Data Warehouses suportados por Nuvens

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia InformáticaO universo das Tecnologias de Informação está a assistir a grandes mudanças desde o surgimento do conceito de cloud computing. A cloud computing revela-se como um meio que possibilita a fácil aquisição e liberação (elasticidade) de recursos computacionais, que disponibiliza infraestruturas altamente escaláveis e dispendiosas com o mínimo de configuração possível e, ainda, pelo facto de ser um serviço com custos reduzidos comparativamente a uma solução in-house, pois tipicamente utiliza um modelo “pay-as-you-go”. Claro que com a delegação de toda a infraestrutura e dos dados para um provedor de clouds, questões como a segurança e privacidade dos dados começaram a ser equacionadas, apresentando-se assim como desvantagens para soluções em cloud. No entanto, além da cloud computing, outras variáveis, como o grande aumento do volume de dados nas empresas e os avanços tecnológicos alcançados nas redes de banda larga, têm “exigido” a adaptação das bases de dados para um ambiente em cloud, o que originou, pouco a pouco, o paradigma de Database as a Service. Atualmente ainda existem dúvidas relativamente às bases de dados SQL, sobre se estas serão as mais indicadas para ambientes cloud. Este modelo de bases de dados tem dominado o mercado mas apresenta diversas limitações (por exemplo a nível de escalabilidade e garantia das propriedades ACID) quando confrontadas com implementações num ambiente cloud. Por outro lado, o ecossistema de aplicações desenvolvidas com bases de dados SQL é demasiado grande para ser modificado para outro modelo. Apesar desta indefinição, a cloud parece ser um cenário ideal para data warehouses pois são bases de dados que albergam usualmente enormes volumes de dados e são essencialmente de leitura. Com esta dissertação pretendeu-se estudar a viabilidade da implementação e migração de um sistema de data warehousing para um ambiente cloud e apresentar um protótipo que expusesse a utilidade do mesmo face a uma típica implementação in-house.The world of Information Technology is witnessing major changes since the appearance of the cloud computing concept. Cloud computing reveals itself as a means to allow easy acquisition and release, in other words elasticity, of computing resources, provides highly scalable and costly infrastructures with minimal configuration and also because it is a service with reduced costs compared to an in-house solution, because it typically uses a "pay-as-you-go" model. Of course, with the delegation of the entire infrastructure and the data to a cloud provider, issues such as security and privacy of data began to be addressed, becoming drawbacks to cloud solutions. However, in addition to cloud computing, other variables, such as the large increase of enterprise data volumes and the technological advances in broadband networks, have required the adaptation of databases to a cloud environment, which led, step by step, to the Database as a Service paradigm. Currently there are still doubts whether SQL databases will be the most suitable model for cloud environments. While this database model has dominated the market, it has several limitations (eg. in terms of scalability and assurance of the ACID properties) when confronted with implementations in a cloud environment. On the other hand, the ecosystem of applications developed under SQL databases is too large to be changed to another model. Despite this uncertainty, the cloud seems to be an ideal environment for data warehouses because these are databases that usually house huge volumes of data and are essentially used for reading purposes. The purpose of this dissertation was to study the feasibility of implementation and migration of a data warehousing system to a cloud environment and to develop a prototype that would expose its usefulness compared to a typical in-house implementation

An application to enrich the study of auditory emotion recognition

The ability to recognize emotions in spoken words is central in human communication and social relationships. When studying one's ability to perceive emotions, the standard paradigm is to have listeners choose which one of several emotion words best characterizes linguistically neutral utterances made by actors attempting to portray various emotional states. Usually, generic experiment control software are used, which may present several limitations. In this paper we present a novel approach to the problem, based on a mobile application that can be easily configured by the researcher to set up the desired protocol. This approach not only facilitates and improves study design and data collection, but also provides a plethora of new variables about the participants that, to the best of our knowledge, have never been considered before in this domain, including behavioural research.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia under projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and PTDC/MHN-PCN/3606/2012.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

USE OF THE INAJÁ STIPE (Attalea maripa (AUBL.) MART.) FOR THE GENERATION OF BIOENERGY

The objective of this study was to evaluate the bioenergetics aptitude of Inaja stipe. The samples were collected in five sites in the northeast of Pará State: Cametá, Abaetetuba, São João de Pirabas, São Caetano de Odivelas and Capitão Poço. In each area, 25 matrices were identified and evaluated. The breast circumference (CAP) and the stipe length (AE) were collected for physical, chemical and energetic analysis, and a composite sample was collected from three random stipes from each zone. The analyzes were in accordance with the recommended Brazilian standards: ABNT 11940 (1983) for the physical analysis, ABNT 8112 (1986) for chemical analysis, and ABNT 8633 (1983) for energetic analysis. Regarding CAP, an average of 132.43 cm was obtained (CV = 27.81%), and AE had an average of 314.89 cm (CV = 30.67%). These variations may be explained by the different bioclimatic conditions in each region where the populations are located, as well as the different ages of each palm tree. The average values of the physical variables, moisture content and basic density were 50.09% and 0.34 g.cm-³, respectively. Therefore, it is recommended to perform a drying process, and it may be outdoors for the equilibrium moisture content with the region. The chemical tests indicated an average volatile matter of 82.46%, with an ash content of 0.83% and a fixed carbon of 16.76%. The higher calorific value was, on average, 4586.25 kcal.kg-1. The results indicate that Inaja stipe can be suitable for energetic uses, such as heat generation

Impactos negativos da administração de hidroxicloroquina e anticoagulante em pacientes com infecção por SARS-COV-2: um ensaio clínico randomizado

Objetivo: Avaliar antimalárico com ou sem tratamento anticoagulante, em pacientes com infecção recente por SARS-COV-2. Métodos: Estudo clínico realizado no Hospital das Clínicas Samuel Libânio da Universidade do Vale do Sapucaí, Pouso Alegre-MG. Aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética (4.034.077) e registrado nos Ensaios Clínicos (NCT04788355). Pacientes suspeitos de COVID-19 foram incluídos na sala de emergência. Os grupos foram: C (controle) com 6 pacientes, A (anticoagulante apixabana) com 9 pacientes, H (hidroxicloroquina) com 5 pacientes e HA (hidroxicloroquina e anticoagulante apixabana) com 8 pacientes. Resultados: não houve diferenças significativas entre os grupos. O grupo HA, no qual houve intervenção com dois medicamentos, apresentou maior número de dias com sintomas (p = 0,037) e piores resultados, quando comparado ao controle: os sintomas mais relevantes foram: tosse (p = 0,001), e anosmia/ageusia (p = 0,011) cefaléia (p = 0,001). Conclusão: O presente estudo teve início quando havia dúvidas sobre o uso de medicamentos como hidroxicloroquina (HCQ) e apixabana (APX). O “n” reduzido foi definido por meio de questões burocráticas e polêmicas independentes das ações dos autores. Nenhum benefício clínico foi associado com HCQ e APX. Houve um aumento no número de dias sintomáticos quando HCQ e APX foram administrados. Apesar das limitações, não houve indicação terapêutica dos medicamentos avaliados.Purpose: To evaluate antimalarial with or without anticoagulant treatment, in patients with recent SARS-COV-2 infection. Methods: Clinical study carried out at Samuel Libânio Clinic Hospital, University of Vale do Sapucaí, Pouso Alegre-MG. Approved by the Ethics Committee (4.034.077) and registered in the Clinical Trials (NCT04788355). Suspected patients for COVID-19 were included in the emergency room. The groups were: C (control) with 6 patients, A (anticoagulant apixaban) with 9 patients, H (hydroxychloroquine) with 5 patients and HA (hydroxychloroquine and anticoagulant apixaban) with 8 patients. Results: there were no significant differences between groups. The HA group, in which there was an intervention with two drugs, presented a greater number of days with symptoms (p = 0.037) and worse results, when compared to the control: most relevant symptoms, were: cough (p = 0.001), and anosmia / ageusia (p = 0.011) headache (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The present study began when there were doubts about the use of drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and apixaban (APX). The reduced “n” was defined through bureaucratic and polemic issues independent of the authors’ actions. No clinical benefit was associated with HCQ and APX. There was an increase in the number of symptomatic days when HCQ and APX were administered. Despite the limitations, there was no therapeutic indication of the evaluated drugs

A list of land plants of Parque Nacional do Caparaó, Brazil, highlights the presence of sampling gaps within this protected area

Brazilian protected areas are essential for plant conservation in the Atlantic Forest domain, one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots. A major challenge for improving conservation actions is to know the plant richness, protected by these areas. Online databases offer an accessible way to build plant species lists and to provide relevant information about biodiversity. A list of land plants of “Parque Nacional do Caparaó” (PNC) was previously built using online databases and published on the website "Catálogo de Plantas das Unidades de Conservação do Brasil." Here, we provide and discuss additional information about plant species richness, endemism and conservation in the PNC that could not be included in the List. We documented 1,791 species of land plants as occurring in PNC, of which 63 are cited as threatened (CR, EN or VU) by the Brazilian National Red List, seven as data deficient (DD) and five as priorities for conservation. Fifity-one species were possible new ocurrences for ES and MG states

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio