Armazenamento de objetos digitais em dispositivos móveis com Android

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaMotivação: Com a crescente expansão e utilização de dispositivos móveis, emergiu rapidamente a necessidade de recolha e preservação de objetos digitais. Cada vez mais, é importante tornar a nossa informação persistente e acessível em qualquer momento e em qualquer lugar. E se, para além do acesso, existisse a possibilidade de sujeitar cada objeto digital a uma contextualização adicional? Desta forma, o utilizador poderia relembrar a origem e fundamento dos respectivos dados ao longo de toda a sua vida. Resultados: A aplicação CoBy surge com o intuito de permitir ao utilizador recolher, preservar e contextualizar todos os objetos digitais que vão surgindo no seu dispositivo móvel com sistema operativo Android. A cada um deles vai sendo associada a respectiva geo-localização de onde ocorreram. Estão disponíveis também funcionalidades de backup e restore a partir do próprio dispositivo móvel ou da Cloud. Esta aplicação dará um forte contributo no que toca à preservação e contextualização do património digital pessoal.Motivation: The increasing use and growth of mobile devices, spurred the need to collect and preserve digital objects. More and more, it is important to ensure that our information becomes persistent and accessible anytime and anywhere. What if, besides access, there was the possibility to contextualize each digital object? If so, the user could recall how, what and why it stored that data, throughout their lives. Results: The CoBy application was created in order to allow the user to collect, preserve and contextualize all digital objects that will appear in mobile devices with Android as operating system. Each of them will be associated with place where they occurred (geo-location). The application includes other features, such as backup and restore from the mobile device or from the Cloud. The application provides a strong contribute to the preservation and contextualization of a person’s digital heritage

The impact of credit ratings in the capital structure choice of firms

Mestrado em Economia Monetária e FinanceiraEste Trabalho Final de Mestrado procura analisar se empresas cotadas em alguns índices acionistas europeus têm em conta os ratings de crédito, e respectivos downgrades ou upgrades, na tomada de decisão relativa à estrutura de capital da empresa. A hipótese afirma que as empresas que estão perto de uma mudança de nível de rating, ou seja, as empresas que têm um mais ou menos na sua classificação (e.g. A+ ou BB-), tendem a emitir menos dívida relativamente ao seu capital próprio de modo a não incorrer em custos adicionais. A base deste estudo é a Teoria CR-CS de Kisgen, apresentada no seu artigo de 2006 intitulado " Credit Ratings and Capital Structure", que incide sobre as empresas dos EUA, enquanto este estudo incide sobre empresas Europeias que constituem os índices acionistas de Portugal, Espanha, Itália, Grécia, França e Alemanha. As principais conclusões são que as empresas Portuguesas tendem a emitir mais dívida líquida em relação ao capital próprio líquido perto de uma mudança de nível de rating (cerca de 1%, considerando instituições financeiras na amostra; cerca de 2% e 5% para os períodos de 1996 a 2011 e de 1996 a 2006, respectivamente, excluindo instituições financeiras) e as empresas italianas, incluindo instituições financeiras, tendem a emitir mais 3% de dívida líquida comparativamente ao seu capital próprio quando perto de uma mudança de nível de rating. Quanto aos outros países considerados, nenhuma relação estatisticamente significativa foi identificada, bem como considerando a amostra total (seis países), incluindo ou excluindo as instituições financeiras.The aim of this study is to assess whether firms listed on some European stock exchange indexes take into account credit ratings, and respective downgrades or upgrades, in their decision making with regard to their capital structure. The costs associated with a credit rating change are not considered in the traditional capital structure theories. The hypothesis states that firms that are near a credit rating change, i.e. firms that have a plus or a minus credit rating, will tend to issue less debt comparing to equity, so that they will not incur in additional costs. The base of this study is Kisgen's CR-CS Theory, presented in the 2006 paper entitled "Credit Ratings and Capital Structure", which focus on USA firms while I will consider European firms that constitute the indexes of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, France and Germany. The main findings are that Portuguese firms tend to issue more net debt relative to equity (approximately 1%, including financial institutions in the sample; approximately 2% and 5% for the time periods 1996-2011 and 1996-2006, respectively, excluding financial institutions) when near a broad rating change and Italian firms, including financial institutions, tend to issue approximately 3% more net debt relative to equity when near a broad rating change. As regards the other countries considered in this study, no statistically significant relationship was identified, as well as when considering the sample of all six countries, whether including financial institutions or not

Verbesserungsmöglichkelten von färberischen-und antimikrobiellen eigenschaften auf baumwolle

Comunicação apresentada no 20th IFATCC Congress, Weimer, Germany, 5 - 6 Maio 2005.In the present work, some specific amino compounds were linked to the cotton fabrics on a process that can impart at the same time dyeability and durable antimicrobial properties. The process was monitored on-line in a prototype dyeing system since the addition of cationic agents will influence dye uptake. Different dyeing conditions were tested with direct dyes, with and without salt, until the exhaustion curve was at least equivalent to the standard dyeing curve in the presence of salt

potential risk factors for patient and healthcare delays in Portugal

Funding Information: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia provided financial support to conduct this research [Grant: PTDC/SAU-PUB/31346/2017]. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).Background: Early diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is essential for an effective control of the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Delayed diagnosis and treatment of TB increases the chance of complications and mortality for the patients, and enhances TB transmission in the population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize patient, healthcare and total delay in diagnosing PTB and assess the effect of clinical and sociodemographic factors on the time until first contact with healthcare or reaching a PTB diagnosis. Methods: Retrospective cohort study that included active PTB patients notified in the National Tuberculosis Surveillance System (SVIG-TB), between 2008 and 2017. Descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier estimates, logrank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used to characterize patient, healthcare and total delay and estimate the effect of clinical and sociodemographic variables on these delays. Significance level was set at 0.05. Results: Median patient, healthcare and total delays was 37 days (Interquartile range (IQR): 19–71), 8 days (IQR: 1–32) and 62 days (IQR: 38–102), respectively. The median patient delay showed a constant increase, from 33 days in 2008 to 44 days in 2017. The median total delay presented a similar trend, increasing from 59 days in 2008 to 70 days in 2017. Healthcare delay remained constant during the study period. More than half of the PTB cases (82.9%) had a delay > 1 month between symptom onset and diagnosis. In the final Cox model, alcohol abuse, unemployment and being from a high TB incidence country were factors significantly associated with longer patient delay, while being female, having more than 45 years, oncologic and respiratory diseases were associated with longer healthcare delay. Being female, having more than 45 years and being from a high TB incidence country were associated with longer total delay. Conclusions: Patient delay and total delay have increased in recent years. Older patients, patients with alcohol problems, other comorbidities, unemployed or from countries with high TB incidence would benefit from the development of specific public health strategies that could help reduce the delay in TB diagnosis observed in our study. This study emphasizes the need to promote awareness of TB in the general population and among the healthcare community, especially at ambulatory care level, in order to reduce the gap between beginning of symptoms and TB diagnosis.publishersversionpublishe

Quem criança vê, adulto lhe parece? : inferências deliberadas de traço para crianças e adultos

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Secção de Cognição Social Aplicada), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2018A formação de impressões é amplamente estudada em psicologia social e embora enquadre vários grupos nos seus estudos, as crianças não têm sido consideradas um grupo de destaque. Compreender como é que se formam impressões em relação a este grupo pode revelar-se útil em várias áreas de intervenção, tais como a orientação e formação de profissionais de educação, ou qualquer outra atividade profissional que implique contacto com o mesmo. Com esse objetivo em mente, realizou-se um estudo que permite antever algumas das considerações que devem ter-se em conta em futuras investigações sobre o tema. As hipóteses colocadas são: Os adultos vão fazer inferências mais fortes sobre outros adultos do que sobre crianças; as inferências sobre as crianças vão ter uma valência mais positiva do que negativa; vão fazer-se mais inferências estereotípicas do que contra-estereotípicas, no que se refere às crianças. Para esse efeito, utilizaram-se frases implicativas de traço e fotos de crianças e de adultos. Os participantes viam frases que descreviam comportamentos realizados por pessoas (e.g., “Foi contra um poste enquanto andava na rua”, “Preparou a mochila com tudo o que ia precisar para o dia seguinte”), acompanhadas da fotografia da pessoa que realizou esse comportamento. Foi-lhes pedido que lessem a frase com atenção e indicassem o quanto é que achavam que aquela pessoa possuía determinado traço de personalidade (e.g., distraído, organizada). Os atores foram manipulados, para em metade dos ensaios serem de crianças e na outra metade serem de adultos, associados às mesmas frases. Os resultados do estudo corroboram a primeira e terceira hipóteses colocadas, o que suporta que a forma como se avalia crianças socialmente é diferente da forma como se avaliam adultos.Impression formation is extensively studied in social psychology and although it focus on several groups in their studies, children have not been considered a prominent group. Understand how impression formation works for this specific group may prove useful in several areas of intervention, such as guidance and training of education professionals, or any other professional activity that involves contact with it. Considering this goal, we carried out a study that allows us to foresee some of the issues that should be considered in future research on the subject. We will consider the following hypotheses: Adults will make stronger inferences about other adults than about children; Inferences about children will have a positive rather than negative valence; Stereotypical rather than counterstereotypical inferences will be made as far as children are concerned. For this purpose, we used trait-implying sentences and photos of children and adults. Participants saw phrases describing behaviours performed by people (e.g., "Went against a pole while walking on the street", "Prepared the backpack with everything s/he would need for the next day"), paired with the photograph of the person who carried out this behaviour. They were asked to read the sentence carefully and indicate how much they thought the person possessed a particular personality trait (e.g., distracted, organized). The actors were manipulated so that they were children in half of the trails and adults in the other half, associated with the same sentences. The results of the study corroborate the first and third hypotheses put forward, which supports that the way children are social perceived is different from the way adults are perceived

Impact of tRNA modifications and tRNA-modifying enzymes on proteostasis and human disease

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are key players of protein synthesis, as they decode the genetic information organized in mRNA codons, translating them into the code of 20 amino acids. To be fully active, tRNAs undergo extensive post-transcriptional modifications, catalyzed by different tRNA-modifying enzymes. Lack of these modifications increases the level of missense errors and affects codon decoding rate, contributing to protein aggregation with deleterious consequences to the cell. Recent works show that tRNA hypomodification and tRNA-modifying-enzyme deregulation occur in several diseases where proteostasis is affected, namely, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases. In this review, we discuss the recent findings that correlate aberrant tRNA modification with proteostasis imbalances, in particular in neurological and metabolic disorders, and highlight the association between tRNAs, their modifying enzymes, translational decoding, and disease onset.publishe

AS FACES QUE A RESPONSABILIDADE SÓCIO-AMBIENTAL MOSTRA E AS QUE ELA ESCONDE

In a context of organizational discourse and practice, socioenvironmental responsibility is discussed in the business and academic worlds as an essential practice for survival in today’s world. This essay investigates the factors underlying this Socio-Environmental Responsibility, going beyond the superficial reading which is widely published by companies, the media and academic publications, and which the general public holds as ethical and socially responsible. In the theoretical background and final considerations, a critical approach is added to the theme, in an attempt to identify a “face” of socio-environmental responsibility that is little revealed, and which companies take advantage of to legitimize their role in society, increase their sales and increase their control over their employees.Incorporada al discurso y a la práctica de las organizaciones, la responsabilidad socioambiental, es discutida en el medio empresarial y académico, como un imperativo para la sobrevivencia en el mundo actual. En el presente ensayo, se pretende investigar lo que está subyacente a esta responsabilidad socioambiental, yendo más allá de la lectura superficial que las empresas, los medios y las publicaciones académicas, divulgan y lo que el público en general acepta como ético y socialmente responsable. En el referente teórico y en las consideraciones finales, se percibe un abordaje crítico del tema, en la tentativa de identificar una “fase” poco revelada de la responsabilidad socioambiental, de que las empresas se valen, para legitimar su papel en la sociedad, vender más y aumentar el control sobre sus empleados.Incorporada ao discurso e prática das organizações, a responsabilidade sócioambiental é discutida no meio empresarial e acadêmico como um imperativo para sobrevivência no mundo atual. No presente ensaio pretende-se investigar o que está subjacente a esta Responsabilidade Sócio-Ambiental, indo além da leitura superficial do que as empresas, a mídia e publicações acadêmicas divulgam amplamente e o público geral acata como ético e socialmente responsável. No referencial teórico e nas considerações finais, acrescenta-se uma abordagem crítica ao tema, na tentativa de identificar uma “face” pouco revelada da responsabilidade sócio ambiental, de que as empresas se valem para legitimar seu papel na sociedade, vender mais e aumentar o controle sobre seus empregados

DIFERENÇAS ENTRE BASES DE SEGMENTAÇÃO DOS MERCADOS CONSUMIDORES DE UMA LINHA DE PRODUTOS PARA PETS

This article deals with the importance of segmentation as a tool for competition in an increasingly demanding market.  In addition, an analysis of segmentation may help identify trends and changes in the market. This study is concerned with defining the segment profile for two consumer groups of a pet product line – shops providing services and products for pet care and hygiene, and pet owners. These markets were segmented in different bases since they have different needs. To conclude, the implementation of strategies aimed at each group of clients should take into consideration such differences.Este artículo trata de la importancia de la segmentación como una herramienta para competir en un mercado en que los consumidores son cada vez más exigentes. Además, un análisis de segmentación puede ayudar a identificar tendencia y cambios en el mercado. Este estudio concentra en determinar el perfil de los segmentos en dos grupos de consumidores para una línea de productos para mascotas (pets) – tiendas especializadas en servicios y productos para cuidado e higiene para mascotas y propietarios de estos animales. Estos mercados fueron segmentados en distintas bases, puesto que tienen necesidades distintas. En conclusión, la implementación de estrategias para alcanzar cada grupo de clientes debe considerar las diferencias señaladas.Dada a importância da segmentação como uma ferramenta para se competir em mercados exigentes, o presente estudo se concentra em identificar as diferenças resultantes da utilização da variável “benefícios procurados” como critério de segmentação de dois grupos de clientes de produtos para cuidado e higiene de animais domésticos: os consumidores individuais e as lojas especializadas em serviços e produtos para esses animais. O uso da mesma base identifica diferenças psicográficas importantes entre os dois mercado e aponta para a necessidade de se conceber e implementar estratégias distintas para se atingir cada grupo de clientes

Does proteostasis get lost in translation? Implications for protein aggregation across the lifespan

Protein aggregation is a phenomenon of major relevance in neurodegenerative and neuromuscular disorders, cataracts, diabetes and many other diseases. Research has unveiled that proteins also aggregate in multiple tissues during healthy aging yet, the biological and biomedical relevance of this apparently asymptomatic phenomenon remains to be understood. It is known that proteome homeostasis (proteostasis) is maintained by a balanced protein synthesis rate, high protein synthesis accuracy, efficient protein folding and continual tagging of damaged proteins for degradation, suggesting that protein aggregation during healthy aging may be associated with alterations in both protein synthesis and the proteostasis network (PN) pathways. In particular, dysregulation of protein synthesis and alterations in translation fidelity are hypothesized to lead to the production of misfolded proteins which could explain the occurrence of age-related protein aggregation. Nevertheless, some data on this topic is controversial and the biological mechanisms that lead to widespread protein aggregation remain to be elucidated. We review the recent literature about the age-related decline of proteostasis, highlighting the need to build an integrated view of protein synthesis rate, fidelity and quality control pathways in order to better understand the proteome alterations that occur during aging and in age-related diseases.publishe