Factors Influencing the Performance of a CPU-RFU Hybrid Architecture

Em face da acentuada revalorização da textualidade nas poéticas da década de 1960 em Portugal – perspectiva que, com algumas especificidades, também se verifica no contexto francês e espanhol –, a demarcação dos poetas emergentes na década seguinte é, por vezes, fortemente reactiva. Mas haverá uma diferença essencial entre estas duas inflexões, corporizadas em poéticas aparentemente distintas? E haverá algum momento, na segunda metade do século XX, em que efectivamente se concretize uma ruptura? No presente estudo, procura-se mostrar que, mais do que produzir uma ruptura, as poéticas emergentes nos anos sessenta do século XX consolidam uma tradição de modernidade escolhendo a sua vertente mais radical, enquanto as poéticas subsequentes preferem reatar a tradição mais remota da modernidade, em sentido baudelairiano. Apesar de estarmos perante dois diálogos diferentes com a tradição, é possível observar que, em ambos os casos, esta é retomada a um ponto que nos impede de falarmos de ruptura

Distributing intelligence in the wireless control of a mobile robot using a personal digital assistant

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have recently become a popular component in mobile robots. This compact processing device with its touch screen, variety of built-in features, wireless technologies and affordability can perform various roles within a robotic system. Applications include low-cost prototype development, rapid prototyping, low-cost humanoid robots, robot control, robot vision systems, algorithm development, human-robot interaction, mobile user interfaces as well as wireless robot communication schemes. Limits on processing power, memory, battery life and screen size impact the usefulness of a PDA in some applications. In addition various implementation strategies exist, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. No comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the different strategies and resulting architectures exist. This makes it difficult for designers to decide on the best use of a PDA within their mobile robot system. This dissertation examines and compares the available mobile robot architectures. A thorough literature study identifies robot projects using a PDA and examines how the designs incorporate a PDA and what purpose it fulfils within the system it forms part of. The dissertation categorises the architectures according to the role of the PDA within the robot system. The hypothesis is made that using a distributed control system architecture makes optimal use of the rich feature set gained from including a PDA in a robot system’s design and simultaneously overcomes the device’s inherent shortcomings. This architecture is developed into a novel distributed intelligence framework that is supported by a hybrid communications architecture, using two wireless connection schemes. A prototype implementation illustrates the framework and communications architecture in action. Various performance measurements are taken in a test scenario for an office robot. The results indicate that the proposed framework does deliver performance gains and is a viable alternative for future projects in this area

Usability analysis of contending electronic health record systems

In this paper, we report measured usability of two leading EHR systems during procurement. A total of 18 users participated in paired-usability testing of three scenarios: ordering and managing medications by an outpatient physician, medicine administration by an inpatient nurse and scheduling of appointments by nursing staff. Data for audio, screen capture, satisfaction rating, task success and errors made was collected during testing. We found a clear difference between the systems for percentage of successfully completed tasks, two different satisfaction measures and perceived learnability when looking at the results over all scenarios. We conclude that usability should be evaluated during procurement and the difference in usability between systems could be revealed even with fewer measures than were used in our study. © 2019 American Psychological Association Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Oligonucleotide, Therapy, and Applications

Oligonucleotides (ON) constitute a new group of molecular agents, the object of significant interest due to their potential value as drugs for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Their special interest derives from the intrinsic characteristics of ONs: a) ONs are informative agents, a property that derives from the order in which the nucleotides of each particular ON are arranged; b) ONs can act as ligands (ASO, TFO, aptamers, G-quadruplex, etc.) of complementary nucleic acid sequences (DNA or RNA) due to their high capacity to hybridize (by means of Watson and Crick or Hoogsteen links) with other nucleotide sequences, resulting in specific gene modulatory effects. However, nonspecific sequences may also be of interest, as is the case with repetitive nucleotide sequences (CpG) with adjuvant effects of vaccines; c) ONs can also rapidly evolve to achieve specific advantages of utility (targeting, stability, efficacy, toxicity, etc.) or high-sensitivity diagnostic technology (markers, analyzes, biosensors, FISH, microarrays, etc.), by chemical modification of nucleotides in any of their atoms. These properties show that ONs are first-order molecules due to their potential usefulness in practice.In this collection of research articles and review papers, we aim to highlight their therapeutic, but also diagnostic and technological utility as drugs

Analysis and Design of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) Techniques for Next Generation Wireless Communication Systems

The current surge in wireless connectivity, anticipated to amplify significantly in future wireless technologies, brings a new wave of users. Given the impracticality of an endlessly expanding bandwidth, there’s a pressing need for communication techniques that efficiently serve this burgeoning user base with limited resources. Multiple Access (MA) techniques, notably Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA), have long addressed bandwidth constraints. However, with escalating user numbers, OMA’s orthogonality becomes limiting for emerging wireless technologies. Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), employing superposition coding, serves more users within the same bandwidth as OMA by allocating different power levels to users whose signals can then be detected using the gap between them, thus offering superior spectral efficiency and massive connectivity. This thesis examines the integration of NOMA techniques with cooperative relaying, EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart analysis, and deep learning for enhancing 6G and beyond communication systems. The adopted methodology aims to optimize the systems’ performance, spanning from bit-error rate (BER) versus signal to noise ratio (SNR) to overall system efficiency and data rates. The primary focus of this thesis is the investigation of the integration of NOMA with cooperative relaying, EXIT chart analysis, and deep learning techniques. In the cooperative relaying context, NOMA notably improved diversity gains, thereby proving the superiority of combining NOMA with cooperative relaying over just NOMA. With EXIT chart analysis, NOMA achieved low BER at mid-range SNR as well as achieved optimal user fairness in the power allocation stage. Additionally, employing a trained neural network enhanced signal detection for NOMA in the deep learning scenario, thereby producing a simpler signal detection for NOMA which addresses NOMAs’ complex receiver problem

Soft Error Analysis and Mitigation at High Abstraction Levels

Radiation-induced soft errors, as one of the major reliability challenges in future technology nodes, have to be carefully taken into consideration in the design space exploration. This thesis presents several novel and efficient techniques for soft error evaluation and mitigation at high abstract levels, i.e. from register transfer level up to behavioral algorithmic level. The effectiveness of proposed techniques is demonstrated with extensive synthesis experiments

The optimisations of a biohybrid scaffold from Poly(Glycerol Sebacate) Methacrylate polymer

Collagen, the primary protein in the human body, plays a critical role in fabricating extracellular matrix (ECM)-based scaffolds for treating damaged soft tissues. This study focuses on the creation of polyglycerol (sebacate)-methacrylate (PGS-M) scaffolds to promote the proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) and encourage collagen production. The PGS-M scaffolds boast the advantageous properties of PGS combined with the polyHIPEs structure, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, porosity, and interconnectivity, which have been employed in various cell cultivation studies. The objectives of this research are to optimise a mechanical stimulation protocol to enhance the rate of HDF proliferation, collagen synthesis, and tissue architecture on PGS-M scaffolds, as well as to establish effective sterilisation methods to ensure sterility and improve cell attachment. To this end, a state-of-the-art robotic bioreactor equipped with position and force sensing capabilities and a feedback mechanism was built. Additionally, various decellularisation techniques were assessed for PGS-M scaffolds. The findings reveal that lower displacement and shorter resting times during mechanical stimulation facilitate increased cell proliferation, while higher displacement and longer resting times promote collagen production. Moreover, the freeze and thaw technique was identified as the appropriate approach for decellularising cultured PGS-M scaffolds. Notably, the successful application of force sensing capability in the in-house robotic bioreactor further enriches the scope of this study. This research enhances the understanding of the optimal conditions for stimulating collagen synthesis and cell proliferation on PGS-M scaffolds, thus contributing to the potential of these scaffolds for tissue engineering applications