Fábio Marques

Approximation algorithms to minimum vertex cover problems on polygons and terrains

We propose an anytime algorithm to compute successively better approximations of the optimum of Minimum Vertex Guard. Though the presentation is focused on polygons, the work may be directly extended to terrains along the lines of [4]. A major idea in our approach is to explore dominance of visibility regions to first detect pieces that are more difficult to guard.

Partitioning Orthogonal Polygons by Extension of All Edges Incident to Reflex Vertices: Lower and Upper Bounds on the Number of Pieces

Given an orthogonal polygon P, let |Π(P)| be the number of rectangles that result when we partition P by extending the edges incident to reflex vertices towards INT(P). In [4] we have shown that |Π(P)| ≤ 1+r+r 2, where r is the number of reflex vertices of P. We shall now give sharper bounds both for max p |Π(P)| and min p |Π(P)|. Moreover, we characterize the structure of orthogonal polygons in general position for which these new bounds are exact. We also present bounds on the area of grid n-ogons and characterize those having the largest and the smallest area.

A real time, wearable ECG and continous blood pressure monitoring system for first responders

The study of stress and fatigue among First Responders is a major step in mitigating this public health problem. Blood pressure, heart rate variability and fatigue related arrhythmia are three of the main “windows” to study stress and fatigue. In this paper we present a wearable medical device, capable of acquiring an electrocardiogram and estimating blood pressure in real time, through a pulse wave transit time approach. The system is based on an existent certified wearable medical device called “Vital Jacket” and is aimed to become a tool to allow cardiologists in studying stress and fatigue among first response professionals.

Agent-Based Interoperability for e-Government

The provision of valuable e-government services depends upon the capacity to integrate the disperse provision of services by the public administration and thus upon the availability of interoperability platforms. These platforms are commonly built according to the principles of service oriented architectures, which raise the question of how to dynamically orchestrate services while preserving information security. Recently, it was presented an e-government interoperability model that preserves privacy during the dynamic orchestration of services. In this paper we present a prototype that implements that model using software agents. The model and the prototype are briefly described; an illustrative use case is presented; and the advantages of using software agents to implement the model are discussed.

An Integrated Service Solution for Digital Discount Coupons Processing

This paper describes a digital coupons management system that aims to dematerialize the couponing process since its origin (the Issuer) to its final state (the Consumer), passing by the Retailer of the product, and allowing to reduce costs, prevent frauds, improve the procedural efficiency and get knowledge about patterns of usage of coupons by consumer profiles. The system provides quality control of dematerialized coupons and Consumers mobile access, allowing the connection and integration with the information systems of Issuers and Retailers, which makes it an innovative system with a high degree of portability of its components.

FIREMAN: FIRefighter team brEathing Management system using ANdroid

In this paper we propose FIREMAN, a low cost system for online monitoring of firefighters ventilation patterns when using Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), based on a specific hardware device attached to SCBA and a Smartphone application. The system implementation allows the detection of relevant ventilation patterns while providing feasible and accurate estimation of SCBA air consumption.

Decision support system for forest fires firefighting in Agueda municipality

This paper presents a system that is under development to support forest fires fighting in Agueda municipality. This system is mainly based on information technology, in contrast to the dynamic which is currently used in this municipality. The system consists of three separate modules, an WebGIS application and two applications for mobile devices (one for the land vehicles and the other to air vehicles). One of the biggest concerns about the system is that all data used is real and updated, but also that the main features of the application are used in real time by the main actors of civil protection: fire department, city hall and Republican National Guard. The implementation of the project is still at an early stage, however the tests performed so far have revealed that the system is viable and is expected to be an effective help in solving the problem of forest fires in the municipality.