Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2024-01-12"
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- Death Unpreparedness Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Concept AnalysisPublication . Costeira, Cristina; Dixe, Maria dos Anjos; Querido, Ana; Rocha, Ana; Vitorino, Joel; Santos, Cátia; Laranjeira, CarlosThe COVID-19 pandemic imposed changes upon the capacity of healthcare systems, with significant repercussions on healthcare provision, particularly at end-of-life. This study aims to analyze the concept map of death unpreparedness due to the COVID-19 pandemic, capturing the relationships among the attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical indicators. Walker and Avant’s method was used to guide an analysis of this concept. A literature search was performed systematically, between May 2022 and August 2023, using the following electronic databases on the Elton Bryson Stephens Company (EBSCO) host platform: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline), Psychological Information Database (PsycINFO), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Complete, Cochrane Library, and Nursing and Allied Health Collection. Thirty-four articles were retrieved. The unexpected and unpredictable impositions associated with inexperience and unskillfulness in dealing with COVID-19 configured challenges for healthcare professionals, family/caregivers, and even the dying person. Nine key attributes emerged in three main domains: (1) Individual: (a) disease-related conditions, (b) separation distress, and (c) scarcity of death and grief literacy; (2) Relational: (a) Dying alone, (b) poor communication, and (c) existential issues; and (3) Contextual: (a) disrupted collective mourning and grieving, (b) disrupted compassionate care and, (c) pandemic social stigma. This study contributed a full definition of death unpreparedness in a global pandemic scenario such as COVID-19. In this sense, feeling unprepared or unready for death brought new challenges to the bioecological resources of those affected. It is essential to embrace strategies capable of providing emotional and spiritual support in the dying process and to respect patient wishes. The lessons learned from COVID-19 should be applied to events with a comparable impact to minimize their consequences.
- Harmonics and Flicker in an Iron and Steel Industry with AC arc furnacesPublication . Pérez-Donsión, M.; Pereira, S. Jar; Oliveira, Filipe TadeuAn AC arc furnace is an unbalanced, non-linear and time-varying load, which can cause many power quality problems to the electric network inside the plant and in its electrical vicinity. Although different studies addressing harmonics and flicker analyses on arc furnaces can be found in the bibliography, it is very difficult obtain an exact model that considers all the parameters that influence the process, and therefore it is necessary to obtain actual measurements under different conditions. This paper presents measurement results for harmonic distortion, flicker and unbalance obtained over three different measurement campaigns on an iron and steel industry (SNL), as well as the pertinent conclusions. Measurement campaigns were performed on an AC arc furnace of 83 MW (170 TM) with a 120 MVA transformer connected by a ‘dirty’ 220 kV line (55 km) to the Substation of Carregado, where other feeders supply industrial and domestic consumers. Finally, the dynamic behaviour of an SVC will be analysed and compared to that of a STATCOM by means of simulation studies.
- Study of the requirements of an autonomous system for surface water quality monitoringPublication . Barros, M.; Granchinho, P.; Ferreira, C.; Neves, P.; Magalhães, H.; Santos, L.; Lopes, B.; Marques, J.; Pinho, H.; Mourato, SandraIn recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the preservation, protection and sustainable use of natural resources. Water resources, being one of the most important natural resources, face major threats due to contamination by pollutants of various types and origins. Maintaining the quality of water resources requires more robust, reliable and more frequent monitoring than traditional techniques of data collection based on sporadic, discontinuous and manual processes. The management of large geographical areas, the insufficient spatiotemporal discretization of the values of samples collected by traditional processes and the unpredictability of natural phenomena, require a new approach to data collection procedures. This article, which is the result of ongoing research, defines the technical requirements and technologies used in a continuous and regular monitoring of surface water quality in freshwater systems, whose data acquisition system helps to identify the sources of pollution and the contaminants flow along the waterways. The design of a versatile real-time water quality monitoring system, which, due to its environmental constraints should be based on renewable energies and wireless transfer of energy, will contribute to improve the management and effective protection of water resources.
- Voltages in the network and inside industrial Plants. Case of PSA-VigoPublication . Pérez-Donsión, M.; Oliveira, Filipe TadeuThe main objective of this paper consists in presenting a survey of voltage sags and short interruptions in different places along the geography of Galicia measured throughout two years. Effects and the possible solutions of the voltage sags and short interruptions in one industrial installation, PSA-Vigo, that produce cars, are also addressed. Finally, we will establish the corresponding conclusions.