Humanoid Robot NAO : developing behaviours for soccer humanoid robots

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

Luiz bandeira bridge: Assessment of a historical reinforced concrete (RC) bridge

The Luiz Bandeira Bridge is located along the Portuguese national road EN333-3, breaching the valley of the Vouga River, just northeast of the small village Sejães, in the district of Oliveira de Frades. It is considered to be the oldest concrete bridge in use in Portugal, and one of the oldest in Europe. Since this bridge is at risk of disappearing due to a construction of a dam, the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Minho decided to launch a comprehensive study of Luiz Bandeira Bridge, in an attempt to preserve the memory of the past cataloguing the heritage for future reference. These studies include historical, geometrical and damage surveys, the physical and chemical characterization of existing structural materials, the assessment of the reinforcement detailing, dynamic characterization by determining the main frequencies and vibration modes and safety level. This work presents a comprehensive overview of the most important results of these studies

Development of Neurogenic Detrusor Overactivity after Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury Is Accompanied by Time-Dependent Changes in Lumbosacral Expression of Axonal Growth Regulators

Thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI) results in urinary dysfunction, which majorly affects the quality of life of SCI patients. Abnormal sprouting of lumbosacral bladder afferents plays a crucial role in this condition. Underlying mechanisms may include changes in expression of regulators of axonal growth, including chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs), myelin-associated inhibitors (MAIs) and repulsive guidance molecules, known to be upregulated at the injury site post SCI. Here, we confirmed lumbosacral upregulation of the growth-associated protein GAP43 in SCI animals with bladder dysfunction, indicating the occurrence of axonal sprouting. Neurocan and Phosphacan (CSPGs), as well as Nogo-A (MAI), at the same spinal segments were upregulated 7 days post injury (dpi) but returned to baseline values 28 dpi. In turn, qPCR analysis of the mRNA levels for receptors of those repulsive molecules in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons showed a time-dependent decrease in receptor expression. In vitro assays with DRG neurons from SCI rats demonstrated that exposure to high levels of NGF downregulated the expression of some, but not all, receptors for those regulators of axonal growth. The present results, therefore, show significant molecular changes at the lumbosacral cord and DRGs after thoracic lesion, likely critically involved in neuroplastic events leading to urinary impairment

ASSISTÊNCIA ESTUDANTIL E EDUCAÇÃO SUPERIOR: avanços e desafios em uma universidade pública na Amazônia

Este artigo tem como questão problematizadora: quais os desafios e/ou avanços da política de assistência estudantil (AE) por meio do Programa Nacional de Assistência Estudantil (PNAES) no contexto de uma universidade federal no interior da Amazônia? E devido esta pergunta se buscou saber: Qual o perfil dos beneficiários atendidos pela AE no período de 2017 a 2020? Qual a percepção de estudantes sobre a AE em seu desempenho acadêmico? E quais os desafios e avanços da AE na implementação do PNAES a partir dos estudantes e dos documentos institucionais? A investigação é descritiva, do tipo estudo de caso, desdobrada em bibliográfica, documental e empírica, cujo lócus foi a Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Campus sede em Santarém. No estudo empírico foi aplicado questionário eletrônico (survey) aos estudantes que receberam auxílio permanência entre 2017 a 2020, sendo que 75 questionários respondidos compuseram a amostra do estudo. Quanto aos resultados, o perfil dos estudantes indica tratar-se de um grupo com prevalência do gênero feminino (68%), com a maioria na faixa dos 19 a 25 anos (64%) e (68%) deles se auto identificam pardos. Dentre os participantes da pesquisa, 77% concordam que sem os auxílios estudantis teriam dificuldades para se manter estudando. Quanto aos avanços do PNAES na instituição, estes se revelam nas normatizações dos documentos oficiais e os desafios estão, principalmente, no acompanhamento e na avaliação dos auxílios disponibilizados aos estudantes

ASSISTÊNCIA ESTUDANTIL E EDUCAÇÃO SUPERIOR: avanços e desafios em uma universidade pública na Amazônia

Este artigo tem como questão problematizadora: quais os desafios e/ou avanços da política de assistência estudantil (AE) por meio do Programa Nacional de Assistência Estudantil (PNAES) no contexto de uma universidade federal no interior da Amazônia? E devido esta pergunta se buscou saber: Qual o perfil dos beneficiários atendidos pela AE no período de 2017 a 2020? Qual a percepção de estudantes sobre a AE em seu desempenho acadêmico? E quais os desafios e avanços da AE na implementação do PNAES a partir dos estudantes e dos documentos institucionais? A investigação é descritiva, do tipo estudo de caso, desdobrada em bibliográfica, documental e empírica, cujo lócus foi a Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Campus sede em Santarém. No estudo empírico foi aplicado questionário eletrônico (survey) aos estudantes que receberam auxílio permanência entre 2017 a 2020, sendo que 75 questionários respondidos compuseram a amostra do estudo. Quanto aos resultados, o perfil dos estudantes indica tratar-se de um grupo com prevalência do gênero feminino (68%), com a maioria na faixa dos 19 a 25 anos (64%) e (68%) deles se auto identificam pardos. Dentre os participantes da pesquisa, 77% concordam que sem os auxílios estudantis teriam dificuldades para se manter estudando. Quanto aos avanços do PNAES na instituição, estes se revelam nas normatizações dos documentos oficiais e os desafios estão, principalmente, no acompanhamento e na avaliação dos auxílios disponibilizados aos estudantes

A busca de um comum e o tempo em que nada acontece

Este texto compartilha a experiência que tivemos na realização de uma disciplina interdisciplinar em uma universidade pública num contexto imediatamente posterior a uma longa e conflituosa greve de professores e estudantes.Departamento de Letras da Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da UnifespDepartamento de Ciências Sociais da UnifespComissão de Familiares de Mortos e Desaparecidos Políticos na Ditadura e coordenador do FiloPol - Núcleo de filosofia e política (Unifesp/CNPq)Professor/Pesquisador na Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp)Departamento de Letras da Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas e coordenadora do NUCCA- Núcleo de Cultura, Corpo e Arte, ambos na Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp)Professor do Departamento de Ciências Sociais da Unifesp e coordenador do Pimentalab - Laboratório de Tecnologia, Política e ConhecimentoPós-doutorado no Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Ibict/UFRJ

Using data mining algorithms to predict the bond strength of NSM FRP systems in concrete

This paper presents the effectiveness of soft computing algorithms in analyzing the bond behavior of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) systems inserted in the cover of concrete elements, commonly known as the near-surface mounted (NSM) technique. It focuses on the use of Data Mining (DM) algorithms as an alternative to the existing guidelines’ models to predict the bond strength of NSM FRP systems. To ease and spread the use of DM algorithms, a web-based tool is presented. This tool was developed to allow an easy use of the DM prediction models presented in this work, where the user simply provides the values of the input variables, the same as those used by the guidelines, in order to get the predictions. The results presented herein show that the DM based models are robust and more accurate than the guidelines’ models and can be considered as a relevant alternative to those analytical methods

Contribution for new genetic markers of rheumatoid arthritis activity and severity : sequencing of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene promoter

© 2007 Fonseca et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedThe objective of this study was to assess whether clinical measures of rheumatoid arthritis activity and severity were influenced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) promoter genotype/haplotype markers. Each patient's disease activity was assessed by the disease activity score using 28 joint counts (DAS28) and functional capacity by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score. Systemic manifestations, radiological damage evaluated by the Sharp/van der Heijde (SvdH) score, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug use, joint surgeries, and work disability were also assessed. The promoter region of the TNF-alpha gene, between nucleotides -1,318 and +49, was sequenced using an automated platform. Five hundred fifty-four patients were evaluated and genotyped for 10 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, but 5 of these markers were excluded due to failure to fall within Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium or to monomorphism. Patients with more than 10 years of disease duration (DD) presented significant associations between the -857 SNP and systemic manifestations, as well as joint surgeries. Associations were also found between the -308 SNP and work disability in patients with more than 2 years of DD and radiological damage in patients with less than 10 years of DD. A borderline effect was found between the -238 SNP and HAQ score and radiological damage in patients with 2 to 10 years of DD. An association was also found between haplotypes and the SvdH score for those with more than 10 years of DD. An association was found between some TNF-alpha promoter SNPs and systemic manifestations, radiological progression, HAQ score, work disability, and joint surgeries, particularly in some classes of DD and between haplotypes and radiological progression for those with more than 10 years of DD.This work was supported by grant POCTI/SAU-ESP/59111/2004 from Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mesenchymal stromal cells’ therapy for polyglutamine disorders: where do we stand and where should we go?

Polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a group of inherited neurodegenerative disorders caused by the expansion of the cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG) repeat. This mutation encodes extended glutamine (Q) tract in the disease protein, resulting in the alteration of its conformation/physiological role and in the formation of toxic fragments/aggregates of the protein. This group of heterogeneous disorders shares common molecular mechanisms, which opens the possibility to develop a pan therapeutic approach. Vast efforts have been made to develop strategies to alleviate disease symptoms. Nonetheless, there is still no therapy that can cure or effectively delay disease progression of any of these disorders. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are promising tools for the treatment of polyQ disorders, promoting protection, tissue regeneration, and/or modulation of the immune system in animal models. Accordingly, data collected from clinical trials have so far demonstrated that transplantation of MSC is safe and delays the progression of some polyQ disorders for some time. However, to achieve sustained phenotypic amelioration in clinics, several treatments may be necessary. Therefore, efforts to develop new strategies to improve MSC's therapeutic outcomes have been emerging. In this review article, we discuss the current treatments and strategies used to reduce polyQ symptoms and major pre-clinical and clinical achievements obtained with MSC transplantation as well as remaining flaws that need to be overcome. The requirement to cross the blood-brain-barrier (BBB), together with a short rate of cell engraftment in the lesioned area and low survival of MSC in a pathophysiological context upon transplantation may contribute to the transient therapeutic effects. We also review methods like pre-conditioning or genetic engineering of MSC that can be used to increase MSC survival in vivo, cellular-free approaches-i.e., MSC-conditioned medium (CM) or MSC-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a way of possibly replacing the use of MSC and methods required to standardize the potential of MSC/MSC-derived products. These are fundamental questions that need to be addressed to obtain maximum MSC performance in polyQ diseases and therefore increase clinical benefits.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology: SFRH/BD/148877/2019; CENTRO01-0145-FEDER-000008 CENTRO-01-0145FEDER-022095 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016719 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029716 POCI01-0145-FEDER-016807 POCI-01-0145-FEDER016390 UID4950/2020 CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-022118info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio