Modelo para Classificação de Perfil de Usuários em Ambientes Complexos de Aprendizagem: Uma proposta pela Rede de Saberes Coletivos (ReSa)

A participação dos sujeitos em comunidades on line é tida como desigual, visto que apenas uma pequena minoria faz contribuições efetivas. A partir de categorias encontradas na literatura, este trabalho apresenta um modelo de classificação de usuários num Ambiente Complexo em Rede para Aprendizagem proposto por Uebe Mansur (2011). O modelo contém quatro tipos de usuários: workers espontâneos, workers compulsórios, lurkers e shirkers. Os resultados da pesquisa mostram um número significativo de Workers espontâneos (78%), indicativo do processo de auto-organização dos participantes

Cloud Education: Aprendizagem Colaborativa em Nuvem através do Kindle e de Redes Sociais

This paper is part of an initial doctoral research which focuses on an alternative teaching approach for Trainee Programs in undergraduate courses in Business. Through this new approach, concepts like Social Networking and Cloud Education are used to promote collaborative learning, by providing better interaction among students in a trainee program. The methodology proposes to use  Kindle, an Amazon Cloud Library access gadget, as a collaborative learning interface to improve the absorption of theoretical knowledge by the students

Genomic Expansion of Magnetotactic Bacteria Reveals an Early Common Origin of Magnetotaxis with Lineage-specific Evolution

The origin and evolution of magnetoreception, which in diverse prokaryotes and protozoa is known as magnetotaxis and enables these microorganisms to detect Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and navigation, is not well understood in evolutionary biology. The only known prokaryotes capable of sensing the geomagnetic field are magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), motile microorganisms that biomineralize intracellular, membrane-bounded magnetic single-domain crystals of either magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4) called magnetosomes. Magnetosomes are responsible for magnetotaxis in MTB. Here we report the first large-scale metagenomic survey of MTB from both northern and southern hemispheres combined with 28 genomes from uncultivated MTB. These genomes expand greatly the coverage of MTB in the Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, and Omnitrophica phyla, and provide the first genomic evidence of MTB belonging to the Zetaproteobacteria and “Candidatus Lambdaproteobacteria” classes. The gene content and organization of magnetosome gene clusters, which are physically grouped genes that encode proteins for magnetosome biosynthesis and organization, are more conserved within phylogenetically similar groups than between different taxonomic lineages. Moreover, the phylogenies of core magnetosome proteins form monophyletic clades. Together, these results suggest a common ancient origin of iron-based (Fe3O4 and Fe3S4) magnetotaxis in the domain Bacteria that underwent lineage-specific evolution, shedding new light on the origin and evolution of biomineralization and magnetotaxis, and expanding significantly the phylogenomic representation of MTB

Network- and systems-based re-engineering of dendritic cells with non-coding RNAs for cancer immunotherapy

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells that induce and regulate adaptive immunity by presenting antigens to T cells. Due to their coordinative role in adaptive immune responses, DCs have been used as cell-based therapeutic vaccination against cancer. The capacity of DCs to induce a therapeutic immune response can be enhanced by re-wiring of cellular signalling pathways with microRNAs (miRNAs). Methods: Since the activation and maturation of DCs is controlled by an interconnected signalling network, we deploy an approach that combines RNA sequencing data and systems biology methods to delineate miRNA-based strategies that enhance DC-elicited immune responses. Results: Through RNA sequencing of IKKβ-matured DCs that are currently being tested in a clinical trial on therapeutic anti-cancer vaccination, we identified 44 differentially expressed miRNAs. According to a network analysis, most of these miRNAs regulate targets that are linked to immune pathways, such as cytokine and interleukin signalling. We employed a network topology-oriented scoring model to rank the miRNAs, analysed their impact on immunogenic potency of DCs, and identified dozens of promising miRNA candidates, with miR-15a and miR-16 as the top ones. The results of our analysis are presented in a database that constitutes a tool to identify DC-relevant miRNA-gene interactions with therapeutic potential (https://www.synmirapy.net/dc-optimization). Conclusions: Our approach enables the systematic analysis and identification of functional miRNA-gene interactions that can be experimentally tested for improving DC immunogenic potency

Fur in Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense Influences Magnetosomes Formation and Directly Regulates the Genes Involved in Iron and Oxygen Metabolism

Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense strain MSR-1 has the unique capability of taking up large amounts of iron and synthesizing magnetosomes (intracellular magnetic particles composed of Fe3O4). The unusual high iron content of MSR-1 makes it a useful model for studying biological mechanisms of iron uptake and homeostasis. The ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein plays a key role in maintaining iron homeostasis in many bacteria. We identified and characterized a fur-homologous gene (MGR_1314) in MSR-1. MGR_1314 was able to complement a fur mutant of E. coli in iron-responsive manner in vivo. We constructed a fur mutant strain of MSR-1. In comparison to wild-type MSR-1, the mutant strain had lower magnetosome formation, and was more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and streptonigrin, indicating higher intracellular free iron content. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses indicated that Fur protein directly regulates expression of several key genes involved in iron transport and oxygen metabolism, in addition it also functions in magnetosome formation in M. gryphiswaldense

Online assessment: more student cheating than on-site?

This paper discusses online student assessment which is one of the major concerns of higher education institutions during these pandemic times, forcing teachers to teach and assess in different ways and conditions than when using regular methods. Online assessment brings more challenges for the teachers and the fear that students could cheat more than in on-site or face-to-face conditions. More than a surveillance task, it is a question of having justice among different students’ socio-economic and learning conditions. Ethical issues, respect for the colleagues and trust in their own work and more suitable learning assessment methods could be strong reasons for the students not to cheat. For the teachers, this is a complex and controversial issue. Finding the best ways to prevent this from happening is not easy. This could demand a balance between less time and more complex online tests that require a lot of imagination and creativity. This paper gives some examples of face-to-face written tests and online tests, comparing grades of two cohorts of students (2019_20 and 2020_21) from three different courses. Those courses are lectured in the first and third year of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) Integrated Masters degree and the first year of the Masters in Engineering Project Management, at the University of Minho. Some practical tips and suggestions will be given to prepare online tests (e.g. diversity of assessment methods, type of questions included in the tests, tests could not be the only assessment method ...).FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(UIDB/00319/2020