Analysis of human activities and identification of uncertain situations in context-aware systems

One of the main obstacles faced by context-aware systems developed for human activities recognition is related to dealing with incomplete data for decision making. Problems from several sources contribute to this phenomenon. Imprecise acquisition of data from sensors and the system’s design issues are among them. This paper presents an approach to tackle this trouble by dividing it into three parts. The first one refers to the validation of context data through an Attribute Grammar. The formalism and expressiveness provided a grammar, enriched with attribute evaluation rules and contextual constraints, ensures that the system will use only valid data for reasoning. Anomalous data will be detected, and the situation will be signalized. Also, the analysis of Quality of Context is provided, considering a set of characteristics, vouching that only useful information will be considered. At last, the identification of the sources of uncertain situations followed by a sequence of actions aiming to minimize the negative impacts of it helps the system to work with more complete sets of data. The formalization of the approach is provided together with an algorithm to validate it.FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/202

Music Segmentation and Similarity Estimation Applied to a Gaze-Controlled Musical Interface

Assistive technology, especially gaze-controlled, can promote accessibility, health care, well-being and inclusion for impaired people, including musical activities that can be supported by interfaces controlled using eye tracking. Also, the Internet growth has allowed access to a huge digital music database, which can contribute to a new form of music creation. In this paper, we propose the application of Music Information Retrieval techniques for music segmentation and similarity identification, aiming at the development of a new form of musical creation using an automatic process and the optimization algorithm Harmony Search to combine segments. These techniques for segmentation and similarity of segments were implemented in an assistive musical interface controlled by eye movement to support musical creation and well-being. The experimental results can be found in [https://bit.ly/2Zl7KSC]

Music Segmentation and Similarity Estimation Applied to a Gaze-Controlled Musical Interface

Assistive technology, especially gaze-controlled, can promote accessibility, health care, well-being and inclusion for impaired people, including musical activities that can be supported by interfaces controlled using eye tracking. Also, the Internet growth has allowed access to a huge digital music database, which can contribute to a new form of music creation. In this paper, we propose the application of Music Information Retrieval techniques for music segmentation and similarity identification, aiming at the development of a new form of musical creation using an automatic process and the optimization algorithm Harmony Search to combine segments. These techniques for segmentation and similarity of segments were implemented in an assistive musical interface controlled by eye movement to support musical creation and well-being. The experimental results can be found in [https://bit.ly/2Zl7KSC]

Music Segmentation and Similarity Estimation Applied to a Gaze-Controlled Musical Interface

Assistive technology, especially gaze-controlled, can promote accessibility, health care, well-being and inclusion for impaired people, including musical activities that can be supported by interfaces controlled using eye tracking. Also, the Internet growth has allowed access to a huge digital music database, which can contribute to a new form of music creation. In this paper, we propose the application of Music Information Retrieval techniques for music segmentation and similarity identification, aiming at the development of a new form of musical creation using an automatic process and the optimization algorithm Harmony Search to combine segments. These techniques for segmentation and similarity of segments were implemented in an assistive musical interface controlled by eye movement to support musical creation and well-being. The experimental results can be found in [https://bit.ly/2Zl7KSC]

Genomic Analyses, Gene Expression and Antigenic Profile of the Trans-Sialidase Superfamily of Trypanosoma cruzi Reveal an Undetected Level of Complexity

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, a highly debilitating human pathology that affects millions of people in the Americas. The sequencing of this parasite's genome reveals that trans-sialidase/trans-sialidase-like (TcS), a polymorphic protein family known to be involved in several aspects of T. cruzi biology, is the largest T. cruzi gene family, encoding more than 1,400 genes. Despite the fact that four TcS groups are well characterized and only one of the groups contains active trans-sialidases, all members of the family are annotated in the T. cruzi genome database as trans-sialidase. After performing sequence clustering analysis with all TcS complete genes, we identified four additional groups, demonstrating that the TcS family is even more heterogeneous than previously thought. Interestingly, members of distinct TcS groups show distinctive patterns of chromosome localization. Members of the TcSgroupII, which harbor proteins involved in host cell attachment/invasion, are preferentially located in subtelomeric regions, whereas members of the largest and new TcSgroupV have internal chromosomal locations. Real-time RT-PCR confirms the expression of genes derived from new groups and shows that the pattern of expression is not similar within and between groups. We also performed B-cell epitope prediction on the family and constructed a TcS specific peptide array, which was screened with sera from T. cruzi-infected mice. We demonstrated that all seven groups represented in the array are antigenic. A highly reactive peptide occurs in sixty TcS proteins including members of two new groups and may contribute to the known cross-reactivity of T. cruzi epitopes during infection. Taken together, our results contribute to a better understanding of the real complexity of the TcS family and open new avenues for investigating novel roles of this family during T. cruzi infection

Correção do solo e adubação no sistema de plantio direto nos cerrados.

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar o Sistema de Plantio Direto nos Cerrados, seus impactos ambientais e econômicos, com ênfase especial ao manejo da fertilidade do solo, recomendação e o uso adequado de fertilizantes. Sistema de plantio direto-SPD; Plantas de cobertura para os Cerrados e os benefícios da palha em SPD; Manejo de solos dos Cerrados com o SP; Aspectos econômicos e ambientais do SPD; Manejo da fertilidade do solo em SPD; Amostragem do solo em SPD; Interpretação dos resultados de análise de solo de SPD em Cerrados; Correção do solo; Uso eficiente de fertilizantes; Recomendações de fertilizantes em PD