Vital signs monitoring and management using mobile devices

Constant breakthroughs in medical sensor technology and mobile devices fields, combined with growing wireless communication capabilities, have made possible the emergence of new health monitoring paradigms. The ever-increasing features of PDAs and smartphones make them a vital component in innovative health monitoring systems. In this paper, we introduce a handset mobile monitoring and management system, developed as complement to a complete vital signs monitoring project (MOHLL). The main purpose of this system is to provide physicians with real-time visualization of the patients’ vital parameters, namely the ECG trace, heart rate, and body temperature, through an Internet-connected PDA.Clinical and financial support for the case-study has been provided by Grupo AMI - Assistencia Medica Integral (Casa de Saude de Guimaraes, SA), Portugal, under the partnership established between this healthcare company and the University of Minho

Estudo de mapas de priorização de pavimetos urbanos com o uso de SIG e a metodologia de análise multicritério

A priorização de seções de vias urbanas pavimentadas se faz necessária principalmente quando os custos das atividades de manutenção e reabilitação dos pavimentos são maiores de que os recursos disponíveis para as mesmas. Neste contexto, este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de mapas de prioridades com a aplicação da Metodologia de Análise Multicritério agregada a um Sistema de Informação Geográfica. Tem por objetivo o estudo comparativo entre mapas temáticos quando da inserção de novos critérios de decisão. O estudo de caso realizado na cidade de São Carlos- SP, utilizando-se levantamento da condição do pavimento de toda a malha viária, permitiu avaliar as vias urbanas prioritárias às atividades de M&R com relação à sua localização, condição do pavimento, hierarquia viária e custos das estratégias previstas.The prioritization of urban roadways is necessary when the costs of pavement Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M&R) are larger than the available resources. In this context, this work presents the development of priorities maps based on Multicriteria Decision Analysis and GIS (Geographical Information System). The main goal of this work is to accomplish a comparative study among thematic maps when new decision criteria are inserted. The case study performed at the city of Sao Carlos, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, used a data bank available from previous research works on pavement evaluation. Thus, it was possible the evaluation of an urban roads prioritization program based on pavement condition, roads hierarchy, costs of M & R strategies and location

Redetermination at 180 K of a layered lanthanide–organic framework

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, poly[(μ4-{[bis­(hydrogen phospho­natometh­yl)aza­nium­yl]meth­yl}phospho­nato)lanthanum(III)], [La(C3H9NO9P3)]n, comprises an La3+ center and a H3nmp3− anion (where H3nmp3− is a residue of partially deprotonated nitrilo­tris­(methyl­ene­phospho­nic acid), namely {[bis­(hydrogen phospho­natometh­yl)aza­nium­yl]meth­yl}­phos­pho­nate). This study concerns a structural redetermination using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, collected at the low temperature of 180 K, of a recently investigated material whose structural details have been proposed from powder X-ray diffraction studies [Silva et al. (2011 ▶). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 15120–15138]. The main difference between the two models rests on the position of the H atoms. While two H atoms were modeled as attached to the same phospho­nate group in the powder determination, in the current model, the same H atoms are instead distributed among two of these groups. The sample studied was an inversion twin

Design and experimental validation of a compact low-cost weather station for solar photovoltaic applications

This paper presents a compact low-cost weather station specially dedicated to renewable energy applications based on solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The main objective of the weather station is to verify which technology of solar PV modules would be more suitable for the specific location where the weather station is installed. Therefore, the developed weather station includes three technologies of PV modules (polycrystalline, monocrystalline, and amorphous silicon), each one connected to a dedicated DC-DC power converter with a maximum power point control (MPPC) functionality, as well as a set of sensors (solar irradiance, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction) used to measure the local weather. The acquired data is processed and stored locally in the weather station and, when necessary, the user can download the data to an Android mobile device through a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless network connection using the developed mobile app, where the transferred data is stored in a SQLite database and can be visualized in graphs. Throughout the paper, the design of the developed weather station and the associated technologies are described, as well as the details of the mobile app. The developed system comprising the weather station and the mobile app was validated through a set of experimental tests ranging from the data acquisition to its visualization, as well as the achieved wireless data transfer performance.This work was supported by FCT national funds, under the national support to R&D units grant, through the reference project UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020

Pervasive intelligent models to predict the outcome of COVID-19 patients

Nowadays, there is an increasing need to understand the behavior of COVID-19. After the Directorate-General of Health of Portugal made available the infected patient’s data, it became possible to analyze it and gather some conclusions, obtaining a better understanding of the matter. In this context, the project developed—ioCOVID19—Intelligent Decision Support Platform aims to identify patterns and develop intelligent models to predict and support clinical decisions. This article explores which typologies are associated with different outcomes to help clinicians fight the virus with a decision support system. So, to achieve this purpose, classification algorithms were used, and one target was studied—Patients outcome, that is, to predict if the patient will die or recover. Regarding the obtained results, the model that stood out is composed of scenario s4 (composed of all comorbidities, symptoms, and age), the decision tree algorithm, and the oversampling sampling method. The obtained results by the studied metrics were (in order of importance): Sensitivity of 95.20%, Accuracy of 90.67%, and Specificity of 86.08%. The models were deployed as a service, and they are part of a clinical decision support system that is available for authorized users anywhere and anytime.This research was funded by Portugal 2020 program through NORTE-01-02B7-FEDER-048344

μ-Oxido-bis­[chlorido(4,4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine-κ2 N,N′)dioxido­molybdenum(VI)] 0.2-hydrate

The title hydrate, [Mo2Cl2O5(C18H24N2)2]·0.2H2O, has been isolated as the oxidation product of [Mo(η3-C3H5)Cl(CO)2(di-t-Bu-bipy)] (where di-t-Bu-bipy is 4,4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine). A μ-oxide ligand bridges two similar MoCl(di-t-Bu-bipy)O2 units, having the terminal oxide ligands mutually cis, and the chloride and μ-oxide trans to each other. In the binuclear complex, the coordination geometries of the metal atoms can be described as highly distorted octa­hedra. Individual complexes co-crystallize with a partially occupied water mol­ecule of crystallization (occupancy factor = 0.20; H atoms not located), with the crystal packing being mediated by the need to effectively fill the available space. A number of weak C—H⋯O and C—H⋯Cl inter­actions are present

Maximization of solar power extraction from photovoltaic modules using energy harvesting solutions for smart cities

Smart cities integrate a wide and diverse set of small electronic devices that use Internet communication capabilities with very different purposes and features. A challenge that arises is how to feed these small devices. Among the various possibilities, energy harvesting presents itself as the most economical and sustainable. This paper describes the design and simulation of an electronic circuit dedicated to maximizing the solar power extraction from photovoltaic (PV) modules. For this purpose, an integrated circuit (IC) dedicated to energy harvesting is used, namely the LTC3129. This IC is a DC-DC converter that uses the maximum power point control (MPPC) technique, which aims to keep its input voltage close to a defined reference value. The designed circuit is used with three photovoltaic modules, each one of a different PV technology: monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon. These PV modules are installed in a weather station to correlate the power produced with the meteorological conditions, in order to assess which solar photovoltaic technology is best for a given location. The equivalent circuit of a solar cell is used in simulation to represent a photovoltaic module. The values of the components of the equivalent circuit are adjusted so they have the same characteristics of the modules installed in the weather station. With each module, a power resistor of the same value is used as load, for comparison purposes. For the case of the monocrystalline silicon technology, the use of the LTC3129 converter increases the power extraction by 47.6% compared to when this converter is not used between the PV module and the load.This work was supported by FCT national funds, under the national support to R&D units grant, through the reference project UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/202

Relationships between bone turnover and energy metabolism

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.It is well established that diabetes can be detrimental to bone health, and its chronic complications have been associated with an increased risk of osteoporotic fracture. However, there is growing evidence that the skeleton plays a key role in a whole-organism approach to physiology. The hypothesis that bone may be involved in the regulation of physiological functions, such as insulin sensitivity and energy metabolism, has been suggested. Given the roles of insulin, adipokines, and osteocalcin in these pathways, the need for a more integrative conceptual approach to physiology is emphasized. Recent findings suggest that bone plays an important role in regulating intermediary metabolism, being possibly both a target of diabetic complications and a potential pathophysiologic factor in the disease itself. Understanding the relationships between bone turnover and glucose metabolism is important in order to develop treatments that might reestablish energy metabolism and bone health. This review describes new insights relating bone turnover and energy metabolism that have been reported in the literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

(R)-(1-Ammonio­prop­yl)phospho­nate

The title compound, C3H10NO3P, crystallizes in its zwitterionic form, H3N+CH(C2H5)PO(O−)(OH), with the asymmetric unit being composed by two of such entities (Z′ = 2). The crystal packing leads to a sequence of hydro­phobic and hydro­philic layers. While the hydro­phobic layer comprises the aliphatic substituent groups, the hydro­philic one is held together by a series of strong and rather directional N+—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Sistema de sensorização móvel e controlo baseado em ZigBee para bicicletas elétricas

Este artigo apresenta um sistema de monitorização e controlo centrado em dispositivos móveis concebido para aplicação em cenários que permitem tirar partido de uma bicicleta eléctrica. A bicicleta, para além de um meio de transporte, é uma excelente ferramenta para a promoção do exercício físico, podendo contribuir para melhorar a aptidão física de utilizadores de diversas faixas etárias. O sistema proposto, baseado numa rede ZigBee, permite recolher sinais fisiológicos dos utilizadores e controlar o motor elétrico da bicicleta de modo a possibilitar a implementação de diversos modos de utilização. Este trabalho descreve a solução utilizada para implementar a comunicação sem fios entre os sensores ZigBee e um smartphone Android, bem como os sensores para monitorização de sinais fisiológicos que foram desenvolvidos. De modo a ajudar a perceber onde este trabalho pode ser aplicado, são explicados alguns modos de utilização baseados no controlo do esforço físico, bem como as vantagens do sistema em relação às bicicletas convencionais e bicicletas estáticas.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT