Abstract
INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing event disrupting lives, health systems, and economies worldwide. Clear data about the pandemic's impact is lacking, namely regarding mortality. This work aims to study the impact of COVID-19 through the analysis of all-cause mortality data made available by different European countries, and to critique their mortality surveillance data. METHODS European countries that had publicly available data about the number of deaths per day/week were selected (England and Wales, France, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal). Two different methods were selected to estimate the excess mortality due to COVID19: (DEV) deviation from the expected value from homologue periods, and (RSTS) remainder after seasonal time series decomposition. We estimate total, age- and gender-specific excess mortality. Furthermore, we compare different policy responses to COVID-19. RESULTS Excess mortality was found in all 5 countries, ranging from 10.6% in Portugal (DEV) to 98.5% in Italy (DEV). Furthermore, excess mortality is higher than COVID-attributed deaths in all 5 countries. DISCUSSION The impact of COVID-19 on mortality appears to be larger than officially attributed deaths, in varying degrees in different countries. Comparisons between countries would be useful, but large disparities in mortality surveillance data could not be overcome. Unreliable data, and even a lack of cause-specific mortality data undermine the understanding of the impact of policy choices on both direct and indirect deaths during COVID-19. European countries should invest more on mortality surveillance systems to improve the publicly available data.

Abstract
A configuration of a refractometer sensor is described with the aim of optically detecting the crystallization process of paracetamol. The developed sensing head is based on a conventional cleaved multi-mode fiber. The fiber tip sensor structure was submitted to contact with the liquid of interest (paracetamol fully dissolved in 40% v/v of ethanol/water) and the crystallization process of paracetamol, induced with continued exposure to air, was monitored in real time.

Abstract
Decentralization of power systems is creating a need for tools which can provide fast and accurate optimal power flow (OPF) solutions, without being dependent on the availability of all system information and/or uncertain variables. In this study, a hybrid probabilistic algorithm is proposed to accurately and efficiently predict ideal generation levels of individual generators to minimize the total system cost (as per AC-OPF), while having no information on the grid structure and with limited information on system variables. The proposed hybrid algorithm combines the use of correlation analysis, k-means clusters, and kernel density estimation (KDE), to predict ideal generation levels of each generator based only on historical datasets of local information (i.e. adjacent load centers). By simulating the AC-OPF problem on the IEEE 9-bus test system, a historical dataset of 1000 samples is synthetically generated and randomized local information is given as input for each agent. Quasi-deterministic Monte-Carlo simulations with 100000 samples were used for validation. In the most uncertain operating conditions, the proposed algorithm was capable of predicting the ideal generation level of the most expensive generator with a 1.65% error, while being three times faster than a Neural Network (NN), taking only 0.39 seconds to run on a standard laptop computer.

Abstract
In the last few decades, there has been a strong trend towards integrating renewable-based distributed generation systems into the power grid, and advanced management strategies have been developed in order to provide a reliable, resilient, economic, and sustainable operation. Moreover, demand response (DR) programs, by taking the advantage of flexible loads' energy reduction capabilities, have presented as a promising solution considering reliability issues. Therefore, the impacts of combined system architecture with on-site photovoltaic (PV) generation units and residential demand reduction strategies were taken into consideration on distribution system reliability indices in this study. The load model of this study was created by using load data of the distribution feeder provided by Bosphorus Electric Distribution Corporation (BEDAS). Additionally, the reliability parameters of the feeder components were determined based on these provided data. The calculated load point and feeder side indicators were analyzed comprehensively from technical and economic perspectives. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed structure, four case studies were carried out in both DigSILENT PowerFactory and MATLAB environments.

Abstract
The current context of organizations has meant that their business models have been continually evolving, creating opportunities for technological innovations. Business strategies become a significant challenge, mainly if organizations are small or medium-sized, with all the constraints typically associated with them. The most used digital transformation frameworks are centered on large organizations and those that until now have been proposed for application in smaller organizations present some questions. In this article, a new methodology proposal, SimpliSMEEA, is presented and its application to a specific company is described and evaluated. © Atas da Conferencia da Associacao Portuguesa de Sistemas de Informacao 2020.

Abstract
Educational activities where students do not stay at a fixed, predetermined location, has been growing in research output. The pedagogies and processes for these environments where students move are typically less documented than those of traditional classrooms. We have surveyed the areas of problems addressed by the literature on the field, and the areas of its contributions, to build a panorama of the research foci for managing learning in environments where students move. This was done by means of an exploratory literature review, followed by thematic analysis and triangulation. We established that research focuses on problems and contributions dealing with the design, creation, and deployment of these learning activities, and to a lesser degree, on problems and contributions dealing with the potential of use of technology. However, there is a lack of research focusing on other areas relevant to more widespread implementation across the educational system, namely structural, logistic, and assessment problems and contributions. This points towards a need to develop research in these areas, in order to contribute to more grounded and successful efforts to implement learning activities in environments where students move.