Building a scalable index and a web search engine for music on the Internet using Open Source software

The Internet has made possible the access to thousands of freely available music tracks with Creative Commons or Public Domain licenses. Actually, this number keeps growing every year. In practical terms, it is very difficult to browse this music collection, because it is wide and disperse in hundreds of websites. To address the music recommendation issue, a case study on existing systems was made, to put the problem in context in order to identify necessary building blocks. This thesis is mainly focused on the problem of indexing this large collection of music. The reason to focus on this problem, is that there is no database or index holding information about this music material, thus making this research on the subject extremely difficult. In order to figure out what software could help solve this problem, the state of the art in “Open Source tools for web crawling and indexing” was assessed. Based on the conclusions from the state of the art, a prototype was developed and implemented using the most appropriate software framework. The created solution proved it was capable of crawling the web pages, while parsing and indexing MP3 files. The produced index is available through a web search engine interface also producing results in XML format. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that it is attainable to build a scalable index and web search engine for music in the Internet using Open Source software. This is supported by the proof of concept achieved with the working prototype.A Internet tornou possível o acesso a milhares de faixas musicais disponíveis gratuitamente segundo uma licença Creative Commons ou de Domínio Público. Na realidade, este número continua a aumentar em cada ano. Em termos práticos, é muito difícil navegar nesta colecção de música, pois a mesma é vasta e encontra-se dispersa em milhares de sites na Web. Para abordar o assunto da recomendação de música, um caso de estudo sobre sistemas de recomendação de música existentes foi elaborado, para contextualizar o problema e identificar os grandes blocos que os constituem. Esta tese foca-se na problemática da indexação de uma grande colecção de música, pela razão de que, não existe uma base de dados ou índice que contenha informação sobre este repositório musical, tornando muito difícil o estudo nesta matéria. De forma a compreender que software poderia ajudar a resolver o problema, foi avaliado o estado da arte em ferramentas de rastreio de conteúdos web e indexação de código aberto. Com base nas conclusões do estado da arte, o protótipo foi desenvolvido e implementado, utilizando o software mais apropriado para a tarefa. A solução criada provou que era possível percorrer as páginas Web, enquanto se analisavam e indexavam MP3. O índice produzido encontra-se disponível através de um motor de busca online e também com resultados no formato XML. Os resultados obtidos levam a concluir que é possível, construir um índice escalável e motor de busca na web para música na Internet utilizando software Open Source. Estes resultados são fundamentados pela prova de conceito obtida com o protótipo funcional

Modelo Dinámico Orientado a Objetos de una Máquina de Absorción de LiBr-H2O

Las máquinas de absorción se están convirtiendo en una alternativa cada vez más importante a las máquinas tradicionales de compresión de vapor, debido a la posibilidad de ser alimentadas con calor producido con energías renovables, tales como la energía solar, biomasa u otros. La mayoría de las aproximaciones al modelado de maquinas de absorción de LiBr han sido en condiciones estacionarias, sin prestar la suficiente atención a los fenómenos dinámicos inherentes al uso de fuentes de energía renovables. En este trabajo se ha desarrollado un modelo termodinámico híbrido dinámico de una máquina de absorción de LiBr usando el lenguaje Modelica, con una filosofía de modelado físico orientado a objetos. Se usan ecuaciones de estado recientes para garantizar la precisión en simulaciones a largo plazo, mientras se mantiene la eficiencia computacional. La comparación con datos de una máquina de 1kW presenta buenos resultados. Un COP de 0.74 y una capacidad de 1kW son obtenidos en condiciones nominales. Se han realizado simulaciones para obtener la influencia en el rendimiento de las temperaturas externas, caudales externos y cambios de calor internos. También se presentan respuestas del sistema a variables de entrada dinámicas

COMO ENTENDER A VAIDADE FEMININA UTILIZANDO A AUTOESTIMA E A PERSONALIDADE

The article seeks to understand the relationship between self-esteem and personality traits in feminine vanity and how these associations may influence propensity to undergo into cosmetic surgery. The subject has been studied using the 3M model (Mowen, 2000). The research is based on a survey of 697 students in a Brazilian Federal university, aged between 18 and 50 years old. Vanity was operationalized by two traits: vanity concern (an exaggerated concern about physical appearance), and vanity view (an excessively positive evaluation of one’s own appearance). The main finding indicate that a greater creativity, extroversion, kindness and need of body resources, is related to greater self-esteem, and also that the greater their self-esteem, the less vanity concern and the greater the vanity view. Women who are materialistic and have a greater need to body resources are more excessively concerned with their appearance. The need of body resources is also positively related to vanity view. The influence of self-esteem in the propensity to plastic surgery was noticed by means of vanity concern

Pullback attractors for a singularly nonautonomous plate equation

We consider the family of singularly nonautonomous plate equation with structural damping $$u_{tt} + a(t,x)u_{t} + (- \Delta) u_{t} + (-\Delta)^{2} u + \lambda u = f(u),$$ in a bounded domain $\Omega \subset \R^n$, with Navier boundary conditions. When the nonlinearity $f$ is dissipative we show that this problem is globally well posed in $H^2_0(\Omega) \times L^2(\Omega)$ and has a family of pullback attractors which is upper-semicontinuous under small perturbations of the damping $a$

Editorial: mHealth tools for patient empowerment and chronic disease management

The authors would like to acknowledge the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA:E), of the Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC).Modern societies are facing new healthcare challenges with the integration of digital health interventions as a part of their healthcare systems. However, the digital transformation of healthcare requires active patient engagement as a core component of healthcare interventions. In the case of chronic diseases, new digital tools are believed to help maintain and improve patient health and care, by optimizing the course of disease treatment. Indeed, facilitating access to quality health services and building the capacity to reduce risk are key priorities around the world. Nevertheless, health systems are facing unprecedented financial pressures at a time of growing demand for their services. Technology can help people use care services less by promoting healthier lives. Prompt advances in wearable sensor technologies and mobile communications could close the gap between home- and clinic-based care delivery models by linking accessibility, availability, and responsive, tailored clinical oversight. Digital health solutions can help democratize access to medical care. Even though mobile health (mHealth) tools are widely recognized as a promising resource capable of changing healthcare, additional research is needed to enhance knowledge about their limitations and benefits for chronic disease management and patient empowerment. Nota: Extrato retirado do corpo do artigo.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A reliable M-mode ultrasound protocol for the assessment of diaphragm motion

Diaphragm is the principal inspiratory muscle. Different techniques have been used to assess diaphragm motion. Among them, M-mode ultrasound has gain particular interest since it is non-invasive and accessible. However it is operator-dependent and no objective acquisition protocol has been established. Purpose: to establish a reliable method for the assessment of the diaphragmatic motion via the M-mode ultrasound

Readdressing the genetic diversity and taxonomy of the Mesoniviridae family, as well as its relationships with other nidoviruses and putative mesonivirus-like viral sequences

Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Research on the recently established Mesoniviridae family (Order Nidovirales), RNA genome insect-specific viruses, has been steadily growing in the last decade. However, after the last detailed phylogenetic characterization of mesoniviruses in 2014, numerous new sequences, even in organisms other than mosquitos, have been identified and characterized. In this study, we analyzed nucleotide and protein sequences of mesoniviruses with a wide range of molecular tools including genetic distance, Shannon entropy, selective pressure analysis, polymorphism identification, principal coordinate analysis, likelihood mapping and phylodynamic reconstruction. We also sought to revaluate new mesoniviruses sequence positions within the family, proposing a taxonomic revision. The different sub-lineages of mosquito mesoniviruses sequences presented low sequence diversity and entropy, with incongruences to the existing taxonomy being found after an extensive phylogenetic characterization. High sequence discrepancy and differences in genome organization were found between mosquito mesoniviruses and other mesoniviruses, so their future classification, as other meso-like viruses that are found in other organisms, should be approached with caution. No evidence of frequent recombination was found, and mesonivirus genomes seem to evolve under strong purifying selection. Insufficient data by root-to-tip analysis did not yet allow for an adequate phylogeographic reconstruction.publishersversionpublishe

Genetic lineage characterization and spatiotemporal dynamics of the recently established Brevihamaparvovirus genus

Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The analysis of the viruses allocated to the recently established Brevihamaparvovirus genus (Parvoviridae family), which includes all previously known brevidensoviruses, has not yet been carried out on an extensive basis. As a result, no detailed genetic lineage characterization has ever been performed for this group of insect-specific viruses. Using a wide range of molecular tools, we have explored this taxon by calculating Shannon entropy values, intra- and inter-taxon genetic distances, analysed sequence polymorphisms, and evaluated selective pressures acting on the viral genome. While the calculated Brevihamaparvovirus mutation rates were within the range of those of other parvoviruses, their genomes look to be under strong purifying selection, and are also characterized by low diversity and entropy. Furthermore, even though recombination events are quite common among parvoviruses, no evidence of recombination (either intra or intergenic) was found in the Brevihamaparvoviruses sequences analyzed. An extended taxonomic analysis and reevaluation of existing Brevihamaparvoviruses sequences, many still unclassified, was performed using cut-off values defining NS1 identity between viral sequences from the Parvovirus family. Two existing genetic lineages, Dipteran Brevihamaparvovirus 1 and Dipteran Brevihamaparvovirus 2, were rearranged and the creation of a new one, Dipteran Brevihamaparvovirus 3, was suggested. Finally, despite the uncertainties associated with both the time estimates of the most recent common ancestors, which could span from twenty thousand years before the current era to way earlier (in the last century), and the dispersal routes proposed for Brevihamaparvoviruses sequences by phylodynamic reconstruction, the analyses here presented could help define how future studies should be conducted as more isolates continue to be identified in the future, and contribute to eliminating possible analytical biases.publishersversionpublishe

Development of a tetraplex qpcr for the molecular identification and quantification of human enteric viruses, nov and hav, in fish samples

Funding Information: from Multi Biorefinery project (POCI-01?0145-FEDER-016403, INTERFACE Program, through the Innovation, Technology and Circular Economy Fund (FITEC) (CIT/2018/15) and FCT for Andreia Silva fellowship (PD/BD/128363/2017) are gratefully acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Human enteric viruses such as norovirus (NoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) are some of the most important causes of foodborne infections worldwide. Usually, infection via fish consumption is not a concern regarding these viruses, since fish are mainly consumed cooked. However, in the last years, raw fish consumption has become increasingly common, especially involving the use of seabass and gilthead seabream in dishes like sushi, sashimi, poke, and carpaccio. Therefore, the risk for viral infection via the consumption of raw fish has also increased. In this study, a virologic screening was performed in 323 fish specimens captured along the Portuguese coast using a tetraplex qPCR optimised for two templates (plasmid and in vitro transcribed RNA) to detect and quantify NoV GI, NoV GII and HAV genomes. A difference of approximately 1-log was found between the use of plasmid or in vitro transcribed RNA for molecular-based quantifications, showing an underestimation of genome copy-number equivalents using plasmid standard-based curves. Additionally, the presence of NoV genomic RNA in a pool of seabass brains was identified, which was shown to cluster with a major group of human norovirus sequences from genogroup I (GI.1) by phylogenetic analysis. None of the analysed fish revealed the presence of NoV GII or HAV. This result corroborates the hypothesis that enteric viruses circulate in seawater or that fish were contaminated during their transportation/handling, representing a potential risk to humans through raw or undercooked fish consumption.publishersversionpublishe