Efeito do manejo de solo nos parâmetros agronômicos e energéticos de híbridos de milho transgênico e não transgênico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Sistema de monitoração de bloqueios tipo porta de vidro

Automatic video surveillance system has been a frequent topic of research due to the large number of promising applications. In this research, we developed a tracking and counting people system, as well as suspicious activities detector. The model tracks individual objects as they pass through the field of vision of the camera using vision algorithms to classify the activities of each person, and according to this features, detect dangerous situations. This dissertation includes a review of several techniques trying to develop a robust and low computacional costs system to be used in glass door barrier turnstiles avoiding fraud

Número mínimo de aplicações de fungicidas no controle das cercosporioses da cultura do amendoim

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Produção Vegetal) - FCAV

Radiofrequency ablation in children and adolescents: results in 154 consecutive patients

AIMS: The experience of using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of arrhythmias in children and adolescents is still limited. This study aimed to review the most recent results of RF ablation in children and adolescents in a highly experienced centre with access to both conventional techniques and non-fluoroscopic electroanatomic mapping (CARTO). METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 154 consecutive patients younger than 19 years treated with RFA during the period 2000-04 were included. Numbers (%) or median (quartiles) are reported. Age was 15 (12-17) years, 70 (45%) were males. Five patients (3%) had congenital heart disease. RFA was successful in 147/154 patients (95%). Arrhythmia recurrence occurred in 11 patients (7%). Procedure time was 55 (35-90) min and fluoroscopy time was 8.8 (4-19) min. Number of RF applications was 4 (2-10) and number of RF applications >20 s was 2 (1-7). One patient (0.7%) had complicating high-grade atrioventricular block. CARTO was used in 18 RF ablation procedures (11%) performed in 15 patients. CONCLUSION: RF ablation can be undertaken in children and adolescents with a high success rate, few recurrences and complications, very short procedure times, and acceptable fluoroscopy times. Non-fluoroscopic electroanatomic mapping is helpful in selected patients.

Peptide receptor expression in GEP-NET

Numerous peptide receptors have recently been reported to be expressed or overexpressed in various human cancers. For instance, somatostatin receptors are particularly frequently expressed in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET), including both primaries and metastases. The density is often high, and the distribution is usually homogenous. While various somatostatin receptor subtypes can be expressed in these tumors, the sst(2) is clearly predominant. These receptors represent the molecular basis for a number of clinical applications, including symptomatic therapy with octreotide in hormone-secreting GEP-NET, in vivo diagnostic with radiolabeled diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid octreotide (Octreoscan) to evaluate the extend of the disease, and (90)Y- or (177)Lu-[(90)Y-DOTA]-D: -Phe(1)-Tyr(3) octreotide radiotherapy. GEP-NET can, however, express peptide receptors other than somatostatin receptor: Insulinomas have more glucagon-like peptide 1 receptors than somatostatin receptors; gastrinomas express very high levels of secretin receptors. GEP-NET may also express cholecystokinin 2, bombesin, neuropeptide Y, or vasoactive intestinal peptide receptors. Often, several of these peptide receptors are expressed simultaneously in GEP-NET, providing a molecular basis for in vivo multireceptor targeting of those tumors.

Flexibility Properties in Complex Analysis and Affine Algebraic Geometry

In the last decades affine algebraic varieties and Stein manifolds with big (infinite-dimensional) automorphism groups have been intensively studied. Several notions expressing that the automorphisms group is big have been proposed. All of them imply that the manifold in question is an Oka–Forstnerič manifold. This important notion has also recently merged from the intensive studies around the homotopy principle in Complex Analysis. This homotopy principle, which goes back to the 1930s, has had an enormous impact on the development of the area of Several Complex Variables and the number of its applications is constantly growing. In this overview chapter we present three classes of properties: (1) density property, (2) flexibility, and (3) Oka–Forstnerič. For each class we give the relevant definitions, its most significant features and explain the known implications between all these properties. Many difficult mathematical problems could be solved by applying the developed theory, we indicate some of the most spectacular ones.

Optimal laser intensity profiles for a uniform target illumination in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

A numerical method providing the optimal laser intensity profiles for a direct-drive inertial confinement fusion scheme has been developed. The method provides an alternative approach to phase-space optimization studies, which can prove computationally expensive. The method applies to a generic irradiation configuration characterized by an arbitrary number NB of laser beams provided that they irradiate the whole target surface, and thus goes beyond previous analyses limited to symmetric configurations. The calculated laser intensity profiles optimize the illumination of a spherical target. This paper focuses on description of the method, which uses two steps: first, the target irradiation is calculated for initial trial laser intensities, and then in a second step the optimal laser intensities are obtained by correcting the trial intensities using the calculated illumination. A limited number of example applications to direct drive on the Laser MegaJoule (LMJ) are described.

Contribution towards intelligent service management in wearable and ubiquitous devices

Hoy en día asistimos a un creciente interés por parte de la sociedad hacia el cuidado de la salud. Esta afirmación viene apoyada por dos realidades. Por una parte, el aumento de las prácticas saludables (actividad deportiva, cuidado de la alimentación, etc.). De igual manera, el auge de los dispositivos inteligentes (relojes, móviles o pulseras) capaces de medir distintos parámetros físicos como el pulso cardíaco, el ritmo respiratorio, la distancia recorrida, las calorías consumidas, etc. Combinando ambos factores (interés por el estado de salud y disponibilidad comercial de dispositivos inteligentes) están surgiendo multitud de aplicaciones capaces no solo de controlar el estado actual de salud, también de recomendar al usuario cambios de hábitos que lleven hacia una mejora en su condición física. En este contexto, los llamados dispositivos llevables (weareables) unidos al paradigma de Internet de las cosas (IoT, del inglés Internet of Things) permiten la aparición de nuevos nichos de mercado para aplicaciones que no solo se centran en la mejora de la condición física, ya que van más allá proponiendo soluciones para el cuidado de pacientes enfermos, la vigilancia de niños o ancianos, la defensa y la seguridad, la monitorización de agentes de riesgo (como bomberos o policías) y un largo etcétera de aplicaciones por llegar. El paradigma de IoT se puede desarrollar basándose en las existentes redes de sensores inalámbricos (WSN, del inglés Wireless Sensor Network). La conexión de los ya mencionados dispositivos llevables a estas redes puede facilitar la transición de nuevos usuarios hacia aplicaciones IoT. Pero uno de los problemas intrínsecos a estas redes es su heterogeneidad. En efecto, existen multitud de sistemas operativos, protocolos de comunicación, plataformas de desarrollo, soluciones propietarias, etc. El principal objetivo de esta tesis es realizar aportaciones significativas para solucionar no solo el problema de la heterogeneidad, sino también de dotar de mecanismos de seguridad suficientes para salvaguardad la integridad de los datos intercambiados en este tipo de aplicaciones. Algo de suma importancia ya que los datos médicos y biométricos de los usuarios están protegidos por leyes nacionales y comunitarias. Para lograr dichos objetivos, se comenzó con la realización de un completo estudio del estado del arte en tecnologías relacionadas con el marco de investigación (plataformas y estándares para WSNs e IoT, plataformas de implementación distribuidas, dispositivos llevables y sistemas operativos y lenguajes de programación). Este estudio sirvió para tomar decisiones de diseño fundamentadas en las tres contribuciones principales de esta tesis: un bus de servicios para dispositivos llevables (WDSB, Wearable Device Service Bus) basado en tecnologías ya existentes tales como ESB, WWBAN, WSN e IoT); un protocolo de comunicaciones inter-dominio para dispositivos llevables (WIDP, Wearable Inter-Domain communication Protocol) que integra en una misma solución protocolos capaces de ser implementados en dispositivos de bajas capacidades (como lo son los dispositivos llevables y los que forman parte de WSNs); y finalmente, la tercera contribución relevante es una propuesta de seguridad para WSN basada en la aplicación de dominios de confianza. Aunque las contribuciones aquí recogidas son de aplicación genérica, para su validación se utilizó un escenario concreto de aplicación: una solución para control de parámetros físicos en entornos deportivos, desarrollada dentro del proyecto europeo de investigación “LifeWear”. En este escenario se desplegaron todos los elementos necesarios para validar las contribuciones principales de esta tesis y, además, se realizó una aplicación para dispositivos móviles por parte de uno de los socios del proyecto (lo que contribuyó con una validación externa de la solución). En este escenario se usaron dispositivos llevables tales como un reloj inteligente, un teléfono móvil con sistema operativo Android y un medidor del ritmo cardíaco inalámbrico capaz de obtener distintos parámetros fisiológicos del deportista. Sobre este escenario se realizaron diversas pruebas de validación mediante las cuales se obtuvieron resultados satisfactorios. ABSTRACT Nowadays, society is shifting towards a growing interest and concern on health care. This phenomenon can be acknowledged by two facts: first, the increasing number of people practising some kind of healthy activity (sports, balanced diet, etc.). Secondly, the growing number of commercial wearable smart devices (smartwatches or bands) able to measure physiological parameters such as heart rate, breathing rate, distance or consumed calories. A large number of applications combining both facts are appearing. These applications are not only able to monitor the health status of the user, but also to provide recommendations about routines in order to improve the mentioned health status. In this context, wearable devices merged with the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm enable the proliferation of new market segments for these health wearablebased applications. Furthermore, these applications can provide solutions for the elderly or baby care, in-hospital or in-home patient monitoring, security and defence fields or an unforeseen number of future applications. The introduced IoT paradigm can be developed with the usage of existing Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) by connecting the novel wearable devices to them. In this way, the migration of new users and actors to the IoT environment will be eased. However, a major issue appears in this environment: heterogeneity. In fact, there is a large number of operating systems, hardware platforms, communication and application protocols or programming languages, each of them with unique features. The main objective of this thesis is defining and implementing a solution for the intelligent service management in wearable and ubiquitous devices so as to solve the heterogeneity issues that are presented when dealing with interoperability and interconnectivity of devices and software of different nature. Additionally, a security schema based on trust domains is proposed as a solution to the privacy problems arising when private data (e.g., biomedical parameters or user identification) is broadcasted in a wireless network. The proposal has been made after a comprehensive state-of-the-art analysis, and includes the design of a Wearable Device Service Bus (WDSB) including the technologies collected in the requirement analysis (ESB, WWBAN, WSN and IoT). Applications are able to access the WSN services regardless of the platform and operating system where they are running. Besides, this proposal also includes the design of a Wearable Inter-Domain communication Protocols set (WIDP) which integrates lightweight protocols suitable to be used in low-capacities devices (REST, JSON, AMQP, CoAP, etc...). Furthermore, a security solution for service management based on a trustworthy domains model to deploy security services in WSNs has been designed. Although the proposal is a generic framework for applications based on services provided by wearable devices, an application scenario for testing purposes has been included. In this validation scenario it has been presented an autonomous physical condition performance system, based on a WSN, bringing the possibility to include several elements in an IoT scenario: a smartwatch, a physiological monitoring device and a smartphone. In summary, the general objective of this thesis is solving the heterogeneity and security challenges arising when developing applications for WSNs and wearable devices. As it has been presented in the thesis, the solution proposed has been successfully validated in a real scenario and the obtained results were satisfactory.

A Wireless Charging System Applying Phase-Shift and Amplitude Control to Maximize Efficiency and Extractable Power

Wireless power transfer (WPT) is an emerging technology with an increasing number of potential applications to transfer power from a transmitter to a mobile receiver over a relatively large air gap. However, its widespread application is hampered due to the relatively low efficiency of current Wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. This study presents a concept to maximize the efficiency as well as to increase the amount of extractable power of a WPT system operating in nonresonant operation. The proposed method is based on actively modifying the equivalent secondary-side load impedance by controlling the phase-shift of the active rectifier and its output voltage level. The presented hardware prototype represents a complete wireless charging system, including a dc-dc converter which is used to charge a battery at the output of the system. Experimental results are shown for the proposed concept in comparison to a conventional synchronous rectification approach. The presented optimization method clearly outperforms state-of-the-art solutions in terms of efficiency and extractable power.

Mutated plant lectin library useful to identify different cells

The 24 nucleotides comprising the carbohydrate-recognition domain of Maackia amurensis hemagglutinin (MAH) cDNA were randomly mutated. The mutant lectins were expressed as glutathione-S-transferase fusion proteins in Escherichia coli and 16 clones were randomly chosen. Although all of 16 recombinant lectins reacted strongly with anti-MAH polyclonal antibody, the carbohydrate-recognition domain of each was unique. As shown by agglutination studies, each mutant MAH lectin was able to bind to erythrocytes from one or more of five animal species in very distinct patterns. Thus, novel plant lectin libraries can be used to discriminate in a highly specific manner among a variety of cell types. This technology may prove to be very useful in a number of different applications requiring a high level of specificity in cell identification.

A robust and fast method for 6DoF motion estimation from generalized 3D data

Nowadays, there is an increasing number of robotic applications that need to act in real three-dimensional (3D) scenarios. In this paper we present a new mobile robotics orientated 3D registration method that improves previous Iterative Closest Points based solutions both in speed and accuracy. As an initial step, we perform a low cost computational method to obtain descriptions for 3D scenes planar surfaces. Then, from these descriptions we apply a force system in order to compute accurately and efficiently a six degrees of freedom egomotion. We describe the basis of our approach and demonstrate its validity with several experiments using different kinds of 3D sensors and different 3D real environments.

Stress Inversion Using LiDAR Tunnel Deformation Measurements

Far-field stresses are those present in a volume of rock prior to excavations being created. Estimates of the orientation and magnitude of far-field stresses, often used in mine design, are generally obtained by single-point measurements of stress, or large-scale, regional trends. Point measurements can be a poor representation of far-field stresses as a result of excavation-induced stresses and geological structures. For these reasons, far-field stress estimates can be associated with high levels of uncertainty. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the practical feasibility, applications, and limitations of calibrating far-field stress estimates through tunnel deformation measurements captured using LiDAR imaging. A method that estimates the orientation and magnitude of excavation-induced principal stress changes through back-analysis of deformation measurements from LiDAR imaged tunnels was developed and tested using synthetic data. If excavation-induced stress change orientations and magnitudes can be accurately estimated, they can be used in the calibration of far-field stress input to numerical models. LiDAR point clouds have been proven to have a number of underground applications, thus it is desired to explore their use in numerical model calibration. The back-analysis method is founded on the superposition of stresses and requires a two-dimensional numerical model of the deforming tunnel. Principal stress changes of known orientation and magnitude are applied to the model to create calibration curves. Estimation can then be performed by minimizing squared differences between the measured tunnel and sets of calibration curve deformations. In addition to the back-analysis estimation method, a procedure consisting of previously existing techniques to measure tunnel deformation using LiDAR imaging was documented. Under ideal conditions, the back-analysis method estimated principal stress change orientations within ±5° and magnitudes within ±2 MPa. Results were comparable for four different tunnel profile shapes. Preliminary testing using plastic deformation, a rough tunnel profile, and profile occlusions suggests that the method can work under more realistic conditions. The results from this thesis set the groundwork for the continued development of a new, inexpensive, and efficient far-field stress estimate calibration method.

Recent developments in C5/C5a inhibitors

Complement factor 5a (C5a) is formed upon complement system activation in response to infection, injury or disease. Whilst C5a is a potent mediator of immune and inflammatory processes, excessive production or inadequate regulation of C5a has been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous immuno-inflammatory diseases, predominantly through experimental studies utilising animal models of disease. Both acute and chronic conditions may benefit from C5a inhibition, including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, psoriasis, haemorrhagic shock and neurodegenerative conditions. The potentially broad clinical application for treatments that inhibit the activity of C5a at C5a receptors and the large global market for anti-inflammatory therapeutics have made C5a and the C5a receptor attractive targets for academic and commercial drug development programmes. in the past 5 years, interest in C5a as a drug target has grown substantially, and this activity has resulted in a collection of patents and scientific papers reporting novel C5a and C5a receptor inhibitors and antagonists, and generated a secondary stream of patent applications broadly claiming the use of C5/C5a inhibitors as a method of treating various immune and inflammatory conditions. This paper will review the physiology and pathophysiology of C5a and discuss the development of C5a and C5a receptor inhibitors in light of the recent scientific and patent literature.

Efficiently computing weighted proximity relationships in spatial databases

Spatial data mining recently emerges from a number of real applications, such as real-estate marketing, urban planning, weather forecasting, medical image analysis, road traffic accident analysis, etc. It demands for efficient solutions for many new, expensive, and complicated problems. In this paper, we investigate the problem of evaluating the top k distinguished “features” for a “cluster” based on weighted proximity relationships between the cluster and features. We measure proximity in an average fashion to address possible nonuniform data distribution in a cluster. Combining a standard multi-step paradigm with new lower and upper proximity bounds, we presented an efficient algorithm to solve the problem. The algorithm is implemented in several different modes. Our experiment results not only give a comparison among them but also illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm.

Tear protein interaction with hydrogel contact lenses

The design and synthesis of biomaterials covers a growing number of biomedical applications. The use of biomaterials in biological environment is associated with a number of problems, the most important of which is biocompatabUity. If the implanted biomaterial is not compatible with the environment, it will be rejected by the biological site. This may be manifested in many ways depending on the environment in which it is used. Adsorption of proteins takes place almost instantaneously when a biomaterial comes into contact with most biological fluids. The eye is a unique body site for the study of protein interactions with biomaterials, because of its ease of access and deceptive complexity of the tears. The use of contact lenses for either vision correction and cosmetic reasons or as a route for the controlled drug delivery, has significantly increased in recent years. It is relatively easy to introduce a contact lens Into the tear fluid and remove after a few minutes without surgery or trauma to the patient. A range of analytical techniques were used and developed to measure the proteins absorbed to some existing commercial contact lens materials and also to novel hydrogels synthesised within the research group. Analysis of the identity and quantity of proteins absorbed to biomaterials revealed the importance of many factors on the absorption process. The effect of biomaterial structure, protein nature in terms of size. shape and charge and pH of the environment on the absorption process were examined in order to determine the relative up-take of tear proteins. This study showed that both lysozyme and lactoferrin penetrate the lens matrix of ionic materials. Measurement of the mobility and activity of the protein deposited into the surface and within the matrix of ionic lens materials demonstrated that the mobility is pH dependent and, within the experimental errors, the biological activity of lysozyme remained unchanged after adsorption and desorption. The study on the effect of different monomers copolymerised with hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) on the protein up-take showed that monomers producing a positive charge on the copolymer can reduce the spoilation with lysozyme. The studies were extended to real cases in order to compare the patient dependent factors. The in-vivo studies showed that the spoilation is patient dependent as well as other factors. Studies on the extrinsic factors such as dye used in colour lenses showed that the addition of colourant affects protein absorption and, in one case, its effect is beneficial to the wearer as it reduces the quantity of the protein absorbed.