Acousmatic Foley: Son-en-Scène

“Acousmatic Foley” is practice-based research on sound dramaturgy stemming from musique concrète and Foley Art. This article sets out a theory based on the concept of “son-en-scène”, which forms the sonic content of the mise-en-scène, as perceived (esthesic sound). The theory departs from the well-known features of a soundscape (R. M. Schafer, 1999) and the listening modes in film as asserted by Chion (1994), in order to arrive at three main concepts: sound-prop, sound-actor and sound-motif. Throughout their conceptualization, the study theorizes a sonic dramaturgy that focuses on the sounds themselves and their practical influence on film's story-telling elements. For that, it conveys an assessment of sound in film-history based on the “montage of attractions” and foley art, together with the principles of acousmatic listening. This research concludes that film-sound should be to sound designers what a “sonorous object” is to musique concrète, albeit conveying all sound’s fictional aspects

Consumo de cafeína por doentes com síndrome de apneia obstrutiva do sono

Trabalho final do 6º ano médico (Pneumologia), com vista à atribuição do Grau de Mestre no âmbito do ciclo de estudos de mestrado integrado em Medicina da Universidade de CoimbraIntrodução: A síndrome de apneia obstrutiva do sono (SAOS) está associada a uma disfunção cognitiva e a um aumento da incidência de doenças metabólicas e cardiovasculares. A cafeína é uma substância psicoactiva que produz efeitos estimulantes, de natureza ergogénica, aumentando a atenção e o desempenho em situações de fadiga nomeadamente de sonolência. Além disso, o consumo de cafeína está inversamente associado a patologias cardiovasculares e metabólicas. A interacção entre o consumo de cafeína e o SAOS poderá desenvolver-se de várias formas: o consumo de cafeína poderá diminuir o risco de desenvolvimento de SAOS através de efeitos lipolíticos, uma vez que o SAOS está fortemente relacionado com a obesidade ou pode actuar como auto-medicação nos efeitos psíquicos do SAOS, nomeadamente a sonolência e o défice neuro-cognitivo. Objectivo: O objectivo deste estudo é a avaliação dos hábitos de consumo de cafeína nos últimos vinte anos, numa população de doentes com SAOS, e a sua associação com parâmetros de gravidade e evolução da doença. Material e Métodos: Foram incluídos pacientes seguidos na consulta de patologia do sono dos Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, com SAOS diagnosticada através de estudo do sono. A avaliação dos hábitos de consumo de cafeína foi realizada através de um inquérito padronizado e validado, por via telefónica. Os dados clínicos, incluindo a patologia associada, o índice de massa corporal, sonolência e índice de apneia-hipopneia foram obtidos por consulta do processo clínico. Os dados demográficos e de consumo de cafeína foram ainda comparados com os dados de 49 indivíduos saudáveis já descritos num estudo prévio do nosso grupo. Resultados: Este estudo mostra que o consumo de cafeína não está relacionado nem com a gravidade nem com a evolução da SAOS, nem com os principais factores de risco associados a SAOS. Isto é reforçado pela observação que o consumo de cafeína é semelhante entre os indivíduos doentes e saudáveis. Conclusão: Conclui-se que o consumo de cafeína não influencia a evolução de SAOS. Isto significa que não se antevê nenhum benefício resultante do consumo de café mas significa também que o consumo de café não causa prejuízo nestes doentes pelo que o seu consumo pode ser aceite como seguro.Abstract Introduction: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is associated with a global cognitive disorder and an increase of the incidence of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance and is known to restore low levels of wakefulness and to counteract degraded cognitive task performance due to sleep deprivation. Furthermore, the consumption of caffeine is inversely correlated with the incidence of both cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction, which are risk factors for OSA. Thus, caffeine consumption might interfere with OSA either by decreasing the risk of developing OSA through lipolytic effects since OSA is strongly related with obesity, or by acting as self-medication to counteract drowsiness or cognitive deficits. Goal: The goal of this study is to evaluate if caffeine consumption in the 20 years previous to diagnosis, affects the incidence, severity and evolution of OSA. Material and Methodology: Patients were recruited at the sleep pathology consultation of Coimbra University Hospitals, based on their diagnosis of OSA by means of a sleep study. The evaluation of caffeine consumption was performed using a standardized and validated questionaire. Clinical data, including the associated pathology, body mass index, drowsiness and the hypopnea-apnea index was collected from the clinical records. The demographic and caffeine consumption were compared with data from 49 healthy individuals as described in a previous study from our group. Results: The data shows that caffeine consumption is not associated with the severity of evolution of OSA and is similar between OSA patients and controls. Conclusion: The present results indicate that caffeine consumption is not associated with the incidence, severity or evolution of OSA, therefore indicating that caffeine consumption can be tolerated in OSA patients

Development of a Streptococcus pneumoniae system to control exposure of immature peptidoglycan

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a Gram-positive bacterial pathogen capable of causing from mild infections to more severe conditions such as pneumonia and meningitis. Pneumococcal virulence is dependent on the production of different virulence factors, such as particular peptidoglycan-associated surface proteins or the production of a capsular polysaccharide structure surrounding the bacteria. Peptidoglycan, a major cell wall component, offers structural stability to the cell and is dynamically tailored by hydrolases, such as LytA, during physiological mechanisms like cell elongation, division and septation. Capsule production, which is strictly regulated, requires expression of several genes present in the cps locus, including genes with a regulatory role such as wzd and wze. The interaction between proteins Wzd and Wze, in the presence of ATP, is thought to play a central role in the regulation of capsule synthesis. The aim of this dissertation was to develop a S. pneumoniae system capable of controlling the exposure of immature peptidoglycan to enzymes present in the surrounding medium. To achieve this goal, pneumococcal strains were constructed where the Escherichia coli LacI repressor (encoded by the lacI gene) is constitutively expressed and the capsule regulatory genes pneumococcal wzd and wze are placed under the control of an IPTG-inducible promoter (Plac). This was performed in the background of S. pneumoniae wzd and wze deletion mutants, where immature peptidoglycan is exposed at the surface of the septal region due to absence of capsule at the division septum. One of the constructed strains, 6314Δwze-lacI-Plac-wze, was analyzed by immunofluorescence microscopy to assess if septal capsule expression was restored at the division septum upon expression of IPTG-inducible wze. This analysis showed that the constructed mutant, in the presence of IPTG, presented a seemingly intermediate phenotype between absence of capsule in the division septum and full encapsulation

connecting degree programs from individuals’ choices

Candia, C., Encarnação, S., & Pinheiro, F. L. (2019). The higher education space: connecting degree programs from individuals’ choices. EPJ Data Science, 8(1), [39]. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0218-4Data on the applicants’ revealed preferences when entering higher education is used as a proxy to build the Higher Education Space (HES) of Portugal (2008–2015) and Chile (2006–2017). The HES is a network that connects pairs of degree programs according to their co-occurrence in the applicants’ preferences. We show that both HES network structures reveal the existence of positive assortment in features such as gender balance, application scores, unemployment levels, academic demand/supply ratio, geographical mobility, and first-year drop-out rates. For instance, if a degree program exhibits a high prevalence of female candidates, its nearest degree programs in the HES will also tend to exhibit a higher prevalence when compared to the prevalence in the entire system. These patterns extend up to two or three links of separation, vanishing, or inverting for increasing distances. Moreover, we show that for demand/supply ratio and application scores a similar pattern occurs for time variations. Finally, we provide evidence that information embedded in the HES is not accessible by merely considering the features of degree programs independently. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the higher education systems at revealing and leveraging its non-trivial underlying organizing principles. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first network science approach for improving decision-making and governance in higher education systems.publishersversionpublishe

Desenvolvimento do quadro-suspensão-direção do veículo de comutação urbana GHISALLO-BERG Cycles

O presente relatório de estágio teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma proposta técnica e anteprojeto dos sistemas mecânicos quadro e direcção de uma nova solução de comutação urbana, baseada num conceito de veículo eletrico de proxima geração que garante uma deslocação segura, confortável, rápida, saudável, sustentável, inteligente e multimodal, promovida pela empresa SONAE SERVIÇOS II, promotora do presente estagio. Para este desenvolvimento tomou-se como referência o cliente tipo e o princípio funcional do veiculo, identificado pela empresa no âmbito de projeto GHISALLO desenvolvido previamente. Assim, no presente estágio foram desenvolvidas um conjunto de etapas de suporte entre as quais se destacam as tarefas de benchmarking ; o estabelecimento e atualizaçãao dos requisitos do cliente tipo; o estabelecimento das especificações técnicas associadas aos sistemas mecânicos quadro e direcção e respetivas métricas e metas; o desenvolvimento e analise critica da matriz QFD e o estabelecimento das prioridades competitivas. Do tratamento e analise aos parametros relativos às tarefas de suporte, procedeu-se à etapa de geração e selecção de conceitos aplicados ao quadro e direcção do veículo, por forma a estes garantirem o alcance das metas definidas para as especificações tecnicas que melhor respondem à priorização dos requisitos do cliente tipo. Após a selecção dos conceitos procedeu-se a modelação CAD dos principais elementos estruturais do veiculo onde se incluem o quadro e a direçao e a integração de todos os restantes componentes que interagem funcionalmente com estes. Complementarmente, procedeu-se a avaliação do comportamento estrutural do quadro e direçao do veiculo, por forma a verificar a sua integridade estrutural aquando da aplicação das normas de segurança para este tipo de plataforma. Apos a concretização de todas estas etapas, chegou-se a uma proposta de anteprojeto de veiculo que garante uma solução de quadro e direçao compatível com diferentes estaturas de utilizadores mantendo um bom nível de ergonomia; que assegura uma boa robustez e integridade estrutural dos principais componentes; uma solução de direcção pendular que garante o bom conforto do utilizador e a boa dirigibilidade do veiculo; um sistema de fecho do quadro com minimização de gestos e ergonómico para o cliente; uma pegada do veiculo fechado compatível com o seu transporte em elevadores ou transportes públicos; um peso competitivo relativamente a melhor concorrência; a integração do transporte de mochilas ou objetos similares e a sua utilização em modo de carrinho de compras; sendo ainda esta solução capaz de responder a um plano de personalização do cliente.The present report aimed at the development of a technical propose and preliminary project of the mechanical systems frame and steering of a new urban mobility solution, focused on the concept of a next-generation electric vehicle that ensures a safe, comfortable, fast, healthy, eco-sustainable, smart and multimodal travelling, which is promoted by SONAE SERVIC OS II, the promoter of current internship. For this development was established as reference the typical customer and the main feature of the vehicle, settled by the sponsor in the previous project GHISALLO. Therefore, in the present project were developed a number of important steps such as benchmarking; establishment and update of the client requirements; establishment of the technical speci cations related with the mechanical systems frame and steering and speci c metrics and targets; development and critical analysis of QFD matrix and establishment of competing priorities. After the handling and analysis of the variables related with the support steps, followed the concept creation and selection applied to the frame and steering of the vehicle, to assure the target values attributed to the technical speci cations which secure a better response to the client needs. Afterwards, proceeded the CAD modelling of the vehicle main structural elements, which included frame and steering and the integration of other components that functionally interact with them. In addition, was made an evaluation of the structural behaviour of the vehicle frame and steering, in order to verify its structural integrity when applied the safety requirements for bicycles. The accomplishment of all of this steps lead to a project propose that assures a frame and steering solution compatible with di erent types of user while keeping a good level of ergonomics; that secures the toughness and structural integrity of the main components; a good solution to the steering system which provides comfort to the user and an easy driving of the vehicle; an e cient closing system done in a few steps and assuring ergonomics; a closed vehicle footstep compatible with its transportation in lifts and public transportation; a competing weight facing the best competition; an integration of backpack or other similar objects and the possibility of use in trolley mode; and in addition, the capability of responding to a plan of personalization chosen by the customer.Mestrado em Engenharia Mecânic

In-between identities and hope in the future: experiences and trajectories of cigano secondary students (SI)

Increasing numbers of Cigano people in Portuguese schools show that this is the most educated generation to date. However, according to recent data only 2.6% are enrolled in secondary education. Using an intersectional approach examining gender, ethnicity, and family socioeconomic status to explore the youngsters’ academic trajectories, and focusing on tensions of the interplay between structural constraints and individual agency, enables us to explore identity reconfiguration processes (‘in- between’). The data, based on 32 semi-structured interviews, point to three main dimensions regarding the youngsters’ aspirations for social mobility: the school relevance to achieve jobs differing from traditional activities; school perceived as a means to develop important transversal skills, useful in broader citizenship contexts; school as a privileged space for inter-ethnic socialisation, with impact on the youngsters’ school and professional future. Participant heterogeneity explains variations in their aspirations for upward mobility, as well as differentiations in the construction processes of in-between identities.This project is funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, [PTDC/CED-EDG/30175/ 2017].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Plant data survey in Porto Santo (Madeira Archipelago, Portugal): an update

The present contribution updates BORGES et al. (2008)’s “A list of the terrestrial fungi, flora and fauna of Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos”. Since then, and until the summer of 2019, 131 new taxa were cited, namely 30 bryophytes, one pteridophyte and 100 spermatophytes. Based on the compilation of written and unpublished information about the diversity of terrestrial plants cited for Porto Santo, the present work lists 696 taxa, including 134 bryophytes, 13 pteridophytes and 549 spermatophytes. Two species of mosses, Sematophyllum substrumulosum (Hampe) E. Britton and Tortula lanceolata R. H. Zander are recorded for the first time from Porto Santo, corresponding to material collected in 2018. Additionally, 12 species of spermatophytes, all cultivated, are referred for the first time to the island. Two species of pteridophytes, Ophioglossum lusitanicum L. and Hymenophyllum wilsonii Hook are proposed to be considered extinct.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fusion proteins towards fungi and bacteria in plant protection

Research ArticleIn agriculture, although fungi are considered the foremost problem, infections by bacteria also cause significant economical losses. The presence of different diseases in crops often leads to a misuse of the proper therapeutic, or the combination of different diseases forces the use of more than one pesticide. This work concerns the development of a ‘super-Blad’: a chimeric protein consisting of Blad polypeptide, the active ingredient of a biological fungicide already on the market, and two selected peptides, SP10-5 and Sub5, proven to possess biological potential as antibacterial agents. The resulting chimeric protein obtained from the fusion of Blad with SP10-5 not only maintained strong antibacterial activity, especially against Xanthomonas spp. and Pseudomonas syringae, but was also able to retain the ability to inhibit the growth of both yeast and filamentous fungi. However, the antibacterial activity of Sub5 was considerably diminished when fused with Blad, which seems to indicate that not all fusion proteins behave equally. These newly designed drugs can be considered promising compounds for use in plant protection. A deeper and focused development of an appropriate formulation may result in a potent biopesticide that can replace, per se, two conventional chemistries with less impact on the environmentinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tipos de superfícies de implantes dentários

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre no Instituto Universitário Egas MonizNo corrente século, a colocação de implantes dentários manifesta-se como uma opção terapêutica bastante válida para reabilitação de espaços edêntulos, tendo o seu sucesso sido acompanhado com a introdução do conceito de osseointegração por Branemark, permitindo uma reabilitação mais rápida, bem como uma melhoria substancial na taxa de sucesso em casos complexos. A literatura atual mostra-nos que uma superfície rugosa é proporcional a uma boa capacidade de osseointegração, intimamente ligada a uma densa e resistente película de filme de óxido na superfície do implante, formada pelo contacto com o ar ou fluidos fisiológicos. Taxativamente, o sucesso clínico do processo de osseointegração está correlacionado com um aumento de propriedades como a molhabilidade ou hidrofilia. Uma adequada morfologia da superfície de implantes, sem comprometimento do comportamento biológico e mecânico do implante, pode promover um aumento da molhabilidade e inclusive a estimulação de plaquetas e células osteogénicas.Técnicas de tratamento de superficie de implantes tal como o jateamento com partículas abrasivas, condicionamento ácido com ácido clorídrico, ácido sulfúrico, ácido nítrico ou ácido fluorídrico ou até mesmo a combinação dos métodos podem ser utilizadas para aumentar a rugosidade, de modo a manipular a textura a uma escala macro, micro e nanométrica. Este grau de osseointegração pode ser mensurado através da percentagem do contacto ósseo sobre todo o perímetro do implante. Neste contexto, a presente revisão narrativa tem como objetivo analisar diferentes tipos de tratamento de superfície tendo em conta características como a rugosidade do implante e a morfologia da superfície do mesmo.In the current century, the placement of dental implants is a very solid therapeutic option for the rehabilitation of edentulous spaces whose success was accompanied by the introduction of the concept of osseointegration by Branemark, allowing faster rehabilitation timing as well as a substancial improvement on the success rate in complex cases. The current literature shows us that rough surfaces are proportional to a good osseointegration capacity, also closely linked to a dense and resistant oxide film on the implant surface formed by contact with air or physiological fluids. This way the clinical success of the osseointegration process is correlated with an increase in properties such as wettability or hydrophilicity. An adequate morphology of the implant surface without compromising the biological and mechanical behavior of the implant can promote an increase in wettability and even the stimulation of platelets and osteogenic cells. Surface treatment techniques of implants such as sandblasting, acid conditioning with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid or hydrofluoric acid or even the combination of the last two methods can be used to increase the roughness in order to manipulate the texture on a macro, micro and nanometer scale.The degree of osseointegration can be measured by the percentage of bone contact over the entire perimeter of the implant. On this context the present narrative review aims to analyze different types of surface treatment taking into account characteristics such as the roughness of the implant and the morphology of its surface