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Publications

2023

Using Digital Tools to Study the Health of Adults Born Preterm at a Large Scale: e-Cohort Pilot Study

Authors
Lorthe, E; Santos, C; Ornelas, JP; Doetsch, JN; Marques, SCS; Teixeira, R; Santos, AC; Rodrigues, C; Goncalves, G; Sousa, PF; Lopes, JC; Rocha, A; Barros, H;

Publication
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH

Abstract
Background: Preterm birth is a global health concern. Its adverse consequences may persist throughout the life course, exerting a potentially heavy burden on families, health systems, and societies. In high-income countries, the first children who benefited from improved care are now adults entering middle age. However, there is a clear gap in the knowledge regarding the long-term outcomes of individuals born preterm. Objective: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of recruiting and following up an e-cohort of adults born preterm worldwide and provide estimations of participation, characteristics of participants, the acceptability of questions, and the quality of data collected. Methods: We implemented a prospective, open, observational, and international e-cohort pilot study (Health of Adult People Born Preterm-an e-Cohort Pilot Study [HAPP-e]). Inclusion criteria were being an adult (aged =18 years), born preterm (<37 weeks of gestation), having internet access and an email address, and understanding at least 1 of the available languages. A large, multifaceted, and multilingual communication strategy was established. Between December 2019 and June 2021, inclusion and repeated data collection were performed using a secured web platform. We provided descriptive statistics regarding participation in the e-cohort, namely, the number of persons who registered on the platform, signed the consent form, initiated and completed the baseline questionnaire, and initiated and completed the follow-up questionnaire. We also described the main characteristics of the HAPP-e participants and provided an assessment of the quality of the data and the acceptability of sensitive questions. Results: As of December 31, 2020, a total of 1004 persons had registered on the platform, leading to 527 accounts with a confirmed email and 333 signed consent forms. A total of 333 participants initiated the baseline questionnaire. All participants were invited to follow-up, and 35.7% (119/333) consented to participate, of whom 97.5% (116/119) initiated the follow-up questionnaire. Completion rates were very high both at baseline (296/333, 88.9%) and at follow-up (112/116, 96.6%). This sample of adults born preterm in 34 countries covered a wide range of sociodemographic and health characteristics. The gestational age at birth ranged from 23+6 to 36+6 weeks (median 32, IQR 29-35 weeks). Only 2.1% (7/333) of the participants had previously participated in a cohort of individuals born preterm. Women (252/333, 75.7%) and highly educated participants (235/327, 71.9%) were also overrepresented. Good quality data were collected thanks to validation controls implemented on the web platform. The acceptability of potentially sensitive questions was excellent, as very few participants chose the I prefer not to say option when available. Conclusions: Although we identified room for improvement in specific procedures, this pilot study confirmed the great potential for recruiting a large and diverse sample of adults born preterm worldwide, thereby advancing research on adults born preterm.

2023

A DEA Approach to Evaluate the Performance of the Electric Mobility Deployment in European Countries

Authors
Vaz, B; Ferreira, P;

Publication
Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics

Abstract
This work aims to assess the performance of European countries on the deployment of low-emission vehicles in road transportation. For this purpose, a model based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to calculate a composite indicator for several European countries, aggregating seven sub-indicators built from a data set for the 2019 year. Various virtual weight restrictions schemes of the sub-indicators are studied to explore the robustness of the performance results. By adopting the most robust scheme, the performance results obtained indicate that most European countries have the potential to improve their practices towards better road transport sustainability, by emulating the best practices observed in the four identified benchmarks. Thus, the inefficient countries should take measures to better support the market share of plug-in electric vehicles. In addition, the railway sector and the penetration of renewable energies should be enhanced to improve road transportation sustainability. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

2023

Study and development of optical fiber structures based on graphene

Authors
Catarina da Silva Monteiro;

Publication

Abstract

2023

Hybrid Energy Storage System Control for Improved Cost and Lifetime Performance Analysis

Authors
Preto, M; Lucas, A; Benedicto, P;

Publication

Abstract

2023

Sound-Based Anomalies Detection in Agricultural Robotics Application

Authors
Baltazar, AR; dos Santos, FN; Soares, SP; Moreira, AP; Cunha, JB;

Publication
PROGRESS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, EPIA 2023, PT II

Abstract
Agricultural robots are exposed to adverse conditions reducing the components' lifetime. To reduce the number of inspection, repair and maintenance activities, we propose using audio-based systems to diagnose and detect anomalies in these robots. Audio-based systems are non-destructive/intrusive solutions. Besides, it provides a significant amount of data to diagnose problems and for a wiser scheduler for preventive activities. So, in this work, we installed two microphones in an agricultural robot with a mowing tool. Real audio data was collected with the robotic mowing tool operating in several conditions and stages. Besides, a Sound-based Anomalies Detector (SAD) is proposed and tested with this dataset. The SAD considers a short-time Fourier transform (STFT) computation stage connected to a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The results with the collected dataset showed an F1 score between 95% and 100% in detecting anomalies in a mowing robot operation.

2023

Spreadsheet-based Configuration of Families of Real-Time Specifications

Authors
Proença, J; Pereira, D; Nandi, GS; Borrami, S; Melchert, J;

Publication
TiCSA@ETAPS

Abstract

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