Repositório RCAAP

Due to the increment of electricity demand in different types of buildings, the methods of energy optimization are important. Lighting systems play a key role in the electricity consumption since they are appropriate for use in optimization purposes. There are several approaches for solving optimization problems, so several simulations should be performed in order to identify the best approach. This paper focuses on three optimization approaches in order to solve an optimization problem developed for the lighting system of an office building. The optimization methodologies are particle swarm optimization as a heuristic method and OMPR and Lpsolve as two deterministic methods. A case study is presented in order to evaluate and compare the performance of the methods and identify the most suitable approach for the lighting optimization problem in the office building.

Energy flexibility will play a key role in the proper functioning of energy systems, introducing a set of benefits to all involved stakeholders and changing the shape of electricity markets as we know them. It is expected that new players with different interests will emerge in this context. Particularly, the aggregators might allow end-users to be aware of their consumption flexibility value, or merely facilitate consumer's participation, for instance through the use of demand response. To this end, a prompt system response allowing the interaction between aggregators and residential users is needed. Therefore, the so-called Home Energy Management System (HEMS) becomes an active tool to communicate end-users with aggregators, performing the necessary changes in the consumption profiles in benefit of all involved parts. In this paper, a model with the objective of achieving a match between the flexibility required by an aggregator and the flexibility offered by residential users through the HEMS capability of shifting specific appliances is proposed. The model is then solved using a well-known swarm intelligence algorithm, the particle swarm optimization (PSO). An illustrative example of how the model is optimized using PSO, re-scheduling appliances to meet a flexibility curve, is presented. After that, a case study with 15 appliances based on real profiles of home devices is solved showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach to procure flexibility.

Currently, power systems (PS) already accommodate a substantial penetration of distributed generation (DG) and operate in competitive environments. In the future, as the result of the liberalisation and political regulations, PS will have to deal with large-scale integration of DG and other distributed energy resources (DER), such as storage and provide market agents to ensure a flexible and secure operation. This cannot be done with the traditional PS operational tools used today like the quite restricted information systems Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) [1]. The trend to use the local generation in the active operation of the power system requires new solutions for data management system. The relevant standards have been developed separately in the last few years so there is a need to unify them in order to receive a common and interoperable solution. For the distribution operation the CIM models described in the IEC 61968/70 are especially relevant. In Europe dispersed and renewable energy resources (D&RER) are mostly operated without remote control mechanisms and feed the maximal amount of available power into the grid. To improve the network operation performance the idea of virtual power plants (VPP) will become a reality. In the future power generation of D&RER will be scheduled with a high accuracy. In order to realize VPP decentralized energy management, communication facilities are needed that have standardized interfaces and protocols. IEC 61850 is suitable to serve as a general standard for all communication tasks in power systems [2]. The paper deals with international activities and experiences in the implementation of a new data management and communication concept in the distribution system. The difficulties in the coordination of the inconsistent developed in parallel communication and data management standards - are first addressed in the paper. The upcoming unification work taking into account the growing role of D&RER in the PS is shown. It is possible to overcome the lag in current practical experiences using new tools for creating and maintenance the CIM data and simulation of the IEC 61850 protocol – the prototype of which is presented in the paper –. The origin and the accuracy of the data requirements depend on the data use (e.g. operation or planning) so some remarks concerning the definition of the digital interface incorporated in the merging unit idea from the power utility point of view are presented in the paper too. To summarize some required future work has been identified.

As metodologias Lean tem sido implementadas em larga escala na indústria e, ao longo dos tempos, os resultados que advém da sua aplicação mostram-se bastante positivos. O objetivo principal deste projeto é tornar o processo mais fácil e eficiente reduzindo ao máximo todos os desperdícios recorrendo a metodologias lean aplicadas a uma unidade de fabrico de tintas de base aquosa. Para tal foi fundamental o estudo dos dois equipamentos que fazem parte desta secção, avaliando as cadências teóricas tanto de fabrico como de enchimento, as paragens não planeadas e as dificuldades inerentes aos processos realizados. Assim, os objetivos propostos passaram por definir as cadências teóricas de enchimento e fabrico, determinar perdas e principais problemas, procurando implementar oportunidades de melhoria, proceder à normalização de tarefas e desenvolver uma ferramenta de registo e cálculo de OEE. Neste setor ainda pouco explorado pelo departamento de melhoria contínua, os pontos de trabalho iniciais baseados no Kaizen diário encontraram algumas dificuldades nos processos com vista a possíveis melhorias tanto no que diz respeito a segurança como a eficiência do processo. Procedeu-se à análise dos mesmos de forma a caminhar para uma melhoria das condições de trabalho dos operadores e reduzir o desperdício de recursos. Implementando e aplicando metodologias Lean foi possível atingir os objetivos definidos inicialmente seguindo as boas práticas da empresa já existentes noutros setores, os resultados alcançados permitiram obter registos de rendimento do setor e a implementação de melhorias levou a melhores condições de segurança e à normalização de algumas tarefas com benefício claro para o processo.

A presente dissertação pretende descrever todo o processo de desenvolvimento do projeto realizado no âmbito da unidade curricular de Tese/Dissertação/Estágio do Mestrado em Engenharia Informática, na área de especialização de Engenharia de software. Este projeto, proposto pela empresa Abaco consultores, tem como objetivo principal desenvolver uma solução que consiga prevenir e evitar acidentes de trabalho em ambientes fabris. Através do uso de dispositivos com capacidade de ligação à rede, deve ser possível fazer o monitoramento e gestão de áreas e trabalhadores, controlando, sempre, questões ambientais que possam colocar em risco tanto material como vidas humanas. Na solução inicial, este projeto estaria interligado com um serviço oferecido pela Abaco consultores denominado de Incloud for SafeMed, relacionando dados clínicos de trabalhadores com dados ambientais e físicos de um local. Para isso, o trabalhador teria de possuir um dispositivo que conseguisse ler alguns dados como frequência cardíaca ou temperatura corporal. Esta função acabou mais tarde por ser posta de parte, mudando o foco apenas para a criação de sistema de monitorização ambiental que em nada dependesse do Incloud for SafeMed. Assim, e depois de estudadas algumas tecnologias, foi desenvolvido um sistema capaz de apresentar aos clientes dados emitidos por dispositivos, através de uma aplicação web acessível em qualquer lugar. Este desenvolvimento teve como objetivo final responder à questão: É possível usar dispositivos inteligentes para evitar acidentes? Depois de realizados os testes necessários conseguiu-se concluir que o sistema criado pode evitar certos acidentes. Porém, para a inclusão do mesmo no mercado de trabalho seria necessário efetuar mais testes em ambiente real. A inclusão destas tecnologias em ambientes fabris pode minimizar ou mesmo evitar estragos de maior dimensão aquando de um acidente. No sentido de melhorar a solução final é ainda sugerido o uso de machine learning com os dados reais de leituras. Assim, além de reduzir acidentes, será possível, também, prever os mesmos e atuar de forma preventiva.

The Essential Learning Strategies for Physics and Chemistry Education (2018) defined by the Portuguese Ministry of Education presupposes that the "scientific literacy of the student (…) is based on the articulation between knowledge and know-how associated with the capacity of thinking critically and creatively” and assumes that students "develop competences to recognize, interpret and produce varied representations of scientific information and learning outcomes: reports, diagrams, graphs, tables, equations, models and computational simulations. Material Properties and Periodic Table (PT) are taught in Physics and Chemistry "to relate the electronic distribution of the atoms of the elements with their position in the PT" and "to locate in the PT the different elements of the groups". Scerri (2007) says that “The periodic table of the elements is a wonderful mnemonic and a tool that serves to organize the whole of chemistry.” The graphic information of PT demands the development of scientific literacy based on chemistry, semantic and technologic knowledge and helps to locate, decipher and read visual information in an isogramatic table organization, on vertical and horizontal coherent distribution of the elements. We used Virtual Reality to propose a pedagogic instrument as a challenge for acceding and deciphering information and as a possibility of expanding the information of the PT. The PT exploration follows a roadmap that, in particular, focuses on essential aspects of organization. This project started the creation of an application to raise the idea that the PT browser inhabits an innovative world where knowledge (even if complex) is accessible to everybody. The 3D models were produced in Autodesk Maya and then integrated with other systems in the Unity game engine for later publication in a Windows application. The minimum requirements to run this application require a PC with a high-end graphics card (GTX 1070 or equivalent).

The more we know about children mental lexicon organization, the more effective our pedagogical practices may be, which emphasizes the importance of a truly comprehensive connection between Research and Education. We will be conducting a three-step paper beginning with a brief summary of lexical semantic relations, mainly of antonymy, secondly we will explain how the project “Língua e Cidadania: das relações entre palavras ao conhecimento do mundo”/Language and citizenship: from the words relations to the world knowledge (Baptista et al., 2018) was held and how its experiments allowed to verify if primary school pupils intuitively organize their mental lexicon in a dichotomous way, mainly with comprehension and organization of narrative words in three narratives and thirdly we will explain that different strategies used for grouping words may correspond to different ways of organizing the mental lexicon and defend that language teaching should take this idea into consideration. We found very useful to propose an augmented reality application. By combining verbal and visual representations, this app caters for making the cognitive complexity of lexical antonyms obvious when manipulating the image, in a way that it enhances the possibility of occurrence of distinct words in the same context and for the same view (or not) of different perspectives.

O crescimento exponencial do fenómeno da urbanização faz com que a população que vive em áreas urbanas aumente de dia para dia e, consequentemente, os recursos urbanos existentes começam a ser escassos para tanta procura. De facto, a gestão de uma cidade enfrenta, nos dias que correm, desafios como congestionamento do transito, segurança pública ou poluição ambiental. Neste cenário surge o conceito de Smart City que pode resolver os problemas do desenvolvimento urbano, melhorar a qualidade de vida dos cidadãos e otimizar processos em várias áreas de uma cidade como o sistema de transporte público. As cidades beneficiam também do forte desenvolvimento dos dispositivos de sensorização e atuação bem como das tecnologias de comunicação. Estas ´ultimas permitem que estes equipamentos partilhem informação entre si e com o cidadão. Os dados recolhidos por estes sensores precisam de ser analisados e processados, a fim de potencializar a sua utilidade. Este trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um sistema de alarmística inteligente, capaz de processar, em tempo real, um grande volume de dados proveniente de diferentes fontes, produzindo como resultados alertas quando for detetada alguma anomalia na informação recebida. Este processamento consiste na comparação dos dados recebidos com padrões/regras definidas previamente, sendo que, quando algum desses padrões ´e correspondido, um alerta ´e enviado para os utilizadores interessados. A arquitetura da solução desenvolvida contempla, na sua fase inicial, um módulo que se encontra constantemente a receber dados de diversas fontes, organizando os mesmos através de operações de filtragem por tipo de informação (tráfego, ambiente, meteorologia, eventos de entretenimento, entre outros). A etapa seguinte ´e a de processamento da informação, que ´e o foco principal do presente projeto e onde são utilizadas ferramentas consistentes e capazes de processar um grande volume de dados, responsáveis também pela aplicação das regras nos eventos recebidos. Finalmente, a última fase consiste nas componentes que permitem que os utilizadores e partes interessadas consultem ou sejam notificados com os alertas produzidos no motor de processamento. Foi ainda construída uma Application Programming Interface (API) onde as entidades competentes podem ter acesso ao histórico dos resultados gerados de forma a prever comportamentos futuros. A elaboração deste projeto levou a um crescimento elevado a nível técnico, uma vez que foram estudadas e implementadas técnicas e ferramentas novas. Foram ainda consolidados alguns conceitos nomeadamente em relação às linguagens de programação utilizadas.

Com o avançar da tecnologia e o acesso à informação por parte das partes interessadas (stakeholders), as empresas deparam-se com cenários de maior exigência para a satisfação das necessidades do mercado, sem nunca esquecer a concorrência. Assim sendo, o objetivo passa por produzir o máximo com o mínimo, máxima qualidade e quantidade com os menores recursos, tempo de tarefa (lead time) e custos possíveis. A presente dissertação foi desenvolvida na Sika Portugal, S.A., no setor da embalagem, mais concretamente no departamento de produção. No seu processo produtivo, as tarefas de colocação de rótulo era feito de forma manual, consumindo recursos de mão de-obra e lead times, por tempos e custos excessivos. Posto isto, o objetivo passava por automatizar a linha de rotulagem, eliminar atividades desnecessárias e suprimir os custos a curto prazo com a uniformização de embalagens e rótulos. Para possibilitar o cumprimento das metas propostas recorreram-se às metodologias Push System e Pull system, lean thinking (ou “pensamento magro”), aliadas à Análise ABC, com a prespetiva eliminar um bottleneck para servir melhor a fase produtiva seguinte, o enchimento. O objetivo foi alcançado com menorização dos tempos e custos da tarefa. A redução do lead time obteve valores na ordem dos 50%, a eliminação de tarefas que não incrementam valor foi conseguida e ainda permitiu a libertação de um recurso humano. A impressão dos rótulos é feita, atualmente, em massa, nas impressoras das instalações da unidade fabril. Com a possibilidade de impressão “em casa” geraram-se poupanças na ordem dos ----- € (podendo ser adicionado o valor médio de --- € dos últimos anos fruto das constantes alterações nas embalagens litografadas, sejam elas de exportação para países que exijam outro idioma, pela mudança de legislação, alteração da imagem ou expiração da validade). O cálculo da menorização dos custos diariamente atinge o valor de 150 € e no período de um ano a poupança atingirá valores de ------€

There is a worldwide concern in the healthcare systems for increased efficiency. Efficient management tools are thus required to deal with the increased complexity and quality-driven processes characteristics of healthcare. One of them is “Lean Management”, known for adding value to a variety of industries.

The present work aims to validate the [ 13 N]-NH 3 production for human studies of myocardial perfusion using a cyclotron from a Portuguese public institution and an automatic synthesis module. According to specifications of European Pharmacopeia (Ph. Eur.) 8.2., 3 consecutives batches were evaluated for this purpose. Results showed a clear and colorless product and pH values between 4,5 e 8,5. The chemical purity was confirmed by the colorimetric test and the samples were identified as [ 13 N]-NH 3 , by ionic chromatography, gamma ray spectroscopy and half-life determination. Radiochemical and radionuclidic purity were confirmed, corresponding a minimum of 99% of total radioactivity to [ 13 N] and a percentage of impurities less than 1%, 2 hours after the end of synthesis. Tests for sterility and for presence of bacterial endotoxins were also performed.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC) has been described as playing a neuroprotective effect against a variety of substances. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying its action, particularly regarding the induction of changes in neurotransmitter system, are still not fully understood. Using both a cell line and an animal model of exposure to methamphetamine (METH), we aim to contribute to clarify the mechanism by which the administration of ALC alters neurotransmitter release.

This work aims to promote Critical Thinking and to sustain discussion about distinct methods and options for Education and Training of Nuclear Medicine Technologists.

Intensive use of Distributed Generation (DG) represents a change in the paradigm of power systems operation making small-scale energy generation and storage decision making relevant for the whole system. This paradigm led to the concept of smart grid for which an efficient management, both in technical and economic terms, should be assured. This paper presents a new approach to solve the economic dispatch in smart grids. The proposed methodology for resource management involves two stages. The first one considers fuzzy set theory to define the natural resources range forecast as well as the load forecast. The second stage uses heuristic optimization to determine the economic dispatch considering the generation forecast, storage management and demand response

[Objectives Nuclear imaging modalities include first pass radionuclide ventriculography (FPRV), multigated radionuclide angiography (MUGA) and gated blood-pool SPECT (GBPS) for monitoring of chemotherapy-related cardiomyopathy. The aim of this work is to correlate between these imaging techniques.]

The development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has grown rapidly in clinical practice. Currently, the use of MRI in speech research provides useful and accurate qualitative and quantitative data of speech articulation. The aim of this work was to describe an effective method to extract vocal tract and compute their volumes during speech production from MRI images. Using a 3.0 Tesla MRI system, 2D and 3D images of the vocal tract were collected and used to analyze the vocal tract during the production of fricative consonants. These images were also used to build the associated 3D models and compute their volumes. This approach showed that, in general, the volumes measured for the voiceless consonants are smaller than the counterpart voiced consonants.

PURPOSE We aimed to compare two different methods of region of interest (ROI) demarcation and determine interobserver variability on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in breast lesions. METHODS Thirty-two patients with 39 lesions were evaluated with a 3.0 Tesla scanner using a diffusion-weighted sequence with several b-values. Two observers independently performed the ADC measurements using: 1) a small fixed area of 10 mm2 ROI within the area with highest restriction; 2) a large ROI so as to include the whole lesion. Differences were assessed using the Wilcoxon-rank test. Bland-Altman method and Spearman coefficient were applied for interobserver variability and correlation analysis. RESULTS ADC values measured using the two ROI demarcation methods were significantly different for both observers (P = 0.026; P = 0.033). There was no interobserver variability in ADC values using either method (large ROI, P = 0.21; small ROI, P = 0.64). ADC values of malignant lesions were significantly different between the two methods (P < 0.001). Variability in ADC was ≤0.008×10−3 mm2/s for both methods. When using the same method, ADC values were significantly correlated between the observers (small ROI: r=0.990, P < 0.001; large ROI: r=0.985, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION The choice of ROI demarcation method influences ADC measurements. Small ROIs show less overlap in ADC values and higher ADC reproducibility, suggesting that this method may improve lesion discrimination. Interobserver variability was low for both methods.

Summary form only given. Many diffusion models have been proposed in order to obtain more information from breast tumor tissues through Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (1). The Gamma distribution (GD) may model MRI signal decay based on a statistical approach. This model considers the Theta parameter, which indicates the statistical dispersion of the distribution, and the k parameter, which is responsible for the probability distribution shape. If Theta shows higher values, then there will be a more spread out distribution and if k shows lower values the distribution shape will be more affected, which would be expected in malignant tumors due to tissue heterogeneity (1). The purpose of this study was to evaluate if GD model is capable of distinguishing between different breast tumors. Materials and Methods: In this study 85 breast tumor lesions were analyzed, including 17 benign lesions (Fibroadenoma, FA) and 68 malignant lesions (43 Invasive Ductal Carcinomas, IDC 19 Invasive Lobular Carcinomas, ILC and 6 Ductal Carcinoma in situ, CDIS). Informed consent was obtained for all patients. Data were acquired using a 3T MRI scanner with a dedicated breast coil and a DWI sequence with 3 orthogonal diffusion gradient directions and 8 b values between 0 and 3000s/mm 2 . Theta and k parameters were acquired from fitting data to the GD model, and mean values were obtained to compare between benign and malignant lesions, and between histological types. Non-parametric statistics were used (α=0.05). Results and Discussion: Significantly lower Theta and higher k values were observed in benign lesions ((0.65±0.43)×10 -3 mm 2 /s, 4.29±1.90, respectively) when compared to malignant lesions ((0.97±0.50)×10 -3 mm 2 /s, 1.23±0.52, respectively). It was also possible to differentiate FA from IDC lesions with both Theta and k probably due to IDC heterogeneity, which restricts diffusion. Unlike other diffusion model parameters, these were able to differentiate FA and ILC, and FA and CDIS lesions, suggesting that the GD model could bring advantages over other diffusion models in characterizing breast tumors.

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that explores the molecular diffusivity of water in biological tissues to probe its microstructure. Its application to the study of breast lesions has been shown to improve their detection, characterization, and the diagnostic accuracy of breast lesions using MRI. In this chapter, the biophysical basis of diffusion is presented, including the model currently used for DWI in the clinical setting; the concept of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is introduced. A theoretical framework of DWI in healthy conditions and in tissues affected by pathological processes is presented, followed by a literature review on the application of DWI to breast imaging. As the technique has only recently been used in breast imaging studies, controversial issues regarding its application have arisen, namely related to its technical challenges. Therefore, we detail the main technical issues associated with the implementation of DWI in the clinical setting and present potential approaches for obtaining good-quality images. Finally, we identify relevant future research needs involving hardware and software optimization as well as clinical issues which need to be addressed to improve breast lesion diagnosis.

Este projecto tem como objectivo o desenvolvimento de uma aplicação web capaz de ilustrar dados provenientes de Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) e de sistemas de Autonomous Driving (AD). Estes dados podem ter múltiplas fontes incluindo: vídeo, nuvens de pontos, localizações, mapas, velocidades, rótulos, caixas delimitadoras, todos quais devem ser visualizados simultaneamente e facilmente controláveis pelo interface da plataforma. Tipicamente, as empresas teriam de desenvolver as suas próprias plataformas de visualização para dar suporte ao desenvolvimento e visualização de logs de dados. A premissa deste projecto é mudar este tipo de mentalidade, fornecendo uma plataforma de visualização genérica, que pode carregar logs de dados de diferentes fontes num formato facilmente configurável. O facto de esta aplicação ser baseada em web irá permitir que várias equipas espalhadas pelo mundo analisem os dados provenientes de sistemas autónomos. Para além disto, o sistema a desenvolver deve ser suportado por plataformas open-source e compatível com os produtos mais comuns. Para alojar e configurar os dados, será usado o ecossistema Hadoop, uma vez que permite armazenar grandes volumes de dados ao longo de aglomerados de computadores, utilizando modelos de programação simples. Para a criação e instanciação dos serviços Hadoop que serão necessários para o projecto, foi utilizado o gestor Cloudera instalado numa máquina virtual o que permitiu, com um setup mínimo, simular o ecossistema Hadoop para todos os testes necessários. De forma a servir a página web, foi utilizado node.js para escrever um script responsável por criar um servidor HTTP. O script de node é também utilizado para atender pedidos provenientes do cliente de visualização e servir os ficheiros de dados como resposta.