Robótica'2001 - Festival Nacional de Robótica

O ROBÓTICA’2001 – Festival Nacional de Robótica visa promover desenvolvimentos técnicos e científicos na área da Robótica Móvel e áreas afins (electrónica, mecânica, programação, visão por computador, inteligência artificial, navegação, controlo, etc) através de um problema motivador, a ser resolvido por diferentes grupos de investigadores e estudantes. Procura-se ainda difundir a Ciência e a Tecnologia junto do público em geral e dos jovens em particular, nomeadamente motivando estes últimos para a aprendizagem experimental da Ciência. O objectivo principal dos participantes no evento deverá ser pois aprender e partilhar a sua aprendizagem com os colegas, tendo em vista a evolução da Robótica. Este evento consistiu em três actividades paralelas: uma competição de robótica móvel (em duas modalidades), um encontro científico e ainda várias demonstrações de outros robôs móveis e/ou autónomos

Mobile robot competitions: fostering advances in research, development and education in robotics

Mobile robot competitions are events well suited to experimentation, research and development in many areas concerned with science and technology, ranging from material science to artificial intelligence. Aware of this fact, and for several years now, some Portuguese Universities have been involving some of their Engineering and Computer Science students in such contests, namely those of international level. The performance has been improving both in terms of the results and prizes obtained and the increasingly elaborate technical solutions developed by the teams. The importance recognised in these events has led the authors to submit to the Portuguese Government a proposal for an annual Festival of this kind in Portugal. This paper points out the advances in research, technology and education, which result from this type of events

Preliminary Analysis of the Use of Construction Waste to Replace Conventional Aggregates in Concrete

This work aims to study the influence of using construction and demolition waste in the replacement of coarse and fine aggregate to produce recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). A moderate compressive strength concrete made with usual fine and coarse aggregate was used as a benchmark material. Compressive and split tensile tests were performed using 120 cylindrical concrete specimens with 150 mm diameter and 300 mm length. Four-point flexural tests in reinforced beams made with conventional concrete and RAC were performed. The results obtained showed that the use of recycled fine aggregates, in both percentages of substitution investigated-50% and 100%-did not generate any deleterious influence on the values of compressive strength and split tensile strength of the RACs produced. Tin fact, the mechanical strengths of RACs produced with recycled fine aggregate were equal or higher than those from the reference concrete. The same behavior was not observed, however, when the recycled coarse aggregate was used. For this case, decreases in concrete mechanical strengths were observed, especially in compressive strength, with values around 35% lower when compared to the reference concrete. Tensile mechanical tests results confirmed the excellent behavior of all RACs made with replacement of usual fine aggregates by recycled. Bending tests performed in reinforced RAC beams had as objective to evaluate the deformation profile of the beams. The obtained results showed that RAC beams with full replacement of usual fine aggregate by the recycled aggregates have presented little changes in the global behavior, an aspect that encourages its use

Application of flow cytometry for the identification of Staphylococcus epidermidis by peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA FISH) in blood samples

Staphylococcus epidermidis is considered to be one of the most common causes of nosocomial bloodstream infections, particularly in immune-compromised individuals. Here, we report the development and application of a novel peptide nucleic acid probe for the specific detection of S. epidermidis by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The theoretical estimates of probe matching specificity and sensitivity were 89 and 87%, respectively. More importantly, the probe was shown not to hybridize with closely related species such as Staphylococcus aureus. The method was subsequently successfully adapted for the detection of S. epidermidis in mixed-species blood cultures both by microscopy and flow cytometry.This work was supported by the Portuguese Institute Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (PhD Fellowship SFRH/BD/29297/2006 and Post-Doc Fellowship SFRH/BPD/42208/2007)

Podridão-do-caule e podridão-dos-ramos da mamoneira causada por Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat.

For several years, the occurrence of stem and branch rot of the Castor-oil plant has been detected in the fields of castor bean of the state of Bahia, Brazil. It was observed that the fungus Botryodiplodia sp. was frequently associated to the symptoms of this disease. It was afterward identified as Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.) Griff & Maubl. (= Botryodiplodia theobromae (Pat.). Pathogenicity studies showed that the fungus B. theobromae was the etiological agent of the "rot of Botryodiplodia". This disease is characterized by the rot, dry and death of the stem and branches of Castor-oil plants with pycnidium formation of the pathogen on the infected tissue.Há vários anos tem-se constatado em municípios produtores de mamona do Estado da Bahia a ocorrência de podridão-do-caule e podridão-dos-ramos da mamoneira. Observou-se que o fungo Botryodiplodia sp. encontrava-se constantemente associado aos sintomas desta doença, sendo posteriormente identificado como Lasiodiplodia theobromae (Pat.) Griff & Maubl. (= Botryodiplodia theobromae Pat.). Estudos de patogenicidade evidenciaram que este fungo era o agente etiológico da podridão-de-botryodiplodia, doença caracterizada pela podridão, seca e morte do caule e dos ramos da mamoneira, com formação de picnídios do patógeno sobre o tecido infectado

Sudden spleen rupture in a Plasmodium vivax-infected patient undergoing malaria treatment

BACKGROUND: Splenomegaly is one of the most common features of malaria. However, spontaneous splenic rupture, although unusual, represents a severe complication often leading to death. It is mostly seen in acute infection and primary attack, and it is most commonly associated with Plasmodium vivax. Here, a case of spontaneous splenic rupture diagnosed with a portable ultrasound apparatus shortly after starting treatment and with recurrent parasitaemia after splenectomy, is reported. CASE DESCRIPTION: In November 2015, a 45-year-old Brazilian man presented to the hospital in Manaus with fever, headache and myalgia. He was diagnosed with P. vivax malaria and, after a normal G6PD test, he started treatment with chloroquine and primaquine and was discharged. Two days later, he went back to the hospital with abdominal pain, dyspnea, dry cough, pallor, oliguria and fever. Using a portable ultrasound, he was diagnosed of rupture of the spleen, which was removed by emergency surgery. After this episode, he suffered two more malaria episodes with high parasitaemia at approximately 2-month intervals. DNA from different portions of the spleen was extracted and a qualitative PCR was performed to detect P. vivax. CONCLUSIONS: The splenic rupture suffered by this patient occurred 2 days after starting the treatment. Having a portable ultrasound apparatus may have saved the patient's life, as it revealed a haemorrhage needing an urgent surgery. Parasites were detected by PCR in the extracted spleen. This patient suffered two more vivax malaria diagnosed episodes in spite of receiving and completing treatment with chloroquine and primaquine for each clinical attack. Splenic rupture during acute malaria is uncommon, but it is likely underdiagnosed and underreported, because the lack of means and equipment hinders diagnostic confirmation, especially in endemic areas

Spatial Factors Play a Major Role as Determinants of Endemic Ground Beetle Beta Diversity of Madeira Island Laurisilva

The development in recent years of new beta diversity analytical approaches highlighted valuable information on the different processes structuring ecological communities. A crucial development for the understanding of beta diversity patterns was also its differentiation in two components: species turnover and richness differences. In this study, we evaluate beta diversity patterns of ground beetles from 26 sites in Madeira Island distributed throughout Laurisilva – a relict forest restricted to the Macaronesian archipelagos. We assess how the two components of ground beetle beta diversity (βrepl – species turnover and βrich - species richness differences) relate with differences in climate, geography, landscape composition matrix, woody plant species richness and soil characteristics and the relative importance of the effects of these variables at different spatial scales. We sampled 1025 specimens from 31 species, most of which are endemic to Madeira Island. A spatially explicit analysis was used to evaluate the contribution of pure environmental, pure spatial and environmental spatially structured effects on variation in ground beetle species richness and composition. Variation partitioning showed that 31.9% of species turnover (βrepl) and 40.7% of species richness variation (βrich) could be explained by the environmental and spatial variables. However, different environmental variables controlled the two types of beta diversity: βrepl was influenced by climate, disturbance and soil organic matter content whilst βrich was controlled by altitude and slope. Furthermore, spatial variables, represented through Moran’s eigenvector maps, played a significant role in explaining both βrepl and βrich, suggesting that both dispersal ability and Madeira Island complex orography are crucial for the understanding of beta diversity patterns in this group of beetles.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of bone turnover markers and serum minerals variations for predicting fracture healing versus non-union processes in adult sheep as a model for orthopedic research

Bone turnover markers (BTMs) have been considered as an auxiliary method of following the fracture healing process and for early prediction of impaired bone healing. A better understanding of the potential of BTMs in this application could allow for earlier interventions and improved patient care. The aim of this study with a large animal experimental model was to assess the variation of bone formation markers SOH namely the total alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and its bone-specific isoform (BALP), serum concentration of intact osteocalcin (OC), N-terminal propeptide type III procollagen (PIIINP) and of bone resorption markers â  namely tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and deoxypyridinoline crosslink (DPD) during the first stages of a normal fracture healing process and of a segmental critical size defect (CSD), which progresses to a non-union process. Thirty healthy female sheep (Portuguese Churra-da-Terra- Quente breed), approximately 4-years-old, were enrolled in this study. Jugular venous blood samples were collected pre-operatively and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 post-operative weeks. The animals of the CSD group showed significant lower serum levels of BALP, OC and significant higher serum PIIINP levels at early stages of the fracture healing process, compared with animals that progressed in a normal fracture healing process. Serum BALP, OC and PIIINP levels could be useful as non-invasive auxiliary tools with other complementary methods for predicting the outcome of traumatic bone fractures.Cristina P. Sousa acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for her PhD scholarship (Grant No SFRH/BD/45018/2008).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio