Thrombophilia screening: An artificial neural network approach

Thrombotic disorders have severe consequences for the patients and for the society in general, being one of the main causes of death. These facts reveal that it is extremely important to be preventive; being aware of how probable is to have that kind of syndrome. Indeed, this work will focus on the development of a decision support system that will cater for an individual risk evaluation with respect to the surge of thrombotic complaints. The Knowledge Representation and Reasoning procedures used will be based on an extension to the Logic Programming language, allowing the handling of incomplete and/or default data. The computational framework in place will be centered on Artificial Neural Networks.

Simulation of a rectifier malfunction on a offshore wind system with HVDC transmission

A new integrated mathematical model for the simulation of an offshore wind system having a rectifier input voltage malfunction at one phase is presented in this paper. The mathematical model considers an offshore variable-speed wind turbine on a floating platform, equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous generator using full-power three-level converter to inject energy into the electric network, through a high voltage direct current transmission submarine cable. The model for the drive train is a discrete three mass, incorporating the dynamic of the moving surface. A case study is presented to access conclusion about the malfunction.

Reconfiguração e novas funcionalidades para um servidor REST ONVIF: serviço de IO e configuração de descoberta

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia de Telecomunicações e Informática

Differential activation of the default mode network in jet lagged individuals

Long-term exposure to transmeridian flights has been shown to impact cognitive functioning. Nevertheless, the immediate effects of jet lag in the activation of specific brain networks have not been investigated. We analyzed the impact of short-term jet lag on the activation of the default mode network (DMN). A group of individuals who were on a transmeridian flight and a control group went through a functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition. Statistical analysis was performed to test for differences in the DMN activation between groups. Participants from the jet lag group presented decreased activation in the anterior nodes of the DMN, specifically in bilateral medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. No areas of increased activation were observed for the jet lag group. These results may be suggestive of a negative impact of jet lag on important cognitive functions such as introspection, emotional regulation and decision making in a few days after individuals arrive at their destination.

Repository power: how repositories can support Open Access mandates

Many funding agencies have Open Access mandates in place, but how often are scientific publications as outputs linked to funding details? The benefits of linking funding information to publications as part of the deposit workflow can assist in adhering to Open Access mandates. This paper examines how OpenAIRE – Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe – can ease monitoring Open Access and reporting processes for funders, and presents some results and opportunities. It also outlines how it relies on cleaned and curated repository content, a vital cog in the ever turning wheel of the global scholarly landscape, and the benefits it brings.

Aplicação web para configuração e acesso a câmaras ONVIF

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Eletrónica Industrial e Computadores

A network approach to brain aging through multimodal neuroimaging

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Saúde.

Evolution of the gene regulatory network controlling flower dorsoventral asymmetry

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia de Plantas.

A modular traffic sampling architecture for flexible network measurements

Dissertação de Mestrado (Programa Doutoral em Informática)

Contributos dos ambientes digitais online para a aprendizagem em contexto de atividades de apoio extraescolar

Dissertação de mestrado em Ciências da Educação (área de especialização em Tecnologia Educativa)

Gender, sex and sexuality in two open access communication journals published in Portugal: a critical overview of current discursive practices

The links between gender, sex and sexuality and their relevance are theoretically and politically problematic (Richardson, 2007). One of the difficulties in understanding their interconnections is that these terms are often used differently and ambiguously by different authors (and even by the same authors). This article reports the results of an analysis of the articles published in open access communication journals with known impact factor, edited in Portugal and published between 2005 and 2012. The diverse conceptualisations of those three basic concepts and of their (inter)relationships within communication research are identified. The complexity and the intricate (and often implicit) nature of both the meanings of these categories and their relationships underlie and justify our attention and further research. What the findings suggest about the current communication research into gender issues published in the two journals surveyed is that the ‘Gender differences discourse’ (Sunderland, 2004) is the most pervasive discourse (also) in academic practice. Additionally, they show that gender and sex are mainly taken for a fact, not a question that is worth being studied. The editors of these journals, as well as the scholars submitting manuscripts, need to be more aware of the traditional nature of the theoretical and methodological choices that they make regarding gender- and sex-related issues, as well as of the relative lack of attention to sexuality as a research subject.

Listening to the public: enacting power : citizen access, Standing and influence in public participation discourses

Public participation in environmental governance is typically associated with citizen access to power despite many closures and limitations having been identified in participatory processes. This article proposes an analytical framework to analyse discursive practices involved in public consultation processes. Critical Discourse Analysis is used to examine and appraise citizens’ access, standing and influence. We apply that framework to a ‘notice and comment’ process on a hydroelectric power plan in Portugal and show that it was discursively managed to justify the decision of constructing 10 large dams and to reject critical or alternative views. Citizens’ access, standing and influence were constrained through diverse discursive practices which (re)produced very unequal power relationsbetween policy proponents and participating individuals. More generally, the article illustrates the potential of Critical Discourse Analysis to assess voice(s) in policy processes. Focusing on argumentative, interactional and rhetorical levels, and how they are interwoven in public consultation discourses, the proposed framework is conceivably applicable in other studies.

O uso do Facebook e as emoções experienciadas pelas crianças na óptica dos seus professores

Atualmente a rede social mais visitada em todo o mundo é o Facebook. Além de nos permitir ter um perfil pessoal podemos partilhar fotos, vídeos, mensagens e outros ficheiros. No Facebook também é permitido criar grupos fechados onde os seus membros podem interagir através de mensagens escritas, de áudio, de vídeo e/ou imagens. Tanto esta rede social quanto os grupos dentro da mesma podem ser usados de forma indevida, mas, por outro lado, também podem ser utilizados para aprender, aprender a fazer, conhecer, desenvolver a linguagem escrita e outras competências. O nosso estudo teve como objetivo conhecer a perceção de educadores de infância e professores de primeiro ciclo do ensino básico relativamente ao uso do Facebook por parte das crianças, bem como às emoções que as crianças manifestam neste uso. Foi um estudo transversal, para o qual construímos e validámos um questionário específico, com questões fechadas sobre o uso da respetiva rede social. O instrumento foi disponibilizado e preenchido online através do Google Forms. A amostra foi de conveniência, tendo sido constituída por 75 indivíduos (69 mulheres, 6 homens) com idades compreendidas entre os 25 e os 56 anos. Os resultados evidenciam que os professores e educadores discordam essencialmente que as crianças aceitem pedidos de amizade e comuniquem pelo chat do Facebook com pessoas que não conhecem, concordando mais que usem para comunicar com familiares e amigos, para aderir a grupos com o objetivo de aprender e que permitem o acesso dos adultos à sua conta. No respeitante as emoções e sentimentos registou-se maior discordância quanto ao facto de as crianças preferirem estar no Facebook do que na presença dos seus amigos e de se sentirem dependentes do uso do mesmo. Porém, observou-se o maior nível de concordância para o facto de ficarem aborrecidas se as obrigarem a sair do Facebook.

Reconstruction of the regulatory network for Bacillus subtilis and reconciliation with gene expression data

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb. 2016.00275

Automated network resilience optimization using computational intelligence methods

This paper presents an automated optimization framework able to provide network administrators with resilient routing configurations for link-state protocols, such as OSPF or IS-IS. In order to deal with the formulated NP-hard optimization problems, the devised framework is underpinned by the use of computational intelligence optimization engines, such as Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs). With the objective of demonstrating the framework capabilities, two illustrative Traffic Engineering methods are described, allowing to attain routing configurations robust to changes in the traffic demands and maintaining the network stable even in the presence of link failure events. The presented illustrative results clearly corroborate the usefulness of the proposed automated framework along with the devised optimization methods.