Anonimização automatizada de contratos jurídicos em português

With the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation, many organizations were left with a large amount of documents containing public information that should have been private. Given that we are talking about quite large quantities of documents, it would be a waste of resources to edit them manually. The objective of this dissertation is the development of an autonomous system for the anonymization of sensitive information in contracts written in Portuguese. This system uses Google Cloud Vision, an API to apply the OCR tecnology, to extract any text present in a document. As there is a possibility that these documents are poorly readable, an image pre-processing is done using the OpenCV library to increase the readability of the text present in the images. Among others, the application of binarization, skew correction and noise removal algorithms were explored. Once the text has been extracted, it will be interpreted by an NLP library. In this project we chose to use spaCy, which contains a Portuguese pipeline trained with the WikiNer and UD Portuguese Bosque datasets. This library not only allows a very complete identification of the part of speech, but also contains four different categories of named entity recognition in its model. In addition to the processing carried out using the spaCy library, and since the Portuguese language does not have a great support, some rule-based algorithms were implemented in order to identify other types of more specific information such as identification number and postal codes. In the end, the information considered confidential is covered by a black rectangle drawn by OpenCV through the coordinates returned by Google Cloud Vision OCR and a new PDF is generated.Com a introdução do Regulamento Geral de Proteção de Dados, muitas organizações ficaram com uma grande quantidade de documentos contendo informações públicas que deveriam ser privadas. Dado que estamos a falar de quantidades bastante elevadas de documentos, seria um desperdício de recursos editá-los manualmente. O objetivo desta dissertação é o desenvovimento de um sistema autónomo de anonimização de informação sensível em contratos escritos na língua Portuguesa. Este sistema utiliza a Google Cloud Vision, uma API de OCR, para extrair qualquer texto presente num documento. Como existe a possibilidade desses documentos serem pouco legíveis, é feito um pré-processamento de imagem através da biblioteca OpenCV para aumentar a legibilidade do texto presente nas imagens. Entre outros, foi explorada a aplicação de algoritmos de binarização, correção da inclinação e remoção de ruído. Uma vez extraído o texto, este será interpretado por uma biblioteca de nlp, neste projeto optou-se pelo uso do spaCy, que contém um pipeline português treinado com os conjuntos de dados WikiNer e UD Portuguese Bosque. Esta biblioteca não permite apenas uma identificação bastante completa da parte do discurso, mas também contém quatro categorias diferentes de reconhecimento de entidade nomeada no seu modelo. Para além do processamento efetuado com o recurso à biblioteca de spaCy, e uma vez que a língua portuguesa não tem um grande suporte, foram implementados alguns algoritmos baseados em regras de modo a identificar outros tipos de informação mais especifica como número de identificação e códigos postais. No final, as informações consideradas confidenciais são cobertas por um retângulo preto desenhado pelo OpenCV através das coordenadas retornadas pelo OCR do Google Cloud Vision e será gerado um novo PDF.Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemátic

Analog and digital control of an electronic throttle valve

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 32).Two electronic throttler controllers were designed and implemented for an automotive throttle valve on a four-cylinder, spark-ignition gasoline engine. The first controller was designed using operational amplifiers and other analog componentry to realize a proportional-integral controller and feedback loop. The second controller utilized a programmable digital microcontroller to replace the analog componentry for signal processing. The use of analog to digital signal conversion by the microcontroller allows for the simple implementation of control logic and feedback loops through programming. Additionally, control architecture and characteristic gains implemented in the controller's code can be quickly changed and uploaded during testing. The digital controller was tested on the engine's throttle valve during motoring to demonstrate its actuation capabilities and response times. The digital controller was programmed to quickly switch between different feedback signals like throttle angle, manifold pressure, and indicated mean effective pressure for control. The controller was designed for use in experimental testing of an experimental 2.0 liter, GM EcoTec engine in the Sloan Automotive Laboratory at MIT. This study shows that rapid controller prototyping can be accomplished by using an inexpensive microcontroller for signal processing. This design concept greatly decreases implementation time and performance optimization time, increases controller flexibility and capabilities, and maintains favorable response characteristics.by Tomás V. Martins.S.B

Oral Cancer: from genomic landscape to tumor immunobiology

It is estimated that cancer will cause 9.6 million deaths and 18.1 million new patients diagnosed during 2018. Within this number, over 350 000 have oral tumors with tobacco and alcohol consumption identified as the biggest risk factors. Cancer research is still missing a comprehensive model that mimics human cancer as a whole. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse an experimental model that accurately mimics human cancer. To this end we treated mice with the carcinogen 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide in the drinking water for over 16 weeks. This allowed us to induce differently graded tumors in mice tongue oral cavity. We performed whole-exome sequencing of the tumors and the analysis confirmed similarities with human oral cancer genomic landscape. This study allowed us to gain new insight on the genomic progression of oral cancer and to explore an animal model that mimics not only the histological changes but also the genetic alterations observed in human oral cancer. Previous work has shown that knockout mice for keratin 76 are more susceptible to develop oral cancer due to increased and over-suppressive regulatory T cells in the absence of keratin 76. However, the link between the loss of keratin 76 and these changes in the immune system remains unknown. Keratin 76 is progressively more expressed in mice thymus with aging and there is a parallel with the Hassall’s corpuscles in human thymus. We showed that mice lacking keratin 76 present bigger thymic medullary regions and hypothesise one of the targets in the thymus to be Aire since its expression is reduced in the knockout. This study suggested an important role for keratin 76 in regulating the immune system

Development of a 3-axis MEMS magnetometer based on Lorentz force

Dissertação de mestrado em Physics Engineering, (especialização em Devices, Microsystems and Nanotechnologies)Typical magnetometers found in the magnetic fields research are highly incompatible with the massive MEMS technology industry that has been the object of study in the past years. This aspect leads to the rapid increase in production costs and reliability reduction. Furthermore, most of the magnetometers that are adapted to this technology are highly complex and with little to no adaptation to outer-space research. In this work, a novel single-axis MEMS magnetometer based on the principle of the Lorentz force capable of reading fields in the X or Y direction is designed and simulated with the description of a fabrication method to be used. This magnetometer uses an innovative design for a current-carrying-bar that’s highly adaptable to a variety of scenarios with a low 100Ω current resistance in each of its paths. An amplitude-modulated method is approached through the use of a capacitive-readout system and an off-resonance frequency of operation to achieve the detection baseline of a 1aF capacitive variation at a 20nT magnetic field. This involves the use of various mechanisms to increase the quality factor and reduce the overall stiffness of the device to increase its displacement caused by the Lorentz force. The device is also to be operated at a 500Pa atmosphere to reduce the damping and, at the same time, increase the quality factor. A thermomechanical noise below 3 /√ with a frequency of operation at around 4977 Hz was deemed necessary to adapt the design to another previously designed single-axis MEMS magnetometer capable of reading fields in the Z direction. Various simulation and design tools are used to predetermine the best properties at which the magnetometer will be operated to its highest capabilities. Through these simulations, a 50Hz bandwidth magnetometer, required for spatial research, is achieved with a capacitance variation of 1.37aF at 20nT surpassing the initial requirements. A 1.77 /√ thermomechanical noise is obtained, well below the baseline that was defined for this work. A fabrication layout was developed with all lithography masks designed, and a microfabrication process flow was devised. The microfabrication process run was partially completed and it’s still ongoing.Os magnetómetros típicos encontrados na investigação de campos magnéticos são altamente incompatíveis com a enorme indústria da tecnologia MEMS que tem sido objeto de estudo nos últimos anos. Este aspeto leva ao rápido aumento dos custos de produção e à redução da fiabilidade. Para além disso a maioria dos magnetómetros adaptados a esta tecnologia são altamente complexos e com pouca ou nenhuma adaptação à investigação espacial. Neste trabalho, um novo magnetómetro MEMS de um único eixo baseado no princípio da força de Lorentz capaz de ler campos na direção X ou Y é concebido e simulado com a descrição de um método de fabrico a ser utilizado. Este magnetómetro utiliza um desenho inovador para uma barra condutora que é altamente adaptável a uma variedade de cenários com uma baixa resistência de 100Ω em cada um dos seus caminhos. Um método de modulação em amplitude é abordado através da utilização de um sistema de leitura capacitiva e uma frequência de operação com um desvio da ressonância para alcançar a linha de base de deteção de uma variação capacitiva de 1aF para um campo magnético de 20nT. Isto envolve a utilização de vários mecanismos para aumentar o fator de qualidade e reduzir a rigidez geral do dispositivo para aumentar o deslocamento causado pela força de Lorentz. O dispositivo deve também ser operado a uma atmosfera de 500Pa para reduzir o amortecimento e, ao mesmo tempo, aumentar o factor de qualidade. Um ruído termomecânico inferior a 3 /√ com uma frequência de operação de cerca de 4977 Hz foram consideradas necessárias para adaptar o desenho a outro magnetómetro MEMS de um eixo, previamente concebido, capaz de ler campos na direção Z. Várias ferramentas de simulação e desenho são utilizadas para pré-determinar as melhores propriedades em que o magnetómetro será operado até às suas capacidades mais elevadas. Através destas simulações, um magnetómetro de 50Hz de largura de banda, necessário para a investigação espacial, é alcançado com uma variação de capacidade de 1.37aF a 20nT, ultrapassando os requisitos iniciais. É obtido um ruído termomecânico de 1.77 /√, bem abaixo da linha de base que foi definida para este trabalho. Foi desenvolvido um esquema de fabricação com todas as máscaras litográficas concebidas, e foi concebido um fluxo de processo de microfabricação. A execução do processo de microfabricação foi parcialmente concluída e ainda está em curso.This work was framed in the scope of the Project (Link4S)ustainability - A new generation connectivity system for creation and integration of networks of objects for new sustainability paradigms [POCI-01- 0247-FEDER-046122 | LISBOA-01-0247-FEDER-046122], financed by the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programmes COMPETE 2020 and LISBOA 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component

CNN-LSTM-based models to predict the heart rate using PPG signal from wearables during physical exercise

Atrial fibrillation, or AFib is the most common form of arrhythmia, in fact, 3\% of people over the age of 20 suffer from this condition and more shockingly, it is found that patients with arrhythmias are 5 times more likely to have a stroke [1]. These events of irregularity in the heart beat occur briefly and can be very sporadic which leads their detection to be rather cumbersome, with the standard diagnostic procedure being a long term continuous ECG. This leads to multiple problems, first of all, the ECG is commonly performed as the person is laying down in a hospital bed, which immediately distances the test environment from the real world scenario of living with AFib or another kind of arrhythmia, especially since arrhythmias are more likely to manifest during the practice of physical exercise. From this need arises the alternative of using a PPG (Photoplethysmography) signal, which is an optical method of measuring the blood volume in surfaces such as the finger tip, wrist or ear lobe[2] and can be present in many portable devices like fitness bands and smartwatches, therefore enabling it to be used during the practice of physical exercise [3]. This alternative heart rate monitor is substantially less invasive and more mobile but it is also much more susceptible to motion artifacts. However the motion artifacts that create this noise can be quantified through the pairing of an accelerometer to this device, which provides us with data regarding the acceleration of the devices over the 3 axis. Data like this is available and we will be using the dataset from the IEEE Signal Processing Cup 2015, with which, a plethora of different approaches to remove the noise becomes available, from more traditional filtering methods to the more modern Artificial Intelligence approaches, like the neural networks and support vector machines that have been used in the related work. We believe this multimodal approach will provide us with substantially better results than traditional methods that used the signal itself as the only input of the model

Comparative Analysis of Locomotor Behavior and Descending Motor System Anatomy of Larval Zebrafish and Giant Danio

A major challenge for comparative biology is understanding what aspects of an animal’s locomotor repertoire represent general features of motor organization, versus specialized adaptations for its anatomy and ecological niche. In this thesis I investigate the Giant Danio larvae (Devario aequipinnatus) as a potential model for comparative studies with Zebrafish, a well-established animal model in neuroscience. To this end, I study the locomotor behavior of both species and how its differences are reflected in the underlying neural circuit structure. Initially, I compare the anatomy of the descending pathways controlling locomotion in Giant Danio to Zebrafish using retrograde labelling of reticulospinal neurons. I see a striking resemblance of the circuit in both species, with a roughly similar organization and the general division and number of cell clusters being very well conserved. Following, I compare visually guided behaviours in Giant Danio to different Zebrafish strains. Giant Danio show a stronger optomotor response than Zebrafish. The optomotor response of Giant Danio first appear around 4 days post fertilization and can be consistently and reliably evoked. During optomotor tracking Giant Danio show shorter interbout intervals and are able to track motion at higher speeds than Zebrafish. I also observe that the higher manoeuvrability of Giant Danio is also reflected during prey capture. Interestingly, Zebrafish strains derived from more recently wild-caught fish show more robust optomotor behaviour, closer to Giant Danio. Lastly, I demonstrate the suitability of using Giant Danio in a head-restrained preparation with a 3D virtual reality environment. Combined with the potential for comparative approaches with Zebrafish, the faster development, larger neurons, and the rich behavioural repertoire of Giant Danio make it a promising model for neuroscience

A Systematic Review Approach of Continuous Improvement Pillar Management Framework’s

Today’s market is constantly changing, so companies are required to continuously evolve their processes so that they can meet the increasingly complex requirements of stakeholders, from customer needs to sustainable policies. The application of Business Process Management improves its processes, bringing together all the activities carried out by the company that aim to generate value for the client. As a consequence, one of the biggest problems for companies is the absence of information management and communication with internal and external stakeholders. Duplication and deprivation are very common in these companies and generate a huge amount of waste. To solve this problem the developments done in this research work aims to generate a new way of looking to Business Management, focusing on companies that adopt Continuous Improvement, using a structured flow of tools and techniques. In structured approaches to Continuous Improvement management frameworks recurrently uses modelling support pillars. This study is based on a company that has implemented eight-pillar Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and uses performance indicators to monitor the state of systems and processes. The first step involved the application of the Cluster, Discriminant and Principal Component Analysis, so that it was possible to aggregate the indicators of each pillar. The processes of strategic management of the company and management of the pillars have been taken into account. Through the proposed approach a reduction of around 86% in the total number of pillar of the company was obtained, avoiding diverse informational wastes through redundancies of information, increased reliability, coherence and ease of access to it as well as greater visibilities of their interactions and information responsibilities necessary to the management of systems management of continuous improvement, based on pillars of action

Estimating the effects of fiscal consolidations: A synthetic control approach

This thesis applies the synthetic control method to estimate the effects of fiscal consolidations on GDP. The framework developed requires the identification of suitable multi-year treatment episodes as well as periods that can serve as controls (where fiscal policy was relatively neutral). The identification of treatment and control episodes is done through the two most used measures of fiscal policy in the recent literature. Since the two measures are very different and have little overlap in terms of countries and period covered, the estimation is done in two different datasets and only the main results are compared. The rationale behind the implementation of the synthetic control method was to explore the possibility that it could provide robust estimations for the effects of individual fiscal consolidations. However, through the evaluation of the estimation method on placebos, it seems that this methodology generates too much variance, making individual estimations unreliable. Nevertheless, the average estimated effects are unbiased and can provide some useful insights: fiscal consolidations tend to generate significant losses in GDP, consolidations based on expenditure reduction are less contractionary than those based on tax increases and consolidations implemented following a recession generate higher costs. These conclusions are robust to both identification methods (when it could be tested with both) and are also in line with recent studies that use more common estimation methods.A presente tese aplica o método de controlo sintético como processo de estimação dos efeitos de consolidações orçamentais no PIB. A metodologia desenvolvida requer a identificação de episódios de tratamento (períodos em que se verifiquem consolidações orçamentais) e a identificação de episódios de controlo (quando a política orçamental foi relativamente neutra). A identificação destes episódios é feita usando as duas variáveis mais comuns na literatura recente. Como estas variáveis são muito diferentes e cobrem períodos e países distintos, a estimação é feita separadamente em duas bases de dados e apenas os resultados são comparados. A justificação para a implementação do método de controlo sintético foi a possibilidade de este conseguir fornecer estimações robustas para um único tratamento, com a intenção de estudar a heterogeneidade dos efeitos de consolidações orçamentais. Através da avaliação do método de estimação em placebos, foi possível concluir que esta metodologia gera demasiada variância, fazendo com que estimações individuais sejam inadequadas. No entanto, as estimações dos efeitos médios não são enviesadas e fornecem algumas conclusões úteis: consolidações orçamentais geram perdas significativas de PIB, consolidações baseadas em redução de despesa são menos contracionárias e consolidações implementadas a seguir a uma recessão geram maiores perdas. Estas conclusões são robustas aos dois métodos de identificação (quando podem ser testadas com ambos) e estão em linha com as conclusões obtidas na literatura recente

The impact of Covid-19 on transaction data in Portugal

Mestrado em FinançasEsta dissertação analisa o impacto da pandemia COVID-19 em dados regionais de transações em Portugal. Mais especificamente, o impacto regional é ponderado, assim como o impacto em diversas características dos municípios. Os dados usados são provenientes do INE, PORDATA e DGS e consideramos características económicas, demográficas e sociais em 278 concelhos de Portugal continental de 2015 a 2020. O método OLS de regressão é usado para efetuar a analise estatística. Estudos anteriormente realizados sugerem um aumento das transações antes da pandemia, como forma de açambarcar, mas também sugerem que o consumo iria diminuir durante o período subsequente à declaração do estado de emergência. Neste estudo analisamos três modelos distintos para compreender os três canais de transações: Levantamentos em ATM, pagamentos usando cartão português e pagamentos usando cartão estrangeiro. Testamos estes três modelos de forma a compreender os efeitos regionais causados pelo COVID-19. Observamos que as regiões com maior número de pacientes infetados com COVID-19 têm um impacto negativo em todos os canais de transação e que os meses de verão fazem aumentar valor de transações dos três canais considerados. Controlamos também diversas outras características regionais como a demográficas, económicas e sociais.This dissertation aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on regional transaction data in Portugal. More specifically, the regional impact is assessed, as well as the impact on several characteristics of these counties. The data used is from INE, PORDATA and DGS and we consider economic, demographic and social characteristics in 278 counties in mainland Portugal from 2015 to 2020. An OLS regression method is used to perform the analytic analysis. Previous studies suggest an increase in transactions prior to the pandemic, as a stockpiling behavior, while also suggesting that the overall consumption drops in the months following the emergency state. In this study we analyze three different models to comprehend the three different transaction channels: Automated Teller Machine withdrawals, payments using Portuguese card and payments using foreign card. We use data from the counties in Portugal mainland in order to understand the regional effects caused by COVID-19. We found that regions with more COVID-19 infected people have a negative impact on all transactions and that summertime increases all three transaction channels in consideration. We also control for several other characteristics of each region like demographic, economic and social.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Process-based Cost Model for Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing

In engineering one of the main criteria to evaluate new technology or product is its eco- nomic viability. This can only be done by identifying the costs related to the process or prod- uct. Within the Smart WAAM project, which aims to study the use of wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technology to create, repair and expand the life of large industrial components, it was necessary to develop a cost model to study the economic viability of this technology. This thesis's primary goal is to develop a cost model for the WAAM technology, consid- ering a product life cycle approach. For this purpose, it was necessary to develop a model to estimate the cost of the WAAM technology, as well as the main factors influencing the cost. A process-based cost model (PBCM) was developed since it allows to analyse the costs of the different life cycle phases of a product and estimates the production costs. The study main steps were the objective and scope definition, using a cradle to gate approach, the pro- cess description, and the cost model's development. The object of study was an experimental WAAM machine developed at NOVA School of Science and Technology, and the functional unit was a hollow stainless steel AISI316LSI cube of approximately 7x7x7 cm. The data collec- tion process included the compilation of secondary data available in public websites, but also primary data was collected through unstructured interviews with researchers who developed and worked with the WAAM machine. The model was validated, and the factors influencing the cost were identified. It was possible to determine that the production of 500 cubes has a total cost of 259.95€ per piece. The WAAM process and the surface finishing process and substrate removal rep- resent 84% of the total cost. The main factors that influence the total cost of the process are the acquisition cost of the machines for the production and parts finishing, the cost of the tools, namely the cutters, and the production overheads.Um dos principais critérios para a avaliação de uma nova tecnologia ou produto, na engenharia, é a sua viabilidade económica. Esta, só pode ser estudada através da identificação dos custos inerentes ao processo ou produto. No âmbito do projeto Smart WAAM, que pre- tende estudar a utilização da tecnologia fabrico aditivo usando fio consumível e arco elétrico (WAAM) para criar, reparar e expandir a vida útil de grandes componentes industriais, foi necessário desenvolver um modelo de custos que permita estudar a viabilidade económica da utilização desta tecnologia. O principal objetivo desta dissertação é o desenvolvimento de um modelo de custo para a tecnologia WAAM, considerando uma perspetiva do ciclo de vida do produto. Para esta finalidade, foi necessário desenvolver um modelo que permita estimar os custos da tecnologia WAAM, assim como os principais fatores que influenciam o custo. Foi desenvolvido um modelo de custo baseado no processo, pois permite analisar os custos das diferentes fases do ciclo de vida do produto, bem como fazer estimativas dos custos de produção. Inicialmente o estudo consistiu na definição do objetivo e do âmbito, utilizando uma abordagem berço ao portão, a descrição do processo e o desenvolvimento do modelo de custo. O objeto de estudo foi um equipamento experimental desenvolvido na NOVA School of Science and Technology e a unidade de análise foi um cubo oco de aço inoxidável AISI316LSI com aproximadamente 7x7x7 cm. Foram recolhidos dados secundários (por exem- plo preços de energia e matéria-prima) e dados primários recorrendo a entrevistas não estru- turadas a investigadores que desenvolveram e trabalham com o equipamento. Por fim, o mo- delo foi validado e foram identificados quais os fatores que mais influenciam o custo. Foi possível determinar que a produção de 500 cubos, tem o custo total de 259.95 € por peça. O processo WAAM e o processo de acabamento e remoção do substrato representam 84% do custo total. Os principais fatores que influenciam o custo total do processo são: o custo de aquisição das máquinas de produção e acabamento das peças, o custo das ferramentas, nomeadamente as fresas, e as despesas gerais de produção