Microbial antigen identification and vaccine delivery systems

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patterns of Play in the Counterattack of Elite Football Teams - A Mixed Method Approach

This study aimed to detect and analyse regular patterns of play in football teams during their offensive phase, through the combination of the sequential analysis technique and semi-structured interviews of experienced first League Portuguese coaches. The sample included 36 games (12 per team) of the F.C. Barcelona, Internazionalle Milano, and Manchester United teams that were analysed through sequential analysis with the software SDIS-GSEQ. Based on the detected patterns, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 8 expert high-performance football coaches. Data were analysed through the content analysis technique using the software Nvivo 9. The detected patterns of play revealed specific characteristics of different philosophies of play. Through the performed content analysis we could observe that coaches interpreting play patterns mainly based their opinions on tactical-strategic and tactical-technical aspects, and on the characteristics of the players on their team. On the other hand, consideration was given to three of the main evolutionary trends of play/soccer practice, which focus on the development of exercises that cover: i) the connection between the four play moments (offensive/defensive organization and transitions); ii) the pre-programmed ball possession recovery; iii) the execution of set pieces

Match analysis in football: a systematic review

The main focus of this paper was to review the available literature on match analysis in adult male football. The most common research topics were identified, their methodologies described and the evolutionary tendencies of this research area systematised. A systematic review of Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge database was performed according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines. The following keywords were used: football and soccer, each one associated with the terms: match analysis, performance analysis, notational analysis, game analysis, tactical analysis and patterns of play. Of 2732 studies initially identified, only 53 were fully reviewed, and their outcome measures abstracted and analysed. Studies that fit all inclusion criteria were organised according to their research design as descriptive, comparative or predictive. Results showed that 10 studies focused predominantly on a description of technical, tactical and physical performance variables. From all comparative studies, the dependent variables more frequently used were “playing position” and “competitive level”. Even though the literature stresses the importance of developing predictive models of sports performance, only few studies (n = 8) have focused on modelling football performance. Situational variables like game location, quality of opposing teams, match status and match half have been progressively included as object of research, since they seem to work as effective covariables of football performance. Taking into account the limitations of the reviewed studies, future research should provide comprehensive operational definitions for the studied variables, use standardised categories and description of activities and participants, and consider integrating the situational and interactional contexts into the analysis of football performance

Multi-agent system for on-demand production integrating production and quality control

Multi-agent systems is being pointed as particularly suited to design and engineer a new class of control systems to operate at the factory plants addressing the current requirements of modularity, flexibility and re-configurability. This paper introduces the main principles of a multi-agent system approach to support the integration of production and quality control processes in washing machines production lines that is being developed under the EU FP7 GRACE project

Isolamento de Toxoplasma gondii a partir de cérebro e músculo de gatos serologicamente positivos utilizando culturas celulares

O isolamento de Toxoplasma gondii é imprescindível quer para efeitos de diagnóstico definitivo da infecção, quer para estudos visando a genotipagem de estirpes circulantes, tanto nos animais como no ser humano. O bioensaio é presentemente considerado o método de eleição para isolamento de T. gondii de amostras biológicas, no entanto, para além de eticamente questionável, a inoculação em ratinho é dispendiosa e laboriosa. O ensaio in vitro utilizando culturas celulares é frequentemente mencionado como alternativa, contudo o investimento nesta área tem sido diminuto, sendo raros os trabalhos que referem o recurso a este método para isolamento de T. gondii a partir de tecidos animais. Este estudo teve como objectivo testar diferentes métodos de isolamento de T. gondii em culturas de células. Para a preparação dos inóculos, colhemos amostras de tecido cerebral e muscular (coração e membros) de 16 gatos serologicamente positivos, durante a necrópsia. O tecido cerebral foi homogeneizado com agulha e seringa em meio de cultura e o tecido muscular digerido numa solução de ácido clorídrico e pepsina. A inoculação dos homogeneizados de cérebro e músculo em culturas de células Vero resultou, respectivamente, numa taxa de isolamento de 37,5% (6/16) e 62,5% (10/16). A visualização microscópica de taquizoítos nas culturas celulares foi possível 5-14 dias pós-inoculação, utilizando homogeneizados de cérebro e 7-32 dias pós-inoculação, utilizando homogeneizados de tecido muscular. Todos os isolados foram confirmados por n-PCR visando a região ITS1 do rDNA de T. gondii

A model for ocean circulation on the Iberian coast.

We used a three-dimensional model with generic vertical coordinate to investigate the structure of flow and transports on the Iberian shelf-slope region. Two different types of experiments were conducted. The first was a process-oriented study to investigate the role of thermohaline forcing in the generation and meridional variability of the poleward slope current. The second experiment was a more realistic simulation for the year of 1994, a period for which there are several long-term current\ud meter data sets available. Comparisons between model, data and other published works have shown a reasonable agreement both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results obtained included the seasonal cycle with upwelling during the summer and a winter surface poleward current over the shelf, with a permanent undercurrent transporting Mediterranean Water along the Portuguese and Spanish slopes. The along-slope transports were predominant especially in the OMEX II–II study area. The meridional transport is poleward all year round, decreasing from winter to summer and from the south to the north. D 2002\ud Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Combined impact of diurnal type and time of day on children’s results in a battery of measurements probing reading abilities: Preliminary Results

The present work is part of a larger ongoing research project and it specifically aims to scrutinize whether diurnal-type (morningness- eveningness) and time-of-day have an impact (synchrony effect) on the results obtained by primary school children in standardized measures assessing reading skills and difficulties. Morning- and evening-type children attending the 2nd, 3rd or 4th grades were selected in a Portuguese “School Cluster” Using the Portuguese version of the Werner et al. (2009) Children Chronotype Questionnaire. The selected participants were randomly assigned to assessment sessions in the morning (9:00-10:30) or in the afternoon (16:00-17:30). There were 78 children (40 boys, 38 girls), 39 (50.0%) morning-type and 38 (50.0%) evening-type, 40 assessed in morning sessions and 38 in afternoon sessions. Reading abilities/difficulties were assessed using the Sucena & Castro (2011) battery ALEPE ‐ Avaliação da Leitura em Português Europeu [European Portuguese Reading Assessment battery], by a single evaluator who was blind to each child diurnaltype. Comparing morning and afternoon sessions, morning-types mainly showed similar scores, both in terms of answer correctness and reaction times, excepting for significantly higher scores in three tests in the morning sessions. Evening-types showed similar scores in most tests for answer correctness, but in two tests they achieved significantly higher scores in the morning, and mean reaction times were consistently shorter in the morning in comparison to the afternoon sessions. In 5 out of the 7 ALEPE tests that yield reaction time scores, differences reached, or were close to, statistical significance (p < 0.05, or p < 0.15, respectively). In conclusion, in spite of evening types’ performance seeming in most cases to be unaffected by time-of-day in a standardized battery of tests assessing reading abilities and difficulties, their shorter reaction times when tested in their nonoptimal time-of-day (i.e., in the morning) indicates an asynchrony effect. Contrarily to our initial expectations, results obtained so far in evening-type children suggest that specific tasks may benefit from non-optimal moments, as indicated by recent evidence. Support: FCT/COMPETE/QREN – research project PTDC/PSIEDD/120003/2010

Characterization of the Burkholderia cenocepacia J2315 Surface-Exposed Immunoproteome

Infections by the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) remain seriously life threatening to cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, and no effective eradication is available. A vaccine to protect patients against Bcc infections is a highly attractive therapeutic option, but none is available. A strategy combining the bioinformatics identification of putative surface-exposed proteins with an experimental approach encompassing the “shaving” of surface-exposed proteins with trypsin followed by peptide identification by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry is here reported. The methodology allowed the bioinformatics identification of 263 potentially surface-exposed proteins, 16 of them also experimentally identified by the “shaving” approach. Of the proteins identified, 143 have a high probability of containing B-cell epitopes that are surface-exposed. The immunogenicity of three of these proteins was demonstrated using serum samples from Bcc-infected CF patients and Western blotting, validating the usefulness of this methodology in identifying potentially immunogenic surface-exposed proteins that might be used for the development of Bcc-protective vaccines

Osmotic-stress-induced synthesis and degradation of inorganic polyphosphates in the alga phaeodactylum- tricornutum

The potential role of inorganic polyphosphates in the response of algal cells to osmotic stress was investigated. We show that changes in polyphosphate metabolism of algae induced by osmotic stress can be easily determined by measuring the metachromatic shift of toluidine blue produced by polyphosphate and by analysing the size of the extracted polyphosphate on urea/polyacrylamide gels. The amount and size of polyphosphate were found to differ considerably among different algal species. It is demonstrated that the alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum responds to hyperosmotic stress with a marked elongation of polyphosphate molecules and a decrease in the total amount of extractable polyphosphate, while exposure to hypoosmotic stress results in an increase in soluble shorter-chain polyphosphates and a rise in total polyphosphate content

Cognition, emotion and action: persistent sources of parent–offspring paradoxes in the family business

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore inductively the unique paradoxical tensions central to family business (FB) and to analyze how FB's members face these tensions and their implications in the personal and professional realms. Design/methodology/approach: A multiple-case study with 11 parent–offspring dyads from Portuguese FBs was conducted putting the focus on the micro-level interactions. Findings: The slopes of roles and relationality in FBs produces three persistent sets of tensions around cognition, emotion and action. These tensions exist in a paradoxical state, containing potentiality for synergy or trade-off. Originality/value: Our study is the first to empirically demonstrate that paradoxical tensions between parent and offspring are interrelated, by emphasizing the uniqueness of FB as a paradoxical setting and offering insights to negotiating of these singular paradoxes.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio