Identificação por dispositivos de radiofrequência - RFID

Os dispositivos de identificação por meio de rádio frequência têm atingido já desde alguns anos um estado de difusão aplicacional e comercial alargado. Tal se deve, em primeiro plano, aos desenvolvimentos de integração de componentes de rádio frequência e também a algumas técnicas dirigidas ao aperfeiçoamento destes sistemas. Neste artigo veremos, resumidamente, algumas das técnicas mais usadas na implementação de transponders de RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification)

Verificação do comportamento dos fotões

Para que se possa perceber um pouco melhor o comportamento dos fotões, que permitiu a Charles Bennett e a Giles Brassard o desenvolvimento de um sistema de criptografia quântica, que estudámos no artigo anterior, vamos ver como podemos de uma forma muito simples experienciar o comportamento da luz mediante o posicionamento de filtros em concordância e não concordância das suas bases de polarização. Assim, é a seguir descrita uma experiência, dividida em duas sub-experiências, que pode ser elucidativa acerca de alguns mecanismos quânticos que definem o comportamento dos fotões

Comunicações seguras - Criptografia quântica

Os muitos métodos de cifragem, anunciados como detentores de alto grau de segurança para as comunicações, têm-se, ao longo da história, revelado de segurança relativa, já que acabaram por cair numa ou noutra circunstância; ao ponto de hoje em dia olharmos sempre com algumas reservas para os sistemas de cifragem de mensagens considerados altamente seguros. No entanto, são já comercializados sistemas, esses sim, determinantemente inquebráveis, baseados no comportamento quântico dos fotões. Neste artigo analisaremos a base de funcionamento desses sistemas

Presumed TP53 mosaicism: variants detected using a NGS hereditary cancer multigene panel

Aims/Context: NGS multigene panels are routinely used to identify germline pathogenic variants in cancer susceptibility genes. In addition, NGS allows the identification of low-level mosaicism events that may not be detectable by conventional Sanger sequencing. We describe two cases of presumed TP53 mosaic variants detected by NGS on blood-derived DNA, and confirmed by ARMS-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Case 1: female, 87 years old, colon cancer at 83 and metachronous breast cancer at 86, no history of familial cancer. Case 2: female, 75 years old, ovarian cancer at 71, local relapse at 74. Methods: NGS using TruSight® Cancer Sequencing Panel and TruSight® Rapid Capture kit (Illumina) and paired-end sequencing on MiSeq® platform (Illumina). Bioinformatic analysis with MiSeq Reporter, Enrichment, VariantStudio, VEP, Alamut Visual, VarAFT, VarSome and IGV. ARMS-PCR and Sanger sequencing were used to confirm the TP53 variants. Results and Conclusions: Two cases of presumed TP53 mosaic variants were studied. Case 1: the missense alteration TP53: c.764T>G, p.(Ile255Ser) was detected with a variant allele frequency (VAF) of 26% (39/150 reads). This variant is described in ClinVar as a somatic alteration, classified as likely pathogenic. It is not reported in gnomAD and VarSome software classified it as a variant of uncertain significance. Case 2: missense variant TP53: c.524G>A, p.(Arg175His) detected with a VAF of 15% (10/58 reads). This variant is described as pathogenic in HGMD Professional, LOVD and ClinVar, in association with Li-Fraumeni syndrome. These two cases seem to represent TP53 mosaicism, supported by: i) VAF lower than 30%, ii) detection at the sensitivity limit of Sanger sequencing and iii) confirmation by ARMS-PCR. Confirming this hypothesis by studying tumor and other tissue samples and offspring analysis (underway in both cases), is essential for disease diagnosis, assessing recurrence risk and genetic counseling. The hypothesis of acquired aberrant clonal expansion limited to the hematologic compartment, versus a germline variant should be considered in similar cases, and confirmatory methodologies are mandatory.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence of temperature on the sorption-desorption curves of earth-based materials and consequences on their hygrothermal behaviour

There has been a rising interest by the building sector in using passive solutions to regulate the indoor relative humidity, since humidity levels can directly affect the health and comfort of the occupants. Earth based materials are known for their ability to regulate the relative humidity and improve indoor comfort. Another motivation is the potential to reduce the energy consumption of air conditioning systems. The assessment of the hygrothermal transfers within earthen walls/plasters has been the focus of many researchers, but the proper modelling and coupling of these characteristics for unconventional materials like earthen walls and plasters still is a major scientific and technical challenge. The main objective of this dissertation consists in first to check the validity of steady state material characteristics obtained through standard procedures. Furthermore, validate different assumptions and the reliability of the different methods to determine the precision of the experimental test results. The second objective is to analyse the influence of temperature on those characteristics and their consequences on the hygrothermal behaviour. For that purpose, two types of porous hygroscopic materials are studied: compressed earth samples and earth plasters with the addition of organic natural fibres. Results showed a high variability due to experimental set ups and conditions. However the influence of temperature on the sorption and transfer properties could be determined. An analysis of the results based on thermodynamics gave surface characteristics and the heat involved in the adsorption and condensation process of the materials used

Plasticity of morphological paradigms

The aim of this work is to explain, in a paradigmatic framework, the occurrence of event nouns with the suffix - ação having an intensive/iterative meaning in Brazilian Portuguese, which does not occur in European Portuguese (e.g., viajação ‘intensive and iterated travel’, passeação ‘intensive and iterated walk’). The paradigmatic approach to word formation has been recently reinforced against rule conceptions. Studies such as Štekauer 2014; Antoniová and Štekauer 2015; Blevins et al. 2019; Blevins 2016; Booij 2007; Baeskow 2015; Ortner and Ortner 2015; Spencer 2013; Fradin 2018 have emphasised the domain of word formation as a mental network of paradigms, against the vision that only inflection operates paradigmatically. The aim of this study is to bring experimental and empirical evidence to the plasticity of word-formation paradigms. Paradigms are conceived of as dynamic patterns mentally organised in networks. The relationships between items that build a paradigm may be of different types, as highlighted by Pounder (2000), Štekauer (2014) or Van Marle (1985). Following Rodrigues and Rodrigues (2018), we call the axis of the paradigm the feature that is responsible for the cohesion of the paradigm, i.e., for the relationship between the items belonging to the paradigm. We will focus on paradigms organised around different axes. The axis of one of the paradigms is the relationship between the syntactic and the semantic categories (which Bonami & Strnadová 2019 call content) of the involved members of the pairs of the paradigm, specifically event/result/state noun1 verbs (Table 1). We call this kind of paradigm a categorial macro-paradigm (built upon a macro-pattern). Micro-paradigms result from specialisations (Lindsay & Aronoff 2013, Aronoff & Lindsay 2014, 2015, Aronoff 2016, Rodrigues in press) and selectional restrictions inside the categorial macro-paradigm.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainable packaging : financial analysis of increasing RPET content

Mestrado Bolonha em ManagementThe production of fossil-based plastics can be credited with the usage of around 4% to 8% of oil and gas globally, with current trends pointing to upwards of 20% in 2050, making this material a threat to the worsening of greenhouse emissions and global warming (Hopewell et al., 2009; Rhodes, 2018). Within this problematic, the pollution created by single-use bottles has received a lot of regulatory oversight, with an increasing number of methods for the reduction of said waste having been developed in response to said regulations. One of the most popularly used materials within this market is Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with Recycled Polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) standing out as the most economically and environmentally sustainable alternative. With the introduction of regulations for the quantity of recycled content in PET bottles, several markets have been affected, though little regard has been given to the consequences of setting benchmarks that may be “overly prescriptive and market intrusive” (Ilie & Jurconi, 2019), with the market for rPET currently suffering from a supply-demand imbalance that has led to claims of economically unsustainable regulations. The goal of this research was to assess the degree to which the rPET level in the current legislation, and superior levels of rPET content, affects the financial viability of products that use said materials. This being done through a financial viability analysis of introducing increasing amounts of this material in an existing, established olive-oil product. It was found that for 30%, 50%, and 75% rPET content, financial viability could be reached for this specific unit in a static setting, this being concluded through an analysis of the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of consumers, measured by form of a questionnaire, and translated into the price sensitivity of demand of the three aforementioned product variants.A produção de plásticos com origem fóssil é responsável pela utilização de 4% a 8% do gás e petróleo produzido globalmente, com as atuais tendências a apontarem para que este valor atinja 20% em 2050, fazendo deste material, uma ameaça para a exacerbação da emissão de gases com efeito de estufa e do aquecimento global (Hopewell et al., 2009; Rhodes, 2018). Dentro desta problemática, a poluição criada por garrafas descartáveis recebeu particular enfoque legislativo, com o número de métodos para a redução de tais efeitos tendo se multiplicado em resposta a tais regulamentações. Um dos materiais mais utilizados é o Polietileno tereftalato (PET), com o Polietileno tereftalato reciclado (rPET), a destacar-se como a alternativa sustentável com maior viabilidade económica. Com a recente criação de regulamentações para a implementação de conteúdo reciclado nas garrafas PET, vários mercados foram afetados, no entanto, as consequências do estabelecimento de metas que podem ser demasiado prescritivas e intrusivas no funcionamento destes mercados, foi pouco considerada pelos reguladores (Ilie & Jurconi, 2019), com o mercado do rPET a sofrer, neste momento, de um desequilíbrio entre a procura e a oferta que tem levado a reivindicações de que estas regulamentações são economicamente insustentáveis. O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar o impacto que o nível de rPET definido na atual legislação, bem como níveis superiores, afetam a viabilidade financeira de produtos que utilizam esses mesmos materiais. Isto foi feito através da análise da viabilidade financeira de introduzir quantidades ascendentes deste material num produto existente de azeite. Foi descoberto que, para 30%, 50% e 75% de conteúdo rPET, a viabilidade financeira é atingida para a unidade estudada numa perspetiva estática, tendo sido isto concluído através da análise da disposição em pagar (DAP) dos consumidores, medida através de um questionário e subsequentemente transformado na sensibilidade de preço da procura das três variantes referidas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Real-Time Business Process Recommendations

Process Mining is a discipline focused on the analysis of the data logged by the execution of deployed business processes. Business process’ execution is not linear and might entail many decisions that affect the process execution. Decision Mining is a sub-field of Process mining, focused on finding and supporting these decision points. The decision criteria used in these decision points is often not explicit or optimized. Most research, techniques and algorithms in this area have been focused on providing off-line management support as means of explicitly representing implicit decisions. The solution proposed in this document presents a system that will provide the business actors a Best Next Action recommendation during the execution of business processes. To do so, it will be automatically identifying possible decision points, mine its data objects, apply probabilistic supervised learning algorithms and predict the best actions

User innovation in healthcare : a perspective across developing countries

The healthcare sector faces vital challenges, on the one hand the spread of chronic diseases at a global scale. On the other hand, rising delivery costs in healthcare create a necessity for innovation. Research show patients and caregivers as one of the sources for innovation in healthcare, by self-providing treatments, therapies or medical devices to better cope with their unmet needs, imposed by health disorders commercially unattractive for medical manufacturers’ investment (Oliveira et al., 2015). Van der Boor et al. (2014) concluded that high levels of need, the existence of flexible platforms, and the access to information and communication technology, contribute to the occurrence of this phenomenon in the developing world. Our research questions are: What are the major drivers for user innovation in healthcare, in developing countries? Which socio-economic factors influence user innovations development in these countries? Which local complementary assets affect entrepreneurship? To what extent can user solutions, created in developing countries, be adopted in developed regions? We applied a multiple case-study method, conducting eleven semi-structured interviews and four surveys of “patient innovators” from 13 developing countries. 86.7% of the innovations were developed by users with a clear perception of the fragile conditions in the analysed countries. Reputation achieved amongst their communities was recognized by users as another major driver (46.7%). The most problematic socioeconomic factor verified is healthcare, where 86.7% of user innovators reported issues. 66.7% of users rely on complementary technologies as the major complementary asset. Furthermore, 20.0% sample solutions could be adopted by developed countries.O setor da saúde enfrenta desafios vitais, por um lado devido ao alastramento global de doenças crónicas. Por outro, devido aos aumentos nos custos da saúde, gerando-se uma necessidade de inovação. Estudos mostram doentes e cuidadores como uma das fontes de inovação, ao criarem tratamentos, terapias ou dispositivos médicos para lidar melhor com as necessidades não atendidas, impostas por problemas de saúde comercialmente pouco atrativos para investimentos dos fabricantes médicos (Oliveira et al., 2015). Van der Boor et al. (2014) concluiu que altos níveis de necessidade, existência de plataformas flexíveis e acesso a tecnologias da informação e comunicação, contribuem para a ocorrência deste fenómeno no mundo subdesenvolvido. As questões de investigação são: Quais os principais fatores para a inovação de doentes utilizadores, nos países subdesenvolvidos? Que fatores socioeconómicos que influenciam o desenvolvimento de inovações por utilizadores nesses países? Que ativos complementares locais que afetam o empreendedorismo? Em que medida estas soluções, criadas em países subdesenvolvidos, poderão ser adotadas em regiões desenvolvidas? Aplicamos um método de estudo-de-caso múltiplo, com quinze entrevistas semiestruturadas e quatro questionários de “doentes inovadores”. A amostra é composta por 13 países subdesenvolvidos. 86.7% das inovações foram desenvolvidas por utilizadores conscientes das condições frágeis nos países analisados. A reputação que utilizadores inovadores adquirem nas suas comunidades é outra das motivações (46.7%). A saúde é o fator socioeconómico verificado mais problemático, 86.7% dos inovadores reportaram problemas. 60.0% dos utilizadores apostam em marketing e/ou tecnologias complementares como ativos complementares. Além disso, 20.0% destas inovações podem ser adotadas por países desenvolvidos