematic, kinetic and neuromuscular ankle variables on artificial grass in soccer players with and without chronic ankle instability. Methods: Eighty-two amateur athletes divided in two groups: 40 with chronic ankle instability and 42 without chronic ankle instability. All subjects performed 2 series of 6 consecutive crossover jumps with dominant foot, each one with one of the four models of cleats (Turf, Artificial grass, Hard and Firm ground). Cleat and group main effect and interactions of kinematic, kinetic and neuromuscular variables were analyzed according to factorial repeated measures ANOVA. Findings: No statistically significant cleat and group main effect and interactions were identified in kinematic, kinetic and electromyographic magnitude of the peroneal muscles. A main effect of the group was observed for peroneus longus activation time for TF model (p=0.010). Interpretation: In soccer players, the contributor variables for ankle sprain were not influenced by the kind of soccer cleat used in a functional jump test on artificial grass. However, players with chronic ankle instability present delayed postural adjustments in peroneus longus with the TF model compared to players without chronic ankle instability.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio