Demand Response Programs Design and Use Considering Intensive Penetration of Distributed Generation

Further improvements in demand response programs implementation are needed in order to take full advantage of this resource, namely for the participation in energy and reserve market products, requiring adequate aggregation and remuneration of small size resources. The present paper focuses on SPIDER, a demand response simulation that has been improved in order to simulate demand response, including realistic power system simulation. For illustration of the simulator’s capabilities, the present paper is proposes a methodology focusing on the aggregation of consumers and generators, providing adequate tolls for the demand response program’s adoption by evolved players. The methodology proposed in the present paper focuses on a Virtual Power Player that manages and aggregates the available demand response and distributed generation resources in order to satisfy the required electrical energy demand and reserve. The aggregation of resources is addressed by the use of clustering algorithms, and operation costs for the VPP are minimized. The presented case study is based on a set of 32 consumers and 66 distributed generation units, running on 180 distinct operation scenarios

Impact of drought periods on hydroelectric production in Portugal: A Study from 2015 to 2017

The production of hydroelectric power is strongly affected due to periods of drought. In Portugal there are about forty-nine hydroelectric plants with installed capacity of more than 10MW. In the year 2017 the generation of electricity in Portugal was 54.52 TWh, of which about 14% was hydroelectric production reflecting a year below normal in hydroelectric power production. This article discusses the impact of drought periods on hydroelectric power production in Portugal, which address the importance of hydroelectric production in Portugal. Among the factors influencing the production of hydroelectric power, a method is presented for analysis of a dry month through the monthly precipitation indicators, energy production by monthly technology and energy price. These indicators were presented and analyzed in three case studies presented in this article. A solution is also presented to reduce the impact of drought periods on Hydro production.The present work was done and funded in the scope of the following projects: H2020 DREAM-GO Project (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641794); CONTEST Project (P2020 - 23575), and UID/EEA/00760/2019 funded by FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reconstruction of the regulatory network for Bacillus subtilis and reconciliation with gene expression data

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb. 2016.00275We introduce a manually constructed and curated regulatory network model that describes the current state of knowledge of transcriptional regulation of B. subtilis. The model corresponds to an updated and enlarged version of the regulatory model of central metabolism originally proposed in 2008. We extended the original network to the whole genome by integration of information from DBTBS, a compendium of regulatory data that includes promoters, transcription factors (TFs), binding sites, motifs and regulated operons. Additionally, we consolidated our network with all the information on regulation included in the SporeWeb and Subtiwiki community-curated resources on B. subtilis. Finally, we reconciled our network with data from RegPrecise, which recently released their own less comprehensive reconstruction of the regulatory network for B. subtilis. Our model describes 275 regulators and their target genes, representing 30 different mechanisms of regulation such as TFs, RNA switches, Riboswitches and small regulatory RNAs. Overall, regulatory information is included in the model for approximately 2500 of the ~4200 genes in B. subtilis 168. In an effort to further expand our knowledge of B. subtilis regulation, we reconciled our model with expression data. For this process, we reconstructed the Atomic Regulons (ARs) for B. subtilis, which are the sets of genes that share the same ON and OFF gene expression profiles across multiple samples of experimental data. We show how atomic regulons for B. subtilis are able to capture many sets of genes corresponding to regulated operons in our manually curated network. Additionally, we demonstrate how atomic regulons can be used to help expand or validate the knowledge of the regulatory networks by looking at highly correlated genes in the ARs for which regulatory information is lacking. During this process, we were also able to infer novel stimuli for hypothetical genes by exploring the genome expression metadata relating to experimental conditions, gaining insights into novel biology.AG and VF acknowledge funding from the European Union Basynthecproject(BaSynthecFP7-244093)

Power Quality of Renewable Energy Source Systems: A New Paradigm of Electrical Grids

The power quality delivered by the distribution companies to consumers has always been a relevant issue, especially to industrial consumers, where power quality is directly related to productivity. However, until a few years ago, power quality was mostly synonymous with continuity of service, and the main concern was the minimization of power interruptions. Since the last decade of the twentieth century, power quality has become a strategic issue for all sectors involved in this market, from distribution companies to consumers, with a particular emphasis on industrial consumers as well as equipment manufacturers. The concept of power quality involves a wide range of electromagnetic phenomena that can occur in the power grid. Such changes may occur in different parts of the electrical power system, at customer facilities, or in the distribution network. In recent years, the electric power market has undergone huge transformations, electricity production has become decentralized, and consumers (who can now also be producers) have the opportunity to choose their supplier. The integration of renewable-based microgeneration systems into distribution grids has brought various disturbances to the grid (harmonics, voltage unbalance, voltage fluctuations, frequency deviations, etc.), leading to increasingly degraded power quality. This Special Issue focuses on the analysis of the consequences that renewables-based microgeneration systems have on power networks by finding new solutions for networks management (network optimization models, efficiency, and losses), integrating consumers and micro-producers in order to keep quality parameters at high levels. In this Special Issue, we can see that the interdisciplinarity of these issues is very present among researchers and scholars, who are well aware of the importance and impact that the new paradigm of network management brings in various domains, reflecting on the quality of the contributions submitted. Accordingly, the papers selected for publication cover a wide range of application topics, including electrical mobility, energy storage systems, facility management and control, impact analysis of different types of renewable energy sources, with focus on wind and solar generation, in both low-voltage (LV) and medium-voltage (MV) networks.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mapeamento e melhoria de processos no Departamento de Investigação e Desenvolvimento da Continental Mabor

No mercado atual é fundamental as empresas adotarem estratégias por forma a possibilitar a melhoria dos métodos utilizados pelas mesmas. Uma das estratégias utilizadas com essa finalidade é a standardização de processos. Com a crescente importância das Tecnologias da Informação no desenvolvimento das tarefas diárias nas empresas, tornou-se vital organizar o fluxo de informação de forma simples e clara, de fácil acesso e percetível para todos os envolvidos no processo. Desta forma, mecanismos de retenção de informação, como a documentação de processos assumem um papel fundamental na organização do fluxo de informação. Com esta finalidade, BPMN foi adotado devido à sua valia como ferramenta para mapear processos. Por outro lado, Lean é uma filosofia que se foca na redução de desperdícios e, com a sua aplicação pretendia-se a eliminação de atividades que não acrescentam valor, bem como redundâncias associadas aos processos. Neste documento foram combinados os benefícios da implementação de BPMN combinado com Lean num departamento de Investigação e Desenvolvimento e da importância de alcançar a standardização e a documentação de processos bem como a disponibilização de forma simples e clara da informação necessária para o trabalho desenvolvido nesse departamento. Para além disso, foi efetuada a medição de tempos dos processos em estudo, por forma a obter a capacidade do departamento. Deste modo, foram sendo realizadas reuniões com a equipa do departamento ao longo do projeto com o objetivo de validação da informação. No final, foram realizados questionários e desenvolvidos testes de hipóteses por forma a avaliar o trabalho desenvolvido.In today’s market, it’s essential that companies adopt strategies, in order to be able to improve the methods used by them. One of the adopted strategies for this purpose is process standardization. With the growing influence of Information Technology in the development of daily tasks in companies, it’s crucial to organize the information flow in a simple and clear way, easy to access and perceptible to all involved in the process. This way, information retention mechanisms, such as process documentation takes an important role in the organization of information flow. With this purpose, BPMN was adopted due to its value as a tool to map processes. Meanwhile, Lean is a philosophy that focuses on waste reduction and with its application was intended to eliminate activities that doesn’t add value, as well as redundancies associated with the processes. In this document, will be studied the benefits of implementing BPMN combined with Lean in a Research and Development department, and the importance of achieving standardization and process documentation. As well as the provision of a simple and clear way the needed information for the work developed under the department. On the other hand, time measurements should be carried out to determinate the capacity of the department. This way, meetings with department team were held throughout the project to validate the information. Finally, questionnaires were carried out and hypothesis tests were developed in order to evaluate the work developed.Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industria

Modeling microbes: New methods for integrated metabolic and regulatory network reconstruction

PhD Thesis in BioengineeringThe reconstruction of genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) from genome functional annotations is, nowadays, a routine practice in Systems Biology (SB) research. The models have been successfully used to predict organisms’ behavior, gene essentiality, growth phenotypes and to aid strain optimization via metabolic engineering strategies. As the community acknowledges the usefulness of GEMs, they also present limitations, most notably the inability to account for the impact of regulation on the metabolic activity. The overall objective of this thesis was to reconstruct and perform in silico phenotype simulations for integrated models of metabolism and regulation. The number of genomes available in the public domain increased exponentially in the last decade. The overwhelming amount of data led to the introduction of automated pipelines for genome annotation, also facilitating the propagation of annotation inconsistencies from public repositories. In this work, we explore the use of GEMs as tools for annotation curation. A protocol for annotation curation with metabolic network reconstructions was designed and applied to the genus Brucella. The high-throughput reconstruction and analysis of genome-scale transcriptional regulatory networks is a current challenge in SB research. In this work, the model organism Bacillus subtilis was chosen as a case study and a new manually curated network for its transcriptional regulation was introduced. We proposed a new methodology for the inference of regulatory interactions from gene expression data. The newly proposed methodology dubbed “atomic regulon inference” was shown to capture many sets of genes corresponding to regulatory units in the manually curated network. Following this line of work, based on the proposed regulatory transcriptional regulatory network for B. subtilis, we introduced an integrated genome-scale model for the metabolism and transcriptional regulation in B. subtilis. Model validation was performed with in silico growth phenotype simulations for mutant strains described in the literature. The integrated model was able to predict transcription factor knockouts for growth in multiple environmental conditions, expanding the predictive capabilities of the metabolic model by itself.A reconstrução de modelos metabólicos à escala genómica (MMEGs) a partir de anotações funcionais do genoma é, hoje em dia, uma prática comum na investigação em Biologia de Sistemas (BS). Estes modelos foram usados com sucesso para prever o comportamento de organismos, essencialidade de genes, fenótipos de crescimento e na optimização estirpes bacterianas com estratégias de engenharia metabólica. Com o reconhecimento pela comunidade da utilidade de MMEGs, várias limitações foram identificadas, principalmente a incapacidade destes modelos explicarem o impacto da regulação de genes na actividade metabólica. O objetivo global desta tese foi a reconstrução e execução de simulações de fenótipo in silico para modelos que integram metabolismo e regulação. O número de genomas disponíveis no domínio público aumentou exponencialmente na última década. Com este aumento exponencial de dados, plataformas para anotação automática de genomas tornaram-se uma necessidade, o que facilita a propagação de inconsistências nas anotações em repositórios públicos. Neste trabalho exploramos o uso MMEGs como ferramentas para melhoramento de anotações. Um protocolo para o melhoramento de anotações com o uso de MMEGs foi desenvolvido neste trabalho e testado na melhoria de anotações do género Brucella. A reconstrução e análise de redes regulatórias de fenómenos de transcrição à escala genómica é um desafio actual na investigação em BS. Neste trabalho, foi efectuada a reconstrução manual da rede regulatória da transcrição para o microrganismo Bacillus subtilis. Um novo método para inferência automática de interações de regulação, a partir de dados de expressão de genes, foi igualmente desenvolvido. Este novo método mostrou ser capaz de inferir interações regulatórias comparáveis às observadas na rede reconstruída manualmente. Com base na rede regulatória proposta para a regulação da transcrição de B. subtilis, desenvolvemos um modelo à escala genómica que integra o metabolismo e regulação da transcrição em B. subtilis. O modelo foi validado com simulações de fenótipo de crescimento in silico para estirpes mutantes descritas na literatura. O modelo integrado foi capaz de prever o efeito da deleção de factores de transcrição no crescimento em várias condições ambientais, ampliando as capacidades de previsão do modelo metabólico por si só.Esta investigação foi financiada pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia através da concessão de uma bolsa de doutoramento (SFRH / BD / 70824 / 2010), co-financiada pelo POPH - QREN - Tipologia 4.1 -Formação Avançada - e comparticipados pelo Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) e por fundos nacionais do Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (MCTES)

Disfunção da trompa de Eustáquio

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2018A trompa de Eustáquio constitui um canal que estabelece uma comunicação dinâmica entre a cavidade do ouvido médio e a nasofaringe. Encontra-se normalmente colapsada, podendo a sua abertura ocorrer mediante processos como o de deglutição, de bocejo, e de espirro. Apresenta como funções principais: a de ventilação, de proteção, e de remoção de secreções da cavidade do ouvido médio. A disfunção da trompa de Eustáquio decorre do comprometimento de pelo menos uma das suas funções, podendo associar-se a lesões do ouvido médio e da membrana timpânica a longo prazo. Ao longo dos últimos séculos, diversas abordagens cirúrgicas foram experimentadas no sentido da correção da disfunção da trompa de Eustáquio, privilegiando a assunção de uma estrutura estática do canal. Atualmente o tratamento da disfunção da trompa de Eustáquio envolve primariamente uma terapêutica conservadora ou médica. Usualmente a terapêutica cirúrgica reserva-se para casos de disfunção crónica e refratária do canal.The Eustachian tube is a channel that establishes a dynamic communication between the middle ear cavity and the nasopharynx. Usually collapsed, its opening may occur through processes such as swallowing, yawning, and sneezing. It presents as main functions: ventilation, protection, and removal of secretions from the middle ear cavity. Eustachian tube dysfunction results from the impairment of at least one of its functions and may be associated with middle ear and tympanic membrane lesions in the long term. Favoring the assumption of a static structure of the canal, several surgical approaches were tried over the past few centuries towards correction of Eustachian tube dysfunction. Currently the treatment of Eustachian tube dysfunction primarily involves conservative or medical therapy. Surgical therapy is usually reserved for cases of chronic and refractory canal dysfunction

Dinâmicas da inserção profissional dos licenciados do ensino superior politécnico: um estudo de caso

O presente artigo apresenta os resultados de um estudo de caso sobre a inserção profissional dos licenciados. Os dados recolhidos apontam para uma situação positiva quanto à relevância da oferta formativa face às opções de recrutamento adoptadas pelas organizações. Esses resultados estão patentes quer na facilidade com que os diplomados se integram no mercado de trabalho, mais de 80% dos diplomados que procura emprego no final da licenciatura obtêm-no num prazo inferior a 6 meses, quer no facto de cerca de 60% dos diplomados que não procuram emprego o fazerem por terem ficado a trabalhar no local em que realizaram o estágio curricular.This article presents the results of a case study on the transition to work of higher education graduates. The data point to a positive situation regarding the relevance of the training offer to meet the recruitment policies adopted by organizations. These results are evident both in the ease with which graduates are included in the labour market, more than 80% of graduates seeking employment at the end of in-degree obtained within less than 6 months, or in fact about 60% of graduates not seeking employment do so because they find their first job on the site where they performed the traineeship