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Currarino triad is a rare syndrome, with less than 250 cases reported, and it includes a combination of sacrococcigeal bony abnormalities, anorectal malformations and the presence of a presacral mass. Here we present a case of a 48-year-old male patient with history of severe chronic constipation, who was incidentally diagnosed with a presacral during imagiological investigation, which was histologically proven to be a neurendocrine tumor.

Enterprise architecture (EA) models are tools of analysis, communication, and support towards enterprise transformation. These models need a suitable maintenance process to support comprehensive knowledge of the enterprise’s structure and dynamics. This study aims to identify and discuss the existing approaches to EA model maintenance published in the scientific literature. A systematic literature review was employed as the research method. A keyword-based search in six databases identified a total of 4495 papers in which 31 primary studies were included. A total of nine categories of EA model maintenance approaches were identified from both information systems and enterprise engineering fields of research. The increasing amount of research in EA model maintenance suggests that the topic still presents opportunities for research contributions. This study also proposes future lines of research according to the results identified in the theoretical corpus.

COVID-19 has been associated with multiple neurological manifestations. Coronaviruses are known to have a neurotropic propensity, possibly leading to various neurological complications, including peripheral facial paralysis (PFP). However, the pathogenic mechanisms underlying neurological symptoms in COVID-19 are not completely understood. This report presents the first published case of facial palsy in an otherwise healthy child secondary to infection with the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, with reflections on the natural course and the role of physical and rehabilitation medicine in this form of PFP. PFP may also be a manifestation of COVID-19 and in the current epidemiological context, physicians evaluating patients with facial palsy should exclude infection with SARS-Cov-2 to prevent diagnostic delays and further transmission of the disease. These patients may have a slower recovery and worse prognosis as compared with those with Bell's palsy. Thus, rehabilitation needs to be initiated promptly, and close follow-up must be assured to identify and address early complications.

Integrons are genetic elements that capture and express antimicrobial resistance genes within arrays, facilitating horizontal spread of multiple drug resistance in a range of bacterial species. The aim of this study was to estimate prevalence for class 1, 2, and 3 integrons in Scottish cattle and examine whether spatial, seasonal or herd management factors influenced integron herd status. We used fecal samples collected from 108 Scottish cattle herds in a national, cross-sectional survey between 2014 and 2015, and screened fecal DNA extracts by multiplex PCR for the integrase genes intI1, intI2, and intI3. Herd-level prevalence was estimated [95% confidence interval (CI)] for intI1 as 76.9% (67.8–84.0%) and intI2 as 82.4% (73.9–88.6%). We did not detect intI3 in any of the herd samples tested. A regional effect was observed for intI1, highest in the North East (OR 11.5, 95% CI: 1.0–130.9, P = 0.05) and South East (OR 8.7, 95% CI: 1.1–20.9, P = 0.04), lowest in the Highlands. A generalized linear mixed model was used to test for potential associations between herd status and cattle management, soil type and regional livestock density variables. Within the final multivariable model, factors associated with herd positivity for intI1 included spring season of the year (OR 6.3, 95% CI: 1.1–36.4, P = 0.04) and watering cattle from a natural spring source (OR 4.4, 95% CI: 1.3–14.8, P = 0.017), and cattle being housed at the time of sampling for intI2 (OR 75.0, 95% CI: 10.4–540.5, P < 0.001). This study provides baseline estimates for integron prevalence in Scottish cattle and identifies factors that may be associated with carriage that warrant future investigation.

The current regulatory criterion for bioequivalence of narrow therapeutic index (NTI) drugs in the European Union requires that the 90% confidence interval for the ratio of the population geometric means of the test product compared with the reference for area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC), and in certain cases maximum plasma drug concentration (Cmax ), to be included within the tighter acceptance range of 90.00-111.11%. As a consequence, sponsors need to recruit a higher number of subjects to demonstrate bioequivalence and this may be seen as increasing the burden for the development of generics. This "one-size-fits-all" criterion is particularly questionable when the within-subject variability of the reference product is moderate to high. As an alternative, we propose a further refined statistical approach where the acceptance range is narrowed based on the within-subject variability of the reference product of the NTI drug, similar to the one used for widening the standard 80.00-125.00% acceptance range for highly variable drugs. The 80.00-125.00% acceptance range is narrowed, only if the within-subject variability is lower than 30%, down to the current NTI acceptance range of 90.00-111.11% when the within-subject variability is 13.93% or lower. Examples within the current European Medicines Agency list of NTI drugs show a considerable reduction in required sample size for drugs like tacrolimus and colchicine, where the predicted within-subject variability is 20-30%. In these cases, this approach is less sample size demanding without any expected increase in the therapeutic risks, since patients treated with reference products with moderate to high within-subject variability are frequently exposed to bioavailability differences larger than 10%.

With the increasing number of utility-scale photovoltaic power plants, the uncertainty and volatility in power generation increases in the electricity system. In the range of long to medium term forecasting, the literature and the industry have several tools and methods in process. Nevertheless, the current and future energy transition, for instance the shorter gate closer of energy markets, is increasing the need for tools to support the ultra-short-term forecasting. This paper proposes a tool to support the ultra-short-term forecasting using an all-sky imager to map the clouds in the sky and estimate a Cloud Index. Three threshold-based methodologies are presented and tested, they are able to detect the clouds and categorize them as thick clouds and thin clouds.

This paper describes the development and implementation of a blockchain to improve security, knowledge and intel ligence during the communication and col laboration processes between agents under restricted Internet Infrastructure domains. It is a work that proposes the application of a blockchain, independent of platform, in a particular model of agents, but that can be used in similar proposals, since the results in the specific model were satisfactory. Additional ly, the model al lows interaction and, also, col laboration between humans and agents.

Introduction: Although normotensive cancer patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) are a heterogeneous population, most validated clinical prognostic scores classify these patients as high-risk individuals, which limits their usefulness in this setting. In this study, we aimed to identify readily available clinical predictors of overall 30-day and one-year mortality in normotensive cancer patients with PE. Methods and Results: We performed a retrospective single-center study that included all normotensive cancer patients with PE diagnosed by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) during emergency department stay between January 2010 and December 2011. Clinical, MDCT and laboratory variables were collected for all patients. A total of 69 patients were included. All-cause mortality was 28% and 55% at 30 days and one year of follow-up, respectively. Lower mean arterial pressure, higher lactate level and a higher Shock Index (SI) at hospital admission were associated with increased all-cause mortality at 30 days and one year of follow-up. The simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index was not a predictor of short- or long-term mortality. An SI of ≥0.7 was found to be associated with lower event-free survival in both short- and long-term follow-up (hazard ratio 7.20 [95% CI, 1.66-31.21, p

Descent & landing (D&L) on small planetary bodies are scientifically rewarding exploration missions but they are technically challenging due to the complex and poorly-known environment around those bodies. The standard guidance synthesis approach considers nominal conditions and applies optimal control theory to obtain guidance law gains, followed by intensive verification and validation. In this article, it is shown that the standard approach may yield gains that are not optimal once dispersions (and/or other optimality metrics) are taken into account and a tuning approach is then proposed based on a priori methodological system assessment. The proposed approach employs systematic high-fidelity simulations to generate trade-off maps. These maps can be generated by on ground operators based on the best estimated conditions and uploaded to the spacecraft as it approaches the target. The proposed systematic guidance tuning and resulting maps also provide a valuable understanding of the system dynamics towards the application of other industry-oriented tools such as structured Η∞ optimisation. It is shown that the proposed tuning enables propellant consumption reductions of around 40% compared to state-of-practice gain selections.

The solar power installed capacity all over the world is growing and this renewable energy technology is playing an important role to build a clean energy future. The solar forecast is a necessary tool for the transmission system operator in order to maintain the electricity network safety and reliability. This study aims to report the experience of R&D Nester in the solar forecast at national level in Portugal, forecasting for all solar plants connected to the very high voltage (400, 220 and 150 kV) and high voltage (60 kV) networks, providing this information to the Portuguese transmission system operator, REN. A novel approach to calculate cloud index from images from a sky camera is presented.

While a continuous monitoring of temperature at the micro- and nano-scales is clearly of interest in many contexts, in many others a yes or no answer to the question “did the system locally exceed a certain temperature threshold?” can be more accurate and useful. This is the case of hard-to-detect events, such as those where temperature fluctuations above a defined threshold are shorter than the typical integration time of micro/nanothermometers and systems where fluctuations are rare events in a wide time frame. Herein we present the synthesis of iron selenide magnetic nanoplatelets and their use as non-volatile logic gates recording the near infrared (NIR) dose that triggers a temperature increase above a critical temperature around 42 °C in prostate cancer cell cultures. This use is based on the bistable behavior shown by the nanoplatelets below a magnetic phase transition at a tunable temperature TC and on their photothermal response under NIR light. The obtained results indicate that the synthesized nanomagnets may be employed in the future as both local heaters and temperature monitoring tools in a wide range of contexts involving systems which, as cells, are temperature-sensitive around the tunable TC., This work was developed within the scope of the projects CoolPoint P2020-PTDC-CTM-NAN-4511-2014 and CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (FCT Ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013), financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. The work in Zaragoza was supported by the research grant MAT2014-54975-R from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Access to advanced electron microscopy facilities received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement 312483 - ESTEEM2 (Integrated Infrastructure Initiative I3). This work was also supported by a STSM Grant from COST Action MP1306 and TD1402. RPOS, VMG, FLS and NJOS acknowledge FCT for the PD/BD/116850/2016, SFRH/BPD/119983/2016, IF/00222/2015 and IF/01533/2015 grants.

The on-board computers of a spacecraft handle telecommands sent by the ground, provide telemetry to the ground, process on-board data, and control the spacecraft platform and payloads. A spacecraft may have one or several on-board computers that handle different tasks.

Ring oscillators are one of the simplest, smallest and most energy-efficient topologies when it comes to clock generation. Being implemented using a chain of digital inverters, their oscillation frequency can be set by the inverters count in the chain and the delay of each inverter. This is an advantage when considering the simplicity and size, however, it is also the cause for high frequency variation with temperature. In this paper we propose an ultra-low power oscillator circuit that exploits a stack of small ring oscillators for supply current reuse and injection locking, which provides phase noise improvement. Frequency stability is achieved through a feedback loop that relies on a frequency-to-voltage converter with improved linearity and reduced temperature sensitivity based on MOS capacitors. Simulation results show that the oscillation frequency changes ±0.4% from 0 to 70°C (57 ppm/°C) while consuming 2.4 μW at 10 MHz, with a phase noise of -88.9 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset.

The research focuses on the evolution of non-hydroelectrical renewable installed capacity from 2001 to 2017 in nineteen countries from the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. The deployment of new renewables has several characteristics that point to nonlinear relationships with its drivers. In accordance, the quantile regressions econometric technique of Canay was used. The option to use this econometric technique stem from Canay model estimation can capture the variation between different countries (cross-section). The Canay model estimation results support that renewable energy finance flows, economic globalisation index, and carbon dioxide emissions positively affect non-hydroelectrical renewable installed capacity. The positive impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on non-hydroelectrical renewable installed capacity could be related to increased environmental, political, and social pressure regarding the increase of environmental degradation caused by the growth in emissions that encouraged the new investments in renewable energy technologies. It also could be related to the consumption of new renewable energy sources that mitigate CO2 emissions in the LAC countries.

© 2020 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers., The objective of this communication is to offer a better understanding of the value of telemedicine in health care, particularly its role in creating opportunities for continuity of care to patients in a complex and novel setting as were the circumstances of the early COVID-19 pandemic times. Crisis time is also a time for opportunities. With regard to telehealth, all players (providers, staff, and patients) should be informed about its benefits and should also become familiar with the use of the various telehealth options and this will only be achieved through large information campaigns necessary enriched by local teaching and training programs in both public and private institutions. The final aim is to launch the debate and foster ideas useful throughout the pandemic. This article covers the experiences of physicians as well as health professionals in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), to provide a clearer idea of what has happened and how we can improve it with the possibilities provided by telemedicine, while at the same time to put in evidence that public health systems need to be rethought to provide solutions to situations such as that we are experiencing.

Independent Software Verification and Validation (ISVV) is a process targeted at safety-critical software systems. It aims to increase the quality of software products, thereby reducing risks and costs through the operational life of the software. Since 2008, the European Space Agency and its partners have been using the ESA ISVV Guide for the application of ISVV activities and methods. Over these years, the stakeholders have collected a set of lessons learned and experiences, as well as a need to adapt the application of the guide towards new environments and new technologies. For this purpose, and to harmonize the ISVV Guide into a formal ECSS handbook, an update and improvement of the ISVV guide is currently on-going. This work is considering industry feedback and covering topics such as: ISVV to system level, guidelines for agile and iterative projects, reuse, verification and validation of data, auto-generated code, model-based techniques. This paper covers the ISVV Handbook improvement topics and the process being followed to collect and confirm proposed modifications.

This work focuses on exploring combinations of disintegrated bacterial cellulose nanofibres (BC) with graphene oxide (GO) (reduced and non-reduced) and phase change materials (PCMs) prepared in the form of foam-like structures. The presence of GO remarkable improves the fire-retardancy and provides dimensional stability to the foams while PCMs gives thermal energy storage capacity. The foams were exposed to methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) vapour to become hydrophobic which was confirmed by measuring water absorption capacity and water contact angle. To extend the multifunctionality of these nanocomposite foams, a selected composition was impregnated into an open-cell aluminium foam creating a hybrid structure (Al-BC/GO) with higher mechanical properties (increase in stress of 100 times) and high sound absorption coefficient (near 1 between 1000-4000 Hz). The low thermal conductivity confirms that this hybrid structure is a thermal insulator. These advantages highlight the potential applications of the proposed materials e.g. construction, automotive and aeronautical sectors.

The impact of renewable energy consumption on reducing the outdoor air pollution death rate, in nineteen Latin America & the Caribbean countries, from 1990 to 2016, using the econometric technique of quantile regression for panel data, was researched. Results show that economic growth and fossil fuel consumption are positively related to CO2 emissions, while renewable energy consumption bears a negative relationship with it. Furthermore, fossil fuel consumption has a positive impact on the mortality rate and economic growth a negative one. The negative effect of renewable energy consumption on the mortality rate is only observable on the right tail of its distribution. The modelisation reveals two ways in which the consumption of renewable energy can reduce the outdoor air pollution death rates: (i) directly, by increasing renewable energies, and (i) indirectly because the increase in the consumption of renewable energies implies a decrease in the consumption of energy from fossil fuels. The phenomenon of increasing urbanisation is a point where the action of public policymakers is decisive for the reduction of outdoor air pollution death rates. Here, the question is not to reduce the level of urbanisation but to act on the “quality” of urbanisation, to make cities healthier. The research concludes that public policymakers must focus on intensifying the transition from fossil to renewable energies and improving the quality of cities.

The large number of small scale Distributed Energy Resources (DER) such as Electric Vehicles (EVs), rooftop photovoltaic installations and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), installed along distribution networks, poses several challenges related to power quality, efficiency, and reliability. Concurrently, the connection of DER may provide substantial flexibility to the operation of distribution grids and market players such as aggregators. This paper proposes an optimization framework for the energy management and scheduling of operation for Low Voltage (LV) networks assuring both admissible voltage magnitudes and minimized line congestion and voltage unbalances. The proposed tool allows the utilization and coordination of On-Load Tap Changer (OLTC) distribution transformers, BESS, and flexibilities provided by DER. The methodology is framed with a multi-objective three phase unbalanced multi-period AC Optimal Power Flow (MACOPF) solved as a nonlinear optimization problem. The performance of the resulting control scheme is validated on a LV distribution network through multiple case scenarios with high microgeneration and EV integration. The usefulness of the proposed scheme is additionally demonstrated by deriving the most efficient placement and sizing BESS solution based on yearly synthetic load and generation data-set. A techno-economical analysis is also conducted to identify optimal coordination among assets and DER for several objectives.

Currently, climate change poses a global threat, which may compromise the sustainability of agriculture, forestry and other land surface systems. In a changing world scenario, the economic importance of Remote Sensing (RS) to monitor forests and agricultural resources is imperative to the development of agroforestry systems. Traditional RS technologies encompass satellite and manned aircraft platforms. These platforms are continuously improving in terms of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions. The high spatial and temporal resolutions, flexibility and lower operational costs make Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) a good alternative to traditional RS platforms. In the management process of forests resources, UAVs are one of the most suitable options to consider, mainly due to: (1) low operational costs and high-intensity data collection; (2) its capacity to host a wide range of sensors that could be adapted to be task-oriented; (3) its ability to plan data acquisition campaigns, avoiding inadequate weather conditions and providing data availability on-demand; and (4) the possibility to be used in real-time operations. This review aims to present the most significant UAV applications in forestry, identifying the appropriate sensors to be used in each situation as well as the data processing techniques commonly implemented.

I analyze the Granger causality in distribution between sovereign bonds and industry indexes in the five European countries most affected by the debt crisis: Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Prior research assessed the impact of the debt crisis on the financial firms, but its effect on other industries was broadly neglected. My results reveal that, at the height of the crisis, delayed shocks transmission from the sovereign bond to the stock market occurred mainly in Greece. At the industry level, there is no evidence of lagged response of the financial industry to negative sovereign debt shocks, but sovereign debt leads other industries in, at least, one country. These findings are consistent with the investor inattention hypothesis, which states that investors tend to specialize in specific markets, due to their limited availability of time and resources and the cost of information gathering, and information flows slowly across markets.

Current flow controllers (CFCs) can remove grid bottlenecks or extend grid operation area by changing amount of power flowing through DC transmission lines. This study focuses on behavior of interline H-bridge CFC in a DC grid in fault condition. In addition to the CFC circuit level fault studies, non-linear and linearized simplified models are developed for system level analysis. The analysis and fault study shows that the interline H-bridge CFC cannot survive during DC transmission line and bus faults due to an overvoltage occurring in its capacitor. Further investigation figures out that this overvoltage cannot be avoided even in presence of fast HVDC circuit breakers. Hence, an improved control system together with circuit level modifications are proposed to improve the CFC post-fault operation and to retain its components from possible damages.

This paper proposes a new n-port hybrid dc circuit breaker for offshore multi-terminal HVDC grid application. The n-port dc circuit breaker can substitute n-1 hybrid dc circuit breakers at a dc bus with n-1 adjacent dc transmission lines. The system level behavior of the proposed multi-port hybrid dc circuit breaker is similar to the behavior of other hybrid dc circuit breakers. The operation principles of the proposed multi-port dc circuit breaker are introduced, analyzed and compared to the existing solution in this work. The components ratings are compared to the existing solution and the functionality of proposed device is verified by simulation. ispartof: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics vol:99 issue:1 pages:1-1 status: published

Inflammatory fibroid polyps are rare, benign pseudotumors of the gastrointestinal tract of unknown etiology, which may rarely present as bowel intussusception and obstruction. The authors describe the clinical, radiologic, and pathologic features of 2 patients with ileal inflammatory fibroid polyps presenting as small bowel intussusception.

Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) can control voltage and power flow on ac transmission lines with the priority of reactive current support during the fault as suggested in the grid codes for HVDC connections. Furthermore, the fault current contribution from the converter is limited in magnitude and modified in the waveform in order to protect the power electronic devices during the fault, which on the other hand affects the apparent impedance seen by the distance relay. This paper addresses the challenges faced by the distance protection of transmission lines connected with VSC-HVDC system by performing a closed-loop test of a commercial distance relay using Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS). The power system with VSC is modeled in detail under a more realistic scenario in RTDS so that the performance of the distance protection can be tested under near to actual field conditions. The responses of the commercial distance relay for balanced and unbalanced faults are analyzed. The oscillograph data of the voltage, current and protection bits recorded by the relay are extracted and compared with the simulation results.

Interruption of DC fault current in a DC system is more complex as compared to the AC one due to the high rate of rise of fault current and absence of natural zero crossing. Fast and hard switching action in DC current interruption causes excessive voltage across the circuit breaker. This paper investigates a new type of solid-state DC circuit breaker namely current releasing DC circuit breaker. The mechanism of current interruption in the current releasing DC circuit breaker is analyzed through an aggregated model. The design procedure is defined and simulation results are presented. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is carried out. Finally, the experimental results from a lab-scale prototype as a proof of concept are demonstrated. This study confirms that the current interruption time of the current releasing DC circuit breaker is remarkably less than the typical solid-state DC circuit breakers and it requires less number of semiconductors in its main breaking branch. Although the current releasing DC circuit breaker does not have any surge arrester in its structure, its switching surge voltage is significantly limited.

Animal experiments have gained importance in human diseases studies, namely neurological diseases and its biomechanical and physiological aspects. As a model of human disease, the rat offers many advantages over other organisms. For the biomechanical aspects of locomotion these studies are based on the analysis of animals’ kinetic parameters, accessed through a locomotion measurement system. However, these systems are not yet thoroughly developed, are still scarce and are also very expensive when developed for studies using small rodents. In this paper, a system capable of measuring contact forces of small rodents is presented. The platform hardware is based on a 5 × 3 matrix of ultra-sensitive force sensors that produce a set of signals acquired in a LabVIEW TM environment, used for data acquisition and processing. The post processing steps include the removal of null data, curve normalization related to the rat’s weight and expressed as percentage of passage, resulting in a gait pattern. The proposed cost-effective system has achieved excellent results regarding the locomotion profile of healthy animals.

This study aimed to investigate whether sedentary time (Sed) and physical activity (PA) are associated with arterial stiffness in individuals with and without metabolic syndrome (MetS). This cross-sectional study comprised 197 individuals (47±13 years; 58% female) from a primary health care centre. Arterial stiffness was assessed using carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV). Metabolic syndrome was determined as clustering of at least 3 out of 5 risk factors (central obesity, hypertension, impaired glucose, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Daily PA was objectively assessed and classified in Sed, light and moderate-to-vigorous PA. Physical activity was used as a continuous variable for multiple regression analysis. For mean comparisons of cfPWV between subjects with and without MetS, a binary split at the median of Sed and PA was used. Sedentary time was associated with cfPWV (β=0.11; p=0.01) explaining 1.3% of its variance; independently of age (β=0.49; p0.001), systolic blood pressure (β=0.27; p0.001) and fasting glucose (β=0.19; p0.001). Participants with MetS and more Sed had higher cfPWV than those with MetS and less Sed (9.9±1.0 vs. 8.9±1.0 m/s; p0.05). Sedentary time is associated with cfPWV independently of age and metabolic risk factors. A higher Sed in MetS individuals lead to a worse arterial stiffness profile.

Critical systems, such as space systems, are developed under strict requirements envisaging high integrity in accordance to specific standards. For such software systems, an independent assessment is put into effect (Independent Software Verification and Validation – ISVV) after the regular development lifecycle and V&V activities, aiming at finding residual faults and raising confidence in the software. However, it has been observed that there is still a significant number of defects remaining at this stage, questioning the effectiveness of the previous engineering processes. This paper presents a root cause analysis of 1070 defects found in four space software projects during ISVV, by applying an improved Orthogonal Defect Classification (ODC) taxonomy and examining the defect types, triggers and impacts, in order to identify why they reached such a later stage in the development. The paper also puts forward proposals for modifications to both the software development (to prevent defects) and the V&V activities (to better detect defects) and an assessment methodology for future works on root cause analysis.

Knowledge of currents in individual Low Voltage feeders of a secondary substation is interesting for distribution system operators for a variety of purposes. Deploying measurement devices at each feeder in each substation, however, can be costly. Due to the increasing deployment of Smart Meters, the knowledge about currents at each connected customer is in principle available. This paper proposes and evaluates an approach to determine the feeder currents taking into account the impact of measurement errors of Smart Meter measurements. The developed approach makes a rigorous derivation of confidence intervals for the calculated voltage and current values utilizing a subset of measured voltages and currents as input. The approach is applied to two realistic low voltage grids and the impact of measurement errors and missing smart meter measurements is quantitatively analyzed.

The last decade the continuous integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) along distribution networks, follows an uncoordinated fashion posing manifold technical challenges for the operation of the grid. However, DER could be actively incorporated in the operation of distribution networks providing certain flexibility. Such DER flexibility is generally associated with temporal shifting of energy (i.e. for consumption or injection). This work assesses the active management of multiple DER in a coordinated manner in Low Voltage (LV) distribution networks. The flexible use of DER is hereby regarded for the provision of support to the LV grid, mainly for voltage regulation and phase balancing, line congestions management as well as to ensure rated power for the transformer of the secondary substation. A control framework is proposed for the management of DER flexibilities, which relies on a three phase multi-period optimal power flow. A study based on a real -IEEE benchmark- LV distribution network is presented to demonstrate and quantify the importance of active management of DER such as battery storage system, electric vehicles (with vehicle to grid operation) and microgeneration.

At present, the current architecture of Internet of Things (IoT) still relies on cloud infrastructures to provide services to people, even when there is direct communication between users and things. This presents challenges regarding scalability, spontaneous interaction and communication without infrastructure. Also the user interaction with IoT devices has limitations with respect to efficiency, costs and privacy. The provisioning of local services with a direct point-to-point communication link may help to overcome this concerns. Though, this imposes new challenges for developers regarding the communication and programming models.In this paper, we present RConnected, a middleware that implements autonomous interaction between Things and users mobile devices, allowing the provisioning of services and facilitating the development of mobile applications.

The Algarve region produces about 30 000 tons of dehydrated sewage sludge per year (period 2013–2015; 20% dry matter), a figure that will increase by around 50% in the coming years, with the new activated sludge treatment systems of Companheira (Portimao) and Faro-Olhao. More than 70% of this sludge is transported in trucks further than 200 kilometres out of the region for additional treatment due to its lack of microbial quality (usually Escherichia coli > 1 000 MPN/g Original Matter (OM) and/or Salmonella is present in 50 g OM), leading to high carbon emissions and high management costs. The aim of this work was to integrate the management of this by-product with local treatment and to create valorisation solutions, e.g. use in agriculture and/or as a secondary fuel in the industry. According to the data collected, the sludge is not sent directly to agricultural soils, only because of its values of microbiological parameters, which exceed the legal Limit Value. It was found that considering the fertilization needs of the agricultural crops and the restrictions imposed, all the produced sludge can be incorporated in the soil locally. Dewatering is a critical stage for sludge treatment with major impact on sludge management costs, thus its optimization is required. Furthermore, the adoption of complementary sewage treatment technology, such as solar drying, that allow a properly stabilized product, which can be applied directly to agricultural soils, or opening new opportunities for its valorisation, can promote economic and environmental sustainability, in a circular based economy.

Este artigo apresenta um conjunto de tres bases de dados que compoem o Internet Infrastructure Data Base (IIDB). O IIDB e um conjunto formado pelas bases iidb.rfc, iidb.person e iidb.acronym, pecas-chave para apoiar o desenvolvimento do aprendizado de maquina desejado aos elementos inteligentes do projeto Arquitetura Autonoma Sobre Dominios Restritos (A2RD). Os dados contidos em iidb.rfc e iidb.person foram criados apos o processamento do conteudo disponivel na pagina web do RFC Index. Enquanto os dados contidos no iidb.acronym foram criados apos o processamento do conteudo dos arquivos disponiveis no repositorio Request for Comments (RFC) produzido e mantido pelo RFC Editor. Todos os dados no IIDB sao formatados em JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), cujos respectivos modelos estao disponiveis no mesmo site onde as bases de dados sao depositadas, acessiveis atraves de qualquer linguagem de programacao.

This article describes an environment for knowledge acquisition, learning, use and collaboration inter agents over Internet Infrastructure. Four agent types are used in a previously applied fourtier model, such as the use case on the Internet Routing Registry. This model, which can be implemented in each Autonomous System domain of the Internet infrastructure, is integrated into an environment with (a) capturing information from unstructured databases, (b) creating and updating training bases appropriate to machine learning algorithms and (c) creation and feeding of a knowledge base. Such resources become readily available to agents in each domain and to agents in all other domains with the aim of making them autonomous. The agents collaborate and interact with each other, through individual blockchain structures that also take care of operational security and integration aspects. In addition, a test bed to validate the entire model, including the functionalities of the agents, is also proposed and characterized.

uebe.Q is a managing software for solid referential information systems, such as ISO 9000 (for quality) and ISO 1400 (for environment). This is a long-term developed software, encompassing extensive and solid business logic with a long and successful record of deployments. A recent business model change imposed that the evolution and configuration of the software, shifts from the company (and especially the development team) to consultants and other business partners, along with the fact that different systems and respective data/information need to be integrated with minimal intervention of the development team. The so far acceptable rigidity, fragility, immobility and opacity of the software became a problem. Especially, the system was prepared to deal with a specific database respecting a specific schema and code-defined semantics. This paper describes the approach taken to overcome the problems derived form the previous architecture, by adopting (i) ontologies for the specification of business concepts and (ii) an information-integration Decision Support System (DSS) for mapping the domain specific ontologies to the database schemas.

This article describes an environment for knowledge acquisition, learning, use and collaboration inter agents over Internet Infrastructure. Four agent types are used in a previously applied four-tier model, such as the use case on the Internet Routing Registry. This model, which can be implemented in each Autonomous System domain of the Internet infrastructure, is integrated into an environment with (a) capturing information from unstructured databases, (b) creating and updating training bases appropriate to machine learning algorithms, and (c) creation and feeding of a knowledge base. Such resources become readily available to agents in each domain and to agents in all other domains with the aim of making them autonomous. The agents collaborate and interact with each other, through individual blockchain structures that also take care of operational security and integration aspects. In addition, a test bed to validate the entire model, including the functionalities of the agents, is also proposed and characterized.

Enterprises Architectures (EA) are facilitated to coordinate enterprise’s business visions and strategies successfully and effectively. The practitioners of EA (architects) communicate the architecture to other stakeholders via architecture models. We investigate the scenario where accepted architecture models are stored in a repository. We identified the problem of unnecessary repository expansion by adding model components with similar properties or behavior as already existing repository components. The proposed solution aims to find those similar components and to notify the architect about their existence.

Models are a fundamental aspect of enterprise architecture, as they capture the concepts and relationships that describe the essentials of the different enterprise domains. These models are tightly coupled to an enterprise architecture modeling language that defines the rules for creating and updating such models. In the model-driven engineering field, these languages are formalized as meta-models. Over time, to keep up with the need to capture a more complex reality in their enterprise architecture models, organizations need to enrich the meta-model and, consequently, migrate the existing models. Model migration poses a strenuous modeling effort with the gathering of enterprise data and model redesign, leading to an error-prone and time-consuming task. In this chapter, the authors present a catalog of co-evolution operations for enabling automation of ArchiMate model migration based on a set of meta-model changes.

For the last decade, uebe.Q is being adopted by companies in different business areas and countries for managing compliance with solid referential information systems, such as ISO 9000 (for quality) and ISO 1400 (for environment). This is a long-term developed software, encompassing extensive, solid and valuable business logic. When it is deployed for/on a company, it usually demands an extensive and specific adaptation (i.e. software refinement) and configuration process involving DigitalWind's ISO 9000 and ISO 1400 experts as well as software development and operation teams. However, a recent business model change imposed that the evolution and configuration of the software, shifts from DigitalWind (and especially from the development team) to external consultants and to other business partners, along with the fact that different third-party's systems and respective data/information need to be integrated with minimal intervention of the development team. This paper presents and overview of the re-engineering process taken to handle this business model change by adopting (i) ontologies for the specification of business concepts, (ii) closed-world assumption (CWA) rules for the specification of the dynamics of the system and (iii) Domain Specific Language (DSL) for the configuration of the system by domain/business experts. The DSL approach is further described in detail.

The evolution of Enterprise Architectures (EA) is the result of applying EA development projects within organizations with the goal of accomplishing specific business requirements. Recent approaches seek to automate and improve EA practice within organizations by employing EA management tools. Thus, evolving the organization's EA meta-model is a consequence of fulfilling such initiatives. Currently, the migration of EA models conforming to a specific EA meta-model evolution is a manual task in which EA data corresponding to the actual models is gathered and the models re-designed. This results in an error-prone and time-consuming task. To address this issue, the authors propose a set of migration rules to automate the migration process. The proposed migration rules were implemented within an EA tool and then demonstrated and validated using a fictitious organization migration scenario.

This paper details an optimization tool for the planning and operation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in island power systems with high wind penetration. The selection of the most suitable battery technology, its sizing and location is achieved through a comparative analysis of the operational and capital expenditure of the islanded system during the planning horizon with and without the deployment of the BESS solution. An operational algorithm is developed consisting on sequentially closer to time of delivery optimization stages in order to provide a robust quantification of the technical, environmental, and economic impacts of the battery system. The developed methodology is assessed and validated in a real-world case study of a Portuguese island with a high share of wind generation. Results show that BESS enhances the flexibility of the islanded power system thus ensuring a higher accommodation of wind energy with significant economic benefits.

This study develops a methodology for coordinated operation of distributed energy storage systems in distribution networks. The developed methodology considers that energy storage resources can contribute to their owners’ inherent activities and to a more flexible and efficient distribution network operation. The optimisation tool based on mixed-integer linear programming is developed to maximise the technical and economic value of distributed storage taking into account their multifunctional potential and the presence of intermittent renewable sources. The methodological developments are validated in a case study of a real medium-voltage distribution network with two storage systems coupled with a wind park and an industrial ‘prosumer’ (i.e. energy consumers who are producing their own energy). Results make evident the robustness of the methodology and enable the assessment of the technical and economic impacts of the integration of distributed storage. Moreover, opportunity costs for distributed storage to perform services to the distribution system operator are demonstrated.

Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) is a new method of enhancing application security by creating safe areas of memory (enclaves) where data and code are protected from inspection and tampering. This technology is being applied to cloud computing as well, however, software deployed with SGX enclaves is complex to migrate between machines using traditional methods as SGX uses unique hardware keys for data sealing. This paper proposes a novel method of migrating SGX enclaves between different machines using Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to encrypt and decrypt data using HSM generated keys. The use of HSMs achieves faster migration for large enclaves or during multiple concurrent migrations. Since the this solution does not depend on the security of remote attestation, and uses the keys stored in the HSM it provides a higher degree of security than current enclave migration solutions.

A renewed scientific interest has been growing in the exploration of small asteroids in addition to larger planetary bodies such as Mars, since their weaker gravitational field makes them more easily accessible. However, such exploratory missions are very challenging from an engineering perspective, particularly when striving for optimal propellant consumption. This is mostly due to the perturbed and poorly known characteristics of small planetary bodies but also, as shown by the European Rosetta mission, to the long-time degradation of spacecraft subsystems. In order to address this challenge, it has been long recognised the need for robust descent algorithms. However, Space guidance and control communities have different understandings, restricting the integration of scientific advances and even constraining their capabilities. To incite such an integration and guide engineers in the development of planetary descent algorithms, this survey gathers state-of-practice guidance and control techniques and presents them in an instructive fashion. In addition, it clarifies and reconciles different concepts from both guidance and control perspectives. The survey and reconciliation of concepts then lead to the identification of an underlying parametric generalisation of guidance techniques, suitable for the application of systematic optimisation tools. Albeit simple, this structural identification is very important as the latter tools have shown great promise and have already been employed, for example, for Rosetta's critical control update. Finally, special emphasis is placed on the robustness of those techniques against uncertainties.

Despite the important role of cardiac pacing in preventing syncope and sudden cardiac death in familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), we lack clear guidelines as to the ideal timing and indications for permanent pacemaker implantation. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ideal timing for pacemaker implantation in FAP patients submitted to liver transplantation. Retrospective study of 258 FAP patients submitted to liver transplantation between 1992 and 2012. Comparison of three groups: (A) patients without pacemaker (N = 122); (B) patients submitted to pacemaker implantation after liver transplantation, with documented conduction disorders (N = 73); and (C) patients submitted to “prophylactic” pacemaker implantation before transplantation, (N = 73). Patients were followed up for 12.2 ± 6.7 years. The majority of patients (57%) were referred for pacemaker implantation, which occurred before liver transplantation in 50% of cases. Patients who required pacemaker after transplantation presented significantly higher Machado-Joseph Score during pre-transplant evaluation than those who did not require pacemaker (24 ± 10 vs 20 ± 10, p = .025), and also exhibited higher levels of hepatic cytolysis enzymes and hyperbilirubinemia. The most common indication for permanent pacemaker was first degree atrioventricular block, with a mean time between transplantation and pacemaker implantation of 8.7 ± 4.2 years. During long-term follow-up, all-cause mortality was 27% and was lowest in the group submitted to pacemaker implantation only after liver transplantation (p = 0.002). The majority of FAP patients submitted to liver transplantation will need a pacemaker at some time of follow-up. However, it seems that there is no benefit in “prophylactic” cardiac pacing before liver transplantation.

While common Descent and Landing strategies involve extended periods of forced motion, significant fuel savings could be achieved by exploiting the natural dynamics in the vicinity of the target. However, small bodies are characterised by perturbed and poorly known dynamics environments, calling for robust autonomous guidance, navigation and control. Airbus Defence and Space and the University of Bristol have been contracted by the UK Space Agency to investigate the optimisation of landing trajectories, including novel approaches from the dynamical systems theory, and robust nonlinear control techniques, with an application to the case of a landing on the Martian moon Phobos.

Este documento descreve o desenvolvimento e implementação de uma blockchain para melhorar a seguranca, o conhecimento e a inteligência durante os processos de comunicação e colaboração entre agentes em domínios restritos da Infraestrutura da Internet. E um trabalho que propoe a aplicação de uma "blockchain", independente de plataforma, em um modelo particular de agentes, mas que pode ser utilizado em propostas similares, uma vez que os resultados no modelo específico foram satisfatórios.

This paper proposes a methodology for the assessment of the economic viability of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation participating in the Iberian Electricity Market (MIBEL) in equal terms with the remaining generators. This work details the remuneration and penalty mechanisms that are applied to RES generators with only market-based revenues participating in the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) of MIBEL. Moreover, this paper presents results from two case studies with RES producers without any kind of subsidies, one focused on a wind energy producer and another focused on a solar PV producer, directly participating in the MIBEL electricity market. Leveraging on probabilistic market scenarios, drawn from the joint distribution of day-ahead electricity prices and imbalance penalties for each hour of the day, the effects of forecast error and bidding strategy in the Net Present Value (NPV) are described and discussed as well as the impact of the current market design.

The development of portable low-cost integrated optics-based biosensors for photonics-on-a-chip devices for real-time diagnosis are of great interest, offering significant advantages over current analytical methods. We report the fabrication and characterization of an optical sensor based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to monitor the growing concentration of bacteria in a liquid medium. The device pattern was imprinted on transparent self-patternable organic-inorganic di-ureasil hybrid films by direct UV-laser, reducing the complexity and cost production compared with lithographic techniques or three-dimensional (3D) patterning using femtosecond lasers. The sensor performance was evaluated using, as an illustrative example, E. coli cell growth in an aqueous medium. The measured sensitivity (2 × 10−4 RIU) and limit of detection (LOD = 2 × 10−4) are among the best values known for low-refractive index contrast sensors. Furthermore, the di-ureasil hybrid used to produce this biosensor has additional advantages, such as mechanical flexibility, thermal stability, and low insertion losses due to fiber-device refractive index mismatch (~1.49). Therefore, the proposed sensor constitutes a direct, compact, fast, and cost-effective solution for monitoring the concentration of lived-cells.