ESTG - Artigos em revistas internacionais
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- 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde fromHemidesmus indicusis antagonistic toStaphylococcus epidermidisbiofilm formationPublication . Kannappan, Arunachalam; Durgadevi, Ravindran; Srinivasan, Ramanathan; Lagoa, Ricardo José Lucas; Packiavathy, Issac Abraham Sybiya Vasantha; Pandian, Shunmugiah Karutha; Ravi, Arumugam VeeraStaphylococcus epidermidis (SE) is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen that accounts for recalcitrant device-related infections worldwide. Owing to the growing interest in plants and their secondary metabolites targeting bacterial adhesion, this study was intended to uncover the anti-biofilm potential of Hemidesmus indicus and its major constituent 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde (HMB) against SE. The minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC) of H. indicus root extract and HMB were found to be 500 and 250 µg ml−1, respectively. The results of time-dependent biofilm inhibition and mature biofilm disruption assays confirmed that HMB targets initial cell adhesion. Furthermore, interference by HMB in the expression of adhesin genes (icaA, aap and bhp) and biofilm components was associated with an increased susceptibility of SE to oxidative stress and antibiotics. To conclude, this study reports for the first time HMB as a potential drug against SE biofilms.
- 2ARTs: A Platform for Exercise Prescriptions in Cardiac Recovery PatientsPublication . Pereira, Andreia; Martinho, Ricardo; Pinto, Rui; Rijo, Rui; Grilo, CarlosDue to limited access, increasing costs and an ageing population, the global healthcare system faces significant coverage problems that call for innovative approaches. Health professionals are actively seeking alternative methods to provide care to an increasingly needy population, without increasing human effort and associated costs. eHealth platforms, which use technology to provide patient care, are emerging as transformative solutions for addressing these problems. This study is centered on the demand for a Decision Support System (DSS) in cardiology to enable doctors to prescribe individualized care inside Cardiac Rehabilitation Programmes (CRPs). The 2ARTs project’s main objective is to include a cardiac rehabilitation platform with a DSS within the hospital infrastructure. This DSS uses models to classify patients into different groups, delivering crucial information to assist with decisions regarding treatment. Regarding the DSS, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) emerged as a standout technique for dimensionality reduction, due to its interoperability with clustering algorithms and superior evaluation metrics. The most appropriate clustering technique was determined to be the K-means algorithm, which was supported by the experts analysis. In accordance with the goals of the 2ARTs project, this integration of PCA and K-means provides meaningful insights that improve reasoned decision-making.
- 2D and 3D Digital Image Correlation in Civil Engineering – Measurements in a Masonry WallPublication . Ramos, Tiago; Furtado, André; Eslami, Shayan; Alves, Sofia; Rodrigues, Hugo; Arêde, António; Tavares, Paulo J.; Moreira, P.M.G.P.Reinforced concrete structures play an important role in modern buildings, and common architectural designs often include RC frames strengthened with infill masonry panels. Due to their brittle nature, these components' failure and collapse have been subject of studies which can lead to proper structural diagnose and design in order to decrease their risk to human lives during seismic activities. Digital image correlation was used in two of these studies, in order to validate its ability for large specimens monitoring and future structural health monitoring applications. It enabled spatial reconstruction of the wall movement, characterization of its rigid body motion and measurement of both displacements and strain fields in in-plane and out-of-plane load applications. Data post-processing allowed the identification of common in-plane damages in the wall such as corner crushing and separation between infill and resistant structure.
- A 2D ray-tracing based model for wave propagation through forests at micro-and millimeter wave frequenciesPublication . Leonor, Nuno R.; Sanchez, Manuel Garcia; Fernandes, Telmo; Caldeirinha, Rafael F. S.This paper proposes the extension of a 2-D ray-tracing-based model for radiowave propagation in the presence of trees and vegetation areas to include real-sized trees and outdoor forest scenarios. The original propagation model proved to be suitable to characterize the electromagnetic behavior in the presence of indoor tree formation scenarios, despite some limitations found when applied to real-sized trees. In addition, the original propagation model requires the prior knowledge of the trees’ re-radiation function to extract the relevant propagation input parameters, which is not always possible to obtain in outdoor scenarios. Therefore, an empirical method to extract the relevant input propagation parameters based on simple measurements is proposed. The performance of the proposed propagation model extension is extensively assessed in both the line-of-trees and tree formation scenarios, including various (and mixed) species, both in- and out-of-leaf foliation states, and at three signal frequencies. Finally, depending on the type of scenario, a benchmark between the proposed propagation model and both the radiative energy transfer (RET) and discrete RET (dRET) models, for line-of-trees and tree formation, respectively, is presented.
- A 2D Ray-Tracing Based Model for Wave Propagation Through Forests at Micro-and Millimeter Wave FrequenciesPublication . Leonor, Nuno R.; Sanchez, Manuel Garcia; Fernandes, Telmo, Telmo Rui Carvalhinho Cunha, Telmo R.; Caldeirinha, RafaelThis paper proposes the extension of a 2-D ray-tracing-based model for radiowave propagation in the presence of trees and vegetation areas to include real-sized trees and outdoor forest scenarios. The original propagation model proved to be suitable to characterize the electromagnetic behavior in the presence of indoor tree formation scenarios, despite some limitations found when applied to real-sized trees. In addition, the original propagation model requires the prior knowledge of the trees' re-radiation function to extract the relevant propagation input parameters, which is not always possible to obtain in outdoor scenarios. Therefore, an empirical method to extract the relevant input propagation parameters based on simple measurements is proposed. The performance of the proposed propagation model extension is extensively assessed in both the line-of-trees and tree formation scenarios, including various (and mixed) species, both in- and out-of-leaf foliation states, and at three signal frequencies. Finally, depending on the type of scenario, a benchmark between the proposed propagation model and both the radiative energy transfer (RET) and discrete RET (dRET) models, for line-of-trees and tree formation, respectively, is presented.
- 3-D Mechanically Tunable Square Slot FSSPublication . Ferreira, David; Cuinas, Inigo; Caldeirinha, Rafael F. S.; Fernandes, TelmoWe introduce an innovative 3-D mechanically tunable frequency selective surface (FSS), which is inspired by the classical flat square slot FSS. The proposal improves the performance of classical 2-D FSS designs, and it also represents a novel method of achieving mechanical frequency tuning, despite other 3-D designs that consist of a collection of stacked 3-D layers exist. In our proposal, the rotation of an inner element provides tuning capability to the squared cell structure, consisting of metallic grids with a movable inner element. An aluminum prototype was built, which can be tuned from 2.4 to 4 GHz, and also compared its measured performance and numerical simulations. Some characteristics of the proposed structure are the rejection level at main polarization, up to 20 dB, and the maximum frequency sweep of approximately 50% of the fundamental frequency. The prototype showed a stable frequency response for angles of incidence up to 45°. Since results are in good agreement with simulations, we provide parametric equations to design 3-D structures at desired frequencies.
- 3D bioprinting of photocrosslinkable hydrogel constructsPublication . Brás Pereira, Rúben Filipe; Bartolo, PauloThree‐dimensional (3D) bioprinting comprises a group of biofabrication technologies for the additive manufacturing of 3D constructs by precisely printing biocompatible materials, cells and biochemicals in predesigned spatial positions. These technologies have been successfully applied to fabricate biodegradable 3D constructs with intricate architectures and heterogeneous composition, assuming a pivotal role in the field of tissue engineering. However, the full implementation of bioprinting strongly depends on the development of novel biomaterials exhibiting fast crosslinking schemes and appropriate printability, cell‐compatibility and biomechanical properties. Photocrosslinkable hydrogels are attractive materials for bioprinting as they provide fast polymerization under cell‐compatible conditions and exceptional spatiotemporal control over the gelation process. Photopolymerization can also be performed during the bioprinting to promote the instantaneous formation of hydrogel with high well‐defined architecture and structural stability. In this review paper, we summarize the most recent developments on bioprinting of photocrosslinkable biodegradable hydrogels for tissue engineering, focusing on the chemical modification strategies and the combination of photocrosslinking reactions with other gelation modalities.
- 3D deformations by means of monogenic functionsPublication . Ferreira, Milton; Morais, JoãoIn this paper, the authors compute the coefficient of quasiconformality for monogenic functions in an arbitrary ball of the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^3$. This quantification may be needed in applications but also appear to be of intrinsic interest. The main tool used is a 3D Fourier series development of monogenic functions in terms of a special set of solid spherical monogenics. Ultimately, we present some examples showing the applicability of our approach.
- 3D fast convex-hull-based evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithmPublication . Zhao, Jiaqi; Jiao, Licheng; Liu, Fang; Basto-Fernandes, Vitor; Yevseyeva, Iryna; Xia, Shixiong; Emmerich, Michael T.M.The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and detection error tradeoff (DET) curves have been widely used in the machine learning community to analyze the performance of classifiers. The area (or volume) under the convex hull has been used as a scalar indicator for the performance of a set of classifiers in ROC and DET space. Recently, 3D convex-hull-based evolutionary multiobjective optimization algorithm (3DCH-EMOA) has been proposed to maximize the volume of convex hull for binary classification combined with parsimony and three-way classification problems. However, 3DCH-EMOA revealed high consumption of computational resources due to redundant convex hull calculations and a frequent execution of nondominated sorting. In this paper, we introduce incremental convex hull calculation and a fast replacement for non-dominated sorting. While achieving the same high quality results, the computational effort of 3DCH-EMOA can be reduced by orders of magnitude. The average time complexity of 3DCH-EMOA in each generation is reduced from to per iteration, where n is the population size. Six test function problems are used to test the performance of the newly proposed method, and the algorithms are compared to several state-of-the-art algorithms, including NSGA-III, RVEA, etc., which were not compared to 3DCH-EMOA before. Experimental results show that the new version of the algorithm (3DFCH-EMOA) can speed up 3DCH-EMOA for about 30 times for a typical population size of 300 without reducing the performance of the method. Besides, the proposed algorithm is applied for neural networks pruning, and several UCI datasets are used to test the performance.
- 3D Photo-Fabrication for Tissue Engineering and Drug DeliveryPublication . Brás Pereira, Rúben Filipe; Bartolo, PauloThe most promising strategies in tissue engineering involve the integration of a triad of biomaterials, living cells, and biologically active molecules to engineer synthetic environments that closely mimic the healing milieu present in human tissues, and that stimulate tissue repair and regeneration. To be clinically effective, these environments must replicate, as closely as possible, the main characteristics of the native extracellular matrix (ECM) on a cellular and subcellular scale. Photo-fabrication techniques have already been used to generate 3D environments with precise architectures and heterogeneous composition, through a multi-layer procedure involving the selective photocrosslinking reaction of a light-sensitive prepolymer. Cells and therapeutic molecules can be included in the initial hydrogel precursor solution, and processed into 3D constructs. Recently, photo-fabrication has also been explored to dynamically modulate hydrogel features in real time, providing enhanced control of cell fate and delivery of bioactive compounds. This paper focuses on the use of 3D photo-fabrication techniques to produce advanced constructs for tissue regeneration and drug delivery applications. State-of-the-art photo-fabrication techniques are described, with emphasis on the operating principles and biofabrication strategies to create spatially controlled patterns of cells and bioactive factors. Considering its fast processing, spatiotemporal control, high resolution, and accuracy, photo-fabrication is assuming a critical role in the design of sophisticated 3D constructs. This technology is capable of providing appropriate environments for tissue regeneration, and regulating the spatiotemporal delivery of therapeutics.