Smart interior design of buildings and its relationship to land use

Architectural design is often associated with aesthetics and style, but it is also very important to building performance and sustainability. There are some studies associating architectural design to the choice for materials from sustainable sources, to indoor air quality, to energy efficiency and productivity. This article takes a step further to analyse how the use of efficient interior design techniques can impact the habitable space in order to improve building sustainability in land use. Smart interior design, a current trend related to the use of efficient and flexible furniture and movable walls in tiny or compact apartments, is analysed. A building with a standard design is used as a case study reference building and compared to a proposed theoretical design alternative using smart interior design techniques. In order to correctly assess sustainability performance, a quantifiable and verified method is used. Results showed that the use of smart interior design techniques can greatly reduce buildingsâ impact on the environment.

Sistema de posicionamento baseado em redes de sensores sem fios

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Eletrónica Industrial e Computadores

All over the place localization system

The MAP-i Doctoral Programme in Informatics, of the Universities of Minho, Aveiro and Porto

Estufa de aproveitamento solar térmico para reabilitação de edifícios

Dissertação de mestrado em sustentabilidade do ambiente construido

Glazing daylighting performance and Trombe wall thermal performance of a modular façade system in four different Portuguese cities

This paper reports on a new façade system that uses passive solutions in the search for energy efficiency. The differentials are the versatility and flexibility of the modules, which are important advantages of the system. The thermal performance of Trombe walls and glazings and the daylighting performance of glazing were the key aspects analyzed in the results. Computational simulations were accomplished for the thermal performance of different arrangements of the modules with DesignBuilder software. The glazing daylighting performance was studied by means of Ecotect and Desktop Radiance programs and compared with the transmittance curves of glazings. Occupancy profile and internal gains were fixed according to the Portuguese reality for both studies. The main characteristics considered in this research were the use of two double glazings, four different climates in Portugal and one and two Trombe walls in the façade. The results show an important reduction in the energy consumption with the use of Trombe walls and double self-cleaning glazing in the façade, which also presented better daylighting performance.

Incorporation of hybrid phase change materials in plastering mortars for increased energy efficiency in buildings

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Civil.

Children's play and leisure : connections with emotional competence

O jogo e o lazer são elementos importantes para o desenvolvimento das crianças. O objetivo geral desta tese foi o de investigar o modo como o jogo e o lazer estão relacionados com diferentes aspetos das competências emocional e social das crianças e jovens. Nesta tese foram investigados três aspetos do jogo: o tempo, a forma e o nível social, diferentes formas de lazer, e vários elementos chave do funcionamento sócio-emocional, através da combinação de observações naturalistas, tarefas, questionários e de um método inovador de mensuração, baseado em Identificação por Rádio-Frequência. O panorama que surge dos estudos incluídos nesta tese é que o jogo e o lazer estão relacionados com o funcionamento sócio-emocional, embora de formas distintas, e por vezes inesperadas. Os estudos no recreio revelaram que as crianças envolvem-se predominantemente no jogo de atividade física. Contudo, enquanto que uma forma de jogo de atividade física, o jogo de exercício, foi associado a melhor competência social, a outra forma, o jogo de luta-e-perseguição, foi associado à agressividade. O facto de o jogo de faz-de-conta, em estudos anteriores, ter sido maioritariamente estudado em espaços interiores, pode explicar o porquê das associações negativas encontradas entre o jogo de faz-de-conta, quer em grupo, quer solitário (nas raparigas) e a competência sócio-emocional, que contrastam com a literatura. De facto, as crianças que não conseguem juntar-se aos seus pares no jogo de exercício podem optar por esta alternativa, o que sugere que crianças socialmente competentes poderão retirar maior vantagem das oportunidades existentes, adaptando melhor os seus comportamentos de jogo. As crianças mais velhas têm geralmente mais liberdade de decisão sobre o seu tempo de lazer. Quando perguntámos às crianças mais velhas e aos adolescentes como passavam a sua semana, as atividades de ecrã destacaram-se. Contudo, as atividades de ecrã e as atividades intelectuais foram relacionadas a mais problemas de saúde mental, enquanto que as atividades desportivas foram associadas a melhor saúde mental. Concluindo, diferentes formas de jogo e de lazer podem ter diferentes funções, de uma forma positiva ou negativa, dependendo da situação em que a criança se encontra.

A nutrient balance model for typical Irish farming systems

The twin objectives of the work described were to construct nutrient balance models (NBM) for a range of Irish animal production systems and to evaluate their potential as a means of estimating the nutrient composition of farm wastes. The NBM has three components. The first is the intake of nutrients in the animal's diet. The second is retention or the nutrients the animal retains for the production of milk, meat or eggs. The third is the balance or the difference between the nutrient intake and retention. Data on the intake levels and their nutrient value for dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs and poultry systems were assembled. Literature searches and interviews with National experts were the primary sources of information. NBMs were then constructed for each production system. Summary tables of the nutrient values for the common diet constituents used in Irish animal production systems, the nutrient composition of the animal products and the NBMs (nutrient intake, retention and excretion) for a range of production systems were assembled. These represent the first comprehensive data set of this type for Irish animal production systems. There was generally good agreement between the derived NBMs values and those published in the literature. The NBMs were validated on a number of farms. Data on animal numbers, fertiliser use, concentrates inputs and production output were recorded on seven farms. Using the data a nutrient input/output balance was constructed for each farm. This was compared with the NBM estimate of the farm nutrient balance. The results showed good agreement between the measured balance and the NBM estimate particularly for the pig and poultry farms. However, the validation emphasised the inherent risks associated with NBMs. The average values used for feed intake and production parameters in the NEMs may result in the under or over estimate of actual nutrient balances on individual farms where these variables are substantially different. On the grassland farms there was a poor correlation between the input/output estimate and the NBM. This possibly results from the omission of the soil's contribution to the nutrient balance. However, the results indicate that the NBMs developed are a potentially useful tool for estimating nutrient balances. They also will serve to highlight the significant fraction of the nutrient inputs into farming systems that are retained on the farm. The potential of the NBM as a means of estimating the nutrient composition of farm wastes was evaluated on two farms. Feed intake and composition, animal production, slurry production was monitored during the indoor winter feeding period. Slurry samples were taken for analysis. The appropriates NBMs were used to estimate the nutrient balance for each farm. The nutrient content of the slurry produced was calculated. There was a good agreement between the NBM estimate and the measured values. This preliminary evaluation suggests that the NBM has a potential to provide the farmer with a simple means of estimating the nutrient value of his slurry.

Enhancing the performance of spread spectrum techniques in different applications

Spread spectrum, Automotive Radar, Indoor Positioning Systems, Ultrasonic and Microwave Imaging, super resolution technique and wavelet transform

Diseño y fabricación de una antena con diversidad en polarización para redes WIFI a 2,4 GHz

Existeixen diferents tecnologies de transmissió sense fils, però la més coneguda és la tecnologia WIFI (Wireless Fidelity) que opera a la banda dels 2,4 GHz a Europa. Aquest tipus de xarxes opera en entorns indoor, on el canal està sotmès a una aleatorietat i complexitat elevades degut a la presència d’una gran quantitat d’elements que poden fer que la senyal rebuda presenti variacions importants en les seves característiques (nivell de senyal, polarització...). Aquest fet motiva la necessitat de desenvolupar i implantar sistemes de comunicacions amb solucions per poder minimitzar els efectes provocats per l’entorn a la senyal. Per poder pal·liar aquestes variacions, en aquest projecte s’ha dissenyat i fabricat una antena formada per dos dipols disposats un ortogonal a l’altre de manera que existeixi diversitat en polarització. La freqüència de treball de la antena és de 2,4 GHz. Rebuda una senyal de RF, el circuit de commutació permetrà seleccionar el dipol pel qual es rep la senyal de RF amb una major potència.

Competitive interactions between species of freshwater snails: I. Laboratory: Ia. General methodology

For the development of laboratory experiments on the competitive interacitons between freshwater snail populations, special snail rooms were set up in the main building of the Research Center "Aggeu Magalhães". In the current paper, the first of a series on this subject, the general methodology of the laboratory work is described in detail. Using indoor cement channels in which a uniform seminatural environment was created, interactions of freshwater snail populations can be studied with minimal interference of the usual variables. Controlled indoor environmental techniques, as described in the current paper, may also be utilized in different types of experiments in malacology, and represent a substantial technical advance in malacological work.

Despliegue y análisis de la cobertura de una red WiMAX basada en IEEE 802.16-2004

Aquest projecte tracta de l’estudi de la cobertura WiMAX basada en la variant 802.16-2004 en la que opera a 3.5 GHz en diferents escenaris d’un campus universitari. Primerament es realitza una introducció general a WiMAX i es defineixen els equips utilitzats. Posteriorment es comença a dur a terme un estudi de la cobertura WiMAX en diferents escenaris: indoor y outdoor per tal de poder extreure models empírics simplificats de path loss a partir de mesures realitzades amb els terminals WiMAX. Per últim, s’introdueix al projecte InterRural del Ministeri d'Indústria, Turisme i Comerç dut a terme durant els mesos Octubre 2007 - Març 2008 amb altres empreses col·laboradores: Telefònica, Hispasat, Gigle i Iber-X. La finalitat del projecte InterRural és comparar diferents tecnologies wireless de banda ample com alternatives per un bucle local ràdio de la última milla. En concret es comparen experimentalment les tecnologies WiMAX i WiFI 802.11a en diferents escenaris: LOS i NLOS.

Automatic measurement of key ski jumping phases and temporal events with a wearable system.

We propose a new method, based on inertial sensors, to automatically measure at high frequency the durations of the main phases of ski jumping (i.e. take-off release, take-off, and early flight). The kinematics of the ski jumping movement were recorded by four inertial sensors, attached to the thigh and shank of junior athletes, for 40 jumps performed during indoor conditions and 36 jumps in field conditions. An algorithm was designed to detect temporal events from the recorded signals and to estimate the duration of each phase. These durations were evaluated against a reference camera-based motion capture system and by trainers conducting video observations. The precision for the take-off release and take-off durations (indoor < 39 ms, outdoor = 27 ms) can be considered technically valid for performance assessment. The errors for early flight duration (indoor = 22 ms, outdoor = 119 ms) were comparable to the trainers' variability and should be interpreted with caution. No significant changes in the error were noted between indoor and outdoor conditions, and individual jumping technique did not influence the error of take-off release and take-off. Therefore, the proposed system can provide valuable information for performance evaluation of ski jumpers during training sessions.

Object recognition for autonomous objects: comparison of two approaches

Report for the scientific sojourn at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland, between September and December 2007. In order to make robots useful assistants for our everyday life, the ability to learn and recognize objects is of essential importance. However, object recognition in real scenes is one of the most challenging problems in computer vision, as it is necessary to deal with difficulties. Furthermore, in mobile robotics a new challenge is added to the list: computational complexity. In a dynamic world, information about the objects in the scene can become obsolete before it is ready to be used if the detection algorithm is not fast enough. Two recent object recognition techniques have achieved notable results: the constellation approach proposed by Lowe and the bag of words approach proposed by Nistér and Stewénius. The Lowe constellation approach is the one currently being used in the robot localization project of the COGNIRON project. This report is divided in two main sections. The first section is devoted to briefly review the currently used object recognition system, the Lowe approach, and bring to light the drawbacks found for object recognition in the context of indoor mobile robot navigation. Additionally the proposed improvements for the algorithm are described. In the second section the alternative bag of words method is reviewed, as well as several experiments conducted to evaluate its performance with our own object databases. Furthermore, some modifications to the original algorithm to make it suitable for object detection in unsegmented images are proposed.

Changes in Running Mechanics and Spring-Mass Behaviour during a 5-km Time Trial

Research into the biomechanical manifestation of fatigue during exhaustive runs is increasingly popular but additional understanding of the adaptation of the spring-mass behaviour during the course of strenuous, self-paced exercises continues to be a challenge in order to develop optimized training and injury prevention programs. This study investigated continuous changes in running mechanics and spring-mass behaviour during a 5-km run. 12 competitive triathletes performed a 5-km running time trial (mean performance: 17 min 30 s) on a 200 m indoor track. Vertical and anterior-posterior ground reaction forces were measured every 200 m by a 5-m long force platform system, and used to determine spring-mass model characteristics. After a fast start, running velocity progressively decreased (- 11.6%; P<0.001) in the middle part of the race before an end spurt in the final 400-600 m. Stride length (- 7.4%; P<0.001) and frequency (- 4.1%; P=0.001) decreased over the 25 laps, while contact time (+ 8.9%; P<0.001) and total stride duration (+ 4.1%; P<0.001) progressively lengthened. Peak vertical forces (- 2.0%; P<0.01) and leg compression (- 4.3%; P<0.05), but not centre of mass vertical displacement (+ 3.2%; P>0.05), decreased with time. As a result, vertical stiffness decreased (- 6.0%; P<0.001) during the run, whereas leg stiffness changes were not significant (+ 1.3%; P>0.05). Spring-mass behaviour progressively changes during a 5-km time trial towards deteriorated vertical stiffness, which alters impact and force production characteristics.