A Geant4 based engineering tool for Fresnel lenses

Geant4 is a Monte Carlo radiation transport toolkit that is becoming a tool of generalized application in areas such as high-energy physics, nuclear physics, astroparticle physics, or medical physics. Geant4 provides an optical physics process category, allowing the simulation of the production and propagation of light. Its capabilities are well tailored for the simulation of optics systems namely in cosmic-rays experiments based in the detection of Cherenkov and fluorescence light. The use of Geant4 as an engineering tool for the optics design and simulation of Fresnel lens systems is discussed through a specific example.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the 30th ICRC, International Cosmic Ray Conference 2007, M\'erida, M\'exico, 3-11 July 200

Search for Excited fermions

Results of searches for excited fermion production at LEP and HERA are presented. The data were collected with the DELPHI detector at LEP at e e centre-of-mass energies ranging from 189 GeV to 209 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 600 pb 1 , and with the H1 detector at HERA in e p collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 300 GeV and in e p collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 318 GeV, with integrated luminosities of 37 pb 1 and 15 pb 1 , respectively. In searches for pair-produced excited leptons, lower mass limits were established in the range 94 – 103 GeV/c 2 , depending on the channel and model assumptions. In searches for singly-produced excited fermions, upper limits on the parameter f Λ were set up to masses of the order of 250 GeV/c 2 . Int

Caracterização do atendimento urgente ao doente oncológico paliativo

Tese de mestrado, Cuidados Paliativos, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2018Introdução: O atendimento urgente ao doente oncológico paliativo (DOP) tem sido alvo de estudo pela perceção empírica da sua inadequação. Em Portugal, pela escassez de trabalhos nesta área, o panorama é largamente desconhecido. Objetivos: Com o propósito de melhorar a prática assistencial diária num serviço de Oncologia, foi proposto a realização de um estudo piloto com o objetivo de caracterizar o atendimento urgente ao DOP inferindo se possível a adequação do mesmo. Material e Métodos: Estudo observacional, descritivo, retrospetivo, unicêntrico, com amostra casual sistemática correspondente a todos os doentes seguidos em Oncologia por tumores sólidos, falecidos nos primeiros 6 meses do ano de 2015 reunindo critérios estabelecidos de doença paliativa. Analise por estatística descritiva e inferencial. Resultados: 105 casos foram analisados, 97 cumprindo os critérios de inclusão; 64% do sexo masculino (n=62), média de idades de 66.2 anos (DP=11,9 anos), num escalão etário maioritário 66-70 anos (19.6%), Performance Status (PS) mediano de 3. Com 406 episódios de atendimento urgente (AU) nos 6 meses prévios ao óbito numa média de 4.18 episódios por doente e 115 episódios de urgência nas 2 semanas anteriores (2SAM) com uma média de 1.18 episódios por doente. 73% dos casos foram abordados em Serviço de Urgência (SU). As neoplasias primárias mais frequentes: pulmão (27.8%), colon (10.3%) e mama (10.3%); 94% dos casos em estádio IV. Nas 2SAM, o transporte foi assegurado em 54.8% dos casos pelo Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica (INEM). Os motivos de admissão mais frequentes neste período: Dispneia (26.4%), Alteração do estado de consciência (21.9%) e Astenia (12.8%). Os diagnósticos mais prevalentes: Progressão de doença (34.6%), Pneumonia associada a cuidados de saúde (21.8%). As atitudes terapêuticas mais frequentes foram o controlo de sintomas (35.9%) e antibioterapia (32%). O local de óbito mais frequente foi o meio hospitalar (87.6%), destes 70.6% no internamento (com um tempo médio de 8.9 dias DP=10.19), e 25.6% em SU. 57.7% dos doentes encontravam-se sob terapêutica ativa no mês que precedeu o óbito. A estatística inferencial não mostrou dados significativos. Conclusões: Estes resultados devem fazer refletir acerca da adequação dos atos praticados nos doentes oncológicos em fim de vida. Os achados remetem-nos ainda para uma critica ética e psico-social assim como à importância do desenvolvimento de cuidados paliativos de proximidade. São necessários estudos subsequentes, de maior envergadura que validem, aprofundam e generalizem estes achados.Introduction: The urgent care to the palliative cancer patient has been the object of study by the empirical perception of its inadequacy. In Portugal, due to the scarcity of works in this area, the panorama is largely unknown. Purpose: With the purpose of improving local daily care practice in an Oncology department, it was proposed to carry out a pilot study with the aim of dimensioning a problem through the characterization of the urgent care to the palliative cancer patient, and possibly inferring its adequacy. Patients and Methods: An observational, descriptive, retrospective, unicentric study with a systematic random sample corresponding to all patients followed in Oncology by solid tumors, who died in the first 6 months of the year 2015, meeting established palliative disease criteria. Analysis by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: 105 cases were analyzed, 97 fulfilling the inclusion criteria proposed; 64% males (n = 62), average age of 66.2 years (SD = 11.9 years), majority age group 66-70 years (19.6%), median Performance Status (PS) ECOG: 3. 406 episodes of urgent attendance call (UA) in the 6 months prior to death with an average of 4.18 episodes per patient. 115 episodes of UA in the 2 weeks pior to death (2SAM) with an average of 1.18 episodes. 73% of cases took place in the Emergency Department (ER) the remaining in Urgent Oncological Consultation. The most common primary malignancies reported were: lung cancer (27.8%), colon cancer (10.3%) and breast cancer (10.3%); 94% of malignancies corresponded to stage IV disease. Transportation was provided in 54.8% by pre-hospital emergency response teams (INEM). In 2SAM the most common reasons for admission corresponded to dyspnea (26.4%), altered mental status (21.9%) and asthenia (12.8%). The most prevalent diagnosis were: disease progression (34.6%) and health care associated pneumonia (21.8%). The most common therapeutic approach has been symptoms control (35.9%) followed by antibiotic therapy (32%). Death occurred mostly in the hospital setting (87.6%), of which 70.6% in the oncology ward (with a mean time of stay of 8.9 days SD = 10.19), and 25.6% in the ED. 57.7% of patients were under active therapy the month before the dying event. Inferential statistics did not show significant data Conclusions: The limitations inherent in the study methodology preclude definitive conclusions, but the possible inferences allow to raise a series of pertinent questions that should make us reflect on the adequacy of the actions performed in cancer patients at the end of life. The findings also refer us to an ethical and psycho-social critique as well as to the importance of the development of proximal palliative care. Subsequent, larger studies are needed to validate, deepen, and generalize these findings

Diagnóstico da situação atual e sugestões para estratégias futuras

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o potencial produtivo da Herdade das Passadeiras e anexas, para efetuar propostas de melhoria que contribuam para o aumento do resultado económico da exploração e a valorização dos recursos existentes. Trata-se de uma exploração agropecuária em Modo de Produção Biológico (MPB) com 553,14 hectares de área total, cujos solos são predominantemente Litossolos. A principal atividade económica é a venda de bezerros ao desmame. Como atividades secundárias tem a venda de cavalos Puro-sangue Lusitano e caça. A alimentação dos animais baseia-se em pastagens naturais (68.9% da área total), pastoreio de aveia e de restolho de feno. No Inverno é fornecido feno de aveia. Em anos de carência alimentar, recorre-se à compra de feno ou palha, ou ainda de concentrado. A estimativa aponta para défice de Unidades Forrageiras. O encabeçamento (cabeças Normais-CN) é composto por 192CN de bovinos e 15CN de equinos, num total de 0.37CN/ha. Sugere-se que em termos empresariais haja apoio de um técnico agrícola e melhoria do planeamento na exploração. Os dados utilizados referentes à vacada, contas de exploração, gestão cinegética e sementeiras correspondem ao ano de 2015. Os restantes dados correspondem ao ano de 2016. Palavras-chave:The goal of these investigation is about the evaluation of the productive potential, trying to show the current situation and to suggest future strategies for Herdade das Passadeiras and attachments. The Herdade das Passadeiras and attachments are in their aggregate, a Farm working in Organic Agriculture with 553.14 ha of total area. The Organic hay production, the cattle rearing also in Organic, the horse Studfarm breading Puro-sangue Lusitanos and the Gamekeeping are the main activities of the farm. The animals food is based on natural pastures (68.9% of the total area), grazing oats and stubble. In winter oats hay is provided. The estimate points to a deficit of Forage Units. It’s suggested in business terms a support from an agricultural technician and improved planning on the farm. To do so, all the intel was gathered about the animal feeding needs, to understand if the field’s productions in hay and natural pastures are enough. The Herd’s data, farm’s financials, gamekeeping and sowing season are about 2015. The remaining data are from 2016

Avaliação da qualidade industrial da cortiça ao nível da árvore individual em três tiradas consecutivas

Estudar a evolução da qualidade da cortiça, ao nível da árvore individual, caracterizando a em três tiradas consecutivas. Hipóteses- H 0- a qualidade da cortiça numa extração é independente da qualidade da cortiça na extração anterior H 1- a qualidade da cortiça numa extração não é independente da qualidade da cortiça na extração anteriorinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Automatic Design of Artificial Neural Networks for Gamma-Ray Detection

The goal of this work is to investigate the possibility of improving current gamma/hadron discrimination based on their shower patterns recorded on the ground. To this end we propose the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for their ability to distinguish patterns based on automatically designed features. In order to promote the creation of CNNs that properly uncover the hidden patterns in the data, and at same time avoid the burden of hand-crafting the topology and learning hyper-parameters we resort to NeuroEvolution; in particular we use Fast-DENSER++, a variant of Deep Evolutionary Network Structured Representation. The results show that the best CNN generated by Fast-DENSER++ improves by a factor of 2 when compared with the results reported by classic statistical approaches. Additionally, we experiment ensembling the 10 best generated CNNs, one from each of the evolutionary runs; the ensemble leads to an improvement by a factor of 2.3. These results show that it is possible to improve the gamma/hadron discrimination based on CNNs that are automatically generated and are trained with instances of the ground impact patterns.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Delays in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment: real-life assessment in a tertiary care center

UIDB/00068/2020 UID/MAT/00297/2019Introduction: Clinical guidelines recommend rapid evaluation of patients with suspected lung cancer. There are few data concerning delays in the diagnostic process of lung cancer in Portugal and adherence to recommendations. The aim of this work is to review and analyze the different phases in the process of diagnosis, staging, therapeutic decision and treatment within a pulmonology department. Methods: Retrospective, single -center cohort study, with identification and analysis of the different stages of the pathway taken by patients with suspected lung cancer. The study contemplates the flow design and characterization related to waiting times. Descriptive statistical analysis of waiting times in each step and total waiting times and comparison with available guidelines. Results: 77 patients included, predominantly male (72.7%), mean age of 66. Mean time from admission to start of treatment was 68 days (±55.2). Most patients underwent bronchoscopy (71.4%), which was conclusive in 54.6%; 39 patients (50.6%) needed a second exam and 14 (18.2%) a third one. Mean time from multidisciplinary decision to treatment was 14 days (±25.6). There were great differences between modalities: 6 days (±8) to chemotherapy, 5 days (±2) to radiation therapy and 63 days (±33) to surgery. Adherence to guidelines varied between 36.4% and 50.6% concerning total time and between 44.2% and 58.4% for time from diagnosis to treatment. Conclusion: Total time of the process exceeded main guidelines in 6 to 26 days; however, there was considerable heterogeneity and results do not differ greatly from other published data. Proposing an optimized workflow may shorten critical stages and improve global performance, allowing for improvements in doctor and patient’s expectations.publishersversionpublishe

Autonomous RPCs for a Cosmic Ray ground array

We report on the behaviour of Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) developed for muon detection in ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) experiments. The RPCs were developed for the MARTA project and were tested on field conditions. These RPCs cover an area of $1.5 \times 1.2\,{m^2}$ and are instrumented with 64 pickup electrodes providing a segmentation better than $20\,$cm. By shielding the detector units with enough slant mass to absorb the electromagnetic component in the air showers, a clean measurement of the muon content is allowed, a concept to be implemented in a next generation of UHECR experiments. The operation of a ground array detector poses challenging demands, as the RPC must operate remotely under extreme environmental conditions, with limited budgets for power and minimal maintenance. The RPC, DAQ, High Voltage and monitoring systems are enclosed in an aluminium-sealed case, providing a compact and robust unit suited for outdoor environments, which can be easily deployed and connected. The RPCs developed at LIP-Coimbra are able to operate using a very low gas flux, which allows running them for few years with a small gas reservoir. Several prototypes have already been built and tested both in the laboratory and outdoors. We report on the most recent tests done in the field that show that the developed RPCs have operated in a stable way for more than 2 years in field conditions.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2017), Busan, South Korea. Presented by R. Concei\c{c}\~{a}o. 8 page

Thiophene- and carbazole-substituted N-Methyl-Fulleropyrrolidine acceptors in PffBT4T-2OD based solar cells

The impact of fullerene side chain functionalization with thiophene and carbazole groups on the device properties of bulk-heterojunction polymer:fullerene solar cells is discussed through a systematic investigation of material blends consisting of the conjugated polymer poly[(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3‴-di(2-octyldodecyl)-2,2′;5′,2″;5″,2‴-quaterthiophen-5,5‴-diyl)] (PffBT4T-2OD) as donor and C60 or C70 fulleropyrrolidines as acceptors. The photovoltaic performance clearly depended on the molecular structure of the fulleropyrrolidine substituents although no direct correlation with the surface morphology of the photoactive layer, as determined by atomic force microscopy, could be established. Although some fulleropyrrolidines possess favorable lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels, when compared to the standard PC71BM, they originated OPV cells with inferior efficiencies than PC71BM-based reference cells. Fulleropyrrolidines based on C60 produced, in general, better devices than those based on C70, and we attribute this observation to the detrimental effect of the structural and energetic disorder that is present in the regioisomer mixtures of C70-based fullerenes, but absent in the C60-based fullerenes. These results provide new additional knowledge on the effect of the fullerene functionalization on the efficiency of organic solar cells.This work was financially supported by: Base Funding — UIDB/00511/2020 of the Laboratory forProcess Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy — LEPABE — funded by national funds through theFCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). This work was partially funded within the scope of the project i3N, UIDB/50025/2020 & UIDP/50025/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC. Thanks are also due to FCT/MEC for thefinancial support to QOPNA (FCT UID/QUI/00062/2019), CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020& UIDP/50011/2020), CQE (FCT UIDB/00100/2020), and CIQUP (FCT UID/QUI/UI0081/2019) research units, throughnational funds and where applicable co-financed by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. H.G.thanks Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for his PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/103009/2014). The researchcontracts of F.F. (REF. -168-89-ARH/2018) is funded by national funds (OE), through FCT—Fundação para aCiência e Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of article 23,of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. M.M.F. acknowledges also supportfrom FCT under the project IF/00894/2015