University of Coimbra

About: University of Coimbra is a education organization based out in Coimbra, Portugal. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 14318 authors who have published 43067 publications receiving 994733 citations. The organization is also known as: UC & Universidade dos Estudos Gerais.

Taxi-aware map: identifying and predicting vacant taxis in the city

Abstract: Knowing where vacant taxis are and will be at a given time and location helps the users in daily planning and scheduling, as well as the taxi service providers in dispatching. In this paper, we present a predictive model for the number of vacant taxis in a given area based on time of the day, day of the week, and weather condition. The history is used to build the prior probability distributions for our inference engine, which is based on the naive Bayesian classifier with developed error-based learning algorithm and method for detecting adequacy of historical data using mutual information. Based on 150 taxis in Lisbon, Portugal, we are able to predict for each hour with the overall error rate of 0.8 taxis per 1×1 km2 area.

Advances in phenolic compounds analysis of aromatic plants and their potential applications

Abstract: Background Aromatic plants may contribute for human health promotion due to their antioxidant properties and also by replacing added salt in foods. Phenolic compounds are one of the major groups contributing for aromatic plants properties, including the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Scope and approach This review focuses on the main uses of aromatic plants generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and overviews the extraction, purification and analytical methods used to determine phenolics in these food matrices. The current state of the art is evaluated and future trends in the analysis of these compounds and food industry applications are discussed. Key findings and conclusions In general, aromatic plants are complex matrices regarding their content on phenolic compounds. Their composition can be affected by the chemical structure of the studied analytes, the selected methods, the composition/nature of the aromatic plant and storage conditions. The most usual separation technique to determine these compounds is High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ultraviolet (UV) or diode array detectors (DAD), although the use of mass spectrometry (MS) detectors is increasing. The future trends include the use of more sophisticated and automated techniques in order to reduce both analysis time and the amount of solvents used. Food industry widely uses aromatic plants, but other industries like food packaging, cosmetics, perfumery and pharmaceutical can also benefit from their properties.

Characterization and radiation resistance of new isolates of Rubrobacter radiotolerans and Rubrobacter xylanophilus.

Abstract: In this study we characterized new strains of the slightly thermophilic species Rubrobacter radiotolerans and the thermophilic species Rubrobacter xylanophilus, both of which were previously represented only by the type strains isolated, respectively, from Japan and the United Kingdom. The new isolates were recovered from two hot springs in central Portugal after gamma irradiation of water and biofilm samples. We assessed biochemical characteristics, performed DNA-DNA hybridization, and carried out 16S rDNA sequence analysis to demonstrate that the new Rubrobacter isolates belong to the species R. radiotolerans and R. xylanophilus. We also show for the first time that the strains of R. xylanophilus and other strains of R. radiotolerans are extremely gamma radiation resistant.