ArqMAEC: um modelo arquitetural baseado em Agentes para monitorar, avaliar e estimular a colaboração em ambientes educacionais gamificados

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Andrey Ricardo PimentelTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Exatas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática. Defesa: Curitiba, 25/08/2016Inclui referências : f. 243-263Resumo: A Aprendizagem Colaborativa tem sido estudada e apresentada a comunidade acadêmica como um grande sucesso para o ensino-aprendizagem, porém são poucas as ferramentas automatizadas para monitorar, avaliar e estimular a colaboração entre os estudantes, principalmente em áreas onde os estudantes colaboram brincando, como os jogos educacionais colaborativos. Metodologias e ferramentas de pesquisa foram desenvolvidas, todavia o problema ainda continua. Este projeto de pesquisa tem como objetivo apresentar um modelo de arquitetura de sistema multiagente para ser incorporada a softwares educacionais colaborativos gamificados que monitore, avalie e estimule a colaboração realizada pelos participantes. Foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre os conceitos de Aprendizagem Colaborativa, Agentes inteligentes e Jogos colaborativos aplicados simultaneamente. Desenvolveu-se um modelo arquitetural de sistemas multiagentes para ser incorporado a softwares educacionais colaborativos gamificados, e descritos cenários para avaliação através de inspeção com especialistas. Na avaliação com especialistas em Educação à Distancia o modelo foi aprovado para monitorar, avaliar e estimular comportamentos colaborativos. Espera-se que com esta arquitetura possa-se desenvolver softwares capazes de monitorar o processo de colaboração a fim de avaliar os participantes e estimular a sua colaboração. Palavras-chave: Monitoramento, avaliação e estimulação do processo de colaboração, Sistemas multiagentes, ambientes de colaboração gamificados.Abstract: Collaborative Learning has been studied and presented to the academic community as a great success for teaching-learning, but there are few automated tools to monitor, assess, and stimullating collaboration among students, especially in areas where students collaborate by playing, such as Collaborative educational games. Methodologies and research tools have been developed, but the problem still continues. This research project aims to present a multi-agent system architecture model to be incorporated into gami_ed collaborative educational software that monitors, assesses and stimulates the collaboration performed by the participants. A bibliographic research was carried out on the concepts of Collaborative Learning, Intelligent Agents and Collaborative Games applied simultaneously. An architectural model of multi-agent systems was developed to be incorporated into gamfied collaborative educational software, and scenarios were described for evaluation through expert inspection. In the evaluation with specialists in Distance Education the model was approved to monitor, assess and stimulate collaborative behaviours. It is expected that with this architecture you can develop software capable of monitoring the collaboration process in order to assess the participants and stimulate their collaboration. Key words: Monitoring, assessment and stimulation of the collaboration process, Multi-agent systems, gamified collaborative environments

Linguagem e ferramenta de autoria para a meta-modelagem de aprendizes de conceitos visuais

Orientador: Alexandre Ibrahim DireneDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências ExatasResumo: Este trabalho apresenta os formalismos de uma linguagem de autoria para a meta-modelagem de estereótipos de aprendizes que utilizam um sistema tutor inteligente destinado ao ensino de conceitos visuais. Foi feita uma revisão crítica da literatura sobre a modelagem de aprendizes e usuários em geral, seguida da consideração de aspectos do ensino de conceitos visuais, chegando até os ambientes de autoria. O conjunto de soluções adotadas neste trabalho se caracterizou pela integração de conceitos cognitivos e pela implementação de uma ferramenta de software para apoiar o processo de autoria dos meta-modelos de aprendizes. A ferramenta de software, chamada FEMEA, oferece uma linguagem de autoria, a qual permite a definição de estereótipos de aprendizes baseados na idéia de capacidades isoladas de perícia, a serem desenvolvidas pelo aprendiz ao longo de seu treinamento. O trabalho também inclui metas futuras de pesquisa.Abstract: This work presents the formalisms of an authoring language aimed at meta-modeling tasks for a learner's stereotype whose specific model is maintained by an intelligent Tutoring System that teaches visual concepts. A critical literature review is provided, including approaches to student modeling as well as to general-purpose users, followed the main aspects of visual concept tutoring, and closing with considerations on existing authoring environments and languages. The solutions adopted in this work are guided by the integration of cognitive concepts and by the implementation of a software tool that aids the authoring process of the learner meta-model. The tool, named FEMEA, offers a friendly authoring language, which allows the definition of learners' stereotypes, based on the idea of recluded capacities of expertise, to be developed during the training process. The work also provides future research directions

Dopamine [beta]-hydroxylation in diabetes and diabetic autonomic neuropathy

Dopamine [beta]-hydroxylase (DBH) has been studied in healthy subjects and diabetic patients, some of whom had autonomic neuropathy. DBH was assayed by a recently described in vivo tritium release method (10,11). Dopamine specifically labeled in the [beta] position, [[beta]-3H]DA, was given intravenously, and the time course of tritiated water (THO) release into the total body water was measure as an index of DBH activity in sympathetic neurons. We simultaneously assayed [3H]norepinephrine metabolite excretion.The DBH activity of patients with autonomic neuropathy as a group did not differ significantly from that of diabetics without neuropathy or healthy controls. Our data do not support the suggestion (7) that a deficit in DBH activity is responsible for sympathetic neuronal dysfunction in diabetic autonomic neuropathy. This syndrome thus differs from idiopathic orthostatic hypotension in which condition there is an impairment in the ability of sympathetic neurons to hydroxylate dopamine (9).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24287/1/0000553.pd

Separation of urinary catecholamines and catecholamine metabolites by high-pressure liquid chromatography

A series of high-pressure liquid chromatographic (hplc) procedures are described for the separation of all major and most minor catecholamine metabolites present in human urine. The amines and metabolites are first concentrated and partially purified by traditional methods, ion-exchange and alumina chromatography. Final separations are then performed with hplc. Our system is specifically designed to study dopamine [beta]-hydroxylation in vivo. [3H]Dopamine is administered intravenously to human subjects, and then all the excreted [3H]dopamine metabolites and [3H]norepinephrine metabolites are separated and assayed. The high degree of resolution achieved with hplc makes it possible to separate the small population of [3H]norepinephrine metabolites from the much larger population of [3H]-dopamine metabolites. The ratio of total excreted [3H]norepinephrine metabolites/total excreted [3H]dopamine metabolites averages 0.029 +/- 0.005 in urine samples collected during the first 6 h following the administration of isotope.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23227/1/0000160.pd

Post-operative atrial fibrillation: a maze of mechanisms

Post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is one of the most frequent complications of cardiac surgery and an important predictor of patient morbidity as well as of prolonged hospitalization. It significantly increases costs for hospitalization. Insights into the pathophysiological factors causing POAF have been provided by both experimental and clinical investigations and show that POAF is ‘multi-factorial’. Facilitating factors in the mechanism of the arrhythmia can be classified as acute factors caused by the surgical intervention and chronic factors related to structural heart disease and ageing of the heart. Furthermore, some proarrhythmic mechanisms specifically occur in the setting of POAF. For example, inflammation and beta-adrenergic activation have been shown to play a prominent role in POAF, while these mechanisms are less important in non-surgical AF. More recently, it has been shown that atrial fibrosis and the presence of an electrophysiological substrate capable of maintaining AF also promote the arrhythmia, indicating that POAF has some proarrhythmic mechanisms in common with other forms of AF. The clinical setting of POAF offers numerous opportunities to study its mechanisms. During cardiac surgery, biopsies can be taken and detailed electrophysiological measurements can be performed. Furthermore, the specific time course of POAF, with the delayed onset and the transient character of the arrhythmia, also provides important insight into its mechanisms

HLA Genes, Islet Autoantibodies and Residual C-Peptide at the Clinical Onset of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and the Risk of Retinopathy 15 Years Later

HLA genes, islet autoantibodies and residual C-peptide were studied to determine the independent association of each exposure with diabetic retinopathy (DR), 15 years after the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes in 15-34 year old individuals.The cohort was identified in 1992 and 1993 by the Diabetes Incidence Study in Sweden (DISS), which investigates incident cases of diabetes for patients between 15 and 34 years of age. Blood samples at diagnosis were analyzed to determine HLA genotype, islet autoantibodies and serum C-peptide. In 2009, fundus photographs were obtained from patient records. Study measures were supplemented with data from the Swedish National Diabetes Registry.The prevalence of DR was 60.2% (148/246). Autoantibodies against the 65 kD isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GADA) at the onset of clinical diabetes increased the risk of DR 15 years later, relative risk 1.12 for each 100 WHO units/ml, [95% CI 1.02 to 1.23]. This equates to risk estimates of 1.27, [95% CI 1.04 to 1.62] and 1.43, [95% CI 1.06 to 1.94] for participants in the highest 25(th) (GADA>233 WHO units/ml) and 5(th) percentile (GADA>319 WHO units/ml) of GADA, respectively. These were adjusted for duration of diabetes, HbA(1c), treated hypertension, sex, age at diagnosis, HLA and C-peptide. Islet cell autoantibodies, insulinoma-antigen 2 autoantibodies, residual C-peptide and the type 1 diabetes associated haplotypes DQ2, DQ8 and DQ6 were not associated with DR.Increased levels of GADA at the onset of type 1 diabetes were associated with DR 15 years later. These results, if confirmed, could provide additional insights into the pathogenesis of the most common microvascular complication of diabetes and lead to better risk stratification for both patient screenings and DR treatment trials