Iberian peninsula ecosystem carbon fluxes: a model-data integration study

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia do Ambiente pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa,Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Temporal association between the isolation of Sabin-related poliovirus vaccine strains and the Guillain-Barré syndrome

Thirty eight paralysis cases classified as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in Brazil were analysed. In all these cases Sabin-related poliovirus vaccine strains were isolated. In most of the cases the last vaccine dose was given months or years before the onset of GBS, suggesting a persistent infection or the transmission of the Sabin-related strains to the patients. The isolation of Sabin-related strains from GBS cases some days or weeks after the onset of the disease, demonstrated a temporal association between the isolation of the strains and the disease. Although the isolates from the GBS cases may not be the etiological agent of the disease, this study strongly indicates that infections caused by Sabin-related vaccine strains can trigger the GBS in certain cases.

Polyglutamine diseases (PolyQ): construction and characterization of yeast models

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Genética Molecular e Biomedicina, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

A framework to operate transformations between distinct models differing in modelling concepts

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Engineering Temporal and Spatial Aspects in OWL using Patterns

WWW is a huge, open, heterogeneous system, however its contents data is mainly human oriented. The Semantic Web needs to assure that data is readable and “understandable” to intelligent software agents, though the use of explicit and formal semantics. Ontologies constitute a privileged artifact for capturing the semantic of the WWW data. Temporal and spatial dimensions are transversal to the generality of knowledge domains and therefore are fundamental for the reasoning process of software agents. Representing temporal/spatial evolution of concepts and their relations in OWL (W3C standard for ontologies) it is not straightforward. Although proposed several strategies to tackle this problem but there is still no formal and standard approach. This work main goal consists of development of methods/tools to support the engineering of temporal and spatial aspects in intelligent systems through the use of OWL ontologies. An existing method for ontology engineering, Fonte was used as framework for the development of this work. As main contributions of this work Fonte was re-engineered in order to: i) support the spatial dimension; ii) work with OWL Ontologies; iii) and support the application of Ontology Design Patterns. Finally, the capabilities of the proposed approach were demonstrated by engineering time and space in a demo ontology about football.

Osteoporotic hip fractures: Bisphosphonates sales and observed turning point in trend. A population-based retrospective study

The aim is to examine the temporal trends of hip fracture incidence in Portugal by sex and age groups, and explore the relation with anti-osteoporotic medication. From the National Hospital Discharge Database, we selected from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2008, 77,083 hospital admissions (77.4% women) caused by osteoporotic hip fractures (low energy, patients over 49 years-age), with diagnosis codes 820.x of ICD 9-CM. The 2001 Portuguese population was used as standard to calculate direct age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) (100,000 inhabitants). Generalized additive and linear models were used to evaluate and quantify temporal trends of age specific rates (AR), by sex. We identified 2003 as a turning point in the trend of ASIR of hip fractures in women. After 2003, the ASIR in women decreased on average by 10.3 cases/100,000 inhabitants, 95% CI (− 15.7 to − 4.8), per 100,000 anti-osteoporotic medication packages sold. For women aged 65–69 and 75–79 we identified the same turning point. However, for women aged over 80, the year 2004 marked a change in the trend, from an increase to a decrease. Among the population aged 70–74 a linear decrease of incidence rate (95% CI) was observed in both sexes, higher for women: − 28.0% (− 36.2 to − 19.5) change vs − 18.8%, (− 32.6 to − 2.3). The abrupt turning point in the trend of ASIR of hip fractures in women is compatible with an intervention, such as a medication. The trends were different according to gender and age group, but compatible with the pattern of bisphosphonates sales.

Massive shift in the pneumococcal nasopharyngeal flora after the 7-valent conjugate vaccine: epidemiological studies and testing pathogenic potential in animal models

Dissertation presented to obtain the PhD degree in Biology/Molecular Biology by Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica

Linking the embryonic clock with temporal collinearity of Hox gene activation

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Genética Molecular e Biomedicina, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Invited review: Models for the optimization of regional wastewater treatment systems

European Journal of Operational Research, nº 73 (1994)

Modelos de previsão de produção para centrais mini-hídricas

O constante crescimento dos produtores em regime especial aliado à descentralização dos pontos injetores na rede, tem permitido uma redução da importação de energia mas também tem acarretado maiores problemas para a gestão da rede. Estes problemas estão relacionados com o facto da produção estar dependente das condições climatéricas, como é o caso dos produtores eólicos, hídricos e solares. A previsão da energia produzida em função da previsão das condições climatéricas tem sido alvo de atenção por parte da comunidade empresarial do setor, pelo facto de existir modelos razoáveis para a previsão das condições climatéricas a curto prazo, e até a longo prazo. Este trabalho trata, em concreto, do problema da previsão de produção em centrais mini-hídricas, apresentando duas propostas para essa previsão. Em ambas as propostas efetua-se inicialmente a previsão do caudal que chega à central, sendo esta depois convertida em potência que é injetada na rede. Para a previsão do caudal utilizaram-se dois métodos estatísticos: o método Holt-Winters e os modelos ARMAX. Os dois modelos de previsão propostos consideram um horizonte temporal de uma semana, com discretização horária, para uma central no norte de Portugal, designadamente a central de Penide. O trabalho também contempla um pequeno estudo da bibliografia existente tanto para a previsão da produção como de afluências de centrais hidroelétricas. Aborda, ainda, conceitos relacionados com as mini-hídricas e apresenta uma caraterização do parque de centrais mini-hídricas em Portugal.

Models and tools for value systems analysis in collaborative environments

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Doctor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specialization of Collaborative Networks

Estimation of infection rate in epidemic models with multiple populations

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Matemática e Aplicações Especialização em Actuariado, Estatística e Investigação Operacional