ICT Diffusion, inward foreign direct investment,and entrepreneurship in developing countries:a research note

The last decades have stablished the fundamental importance of technological progress for economic growth and wealth creation. Most new technology is created in developed countries. For these countries, the fundamental problem for growth is to harness the economic value of new inventions by converting them into new products, processes and organizational means. Entrepreneurship plays a fundamental role in this course of events (Shane 2001; Michelacci 2003; Acs et al. 2004; 2009). In developing countries the diffusion of new technologies plays an essential role in fostering growth

Relationships between nutrient composition of flowers and fruit quality in orange trees grown in calcareous soil

To determine if flower nutrient composition can be used to predict fruit quality, a field experiment was conducted over three seasons (1996-1999) in a commercial orange orchard (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cv. 'Valencia Late', budded on Troyer citrange rootstock) established on a calcareous soil in southern Portugal. Flowers were collected from 20 trees during full bloom in April and their nutrient composition determined, and fruits were harvested the following March and their quality evaluated. Patterns of covariation in flower nutrient concentrations and in fruit quality variables were evaluated by principal component analysis. Regression models relating fruit quality variables to flower nutrient composition were developed by stepwise selection procedures. The predictive power of the regression models was evaluated with an independent data set. Nutrient composition of flowers at full bloom could be used to predict the fruit quality variables fresh fruit mass and maturation index in the following year. Magnesium, Ca and Zn concentrations measured in flowers were related to fruit fresh mass estimations and N, P, Mg and Fe concentrations were related to fruit maturation index. We also established reference values for the nutrient composition of flowers based on measurements made in trees that produced large (> 76 mm in diameter) fruit.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Benchmarking some Portuguese S&T system research units: 2nd Edition

The increasing use of productivity and impact metrics for evaluation and comparison, not only of individual researchers but also of institutions, universities and even countries, has prompted the development of bibliometrics. Currently, metrics are becoming widely accepted as an easy and balanced way to assist the peer review and evaluation of scientists and/or research units, provided they have adequate precision and recall. This paper presents a benchmarking study of a selected list of representative Portuguese research units, based on a fairly complete set of parameters: bibliometric parameters, number of competitive projects and number of PhDs produced. The study aimed at collecting productivity and impact data from the selected research units in comparable conditions i.e., using objective metrics based on public information, retrievable on-line and/or from official sources and thus verifiable and repeatable. The study has thus focused on the activity of the 2003-06 period, where such data was available from the latest official evaluation. The main advantage of our study was the application of automatic tools, achieving relevant results at a reduced cost. Moreover, the results over the selected units suggest that this kind of analyses will be very useful to benchmark scientific productivity and impact, and assist peer review.Comment: 26 pages, 20 figures F. Couto, D. Faria, B. Tavares, P. Gon\c{c}alves, and P. Verissimo, Benchmarking some portuguese S\&T system research units: 2nd edition, DI/FCUL TR 13-03, Department of Informatics, University of Lisbon, February 201

Energy Scheduling Using Decision Trees and Emulation: Agriculture Irrigation with Run-of-the-River Hydroelectricity and a PV Case Study

Agriculture is the very backbone of every country. Unfortunately, agricultural sustainability is threatened by the lack of energy-efficient solutions. The threat becomes more evident with the constantly growing world population. The research community must, therefore, focus on resolving the problem of high energy consumption. This paper proposes a model of energy scheduling in agricultural contexts. Greater energy efficiency is achieved by means of PV (photovoltaics) and hydropower, as demonstrated in the conducted case study. The developed model is intended for contexts where the farm is located near a river, so the farmer can use the flowing water to produce energy. Moreover, the model has been emulated using a variety of state-of-the-art laboratory devices. Optimal energy scheduling is performed via a decision tree approach, optimizing the use of energy resources and reducing electricity costs. Finally, a realistic scenario is presented to show the technical features and the practical behaviors of each emulator when adapting the results of the decision tree. The research outcomes demonstrate the importance of the technical validation of each model. In addition, the results of the emulation reveal practical issues that had not been discovered during the theoretical study or during the simulationhe present research work was conducted and funded within the scope of the following project: Eco Rural IoT project, funded by TETRAMAX-VALUECHAIN-TTX-1, and UID/EEA/00760/2019, funded by FEDER Funds through the COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ANN based day-ahead spinning reserve forecast for electricity market simulation

Electricity market players operating in a liberalized environment require adequate decision support tools, allowing them to consider all the business opportunities and take strategic decisions. Ancillary services represent a good negotiation opportunity that must be considered by market players. This paper deals with short-term predication of day-ahead spinning reserve (SR) requirement that helps the ISO to make effective and timely decisions. Based on these forecasted information, market participants can use strategic bidding for day-ahead SR market. The proposed concepts and methodologies are implemented in MASCEM, a multi-agent based electricity market simulator. A case study based on California ISO (CAISO) data is included; the forecasted results are presented and compared with CAISO published forecast

Osificaciones heterotopicas, en pacientes sometidos a remplazo total de cadera primario mediante abordaje lateral indirecto modificado, en el Hospital Militar Central de Bogotá en los años 2005-2008

La formación de osificaciones heterotópicas peri articulares después de una cirugía de la cadera es un fenómeno bien conocido, su incidencia varia ampliamente desde autores que reportan 6% hasta otros que llegan al 70%. Se han estudiado múltiples factores de riesgo que favorezcan a la aparición de estas, en donde destacan el antecedente de cirugía previa sobre la cadera a operar, la edad y el sexo del paciente así también como la reacción biología ósea de la artrosis que presente el paciente. Como vemos su desarrollo se puede catalogar como multifactorial por lo que es importante tener en cuenta todos estos factores a la hora de intervenir nuestros pacientes y sin dejar a un lado respuesta biológica al trauma o stress quirúrgico que es individual de cada organismo. Las osificaciones heterotópicas posterior a un remplazo de cadera generalmente son asintomáticas y sin repercusión clínica en nuestros pacientes. Nos propusimos estudiar su incidencia en la serie de prótesis totales de cadera primaria de nuestro hospital, y su posible repercusión clínic

Energy resources management for more sustainable distribution systems: an intelligent approach

Energy Resources Management can play a very relevant role in future power systems in SmartGrid context, with high penetration of distributed generation and storage systems. This paper deals with the importance of resources management in incident situation. The system to consider a high penetration of distributed generation, demand response, storage units and network reconfiguration. A case study evidences the advantages of using a flexible SCADA to control the energy resources in incident situation

Rating the participation in Demand Response events with a contextual approach to improve accuracy of aggregated schedule

The flexibility provided by the demand side will be crucial to take a step forward to increase the penetration of renewable energy resources in the system. The proposed methodology provides the aggregator with information about the most reliable consumers, attributing a trustworthy rate that characterizes their performance on Demand Response (DR) events. The innovation relies on applying rates and evaluating the context in which the event is triggered and the factors that influence such rates. The authors find that context is essential to understand which participants are available for the event and achieve the reduction target successfully. Also, the proposed methodology focuses on the performance and the proper motivation for continuous participation, reducing the uncertainty of the response in DR events by giving higher economic compensation to the active consumers with better results. Distributed generation is also optimally managed by the aggregator. Findings prove the feasibility of the proposed methodology supporting the Aggregator in communities and smart cities management.This article is a result of the project RETINA (NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000062), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Cátia Silva is supported by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) with PhD grant reference SFRH/BD/144200/2019. Pedro Faria is supported by FCT with grant CEECIND/01423/2021. The authors acknowledge the work facilities and equipment provided by GECAD research center (UIDB/00760/2020) to the project team.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic population structure and connectivity of Azorean limpets

Ocean Science Meeting. Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 23-28 de Fevereiro.There is growing consensus that anthropogenic activities significantly rarefy the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. Oceanic islands such as the Azores (NE Atlantic) constitute unique habitats with fragile communities, which are highly susceptible to degradation and ecosystem disruption. . Patellid limpets have traditionally been collected as a food resource and in 1988 the limpet fishery in São Miguel Island collapsed, and after a one-year ban throughout the archipelago, the stocks were allowed to recover, avoiding catastrophic overexploitation effects. In 1993, legislation was passed to protect this resource, i.e. limpet no-take areas were created, seasonal harvesting restrictions were applied and minimum legal catch sizes were established. However, a recent survey has shown that limpet populations still show clear signs of overexploitation and some populations are virtually extinct in some islands. Here we have developed new multiplexed and described microsatellite markers for the species Patella aspera and P. candei and have examined their genetic diversity, gene flow and population connectivity in the Azores Archipelago. Overall, such information is a fundamental asset to inform conservation strategies and to promote the sustainable exploitation of macaronesian limpets.FC