Non-emptiness of the alpha-core

We prove non-emptiness of the alpha-core for balanced games with non-ordered preferences, extending and generalizing in several aspects the results of Scarf (1971), Border (1984), Florenzano (1989), Yannelis (1991) and Kajii (1992). In particular we answer an open question in Kajii (1992) regarding the applicability of the non-emptiness results to models with infinite dimensional strategy spaces. We provide two models with Knightian and voting preferences for which the results of Scarf (1971) and Kajii (1992) cannot be applied while our non-emptiness result applies.

Reputation as a service

In this research work, we introduce the concept of a reputation service to evaluate user collaboration towards community or system goal. Online reputation mechanisms allow members of a community to submit their opinions (feedback) regarding other community members and their publication activity. Submitted opinions are analyzed, aggregated with feedback posted by other members and made publicly available to the community in the form of member feedback profiles. We propose a conceptual system that can be used in several contexts, namely in our public transportation recommender system developed in the framework of the European Project START

Integra system

The current work deals with the scenario of growing population in the cities and the associated sustainable mobility problems. To address this problem it is developed an system called INTEGRA for a mobile device, based on the integration from different data sources such as multi-modal public transportation systems, car and bike sharing. This system is able to show and give guidance towards points of interests (POI) and promote a social collaborative network for the share of notations towards POI classification. This work is a contribution for the European Project START, where we propose the Integra System. This system’s goal is to make travel easy and sustainable improving information systems integration. This goal is shared by transport operators and authorities associated to the Integra registered brand, promoted by the START consortium, that is already prepared for UK, France, Spain and Portugal

Presença de Listeria monocytogenes e contagem de Pseudomonas em superfícies de uma indústria de lacticínios

Comunicação oral da qual só está disponível o resumo.Presença de Listeria monocytogenes e contagem de Pseudomonas em superfícies de uma indústria de lacticínios

Competing globally with cost accounting: a case study

In recent years, information has played a key role in business competitiveness, allowing not only to inform managers about external contexts, but also to internal problems. Thus, cost accounting has relevant tools, with the ability to provide information about how the resources of a company are used, making it possible to evaluate and improve their performance. The main goal of this research is to develop a different costing system model to a company, in order to provide distinct information on the costs of production processes, to help managers make better operational and strategic decisions. This company business is processing and packaging fruit and vegetables, in particular they are organized by three main sectors: fruit, potatoes and 4th range products. Those cost allocation methodologies could be identified, on one hand, the profitability of each product, helping to define the best medium-term strategy and, on the other hand, some operational faults. Basically, this work aims to prove the importance of costing models to improve the performance and the competitiveness in a real context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pesquisa de clip arts combinando imagens raster e vectoriais

Existe actualmente um crescente desenvolvimento de sistemas de armazenamento e pesquisa de imagens. Uma aproximação adoptada nesses sistemas é a recuperação de imagens baseada em conteúdo (CBIR, Content-Based Image Retrieval). No âmbito destas aplicações existem utilizadores que pretendem utilizar imagens clip art para os seus trabalhos e apresentações. Existem muitas imagens clip art espalhadas por diversas bases de dados em sítios na Internet ou em colecções vendidas em dispositivos ópticos. A pesquisa de imagens nestas bases de dados leva os utilizadores a percorrem várias listas de imagens manualmente ou por métodos de pesquisa por texto, muitas vezes ineficientes. Essas bases de dados de clip arts são representadas por imagens vectoriais e imagens raster. Existem várias tecnologias de pesquisa e recuperação de ambos os tipos de imagens clip art, raster e vectoriais, contudo, a investigação tem sido realizada em separado sem retirar partido das duas áreas de investigação em conjunto, no problema de recuperar e explorar colecções de clip arts. O objectivo deste trabalho é implementar um motor de busca para encontrar clip arts em base de dados compostas por imagens vectoriais e imagens raster. O trabalho envolve um conversor de imagens raster em vectoriais, a extracção de características das imagens raster e vectoriais e a avaliação do sistema de recuperação de clip arts.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - Projecto CRUSH (Clip art Retrieval using Sketches),referência PTDC/EIA-EIA/108077/200

Gold nanoparticles functionalised with stable, fast water exchanging Gd3+ chelates as high relaxivity contrast agents for MRI

Gold nanoparticles functionalized with Gd3+ chelates displaying fast water exchange, superb pH stability and inertness towards transmetalation with Zn2+ have been prepared and characterized as a new high relaxivity (29 mM-1s-1, 30 MHz, 25 ºC) Contrast Agent potentially safe for in vivo MRI applications. The Lipari-Szabo treatment for internal rotation was used to evaluate the effect of linker flexibility on the relaxivity of the gold nanoparticles. The relaxivity is limited by chelate flexibility. The effect of fast water exchange on the relaxivity of gold nanoparticles functionalized with Gd3+ chelates is also addressed in this communication.Fundação para a Ciência e TecnologiaProjecto PTDC/QUI/70063/2006PhD grant SFRH/BD/63994/2008 to Miguel FerreiraRede Nacional de RMN REDE/1517/RMN/2005 for the acquisition of the Varian VNMRS 600 NMR spectrometer in Coimbra and the Bruker Avance-3 400 Plus in BragaB. Mousavi and L. Helm acknowledge financial support by the Swiss National Science Foundation.COST D38 Actio

Biosensors for On-Farm Diagnosis of Mastitis

Bovine mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland caused by a multitude of pathogens with devastating consequences for the dairy industry. Global annual losses are estimated to be around €30 bn and are caused by significant milk losses, poor milk quality, culling of chronically infected animals, and occasional deaths. Moreover, mastitis management routinely implies the administration of antibiotics to treat and prevent the disease which poses serious risks regarding the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Conventional diagnostic methods based on somatic cell counts (SCC) and plate-culture techniques are accurate in identifying the disease, the respective infectious agents and antibiotic resistant phenotypes. However, pressure exists to develop less lengthy approaches, capable of providing on-site information concerning the infection, and in this way, guide, and hasten the most adequate treatment. Biosensors are analytical tools that convert the presence of biological compounds into an electric signal. Benefitting from high signal-to-noise ratios and fast response times, when properly tuned, they can detect the presence of specific cells and cell markers with high sensitivity. In combination with microfluidics, they provide the means for development of automated and portable diagnostic devices. Still, while biosensors are growing at a fast pace in human diagnostics, applications for the veterinary market, and specifically, for the diagnosis of mastitis remain limited. This review highlights current approaches for mastitis diagnosis and describes the latest outcomes in biosensors and lab-on-chip devices with the potential to become real alternatives to standard practices. Focus is given to those technologies that, in a near future, will enable for an on-farm diagnosis of mastitisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The variability of the serve toss in tennis under the influence of artificial crosswind

This study was made to analyze the variability and stability of the serve toss in tennis, on the x (side-to-side), y (back-to-front) and z (vertical) axes, with 12 experienced players under the influence of crosswind (induced aerodynamic flow) produced by an industrial ventilator. The players were analyzed individually after serving at maximum speed and accuracy to the intersection point of the centre line and service line ("T" point). The results allow us to conclude that the experienced players tend to stabilize the vertical dimension of the service (z axis). Additionally, this study confirms the invariability of the player height ratio: height of impact (1:1.5) in experienced players even when constrained by the "artificial crosswind." Given the above, the vertical dimension of the tennis serve is assumed as a constant feature, which is guaranteed in the remaining varying dimensions (y and x axes) of the ball toss. Thus, the variability should be seen as part of the solution and not as something to be avoided by players and coaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio