Optimization of magnetoelectric composites based on electroactive polymers for energy harvesting and sensor application

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia de Materiais.

A study of risk-aware program transformation

In the trend towards tolerating hardware unreliability, accuracy is exchanged for cost savings. Running on less reliable machines, functionally correct code becomes risky and one needs to know how risk propagates so as to mitigate it. Risk estimation, however, seems to live outside the average programmer’s technical competence and core practice. In this paper we propose that program design by source-to-source transformation be risk-aware in the sense of making probabilistic faults visible and supporting equational reasoning on the probabilistic behaviour of programs caused by faults. This reasoning is carried out in a linear algebra extension to the standard, `a la Bird-Moor algebra of programming. This paper studies, in particular, the propagation of faults across standard program transformation techniques known as tupling and fusion, enabling the fault of the whole to be expressed in terms of the faults of its parts.

Immersiveness of ubiquitous computing environments prototypes: A case study

The development of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) environments raises several challenges in terms of their evaluation. Ubicomp virtual reality prototyping tools enable users to experience the system to be developed and are of great help to face those challenges, as they support developers in assessing the consequences of a design decision in the early phases of development. Given the situated nature of ubicomp environments, a particular issue to consider is the level of realism provided by the prototypes. This work presents a case study where two ubicomp prototypes, featuring different levels of immersion (desktop-based versus CAVE-based), were developed and compared. The goal was to determine the cost/benefits relation of both solutions, which provided better user experience results, and whether or not simpler solutions provide the same user experience results as more elaborate one.

Reprogramming energy metabolism and inducing angiogenesis : co-expression of monocarboxylate transporters with VEGF family members in cervical adenocarcinomas

Reprogramming energy metabolism and inducing angiogenesis: co-expression of monocarboxylate transporters with VEGF family members in cervical adenocarcinomas.

Energy production from lipids by novel anaerobes

[Excerpt] Anaerobic microbial diversity encloses a very high potential that can be used for biotechnological applications. This potential is still largely unexplored, since the majority of the microorganisms in Nature are unknown or poorly characterized. This work is focused on the study of novel anaerobic microorganisms that participate in the metabolism of lipids, long chain fatty acids (LCFA) and glycerol, with the main goal of producing valuable energy-rich organic compounds. For that, conventional anaerobic culturing procedures were combined with continuous bioreactors operation and allied to microbial ecology approaches. Two main examples of the work performed will be presented. (...)

Incorporation of hybrid phase change materials in plastering mortars for increased energy efficiency in buildings

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Civil.