Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Nesting and Beach Selection at Príncipe Island, West Africa

Hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are the predominant nesting sea turtle species on the beaches of Príncipe Island in the Gulf of Guinea. The extent of nesting has been largely unknown, but such information is essential for management and conservation. Our study is the first island-wide nesting assessment. Results from the survey, conducted from 1 December 2009 to 18 January 2010 (during peak nesting season), show that the potential suitable nesting area (10 km) is scattered around the island’s 50 beaches. Sea turtles nested on 32 of the beaches (hawksbills, 20; green turtles, 28) and used 7.5 km of the suitable nesting habitat (hawksbills, 5.8 km; green turtles, 7.0 km). We estimated that 101 (95% CI = 86–118) clutches were deposited by 17-29 hawksbills and 1088 (95% CI = 999–1245) clutches were deposited by 166-429 green turtles on Príncipe from November 2009 to February 2010 (nesting season). Long-term green turtle nest count data collected from 2007/08 to 2015/16 suggest a positive trend. Analyses of clutch densities in relation to beach characteristics suggested that both species preferred areas where human presence is lower, which coincided with the most sheltered areas. These findings should be used to inform coastal planning and minimize impacts on nesting beaches, as Príncipe is currently targeted for tourism development. Overall, results highlight that Príncipe beaches are very important for the conservation of West African hawksbill and green turtle populations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Strategies for Optimize Off-Lattice Aggregate Simulations

We review some computer algorithms for the simulation of off-lattice clusters grown from a seed, with emphasis on the diffusion-limited aggregation, ballistic aggregation and Eden models. Only those methods which can be immediately extended to distinct off-lattice aggregation processes are discussed. The computer efficiencies of the distinct algorithms are compared.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures and 3 tables; published at Brazilian Journal of Physics 38, march, 2008 (http://www.sbfisica.org.br/bjp/files/v38_81.pdf

Using milk run to deal with uncertainty in demand in a car assembler

This work presents a collaboration process between university and a company to solve a specific problem using geographic information systems and logistics modelling process applied to transportation. Car assembler companies in the periphery of Europe have an additional challenge when building their attractiveness in the scope of the economic groups they belong to as longer distances to receive their supplies involve additional costs. Adding to this challenge, the economic crisis brought a new scenario of uncertainty in demand, which is translated into additional inventory costs. In order to deal with these additional costs as well as to reduce transportation costs, the purpose of this research was to develop a logistics model, based on custom made software that allows generating transportation runs that was able to reduce inventory and transportation costs without sacrificing service quality for the analysed car assembler company.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Smart parking for the delivery of goods in urban logistics

The purpose of this research is to develop an application to reserve slots of loading and unloading activities in urban environment and create a collaborative low cost solution based on BLE (Bluetooth Low Emission) beacons to monitor this process. Violations can be easily detected through a collaborative process among user mobile devices detection and a reward mechanism incentives user participation. This approach allows the implementation of a system to handle parking slots for load and unload of goods, without investments costs using an ad-hoc network of users that sends information to a central system and from this violations were sent to control agents. This solution allows the coordination of the usage of parking places for load/unload of goods in a city environment following European guidelines. The developed App assists operators towards parking place with routing and traffic advice and collects data for mobility authorities

Transportation synergies in inbound logistics flow at automotive assembler plant

Transportation costs are responsible for a large portion of the logistics cost. This is particularly important in companies that are located in peripheral countries. Valuable cargo companies under these conditions tend to receive more often, which easily leads to LTL. The purpose of this paper is to assess alternative scenarios for reduction of transportation cost for a car assembler in Iberia, taking into account the development of a collaborative software to handle sharing process at low prices and risks, attempting a somewhat flexible solution in a rigid industry. The proposed approach looks for logistic data flows and identifies aggregation solutions for inbound flows using rail solution and sharing space with other players to balance outbound traffic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Transportation Synergies in inbound logistics flow at automotive assembler plant

Transportation costs are responsible for a large portion of the logistics cost. This is particularly important in companies that are located in peripheral countries. Valuable cargo companies under these conditions tend to receive more often, which easily leads to LTL. The purpose of this paper is to assess alternative scenarios for reduction of transportation cost for a car assembler in Iberia, taking into account the development of a collaborative software to handle sharing process at low prices and risks, attempting a somewhat flexible solution in a rigid industry. The proposed approach looks for logistic data flows and identifies aggregation solutions for inbound flows using rail solution and sharing space with other players to balance outbound traffic

Multiscale model for the effects of adaptive immunity suppression on the viral therapy of cancer

Oncolytic virotherapy - the use of viruses that specifically kill tumor cells - is an innovative and highly promising route for treating cancer. However, its therapeutic outcomes are mainly impaired by the host immune response to the viral infection. In the present work, we propose a multiscale mathematical model to study how the immune response interferes with the viral oncolytic activity. The model assumes that cytotoxic T cells can induce apoptosis in infected cancer cells and that free viruses can be inactivated by neutralizing antibodies or cleared at a constant rate by the innate immune response. Our simulations suggest that reprogramming the immune microenvironment in tumors could substantially enhance the oncolytic virotherapy in immune-competent hosts. Viable routes to such reprogramming are either in situ virus-mediated impairing of CD$8^+$ T cells motility or blockade of B and T lymphocytes recruitment. Our theoretical results can shed light on the design of viral vectors or new protocols with neat potential impacts on the clinical practice.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Ad hoc IoT approach for monitoring parking control process

The purpose of this research is to develop a collaborative approach to control the parking in a city using IoT (Internet of Things). This approach is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons to control the parking process without having to investment in sensors. Parking violations can be easily detected through the proposed collaborative process among user's mobile devices. A reward mechanism incentives users' participation. This approach uses an ad hoc network of users who send information to a central system regarding georeferenced beacon information. Comparing with previous payments associated with a vehicle, the approach can identify parking violations, e.g. parking without associated payment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio