Abstract

Abstract
In studies requiring respiratory apnea, such as the cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion sequence, it is sometimes difficult for patients to perform such a requirement. In the medical imaging market, motion correction algorithms have emerged, such as motion correction (MoCo) from Siemens, as computational tools capable of correcting this dilemma. It is important to verify, by the signal intensity of the images, if the images of the sequences with the application of the algorithm do not differ significantly from the images without any post-processing. An experimental study was carried out to measure signal intensity by region of interest (ROI) marking, one of which was located in the cardiac chamber and another in the segment with ischemia in thirteen individuals (n = 13) with a diagnosis of ischemia of the anterior descendent artery who performed the perfusion sequence by CMR. Statistical analysis with the values resulting from these measurements was performed using the statistical analysis software IBM SPSS Statistics 24. Signal strength measurements were performed at the Alfena Private Hospital with Siemens Syngo MR D14 software. It is verified that there are no statistically significant differences in the signal intensity measurements in the images without and with the motion correction algorithm.

Abstract
Types in logic programming have focused on conservative approximations of program semantics by regular types, on one hand, and on type systems based on a prescriptive semantics defined for typed programs, on the other. In this paper, we define a new semantics for logic programming, where programs evaluate to true, false, and to a new semantic value called wrong, corresponding to a run-time type error. We then have a type language with a separated semantics of types. Finally, we define a type system for logic programming and prove that it is semantically sound with respect to a semantic relation between programs and types where, if a program has a type, then its semantics is not wrong. Our work follows Milner’s approach for typed functional languages where the semantics of programs is independent from the semantic of types, and the type system is proved to be sound with respect to a relation between both semantics.

Abstract
The characterization of water and energy consumptions is essential in order to define strategies for their rational use. The way these resources are used in households is the path for efficient and rational management, interdependent from each other. It is believed that there are significant differences between the patterns of water and energy consumption in rural and urban areas, where influencing factors should also be identified. This article aims to provide some preliminary results of a research project named ENERWAT, with the main goal to characterize the relation between water and energy consumption at the end use level for urban and rural environments. One of the goals of the aforementioned project was the design, application, and results analysis of a survey, in order to find the main differences in the water and energy consumptions at the end use level and the factors that influence it in urban and rural households. A total of 245 households participated in the research during 2016 (110 urban dwellings and 135 rural), responding to questions on their family composition, dwellings characterization, water and energy consumption habits, and conservation behaviors of these resources. The project also includes the instrumentation and monitoring of dwellings in rural and urban environments to quantify the water consumption and related energy consumption. This stage is still in progress and includes in situ measurements of nine different households (four in rural and five in urban environments) during at least one year. In this article, some of the results obtained by the survey application and the in situ measurements are presented. Despite the large number of data and the associated complexity, it can be concluded that the joint analysis of the results allows identification of a connection between water and energy consumption, as well as a household’s consumption patterns.

Abstract
Mechanisation is a key input in modern agriculture, while it accounts for a large part of crop production costs, it can bring considerable farm benefits if well managed. Models for simulated machinery costs, may not replace actual cost measurements but the information obtained through them can replace a farm's existing records, becoming more valuable to decision makers. MACHoice, a decision support system (DSS) presented in this paper, is a farm machinery cost estimator and break-even analyzer of alternatives for agricultural operations, developed using user-driven expectations and in close collaboration with agronomists and computer engineers. It integrates an innovative algorithm developed for projections of machinery costs under different rates of annual machine use and work capacity processing, which is crucial to decisions on break-even machinery alternatives. A case study based on the comparison of multiple alternatives for grape harvesting operations is presented to demonstrate the typical results that can be expected from MACHoice, and to identify its capabilities and limitations. This DSS offers an integrated and flexible analysis environment with a user-friendly graphical interface as well as a high level of automation of processing chains. The DSS-output consists of charts and tables, evidencing the differences related to costs and carbon emissions between the options inserted by the user for the different intensity of yearly work proceeded. MACHoice is an interactive web-based tool that can be accessed freely for non-commercial use by every known browser.

Abstract
Performance of series connected batteries is limited by the "weakest link" effect, i.e., the cell or group of cells with the poorest performance in terms of temperature, power, or energy characteristics. To mitigate the "weakest link" effect, this study deals with the design, modeling, and experimental demonstration of a smart and hybrid balancing system (SHBS). A cell-to-cell shared energy transfer configuration is proposed, including a supercapacitor bank in the balancing bus, thus enabling hybridization. Energy is transferred from each battery module connected in series to the balancing bus, and vice-versa, by means of low-cost bi-directional dc-dc converters. The current setpoints of the converters are obtained by means of a smart balancing control strategy, implemented using convex optimization. The strategy is called "smart" because it pursues goals beyond the conventional state-of-charge equalization, including temperature and power capability equalization, and minimization of energy losses. Simulations show that the proposed SHBS is able to achieve all these goals effectively in an e-mobility application and are also used to assess the impact of different hybridization ratios and cooling conditions. Finally, an experimental setup is developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the SHBS.