A people-oriented paradigm for smart cities

Most works in the literature agree on considering the Internet of Things (IoT) as the base technology to collect information related to smart cities. This information is usually offered as open data for its analysis, and to elaborate statistics or provide services which improve the management of the city, making it more efficient and more comfortable to live in. However, it is not possible to actually improve the quality of life of smart cities’ inhabitants if there is no direct information about them and their experiences. To address this problem, we propose using a social and mobile computation model, called the Internet of People (IoP) which empowers smartphones to recollect information about their users, analyze it to obtain knowledge about their habits, and provide this knowledge as a service creating a collaborative information network. Combining IoT and IoP, we allow the smart city to dynamically adapt its services to the needs of its citizens, promoting their welfare as the main objective of the city.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

First record of Darwin’s Slimehead, Gephyroberyx darwinii (Johnson, 1866) (Beryciformes: Trachichthyidae), in association with Brazilian deep reefs

Copyright © 2004 aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology.Três espécies da família Trachichthyidae ocorrem no sul do Brasil: Paratrachichthys atlanticus, Hoplostethus occidentalis e Gephyroberyx darwinii. Esta última é uma espécie que atinge tamanhos da ordem dos 600 mm (CT), vive na província bentopelágica até profundidades de 1210 metros. É encontrada em águas subtropicais distribuindo-se entre os paralelos 43ºN e 35ºS, sendo utilizada como fonte de alimento no leste do Atlântico central. O presente trabalho reporta a ocorrência de Gephyroberyx darwinii na costa brasileira entre as localidades de Vila Velha (ES) e Rio Grande (RS), em áreas de plataforma externa e talude superior, com profundidades variando de 70 a 520 metros. Suas ocorrências nestas áreas estiveram relacionadas a lances de pesca (onde Lophius gastrophysus é espécie alvo) sobre formações de corais vivos. Dados biométricos e merísticos de três espécimes são apresentados no trabalho.ABSTRACT: Three species of the Trachichthyidae family occur in the south of Brazil: Paratrachichthys atlanticus, Hoplostethus occidentalis and Gephyroberyx darwinii. G. darwinii may attain a length of 600 mm (TL). This benthopelagic species occurs at depths down to 1210 m and is generally found in subtropical waters between 43ºN and 35ºS. It is commercially exploited in the east central Atlantic for food and for oil. In this paper we report the occurrence of G. darwinii off the south and south-east coasts of Brazil between Vila Velha (Espírito Santo State) and Rio Grande (Rio Grande do Sul State), in outer shelf and slope areas, at depths between 70 and 520 m. In Brazil the trachichthyids were usually caught while fishing for Lophius gastrophysus over deep coral bottoms. Meristic and biometric data are presented for the three collected specimens

Development and assessment of an over-expanded engine to be used as an efficiency-oriented range extender for electric vehicles

A range extender (RE) is a device used in electric vehicles (EVs) to generate electricity on-board, enabling them to significantly reduce the number of required batteries and/or extend the vehicle driving range to allow occasional long trips. In the present work, an efficiency-oriented RE based on a small motorcycle engine modified to the efficient over-expanded cycle, was analyzed, tested and simulated in a driving cycle. The RE was developed to have two points of operation, ECO: 3000 rpm, very high efficiency with only 15 kW; and BOOST: 7000 rpm with 35 kW. While the ECO strategy was a straightforward development for the over-expansion concept (less trapped air and a much higher compression ratio) the BOOST strategy was more complicated to implement and involved the need for throttle operation. Initially the concepts were evaluated in an in-house model and AVL Boost® (AVL List Gmbh, Graz, Austria), and proved feasible. Then, a BMW K75 engine was altered and tested on a brake dynamometer. The running engine proved the initial concept, by improving the efficiency for the ECO condition in almost 40% in relation to the stock engine and getting well over the required BOOST power, getting to 35 kW, while keeping an efficiency similar to the stock engine at the wide open throttle (WOT). In order to protect the engine during BOOST, the mixture was enriched, while at ECO the mixture was leaned to further improve efficiency. The fixed operation configuration allows the reduction, not only of complexity and cost of the RE, but also the set point optimization for the engine and generator. When integrated as a RE into a typical European light duty vehicle, it provided a breakthrough consumption reduction relatively to existing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the market in the charge sustaining mode. The very high efficiency of the power generation seems to compensate for the loss of efficiency due to the excess electricity production, which must be stored in the battery. The results indicate that indeed it is possible to have an efficient solution, in-line with the electric mobility sustainability paradigm, which can solve most of the shortcomings of current EVs, notably those associated with batteries (range, cost and charging time) in a sustainable way.This Research was funded by MIT-Portugal EDAM, FCT, ERDF through Programa Operacional Fatores de Competitividade-COMPETE and National funds through PIDDAC, Project references MIT-Pt/EDAM-SMS/0030/2008 (MOBI-MPP-Assessment and Development of Integrated Systems for Electric Vehicles of the), UID/EMS/04077/2019 (MEtRICs -Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Centre Strategig Project) and grant numbers SFRH/BPD/89553/2012 (F.P. Brito) and SFRH/BSAB/142994/2018 (J Martins). AVL LIST GmbH provided free of charge an AVL Boost license through the University Partnership Program

Produtividade e características agronômicas de sete genótipos de milho na região do Sub-Médio do Vale do São Francisco.

Este trabalho objetivou avaliar a produtividade de matéria verde (PMV) e matéria seca (PMS), altura de espiga (AE), números de espiga por planta (NE) e altura das plantas (AP) de seis genótipos de milho indicados para a região Semi-Árida (BRS Caati ngueiro, BRS Assum Preto, Asa Branca BR 5033, São Francisco BR 5028, Gurutuba e BRS 4103) e do cultivar de Grão Branco (BRS 451) visando a produção de silagem. O delineamento experimental foi o de blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições. Os cultivares Gurutuba, São Francisco BR 5028 e BRS 4103 obtiveram as maiores produções de matéria verde (38,7; 35,1; 40,0 t/ha) e seca (16,0; 15,8; 16,5 t/ha), respectivamente. Já os cultivares BRS Caatingueiro e o BRS 4103 apresentaram números de espigas/planta (1,6 e 1,3, respectivamente) superiores aos demais. Os cultivares Gurutuba, São Francisco BR 5028 e BRS 4103 apresentaram melhores resultados para produção de matéria seca ( t/ha), destacando-se como alternativas para a produção de silagem na região do Sub-médio do Vale do São Francisco

Relação espiga, colmo e folha de sete genótipos de milho na região do Sub-médio do Vale do São Francisco.

Este trabalho objetivou avaliar a relação espiga, colmo e folha de seis genótipos de milho indicados para a região Semi-Árida (BRS Caatingueiro, BRS Assum Preto, Asa Branca BR 5033, São Francisco BR 5028, Gurutuba e BRS 4103) e do cultivar de Grão Branco (BRS 451) visando a produção de silagens. Foi utilizado o delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, com quatro repetições. A colheita foi efetuada quando a planta atingia o estádio de grão farináceo. As porcentagens de espiga com base na massa seca variaram de 43,0 a 64,9% (BRS 451 e Assum Preto, respectivamente). Foram observadas porcentagens de 22,6 a 33,9% para colmo (Assum Preto e Asa Branca, respectivamente) e de 12,5 a 29,9% para folhas (Assum Preto e BRS 4103, respectivamente). O genótipo Assum Preto apresentou a maior porcentagem de espiga e a menor de colmo. A representatividade dos componentes espigas, colmos e folhas dos sete genótipos são indicativos da possibilidade de produção de silagens de boa qualidade

Micro-bead injection spectroscopy for label-free automated determination of immunoglobulin G in human serum

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) represents the major fraction of antibodies in healthy adult human serum, and deviations from physiological levels are a generic marker of disease corresponding to different pathologies. Therefore, screening methods for IgG evaluation are a valuable aid to diagnostics. The present work proposes a rapid, automatic, and miniaturized method based on UV-vis micro-bead injection spectroscopy (μ-BIS) for the real-time determination of human serum IgG with label-free detection. Relying on attachment of IgG in rec-protein G immobilized in Sepharose 4B, a bioaffinity column is automatically assembled, where IgG is selectively retained and determined by on-column optical density measurement. A "dilution-and-shoot" approach (50 to 200 times) was implemented without further sample treatment because interferences were flushed out of the column upon sample loading, with minimization of carryover and cross-contamination by automatically discarding the sorbent (0.2 mg) after each determination. No interference from human serum albumin at 60 mg mL-1 in undiluted sample was found. The method allowed IgG determination in the range 100-300 μg mL-1 (corresponding to 5.0-60 mg mL-1 in undiluted samples), with a detection limit of 33 μg mL-1 (1.7 mg mL-1 for samples, dilution factor of 50). RSD values were < 9.4 and < 11.7%, for intra and inter-assay precision, respectively, while recovery values for human serum spiked with IgG at high pathological levels were 97.8-101.4%. Comparison to commercial ELISA kit showed no significant difference for tested samples (n = 8). Moreover, time-to-result decreased from several hours to < 5 min and analysis cost decreased 10 times, showing the potential of the proposed approach as a point-of-care method. Graphical abstract Micro-Bead Injection Spectroscopy method for real time, automated and label-free determination of total serum human Immunoglobulin G (IgG). The method was designed for Lab-on-Valve (LOV) platforms using a miniaturised protein G bioaffinity separative approach. IgG are separated from serum matrix components upon quantification with low non-specific binding in less than 5 min.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Efeito da adição de raspa de mandioca no perfil fermentativo da silagem do co-produto da extração do palmito da pupunha (Bactris gasipaes Kunth).

Resumo: Na região do Baixo Sul da Bahia, a cultura da pupunha tem se destacado, a qual apresenta clima e pluviosidade adequados para a exploração desta lavoura visando a produção de palmito. Porém após a extração do palmito da pupunha verifica-se uma grande quantidade de resíduos (folhas, bainhas e partes dos caules), o que implica preocupação econômica e ambiental relacionada ao destino desses resíduos. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar o perfil fermentativo das silagens do co-produto agroindustrial da extração do palmito da pupunha in natura, aditivada com raspa de mandioca (10% do peso verde) e emurchecida. Utilizou-se tubos de PVC com 10 cm de diâmetros e 40 cm de comprimento. As aberturas dos silos ocorreram aos 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 28 e 56 dias após a ensilagem. Os valores de pH não apresentaram diferença significativa (P>0,05) entre os tratamentos tendo como média (3,94) no dia 56, no entanto esses valores apresentaram padrão de mudança cúbico ao longo dos dias com o valor mínimo sendo atingido no dia 14 para todos os tratamentos. A adição da raspa de mandioca na ensilagem reduziu o teor de PB (3,65%) e elevou o teor de MS (21,23%), mas não reduziu os valores de pH (3,93) e N-NH3/NT (8,65%) apresentando diferença significativa (P0.05) between the treatments having as average (3.94) in day 56, however these values had presented cubical standard of change throughout the days with the minimum value being reached in the day the 14 for all treatments. The addition of the cassava pulp in the ensilage reduced the PB text (3.65%) and raised the DM text (21.23%), but did not reduce the values of pH (3.93) and N-NH3/NT (8.65%) presenting significant difference (P<0.05) for the too much treatments. The addition of the cassava pulp in the ensilage of the residue of pejibaye had positive effect in the DM text, did not compromise the quality of the ensilage

Screening of fluoroquinolones in environmental waters using disk-based solid-phase extraction combined to microplate fluorimetric determination and LC-MS/MS

Fluoroquinolones are in the order of the day concerning environmental contamination through anthropogenic activities, resulting in increased risk for antibiotic resistance dissemination. In this context, accessible, low-cost analytical methods are required for implementation of comprehensive surveillance and screening schemes. In this work, we propose a down-scaled disk-based solid-phase extraction system from which the eluate can be first screened by miniaturized fluorimetric reading, followed by individual determination of target fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and enrofloxacin) by liquid chromatography combined to tandem mass spectrometry. The fluorimetric measurement is based on the intrinsic fluorescence of fluoroquinolones. Disk-based retention was performed after sample acidification (pH 4.0) by mixed-mode cation exchange using polystyrene divinylbenzene sulphonated sorbent. Sample loading was precisely controlled in a dedicated flow system operating at 4.0 mL min−1. Different eluent compositions were tested, with elution performed by 1.00 mL of methanol-ammonium hydroxide (98:2, v/v), with subsequent reading of eluate in both detectors. Quantification was attained for 2–25 µg L−1 range, with LOD values at 1 µg L−1. The proposed approach was successfully applied to estuarine waters from the Douro River, with comparable results to a conventional SPE-LC-MS/MS procedure.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio