Smart Rescue Drones to Find Snowslide Victims

In the approach of using autonomous robots to find victims on risk zones, there are specific ones that can reach the victims faster, the Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs), better known as Drones. For this to happen, artificial intelligence algorithms were designed to teach them to search for the victims faster. On this paper, a simulation of three drones flying on different environments was made based on a Hidden Markov Models with KNN classifier as an artificial intelligence approach for the learning. The results revealed that for some environments, based on memory to store the paths and the classification of the objects, different hardware settings for the drones can be needed

Morphology of Metzgeria conjugata Lindb. (Metzgeriales, Hepaticopsida)

Scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy were used to elucidate the morphology of Metzgeria conjutata Lindb. and confirm the presence of 2 rows of epidermal cells on the dorsal surface, (21-3) rows on the ventral surface, midrib with cells in (3-51-6) tiers; hirsute, short hairs, straight on the thallus-margin and on the ventral surface of midrib; marginal hairs paired, single or in groups of three; male branches globose or subglobose; female involucres obovate and hirsute at the margin, calyptra fleshy, pyriform to club-shaped, hirsute on the outer surface, hairs long and straight

NLO electroweak corrections in general scalar singlet models

If no new physics signals are found, in the coming years, at the Large Hadron Collider Run-2, an increase in precision of the Higgs couplings measurements will shift the dicussion to the effects of higher order corrections. In Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) theories this may become the only tool to probe new physics. Extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with several scalar singlets may address several of its problems, namely to explain dark matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry, or to improve the stability of the SM up to the Planck scale. In this work we propose a general framework to calculate one loop-corrections in BSM models with an arbitrary number of scalar singlets. We then apply our method to a real and to a complex scalar singlet models. We assess the importance of the one-loop radiative corrections first by computing them for a tree level mixing sum constraint, and then for the main Higgs production process $gg \to H$. We conclude that, for the currently allowed parameter space of these models, the corrections can be at most a few percent. Notably, a non-zero correction can survive when dark matter is present, in the SM-like limit of the Higgs couplings to other SM particles.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figure

Implementation of a high resolution optical feedback interferometer for microfluidics applications

Recent progress of interferometric sensors based on the optical feedback in a laser diode have demonstrated possibility for measurement of flow rates and flow-profiles at the micro-scale. That type of compact and embedded sensors is very promising for a research and industrial field –microfluidics – that is a growing domain of activities, at the frontiers of the physics, the chemical science, the biology and the biomedical. However, the acquisition of flow rate or local velocity at high resolution remains a very challenging issue, and the sensors that have been proposed so far did not have been giving sufficient information on the nature of the particles flowing. The present thesis is driven to the implementation, validation and evaluation of the sensing performances of the optical feedback interferometry technology in both chemical and biomedical fields of applications. The elaboration of a new generation of sensors that will provide both a high spatial resolution for 2D Doppler imaging is presented, as well as a methodology that gives further information on the flowing particles concentration and/or dimensions. Then, a new embedded optical feedback interferometry imager for flowmetry has been realized using a 2-axis beamsteering mirror mounted on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) thus taking the full advantage of the compactness offered by the optical feedback interferometry sensing scheme. While previous works on optical feedback interferometry flowmetry have been limited to high particle densities fluids in single or multiple scattering regimes, we present also a sensing technique based on the optical feedback interferometry scheme in a laser diode that enables single particle detection at micro and nanoscales through the Doppler-Fizeau effect. Thanks to the proposed signal processing, this sensing technique can detect the presence of single spherical polystyrene micro/nanospheres seeded in watery suspensions, and measure their flow velocity, even when their diameter is below half the laser wavelength. It discriminates particle by their diameter up to a ratio of 5 between large and small ones while most of the technologies for particle characterization is bulk and requires manipulation of the fluid with small volume handling, precise flow and concentration control. Altogether, the results presented in this thesis realize a major improvement for the use of optical feedback interferometry in the chemical engineering or biomedical applications involving micro-scale flows

Solvent-cast films of an elastin-like polymer fused to an antimicrobial peptide, ABP-CM4, exhibits high antibacterial activity against pseudomonas aeruginosa

The nosocomial infections grew significantly in the last years and became a worldwide problem. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) arise as a good treatment to these infections, since traditional antibiotics have become useless against resistant hospital strains. AMPs exhibit a broad range of antimicrobial activity but antitumoral and antiviral activities have also been found. AMPs are usually small, cationic molecules that occur as part of the innate defense mechanism in many organisms, even in microbes and virus. The combination of AMPs with recombinantly produced polymers, such as the Elastin-like Polymers (ELPs), inspired in the mammalian elastin, could improve medical equipment, such as catheters, to overcome infections and biofilms formation. In this work we describe the cloning and recombinant production in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) of ABP-CM4, a cationic AMP from Bombyx mori, fused to an ELP, consisting of 200 repeats of the pentamer VPAVG (A200). This ELP exhibits thermoresponsive properties, exploitable as a purification method. The morphological characteristics as well as its antibacterial activity of this hybrid polymer were studied as essential for the applicability in medical devices. The ABP-CM4 gene was chemically synthesized, with the inclusion of a formic acid cleavage site, and fused in frame with the N-terminus of the gene coding A200. Production of the recombinant polymer in E. coli BL21(DE3) was achieved and purification was based on the use of the inverse transition cycling method. Formic acid treatment allowed tag removal and obtention of the soluble protein. The hybrid polymer, CM4::A200, and the cleaved ABP-CM4 were tested for its antimicrobial activity in liquid form. Solvent-cast films of CM4::A200, using formic acid as solvent, were tested for the antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa comparing with A200 polymers containing different contents of positively charged aminoacids. The hybrid polymer presented similar morphological and physicochemical features to A200. The cleaved recombinant ABP-CM4 and CM4::A200 showed low levels of inhibition against P. aeruginosa in the liquid form but, in the solvent-cast film form, the inhibition of growth of was almost 100%. This result reveals very good perspectives for the use of these polymers in the medical equipment.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

The probability of military rule in Africa, 1970-2007

In this paper we empirically analyze the socio-economic determinants of the existence of military dictatorships in Africa. A recent literature in political economy analyses the relationship between the civil undemocratic government and the military as an agency problem: the civilian government needs the army to avoid internal violence, but a larger army reduces the opportunity-cost for the military to run a coup d’état and seize power. These papers derive three main causes of military rule: income inequality, ethnic fractionalization, and external threat. We empirically analyze these issues by estimating the probability that a country experiences a military rule. We consider 48 African countries over the period 1970-2007

New Menger-like dualities in digraphs and applications to half-integral linkages

We present new min-max relations in digraphs between the number of paths satisfying certain conditions and the order of the corresponding cuts. We define these objects in order to capture, in the context of solving the half-integral linkage problem, the essential properties needed for reaching a large bramble of congestion two (or any other constant) from the terminal set. This strategy has been used ad-hoc in several articles, usually with lengthy technical proofs, and our objective is to abstract it to make it applicable in a simpler and unified way. We provide two proofs of the min-max relations, one consisting in applying Menger's Theorem on appropriately defined auxiliary digraphs, and an alternative simpler one using matroids, however with worse polynomial running time. As an application, we manage to simplify and improve several results of Edwards et al. [ESA 2017] and of Giannopoulou et al. [SODA 2022] about finding half-integral linkages in digraphs. Concerning the former, besides being simpler, our proof provides an almost optimal bound on the strong connectivity of a digraph for it to be half-integrally feasible under the presence of a large bramble of congestion two (or equivalently, if the directed tree-width is large, which is the hard case). Concerning the latter, our proof uses brambles as rerouting objects instead of cylindrical grids, hence yielding much better bounds and being somehow independent of a particular topology. We hope that our min-max relations will find further applications as, in our opinion, they are simple, robust, and versatile to be easily applicable to different types of routing problems in digraphs

Nanotechnology solutions for controlled cytokine delivery: an applied perspective

Around 200 cytokines with roles in cell signaling have been identified and studied, with the vast majority belonging to the four-α-helix bundle family. These proteins exert their function by binding to specific receptors and are implicated in many diseases. The use of several cytokines as therapeutic targets has been approved by the FDA, however their rapid clearance in vivo still greatly limits their efficacy. Nano-based drug delivery systems have been widely applied in nanomedicine to develop safe, specific and controlled delivery techniques. Nevertheless, each nanomaterial has its own specifications and their suitability towards the biochemical and biophysical properties of the selected drug needs to be determined, weighing in the final choice of the ideal nano drug delivery system. Nanoparticles remain the most used vehicle for cytokine delivery, where polymeric carriers represent the vast majority of the studied systems. Liposomes and gold or silica nanoparticles are also explored and discussed in this review. Additionally, surface functionalization is of great importance to facilitate the attachment of a wide variety of molecules and modify features such as bioavailability. Since the monitoring of cytokine levels has an important role in early clinical diagnosis and for assessing therapeutic efficacy, nanotechnological advances are also valuable for nanosensor development.This work was supported by the “Contrato-Programa” UIDB/04050/2020 funded by national funds through the FCT I.P. and project FUN2CYT: Harnessing the potential for biomedical applications of pleiotropic cytokines LIF and oncostatin M (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030568) supported by Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (FEDER) and FCT, IP. Anabela Gonçalves acknowledges her PhD scholarship from FCT (SFRH/BD/146807/2019)