The mobile context framework: providing context to mobile applications

The spread of mobile devices in modern societies has forced the industry to create software paradigms to meet the new challenges it faces. Some of these challenges are the huge heterogeneity of devices or the quick changes of users’ context. In this scenario, context becomes a key element, enabling mobile applications to be user centric and adapt to user requirements. The Mobile Context Framework, proposed in this paper, is a contribution to solve some of these challenges. Using Web servers running on the devices, context data can be provided to web applications. Besides the framework’s architecture, a prototype is presented as proof of concept of the platform’s potential.This work is funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER- 015095

Thermoelectric and structural properties of transparent Sb-Doped ZnO thin films sputtered in a confocal geometry

This study focuses on understanding the influence of low Sb doping on ZnO’s electrical, optical, and thermoelectrical properties, while also studying its structural and morphological parameters. For this, several ZnO films with varying Sb target current densities, in the range of 0–0.27 mA/cm2, were produced by DC magnetron sputtering in a confocal geometry. As a result, thin ZnO:Sb films with an average transparency in the visible region greater than 80% are obtained, revealing for optimized conditions an absolute Seebeck coefficient of 100 µV/K and a respective power factor of 1.1 mW·m−1·K−2 at 300 K, effectively modifying the electrical, optical, and thermoelectrical properties of the material and ensuring its suitability for heat harvesting applications. From atom probe tomography experiments, a larger Zn content is registered at triple junctions of the grain boundary, which matches the approximately 25 nm crystallite grain size derived from the X-ray diffraction analysis.This research is funded by FCT/PIDDAC through the Strategic Funds project reference UIDB/04650/2020-2023. Joana M. Ribeiro is grateful to the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) for the Ph.D grant SFRH/BD/147221/2019. This work (proposal ID 2021-025-030112) was carried out with the support of the Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility (KNMFi, www.knmf.kit.edu, accessed on 8 March 2023), a Helmholtz Research Infrastructure at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, www.kit.edu, accessed on 8 March 2023)

An in vitro dynamic model of catheter-associated urinary tract infections to investigate the role of uncommon bacteria on the Escherichia coli microbial consortium

About 9% of nosocomial infections are attributed to catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). Uncommon bacteria (Delftia tusurhatensis) have been isolated in CAUTIs in combination with wellestablished pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli. Nonetheless, the reason why E. coli coexists with other bacteria instead of outcompeting and completely eliminating them are unknown. As such, a flow cell reactor simulating the hydrodynamic conditions found in CAUTIs (shear rate of 15 s-1) was used to characterize the microbial physiology of E. coli and D. tsuruhatensis individually and in consortium, in terms of growth kinetics and substrate uptake. Single-species biofilms showed that up to 48 h the CFU counts significantly increased for both species (p<0.05). After 48 h, both species stabilized with similar CFU values reaching log 6.24 CFU.cm2 for E. coli and log 6.31 CFU.cm2 for D. tsuruhatensis (p>0.05). The assessment of spatial distribution of dual-species biofilms by LNA/2´OMe-FISH revealed that E. coli and D. tsuruhatensis coexist and tend to co-aggregate over time, which implies that bacteria are able to cooperate synergistically. Substrate uptake measurements revealed that in artificial urine medium the bacteria metabolized lactic acid, uric acid (E. coli and D. tsuruhatensis) and citric acid (D. tsuruhatensis). In the consortium, D. tsuruhatensis consumed citric acid more rapidly, presumably leaving more uric acid available in the medium to be used by E. coli. In conclusion, metabolic cooperation between E. coli and uncommon species seems to occur when these species share the same environment, leading to the formation of a stable microbial community

Photocatalytic Bi2O3/TiO2:N thin films with enhanced surface area and visible light activity

Bi2O3 nanocone films functionalized with an overlayer of TiO2 were deposited by d.c. reactive magnetron sputtering. The aforementioned nanocone structures were formed via a vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) growth, starting from a catalytic bismuth seed layer. The resultant nanocones exhibit an improved surface area, measured by atomic force microscopy, when compared to non-VLS deposition of the same metal oxide. X-ray diffraction texture analysis enabled the determination of the crystallographic β-phase of Bi2O3. A very thin TiO2 overlayer (6 nm thick), undoped and doped with nitrogen, was deposited onto the nanocones template, in order to functionalize these structures with a photocatalytic, self-cleaning, cap material. N-doped TiO2 overlayers increased the selective absorption of visible light due to nitrogen doping in the anatase cell, thus, resulting in a concomitant increase in the overall photocatalytic efficiency.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the project “NANOPURIFY—Development of photocatalytic panels for air treatment units, Vieira & Lopes Lda.”, with the reference 024121, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (COMPETE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement. Filipe C. Correia acknowledges the financial support from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) for the Ph.D grant SFRH/BD/111720/2015

Experimental comparison of fiber optic parametric, Raman and erbium amplifiers for burst traffic for extended reach PONs

We experimentally compare the performance of a polarization-independent fiber optic parametric amplifier (FOPA), a discrete Raman amplifier and a commercial erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) for burst traffic amplification in extended reach passive optical networks (PON). We demonstrate that EDFA and Raman amplifiers suffer from severe transient effects, causing penalty on receiver sensitivity >5 dB for traffic bursts of 10 Gbps on-off keying signal shorter than 10 µs. On the other hand, we demonstrate that FOPA does not introduce a penalty on receiver sensitivity when amplifying signal bursts as short as 5 µs as compared to a non-burst signal. Therefore, FOPA used as a drop-in replacement for an EDFA or Raman amplifier allows us to improve receiver sensitivity by >3 dB for short signal bursts. We conclude that FOPA allows substantially increased power budget for an extended reach PON transmitting variable duration bursts. In addition, we identify the maximum burst duration tolerated by each examined amplifier

Influence of non-allergenic fining agents on white wine phenolic and volatile composition

White wine fining is important to stabilize wine colour by removing phenolic compounds. The choice of oenological products is important since consumers are concerned regarding food safety. Due to allergic reaction problems by some consumers, together with the restriction of EU legislation [1], non-allergenic fining agents are being developed in detriment of traditionally used. However, the impact these fining agents on wine phenolic and volatile compounds are not well known. This work aims to evaluate the impact of six fining agents (one traditionally used potassium caseinate and five non-allergens) on wine phenolic and volatile compounds as well as on the sensory profile of a white wine from the Douro Region. All non-allergenic fining agents tested prevent the browning capacity. This could be related to the decrease in white wine colour observed. Sensory analysis indicated that only the wines treated with potassium caseinate and polyvinylpolypyrrolidone showed a significant decrease in colour attribute.Supported by FCT project UID/AGR/04033/2013, CQ-VR, FCT funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Additional thanks to the Project NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000038 (I&D INNOVINE&WINE – Innovation Platform of Vine & Wine).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lepidópteros tortricídeos em pomares de pomóideas e de prunóideas da Beira Interior

Comunicação apresentada no 6.º Encontro Nacional de Protecção Integrada que decorreu em Castelo Branco, na Escola Superior Agrária do Instituto Poliécnico de Castelo Branco, de 14 a 16 de Maio de 2003, no âmbito do painel sobre Prunóideas.Neste trabalho são apresentados resultados de uma prospecção relativa às espécies de tortricídeos fitófagos de pomares de pomóideas e de prunóideas, na Beira Interior. O trabalho reporta-se a dados obtidos no ano de 2002, tendo sido utilizadas armadilhas sexuais para as capturas de adultos e observação visual para a detecção de larvas. As espécies monitorizadas foram: Adoxophyes orana, Cacoecimorpha pronubana, Pandemis heparana, Pandemis ribeana (=cerasana) e Cydia molesta. Das cinco espécies monitorizadas apenas houve capturas de Cacoecimorpha pronubana e de Pandemis heparana. Relativamente a estas duas espécies são apresentadas curvas de voo. Embora tenham sido detectados frutos com a sintomatologia característica do ataque destas espécies, não foram encontradas larvas, sugerindo populações economicamente insignificantes no ano de 2002

Development and application of Peptide Nucleic Acid Fluorescence in situ Hybridization for the specific detection of Listeria monocytogenes

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2018.12.009.Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most important foodborne pathogens due to the high hospitalization and mortality rates associated to an outbreak. Several new molecular methods that accelerate the identification of L. monocytogenes have been developed, however conventional culture-based methods still remain the gold standard. In this work we developed a novel Peptide Nucleic Acid Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (PNA-FISH) method for the specific detection of L. monocytogenes. The method was based on an already existing PNA probe, LmPNA1253, coupled with a novel blocker probe in a 1:2 ratio. The method was optimized for the detection of L. monocytogenes in food samples through an evaluation of several rich and selective enrichment broths. The best outcome was achieved using One Broth Listeria in a two-step enrichment of 24h plus 18h. For validation in food samples, ground beef, ground pork, milk, lettuce and cooked shrimp were artificially contaminated with two ranges of inoculum: a low level (0.22CFU/25g or mL) and a high level (210CFU/25g or mL). The PNA-FISH method performed well in all types of food matrices, presenting an overall accuracy of 99% and a detection limit of 0.5CFU/25g or mL of food sample.Nuno R. da Silva acknowledges the financial support byFundac¸ ão para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) of the Portuguese’s Min-istry for Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES), in theframework of the POCH – Programa Operacional Capital Humano,co-funded by the European Social Fund (SFRH/BD/111825/2015).This work was also supported by FCT under the scope ofthe strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469 unit and COMPETE2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte opera-tion (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the EuropeanRegional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Pro-grama Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MODELA DBT: Model-driven elaboration language applied to dynamic binary translation

Industrial solutions design is a highly complex topic due to the challenge of integrating multiple technologies into a single solution, the inherent complexity of the problems to be solved and also because the proposed solutions often require a great level of interoperability among their components and also the outside world. Dynamic Binary Translation has been used as a tool to deal with such interoperability issues, e.g., legacy support, virtualization and secure execution, among others. However its integration in the industry as an end-product is hampered by the intricate variability management required in this subject. To address these issues and in an attempt to power DBT utilization as an interoperability-providing tool, we propose a model-driven DSL modeling language for DBT architectures. The developed DSL proved to be efficient to model an in-house DBT engine, and MODELA DBT, a framework for ready-to-use DBT solutions was obtained. MODELA DBT provides design validation, easy configuration of customizable DBT parameters and components, as well as code generation features.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-Ol-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e figuration granularity, code generation efficiency and design verification. Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. F. Salgado is supported by FCT (grant SFRH/BD/81681/2011)