Observação das influências da internet no processo ensino-partilha-aprendizagem

Dissertação de mest. em Observação e Análise da Relação Educativa, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Univ. do Algarve, 2003

FDOT District Six Pedestrian Safety Web GIS Application

A group of four applications including Top 20 Pedestrian Crash Locations: This application is designed to display top 20 pedestrian crash locations into both map- view and detailed information view. FDOT Crash Reporting Tool: This application is designed to simplify the usage and sharing of CAR data. The application can load raw data from CAR and display it into a web map interface. FDOT Online Document Portal: This application is designed for FDOT project managers to be able to share and manage documents through a user friendly, GIS enable web interface GIS Data Collection for Pedestrian Safety Tool: FIU-GIS Center was responsible for data collection and processing work for the project of Pedestrian Safety Tool Project. The outcome of this task is present by a simple web-GIS application design to host GIS by projects.

Transcriptional profiling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae relevant for predicting alachlor mechanisms of toxicity

Alachlor has been a commonly applied herbicide and is a substance of ecotoxicological concern. The present study aims to identify molecular biomarkers in the eukaryotic model Saccharomyces cerevisiae that can be used to predict potential cytotoxic effects of alachlor, while providing new mechanistic clues with possible relevance for experimentally less accessible eukaryotes. It focuses on genome-wide expression profiling in a yeast population in response to two exposure scenarios exerting effects from slight to moderate magnitude at phenotypic level. In particular, 100 and 264 genes, respectively, were found as differentially expressed on a 2-h exposure of yeast cells to the lowest observed effect concentration (110 mg/L) and the 20% inhibitory concentration (200 mg/L) of alachlor, in comparison with cells not exposed to the herbicide. The datasets of alachlor-responsive genes showed functional enrichment in diverse metabolic, transmembrane transport, cell defense, and detoxification categories. In general, the modifications in transcript levels of selected candidate biomarkers, assessed by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, confirmed the microarray data and varied consistently with the growth inhibitory effects of alachlor. Approximately 16% of the proteins encoded by alachlor-differentially expressed genes were found to share significant homology with proteins from ecologically relevant eukaryotic species. The biological relevance of these results is discussed in relation to new insights into the potential adverse effects of alachlor in health of organisms from ecosystems, particularly in worst-case situations such as accidental spills or careless storage, usage, and disposal.

Increasing the value of household appliances by adding a heat pump system

Historically, domestic tasks such as preparing food and washing and drying clothes and dishes were done by hand. In a modern home many of these chores are taken care of by machines such as washing machines, dishwashers and tumble dryers. When the first such machines came on the market customers were happy that they worked at all! Today, the costs of electricity and customers’ environmental awareness are high, so features such as low electricity, water and detergent use strongly influence which household machine the customer will buy. One way to achieve lower electricity usage for the tumble dryer and the dishwasher is to add a heat pump system. The function of a heat pump system is to extract heat from a lower temperature source (heat source) and reject it to a higher temperature sink (heat sink) at a higher temperature level. Heat pump systems have been used for a long time in refrigerators and freezers, and that industry has driven the development of small, high quality, low price heat pump components. The low price of good quality heat pump components, along with an increased willingness to pay extra for lower electricity usage and environmental impact, make it possible to introduce heat pump systems in other household products. However, there is a high risk of failure with new features. A number of household manufacturers no longer exist because they introduced poorly implemented new features, which resulted in low quality and product performance. A manufacturer must predict whether the future value of a feature is high enough for the customer chain to pay for it. The challenge for the manufacturer is to develop and produce a high-performance heat pump feature in a household product with high quality, predict future willingness to pay for it, and launch it at the right moment in order to succeed. Tumble dryers with heat pump systems have been on the market since 2000. Paper I reports on the development of a transient simulation model of a commercial heat pump tumble dryer. The measured and simulated results were compared with good similarity. The influence of the size of the compressor and the condenser was investigated using the validated simulation model. The results from the simulation model show that increasing the cylinder volume of the compressor by 50% decreases the drying time by 14% without using more electricity.  Paper II is a concept study of adding a heat pump system to a dishwasher in order to decrease the total electricity usage. The dishwasher, dishware and water are heated by the condenser, and the evaporator absorbs the heat from a water tank. The majority of the heat transfer to the evaporator occurs when ice is generated in the water tank. An experimental setup and a transient simulation model of a heat pump dishwasher were developed. The simulation results show a 24% reduction in electricity use compared to a conventional dishwasher heated with an electric element. The simulation model was based on an experimental setup that was not optimised. During the study it became apparent that it is possible to decrease electricity usage even more with the next experimental setup.

O uso excessivo da Internet e a sua relação com Sintomatologia Psicopatológica

O uso excessivo da internet tem vindo a ser estudado por vários países estrangeiros desde a década de noventa. Apesar do crescente interesse neste ramo de investigação, em Portugal esta área continua pouco desenvolvida. O presente estudo procurou testar a existência de associações entre o uso excessivo da internet e a sintomatologia psicopatológica, bem como avaliar as relações entre a utilização excessiva da internet e os dados sociodemográficos recolhidos. Participaram neste estudo um total de 549 indivíduos portugueses (151 homens e 398 mulheres), com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 65 anos (X̅ = 27.0), onde foi preenchida a versão portuguesa do Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998); o Brief Sympton Inventory (Canavarro, 1999); e o questionário sociodemográfico. Os resultados revelaram que a utilização excessiva da internet encontra-se associada positivamente não só a sintomas psicopatológicos, mas também a fatores sociodemográficos como o sexo do participante, o estado civil, a idade e as habilitações literárias. Deste modo, foi referida a importância da prevenção e da intervenção precoce da utilização excessiva da internet na população jovem. Também é essencial alargar o campo de investigação a este novo fenómeno mundial.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2010

This statistical sheet shows 2006-2010 traffic fatality comparisons through August, 2010 fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2011

This statistical sheet shows 2007-2011 traffic fatality comparisons through January, 2011, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2011

This statistical sheet shows 2007-2011 traffic fatality comparisons through August, 2011, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2012

This statistical sheet shows 2008-2012 traffic fatality comparisons through September, 2012, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2012

This statistical sheet shows 2008-2012 traffic fatality comparisons through November, 2012, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2013

This statistical sheet shows 2009-2013 traffic fatality comparisons through January, 2013, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2013

This statistical sheet shows 2009-2013 traffic fatality comparisons through May, 2013, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2013

This statistical sheet shows 2009-2013 traffic fatality comparisons through July, 2013, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2013

This statistical sheet shows 2009-2013 traffic fatality comparisons through September, 2013, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.

South Carolina traffic fatality report for 2014

This statistical sheet shows 2010-2014 traffic fatality comparisons through January, 2014, fatalities by route category, top fatality counties, fatalities by restraint usage and top crash events.