Speed control of induction machine based on direct torque control method

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Brain-computer interface (BCI): a methodological proposal to assess the impacts of medical applications in 2022

Based on the report for “Project IV” unit of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment (Doctoral Conference) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (December 2011). This thesis research has the supervision of António Moniz (FCT-UNL and ITAS-KIT) and Armin Grunwald (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-ITAS, Germany). Other members of the thesis committee are Mário Forjaz Secca (FCT-UNL) and Femke Nijboer (University of Twente, Netherlands).

Spontaneous regional heading of extensive skin lesions in diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL)

The authors report a case of diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis, with longstanding evolution and presenting with diffuse infiltrated lesions rich in amastigotes in the absence of mucosal involvement. In situ characterization with monoclonal antibodies revealed Leishmania amazonensis. Large regional lesions have presented spontaneous healing without specific therapy. Considering that DCL presents with a defect in the cellular immune response, thisfact demonstrate that this patient may develop a regional cellular immune response enough to destroy the parasites and to produce clearing of some lesions.

Diabetes melutus associated with pentamidine isethionate in diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis

The authors report a case of a male patient from Bacabal, MA with diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL), for at least nine years, with 168 lesions on his body. These were tumour-like nodules with some ulceratmi. He usedpentavalent antimonial (glucantime®) and an association of gamma interferon plus glucantime with improvement of the lesions but relapsed later. Recently, pentamidine isethionate (pentacarinat®) was given a dosage of 4mg/kg/weight/day on alternate days for 20 applications. After 3 months a similar course of 10 application was given 2 times. Later he developed diabetic signs with weight loss of 10kg, polydypsia, polyuria and xerostomia. The lower limbs lesions showed signs of activity. Blood glucose levels normalised and remain like this at moment. Attention is drawn to the fact that pentamidine isethionate should be used as a therapy option with care, obeyng rigorous laboratory controls including a glucose tolerance test.

Avatar modeling: a telepresence study with natural user interface

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Desenvolvimento de interface pessoamáquina para geração de sensações tácteis

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

A nanopore-based stochastic detection method: Single molecule characterisation of nanoparticles using ()- hemolysin

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Chemistry.

Interface para análise de dados cinemáticos tridimensionais da omoplata

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Experimental high-throughput adsorption unit for multi-evaluation of adsorbents for gas capture, storage and separation applications

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

Modelling of a wastewater treatment plant using GPS-X

Dissertation to obtain the degree of Master in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

A domain specific language for domotic systems

To cope with modernity, the interesting of having a fully automated house has been increasing over the years, as technology evolves and as our lives become more stressful and overloaded. An automation system provides a way to simplify some daily tasks, allowing us to have more spare time to perform activities where we are really needed. There are some systems in this domain that try to implement these characteristics, but this kind of technology is at its early stages of evolution being that it is still far away of empowering the user with the desired control over a habitation. The reason is that the mentioned systems miss some important features such as adaptability, extension and evolution. These systems, developed from a bottom-up approach, are often tailored for programmers and domain experts, discarding most of the times the end users that remain with unfinished interfaces or products that they have difficulty to control. Moreover, complex behaviors are avoided, since they are extremely difficult to implement mostly due to the necessity of handling priorities, conflicts and device calibration. Besides, these solutions are only reachable at very high costs, yet they still have the limitation of being difficult to configure by non-technical people once in runtime operation. As a result, it is necessary to create a tool that allows the execution of several automated actions, with an interface that is easy to use but at the same time supports all the main features of this domain. It is also desirable that this tool is independent of the hardware so it can be reused, thus a Model Driven Development approach (MDD) is the ideal option, as it is a method that follows those principles. Since the automation domain has some very specific concepts, the use of models should be combined with a Domain Specific Language (DSL). With these two methods, it is possible to create a solution that is adapted to the end users, but also to domain experts and programmers due to the several levels of abstraction that can be added to diminish the complexity of use. The aim of this thesis is to design a Domain Specific Language (DSL) that uses the Model Driven Development approach (MDD), with the purpose of supporting Home Automation (HA) concepts. In this implementation, the development of simple and complex scenarios should be supported and will be one of the most important concerns. This DSL should also support other significant features in this domain, such as the ability to schedule tasks, which is something that is limited in the current existing solutions.

A piezoelectric based energy harvester interface for a CMOS wireless sensor IC

In this thesis a piezoelectric energy harvesting system, responsible for regulating the power output of a piezoelectric transducer subjected to ambient vibration, is designed to power an RF receiver with a 6 mW power consump-tion. The electrical characterisation of the chosen piezoelectric transducer is the starting point of the design, which subsequently presents a full-bridge cross-coupled rectifier that rectifies the AC output of the transducer and a low-dropout regulator responsible for delivering a constant voltage system output of 0.6 V, with low voltage ripple, which represents the receiver’s required sup-ply voltage. The circuit is designed using CMOS 130 nm UMC technology, and the system presents an inductorless architecture, with reduced area and cost. The electrical simulations run for the complete circuit lead to the conclusion that the proposed piezoelectric energy harvesting system is a plausible solution to power the RF receiver, provided that the chosen transducer is subjected to moderate levels of vibration.

Desenvolvimento de uma interface de visualização de conectividade cerebral usando realidade virtual e controlo por gestos

A presente dissertação foi desenvolvida em colaboração com o Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica(IBEB/FCUL)

In-house ELISA method to analyze anti-Trypanosoma cruzi IgG reactivity for differential diagnosis and evaluation of Chagas disease morbidity

INTRODUCTION: The goal was to develop an in-house serological method with high specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis and monitoring of Chagas disease morbidity. METHODS: With this purpose, the reactivities of anti-T. cruzi IgG and subclasses were tested in successive serum dilutions of patients from Berilo municipality, Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The performance of the in-house ELISA was also evaluated in samples from other relevant infectious diseases, including HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), syphilis (SYP), visceral leishmaniasis (VL), and American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL), and noninfected controls (NI). Further analysis was performed to evaluate the applicability of this in-house methodology for monitoring Chagas disease morbidity into three groups of patients: indeterminate (IND), cardiac (CARD), and digestive/mixed (DIG/Mix), based on their clinical status. RESULTS: The analysis of total IgG reactivity at serum dilution 1:40 was an excellent approach to Chagas disease diagnosis (100% sensitivity and specificity). The analysis of IgG subclasses showed cross-reactivity, mainly with NI, VL, and ATL, at all selected serum dilutions. Based on the data analysis, the IND group displayed higher IgG3 levels and the DIG/Mix group presented higher levels of total IgG as compared with the IND and CARD groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrated that methodology presents promising applicability in the analysis of anti-T. cruzi IgG reactivity for the differential diagnosis and evaluation of Chagas disease morbidity.

Parasitological stool sample exam by spontaneous sedimentation method using conical tubes: effectiveness, practice, and biosafety

INTRODUCTION: Spontaneous sedimentation is an important procedure for stool examination. A modification of this technique using conical tubes was performed and evaluated. METHODS: Fifty fecal samples were processed in sedimentation glass and in polypropylene conical tubes. Another 50 samples were used for quantitative evaluation of protozoan cysts. RESULTS: Although no significant differences occurred in the frequency of protozoa and helminths detected, significant differences in protozoan cyst counts did occur. CONCLUSIONS: The use of tube predicts a shorter path in the sedimentation of the sample, increases concentration of parasites for microscopy analysis, minimizes the risks of contamination, reduces the odor, and optimizes the workspace.