EmergencyGrid:Planning in Convergence Environments

Government agencies are often responsible for event handling, planning, coordination, and status reporting during emergency response in natural disaster events such as floods, tsunamis and earthquakes. Across such a range of emergency response scenarios, there is a common set of requirements that distributed intelligent computer systems generally address. To support the implementation of these requirements, some researchers are proposing the creation of grids, where final interface and processing nodes perform joint work supported by a network infrastructure. The aim of this project is to extend the concepts of emergency response grids, using a convergence scenario between web and other computational platforms. Our initial work focuses on the Interactive Digital TV platform, where we intend to transform individual TV devices into active final nodes, using a hierarchical planning structure. We describe the architecture of this approach and an initial prototype specification that is being developed to validate some concepts and illustrate the advantages of this convergence planning environment

Concrete cracking control in underwater marine structures using basalt fiber

The construction of coastal ports requires the use of materials that meet the demands of the marine environment, to prevent underwater concrete structures from cracking and spalling easily; basalt fiber is used to delay the expansion of concrete and prevent the formation of cracks. This research studies the behavior of concrete for prefabricated piles with Portland Cement Type I and basalt fibers added in 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.6%; the results indicate that the fiber is suitable for concrete, the slump decreases, the compressive strength increases for specimens cured in tap water and sea water, the relationship between resistances does not vary, and the depth of carbonation decreases

Ochratoxin A in nephropathic patients from two cities of central zone in Portugal

Ochratoxin A (OTA) produced by Aspergillus and Penicilliumgenera contaminates several foods. OTA is nephrotoxic to all animal species studied so far, and most likely to humans, who show the longest half-life for elimination of this toxin among all examined species. OTA has other toxic effects such as teratogenicity, immunotoxiity, genotoxicity, and is also mutagenic and carcinogenic, all of which lead to life-threatening pathologies through several molecular pathways.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGX-4MS9JXF-2/1/6c0f4b2a3b77c84ec1f89cdefb65913

Feature selection optimization of risk factors for coronary heart disease

Cardiovascular disease is a worldwide problem and is the main cause of mortality when coronary heart disease leads to a heart attack. Hence, it is important to evaluate how to prevent this disease considering the symptoms description and physical examinations.This study points out the application and comparison of different performance measures for the classification of heart disease. Firstly, a feedforward neural network was applied to classify heart disease risk, using the well-known Framingham database. Feature selection optimization was performed to identify the most important variables to take into consideration, minimizing the Type II error and maximizing the accuracy. In addition, a multi-objective optimization algorithm was carried out to simultaneously optimize both performance measures. A set of non-dominated solutions representing the trade-offs between objectives were obtained, and gender, age, systolic blood pressure, and glucose level emerged as the principal factors to take into consideration to predict heart disease. The results obtained are promising and show the importance of considering more than one criterion to identify the most important variables.This work has been supported by FCT -Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

The African hind's (Cephalopholis taeniops, serranidae) use of artificial reefs off Sal Island (Cape Verde): a preliminary study based on acoustic telemetry

The African hind Cephalopholis taeniops (Valenciennes, 1828) is one of the most important commercial demersal species caught in the Cape Verde archipelago. The species is closely associated with hard substrate and is one of the main attractions for SCUBA divers. In January 2006 a former Soviet fishing vessel - the Kwarcit - was sunk off Santa Maria Bay (Sal Island). Young C. taeniops are commonly observed in this artificial reef (AR). In order to investigate the species' use of the AR, 4 specimens were captured and surgically implanted underwater with Vemco brand acoustic transmitters. The fish were monitored daily with an active telemetry receiver for one week after release. Simultaneously, an array of 3 passive VR2 / VR2W receivers was set for 63 days, registering data that allowed an analysis of spatial, daily and short term temporal activity patterns. The results showed site fidelity to the AR, with no migrations to the nearby natural reef. The method used allowed to register a consistent higher activity during daytime and a preference for the area opposite the dominant current

Determination of tetracycline and its major degradation products by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A liquid chromatographic method of tetracycline and its major degradation products on a C8-reversed phase column with acidic mobile phase and fluorescence detection is described. The quantification limit, measured as the amount of sample that gave a signal ten times the peak-to-peak noise of the baseline, was: 0.25 ng for tetracycline (TC) and epitetracycline (ETC), 25 ng for and 4-epianhydrotetracycline (EATC) and 50 ng for anhydrotetracycline (ATC) of injected standard. By means of this liquid chromatography (LC) assay TC, ETC, EATC and ATC as main degradation products of tetracycline, can be separated and determined with good sensitivity and specificity within 15 min.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TGX-43HVHWC-1D/1/9763379e028400de01242a673bd4528

Validação de um método para detecção e quantificação de soja culticance tolerante a herbicidas imidazolinonas por PCR convencional e quantitativo.

bitstream/item/71972/1/ID-30956.pd

Universidade-Indústria: transferência de tecnologia em engenharia mecânica

A inovação nas pequenas e médias empresas industriais do ramo da Engenharia Mecânica é muitas vezes inexistenteou incipiente, podendo ser facilmente incrementada através de um estreito relacionamento e cooperação com asUniversidades e/ou os seus Institutos de Interface. Neste contexto, a Universidade do Porto, através do Departamentode Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial da Faculdade de Engenharia, fundou em 1986 o INEGI - Instituto deEngenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial, com a missão de reforçar a cooperação entre esta Universidade e o meioempresarial. O INEGI participa activamente, há 21 anos, no desenvolvimento da indústria nacional contribuindo comconhecimento e competências distintas na área da Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial, assumindo a missão de:Contribuir para o aumento da competitividade da indústria nacional através da investigação e desenvolvimento,demonstração, transferência de tecnologia e formação nas áreas de concepção e projecto, materiais, produção,energia, manutenção, gestão industrial e ambiente. Desde a sua criação, o INEGI tem tido um crescimentosustentado, tendo desenvolvido mais de 1300 projectos para organizações públicas e privadas, estando nestemomento numa fase de internacionalização, através do estabelecimento de protocolos e projectos conjuntos cominstituições internacionais.Esta comunicação pretende demonstrar as vantagens que as empresas podem obter, através de uma ligação ásUniversidades e Institutos de Interface, no desenvolvimento de materiais, produtos e processos tecnológicos,permitindo assim aumentar a sua competitividade. As áreas de intervenção dos projectos inovadores aqui focadosabrangem uma grande variedade de temas multidisciplinares, desde as energias renováveis, desenvolvimento deprocessos tecnológicos e sistemas mecânicos, materiais compósitos, prototipagem rápida e tecnologias avançadas deprodução e gestão industrial

Implementation of robust multi-objective optimization in the build orientation problem

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging technology to create 3D objects layer-by-layer directly from a 3D CAD model. The build orientation is a critical issue in AM and its optimization will significantly reduce the building costs and improve object accuracy. This paper aims to optimize the build orientation problem of a 3D CAD model using a robust multi-objective approach, taking into account the staircase effect and the support area characteristics. Thus, themain objective is to obtain a robust Pareto optimal front, composed of solutions that are not quite sensitive to perturbations in the variables. In this manner, a set of robust solutions is presented as alternatives and the decision-maker can identify the compromise solutions and choose according to his/her preferences.This work has been developed under the FIBR3D project - Hybrid processes based on additive manufacturing of composites with long or short fibers reinforced thermoplastic matrix (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016414), supported by the Lisbon Regional Operational Programme 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work has been supported by FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020