Crowdsourcing technologies to promote citizens’ participation in smart cities, a scoping review

The scoping review reported by this article aimed to identify (i) the purposes of the studies using crowdsourcing technologies in the context of the smart cities’ implementations, (ii) the characteristics of the crowdsourcing technologies being used, and (iii) the maturity level of the solutions being proposed. An electronic search was conducted, and 29 studies were included in the review after the selection process. The results show a current interest in crowdsourcing campaigns using participatory reporting and participatory sensing to (i) support urban infrastructures’ maintenance, (ii) facilitate urban mobility, (iii) monitor the environment, (iv) manage crowds, (v) aggregate geographical information, and (vi) collect citizens’ perspectives about the cities. However, the results also show low maturity level of the proposed solutions and lack of consolidated evidence about their effectiveness, which difficulties their dissemination.publishe

Hierarchization process by possibilistic fuzzy clustering of fuzzy rules

This paper presents a possibilistic fuzzy clustering algorithm that is applied to a multidimensional fuzzy set or fuzzy rules. This method can be used to decompose the fuzzy system into an hierarchical structure. The methodology presented leads to a fuzzy partition of the fuzzy rules, one for each cluster, which corresponds to a new set of fuzzy sub-systems. This technique is tested to organize the fuzzy model into a new and more comprehensive structure

Efeito da manutenção do solo na produção e crescimento das árvores em olival de sequeiro

Durante oito anos consecutivos estudou-se o efeito de sistemas de manutenção do solo em dois olivais de sequeiro localizados nas proximidades de Bragança e Mirandela em Trás-os-Montes. O olival de Bragança, que estava gerido com uma pastagem natural em 2001, foi dividido em três parcelas onde se implementaram os sistemas de manutenção do solo: pastagem; mobilização; e herbicida não selectivo aplicado em Abril. O olival de Mirandela, que estava gerido com mobilização em 2001 recebeu os tratamentos: mobilização; herbicida não selectivo; e herbicida com componente de acção residual aplicado no fim de Fevereiro

Cyber resilience, a survey of case studies

Considering the potential magnitude and impact of cyber-attacks, organizations must be able to understand their capabilities to prevent, respond and re-cover from these attacks as well to implement and refine adequate resilience plans. Due to the importance of cyber resilience, this survey aimed to review relevant case studies published in the scientific literature. The identified case studies followed different approaches since some of them were focused on risk assessment and risk management processes and the complexity of their implementation, while others were focused on the use of well-known frameworks to assess cyber resilience or on proposing new cyber resilience frameworks and tools.publishe

The Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard and homecare, a scoping review

The scoping review reported by this article aimed to analyze the state of the art of the use of Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR) in the development of homecare applications and was informed by the following research questions: (i) what type of homecare applications benefit from the use of FHIR?; (ii) what FHIR resources are being implemented?; (iii) what publicly available development tools are being used?; and (iv) how privacy and security issues are being addressed? An electronic search was conducted, and 27 studies were included in the scoping review after the selection process. The results show a current interest in using FHIR to implement: i) applications to provide interoperable measurement devices for home monitoring; (ii) applications to remotely collected Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM); (iii) Personal Health Records (PHR); and (iv) specific applications for self-management. According to the results, the FHIR resources being implemented are quite diverse and contribute for the challenge of handling the variability caused by diverse healthcare processes. However, the use of publicly available development tools (e.g., SMART on FHIR or HAPI) is not yet generalized. Moreover, just a small number of studies reported the validation of the implemented resources using publicly available FHIR validators. Finally, in terms of privacy and security issues, different approaches were identified: authentication and authorizations mechanisms, end-to-end encrypted messaging mechanisms, and decentralized management and audit trail based on blockchain technologies.publishe

Comparative boron nutritional diagnosis for olive based on July and January leaf samplings

In this work, diagnosis of boron (B) nutritional status based on leaf B concentrations were compared for the most common leaf sampling times for olive trees, January and July. For this purpose field experiments were conducted over four years (2003-06) in two rainfed olive groves located in Mirandela and Bragança, in north-eastern Portugal. Leaf samples were collected in January and July and analysed for B by standard procedures. Fruit harvest occurred in December of each year. The crops followed typical alternate fruiting cycles. During the four years of the study, mean olive yields in the Bragança orchard, for instance, fluctuated, yielding 3.6, 28.1, 5.5 and 22.7 kg tree-1. Yield variation per individual tree was also great. In the Bragança orchard and in the 2004 harvest, for instance, yields ranged from 1.2 to 52.7 kg tree-1. Leaf B concentrations also varied greatly between individual trees. In the Bragança orchard in the July sampling of 2004, values for individual trees varied from 12.2 and 23.7 mg B kg-1. From a total of 16 scatterplots generated from the relationship between leaf B concentrations and olive yields, 10 significant linear relationships were established; six of them were related to July sampling dates and four were related to January dates. The number of significant linear relationships established between leaf B concentration and olive yield was used as a criterion of the accuracy of the B nutritional diagnosis, since this represented the lowest experimental variability. By using this criterion, the July sampling date was proved as better B nutritional diagnosis, although the difference from January sampling date was not sufficient to disregard this. Leaf B concentrations were consistently higher in July than in January. Averaged across the four years of the study in both orchards, the difference was 4.3 mg B kg-1. This difference should be taken into account in the interpretation of leaf analysis results when B levels are close to the deficient critical concentration

Efeito de práticas culturais diversas na safra e contra safra do olival

Neste trabalho, apresentam-se resultados do efeito de um conjunto de práticas culturais sobre o fenómeno da safra contra safra em olival. Os ensaios foram instalados num olival da cv. Verdeal Transmontana em Suçães, Mirandela, após pré-selecção das árvores baseada na homogeneidade da copa. Os diferentes tratamentos incidiram sobre grupos aleatórios de 8 árvores e consistiram em: duas linhas de azoto, (1) com o elemento aplicado ao solo no fim do Inverno e (2) uma modalidade testemunha (sem l’4); três Unhas de potássio, (1) com aplicação ao solo, (2) aplicação ao solo + K aplicado por via foliar no Verão e (3) testemunha (sem K) três linhas de bom, (1) aplicado ao solo, (2) aplicado por via foliar três semanas antes da floração e(3) testemunha (sem B); e poda e vareja manual, com (1) poda severa em safra, (2) vareja manual e (3) testemunha (poda ligeira e colheita mecânica). Comparam-se os valores de produção obtidos na colheita 2003/04 (ano zero) com os valores da colheita seguinte (04/05). Na colheita de 03/04, um total de 72 árvores marcadas produziram eu’ média 23.3 kg de azeitona/árvore. Em 04/05, as mesmas 72 árvores produziram 6.5 kg/árvore, evidenciando um ano de safra seguido de contra safra. A modalidade com aplicação de N filo atenuou a contra safra. A produção média foi ligeiramente inferior na modalidade fertilizada, se bem que as diferenças não apresentem significado estatístico (wCO.05). As modalidades com aplicação de potássio apresentaram valores médios ligeiramente superiores à modalidade sem K, embora as diferenças também não tenham sido significativas. A aplicação de B foliar originou um estimulo superior na produção comparativamente aos cultos elementos e à aplicação do próprio elemento ao solo, Contudo, devido a elevada variabilidade experimental as diferenças também aio foram significativas. Poda severa em ano de safra e vareja manual produziram 3.8 e 3.6 kg de azeitona/árvore, respectivamente, valores significativamente inferiores à modalidade testemunha em que se atingiram 8.2 kg/árvore. Assim, baseados apenas na produção de azeitona e um ano após a instalação dos ensaios, conclui-se que a poda e a vareja exerceram um feito mais evidente e imediato no fenómeno da safra e contra safra que a gestão de fertilidade do solo e do estado nutritivo das árvores

Grau de cobertura do solo e dinâmica da vegetação em olivais de sequeiro com a introdução de herbicidas

São apresentados resultados do grau de cobertura do solo e da dinâmica da vegetação num olival de sequeiro, localizado em Mirandela, após a introdução de herbicidas como estratégia de manutenção do solo. As modalidades em estudo foram: mobilização tradicional; herbicida pós-emergência (glifosato); e herbicida com componentes de acção residual e pós-emergência (diurão+glifosato+terbut ilazina). O grau de cobertura e a composição da vegetação foram avaliados desde 2002 a 2007 pelo método do ponto quadrado. Ambas as soluções herbicidas combateram adequadamente a vegetação herbácea em aplicação única anual. O grau de cobertura no talhão mobilizado, antes da primeira mobilização, oscilou entre 50 a 80 % e 30 a 60 % debaixo e fora da copa, respectivamente. O tratamento com glifosato permitiu um grau de cobertura em Abril entre 60 a 90 % debaixo da copa e 40 a 50 % fora da copa. No tratamento com herbicida residual o grau de cobertura do solo foi sempre muito baixo ao longo do ano. A gestão da vegetação com glifosato permitiu a cobertura do solo durante todo o ano, com vegetação viva desde o Outono à Primavera e um mulching de vegetação morta durante o Verão. Nas restantes modalidades o solo permaneceu descoberto durante grande parte do ano. No talhão gerido com glifosato a vegetação manteve elevada dinâmica. Um ano após o início da aplicação de glifosato apareceu a dominar o coberto Ornithopus compressus. Com o tempo ganharam importância algumas espécies de Inverno de ciclo muito curto (como Mibora mínima e Logfia gallica) e outras de elevada produção de sementes e fácil dispersão pelo vento (como Hypochaeris radicata e Conyza canadensis) com origem provável em incultos e caminhos que circundam o olival ou em plantas individuais que escaparam à acção dos herbicidas. Results of the percentage of ground cover by weeds and the dynamic of the vegetation are presented after the introduction of herbicides as soil management strategies in a rainfed olive orchard. The field experiment was carried out in Mirandela, NE Portugal. The soil management treatments included: conventional tillage; post-emergence herbicide (glyphosate); and post-emergence plus residual herbicide (diuron+glyphosate+terb utilazine). The ground cover percentage and the botanical composition of vegetation were monitored since 2002 to 2007 from the point-quadrat method. Both the herbicide formulations killed efficiently the vegetation in a single annual application. The ground cover percentages in conventional tillage, prior to the first tillage event, varied between 50 to 80 % beneath the trees and between 30 to 60 % in the open space. The ground cover percentages in April, in the treatment of glyphosate, were in the range of 60 to 90 % and 40 to 50 % beneath the trees and between rows, respectively. In the residual herbicide plot the ground cover percentages were always very low. The soil of the glyphosate plot was covered with vegetation over all the year. In au-tumn/spring the soil was covered with green weeds and in the summer with a mulching of the dead material. In the glyphosate plot the dynamic of species was high. One year after the first application of herbicide, Ornithopus compressus appeared as the most abundant species. Thereafter, acquired relevance species with short growing cycles which seeds mature before April (e.g. Mibora minima, Logfia gallica) and other that produce a high number of seeds easily spread by wind (e.g. Hypochaeris radicata, Conyza canadensis) and which seeds proceeded from surrounding untilled fields and rural-tracks or from individual plants that escaped to the herbicide control

Soil conservation in mechanized olive orchards in portuguese Trás-os-Montes region

Traditional practices for tillage in portuguese olive orchards can affect negatively environment, soil quality in particular. Alternative practices will be tested to avoid the negative impacts, reducing soil erosion, improving soil quality and increasing harvesting machinery trafficability. Field trials will take place in a olive orchard in the north of Portugal (Trás-os-Montes region)