"IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL FRAMEWORK AGREEMENTS FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS" - Process optimization and economic improvements

This project / idea arose after conversations about the need to perform an analysis of the purchases made by the company BravoSolution to identify which purchases could be made under framework agreements. This project will bring potential benefits such as: - Optimization of time spent on such purchases - Economic improvements by achieving new framework agreements with manufacturers and suppliers (general services and industrial supplies). The operational area includes CNAT warehouses located in Almaraz & Trillo nuclear power plants (Spain). The working methodology will be applied based on the methodology and tools of CNAT & BravoSolution, and always under the supervision of CNAT. Under these conditions, BravoSolution describes the service offeredfi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Medical competencies in palliative care for internal medicine residency

Objective: The objective of this review is to list the basic palliative competencies that should be acquired throughout the internal medicine residency program in Portugal. Introduction: Palliative care and the relief of suffering were described as the most neglected dimensions in public health in 2018 and the aging of the population is leading to an increase of chronic diseases. Being the main focus of internists, these are required to develop basic competencies in palliative care in order to assure universal palliative care access. In Portugal the Internal Medicine specialist curriculum is absent regarding palliative care competencies. Methods: This scoping review is based on JBI methodology. The search was conducted in December 2019. Inclusion Criteria: studies published in international data bases and grey literature in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese languages with no time limit with a clear description of competencies formulated for the internal medicine specialty. Results: A total of 5032 records from international databases and 15 from grey literature were obtained for analysis. From these 31 articles were included in this review. A total of 1064 competencies were listed from there documents. These competencies were sorted according to 7 domains: 1 Clinical competencies; 2 Psychosocial Issues; 3 Ethical, Legal aspects and Professionalism competencies; 4 Communication competencies; 5 Teamwork competencies; 6 health system network related competencies; 7 Competencies in Education and Evidence Based Medicine. After sorting and simplifying the listing, we obtained a total of 248 competencies. Conclusion: Internal medicine physicians provide palliative care to patients in their daily practice and have done so since ever. Whether one pursues specialization or not, all internists can, and should use, the growing knowledge of palliative medicine in their medical practice. With the data from this scope we hope to provide a tool that allows the elaboration of a formal curriculum for the internal medicine specialty.Objetivo: O objetivo desta revisão é listar as competências básicas que deverão ser adquiridas durante o internato de medicina interna em Portugal. Introdução: Os cuidados paliativos e o alívio do sofrimento foram descritas como as mais dimensões mais negligenciadas de saúde pública em 2018 e o envelhecimento da população está a dar origem a um aumento das doenças crónicas. Sendo estas um foco primordial na medicina interna, os internistas têm a obrigação de desenvolver competências básicas em cuidados paliativos de forma a proporcionar o acesso universal a estes cuidados. Em Portugal o currículo de medicina interna é omisso relativamente a competências nesta área. Métodos: Esta scoping review foi elaborada com base da metodologia da JBI. A pesquisa foi efetuada em dezembro de 2019. Foram incluídos estudos publicados em bases de dados internacionais e literatura cinzenta em inglês, espanhol, francês e português sem limite de tempo e com uma descrição clara das competências básicas em cuidados paliativos para a especialidade de Medicina Interna. Resultados: Obtiveram-se para análise, 5032 registos das bases de dados internacionais e 15 de literatura cinzenta. Destes 31 artigos foram incluídos para revisão obtendo-se uma listagem de 1064 competências básicas. Estas competências foram organizadas Segundo 7 domínios: 1 Competências clínicas; 2 Questões psicoexistenciais; 3 Competências em aspetos éticos e legais e profissionalismo; 4 Competências em Comunicação; 5 Competências em trabalho de equipa; 6 Competências relacionadas com os sistemas de saúde; 7 competências em educação e medicina baseada na evidencia. Depois de categorizar a listagem, obtivemos 248 competências básicas. Conclusão: Os internistas proporcionam cuidados paliativos a doentes na sua prática diária e têm-no feito desde sempre. Independentemente do nível de especialização, todos os internistas podem e devem utilizar o crescente conhecimento em cuidados paliativos na sua prática diária. Com os dados deste scope, esperamos proporcionar uma ferramenta que permita a elaboração de um currículo formal para a especialidade de medicina interna

Complex delay dynamics on railway networks: from universal laws to realistic modelling

Railways are a key infrastructure for any modern country. The reliability and resilience of this peculiar transportation system may be challenged by different shocks such as disruptions, strikes and adverse weather conditions. These events compromise the correct functioning of the system and trigger the spreading of delays into the railway network on a daily basis. Despite their importance, a general theoretical understanding of the underlying causes of these disruptions is still lacking. In this work, we analyse the Italian and German railway networks by leveraging on the train schedules and actual delay data retrieved during the year 2015. We use {these} data to infer simple statistical laws ruling the emergence of localized delays in different areas of the network and we model the spreading of these delays throughout the network by exploiting a framework inspired by epidemic spreading models. Our model offers a fast and easy tool for the preliminary assessment of the {effectiveness of} traffic handling policies, and of the railway {network} criticalities.Comment: 32 pages (with appendix), 28 Figures (with appendix), 2 Table

Dual Circularly Polarized Aperture Array Antenna in Gap Waveguide for High-Efficiency Ka-Band Satellite Communications

[EN] A novel fully metallic Ka-band dual circularly polarized antenna array is presented in this contribution. It consists of 64 circular apertures (8x8) and it is implemented in gap waveguide technology. The antenna includes 4 layers, which are completely metallic, leading to a highly efficient performance. The experimental results confirm reflection coefficient values lower than -10 dB from 29 GHz to 31 GHz as well as stable radiation patterns throughout the whole frequency range. Good average axial ratio (AR) of 1.5 dB has been measured in the working band for both polarizations. Measured directivity is 28 dBi and antenna efficiency keeps close to 80%.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) under Project TEC2016-79700-C2-1-R.Ferrando-Rocher, M.; Herranz Herruzo, JI.; Valero-Nogueira, A.; Bernardo-Clemente, B. (2020). Dual Circularly Polarized Aperture Array Antenna in Gap Waveguide for High-Efficiency Ka-Band Satellite Communications. IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation. 1:283-289. https://doi.org/10.1109/OJAP.2020.3001087S283289

Full-Metal K-Ka Dual-Band Shared-Aperture Array Antenna Fed by Combined Ridge-Groove Gap Waveguide

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permissíon from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertisíng or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] This letter presents an 8 x 8 dual-band shared-aperture array antenna operating in K-(19.5-21.5 GHz) and Ka-band (29-31 GHz) using gap waveguide technology. Radiating elements consist of circular apertures located on the top plate of the antenna and excited by two stacked cavities with different diameters for dual-frequency operation. A waffle grid is used on top to increase the effective area of apertures and reduce grating lobes. Each stacked cavity is fed by its appropriate corporate-feeding net-work: The upper feeding layer operates at 20 GHz band, and the lower one at 30 GHz band. As a result, the antenna presents two ports, one for each band, which radiate a directive far-field pattern with linear polarization, orthogonal to each other. Experimental results show impedance and radiation pattern bandwidths larger than 1.5 GHz in both bands.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness under Project TEC2016-79700-C2-1-R.Ferrando-Rocher, M.; Herranz Herruzo, JI.; Valero-Nogueira, A.; Bernardo Clemente, B. (2019). Full-Metal K-Ka Dual-Band Shared-Aperture Array Antenna Fed by Combined Ridge-Groove Gap Waveguide. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. 18(7):1463-1467. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2019.2919928S1463146718

Performance Assessment of Gap Waveguide Array Antennas: CNC Milling vs. 3D Printing

(c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.[EN] This letter focuses on comparing manufacturing features of three-dimensional (3-D) printing techniques versus conventional computer numerical control (CNC) milling in the context of gap waveguide technology. To this end, a single-layer array antenna has been designed as a demonstrator. The antenna under test, intended for Ka-band, is composed of 8 x 8 radiators fed by a gap-waveguide (GW) corporate network. Two identical prototypes have been manufactured, but each applying a different fabrication technique, i.e., 3-D printing and CNC milling. The experimental results of both antennas are presented, under the same conditions and measurement facilities. The conclusions drawn in this letter provide a valuable assessment of 3-D-printing viability for GW arrays against the conventional milling technique.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad) under Grant TEC2016-79700-C2-1-R.Ferrando-Rocher, M.; Herranz Herruzo, JI.; Valero-Nogueira, A.; Bernardo Clemente, B. (2018). Performance Assessment of Gap Waveguide Array Antennas: CNC Milling vs. 3D Printing. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. 17(11):2056-2060. https://doi.org/10.1109/LAWP.2018.2833740S20562060171

Novel Asymmetric T-Shaped Radiating Element for Circularly-Polarized Waveguide Slot Arrays

Waveguide slot arrays are a widely used solution to attain linearly-polarized high-gain antennas. In this paper, an all-metal T-shaped radiating element is conceived with the aim to replace the usual rectangular slots and attain circularly-polarized arrays, preserving their good properties. The polarization conversion is made possible thanks to the inclusion of a parasitic arm perpendicular to the main active slot. Due to the fact that this second arm is not directly fed by the waveguide but coupled to the active slot, the T-shaped element can be used in any array originally formed by metallic rectangular slots. The design of resonant shunt arrays has been addressed here for validation purposes. The experimental results of two sample linear arrays at 30 GHz demonstrate the design accuracy and manufacturing reliability, reporting an axial ratio below 2 dB within a bandwidth of 1.9 GHz and a peak efficiency around 98%.This work was supported by the Spanish Government, Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), under project PID2019-107688RB-C22

Single-Layer Sequential Rotation Network in Gap Waveguide for a Wideband Low-Profile Circularly Polarized Array Antenna

A low-profile circularly-polarized sequential rotation fed 4x4 array antenna working in the Ka-band from 27.5 GHz to 31 GHz is presented. The particularity of the antenna lies in its single-layer sequential rotation feed network implemented in a bed of nails using a combination of groove and ridge gap waveguides. The basic radiating element is one slot loaded by a simple coffee-bean-shaped parasitic element on top. Experimental results show an antenna matching below −10 dB in a 13.6% bandwidth and a measured axial ratio below 1.3 dB in the desired band.This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government, in part by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI) under Project PID2019-107688RB-C22 and Project AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and in part by the University of Alicante under the Research Project GRE20-06-A

High-Efficiency Ka-Band Circularly Polarized Radial-Line Slot Array Antenna on a Bed of Nails

[EN] Radial-line slot-array antennas (RLSAs) provide an extremely simple solution to achieve high-gain circularly polarized radiation patterns without the need for complicated feeding networks or polarizers. The dielectric-filled radial waveguide, however, drastically reduces the efficiency that is potentially achievable by RLSA antennas at millimeter waveband. In this article, a novel architecture for an all-metal RLSA is proposed by replacing the dielectric material with a regular bed of metallic nails, thus maintaining the required slow wave characteristic within the radial waveguide. The slot array is efficiently optimized by using an ad hoc method-of-moments solver, based on the definition of an equivalent problem in the waveguide region. This accurate optimization process, along with the all-metal nature of the antenna, allows to reach a measured peak total efficiency above 80% at 30 GHz. The fabricated prototype consists of two pieces: the bottom waveguide with the bed of nails and the top slotted plate, which are easily assembled by means of a few screws. Experimental results report a peak gain of 35.0 dBi for a radiation efficiency of 94%, and a wideband matching performance with a very pure axial ratio, below 0.6 dB.This work was supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 under Grant PID2019-107688RB-C22.Herranz Herruzo, JI.; Valero-Nogueira, A.; Ferrando-Rocher, M.; Bernardo-Clemente, B. (2022). High-Efficiency Ka-Band Circularly Polarized Radial-Line Slot Array Antenna on a Bed of Nails. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 70(5):3343-3353. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2021.31373763343335370

Experimental Rician K-factor characterization in a laboratory environment at the 25 to 40 GHz frequency band

[EN] In this work, an analysis of the Rician K-factor in a laboratory environment from 25 to 40 GHz has been carried out. The variation of the estimated K-factor has been assessed in frequency from a channel measurements campaign in both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) conditions. Mean values of the K-factor ranging from 0.48 to 3.43 dB for LOS conditions, and from -5.54 to -0.56 dB for NLOS conditions, have been derived. The results reported here enable us to get insight into the propagation channel characteristics and can be of interest to evaluate the performance of fifth-generation (5G) networks in laboratory environments.This work has been funded in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad under the project TEC2017-86779-C2-2-R, and by COLCIENCIAS in Colombia.Bernardo-Clemente, B.; Fernández, H.; Rodrigo Peñarrocha, VM.; Reig, J.; Rubio Arjona, L. (2020). Experimental Rician K-factor characterization in a laboratory environment at the 25 to 40 GHz frequency band. IEEE. 1121-1122. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEECONF35879.2020.9329738S1121112