Reconfigurable hardware for the new generation IoT video-cards

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica Industrial e ComputadoresEmbedded systems became a crucial research and developing area because of the dependence of society on devices and the growing demand for new technology products in our lives. The video industry is an example of remarkable technological advances by exploiting the hardware performance for bringing new video products along with even better video quality and higher resolution. Today is time for Ultra High Definition (UHD) resolution and the next new feature is the 8k. A relevant area that may benefit from 8k is medicine, by improving the detail and image quality in diagnoses. Moreover, Japan is preparing to become the first 8k transmitter at the 2020 Olympics. In spite of existing already general-purpose solutions for managing efficiently UHD video, the deployment of a customized configurable solution can be useful for a specific system needs. Besides, it may dictate market favorable positioning on meeting new market demands by providing faster upgrades. For addressing this problem, this MSc thesis proposes a hardware-based deployment of two essential reconfigurable cores for a new generation IoT UHD Video-Card, for managing huge memory accesses as well as for compressing video. The memory management provides a memory direct access for dealing with variable video resolution up to 8k, as well as data error control, frame alignment, configurable memory region, and more. The video compression is performed by a configurable core based on an open-source H.264 encoder. The results presented show it was achieved 8k real-time video streaming along with extra control and status functionalities. Video encoding was achieved for up to 8k.Os sistemas embebidos tornaram-se uma área fulcral de pesquisa e desenvolvimento devido à dependência da sociedade em dispositivos e à crescente procura por novidades tecnológicas para o quotidiano. A indústria de vídeo é um exemplo do notável avanço tecnológico ao explorar o desempenho máximo do hardware para trazer maior qualidade de vídeo e maior resolução. A resolução de vídeo UHD já é uma realidade e a próxima novidade é o 8k. Uma área de relevo que pode beneficiar do 8k é a medicina, com maior detalhe e qualidade de imagem em diagnósticos. Além disso, o Japão está preparar-se para se tornar o primeiro transmissor de 8k nas Olimpíadas de 2020. Apesar de existirem soluções capazes de gerir com eficiência vídeo UHD, uma solução personalizada e configurável pode ser útil para as necessidades específicas de um sistema. Além disso, pode ditar um posicionamento dianteiro no mercado ao atender às novas exigências do mercado fornecendo novidades mais rapidamente. Como possível solução para os problemas expostos, esta tese propõe o desenvolvimento de dois núcleos de hardware reconfigurável essenciais para uma nova geração de placas IoT de vídeo UHD, para gerir acessos à memória assim como para compactar vídeo. A gestão de memória desenvolvida fornece acesso direto à memória para lidar com resolução de vídeo variável e até 8k, além de controlo de erros de dados, alinhamento de frames, região de memória configurável e muito mais. A compactação de vídeo é realizada por um núcleo de hardware configurável, baseado num Encoder H.264 de código aberto. Os resultados mostram que foi alcançada transmissão de vídeo 8k em tempo real, além de funcionalidades extras de controlo e estado. A codificação de vídeo até 8k foi alcançada

Profiling the athletic career of Portuguese Football Players in last 50 years

This work aimed to identify Key Career Indicators (KCI) that characterize the various stages of athletic development of a football player, as well as their predictive value of competitive level and retiring age. Furthermore, it sought a better understanding of the relationship between some psychological traits and career planning. To this end, three studies were carried out, which sought to: a) describe and identify the weight of the KCI on the competitive level of retirement of football players; b) relate the athletic development of the players and the retiring age of Portuguese football players; c) identify the role of selfefficacy, career goals and athletic identity on the career planning of Portuguese football players. In study 1, results showed that the KCI, age of first registration as a senior player, number of games played over the seasons and age of the last best result achieved, contribute to explain, and predict the competitive level of retirement of Portuguese football players. The results of the model proposed in study 2 highlighted that the KCI identified at the various stages of the athletic development level of a football player contribute to explain 40% of the retiring age the players under analysis. Finally, in study 3, the results revealed that, in general, career planning is positively influenced by the level of self-efficacy of the players through the definition of career goals and negatively influenced by the level of athletic identity. In conclusion, the results suggest that it is possible to monitor some key career indicators that allow a prospective description of the career development of a football player, with implications for the planning and management process. The development of self-efficacy, as well as career goals associated with a balanced management of athletic identity, decisively contribute to better career planning.Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar Indicadores Chave de Carreira (ICC) que caraterizam as várias fases do desenvolvimento atlético de um jogador de futebol, bem como o seu valor preditor do nível competitivo e idade da retirada. Para além disso, procurou uma melhor compreensão da relação entre alguns traços psicológicos e o planeamento de carreira. Para tal, foram realizados três estudos onde se procurou: a) descrever e identificar o peso dos ICC no nível competitivo da retirada de jogadores de futebol; b) relacionar o desenvolvimento atlético dos jogadores e a idade da retirada dos jogadores Portugueses de futebol; c) identificar o papel da autoeficácia, objetivos de carreira e identidade atlética no planeamento de carreira dos jogadores Portugueses de futebol. Relativamente ao estudo 1 os resultados demonstraram que os ICC, idade do primeiro registo como jogador sénior, número de jogos jogados ao longo das épocas e idade do último melhor resultado alcançado, contribuem para explicar e prever o nível competitivo da retirada dos jogadores Portugueses de futebol. Os resultados do modelo proposto no estudo 2 destacou que os ICC identificados nos vários estágios do nível de desenvolvimento atlético de um jogador de futebol contribuem para explicar 40% da idade da retirada dos jogadores em análise. Por fim no estudo 3 os resultados revelaram que, no geral, o planeamento de carreira é positivamente influenciado pelo nível de autoeficácia dos jogadores por meio da definição de objetivos de carreira e negativamente influenciado pelo nível de identidade atlética. Em conclusão, os resultados sugerem que é possivel monitorizar alguns indicadores chave de carreira que permitem descrever prospetivamente o desenvolvimento da carreira de um jogador de futebol, com implicações para o processo de planeamento e gestão da mesma. O desenvolvimento da autoeficácia, bem como de objetivos de carreira associados a uma gestão equilibrada da identidade atlética, contribuem de forma determinante para um melhor planeamento de carreira

Database repairs with answer set programming

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia InformáticaIntegrity constraints play an important part in database design. They are what allow databases to store accurate information, since they impose some properties that must always hold. However, none of the existing Database Management Systems allows the specification of new integrity constraints if the information stored is already violating these new integrity constraints. In this dissertation, we developed DRSys, an application that allows the user to specify integrity constraints that he wishes to enforce in the database. If the database becomes inconsistent with respect to such integrity constraints, DRSys returns to the user possible ways to restore consistency, by inserting or deleting tuples into/from the original database, creating a new consistent database, a database repair. Also, since we are dealing with databases, we want to change as little information as possible, so DRSys offers the user two distinct minimality criteria when repairing the database: minimality under set inclusion or minimality under cardinality of operations. We approached the database repairing problem by using the capacity of problem solving offered by Answer Set Programming (ASP), which benefits from the simple specification of problems, and the existence of “Solvers” that solve those problems in an efficient manner. DRSys is a database repair application that was built on top of the database management system PostgreSQL. Furthermore, we developed a graphical user interface, to aid the user in the whole process of defining new integrity constraints and in the process of database repairing. We evaluate the performance and scalability of DRSys, by presenting several tests in different situations, exploring particular features of it as well, in order to understand the scalability of DRSys

The Potential of Mushroom Extracts to Improve Chemotherapy Efficacy in Cancer Cells: A Systematic Review

Chemoresistance is a challenge in cancer treatment, limiting the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Mushroom extracts have shown potential as treatments for cancer therapies, offering a possible solution to overcome chemoresistance. This systematic review aimed to explore the role of mushroom extracts in enhancing chemotherapy and reversing chemoresistance in cancer cells. We searched the PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases, following the PRISMA guidelines, and registered on PROSPERO. The extracts acted by inhibiting the proliferation of cancer cells, as well as enhancing the effect of chemotherapy. The mechanisms by which they acted included regulating anti-apoptotic proteins, inhibiting the JAK2/STAT3 pathway, inhibiting the ERK1/2 pathway, modulating microRNAs and regulating p-glycoprotein. These results highlight the potential of mushroom extracts to modulate multiple mechanisms in order to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy. This work sheds light on the use of mushroom extracts as an aid to chemotherapy to combat chemoresistance. Although studies are limited, the diversity of mushrooms and their bioactive compounds show promising results for innovative strategies to treat cancer more effectively. It is crucial to carry out further studies to better understand the therapeutic potential of mushroom extracts to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy in cancer cells.The Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário (CESPU) is gratefully acknowledged for the PhD grant, no. BD/DCB/CESPU/01/2023, to Jéssica Fonseca.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Histology-agnostic drugs: a paradigm shift: a narrative review

© The Author(s) 2022. 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/.Cancer diagnosis and therapeutics have been traditionally based on pathologic classification at the organ of origin. The availability of an unprecedented amount of clinical and biologic data provides a unique window of opportunity for the development of new drugs. What was once treated as a homogeneous disease with a one-size-fits-all approach was shown to be a rather heterogeneous condition, with multiple targetable mutations that can vary during the course of the disease. Clinical trial designs have had to adapt to the exponential growth of targetable mechanisms and new agents, with ensuing challenges that are closer to those experienced with rare diseases and orphan medicines. To face these problems, precision/enrichment and other novel trial designs have been developed, and the concept of histology-agnostic targeted therapeutic agents has emerged. Patients are selected for a specific agent based on specific genomic or molecular alterations, with the same compound used to potentially treat a multiplicity of cancers, granted that the actionable driver alteration is present. There are currently approved drugs for such indications, but this approach has raised issues on multiple levels. This review aims to address the challenges of this new concept and provide insights into possible solutions and frameworks on how to tackle them.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

O amor ao mundo, o amor do mundo: diálogo (im)pertinente entre Albert Camus e Hannah Arendt

Palavras-chave criadas pelo pesquisador do Projeto PROGRAD/DIREN/UFU 2016-2017 Historiografia e pesquisa discente: as monografias dos graduandos em História da UFU.Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Graduação)Esta pesquisa é sobre o amor ao mundo. Busco estabelecer um diálogo sobre esta temática entre dois filósofos contemporâneos: Albert Camus (1913-1960) e Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). Albert Camus, através do conceito de "homem revoltado" e Arendt, que elege a natalidade como a categoria central de sua compreensão da política, nos mostram que os homens - seres mortais habitantes de um mundo imortal – ao decidirem amar a Terra e fazer dela sua morada podem construir um mundo que desafie a condição humana e a desminta. A ação pode dar um sentido à existência humana que nem a morte, a maior de todas as injustiças, pode destruir

Minha amiga, a loucura: análise da amizade no Acompanhamento Terapêutico

The present work investigates the especificities in Therapeutic Accompaniment (TA), taking it into consideration as a part of clinics work in comunities, that depend on them to build its analytical work. Seeking then reflections upon the relationship between counsellor and patient. The main aim is to discuss friendship in a therapeutic relationship, understanding it as a booster for the patient to deal with madness and psychic pain. The theoretical basis I used in the discussion are Julieta Jeruzalinsky's texts about TA and Fábio Araújo's texts about friendship in clinics. In addition, I introduce the deleuzian idea of line of flight to comprehend the therapeutic process of TA's interdependence with the paths took in cities. It is noticed all the way along the text the importance of bonding with patients in therapeutic relationships in order to provide them more comfort. Is is recognized that a friendship relationship between counselor and patient opens up new possibilities to feel and understand anguish and madness.Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Graduação)O presente trabalho investiga as especificidades do Acompanhamento Terapêutico (AT), compreendendo-o como uma corrente clínica que está inserida em uma comunidade e depende dela para a construção de seu trabalho analítico; e busca reflexões acerca da relação entre acompanhante e acompanhado. Sobretudo, objetiva discutir a importância da amizade inserida numa relação terapêutica, e entende-se que ela é, muitas vezes, promotora de condições que possibilitam a criação de novos recursos para enfrentar a loucura e o sofrimento psíquico. Para tal discussão, embasamo-nos nos textos de Julieta Jeruzalinsky acerca do AT, nos textos de Fábio Araújo que trata da amizade na clínica. Além disso, retomamos a ideia deleuziana das linhas de fuga para entender a interdependência entre o processo terapêutico do AT e os caminhos tomados na cidade. Ao longo do texto percebe-se a importância de um fazer clínico que propicie uma relação de proximidade e conforto. Entende-se que uma relação, que privilegia a amizade entre terapeuta e paciente, abre espaço para novas formas de sentir e entender a angústia e a loucura

Maximum drawdown: models and applications

Financial series may possess fractal dimensions which would induce cycles of many different durations. This inherent characteristic would explain the turbulent cascades in stock markets when strong local dependence is observed. A drawdown is defined as the percentual accumulated loss due to a sequence of drops in the price of an investment. It is collected over non-fixed time intervals and its duration is also a random variable. The maximum drawdown occuring during a fixed investment horizon is a flexible measure that may provide a different perception of the risk and price flow of an investment. In this paper we propose statistical models from the extreme value theory for the severity and duration of the maximum drawdown. Our empirical results indicate that there may exist a relation between the pattern of the GARCH volatility of an investment and the fluctuations of the severity of the maximum drawdown and that, typically, extreme (but not outlying) maximum drawdowns occur during stress periods of high volatility. We suggest applications for the maximum drawdown, including the computation of the Maximum Drawdown-at-Risk with exceedance probability α, and the classification of investments according to their performance when controlling losses via the maximum drawdown.Indisponível