Controlo tolerante a falhas de um canal de rega

A presente dissertação pretende conceber e implementar um sistema de controlo tolerante a falhas, no canal experimental de rega da Universidade de Évora, utilizando um modelo implementado em MATLAB/SIMULINK®. Como forma de responder a este desafio, analisaram-se várias técnicas de diagnóstico de falhas, tendo-se optado por técnicas baseadas em redes neuronais para o desenvolvimento de um sistema de detecção e isolamento de falhas no canal de rega, sem ter em conta o tipo de sistema de controlo utilizado. As redes neuronais foram, assim, os processadores não lineares utilizados e mais aconselhados em situações onde exista uma abundância de dados do processo, porque aprendem por exemplos e são suportadas por teorias estatísticas e de optimização, focando não somente o processamento de sinais, como também expandindo os horizontes desse processamento. A ênfase dos modelos das redes neuronais está na sua dinâmica, na sua estabilidade e no seu comportamento. Portanto, o trabalho de investigação do qual resultou esta Dissertação teve como principais objectivos o desenvolvimento de modelos de redes neuronais que representassem da melhor forma a dinâmica do canal de rega, de modo a obter um sistema de detecção de falhas que faça uma comparação entre os valores obtidos nos modelos e no processo. Com esta diferença de valores, da qual resultará um resíduo, é possível desenvolver tanto o sistema de detecção como de isolamento de falhas baseados nas redes neuronais, possibilitando assim o desenvolvimento dum sistema de controlo tolerante a falhas, que engloba os módulos de detecção, de isolamento/diagnóstico e de reconfiguração do canal de rega. Em síntese, na Dissertação realizada desenvolveu-se um sistema que permite reconfigurar o processo em caso de ocorrência de falhas, melhorando significativamente o desempenho do canal de rega.The present dissertation intends to design and implement a fault-tolerant control system , in the experimental irrigation canal of the University of Évora, using an implemented model in MATLAB/SIMULINK®. As a way to respond to that challenge, several fault diagnosis techniques were analyzed , having been chosen techniques based on neural networks to the development of a fault-detection and Isolation system in the irrigation canal, not taking into account the kind of control system used. The neural networks were, indeed, the nonlinear processors used and more recommended in situations where there is an abundant process data, because they learn by examples and are supported by statistical and optimization theories, focusing not only on the processing of signals, but also on the expansion of the processing horizons. The emphasis of the models of neural networks is in its dynamics, its stability and its behavior. Thus, the research work which resulted in this dissertation had as its main goal the development of neural networks models that could represent in the best way the irrigation canal dynamics under study , in order to obtain a fault-detection system that can make a comparison between the resulting values in the models and the process. With this difference of values, from which a residue will result, it is possible to develop both a fault-detection and an Isolation system based on neural networks, providing the development of a fault-tolerant control system that comprehends the detection modules, the isolation/diagnostic and the system reconfiguration modules. Summing up, this dissertation led to a system that allows reconfiguring the processin the event of such faults, improving significantly the performance of the irrigation canal

Effects of a positive emotion-based adjuvant psychological therapy in colorectal cancer patients : a pilot study

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an "Enhancing Positive Emotions Procedure" (EPEP) based on positive psychology and cognitive behavioral therapy in relieving distress at the time of adjuvant chemotherapy treatment in colorectal cancer patients (CRC). It is expected that EPEP will increase quality of life and positive affect in CRC patients during chemotherapy treatment intervention and at 1 month follow-up. Method: A group of 24 CRC patients received the EPEP procedure (intervention group), whereas another group of 20 CRC patients did not receive the EPEP (control group). Quality of life (EORTC-QLQC30), and mood (PANAS) were assessed in three moments: prior to enter the study (T1), at the end of the time required to apply the EPEP (T2, 6 weeks after T1), and, at follow-up (T3, one-month after T2). Patient's assessments of the EPEP (improving in mood states, and significance of the attention received) were assessed with Lickert scales. Results: Insomnia was reduced in the intervention group. Treatment group had better scores on positive affect although there were no significantly differences between groups and over time. There was a trend to better scores at T2 and T3 for the intervention group on global health status, physical, role, and social functioning scales. Patients stated that positive mood was enhanced and that EPEP was an important resource. Conclusions: CRC patients receiving EPEP during chemotherapy believed that this intervention was important. Furthermore, EPEP seems to improve positive affect and quality of life. EPEP has potential benefits, and its implementation to CRC patients should be consideredObjetivo: Examinar la eficacia de un programa basado en la Psicología Positiva y en la terapia cognitivo-conductual (EPEP) para incrementar emociones positivas y reducir malestar en pacientes de cáncer colorrectal (CRC) que reciben quimioterapia adyuvante. Se espera que el EPEP mejore calidad de vida y estados de ánimo durante la quimioterapia y en el seguimiento un mes después. Método: Un grupo de 24 CRC recibió el EPEP (grupo de intervención: GI), y otro grupo de 20 CRC no recibió el EPEP (grupo control: GC). Se evaluaron la calidad de vida (EORTC-QLQC30) y los estados de ánimo (PANAS) en tres momentos: al entrar en el estudio (T1); 6 semanas después, tiempo de aplicación del EPEP (T2), y un mes después del T2 (seguimiento:T3). Las opiniones de los pacientes sobre el EPEP (mejoría del estado de ánimo e importancia de la atención recibida) fueron evaluadas con escalas Lickert. Resultados: El GI mostró mejores puntuaciones en estado de ánimo positivo, aunque sin diferencias significativas con el GC. Las puntuaciones en T2 y T3 tendían a ser mejores en el GI en nivel global de salud, y en las escalas física, social y de rol, El GI redujo el nivel de insomnio. Los pacientes indicaron que el EPEP era importante y mejoraba el estado de ánimo. Conclusiones: Los datos sugieren que el EPEP mejora el estado de ánimo positivo y la calidad de vida, y los pacientes lo consideraron importante y útil. El EPEP es potencialmente beneficioso y debería considerarse la posibilidad de implementarlo en pacientes CR

Microsoft Hyper-V versus Docker

A virtualização nativa ao nível do hardware é atualmente usada em datacenters para suporte à virtualização de infraestruturas de computação de elevada disponibilidade. Os hypervisors nativos têm sido a principal escolha para a construção de infraestruturas virtualizadas baseadas em failover clusters usando o Failover Clustering no caso do Microsoft Windows Hyper-V. Contudo, o recente surgimento da tecnologia Docker, a tecnologia de containers de software mais usada a nível mundial, tem tornado popular a virtualização ao nível do sistema operativo, permitindo criar, através do modo Swarm, infraestruturas virtualizadas de elevada disponibilidade. A virtualização ao nível do hardware apresenta vantagens em relação à virtualização ao nível do sistema operativo, de entre as quais se destacam o isolamento e a flexibilidade de aplicações, mas apresenta desvantagens tais como uma maior complexidade de implementação e lentidão na inicialização e no armazenamento de imagens de máquinas virtuais. Por outro lado, a virtualização nativa ao nível do hardware tem evoluído no sentido de melhorar o respetivo desempenho, em que as arquiteturas de hypervisors baseadas em virtualização completa com tradução binária estão a ser substituídas por arquiteturas de hypervisors com paravirtualização com suporte por hardware. Esta dissertação pretende avaliar e comparar o desempenho de duas infraestruturas virtualizadas de elevada disponibilidade, uma baseada na virtualização nativa ao nível do hardware usando o Microsoft Hyper-V com Failover Clustering e a outra baseada na virtualização ao nível do sistema operativo usando o Docker em modo Swarm. As infraestruturas virtualizadas implementadas consistiram num failover cluster com dois nós físicos e um servidor de armazenamento. Foi avaliado e comparado o desempenho destas infraestruturas usando quatro diferentes benchmarks, o IOzone cujo alvo de avaliação é o sistema de ficheiros, o RAMspeed que permite a medição do desempenho da memória do sistema, o iPerf3 para medições ativas da largura de banda na comunicação entre plataformas e o Geekbench que é um benchmark de processadores multiplataforma. Os resultados obtidos com estes quatro benchmarks mostram, de forma geral, que o desempenho do Docker em modo Swarm é superior ao desempenho do Microsoft Hyper-V com Failover Clustering. Foram também analisados os tempos de migração de máquinas virtuais e de containers naquelas duas infraestruturas virtualizadas, tendo-se observado tempos de migração da ordem de 18,4s para máquinas virtuais com sistema operativo Windows sobre o Hyper-V, tempos de migração da ordem de 15,35s para máquinas virtuais com sistema operativo Linux sobre o Hyper-V e tempos de migração de Docker containers em modo Swarm na ordem de 5,94s e tempos de migração de Nested Docker containers na ordem de 6,79s. Estes resultados mostram que o Docker apresenta um desempenho superior em relação ao Hyper-V em termos de tempos de migração de máquinas virtuais ou de containers de um nó para o outro do failover cluster.Native virtualization at the hardware level is currently used in datacenters to support virtualization of high availability computing infrastructures. Native hypervisors have been the main choice for building virtualized infrastructures based on failover clusters using Failover Clustering in the case of Microsoft Windows Hyper-V. However, the recent emergence of Docker technology, the most widely used software container technology worldwide, has made virtualization popular at the operating system level, allowing the creation, through the Swarm mode, of virtualized infrastructures of high availability. Virtualization at the hardware level has advantages over virtualization at the operating system level, among which application isolation and flexibility stand out, but it has drawbacks such as greater implementation complexity and slow boot and storage of images of virtual machines. On the other hand, native hardware virtualization has evolved to improve performance, where hypervisor architectures based on full binary-based virtualization are being replaced by hardware-supported paravirtualization hypervisor architectures. This dissertation aims to evaluate and compare the performance of two highly available virtualized infrastructures, one based on native virtualization at the hardware level using Microsoft Hyper-V with Failover Clustering and the other based on operating system virtualization using Docker in Swarm mode. The virtualized infrastructures implemented consisted of a failover cluster with two physical nodes and a storage server. The performance of these infrastructures was evaluated and compared using four different benchmarks, the IOzone whose evaluation target is the file system, the RAMspeed that allows the measurement of system memory performance, iPerf3 for active measurements of bandwidth in communication between platforms and the Geekbench which is a benchmark of multiplatform processors. The results obtained with these four benchmarks generally show that Docker performance in Swarm mode is higher than Microsoft Hyper-V performance with Failover Clustering. The migration times of virtual machines and containers in these two virtualized infrastructures were also analyzed, with migration times of the order of 18.4s for virtual machines with Windows operating system on Hyper-V, migration times of the order of 15.35s for virtual machines with Linux operating system over Hyper-V and Docker containers migration times in Swarm mode in the order of 5.94s and migration times of Nested Docker containers in the order of 6.79s. These results show that Docker delivers superior performance over Hyper-V in terms of migration times from virtual machines or containers from one node to another from the failover cluster

Práticas musicais do cotidiano na Iniciação científica: diários de pesquisa em ambientes religiosos cristãos

In this communication reported a studie of scientific research, from the perspective of recovery of everyday knowledge in music teacher training. Two graduates and a Bachelor's degree in music from University courses in southern Brazil wrote diaries of research on your performance as musical groups leaders in Evangelical churches and a Catholic music Ministry, that were analysed based on Zabalza (2004). The main dilemma: "be a musician or Minister of praise", there were two categories, considering the horizons of significance (Souza, 2013) of students and musicians studied for them: 1. Love God more than music; 2. Love the near more than music. From the readings proposed here to contribute to the discussions on autobiographical research, especially research diaries, studies on Christian religious environments and teacher training, from the reflection on meaningful experiences in their lives.Nesta comunicação relatamos uma pesquisa de Iniciação Científica, a partir da perspectiva da valorização dos conhecimentos cotidianos na formação de professores de música. Duas licenciandas e um bacharelando em música de cursos de uma universidade do sul do Brasil escreveram diários de pesquisa sobre sua atuação enquanto lideres de grupos musicais em igrejas Evangélicas e um ministério de música Católico, que foram analisados à luz de Zabalza (2004). Tomado o dilema principal: “Ser músico ou ministro de louvor”, surgiram duas categorias, considerando-se os horizontes de significado (Souza, 2013) dos alunos e dos músicos estudados por eles: 1. Amar a Deus mais do que a música; 2. Amar o próximo mais do que a música. A partir das leituras aqui propostas, pretende-se contribuir para os debates sobre pesquisa (auto)biográfica, especialmente com diários de pesquisa, estudos sobre ambientes religiosos cristão e formação de professores, a partir da reflexão sobre vivências significativas em suas vidas. Enviado em: 26 de junho de 2017.Aprovado em: 16 de agosto de 2017

Patients and family caregivers’ perceptions on two stress reduction interventions with patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers: a qualitative study

M.Graça Pereira, Susana Pedras, André Louro et al. Patients and Family Caregivers’ Perceptions on Two Stress Reduction Interventions with Patients with Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Qualitative Study, 05 August 2022, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1910181/v1]Background The present study aimed to assess the perceptions of patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and their informal caregivers regarding the impact of two stress reduction interventions, such as a progressive muscle relaxation and hypnosis, on patients’ DFU and psychological wellbeing. Methods This multicenter study used a qualitative exploratory design and included individual interviews with eight patients with chronic DFUs and six family caregivers, using a semi-structured interview guide. Transcripts analysis employed thematic content analysis. Results Four key themes common to patients and their caregivers were found: 1) perspectives regarding the intervention; 2) intervention effectiveness; 3) the role of psychology on the DFU treatment; and 4) emotions and consequences associated with the DFU. Although themes were common to both treatment groups, sub-themes from the last two themes differed for patients that received muscle relaxation versus those who received hypnosis. One additional theme emerged from the caregiver’s interviews: 5) promotion of self care behaviors. Conclusion According to patients and caregivers, overall the two stress reduction interventions were beneficial for the DFU healing progression and emotional wellbeing. The hypnosis group also reported lasting effects. Participants suggested that psychological interventions such as stress reduction interventions could be included in the DFU standard treatment as an adjuvant to the clinical protocol for DFU treatment, preferably offered early on, when the patient begins treatment at the diabetic foot consultation

Stress reduction interventions for patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers: a qualitative study into patients and caregivers' perceptions

The present study aimed to assess the perceptions of patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and their family caregivers regarding the impact of two stress reduction interventions on DFU and psychological wellbeing. The intervention included progressive muscle relaxation and hypnosis sessions.This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi/UM) School of Psychology, the University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through an FCT grant (PTDC/PSIGER/28163/2017) assigned to the frst author

Culturas musicais religiosas: problematizações sobre o ensino de música nas escolas

Considering the conception of multicultural education in the contemporaneity in the face of the compulsoriness of the music teaching in the curriculum of Brazilian schools, this work intends to discuss some aspects concerning religious musical cultures. Some theoretical tendencies in musical education, informed by the students’ everyday view, have debated the challenges and the possibilities of a plural music teaching, which may be opened to the different ways of producing, surrounding and consuming music. The questions developed here deal with a theoretical reflection on the possible tensions of music teaching in schools, looking upon the specificities of the religious cultures and their practices and musical experiences.Keywords: music education, musical cultures, religion.Tendo como base a concepção de educação multicultural na contemporaneidade face à obrigatoriedade do ensino de música no ensino curricular das escolas brasileiras, o texto procura discutir aspectos relacionados com as culturas musicais religiosas. Algumas linhas teóricas em educação musical, informadas pelo olhar do cotidiano musical dos alunos, têm debatido os desafios e as possibilidades de um ensino de música plural e aberto às diferentes formas de produzir, circular e consumir música(s). As questões aqui abordadas tratam de uma reflexão teórica sobre as possíveis tensões do ensino de música na escola, tendo em vistas as especificidades das culturas religiosas e de suas práticas e vivências musicais.Palavras-chave: educação musical, culturas musicais, religião

Robotic assisted deep brain stimulation neurosurgery: first steps on system development

The advantages of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) lead to an increasing number of stereotactic DBS surgeries, which are extensive procedures that require extreme precision and steadiness of tool handling. Robotic manipulators known for their consistency, movement precision and steadiness have the potential to be remarkable tools to assist the neurosurgeons and can refine the quality/working conditions, while improving surgery outcome. Currently, robotic systems for stereotactic neurosurgeries with simple/pragmatic low budget solutions that fulfil the surgeons' needs are not yet available. Thus, we have been asked to develop such robotic system. In this paper we present our first steps toward such endeavour. Specifically, we implemented a simulation environment for robotic assisted DBS neurosurgery that allows emulating several hardware setups within the operating room, and to test and assess their performance. The simulator is useful not only as tool for developing specialized control applications, but also for training clinicians. First results support the viability of the sought solution and open way to future developments.This work has been partially financed by projects FP7 Marie Curie ITN - NETT (project no 289146), FCT FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022674 and Pest-C/MATUI0013/2011 (FCT grant ref. UMINHO/BIC/8/2012)

Robotic implantation of intracerebral electrodes for deep brain stimulation

This dissertation objective is to contribute for the development of a robotic system towards neurosurgery assistance in Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) stereotactic procedures. Being DBS neurosurgery typically a long, physically and cognitively demanding procedure; the introduction of a robotic assistant to hold, manipulate and position instrumentation would improve the medical team working conditions and lead to better surgery outcomes. Upon understanding how could the robot be used and what robotic systems were adequate to the task, we implemented a simulation environment to emulate several industrial robot manipulators and the operating room. It was also developed each robot geometric and differential kinematic equations, and control algorithms specifically oriented for DBS neurosurgery assistance. Taking into account the operating room arrangement, the robot characteristics and task requirements, we selected the most apt industrial robotic manipulator and further elaborated on its placement and orientation to achieve utmost performance.This work has been partially financed by projects FP7 Marie Curie ITN - NETT (project no289146), FCT FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022674, Pest-C/MAT-UI0013/2011 (FCT grant ref. UMINHO/BIC/8/2012) and FCT PhD grant (ref. SFRH/BD/86499/2012)