2013
Authors
Rosario, R; Araujo, A; Oliveira, B; Padrao, P; Lopes, O; Teixeira, V; Moreira, A; Barros, R; Pereira, B; Moreira, P;
Publication
PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
Abstract
Objective. To examine the effects of an intervention program held by teachers previously trained in nutrition, on the consumption of low nutrient, energy-dense (WED) foods, of children attending elementary schools. Method. 464 children (239 female, 6 to 12 years) from seven elementary Portuguese schools participated in this randomized trial. Three schools were allocated to the intervention, and four to the control group. The intervention program was based on the Health Promotion Model and social cognitive theory. Teachers previously trained by researchers in nutrition and healthy eating implemented the intervention in the classroom from November 2008 to March 2009. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, physical activity, and dietary assessments were performed before (2007/2008) and at the end of the intervention (2009). Dietary intake was gathered by a 24-hour dietary recall and two groups of LNED foods were defined, namely SSBs and solid LNED foods. Results. Children from intervention group reported a reduction whereas the control group reported an increase in solid LNED foods consumption. The odds of increasing solid LNED foods consumption was 0.48, 95%CI (0.24, 0.95) in the intervention schools. Conclusion. Our study provides further support for the success of intervention programs aimed at limiting the consumption of solid LNED foods in children.
2013
Authors
de Morais, C; Oliveira, B; Afonso, C; Lumbers, M; Raats, M; de Almeida, MDV;
Publication
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION
Abstract
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The elderly constitute a population group with a high prevalence of non-communicable chronic diseases and high risk of malnutrition. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated to nutritional risk in free-living European elderly. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The sample included 644 European citizens, free living in the community, aged 65 years or more. The sample was quota controlled for age groups (65-74, >= 75 years), gender (male/female) and living circumstances (living alone/with others). Logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with nutritional risk. RESULTS: Several variables regarding socio-demographic characteristics, food choice, health status and the satisfaction with food-related life were included in the analysis. According to the recoded score of the 'Determine your nutritional health' (NSI checklist), 53% of the elderly were at nutritional risk. Nutritional risk was more likely to occur in elderly who considered that it was more important to choose foods 'easy to chew'; with lower average number of fruit and vegetables (F&V) intake episodes and lower score for general health. It was also found in nod-married participants; those that did not identify changes in their appetite; and those that felt changes in health status. In this sample, the lowest nutritional risk was found for body mass index (BMI) around 18.5 kg/m(2). Country of residence, gender and age were not found to have a significant effect on nutritional risk. CONCLUSIONS: Attention should be drawn to the living circumstances, changes in appetite or health, the general heath perception, F&V intake, choice of foods easy to chew and having a low or high BMI.
2013
Authors
Campos, R;
Publication
SIGIR Forum
Abstract
2013
Authors
Schaller, J; Valente, JMS;
Publication
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION RESEARCH
Abstract
This paper considers the problem of scheduling jobs in a permutation flow shop with the objective of minimising total earliness and tardiness. A genetic algorithm is proposed for the problem. This procedure and five other procedures were tested on problem sets that varied in terms of number of jobs, machines and the tightness and range of due dates. It was found that the genetic algorithm procedure was consistently effective in generating good solutions relative to the other procedures.
2013
Authors
Schaller, J; Valente, JMS;
Publication
JOURNAL OF THE OPERATIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY
Abstract
This paper presents several procedures for developing non-delay schedules for a permutation flow shop with family setups when the objective is to minimize total earliness and tardiness. These procedures consist of heuristics that were found to be effective for minimizing total tardiness in flow shops without family setups, modified to consider family setups and the total earliness and tardiness objective. These procedures are tested on several problem sets with varying conditions. The results show that variable greedy algorithms are effective when solving small problems, but using a genetic algorithm that includes a neighbourhood defined by the sequence of batches of jobs belonging to the same set-up family is effective when solving medium- or large-sized problems. The results also show that if setup times can be reduced a significant reduction in total earliness and tardiness could result.
2013
Authors
Veloso, B; Sousa, L; Malheiro, B;
Publication
Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence - 10th International Conference, DCAI 2013, Salamanca, Spain, May 22-24, 2013
Abstract
This paper reports the development of a B2B platform for the personalization of the publicity transmitted during the program intervals. The platform as a whole must ensure that the intervals are filled with ads compatible with the profile, context and expressed interests of the viewers. The platform acts as an electronic marketplace for advertising agencies (content producer companies) and multimedia content providers (content distribution companies). The companies, once registered at the platform, are represented by agents who negotiate automatically the price of the interval timeslots according to the specified price range and adaptation behaviour. The candidate ads for a given viewer interval are selected through a matching mechanism between ad, viewer and the current context (program being watched) profiles. The overall architecture of the platform consists of a multiagent system organized into three layers consisting of: (i) interface agents that interact with companies; (ii) enterprise agents that model the companies, and (iii) delegate agents that negotiate a specific ad or interval. The negotiation follows a variant of the Iterated Contract Net Interaction Protocol (ICNIP) and is based on the price/s offered by the advertising agencies to occupy the viewer's interval. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013.
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