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The main goal of the present paper is to present the study of energy efficiency measures for an electrical material industry. The high-energy consumption of this kind of industry lead companies to search for solutions that allow increasing the energy efficiency in their installations and in the processes, promoting the reduction of the energy consumption and costs. In this context, the objectives of this study emerged, which resulted from the main needs identified by the company. Therefore, the work was divided into four parts. The first one, was the study of replacing the existing lighting (mainly mercury vapor lamps by led); another study conducted was the replacement of the electric motors in injection machines by new and more efficient ones; the third one was the installation of a photovoltaic solar system (for self-consumption) and, finally, the project of a new power converter station for the company. The energy efficiency studies carried out are based on: a careful analysis of the data provided by the company; all the measurements done; the consumption profiles that have been drawn; an extensive market research (with the purpose of finding the most efficient solutions for each case); and in already existing and proven calculation methodologies, leading, in this way, to a greater reliability of the obtained results. These studies showed to which extent the implementation of the various measures presented are economically viable, their impact on the reduction of energy consumption and the annual savings achieved. This work was supported by Coimbra Institute of Engineering – Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and by projects: UID/MULTI/00308/2019 (supported by the Portuguese ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’: FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology) and by the European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE 2020 Programme, FCT Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within project T4ENERTEC (POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-029820).

Here, we present the case of a 78-year-old male patient with undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma on the posteromedial surface of the right leg who experienced a long-lasting progression-free survival. Due to an underlying cardiac disease, the patient was not suitable for anthracyclines. In September 2015, he received first-line chemotherapy with trabectedin (Yondelis®) at the approved dosage and regimen – concomitant with external radiotherapy (RT). After the first 9 cycles of trabectedin plus RT given in the neoadjuvant setting, the patient underwent surgical resection. At that stage, we observed a very good pathological response with 80% of necrotic area. The patient resumed the therapy with trabectedin; however, approximately 5 months later, we observed a new nodular heterogeneous lesion with ill-defined margins in the right leg and suggestive of tumor relapse. Subsequently an above-the-knee amputation was performed, and the patient resumed his trabectedin therapy with the same dosage and regimen. In January 2018, almost 2 1/2 years after the start of trabectedin treatment and 30+ cycles of trabectedin, the patient is locoregionally and distant metastatically disease-free. Currently, the treatment with trabectedin is maintained without any significant serious toxicity. Future clinical trials are needed to gain additional insights into the role of trabectedin maintenance therapy until disease progression in the neoadjuvant setting and to identify predictive and prognostic criteria for response to trabectedin in patients with advanced sarcoma.

Communities located in the interface between marine/brackish and freshwater habitats are likely to be early responders to climatic changes as they are exposed to both saline and freshwater conditions, and thus are expected to be sensitive to any change in their environmental conditions. Climatic effects are predicted to reduce the availability of groundwater, altering the hydrological balance on estuarine-aquifer interfaces. Here, we aimed to characterise the estuarine faunal community along a gradient dependent on groundwater input, under a predicted climatic scenario of reduction in groundwater discharge into the estuary. Sediment macrofauna was sampled along a salinity gradient following both the wet and dry seasons in 2009. Results indicated that species abundance varied significantly with the salinity gradient created by the groundwater discharge into the estuarine habitat and with sampling time. The isopode Cyathura carinata (Kroyer, 1847) and the polychaetes Heteromastus filiformis (Claparede, 1864) and Hediste diversicolor O.F. Muller, 1776 were associated with the more saline locations, while oligochaeta and Spionidae were more abundant in areas of lower salinity. The polychaete Alkmaria romijni Horst, 1919 was the dominant species and ubiquitous throughout sampling stations. This study provides evidence for estuarine fauna to be considered as a potentially valuable indicator of variation in the input of groundwater into marine-freshwater interface habitats, expected from climatic pressures on aquifer levels, condition and recharge rates. For instance, a reduction in the abundance of some polychaete species, found here to be more abundant in freshwater conditions, and increasing Oligochaeta found here on higher salinities, can potentially be early warnings of a reduction in the input of groundwater into estuaries. Estuarine benthic species are often the main prey for commercially important fish predators such as in our case study, making it important to monitor the aquatic habitat interfaces taking into consideration the estuarine macrobenthos and groundwater availability in the system.

During the next decades the refurbishment of old buildings will be an essential way to contribute to the global improvement of buildings energy performance indicators. Within this context, the present paper is focused on the use of electrochromic (EC) windows, an emerging technology alternative to shading devices, to control solar gains in buildings located in Mediterranean climates. The optical properties adjustments of the EC glasses are discussed based on the incident solar radiation. The ESP-r building energy simulation software was used to study the energy savings resulting from the application of electrochromic windows, considering the comparison of several windows solutions (single, double-glazing and EC windows) and windows orientations (East, South and West). In addition, different transition ranges for the optical properties of the EC glasses are assessed through the analysis of the energy needs for space heating and cooling. The main conclusion is that EC technology is an effective option in cooling dominated buildings. The impact of EC windows is highly dependent on facade orientation, being a valid option particularly in the cases of the East and West facades. For these facades, the control set point found to be effective corresponds to an incident solar radiation on the glass of 150 W/m 2 to impose a total coloured state. For the South facade the results show no significant advantage of using EC windows.

A case-study of a public building is presented as an example of the adequacy of timely analyses of building performance, based on a preliminary architectural design. The final design of the case-study building benefited of the thorough analysis performed at this early stage, the main motivation being the willingness of a town government of an intelligent design, leading to a sustainable town-hall building, in a town in the centre region of Portugal. A virtuous combination of a receptive building owner and a multidisciplinary design team, allowed a systematic methodology to be used, providing the opportunity for the consideration of several options for each class of constructive element and the possibility of choosing among the options for each case, based on quantitative results on the expected performance of the building. The options were created and analysed with the help of the VisualDOE™ building simulation tool, aiming at a comfortable and energy efficient building. Several parameters were used for enabling the sensitivity analyses, namely relating to wall structure and materials, window frames, HVAC system, etc.

Organizing international conferences leads to significant amounts of emitted greenhouse gases (GHG's). This is mainly due to the transport of the attendees to the conference venue. At IEEE-VPPC'14, actions were taken to reduce and to compensate the conference GHG emissions as well as to raise public awareness. This paper describes these actions and presents a quantitative estimation of the GHG sources related to the conference.

The integration of electric vehicles in smart grids introduces challenges due to the high involved power values and the vehicles mobility beyond the reach of the home area network. This paper presents a new ICT architecture that supports an energy management algorithm that aims to optimize the electric vehicle charging and storage capabilities accordingly with economical and technical considerations. The developed solution monitors the batteries' state of charge, state of health and the available energy stored in the batteries, along the electric vehicle journey. The collected electric vehicle information is thereafter sent to databases in real-time base to achieve this mentioned purpose. The recorded data is accessible to the home area network aggregator and end user energy scheduler, and by other grid operator applications. According with the battery pack state of charge, the energy selling price and the custom energy usage profile is also possible, in some conditions, to apply the vehicle to grid concept. The energy management algorithm uses dynamic tariffs, end-users' preferences and comfort requirements regarding the operation of the remaining house appliances and electric loads.

The process of building rehabilitation is usually strongly constrained regarding morphological changes, particularly in the cases of historic or classified buildings. Therefore, in the present chapter the emerging technology of electrochromic (EC) windows is studied, using building energy simulation to assess the effects on energy efficiency in buildings. The phenomena associated with the current state of EC device technology are described, and their potential future trends are discussed. The validation of control procedures for commercially available EC windows is carried out using the ESP-r simulator, using a case study building to be rehabilitated (Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Coimbra) through the analysis of the impact of EC technology on energy consumption and thermal comfort. The methodology designed to assess the use of EC windows begins with the calculation, through simulation for a reference case with single glazing windows, of the solar gains and the internal gains of each space, for both heating and cooling seasons, followed by the estimation of the energy savings that result from the application of EC windows. From the results it is concluded that EC windows are an effective solution to the problems associated with the control of solar gain in the east and west facades. The use of EC windows will reduce the annual energy needs, which is clearly an advantage in the cooling season. Generally, it is concluded that the use of EC windows must be defined according to the type of building, or even space, particularly depending on the occupation and the overall internal gains, on the facade characteristics, orientation, and the shading influence of neighboring buildings.

Tumors of the foot and ankle are rare, and the particular clinicopathologic features, therapeutic approach, and outcomes in this setting are not well established. From January 2000 to December 2010, 72 patients with primary musculoskeletal tumors of the foot and ankle, both benign and malignant, were treated at a single institution. Of the 72 patients, 56% were female. The median age was 52 years. Of the 72 tumors, 62 (86.11%) were located in the foot and 10 were located in the ankle; 63 (87.5%) were soft tissue tumors and 9 (12.5%) were bone tumors. Overall, 56 (78%) were benign tumors and 16 (22%) were malignant tumors. The most frequent soft tissue and bone diagnosis was giant cell tumor. The median follow-up period was 49 months. The vast majority of the tumors were located in the foot. Benign tumors were dominant, outnumbering malignant tumors by more than 3 to 1. The diversity of the histologic benign types was evident, with giant cell tumor, angiomyoma, and lipoma the most frequent. Regarding the malignant tumors, a clear male predominance was present, the median age was 45 years, and the most frequent tumor was synoviosarcoma. The 9-year overall and disease-free survival rate was 65% and 40%, respectively.

Santo Andre is an enclosed brackish water coastal lagoon with temporary connections to the sea by a man-made channel. The exchange and mixture of saltwater and freshwater is irregular and the lagoon may show daily and seasonal fluctuations, but also long-term variation. Different benthic communities may be present along the annual cycle according to the magnitude of episodic freshwater and sea water inputs. In the last 30 years the communication with the sea has followed different regimes from year to year and, as a consequence, macrobenthic communities, assessed several times during the period before the opening to the sea, shifted from freshwater to marine affinities. Major differences were found between 1979 and 2010, with a preponderance of species with marine affinity, and the 1980s in which the organisms with freshwater affinity prevailed. Benthic communities are frequently used to assess aquatic environmental condition. Metrics used in the indices currently under discussion to assess ecological status of aquatic ecosystems within the scope of European Water Framework Directive were applied to Santo Andre data and the applicability of these metrics to assess quality in this coastal land-locked lagoon was discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. National Institute of Scientific Research; ICNB (Nature, Conservation and Biodiversity Institute); EEC (European Economic Community); Cohesion Fund under Priority 111 of the Operational Programme for Territorial Development (POVT); FCT (Science and Technology Foundation) [PTDC/AAC-AMB/104639/2008, PEst-OE/MAR/UI0199/2011]; FCT [SFRH/BPD/29579/2006]

Background Differences in latex allergen sensitization profiles have been described between children undergoing repeated surgical interventions and health care workers. The purpose of this study was to determine whether such sensitization profiles are associated with differences in the expression of latex allergen between the internal and external surfaces of surgical gloves. Methods Extracts were obtained from whole surgical gloves as well as from their external and internal surfaces. The extracts were centrifuged, filtered, concentrated, dialyzed and lyophilized. The protein profile of the extracts was analyzed using hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Immunoblotting was performed using era from two patients with confirmed latex allergy. Latex recombinant allergen-specific IgE in these two patients was determined using a fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) method. Latex allergen quantification was determined on both glove surfaces using an ELISA method. Results HIC and SDS-PAGE showed qualitative and quantitative differences in proteins between the internal and external glove surfaces, with the former being much richer in proteins. Immunoblotting of glove extracts using sera from two latex-allergic health workers showed differences between glove surface extracts. ELISA quantification of latex allergens demonstrated that the internal glove surface had high amounts of Hev b 5 and Hev b 6.02 whereas the external surface showed Hev b 1, Hev b 3, and Hev b 6.02. Conclusions Our results reveal substantial differences in the composition of latex allergen profiles between the internal and external surfaces of surgical latex gloves, which may suggest a relationship between latex allergen localization and sensitization routes in different risk groups.

A traffic simulator is presented along with various simulation results for an ICO and LEO type constellations. The simulator permits the calculation of the traffic at the satellite footprint and spotbeam level in various instances of the satellites trajectory. By using these traffic simulation results as input to a satellite resource management simulator, the fixed channel allocation (FCA) and the dynamic channel allocation (DCA) techniques were evaluated. Simulations results are presented for the various parameters in both systems.

Objective: The combination of surgery and chemotherapy improves the prognosis of patients with osteogenic sarcoma of the limbs without detectable metastases at presentation. However, lung metastases are a frequent complication. To evaluate the role of the resection of pulmonary metastases of osteogenic sarcoma of the limbs, we have reviewed our experience with this type of surgery, combined with a multidrug chemotherapy protocol. Patients and methods: From January 89 to December 97, 198 patients operated on for osteogenic sarcomas of the limbs were followed in our centre. Of these, 31 patients (15.7%), with a mean age of 25 years (range 10‐54 years), developed lung metastases and had undergone 45 thoracotomies. All patients received chemotherapy, followed by resection of metastatic lesions and additional chemotherapy. The mean time interval between resection of the primary tumour and the diagnosis of lung metastases was 22 months (4‐122 months). Eight patients (25.8%) needed more than one (2‐4) thoracotomy. The mean time interval between the first and second thoracic surgeries was 9.2 months (2‐14 months). Results: There was no operative mortality or major morbidity. During the 45 thoracotomies, five lobectomies and 40 wedge resections were necessary. The mean number of metastases resected per thoracotomy was 3.4 (range 1‐10). The degree of necrosis was evaluated by seriated sections for a histologic study. In the end the mean necrotic volume was calculated. A strong correlation was found between the degree of necrosis of the metastases and the need for reoperation for new metastatic lesions, because all the patients who needed more than one operation had less than 80% of necrosis of metastases. The patients were followed for a mean period of 28 months (6‐72 months). Ten patients (32.2%) died of related causes at a mean of 19.4 months after thoracic surgery, three of whom had more than one operation. The 3-year survival after metastasectomy was 61%. Patients without pulmonary metastases had a 3-year survival of 79%. Conclusions: In patients with lung metastases of an osteogenic sarcoma, the combination of chemotherapy and surgery improves the outcome. In our series the mortality was not influenced by the number or thoracotomies required. q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.