Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2021-12-03"
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- Application of phage display technology on the diagnosis of infectious diseases: discovery of Zika-specific peptidesPublication . Chá-Chá, Helena Cristina Silva; Araújo, Helena Paula de Freitas Caldeira; Tomás, Helena Maria Pires GasparZika is an infectious viral disease which had a recent worldwide outbreak. This illness is caused by the Zika virus (ZIKV), a flavivirus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Currently, there are still no vaccinesto prevent Zika infection nor pharmacological agentsto treat it. A routine and accurate assay for the diagnosis of Zika is also not presently available. Current diagnostic tools for this disease include serological/molecular studies and antigen and/or genome detection, which are time consuming methods that occasionally present low specificity and require specialized and expensive laboratory equipment. The phage display technique is based on the presentation of randomized molecule libraries on the surface of bacteriophages. In this technique, a gene encoding a protein of interest is inserted into a phage coat protein gene, allowing for a direct linkage between phage phenotype and genotype. Using this technology, large peptide sequences can be displayed in the phage surface and used for affinity screening of specific target molecules. Phages bound to a specific target go through several repeated cycles in order to produce a phage mixture enriched with the relevant phage-displayed peptides that specifically recognize disease target molecules with high sensitivity and selectivity. Thus, the main purpose of this project wasto develop an approach, based on the phage display technology, that would allow for an early, rapid and differential routine diagnosis of Zika. During this project, a commercially available phage-displayed peptide library was screened against two specific antibodies for Zika, in order to identify the phage-displayed peptides that specifically recognized their targets with high sensitivity and selectivity. The desired future outcome is the development of an innovative biosensing method for non-invasive, rapid and in real time diagnosis of the disease.
- Development and analysis of an open-source platform to simulate electric vehicle charging needsPublication . Perez, Manuel Joaquim Andrade Sousa; Quintal, Filipe Magno GouveiaThere is the need to improve the charging process of EVs. In order to do that, the field of smart-charging and smart-charging algorithms emerged. Nevertheless, the studies involved in this field are complex, expensive, and risky, leading to a need for prior simulations to analyze/predict the integration of EVs in the electrical networks. There have been some solutions to solve this problem. However, they consist of either academic, proprietary, or limited/rigid solutions. On that account, in this thesis, we have presented a solution that provides a handy and intuitive tool for the researchers to simulate these scenarios with a decoupled and flexible simulation system. Its decoupled architecture is accomplished by adopting open design approaches and the concept of containerized micro-services, easing up the process of maintaining/extending it and providing high scalability. This solution was evaluated in three assessments: migrating it to a remote production system, giving an external developer the task of enhancing a given data model, and integrating this system with an external one. This solution delivered good results in these three tasks. All in all, this solution was motivated by the good aspects of some solutions found in the related work (and improving some of them), it fulfilled its objectives, and it solved the stated problem. At the moment, this solution is already up and running on a production system while also being consumed externally.
- Pesquisa multimodal de imagens em dispositivos móveisPublication . Carvalho, José Ricardo de Abreu; Campos, Pedro Filipe Pereira; Cabral, Diogo Nuno Crespo RibeiroApesar das evoluções no campo de Reverse Image Search, com algoritmos cada vez mais robustos e eficazes, continua a haver interesse para que as técnicas de pesquisa possam ser aprimoradas, melhorando a experiência do utilizador na procura das imagens que tem em mente. O objetivo principal deste trabalho foi desenvolver uma aplicação para dispositivos móveis (smartphones) que permitisse ao utilizador encontrar imagens através de inputs multimodais. Assim, esta dissertação, para além de propor pesquisas por diversos modos (palavras-chave, desenho, e imagens da câmara ou existentes no dispositivo), propõe que o utilizador consiga criar uma imagem por si só através de desenho, ou editar/alterar uma imagem existente, tendo feedback no momento aquando de cada alteração/interação. Ao longo da experiência de pesquisa, o utilizador consegue usar as imagens encontradas (que achar relevantes) e ir aprimorando a pesquisa através dessa edição, indo de encontro ao que pensa encontrar. A implementação desta proposta teve como base a Cloud Vision API da Google responsável pela obtenção dos resultados através do input de imagem, a Google Custom Search API para a obtenção de imagens através do input por texto, e a framework ATsketchkit que permitia a criação de desenho, para o sistema iOS da Apple. Foram realizados testes com um conjunto de utilizadores com diversos níveis de experiência em pesquisa de imagens e na habilidade de desenho, permitindo aferir a preferência nos diferentes métodos de input, a satisfação na obtenção dos resultados, bem como da usabilidade do protótipo.