Architecture for animation of affective behaviors in pedagogical agents

This article introduces an open-source module responsible for the presentation of verbal (speech) and corporal (animation) behaviors of animated pedagogical agents. This module can be inserted into any learning environment regardless of application domain and platform, being executable under different operating systems. It was implemented in Java as a reactive agent (named Body agent) that communicates with the agent’s Mind through a language known as FIPA-ACL. Therefore, it may be inserted into any intelligent learning environment that is also capable to communicate using FIPA-ACL. Persistence of information is ensured by XML files, increasing the agent’s portability. The agent also includes a mechanism for automatically updating new behaviors and characters once available in the server. A simulation environment was conceived to test the proposed agent

A bio?tica num enfoque educacional : implica??es na forma??o de professores de ci?ncias e biologia

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:13:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 395471.pdf: 408040 bytes, checksum: af6b20ac595fc6753aadb46805a161b6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-26Visando a refletir sobre fundamentos e aspectos envolvidos num tema de grande discuss?o atual, a Bio?tica, e considerando a import?ncia do processo de forma??o inicial de professores, esta pesquisa focaliza implica??es da Bio?tica na forma??o cognitiva e humana de licenciandos em Ci?ncias Biol?gicas. Num contexto que remete a Bio?tica a quest?es educacionais, por meio de uma abordagem qualitativa, busca a compreens?o dos fen?menos a partir de uma an?lise textual discursiva das concep??es de professores de uma universidade quanto a implica??es da Bio?tica na forma??o dos profissionais da educa??o em Ci?ncias e Biologia. Um dos poucos consensos referentes ? Bio?tica ? n?o ser poss?vel conceituar algo que n?o determine regras ou normas substantivas, mas se mantenha na reflex?o, na pluralidade e no contexto atual. Em coer?ncia com o objetivo da pesquisa investigar id?ias e percep??es dos sujeitos sobre implica??es do tema em cursos espec?ficos de forma??o de professores de Ci?ncias e Biologia as respostas a algumas quest?es selecionadas configuraram compreens?es emergentes, como: a possibilidade de uma abordagem integrada da Bio?tica a outras disciplinas do curso; a educa??o para a argumenta??o e o senso cr?tico, possibilitada pela aplicabilidade da Bio?tica atrav?s da discuss?o de situa??es de conflito e estudos de caso; os medos e anseios de uma abordagem interdisciplinar; a Bio?tica vista como uma atitude e a atitude como princ?pio b?sico para a abordagem bio?tica. Sobretudo, a emerg?ncia dessa discuss?o ? latente e relevante nas perspectivas do mundo atual, sendo t?o fundamental quanto o conhecimento do tema e sua divulga??o a toda a sociedade. Todavia, esta pesquisa n?o pretende resolver quest?es sens?veis aos olhos da educa??o ou mesmo pouco discutidas no ?mbito da educa??o nacional, mas se delineou no intuito de abrir novas discuss?es sobre a relev?ncia dessa vertente da Bio?tica e de um processo reflexivo em torno dele

Acute administration of branched-chain amino acids increases the Pro-BDNF/Total-BDNF ratio in the rat brain.

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is caused by an inborn error in metabolism resulting from a deficiency in the branched-chain a-keto acid dehydrogenase complex activity. This blockage leads to accumulation of the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) leucine, isoleucine and valine, as well as their corresponding a-keto acids and a-hydroxy acids. High levels of BCAAs are associated with neurological dysfunction and the role of proand mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the neurological dysfunction of MSUD is still unclear. Thus, in the present study we investigated the effect of an acute BCAA pool administration on BDNF levels and on the pro-BDNF cleavage-related proteins S100A10 and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in rat brains. Our results demonstrated that acute Hyper-BCAA (H-BCAA) exposure during the early postnatal period increases pro-BDNF and total-BDNF levels in the hippocampus and striatum. Moreover, tPA levels were significantly decreased, without modifications in the tPA transcript levels in the hippocampus and striatum. On the other hand, the S100A10 mRNA and S100A10 protein levels were not changed in the hippocampus and striatum. In the 30-day-old rats, we observed increased pro-BDNF, total-BDNF and tPA levels only in the striatum, whereas the tPA and S100A10 mRNA expression and the immunocontent of S100A10 were not altered. In conclusion, we demonstrated that acute H-BCAA administration increases the pro-BDNF/totalBDNF ratio and decreases the tPA levels in animals, suggesting that the BCAA effect may depend, at least in part, on changes in BDNF post-translational processing

OBJECT-BASED ANALYSIS FOR URBAN LAND COVER MAPPING USING THE INTERIMAGE AND THE SIPINA FREE SOFTWARE PACKAGES

In this work we introduce an object-based method, applied to urban land cover mapping. The method is implemented with two open-source tools: SIPINA, a data mining software package; and InterIMAGE, an object-based image analysis system. Initially, segmentation, feature extraction and sample selection procedures are performed with InterIMAGE. In order to reduce the time and subjectivity involved to develop the decision rules in InterIMAGE, a data mining step is then carried out with SIPINA. In sequence, the decision trees delivered by SIPINA are analysed and encoded into InterIMAGE decision rules for the final classification step. Experiments were conducted using a subset of a GeoEye image, acquired in January 01, 2013, covering the urban portion of the municipality of Goianésia, Brazil. Five decision tree induction algorithms, available in SIPINA, were tested: ID3, C45, GID3, Assistant86 and CHAID. The TAU and Kappa coefficients were used to evaluate the results. The TAU values obtained were in the range of 0.66 and 0.70, while those for Kappa varied from 0.65 to 0.69.In this work we introduce an object-based method, applied to urban land cover mapping. The method is implemented with two open-source tools: SIPINA, a data mining software package; and InterIMAGE, an object-based image analysis system. Initially, segmentation, feature extraction and sample selection procedures are performed with InterIMAGE. In order to reduce the time and subjectivity involved to develop the decision rules in InterIMAGE, a data mining step is then carried out with SIPINA. In sequence, the decision trees delivered by SIPINA are analysed and encoded into InterIMAGE decision rules for the final classification step. Experiments were conducted using a subset of a GeoEye image, acquired in January 01, 2013, covering the urban portion of the municipality of Goianésia, Brazil. Five decision tree induction algorithms, available in SIPINA, were tested: ID3, C45, GID3, Assistant86 and CHAID. The TAU and Kappa coefficients were used to evaluate the results. The TAU values obtained were in the range of 0.66 and 0.70, while those for Kappa varied from 0.65 to 0.69.

Iron from haemoglobin and haemin modulates nucleotide hydrolysis inTrichomonas vaginalis

Extracellular ATP may act as a danger signalling molecule, inducing inflammation and immune responses in infection sites. The ectonucleotidases NTPDase and ecto-5’-nucleotidase are enzymes that modulate extracellular nucleotide levels; these enzymes have been previously characterised in Trichomonas vaginalis. Iron plays an important role in the complex trichomonal pathogenesis. Herein, the effects of iron on growth, nucleotide hydrolysis and NTPDase gene expression in T. vaginalis isolates from female and male patients were evaluated. Iron from different sources sustained T. vaginalis growth. Importantly, iron from haemoglobin (HB) and haemin (HM) enhanced NTPDase activity in isolates from female patients and conversely reduced the enzyme activity in isolates from male patients. Iron treatments could not alter the NTPDase transcript levels in T. vaginalis. Furthermore, our results reveal a distinct ATP, ADP and AMP hydrolysis profile between isolates from female and male patients influenced by iron from HB and HM. Our data indicate the participation of NTPDase and ecto-5’-nucleotidase in the establishment of trichomonas infection through ATP degradation and adenosine production influenced by iron