Using Multi-Agent Transport Simulations to Assess the Impact of EV Charging Infrastructure Deployment

Over the last two decades, electrification has gained importance as a means to decarbonise the transport sector. As the number of Electric Vehicles (EVs)increases, it is important to consider broader system aspects as well, especially when deciding the type, coverage, size and location of the charging infrastructure required. In this article, a Multi-Agent model depicting long distance transport in Sweden is proposed, allowing to simulate different scenarios and enabling a more detailed analysis of the interaction between these vehicles and the charging infrastructure

Discovery of infection biomarkers based on metabolomics

Thesis to obtain the Master’s degree in Biomedical EngineeringEnquadramento e objetivos: Pacientes críticos de COVID-19 são regularmente admitidos nos cuidados intensivos com diversas complicações, necessitando de tratamentos mais invasivos. Para além disso, os pacientes estão expostos a uma ameaça iminente de infeções durante a sua estadia hospitalar. Estas infeções podem levar ao agravamento do estado de saúde do paciente, e tendo em conta o estado atual do paciente COVID-19 critico, pode ser fatal caso não seja devidamente identificada a presença de infeção e iniciado o tratamento mais adequado. Nesta tese, o foco foi dividido em dois objetivos: determinar uma metodologia capaz de identificar mais rapidamente um estado ativo de bacteremia no paciente COVID-19 critico; e identificar a tipologia de Gram da bactéria que originou a bacteremia. Métodos: Recorrendo-se ao método do espectrometria de FTIR, e testes Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) e Linear Discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA), para realizar analise discriminante de uma amostra com objetivo de testar o método mais eficaz na discriminação entre pacientes com bacteremia (n=48) e pacientes sem bacteremia (n=54), e entre amostras com bactéria Gram-positiva (n=28) e bactéria Gram-negativa (n=20). Resultados: Através dos testes PCA e HCA não foi possível obter uma discriminação fidedigna nem entre amostras com e sem bacteremia, nem entre bactérias Gram-positivas e Gram-Negativas. A vasta variabilidade associada a amostras biológicas pode justificar este resultado. PCA-LDA, possibilitou resultados de 75% de eficácia na discriminação entre amostras de bacteremia e sem bacteremia, e uma eficácia de 85% na discriminação entre amostras com bactérias Gram-positivas e bactérias Gram-negativas. Conclusão: Os resultados apontam para a possibilidade da utilização da análise de espetro de espetrometria FTIR como um método apelador para o diagnóstico de bacteremia e classificação do tipo de bactéria, de uma forma simples e rápida, permitindo uma gestão mais eficiente deste tipo de pacientes críticos.N/

Detection and characterization of hydroxyl radical adducts by mass spectrometry

AbstractThe study of the influence of free radicals in the biological process depends primarily on the capacity to detect these reactive species. In this work we have studied the application of mass spectrometry to the identification of hydroxyl radical species. The detection and identification by collisional activation mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrometry (CA-MIKES) of a spin adduct of DMPO with the hydroxyl radical [(DMPO + O) + H]+ (m/z 130) has demonstrated that mass spectrometry can be a powerful tool in the detection and identification of spin adducts of DMPO with hydroxyl radical species. We were also able to detect the capture of secondary free radicals using ethanol by detecting and identifying the corresponding adduct [(DMPO + ethanol) + H]+. Other spin adducts have also been detected and identified. We consider that the use of mass spectrometry is a relevant technique for the detection of free hydroxyl radicals, especially in complex mixtures, since mass spectrometry is able to discriminate these adducts in such situations. Moreover, using this approach, it was possible to identify new spin adducts

Post-mortem digital forensics analysis of the Zepp Life android application

CIIC partially supported this research under the project UIDB 04524/2020 by FCT/MCTES and EU funds under the project UIDB/EEA 50008/2020.This paper studies the post-mortem digital forensic artifacts left by the Android Zepp Life (formerly Mi Fit) mobile application when used in conjunction with a Xiaomi Mi Band 6. The Mi Band 6 is a low-cost smart band device with several sensors that allow for health and activity monitoring, collecting metrics such as heart rate, blood oxygen saturation level, and step count. The device communicates via Bluetooth Low Energy with the Zepp Life application, which displays its data, provides some controls, and acts as a bridge to the Internet. We study, from a digital forensics perspective, the Android version of the mobile application in a rooted smartphone. For this purpose, we analyze the data repositories, namely its databases and XML files, and correlate the data on the smartphone with the corresponding usage of the Mi Band device. The paper also presents two open-source scripts we have developed to ease the task of forensic practitioners dealing with Zepp Life/Mi Band 6: ZL_std and ZL_autopsy. The former refers to a Python 3 script that extracts high-level views of Zepp Life data through the command-line, whereas the latter is a module that integrates ZL_std functionalities within the popular open-source Autopsy digital forensic software. Data stored on the Android companion device of a Mi Band 6 might include GPS coordinates, events and alarms, and biometric data such as heart rate, sleep time, and fitness activity, which can be valuable digital forensic artifacts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Treinador do sono: protótipo de uma aplicação móvel, o assistente do sono

Apresentação de defesa de mestradoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Treinador do sono: o assistente do sono como protótipo de aplicação móvel

Os distúrbios do sono são bem mais comuns do que seria de esperar. Em especial, os hábitos de sono e as ocorrências de perturbações do sono podem originar consequências em virtude de um sono não reparador. Em parte, o uso crescente de dispositivos eletrónicos, os hábitos alimentares e o não acompanhamento do ciclo solar, na atividade diária, constituem, entre outros, fatores de perda de qualidade no sono. Dificuldades em adormecer ou acordar de noite, ou ainda cansaço ao acordar, ou também sonolência diurna, são alguns dos sintomas reportados que parecem indicar a necessidade de estratégias para melhorar o sono. Tradicionalmente, o recurso à medicação permanente ou frequente constitui a solução mais frequente. Neste contexto, é proposta uma alternativa em que se estuda os comportamentos do individuo e se avalia um conjunto de fatores, de modo a auxiliar à realização de um sono reparador, à imagem de um treinador pessoal, para alterar e reforçar comportamentos que sejam indutores de melhores práticas e, dessa forma, um melhor sono. As tecnologias de informação e comunicação proporcionam a oportunidade de recolha e tratamento de dados biométricos e de ambiente, que permitem monitorizar a qualidade e quantidade de sono e de processar estes dados de forma a cruzar o conhecimento existente sobre padrões e comportamentos que podem melhorar a qualidade de descanso de um indivíduo. A proposta deste trabalho é a realização de um treinador de sono com recurso a uma Aplicação Móvel, que use os dados biométricos individuais, em complemento com alguns dados do ambiente, assim como uma avaliação periódica, e que monitorize comportamentos de forma a melhorar a qualidade de sono do indivíduo.Sleep disorders are more common than one might expect. In particular, poor sleep habits and sleep disturbance events can have consequences due to non-restorative sleep. Also, the increasing use of electronic devices, harmful eating habits, and the non-monitoring of the solar cycle in daily activity constitute, among others, factors in the loss of quality of sleep. Difficulties to fall asleep or to wake up at night, tiredness when waking up, or diurnal somnolence are some of the reported symptoms that seem to indicate the need for strategies to improve sleep. Traditionally, the use of permanent or frequent medication is the most recurrent solution. In this context, an alternative is proposed in which the individual's behaviours are studied and a set of factors that help to achieve a restful sleep are evaluated, in the image of a personal trainer, to change and reinforce behaviours that induce better practices and thus better sleep. Information and communication technologies provide the opportunity to collect and study biometric and environmental data, which allows monitoring the quality and quantity of sleep and to process this data to cross existing knowledge about patterns and behaviours that can improve the Individual’s rest quality. The purpose of this work is the realization of a sleep coach using a Mobile Application, which uses individual biometric data, in addition to environmental information, as well as a periodic evaluation, to monitor the behaviour and improve the quality of the individual's sleep

Comparative Analysis of Protein Structure Alignments

Background: Several methods are currently available for the comparison of protein structures. These methods have been analysed regarding the performance in the identification of structurally/evolutionary related proteins, but so far there has been less focus on the objective comparison between the alignments produced by different methods. Results: We analysed and compared the structural alignments obtained by different methods using three sets of pairs of structurally related proteins. The first set corresponds to 355 pairs of remote homologous proteins according to the SCOP database (ASTRAL40 set). The second set was derived from the SISYPHUS database and includes 69 protein pairs (SISY set). The third set consists of 40 pairs that are challenging to align (RIPC set). The alignment of pairs of this set requires indels of considerable number and size and some of the proteins are related by circular permutations, show extensive conformational variability or include repetitions. Two standard methods (CE and DALI) were applied to align the proteins in the ASTRAL40 set. The extent of structural similarity identified by both methods is highly correlated and the alignments from the two methods agree on average in more than half of the aligned positions. CE, DALI, as well as four additional methods (FATCAT, MATRAS, C -match and SHEBA) were then compared using the SISY and RIPC sets. The accuracy of the alignments was assessed by comparison to reference alignments. The alignments generated by the different methods on average match more than half of the reference alignments in the SISY set. The alignments obtained in the more challenging RIPC set tend to differ considerably and match reference alignments less successfully than the SISY set alignments. Conclusion: The alignments produced by different methods tend to agree to a considerable extent, but the agreement is lower for the more challenging pairs. The results for the comparison to reference alignments are encouraging, but also indicate that there is still room for improvement.(VLID)221254

Gastos correntes e investimento público : uma abordagem de análise e avaliação com base em multiplicadores fiscais e coeficientes de elasticidade

Trabalho de conclusão de curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Departamento de Economia, 2016.Este trabalho busca contribuir ao debate econômico sobre a política fiscal na forma de análise do impacto dos gastos públicos sobre o produto. Dois objetivos principais são perseguidos: a construção de um modelo de banco de dados sobre gastos públicos e a proposta de uma metodologia de avaliação dos multiplicadores fiscais, traduzidos na estimativa da elasticidade de uma medida de produto em relação aos gastos públicos. Este modelo de banco de dados e metodologia de análise de impacto são aplicadas neste trabalho a três Estados brasileiros: Ceará, Goiás e Minas Gerais. O banco de dados construído faz distinção dos gastos públicos entre despesas correntes (salários e custeio) e investimentos. Esta base reúne os dados agregados do Estado em questão e seus principais municípios, escolhidos sob um critério de relevância do produto, que possibilitará a análise da composição do gasto público para cada ente e a evolução histórica do mesmo. A análise dos multiplicadores pela estimativa da elasticidade, considerada neste trabalho, utiliza dados de produção industrial regional como proxy do produto. É construído um modelo de Vetores Autoregresivos (VAR) para cada ente e simuladas as respostas ao impulso da produção industrial regional a um choque de despesas correntes e outro de investimentos. Os resultados das estimativas com significância estatística mostraram um impacto positivo inicial do choque de despesas maior do que o de investimentos neste âmbito regional, elasticidade da ordem de 0,4 no primeiro período para o Estado de MG. Para o Estado de GO, os resultados não foram estatisticamente significativos. Os dados do CE seguiram qualitativamente os resultados de MG, mas com magnitude inferior: elasticidade de 0,27 para despesas, também no primeiro período. De forma geral, mesmo considerando as ressalvas deste trabalho, de análise exclusiva do produto industrial e a de um ente com economia bastante aberta que é o Estado dentro da Federação, avalia-se que existe um potencial benéfico para uma política fiscal anticíclica centrada no curto prazo para os Estados brasileiros estudados.This work intends to contribute to the economic debate over fiscal policy through the analysis of the impact of public expenditure on product. Two main goals are envisaged: building of a database model on public expenditure and a proposal of a methodology on evaluating fiscal multipliers, translated into the estimation of an elasticity coefficient relating a measure of product with the public expenditure. This database model and the impact analysis methodology are applied in this work for three Brazilian states: Ceará, Goiás and Minas Gerais. The database is designed to make a distinction between current expenses (wages and consumption goods) and investment. It gathers aggregated data on the state and its main municipalities, selected under a product relevance criterion, which will allow the study of public expenditure composition for each state or municipality and its historical evolution. Fiscal multiplier analysis through the elasticity coefficient estimates, considered in this work, makes use of regional industrial production data as a proxy for the product. A Vector Autoregression (VAR) model is built for each state and the impulse response functions of industrial production to current expenses and investment shocks simulated. The statistically significant results have shown an initially positive impact, greater from the current expenses than from the investment in this regional context, with a maximum elasticity in the first period of 0.4 for MG. For the state of GO, results were not statistically significant. Data from CE followed, qualitatively, MG, but with lower magnitudes: elasticity of 0.27 for current expenses, also in the first period. In general, still taking into account the caveats of an analysis focused on industrial product response and the openness degree of a state economy relative to the Federation, the possibility of a countercyclical fiscal policy is considered to have a potential benefit in the short term for some of the selected Brazilian states studied

Single-cell oil production by engineered Ashbya gossypii from non-detoxified lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysate

In this work, microbial lipid production from non-detoxified Eucalyptus bark hydrolysate (EBH) with oleaginous xylose-utilizing Ashbya gossypii strains was explored. The best producing strain from a set of engineered strains was identified in synthetic media mimicking the composition of the non-detoxified EBH (SM), the lipid profile was characterized, and yeast extract and corn steep liquor (CSL) were pinpointed as supplements enabling a good balance between lipid accumulation, biomass production, and autolysis by A. gossypii. The potential of the engineered A. gossypii A877 strain to produce lipids was further validated and optimized with minimally processed inhibitor-containing hydrolysate and high sugar concentration, and scaled up in a 2 L bioreactor. Lipid production from non-detoxified EBH supplemented with CSL reached a lipid titer of 1.42 g/L, paving the way for sustainable single-cell oil production within the concept of circular economy and placing lipids as an alternative by-product within microbial biorefineries.This study was supported by Compete 2020, Portugal 2020, and Lisboa 2020 through MoveToLowC (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046117) and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 and project ESSEntial (PTDC/BII-BTI/1858/2021). The authors gratefully acknowledge RAIZ (Forest and Paper Research Institute) for providing the Eucalyptus bark material, and Novozymes A/S for supplying Cellic® CTec3 HS. The technical assistance of STEX company (Aveiro, Portugal) on the operation of pilot-scale infrastructure of steam explosion and enzymatic hydrolysis is also acknowledged.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio