Assessing self-organization and emergence in Evolvable Assembly Systems (EAS)

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Multiresponsive supramolecular systems for information processing at the molecular level

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Química Sustentável

Project of a bandgap voltage reference and a temperature sensor for "energy harvest" systems

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e Computadores

Equity in access to MRI equipment: the Portuguese case

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a method of image diagnose proven to be of undeniable importance when it comes to neuro and cardio related diseases. In fact, these diseases (such as: ischemic heart disease, stroke and acute myocardial infection) have high incidence in Portugal. For these reasons, the allocation of this medical technology should not be considered with light thoughts. In fact, making decision of resource allocation in health care can be a very complex and contested matter. The impacts of new technology allocation, such MRI, can be assessed in a variety of ways. However, a fundamental component should always be present: the use of evidence-based decision-making methods. One of these methods is Technology Assessment (TA). This paper aims to characterize the equity on access of the Portuguese population in general, to a specific medical device such as MRI, under the TA point of view. It is hoped to promote a bridge of scientific knowledge between the gap on research and policy-making through TA that can emerge as a tool to aid decision-makers in the organization of health systems. There are gaps in providing healthcare, due to geographical imbalances, with some areas unable to provide certain specialized services, as hospitals in the countryside do not provide all medical specialties. Portugal has also a large independent private sector that provides diagnostic and therapeutic services to NHS users under contracts called conventions. These medical contracts cover ambulatory health facilities for laboratory tests and examinations such as diagnostic tests and Radiology. However, there is no convention from the NHS when concerning the MRI exam. Therefore, this reality can be considered a limitation in the access of the general population to this kind of clinical exam. TA can play an useful and important role in helping the decision-makers to explore potential gains that might be achieved by introducing a more rational decision making into health care management, namely into the Radiology area, regarding the allocation of MRI equipment.

Real-time labview assessment on adsorption systems

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

Cost efficiency in the Portuguese water sector: The case of multimunicipal systems operating at the bulk level

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

How reporting and controlling systems can be effectively designed to support the decision-making process: The case of a Software SME

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Analyzing the impact of HRM Systems on the organizational climate, culture and outcomes: The mediating role of HMR Strength, organizational climate and culture

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

A system’s approach to cache hierarchy-aware decomposition of data-parallel computations

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Petri net based development of globally-asynchronous locally-synchronous distributed embedded systems

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Synchronization properties of multi-oscillator circadian systems

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Computational Biology

Gold nanoparticulate systems for new anticancer compounds delivery

My master studies have resulted in the following publication: Martins P, Rosa D, Fernandes AR, Baptista PV. 2014. Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Systems: Recent Patents and Applications in Nanomedicine. Recent Patents in Nanomedicine. 3(2):105-118.

Biological effects of acrylic engineered particulate-systems

Polymeric particulate-systems are of great relevance due to their possible biomedical applications, among them as carriers for the nano- or microencapsulation of drugs. However, due to their unique specific properties, namely small size range, toxicity issues must be discarded before allowing its use on health-related applications. Several polymers, as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), have proved to be suitable for the preparation of particulate-systems. However, a major drawback of its use refers to incomplete drug release from particles matrix. Recent strategies to improve PMMA release properties mention the inclusion of other acrylic polymers as Eudragit (EUD) on particles formulation. Though PMMA and EUD are accepted by the FDA as biocompatible, their safety on particle composition lacks sufficient toxicological data. The main objective of this thesis was to evaluate the biological effects of engineered acrylic particulate-systems. Preparation, physicochemical characterization and in vitro toxicity evaluation were assessed on PMMA and PMMA-EUD (50:50) particles. The emulsification-solvent evaporation methodology allowed the preparation of particles with spherical and smooth surfaces within the micrometer range (±500 nm), opposing surface charges and different levels of hydrophobicity. It was observed that particles physicochemical properties (size and charge) were influenced by biological media composition, such as serum concentration, ionic strength or pH. In what concerns to the in vitro toxicological studies, particle cellular uptake was observed on different cell lines (macrophages, osteoblasts and fibroblasts). Cytotoxicity effects were only found after 72 h of cells exposure to the particles, while no oxidative damage was observed neither on osteoblasts nor fibroblasts. Also, no genotoxicity was found in fibroblast using the comet assay to assess DNA damage. This observation should be further confirmed with other validated genotoxicity assays (e.g. Micronucleus Assay). The present study suggests that the evaluated acrylic particles are biocompatible, showing promising biological properties for potential use as carriers in drug-delivery systems.

High ffficiency transmission techniques for broadband wireless systems

Future broadband wireless systems are expected to cope with severely time dispersive channels, due to multi-path signal propagation between the transmitter and the receiver while having high power and spectral efficiency. Thus, advanced Frequency Domain Equalization techniques are required. The implementation complexity in mobile terminals should be as low as possible to achieve highest possible efficiency. Therefore, most of the signal processing requirements will be shifted to the base station and we will employ signals compatible with an efficient, grossly nonlinear power amplification. For this reason, we will consider offset modulation signals with quasi-constant envelope and develop receivers that will obtain good BER performance. However, these signals require a bandwidth significantly above the Nyquist rate, which can be reduced by an overlap of different frequency channels.