Conceptualizing and illustrating the digital lifestyle of youth

This research looks at the psychosocial content and nature of the concept of the digital lifestyle when applied to pre-teens and teenagers. The concept of lifestyle is analyzed to assess whether the digital technological context is an acceptable framework to characterize the daily life of pre-teens and teenagers. Five dimensions of the digital lifestyle concept were useful to structure more than 200 technologically aware young consumers who discussed the meaning and usage of several digital devices.Consumer psychology, Internet, teenagers

The law of corporate groups in Portugal

After the pioneering German “Aktiengesetz” of 1965 and the Brazilian “Lei das Sociedades Anónimas” of 1976, Portugal has become the third country in the world to enact a specific regulation on groups of companies. The Code of Commercial Companies (“Código das Sociedades Comerciais”, abbreviately hereinafter CSC), enacted in 1986, contains a unitary set of rules regulating the relationships between companies, in general, and the groups of companies, in particular (arts. 481° to 508°-E CSC). With this set of rules, the Portuguese legislator has dealt with one of the major topics of modern Company Law. While this branch of law is traditionally conceived as the law of the individual company, modern economic reality is characterized by the massive emergence of large-scale enterprise networks, where parts of a whole business are allocated and insulated in several legally independent companies submitted to an unified economic direction. As Tom HADDEN put it: “Company lawyers still write and talk as if the single independent company, with its shareholders, directors and employees, was the norm. In reality, the individual company ceased to be the most significant form of organization in the 1920s and 1930s. The commercial world is now dominated both nationally and internationally by complex groups of companies”. This trend, which is now observable in any of the largest economies in the world, holds also true for small markets such as Portugal. Although Portuguese economy is still dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, the organizational structure of the group has always been extremely common. During the 70s, it was estimated that the seven largest groups of companies owned about 50% of the equity capital of all domestic enterprises and were alone responsible for 3/4 of the internal national product. Such a trend has continued and even highlighted in the next decades, surviving to different political and economic scenarios: during the 80s, due to the process of state nationalization of these groups, an enormous public group with more than one thousand controlled companies has been created (“IPE - Instituto de Participações do Estado”); and during the 90s until today, thanks to the reprivatisation movement and the opening of our national market, we assisted to the re-emergence of some large private groups, composed of several hundred subsidiaries each, some of which are listed in foreign stock exchange markets (e.g., in the banking sector, “BCP – Banco Comercial Português”, in the industrial area, “SONAE”, and in the media and communication area, “Portugal-Telecom”)

Um Projecto de investimento concorrente a um incentivo financeiro do IEFP

Prova Para Atribuição do Título de Especialista em Contabilidade – Código n.º 344O presente trabalho é realizado com o objetivo da Obtenção do Título de Especialista em Contabilidade. O trabalho consiste na apresentação dos elementos realizados por mim na elaboração e avaliação de um projeto de investimento concorrente a um incentivo financeiro, bem como de todos os elementos contabilísticos realizados no Ano de 2010, Ano Cruzeiro do Projeto. Efetuamos também uma revisão da literatura nomeadamente sobre projetos de investimento e Sistema de Normalização Contabilística (SNC) evidenciando uma ligação entre a Análise e Avaliação de Projetos de Investimento e o SNC. O presente projeto concorreu a um incentivo financeiro, nomeadamente a Criação do Próprio Emprego por Beneficiários de Plano de Desemprego Equiparado a Iniciativas Locais de Emprego. A candidatura associada à elaboração deste projeto de investimento foi Aceite e Aprovada pelo IEFP – Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional – Vila do Conde / Póvoa de Varzim.This work is conducted with the objective of obtaining the Certification in Accounting. The work consists of the presentation of the elements made by me in the preparation and evaluation of an investment project a competing financial incentive, as well as all accounting performed in the Year 2010, Year Cruise Project. We performed a literature review also particular about investment projects and Accounting Standards System (SNC) evidence of a connection between the Analysis and Evaluation of Investment Projects and SNC. This project contributed to a financial incentive, including the Creation of Self Employment for Recipients of Unemployment Equivalent Plan to Local Employment Initiatives. The application associated with the preparation of this investment project was Accepted and Approved by IEFP – Institute for Employment and Professional Training – Vila do Conde / Póvoa de Varzim

ASIC para aquisição de sinais elétricos referentes a adECM/GBM scaffolds

This dissertation document has the role of explaining how to design and develop an ASIC system. The full system has the objective to resolve a problem named, spinal cord injury, which is, as of today still an incurable illness. Merging a stimulation and an acquisition systems it might be possible to implement a reliable solution. This circuit is a part of the full solution system and has the role to acquire electrical signals at the terminal of the scaffold being tested. This way, it is possible to indirectly determine the impedance value of the scaffold undergoing electrical stimulation. Resulting in a quantitative evaluation of the stimulation performance. For this project, the scaffold proposed is composed of graphene-based materials in combination with human adipose-derived decellularized tissue. Since this circuit is an acquisition system, by itself, it does not have the characteristics to resolve the illness stated above. However, has a secondary circuit, it is capable of complementing the results obtained even more. First a proof of concept was achieved, in the Cadence Spectre, by designing and testing every block individually. Second, a layout was done, with the Cadence Virtuoso, this last process is very important because, with few modifications to the layout, it is possible to create an equivalent system in hardware.Este documento tem como principal objetivo explicar o desenvolvimento dum sistema com a tecnologia de circuitos integrados. O sistema completo tem como função resolver problemas graves relacionados com a medula espinal e a sua reconstrução. Juntando um sistema de estimulação e de aquisição elétrica, cria uma forte possibilidade de uma solução robusta para o problema explicado acima. Este circuito equivale a metade dum sistema, solução, e tem como função obter sinais elétricos à saída de uma "scaffold". Com a obtenção desses sinais é possível determinar a impedância equivalente da "scaffold". Resultando por fim numa resposta quantitativa acerca do crescimento da mesma. Nesta solução, a "scaffold" utilizada terá como base, materiais compostos por grafeno combinados com tecidos humanos. Sendo este um sistema de aquisição de sinais muito peculiar, sobretudo em termos de tamanho e consumo de potência, individualmente não possui nenhuma característica capaz de resolver o problema acima mencionado. No entanto, como circuito secundário consegue e muito, colmatar os dados adquiridos. Primeiramente uma prova de conceito utilizando a interface Cadence Spectre foi utilizada, para desenhar e desenvolver os circuitos base. Após se obter resultados positivos, ou seja, um funcionamento esperado para cada bloco individual. Um "layout" foi desenvolvido, este também utilizando a ferramenta do Cadende Virtuoso. Este segundo passo do desenvolvimento é bastante importante, pois com poucos ajustes é possível criar um circuito equivalente em hardware.Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicaçõe

Petrology and geochemistry of the igneous rocks from Macao (South China) : Tectono-magmatic implications

The territory of Macao is composed of several granitic intrusions belonging to one of the biggest granite provinces in the world, the Southeast China Magmatic Belt (SCMB), located in the southeast (SE) area of the Cathaysia Block. The SCMB is known by the occurrence of large volumes of Mesozoic magmatic rocks (over 90% are granitic rocks and equivalent volcanic rocks with minor basalts), occupying a total outcrop area of nearly 200.000 km2. The geology of Macao (~30 Km2) is dominated by granitic rocks displaying a wide range of textural, mineralogical and chemical features, making it an ideal region to study these rocks and the petrogenetic processes responsible for their diversity. This study employed a wide range of research methodologies, namely field studies, petrography, zircon geochronology, mineral chemistry, whole-rock elemental and isotopic geochemistry to determine the nature of the source, the petrogenetic processes and the tectonic regimes of the Mesozoic magmatism in this region. Thus, the data collected along this study aims to provide new knowledge on the tectono-magmatic evolution of Macao, in particular, and of SE China, in general. The results obtained from the high-precision U–Pb zircon geochronology, acquired through isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) and in-situ laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICPMS), revealed different ages for Macao granites. Despite its relatively small area, the determined ages tightly constrain the Macao granitic magmatism to two periods, ranging from 164.5 ± 0.6 to 162.9 ± 0.7 Ma (MGI – Macao Group I granites) and 156.6 ± 0.2 to 155.5 ± 0.8 Ma (MGII – Macao Group II granites). In addition, younger dacitic rocks were dated at 150.6 ± 0.6 Ma and <120 Ma. The existence of two proximal but distinct granitic pulses, spanning for a time of about 9 Ma and separated by ca. 6 Ma, in the Macao granitic suite suggests that it was incrementally assembled. This hypothesis is also extendable to the neighbouring Hong Kong region, where the magmatic activity occurred in four major pulses spanning for about 24 Ma. However, the MGII granites indicate the occurrence, on the Pearl River Delta region, of a magmatic pulse between those defined in Hong Kong at the origin of Lamma Suite (165–160 Ma) and the Kwai Chung Suite (148–146 Ma). In addition, Rare Element Earth (REE) ratios suggest that this pulse may only occur in Macao area, while MGI granites show evolving trends of REE ratios similar to those of Jurassic granites outcropping in vast areas of the Cathaysia Block (SE China). Inheritance patterns in the zircon U–Pb data indicate the presence of a population of antecrysts (165–180 Ma) crystallized from earlier magmatic pulses and a population of inherited zircons, from Precambrian to Phanerozoic sources, incorporated into the magmas during melting and/or ascent/emplacement at crustal levels. The oldest inherited ages (2.4 Ga and possibly 2.9 Ga) suggest contribution of Proterozoic and possibly of late Archaean crustal sources for the Macao magmatism. The granitic rocks of Macao are mainly high-K calc-alkaline metaluminous to weakly peraluminous I-type granites with variable degrees of fractionation. Fractional crystallization played an important role in the evolution of these granites, though the fractionation paths differ for the highly fractionated facies of both groups mainly due to distinct accessory fractionating phases. Such difference is evident by distinct REE evolution trends: while MGI magmas seem to have evolved by gradual enrichment in heavy REE relatively to light REE, originating progressively flatter REE patterns, magmas from MGII are marked by depletion of middle REE, leading to progressively concave upward REE patterns. However, while most of the geochemical variation of the MGII granites can be explained by fractional crystallization, the same is not true for MGI granites. The MGI highly fractionated granites show evidence for the REE tetrad effect and are characterized by non-CHArge-and-RAdius-Controlled (non-CHARAC) behaviour of trace elements, suggesting late-stage melt/fluid interactions involving F-rich fluids. The stage of evolution represented by the MGI highly fractionated granites corresponds to the onset of fluid/melt interaction in a highly evolved granitic system, which may have led to enhanced hydrothermal activity in more evolved stages, as those represented in neighbouring areas in SE China. Significant differences in isotopic composition were also observed, with the MGII being characterized by a much narrow range of initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and εNd(t) and εHf(t) values than MGI. Based on these differences, the MGII granites are considered to be part of a comagmatic suite that has evolved in closed system, contrasting with what can be inferred for MGI. The increase in initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios with degree of evolution, the presence of metasedimentary enclaves and the high percentage of inherited zircon with Paleozoic ages in MGI, suggest the occurrence of an assimilation fractionation crystallization (AFC) process. The AFC processes were a major cause for the I-S transitional characteristics of the MGI highly fractionated granites and possibly of the other similar Jurassic biotite granites in SE China. The observed decoupling of Sr, Nd and Hf isotope systems might have resulted from magma mixing between the granitic and more mafic magmas, which caused the homogenization of Sr isotope ratios but not of the Nd and Hf ones. Such process is also supported by the occurrence of Microgranular Mafic Enclaves (MME) hosted by the granites. Isotope and major element compositions together with model ages strongly suggest that Macao granitic magmas were generated by partial melting of infracrustal medium-to-high K basaltic Paleo-Proterozoic to Mesoproterozoic protoliths heated by, and mixed to some degree with mantle-derived magmas. The temporal and spatial association of Macao and SE China Jurassic I-type granites with basaltic/gabbroic rocks, syenites and A-type granites, displaying typical intraplate chemical features, indicates an extensional regime rather than an active margin for the origin of these rocks. It also points to an important role of mantle-derived magmas in the production of SE China Jurassic granites. Adiabatic decompression melting of the asthenospheric mantle produced mafic magmas, which underplated at the base of the crust (Moho), subsequently triggering partial melting of the lower crust to generate the granitic magmas. The Jurassic Macao granites are interpreted as being produced in an intraplate extensional setting related to the break-off and foundering of a previously flat-slab (Paleo-Pacific plate) beneath the Eurasian plate. The boundary between east and west Cathaysia blocks is roughly along the Zhenghe-Dapu Fault (ZDF), which intersects the SE China coast near Hong Kong and is thought to have played a major role for the Mesozoic magmatic activity in this region. The stronger isotopic affinities of Macao granites with the other granitic rocks and lower crustal xenoliths from the western Cathaysia Block suggest that the ZDF is likely to pass south of Macao, a fact that has not been mentioned before. In addition to the Early Yanshanian (Jurassic) granitic magmatism in Macao, the younger ages obtained for the dacite dykes indicate that the territory was also affected, to a lesser degree, by Late Yanshanian (Cretaceous) magmatism. The transition from granitic to dacitic magmatism most likely corresponds to a change in the regional tectonic regime, which induced a significant change in the magma genesis processes. In contrast with the intraplate features of Macao and SE China Jurassic granites and coeval mafic rocks, the geochemical features of the Macao dacite dykes (e.g. high LILE/HFSE ratios and negative anomalies of Nb, Ta and Ti) are identical to those characterizing arc-like subduction-related magmas. These dacites are most likely evolved products of arc-like magmatism and may testify the reestablishment of a normal subduction system in this area of SE China

40th Anniversary of Mental Models Theory

In 2023, on July 21 and 22, a meeting was organised in honour of Phil Johnson-Laird, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the mental model theory, at the University College London. This book collects the testimonies of many fellow colleagues who wanted to celebrate these dates, and it shows that Phil Johnson-Laird is a unique personality.N/

Multiple Sensor Interface by the same hardware to USB and serial connection

The Multiple Sensor Interface is a simple sensor interface that works with USB, RS485 and GPIO. It allows one to make measurements using a variety of sensors based on the change of inductance, resistance, capacitance, and frequency using the same connector and same electronic interface circuit between the sensor and the microcontroller. The same device also provides some additional connectors for small voltage measurement. Any sensors used for the measurement of distinct phenomena can be used if the sensor output is based on inductance, resistance, capacitance or frequency within the measurement range of the device, obtaining a variable precision depending on the used sensor. The device presented is not meant for precise or accurate measurements. It is meant to be a reusable hardware that can be adapted/configured to a varied number of distinct situations, providing, to the user, more freedom in sensor selection as well as more options for device/system maintenance or reuse.Comment: 15 pages, 28 figures, personal project blog: https://multiple-sensor-interface.blogspot.co

O uso das TIC por jovens portadores de T21 : um estudo de caso

Neste artigo apresentam-se os resultados de uma investigação em torno da importância da utilização das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC) nas atividades de ensino e aprendizagem de alunos portadores de Trissomia 21 (T21), que frequentam o Ensino Básico. Orientada pelos princípios da Educação Inclusiva e pelo pressuposto de que as Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação têm impacto nos processos de Ensino e de Aprendizagem, particularmente naqueles destinados a alunos portadores de Necessidades Educativas Especiais (NEE) e especificamente de T21, a investigação desenvolveu-se em torno das duas únicas alunas portadoras de T21 de um agrupamento de escolas do centro do país. Os resultados apurados da aplicação e análise de entrevistas aos professores e aos pais destas alunas permitiram constatar o elevado grau de motivação e interesse revelados no uso de TIC por estas jovens, bem como sua a capacidade em utilizar equipamentos de uso generalizado e não especificamente adaptado. Verificou-se ainda a importância de promover a formação adequada, especializada e orientada para as NEE, dos professores que recorrem a TIC em atividades com alunos portadores de T21, como condição de máxima importância para o desenvolvimento de uma Educação Inclusiva

Relação entre a composição mineral do vinho e a ocorrência do aroma a reduzido

Mestrado em Viticultura e Enologia - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaThe present work is intended investigate the incidence of defect reduction in the several types of wine and the effect of treatments made with copper metal in their composition. For this purpose, was made a retrospective analysis of incidence of the defect between 2004 and 2010, in the various types of wine produced in the winery under study. The wines seem more susceptible to be the red, while the rosé, whose production has increased significantly in recent years, also showed high incidences Merely on an empirical basis, the defect appears be associated with harvest earliest and longer fermentation. As a result of the addition of copper sulphate, in order to resolving the problem of reduced wines, the only metal whose concentration was significantly increased copper. However, this increase did not change the general balance of the remaining metals in wine. Thus, for the multielement analysis we observed that treatment with copper did not affect the composition of metals in order to prevent a breakdown of samples according to the origin