Escolha de rotas: influência da hora de ponta nos consumos e emissões

Mestrado em Engenharia mecânicaUma das principais preocupações actuais no setor dos transportes é a diminuição das emissões de poluentes e para tal pode-se recorrer a uma melhoria na eficiência dos motores de combustão ou recorrer a outro método de propulsão, a combustíveis alternativos ou ainda recorrer à seleção de rotas menos penalizadoras de um ponto de vista ambiental. A selecção de rotas é um tema importante uma vez que é destacado no livro branco (White paper) dos transportes publicado em março de 2011 pela Comissão Europeia onde se reforça que a escolha de rotas é uma das formas da redução de consumos e emissões. A presente Dissertação tem a finalidade de verificar o impacte do período de ponta na seleção de rotas ao nível das emissões de poluentes. Encontra-se inserida no âmbito de um projeto de investigação intitulado “SMARTDECISION: Sistema Inteligente de Suporte à Decisão de Percursos para uma Melhor Qualidade do Ar em Áreas Urbanas” financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. A fase inicial deste trabalho consistiu na obtenção de dados dinâmicos do veículo obtidos por um dispositivo GPS a bordo de duas viaturas (Toyota Yaris e Opel Corsa). Seguidamente foram calculadas as emissões totais de CO2, CO, NOx e HC através da aplicação da metodologia baseada no conceito de potência específica do veículo (Vehicle Specific Power - VSP). Os casos de estudo foram as vias rodoviárias da zona urbana de Aveiro e entre as cidades de Aveiro e do Porto. É de destacar que, tanto os percursos citadinos como os interurbanos que se afiguram mais eficientes do ponto de vista das emissões fora do período de ponta, também o são no período de ponta. Concluiu-se ainda que o período de ponta, comparativamente com o período de não ponta, afecta as emissões em percursos suburbanos efetuados em autoestrada até cerca de 11%, em contraponto às estradas nacionais que podem aumentar até cerca de 7%. Já os percursos em cidade podem resultar num aumento de emissões até cerca de 18%.One of the main current concerns in the transportation sector is the reduction of pollutants emissions and this can be connected to: 1) an improvement in the efficiency of combustion engines; 2) the use of another propulsion method or alternative fuels; or 3) correct route selection. Route choice is an important theme once it is highlighted in the White paper for transport published by the European Commission in March 2011, where it is mentioned that route choice is one promising way to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. This thesis aims to determine the effect of route selection in the peak period on emissions. The developed work is included within a research project entitled "SMARTDECISION: Intelligent System for Decision Support Courses for Better Air Quality in Urban Areas" funded by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation. The first phase of this research was to collect dynamic data of vehicles using a GPS device in two vehicles (Opel Corsa and Toyota Yaris). Then total emissions of CO2, CO, HC and NOx were calculated applying the methodology “Vehicle Specific Power” (VSP). The case studies were the road network in the urban area of Aveiro, and between the cities of Aveiro and Porto. The main conclusion is that the urban and interurban routes that appear to be more efficient in terms of emissions outside the peak period are also the more efficient in peak periods. It was also concluded that the peak period affects emissions in suburban highway in about 11% as opposed to the national roads that can increase emissions to about 7%. Urban routes can result in a emissions increase of 18%

Segmentation of liver, its vessels and lesions from CT images for surgical planning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cancer treatments are complex and involve different actions, which include many times a surgical procedure. Medical imaging provides important information for surgical planning, and it usually demands a proper segmentation, i.e., the identification of meaningful objects, such as organs and lesions. This study proposes a methodology to segment the liver, its vessels and nodules from computer tomography images for surgical planning.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The proposed methodology consists of four steps executed sequentially: segmentation of liver, segmentation of vessels and nodules, identification of hepatic and portal veins, and segmentation of Couinaud anatomical segments. Firstly, the liver is segmented by a method based on a deformable model implemented through level sets, of which parameters are adjusted by using a supervised optimization procedure. Secondly, a mixture model is used to segment nodules and vessels through a region growing process. Then, the identification of hepatic and portal veins is performed using liver anatomical knowledge and a vein tracking algorithm. Finally, the Couinaud anatomical segments are identified according to the anatomical liver model proposed by Couinaud.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Experiments were conducted using data and metrics brought from the liver segmentation competition held in the Sliver07 conference. A subset of five exams was used for estimation of segmentation parameter values, while 15 exams were used for evaluation. The method attained a good performance in 17 of the 20 exams, being ranked as the 6^thbest semi-automatic method when comparing to the methods described on the Sliver07 website (2008). It attained visual consistent results for nodules and veins segmentation, and we compiled the results, showing the best, worst, and mean results for all dataset.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The method for liver segmentation performed well, according to the results of the numerical evaluation implemented, and the segmentation of liver internal structures were consistent with the anatomy of the liver, as confirmed by a specialist. The analysis provided evidences that the method to segment the liver may be applied to segment other organs, especially to those whose distribution of voxel intensities is nearly Gaussian shaped.</p

Abundance of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) and its natural enemies on tomato crops in greenhouses of different production modes (Azores, Portugal) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is a major pest of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) crops produced in the Azorean greenhouses. Despite the major concerns, no systematic study is available to describe population dynamics of T. absoluta and its natural enemies. The objective of this study was to compare the abundance of the pest (eggs and larvae) and its native natural enemies, in greenhouses of tomato crops produced under different production modes (biological, traditional and intensive). A sampling program was carried out during 2020-2021 and two production seasons of spring-summer and fall-winter. The abundance of eggs and larvae of T. absoluta were higher in tomato crops in intensive production and lower in biological production mode. Infestations by eggs and larvae were higher in spring-summer seasons. The natural enemies recorded were Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur, 1839) (Hemiptera: Miridae), Dicyphus cerastii Wagner, 1951 (Hemiptera: Miridae) and Trichogramma achaeae Nagaraja & Nagarkatti, 1960 (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). The abundance of natural enemies were very low and, virtually, do not occur during the fall-winter seasons. We found no significant difference between the abundance of M. pygmaeus amongst tomato crops from different production mode but D. cerastii was more abundant on greenhouses of biological production mode. Parasitism rate by T. achaeae does not differ between production modes and crop seasons. Considering the major concerns of the growers by the infestation levels of their crops, together with low abundance of native natural enemies, we suggest the use of biological production mode or an inoculative or augmentative strategy to control the pest in intensive and traditional productions modes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia in cosmetic plastic surgeries of the breasts

Primary breast augmentation surgery is one of the most performed cosmetic procedures among women. In the male population, another breast surgery occupies a prominent place: gynecomastia. Regional anesthesia for plastic surgery is part of a multimodal analgesia strategy that can reduce costs, reduce hospitalization, and pain in the postoperative period. The purpose of this article is to review and compare the most used ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia techniques for perioperative analgesia in aesthetic plastic surgery of the breasts. A review of clinical studies that investigated the association of regional anesthesia techniques guided by ultrasound with cosmetic plastic surgery of the breast in the last 5 years was carried out in the MEDLINE/PubMed database. Fourteen articles were selected for review. The most frequently reported techniques of regional anesthesia guided by ultrasound were paravertebral block (PVB), interfascial block (PECS 1 and PECS 2), serratus plane block (SPB), and intercostal block (IB). The lower consumption of opioids and better postoperative pain control were associated with PVB, PECS 1 and PECS 2, and SPB. PVB had a higher incidence of complications and PECS 1 and PECS 2 proved to be easier to perform. Interfascial blocks (PECS 1 and PECS 2) proved to be safer and easier to perform in cosmetic plastic surgery of the breasts than other types of blocks. They decrease the use of opioids and its side effects, reduce the length of hospital stay and recovery in the postoperative period

The role of bone morphogenetic protein on bone tissue repair

This literature review study addresses the progresses of the use of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) for repairing the bone tissue and its mechanisms of action in the injured tissue. The BMPs are pleiotropic molecules that are involved in the chemotaxis, mitosis and differentiation of mesenchymal cells in the bone tissue.Este estudo de revisão da literatura aborda os avanços do uso da proteína morfogenética óssea (BMP) na reparação do tecido ósseo e seus mecanismos de ação no tecido lesionado. As BMPs são moléculas pleiotrópicas que são envolvidas na quimiotaxia, mitose e diferenciação de células mesenquimais no tecido ósseo.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de PatologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Departamento de Ortopedia e TraumatologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de PatologiaUNIFESP, Depto. de Ortopedia e TraumatologiaSciEL

Avaliação da substantividade da clorexidina na associação com fluoreto de sódio in vitro

A efetividade da associação fluoreto-clorexidina na prevenção da gengivite e da cárie vem sendo defendida há alguns anos5,7,14. O propósito dessa associação é obter um desempenho sinérgico. O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a substantividade da clorexidina em associação ou não ao fluoreto de sódio em diferentes intervalos de tempo, in vitro. Foram tratadas superfícies de esmalte bovino com soluções de digluconato de clorexidina 0,12% (Periogard® - Colgate®) ou fluoreto de sódio 0,05% com clorexidina 0,12% (Duplak® - Dentsply®), durante um minuto. A substantividade foi medida pela dessorção da clorexidina a partir dos fragmentos previamente imersos nas soluções teste e colocados em água destilada. Alíquotas foram removidas em intervalos de 5 minutos, 30 minutos e 6 horas e analisadas através de espectroscopia na região do ultravioleta visível. Os valores obtidos foram analisados estatisticamente pelo teste t de Student. Os resultados mostraram que a concentração da clorexidina foi significativamente reduzida quando em associação com fluoreto de sódio (p < 0,05). Os resultados in vitro sugerem que a associação da clorexidina ao fluoreto de sódio nas concentrações estudadas parece não ter efeito benéfico, devido à redução da substantividade da clorexidina.The efficacy of the fluoride-chlorhexidine association in the prevention of gingivitis and caries has been advocated for a number of years5,7,14. The objective of the association of these therapeutic agents is a synergistic action. The aim of the present study was to determine the substantivity of chlorhexidine associated or not to sodium fluoride at different intervals of time, in vitro. Bovine enamel surfaces were treated with 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate (Periogard® - Colgate®) or 0.05% sodium fluoride with 0.12% chlorhexidine (Duplak® - Dentsply®) solutions for one minute. Fragments were placed in distilled water and samples were collected at intervals of 5, 30 and 360 minutes and analyzed by spectrophotometry in the visible ultraviolet region. Substantivity was evaluated by the measurement of chlorhexidine desorption from the treated slabs. The mean values obtained were statistically analyzed by Student's t-test. The results showed that the concentration of chlorhexidine decreased when it was used in association with sodium fluoride. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (p < 0.05). These in vitro results suggest that the association between sodium fluoride and chlorhexidine in the studied concentrations appears to have no beneficial effect because of the decrease in the substantivity of chlorhexidine

VITASENIOR-MT: A distributed and scalable cloud-based telehealth solution

VITASENIOR-MT is a telehealth platform that allows to remotely monitor biometric and environmental data in a domestic environment, designed specifically to the elderly population. This paper proposes a highly scalable and efficient architecture to transport, process, store and visualize the data collected by devices of an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario. The cloud infrastructure follows a microservices architecture to provide computational scalability, better fault isolation, easy integration and automatic deployment. This solution is complemented with a pre-processing and validation of the collected data at the edge of the Internet by using the Fog Computing concept, allowing a better computing distribution. The presented approach provides personal data security and a simplified way to collect and present the data to the different actors, allowing a dynamic and intuitive management of patients and equipment to caregivers. The presented load tests proved that this solution is more efficient than a monolithic approach, promoting better access and control in the data flowing from heterogeneous equipment.This work has been financially supported by the IC&DT project VITASENIOR-MT CENTRO-01-0145- FEDER-023659 with FEDER funding through programs CENTRO2020 and FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A IMPORTÂNCIA DO LÚDICO NA EDUCAÇÃO INFANTIL: APRENDENDO COMO GANHAR A ATENÇÃO DAS CRIANÇAS

A disciplina Educação Física no Ensino Infantil trata da análise dos fundamentos políticos, econômicos e sociais da educação infantil, conceitos de infância e suas principais características sociais, cognitivas, afetivas e motoras. Este estudo tem como o objetivo discutir a importância do lúdico na educação infantil. Estas atividades ajudam na construção do conhecimento, podem ser entendidas como situações em que as crianças possam demonstrar seus diferentes tipos de sentimentos, podendo aos poucos aceitar a existência do outro. São as brincadeiras que tende a melhorar convívio entre as crianças, fazendo com que elas vivam situações de colaboração, trabalho em equipes e respeito

Panorama das pesquisas sobre assistência estudantil nas universidades federais brasileiras a partir da implantação do PNAES / Panorama of researches on student assistance in brazilian federal universities from the implementation of PNAES

Este trabalho tem como objetivo catalogar e analisar as produções acerca da assistência estudantil nas Universidades Federais a partir da implantação do Programa Nacional de Assistência Estudantil (PNAES), em uma pesquisa de abordagem quantiqualitativa do tipo estado do conhecimento, a partir de trabalhos extraídos das seguintes bases de dados: Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD), Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) e da base de dados SciELO. Procedeu-se a tabulação dos trabalhos pertinentes, elucidando na análise questões como: instituição com maior produção sobre o tema, graduação dos profissionais, ano em que surge o interesse pelo tema, tipo de produção científica, entre outros. Os dados revelaram que o tema de pesquisa é recente, com menos de dez anos de existência, que não há um grupo ou núcleo regional que se dedique a ele e que se destacam, como protagonistas, os profissionais da área de Serviço Social, favorecendo abordagens que discutem essa política a partir do Estado, visando à inclusão social

Molecular and morphophysiological responses cocoa leaves with different concentrations of anthocyanin to variations in light levels

Theobroma cacao gives higher yield when cultivated in full sun under irrigation system with fertilization, because is a species little conservative in relation the efficiency of water use. On the other hand, T. cacao is usually cultivated under shade conditions in ‘Cabruca’ and agroforestry systems but with low yield. It has been observed under field conditions that the genotypes of T. cacao with high concentration of anthocyanins in young leaves are more tolerant to high irradiance stress when grown in full sun. The accumulation of flavonoids or other UVabsorbing compounds in the leaf epidermis is one of the most important mechanisms to screening out UV-B radiation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of light on three clonal cacao genotypes (‘Catongo’, SCA-6 and SJ-2), contrasting in relation to accumulation of anthocyanin levels in young leaves, by evaluations of photosynthesis, activity of guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), chloroplastid pigment contents and vacuolar (anthocyanins) flavonoids contents, anatomical characteristics and gene expression of the leaf. In summary, (i) the anthocyanins contents in leaf level did not provide protection against photoinhibition in T. cacao, (ii) the ‘Catongo’ and SJ-2 genotypes showed greater phenotypic plasticity to the morphology and the chloroplastidic pigment contents in the leaf, while the SCA-6 genotype allocated more in the flavonoids content and hsp70 gene expression; (iii) the relative expression of the genes psbA and psbO, did not vary between genotypes under irradiance stress