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Publications

2013

Innovations in health care services: The CAALYX system

Authors
Rocha, A; Martins, A; Freire, JC; Boulos, MNK; Vicente, ME; Feld, R; van de Ven, P; Nelson, J; Bourke, A; OLaighin, G; Sdogati, C; Jobes, A; Narvaiza, L; Rodríguez Molinero, A;

Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INFORMATICS

Abstract
Purpose: This paper describes proposed health care services innovations, provided by a system called CAALYX (Complete Ambient Assisted Living eXperiment). CAALYX aimed to provide healthcare innovation by extending the state-of-the-art in tele-healthcare, by focusing on increasing the confidence of elderly people living autonomously, by building on the knowledge base of the most common disorders and respective characteristic vital sign changes for this age group. Methods: A review of the state-of-the-art on health care services was carried out. Then, extensive research was conducted on the particular needs of the elderly in relation to home health services that, if offered to them, could improve their day life by giving them greater confidence and autonomy. To achieve this, we addressed issues associated with the gathering of clinical data and interpretation of these data, as well as possibilities of automatically triggering appropriate clinical measures. Considering this initial work we started the identification of initiatives, ongoing works and technologies that could be used for the development of the system. After that, the implementation of CAALYX was done. Findings: The innovation in CAALYX system considers three main areas of contribution: (i) The Roaming Monitoring System that is used to collect information on the well-being of the elderly users; (ii) The Home Monitoring System that is aimed at helping the elders independently living at home being implemented by a device (a personal computer or a set top box) that supports the connection of sensors and video cameras that may be used for monitoring and for interaction with the elder; (iii) The Central Care Service and Monitoring System that is implemented by a Caretaker System where attention and care services are provided to elders, where actors as Caretakers, Doctors and Relatives are logically linked to elders. Innovations in each of these areas are presented here. Conclusions: The ageing European society is placing an added burden on future generations, as the 'elderly-to-working-age-people' ratio is set to steadily increase in the future. Nowadays, quality of life and fitness allows for most older persons to have an active life well into their eighties. Furthermore, many older persons prefer to live in their own house and choose their own lifestyle. The CAALYX system can have a clear impact in increasing older persons' autonomy, by ensuring that they do not need to leave their preferred environment in order to be properly monitored and taken care of.

2013

Sensing Structure based on Surface Plasmonic Resonance in Single Mode Optical Fibers Chemically Etched

Authors
Coelho, L; Almeida, JM; Santos, JL; Ferreira, RAS; Andre, PS; Viegas, D;

Publication
FIFTH EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON OPTICAL FIBRE SENSORS

Abstract
Many optical systems based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) have been developed for work as refractometers, chemical sensors or even for measure the thickness of metal and dielectric thin films. These kinds of systems are usually large, expensive and cannot be used for remote sensing. Optical fiber sensors based on SPR has been widely studied for the last 20 years with several configurations mostly using multimode optical fibers with large cores and plastic claddings. Sensors based on SPR present very high sensitivity to refractive index variations when compared to the traditional refractive index sensors. Here we propose a SPR sensor based in a single mode fiber. The fiber end is chemically etched by emersion in a 48% hydrofluoric acid solution, resulting a single mode fiber with the cladding removed in a small section. A resonance dip around 1580 nm was attained in good agreement with the simulation scenario that takes into account the real characteristics of the fiber.

2013

Experimental evaluation of a R-EAM and noise impact analysis for UWB and Wi-Fi transmission in RoF networks

Authors
Pessoa, LM; Oliveira, JMB; Coelho, DV; Castro, JCS; Salgado, HM;

Publication
ANNALS OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS-ANNALES DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Abstract
The performance of a reflective electro-absorption modulator transceiver is assessed in terms of both slope efficiency (SE) and responsivity in a radio-over-fiber network. Different biasing schemes are analyzed, specifically zero bias (passive solution), bias for maximum SE, and bias for maximum responsivity. Finally, two case studies on multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ultra-wide band and Wi-Fi are presented, for which the optimum setup parameters are determined.

2013

The influence of catch quotas on the productivity of the Portuguese bivalve dredge fleet

Authors
Oliveira, MM; Camanho, AS; Gaspar, MB;

Publication
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE

Abstract
Among the Portuguese artisanal fishing fleets, the bivalve dredge fleet is one of the most profitable. In the last decade, after the implementation of a quotas system, the management of this fishery has been largely focused on adjusting catch to the conservation status of the resources exploited. The present work aims to understand how changes in the amount of quota attributed to each vessel each year and shifts in the quota regime affected vessel productivity. Boostrapped Malmquist indices, complemented with an efficiency assessment using a directional distance function, were used to quantify productivity changes between 1999 and 2011 for the fleets operating in two areas along the Portuguese coast (northwest and southwest). The results showed that the implementation of a weekly quota, as opposed to a daily quota, led to a significant improvement in productivity. This was mainly due to the decrease in fishing days and fuel consumption. It is predicted that the implementation of weekly quotas in the south area would lead to an overall reduction of about 12% in fishing days and fuel consumption, even though the variation in fuel consumption may be affected by the status of the resources. The results achieved provide important insights for future management actions and showed the potential advantages of applying this type of management to other fisheries worldwide, mainly those using active gear.

2013

Mass-degenerate Higgs bosons at 125 GeV in the two-Higgs-doublet model

Authors
Ferreira, PM; Santos, R; Haber, HE; Silva, JP;

Publication
PHYSICAL REVIEW D

Abstract
The analysis of the Higgs boson data by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations appears to exhibit an excess of h -> gamma gamma events above the Standard Model (SM) expectations, whereas no significant excess is observed in h -> ZZ* -> four lepton events, albeit with large statistical uncertainty due to the small data sample. These results (assuming they persist with further data) could be explained by a pair of nearly mass-degenerate scalars, one of which is an SM-like Higgs boson and the other is a scalar with suppressed couplings to W+W- and ZZ. In the two-Higgs-doublet model, the observed gamma gamma and ZZ* -> four lepton data can be reproduced by an approximately degenerate CP-even (h) and CP-odd (A) Higgs boson for values of sin (beta - alpha) near unity and 0: 70 less than or similar to tan beta less than or similar to 1. An enhanced gamma gamma signal can also arise in cases where m(h) similar or equal to m(H), m(H) similar or equal to m(A), or m(h) similar or equal to m(H) similar or equal to m(A). Since the ZZ* -> 4 leptons signal derives primarily from an SM-like Higgs boson whereas the gamma gamma signal receives contributions from two (or more) nearly mass-degenerate states, one would expect a slightly different invariant mass peak in the ZZ* -> four lepton and gamma gamma channels. The phenomenological consequences of such models can be tested with additional Higgs data that will be collected at the LHC in the near future. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.055009

2013

A long term generation expansion planning model using system dynamics - Case study using data from the Portuguese/Spanish generation system

Authors
Pereira, AJC; Saraiva, JT;

Publication
ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS RESEARCH

Abstract
This paper describes a long term generation expansion model that uses system dynamics to capture the interrelations between different variables and parameters. Using this model, it is possible to estimate the long term evolution of the demand and of the electricity price that are then used by generation agents to prepare individual expansion plans. These plans are submitted to a coordination analysis to check some global indicators, as the reserve margin and the LOLE. The developed approach is illustrated using a realistic generation system based on the Portuguese/Spanish system with an installed capacity of nearly 120 GW and an yearly demand of 312 TWh in 2010. Large investments were directed in the last 20 years to the Iberian generation system both regarding traditional technologies and dispersed generation (namely wind parks and solar systems). Today, the excess of installed capacity together with the demand reduction poses a number of questions that should be addressed carefully namely to investigate the impact of several options. The planning exercise aims at identifying the most adequate expansion plans in view of the increased renewable generation (namely wind parks). For illustration purposes, we also conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impact of increasing the installed capacity in wind parks, of internalizing CO2 emission costs and of incorporating a capacity payment. These analyses are relevant in order to get more insight on the possible long term evolution of the system and to allow generation companies to take more sounded decisions.

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