Desempenho ambiental do transporte rodoviário pesado em Portugal

Os transportes rodoviários são essenciais para a sociedade actual. Deles depende directamente a mobilidade de milhões de pessoas diariamente, assim como o funcionamento de diversos sectores económico em Portugal e no mundo. Existem diversos estudos focados na pressão ambiental associada à operação de veículos pesados. Todavia, o estudo de pressões inerentes às restantes fases do ciclo de vida permanece pouco desenvolvido carecendo de informação comparável. O objectivo da presente tese passa por avaliar o desempenho ambiental do transporte pesado rodoviário a nível nacional, através da aplicação da metodologia de análise de ciclo de vida (ACV). Na fase de quantificação do desempenho ambiental foi utilizada a metodologia EcoBlok considerando o uso de recursos e emissões de poluentes. No ano de 2013 o transporte pesado de mercadorias consumiu 12,8 hm3 eq. de água e 3 097 kt eq. de recursos; ocupou 119 km2.ano eq. de solos; emitiu 3 253 kt CO2 eq. de GEE; 121 kt NOx eq. de poluentes atmosféricos; 197 kt N eq. de poluentes para o solo e meios hídricos e 1,3 kg TCDD eq. de dioxinas e furanos. A fase de operação é a que mais contribui para o total de pressões contabilizadas no subsector mencionado. O transporte de passageiros registou, para o total da frota activa em 2013 um total de 1,7 hm3 eq. de água extraída; 221 kt eq. de recursos consumidos; 14,6 km2.ano eq. de solos usados; 234 kt CO2 eq. de GEE; 10,4 kt NOx eq. de poluentes atmosféricos; 16,9 kt N eq. de emissões para o solo e meios hídricos e 0,1 kg TCDD eq. de dioxinas e furanos emitidos. O destaque vai igualmente, para a fase de operação, a que mais contribui para a pressão total averiguada. Os resultados e conclusões obtidas ao longo do estudo podem revelar-se úteis para a concepção de políticas de transporte e tomada de decisão, na medida em que permitem a comparação com o desempenho ambiental de outros modos e sistemas de transporte.

Bio-valorization of crude glycerol through polyhydroxyalkanoates production

Due to the prospective partial replacement of fossil fuels by biodiesel, its production has continuously grown in the last decade. The increase in global biodiesel production demands the development of sustainable applications of its main by-product, crude glycerol. In this thesis the feasibility of producing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) by a mixed microbial community using crude glycerol as feedstock was investigated. Several incubation conditions were studied in order to maximize PHA production. The microbial population selected under aerobic dynamic feeding conditions had the ability to consume both major carbon fractions present in the crude, glycerol and methanol. Two biopolymers were stored, poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and glucose biopolymer (GB), apparently using glycerol as the only carbon source for their production. The microbial enrichment obtained was able to accumulate up to 47% PHB of cell dry weight with a productivity of 0.24 g HA/L d. The overall PHA yield on total substrate consumed (0.32 g COD HB/g COD crude glycerol) was in the middle range of those reported in literature (0.08–0.58 g COD PHA/g COD real waste). The increase of temperature from 23ºC to 30ºC favored the culture fraction that accumulates glucose biopolymer with a maximum accumulation value of 25% of cell dry weight, which is an interesting value but not the main goal of this thesis. The fact that crude glycerol can be used to produce PHA without any pre-treatment step, makes the overall production process economically more competitive, reducing polymer final cost. This was the first study that demonstrates the valorization of the glycerol fraction present in the crude glycerol into PHA using an aerobic mixed microbial consortium.

Microsatellite instability in solitary and sporadic gastric cancer

Recently, the presence of microsatellite instability (MSI) has been reported in gastric cancer and associated with older age of presentation, distal tumor location, early disease staging, and better overall prognosis. Different characteristics in presentation and in tumor behavior may be explained by different genetic alterations during carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. Identification of specific genetic pathways in gastric cancer may have direct impact on prognosis and selection of treatment strategies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All 24 patients were treated by radical surgery. Fragments of normal and tumor tissues were extracted from the specimen and stored at -80ºC before DNA purification and extraction. PCR amplification utilizing microsatellite markers was performed. Tumors presenting PCR products of abnormal sizes were considered positive for microsatellite instability (MSI+). RESULTS: Five patients (21%) had tumors that were MSI+ in at least 1 marker. In the group of patients with Lauren's intestinal-type gastric carcinoma, 3 had tumors that were MSI+ (23%), while in the group of diffuse-type gastric cancer, 2 patients had tumors that were MSI+ (19%). The mean age of presentation and the male:female ratio was similar in both groups. Tumors that were MSI+ were more frequently located in proximal portion of the stomach compared to microsatellite-stable (MSS) tumors (40% vs. 16%). Although there was a trend of patients with MSI+ tumors towards a proximal gastric tumor location, early staging, and negative lymph node metastasis, there was no statistical significance compared to those with MSS tumors (P >.1). Comparison of overall and disease-free survival between gastric tumors that were MSI+ and those that were MSS found no statistically significant differences (P >.1). CONCLUSIONS: Microsatellite instability is a frequent event in gastric carcinogenesis and shows a trend towards distinct clinical and pathological characteristics of gastric cancer.

Observations of air composition in Brazil between the Equator and 20°s during the dry season.

Field measurement programs in Brazil during the dry season months of August and September in 1979 and 1980 have demonstrated the great importance of the continental tropics in global air chemistry. Especially in the mixed layer, the air composition over land is much different from that over the ocean and the land areas are clearly longe scale sources of many inportant trace gases. During the dry season much biomass, burning takes place especially in the cerrado regions leading to substantial emission of air pollutants, such as CO, NOx, N2O, CH4 and other hydrocarbons. Ozone concentrations are alsoenhanced due to photochemical reactions. Biogenic organic emissions from tropical forests play likewise an important role in the photochemistry of the atmosphere. Carbon monoxide was found to be present in high concentrations in the boundary layer of the tropical forest, but ozone concentrations were much lower than in the cerrado.

Observations on flower visitors to Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K. and Couratari tenuicarpa A.C. Sm. (Lecythidaceae)

Bees visiting flowers of Bertholletia excelsa. (Brazil Nut tree) and Couratari tenuicarpa were collected, their behavior described and the pollen found clinging to their dorsal thorax and stored on their legs was identified. Female bees of Xylocopa frontalis(Olivier) and males of Eulaema mocsaryi (Friese) are apparently effective pollinators of Couratari in igapó near Manaus. Female bees of Euplusia seabrai Moure in litt., Epicharis umbraculata (Fabricius), Epicharis rustica (Olivier) and Eulaema nigrita(Lepeletier), as well as male bees of Eulaema cingulata(Fabricius) and Eulaema nigrita are apparently effective pollinators of adult Brazil Nut trees in the Aleixo plantation near Manaus. Only large bees capable of uncurling the floral androecium can effectively pollinate Couratari or Bertholletia.Pollen analysis indicated that all bees captured carried pollen of the host tree in question and had been foraging on flowers of plant species common in secondary growth. Secondary growth near the Aleixo plantation supports a bee guild which appeared to effectively pollinate almost every flower on the Brazil Nut tree studied. Proximity to primary forest (and to those Euglossine bee species which occur only in primary forest) therefore does not appear to be necessary for pollination of Brazil Nut trees.In the Aleixo plantation chronic low fruit set is probably due to some factor other than pollination. Since natural occurrences of Brazil Nut trees to the north and south of Manaus are associated with a higher soil fertility, low production at the Aleixo plantation may be due to deficiencies of the soil.

A type system for value-dependent information flow analysis

Information systems are widespread and used by anyone with computing devices as well as corporations and governments. It is often the case that security leaks are introduced during the development of an application. Reasons for these security bugs are multiple but among them one can easily identify that it is very hard to define and enforce relevant security policies in modern software. This is because modern applications often rely on container sharing and multi-tenancy where, for instance, data can be stored in the same physical space but is logically mapped into different security compartments or data structures. In turn, these security compartments, to which data is classified into in security policies, can also be dynamic and depend on runtime data. In this thesis we introduce and develop the novel notion of dependent information flow types, and focus on the problem of ensuring data confidentiality in data-centric software. Dependent information flow types fit within the standard framework of dependent type theory, but, unlike usual dependent types, crucially allow the security level of a type, rather than just the structural data type itself, to depend on runtime values. Our dependent function and dependent sum information flow types provide a direct, natural and elegant way to express and enforce fine grained security policies on programs. Namely programs that manipulate structured data types in which the security level of a structure field may depend on values dynamically stored in other fields The main contribution of this work is an efficient analysis that allows programmers to verify, during the development phase, whether programs have information leaks, that is, it verifies whether programs protect the confidentiality of the information they manipulate. As such, we also implemented a prototype typechecker that can be found at http://ctp.di.fct.unl.pt/DIFTprototype/.

Avaliação da implementação da fase III da zona de emissões reduzidas de Lisboa

Os efeitos de uma qualidade do ar reduzida são sentidos principalmente em centros urbanos, como Lisboa, onde persistem situações de concentrações elevadas de dióxido de azoto (NO2) e matéria particulada (PM10), originadas pelo tráfego automóvel. Para diminuir a concentração desses poluentes foi implementada uma Zona de Emissões Reduzidas (ZER) em Lisboa, que entrou na fase III em janeiro de 2015. Avaliou-se a evolução da qualidade do ar nos últimos cinco anos em Lisboa, nomeadamente as excedências aos valores limite legais de curto prazo para NO2 e PM10, bem como a influência da meteorologia na sua ocorrência. A qualidade do ar, em geral, melhorou, registando-se a maioria das excedências no outono e inverno, em dias úteis e final da tarde e início da manhã, períodos coincidentes com a maior intensidade de tráfego rodoviário. A altura da base da inversão térmica e a velocidade do vento são mais reduzidas em dias com excedências, o que indicia um papel relevante da meteorologia. A avaliação do impacte da fase II da ZER nas excedências aos valores limite revelou que o número de excedências e a duração dos episódios de poluição diminuíram, mas mais significativamente em estações fora da ZER. Analisou-se a influência da fase III da ZER na composição da frota automóvel e nas emissões associadas de NOX e PM na Avenida da Liberdade, com base nos dados obtidos antes (2014) e depois (2015) da fase III. Verificou-se uma melhoria na frota em toda a cidade, mais acentuada na zona 2 que na zona 1. Concluiu-se que o impacte da fase III foi reduzido, principalmente na zona 1, possivelmente relacionado com a escassa fiscalização. Caso o número de veículos se tivesse mantido igual entre 2014 e 2015, teria sido possível uma redução de 23% nas emissões de NOX e de 8% nas de PM.

Incêndios na Amazônia Brasileira: estimativa da emissão de gases do efeito estufa pela queima de diferentes ecossistemas de Roraima na passagem do evento “El Nino” (1997/98)

Foi estimada a área queimada, a biomassa vegetal total acima e abaixo do solo, a formação de carvão, a eficiência de queimada e a concentração de carbono de diferentes paisagens naturais e agroecossistemas que foram atingidos pelos incêndios ocorridos durante a passagem do “El Niño” em 1997/98 no Estado de Roraima, extremo norte da Amazônia Brasileira. O objetivo foi o de calcular a emissão bruta de gases do efeito estufa liberados por combustão das diversas classes de biomassa que compõem cada tipo fitofisionômico atingido. A área total efetivamente queimada foi estimada entre 38.144-40.678 km2, sendo 11.394-13.928 km2 de florestas primárias (intactas, em pé) e, o restante, de savanas (22.583 km2), campinas / campinaranas (1.388 km2) e ambientes florestais já transformados como pastagens, área agrícolas e florestas secundárias (2.780 km2). O total de carbono afetado pelos incêndios foi de 42,558 milhões de toneladas, sendo que 19,73 milhões foram liberados por combustão, 22,33 milhões seguiram para a classe de decomposição e 0,52 milhões foram depositados nos sistemas na forma de carvão (estoque de longo prazo). A emissão bruta de gases do efeito estufa, em milhões de toneladas do gás, considerando apenas o emitido por combustão foi de 17,3 de CO2, 0,21-0,35 de CH4, 1,99-3,68 de CO, 0,001-0,003 de N,O, 0,06-0,09 de NOx e 0,25 de hidrocarbonetos não-metânicos (HCNM). O total de carbono equivalente a CO2 emitido por combustão, quando considerado o potencial de aquecimento global de cada gás em um horizonte de tempo de 100 anos utilizado pelo IPCC, foi de 6,1-7,0 milhões de toneladas.

The human eye as human-machine interface

Eye tracking as an interface to operate a computer is under research for a while and new systems are still being developed nowadays that provide some encouragement to those bound to illnesses that incapacitates them to use any other form of interaction with a computer. Although using computer vision processing and a camera, these systems are usually based on head mount technology being considered a contact type system. This paper describes the implementation of a human-computer interface based on a fully non-contact eye tracking vision system in order to allow people with tetraplegia to interface with a computer. As an assistive technology, a graphical user interface with special features was developed including a virtual keyboard to allow user communication, fast access to pre-stored phrases and multimedia and even internet browsing. This system was developed with the focus on low cost, user friendly functionality and user independency and autonomy.

Design of a case-based reasoner for information security in military organizations

Information security is concerned with the protection of information, which can be stored, processed or transmitted within critical information systems of the organizations, against loss of confidentiality, integrity or availability. Protection measures to prevent these problems result through the implementation of controls at several dimensions: technical, administrative or physical. A vital objective for military organizations is to ensure superiority in contexts of information warfare and competitive intelligence. Therefore, the problem of information security in military organizations has been a topic of intensive work at both national and transnational levels, and extensive conceptual and standardization work is being produced. A current effort is therefore to develop automated decision support systems to assist military decision makers, at different levels in the command chain, to provide suitable control measures that can effectively deal with potential attacks and, at the same time, prevent, detect and contain vulnerabilities targeted at their information systems. The concept and processes of the Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) methodology outstandingly resembles classical military processes and doctrine, in particular the analysis of “lessons learned” and definition of “modes of action”. Therefore, the present paper addresses the modeling and design of a CBR system with two key objectives: to support an effective response in context of information security for military organizations; to allow for scenario planning and analysis for training and auditing processes.

Bidirectional battery charger with grid-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home technologies

This paper presents the development of na on-board bidirectional battery charger for Electric Vehicles (EVs) targeting Grid-to-Vehicle (G2V), Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), and Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) technologies. During the G2V operation mode the batteries are charged from the power grid with sinusoidal current and unitary power factor. During the V2G operation mode the energy stored in the batteries can be delivered back to the power grid contributing to the power system stability. In the V2H operation mode the energy stored in the batteries can be used to supply home loads during power outages, or to supply loads in places without connection to the power grid. Along the paper the hardware topology of the bidirectional battery charger is presented and the control algorithms are explained. Some considerations about the sizing of the AC side passive filter are taken into account in order to improve the performance in the three operation modes. The adopted topology and control algorithms are accessed through computer simulations and validated by experimental results achieved with a developed laboratory prototype operating in the different scenarios.

Step towards a patient timeline in intensive care units

In Intensive Medicine, the presentation of medical information is done in many ways, depending on the type of data collected and stored. The way in which the information is presented can make it difficult for intensivists to quickly understand the patient's condition. When there is the need to cross between several types of clinical data sources the situation is even worse. This research seeks to explore a new way of presenting information about patients, based on the timeframe in which events occur. By developing an interactive Patient Timeline, intensivists will have access to a new environment in real-time where they can consult the patient clinical history and the data collected until the moment. The medical history will be available from the moment in which patients is admitted in the ICU until discharge, allowing intensivist to examine data regarding vital signs, medication, exams, among others. This timeline also intends to, through the use of information and models produced by the INTCare system, combine several clinical data in order to help diagnose the future patients’ conditions. This platform will help intensivists to make more accurate decision. This paper presents the first approach of the solution designed

Postharvest changes and respiratory pattern of bacuri fruit (Platonia insignis Mart.) at different maturity stages during ambient storage

Bacuri (Platonia insignis, Mart.) is one of the most important among Amazonian fruits. However, little is known about its postharvest physiology, such as maturity stages, changes during ambient storage, and respiratory pattern. Fruits were harvested at three maturity stages based on epicarp colour: dark green, light green, and turning (50% yellow), in order to determine colour modification and respiratory pattern during ambient storage (25.2 ºC, 75.1 % RH). Fruit of all maturity stages showed, after three days of harvest, a non-climacteric respiratory pattern, with turning fruit presenting the highest CO2 production rate until the fourth storage day (177.63 mg.CO2.kg-1.h-1). Yellowing increased throughout storage as related to lightness, chromaticity, and hue angle reductions. Turning fruit can be stored at ambient conditions for up to 10 days without any loss in marketability.

A relational algebra approach to ETL modeling

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

Dependable decentralized storage management for cloud computing

The MAP-i Doctoral Program of the Universities of Minho, Aveiro and Porto.