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Publications

2017

Demonstrating that Medical Devices Satisfy User Related Safety Requirements

Authors
Harrison, MD; Masci, P; Campos, JC; Curzon, P;

Publication
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING IN HEALTH CARE, SEHC 2014

Abstract
One way of contributing to a demonstration that a medical device is acceptably safe is to show that the device satisfies a set of requirements known to mitigate hazards. This paper describes experience using formal techniques to model an IV infusion device and to prove that the modelled device captures a set of requirements. The requirements chosen for the study are based on a draft proposal developed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A major contributor to device related errors are (user) interaction errors. For this reason the chosen models and requirements focus on user interface related issues.

2017

Using a calibrated building energy simulation model to study the effects of improving the ventilation in a school

Authors
Bernardo, H; Quintal, E; Oliveira, F;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE - ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE TECHNOLOGIES, CONECT 2016

Abstract
This paper aims at presenting the development of a calibrated building energy simulation model of a school building to study the impact of improving the ventilation system on energy performance. The simulation model was developed with the DesignBudderlEnergyplus software and it was calibrated based on data collected during an energy audit to the school building. Schools need high outdoor airflow rates to remove indoor air contaminants related to occupants and building components, thus requiring mechanical ventilation systems. Due to budget restrictions, school managers decided to schedule the building management system to keep the HVAC systems active only between 6:00 am and 10:00 am. According to the values measured in this school, it was patent that the CO2 concentration was too high in certain periods. Too high peak values undermine the indoor air quality in the remaining occupancy time of the classroom, harming the work conditions for teachers and students. To solve this problem, an extended usage schedule of the mechanical ventilation was simulated (8:00 am to 5:00 pm) according to the required enhancement of indoor air quality, which together with the adoption of the new calculated fresh air flow rates will enhance air quality while avoiding excessive cost, thus increasing energy efficiency. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

2017

Erratum to: Optimal minimal routing and priority assignment for priority-preemptive real-time NoCs (Real-Time Systems, (2017), 53, 4, (578-612), 10.1007/s11241-017-9273-8)

Authors
Nikolic B.; Pinho L.M.;

Publication
Real-Time Systems

Abstract
The original version of this article unfortunately contained an error in the author affiliation. The corresponding author, “Dr. Borislav Nikoli´c” is currently affiliated in “Technische Universität Braunschweig”, but the work of this paper was performed and funded by CISTER/INESC-TEC, ISEP, IPP. Therefore, the corresponding author is linked to both the affiliations. This has been corrected with this erratum.

2017

Plain and oscillatory solitons of the cubic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with nonlinear gradient terms

Authors
Facao, M; Carvalho, MI;

Publication
PHYSICAL REVIEW E

Abstract
In this work, we present parameter regions for the existence of stable plain solitons of the cubic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE) with higher-order terms associated with a fourth-order expansion. Using a perturbation approach around the nonlinear Schrdinger equation soliton and a full numerical analysis that solves an ordinary differential equation for the soliton profiles and using the Evans method in the search for unstable eigenvalues, we have found that the minimum equation allowing these stable solitons is the cubic CGLE plus a term known in optics as Raman-delayed response, which is responsible for the redshift of the spectrum. The other favorable term for the occurrence of stable solitons is a term that represents the increase of nonlinear gain with higher frequencies. At the stability boundary, a bifurcation occurs giving rise to stable oscillatory solitons for higher values of the nonlinear gain. These oscillations can have very high amplitudes, with the pulse energy changing more than two orders of magnitude in a period, and they can even exhibit more complex dynamics such as period-doubling.

2017

Mobile-Based Analysis of Malaria-Infected Thin Blood Smears: Automated Species and Life Cycle Stage Determination

Authors
Rosado, L; da Costa, JMC; Elias, D; Cardoso, JS;

Publication
SENSORS

Abstract
Microscopy examination has been the pillar of malaria diagnosis, being the recommended procedure when its quality can be maintained. However, the need for trained personnel and adequate equipment limits its availability and accessibility in malaria-endemic areas. Rapid, accurate, accessible diagnostic tools are increasingly required, as malaria control programs extend parasite-based diagnosis and the prevalence decreases. This paper presents an image processing and analysis methodology using supervised classification to assess the presence of malaria parasites and determine the species and life cycle stage in Giemsa-stained thin blood smears. The main differentiation factor is the usage of microscopic images exclusively acquired with low cost and accessible tools such as smartphones, a dataset of 566 images manually annotated by an experienced parasilogist being used. Eight different species-stage combinations were considered in this work, with an automatic detection performance ranging from 73.9% to 96.2% in terms of sensitivity and from 92.6% to 99.3% in terms of specificity. These promising results attest to the potential of using this approach as a valid alternative to conventional microscopy examination, with comparable detection performances and acceptable computational times.

2017

Simultaneous Plasmonic Measurement of Refractive Index and Temperature Based on a D-Type Fiber Sensor With Gold Wires

Authors
Santos, DF; Guerreiro, A; Baptista, JM;

Publication
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL

Abstract
This paper presents an optical fiber sensor, that uses surface plasmon resonance on metallic wires to directly and simultaneously measure both the refractive index and the temperature. The sensor is constituted by gold wires on a D-type fiber engineered, using numerical simulations based on the finite-element method to support plasmon modes with strong dependencies to either one of the measured parameters. In particular, the influence of the temperature on the structure of the plasmon modes results from contributions from the thermooptic effect in the fiber core and sensing layer, and phononelectron scattering along with electron-electron scattering in the metal wire. The performance of the sensor is evaluated in terms of its sensitivity and resolution.

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