The Means of Obtaining Evidence Provided by the Portuguese Cybercrime Law (Law no. 109/2009 of 15 September 2009)

The Portuguese legislator has provided, for the first time, in the Portuguese legal system, means of obtaining evidence specific for Cybercrime in Law no. 109/2009, of September 15, in which Framework Decision no. 2005/222/JHA, of the Council of February 24, concerning attacks against information systems and the Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe were transposed to the Portuguese legal system. While the legislator’s options are considered to be mostly correct, there are some critical issues. In the present Article, the legal regime of these means of obtaining of evidence is critically analyzed

Microplastics in a Portuguese coastal area: distribution patterns on surface waters and sediments, ingestion by wild marine fish, and relative contribution as a contamination pathway

Five decades have passed since the first detection of microplastics (MPs) in the marine environment. However, research on this “invisible” pollution was only triggered in the beginning of the XXI century. Despite the remarkable progress, there are still questions remaining and, most important, preventive measures to be taken. Regarding the evaluation of MPs pollution in the Portuguese coast, the assessment of temporal changes (supported by regular sampling) has rarely been performed and subtidal data scarcely collected. In order to address the lacking data and to better understand the consequences of the anthropogenic pressures resulting from this coastal nation, this thesis primary tasks consisted of collecting and analyzing baseline data from the nearshore subtidal at a segment of the Portuguese west coast, both from water surface and sediments. Findings obtained from the study area, which comprises the Sado river estuary and Arrábida marine Park (where multiple socioeconomic activities take place), intend to trigger and support the improvement of waste management in the region. Moreover, owing to the fish samples (Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758)) collected concurrently with the previous tasks, an evaluation of this species potential to be used as an indicator of MPs pollution in this coastal area, was conducted, consisting of this thesis third objective. Subsequently, with the purpose of understanding the effects occurring in the wild, due to MPs ingestion, a short-term experimental assay was conducted with larvae of Sparus aurata L., 1758 exposed to environmentally realistic conditions: besides being fed with MPs, they were reared in artificial seawater contaminated with nonylphenol (an endocrine disrupting compound). Additional aims, accomplished throughout the thesis, were to raise awareness about plastic pollution and to disseminate main findings with society. Most initiatives were conducted with local citizens and stakeholders from the municipalities located near the study area: Setúbal and Sesimbra.Passaram cinco décadas desde a primeira deteção de microplásticos (MPs) no ambiente marinho. No entanto, a investigação sobre esta poluição “invisível” só se desencadeou no início do século XXI. Apesar do progresso notável, ainda existem muitas incertezas e, mais importante, medidas preventivas por tomar. Quanto à avaliação da poluição por MPs na costa portuguesa, a investigação de variações temporais (suportada por amostragens regulares) foi raramente efetuada, assim como amostragens no subtidal. De forma a responder às lacunas identificadas e para melhor compreender as consequências das pressões antropogénicas resultantes desta nação costeira, definiram-se como tarefas prioritárias desta tese a recolha e análise de dados do subtidal de um segmento da costa oeste portuguesa, tanto da superfície da água como dos sedimentos. Pretende-se que os resultados obtidos sobre a área de estudo, que compreende o estuário do rio Sado e o parque marinho da Arrábida (onde decorrem múltiplas atividades socioeconómicas), possam desencadear e fundamentar o melhoramento da gestão de resíduos da região. Adicionalmente, devido à recolha de amostras de peixes (Boops boops (Linnaeus, 1758)) efetuada em simultâneo com as amostragens anteriores, foi possível avaliar o potencial desta espécie como indicador de poluição por MPs nesta área costeira, consistindo no terceiro objetivo desta tese. Posteriormente, com o objetivo de compreender os efeitos que ocorrem na natureza devido à ingestão de MPs, foi realizado um ensaio experimental de curta duração com larvas de Sparus aurata L., 1758 expostas a condições ambientalmente realistas: além dos MPs incluídos nas dietas, foram mantidas em água do mar artificial contaminada com nonilfenol (um composto disruptor endócrino). Ao longo do desenvolvimento da tese procurou-se contribuir para a sensibilização da sociedade sobre esta problemática e divulgar as principais conclusões. A maioria das iniciativas foi direcionada aos cidadãos e stakeholders locais, dos municípios próximos à área de estudo: Setúbal e Sesimbra

Development of MEMS - based IMU for position estimation: comparison of sensor fusion solutions

With the surge of inexpensive, widely accessible, and precise Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in recent years, inertial systems tracking move ment have become ubiquitous nowadays. Contrary to Global Positioning Sys tem (GPS)-based positioning, Inertial Navigation System (INS) are intrinsically unaffected by signal jamming, blockage susceptibilities, and spoofing. Measure ments from inertial sensors are also acquired at elevated sampling rates and may be numerically integrated to estimate position and orientation knowledge. These measurements are precise on a small-time scale but gradually accumulate errors over extended periods. Combining multiple inertial sensors in a method known as sensor fusion makes it possible to produce a more consistent and dependable un derstanding of the system, decreasing accumulative errors. Several sensor fusion algorithms occur in literature aimed at estimating the Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) of a rigid body with respect to a reference frame. This work describes the development and implementation of a low-cost, multi purpose INS for position and orientation estimation. Additionally, it presents an experimental comparison of a series of sensor fusion solutions and benchmarking their performance on estimating the position of a moving object. Results show a correlation between what sensors are trusted by the algorithm and how well it performed at estimating position. Mahony, SAAM and Tilt algorithms had best general position estimate performance.Com o recente surgimento de sistemas micro-eletromecânico amplamente acessíveis e precisos nos últimos anos, o rastreio de movimento através de sistemas de in erciais tornou-se omnipresente nos dias de hoje. Contrariamente à localização baseada no Sistema de Posicionamento Global (GPS), os Sistemas de Naveg ação Inercial (SNI) não são afetados intrinsecamente pela interferência de sinal, suscetibilidades de bloqueio e falsificação. As medições dos sensores inerciais também são adquiridas a elevadas taxas de amostragem e podem ser integradas numericamente para estimar os conhecimentos de posição e orientação. Estas medições são precisas numa escala de pequena dimensão, mas acumulam grad ualmente erros durante longos períodos. Combinar múltiplos sensores inerci ais num método conhecido como fusão de sensores permite produzir uma mais consistente e confiável compreensão do sistema, diminuindo erros acumulativos. Vários algoritmos de fusão de sensores ocorrem na literatura com o objetivo de estimar os Sistemas de Referência de Atitude e Rumo (SRAR) de um corpo rígido no que diz respeito a uma estrutura de referência. Este trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento e implementação de um sistema multiusos de baixo custo para estimativa de posição e orientação. Além disso, apresenta uma comparação experimental de uma série de soluções de fusão de sensores e compara o seu de sempenho na estimativa da posição de um objeto em movimento. Os resultados mostram uma correlação entre os sensores que são confiados pelo algoritmo e o quão bem ele desempenhou na posição estimada. Os algoritmos Mahony, SAAM e Tilt tiveram o melhor desempenho da estimativa da posição geral

Optimising cost and availability estimates at the bidding stage of performance-based contracting

Performance-Based Contracting (PBC), e.g. Contracting for Availability (CfA), has been extensively applied in many industry sectors such as defence, aerospace and railway. Under PBC, complex support activities (e.g. maintenance, training, etc.) are outsourced, under mid to long term contracting arrangements, to maintain certain level of systems’ performance (e.g. availability). However, building robust cost and availability estimates is particularly challenging at the bidding stage because therei is lack of methods and limited availability of data for analysis. Driven by this contextual challenge this PhD aims to develop a process to simulate and optimise cost and availability estimates at the bidding stage of CfA. The research methodology follows a human-centred design approach, focusing on the end-user stakeholders. An interaction with seven manufacturing organisations involved in the bidding process of CfA enabled to identify the state-of-practice and the industry needs, and a review of literature in PBC and cost estimation enabled to identify the research gaps. A simulation model for cost and availability trade-off and estimation (CATECAB) has been developed, to support cost engineers during the bidding preparation. Also, a multi-objective genetic algorithm (EMOGA) has been developed to combine with the CATECAB and build a cost and availability estimation and optimisation model (CAEOCAB). Techniques such as Monte-Carlo simulation, bootstrapping resampling, multi-regression analysis and genetic algorithms have been applied. This model is able to estimate the optimal investment in the attributes that impact the availability of the systems, according to total contract cost, availability and duration targets. The validation of the models is performed by means of four case studies with twenty-one CfA scenarios, in the maritime and air domains. The outcomes indicate a representable accuracy for the estimates produced by the models, which has been considered suitable for the early stages of the bidding process