Survey and dynamic behaviour of the Our Lady of Conception Church, Portugal

The Our Lady of Conception church is located in village of Monforte (Portugal) and is not in use nowadays. The church presents structural damage and, consequently, a study was carried out. The study involved the survey of the damage, dynamic identification tests under ambient vibration and the numerical analysis. The church is constituted by the central nave, the chancel, the sacristy and the corridor to access the pulpit. The masonry walls present different thickness, namely 0.65 m in the chancel, 0.70 m in the sacristy, 0.92 in the central nave and 0.65 m in the corridor. The masonry walls present 8 buttresses with different dimensions. The total longitudinal and transversal dimensions of the church are equal to 21.10 m and 14.26 m, respectively. The survey of the damage showed that, in general, the masonry walls are in good conditions, with exception of the transversal walls of the nave, which present severe cracks. The arches of the vault presents also severe cracks along the central nave. As consequence, the infiltrations have increased the degradation of the vault and paintings. Furthermore, the foundations present settlements in the Southwest direction. The dynamic identification test were carried out under the action of ambient excitation of the wind and using 12 piezoelectric accelerometers of high sensitivity. The dynamic identification tests allowed to estimate the dynamic properties of the church, namely frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. A FEM numerical model was prepared and calibrated, based on the first four experimental modes estimated in the dynamic identification tests. The average error between the experimental and numerical frequencies of the first four modes is equal to 5%. After calibration of the numerical model, pushover analyses with a load pattern proportional to the mass, in the transversal and longitudinal direction of the church, were performed. The results of the analysis numerical allow to conclude that the most vulnerable direction of the church is in the transversal one and the maximum load factor is equal to 0.35.

End-of-day dryness, corneal sensitivity and blink rate in contact lens wearers

Purpose: To study the relationship among the variables intensity ofthe end-of-day (EOD) dryness, corneal sensitivity and blink rate in soft contact lens (CL) wearers. Methods: Thirty-eight soft CL wearers (25 women and 13 men; mean age 27.1 ± 7.2 years) were enrolled. EOD dryness was assessed using a scale of 0–5 (0, none to 5, very intense). Mechanical and thermal (heat and cold) sensitivity were measured using a Belmonte’s gas esthesiometer. The blink rate was recorded using a video camera while subjects were wearing a hydrogel CL and watching a film for 90 min in a controlled environmental chamber. Results: A significant inverse correlation was found between EOD dryness and mechanical sensitivity (r: −0.39; p = 0.02); however, there were no significant correlations between EOD dryness and thermal sensitivity. A significant (r: 0.56; p < 0.001) correlation also was observed between EOD dryness and blink rate, but no correlations were found between blink rate and mechanical or thermal sensitivity. Conclusions: CL wearers with higher corneal sensitivity to mechanical stimulation reported more EOD dryness with habitual CL wear. Moreover, subjects reporting more EOD dryness had an increased blink rates during wear of a standard CL type. The increased blink rate could act to improve the ocular surface environment and relieve symptoms

Comparing different methods to measure biofilm thickness: the techniques are: optical coherence tomography, confocal laser scanning microscopy and low load compression test

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Engenharia Clínica)

Assessment of innovative solutions for non-load bearing masonry enclosures

This paper presents some of the results of the research project “Masonry Enclosures” developed in the framework of the transnational access (TA) to LNEC’s triaxial shake table within the FP7 project SERIES.

Organic load of substrata for wastewater treatment constructed wetlands

In Portugal the use of Constructed Wetlands (CW) for wastewater treatment has been increasing. However a number of these facilities need new strategies to achieve better efficiency. Keeping the culms of reeds on the CW beds not always results as desired, but the use of widely available agro-forest wastes, may be suitable as CW support matrix. This study was performed at lab-scale with dried culms of Phragmites and eucalyptus bark maintained in tap water, to assess them as CW substrata. With a 7 days residence time in water, Phragmites culms added a high organic load (about 400 mg L-1 BOD5) to the medium, while the eucalyptus bark added only, about 60 mg L-1 BOD5. However, by lixiviation, the organic load decreased to about 25 mg L-1 BOD5 in 5 weeks. With the organic load reduction of the leachate water, its surface tension increased, approaching the surface tension of tap water.

Summary of the ATLAS experiment's sensitivity to supersymmetry after LHC Run 1-interpreted in the phenomenological MSSM

A summary of the constraints from the ATLAS experiment on R-parity-conserving supersymmetry is presented. Results from 22 separate ATLAS searches are considered, each based on analysis of up to 20.3 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of s√=7 and 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The results are interpreted in the context of the 19-parameter phenomenological minimal supersymmetric standard model, in which the lightest supersymmetric particle is a neutralino, taking into account constraints from previous precision electroweak and flavour measurements as well as from dark matter related measurements. The results are presented in terms of constraints on supersymmetric particle masses and are compared to limits from simplified models. The impact of ATLAS searches on parameters such as the dark matter relic density, the couplings of the observed Higgs boson, and the degree of electroweak fine-tuning is also shown. Spectra for surviving supersymmetry model points with low fine-tunings are presented.

Estudo da cabeceira da Sé do Porto

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Civil

Plataforma de apoio à decisão nos cuidados de ginecologia e obstetrícia

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