A cluster-based approach using smartphone data for bike-sharing docking stations identification: Lisbon case study

Urban mobility is a massive issue in the current century, being widely promoted the need of adopting sustainable solutions regarding transportation within large urban centres. The evolution of technologies has democratised smart cities to better plan and manage their mobility solutions, without compromising the social, economic, and environmental impacts. Pursuing the carbon neutrality and the climate agreement goals, soft mobility is one of the most popular emerging methods to provide greener alternatives regarding mobility. Among these transportation modes are the bicycle, which has been widely used in several public systems across the world, one of them being in Lisbon. This article provides a decision support system for bike-sharing docking stations for three council parishes of the city, namely, Parque das Nações, Marvila, and Beato. Taking advantage of clustering methods and GSM data from a telecommunication operator, this study pretends to highlight a novel approach to identify soft mobility hotspots, in specific bike-sharing docking stations, for suited mobility management systems in Lisbon’s city centre.This research was funded by ANI—Agência Nacional de Inovação within the R&D Units Project Scope: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-045919/2019

Towards e-cities. An Atlas to enhance the public realm through interactive urban cyber-physical devices

Cyber-physical devices are the backbone of a postdigital society in which the virtual and real spaces are seamlessly integrated by ubiquitous computing and networking. The incorporation of such devices in public space is a central subject of a strategic Research Project that gathers a multidisciplinary team from architecture, product design, polymer science and ICT R&D units. This paper frames the key roles of public space and ICTs for UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable smart cities. It also reports the architecture R&D unit review on the relations between public space, community, environment and digital interfaces. This review was materialized in an Atlas that collects, classifies and relates a corpus of heterogeneous urban cyber-physical projects case studies. We expand on three main framing concepts (Digital Twin, Interface, Awareness) and identify trends on the devices’ design and deployment strategies to counteract digitally hostile environments and early obsolescence. We also suggest the rising of new types of urban devices aiming at expanding the liveliness of urban places, the knowledge of urban life and the users’ environmental consciousness. The lessons learned from the Atlas fed the design guidelines for a developing demonstrator of a new breed of environmentally sensible interactive urban devices

Monitoring arthropods under the scope of the LIFE-BEETLES project: I - Baseline data with implementation of the Index of Biotic Integrity

The urgent need for conservation efforts in response to the global biodiversity crisis is exemplified by initiatives, such as the EU LIFE BEETLES project. This project aims to preserve endangered arthropod species that are crucial for ecosystem functionality, with a focus on endemic beetle species in Flores, Pico and Terceira Islands (Azores, Portugal): Tarphius floresensis Borges & Serrano, 2017, Pseudanchomenus aptinoides (Tarnier, 1860) and Trechus terrabravensis Borges, Serrano & Amorim, 2004. These species are single island endemics respectively from Flores, Pico and Terceira. They are threatened by environmental degradation, facing the dual challenge of restricted distribution and habitat degradation due to the spread of invasive plants. The project aims to enhance habitat quality and biodiversity conservation through habitat restoration and plant invasive species control measures. These measures are funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the Azorean Environment Directorate-General. The current Data Paper evaluates the effectiveness of the LIFE BEETLES project in improving habitat quality and offers insights into the balance between habitat restoration efforts and endangered species conservation in island ecosystems, utilising as ecological indicator the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) framework. New information This study establishes a comprehensive database derived from a long-term arthropod monitoring survey that used SLAM (Sea, Land and Air Malaise) traps and pitfall traps. Our findings present a proxy for assessing the overall habitat quality for endemic invertebrates, using arthropods as main indicators. From September 2020 to June 2023, a total of 31 SLAM traps were monitored. The traps were set up as follows: seven in Flores (three in mixed forest and four in native forest), 10 in Pico (four in mixed forest and six in native forest) and 14 in Terceira (three in mixed forest and 11 in native forest). Traps were monitored every three months. In addition, we surveyed the epigean fauna in 19 transects with 15 non-attractive pitfall traps per transect. The transects were set up during two weeks at the end of August every year between 2020 and 2023. Eight transects were established in Flores, consisting of one in pasture, four in mixed forest and three in native forest. Six transects were established in Pico, consisting of two in pastures and four in native forest. Five transects were established in Terceira, consisting of two in mixed forest and three in native forest. A total of 243 arthropod taxa were recorded, with 207 identified at the species or subspecies level. These taxa belonged to four classes, 24 orders and 101 families. Out of the 207 identified taxa, 46 were endemic, 60 were native non-endemic, 80 were introduced and 21 were of indeterminate status. Habitat information is also provided, including general habitat and dominant species composition. This publication contributes to the conservation of highly threatened endemic beetles by assessing habitat quality, based on arthropod communities and habitat description (e.g. native or exotic vegetation). Using the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) to comparing pre- and post-intervention data, we found no significant change within the epigean community. In contrast, the understorey community sampled with SLAM traps experienced a slight global decrease in biotic integrity over the study period. These findings suggest that the short duration of the study may not be sufficient to detect significant changes, as ecosystem recovery often requires long-term monitoring. The observed changes in the understorey community may be attributed to disturbances from intervention activities, highlighting the need for ongoing monitoring to assess long-term ecological resilience and recovery.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Drivers of Insect Community Change along the Margins of Mountain Streams in Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)

Mountain ecosystems are important biodiversity hotspots and valuable natural laboratories to study community assembly processes. Here, we analyze the diversity patterns of butterflies and odonates in a mountainous area of high conservation value—Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)—and we assess the drivers of community change for each of the two insect groups. The butterflies and odonates were sampled along 150 m transects near the margins of three mountain streams, at three elevation levels (500, 1000, and 1500 m). We found no significant differences in odonate species richness between elevations, but marginal differences (p = 0.058) were found for butterflies due to the lower number of species at high altitudes. Both insect groups showed significant differences in beta diversity (βtotal) between elevations, with species richness differences being the most important component for odonates (βrich = 55.2%), while species replacement drove the changes between butterfly assemblages (βrepl = 60.3%). Climatic factors, particularly those depicting harsher conditions of temperature and precipitation, were the best predictors of total beta diversity (βtotal) and its components (βrich, βrepl) for the two study groups. The study of insect biodiversity patterns in mountain ecosystems and of the role played by different predictors contribute to further our understanding on the community assembly processes and may help to better predict environmental change impacts on mountain biodiversity.FUNDING: This work benefited the support from Energias de Portugal (EDP) Fund for Biodiversity 2011 and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through project PTDC/BIA-BIC/1013/2014 and contract DL57/2016/CP1375/CT0001 to MB. PAVB and MB are currently also funded by the project Azores DRCT Pluriannual Funding (M1.1.A/FUNC.UI&D/010/2021-2024). The APC was funded by FCT project UIDB/00329/2020–2024 (Thematic Line 1—integrated ecological assessment of environmental change on biodiversity).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ages at peak height velocity in male soccer players 11-16 years: Relationships with skeletal age and compasrions among longitudinal studies

Objectives: The study compared two estimates of ages at take-off (TO) and at peak height velocity (PHV) n a longitudinal sample of male soccer players, and evaluated maturity status based upon ages at PHV and skeletal age (SA). It also compared estimated ages at PHV in 13 longitudinal samples of soccer players. Material and methods: Heights of 58 soccer players of European ancestry followed longitudinally across five seasons (11-16 years) were modeled with Superimposition by Translation and Rotation (SITAR) and Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA) to estimate ages at TO and PHV. SAs at observations 1, 3 and 5 were assessed with the Fels method. Ages at PHV in 13 longitudinal samples of soccer players (Europe 7, Japan 6) were evaluated with meta-analysis. Results: The SITAR and FPCA estimates for ages at TO were, respectively, 11.2±0.8 and 11.0±0.8 years, while corresponding estimates for age at PHV were, respectively, 13.62±0.90 and 13.66±0.88 years. An earlier age at PHV was associated with advanced skeletal maturity status. The systematic analysis indicated a north (later) - south (earlier) gradient in ages at PHV among players in Europe, which were later than ages at PHV among players in Japan. Conclusions: In summary, ages at TO and PHV were similar with SITAR and FPCA, and ages at PHV were most strongly correlated with SA at ~14 years. Ages at PHV showed a north-south geographic gradient in European studies, and were later compared to Japanese studies

Ages at peak height velocity in male soccer players 11-16 years:Relationships with skeletal age and comparisons among longitudinal studies

Objectives: The study compared two estimates of ages at take-off (TO) and at peak height velocity (PHV) n a longitudinal sample of male soccer players, and evaluated maturity status based upon ages at PHV and skeletal age (SA). It also compared estimated ages at PHV in 13 longitudinal samples of soccer players. Material and methods: Heights of 58 soccer players of European ancestry followed longitudinally across five seasons (11-16 years) were modeled with Superimposition by Translation and Rotation (SITAR) and Functional Principal Component Analysis (FPCA) to estimate ages at TO and PHV. SAs at observations 1, 3 and 5 were assessed with the Fels method. Ages at PHV in 13 longitudinal samples of soccer players (Europe 7, Japan 6) were evaluated with meta-analysis. Results: The SITAR and FPCA estimates for ages at TO were, respectively, 11.2±0.8 and 11.0±0.8 years, while corresponding estimates for age at PHV were, respectively, 13.62±0.90 and 13.66±0.88 years. An earlier age at PHV was associated with advanced skeletal maturity status. The systematic analysis indicated a north (later) - south (earlier) gradient in ages at PHV among players in Europe, which were later than ages at PHV among players in Japan. Conclusions: In summary, ages at TO and PHV were similar with SITAR and FPCA, and ages at PHV were most strongly correlated with SA at ~14 years. Ages at PHV showed a north-south geographic gradient in European studies, and were later compared to Japanese studies

The Portuguese Experience

Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The AuthorsBackground: In patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), refractory to medical therapy, lung transplantation emerges as an option. This study describes the outcomes of 8 PAH patients who underwent lung transplantation. Methods: A retrospective, single-center study was conducted among patients with PAH who underwent lung transplantation in our center. Results: Patients had a median age of 46 years, with female sex predominance (75%). Causes of HAP were pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (n = 5, 62.5%), idiopathic PAH (n = 2, 25%), and heritable PAH (n = 1, 12.5%). Pre-transplant hemodynamics revealed a median mean pulmonary artery pressure of 58.5 mm Hg (48-86). All patients received bilateral lung transplants with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support, displaying immediate post-transplant hemodynamic improvement. Primary graft dysfunction grade 3 (PGD 3) was observed in 75% of patients. Five patients (62.5%) died, with a 72.9% survival at 12 months and 29.2% at 24 months post-transplantation. Conclusion: Our study reveals the complexity and challenges of lung transplants in patients with PAH. Despite notable immediate hemodynamic improvements, high rates of PGD 3 and the survival rate remain a concern. Further research to define optimal peri and post-transplant management to improve survival is required.proofepub_ahead_of_prin

Standardised sampling of odonates (Odonata) in Serra da Estrela (Portugal) - 2013 and 2014

Mountain ecosystems are crucial for biodiversity conservation since they host high biodiversity. This study reports novel information on odonate species diversity, distribution and abundance from Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal). Twenty six odonate species were sampled in this protected area, including the first finding of Macromia splendens (Pictet, 1843). New populations of Oxygastra curtisii (Dale, 1834), a protected species under the Habitats Directive, was found in this Natural Park and novel distribution and ecological data was collected for most species, including several rare species (e.g., Aeshna juncea (Linnaeus, 1758), Sympetrum flaveolum (Linnaeus, 1758)). All data were collected using standardised sampling allowing its use as baseline for long-term monitoring of Serra da Estrela mountain biodiversity.FUNDING: This work was financed by Energias de Portugal (EDP) Fund for Biodiversity 2011 through project "Biodiversidade, endemismos e espécies protegidas associadas às lagoas e cursos de água da Serra da Estrela: valorização de um século de aproveitamento hidroeléctrico". Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia supported MB by contract DL 57/2016/CP1375/CT0001.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Standardised sampling of lepidopterans (Lepidoptera) in Serra da Estrela (Portugal) - 2013 and 2014. v1.2

Mountain ecosystems are crucial for biodiversity conservation since they host high biodiversity. This study reports novel information on lepidopteran species diversity, distribution and abundance from Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal). Seventy two lepidopteran species were sampled in this protected area, including the first findings of Apatura ilia (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) and Vanessa virginiensis (Drury, 1773). New populations of Euphydrias aurinia (Rottemburg, 1775), a protected species under the Habitats Directive, was found in this Natural Park and novel distribution and ecological data was collected for most species, including several rare species [e.g., Coenonympha glycerion iphioides Staudinger, 1870, Cyaniris semiargus (Rottemburg, 1775)]. All data were collected using standardised sampling allowing its use as baseline for environmental changes long-term monitoring of Serra da Estrela mountain biodiversity.FUNDING: The study was financed by Energias de Portugal (EDP) under the Fundo EDP para a Biodioversidade 2011.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Concurrent breast stroma sarcoma and breast carcinoma: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Breast cancer is one of the most important health problems in the world and affects a great number of women over the entire globe. This group of tumors rarely presents as bilateral disease and, when it does happen, normally occurs within the same histological type. We report a rare case of concurrent bilateral breast cancer with two different histology types, a breast carcinoma and a breast sarcoma, in a 42-year-old woman referred to our hospital.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 42-year-old Caucasian woman admitted to our institute in August 1999, presented with a nodule in the left breast of 3.0 × 2.5 cm, and, in the right breast, one of 1.0 cm, suspected of malignancy and with a clinically negative armpit. Biopsies had revealed invasive mammary carcinoma (right breast) and sarcoma (left breast). She was submitted to bilateral modified radical mastectomy. A histological study showed an invasive mammary carcinoma degree II lobular pleomorphic type with invasion of seven of the 19 excised axillary nodes in the right breast and, in the left breast, a sarcoma of the mammary stroma, for which the immunohistochemistry study was negative for epithelial biomarkers and positive for vimentin. Later, she was submitted for chemotherapy (six cycles of 75 mg/m²5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide) followed by radiotherapy of the thoracic wall and axillary nodes on the left. Hormone receptors were positive in the tumor of the right breast, and tamoxifen, 20 mg, was prescribed on a daily basis (five years) followed by letrozole, 2.5 mg, also daily (five years). She presented no sign of negative evolution in the last consultation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The risk of development of bilateral breast cancer is about 1% each year within a similar histological type, but it is higher in tumors with lobular histology. In this case, the patient presented, simultaneously, two histologically distinct tumors, thus evidencing a rare situation.</p