Nuno Costa

Characterization of an extracellular polysaccharide produced by a Pseudomonas strain grown on glycerol.

A new extracellular charged polysaccharide composed mainly by galactose, with lower amounts of mannose, glucose and rhamnose, was produced by the cultivation of Pseudomonas oleovorans NRRL B-14682 using glycerol as the sole carbon source. Thermal and solid-state NMR analysis showed that this polymer is essentially amorphous, with a glass transition temperature of 155.7 degrees C. The exopolysaccharide aqueous solutions have viscoelastic properties similar to that of Guar gum, but with affinity to salts as a result of its polyelectrolyte character. In addition, the exopolysaccharide has demonstrated good flocculating and emulsifying properties and film-forming capacity. These properties make this polymer a good alternative to more expensive natural polysaccharides, such as Guar gum, in several applications in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile, paper and petroleum industries.

WO3 nanoparticle-based conformable pH sensor.

pH is a vital physiological parameter that can be used for disease diagnosis and treatment as well as in monitoring other biological processes. Metal/metal oxide based pH sensors have several advantages regarding their reliability, miniaturization, and cost-effectiveness, which are critical characteristics for in vivo applications. In this work, WO3 nanoparticles were electrodeposited on flexible substrates over metal electrodes with a sensing area of 1 mm(2). These sensors show a sensitivity of -56.7 ± 1.3 mV/pH, in a wide pH range of 9 to 5. A proof of concept is also demonstrated using a flexible reference electrode in solid electrolyte with a curved surface. A good balance between the performance parameters (sensitivity), the production costs, and simplicity of the sensors was accomplished, as required for wearable biomedical devices.

Decision-Making in the Analysis of Unreplicated Factorial Designs

ABSTRACT Economical and technical reasons, as well as time-related constraints, have contributed considerably to the increasing use of unreplicated factorial designs. Various methods have been proposed in the literature to identify location effects in unreplicated factorial designs, but one method that performs well in all cases has not been found. For this reason, this article presents multiple tests that apply computational methods with different forms. The selected methods are reviewed and their application is justified and illustrated with examples, including one original case study.

Experimental design selection: guidelines for practitioners

Choosing the appropriate experimental design is critical to the application of design of experiments (DoE), as an inappropriate experimental design is sure to compromise experiment results. Although picking the right experimental design may seem an easy task for an expert in DoE, this activity is complicated for novice users. Therefore, we have highlighted key points and presented guidelines to help practitioners select appropriate experimental designs. Three case studies illustrate the application of these key points in the selection of an experimental design.

Next Step for NoHR: OWL 2 QL

The Protege plug-in NoHR allows the user to combine an OWL 2 EL ontology with a set of non-monotonic logic programming rules --- suitable, e.g., to express defaults and exceptions --- and query the combined knowledge base KB. The formal approach realized in NoHR is polynomial w.r.t. data complexity and it has been shown that even very large health care ontologies, such as SNOMED CT, can be handled. As each of the tractable OWL profiles is motivated by different application cases, extending the tool to the other profiles is of particular interest, also because these preserve the polynomial data complexity of the combined formalism. Yet, a straightforward adaptation of the existing approach to OWL 2 QL turns out to not be viable. In this paper, we provide the non-trivial solution for the extension of NoHR to OWL 2 QL by directly translating the ontology into rules without any prior classification. We have implemented our approach and our evaluation shows encouraging results.

Assessing Response’s Bias, Quality of Predictions, and Robustness in Multiresponse Problems

Optimization measures for evaluating compromise solutions in multiresponse problems formulated in the Response Surface Methodology framework are proposed. The measures take into account the desired properties of responses at optimal variable settings, namely, the bias, quality of predictions and robustness, which allow the analyst to achieve compromise solutions of interest and feasible in practice, namely in the case of a method that does not consider in the objective function the responses’ variance level and correlation information is used. Two examples from the literature show the utility of the proposed measures.

Computer experiments: application to the case of a recovery boiler

Computer experiments are increasingly used to generate useful information about process and product, which could hardly be possible otherwise. This article explores the applicability of two-level fractional factorials for computer experiments with the aim at identifying the operating parameters of a black liquor recovery boiler, which have the strongest effect on the mass of carryover particles by flue gases. Six analysis methods, which can be easily used by practitioners for factor screening are reviewed and illustrated. The results show that scree plot is a practical and effective tool for screening by using deterministic computer models. Regarding the results, this study allows reducing the mass of carryover particles.

The Ethical Dilemma of Expatriates in Emerging Economies: A Liminal Perspective

Adjustment to emerging economies is benefited if Western expatriates recognise they are experiencing a liminal situation, which can lead to the instrumental utilisation of coping strategies as equivalent to rites of passage between distinct ethical frameworks. Given the characteristics ascribed to rites, the ethical dilemma resulting from the simultaneous demand to abide by local rules and to respect Western ethical principles is more easily solved. Consequently, effective and sustainable adjustment is favoured. Implications for organisations and individuals are discussed. JEL codes: