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Changes in climatic patterns hinder the prediction of water availability, being imperative to develop new strategies to optimise water management in the agricultural sector. A multi-sensor network is being developed by ADVID/CoLAB VINES&WINES and University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), aiming to determine water stress in vineyards, as a Decision Support System (DSS) for winegrowers. Remote wireless data transmission through LoRaWAN technology, will allow the development of a Machine Learning based model for water stress mapping. Measured parameters include soil, plant, and atmosphere data, given the importance of soil-plant-atmosphere continnum when evaluating water status. The pilot is installed in a commercial vineyard in the Douro Demarcated Region (DDR), and different sensor’s modules were distributed spatially in the parcel. Lower cost and higher range than WiFi or Bluetooth, LoRaWAN are especially important for applications in remote areas, where mobile networks have little coverage, allowing to benefit a larger number of producers. While overcoming the constraints of the current monitoring method (Scholander pressure bomb), this system will allow remote and continuous water monitoring, assisting the producer in decision making. Altogether, this solution will contribute to better management of water resources, as well to the sustainability and competitiveness of farms.

The importance of a good indoor environment for peoples’ health and wellbeing is nowadays clearly established. Besides enhancing the wellbeing of building occupants and helping decrease the occurrence of building related illness, a good indoor environment can also lead to a decrease in worker complaints and absenteeism. This paper presents the results of a three-month monitoring campaign where the thermal comfort of a toll station was evaluated, including the main room and the cabins. The physical parameters required for the assessment of both global and local thermal comfort were measured and the results were compared with the thermal perception of the occupants, which was collected through questionnaires. The indoor environmental quality in the main room was better than in the cabins and a mismatch between the PMV index and the occupants thermal sensation was identified.

This paper provides a description of an immunity test against the electrostatic discharge according to the standard EN 61000-4-2 that was applied to an RFID reader. The RFID reader was primarily developed for access systems, employing the on-board recognition of the RFID tags. The results obtained by the test are described hereby as well as the discussion on the security of this solution. The results of this experiment are beneficial for the developers of RFID devices, as these devices are endangered by the electrostatic discharge brought by their users. The hereby described results also shown a security hole in a simple access system based on the RFID technology. Details can be found in the paper.

Foot and ankle pain and oedema are a common complaint among pregnant women. A range of hormonal and anatomical changes during pregnancy can cause modifications in foot and ankle's biomechanics and anatomy. The main foot and ankle pathologies encountered in pregnancy are progressive collapsing foot deformity, plantar fasciitis, heel pain, oedema, and fractures. Workup includes the use of radiological evaluation that could pose a risk to the fetus, depending on the gestational age. Treatment plans range from symptomatic conservative to surgical options and a multidisciplinary approach is often recommended and warranted. Our paper aims to present these different pathologies and propose a structured treatment plan to address them., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article

This article aims at reviewing the literature in order to provide a summary of the actual knowledge about the clinical factors of the oocyte recipient (other than those affecting the morphology of the uterine cavity) influencing the outcome of oocyte donation cycles. Recipient age, from 45 years onwards, is clearly associated with a poorer outcome in oocyte donation cycles as well as the presence of a hydrosalpinx. The negative impact of smoking has recently been confirmed. The exact influence of a high body mass index is under examination but it is likely that it is associated with a lower ongoing pregnancy rate. Endometriosis does not have a negative impact when standard endometrial priming protocols are used in oocyte donation. During endometrial priming, serum estradiol levels and endometrial thickness, if >5 mm, does not influence negatively the outcome; however duration of estrogen treatment of more than 7 weeks is associated with a diminished pregnancy and implantation rate.