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  • Energy and exergy analysis of co-gasification of crude glycerol and animal fat mixtures
    Publication . Almeida, Ana; Pilão, Rosa Maria; Ramalho, Elisa; Pinho, Carlos
    This work presents an energy and exergy analysis of co-gasification tests of crude glycerol and animal fat mixtures, in order to obtain first and second law efficiencies, the last ones representing a novelty in the field of gasification technology. Mixtures with 5% (w/w) of dry animal fat, 57% (w/w) of dry treated crude glycerol and 38% (w/w) of water were studied in a fixed bed down flow gasification reactor at 800°C and 900°C. The increase of gasification temperature seems not to affect the energy and exergy yields of the overall process.
  • A simulator of intelligent transportation systems
    Publication . Figueiredo, Lino; Tenreiro Machado, J. A.; Almeida, Ana; Reis, Cecília
    This paper presents the most recent developments of the Simulator of Intelligent Transportation Systems (SITS). The SITS is based on a microscopic simulation approach to reproduce real traffic conditions in an urban or non-urban network. The program provides a detailed modelling of the traffic network, distinguishing between different types of vehicles and drivers and considering a wide range of net-work geometries. In order to analyse the quality of the microscopic traffic simulator SITS a benchmark test is per-formed.
  • Transfering data from a server to an Android Mobile application: a case study
    Publication . Anacleto, Ricardo; Figueiredo, Lino; Almeida, Ana; Novais, Paulo
    Nowadays, due to the incredible grow of the mobile devices market, when we want to implement a client-server applications we must consider mobile devices limitations. In this paper we discuss which can be the more reliable and fast way to exchange information between a server and an Android mobile application. This is an important issue because with a responsive application the user experience is more enjoyable. In this paper we present a study that test and evaluate two data transfer protocols, socket and HTTP, and three data serialization formats (XML, JSON and Protocol Buffers) using different environments and mobile devices to realize which is the most practical and fast to use.
  • Gasification of crude glycerol after salt removal
    Publication . Almeida, Ana; Pilão, Rosa; Ribeiro, A.M.; Ramalho, Elisa; Pinho, Carlos
    The increase in the amount of crude glycerol available on the market, as well as the decrease in its purity due to the use of waste materials in the production of biodiesel, has forced producers to look for alternative ways of valuing this byproduct. In this research work, crude glycerol of a Portuguese biodiesel producer was pretreated using an ion exchange process in order to reduce its salt content. The gasification process was performed using steam as the oxidizing agent in a down-flow fixed-bed reactor using alumina particles as bed material. After the gasification process, the producer gas flowed through a condensing and cleaning system, in order to remove the condensable fraction. Dry gas samples were collected and analyzed by GC in order to quantify the CO, CO2, CH4, and H2 content. Three different feed mixtures were studied with 35%, 39%, and 59% (w/w) water, and the tests were performed at 850, 900, and 950 °C. The results showed that the increase of the water content in the feed mixture led to higher values of H2 and CO2, and lower values for CO and CH4, on the producer gas composition. A slight increase of dry gas yield and hydrogen conversion efficiency with the increase of water content in the feed was observed, while the lower heating value of producer gas decreased. No significant influence of water content was detected in the carbon conversion efficiency and cold gas efficiency. The increase of temperature resulted in the increase of four gasification parameters with maximum mean values of 90% for carbon conversion efficiency, 100% for hydrogen conversion efficiency, 107% for cold gas efficiency, and 1.3 m3/kg raw material. The maximum lower heating value of 14.5 MJ/m3 was obtained at 850 °C.
  • Creating and optimizing client-server applications on mobile devices
    Publication . Anacleto, Ricardo; Luz, Nuno; Almeida, Ana; Figueiredo, Lino; Novais, Paulo
    Mobile devices are embedded systems with very limited capacities that need to be considered when developing a client-server application, mainly due to technical, ergonomic and economic implications to the mobile user. With the increasing popularity of mobile computing, many developers have faced problems due to low performance of devices. In this paper, we discuss how to optimize and create client-server applications for in wireless/mobile environments, presenting techniques to improve overall performance.