Real-time energy resources scheduling considering intensive wind penetration

The use of distributed energy resources, based on natural intermittent power sources, like wind generation, in power systems imposes the development of new adequate operation management and control methodologies. A short-term Energy Resource Management (ERM) methodology performed in two phases is proposed in this paper. The first one addresses the day-ahead ERM scheduling and the second one deals with the five-minute ahead ERM scheduling. The ERM scheduling is a complex optimization problem due to the high quantity of variables and constraints. In this paper the main goal is to minimize the operation costs from the point of view of a virtual power player that manages the network and the existing resources. The optimization problem is solved by a deterministic mixedinteger non-linear programming approach. A case study considering a distribution network with 33 bus, 66 distributed generation, 32 loads with demand response contracts and 7 storage units and 1000 electric vehicles has been implemented in a simulator developed in the field of the presented work, in order to validate the proposed short-term ERM methodology considering the dynamic power system behavior.

QSAR modeling of antitubercular activity of diverse organic compounds

Tuberculosis (TB) is a worldwide infectious disease that has shown over time extremely high mortality levels. The urgent need to develop new antitubercular drugs is due to the increasing rate of appearance of multi-drug resistant strains to the commonly used drugs, and the longer durations of therapy and recovery, particularly in immuno-compromised patients. The major goal of the present study is the exploration of data from different families of compounds through the use of a variety of machine learning techniques so that robust QSAR-based models can be developed to further guide in the quest for new potent anti-TB compounds. Eight QSAR models were built using various types of descriptors (from ADRIANA.Code and Dragon software) with two publicly available structurally diverse data sets, including recent data deposited in PubChem. QSAR methodologies used Random Forests and Associative Neural Networks. Predictions for the external evaluation sets obtained accuracies in the range of 0.76-0.88 (for active/inactive classifications) and Q(2)=0.66-0.89 for regressions. Models developed in this study can be used to estimate the anti-TB activity of drug candidates at early stages of drug development (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A multi-agent system for the support of producer coalition formation in electricity markets

All over the world Distributed Generation is seen as a valuable help to get cleaner and more efficient electricity. To get negotiation power and advantages of scale economy, distributed producers can be aggregated giving place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer. Virtual Power Producers are multitechnology and multi-site heterogeneous entities. Virtual Power Producers should adopt organization and management methodologies so that they can make Distributed Generation a really profitable activity, able to participate in the market. In this paper we address the development of a multi-agent market simulator – MASCEM – able to study alternative coalitions of distributed producers in order to identify promising Virtual Power Producers in an electricity market.

Decision support system with incomplete and domain incoherent information management

Many of the most common human functions such as temporal and non-monotonic reasoning have not yet been fully mapped in developed systems, even though some theoretical breakthroughs have already been accomplished. This is mainly due to the inherent computational complexity of the theoretical approaches. In the particular area of fault diagnosis in power systems however, some systems which tried to solve the problem, have been deployed using methodologies such as production rule based expert systems, neural networks, recognition of chronicles, fuzzy expert systems, etc. SPARSE (from the Portuguese acronym, which means expert system for incident analysis and restoration support) was one of the developed systems and, in the sequence of its development, came the need to cope with incomplete and/or incorrect information as well as the traditional problems for power systems fault diagnosis based on SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) information retrieval, namely real-time operation, huge amounts of information, etc. This paper presents an architecture for a decision support system, which can solve the presented problems, using a symbiosis of the event calculus and the default reasoning rule based system paradigms, insuring soft real-time operation with incomplete, incorrect or domain incoherent information handling ability. A prototype implementation of this system is already at work in the control centre of the Portuguese Transmission Network.

The verification of temporal KBS: SPARSE - a case study in power systems

In this paper we present VERITAS, a tool that focus time maintenance, that is one of the most important processes in the engineering of the time during the development of KBS. The verification and validation (V&V) process is part of a wider process denominated knowledge maintenance, in which an enterprise systematically gathers, organizes, shares, and analyzes knowledge to accomplish its goals and mission. The V&V process states if the software requirements specifications have been correctly and completely fulfilled. The methodologies proposed in software engineering have showed to be inadequate for Knowledge Based Systems (KBS) validation and verification, since KBS present some particular characteristics. VERITAS is an automatic tool developed for KBS verification which is able to detect a large number of knowledge anomalies. It addresses many relevant aspects considered in real applications, like the usage of rule triggering selection mechanisms and temporal reasoning.

De intruso a tutor: impactos da formação em contexto PNEP

Este trabalho decorre de uma experiência de formação contínua de âmbito nacional, durante um ano letivo, relacionada com o ensino do português no 1º Ciclo no contexto do Programa Nacional de Ensino do Português (PNEP). Para se compreender o impacto da formação e do seu modelo, analisaram-se as produções escritas (do género narrativo e epistolar) dos alunos do 1º ao 4º ano de escolaridade, os resultados das Provas de Aferição de Língua Portuguesa do 4º ano, os inquéritos de avaliação dos formandos à própria formação, da competência da Comissão Nacional de Acompanhamento (CNA) e, ainda, as reflexões dos portefólios produzidos pelos formandos ao longo da formação. Em génese, pretende-se aferir de que modo esta formação interferiu nas aprendizagens e no desenvolvimento de competências dos alunos no domínio da língua materna, nomeadamente ao nível da escrita. Nessa perspetiva, são comparados dois grupos de alunos do mesmo agrupamento, do distrito de Lisboa, sendo o grupo experimental constituído pelos alunos cujos professores frequentaram a ação de formação PNEP e o grupo de controlo formado por alunos cujos professores nunca frequentaram a referida ação. Todavia, podendo o PNEP ser considerado como uma formação inovadora, porque se desenvolve em contexto, procura-se também saber como se sentiram os professores ao longo desta formação, bem como que repercussões e mais-valias obtiveram para as suas práticas pedagógicas e para a resolução real dos problemas vividos na sala de aula. Por fim, cruzando todos os dados de que se dispõe, aspira-se compreender o papel e o contributo da figura do formador no contexto PNEP, o que poderá conduzir a uma nova abordagem de formação, mais consentânea com o conceito de “mentoria”, e seus processos, do que com os pressupostos iniciais assentes numa lógica de “tutoria”. - This study originates from a one year education experience, nation wide, in the wake of the PNEP (Programa Nacional de Ensino do Português, in its maiden form) program. The aim is to understand how the model herein impacts first to fourth year primary school children’s learning and writing skills, how it influences the fourth year’s final exam results, and how it is reflected on practitioners’ (teachers undergoing the PNEP) performance evaluation inquires, and on concept development within their portfolios. In genesis, we seek to analyse whether the PNEP changed the way children attending primary school learn and master Portuguese, particularly its written expression. To do so, the study focus on two different publics, whereby an experimental group was build around a set of classes whose teachers had completed the PNEP education and training program, and a control group, set around a similar sample, but where teachers had no PNEP education or training at all. In addition, because PNEP might be considered as an advanced education model, we also wanted to disclosure how it adds to schoolteachers’ education techniques, and how it would help them solve daily ordinary problems within the classroom. Last but not the least, the study reveals that PNEP can change Portuguese standard education perspectives, changing classic tutorial methodologies towards a, more responsive, mentoring approach.

An intelligent tutoring approach to support students and technicians in electrical installation design

Designing electric installation projects, demands not only academic knowledge, but also other types of knowledge not easily acquired through traditional instructional methodologies. A lot of additional empirical knowledge is missing and so the academic instruction must be completed with different kinds of knowledge, such as real-life practical examples and simulations. On the other hand, the practical knowledge detained by the most experienced designers is not formalized in such a way that is easily transmitted. In order to overcome these difficulties present in the engineers formation, we are developing an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), for training and support concerning the development of electrical installation projects to be used by electrical engineers, technicians and students.

Teatro no 1º ciclo do ensino básico: relação entre formação dos professores e práticas pedagógicas

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialidade em Educação Artística -Teatro na Educação

Development of novel ionic liquids based on ampicillin

Novel ionic liquids containing ampicillin as an active pharmaceutical ingredient anion were prepared with good yields by using a new, efficient synthetic procedure based on the neutralization of a moderately basic ammonia solution of ampicillin with different organic cation hydroxides. The relevant physical and thermal properties of these novel ionic liquids based on ampicillin were also evaluated.

Virtual power producers simulation - negotiating renewable distributed generation in competitive electricity markets

Sustainable development concerns made renewable energy sources to be increasingly used for electricity distributed generation. However, this is mainly due to incentives or mandatory targets determined by energy policies as in European Union. Assuring a sustainable future requires distributed generation to be able to participate in competitive electricity markets. To get more negotiation power in the market and to get advantages of scale economy, distributed generators can be aggregated giving place to a new concept: the Virtual Power Producer (VPP). VPPs are multi-technology and multisite heterogeneous entities that should adopt organization and management methodologies so that they can make distributed generation a really profitable activity, able to participate in the market. This paper presents ViProd, a simulation tool that allows simulating VPPs operation, in the context of MASCEM, a multi-agent based eletricity market simulator.

Transmission tariffs in competitive electricity markets

In context of electricity market, the transmission price is an important tool to an efficient development of the electricity system. The electricity market is influenced by several factors; however the transmission network management is one of the most important aspects, because the network is a natural monopoly. The transmission tariffs can help to regulate the market, for that reason evaluate tariff must have strict criterions. This paper explains several methodologies to tariff the use of transmission network by transmission network users. The methods presented are: Post-Stamp Method; MW-Mile Method; Distribution Factors Methods; Tracing Methodology; Bialek’s Tracing Method and Locational Marginal Price.

International sustainable development cooperation of physiotherapy course from Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa

Objectives - To share with delegates the international experience in several Program of Physiotherapy course from Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa (ESTeSL).

Os desafios da inclusão de alunos com síndrome de down

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para a obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Ciências da Educação - Especialidade Educação especial

Modelação e concepção da carroçaria do veículo eléctrico ecológico (VEECO)

Neste trabalho aborda-se o desenvolvimento da carroçaria do Veículo Eléctrico Ecológico – VEECO recorrendo a tecnologias assistidas por computador. Devido à impossibilidade de abranger toda a temática das tecnologias assistidas por computador, associadas ao desenvolvimento de uma carroçaria automóvel, o foco deste trabalho assenta no processo de obtenção de um modelo digital válido e no estudo do desempenho aerodinâmico da carroçaria. A existência de um modelo digital válido é a base de qualquer processo de desenvolvimento associado a tecnologias assistidas por computador. Neste sentido, numa primeira etapa, foram aplicadas e desenvolvidas técnicas e metodologias que permitem o desenvolvimento de uma carroçaria desde a sua fase de “design” até à obtenção de um modelo digital CAD. Estas abrangem a conversão e importação de dados, a realização de engenharia inversa, a construção/reconstrução CAD em CATIA V5 e a preparação/correcção de modelos CAD para a análise numérica. Numa segunda etapa realizou-se o estudo da aerodinâmica exterior da carroçaria, recorrendo à ferramenta de análise computacional de fluidos (CFD) Flow Simulation da CosmosFloworks integrado no programa SolidWorks 2010. Associado à temática do estudo aerodinâmico e devido à elevada importância da validação dos resultados numéricos por meio de dados experimentais, foi realizado o estudo de análise dimensional que permite a realização de ensaios experimentais à escala, bem como a análise dos resultados experimentais obtidos.

On the development of textual competence in primary education

The aim of this article is to present the results of an action research project, which has been put into practice in Primary Education. This project was intended to develop students’ textual competence, considering both comprehension and textual production. Our starting hypothesis was that teaching the schematisation of text types, focusing on linguistic devices that underlie text production, would promote the development of textual competence, leading to the production of more coherent and cohesive texts. In order to test this hypothesis we implemented the project in three phases. First, before the intervention, we collected texts produced by the students. Secondly, we implemented a didactic program designed to develop students’ textual competence. Lastly, after the intervention, we collected students’ texts once again. Data was analyzed according to categories that confer cohesion and coherence to different types of texts. Narrative, descriptive, and explanatory texts were assessed in terms of 1) building an autonomous text; 2) hierarchisation of information, and 3) textual organisation. Overall, results indicate that students developed their text conceptualisations, their understanding of the different structures of texts, and produced better writing. Indeed, their written work shows a marked progression from the beginning of the intervention program to the end of the program.