Otimização do processo de obtenção e tratamento de dados de clientes telecontados

A conjuntura energética global espelha o enorme desafio de responder à crescente necessidade energética com a utilização crescente de fontes de energia renováveis. Tendo em conta a dependência atual em fontes de energia tradicionais, e considerando a emissão reduzida de poluentes e o baixo custo do gás natural, o papel desta fonte de energia é fundamental na transição para um cenário energético mais limpo. Em Portugal, o sistema de gás natural é recente e a tendência é para um aumento de consumo. Decorrente da liberalização do mercado de gás natural, face à necessidade de disponibilizar informação aos consumidores e atingir uma melhor relação com os consumos, surgiram os sistemas de telecontagem. Estes sistemas de medição são capazes de integrar a recolha, processamento e transmissão de dados, e gerar um vasto conjunto de informação útil a análises. Com a quantidade de informação gerada, o presente trabalho pretende otimizar o processo de obtenção e tratamento de dados de clientes telecontados de uma organização, promovendo a monitorização e a automatização da decisão do processo para efeitos de análise e faturação. Inicialmente, o estudo procurava analisar o processo original e caracterizar o mesmo no que diz respeito às ineficiências das regras de validação implementadas e às falhas globais do processo. De seguida, foi necessário otimizar o fluxo de dados, e desenvolver e implementar uma solução que permitisse realizar um tratamento diário e constante aos dados, com base em condições favoráveis à disponibilização de relatórios auxiliares ao processo de decisão. Primeiramente, de forma a cumprir com o objetivo inicial, foi realizada uma contextualização à telecontagem e de toda a arquitetura do sistema de medição que lhe é inerente, de forma a compreender e analisar o processo original. De seguida, derivado do estudo realizado a processos de tratamento de dados, regras impostas e metodologias presentes na indústria, o diagrama de fluxo foi elaborado e a solução para a ferramenta estabelecida em Microsoft Excel©, com recurso à linguagem Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Com o desenvolvimento de algoritmos capazes de validar e estimar os dados, foi possível identificar clientes validados e gerar relatórios que fomentaram a faturação com base em consumos reais e antecipação de anomalias. Com o propósito de perceber o sucesso da implementação da ferramenta foi calculado o rácio entre os clientes validados e invalidados. O rácio máximo de 18,42, atingido com o processo atual, comparativamente ao rácio máximo de 3,13, atingido com o processo anterior, permite concluir que o processo de obtenção e tratamento de dados foi otimizado.The global energy situation reflects the enormous challenge of meeting the growing energy need with the increased use of renewable energy sources. Given the current dependence on traditional energy sources, and considering the reduced emission of pollutants and the low cost of natural gas, the role of this energy source is crucial in the transition to a cleaner energy scenario. In Portugal, the natural gas system is recent and the trend is towards an increase in consumption. As a result of the liberalisation of the natural gas market, given the need to provide information to consumers and achieve a better relationship with consumption, telemetering systems have emerged. These measurement systems are capable of integrating the collection, processing and transmission of data, and generate a vast set of information useful for analysis. With the amount of generated information, this work aims to optimise the process of obtaining and processing data from telemetry customers of an organisation, promoting the monitoring and automation of the process decision for the purposes of analysis and invoicing. Initially, the study sought to analyse the original process and characterise it regarding the inefficiencies of the implemented validation rules and the overall process failures. It was then necessary to optimise the data flow, and to develop and implement a solution that would enable the daily and constant processing of the data, based on conditions favourable to the availability of reports auxiliary to the decision-making process. Firstly, in order to meet the initial objective, the telemetering and the entire architecture of the measurement system that is inherent to it were contextualised, in order to understand and analyse the original process. Then, derived from the study carried out on data treatment processes, imposed rules and methodologies present in the industry, the flow diagram was prepared and the solution for the tool was established in Microsoft Excel©, using the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language. With the development of algorithms capable of validating and estimating the data, it was possible to identify validated customers and generate reports that promoted invoicing based on real consumption and anticipation of anomalies. In order to understand the success of the implementation of the tool, the ratio between validated and invalidated customers was calculated. The maximum ratio of 18.42, reached with the current process, compared to the maximum ratio of 3.13, reached with the previous process, allows concluding that the process of obtaining and processing data was optimised

Emerging biotechnologies: bioinformatics services applied to agriculture.

Abstract - Bioinformatics is an emergent biotechnological field of study marked by interdisciplinarity and complexity. It involves the application and development of computational tools to biological data in order to process, generate, and disseminate biological knowledge. Bioinformatics is characterized by an intense generation of data and information (configured as a context of big data and e-science), associated with the need for computational resources with high processing and storage capacities and highly qualified and interdisciplinary staff, often found only in academia. The objective of this paper is to describe the organizational model and collaborative innovation activities of the Bioinformatics Multi-user Laboratory (LMB, in the acronym in Portuguese). The LMB is a facility located at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), the main Brazilian agricultural research public institute, formed by 46 Research and Service Centers distributed throughout Brazil and by several laboratories and business offices abroad, in America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Its mission involves to contribute to the advance of the frontier of knowledge in bioinformatics by: incorporating new technologies and enabling efficient solutions to the demands related to this field; providing access to high performance computing infrastructure and developing human skills. Considering the importance of biotechnology in the context of agricultural research, Embrapa implemented the LMB in 2011, with the purpose of increasing the efficiency of the use of computational, human and technological resources of Embrapa by providing access to bioinformatics computational resources, offering research collaboration possibilities and consultation on project design and biological data analysis. A case-study was conducted based on documentary research and interviews. The main findings of this research are: the description of the organizational model of LMB, the management team and roles; theservices it provides; its access policies and procedures of customer service.Altec 2015

New Results in Sasaki-Einstein Geometry

This article is a summary of some of the author's work on Sasaki-Einstein geometry. A rather general conjecture in string theory known as the AdS/CFT correspondence relates Sasaki-Einstein geometry, in low dimensions, to superconformal field theory; properties of the latter are therefore reflected in the former, and vice versa. Despite this physical motivation, many recent results are of independent geometrical interest, and are described here in purely mathematical terms: explicit constructions of infinite families of both quasi-regular and irregular Sasaki-Einstein metrics; toric Sasakian geometry; an extremal problem that determines the Reeb vector field for, and hence also the volume of, a Sasaki-Einstein manifold; and finally, obstructions to the existence of Sasaki-Einstein metrics. Some of these results also provide new insights into Kahler geometry, and in particular new obstructions to the existence of Kahler-Einstein metrics on Fano orbifolds.Comment: 31 pages, no figures. Invited contribution to the proceedings of the conference "Riemannian Topology: Geometric Structures on Manifolds"; minor typos corrected, reference added; published version; Riemannian Topology and Geometric Structures on Manifolds (Progress in Mathematics), Birkhauser (Nov 2008

Formation of Lipofuscin-Like Autofluorescent Granules in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium Requires Lysosome Dysfunction

PURPOSE: We aim to characterize the pathways required for autofluorescent granule (AFG) formation by RPE cells using cultured monolayers. METHODS: We fed RPE monolayers in culture with a single pulse of photoreceptor outer segments (POS). After 24 hours the cells started accumulating AFGs that were comparable to lipofuscin in vivo. Using this model, we used a variety of light and electron microscopical techniques, flow cytometry and Western blot to analyze the formation of AFGs. We also generated a mutant RPE line lacking cathepsin D by gene editing. RESULTS: AFGs seem to derive from incompletely digested POS-containing phagosomes and after 3 days are surrounded by a single membrane positive for lysosome markers. We show by various methods that lysosome-phagosome fusion is required for AFG formation, and that impairment of lysosomal pH or catalytic activity, particularly cathepsin D activity, enhances AF accumulation. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that lysosomal dysfunction results in incomplete POS degradation and enhanced AFG accumulation

Genetic variability and natural selection at the ligand domain of the Duffy binding protein in Brazilian Plasmodium vivax populations.

Background. Plasmodium vivax malaria is a major public health challenge in Latin America, Asia and Oceania, with 130-435 million clinical cases per year worldwide. Invasion of host blood cells by P. vivax mainly depends on a type I membrane protein called Duffy binding protein (PvDBP). The erythrocyte-binding motif of PvDBP is a 170 amino-acid stretch located in its cysteine-rich region II (PvDBPII), which is the most variable segment of the protein. Methods. To test whether diversifying natural selection has shaped the nucleotide diversity of PvDBPII in Brazilian populations, this region was sequenced in 122 isolates from six different geographic areas. A Bayesian method was applied to test for the action of natural selection under a population genetic model that incorporates recombination. The analysis was integrated with a structural model of PvDBPII, and T- and B-cell epitopes were localized on the 3-D structure. Results. The results suggest that: (i) recombination plays an important role in determining the haplotype structure of PvDBPII, and (ii) PvDBPII appears to contain neutrally evolving codons as well as codons evolving under natural selection. Diversifying selection preferentially acts on sites identified as epitopes, particularly on amino acid residues 417, 419, and 424, which show strong linkage disequilibrium. Conclusions. This study shows that some polymorphisms of PvDBPII are present near the erythrocyte-binding domain and might serve to elude antibodies that inhibit cell invasion. Therefore, these polymorphisms should be taken into account when designing vaccines aimed at eliciting antibodies to inhibit erythrocyte invasion

Nonlinear vortex light beams supported and stabilized by dissipation

We describe nonlinear Bessel vortex beams as localized and stationary solutions with embedded vorticity to the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with a dissipative term that accounts for the multi-photon absorption processes taking place at high enough powers in common optical media. In these beams, power and orbital angular momentum are permanently transferred to matter in the inner, nonlinear rings, at the same time that they are refueled by spiral inward currents of energy and angular momentum coming from the outer linear rings, acting as an intrinsic reservoir. Unlike vortex solitons and dissipative vortex solitons, the existence of these vortex beams does not critically depend on the precise form of the dispersive nonlinearities, as Kerr self-focusing or self-defocusing, and do not require a balancing gain. They have been shown to play a prominent role in "tubular" filamentation experiments with powerful, vortex-carrying Bessel beams, where they act as attractors in the beam propagation dynamics. Nonlinear Bessel vortex beams provide indeed a new solution to the problem of the stable propagation of ring-shaped vortex light beams in homogeneous self-focusing Kerr media. A stability analysis demonstrates that there exist nonlinear Bessel vortex beams with single or multiple vorticity that are stable against azimuthal breakup and collapse, and that the mechanism that renders these vortexes stable is dissipation. The stability properties of nonlinear Bessel vortex beams explain the experimental observations in the tubular filamentation experiments.Comment: Chapter of boo

Interacting Brownian Motion with Resetting

We study two Brownian particles in dimension $d=1$, diffusing under an interacting resetting mechanism to a fixed position. The particles are subject to a constant drift, which biases the Brownian particles toward each other. We derive the steady-state distributions and study the late time relaxation behavior to the stationary state.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure