Ontologies for the interoperability of multiagent electricity markets simulation platforms

Electricity markets worldwide are complex and dynamic environments with very particular characteristics. These are the result of electricity markets’ restructuring and evolution into regional and continental scales, along with the constant changes brought by the increasing necessity for an adequate integration of renewable energy sources. The rising complexity and unpredictability in electricity markets has increased the need for the intervenient entities in foreseeing market behaviour. Market players and regulators are very interested in predicting the market’s behaviour. Market players need to understand the market behaviour and operation in order to maximize their profits, while market regulators need to test new rules and detect market inefficiencies before they are implemented. The growth of usage of simulation tools was driven by the need for understanding those mechanisms and how the involved players' interactions affect the markets' outcomes. Multi-agent based software is particularly well fitted to analyse dynamic and adaptive systems with complex interactions among its constituents, such as electricity markets. Several modelling tools directed to the study of restructured wholesale electricity markets have emerged. Still, they have a common limitation: the lack of interoperability between the various systems to allow the exchange of information and knowledge, to test different market models and to allow market players from different systems to interact in common market environments. This dissertation proposes the development and implementation of ontologies for semantic interoperability between multi-agent simulation platforms in the scope of electricity markets. The added value provided to these platforms is given by enabling them sharing their knowledge and market models with other agent societies, which provides the means for an actual improvement in current electricity markets studies and development. The proposed ontologies are implemented in MASCEM (Multi-Agent Simulator of Competitive Electricity Markets) and tested through the interaction between MASCEM agents and agents from other multi-agent based simulators. The implementation of the proposed ontologies has also required a complete restructuring of MASCEM’s architecture and multi-agent model, which is also presented in this dissertation. The results achieved in the case studies allow identifying the advantages of the novel architecture of MASCEM, and most importantly, the added value of using the proposed ontologies. They facilitate the integration of independent multi-agent simulators, by providing a way for communications to be understood by heterogeneous agents from the various systems.

OCCURRENCE OF Blastocystis spp. IN UBERABA, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

Intestinal parasites are a problem for public health all over the world. The infection with Blastocystis, a protozoan of controversial pathogenicity, is one of the most common among them all. In this study, the occurrence of intestinal parasites, with emphasis on Blastocystis, in patients at the Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro was investigated in Uberaba (MG) through microscopy of direct smears and fecal concentrates using Ritchie’s method. Feces of 1,323 patients were examined from April 2011 to May 2012. In 28.7% of them at least one intestinal parasite was identified, and the most frequent organisms were Blastocystis spp. (17.8%) and Giardia intestinalis (7.4%). The occurrence of parasitism was higher in children aged 6 -10 years old, and the infection with Blastocystis spp. was higher above the age of six (p < 0.001). The exclusive presence of G. intestinalis and of Blastocystis spp. was observed in 5.4% and 12.2% of the patients, respectively. Regarding patients with diarrheic feces, 8% revealed unique parasitism of Blastocystis spp. Other intestinal parasites observed in children were Ascaris lumbricoides(0.3%) and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar/moshkovskii (1.4%). The Ritchie’s method was more sensitive (92.8%) when compared to direct microscopy (89.8%), with high agreement between them (97.7%, kappa = 0.92). In conclusion, the occurrence of Blastocystis spp. in Uberaba is high and the presence of diarrheic feces with exclusive presence of the parasite of Blastocystis spp. was observed.

ULTRASTRUCTURAL CHANGES IN Schistosoma mansoni MALE WORMS AFTER in vitro INCUBATION WITH THE ESSENTIAL OIL OF Mentha x villosa Huds

Introduction: The essential oil Mentha x villosa (MVEO) has a wide range of actions, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal and schistosomicidal actions. The present study aimed to investigate the ultrastructural changes of MVEO on the tegument of adult Schistosoma mansoni. Materials and Methods: Different concentrations of MVEO were tested on S. mansoni adult worms in vitro. Ultrastructural changes on the tegument of these adult worms were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results: The MVEO caused the death of all worms at 500 μg mL-1 after 24 h. After 24h of 500 μg mL-1 MVEO treatment, bubble lesions were observed over the entire body of worms and they presented loss of tubercles in some regions of the ventral portion. In the evaluation by TEM, S. mansoni adult worms treated with MVEO, 500 μg mL-1, presented changes in the tegument and vacuoles in the syncytial matrix region. Glycogen granules close to the muscle fibers were visible. Conclusion: The ability of MVEO to cause extensive ultrastructural damage to S. mansoni adult worms correlates with its schistosomicidal effects and confirms earlier findings with S. mansoni.

Adesão, migração e proliferação de células em matrizes de fibras alinhadas

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Métrica vertebral: processamento optimizado de imagem

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Temperaturas de fabrico e compactação de misturas betuminosas com betumes modificados: interação agregado-betume

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil – Perfil de Estruturas

Different in Vivo Reactivity Profile in Health Care Workers and Patients with Spina Bifida to Internal and External Latex Glove Surface-Derived Allergen Extracts

BACKGROUND: Allergy to natural rubber latex is a well-recognized health problem, especially among health care workers and patients with spina bifida. Despite latex sensitization being acquired in health institutions in both health care workers and patients with spina bifida, differences in allergen sensitization profiles have been described between these two risk groups. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the in vivo reactivity of health care workers and patients with spina bifida to extracts of internal and external surfaces of latex gloves and also to specific extracts enriched in major allergens for these risk groups. METHODS: Gloves from different manufacturers were used for protein extraction, and salt precipitation and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) were applied to obtain the enriched latex extracts. The major latex allergens were quantified by an enzyme immunoassay. The extracts obtained were tested in 14 volunteers using skin prick tests (SPT). RESULTS: Latex glove extracts enriched in the hydrophobic allergens that are most often seen in patients with spina bifida were obtained by selective precipitation, whereas HIC produced extracts enriched in the hydrophilic allergens commonly found in health care workers. The health care workers had positive SPTs to glove extracts from internal surfaces and to the hydrophilic allergen-enriched extracts. By contrast, patients with spina bifida had larger skin reactions both to external glove extracts and to the extracts enriched with the hydrophobic major allergens for this risk group. Despite the protein concentration of these extracts being less than half the concentration of the commercial extract, the weal-and-flare reactions were of similar magnitude. CONCLUSION: Using novel latex extracts, our study showed a different in vivo reactivity pattern in health care workers and in patients with spina bifida to extracts of the internal and external surfaces of gloves, which suggests that sensitization may occur by different routes of exposure, and that this influences the allergen reactivity profiles of these risk groups

Implementação da diretiva INSPIRE na produção de cartografia geológica: o caso do estudo da Antiforma do Rosário, faixa Piritosa Ibérica

Trabalho de Projeto apresentado como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciência e Sistemas de Informação Geográfica

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).

Controlo de velocidade de um veículo elétrico autónomo

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

Extracção automática de tópicos de documentos

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

Análise comparada da segmentação e classificação orientada por objectos de uma imagem de alta resolução WORLDVIEW-2

Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão do Território, Especialização em Detecção Remota e Sistemas de Informação Geográfica

Overexpressing BDNF in Neural Stem Cells using non-viral gene delivery strategies

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Biotecnologia

Tentativa de tratamento específico, por meio da ticlopidina, de pacientes com doença de Chagas em fase crônica

Em investigação experimental, a ticlopidina mostrou ser ativa no sentido de diminuir a parasitemia e a mortalidade quando avaliada a infecção de camundongos pelo Trypanosoma cruzi. Por isso, este fármaco foi administrado a 12 pacientes com doença de Chagas, em fase crônica. Houve utilização de 150, 200 ou 250mg, durante 90 dias, conforme se tratasse de crianças, adolescentes ou adultos, respectivamente. Ficou documentado cabal insucesso sob os pontos de vista parasitológico e sorológico.