Controllability results for impulsive mixed type functional integro-differential evolution equations with nonlocal conditions

In this paper, we establish the controllability for a class of abstract impulsive mixed-type functional integro-differential equations with finite delay in a Banach space. Some sufficient conditions for controllability are obtained by using the Mönch fixed point theorem via measures of noncompactness and semigroup theory. Particularly, we do not assume the compactness of the evolution system. An example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of our results.

On-line self-healing of circuits implemented on reconfigurable FPGAs

To boost logic density and reduce per unit power consumption SRAM-based FPGAs manufacturers adopted nanometric technologies. However, this technology is highly vulnerable to radiation-induced faults, which affect values stored in memory cells, and to manufacturing imperfections. Fault tolerant implementations, based on Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) infrastructures, help to keep the correct operation of the circuit. However, TMR is not sufficient to guarantee the safe operation of a circuit. Other issues like module placement, the effects of multi- bit upsets (MBU) or fault accumulation, have also to be addressed. In case of a fault occurrence the correct operation of the affected module must be restored and/or the current state of the circuit coherently re-established. A solution that enables the autonomous restoration of the functional definition of the affected module, avoiding fault accumulation, re-establishing the correct circuit state in real-time, while keeping the normal operation of the circuit, is presented in this paper.

A framework for self-healing radiation-tolerant implementations on reconfigurable FPGAs

To increase the amount of logic available in SRAM-based FPGAs manufacturers are using nanometric technologies to boost logic density and reduce prices. However, nanometric scales are highly vulnerable to radiation-induced faults that affect values stored in memory cells. Since the functional definition of FPGAs relies on memory cells, they become highly prone to this type of faults. Fault tolerant implementations, based on triple modular redundancy (TMR) infrastructures, help to keep the correct operation of the circuit. However, TMR is not sufficient to guarantee the safe operation of a circuit. Other issues like the effects of multi-bit upsets (MBU) or fault accumulation, have also to be addressed. Furthermore, in case of a fault occurrence the correct operation of the affected module must be restored and the current state of the circuit coherently re-established. A solution that enables the autonomous correct restoration of the functional definition of the affected module, avoiding fault accumulation, re-establishing the correct circuit state in realtime, while keeping the normal operation of the circuit, is presented in this paper.

Classification Performance of Multilayer Perceptrons with Different Risk Functionals

In the present paper we assess the performance of information-theoretic inspired risks functionals in multilayer perceptrons with reference to the two most popular ones, Mean Square Error and Cross-Entropy. The information-theoretic inspired risks, recently proposed, are: HS and HR2 are, respectively, the Shannon and quadratic Rényi entropies of the error; ZED is a risk reflecting the error density at zero errors; EXP is a generalized exponential risk, able to mimic a wide variety of risk functionals, including the information-thoeretic ones. The experiments were carried out with multilayer perceptrons on 35 public real-world datasets. All experiments were performed according to the same protocol. The statistical tests applied to the experimental results showed that the ubiquitous mean square error was the less interesting risk functional to be used by multilayer perceptrons. Namely, mean square error never achieved a significantly better classification performance than competing risks. Cross-entropy and EXP were the risks found by several tests to be significantly better than their competitors. Counts of significantly better and worse risks have also shown the usefulness of HS and HR2 for some datasets.

The role of functional polymorphisms in immune response genes as biomarkers of BCG Immunotherapy outcome in bladder cancer: Establishment of a predictive profile in a Southern Europe population

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the predictive value of genetic polymorphisms in the context of BCG immunotherapy outcome and create a predictive profile that may allow discriminating the risk of recurrence. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In a dataset of 204 patients treated with BCG, we evaluate 42 genetic polymorphisms in 38 genes involved in the BCG mechanism of action, using Sequenom MassARRAY technology. Stepwise multivariate Cox Regression was used for data mining. RESULTS: In agreement with previous studies we observed that gender, age, tumor multiplicity and treatment scheme were associated with BCG failure. Using stepwise multivariate Cox Regression analysis we propose the first predictive profile of BCG immunotherapy outcome and a risk score based on polymorphisms in immune system molecules (SNPs in TNFA-1031T/C (rs1799964), IL2RA rs2104286 T/C, IL17A-197G/A (rs2275913), IL17RA-809A/G (rs4819554), IL18R1 rs3771171 T/C, ICAM1 K469E (rs5498), FASL-844T/C (rs763110) and TRAILR1-397T/G (rs79037040) in association with clinicopathological variables. This risk score allows the categorization of patients into risk groups: patients within the Low Risk group have a 90% chance of successful treatment, whereas patients in the High Risk group present 75% chance of recurrence after BCG treatment. CONCLUSION: We have established the first predictive score of BCG immunotherapy outcome combining clinicopathological characteristics and a panel of genetic polymorphisms. Further studies using an independent cohort are warranted. Moreover, the inclusion of other biomarkers may help to improve the proposed model.

O efeito da aplicação da Estimulação Elétrica Funcional na reabilitação em adultos com lesão medular completa. Revisão Sistemática

Introdução: A Lesão Medular (LM) é um dos mais devastadores e traumáticos eventos que um Ser Humano pode vivenciar do ponto de vista clínico e emocional, demonstrando-se fundamental a disponibilização de recursos específicos para que o indivíduo possa enfrentar e gerir a sua nova realidade da melhor maneira possível. Alguns estudos têm vindo a demonstrar os benefícios de programas de reabilitação com estimulação elétrica funcional (EEF). Portanto, é de importante relevância perceber os reais efeitos da intervenção na recuperação de indivíduos com este diagnóstico. Objetivo: Analisar as evidências de abordagens de aplicação de correntes de estimulação elétrica funcional (EEF) para coadjuvar na reabilitação em adultos com lesão medular completa. Métodos: Foi conduzida uma pesquisa dos artigos preferencialmente estudos randomized controlled trials RCT´s e estudos quasi-experimentais com os mesmos participantes foram admitidos complementarmente aos experimentais compreendidos entre 2004 e 2013, bem como as citações e as referências bibliográficas de cada estudo nas principais bases de dados de ciências da saúde (Elsevier – Science Direct, Highwire Press, PEDro, PubMed, Scielo Portugal, Clinical Key, B-on, Biomed Central, LILACS- Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde) com as palavras-chave: “spinal cord injuries”, “rehabilitation, electric stimulation funtional”, “FES”, “therapy” em todas as combinações possíveis. Os estudos RCT’s foram analisados independentemente por dois revisores quanto aos critérios de inclusão e qualidade dos estudos. Resultados: Dos 857 estudos identificados apenas sete foram incluídos. Destes, dois apresentaram um score 3/10, um apresentou 4/10, um apresentou um score 5/10. O score total bem como o preenchimento ou não de cada critério encontram-se detalhados na tabela 1 e organizados por ordem alfabética de autores. Todos os estudos incluíram indivíduos com Lesão Medular Completa, idades entre 16 e 68 anos com diagnóstico de acordo com a American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA).Os programas de intervenção dividiram-se em programas de programas de força, densidade mineral óssea, cardiorrespiratório e de atividade física. Dos estudos incluídos, cinco apresentaram melhorias na reabilitação funcional para o grupo experimental, demonstrando assim uma influência positiva da estimulação elétrica funcional em lesões medulares completas. Apenas dois estudos não apresentaram diferenças estatisticamente significativas com relevância clínica. Conclusão: Há uma tendência notória do benefício dos programas com EEF em pacientes com lesões medulares completas parece melhorar a capacidade cardiorrespiratória, a densidade mineral óssea, a força e atividade física, dos indivíduos. Contudo, mais estudos com elevada qualidade metodológica serão essenciais para conceber o real efeito da sua aplicação. Palavras-chave: lesão medular completa; estimulação elétrica funcional, randomized controlled trials, revisão sistemática.

Specific label-free and real-time detection of oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) using an immunosensor with three monoclonal antibodies

Increased levels of plasma oxLDL, which is the oxidized fraction of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), are associated with atherosclerosis, an inflammatory disease, and the subsequent development of severe cardiovascular diseases that are today a major cause of death in modern countries. It is therefore important to find a reliable and fast assay to determine oxLDL in serum. A new immunosensor employing three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against oxLDL is proposed in this work as a quick and effective way to monitor oxLDL. The oxLDL was first employed to produce anti-oxLDL monoclonal antibodies by hybridoma cells that were previously obtained. The immunosensor was set-up by selfassembling cysteamine (Cyst) on a gold (Au) layer (4 mm diameter) of a disposable screen-printed electrode. Three mAbs were allowed to react with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and ethyl(dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDAC), and subsequently incubated in the Au/Cys. Albumin from bovine serum (BSA) was immobilized further to ensure that other molecules apart from oxLDL could not bind to the electrode surface. All steps were followed by various characterization techniques such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The analytical operation of the immunosensor was obtained by incubating the sensing layer of the device in oxLDL for 15 minutes, prior to EIS and SWV. This was done by using standard oxLDL solutions prepared in foetal calf serum, in order to simulate patient's plasma with circulating oxLDL. A sensitive response was observed from 0.5 to 18.0 mg mL 1 . The device was successfully applied to determine the oxLDL fraction in real serum, without prior dilution or necessary chemical treatment. The use of multiple monoclonal antibodies on a biosensing platform seemed to be a successful approach to produce a specific response towards a complex multi-analyte target, correlating well with the level of oxLDL within atherosclerosis disease, in a simple, fast and cheap way.

Brazilian fruit pulps as functional foods and additives: Evaluation of bioactive compounds

Eight tropical fruit pulps from Brazil were simultaneously characterised in terms of their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Antioxidant activity was screened by DPPH radical scavenging activity (126–3987 mg TE/100 g DW) and ferric reduction activity power (368–20819 mg AAE/100 g DW), and complemented with total phenolic content (329–12466 mg GAE/100 g DW) and total flavonoid content measurements (46–672 mg EE /100 g DW), whereas antimicrobial activity was tested against the most frequently found food pathogens. Acerola and açaí presented the highest values for the antioxidant-related measurements. Direct correlations between these measurements could be observed for some of the fruits. Tamarind exhibited the broadest antimicrobial potential, having revealed growth inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus. Açaí and tamarind extracts presented an inverse relationship between antibacterial and antioxidant activities, and therefore, the antibacterial activity cannot be attributed (only) to phenolic compounds.

Competitive paths for methanol decomposition on ruthenium: a DFT study

Methanol decomposition is one of the key reactions in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) state-of-the-art technology, research, and development. However, its mechanism still presents many uncertainties, which, if answered, would permit us to refine the manufacture of DMFCs. The mechanism of methanol decomposition on ruthenium surfaces was investigated using density functional theory and a periodic supercell approach. The possible pathways, involving either initial C−H, C−O or O−H scission, were defined from experimental evidence regarding the methanol decomposition on ruthenium and other metallic surfaces. The study yielded the O−H scission pathway as having both the most favorable energetics and kinetics. The computational data, which present a remarkable closeness with the experimental results, also indicate methanol adsorption, the starting point in all possible pathways, to be of weak nature, implying a considerable rate of methanol desorption from the ruthenium, compromising the reaction.

Desenvolvimento de um fantoma cerebral para ressonância magnética

O controlo da qualidade em ressonância magnética (RM) passa pela realização de diversos testes ao equipamento e calibrações diárias, onde os fantomas desempenham um papel fundamental. Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal o desenvolvimento de um fantoma cerebral para um sistema de RM de intensidade 3.0 Tesla. Com base na literatura existente, escolheram-se como reagentes o cloreto de gadolínio (III) (GdCl3), a agarose, e o gelificante carragena, tendo sido ainda acrescentado o conservante químico azida de sódio (NaN3) de forma a inibir a degradação da solução. Realizaram-se vários testes com diferentes concentrações dos materiais selecionados até obter as misturas adequadas a suscetibilidade magnética das substâncias branca e cinzenta cerebrais. Os tempos de relaxação T1 das diversas substâncias desenvolvidas foram medidos, apresentando o fantoma final uns tempos de T1 de 702±10 ms, quando a concentração de GdCl3 foi de 100 µmol (substância branca) e 1179±23 ms quando a concentração foi de 15 µmol (substância cinzenta). Os valores de T1 do fantoma foram comparados estatisticamente com os tempos de relaxação conseguidos a partir de um cérebro humano, obtendo-se uma correlação de 0.867 com significância estatística. No intuito de demonstrar a aplicabilidade do fantoma, este foi sujeito a um protocolo de RM, do qual constaram as sequências habitualmente usadas no estudo cerebral. Como principais resultados constatou-se que, nas sequências ponderadas em T1, o fantoma apresenta uma forte associação positiva (rs > 0.700 p = 0.072) com o cérebro de referência, ainda que não sejam estatisticamente significativos. As sequências ponderadas em T2 demonstraram uma correlação positiva moderada e fraca, sendo a ponderação densidade protónica a única a apresentar uma associação negativa. Desta forma, o fantoma revelou-se um ótimo substituto do cérebro humano. Este trabalho culminou na criação de um modelo cerebral tridimensional onde foram individualizadas as regiões das substâncias branca e cinzenta, de forma a posteriormente serem preenchidas pelas correspondentes substâncias desenvolvidas, obtendo-se um fantoma cerebral antropomórfico.

Metodologias no Controlo de Compactação em Aterros

O presente trabalho pretende abordar aspectos relacionados com o controlo de compactação em aterros, com base na avaliação de parâmetros “in situ”, tais como: pesos volúmicos, teores em água, graus de compactação e módulos de deformabilidade. Recorrendo aos métodos correntes no controlo de compactação, como o ensaio de carga em placa, gamadensímetro, garrafa e ao ensaio de deflectómetro de impacto portátil. Visa-se comparar os resultados obtidos, nas diferentes condições, de modo a possibilitar alcançar correlações entre os ensaios, bem como determinar aqueles que apresentam maior grau de confiança técnico e vantagens operacionais e económicas. De modo a garantir os índices de qualidade da obra é necessário fazer cumprir os critérios exigidos pelo caderno de encargos, nomeadamente nos parâmetros de avaliação do controlo de compactação, para que estas satisfaçam o seu estado funcional e estrutural. Neste tipo de obras os cadernos de encargos de referência em Portugal são os das Estradas de Portigal (EP) e da Brisa, Auto-estradas de Portugal (Brisa), os quais se baseiam em recomendações de classificações de solos. No contexto experimental, foram efectuados dois estudos com condições e materiais diferentes, em obras pertencentes à empresa Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construções, S.A. Nas campanhas de ensaios foram realizados ensaios “in situ” na obra da Subconcessão do Douro Interior – Lote 6 – IC5 – Troço Murça/ Nó de Pombal nas camadas de sub-base e base num agregado de granulometria extensa, e na obra de modernização do troço ferroviário Bombel e Vidigal a Évora, em solos.