Exploração de dados para soluções de retalho em business intelligence

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia de Gestão e Sistemas de Informação

Pervasive business intelligence: a marketing intelligence framework proposal

Doctoral Thesis in Information Systems and Technologies Area of Information Systems and Technology

Micro- and mesoporous structures as drug delivery carriers for salicylic acid

The potential of salicylic acid (SA) encapsulated in porous materials as drug delivery carriers for cancer treatment was studied. Different porous structures, the microporous zeolite NaY, and the mesoporous SBA-15 and MCM-41 were used as hosts for the anti-inflammatory drug. Characterization with different techniques (FTIR, UV/vis, TGA, 1H NMR, and 13C CPMAS NMR) demonstrated the successful loading of SA into the porous hosts. The mesoporous structures showed to be very efficient to encapsulate the SA molecule. The obtained drug delivery systems (DDS) accommodated 0.74 mmol (341 mg/gZEO) in NaY and 1.07 mmol (493 mg/gZEO) to 1.23 mmol (566 mg/gZEO) for SBA-15 and MCM-41, respectively. Interactions between SA molecules and pore structures were identified. A fast and unrestricted liberation of SA at 10 min of the dissolution assay was achieved with 29.3, 46.6, and 50.1 µg/mL of SA from NaY, SBA-15, and MCM-41, respectively, in the in vitro drug release studies (PBS buffer pH 7.4, 37 °C). Kinetic modeling was used to determine the release patterns of the DDS. The porous structures and DDS were evaluated on Hs578T and MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cell lines viability. The porous structures are nontoxic to cancer cells. Cell viability reduction was only observed after the release of SA from MCM- 41 followed by SBA-15 in both breast cancer cell lines.

Micro/nano-structured superhydrophobic surfaces in the biomedical field: part I: basic concepts and biomimetic approaches.

Inspired by natural structures, great attention has been devoted to the study and development of surfaces with extreme wettable properties. The meticulous study of natural systems revealed that the micro/nano-topography of the surface is critical to obtaining unique wettability features, including superhydrophobicity. However, the surface chemistry also has an important role in such surface characteristics. As the interaction of biomaterials with the biological milieu occurs at the surface of the materials, it is expected that synthetic substrates with extreme and controllable wettability ranging from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic regimes could bring about the possibility of new investigations of cellâ material interactions on nonconventional surfaces and the development of alternative devices with biomedical utility. This first part of the review will describe in detail how proteins and cells interact with micro/nano-structured surfaces exhibiting extreme wettabilities.

Plataforma de suporte à decisão médica para transplante de órgãos baseada em Business Intelligence

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Informática Médica)

Entrada de multinacionais num cluster e efeitos na estratégia das empresas instaladas

Dissertação de mestrado em Economia Industrial e da Empresa

Step towards to improve the voluntary interruption of pregnancy by means of business intelligence

With the implementation of Information and Communication Technologies in the health sector, it became possible the existence of an electronic record of information for patients, enabling the storage and the availability of their information in databases. However, without the implementation of a Business Intelligence (BI) system, this information has no value. Thus, the major motivation of this paper is to create a decision support system that allows the transformation of information into knowledge, giving usability to the stored data. The particular case addressed in this chapter is the Centro Materno Infantil do Norte, in particular the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy unit. With the creation of a BI system for this module, it is possible to design an interoperable, pervasive and real-time platform to support the decision-making process of health professionals, based on cases that occurred. Furthermore, this platform enables the automation of the process for obtaining key performance indicators that are presented annually by this health institution. In this chapter, the BI system implemented in the VIP unity in CMIN, some of the KPIs evaluated as well as the benefits of this implementation are presented.