Chatbot assistant for diabetic patients

Dissertação de mestrado em Informatics EngineeringNowadays, with the existence of several chronic health conditions, Diabetes Mellitus (DM) being one of the main ones, there is a great burden that patients must have in order to be able to take care of themselves. Thus, in addition to seeking to resolve their needs by obtaining information from health professionals, they increasingly seek information and advices in forums, communities and groups. The use of dialogue systems has become essential in people’s lives. The development of conversational agents is still an unresolved research problem that poses many challenges in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) community. This work aims to build an AI chatbot that is based on the principles and techniques of AI directed to Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Deep Learning to help people newly diagnosed with DM in the self management of the disease. A literature search of DM education and information for people newly diagnosed with DM was con ducted. Additionally, the main topics in which patients ask for support were retrieved from a search of several online support groups of DM, as well as questionnaires with 8 patients and interviews with 3 health professionals. The application were developed through the back-end side in Python and the front-end side in React Native and its communication was made through WebSockets. Furthermore, an interaction and interface design are developed in this work using Human-Centered Design (HCD) methodology. For that purpose, iterative usability test sessions were conducted with 12 users using Think Aloud methods and the System Usability Scale (SUS). The chatbot developed is Information Retrieval (IR) type and answered questions asked by users in a human-like way. The result of the usability tests of the final version of the application was satisfactory (with a System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 88) and users found the application quite intuitive and robust. Further studies should concentrate on customizing the chatbot to each user by collecting information from prior interactions and verifying the impact of using this chatbot for newly diagnosed Portuguese users with DM.Atualmente, com a existência de várias condições crónicas de saúde sendo uma das principais a Diabetes Mellitus (DM), há um grande fardo que os pacientes devem ter para poderem cuidar de si mesmos. Assim, para além dos pacientes buscarem procurar resolver as suas necessidades por meio da obtenção de informações junto aos profissionais de saúde, cada vez mais buscam informações e conselhos em fóruns, comunidades e grupos. O uso de sistemas de diálogo tornou-se essencial na vida das pessoas. O desenvolvimento de agentes conversacionais é ainda um problema de pesquisa não resolvido que apresenta muitos desafios na comunidade da Inteligência Artificial (IA). Este trabalho visa construir um IA chatbot que é baseado nos princípios e técnicas de Inteligência Artificial (IA) direcionado a Processamento de Linguagem Natural (PLN) e Aprendizagem Profunda para ajudar pessoas recém-diagnosticadas com DM no autocuidado desta doença. Neste trabalho, foi acompanhada uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre a educação e informações da DM para pessoas recém-diagnosticadas com DM. Além disso, foram abordados em vários grupos de apoio online relacionados com a DM os principais tópicos que os pacientes pedem apoio, a utilização de um questionário com 8 pacientes e entrevistas com 3 profissionais de saúde. A aplicação foi desenvolvida através do back-end em Python e front-end em React Native e a sua comunicação foi feita através de WebSockets. Foi também desenvolvido um design de interação e interface através da metodologia Human-Centered Design (HCD). Para tal, foram realizadas sessões de testes iterativos de usabilidade com 12 participantes seguindo os métodos Think Aloud e System Usability Scale (SUS). O chatbot desenvolvido é do tipo Information Retrieval (IR) e responde às perguntas feitas pelos utilizadores de forma humana. O resultado dos testes de usabilidade da versão final da aplicação foram satisfatórios (SUS de 88) e os utilizadores acharam a aplicação bastante intuitiva e robusta. Os estudos futuros devem concentrar-se na personalização do chatbot para cada utilizador, com a coleção de informações e de interações anteriores e na verificação do impacto da utilização deste chatbot para utilizadores portugueses recém-diagnosticados com DM

Social interactions around public transportation

In this work, we explore how information services can be used to improve the travel experience in public transportation and reduce the perceived travel time. More specifically, we describe the creation of a mobile application for assisting passengers, which explores the integration of social networking features into the traveling experience. The overall objective is to understand how social networking concepts can become part of the travel experience and enrich that experience in a way that allows passengers to reduce the "psychological travel time" and to change the perception of waiting. We have conducted a focus group with 10 participants to elicit new forms of interaction within the transportation system and uncover new directions for integrating social network concepts. We have implemented some of them in our own mobile app for public transportation and shown how they can be combined with the more informative side of those applications

Culturas lúdicas infantis na pré-escola

A presente pesquisa, a partir do campo dos Estudos Sociais da Infância, tem como objetivo investigar a constituição de culturas lúdicas infantis em uma escola de Educação Infantil conveniada à rede municipal de Porto Alegre. Metodologicamente foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa com crianças na faixa etária dos cinco anos de idade que estavam frequentando a pré-escola. Desse modo, tendo em vista a geração dos dados da pesquisa, foram utilizadas as seguintes estratégias metodológicas: observação do cotidiano escolar, registros escritos em diário de campo, registros fotográficos e rodas de conversa com as 19 crianças participantes da pesquisa. Em tal perspectiva, durante o decorrer do trabalho de campo foi estabelecida uma relação ética de proximidade com as crianças, a partir da compreensão de que as mesmas são sujeitos sociais ativos e produtoras de culturas infantis, que devem ter seus direitos de expressão e manifestação garantidos e respeitados durante toda a investigação. A partir da análise dos dados gerados na pesquisa, foram observadas regularidades constituintes de culturas lúdicas, nos modos como eram compartilhadas socialmente certas referências culturais entre as crianças durante a jornada diária na pré-escola. Dessa forma, ao realizar uma pesquisa de campo que estabeleceu uma relação com as crianças participantes da pesquisa, a partir da compreensão de que as mesmas são sujeitos sociais ativos, produtores de culturas, foi possível formular dois conceitos. O primeiro, ambientes lúdicos, que trata das relações sociais expressadas pelas crianças entre si e/ou com os diversos elementos – espaço físico, mobiliário, objetos, cores, sons, cheiros, entre outros exemplos – que permeiam o seu cotidiano na escola. O segundo, culturas lúdicas infantis, diz respeito ao processo que decorre dessas relações sociais que, por um lado, compreende a capacidade das crianças em apropriar-se de referências culturais que possuem ligação com alguma afetividade lúdica sua. Por outro lado, as culturas lúdicas infantis dizem respeito também a certa sensibilidade dessas crianças em reconhecer experiências lúdicas, naquilo que escapa às suas próprias referências culturais, ao se perceberem envolvidas afetivamente em situações ainda não experimentadas anteriormente, nos diversos ambientes os quais possam fazer parte. Nessa direção, por meio das análises empreendidas, foram definidas três unidades analíticas que ilustram a circulação das culturas lúdicas infantis, pelos sujeitos participantes da pesquisa. A unidade 1, Gestualidades, diz respeito à forma com que as crianças, nos seus gestos, olhares, posturas corporais, tons de voz, entre outras expressões corpóreas, relacionaram-se ludicamente. A unidade 2, Relações, procura visibilizar as circunstâncias, estratégias e intenções que implicaram as crianças envolvidas na pesquisa, nas suas diversas relações entre si e com os adultos, que lhes possibilitaram experiências lúdicas. A unidade 3, Musicalidades, compreende as formas como as diversas expressões sonoras produzidas pelas crianças se tornaram importantes no compartilhamento de experiências lúdicas. Ao final da pesquisa de campo, da proposição dos dois conceitos acima referidos, e da produção das três unidades de análise que colocam, em alguma medida, esses dois conceitos em movimento, foi possível estabelecer relações com as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Educação Infantil, de maneira a mostrar a importância de nós, enquanto adultos, proporcionarmos ambientes propícios para práticas pedagógicas das crianças, possibilitando as mesmas que experimentem, à sua maneira, experiências lúdicas em seu cotidiano escolar.This research in the Social Studies of Childhood area, aims to investigate the constitution of children's ludic cultures in a public school of Early Childhood Education which is part of the municipal network of Porto Alegre. A research was developed with children in the age group of five years old who were attending preschool. In this way, in order to generate the research data, the following methodological strategies were used: daily school observation, records written in diaries, photographic records and talk sessions with the 19 children who participated of the research. In this perspective, during the development of the research an ethical relationship with the children was established, starting from the understanding that they are active social subjects and producers of children's cultures, who must have their expression rights and manifestation guaranteed and respected throughout the investigation. From the analysis of the data generated in the research, constitutional regularities of ludic cultures were observed, in the ways in which certain cultural references were shared among children during the daily routine in the preschool. Thus, conducting a research that established a relationship with the mentioned children, from the understanding that they are active social subjects and producers of cultures, it was possible to formulate two concepts. The first one, ludic environments, deals with the social relations expressed by children among themselves and / or with various elements - physical space, furniture, objects, colours, sounds, smells among others - that permeate their daily life in school. The second one, children’s ludic cultures, refers to the process that results from these social relations that understands the capacity of children to appropriate cultural references that have a connection with some of their ludic affectivity. On the other hand, the children's ludic cultures also relate to the sensitivity of these children to recognizing ludic experiences that escapes their own cultural references, when they perceive themselves to be emotionally involved in situations not experienced previously, in the various environments they may be part of. In this direction, through the analysis undertaken, three analytical units were defined that illustrate the circulation of children's ludic cultures by the subjects who participated of the research. Unit 1, Gestualidades, refers to the way in which the children, in their gestures, looks, body postures, tone of voice, among other corporeal expressions, were ludically related. Unit 2, Relations, seeks to visualize the circumstances, strategies and intentions occurred with the children involved in the research, in their various relationships with each other and with the adults, which enabled them to have fun experiences. Unit 3, Musicalidades, comprehend the ways in which the various sound expressions produced by children have become important in the sharing of ludic experiences. At the end of the research, the proposition of the two concepts mentioned above and the production of the three units of analysis that, to some extent, place these two concepts in motion, it was possible to establish relationships with the National Curriculum Guidelines for Early Childhood Education, in order to show the importance of us, as adults, to provide appropriate environments to the children’s pedagogical practices, enabling them to experience, in their own way, ludic experiences in their daily school life

“Se um negro tiver oportunidade”: Cotas raciais e acesso ao ensino público no Brasil

O artigo analisa o impacto da concepção de Democracia Racial na construção das relações étnico-raciais no Brasil. Tomando como universo empírico uma política pública e educação de jovens e adultos serão avaliados os pontos de vistas articulados a favor e contra as cotas étnico-raciais no contexto contemporâneo. Com base no referencial analítico e teórico dos estudos raciais brasileiros, indaga-se sobre como se estrutura, no imaginário social de uma população de baixa renda, vista como “fracassada”, o tema clássico do “mito da Democracia Racial”. O artigo tem como metodologia uma etnografia cujos resultados apontam dimensões profundas da reprodução do Racismo no cotidiano escolar, forjadas nas tensões com as representações sociais sobre categorias como “raça” e “igualdade”

An ANN Based Sensitivity Analysis of Factors Affecting Stability of Gravity Hunched Back Quay Walls

This paper presents Artificial Neural Network (ANN) prediction models that relate the safety factors of a quay wall against sliding, overturning and bearing capacity failure to the soil geotechnical properties, the geometry of the gravity hunched back quay walls and the loading conditions. In this study, a database of around 80000 hypothetical data sets was created using a conceptual model of a gravity hunched back quay wall with different geometries, loading conditions and geotechnical properties of the soil backfill and the wall foundation. To create this database a MATLAB aided program was written based on one of the most common manuals, OCDI (2002). Comparison between the results of the developed models and cases in the data bank indicates that the predictions are within a confidence interval of 95%. To evaluate the effect of each factor on these values of factor of safety, sensitivity analysis were performed and discussed. According to the performed sensitivity analysis, shear strength parameters of the soil behind and beneath the walls are the most important variables in predicting the safety factors

The elusive impact of R&D grants on firm productivity

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of R&D subsidies, provided by the European Regional Development Funds, on firms’ productivity. Using detailed longitudinal firm-level data covering the period 2007-2019, we employ state of the art differences-in-differences estimators to evaluate the impacts of R&D grants. Positive causal effects on gross value added and labour productivity are discernible for micro- and small-sized firms participating in co-promotion but not in individual projects. However, these effects seem to be elusive. No evidence of a positive effect of these grants on firm performance for medium- and large-sized firms or for individual R&D projects is found. This investigation contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the relative effectiveness of productivity enhancement programs.The authors acknowledge the funding by National Funds of the FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, project UIDB/03182/2020

Evaluation of flow-mesh influence in resin injection processes

Liquid molding is a versatile composite family of processes largely used in naval and automotive industries. In these processes, a polymeric resin is forced through a mold cavity previously filled with a reinforcement medium. In several cases, the impregnation stage may be too long and, to avoid that a flow-mesh (FM) may be placed over the reinforcement. This FM has very high permeability and high porosity, thus the resin first advances inside it and then impregnates the reinforcement medium. The FM commonly covers the entire reinforcement medium, however this may not the best solution for all situations, since it may produce an irregular resin flow front inside the mold cavity, resulting in void formation or waste of resin. This work performs a study on the most suitable FM length, in relation to the mold length, for rectilinear injections. Main goal is to produce a data set to determine FM length based on mold thickness and in-plane to transverse permeability ratio (ψ=Kxx/Kzz). Results have shown that for common industrial application, where ψ∼10, mold length must be 2.5 times as long as the FM for thick reinforcements. Moreover, for more extreme cases, with ψ∼1000, this value may reach 25

Werner's syndrome associated with scleroderma-like syndrome: case report and literature revision

Werner's syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disease associated with premature ageing. Skin alteration must be distinguished from cutaneous manifestation of systemic sclerosis (SSc). We describe a case of a 39 years old patient with Werner's syndrome admitted with an initial diagnostic hypothesis of SSc. The patient had many characteristic features associated with Werner's syndrome including gray hair, hoarseness, short stature, scleroderma-like skin changes, diabetes mellitus, cataracts, hypogonadism, hypothyroidism, and hyperlipidemia. There was no Raynaud's phenomenon, other typical visceral manifestation of SSc, nailfold capillary alterations or autoantibodies. Werner's syndrome diagnosis notwithstanding rare, should be remember in the differential diagnosis of SSc, mainly in the presence of atypical manifestations and in the absence of typical features of SSc.A síndrome de Werner é uma doença autossômica recessiva rara associada a envelhecimento precoce, cujo quadro cutâneo deve ser distinguido daquele encontrado na esclerose sistêmica (ES). Descrevemos aqui o caso de uma paciente de 39 anos de idade, portadora de síndrome de Werner, encaminhada ao nosso serviço com hipótese diagnóstica inicial de ES. A paciente apresentava várias manifestações associadas à síndrome de Werner, incluindo cabelos precocemente grisalhos, voz estridente, baixa estatura, alterações cutâneas esclerodermiformes, diabetes melito, catarata, hipogonadismo, hipotireoidismo e hiperlipidemia. Não apresentava fenômeno de Raynaud, manifestações viscerais típicas da ES, alterações capilaroscópicas periungueais ou auto-anticorpos. O diagnóstico de síndrome de Werner, apesar de raro, deve ser lembrado no diagnóstico diferencial de ES, principalmente na presença de manifestações atípicas e na ausência de alterações típicas da ES.UNIFESP-EPMAmbulatório de Doenças do Espectro da Esclerose SistêmicaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

Seasonal variation, method of determination of bovine milk stability, and its relation with physical, chemical, and sanitary characteristics of raw milk

The objective of this research was to determine the variation of milk stability evaluated with ethanol, boiling, and coagulation time tests (CTT) to identify milk components related with stability and verify the correlation between the three methods. Bulk raw milk was collected monthly at 50 dairy farms from January 2007 to October 2009 and physicochemical attributes, somatic cell (SCC), and total bacterial counts (TBC) were determined. Milk samples were classified into low, medium, and high stability to ethanol test when coagulation occurred at 72 °GL, between 74 and 78 °GL, and above 78 °GL, respectively. Univariate analysis was performed considering the effects of year, months, and interaction in a completely randomized design. Principal factor analysis and logistic regression were done. There was an interaction between months and years for stability to the ethanol test and coagulation time. All samples were stable at the boiling test. Boiling test was not related to ethanol and coagulation time tests. Coagulation time was weakly but positively correlated with ethanol test. Broken line analysis revealed that milk stability measured with CTT and ethanol tests decreased sharply when SCC attained 790,000 or 106 cell/mL of milk, respectively. Milk stability measured with ethanol test decreased when TBC was higher than 250,000 cfu/mL, while there was no inflexion point between TBC and stability measured with CTT. Milk with high stability presented lower values for acidity, TBC, and SCC but higher values for pH, lactose, protein, and CTT compared with lowstability milk. Due to the execution easiness, single-point cut-off result and low cost, we do not recommend the replacement of ethanol test for boiling or coagulation time test

O BALANÇO SOCIAL COMO UM INSTRUMENTO DE INFORMAÇÃO PARA A SOCIEDADE: UM ESTUDO NA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE - FURG

A responsabilidade social e ambiental ganharam destaque nesse último século, sendo promovido inúmeros estudos por parte das mais diversas áreas do conhecimento. O escopo do estudo abrange o Balanço Social, pois essa ferramenta contábil configura-se como um instrumento útil na geração de informações para o processo decisório dos governos, constituídos na esfera federal, estadual e/ou municipal, promovendo benefícios tanto aos futuros investimentos como aos atuais e evidenciando a Responsabilidade Social das organizações públicas. O objetivo geral desse trabalho é analisar a aplicabilidade do Balanço Social em Instituição de Ensino Superior, desenvolvido a partir de uma estrutura originada no modelo estabelecido pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (Ibase), no período de 2009 e 2010. Em termos metodológicos é um estudo descritivo, com análise documental e abordagem qualitativa. Nos resultados da análise do Balanço Social, ficou evidenciado que a Universidade Federal do Rio Grande – FURG está se expandindo, mas deve tomar cuidado com as necessidades acessórias. Com isso, a presente pesquisa buscou contribuir para o entendimento deste importante instrumento de evidenciação social e ambiental, bem como provocar a discussão sobre o tema