An integrated project of entrepreneurship and innovation in engineering education

This paper presents a new line of project based learning in the School of Engineering of University of Minho: the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Integrated Project (IEIP). Four groups, each one composed of students from different engineering integrated master courses – Mechanical, Industrial Electronics and Computers, Polymer, Industrial Management – compete against each other in developing or improving commercial products manufactured by actual industries. There have been so far five editions of the IEIP, with five different companies and five diverse products, however, all these products included components that required knowledge from all the engineering courses involved. Only with the cooperation between the students of the various courses that compose each multidisciplinary team, the success is attainable. As each student has to deal with various engineering scopes, students’ technical skills are greatly enlarged and they acquire a multidisciplinary knowledge that was not possible in another way. Their soft skills like project management, teamwork, communication ability and personal development, which are valuable requisites for their future employers, are also improved. The participating industries also take advantage of the project: the groups competing against each other act as a multiskilled work force, actually making proposals capable of improving their products, their efficiency, and reducing costs

Toxicological evaluation of lactose and chitosan delivered by inhalation

These days, inhalation constitutes a promising administration route for many drugs. However, this route exhibits unique limitations, and formulations aimed at pulmonary delivery should include as few as possible additives in order to maintain lung functionality. The purpose of this work was to investigate the safety of lactose and chitosan to the pulmonary tissue when delivered by inhalation. The study was carried out with 18 Wistar rats divided in three groups receiving distilled water, lactose or chitosan. A solution of each excipient was administered by inhalation at a dose of 20 mg. The lungs were excised and processed to determine several biochemical parameters used as toxicity biomarkers. Protein and carbonyl group content, lipid peroxidation, reduced and oxidized glutathione ( GSSG), myeloperoxidase ( MPO), cooper/zinc and manganese superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase were determined. Results of myeloperoxidase activity and glutathione disulfide lung concentrations showed a relevant decrease for chitosan group compared to control: 4.67 +/- 2.27 versus 15.10 +/- 7.27 ( P = 0.011) for MPO and 0.89 +/- 0.68 versus 2.02 +/- 0.22 ( P = 0.014) for GSSG. The other parameters did not vary significantly among groups. Lactose and chitosan administered by inhalation failed to show toxic effects to the pulmonary tissue. A protective effect against oxidative stress might even be attributed to chitosan, since some biomarkers had values significantly lower than those observed in the control group when this product was inhaled. Nevertheless, caution must be taken regarding chemical composition and technological processes applied to incorporate these products during drug formulation, in particular for dry powder inhalators

Modelling the Contribution of 40K, 232Th and 226Ra to Radiation Dose and Risk from Airborne Discharges of Coal-Fired Power Plants

Coal contains trace elements and naturally occurring radionuclides such as 40K, 232Th, 238U. When coal is burned, minerals, including most of the radionuclides, do not burn and concentrate in the ash several times in comparison with their content in coal. Usually, a small fraction of the fly ash produced (2-5%) is released into the atmosphere. The activities released depend on many factors (concentration in coal, ash content and inorganic matter of the coal, combustion temperature, ratio between bottom and fly ash, filtering system). Therefore, marked differences should be expected between the by-products produced and the amount of activity discharged (per unit of energy produced) from different coal-fired power plants. In fact, the effects of these releases on the environment due to ground deposition have been received some attention but the results from these studies are not unanimous and cannot be understood as a generic conclusion for all coal-fired power plants. In this study, the dispersion modelling of natural radionuclides was carried out to assess the impact of continuous atmospheric releases from a selected coal plant. The natural radioactivity of the coal and the fly ash were measured and the dispersion was modelled by a Gaussian plume estimating the activity concentration at different heights up to a distance of 20 km in several wind directions. External and internal doses (inhalation and ingestion) and the resulting risk were calculated for the population living within 20 km from the coal plant. In average, the effective dose is lower than the ICRP’s limit and the risk is lower than the U.S. EPA’s limit. Therefore, in this situation, the considered exposure does not pose any risk. However, when considering the dispersion in the prevailing wind direction, these values are significant due to an increase of 232Th and 226Ra concentrations in 75% and 44%, respectively

Radioactivity levels of 238U and 232Th decay series and related dose rates in the surroundings of a coal power plant using high resolution g-spectrometry

Gamma radiations measurements were carried out in the vicinity of a coal-fired power plant located in the southwest coastline of Portugal. Two different gamma detectors were used to assess the environmental radiation within a circular area of 20 km centred in the coal plant: a scintillometer (SPP2 NF, Saphymo) and a high purity germanium detector (HPGe, Canberra). Fifty urban and suburban measurements locations were established within the defined area and two measurements campaigns were carried out. The results of the total gamma radiation ranged from 20.83 to 98.33 counts per second (c.p.s.) for both measurement campaigns and outdoor doses rates ranged from 77.65 to 366.51 Gy/h. Natural emitting nuclides from the U-238 and Th-232 decay series were identified as well as the natural emitting nuclide K-40. The radionuclide concentration from the uranium and thorium series determined by gamma spectrometry ranged from 0.93 to 73.68 Bq/kg, while for K-40 the concentration ranged from 84.14 to 904.38 Bq/kg. The obtained results were used primarily to define the variability in measured environmental radiation and to determine the coal plant’s influence in the measured radiation levels. The highest values were measured at two locations near the power plant and at locations between the distance of 6 and 20 km away from the stacks, mainly in the prevailing wind direction. The results showed an increase or at least an influence from the coal-fired plant operations, both qualitatively and quantitatively

Euclid Space Mission: building the sky survey

The Euclid space mission proposes to survey 15000 square degrees of the extragalactic sky during 6 years, with a step-and-stare technique. The scheduling of observation sequences is driven by the primary scientific objectives, spacecraft constraints, calibration requirements and physical properties of the sky. We present the current reference implementation of the Euclid survey and on-going work on survey optimization.Comment: to appear in Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 306, "Statistical Challenges in 21st Century Cosmology", A.F. Heavens, J.-L. Starck & A. Krone-Martins, ed

The development of an excellence model integrating the Shingo model and sustainability

Companies are continuously looking to improve their production systems using excellence models, with lean thinking, the Shingo model, six sigma and lean six sigma being the most comprehensive and applied. It is expected that the initial focus for the survival of companies is their economic profitability, but when economic needs are met, the next step is to achieve operational excellence. For this, in addition to economic objectives, it is necessary to include social and environmental objectives, i.e., the other two pillars of sustainability. This study aims to propose a conceptual model identifying the tools that can help achieve the desired results in the three pillars of sustainability aligned with operational excellence. The design of the conceptual model was based on a bibliometric analysis of the literature that relates the concepts of lean thinking, six sigma, lean six sigma and the Shingo model. The Web of Science was the platform selected for the collection of data, and the timeframe considered was 2010 to 2021. A total of 125 articles were analyzed using the VosViewer software, through which it was possible to analyze different topics of study related to the literature. The bibliometric analysis allowed for the identification of the temporal distribution of publications, the categorization of topics, different areas of application and the importance of the tools used in different practical cases. This study points out that companies have at their disposal several tools to achieve economic objectives. On the other hand, there is a set of more restricted tools that are used to meet the objectives of the social and environmental pillars. Future research should focus on identifying tools that meet social and environmental goals in order to strengthen these pillars that are essential for operational excellence and for the sustainability of companies.The work of the author Vanda Lima is supported by national funds, through the FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04728/2020

Enzalutamida vs quimioterapia como primeira opção no carcinoma da próstata resistente à castração

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An integrated recycling approach for GFRP pultrusion wastes: recycling and reuse assessment into new composite materials using Fuzzy Boolean Nets

In this study, efforts were made in order to put forward an integrated recycling approach for the thermoset based glass fibre reinforced polymer (GPRP) rejects derived from the pultrusion manufacturing industry. Both the recycling process and the development of a new cost-effective end-use application for the recyclates were considered. For this purpose, i) among the several available recycling techniques for thermoset based composite materials, the most suitable one for the envisaged application was selected (mechanical recycling); and ii) an experimental work was carried out in order to assess the added-value of the obtained recyclates as aggregates and reinforcement replacements into concrete-polymer composite materials. Potential recycling solution was assessed by mechanical behaviour of resultant GFRP waste modified concrete-polymer composites with regard to unmodified materials. In the mix design process of the new GFRP waste based composite material, the recyclate content and size grade, and the effect of the incorporation of an adhesion promoter were considered as material factors and systematically tested between reasonable ranges. The optimization process of the modified formulations was supported by the Fuzzy Boolean Nets methodology, which allowed finding the best balance between material parameters that maximizes both flexural and compressive strengths of final composite. Comparing to related end-use applications of GFRP wastes in cementitious based concrete materials, the proposed solution overcome some of the problems found, namely the possible incompatibilities arisen from alkalis-silica reaction and the decrease in the mechanical properties due to high water-cement ratio required to achieve the desirable workability. Obtained results were very promising towards a global cost-effective waste management solution for GFRP industrial wastes and end-of-life products that will lead to a more sustainable composite materials industry

Dysregulation of T cell receptor N-glycosylation: A molecular mechanism involved in ulcerative colitis

The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease is increasing worldwide and the underlying molecular mechanisms are far from being fully elucidated. Herein, we evaluated the role of N-glycosylation dysregulation in T cells as a key mechanism in the ulcerative colitis (UC) pathogenesis. The evaluation of the branched N-glycosylation levelsandprofile of intestinalTcell receptor (TCR)wereassessedin colonic biopsies fromUCpatientsand healthy controls. Expression alterations of the glycosyltransferase gene MGAT5 were also evaluated. We demonstrated thatUCpatients exhibit a dysregulation ofTCRbranchedN-glycosylationonlamina propriaTlymphocytes. Patients with severe UC showed the most pronounced defect on N-glycan branching in T cells. Moreover, UC patients showed a significant reduction of MGAT5 gene transcription in T lymphocytes. In this study, we disclose for the first time that a deficiency in branched N-glycosylation on TCR due to a reduced MGAT5 gene expression is a new molecular mechanism underlying UC pathogenesis, being a potential novel biomarker with promising clinical and therapeutic applications.This work was supported by grants from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), project grants (PTDC/ CVT/111358/2009; PTDC/BBB-EBI/0786/2012; EXPL/ BIM-MEC/0149/2012), ‘financiados no âmbito do Programa Operacional Temático Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) e comparticipado pelo fundo Comunitário Europeu FEDER’, e do Quadro de Referência Estratégia Nacio-nal QREN. This work was further supported by a portuguese grant from ‘Grupo de Estudo da Doenc¸a Inflamatória Intestinal’ (GEDII). S.S.P. (SFRH/BPD/63094/2009); S.C. (SFRH/BD/ 77386/2011) also acknowledge FCT. IPATIMUP is an Associate Laboratory of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and is partially supported by FCT

Euclid space mission: a cosmological challenge for the next 15 years

Euclid is the next ESA mission devoted to cosmology. It aims at observing most of the extragalactic sky, studying both gravitational lensing and clustering over $\sim$15,000 square degrees. The mission is expected to be launched in year 2020 and to last six years. The sheer amount of data of different kinds, the variety of (un)known systematic effects and the complexity of measures require efforts both in sophisticated simulations and techniques of data analysis. We review the mission main characteristics, some aspects of the the survey and highlight some of the areas of interest to this meetingComment: to appear in Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 306, 2014, "Statistical Challenges in 21st Century Cosmology", A.F. Heavens, J.-L. Starck & A. Krone-Martins, ed