Diagrama morfológico Parte I : instrumento de análise e projeto ambiental com uso de luz natural

O projeto de arquitetura deve, por definição, encontrar um “compromisso”entre exigências de diversos tipos, dentre as quais os requisitos funcionais, estéticos,ambientais e econômicos que a obra arquitetônica deve resolver de maneira satisfatória. Considerando as questões ambientais, hoje prementes no contexto mundial da arquitetura, pode-se dizer que a luz natural e todas as suas implicações no projeto têm uma importante dimensão,do ponto de vista ambiental, funcional e qualitativo da arquitetura. Incorporar a luz natural no processo de projeto de forma coerente, otimizando seus benefícios e minimizando impactos negativos, torna se crucial. O presente artigo apresenta o Diagrama Morfológico, instrumento síntese de parâmetros fundamentais para o projeto arquitetônico relacionados à luz natural,e que pode ser utilizado no processo de projeto ou para descrição e avaliação de edificações existentes do ponto de vista ambiental, com ênfase nos aspectos de conforto ambiental e eficiência energética através da luz natural. Descreve-se o instrumento e sua aplicação, evidenciando as vantagens de seu uso na formação e desenvolvimento do senso crítico dos projetistas e na construção de repertório arquitetônico de referência, fundamental para o projetista e a qualidade de seus projetos.The architectural design must find a “compromise” between many requirements, as functional, aesthetics, environmental and economic ones. Considering environmental questions, very pressing in the global context, one can say that daylighting and all its consequences in the design have an important dimension from the environmental, functional and qualitative point of view in the architectural design. To include daylighting in the design process in a consistent way, optimizing its beneÞ ts and minimizing negative impacts becomes crucial. This article presents the “Morphological Diagram”, a synthesis tool of fundamental parameters to the architectural design related to daylighting, that can be used in the design process or in the description and evaluation of existent buildings from the environmental point of view, emphasising daylighting. The tool and application are described, making evident the advantages of it's use in development of critical sense of designers and in the forming of an architectural reference repertory, basic for the designer and the quality of his projects

Diagrama morfológico Parte II : projetos exemplares para a luz natural : treinando o olhar e criando repertório

O presente artigo apresenta alguns projetos arquitetônicos analisados por meio do Diagrama Morfológico, instrumento síntese de parâmetros fundamentais relacionados à luz natural, e que pode ser utilizado no processo de projeto ou para descrição e avaliação de edificações existentes do ponto de vista ambiental, com ênfase na luz natural. O instrumento tem como objetivos treinar o senso crítico do projetista para a análise de projetos, e criar repertório a partir de boas soluções de projeto. Descreve-se o procedimento de utilização do instrumento, os levantamentos e informações necessárias, e aplica-se o mesmo em sete projetos considerados exemplares, de tipologias e contextos climáticos diversos.The article presents some architectural designs analysed by means of the Morphological Diagram, a synthesis tool of fundamental parameters related to daylighting, that can be used in the design process or to describe and evaluate existing buildings from the environmental point of view. The tool has the objectives to develop critical sense of the designer to the projects evaluation, and to create a repertory from good design solutions. The utilization procedure is described, and the tool is used in seven exemplary designs of diverse typologies and climatic contexts

Função das copine-1 e copine-3 na resposta de células epiteliais a danos na membrana plasmática induzidos pela pneumolisina

The establishment of the plasma membrane was essential in the development of Life and evolution, it acts as the first protective barrier of cells. Due to its crucial importance to ensure cell survival, human bacterial pathogens produce poreforming toxins able to permeabilize the plasma membrane, forming stable protein pores. The formation of the pores alters the membrane permeability allowing uncontrolled exchanges of ions, such as calcium and potassium, and small molecules between the intracellular and extracellular milieus, which can ultimately lead to cell death. Cells have, thus, developed several repair mechanisms to overcome the damage, and promote cell survival. One of these repair mechanisms relies on the release of extracellular vesicles that extrude the pores from the cell surface. Proteomic analysis of vesicles released by intoxicated cells revealed the enrichment of copine-1 and copine-3, and raised the hypothesis that these proteins are potentially involved in the repair of plasma membrane damage. Copine-1 and copine-3 are cytoplasmic calcium-responsive proteins able to translocate to the plasma membrane in response to an increase in intracellular calcium levels. Experimental evidence points out that copine-1 and copine-3 have a role in the repair of toxin-induced damage. Here we aimed to assess the role of these proteins in response to bacterial pore-forming toxins, such as pneumolysin, by two complementary approaches: evaluating the ability of cells depleted for the expression of copine-1 or copine-3 to recover their plasma membrane integrity upon intoxication and assessing the intracellular localization of copine-1 and copine- 3 in intoxicated cells. We found that cells that do not express copine-1 or copine-3 are not able to repair plasma membrane damage induced by toxins and do not recover their plasma membrane integrity. Copine-1 and copine-3 are thus essential for the recovery of membrane integrity after intoxication. We also observed that, upon intoxication, copine-1 or copine-3 are specifically recruited to the cortex of the cell, where it accumulates with already characterized repair machinery. Further assays should be performed to uncover the molecular role and the interaction partners of copine-1 and copine-3 in the repair of plasma membrane damage.A formação da membrana plasmática foi essencial para o desenvolvimento da Vida e para o processo de Evolução. A membrana plasmática é a primeira barreira protetora da célula. Devido ao seu papel crucial na sobrevivência celular, bactérias patogénicas humanas produziram toxinas formadoras de poros capazes de permeabilizar a membrana plasmática através da formação de poros estáveis. A formação de poros resulta na alteração da permeabilidade da membrana, permitindo assim trocas descontroladas de iões, tais como cálcio, e de pequenas moléculas entre o meio intracelular e extracelular, o que pode resultar na morte celular. Para superar os danos causados, as células desenvolveram mecanismos de reparação que promovem a sobrevivência celular. Um destes mecanismos de reparação baseia-se na libertação de vesículas extracelulares que permitem a eliminação de poros da superfície celular. A análise proteómica de vesículas libertadas por células intoxicadas revelou um enriquecimento de copine-1 e copine- 3, levantando a hipótese que estas proteínas estão potencialmente envolvidas na reparação de danos na membrana plasmática. A copine-1 e a copine-3 são proteínas citoplasmáticas que respondem ao cálcio, isto é, são capazes de translocarem para a membrana plasmática em resposta a um aumento intracelular dos níveis de cálcio. Evidências experimentais indicam que a copine-1 e a copine-3 estão envolvidas na reparação de danos induzidos por toxinas. No presente trabalho, pretendemos avaliar o papel destas proteínas em resposta às toxinas bacterianas formadoras de poros, como a pneumolisina, seguindo duas abordagens: a avaliação da capacidade de células que não expressam copine-1 ou copine- 3 de recuperarem a integridade da sua membrana plasmática após intoxicação e a avaliação da localização intracelular das copine-1 e copine-3 em células intoxicadas. Observámos que células que não expressam as copine-1 e copine-3 não são capazes de reparar os danos causados pelas toxinas na membrana plasmática e não recuperam a integridade da mesma. A copine-1 e a copine-3 são, portanto, essenciais para a recuperação da integridade da membrana após intoxicação. Observámos ainda que durante a intoxicação, a copine-1 e a copine-3 são especificamente recrutadas para o córtex celular, onde acumulam com maquinarias de reparação já caraterizadas. Ensaios adicionais devem ser realizados para descobrir o papel molecular e os parceiros de interação das copine-1 e copine-3 na reparação dos danos na membrana plasmática.Mestrado em Biologia Molecular e Celula

Shear behaviour of reinforced concrete beams under impact loads by the lumped damage framework

Impact loadings such as vehicle collisions or falling rocks on a structure could lead it to collapse and, eventually, to fatal victims. Among possible alternatives to analyse this issue, Lumped Damage Mechanics is an interesting option due to its formulation and easiness for practical application. Therefore, this paper presents a simplified lumped damage model to evaluate reinforced concrete structures under impact loads with shear failure mode. In the proposed approach, the damage variable is considered as an output parameter. Such damage variable takes values between zero and one that quantifies the concrete cracking due to impact loading. The proposed formulation was applied in experiments of reinforced concrete beams under impact loads that presents shear collapse. The obtained results showed good accuracy between the proposed model and the actual structural behaviour. Moreover, a possible flowchart for practical applications is also presented. Since the model parameters are easily associated to inelastic phenomena, the proposed formulation might become accessible to engineers in practice

Session Kotlin: A hybrid session type embedding in Kotlin

Concurrency and distribution have become essential for building modern applications. However, developing and maintaining these apps is not an easy task. Communication errors are a common source of problems: unexpected messages cause runtime errors, and mutual dependencies lead to deadlocks. To address these issues, developers can define communication protocols that detail the structure and order of the transmitted messages, but maintaining protocol fidelity can be complex if carried out manually. Session types formalize this concept by materializing the communication protocol as a type that can be enforced by the language’s type system. In this thesis we present the first embedding of session types in Kotlin: we propose a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for multiparty ses- sion types that lets developers write safe concurrent applications, with built-in validation and integrating code generation in the language’s framework.A concorrência e a distribuição têm-se tornado essenciais na construção de aplicações modernas. No entanto, desenvolver e manter estas aplicações não é tarefa fácil. Erros de comunicação são uma fonte comum de problemas: mensagens inesperadas causam erros durante a execução de código, e dependências mútuas levam a deadlocks. Para resolver estas questões, é tipico definir protocolos de comunicação que detalham a estrutura e a ordem das mensagens transmitidas, mas garantir o seu cumprimento pode ser complexo se feito manualmente. Os tipos de sessão formalizam este conceito ao materializar o protocolo de comunicação como um tipo que pode ser gerido pelo sistema de tipos da linguagem. Nesta tese apresentamos o primeiro embedding de tipos de sessão em Kotlin: propomos uma Linguagem de Domínio Específica para tipos de sessão com múltiplos participantes que permite aos programadores a escrita de aplicações concorrentes seguras, incorporando validação e integrando a geração de código no framework da linguagem

Lumped damage mechanics as a diagnosis tool of reinforced concrete structures in service: case studies of a former bridge arch and a balcony slab

Reinforced concrete structures may need repair in order to ensure the designed durability. Such necessity vary in cause and effect, but the structural diagnosis serves as the basis for adopting intervention measures. The assessment of the structural condition usually is made in loco, but sometimes numerical analyses are required as a low cost and effective preliminary diagnosis. In general, numerical analyses use hundreds or thousands of finite elements and nonlinear theories that are not often used in engineering practice. As an alternative, lumped damage mechanics (LDM) uses key concepts of classic fracture and damage mechanics in plastic hinges throughout well-known quantities such as ultimate moment and cracking moment. Such theory describes the concrete cracking by a damage variable, which can be used as a diagnosis criterion. Therefore, this paper presents LDM as a diagnosis tool to analyse actual structures. The case studies presented in this paper are a former bridge arch tested in China and a balcony that collapsed in Brazil. The results show that LDM numerical response of those structures are quite close to laboratory observations (former bridge arch) and in loco measurements (balcony)

Jumps: Enhancing hop-count positioning in sensor networks using multiple coordinates

Positioning systems in self-organizing networks generally rely on measurements such as delay and received signal strength, which may be difficult to obtain and often require dedicated equipment. An alternative to such approaches is to use simple connectivity information, that is, the presence or absence of a link between any pair of nodes, and to extend it to hop-counts, in order to obtain an approximate coordinate system. Such an approximation is sufficient for a large number of applications, such as routing. In this paper, we propose Jumps, a positioning system for those self-organizing networks in which other types of (exact) positioning systems cannot be used or are deemed to be too costly. Jumps builds a multiple coordinate system based solely on nodes neighborhood knowledge. Jumps is interesting in the context of wireless sensor networks, as it neither requires additional embedded equipment nor relies on any nodes capabilities. While other approaches use only three hop-count measurements to infer the position of a node, Jumps uses an arbitrary number. We observe that an increase in the number of measurements leads to an improvement in the localization process, without requiring a high dense environment. We show through simulations that Jumps, when compared with existing approaches, reduces the number of nodes sharing the same coordinates, which paves the way for functions such as position-based routing

Credibility, relevance, and policy impact in the evaluation of adult basic skills programs: the case of the new opportunities initiative in Portugal

Adult basic education (ABE) policies aim to help adults improve their literacy, numeracy and information and communications technology skills, as well as their qualifications, often in pursuit of economic gains such as better employment and earnings. The large-scale improvement of skills and qualifications has been referred to as a wicked policy problem, suggesting that it is extremely difficult and perhaps even impossible to achieve success in this policy domain. Evaluations have highlighted these challenges, with many programs showing little or no impact. Between 2006 and 2012, the Portuguese government ran a large-scale adult education program, the New Opportunities Initiative (NOI), which focused on the recognition and validation of adults’ existing skills and the development of literacy and numeracy. The NOI was evaluated twice, in 2009 and in 2012. These two evaluations produced very different findings and outcomes: the first evaluation found the NOI to be a success, and led to continued investment, but the second evaluation reached more negative conclusions and was used as a rationale for de-funding the program. In this article we analyze these two sets of evaluations, investigating the reasons for their starkly different conclusions. We find that, while both evaluations had strengths, they also suffered from serious methodological and/or theoretical weaknesses. These weaknesses are part of a broader pattern of evaluation errors that characterize the field of ABE more generally and which make it more likely that ABE policies will continue to fail. Using the conflicting NOI evaluations as case studies, we offer potential solutions to ABE’s evaluation problem, emphasizing the need to collect long-term longitudinal evidence on the causal mechanisms through which policy goals may be achieved

A field study on the impacts of implementing concepts and elements of industry 4.0 in the biopharmaceutical sector

This study proposes a field study, based on a literature review, about the applications and impacts of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in the biopharmaceutical sector. The world is facing a new industrial revolution and the central idea is the integration between the virtual and the real world through elements that will allow for a greater degree of automation and digitization of processes. The production of medicines via biological processes is a booming domain in the pharmaceutical sector, that involves extraordinary technological challenges. The fieldwork, carried out between August 2019 and February 2020, involved semi-structured interviews with managers of pharmaceutical companies and specialists in the I4.0 theme. The interviews allowed for the identification of trends and key benefits and barriers for implementing I4.0 in the biopharmaceutical sector. While the perceptions were considerably diversified, benefits in productivity, competitiveness and quality ranked among the most scored items. The main barriers, highlighted by the interviewees, refer to the need to break organizational cultural standards, the regulatory requirements, the lack of organizational strategies for implementation, and the lack of qualified professionals. This work offers a contribution to the biopharmaceutical sector and reinforces the imminent need for companies to adapt to this new reality.publishe