A Mismatch-Based Model for Memory Reconsolidation and Extinction in Attractor Networks

OSAN, R. , TORT, A. B. L. , AMARAL, O. B. . A mismatch-based model for memory reconsolidation and extinction in attractor networks. Plos One, v. 6, p. e23113, 2011.

Increased hippocampal excitability and impaired spatial memory function in mice lacking VGLUT2 selectively in neurons defined by tyrosine hydroxylase promoter activity

Three populations of neurons expressing the vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (Vglut2) were recently described in the A10 area of the mouse midbrain, of which two populations were shown to express the gene encoding, the rate-limiting enzyme for catecholamine synthesis, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH).One of these populations (‘‘TH– Vglut2 Class1’’) also expressed the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene while one did not ("TH–Vglut2 Class2"), and the remaining population did not express TH at all ("TH-Vglut2-only"). TH is known to be expressed by a promoter which shows two phases of activation, a transient one early during embryonal development, and a later one which gives rise to stable endogenous expression of the TH gene. The transient phase is, however, not specific to catecholaminergic neurons, a feature taken to advantage here as it enabled Vglut2 gene targeting within all three A10 populations expressing this gene, thus creating a new conditional knockout. These knockout mice showed impairment in spatial memory function. Electrophysiological analyses revealed a profound alteration of oscillatory activity in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. In addition to identifying a novel role for Vglut2 in hippocampus function, this study points to the need for improved genetic tools for targeting of the diversity of subpopulations of the A10 area

Contribuições de uma unidade de ensino potencialmente significativa UEPS para o ensino de ecologia em escola pública da educação básica

The research aims to evaluate the contributions of a teaching unit to enhance the learning contents ecological green areas in elementary school. The work was conducted with elementary students in a public school in Natal-RN. We sought to identify the students´ previous knowledge about the contents of ecology, develop and implement a Potentially Meaningful Teaching Units PMTU; assess learning of ecological concepts in Teaching Unit Potentially Significant; assess the contribution of interpretative trail as strategy teaching to learning content ecology. The survey of students´ previous knowledge through the pre-test was essential to identify the appropriate subsumers and partially correct, since they served as "anchor" for further expansion of scientific concepts contained in this research. The green areas of the school as an educational, contributed the motivational aspect, as students were protagonists throughout the entire process of teaching and learning. The method of stimulated memory was effective to evidence learning ecological concepts in interpretive trails. The use of diverse activities organized on a PMTU promoted intellectual autonomy of the students and facilitated the acquisition of new meanings through progressive differentiation, and integrative reconciliation consolidation of ecological content and concepts related to biotic and abiotic factors on the basis of the central ideas thematic Life and Environment. The development of procedural skills to capture and share meanings, observe, collect and record data, hypotheses, ability to explain, to apply knowledge to solve problem situations, argue, identify, compare, differentiate and relate concepts, negotiate meanings, reflecting Critically, systematize data was evidenced. Collaborative activities promoted the incorporation of attitudinal contents as developing respect for differences, learn to work in teams to plan, develop and implement actions together for citizenship and environmental responsibility. The application of the Potentially Meaningful Teaching Units PMTU showed evidence of Critical meaningful learning ecological concepts covered in elementary school.

Geração procedural de cenários orientada a objetivos

The game industry has been experiencing a consistent increase in production costs of games lately. Part of this increase refers to the current trend of having bigger, more interactive and replayable environments. This trend translates to an increase in both team size and development time, which makes game development a even more risky investment and may reduce innovation in the area. As a possible solution to this problem, the scientific community is focusing on the generation of procedural content and, more specifically, on procedurally generated levels. Given the great diversity and complexity of games, most works choose to deal with a specific genre, platform games being one of the most studied. This work aims at proposing a procedural level generation method for platform/adventure games, a fairly more complex genre than most classic platformers which so far has not been the subject of study from other works. The level generation process was divided in two steps, planning and viusal generation, respectively responsible for generating a compact representation of the level and determining its view. The planning stage was divided in game design and level design, and uses a goaloriented process to output a set of rooms. The visual generation step receives a set of rooms and fills its interior with the appropriate parts of previously authored geometry

Verificação formal automatizada para sistemas de raciocínio procedural (PRS) utilizando redes de petri coloridas (RPC)

Este trabalho apresenta uma técnica de verificação formal de Sistemas de Raciocínio Procedural, PRS (Procedural Reasoning System), uma linguagem de programação que utiliza a abordagem do raciocínio procedural. Esta técnica baseia-se na utilização de regras de conversão entre programas PRS e Redes de Petri Coloridas (RPC). Para isso, são apresentadas regras de conversão de um sub-conjunto bem expressivo da maioria da sintaxe utilizada na linguagem PRS para RPC. A fim de proceder fia verificação formal do programa PRS especificado, uma vez que se disponha da rede de Petri equivalente ao programa PRS, utilizamos o formalismo das RPCs (verificação das propriedades estruturais e comportamentais) para analisarmos formalmente o programa PRS equivalente. Utilizamos uma ferramenta computacional disponível para desenhar, simular e analisar as redes de Petri coloridas geradas. Uma vez que disponhamos das regras de conversão PRS-RPC, podemos ser levados a querer fazer esta conversão de maneira estritamente manual. No entanto, a probabilidade de introdução de erros na conversão é grande, fazendo com que o esforço necessário para garantirmos a corretude da conversão manual seja da mesma ordem de grandeza que a eliminação de eventuais erros diretamente no programa PRS original. Assim, a conversão automatizada é de suma importância para evitar que a conversão manual nos leve a erros indesejáveis, podendo invalidar todo o processo de conversão. A principal contribuição deste trabalho de pesquisa diz respeito ao desenvolvimento de uma técnica de verificação formal automatizada que consiste basicamente em duas etapas distintas, embora inter-relacionadas. A primeira fase diz respeito fias regras de conversão de PRS para RPC. A segunda fase é concernente ao desenvolvimento de um conversor para fazer a transformação de maneira automatizada dos programas PRS para as RPCs. A conversão automática é possível, porque todas as regras de conversão apresentadas seguem leis de formação genéricas, passíveis de serem incluídas em algoritmos