Characterization of the Spatial Distribution of the Electric Field Strength in Indoor Propagation at 2.45 GHz

Small-scale spatial variations of the electric field strength or “fast fading” are encountered in indoor environments, and are of particular concern for indoor wireless communication applications as well as for electromagnetic compatibility assessment. This thesis is motivated by the problem of electromagnetic interference with a critical-care medical equipment caused by fields radiated by portable electronic devices such as cell phones and tablet computers. Measurement and computer simulation of the electric field strength, in both controlled and real-world scenarios, are explored to estimate parameter values of statistical models for the fast fading in a region of interest inside a building. First, a method for measuring the dielectric constant of wall construction materials is developed for two reasons: little information available on electrical properties of such materials in the frequency range of interest, 2.4 GHz ISM band, and variations in material properties caused by different manufacturing processes employed by different manufacturers. The proposed technique, referred to as the parallel-path method, falls into the category of free-space methods and is shown to be more sensitive to the dielectric constant than free-space methods based on normal incidence only. Having determined the dielectric constant of gyproc slabs and of a wooden door, a controlled multipath environment is built inside an anechoic chamber. Two line-of-sight and a non-line-of-sight scenarios, each with about 4000 measurement points, are studied. We apply the Friedman’s goodness-of-fit test at 5% significance level to show that a ray-tracing technique based only on 3D geometrical optics is suitable for estimating the fast fading of the electromagnetic field at 2.45 GHz in a very controlled situation. Then the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit test, also at 5% significance level, is applied to show that in the vicinity of a transmitter the Ricean, Normal, Nakagami, and Weibull distributions can be equivalently used to represent the spatial fast fading for both line and non-line-of-sight scenarios. Furthermore, the effects of metal studs are shown to worsen not only point-by-point agreement between measurement and GO simulation, but also the agreement on the statistics of the fast fading in a 65 by 65 cm region. Another aspect of this thesis is the development of a new method for estimating the parameters of the Ricean probability density function. This new method is compared to the maximum-likelihood method, and is shown to provide accurate estimates with samples containing as few as 36 data points for regions within 2 m from a transmitter, and as few as 9 data points for regions farther away. This is a considerable improvement in term of computation time when compared to estimates based on approximately 4000 points, or even 200 data points. Together with GO simulations, this method reduces the initial and elaborated measurement approach to only a few simulated points and a statistical model. Finally, this methodology is extended and applied to real-world scenarios such as a long hallway and a conventional laboratory room. The agreement between measurement and GO simulation is not as good as that of the experiment conducted in a shielded anechoic chamber, but it is still reasonable, especially because the interior structures of walls such as metal studs are not modeled by the GO code. As for the statistical models used to describe the electric field strength variation in a region, it is shown that the Ricean, Normal, Nakagami, and the Weibull distributions can be employed. However, for the data collected in this work, the Normal distribution is the one that results in the worst fit to measured data for most of the cases. It is demonstrated that, even though diffracted rays are not taken into account, GO simulation allows for an accurate estimation of the parameters of a statistical model for the fast fading, for both controlled and most real-world scenarios, provided that the site geometry and electrical properties of walls, floor, and ceiling are known

A novel uncultured heterotrophic bacterial associate of the cyanobacterium Moorea producens JHB

Background Filamentous tropical marine cyanobacteria such as Moorea producens strain JHB possess a rich community of heterotrophic bacteria on their polysaccharide sheaths; however, these bacterial communities have not yet been adequately studied or characterized. Results and discussion Through efforts to sequence the genome of this cyanobacterial strain, the 5.99 MB genome of an unknown bacterium emerged from the metagenomic information, named here as Mor1. Analysis of its genome revealed that the bacterium is heterotrophic and belongs to the phylum Acidobacteria, subgroup 22; however, it is only 85 % identical to the nearest cultured representative. Comparative genomics further revealed that Mor1 has a large number of genes involved in transcriptional regulation, is completely devoid of transposases, is not able to synthesize the full complement of proteogenic amino acids and appears to lack genes for nitrate uptake. Mor1 was found to be present in lab cultures of M. producens collected from various locations, but not other cyanobacterial species. Diverse efforts failed to culture the bacterium separately from filaments of M. producens JHB. Additionally, a co-culturing experiment between M. producens JHB possessing Mor1 and cultures of other genera of cyanobacteria indicated that the bacterium was not transferable. Conclusion The data presented support a specific relationship between this novel uncultured bacterium and M. producens, however, verification of this proposed relationship cannot be done until the ?uncultured? bacterium can be cultured

A community resource for paired genomic and metabolomic data mining

Genomics and metabolomics are widely used to explore specialized metabolite diversity. The Paired Omics Data Platform is a community initiative to systematically document links between metabolome and (meta)genome data, aiding identification of natural product biosynthetic origins and metabolite structures.Peer reviewe

Rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high in-hospital mortality. Alveolar recruitment followed by ventilation at optimal titrated PEEP may reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and improve oxygenation in patients with ARDS, but the effects on mortality and other clinical outcomes remain unknown. This article reports the rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART). Methods/Design: ART is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized (concealed), controlled trial, which aims to determine if maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with ARDS compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). We will enroll adult patients with ARDS of less than 72 h duration. The intervention group will receive an alveolar recruitment maneuver, with stepwise increases of PEEP achieving 45 cmH(2)O and peak pressure of 60 cmH2O, followed by ventilation with optimal PEEP titrated according to the static compliance of the respiratory system. In the control group, mechanical ventilation will follow a conventional protocol (ARDSNet). In both groups, we will use controlled volume mode with low tidal volumes (4 to 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight) and targeting plateau pressure <= 30 cmH2O. The primary outcome is 28-day survival, and the secondary outcomes are: length of ICU stay; length of hospital stay; pneumothorax requiring chest tube during first 7 days; barotrauma during first 7 days; mechanical ventilation-free days from days 1 to 28; ICU, in-hospital, and 6-month survival. ART is an event-guided trial planned to last until 520 events (deaths within 28 days) are observed. These events allow detection of a hazard ratio of 0.75, with 90% power and two-tailed type I error of 5%. All analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: If the ART strategy with maximum recruitment and PEEP titration improves 28-day survival, this will represent a notable advance to the care of ARDS patients. Conversely, if the ART strategy is similar or inferior to the current evidence-based strategy (ARDSNet), this should also change current practice as many institutions routinely employ recruitment maneuvers and set PEEP levels according to some titration method.Hospital do Coracao (HCor) as part of the Program 'Hospitais de Excelencia a Servico do SUS (PROADI-SUS)'Brazilian Ministry of Healt

Comparative genomics and genome mining insights into natural product rich marine cyanobacteria

Numerous advantages of systematic genomics have been leveraged in other areas, such as transcriptomics, proteomics and human microbiome studies, but it has yet to be effective in stimulating the increased discovery of natural products (secondary metabolites).1 Since the discovery of the first microbial genome (2002), the surprisingly high percentage of cryptic biosynthetic pathways per genome (genes not connected to any known secondary metabolite, aka natural product) has continued as a consistent theme.2 Cyanobacteria from benthic environments are prolific producers of natural products but genomes from these organisms remain scarce in public repositories. Hence, this dissertation focused on sequencing and performing genomic analysis in prolific cyanobacteria collected from several tropical benthic ecosystems around the planet. First, we analyzed the relationship between a cyanobacterium host and its associated heterotrophic microbiome. By evaluation the non-axenic culture of Moorea producens JHB, we characterized a novel uncultured acidobacteria heterotroph living with the cyanobacterial host.3 This heterotroph was only 85% similar to the closest cultured representative, it presented a large number of genes encoding for transcriptional regulators and it was auxotrophic for several proteogenic amino acids. Next, we expanded our genome comparison by deeper analyzing 4 Moorea genomes. Our genome comparison revealed that Moorea, already a prolific producer of secondary metabolites, harbored an even richer metabolic potential, four times above the cyanobacterial average. We observed that Moorea conserved its primary metabolism while evolved an intricate secondary metabolism machinery, accounting for 20% of their genomic content. These findings were very promising for future genome mining efforts in those four strains. Thereby, we further expanded our sequencing efforts by sampling 165 metagenomes of filamentous marine cyanobacteria collected from around the globe. Our new metagenomic pipeline was able to generated 85 high-quality genomes, including 32 Moorea and 29 Okeania strains. Our genome comparison highlighted that these two genera are among the most diverse and prolific producers of natural products in our dataset (comparing pairwise 506 cyanobacterial genomes, 425 from the NCBI database). Gene networking revealed the abundance of unique (only encountered in a single strain) and “extended families” (found in several strains). Using genomes with paired mass spectrometry data, we correlated the distribution of gene families with the distribution of metabolic families and automatically annotated a new dehydromicrosclerodermin B homologue

A inserçao no comércio internacional do Brasil, da India e da China (BIC): notas acerca do comércio exterior e política comercial

Incluye bibliografí

Plasmid-mediated microcystin production in Fischerella CENA161

The strain Fischerella sp. CENA161 is a microcystin producing cyanobacterium isolated from spring water in Brazil. The complete biosynthetic mcy gene cluster and potential microcystin congeners were published in 2018. In this work, bioinformatic analysis of whole-genome sequence and hybrid assembled data from Fischerella sp. CENA161 was performed. For detection of putative plasmids in this strain, the plasmid assembly mode in SPAdes was used on reads sequenced with the MiSeq and PacBio plataforms, followed by annotation of resulting contigs using PlasmidFinder. The complete genome size of CENA161 is 5.9 Mb and three plasmids were annotated with sizes of 728, 242 and 192 kb. The complete mcy gene cluster was found in the larger plasmid. Genome mining of available microcystin-producing cyanobacteria was also carried out to detect the partitioning of microcystin biosynthetic pathways in chromosomes and plasmids, and will be presented. Plasmid-mediated microcystin production is a significant public health concern given its potential to easily spread among aquatic cyanobacteria

Água para a produção de hidrogénio verde (renovável) via eletrólise em Portugal

RESUMO: O hidrogénio está na ordem do dia das agendas da política mundial. Em Portugal, o hidrogénio verde é considerado no planeamento estratégico: o Plano Nacional Energia e Clima (PNEC 2030) refere valores de H2 em 2030 de 2,27 PJ (22 697 t) que representam aproximadamente 304 000m3 de água (0,4% do volume de águas residuais tratadas com tratamentos terciários em 2018); o Roteiro Nacional para a Neutralidade Carbónica (RNC 2050) refere valores de H2 em 2030 de 1,25-1,29 PJ (10 417 – 10 750 t), cerca de 144 000m3 (0,2% do volume de águas residuais tratadas com tratamentos terciários em 2018); a Estratégia Nacional para o Hidrogénio EN-H2, cerca de refere valores de H2 em 2030 de 50 PJ (416 666 t) que representam aproximadamente 6 050 000m3 de água (~1% do volume de águas residuais tratadas com tratamentos terciários em 2018).N/