A genetic and evolutionary programming environment with spatially structured populations and built-in parallelism

The recent development of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation field lead to a kaleidoscope of approaches to problem solving, which are based on a common background. These shared principles are used in order to develop a programming environment that enhances modularity, in terms of software design and implementation. The system's core encapsulates the main features of the Genetic and Evolutionary Algorithms, by identifying the entities at stake and implementing them as hierarchies of software modules. This architecture is enriched with the parallelization of the algorithms, based on spatially structured populations, following coarse-grained (Island Model) and fine-grained (Neighborhood Model) strategies. A distributed physical implementation, under the PVM environment, running in a local network, is described.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - PRAXIS/P/EEI/13096/98

Prevalence and characteristics of chronic pain among patients in Portuguese primary care units

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.Introduction: Chronic pain (CP) negatively impacts the lives of almost 2 billion people worldwide, including approximately 37% of adults in Portugal. As most of these patients are followed by a general practitioner, identifying the prevalence and characterizing the pain of patients who visit primary care units will provide valuable insights into the CP landscape in Portugal. Methods: To achieve this goal, an observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in 58 primary care units of mainland Portugal between June 2017 and March 2018. Interviews were conducted with 8445 patients, and 578 CP patients were characterized. Results: We observed that one third of patients suffered from CP, and of these, approximately one third felt that their pain management was insufficient. Most of the population was 55 years old or older, retired, and had more than three comorbidities. However, age and the number and type of comorbidities were not predictors of pain intensity. Additionally, most of the population had pain or discomfort that hindered their mobility and the performance of their everyday activities. This decrease in the quality of life led to feelings of anxiety and depression, which were associated with pain intensity. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of CP, strategies to improve the quality of life of these patients and decrease the negative impacts, as well as awareness campaigns to increase the populations' knowledge of this condition, are essential for the suitable and timely treatment of CP.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comanche: aplicações web estendidas nos clientes

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia InformáticaA Internet é uma rede de comunicações que permite a troca de informação entre computadores localizados em qualquer ponto do mundo. Vários serviços foram desenvolvidos utilizando esta rede de comunicações. Entre estes, encontra-se a Web, que permite a qualquer utilizador aceder, utilizando o protocolo HTTP, a documentos hipermédia identificados através de um URL. Com a popularidade da Web, surgiram várias propostas para melhorar o desempenho global da Web e permitir o desenvolvimento de aplicações complexas neste ambiente. Entre estas propostas encontram-se, por exemplo, novas versões do protocolo HTTP, sistemas de caching e replicação e sistemas de suporte à operação desconectada. Neste trabalho apresenta-se o desenho e implementação do sistema Comanche, que permite tratar pedidos HTTP na máquina do cliente, possibilitando a adição de novas funcionalidades sem alteração dos servidores. Esta aproximação permite ainda minimizar o número de pedidos que têm de ser tratados pelos servidores, diminuindo assim a quantidade de pedidos processados e o tráfego na rede. O Comanche é implementado como uma proxy de HTTP, que se encontra instalada na máquina do utilizador e consegue instalar e executar Java Web Applications. Estas aplicações permitem a criação local de respostas a pedidos HTTP. Estas aplicações podem também ser usadas para se adicionar funcionalidades extra, alterando as respostas ou recolhendo informação de valor para o utilizador, que pode ser posteriormente usada para fornecer outros serviços. O sistema permite combinar aplicações de forma a permitir a reutilização das mesmas, formando aplicações mais complexas, e disponibiliza uma funcionalidade de sincronização de recursos acessíveis por HTTP

Recommender system for drivers of electric vehicles

Being the next big step in automobile industry, electric vehicles continue to have limited autonomy which associated with the long charging times, limited charging stations and undeveloped smart grid infrastructure demands for a hard planning of the daily use of the vehicle. This paper presents an information system that will help the driver in the daily use of his electric vehicle, minimizing the problem of range anxiety thru the continuous control of the vehicle range and presenting in time relevant information about the charging stations within reach. Given the success of recommendation systems on automatically delivering the relevant information in numerous areas of usage, it can be applied in this scenario as well as with the objective of maximizing the relevance of the information presented to the driver, which should be the strictly needed for him to make his decisions filtering out the unnecessary one.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Estudo comparativo da microbiologia do solo em soutos demonstração: contributo para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de adaptação sustentáveis

Compreender como a aptidão dos soutos se altera face às alterações climáticas é de primordial importância com vista ao desenvolvimento de estratégias de adaptação das regiões produtoras de castanha. Assim, o conhecimento das condições específicas do solo e da atividade microbiana do mesmo pode ajudar a identificar as melhores soluções de mitigação, ao nível da gestão do solo, para os agricultores nas zonas mais afetadas pelas condições do clima. A aplicação de uma gestão conservativa da matéria orgânica no solo não só contribui para o aumento da produtividade como para a diminuição dos gases de efeito de estufa. Por este facto, avaliam-se as alterações na biomassa microbiana e na respiração do solo em dois sistemas agroflorestais (soutos) jovens, em situação contrastante. A atividade microbiana do solo foi avaliada com base no carbono da biomassa microbiana (CBM), respiração basal do solo (RBS) e contagem de bactérias e de fungos. As amostras de solo foram recolhidas aleatoriamente em duas épocas do ano de 2018. Os resultados demonstram que nos microrganismos do solo predominam os fungos relativamente às bactérias em ambos os locais. Foi observada alguma diferenciação entre os dois locais em estudo que se pode traduzir em maior ou menor vigor dos soutos e consequentemente melhor ou pior adaptação às alterações climáticas.Financiado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) e pelo Estado Português no âmbito da Ação 1.1 "Grupos Operacionais", integrado na Medida I "Inovação" do PDR2020 - Programa de Desenvolvimento Rural do Continenteinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

e-CoVig: a novel mHealth system for remote monitoring of symptoms in COVID-19

© 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/).In 2019, a new virus, SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the COVID-19 disease, was discovered. Asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients were forced to quarantine and closely monitor their symptoms and vital signs, most of the time at home. This paper describes e-CoVig, a novel mHealth application, developed as an alternative to the current monitoring paradigm, where the patients are followed up by direct phone contact. The e-CoVig provides a set of functionalities for remote reporting of symptoms, vital signs, and other clinical information to the health services taking care of these patients. The application is designed to register and transmit the heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), body temperature, respiration, and cough. The system features a mobile application, a web/cloud platform, and a low-cost specific device to acquire the temperature and SpO2. The architecture of the system is flexible and can be configured for different operation conditions. Current commercial devices, such as oximeters and thermometers, can also be used and read using the optical character recognition (OCR) functionality of the system. The data acquired at the mobile application are sent automatically to the web/cloud application and made available in real-time to the medical staff, enabling the follow-up of several users simultaneously without the need for time consuming phone call interactions. The system was already tested for its feasibility and a preliminary deployment was performed on a nursing home showing promising results.This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the grants e-CoVig—Project 255_596880547, and LARSyS—Project UIDB/50009/2020, by FCT/MCTES through national funds and, when applicable, co-funded EU funds under the grant NICE-HOME—Project UIDB/50008/2020, and by the IT—Instituto de Telecomunicações under grant BI/No. 13—19 May 2020 “AIMHealth”, which is gratefully acknowledged.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COMPORTAMENTO DE CADEIAS DE SUPRIMENTOS OBSERVADOS EM CLUSTER: ESTUDO DE CASO EM UMA EMPRESA CALÇADISTA

A literatura aponta diferentes modelos de arranjos produtivos segundo sua complexidade, incluindo cadeias de suprimentos, redes de cooperação, cadeias produtivas, arranjos produtivos locais, até os clusters. O objetivo deste artigo foi apresentar um caso em um cluster no qual foram observados comportamentos comumente relatados na literatura sobre cadeia de suprimentos. Tal comportamento tem surgido em um ambiente típico de cluster, que mescla competição e colaboração (a coopetição). Foram estudados os relacionamentos que se estabeleceram entre uma empresa líder no cluster, que passou a assumir papel semelhante ao de empresa focal em cadeia de suprimentos, e alguns de seus fornecedores, que assumiram atitudes cooperativas tal como observado em operações de fornecimento de matérias-primas em cadeias de suprimento

Multiple sclerosis under the age of ten: the challenge of a rare diagnosis in a special population – a case series

IntroductionMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and degenerative disease of the central nervous system which, when it begins before the age of 18, is defined as paediatric MS. Most common clinical presentations include long tract involvement, brainstem/cerebellum syndromes, optic neuritis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Paediatric-onset MS typically has a more inflammatory-active course and a higher lesion burden in imaging studies, but an extensive post-relapse recovery, with a slower long-term disability progression. The first demyelinating clinical attack occurs before 10 years old in less than 1% of patients, and, in this special population, the condition has particularities in clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, diagnostic assessment, current treatment options and outcome.Clinical casesWe present the cases of four Caucasian children (2 girls) diagnosed with relapsing–remitting MS before the age of ten, with a mean age at the time of the first relapse of 7.4 ± 2.4 years. Clinical presentation included optic neuritis, myelitis, brainstem syndrome, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Baseline MRI identified several lesions, frequently large and ill-defined. Two patients were included in clinical trials and two patients remain in clinical and imaging surveillance.ConclusionDiagnosis of MS before the age of 10 years is rare, but it has significant long-term physical and cognitive consequences, as well as a substantial impact on the current and future quality of life of the child and family. Early and correct diagnosis is essential. Prospective, randomized, large cohort studies are needed to assess the efficacy and safety of disease-modifying treatments in children under the age of ten

Clinical predictors of NEDA-3 one year after diagnosis of pediatric multiple sclerosis: an exploratory single-center study

IntroductionMultiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and demyelinating disorder of central nervous system that can be diagnosed in pediatric age (<18 years) in 3–5% of the cases. This early onset is associated with higher relapse rates and earlier progression to neurological disability. By using NEDA-3 (No Evidence of Disease Activity-3) criteria, we aimed to identify clinical predictors associated with absence of disease activity and control of disease progression 12 months after the diagnosis, in a cohort of pediatric-onset MS (POMS) patients regularly followed-up in our center.MethodsWe analyzed demographic, clinical, laboratorial and imaging variables of patients with POMS identified in our center, between 2010 and 2021, in two moments: at the diagnosis and 12 months after it. Statistical tests were applied to compare the distribution of those variables between groups defined by NEDA-3 status and by each one of its three variable components.ResultsWe included 27 patients in the study (18 female), with a mean age of 14.8 years (± 2.8), being all diagnosed with relapsing–remitting MS and with a median score of 1.5 at the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). The use of natalizumab (p = 0.017) and the negativity for anti-EBV IgG antibodies (p = 0.018) at diagnosis were associated with a higher achievement of NEDA-3 status 12 months after, in our cohort. Prescribed treatment was also associated with statistically significant differences in the “absence of MRI activity” component of NEDA-3 (p = 0.006): patients under treatment with natalizumab had a higher probability of achieving this status, and the opposite was observed in glatiramer acetate-treated children.Discussion and conclusionOur exploratory results underline the pivotal importance that an early and more effective therapeutical approach may have in the control of disease activity, in POMS. Additionally, they also seem to suggest that the presence of anti-EBV antibodies is not innocent, as it can be related to a less favorable evolution of the disease, even at a very early stage. Further studies are needed to confirm the applicability of these variables as prognostic and personalized tools in this clinical setting

Tratamento não medicamentoso da Hipertensão Arterial

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi verificar a adesão ao tratamento de hipertensão arterial sistêmica e os fatores associados. Trata-se de revisão integrativa da literatura realizada no mês de abril de 2023, que se utiliza de uma metodologia exploratória e descritiva. Engloba etapas, como, estabelecimento do tema e dos critérios para a seleção das fontes que serão utilizadas, análise de dados, seleção de material temático, interpretação de resultados e apresentação dos aspectos relevantes obtidos com a revisão. A adesão ao tratamento medicamentoso da HA é essencial para a redução da morbimortalidade por DCV. O medo de agravos à saúde e atitudes positivas, como alegria e prazer de viver, contribuem para aumentar a disposição em utilizar os medicamentos. Conforme citado, as mudanças no estilo de vida têm um impacto positivo e considerável no tratamento não medicamentoso da HAS, e esses efeitos podem ser interpostos e estimulados por um acompanhamento rigoroso e contínuo