Experimental assessment of an innovative strengthening material for brick masonry infills

The vulnerability of masonry infill walls has been highlighted in recent earthquakes in which severe inplane damage and out-of-plane collapse developed, justifying the investment in the proposal of strengthening solutions aiming to improve the seismic performance of these construction elements. Therefore, this work presents an innovative strengthening solution to be applied in masonry infill walls, in order to avoid brittle failure and thus minimize the material damage and human losses. The textilereinforced mortar technique (TRM) has been shown to improve the out-of-plane resistance of masonry and to enhance its ductility, and here an innovative reinforcing mesh composed of braided composite rods is proposed. The external part of the rod is composed of braided polyester whose structure is defined so that the bond adherence with mortar is optimized. The mechanical performance of the strengthening technique to improve the out-of-plane behaviour of brick masonry is assessed based on experimental bending tests. Additionally, a comparison of the mechanical behaviour of the proposed meshes with commercial meshes is provided. The idea is that the proposed meshes are efficient in avoiding brittle collapse and premature disintegration of brick masonry during seismic events.

MixAR mobile prototype: visualizing virtually reconstructed ancient structures in situ

Archeology and related areas have a special interest on cultural heritage sites since they provide valuable information about past civilizations. However, the ancient buildings present in these sites are commonly found in an advanced state of degradation which difficult the professional/expert analysis. Virtual reconstructions of such buildings aim to provide a digital insight of how these historical places could have been in ancient times. Moreover, the visualization of such models has been explored by some Augmented Reality (AR) systems capable of providing support to experts. Their compelling and appealing environments have also been applied to promote the social and cultural participation of general public. The existing AR solutions regarding this thematic rarely explore the potential of realism, due to the following lacks: the exploration of mixed environments is usually only supported for indoors or outdoors, not both in the same system; the adaptation of the illumination conditions to the reconstructed structures is rarely addressed causing a decrease of credibility. MixAR [1] is a system concerned with those challenges, aiming to provide the visualization of virtual buildings augmented upon real ruins, allowing soft transitions among its interiors and exteriors and using relighting techniques for a faithful interior illumination, while the user freely moves in a given cultural heritage site, carrying a mobile unit. Regarding the focus of this paper, we intend to report the current state of MixAR mobile unit prototype, which allows visualizing virtual buildings – properly aligned with real-world structures – based on user's location, during outdoor navigation. In order to evaluate the prototype performance, a set of tests were made using virtual models with different complexities.

Prevalência de comportamentos alimentares disfuncionais em mulheres idosas

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia Aplicada (área de especialização em Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde)

Smile-kids: uma experiência de educação e formação de educadores de infância em creches

O presente estudo pretende descrever o programa de intervenção, baseado no desenvolvimento de conhe‑ cimentos e competências em educadores de infância relacionados com a alimentação, crescimento, desen‑ volvimento e adesão a novos alimentos na primeira infância. Os educadores de infância das creches (18 no total) participaram no programa de intervenção, que ocorreu entre dezembro de 2013 e fevereiro de 2014, acreditada pelo Ministério da Educação, Conselho Científico-Pedagógico da Formação Contínua. Globalmente, a oficina de formação constituiu-se como um espaço de reflexão, análise e exploração de temáticas relacionadas com os estilos de vida na primeira infância, num total de 25 horas de formação presencias e 25 horas de experimentação no contexto de trabalho das formandas. Procurámos centrar os momentos formativos numa pedagogia baseada na partilha, expo‑ sição de perspetivas singulares entre pares, colaboração e iniciativa conjunta. Explorámos as expetativas das formandas relativamente à oficina de formação e as suas representações sobre a alimentação em crianças. A experiência terminou, mas com um sentido expectável de continuidade, pois deixou marcas em todos os que participaram. As implicações para a prática foram testemunhadas por todas as formandas.

Dislexia: conhecimentos de educadores e professores do 1º ciclo do ensino básico na Zona Norte de Portugal

Dissertação de mestrado em Educação Especial (área de especialização em Dificuldades de Aprendizagem Específicas)