Increasing physical activity levels among individuals with spinal cord injury

Three mixed methods studies were completed within the Spinal Cord Injury and Physical Activity in the Community (SCIPA Com) program: 1) identification barriers and facilitators to physical activity among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI); 2) implementation of physical activity programs in community fitness centres; and 3) measures of personality attributes related to active behaviour. Results support the ecological validity of SCIPA Com in increasing physical activity levels and health benefits in the SCI population

The personality of visual elements: creating a framework for the development of visual identity based on brand personality dimensions

In order to be successful in today's competitive environment, brands must have well-established identities. Thus, during the branding process it is necessary to attribute to the brands the personality traits and the visual elements that best represent the desired identity. With advances in the communication field, scholars have analyzed how different visual elements (e.g. logo, typography and color) can represent the desired brand personality. However, typically these elements are analyzed separately, since few studies analyze the association of personality traits with the set of visual elements of the brand, so called “visual identity”. Therefore, this work aims to develop a methodological framework that allows the creation of visual identity based on brand personality, being assigned to each Dimension of Brand Personality suggested by Aaker (1997) a set of visual elements, namely, within the scope of this research, colors, typographies and shapes, which best represent the desired personality traits. Through a quanti-quali approach, the associations suggested in the developed framework were tested through the application of a questionnaire to a sample of Brazilian and Portuguese consumers, to gather information about their perceptions. Preliminary results suggest that the brand design elements in the proposed framework can successfully generate the desired brand personality perception in consumers

A novel approach for chip-based digital LAMP towards the quantification of prostate cancer biomarkers

Nucleic acids amplification-based methods can profit from the features offered by Lab-on-a-chip technologies, in particular those that aimed for molecular diagnosis purposes. Currently, isothermal amplification approaches, more precisely LAMP, have become promising alternatives to the current gold standard technology (PCR). Regardless the amplification mechanism, accurate target quantification is still challenging. To this end, the development of digital amplification methods has helped to circumvent this limitation. This thesis focused on the development of a chip-based digital LAMP system towards the quantification of prostate cancer biomarkers. For this, LAMP was integrated with droplet-based digital amplification concept. LAMP positive amplification was achieved after 60 minutes, leading to a 2-fold increase in fluorescence when compared to the negative amplification controls, in a vortex-based droplet generation approach. However, aspects inherent to this method prevented a quantitative assessment of LAMP amplification. In order to overcome these limitations, a novel microfluidics chip-based device was developed and implemented towards dLAMP quantification of c-Myc gene. The T-junction type droplet generator chip achieved droplets of 1.5 nL with a coefficient of variation bellow 3%, in line with the standard for this technique. This system showed a sharp response to template concentration, observable by the raise in the fraction of positive droplets. Additionally, the target quantification proven to be precise (R2 =0.99) for 4 orders of magnitude of copies/µL (5 copies/µL - 5x105 copies/µL) after Poisson’s modulation. Aiming for the implementation of this chip-based dLAMP system into the detections of prostate cancer-associated biomarkers, amplification reactions of SChLAP1 and PCA3 genes were developed and further optimized for real-time fluorescence monitoring. As a result, it was possible to develop a quantitative method for cDNA amplification, that presented higher amplification efficiencies and a reduction on the overall reaction time, when compared to the gold standard RT-PCR. Furthermore, the proposed strategy is compatible with the integration into the chip-based microfluidics device, hence easily extended to the monitorization of gene expression levels

Ciclo de Debates: La Geopolítica de las Crisis, Conflictos y Procesos de Integración Regional.

El presente proyecto de extensión tiene por objetivo dar a conocer a la comunidad académica y externa conocimientos básicos sobre las principales crisis políticas, económicas y sociales, llevando en consideración las geopolíticas de las principales guerras, conflicto, procesos de cooperación y de integración regional que se desarrollan en el escenario internacional y regional latinoamericano. Incentivando al debate de temas contemporáneos de filosofía política, geopolítica, política y estrategia a partir de la exhibición de videos, presentación de Slide con explicaciones didácticas por parte de docentes, discentes y miembros del equipo del NEEGI (Núcleo de Estudios Estratégicos Geopolítica e Integración Regional) y sus diversos observatorios. Además, son debatidos temas contemporáneos de la política Nacional e Internacional, como la crisis petrolífera y energética, el papel de los medios de comunicación en la política, la cuestión de género y las relaciones sociales de poder, las crisis políticas en América Latina y el papel de los países emergentes en la gobernanza global. Se analizan las principales causas y consecuencias de las grandes crisis, el papel y la influencia de las principales crisis políticas, económicas y sociales contemporáneas. La metodología que se utiliza es través del planeamiento y la organización de minicursos que son divulgados por las diferentes redes sociales (Facebook, Instagram y blog), así como carteles divulgando las diferentes temáticas presentadas. También se procederá al apoyo y realización de eventos, palestras y debates relacionados a las principales temáticas abordadas por el presente proyecto. En cuanto a los resultados que se pretende alcanzar con la acción de extensión es de contribuir para el debate y la difusión de conocimientos sobre la Política Internacional contemporánea, con la finalidad de generar conciencia que nos permita pensar en ideas para futuros proyectos estratégicos que nos ayuden a enfrentar o apaciguar diversas realidades que enfrentamos en la actualidad

Duas palavras prévias

Actualmente, a Educação Física constitui uma importante vertente na Promoção da Saúde em paralelo com os estilos de vida saudáveis que apontam para práticas activas de lazer. Estas devem substituir o crescente sedentarismo que é responsável, entre outros, pelas designadas doenças urbanas, nomeadamente a obesidade e doenças cardiovasculares, que afectam hoje um grande número de crianças e jovens. Esta colectânea de textos provém de especialistas de reconhecido mérito, de diversas instituições de ensino superior português, e foi cuidadosamente organizada de forma a apresentar uma unidade de coerência interna, tendo como denominador comum o lazer na vertente da saúde e bem-estar da criança e do jovem. Para além do leitor anónimo interessado na promoção da sua própria saúde, este livro será de especial interesse para os docentes do Ensino Básico e Secundário que trabalham as áreas da Educação Física, Desporto e Saúde, bem como para os técnicos que colaboram em autarquias ou em instituições particulares, tais como os Health Clubs e outras instituições vocacionadas para a promoção da saúde.Centro de Investigação em Promoção da Literacia e do Bem-Estar da Criança (LIBEC/CIFPEC-UM)