Robotics and entrepreneurship for a better society: opening doors to mobility

This article reports the development of an educational robotics project at the Basic School (2nd and 3rd cycles) André Soares in Braga, with students from 6th grade, integrated in an international cooperative partnership for innovation and good practices of the European Erasmus+ programme. This project was initially designed to address the need to share innovative teaching practices through the development of new methodologies and multidisciplinary approach in teachinglearning processes in the 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education combined with the stimulation of entrepreneurial skills and co-creation of knowledge. From the beginning, the project had the collaboration and support of the Hands-on Science Network Association, having given rise to the submission of an application to the 13th edition of the contest “Projeto Ciência na Escola” of the Ilídio Pinho Foundation on the topic “Science and Technology at the service of a better world”. This application has been selected for the 2nd phase of the competition and obtained financial support for the development of activities which gave an added dimension to the project, attracting and further motivating students for learning science and the choice of technology areas. Students were challenged to identify a situation/problem and find a possible solution/answer in the context of educational robotics. Thus, there was the study of the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT programming environment for programming routines or scripts and simultaneously the work methodology hands-on was implemented using participative methodological approaches, enhancing the development of key skills and entrepreneur spirit. At first, students’ creativity was stimulated through the ideas generation process called SCAMPER, channelling it to solve situations/problem where the students' task was to unlock a situation and optimize it. From a simple stick and a simulation of a path for blind people, ideas were collected to innovate this object, in order to promote a more efficient and fairer mobility. With the collection/gathering of ideas/suggestions, a guiding principle for our project was developed giving an intended metacognitive knowledge. Starting with the acquisition of this knowledge, students focus on building and programming robots LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT, developing the prototype of a smart and innovative cane for the blind people. This is an interactive process that combines the concrete and the abstract in solving a problem involving steps such as: design, implementation, construction, automation and control mechanism. In all of these steps the construction of knowledge took place, arising from different scientific fields (science, mathematics, physics, technology), as well as the acquisition of transversal skills. The work focused mainly on the dynamics of the process rather than the products or results. Many citizenship skills were developed when creating a tool to minimize the difficulties and obstacles faced by blind people, enabling the improvement of their quality of life. It was observed, from certain experimental activities, that one can transfer new skills and knowledge acquired at school to everyday life

Study of Metal/Polymer Interface of Parts Produced by a Hybrid Additive Manufacturing Approach

Acknowledgments This research work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and Centro2020 through the Project reference: UID/Multi/04044/2013, PAMI - ROTEIRO/0328/2013 (Nº 022158) and Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) through the Project reference POCI-01-0247-FEDER-017963, NEXT.parts – Next Generation of Advanced Hybrid Parts (co-promotion nº 17963).The additive manufacturing of multimaterial parts, e.g. metal/plastic, with functional gradients represents for current market demands a great potential of applications [1]. Metal Polymer parts combine the good mechanical properties of the metals with the low weight characteristics, good impact strength, good vibration and sound absorption of the polymers. Nevertheless, the coupling between metal and polymers is a great challenge since the processing factors for each one of them are very different. In addition, a system that makes the hybrid processing - metal/polymer - using only one operation is unknown [2, 3]. To overcome this drawback, a hybrid additive manufacturing system based on the additive technologies of SLM and SL was recently developed by the authors. The SLM and SL techniques joined enabling the production of a photopolymerization of the polymer in the voids of a 3D metal mesh previously produced by SLM [4]. The purpose of this work is the study on the metal/polymer interface of hybrid parts manufactured from the hybrid additive manufacturing system [5]. For this, a core of tool steel (H13) and two different types of photopolymers: one elastomeric (BR3D-DL-Flex) and another one rigid (BR3D-DL-Hard) are considered. A set of six samples for each one of metal core/polymer combination was manufactured and submitted to tensile tests.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Temperature responsiveness of gilthead sea bream bone; an in vitro and in vivo approach

This study aimed to characterize the molecules involved in osteogenesis in seabream and establish using in vitro/in vivo approaches the responsiveness of selected key genes to temperature. The impact of a temperature drop from 23 to 13 degrees C was evaluated in juvenile fish thermally imprinted during embryogenesis. Both, in vitro/in vivo, Fib1a, appeared important in the first stages of bone formation, and Col1A1, ON and OP, in regulating matrix production and mineralization. OCN mRNA levels were up-regulated in the final larval stages when mineralization was more intense. Moreover, temperature-dependent differential gene expression was observed, with lower transcript levels in the larvae at 18 degrees C relative to those at 22 degrees C, suggesting bone formation was enhanced in the latter group. Results revealed that thermal imprinting affected the long-term regulation of osteogenesis. Specifically, juveniles under the low and low-to-high-temperature regimes had reduced levels of OCN when challenged, indicative of impaired bone development. In contrast, gene expression in fish from the high and high-to-low-temperature treatments was unchanged, suggesting imprinting may have a protective effect. Overall, the present study revealed that thermal imprinting modulates bone development in seabream larvae, and demonstrated the utility of the in vitro MSC culture as a reliable tool to investigate fish osteogenesis."Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" (MINECO) [BES-2015-074654]; Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) [SFRH/BPD/111512/2015, SFRH/BD/81625/2011]; MINECO, Spain [AGL2010-17324, AGL2014-57974-R]; "Generalitat de Catalunya" (XRAq); Generalitat de Catalunya [2014SGR-01371]; FCT, Portugal [CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013]; European Union [LIFECYCLE EU-FP7 222719]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

2022 assessment

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Validation of serious games for health education

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar a validação de serious games enquanto tecnologias educacionais em saúde. Trata-se de um estudo metodológico de abordagem quantitativa. Foram desenvolvidos três jogos de tabuleiro, sendo eles: Imunizagame; Guerreiros de Saludis: Ataque ao Stress; e ISTAR: Uma batalha pela saúde. Concluído o desenvolvimento, foi iniciada a etapa de validação. Os juízes avaliadores foram membros pesquisadores do grupo de pesquisa pertencentes a áreas distintas de formação. Para realizar a avaliação dos jogos foi utilizado o questionário MEEGA+ (Model for the Evaluation of Educational Games). Nos resultados são abordados a qualidade geral do jogo, sua usabilidade, a experiência do jogador, possíveis áreas de melhoria. Os três jogos foram classificados como excelentes, tendo destaque para atratividade do design, promoção de interatividade entre os jogadores, oferta de desafios adequados e geradores de saberes em suas respectivas áreas de conhecimento.The aim of this study is to present the validation of serious games as educational technologies in healthcare. This is a methodological study with a quantitative approach. Three board games were developed: Imunizagame; Guerreiros de Saludis: Ataque ao Stress; and ISTAR: Uma batalha pela saúde. Once development was complete, the validation stage began. The evaluators were members of the research group belonging to different backgrounds. MEEGA+ (Model for the Evaluation of Educational Games) was used to evaluate the games. The results address the overall quality of the game, its usability, player experience and possible areas for improvement. The three games were rated as excellent, with emphasis on the attractive design, promotion of interactivity between players, appropriate levels of challenge and the generation of knowledge in their respective areas of expertise.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Witnessing causal nonseparability

Our common understanding of the physical world deeply relies on the notion that events are ordered with respect to some time parameter, with past events serving as causes for future ones. Nonetheless, it was recently found that it is possible to formulate quantum mechanics without any reference to a global time or causal structure. The resulting framework includes new kinds of quantum resources that allow performing tasks - in particular, the violation of causal inequalities - which are impossible for events ordered according to a global causal order. However, no physical implementation of such resources is known. Here we show that a recently demonstrated resource for quantum computation - the quantum switch - is a genuine example of "indefinite causal order". We do this by introducing a new tool - the causal witness - which can detect the causal nonseparability of any quantum resource that is incompatible with a definite causal order. We show however that the quantum switch does not violate any causal nequality.Comment: 15 + 12 pages, 5 figures. Published versio

Nutrição e produtividade de híbridos de sorgo granífero de ciclos contrastantes consorciados com capim-marandu.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do consórcio com capim-marandu (Urochloa brizantha) na nutrição e produtividade de híbridos de sorgo granífero de ciclos contrastantes, em sistema plantio direto. Utilizou-se o delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, em arranjo fatorial 2x2, com seis repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram de dois híbridos de sorgo granífero de ciclos contrastantes (P8118, ciclo médio; e P8419, ciclo precoce) e dois sistemas de cultivo (monocultivo e consórcio com capim-marandu na linha de semeadura), com semeadura no início de dezembro. Avaliou-se a nutrição, as características agronômicas, os componentes da produção e a produtividade de matéria seca e grãos da cultura do sorgo. Com exceção do potássio e do enxofre, os teores foliares dos demais nutrientes foram adequados à cultura do sorgo granífero, em todos os tratamentos. O híbrido P8118 apresentou a maior produtividade de grãos e, após o consórcio, contribuiu para a maior produtividade de matéria seca da forragem de capim-marandu, no corte realizado em outubro. O cultivo consorciado com capim-marandu não afeta a nutrição e a produtividade de matéria seca e de grãos de sorgo, em comparação ao monocultivo, independentemente do ciclo do híbrido utilizado

Adubação nitrogenada de sorgo granífero consorciado com capim em sistema de plantio direto.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do manejo da adubação nitrogenada sobre a cultura do sorgo granífero, cultivado solteiro e em consócio com capim-marandu e capim-mombaça, e determinar a produtividade de matéria seca das forrageiras, nos anos agrícolas 2003/2004 e 2004/2005, em plantio direto. Foi utilizado o delineamento experimental em blocos ao acaso, em arranjo fatorial 3x5, com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram de três sistemas de cultivo de sorgo granífero (solteiro e consorciado com capim-marandu ou capim-mombaça, na linha de semeadura) e cinco manejos de adubação nitrogenada: 30?70; 70?30; 50?50; 100?0; e 0?100 kg ha-1 de N, quantidades aplicadas na semeadura e na cobertura, respectivamente. O cultivo consorciado não afetou a nutrição nem a produtividade de grãos de sorgo. Apenas no primeiro ano de cultivo, o parcelamento 50?50 kg ha1 de N proporcionou maior produtividade de grãos. O manejo da palhada interferiu no estabelecimento do sorgo no segundo ano de cultivo, e diminuiu a produtividade de grãos. As maiores doses de N aplicadas em cobertura elevaram a produtividade de matéria seca do capim-marandu e, as aplicadas em semeadura, a elevaram no capim-mombaça