Estratégia de comunicação para configuração do escalonamento de atividades em nanossatélites

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro Tecnológico. Engenharia Eletrônica.O objetivo desse trabalho é o projeto e desenvolvimento de software para o envio de listas de atividades a serem executadas pelo nanossatélite FloripaSat-2. As listas de atividades são definidas em solo, e enviadas para o satélite a partir da estação terrestre do Spacelab-UFSC. As listas enviadas possibilitam reconfigurar as atividades do satélite que serão gerenciadas por um escalonador ciente de energia. Assim, o trabalho visa prolongar a vida útil do satélite por ajudar o escalonador embarcado a usar energia mais eficientemente e ter adaptabilidade nas atividades que o satélite realiza. O processo de envio emprega uma estrutura para organizar os dados e dá ênfase na flexibilidade do programa para aceitar um arquivo de configurações independentemente do número de atividades ali contido. O software da estação terrestre inclui um programa com interface gráfica, desenvolvido na linguagem Python, para transformar bits em pulsos físicos, que acomoda o resultado desse trabalho e fornece o protocolo para organizar os dados num formato apropriado à transmissão. Ao chegar ao satélite, as rotinas do microcontrolador identificarão esses pacotes de informação e os devolverão à estrutura na qual foram inseridos na estação terrestre para que possam ser usadas para ajustar as atividades do satélite. Uma ênfase também é dada na modularidade do código a fim de facilitar a sua reusabilidade e adaptação. Finalmente, há uma discussão sobre a utilização de bitfields para minimizar a quantidade de bytes enviada para o satélite.The objective of this work is the design and development of software for sending lists of activities to be performed onboard the nanosatellite FloripaSat-2. The activity lists are built on the ground, and sent to the satellite from the Spacelab-UFSC ground station. This strategy allows for the reconfiguration of the activities managed by an energy-aware scheduler. Consequently, the fulfillment of this objective will prolong the satellite’s lifespan as a result of consuming energy more efficiently and having more adaptability in its activities. The dispatch process employs a structure to organise the data and permits flexibility to accept files with any number of new configurations. The ground-station software includes a program with a graphical interface, developed in the language Python, that transforms bits into pulses. On arriving in the satellite, microcontroller software routines identify these information packets and return the data to the original structure so that they can be used to reconfigure the activities of the satellite. The author puts stress on developing code that is modular in order for it to be reusable and easily adapted. Finally, there is a discussion on the use of bitfields to minimise the total number of bytes that are sent to the satellite

Resilience and frailty in older adults:from conceptual understanding to practical intervention

Resilience is considered the polar opposite of frailty, in that frailty is defined as a loss of resilience reserved, and the ability of our bodily systems to repair themselves, to respond to trauma and infection, and maintain homeostasis in bodily systems. Resilience is also considered a physiological construct. This may be reflective of the reluctance to move away from considered resilience in solely physiological terms. However, recognition of non physiological frailty is increased, and so too should more importance be given to psychological resilience. However, research examining the relationship between psychological resilience and frailty is lacking. This study contains a total of six studies across five chapters. Chapter 1 evaluates current models of frailty and assessment tools and considers what tool is necessary to assess resilience. Chapter 1 also considers our conceptual understanding of resilience in the context of frailty, identifies gaps within our conceptualisations, and outlines how this research will attempt to address these issues. Chapter 2 (consisting of three studies) redefines and develops a frailty index into a holistic tool, identifying a psychosocial and environmental frailty marker and integrating them into assessment. Chapter 3 analytically considers the validity of our conceptual models of resilience in the context of frailty and determines the benefits of maintaining high levels of resilience directly on frailty, as well as frailty outcomes. Chapter 3 then proceeds to co-create an intervention designed to improve psychological resilience in older adults. Chapter 4 implements and evaluates the effectiveness of the resilience-building intervention. Finally, Chapter 5 provides a general discussion of principal findings within this thesis, and offers direction for future research

The Toxoplasma gondii active serine hydrolase 4 regulates parasite division and intravacuolar parasite architecture

ABSTRACT Hydrolase are enzymes that regulate diverse biological processes, including posttranslational protein modifications. Recent work identified four active serine hydrolases (ASHs) in Toxoplasma gondii as candidate depalmitoylases. However, only TgPPT1 (ASH1) has been confirmed to remove palmitate from proteins. ASH4 (TgME49_264290) was reported to be refractory to genetic disruption. We demonstrate that recombinant ASH4 is an esterase that processes short acyl esters but not palmitoyl thioesters. Genetic disruption of ASH4 causes defects in cell division and premature scission of parasites from residual bodies. These defects lead to the presence of vacuoles with a disordered intravacuolar architecture, with parasites arranged in pairs around multiple residual bodies. Importantly, we found that the deletion of ASH4 correlates with a defect in radial dispersion from host cells after egress. This defect in dispersion of parasites is a general phenomenon that is observed for disordered vacuoles that occur at low frequency in wild-type parasites, suggesting a possible general link between intravacuolar organization and dispersion after egress. IMPORTANCE This work defines the function of an enzyme in the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii. We show that this previously uncharacterized enzyme is critical for aspects of cellular division by the parasite and that loss of this enzyme leads to parasites with cell division defects and which also are disorganized inside their vacuoles. This leads to defects in the ability of the parasite to disseminate from the site of an infection and may have a significant impact on the parasite's overall infectivity of a host organism

Cognality VR: Exploring a Mobile VR App with Multiple Stakeholders to Reduce Meltdowns in Autistic Children

Many autistic children can have difficulty communicating, understanding others, and interacting with new and unfamiliar environments. At times they may suffer from a meltdown. The major contributing factor to meltdowns is sensory overwhelm. Technological solutions have shown promise in improving the quality of life for autistic children-however little exists to manage meltdowns. In this work with stakeholders, we design and deploy a low cost, mobile VR application to provide relief during sensory discomfort. Through the analysis of surveys from 88 stakeholders from a variety of groups (i.e., autistic adults, children with autism, parents of autistic individuals, and medical practitioners), we identified three key features regarding ways to manage meltdowns: escape, distract, and wait it out. These insights were implementation in a system, then was then remotely deployed with 6 families. Findings and future steps are discussed

Age-friendliness of living environments from the older person’s viewpoint : development of the Age-friendly Environment Assessment Tool

Abstract Background according to the World Health Organisation, the role of the environment for older adults is to maintain and facilitate independence and promote quality of life. However, measures that examine the environment in terms of its potential impact on older people are either oriented towards specific aspects of the environment, specifically designed for community-level assessment rather than individually oriented, or are unwieldy for everyday use. Objectives this article describes the development and validation of the Age-friendly Environment Assessment Tool (AFEAT), assessing whether individual function and frailty impact on perceptions of environmental age-friendliness. The extent to which such perceptions may have moderate impacts of frailty on outcomes such as need for care support, quality of life and loneliness is examined. Methods a total of 132 participants aged 58–96 were recruited from retirement villages and local communities in the Midlands of the UK. Participants completed the AFEAT, and a series of measures designed to assess frailty and assessments of quality of life, loneliness and perceptions of functional limitations. Results internal reliability assessment indicated that the AFEAT possesses a Cronbach’s Alpha score of 0.745. The AFEAT significantly predicted quality of life and loneliness, accounting for 17.1% and 5.8% of variance respectively, indicating high concurrent and predictive validity. Furthermore, the AFEAT moderated the predictive strength of frailty in predicting the amount of formal care an individual receives, but not quality of life or loneliness. Discussion the AFEAT is a valid and reliable tool, and analyses highlight the need for an individual-oriented age-friendly environment tool

Crash Safety Assurances Strategies for Future Plastic and Composite Intensive Vehicles (PCIVs)

This report addresses outstanding safety issues and research needs for Plastics and Composite Intensive Vehicles (PCIVs) to facilitate their safe deployment by 2020. PCIVs have the potential to revolutionize the automotive sector; however, the use of plastics and composite materials in automotive structures requires an in-depth knowledge of their unique performance characteristics in the crash and safety environment. Included in this report is a proposed definition of the PCIV, a review of potential safety benefits, lessons-learned, and progress to date towards crashworthiness of PCIVs as well as proposed safety performance specifications and research needs

INTEGRATED HOUSING, CARE AND SUPPORT: Measurable Outcomes for Healthy Ageing:The ExtraCare Charitable Trust Research Report

Key Points – ExtraCare Residents change over a 5-year period Personal Health • Significant improvements in the level of exercise done by residents (75% increase) • Improvements in residents’ perceived health, which is a good indicator of their actual health status • No change (either improvement or deterioration) in residents’ level of independence or functional limitations over the 5 year period • Increase in walking speed, where slow walking speed is an indicator of falls risk • A reduction in risk of falls over the first 2 years of living in ExtraCare and no changes in the risk of falls over a 5-year period • The increase of frailty is delayed by up to 3 years in residents Psychological Wellbeing • Low levels of depression and depressive symptoms in residents • 23% decrease in anxiety symptoms • Improvements in memory and cognitive skills: 24% increase in autobiographical memory and 17% increase in memory recall tests • No decline in measures of executive function over the range of the study • Improvements in physical fitness measured using walking speed have benefited residents in terms of psychological wellbeing and reduced depressive symptoms. Analysis of relationships shows that if walking speed had stayed the same, depression would have increased Social Wellbeing • 86.5% of residents were ‘never or hardly ever’ lonely • Levels of loneliness are lower for residents in ExtraCare than the national averages Healthcare Costs • Residents are making more effective use of healthcare resources, reducing visits to GPs but increasing visits to Practice Nurses • Residents average 3 days less per year in hospital than previously • There are no expected increases in NHS costs over time as people age • Living in ExtraCare saves the NHS around £1994 per person, on average, over 5 year

“I Feel Like I Work Full-Time for Parkinson’s”:A Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Parkinson’s Informal Caregivers during COVID-19 in England

While the direct effects of COVID-19 caused widespread global suffering and death, the indirect impacts—via public health preventative measures and a reduction in health and social care ser-vices—were also devastating for many. More recently, it has also become increasingly apparent that such measures have had disproportionate effects, exacerbating existing health inequalities. For caregivers of individuals with chronic illness, the effects have been marked and particularly so for informal caregivers of individuals with complex neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s. Nine informal caregivers (all partners: three men and six women) of individuals with Parkinson’s in England took part in individual semi-structured interviews on two occasions (December 2021/January 2022 and May 2022). The interviews focused on their experiences of supporting their partner, their own challenges, and how these evolved and changed post-lockdown. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to inform the methodology and analysis. Four themes were identified: (i) lockdown-induced revolution and evolution of the relationship dynamic with partner; (ii) fighting to be seen, heard, and understood in healthcare encounters; (iii) making sense of, and adapting to, risk in a time of COVID-19; and (iv) managing isolation and need for support during and after lockdown. The negative effects from both the lockdowns and the depletion of usual health and support services were apparent for all participants. Existing vulnerabilities from being a carer of an individual with complex needs were also exacerbated. As caregivers worked hard to mitigate these effects for their partners as much as possible, the long-term impact of such intense psycho-logical and practical effort was often considerable. Ultimately, a simple restoration of pre-lockdown support levels may be insufficient to facilitate a successful return to optimal levels of support and wellbeing