Ubiquitous sensorization for multimodal assessment of driving patterns

Sustainability issues and sustainable behaviours are becoming concerns of increasing signi cance in our society. In the case of transportation systems, it would be important to know the impact of a given driving behaviour over sustainability factors. This paper describes a system that integrates ubiquitous mobile sensors available on devices such as smartphones, intelligent wristbands and smartwatches, in order to determine and classify driving patterns and to assess driving e ficiency and driver's moods. It first identi fies the main attributes for contextual information, with relevance to driving analysis. Next, it describes how to obtain that information from ubiquitous mobile sensors, usually carried by drivers. Finally, it addresses the multimodal assessment process which produces the analysis of driving patterns and the classi cation of driving moods, promoting the identifi cation of either regular or aggressive driving patterns, and the classi fication of mood types between aggressive and relaxed. Such an approach enables ubiquitous sensing of personal driving patterns across diff erent vehicles, which can be used in sustainability frameworks, driving alerts and recommendation systems.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012). It is also supported by a doctoral grant, SFRH/BD/78713/2011, issued by FCT in Portugal

Harnessing content and context for enhanced decision making

In a time in which a significant amount of interpersonal interactions take place online, one must enquire to which extent are these milieus suitable for supporting the complexity of our communication. This is especially important in more sensitive domains, such as the one of Online Dispute Resolution, in which inefficient communication environments may result in misunderstandings, poor decisions or the escalation of the conflict. The conflict manager, in particular, may find his skills severely diminished, namely in what concerns the accurate perception of the state of the parties. In this paper the development of a rich communication framework is detailed that conveys contextual information about their users, harnessed from the transparent analysis of their behaviour while communicating. Using it, the conflict manager may not only better perceive the conflict and how it affects each party but also take better contextualized decisions, closer to the ones taken in face-to-face settings.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT { Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012) and project PEst- OE/EEI/UI0752/2014

Septal grafts restore cognitive abilities and amyloid precursor protein metabolism.

Cortical cholinergic loss and amyloidogenic processing of the β-amyloid precursor protein (APP), may functionally interact in Alzheimer's disease. However, it is still unknown whether biological restoration of regulatory cholinergic inputs affects APP metabolism in vivo. Rats immunolesioned with 192 IgG-saporin exhibited severe acquisition deficits in place navigation that were paralleled by a dramatic loss of terminal cholinergic innervation and by marked changes in the regional expression of APP-like immunoreactivity. Moreover, in these animals, we observed a drastic reduction of soluble APP (sAPP) and a concomitant increase of the unsoluble, membrane-bound fraction (mAPP). Notably, at about 6 months post-surgery, lesioned animals implanted with reinnervating cholinergic-rich septal tissue grafts exhibited fairly normal spatial navigation abilities, as well as cortical and hippocampal APP levels that were restored up to normal or near-normal values. APP levels correlated significantly with lesion- or graft-induced changes in cholinergic innervation density, and both these measures correlated with performance in the spatial navigation task. Thus, integrity of ascending cholinergic inputs may be required to prevent amyloidogenic processing of APP in vivo and to modulate cognitive performance

Activation of endogenous neural stem cells in the adult human brain following subarachnoid haemorrhage

5In the adult human brain, the presence of neural stem cells has been documented in the subgranular layer of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and in the sub- ventricular zone of the lateral ventricles. Neurogenesis has also been reported in rodent models of ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, epileptic seizures, and in- tracerebral or subarachnoid hemorrhage. However, only sparse information is available about the occurrence of neurogenesis in the human brain under similar patho- logical conditions. In the present report, we describe neural progenitor cell proliferation in the brain of patients suffering from subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) resulting from ruptured aneurysm. Ten cerebral samples from both SAH and control patients obtained, respec- tively, during aneurysm clipping and deep brain tumor removal were analyzed by reverse transcription fol- lowed by polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and/or immunohistochemistry (IHC). In tissue specimens from SAH patients, RT-PCR and IHC revealed the expression of a variety of markers consistent with CNS progenitor cells, including nestin, vimentin, SOX-2, and Musashi1 and -2. In the same specimens, double immunohisto- chemistry followed by confocal analysis revealed that Musashi2 consistently colocalized with the proliferation marker Ki67. By contrast, no such gene or protein expression profiles were detected in any of the control specimens. Thus, activation of neural progenitor cell proliferation may occur in adult human brain following subarachnoid hemorrhage, possibly contributing to the promotion of spontaneous recovery, in this pathological condition.First published evidence substantiating the activation of neural progenitor cell proliferation in the adult human brain following subarachnoid hemorrhagenonemixedSGUBIN D.; AZTIRIA E.; PERIN A.; LONGATTI P.; LEANZA G.Sgubin, D.; Aztiria, E.; Perin, A.; Longatti, P.; Leanza, Giampier

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor channels are influenced by the physical state of their membrane environment.

We investigated the effect of the physical state of the cell membrane on the activity of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) in various clonal cell lines transfected with the cDNAs of embryonic or adult AChR by measuring single-channel properties and some membrane physicochemical properties as a function of temperature. Unitary conductance and channel closing rate, alpha, had Q(10) values of 1.2 and 2.2, respectively. Using Eyring's transition state theory, it was calculated that both embryonic and adult-type AChR had relatively low thermal sensitivity of ionic conductance and activation energy (E(a) of 3.0-5.0 kcal-mol(-1) at 20 degrees C), indicating that once the AChR channel opens, ion movement is dominated by diffusional processes. Channel closure exhibited higher energy requirements, with E(a) values of about 13 kcal-mol(-1). This process appears to be more endothermic (higher delta H(a) values) than ion permeation, and it is plausible that the energy acquired by the system can be used in the maintenance of its degree of order, as revealed by the delta S(a) 0 calculated for channel closure. The influence of the membrane environment on AChR function is reinforced by the observation that the conductance of the same, embryonic-type AChR protein, expressed in qualitatively different cellular lipid environments, appeared to have different energetic requirements. A correlation between the electrophysiological and thermodynamic parameters of the AChR and physicochemical properties of the membrane bilayer in which the protein is embedded could be established using measurements of the so-called generalized polarization (GP) of the lipophilic probe laurdan. Both embryonic and adult AChR exhibited a higher GP and a higher sensitivity to temperature-dependent changes in GP when heterologously expressed in stable form in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-derived cells than did the native embryonic AChR in BC3H-1 cells, indicating that these two properties are determined by the host membrane and are not inherent properties of the AChR type. In addition, the differences in the macroscopic physical states of the lipids and membrane-associated solvent (water) dipolar relaxation between BC3H-1 and CHO-derived cells indicated by the spectroscopic properties of laurdan suggest that both lipid and associated water may influence the microscopic activity of individual AChR molecules embedded in the lipid bilayer. Finally, the different dependence of AChR channel conductance and mean open time as a function of GP observed between the different AChR subtypes in clonal cell lines suggests the importance of specific lipid-protein interactions in addition to bulk membrane properties

Morphological and immunochemical characterization of the pollen grains of Chenopodium album L. (Chenopodiaceae) in a temperate urban area in Argentina

Resumen. Chenopodium album es una hierba cosmopolita, anual, muy polimórfica, que crece en forma espontánea en baldíos con suelos modificados de los barrios periféricos de Bahía Blanca. En esta ciudad, el periodo de floración es principalmente entre febrero y marzo, que coincide con la mayor concentración de este tipo de polen en la atmósfera. El objetivo de este estudio fue caracterizar morfológica e inmunoquímicamente a los granos de polen de Chenopodium album obtenidos en diferentes zonas del área urbana de la Bahía Blanca. Las muestras fueron colectadas en tres zonas de la ciudad. La estructura y la morfología de los granos fueron analizados con microscopía óptica y electrónica. Los perfiles proteicos y antigénicos fueron estudiados mediante Tricine-SDS-PAGE y western blot, empleando un suero policlonal obtenido en conejo. El análisis morfológico mostró diferencias significativas en relación al diámetro de los granos de polen en una de las áreas estudiadas. En esa misma área se encontraron diferencias en la expresión de proteínas, aunque el perfil antigénico fue conservado. Estas variaciones en la morfología y en el perfil proteico podrían ser causadas por los efectos de las condiciones ambientales sobre el polen y la presencia de contaminantes urbanos provenientes del tráfico vehicular. Palabras clave: Chenopodium album; Immunobloting; Polen; Proteínas; Perfil antigénico. Abstract. Chenopodium album is a very polymorphic, cosmopolitan, annual herb that grows spontaneously in modified soils in wasteland in the outlying urban zones of Bahía Blanca. In this city, the flowering period is mainly during February and March, which coincides with the highest concentrations of this pollen type in the atmosphere of the city. The objective of this study was to characterize the pollen grains of Chenopodium album, both morphologically and immunochemically, that were obtained from three different zones in the urban area of Bahía Blanca. Samples were collected from the three separate zones in the city that were far apart. The structure and morphology of the grains were analyzed using light and electron microscopy. The protein and antigenic profiles were studied with Tricine-SDS-PAGE and western blot with a polyclonal rabbit serum, respectively. The morphological analysis showed significant differences in relation to the diameters of the pollen grains in one of the studied areas. Differences in the protein expression were seen for the same area although the antigenic profile was conserved. The variations in the morphology and the protein profile may be caused by the effect of environmental conditions on the pollen, and the presence of urban contaminants from vehicular traffic