Descrição e reflexão sobre um percurso profissional

Relatório de atividade profissional de mestrado em Ensino da Música

Avaliação do desempenho de fundos de investimento de ouro nos EUA: influência dos diferentes regimes de mercado na seletividade e market-timing

Dissertação de mestrado em Finanças

Ergonomics, anthropometrics, and kinetic evaluation of gait: A case study

This study aimed to develop appropriate changes in a pair of shoes in order to improve the gait of an individual selected for this case study. This analysis took into account ergonomic aspects, namely those relating to the individual’s anthropometrics. Gait analysis was done with the adapted footwear both before and after intervention.A conventional X-ray was performed, which revealed a 29-mm left lower limb shortening and possible foot adduction. The anthropometric assessment confirmed a 27-mm asymmetry between the left knee and foot.Corrective changes were implemented in the left boot, with a 20-mm increase in the plantar aspect and approximately 30-mm in the calcaneus area.The pressure-mapping system WalkinSense was used for the kinetic gait analysis. Results showed some improvement in plantar pressure distribution after corrective changes in footwear. Peak pressure in the left foot decreased from 2.8kg/cm2 to 1.6kg/cm2. The second peak also showed a marked decrease. The right foot presented with a reduction in peak plantar pressure from 2.7kg/cm2 to 2.3kg/cm2.After identifying asymmetries, the associated pathologies and modifyingthe footwear, a kinetic analysis of gait before and after altering the footwear was undertaken, which showed improvements in the gait. According to the obtained results, it was possible to demonstrate that the initially proposed objectives were achieved, i.e., the changes in footwear resulted in an improvement of the analyzed individual.

Cationic Liposomes as antigenic delivery systems: development of an immunoprotective strategy against Candida albicans

Tese de Doutoramento Biologia Molecular e Ambiental - Especialidade em Biologia Celular e Saúde

Updating of the hierarchical rock mass rating (HRMR) system and a new subsystem developed for weathered granite formations

The RMR system is still very much applied in rock mechanics engineering context. It is based on the evaluation of six weights to obtain a final rating. To obtain the final rating a considerable amount of information is needed concerning the rock mass which can be difficult to obtain in some projects or project stages at least with accuracy. In 2007 an alternative classification scheme based on the RMR, the Hierarchical Rock Mass Rating (HRMR) was presented. The main feature of this system was the adaptation to the level of knowledge existent about the rock mass to obtain the classification of the rock mass since it followed a decision tree approach. However, the HRMR was only valid for hard rock granites with low fracturing degrees. In this work, the database was enlarged with approximately 40% more cases considering other types of granite rock masses including weathered granites and based on this increased database the system was updated. Granite formations existent in the north of Portugal including Porto city are predominantly granites. Some years ago a light rail infrastructure was built in the city of Porto and surrounding municipalities whi h involved considerable challenges due to the high heterogeneity levels of the granite formations and the difficulties involved in their geomechanical characterization. In this work it is intended to provide also a contribution to improve the characterization of these formations with special emphasis to the weathered horizons. A specific subsystem applicable to the weathered formations was developed. The results of the validation of these systems are presented and show acceptable performances in identifying the correct class using less information than with the RMR system.

Measurements of the nuclear modification factor for jets in Pb+Pb collisions at sNN =2.76TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of inclusive jet production are performed in pp and Pb+Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 4.0 pb−1 and 0.14 nb−1 , respectively. The jets are identified with the anti-kt algorithm with R=0.4, and the spectra are measured over the kinematic range of jet transverse momentum 32approximately a factor of two in central collisions compared to pp collisions. The RAA shows a slight increase with pT and no significant variation with rapidity.

Nonsolvent induced phase separation preparation of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) membranes with tailored morphology, piezoelectric phase content and mechanical properties

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene) – P(VDF-CTFE) membranes are increasingly interesting for a wide range of applications, including battery separators, filtration membranes and biomedical applications. This work reports on the morphology, hydrophobicity, thermal and mechanical properties variation of P(VDF-CTFE) membranes processed by nonsolvent induced phase separation technique (NIPS) as a function of the main processing parameters. All membranes show a porous structure composed of large spherulites, (interconnected) micropores and/or microvoids depending on the processing conditions used that in turn affect their hydrophobicity and mechanical properties. The degree of crystallinity of the membranes remains approximately constant with a value of about 15 %, except for the membranes immediately immersed in ethanol, which is of about 23 %. In turn, the crystalline phases present in the copolymer is mainly affected by the temperature and nonsolvent characteristics of the coagulation bath, the β-phase content ranging from 33 to 100 %, depending on those processing parameters. It was show that the temperature of water-based coagulation bath plays an important role in order to produce structurally uniform and homogeneous porous membranes, which is particularly important from the point of view of technological applications.

A hybrid MAC Scheme to improve the transmission performance in body sensor networks

Wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) constitute a key technology for closing the loop between patients and healthcare providers, as WBSNs provide sensing ability, as well as mobility and portability, essential characteristics for wide acceptance of wireless healthcare technology. However, one important and difficult aspect of WBSNs is to provide data transmissions with quality of service, among other factors due to the antennas being small size and placed close to the body. Such transmissions cannot be fully provided without the assumption of a MAC protocol that solves the problems of the medium sharing. A vast number of MAC protocols conceived for wireless networks are based on random or scheduled schemes. This paper studies firstly the suitability of two MAC protocols, one using CSMA and the other TDMA, to transmit directly to the base station the signals collected continuously from multiple sensor nodes placed on the human body. Tests in a real scenario show that the beaconed TDMA MAC protocol presents an average packet loss ratio lower than CSMA. However, the average packet loss ratio is above 1.0 %. To improve this performance, which is of vital importance in areas such as e-health and ambient assisted living, a hybrid TDMA/CSMA scheme is proposed and tested in a real scenario with two WBSNs and four sensor nodes per WBSN. An average packet loss ratio lower than 0.2 % was obtained with the hybrid scheme. To achieve this significant improvement, the hybrid scheme uses a lightweight algorithm to control dynamically the start of the superframes. Scalability and traffic rate variation tests show that this strategy allows approximately ten WBSNs operating simultaneously without significant performance degradation.

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimensions model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/Rc=950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛRc) of approximately 30, as well as on sparticle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV.

Photoactivation of butyric acid from 6-aminobenzocoumarin cages

A new benzocoumarin bearing an amino group is proposed as a photocleavable protecting group for carboxylic acids. The novel heterocycle, 6-amino-4-chloromethyl-2-oxo-2H-naphtho[1,2-b]pyran was used in the preparation of ester conjugates of butyric acid, and of the corresponding mono- and di-methylated or ethylated derivatives. The photolability of the ester conjugates was studied by irradiation at selected wavelengths in methanol/HEPES buffer (80:20) solutions, and the release of butyric acid was followed with HPLC/UV and 1H NMR monitoring. Release of the carboxylic acid was faster for the monoalkylated derivatives (approximately within 20 min), at the longer wavelengths of irradiation (350 and 419 nm). The photophysics of the heterocyclic conjugates was also evaluated by both steady state and time-resolved methods.

Symptoms and signs in rigid gas permeable lens wearers during adaptation period

Objectives: To evaluate neophyte contact lens wearers’ fitting to rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses in terms of wearing time, tear volume, stability, corneal staining, and subjective ratings, over a 1-month period of time. Methods: Twenty-two young healthy subjects were enrolled for wearing RGP on a daily wear basis. The participants included in this study never wore contact lenses and showed a value under 10 in McMonnies Questionnaire. Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire, Visual Analog Scales, Schirmer test, tear film break-up time (BUT), and corneal staining grading were performed. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 1, 7, 15, and 28 days. Results: Six subjects dropped out due to discomfort from the study before 1 month (27% of discontinuation rate). Successful RGP wearers (16 participants) achieved high levels of subjective vision and reported comfort scores of approximately 9 of 10 between 10 and 15 days. They reported wearing their lenses for an average of 10.1262.43 hr after 1 month of wear. Conversely, unsuccessful wearers discontinued wearing the lenses after the first 10 to 15 days, showing comfort scores and wearing time significantly lower compared with the first day of wear. Schirmer test showed a signifi- cant increase at 10 days (P,0.001), and the BUT trends decreased after the first week of wear in unsuccessful group. Conclusions: Symptomatology related with dryness and discomfort, detected during the first 10 days of the adaptation, may help the clinician to predict those participants who will potentially fail to adapt to RGP lens wear.

Thin films composed of gold nanoparticles dispersed in a dielectric matrix: the influence of the host matrix on the optical and mechanical responses

Gold nanoparticles were dispersed in two different dielectric matrices, TiO2 and Al2O3, using magnetron sputtering and a post-deposition annealing treatment. The main goal of the present work was to study how the two different host dielectric matrices, and the resulting microstructure evolution (including both the nanoparticles and the host matrix itself) promoted by thermal annealing, influenced the physical properties of the films. In particular, the structure and morphology of the nanocomposites were correlated with the optical response of the thin films, namely their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) characteristics. Furthermore, and in order to scan the future application of the two thin film system in different types of sensors (namely biological ones), their functional behaviour (hardness and Young's modulus change) was also evaluated. Despite the similar Au concentrations in both matrices (~ 11 at.%), very different microstructural features were observed, which were found to depend strongly on the annealing temperature. The main structural differences included: (i) the early crystallization of the TiO2 host matrix, while the Al2O3 one remained amorphous up to 800 °C; (ii) different grain size evolution behaviours with the annealing temperature, namely an almost linear increase for the Au:TiO2 system (from 3 to 11 nm), and the approximately constant values observed in the Au:Al2O3 system (4–5 nm). The results from the nanoparticle size distributions were also found to be quite sensitive to the surrounding matrix, suggesting different mechanisms for the nanoparticle growth (particle migration and coalescence dominating in TiO2 and Ostwald ripening in Al2O3). These different clustering behaviours induced different transmittance-LSPR responses and a good mechanical stability, which opens the possibility for future use of these nanocomposite thin film systems in some envisaged applications (e.g. LSPR-biosensors).

Melhoria e normalização de ferramentas de apoio à produção aplicando ferramentas Lean

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial

Two-particle Bose–Einstein correlations in pp collisions at s√= 0.9 and 7 TeV measured with the ATLAS detector

The paper presents studies of Bose--Einstein Correlations (BEC) for pairs of like-sign charged particles measured in the kinematic range pT> 100 MeV and |η|< 2.5 in proton--proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 0.9 and 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The integrated luminosities are approximately 7 μb−1, 190 μb−1 and 12.4 nb−1 for 0.9 TeV, 7 TeV minimum-bias and 7 TeV high-multiplicity data samples, respectively. The multiplicity dependence of the BEC parameters characterizing the correlation strength and the correlation source size are investigated for charged-particle multiplicities of up to 240. A saturation effect in the multiplicity dependence of the correlation source size is observed using the high-multiplicity 7 TeV data sample. The dependence of the BEC parameters on the average transverse momentum of the particle pair is also investigated.

A VEP study in sleeping and awake one-month-old infants and its relation with social behavior

With the present study we aimed to analyze the relationship between infants' behavior and their visual evoked-potential (VEPs) response. Specifically, we want to verify differences regarding the VEP response in sleeping and awake infants and if an association between VEP components, in both groups, with neurobehavioral outcome could be identified. To do so, thirty-two full-term and healthy infants, approximately 1-month of age, were assessed through a VEP unpatterned flashlight stimuli paradigm, offered in two different intensities, and were assessed using a neurobehavioral scale. However, only 18 infants have both assessments, and therefore, these is the total included in both analysis. Infants displayed a mature neurobehavioral outcome, expected for their age. We observed that P2 and N3 components were present in both sleeping and awake infants. Differences between intensities were found regarding the P2 amplitude, but only in awake infants. Regression analysis showed that N3 amplitude predicted an adequate social interactive and internal regulatory behavior in infants who were awake during the stimuli presentation. Taking into account that social orientation and regulatory behaviors are fundamental keys for social-like behavior in 1-month-old infants, this study provides an important approach for assessing physiological biomarkers (VEPs) and its relation with social behavior, very early in postnatal development. Moreover, we evidence the importance of the infant's state when studying differences regarding visual threshold processing and its association with behavioral outcome.