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Nowadays, additional information can be required to aid with certain tasks as well as to enhance educational and entertainment experiences. A possible solution to support these activities is the use of Augmented Reality (AR), allowing an easier access and a better perception of additional layers of content superimposed onto reality. In this context, Pervasive AR experiences can be used to enrich the real world with virtual content that is visualized continuously as the user moves through the space. However, the creation of such experiences depends on authoring tools that overcome the existing difficulties and facilitate this task. These must be accessible for inexperienced users while also providing experts the full potential of the technology. In this dissertation, two applications were developed: desktop and mobile, both capable of being used for the creation, configuration and visualization of pervasive AR experiences. The system developed makes use of a scan of a physical environment to provide a digital reconstructed representation of that space to the desktop platform and to enable the positional tracking in the mobile platform. While the desktop application presents the user with a non-immersive Virtual Reality (VR) setting and the mobile application provides continuous AR in the physical environment, both scenarios can be used to place virtual content on and ultimately configure an AR experience. The authoring capabilities of both platforms were compared by conducting a user study focused on evaluating their usability. As a result, the positive feedback of the participants shows that these platforms appear to be a valid solution to pursue the goal of having pervasive experiences in large environments, which users can explore, interact with and learn from. Hoje em dia, pode ser necessária informação adicional para auxiliar certas tarefas, assim como para melhorar experiências educativas ou de entretenimento. Uma possível solução no suporte destas actividades é o uso de Realidade Aumentada (RA), possibilitando um acesso facilitado e uma melhor percepção de camadas adicionais de conteúdo sobreposto na realidade. Neste contexto, experiências de RA pervasivas podem ser usadas para enriquecer o mundo real com conteúdo virtual que é visualizado continuamente conforme o utilizador se move pelo espaço. No entanto, a criação de tais experiências depende de ferramentas de configuração que superem as dificuldades existentes e facilitem esta tarefa. Estas devem ser acessíveis para utilizadores inexperientes e, ao mesmo tempo, disponibilizar aos experientes todo o potencial da tecnologia. No âmbito desta dissertação, foram desenvolvidas duas aplicações: desktop e mobile, ambas capazes de serem usadas para a criação, configuração e visualização de experiências de RA pervasivas. O sistema desenvolvido faz uso de uma digitalização de um ambiente físico para fornecer uma representação digital reconstruída desse espaço à plataforma desktop e para permitir a localização na plataforma mobile. Enquanto a aplicação desktop apresenta ao utilizador um cenário de Realidade Virtual (RV) não imersivo e a aplicação mobile providencia RA contínua no ambiente físico, ambos os cenários podem ser usados para se colocar conteúdo virtual e por fim configurar uma experiência de RA. As capacidades de configuração de ambas as plataformas foram comparadas conduzindo um estudo focado em avaliar a sua usabilidade. Como resultado, os pareceres positivos dos participantes mostram que estas plataformas evidenciam ser uma solução válida para atingir o objectivo de conseguir experiências pervasivas em grandes ambientes, nos quais os utilizadores podem explorar, interagir e aprender. Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021, Rationale: Cancer is associated with muscle wasting. However, optimal protein intake has not been determined, limiting the efficacy of nutritional interventions. This systematic review aims to assess the effect of protein intake on muscle mass of patients with cancer types with high prevalence of sarcopenia during treatment, in longitudinal studies. Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Scopus databases were searched following PRISMA guidelines. Longitudinal studies written in English, including adults with high sarcopenia prevalence cancer diagnosis, submitted to (chemo)radiotherapy, with assessment of protein intake and muscle changes during treatment, published until 4 October 2020 were included. Studies including supplementation with substances, such as n-3 fatty acids, specific amino acids, or proteins, were excluded. Study appraisal was independently conducted by two reviewers, and a qualitative research synthesis was performed. Results: Overall, 575 records were identified, of which, eight studies were included (one randomized clinical trial and seven uncontrolled before and after studies). Patients with head and neck (n = 5), lung (n = 2), and esophageal cancer (n = 1) were included, comprising a total of 554 participants. The studies presented heterogeneous methodologies, objectives, and methods to assess body composition. Overall, participant groups with a mean protein intake below 1.2 g/kg presented muscle wasting, with one exception, while those reporting a mean intake above 1.4 g/kg, maintained muscle during treatment. Conclusions: Our findings show that protein intakes below 1.2 g/kg, even when within the recommendations, have been associated with muscle wasting during treatment. Only intakes above 1.4 g/kg have been associated with muscle maintenance. High-quality research is needed to establish an optimal dose response.

Clinical History Image Findings Discussion Find Diagnosis Differential Diagnosis, male, 74 years, Clinical History: Patient presented with intense back pain aggravating in the past 3 days and compromising gait. After performing CT imaging, and considering the recent medical history of infectious spondylodiscitis, a recurrence of the infectious process was assumed and a... Final Diagnosis: Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma

A new era in telecommunications is emerging. Virtualized networking functions and resources will offer network operators a way to shift the balance of expenditure from capital to operational, opening up networks to new and innovative services. This article introduces the concept of edge as a service (EaaS), a means of harnessing the flexibility of virtualized network functions and resources to enable network operators to break the tightly coupled relationship they have with their infrastructure and enable more effective ways of generating revenue. To achieve this vision, we envisage a virtualized service access interface that can be used to programmatically alter access network functions and resources available to service providers in an elastic fashion. EaaS has many technically and economically difficult challenges that must be addressed before it can become a reality; the main challenges are summarized in this article.

Doutoramento em Engenharia Informática O acesso ubíquo à Internet é um dos principais desafios para os operadores de telecomunicações na próxima década. O número de utilizadores da Internet está a crescer exponencialmente e o paradigma de acesso "always connected, anytime, anywhere" é um requisito fundamental para as redes móveis de próxima geração. A tecnologia WiMAX, juntamente com o LTE, foi recentemente reconhecida pelo ITU como uma das tecnologias de acesso compatíveis com os requisitos do 4G. Ainda assim, esta tecnologia de acesso não está completamente preparada para ambientes de próxima geração, principalmente devido à falta de mecanismos de cross-layer para integração de QoS e mobilidade. Adicionalmente, para além das tecnologias WiMAX e LTE, as tecnologias de acesso rádio UMTS/HSPA e Wi-Fi continuarão a ter um impacto significativo nas comunicações móveis durante os próximos anos. Deste modo, é fundamental garantir a coexistência das várias tecnologias de acesso rádio em termos de QoS e mobilidade, permitindo assim a entrega de serviços multimédia de tempo real em redes móveis. Para garantir a entrega de serviços multimédia a utilizadores WiMAX, esta Tese propõe um gestor cross-layer WiMAX integrado com uma arquitectura de QoS fim-a-fim. A arquitectura apresentada permite o controlo de QoS e a comunicação bidireccional entre o sistema WiMAX e as entidades das camadas superiores. Para além disso, o gestor de cross-layer proposto é estendido com eventos e comandos genéricos e independentes da tecnologia para optimizar os procedimentos de mobilidade em ambientes WiMAX. Foram realizados testes para avaliar o desempenho dos procedimentos de QoS e mobilidade da arquitectura WiMAX definida, demonstrando que esta é perfeitamente capaz de entregar serviços de tempo real sem introduzir custos excessivos na rede. No seguimento das extensões de QoS e mobilidade apresentadas para a tecnologia WiMAX, o âmbito desta Tese foi alargado para ambientes de acesso sem-fios heterogéneos. Neste sentido, é proposta uma arquitectura de mobilidade transparente com suporte de QoS para redes de acesso multitecnologia. A arquitectura apresentada integra uma versão estendida do IEEE 802.21 com suporte de QoS, bem como um gestor de mobilidade avançado integrado com os protocolos de gestão de mobilidade do nível IP. Finalmente, para completar o trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito desta Tese, é proposta uma extensão aos procedimentos de decisão de mobilidade em ambientes heterogéneos para incorporar a informação de contexto da rede e do terminal. Para validar e avaliar as optimizações propostas, foram desenvolvidos testes de desempenho num demonstrador inter-tecnologia, composta pelas redes de acesso WiMAX, Wi-Fi e UMTS/HSPA. Ubiquitous Internet access is one of the main challenges for the telecommunications industry in the next decade. The number of users accessing the Internet is growing exponentially and the network access paradigm of “always connected, anytime, anywhere” is a central requirement for the so-called Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN). WiMAX, together with LTE, was recently recognized by ITU as one of the compliant access technologies for 4G. Nevertheless, WiMAX is not yet fully prepared for next generation environments, mainly due to the lack of QoS and mobility crosslayer procedures to support real-time multimedia services delivery. Furthermore, besides the 4G compliant WiMAX and LTE radio access technologies, UMTS/HSPA and Wi-Fi will also have a significant impact in the mobile communications during the next years. Therefore, it is fundamental to ensure the coexistence of multiple radio access technologies in what QoS and mobility procedures are concerned, thereby allowing the delivery of real-time services in mobile networks. In order to provide the WiMAX mobile users with the demanded multimedia services, it is proposed in this Thesis a WiMAX cross-layer manager integrated in an end-to-end all-IP QoS enabled architecture. The presented framework enables the QoS control and bidirectional communication between WiMAX and the upper layer network entities. Furthermore, the proposed cross-layer framework is extended with media independent events and commands to optimize the mobility procedures in WiMAX environments. Tests were made to evaluate the QoS and mobility performance of the defined architecture, demonstrating that it is perfectly capable of handling and supporting real time services without introducing an excessive cost in the network. Following the QoS and mobility extensions provided for WiMAX, the scope of this Thesis is broaden and a seamless mobility architecture with QoS support in heterogeneous wireless access environments is proposed. The presented architecture integrates an extended version of the IEEE 802.21 framework with QoS support, as well as an advanced mobility manager integrated with the IP level mobility management protocols. Finally, to complete the work within the framework of this Thesis, it is proposed an extension to the handover decisionmaking processes in heterogeneous access environments through the integration of context information from both the network entities and the enduser. Performance tests were developed in a real testbed to validate the proposed optimizations in an inter-technology handover scenario involving WiMAX, Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSPA.

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores Recent manufacturing roadmaps stress current production systems limitations, emphasizing social, economic and ecologic consequences for Europe of a non-evolution to sustainable Production Systems. Hence, both academic institutions and enterprises are committed to develop solutions that would endow enterprises to survive in nowadays’ extremely competitive business environment. A research effort is being carried on by the Evolvable Production Systems consortium towards attaining Production Systems that can cope with current technological, economical, ecological and social demands fulfilling recent roadmaps. Nevertheless research success depends on attaining consensus in the scientific community and therefore an accurate critical mass support is required in the whole process. The main goal of this thesis is the development of a Collaborative Environment Tool to assist Evolvable Production Systems consortium in such research efforts and to enhance Evolvable Assembly Systems paradigm dissemination. This work resulted in EASET (Evolvable Assembly Systems Environment Tool), a collaborative environment tool which promotes EAS dissemination and brings forth improvements through the raise of critical mass and collaboration between entities.

Across three independent studies we examined the mechanisms and boundary conditions of the relationship between supervisor incivility and emotional exhaustion. The current study examined the moderating role of core self-evaluations on the supervisor incivility-emotional exhaustion relationship via negative affect. Data were collected from 128, mainly German, employees. Results showed that the moderation effect was significant for people with low levels of core self-evaluations. Thus, a high level of core self-evaluations provides a buffer, but not complete protection against emotional exhaustion. Therefore, companies should ensure a respectful environment, offer personality development opportunities, and prevent misconduct by supervisors.

Across three independent studies, we explored mediators and moderators for the relationship between supervisor incivility and emotional exhaustion. The current study investigated the moderating effect of gender on the supervisor incivility-emotional exhaustion relationship via rumination. Through an online survey, data was collected from 143 employees, mainly recruited in Germany. Results showed that the effect of rumination on the relationship between supervisor incivility and emotional exhaustion was significant for men, but not for women. Consequently, it is important for companies to deploy zero-tolerance policies for workplace incivility but also equip employees with protective mechanisms to reduce ruminative thoughts.

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática More than tendencies and exploratory knowledge domains, there is a strong conviction in the industry that network function virtualization (NFV) and software-de ned network (SDN) paradigms came here to stay in the telecommunication services world. So that operators can surf the waves of change, they will have to signi cantly change their network architecture, their management mechanisms, and, simultaneously , their business model. This Master Thesis intends to contribute to the operators operation management mechanisms evolution, namely in the supervision/monitoring domains. More concretely, the work to be developed in this Master Thesis, will have as its main objective the evolution of the performance management platform (Altaia) from Altice Labs to the new networking paradigm based on the NFV and SDN concepts. It is also important to outline that the activities to be developed in the scope of this work, will be aligned in an international R&D project, nanced by the European Commission, covered by the H2020 5G-PPP program, that is SELFNET (A Framework for Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software De ned Networks). Altice Labs is one the participants in the SELFNET consortium, together with 10 more international partners. The project was a vast scope and intends to address Self-Organizing Network (SON) scenarios, and prediction over potential network and services prediction. It is in this context that the evolved version of Altaia will be introduced to the SELFNET project. This thesis proposes to develop the necessary tools to model, persist and perform real-time processing over network infrastructure data. More speci cally, this thesis developed: rstly the Raw and Aggregation Data Model, that uni ed both raw and aggregated data under a single model, secondly the Raw Data Loader, a component that receives network sensed data and transforms it so it can be persisted, lastly the Complex Event Processing Framework, a real-time processing framework for processing data using a dynamic rule-based approach. Out of what it was proposed no objective was left behind, all components were successful developed. The Raw and Aggregation Data Model, together with the Raw Data Loader, enforced SELFNET sensors to follow this model, thus unifying all sensed data under a known model. Moreover, the Complex Event Processing Framework was put into to place, with aggregation rules relative to the SELFNET Self- Protection use case, and is able to provide, in real-time, information about detected botnets around the underlying network. From the development of this framework a new component emerged, a Con guration Manager that manages data to be shared using distributed coordination services, used to apply dynamic rules over the Complex Event Processing Framework. This component is not only a contribution for SELFNET but as well as for Altice Labs. In a more high-level point-of-view, this task brought a new understanding about the role of network management tools for network operators and next-generation networks. Mais do que tendências e domínios de conhecimento exploratórios, existe a forte convicção na industria de que os paradigmas da virtualizaçao das funções de rede (NFV Network Functions Virtualization) e das redes programáveis (SDN Software Defined Networking) vieram para ficar no mundo dos serviços de telecomunicações. Para que possam navegar esta onda de mudança, os operadores terão que evoluir significativamente a arquitectura da sua rede, os seus mecanismos de gestão e, simultaneamente, o seu negocio. Esta Dissertação de Mestrado pretende contribuir para a evolução dos mecanismos de gestão operacional dos operadores, nomeadamente no domínio da supervisão/monitoria. Em concreto, o trabalho a desenvolver no âmbito desta Dissertação de Mestrado terão como principal objectivo a evolução da plataforma de performance management (Altaia) da Altice Labs para o novo paradigma de rede baseado nos conceitos de virtualizaçao (NFV) e programabilidade (SDN). Importa ainda salientar que as actividades desenvolvidas no âmbito deste trabalho estarão enquadradas num projeto de I&D internacional financiado pela Comissão Europeia no âmbito do programa H2020 5G-PPP designado SELFNET (A Framework for Self-Organized Network Management in Virtualized and Software De- fined Networks). A Altice Labs e um dos participantes no consorcio do SELFNET juntamente com outros 10 parceiros internacionais. O projeto tem um âmbito bastante abrangente e pretende endereçar cenarios de Self- Organizing Networks (SON) em contexto NFV/SDN. Uma das ferramentas essenciais para cenários SON é a detecção e predição de potenciais anomalias da rede e dos serviços. E neste contexto que a versão evolução da da plataforma Altaia ser a utilizada no projeto SELFNET. Esta dissertação propõem o desenvolvimento das ferramentas necessárias para modelar, persistir, e realizar processamento de dados provenientes da infraestrutura de rede em tempo real. Mais especificamente, esta dissertação desenvolveu: primeiramente o Raw and Aggregation Data Model, que unificou ambos dados brutos e agregados num único modelo, em segundo o Raw Data Loader, o componente que recebe dados da rede monitorizada e os transforma de forma a serem persistidos, finalmente a Complex Event Processing Framework, uma estrutura de processamento em tempo real para processar dados usando uma abordagem dinâmica baseada em regras. Dos objectivos propostos todos foram desenvolvidos com sucesso. O Raw and Aggregation Data Model, juntamente com o Raw Data Loader, garantem que os sensors do SELFNET cumprem a especificação do modelo, unificando todos os dados de monitoria num único modelo. Alem disso, a Complex Event Processing Framework foi posta em execução, carregada com regras de agregação relativas ao use case Self-Protection do SELFNET, e e capaz de providenciar, em tempo real, informação sobre botnets detectadas na rede. Do processo de desenvolvimento desta framework, surgiu um novo componente denominado de Con guration Manager, que gere dados que são partilhados usando serviços distribudos de coordenação, usado para aplicar regras dinâmicas sobre a Complex Event Processing Framework. Este componente não foi apenas uma contribuição para o SELFNET mas também para a Altice Labs. Esta tarefa levou a que se percebesse qual e o papel das ferramentas de gestão de rede para as operadoras e para as novas gerações de rede.

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e Telecomunicações The Internet is currently essential in all its functions to every social layer. The fast and unexpected growth of the largest computer network combined with the gradual change of its main objective forced service providers to nd new solutions to improve and optimize their networks and equipments. The craving for bigger and better services by the users increased the use of Cloud services, demanding computing and network automation, notably in datacenters. After the development of virtualization and the popularity rise in Cloud Computing (CC), the dynamization of the datacenters began. However, although the new paradigm increased the response time and scalability of cloud service provider's infrastructure, the network became the performance bottleneck. To solve this shortcoming, Software De- ned Networks (SDN) appeared. This is a new approach to the classic computer networking paradigm that decouples the control plane from the data plane. Although it is a new technology, its development and usage is having a great acceptance by the market and by big telecommunication and cloud service provider players. At the same time, the development of network virtualization enabled network element abstraction from the hardware. This change granted exibility and scalability in network management that was not available before. With these evolutions in mind, this dissertation objective is to study, develop and analyse an example of a provider core network using Open- ow technology to establish cloud service connections. The rst objective is the study of the existing SDN solutions and the analysis of its capabilities. After this step, a SDN module has been developed to control the network. This application allows users to establish a service in a simple and safe way in the provider network, with easy automation for management. Afterwards, a platform has been deployed and test scenarios have been performed to determine the performance of the implementation in a provider network. To analyze the performance in large-scale networks, scalability tests have been performed in emulated environments. A Internet é actualmente essencial em todas as suas vertentes por todos os estratos sociais. O crescimento r apido e inesperado da maior rede de computação mundial, assim como a alteração gradual do seu principal objectivo, obrigou a que os fornecedores de serviços encontrassem novas maneiras de acelerar e optimizar as suas redes e equipamentos. O desejo de serviços cada vez mais complexos e exigentes por parte dos utilizadores levou ao crescimento de serviços baseados em Cloud, impondo a necessidade de automatização da computação e rede core, especialmente em datacenters. Após o desenvolvimento da virtualização e da popularidade do Cloud Computing (CC) começou o processo de dinamização dos datacen- ters. No entanto, embora este novo paradigma tenha melhorado os tempos de resposta e escalabilidade da infrastrutura dos operadores de serviço Cloud, as redes começaram a ser o componente mais lento e problemático do processo. Para resolver esta lacuna, surgiram as Software De ned Networks (SDN), uma nova abordagem às redes de computação clássicas que permite separar o plano de controlo do plano de dados. Sendo uma nova tecnologia, o seu desenvolvimento e aplicação está a ter uma grande aceitação por parte do mercado e por grandes players nas áreas de comunicações e fornecimento de serviços Cloud. Simultaneamente, o desenvolvimento de virtualização de rede permitiu abstrair elementos da rede da sua componente física permitindo a sua programabilidade. Esta alteração abriu portas a uma liberdade nunca antes vista para a exibilidade e escalabilidade da gestão da rede. Com esta evolução em vista, esta Dissertação tem como objectivo estudar, desenvolver e analizar um demonstrador de uma rede de operador recorrendo ao uso da tecnologia OpenFlow, que permite estabelecer ligações de serviços cloud. O primeiro objectivo centra-se no estudo das soluções existentes em SDN e a análise das suas capacidades. Após este passo foi desenvolvido um módulo SDN que serve como elemento de controlo da rede. Esta aplicação permite aos utilizadores estabelecer um serviço de forma simplificada e segura na rede do operador, com a possibilidade de fácil automação de gestão. Posteriormente foram efectuados testes de integração da plataforma numa rede de teste, de forma a retirar conclusões sobre o desempenho da implementação numa rede de operador. Foram realizados testes de escalabilidade em ambientes emulados para verificar a capacidade da plataforma em redes de grande dimensão.

This review of the literature aims to study potential associations between high consumption of milk and/or dairy products and prostate cancer (PC). Literature is scarce, yet there is a direct relationship between mTORC1 activation and PC; several ingredients in milk/dairy products, when in high concentrations, increase signaling of the mTORC1 pathway. However, there are no studies showing an unequivocal relationship between milk products PC initiation and/or progression. Three different reviews were conducted with articles published in the last 5 years: (M1) PC and intake of dairy products, taking into account the possible mTORC1signaling mechanism; (M2) Intake of milk products and incidence/promotion of PC; (M3) mTORC1 activation signaling pathway, levels of IGF-1 and PC; (M4) mTORC pathway and dairy products. Of the 32 reviews identified, only 21 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. There is little scientific evidence that directly link the three factors: incidence/promotion of PC, intake of dairy products and PC, and PC and increased mTORC1 signaling. Persistent hyper-activation of mTORC1 is associated with PC promotion. The activity of exosomal mRNA in cellular communication may lead to different impacts of different types of milk and whether or not mammalian milks will have their own characteristics within each species. Based on this review of the literature, it is possible to establish a relationship between the consumption of milk products and the progression of PC; we also found a possible association with PC initiation, hence it is likely that the intake of dairy products should be reduced or minimized in mens' diet.