Tecnologias IoT para pastoreio e controlo de postura animal

The unwanted and adverse weeds that are constantly growing in vineyards, force wine producers to repeatedly remove them through the use of mechanical and chemical methods. These methods include machinery such as plows and brushcutters, and chemicals as herbicides to remove and prevent the growth of weeds both in the inter-row and under-vine areas. Nonetheless, such methods are considered very aggressive for vines, and, in the second case, harmful for the public health, since chemicals may remain in the environment and hence contaminate water lines. Moreover, such processes have to be repeated over the year, making it extremely expensive and toilsome. Using animals, usually ovines, is an ancient practice used around the world. Animals, grazing in vineyards, feed from the unwanted weeds and fertilize the soil, in an inexpensive, ecological and sustainable way. However, sheep may be dangerous to vines since they tend to feed on grapes and on the lower branches of the vines, which causes enormous production losses. To overcome that issue, sheep were traditionally used to weed vineyards only before the beginning of the growth cycle of grapevines, thus still requiring the use of mechanical and/or chemical methods during the remainder of the production cycle. To mitigate the problems above, a new technological solution was investigated under the scope of the SheepIT project and developed in the scope of this thesis. The system monitors sheep during grazing periods on vineyards and implements a posture control mechanism to instruct them to feed only from the undesired weeds. This mechanism is based on an IoT architecture, being designed to be compact and energy efficient, allowing it to be carried by sheep while attaining an autonomy of weeks. In this context, the thesis herein sustained states that it is possible to design an IoT-based system capable of monitoring and conditioning sheep’s posture, enabling a safe weeding process in vineyards. Moreover, we support such thesis in three main pillars that match the main contributions of this work and that are duly explored and validated, namely: the IoT architecture design and required communications, a posture control mechanism and the support for a low-cost and low-power localization mechanism. The system architecture is validated mainly in simulation context while the posture control mechanism is validated both in simulations and field experiments. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of the system and the contribution of this work towards the first commercial version of the system.O constante crescimento de ervas infestantes obriga os produtores a manter um processo contínuo de remoção das mesmas com recurso a mecanismos mecânicos e/ou químicos. Entre os mais populares, destacam-se o uso de arados e roçadores no primeiro grupo, e o uso de herbicidas no segundo grupo. No entanto, estes mecanismos são considerados agressivos para as videiras, assim como no segundo caso perigosos para a saúde pública, visto que os químicos podem permanecer no ambiente, contaminando frutos e linhas de água. Adicionalmente, estes processos são caros e exigem mão de obra que escasseia nos dias de hoje, agravado pela necessidade destes processos necessitarem de serem repetidos mais do que uma vez ao longo do ano. O uso de animais, particularmente ovelhas, para controlar o crescimento de infestantes é uma prática ancestral usada em todo o mundo. As ovelhas, enquanto pastam, controlam o crescimento das ervas infestantes, ao mesmo tempo que fertilizam o solo de forma gratuita, ecológica e sustentável. Não obstante, este método foi sendo abandonado visto que os animais também se alimentam da rama, rebentos e frutos da videira, provocando naturais estragos e prejuízos produtivos. Para mitigar este problema, uma nova solução baseada em tecnologias de Internet das Coisas é proposta no âmbito do projeto SheepIT, cuja espinha dorsal foi construída no âmbito desta tese. O sistema monitoriza as ovelhas enquanto estas pastoreiam nas vinhas, e implementam um mecanismo de controlo de postura que condiciona o seu comportamento de forma a que se alimentem apenas das ervas infestantes. O sistema foi incorporado numa infraestrutura de Internet das Coisas com comunicações sem fios de baixo consumo para recolha de dados e que permite semanas de autonomia, mantendo os dispositivos com um tamanho adequado aos animais. Neste contexto, a tese suportada neste trabalho defende que é possível projetar uma sistema baseado em tecnologias de Internet das Coisas, capaz de monitorizar e condicionar a postura de ovelhas, permitindo que estas pastem em vinhas sem comprometer as videiras e as uvas. A tese é suportada em três pilares fundamentais que se refletem nos principais contributos do trabalho, particularmente: a arquitetura do sistema e respetivo sistema de comunicações; o mecanismo de controlo de postura; e o suporte para implementação de um sistema de localização de baixo custo e baixo consumo energético. A arquitetura é validada em contexto de simulação, e o mecanismo de controlo de postura em contexto de simulação e de experiências em campo. É também demonstrado o funcionamento do sistema e o contributo deste trabalho para a conceção da primeira versão comercial do sistema.Programa Doutoral em Informátic

Suporte MSRP para Hard Qds Switch

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesA exigência de comunicações de Tempo-Real em processos industriais e sistemas embutidos distribuídos foi, durante muitos anos, satisfeita com recurso a redes de campo especializadas (comummente designadas por fieldbuses). Contudo, a crescente utilização de redes Ethernet, aliada a vantagens competitivas a elas inerentes como o preço e velocidade, levou a que se procurassem soluções que permitissem utilizar esta tecnologia em ambientes de Tempo-Real. Apesar de algumas limitações evidenciadas, como o indeterminismo temporal que o seu funcionamento apresenta, diversos protocolos surgiram nos últimos anos no sentido de adaptar o seu funcionamento aos requisitos das comunicações de Tempo-Real. Contudo, os protocolos que foram sendo apresentados são maioritariamente estáticos e off-line, não possibilitando uma gestão dinâmica da Qualidade de Serviço. Assim, surgiu na Universidade Aveiro um switch, o HaRTES (Hard Real-Time Ethernet Switch), capaz de fornecer garantias de Tempo-Real com uma maior flexibilidade na gestão de recursos. Adicionalmente, o fornecimento de garantias de Qualidade de Serviço pressupõe a existência de reserva de recursos nas estações de uma rede. Para que isso seja possível, foram propostos alguns protocolos de sinalização como o Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) e o Stream Reservation Protocol (SRP). O HaRTES, não obstante o facto de garantir Qualidade de Serviço de uma forma dinâmica, não suporta nenhum protocolo normalizado no mercado. Consequentemente, surgiu a necessidade de desenvolver uma plataforma que permita ao referido switch suportar a reserva de recursos recorrendo a um desses protocolos. Devido a um mais fácil mapeamento de parâmetros, foi escolhido o SRP. Este trabalho apresenta-o de uma forma detalhada, discute os blocos estruturais essenciais à sua implementação, detalha o seu fun-cionamento e pormenoriza as mensagens trocadas entres os diversos intervenientes. A implementação de alguns dos blocos é discutida no âmbito desta dissertação e alguns testes funcionais descritos. Estes permitiram vali-dar o trabalho desenvolvido, abrindo a oportunidade de se integrar por completo o protocolo de sinalização SRP no switch HaRTES.For several years, the hard demands of real-time communications in industrial processes and embedded systems, has been solve with the use of specialized fieldbuses. However, due to the increasing usage of Ethernet networks, together with its inherent competitive advantages like reduced price and fast velocities, a search for new solutions that allow the use of these networks in Real-Time environments began. Despite of its limitations, such as temporal indeterminism derived from its medium access control scheme, many protocols have been developed in the last few years with the objective of adapting its functionalities to the requirements of Real-Time communications. Nevertheless, mostly of the protocols developed are static and based on pre-runtime analysis. As a consequence, they don’t allow a dynamic management of the Quality of Service (QoS). Thus, it was constructed at Aveiro University a new modified switch, HaRTES (Hard Real-Time Ethernet Switch), capable of providing Real-Time guarantees with greater resource management flexibility. Furthermore, providing guaranteed Quality of Service requires the existence of resource reservation along the nodes of a network. In order to make this possible some signalling protocols were proposed, such as the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) and Stream Reservation Protocol (SRP). Even if the HaRTES switch guarantees Quality of Service in a dynamic way, it doesn’t support any protocol standard. Therefore, the need of developing a new platform that will enable the switch to perform resource reservations using standard protocols emerged. Due to the easier mapping of parameters, the SRP was chosen to be that platform. This work describes it in detail. It discusses the structural blocks crucial for its implementation, describes the protocol operation and details the messages exchanged between the different nodes in a network. The implementation of some blocks is discussed and some tests are performed allowing the validation of the work developed. The results of this work open a window opportunity for the total integration of the SRP protocol in the HaRTES switch

The stress granule protein G3BP1 alleviates spinocerebellar ataxia-associated deficits

Koppenol et al. show that overexpression of G3BP1 in cell models of SCA2 and SCA3 leads to a reduction in ataxin-2 and ataxin-3 aggregation. G3BP1 lentiviral delivery reduces motor deficits and neuropathology in preclinical models, suggesting that G3BP1 may be a potential therapeutic target for polyQ disorders. Polyglutamine diseases are a group of neurodegenerative disorders caused by an abnormal expansion of CAG repeat tracts in the codifying regions of nine, otherwise unrelated, genes. While the protein products of these genes are suggested to play diverse cellular roles, the pathogenic mutant proteins bearing an expanded polyglutamine sequence share a tendency to self-assemble, aggregate and engage in abnormal molecular interactions. Understanding the shared paths that link polyglutamine protein expansion to the nervous system dysfunction and the degeneration that takes place in these disorders is instrumental to the identification of targets for therapeutic intervention. Among polyglutamine diseases, spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) share many common aspects, including the fact that they involve dysfunction of the cerebellum, resulting in ataxia. Our work aimed at exploring a putative new therapeutic target for the two forms of SCA with higher worldwide prevalence, SCA type 2 (SCA2) and type 3 (SCA3), which are caused by expanded forms of ataxin-2 (ATXN2) and ataxin-3 (ATXN3), respectively. The pathophysiology of polyglutamine diseases has been described to involve an inability to properly respond to cell stress. We evaluated the ability of GTPase-activating protein-binding protein 1 (G3BP1), an RNA-binding protein involved in RNA metabolism regulation and stress responses, to counteract SCA2 and SCA3 pathology, using both in vitro and in vivo disease models. Our results indicate that G3BP1 overexpression in cell models leads to a reduction of ATXN2 and ATXN3 aggregation, associated with a decrease in protein expression. This protective effect of G3BP1 against polyglutamine protein aggregation was reinforced by the fact that silencing G3bp1 in the mouse brain increases human expanded ATXN2 and ATXN3 aggregation. Moreover, a decrease of G3BP1 levels was detected in cells derived from patients with SCA2 and SCA3, suggesting that G3BP1 function is compromised in the context of these diseases. In lentiviral mouse models of SCA2 and SCA3, G3BP1 overexpression not only decreased protein aggregation but also contributed to the preservation of neuronal cells. Finally, in an SCA3 transgenic mouse model with a severe ataxic phenotype, G3BP1 lentiviral delivery to the cerebellum led to amelioration of several motor behavioural deficits. Overall, our results indicate that a decrease in G3BP1 levels may be a contributing factor to SCA2 and SCA3 pathophysiology, and that administration of this protein through viral vector-mediated delivery may constitute a putative approach to therapy for these diseases, and possibly other polyglutamine disorders.PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio