Impacto das obras musicais lusófonas nas redes sociais

Trabalho de projecto de mestrado, Engenharia Informática (Sistemas de Informação), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2016Existem dois problemas dai indústria musical na Web: a quantidade de informação nas re- des sociais sobre artistas musicais lusófonos (quenão permite saber quais os artistas mais populares) e a qualidade da mesma(não existem informações suficientes sobre alguns artistas). Nesta tese é apresentado um projeto chamado Lusica que pretende resolver estes problemas. Este projeto teve a colaboração do SAPO Labs e por esta razão, o principal objetivo foi tornar o Lusica um produto SAPO Labs. O processo de desenvolvimento do Lusica foi dividido em duas Fases. Na Primeira Fase foram recolhidas as informações sobre artistas lusófonos e os respetivos tweets. Desta informação foi feito um mapeamento entre as músicas dos artistas e os seus tweets de forma a construir um historial de popularidade. A esta Fase foram realizados testes intermédios de usabilidade e de segurança por uma equipa especializada do SAPO Labs com o objetivo de lançar uma versão intermédia. A Segunda Fase tira proveito da contribuição dos utilizadores para assim melhorara qualidade da informação apresentada pelo Lusica. Para tal, foram adicionadas funcionalidades que estão disponíveis para o utilizador através de um sistema de autenticação. Os utilizadores autenticados podem então editar informação e expressar as suas preferências musicais. Através desta informação é construído um perfil de utilizador onde são listados os seus gostos, amigos e pontos resultantes da sua contribuição. Após conclusão desta Fase, foram realizados testes de usabilidade presenciais e, uma vez mais, os testes de usabilidade e de segurança da equipa especializada do SAPO Labs. A correção dos resultados destes testes deu origem ao protótipo final, que foi posteriormente lançado como produto SAPO Labs. Foram também realizados testes `a ferramenta Social Impact que faz o mapeamento entre os tweets e as músicas. Na primeira avaliação verificou-se que a precisão era elevada (100%) mas que a abrangência (53%)não o era. Como tal, foram realizadas algumas alterações que resultou num pequeno melhoramento(60%).There are two problems with the music industry on the Web: the quantity of the infor- mation on the social networks about lusophone artists (it’s impossible to know the popu- larity of the artists)and the quality of this information(there isn’t sufficient information about some artists). This thesis presents a project called Lusica that aims to solve these problems. Lusica had SAPO Labs’collaboration and for this reason the main objective was to make Lusica as one of SAPO Labs’product. The Lusica’s development process was divided in two phases. On the First Phase the information about the lusophone artists and the respective tweets about them was collected. This information was used to make a correspondence between the artists’songs and their tweets to build a popularity history. On this Phase were executed usability and security intermediate tests by a SAPO Labs’ specialized team in order to launch an intermediate version. The Second Phase takes advantages of the users’ contribution to improve the quality of the information presented by Lusica. So, there were added features which are available to the user through an authentication system. Authenticated users can edit information and express their musical preferences. With these functionalities a user profile can be created through the user’s preferences and allows them to edit information as well. After this Phase conclusion presential usability tests and once more usability and security intermediate tests by the SAPO Labs’ specialized team were executed. The correction of tests’ results led to the final prototype which was subsequently released as one of SAPO Labs’ product. There were also executed tests to the Social Impact tool that provides a correspondence between tweets and musics. In the first evaluation it was verified that the precision was high(100%)but the recall wasn’t(53%).As so, some alterations were made which resulted in a slight improvement(60%)

Special Issue JOMS – Journal of Medical Systems, 2016 on Agent-Empowered HealthCare Systems

The Agent-Empowered HealthCare Systems Special Issue includes a selection of papers that provide discussion on the most recent and innovative work regarding the study and application of agent-based technology to healthcare.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Resistance training for muscle strenght and lean mass in adults older than 60 years: a systematic review.

Objectives: Verify the effect of resistance training (RT) in muscle mass and muscle strength in older adults. Methods: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) published between 2005 and 2015, with a study population aged 65 and up that went through an RT based intervention were analysed. Body composition should be assessed by Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry or Computed Tomography Scan. Internal validity of each article was assessed using the PEDro scale. Results: Five RCTs whit score of 5/10 met the inclusion criteria and globally 162 participants were assessed. Each study was based on a RT program of 6-16 weeks of 2 3times/week. Discussion Main results show that high intensity and even low intensity RT, increased muscle mass, cross sectional area, strength of the quadriceps and functionality. RT has shown great outcomes in preventing sarcopenia. Results magnitude is proportional to RT characteristics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Resistance training for muscle strength and lean mass in adults older than 60 years: a systematic review

Objectives: Verify the effect of resistance training (RT) in muscle mass and muscle strength in older adults. Methods: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) published between 2005 and 2015, with a study population aged 65 and up that went through an RT based intervention were analysed. Body composition should be assessed by Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry or Computed Tomography Scan. Internal validity of each article was assessed using the PEDro scale. Results: Five RCTs whit score of 5/10 met the inclusion criteria and globally 162 participants were assessed. Each study was based on a RT program of 6-16 weeks of 2-3times/week. Discussion: Main results show that high intensity and even low intensity RT, increased muscle mass, cross sectional area, strength of the quadriceps and functionality. RT has shown great outcomes in preventing sarcopenia. Results magnitude is proportional to RT characteristics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Childhood overweight and obesity intervention: effectiveness of a program based on parents as agents of change (LifeStyle)

The rates of childhood overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) significantly increased in the past decades. The prevalence of children with OW and OB (OW/OB children) in Portugal is one of the highest in the European Union and in the OECD area. A comprehensive approach to prevent and treat childhood OW and OB is needed. Since parents have a crucial role in children's diet and physical activity, interventions should include the family's lifestyle and focus on the parenting practices. Programs targeting parents by increasing parents' awareness and responsibility in providing environments that lead children to healthy behaviors are imperative in the treatment of childhood OW and OB. Considering the beneficial effects of parents as agents of change in pediatric weight management, this study's purpose is to implement and evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of Group Lifestyle Triple P (GLTP) in a Portuguese sample of parents of OW/OB children. This is particularly relevant as, to date, there are no such structured interventions available in Portugal. GLTP is the only evidenced-based program that teaches parents of children with OW (not only with OB) to use positive parenting in order to promote a healthy lifestyle in their families, through healthy eating and physical activity. It stems from the Triple P - Positive Parenting Program, and targets parents of OW/OB children aged 5 to 10 through a 14-session intervention. It aims to decrease child's weight and weight-related problem behavior, by increasing parents' self-efficacy in managing the child's behavior, and by decreasing the use of ineffective parenting practices. To accomplish the study's purposes, a RCT with parents of OW and OB children and a change process analysis will be conducted. The outcome variables include the child's anthropometric measures and weight-related problem behavior, parents' self-efficacy in managing the child's weight-related problem, parental feeding style, parenting practices, parental self-regulation, and parental perception of change. A total of 120 parents of OW/OB children, aged 5 to 10, will be recruited from the Nutrition Unit of the Pediatric Department (NUPD) of Porto University Central Hospital (Centro Materno-Infantil do Norte, CMIN). Participants will be randomly allocated to the experimental and control conditions. Control condition includes treatment as usual in the health care services. The study will include three assessment waves (pre-test, post-test and 6-month follow-up). Participants of the control group will have the opportunity to receive the intervention after the RCT evaluation. With this study we expect to obtain knowledge on the effectiveness of GLTP as secondary prevention tool of childhood OW and OB, contributing to the development of public health and health care policies and to a decrease of the significant health care costs inherent to childhood OW and OB

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora