Search

Synthetic simulation of seismic wave propagation is a fundamental way to evaluate the accuracy and performance of signal processing methods developed for application to real seismic datasets. Various research papers have introduced state-of-the-art synthetic active and passive seismic datasets to implement this critical step. However, a versatile seismic data set for ambient noise is still missing in the literature. In this study, we conducted synthetic simulations by leveraging the noise simulation modules of SPECFEM3D Cartesian open-source codes. The simulation is carried out for the geometries of station pairs of the YB Cavola Broadband Dense Array temporary network installed in 2004 through the village of Cavola, northern Apennine, Italy. This is a dense array (8m separation one way and10m the other way) installed on an active landslide through the village of Cavola, northern Apennines, Italy. By considering a fixed crustal velocity model reported for this region, a noise correlation seismogram is computed for each station pair by implementing three processing steps: 1) simulation for generating wavefields, 2) simulation for ensemble forward wavefields, and 3) simulation for ensemble adjoint wavefields and sensitivity kernels. The generated cross-correlation seismograms are post-processed, detrended, and decimated by a factor of 2 to obtain a dataset with a sampling rate of 0.01sec. Then the traces are rotated to the transverse-radial-vertical coordinate system making 3-component data for each station pair. To make the simulation more realistic, the data is contaminated by Gaussian noise (bandpass-filtered in the range of [0.02, 100] Hz) to give a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of 10. The generated dataset provides one epoch of a synthetic time-lapsed ambient noise dataset as a reference for evaluating time-lapsed processing algorithms. This research contributes to the ALLAB project. The authors would like to thank the support of the Instituto de Telecomunicaçõe. This work is funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds.

18th EAI International Conference on Computer Science and Education in Computer Science, CSECS 2022 -- 24 June 2022 through 27 June 2022 -- -- 285789, Well-being and agriculture works of people living not only in villages but also in towns nowadays, the healthy living environment at home, in the park, in the sports center, at work, local and remote monitoring of different parameters of the body, house, garden, the greenhouse is a matter of increased interest from families. Regardless of the size of the family, garden, villas, and fields, there is a need for support of integrated smart services in real-time and near-real-time forming an adaptable family software-defined Personal Enhanced Living Environment 4.0 network configurable on the top of the existing public and private infrastructure. The scale of the network, the variety of Internet of Things parts, and the distributed edge and cloud computing services that are fragmented nowadays need to be integrated. The raw data created, data storage and data processing require a common edge-to-dew-to-fog-to-cloud approach and clear correlation to the related sectors such as water, land, house, factory, environment, parks, and infrastructure management. In this paper, an integrated approach toward services for different types of users based on the previously defined scenarios is presented. The services are software-defined and use existing infrastructure orchestrated resources that are unified, and allocated appropriately to support the functional and non-functional requirements. Private and public parts of the data, data flows, data space, and capacity for processing are considered. © 2022, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering., 2016/PREV/03; CA19130; European Commission, EC; European Cooperation in Science and Technology, COST: IC1303, Acknowledgments. This work is developed under support of multiple projects as: a) 2020–2021 Research and Development of Prototype of Multifunctional IIo LPWAN Communication Model for Wireless Data Transmission of Ecological Parameters Using Sensors – TeleEco, National Innovation Fund, Bulgaria; b) 2020–2024, CA19130 - Fintech and Artificial Intelligence in Finance -Towards a transparent financial industry, https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19130/; c) 2018–2021, Theoretical Models for Digital Agriculture Development, National Fund for Research, Bulgaria; d) 2018–2019, 5P, Research and Development of a Prototype of the Platform for Continuous Monitoring of Vital Parameters and Processes, National Innovation Fund, Bulgaria; e) 2017–2019, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, Advanced systems for prevention & early detection of forest fires 2016/PREV/03 (ASPIRES), granted by European Commission; f) 2013–2017, COST Action IC1303, Algorithms, Architectures and Platforms for Enhanced Living Environments (AAPELE), vice chair, granted by European Commission; g) 2022 Flying Forest Fire Fighting, Open Call project to Innovation Boosted by Small Flying Objects (UFO), granted by European Commission; h) 2022 Prototype Design of the LoRa® Repeater for Unified Signals and Channel Selection Management (LIOREPLICON), National Innovation Fund, Bulgaria.

Submitted by Nuno Garcia (nmgs@ubi.pt) on 2020-01-14T12:34:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2019 - PRICHAIN A Partially Decentralized Implementation of UbiPri Middleware Using Blockchain.pdf: 2022137 bytes, checksum: f60242f5b1ea1c2c8e0474143a142ded (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Pessoa (pfep@ubi.pt) on 2020-01-14T14:35:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2019 - PRICHAIN A Partially Decentralized Implementation of UbiPri Middleware Using Blockchain.pdf: 2022137 bytes, checksum: f60242f5b1ea1c2c8e0474143a142ded (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by Pessoa (pfep@ubi.pt) on 2020-01-14T14:45:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2019 - PRICHAIN A Partially Decentralized Implementation of UbiPri Middleware Using Blockchain.pdf: 2022137 bytes, checksum: f60242f5b1ea1c2c8e0474143a142ded (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2020-01-14T14:45:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2019 - PRICHAIN A Partially Decentralized Implementation of UbiPri Middleware Using Blockchain.pdf: 2022137 bytes, checksum: f60242f5b1ea1c2c8e0474143a142ded (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

There are not enough scientific investigations, especially with a normative population, that show the association between sleep quality and sexual functioning.945 healthy individuals, 62% female, 38% male, mean age 34.27 years (standard deviation=15.82), who completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Portuguese version of the Oviedo Sleep Questionnaire and the Portuguese version of the Massachusetts General Health Hospital-Sexual Functioning Questionnaire entered this study.Moderate levels of subjective satisfaction with sleep and low levels of insomnia and hypersomnia were observed. However, women suffer more from these forms of sleep disorders. Subjective satisfaction with sleep quality is positively correlated with overall sexual functioning and all of its dimensions, and insomnia is negatively correlated with sexual functioning and all of its dimensions. From the linear regression analysis, the model of prediction of general sexual functioning was tested according to sleep quality variables, and a statistically significant model was obtained (p0.001), with the variables in question explaining 7% of general sexual functioning, with β values ??for subjective satisfaction with sleep of 0.189 and for insomnia of -0.140.Based on the results obtained, it is possible to demonstrate that the higher the quality of sleep, the greater the sexual functioning, and that it is negatively influenced mainly by insomnia.

The Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI), Covilhã, Portugal in the medical degree course uses simulation in an integrated and comprehensive program as a pedagogical tool.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of biomedical indicators, such as body mass index, blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, on sexual functioning in Portuguese adults.The sample consisted of 225 healthy individuals (non-smokers, women not taking contraceptive pill), aged 18-89 years (mean = 41 years), of whom 107 were males and 117 females. A Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Portuguese version of the Massachusetts General Hospital Sexual Functioning Questionnaire (MGH-SFQ) and biomedical indicators measurement devices were applied.59.6% (N = 134) of the participants presented levels for global sexual functioning below the expected values. Men scored better overall sexual functioning when compared to women, as well as the group of younger participants. Significant correlational values between BMI (r = -253, p.001), glycemic index (r = -.230, p.001), total cholesterol (r = -144, p.05) and sexual functioning were obtained. The hierarchical regression model allowed to demonstrate the mediating effect of the biomedical variables on sexual functioning, explaining 31% (r2 = .31; p.001) of the total variance.This research makes it possible to highlight the importance of biomedical indicators in sexual functioning, helping professionals working in this area to be aware of how biomedical contexts interfere with sexual expression.

In the coming years, the world will experience an important demographic shift. The elderly population is growing due to increased life expectancy and decreasing birth rates. According to the United Nations, the elderly will make up around 36% of the European population by 2050. Disabilities and diseases are more prevalent with old age. Moreover, people often require more attention and healthcare with age. In many cultures that stress independent living, this has led to home healthcare becoming the preferred care method for disabled and elderly people. In order to make independent living a possibility for these people, different companies have been investing money into researching and developing welfare technologies.

A presente tese de doutoramento é composta por três partes que abordam a problemática da gestão das finanças públicas numa óptica político-económica. As primeiras duas partes versam sobre a forma como governos instituídos exercem as suas funções orçamentais de gestão da despesa pública e a terceira parte apresenta um modelo que analisa a forma eficiente de fornecimento numa nação do bem público “governo”. As duas primeiras partes demonstram o comportamento oportunista dos governos através da manipulação da composição da despesa pública ao longo da legislatura, dando origem ao aparecimento de um ciclo orçamental induzido pela ocorrência de períodos eleitorais. A primeira parte apresenta um modelo teórico com informação completa no sentido em que o governante e os eleitores têm acesso, em simultâneo, à mesma informação referente às escolhas orçamentais, nos períodos pré- e pós-eleitorais. O modelo mostra que no período pré-eleitoral, o governante manipula a composição da despesa pública para aquelas categorias que geram utilidade no período a que se refere a decisão do gasto. Essa manipulação resulta do facto da reeleição ser um acontecimento incerto, o que implica que apenas no caso da permanência no poder o governante retirará utilidade da despesa efectuada nas categorias que geram benefício no período seguinte. Dado que na primeira categoria se enquadram as denominadas despesas públicas correntes e na segunda categoria estão contempladas as designadas despesas públicas de investimento, a composição orçamental é enviesada no período pré-eleitoral em favor da primeira categoria. O governante é apresentado como sendo ideologicamente neutro, podendo o eleitorado evidenciar preferência por uma das categorias de despesa pública. Nesse sentido, se os eleitores não tiverem, no período pós-eleitoral, qualquer enviesamento nas suas preferências não será de esperar qualquer manipulação orçamental por parte do governante. Usando uma repartição da despesa pública entre categorias que são preferidas pelos eleitores e categorias que favorecem a sociedade no geral, o modelo teórico mostra que quando há um enviesamento nas preferências do eleitorado/sociedade em favor da despesa corrente, os governantes manipulam a composição da despesa pública em favor daquela categoria nos dois períodos da legislatura. Caso o enviesamento nas preferências do eleitorado/sociedade seja no sentido de favorecer a despesa de investimento, o modelo demonstra a existência de um ciclo político-eleitoral de sinal ambíguo. A segunda parte propõe uma aplicação empírica do modelo teórico apresentado na primeira parte, usando para tal dados relativos ao conjunto dos países da União Europeia no período compreendido entre 1970 e 2001. Contrastando com alguns estudos que indicam que a ausência de ciclos político-económicos de natureza eleitoral nos países desenvolvidos, a aplicação empírica mostra que nos períodos pré eleitorais os governos centrais da União Europeia manipulam a composição do orçamento público. Usando uma técnica econométrica recentemente proposta denominada “Pooled Mean Group Estimator”, são demonstrados dois resultados. Primeiro, os governos centrais aumentam a percentagem do orçamento público afecto às despesas correntes em detrimento das despesas de capital na proximidade dos períodos eleitorais. Segundo, quanto maior a importância relativa dos eleitores efectivos relativamente à população maior é a manipulação da despesa pública em favor das categorias que vão ao encontro das preferências do eleitorado. A terceira parte descreve um modelo teórico que procura discutir em que condições terá viabilidade a passagem de um sistema centralizado para um sistema descentralizado de provisão de um governo. O processo de descentralização proposto no modelo pode assumir duas formas: a implementação de comunidades isoladas ou a definição de uma região. Introduzindo um dilema (trade-off) entre o benefício da partilha do custo da provisão do bem “governo” e a perda resultante da partilha de um governo com indivíduos com preferências diferentes, o modelo teórico permite concluir que, na ausência de transferências compensatórias entre comunidades e na presença de um sistema de votação por unanimidade, as condições de eficiência e de estabilidade só são garantidas com a total segregação das comunidades ou com a manutenção da centralização. Quando o modelo admite a existência de transferências entre comunidades, por forma a assegurar que nenhuma se encontra numa posição menos favorável em comparação com a centralização, o óptimo de Pareto pode ser obtido quer com a regionalização, quer com a total segregação. No entanto, a condição de estabilidade apenas pode ser assegurada no segundo caso. This PhD dissertation comprises three parts that approach the problem of public finance management from a politico-economic perspective. The first two parts address the way established governments handle budgetary management of public expenditure while the third part presents a model that analyses a way of efficiently providing the public good “government” for a nation. The first two parts demonstrate the opportunistic behaviour of governments through manipulation of public expenditure composition during tenure, giving rise to a budget cycle induced by the occurrence of election periods. The first part presents a theoretical model entailing complete information in the sense that the incumbent politician and the electorate have access, simultaneously, to the same information regarding budgetary choices during post-and pre-election periods. The model shows that during the pre-election period, the incumbent manipulates the composition of public expenditure towards categories that generate utility during the period referring to spending decisions. This manipulation results from the fact that re-election is an uncertain event, thus implying that only in the case where the incumbent remains in power is it possible to obtain utility of applied spending in categories generating benefits in the following period. Given that current expenditures correspond to the first category and investment expenditures are contemplated in the second category, the budget composition is biased in pre-election periods in favour of the former. The incumbent is presented as being ideologically neutral, but we discuss the implications of the electorate’s preferences for one of the categories of public expenditure. To begin with, it is shown that, if voters have no preference bias, then budget manipulation is not expected during post-election period. The other possibilities are examined subsequently. By means of a public expenditure partitioning between categories that are preferred by voters in particular and categories that favour society at large, the model also shows that when voters/society have a preference bias towards current expenditures, the incumbent manipulates public expenditure composition favouring this category during the two tenure periods. If the voters/society preferences are prone to investment expenditures, the model shows a political budget cycle with an ambiguous sign. The second part proposes an empirical application of the theoretical model proposed in the first part, using data of European Union countries from 1970 through 2001. In contrast to some studies that indicate the absence of political budget cycles induced by electoral motives in developed countries, the empirical study shows that, in pre-election periods, central EU governments manipulate the composition of public budget. Through the use of an econometric technique referred to as “Pooled Mean Group Estimator”, two findings can be shown. Firstly, central governments increase the share of current expenditures in the public budget by decreasing capital spending near election periods. Secondly, the greater the relative importance of effective voters in population, the greater the share of expenditure items that are particularly favoured by voters. The third part describes a theoretical model aiming to discuss the optimal degree of government centralisation. It studies the welfare implications of different institutional architectures, from complete centralisation to varying degrees of subnational autonomy. The decentralised process proposed in the model can assume two forms: the implementation of isolated communities or definition of a region. A trade-off between cost-sharing provision of “government” and the loss that result from sharing it with individuals holding different preferences, is widely pondered. This model allows us to conclude that in the absence of inter-community compensatory transfers and in the presence of a unanimity voting system, stability and efficiency conditions are only guaranteed when communities are completely segregated or when there is centralised administration. When transfers between communities are allowed for, to ensure that none are at a disadvantage compared to centralisation, Pareto’s optimality is feasible through either regionalisation or complete segregation. However, a stable condition can only be ensured in the latter case