Design de cenários de aprendizagem

A cada instante surgem novas soluções de aprendizagem, resultado da evolução tecnológica constante com que nos deparamos. Estas inovações potenciam uma transmissão do conhecimento entre o educador e o educando cada vez mais simplificada, rápida e eficiente. Alguns destes avanços têm em vista a centralização no aluno, através da delegação de tarefas e da disponibilização de conteúdos, investindo na autonomia e na auto-aprendizagem, de modo a que cada aluno crie o seu próprio método de estudo, e evolua gradualmente, com o acompanhamento de um professor ou sistema autónomo de aprendizagem. Com esta investigação, é pretendido fazer um estudo dos métodos de aprendizagem ao longo do tempo até à actualidade, enumerando algumas das ferramentas utilizadas no processo de aprendizagem, indicando os vários benefícios, bem como contrapartidas do uso das mesmas. Será também analisado um caso de estudo baseado numa destas ferramentas, descrevendo o seu funcionamento e modo de interacção entre as várias entidades participantes, apresentando os resultados obtidos. O caso de estudo consistirá na criação de um cenário específico de aprendizagem, na área da saúde, analisando-o em diferentes contextos, e evidenciando as características e benefícios de cada ambiente analisado, no processo aprendizagem. Será então demonstrado como é possível optimizar os processos de aprendizagem, utilizando ferramentas de informatização e automatização desses mesmos processos, de forma tornar o processo de ensino mais célere e eficaz, num ambiente controlável, e com as funcionalidades que a tecnologia actual permite.

Multi-criteria design optimization study of solvent extraction in mixer–settler units

Solvent extraction is considered as a multi-criteria optimization problem, since several chemical species with similar extraction kinetic properties are frequently present in the aqueous phase and the selective extraction is not practicable. This optimization, applied to mixer–settler units, considers the best parameters and operating conditions, as well as the best structure or process flow-sheet. Global process optimization is performed for a specific flow-sheet and a comparison of Pareto curves for different flow-sheets is made. The positive weight sum approach linked to the sequential quadratic programming method is used to obtain the Pareto set. In all investigated structures, recovery increases with hold-up, residence time and agitation speed, while the purity has an opposite behaviour. For the same treatment capacity, counter-current arrangements are shown to promote recovery without significant impairment in purity. Recycling the aqueous phase is shown to be irrelevant, but organic recycling with as many stages as economically feasible clearly improves the design criteria and reduces the most efficient organic flow-rate.

Mammography equipment design: impact on radiographers’ practice

Objectives - Identify radiographers’ postures during frequent mammography procedures related to the mammography equipment and patient characteristics. Methods - A postural task analysis was performed using images acquired during the simulation of mammography positioning procedures. Simulations included craniocaudal/(CC) and mediolateral-oblique/(MLO) positioning in three different settings: radiographers and patients with similar statures, radiographers smaller than the patients and radiographers taller than the patients. Measurements of postural angles were performed by two raters using adequate software and classified according to the European Standard EN1005-4:2005 + A1:2008. Results - The simulations revealed that the most awkward posture in mammography is during the positioning of MLO projection in short-stature patients. Postures identified as causing work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMSD) risk were neck extension, arms elevated and the back stooped, presenting angles of 87.2, 118.6 and 63.6, respectively. If radiographers were taller than patients, then the trunk and arm postures were not acceptable. Conclusions - Working in a mammography room leads to awkward postures that can have an impact on radiographers’ health, namely WRMSDs. The results in this study showed that there are non-acceptable postures associated with frequent working procedures in mammography. MLO is the most demanding procedure for radiographer postures and may be related to WRMSDs. Mammography devices should be redesigned considering adjustability for radiographers. Main Messages: • Mammography constraints for radiographers in mammography procedures have not been well studied. • Performing mammography leads to awkward postures that can impact radiographers’ health. • MLO, the most demanding procedure for radiographers, is possibly related to WRMSDs.

Mapeamento das regiões cerebrais associadas ao engano

Mestrado em Radiações aplicadas às Tecnologias da Saúde - Ramo de Ressonância Magnética

Relatório de estágio de natureza profissional em PET/CT: Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, Sussex

Mestrado em Medicina Nuclear - Ramo de especialização: Tomografia por Emissão de Positrões

Chemical reaction network of flavylium ions in heterogeneous media

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Química, especialidade em Química-Física, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

A comparison of Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction and filtered back projection on image quality and dose reduction in paediatric head CT: a phantom study

Background: Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most used modalities for diagnostics in paediatric populations, which is a concern as it also delivers a high patient dose. Research has focused on developing computer algorithms that provide better image quality at lower dose. The iterative reconstruction algorithm Sinogram-Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction (SAFIRE) was introduced as a new technique that reduces noise to increase image quality. Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare SAFIRE with the current gold standard, Filtered Back Projection (FBP), and assess whether SAFIRE alone permits a reduction in dose while maintaining image quality in paediatric head CT. Methods: Images were collected using a paediatric head phantom using a SIEMENS SOMATOM PERSPECTIVE 128 modulated acquisition. 54 images were reconstructed using FBP and 5 different strengths of SAFIRE. Objective measures of image quality were determined by measuring SNR and CNR. Visual measures of image quality were determined by 17 observers with different radiographic experiences. Images were randomized and displayed using 2AFC; observers scored the images answering 5 questions using a Likert scale. Results: At different dose levels, SAFIRE significantly increased SNR (up to 54%) in the acquired images compared to FBP at 80kVp (5.2-8.4), 110kVp (8.2-12.3), 130kVp (8.8-13.1). Visual image quality was higher with increasing SAFIRE strength. The highest image quality was scored with SAFIRE level 3 and higher. Conclusion: The SAFIRE algorithm is suitable for image noise reduction in paediatric head CT. Our data demonstrates that SAFIRE enhances SNR while reducing noise with a possible reduction of dose of 68%.

Membrane design and characterisation by incorporation of ionic liquids

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Química, especialidade de Operações Unitárias e Fenómenos de Transferência, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Optimization process of polyester polymer mortars modified with recycled GFRP waste aggregates – application of factorial experiment design-

Glass fibre-reinforced plastics (GFRP), nowadays commonly used in the construction, transportation and automobile sectors, have been considered inherently difficult to recycle due to both: cross-linked nature of thermoset resins, which cannot be remolded, and complex composition of the composite itself, which includes glass fibres, matrix and different types of inorganic fillers. Presently, most of the GFRP waste is landfilled leading to negative environmental impacts and supplementary added costs. With an increasing awareness of environmental matters and the subsequent desire to save resources, recycling would convert an expensive waste disposal into a profitable reusable material. There are several methods to recycle GFR thermostable materials: (a) incineration, with partial energy recovery due to the heat generated during organic part combustion; (b) thermal and/or chemical recycling, such as solvolysis, pyrolisis and similar thermal decomposition processes, with glass fibre recovering; and (c) mechanical recycling or size reduction, in which the material is subjected to a milling process in order to obtain a specific grain size that makes the material suitable as reinforcement in new formulations. This last method has important advantages over the previous ones: there is no atmospheric pollution by gas emission, a much simpler equipment is required as compared with ovens necessary for thermal recycling processes, and does not require the use of chemical solvents with subsequent environmental impacts. In this study the effect of incorporation of recycled GFRP waste materials, obtained by means of milling processes, on mechanical behavior of polyester polymer mortars was assessed. For this purpose, different contents of recycled GFRP waste materials, with distinct size gradings, were incorporated into polyester polymer mortars as sand aggregates and filler replacements. The effect of GFRP waste treatment with silane coupling agent was also assessed. Design of experiments and data treatment were accomplish by means of factorial design and analysis of variance ANOVA. The use of factorial experiment design, instead of the one factor at-a-time method is efficient at allowing the evaluation of the effects and possible interactions of the different material factors involved. Experimental results were promising toward the recyclability of GFRP waste materials as polymer mortar aggregates, without significant loss of mechanical properties with regard to non-modified polymer mortars.

Algorithm-oriented design of efficient many-core architectures applied to dense matrix multiplication

Recent integrated circuit technologies have opened the possibility to design parallel architectures with hundreds of cores on a single chip. The design space of these parallel architectures is huge with many architectural options. Exploring the design space gets even more difficult if, beyond performance and area, we also consider extra metrics like performance and area efficiency, where the designer tries to design the architecture with the best performance per chip area and the best sustainable performance. In this paper we present an algorithm-oriented approach to design a many-core architecture. Instead of doing the design space exploration of the many core architecture based on the experimental execution results of a particular benchmark of algorithms, our approach is to make a formal analysis of the algorithms considering the main architectural aspects and to determine how each particular architectural aspect is related to the performance of the architecture when running an algorithm or set of algorithms. The architectural aspects considered include the number of cores, the local memory available in each core, the communication bandwidth between the many-core architecture and the external memory and the memory hierarchy. To exemplify the approach we did a theoretical analysis of a dense matrix multiplication algorithm and determined an equation that relates the number of execution cycles with the architectural parameters. Based on this equation a many-core architecture has been designed. The results obtained indicate that a 100 mm(2) integrated circuit design of the proposed architecture, using a 65 nm technology, is able to achieve 464 GFLOPs (double precision floating-point) for a memory bandwidth of 16 GB/s. This corresponds to a performance efficiency of 71 %. Considering a 45 nm technology, a 100 mm(2) chip attains 833 GFLOPs which corresponds to 84 % of peak performance These figures are better than those obtained by previous many-core architectures, except for the area efficiency which is limited by the lower memory bandwidth considered. The results achieved are also better than those of previous state-of-the-art many-cores architectures designed specifically to achieve high performance for matrix multiplication.

Cenografia virtual em televisão: relatório de estágio

Relatório de Estágio submetido à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Teatro - especialização em Design de Cena.

Forças em estruturas de acostagem descontínuas em zonas desabrigadas: avaliação de ferramentas de cálculo existentes

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de especialização em Hidráulica

As newsletters com vídeos incorporados como instrumento de comunicação. O caso da clínicas Persona

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto, para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orientação da Prof. Sandrina Teixeira

Virtual Communities of Practice: Design and Development of Support Platforms and Participation Fostering

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática - Área de Especialização em Sistemas Gráficos e Multimédia

Demand Response Design and Use Based on Network Locational Marginal Prices

Power systems have been experiencing huge changes mainly due to the substantial increase of distributed generation (DG) and the operation in competitive environments. Virtual Power Players (VPP) can aggregate several players, namely a diversity of energy resources, including distributed generation (DG) based on several technologies, electric storage systems (ESS) and demand response (DR). Energy resources management gains an increasing relevance in this competitive context. This makes the DR use more interesting and flexible, giving place to a wide range of new opportunities. This paper proposes a methodology to support VPPs in the DR programs’ management, considering all the existing energy resources (generation and storage units) and the distribution network. The proposed method is based on locational marginal prices (LMP) values. The evaluation of the impact of using DR specific programs in the LMP values supports the manager decision concerning the DR use. The proposed method has been computationally implemented and its application is illustrated in this paper using a 33-bus network with intensive use of DG.