Affective robotics for socio-emotional development in children with autism spectrum disorders

Tese de doutoramento do Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Eletrónica e de ComputadoresAutism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of complex developmental disorders of the brain. Individuals affected by this disorder are characterized by repetitive patterns of behaviour, restricted activities or interests, and impairments in social communication. The use of robots had already been proven to encourage the promotion of social interaction and skills lacking in children with ASD. The main goal of this thesis is to study the influence of humanoid robots to develop socio-emotional skills in children with ASD. The investigation demonstrates the potential benefits a robotic tool provides to attract the attention of children with ASD, and therefore use that focus to develop further skills. The main focus of this thesis is divided into three topics. The first topic concerns the use of a robot to encourage learning appropriate physical social engagement, and to facilitate the ability to acquire knowledge about human body parts. The results show that the robot proved to be a useful tool, attracting the children’s attention and improving their knowledge about human body parts. The second topic regards the process of designing game scenarios to be used with children with ASD, targeting the promotion of emotion recognition skills. Three game scenarios were developed based on the expertise of professionals and they were successfully tested in pilot studies. Finally, the last topic presents two child-robot interaction studies with a large sample. They examine the use of a humanoid robot as a tool to teach recognition and labelling of emotions. The first study focuses on verbal and non-verbal communicative behaviours as measures to evaluate the social interaction and children interacting with the robot displayed more non-verbal behaviours indicating social engagement. The second study analyses the children’s attention patterns, and the children’s performance in the game scenarios previously designed. Along the sessions, the children increased their eye contact with the experimenter and in the study comparing the use of the robot with a traditional intervention, children who performed the game scenarios with the robot and the experimenter had a significantly better performance than the children who performed the game scenarios without the robot. The main conclusions of this research support that a humanoid robot is a useful tool to develop socio-emotional skills in the intervention of children with ASD, due to the engagement and positive learning outcome observed.As Perturbações do Espectro do Autismo (PEA) são um distúrbio complexo do desenvolvimento do cérebro. Os indivíduos afetados por esse transtorno são caracterizados por padrões repetitivos do comportamento, atividades ou interesses restritos e dificuldades na comunicação social. A utilização de robôs já provou ser um estímulo promovendo a interação social e competências em falta nestes indivíduos. O objetivo principal desta tese é estudar a influência de robôs humanoides para desenvolver competências sócio emocionais em crianças com PEA. A investigação demonstra os potenciais benefícios de uma ferramenta robótica para atrair a atenção de crianças com PEA e utilizar esta atenção para desenvolver outras competências. O foco principal desta tese está dividido em três tópicos. O primeiro tópico consiste na utilização de um robô para incentivar a aprendizagem sobre a interação físico-social apropriada e para facilitar a aquisição de conhecimento sobre partes do corpo. Os resultados mostram que o robô provou ser uma ferramenta útil, atraindo a atenção das crianças e melhorando o seu conhecimento sobre partes do corpo. A segunda parte refere-se ao processo de construção de atividades para serem utilizadas com crianças com PEA, promovendo competências de reconhecimento de emoções. Três atividades foram desenvolvidas com base na opinião de profissionais e foram testadas em estudo piloto com sucesso. Finalmente, o último tópico apresenta dois estudos de interação criança-robô examinando a utilização de um robô humanoide como ferramenta para ensinar reconhecimento e identificação de emoções. O primeiro estudo foca a comunicação verbal e não-verbal como medidas de avaliação da interação social e as crianças que interagiram com o robô mostraram mais comportamentos não-verbais que indicam interação social. O segundo estudo analisa os padrões de atenção e o desempenho das crianças nas atividades concebidas anteriormente. Ao longo das sessões, as crianças aumentaram o contacto ocular com o experimentador e no estudo que comparou a utilização do robô com intervenção tradicional, as crianças que realizaram as atividades com o robô e o experimentador tiveram um desempenho significativamente melhor do que as crianças que realizaram as ativdades sem o robô. As conclusões principais desta investigação suportam que um robô humanoide foi uma ferramenta útil para desenvolver competências sócio emocionais na intervenção de crianças com PEA, devido à interação e resultados positivos de aprendizagem observados.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) in the scope of the project: PEst-OE/EEI/UI0319/2014.This work was performed in part under the R&D project RIPD/ADA/109407/2009.SFRH/BD/71600/2010 scholarship

Detection of stereotyped hand flapping movements in Autistic Children using the Kinect Sensor: a case study

This paper presents a case study on the use of the Microsoft Kinect sensor and the gesture recognition algorithm, Dynamic Time Warping (DTW to automatically detect stereotyped motor behaviours in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The proposed system was initially tested in a laboratory environment, and after the encouraging results obtained, the system was tested during the sessions with children with ASD in two schools with Special Needs Units. Video analysis was used to validate the results obtained using the Kinect application. This study provides a valuable tool to monitor stereotypes in order to understand and to cope with this problematic. In the end, it facilitates the identification of relevant behavioural patterns when studying interaction skills in children with ASD.This work has been supported by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia in the scope of the project: PEstOE/EEI/UI0319/2014.The authors are also grateful to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT- in Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, by the R&D project reference RIPD/ADA/109407/2009 and the phD scholarship SFRH/BD/71600/2010

A pilot study using imitation and storytelling scenarios as activities for labelling emotions by children with autism using a humanoid robot

In this paper we present a child-robot interaction pilot study, focusing on recognizing and labelling emotions displayed by a humanoid robot. ZECA (Zeno Engaging Children with Autism) has a special skin covering its face which allows the display of facial expressions representing five emotions: joy, sadness, fear, anger, and surprise. These facial expressions were used in two different game scenarios, involving imitation and storytelling activities. The goal of these scenarios is to help the child acquire knowledge about different emotions and to improve their skill in recognizing them. The results show that these scenarios are appropriate for the goal established for this study, and positive behaviours concerning non-verbal communication were observed. This exploratory study demonstrated the possible positive outcomes this child-robot interaction can produce and highlighted the issues regarding data collection and their analysis that will inform future studies.This work has been supported by FCT Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia in the scope of the project: PEst-OE/EEI/UI0319/2014. The authors are grateful to the Portuguese Foundation (FCT) for the R&D project RIPD/ADA/109407/2009 and SFRH/BD/71600/2010 scholarship.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Robô Lego & perturbações do espectro do autismo: uma potencial parceria?

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present difficulties in developing social behaviours, in communicating gestural or verbally, and they may present some repetitive motor activities. The objective of this study was to improve social competences and to enable the transfer of acquired skills of five children with ASD and intellectual disabilities using a low-cost Lego robot as a mediator. The proposed methodology was divided in five phases: Familiarization, Pre-test, Practice, Post-Test and Transfer of Skills. The study ran in two sequential periods at different places. Each of these periods tackled different individual research questions and goals (taking into account the target group). During each period, the proposed methodology had to be adjusted according to the current context. Therefore, different experimental scenarios and corresponding specific goals had to be delineated. Results show that joint attention of the children increased over the sessions; and interaction with the researcher was verified. Furthermore, results show that there was an effective transfer of skills in the addressed case studies. This reinforces conclusions that robots seem, in fact, powerful tools that should be explored concerning this target population. But a more detailed study is required. The proposed methodology can be used by professionals and parents as a complement to common interventions.A perturbação do espectro do autismo (PEA) caracteriza-se por dificuldades no desenvolvimento de comportamentos sociais, na comunicação verbal ou gestual, e pela manifestação de atividades motoras repetitivas. O objetivo deste estudo foi o de melhorar as competências sociais e a transferência das competências de cinco crianças com PEA e deficiência mental associada usando um robô de baixo custo da Lego como um mediador. A metodologia proposta foi dividida em cinco fases: familiarização, pré-teste, prática, pós-teste e transferência de competências. O estudo foi realizado em dois períodos sequenciais em diferentes lugares. Em cada período foram definidas diferentes questões de investigação tendo em conta o grupo-alvo. Os resultados mostram que a atenção conjunta e a interação com o investigador aumentaram ao longo das sessões. Além disso, os resultados indicam que houve uma transferência efetiva de competências nos estudos de caso abordados. Isso reforça as conclusões que o robô da Lego pode ser uma ferramenta adequada a ser explorada com esta população-alvo. No entanto, é necessário um estudo mais detalhado e com uma amostra maior. A metodologia proposta pode ser usada por profissionais e pais como complemento às intervenções tradicionais

An approach to promote social and communication behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders : robot based intervention

Most autistic people present some difficulties in developing social behavior, living in their own world. This study has the goal to improve the social life of children with autism with a main focus in promoting their social interaction and communication. It is necessary to call for children’s attention and enforce their collaboration, where a robot, LEGO MindStorm, behaves as a mediator/promoter of this interaction. A set of experiments designed to share objects and fulfill simple orders, by the 11 years old autistic child at the time of daily routine work and in-game with the robot, are described. The generalization of the acquired skills by the child in new contexts and environments are also tested. Results are described showing the outcomes of the experiments.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - R&D projecto RIPD/ADA/109407/200

Bio-behavioral survey of syphilis in homeless men in Central Brazil: a cross-sectional study

The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with syphilis in homeless men in Central Brazil. It is a cross-sectional study conducted with 481 individuals attending four therapeutic communities between October and December 2015. A structured interview was conducted to collect sociodemographic data and risk factors for syphilis. Rapid/point-of-care and VDRL tests were performed to determine exposure to syphilis and the presence of active syphilis, respectively. Poisson regression analysis was used to verify the risk factors associated with the outcomes investigated. Of the study participants, 10.2% were reactive to the rapid test, and 5.4% had active syphilis. At the multiple regression analysis, schooling (adjusted prevalence ratio - APR: 0.89; p = 0.005), history of genital ulcer (APR: 2.59; p = 0.002), STI history (APR: 1.97; p = 0.042), and sexual intercourse under drug effects (APR: 1.60; p = 0.022) were independent factors associated with lifetime syphilis. Also, history of genital ulcer (APR: 2.19; p = 0.019), STI history (APR: 1.74; p = 0.033) and number of sexual partners in the last year (APR: 1.02; p = 0.044) were associated with active syphilis. The prevalence of syphilis among homeless men was rather high, confirming the vulnerability of this group to this infection. These results emphasize the need for educational intervention, improvement of risk reduction programs, availability of diagnostic tests, especially the rapid test, and treatment

Oxidative stress involving changes in Nrf2 and ER stress in early stages of Alzheimer's disease

AbstractOxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress have been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression. In this study we analyzed whether oxidative stress involving changes in Nrf2 and ER stress may constitute early events in AD pathogenesis by using human peripheral blood cells and an AD transgenic mouse model at different disease stages. Increased oxidative stress and increased phosphorylated Nrf2 (p(Ser40)Nrf2) were observed in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Moreover, we observed impaired ER Ca2+ homeostasis and increased ER stress markers in PBMCs from MCI individuals and mild AD patients. Evidence of early oxidative stress defense mechanisms in AD was substantiated by increased p(Ser40)Nrf2 in 3month-old 3xTg-AD male mice PBMCs, and also with increased nuclear Nrf2 levels in brain cortex. However, SOD1 protein levels were decreased in human MCI PBMCs and in 3xTg-AD mice brain cortex; the latter further correlated with reduced SOD1 mRNA levels. Increased ER stress was also detected in the brain cortex of young female and old male 3xTg-AD mice. We demonstrate oxidative stress and early Nrf2 activation in AD human and mouse models, which fails to regulate some of its targets, leading to repressed expression of antioxidant defenses (e.g., SOD-1), and extending to ER stress. Results suggest markers of prodromal AD linked to oxidative stress associated with Nrf2 activation and ER stress that may be followed in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

EAIR 41st Annual Forum in Leiden, The Netherlands 25 till 28 August 2019

Trabalho apresentado em EAIR 41st Annual Forum, 25-28 agosto 2019, Leiden, Países Baixos.Polytechnic Institutes in Portugal: research on the impact of twelve institutes on the local economy Higher Education Institutions are recognized as important actors in regional development. The Portuguese higher education system comprises both Universities and Polytechnic Institutes, which face an increasing pressure to demonstrate that their presence has an impact on the surrounding communities contributing to their economic development. This paper presents the estimation of the economic impact of twelve Polytechnic Institutes, located in quite diverse regions, based on a shared model so that comparisons have a collective framework of analysis. The main results obtained show that the economic impact ranged from 1.8% to 10.6% of the local GDP and that these Institutes are major local employers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Phagosomal removal of fungal melanin reprograms macrophage metabolism to promote antifungal immunity

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000013), the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (SFRH/BD/136814/2018 to S.M.G., SFRH/BD/141127/2018 to C.D.O., PD/BD/137680/2018 to D.A., IF/00474/2014 to N.S.O., IF/01390/2014 to E.T., IF/00959/2014 to S.C., IF/00021/2014 to R.S., PTDC/SAU-SER/29635/2017 and CEECIND/04601/2017 to C.C., and CEECIND/03628/2017 to A.C.), the Institut Mérieux (Mérieux Research Grant 2017 to C.C.), and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID Research Grant 2017 to A.C.). M.G.N. was supported by a Spinoza grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. A.A.B. was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Collaborative Research Center/Transregio TR124 FungiNet (project A1). G.D.B. was funded by the Wellcome Trust (102705), the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Erratum of Enteropathic arthritis in Brazil: data from the Brazilian registry of spondyloarthritis

Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisInstituto Insper de Educação e PesquisaUniversidade de São Paulo Disciplina de ReumatologiaUniversidade de BrasíliaHospital Geral de GoiâniaUniversidade de CampinasUniversidade Federal do AmazonasPontifícia Universidade CatólicaFaculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio PretoHospital Evangélico de CuritibaUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroUniversidade Federal do ParanáHospital Geral de FortalezaUniversidade Estadual do Rio de JaneiroSanta Casa do Rio de JaneiroSanta Casa de São PauloHospital de BaseUniversidade Federal do Mato Grosso do SulUniversidade Federal de PernambucoUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulFaculdade de Medicina Souza MarquesHospital do Servidor Público EstadualUniversidade de São Paulo Instituto de Ortopedia e TraumatologiaUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)Santa Casa de Belo HorizonteUniversidade Federal do CearáEscola de Medicina e Saúde PúblicaUniversidade Federal do ParáUniversidade Federal do Espírito SantoUNIFESPSciEL