BrainCAT: a tool for automated and combined functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging brain connectivity analysis

Multimodal neuroimaging studies have recently become a trend in the neuroimaging field and are certainly a standard for the future. Brain connectivity studies combining functional activation patterns using resting-state or task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography have growing popularity. However, there is a scarcity of solutions to perform optimized, intuitive, and consistent multimodal fMRI/DTI studies. Here we propose a new tool, brain connectivity analysis tool (Brain CAT), for an automated and standard multimodal analysis of combined fMRI/DTI data, using freely available tools. With a friendly graphical user interface, BrainCAT aims to make data processing easier and faster, implementing a fully automated data processing pipeline and minimizing the need for user intervention, which hopefully will expand the use of combined fMRI/DTI studies. Its validity was tested in an aging study of the default mode network (DMN) white matter connectivity. The results evidenced the cingulum bundle as the structural connector of the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex and the medial frontal cortex, regions of the DMN. Moreover, mean fractional anisotropy (FA) values along the cingulum extracted with BrainCAT showed a strong correlation with FA values from the manual selection of the same bundle. Taken together, these results provide evidence that BrainCAT is suitable for these analyses.The authors thank the developers of all the software tools used by BrainCAT, namely, MRIcron, FSL, Diffusion Toolkit, and TrackVis. This work was supported by SwitchBox-FP7-HEALTH-2010-grant 259772-2

Semi-active vibration control of a non-collocated civil structure using evolutionary-based BELBIC

A buildings resilience to seismic activity can be increased by providing ways for the structure to dynamically counteract the effect of the Earth’s crust movements. This ability is fundamental in certain regions of the globe, where earthquakes are more frequent, and can be achieved using different strategies. State-of-the-art anti-seismic buildings have, embedded on their structure, mostly passive actuators such as base isolation, Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD) and viscous dampers that can be used to reduce the effect of seismic or even wind induced vibrations. The main disadvantage of this type of building vibration reduction strategies concerns their inability to adapt their properties in accordance to both the excitation signal or structural behaviour. This adaption capability can be promoted by adding to the building active type actuators operating under a closed-loop. However, these systems are substantially larger than passive type solutions and require a considerable amount of energy that may not be available during a severe earthquake due to power grid failure. An intermediate solution between these two extremes is the introduction of semi-active actuators such as magneto–rheological dampers. The inclusion of magneto–rheological actuators is among one of the most promising semi-active techniques. However, the overall performance of this strategy depends on several aspects such as the actuators number and location within the structure and the vibration sensors network. It can be the case where the installation leads to a non-collocated system which presents additional challenges to control. This paper proposes to tackle the problem of controlling the vibration of a non-collocated three-storey building by means of a brain–emotional controller tuned using an evolutionary algorithm. This controller will be used to adjust the stiffness coefficient of a magneto–rheological actuator such that the building’s frame oscillation under earthquake excitation, is mitigated. The obtained results suggest that, using this control strategy, it is possible to reduce the building vibration to secure levelsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Conetividade cerebral : ferramenta de processamento automático combinado de Ressonância Magnética Funcional e Tensor de Difusão

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia BiomédicaOs estudos de conetividade cerebral têm-se revelado extremamente importantes no âmbito científico e clínico. Contudo, a realização destes estudos através da conjugação de análises de conetividade funcional via Ressonância Magnética funcional (RMf) e análises de conetividade estrutural via imagem por tensor de difusão (Diffusion Tensor Imaging – DTI), não é uma tarefa fácil. A quantidade de procedimentos e conhecimentos técnicos necessários em estudos de RMf e DTI, associados à quase inexistência de procedimentos padrão para o processamento dos dados e à multitude de soluções de software que é necessário utilizar são alguns dos maiores entraves. Assim, o objetivo principal deste trabalho consistiu em conceber um fluxo de processamento que possa servir de padrão ao processamento e conjugação dos resultados das análises de RMf e DTI. A concretização aplicacional da automatização fluxo concebido foi conseguida através do desenvolvimento de uma aplicação informática. O fluxo de processamento desenvolvido inclui as etapas mais relevantes para a conjugação dos resultados da análise de componentes independentes aos dados de RMf e da tratografia a partir dos dados de DTI. Os testes realizados indicam que a aplicação desenvolvida constitui uma ferramenta simples e de fácil utilização. Além disso, os resultados das análises de conetividade cerebral demonstraram ser consistentes com estudos anteriores e o tempo despendido pelo utilizador na manipulação dos dados de RMf e DTI foi reduzido significativamente.Studies of brain connectivity have proved extremely important in the scientific and clinical fields. However, these studies, through the combination of analysis of functional connectivity by functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and structural connectivity analysis based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) are not an easy task. The amount of procedures and technical expertise needed, associated with the virtual absence of standard procedures for processing the data and the multitude of software solutions that need to be used are some of the biggest barriers. Thus, the goal of this study was to devise a pipeline that could be used as a standard to process the data and combine the results of combined analysis of fMRI and DTI. The practical implementation of the automated processing pipeline was achieved by the development of a computer application. The conceived processing pipeline includes the most important steps used in the combination of the results from independent component analysis of fMRI data and tractography from DTI data. Tests indicate that the developed application is a simple and easy to use tool. Moreover, the results of brain connectivity analysis proved to be consistent with previous studies and the time spent by the user in data manipulation was significantly reduced

Performance enhancement of a Neato XV-11 laser scanner applied to mobile robot localization: a stochastic modeling approach

Laser scanners are widely used in mobile robotics localization systems but, despite the enormous potential of its use, their high price tag is a major drawback, mainly for hobbyist and educational robotics practitioners that usually have a reduced budget. The Neato XV-11 Laser Scanner is a very low cost alternative, when compared with the current available laser scanners, being this fact the main motivation for its use. The modeling of a hacked Neato XV-11 Laser Scanner allows to provide valuable information that can promote the development of better designs of robot localization systems based on this sensor. This paper presents, as an example, the performance enhancement of a Neato XV-11 Laser Scanner applied to mobile robot self-localization, being used as case study the Perfect Match Algorithm applied to the Robot@Factory competition.This work has been supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia with in the Project Scope: UIDB/05757/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Appearance comparisons, affect, body dissatisfaction and eating pathology in Portuguese female university students

Physical appearance comparisons have been theorized to be associated with negative indicators of body image. This study aimed to study appearance comparisons and their association to affect, body dissatisfaction, and eating pathology. Three hundred and ten female university students with ages between 17 and 25 years (M = 20.2, SD = 1.9) completed sociodemographic and clinical data, self-reported questionnaires, and questions about appearance comparisons. Among the participants, 98.71% reported making appearance comparisons, and 42.15% of these reported making them frequently or always. Higher reported frequencies of appearance comparisons were related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and eating pathology. Appearance comparisons to acquaintances were the most frequent. Comparisons in person and through media were reported in similar proportions. Upward comparisons were more frequent than lateral and downward comparisons and were related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction than downward comparisons and to higher levels of body dissatisfaction, negative affect, and eating pathology than lateral comparisons. Upward comparisons to close peers were associated with higher body dissatisfaction as opposed to models/celebrities. Results, limitations, and implications are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Práticas de escritas extraescolares reconfigurando as práticas escolares

This paper exposes the development of a written proposal in a 2nd year high school students in a rural school district Santa Terezinha in Itaporã-MS and a part of its results, to promote a reflection on new possibilities for work that contribute to close the gap between school written practices and extracurricular and their socio historical relations. We begin from the assumption that the writing is heterogeneously formed the linguistic facts do not separate the social practices (Corrêa, 2004). The proposal constituted the production of a Virtual Journal on Facebook, developed during the Portuguese classes. The analysis of news production and reporting, plus the comments made on the digital platform, enable linguistically show that there is no rigid boundary between writing practices of focused on writing culture and those of digital culture, as they suppose many educators. Furthermore, show that social networks in school can work as collaborators in a more efficient and meaningful writing instruction for all involved

Esmalte dental: avaliação qualitativa da superfície tratada com jato de óxido de alumínio ("microetching") por meio de microscopia eletrônica de varredura

A Odontologia de nossos tempos conta com inúmeros recursos para o tratamento de pacientes. Com o desenvolvimento dos materiais adesivos e a introdução de novas técnicas restauradoras, a estrutura dental pode receber diferentes tipos de tratamentos superficiais. O uso do fluxo de óxido de alumínio em alta velocidade para a remoção de estrutura dental foi descrito por Black em 1945, no entanto, a literatura pertinente ao uso do jato de óxido de alumínio ainda permanece escassa no que se refere às alterações produzidas na estrutura dental. Atualmente, com o desenvolvimento de novos equipamentos de ar abrasivo, o procedimento de microabrasão vem sendo incorporado a várias técnicas restauradoras adesivas no preparo de superfícies dentais e superfícies internas de restaurações indiretas, as quais receberão a aplicação de materiais adesivos. O objetivo simples deste estudo foi avaliar as alterações produzidas pelo uso do ar abrasivo sobre o esmalte dental por meio de microscopia eletrônica de varredura, observando-se as alterações micromorfológicas superficiais. A importância deste estudo baseia-se no fato de que tratamentos superficiais alternativos químicos e mecânicos venham a ser introduzidos para o condicionamento de superfícies, inclusive do esmalte dental.Dentistry nowadays can count on a wide range of resources to treat patients. With the development of adhesive materials and several newly introduced restorative techniques, the dental structure can be subjected to different sorts of surface treatment. The use of aluminum oxide flow at high speed to remove dental structure was described by Black in 1945, however, the literature regarding the use of aluminum oxide jet is still scarce, as far as the alterations occurring in the dental structure are concerned. At the present, with the development of new abrasive air equipment, microabrasion has been added to several adhesive restorative techniques, in the preparation of the dental surface and of inner surfaces of indirect restorations, which will receive the application of adhesive materials. The aim of this study was to assess the alterations produced by abrasive air applied on the dental enamel by means of electronic microscopy, taking into consideration micromorphological surface alterations. The importance of this study is based on the fact that alternative surface treatments both chemical and mechanical could be introduced in surface priming, including dental enamel priming

Development of a braine emotional learning based controller for application to vibration control of a building structure under seismic excitation

In this paper, a numerical simulation of a semi-active neuroemotional based control system for vibration reduction of a 3-story framed building structure under seismic excitation is presented. The Brain Emotional Learning Based Intelligent Controller (BELBIC) is used to design a closed-loop control system that determines the required control action (emotional response) based on the desired and actual system response (sensory input). In this case, the control signal is used to adjust in real time the damping force of a MagnetoRheological (MR) damper to reduce the system response. The results obtained from the numerical simulation validate the effectiveness of the brain emotional learning semi-active controller in improving the overall response of the structural system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio