Integrated Multimodal Transportation Dashboard

Na área dos sistemas de transportes atualmente existem vários sistemas inteligentes que permitem a monitorização, controlo e outras funções relevantes para um dado tipo de transportes. Entretanto, o tratamento individualizado dos diferentes modos, não favorece a geração de políticas e mecanismos integrados de gestão de transporte multimodal; são pouquíssimas as soluções que juntam diferentes tipos de transportes numa só aplicação. Surgiu, portanto, a necessidade dum painel de monitorização multimodal, que permitirá unir vários tipos de sistemas de transportes e fornecerá a visão geral para a observação se todos os sistemas estão funcionais e operantes a um nível de serviço aceitável. Uma vez que tais sistemas fornecem serviços e dados de alcance diferente e com os níveis de qualidade e detalhes variáveis, a detecção de funcionamento abnormal dum sistema é um desafio que requer a identificação, aplicação, adaptação ou criação de métricas de funcionamento normal para cada sistema de transportes, tendo como base os dados fornecidos por protocolos utilizados por ITSs integrados na solução. Este problema é abordado por projeto "Integrated Multimodal Transportation Dashboard" ou Painel Integrado de Monitorização de Transportes Multimodais em Portugues que tem como objetivo a elaboração dum protótipo funcional de uma ferramenta para a monitorização de transportes multimodais.At present time there exist various intelligent systems in Transportation area that permit monitoring, control and other relevant functionalities for a given transport means. However, individual solutions for different transport means don't favor multimodal transport management; there are a very few solutions that combine different transport types in one application. Therefore, a need for a multimodal supervision dashboard arouse - a dashboard that would permit to combine transportation systems of different types and that would provide a comprehensive view in order to observe whether all the systems are functional and operating at an acceptable Level of Service (LOS). Since these systems supply services and data of different scope and varied detail and quality levels, the detection of an abnormal functioning of a certain transportation system is a challenge. It requires identification, application, adaptation or creation of metrics for each transportation system functioning. The metrics should be based on the data supplied by the protocols used by the ITSs integrated in the solution. This problem is addressed by the project "Integrated Multimodal Transportation Dashboard" and has as an aim the elaboration of a functional prototype of a tool for the monitoring of multimodal transports

Performance of anaerobic-aerobic packed-bed reactor in the treatment of domestic sewage

Este artigo relata a avaliação do desempenho de um reator anaeróbio-aeróbio, preenchido com espuma de poliuretano, para tratamento de esgoto sanitário. Inicialmente, foram testados diferentes tempos de detenção hidráulica (TDH) no reator que operou apenas em condições anaeróbias. Em seguida, foi operado o reator combinado anaeróbio-aeróbio. O melhor resultado para o reator em operação exclusivamente anaeróbia foi para o TDH de 10 horas, no qual se conseguiu reduzir a DQO de 389 ± 70 mg/L para 137 ± 16 mg/L. Para o reator anaeróbio-aeróbio, a DQO foi reduzida de 259 ± 69 mg/L para 93 ± 31 mg/L para TDH de 12 h (6 h no estágio anaeróbio e 6 h no aeróbio). A comparação de todos os resultados obtidos evidenciou a importância do pós-tratamento aeróbio na remoção de parcela de matéria orgânica não removida em tratamento unicamente anaeróbio.This paper reports on the performance evaluation of an upflow anaerobic-aerobic reactor, filled with polyurethane matrices, for domestic sewage treatment. Initially, different hydraulic retention times were assayed with the reactor operating exclusively in anaerobic condition. Afterwards, anaerobic-aerobic combined reactor was operated. The anaerobic operation with HRT of 10 h provided the best organic matter removal with COD reduction from 389 ± 70 mg/L to 137 ± 16 mg/L. Under anaerobic-aerobic condition, the COD dropped from 259 ± 69 mg/L to 93 ± 31 mg/L with HRT of 12 h (6 h in anaerobic and 6 h in aerobic stages). Finally, comparing all the obtained results, it was possible to verify the importance of the aerobic post treatment in the removal of part of the organic matter not removed in an exclusively anaerobic treatment

Senderos económicos

La economía argentina se ha caracterizado por transitar senderos a lo largo de su historia que desorientaron al saber convencional. El análisis generalizado en el mundo de varios investigadores es que existen casos particulares que se alejan de los parámetros comunes del resto de los países. Un ejemplo es Japón, una potencia mundial con escasos recursos naturales. El otro, que ha circulado por los ámbitos académicos internacionales y que se ha popularizado, es la Argentina, un país que, dadas sus riquezas, su escasa población y la calidad de sus recursos humanos, posee las condiciones para ser estable y pujante. Sin embargo, su destino han sido las crisis recurrentes, de todo tipo y color. Existen varias lecturas para acercarse a las razones de la frustración de la experiencia argentina, desde motivos políticos, sociales y culturales, hasta razones que se pueden remontar a su origen histórico como nación. Pero para acercarse a la cuestión económica y a la fatalidad de su inestabilidad, resulta necesario precisar que la Argentina ha tenido en su historia moderna, con sus obvios matices de época, tres etapas bien definidas: el denominado modelo agroexportador (1880-1930), el modelo de industrialización por sustitución de importaciones (1930-1975) y el modelo rentísticofinanciero (1976-2001). No se trata de esquemas cerrados, sino que en cada uno de ellos se manifiestan rasgos de los otros.Sección: Proyecto Nacional y Diseño IndustrialFacultad de Bellas Arte

Senderos económicos

La economía argentina se ha caracterizado por transitar senderos a lo largo de su historia que desorientaron al saber convencional. El análisis generalizado en el mundo de varios investigadores es que existen casos particulares que se alejan de los parámetros comunes del resto de los países. Un ejemplo es Japón, una potencia mundial con escasos recursos naturales. El otro, que ha circulado por los ámbitos académicos internacionales y que se ha popularizado, es la Argentina, un país que, dadas sus riquezas, su escasa población y la calidad de sus recursos humanos, posee las condiciones para ser estable y pujante. Sin embargo, su destino han sido las crisis recurrentes, de todo tipo y color. Existen varias lecturas para acercarse a las razones de la frustración de la experiencia argentina, desde motivos políticos, sociales y culturales, hasta razones que se pueden remontar a su origen histórico como nación. Pero para acercarse a la cuestión económica y a la fatalidad de su inestabilidad, resulta necesario precisar que la Argentina ha tenido en su historia moderna, con sus obvios matices de época, tres etapas bien definidas: el denominado modelo agroexportador (1880-1930), el modelo de industrialización por sustitución de importaciones (1930-1975) y el modelo rentísticofinanciero (1976-2001). No se trata de esquemas cerrados, sino que en cada uno de ellos se manifiestan rasgos de los otros.Sección: Proyecto Nacional y Diseño IndustrialFacultad de Bellas Arte

An optimized methodology for whole genome sequencing of RNA respiratory viruses from nasopharyngeal aspirates

Over the last decade, the number of viral genome sequences deposited in available databases has grown exponentially. However, sequencing methodology vary widely and many published works have relied on viral enrichment by viral culture or nucleic acid amplification with specific primers rather than through unbiased techniques such as metagenomics. The genome of RNA viruses is highly variable and these enrichment methodologies may be difficult to achieve or may bias the results. In order to obtain genomic sequences of human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) from positive nasopharyngeal aspirates diverse methodologies were evaluated and compared. A total of 29 nearly complete and complete viral genomes were obtained. The best performance was achieved with a DNase I treatment to the RNA directly extracted from the nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA), sequence-independent single-primer amplification (SISPA) and library preparation performed with Nextera XT DNA Library Prep Kit with manual normalization. An average of 633,789 and 1,674,845 filtered reads per library were obtained with MiSeq and NextSeq 500 platforms, respectively. The higher output of NextSeq 500 was accompanied by the increasing of duplicated reads percentage generated during SISPA (from an average of 1.5% duplicated viral reads in MiSeq to an average of 74% in NextSeq 500). HRSV genome recovery was not affected by the presence or absence of duplicated reads but the computational demand during the analysis was increased. Considering that only samples with viral load E+06 copies/ml NPA were tested, no correlation between sample viral loads and number of total filtered reads was observed, nor with the mapped viral reads. The HRSV genomes showed a mean coverage of 98.46% with the best methodology. In addition, genomes of human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human rhinovirus (HRV) and human parainfluenza virus types 1–3 (HPIV1-3) were also obtained with the selected optimal methodology.Fil: Goya, Stephanie. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Valinotto, Laura Elena. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tittarelli, Estefanía. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rojo, Gabriel Lihue. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Nabaes Jodar, Mercedes Soledad. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Greninger, Alexander L.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Zaiat, Jonathan Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Marti, Marcelo Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mistchenko, Alicia Susana. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Viegas, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; Argentin

Effect of ammonia load on efficiency of nitrogen removal in an SBBR with liquid-phase circulation

The removal of biological nitrogen from a synthetic wastewater with different ammonium nitrogen concentrations (50 and 100 mgN-NH4+/L) by a nitrification and denitrification process using a sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) with liquid-phase circulation was studied. The system with a total working volume of 4.6 L (3.7 L in the reactor and 0.9 L in the reservoir) treated 2.1 L of synthetic wastewater in 12-h cycles. As inoculum two types of biomass were used: an anaerobic/anoxic one from an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB) and an aerobic one from a prolonged aeration activated sludge system. The system, maintained at 30 ± 1 ºC, operated in batch mode followed by fed-batch mode and was aerated intermittently. During fed-batch operation the reactor was fed with an external carbon source as electron donor in the denitrifying step and with no aeration. When the reactor was fed with 50 mgN-NH4+/L, efficiencies of removal of ammonium nitrogen and total nitrogen from the effluent were 93.8 and 72.2%, respectively, and nitrite, nitrate and organic nitrogen concentrations were 0.07, 6.4 and 0.5 mg/L, respectively. On the other hand, when the influent ammonium nitrogen concentration was 100 mgN-NH4+/L, residual nitrite and nitrate were 0.17 and 20.4, respectively, and no N-Org was found in the effluent. It should be mentioned that residual nitrate remained unaltered at the different C/N ratios used. Consequently, efficiency of total nitrogen removal was reduced to 66.7%, despite efficiency of ammonium nitrogen removal exceeding 90%. These results show the potential of the proposed system in removing ammonium nitrogen from liquid effluents with a moderate ammonium nitrogen concentration.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Inovação e rendibilidade: o caso das empresas do setor têxtil português

Mestrado em Finanças EmpresariaisEste estudo tem como principal objetivo analisar o contributo da inovação para a rendibilidade empresarial. A revisão da literatura permite identificar um conjunto de atributos que condicionam a rendibilidade (inovação, globalização, vantagens/estratégias competitivas, parcerias/alianças, formação de clusters, empreendedorismo e internacionalização, entre outros), centrando-se este estudo na inovação. A inovação constitui-se o elemento-chave para a melhoria de desempenho das empresas, na medida em que permite agregar valor aos produtos, diferenciá-los dos restantes e aceder a novos conhecimentos e mercados, permite, melhorar os processos, diferenciar os produtos/serviços face aos concorrentes, constituindo-se, deste modo, num fator dinamizador da rendibilidade empresarial. A realização do presente estudo sugere que as empresas inovadoras apresentam maior rendibilidade. Constatou-se também que quanto maior é a dimensão da empresa e a relevância dos mercados externos no seu volume de negócios, maior é a propensão para inovar.Abstract: The main objective of this study's is to analyze the contribution of innovation to corporate profitability. The revision of literature identifies a set of attributes that affect profitability (innovation, globalization, advantages/competitive strategies, partnerships/alliances, clustering, entrepreneurship and internationalization, among others), this study is focused on innovation The innovation constitutes the key element to improving corporate performance, as it allows adding value to products, distinguishing them from the others and access new markets and knowledge, allows, improve processes, differentiate products / services from their competitors, becoming thus a factor to foster corporate profitability. The completion of this study suggests that innovative firms have higher profitability. It was also found that the greater the size of the company and the importance of foreign markets in its turnover, the greater the propensity to innovate