Ancient materials and techniques to improve the earthen building durability

A substantial part of the world building heritage has been performed by earthen building. The durability of this existing heritage and mainly of the new buildings built with earth is particularly conditioned by the erosion caused by water action, especially in countries with high levels of rainfall. This research aims to contribute to the increase of knowledge about the ancient building techniques that provide enhanced durability. It is possible to analyse the ancestral practices used to protect the earth material from the water action in order to understand how the old earthen buildings were preserved over the centuries, resisting to harsh weather conditions. Among these techniques are: the incorporation of biopolymers (such as oils or fats from animal or vegetable origin); the addition of some minerals; and the earth stabilization with lime. However, this knowledge seems to be forgotten, probably due to the prejudice related to earthen constructions, which several times are associated with a poor building. This research also focuses on the study of new methods of earth stabilization with lime and biopolymers, adapting the ancient knowledge to improve the durability related to the water action. Therefore, alternative solutions can be obtained to improve the performance of earthen buildings, mainly the resistance of the material in the presence of water, reducing its permeability to water. In addition, with the proposed solutions it is possible to obtain good levels of water vapour permeability, one of the major advantages of the construction with earth.

A data-driven analytics approach in the study of pneumonia’s fatalities

As huge amounts of data become available in organizations and society, specific data analytics skills and techniques are needed to explore this data and extract from it useful patterns, tendencies, models or other useful knowledge, which could be used to support the decision-making process, to define new strategies or to understand what is happening in a specific field. Only with a deep understanding of a phenomenon it is possible to fight it. In this paper, a data-driven analytics approach is used for the analysis of the increasing incidence of fatalities by pneumonia in the Portuguese population, characterizing the disease and its incidence in terms of fatalities, knowledge that can be used to define appropriate strategies that can aim to reduce this phenomenon, which has increased more than 65% in a decade.

Multifunctional converter to interface renewable energy sources and electric vehicles with the power grid in smart grids context

This paper proposes a multifunctional converter to interface renewable energy sources (e.g., solar photovoltaic panels) and electric vehicles (EVs) with the power grid in smart grids context. This multifunctional converter allows deliver energy from the solar photovoltaic panels to an EV or to the power grid, and exchange energy in bidirectional mode between the EV and the power grid. Using this multifunctional converter are not required multiple conversion stages, as occurs with the traditional solutions, where are necessary two power converters to integrate the solar photovoltaic system in the power grid and also two power converters to integrate an off-board EV battery charger in the power grid (dc-dc and dc-ac power converters in both cases). Taking into account that the energy provided (or delivered) from the power grid in each moment is function of the EV operation mode and also of the energy produced from the solar photovoltaic system, it is possible to define operation strategies and control algorithms in order to increase the energy efficiency of the global system and to improve the power quality of the electrical system. The proposed multifunctional converter allows the operation in four distinct cases: (a) Transfer of energy from the solar photovoltaic system to the power grid; (b) Transfer of energy from the solar photovoltaic system and from the EV to the power grid; (c) Transfer of energy from the solar photovoltaic system to the EV or to the power grid; (d) Transfer of energy between the EV and the power grid. Along the paper are described the system architecture and the control algorithms, and are also presented some computational simulation results for the four aforementioned cases. It is also presented a comparative analysis between the traditional and the proposed solution in terms of operation efficiency and estimated cost of implementation.

A aplicabilidade pedagógica do canto no ensino do violoncelo

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino de Música

Segurança contra incêndios na reabilitação sustentável de edifícios antigos

Dissertação de mestrado em Construção e Reabilitação Sustentáveis

Piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride) microstructure and poling state in active tissue engineering

Tissue engineering often rely on scaffolds for supporting cell differentiation and growth. Novel paradigms for tissue engineering include the need of active or smart scaffolds in order to properly regenerate specific tissues. In particular, as electrical and electromechanical clues are among the most relevant ones in determining tissue functionality in tissues such as muscle and bone, among others, electroactive materials and, in particular, piezoelectric ones, show strong potential for novel tissue engineering strategies, in particular taking also into account the existence of these phenomena within some specific tissues, indicating their requirement also during tissue regeneration. This referee reports on piezoelectric materials used for tissue engineering applications. The most used materials for tissue engineering strategies are reported together with the main achievements, challenges and future needs for research and actual therapies. This review provides thus a compilation of the most relevant results and strategies and a start point for novel research pathways in the most relevant and challenging open questions.

Sistema de reposição e de gestão de inventários na rede de lojas de uma empresa de retalho de moda

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial

Desenvolvimento de um filtro ativo paralelo com CSI e controlo de corrente no barramento CC

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Eletrónica Industrial e Computadores

Quantifying, generating and mitigating radio interference in Low-Power Wireless Networks

Doctoral Programme in Telecommunication - MAP-tele

Study to determine the cardiovascular risk ofthe population of Guimarães/Vizela, includingthe prevalence of arterial stiffness and early vascular aging syndrome

Tese de Doutoramento em Medicina.

Introducing biomimetic approaches to materials development and product design for engineering students

In this paper, we present a new course entitled “Biomimicry: from life to nanotechnological innovations” at the Mines Nancy Engineering School, Nancy, France, and explain how we developed a specific curriculum covering biomimicry. We discuss strategies that can be followed by teachers to explain selected contents in the multi-disciplinary field of biomimicry and/or bioinspiration to undergraduate students and how practical classroom activities can be conducted as individual or team work. We hope that sharing our experience will help teachers and senior researchers disseminate useful concepts and real examples of biomimetic principles and tools for the development of new materials, new/improved design and fabrication strategies, and innovation methodologies.

Extremely strong and tough hydrogels as prospective candidates for tissue repair – A review

Ideal candidates for the repair of robust biological tissues should exhibit diverse features such as biocompatibility, strength, toughness, self-healing ability and a well-defined structure. Among the available biomaterials, hydrogels, as highly hydrated 3D-crosslinked polymeric networks, are promising for Tissue Engineering purposes as result of their high resemblance with native extracellular matrix. However, these polymeric structures often exhibit a poor mechanical behavior, hampering their use in load-bearing applications. During the last years, several efforts have been made to create new strategies and concepts to fabricate strong and tough hydrogels. Although it is already possible to shape the mechanical properties of artificial hydrogels to mimic biotissues, critical issues regarding, for instance, their biocompatibility and hierarchical structure are often neglected. Therefore, this review covers the structural and mechanical characteristics of the developed methodologies to toughen hydrogels, highlighting some pioneering efforts employed to combine the aforementioned properties in natural-based hydrogels.

Velhas e novas drogas: impactos da toxicodependência: estudo de caso na cidade de Braga

Dissertação de mestrado em Sociologia (área de especialização em Organizações e Trabalho)

A aprendizagem do léxico na compreensão leitora

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino do Português no 3.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário e do Espanhol nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário

As práticas de leitura e a sua relação com a compreensão leitora nas aulas de línguas

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino de Português no 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário e de Espanhol nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário