Modelling and control of manufacturing systems subject to context recognition and switching

Finite-State Automata (FSA) are foundations for modelling, synthesis, verification, and implementation of controllers for manufacturing systems. However, FSA are limited to represent emerging features in manufacturing, such as the ability to recognise and switch contexts. One option is to enrich FSA with parameters that carry details about the manufacturing, which may favour design and control. A parameter can be embedded either on transitions or states of an FSA, and each approach defines its own modelling framework, so that their comparison and integration are not straightforward, and they may lead to different control solutions, modelled, processed and implemented distinctly. In this paper, we show how to combine advantages from parameters in manufacturing the modelling and control. We initially present a background that allows to understand each parameterisation strategy. Then, we introduce a conversion method that translates a design-friendly model into a synthesis-efficient structure. Finally, we use the converted models is synthesis, highlighting their advantages. Examples are used throughout the paper to illustrate and compare our results and tooling support is also provided

Application of Fractional Calculus in Mechatronics

Fractional Calculus (FC) goes back to the beginning of the theory of differential calculus. Nevertheless, the application of FC just emerged in the last two decades. In the field of dynamical systems theory some work has been carried out but the proposed models and algorithms are still in a preliminary stage of establishment. Having these ideas in mind, the paper discusses a FC perspective in the study of the dynamics and control of mechanical systems

Safety analysis of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with heart failure in Vitória, Espírito Santo

Background: Sacubitril/valsartan has proven its efficacy to reduce cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality and sudden death in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Thus, it becomes important to evaluate the safety profile of the medication in clinical practice. Objectives: This study aimed to assess safety outcomes on the use of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with HFrEF attended in a Brazilian specialized service. Methods: Prospective observational study that included patients with HFrEF from a specialized ambulatory service, in functional class II-IV, initiated on sacubitril/valsartan as per clinical indication, with a four-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were the occurrence of symptomatic arterial hypotension, hyperkalemia and reduction of renal function. Serum potassium values, blood pressure and creatinine clearance were analyzed at inclusion and at the end of follow-up. A 5% significance level was considered for comparisons. Results: Twenty-six patients were analyzed, 57.7% male, mean age 57.8 ± 10 years, average left ventricle ejection fraction 29.9 ± 7.7%. Symptomatic hypotension occurred in 53.8%, hyperkalemia in 19.2% and reduction of renal function in 6.7%. There was significant difference from initial to final systolic (122 ± 24mmHg versus 109 ± 15mmHg; p=0.024) and diastolic (76 ± 18mmHg versus 66 ± 12mmHg; p=0.022) blood pressure, but no difference in serum potassium (4.8 ± 0.4mEq/L versus 5.0 ± 0.3mEq/L; p=0.07) and creatinine clearance (65 ± 23mL/min/1.73m² versus 66 ± 29mL/min/1.73m²; p=0.89). Conclusions: Symptomatic hypotension was the most frequent side-effect of sacubitril/valsartan. Reduction of blood pressure was observed at the end of follow-up, but no reduction of renal function or significant increase of serum potassium

Camila revival: VDM meets haskell

We have experimented with modeling some of the key concepts of the VDM specification language inside the functional programming language Haskell. For instance, VDM’s sets and maps are directly available as data types defined in standard libraries; we merely needed to define some additional functions to make the match complete. A bigger challenge is posed by VDM’s data type invariants, and pre- and post- conditions. For these we resorted to Haskell’s constructor class mechanism, and its support for monads. This allows us to switch between different modes of evaluation (e.g. with or without property checking) by simply coercing user defined functions and operations to different specific types

Logic training through algorithmic problem solving

Available for individual study only.Although much of mathematics is algorithmic in nature, the skills needed to formulate and solve algorithmic problems do not form an integral part of mathematics education. In particular, logic, which is central to algorithm development, is rarely taught explicitly at preuniversity level, under the justification that it is implicit in mathematics and therefore does not need to be taught as an independent topic. This paper argues in the opposite direction, describing a one-week workshop done at the University of Minho, in Portugal, whose goal was to introduce to high-school students calculational principles and techniques of algorithmic problem solving supported by calculational logic. The workshop resorted to recreational problems to convey the principles and to software tools, the Alloy Analyzer and Netlogo, to animate models.On- going collaboration with Roland Backhouse is deeply acknowledged. This research was supported by the MathIS project under contract PTDC/ EIA/ 73252/ 2006. The first two authors were further supported by FCT grants SFRH/ BD/ 24269/ 2005 and SFRH/ BD/ 29553/ 2006, respectively

Versatility and exploratory psychometric properties of the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS): A review

Aggression has different conceptualizations and can be behaviorally expressed in diverse ways. Designed to evaluate impulsive and premeditated forms of aggression, the Impulsive/Premeditated Aggression Scale (IPAS; Stanford et al., 2003) is a 30 item self-report questionnaire. The aim of the present study was to explore IPAS versatility in different psychological settings by reviewing and examining the exploratory psychometric prop- erties of the IPAS impulsive and premeditated subscales, across different samples and cultural backgrounds. Fifty-two articles including demographic or psychometric information (internal consistency, factor analysis, validity, reliability) were retrieved. It is suggested that the IPAS is reliable across different cultures, samples and scoring techniques. The two subscales (Impulsive and Premeditated) show acceptable internal consistency. Also, IPAS factors seem to be constant both in clinical and non-clinical samples. The IPAS appears to be a clinically useful instrument for differentiating between subtypes of aggressive behavior, to support risk assessment eva- luations, pretrial decisions and better treatment and rehabilitation strategies in offenders and clinical relevant samples.This work was supported by The Foundation for Science and Technology (Grant number SFRH/BD/76062/2011), and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER and COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER007653) - Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662), awarded to the first author. The study was also supported by Grant SFRH/BPD/108602/2015 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology awarded to Andreia de Castro-Rodrigues

Wheat-pollen sterility induced by 2.chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethrel)

A indução de macho-esterilidade e de fertilidade em trigo (Tritícum aestivum L.) foi determinada, em casa-de-vegetação e no campo, após aplicações do gametocida ácido 2-cloroetilfosfônico (ethrel). A sensibilidade ao produto na casa-de-vegetação foi maior do que no campo. Os genótipos tratados com ethrel produziram poucos grãos, ou nenhum; entretanto, a escolha de uma concentração adequada de solução do ethrel parece ter sido de fundamental importância: revelou altos níveis de esterilidade, não ocasionou danos maiores às plantas, e evitou a ocorrência de espigamento incompleto. Mostrou-se que o estádio de desenvolvimento para aplicação também foi crítico, dado a tempo relativamente curto de efetividade do ethrel. A indução de macho-esterilidade em trigo empregando-se o ethrel parece ser possível, principalmente na utilização de métodos de melhoramento que requerem emasculação manual para a produção de genótipos superiores.Male sterility and female fertility were determined in greenhouse and field-grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) following application of 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethrel) as a gametocide. Sensitivity to ethrel treatment was greater under grenhouse than under field conditions. Genotypes treated with ethrel produced little or no seed set. It was also important to choose a proper ethrel concentration, inducing high sterility, not damaging the plants and not preventing full earing. The work showed stage of application to be critical due to the time of effectiveness of ethrel application to be relatively short. The results indicated that production of usable male sterility in wheat utilizing ethrel appears feasible, mainly in wheat breeding methods now requiring hand emasculation for conventional variety improvement

Effect of different carbon materials on the performance of microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) operated on urine and their microbial composition

ISMET 6 - General Meeting of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and TechnologyUrine is rich in nitrogen and phosphorous and can considerably reduce domestic wastewater treatment requirements if collected separately. Source separated urine has been shown to be suitable for energy production and nutrients recovery in bioelectrochemical systems. However, there are still several challenges to overcome mainly related to organics conversion into electrical energy. In this study, anode performance of three microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) fed with urine using different carbon anodes, Keynol (phenolic-based), C-Tex (cellulose-based) and PAN (polyacrylonitrilebased) was compared. Two strategies were used to supply energy to the MECs; cell potential control (1' 1 assay) and anode potential control (2"d assay). In both assays, the C-Tex MEC outperformed MECs using Keynol and PAN. The C-Tex MEC with anode potential control at -0.300 V generated the highest current density of 904 mA m·2 , which was almost 3-fold higher than the MEC with Keynol, and 8-fold higher than the MEC with PAN. Analysis of anodes textural, chemical and electrochemical characteristics suggest that the higher external surface area of C-Tex enabled the higher current density generation compared to Keynol and PAN. The microbial composition on each anode and its correlation with the generated current was also investigated. No significant differences were observed in microbial diversity of the biofilm present in the studied anodes. Nonetheless, C-Tex had higher dominance of bacteria belonging to Luctobucillu/es and Enterobucteriules suggesting its relation with higher current generation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio