BEHAVIORAL AND MEMORY CHANGES IN Mus musculus COINFECTED BY Toxocara canis AND Toxoplasma gondii

Several researchers have stated that parasites can alter the behavior of their hosts, in order to increase the transmission rate, principally when prey-predator relationships are a reliable way of infection transmission. The aim of this study was to verify the occurrence of changes in anxiety and short-term memory patterns in experimentally infected Mus musculus by Toxocara canis and/or Toxoplasma gondii. Forty male Mus musculus (Balb/c) eight-week-old were divided into four groups of 10 mice each. One group was infected with 300 eggs of Toxocara canis; a second group was submitted to infection with 10 cysts of Toxoplasma gondii; a third group was concomitantly infected with both parasites with the same inoculums and the last group was maintained without infection. The anxiety levels were evaluated using an elevated plus maze and an actometer; the short-term memory was determined by a two-way active avoidance equipment. The determination of anxiety levels were conducted 40 and 70 days after infection and the short-term memory was evaluated 140 days after infection. Mice chronically infected by Toxoplasma gondii showed impaired learning and short-term memory, but no significant differences were found in mice infected by Toxocara canis or concomitantly infected by Toxocara canis and Toxoplasma gondii when compared to non infected mice.

Interoperability on low power devices

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

A modular distributed transactional memory framework

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

An agent based architecture for material handling systems

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Partial replication in distributed software transactional memory

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Effect of surfactant on PDLC films with and without permanent memory effect

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

Maintaining the correctness of transactional memory programs

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Informática

Service-oriented architecture for device lifecycle support in industrial automation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores Especialidade: Robótica e Manufactura Integrada

Lightweight monitoring of transactional memory programs

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Narrative Memory in Hyperfiction and Games

The aim of this paper is to address some theoretical issues concerning the narrative practice in cyberspace. From a narratological perspective it intends to clarify the functioning of time and space in storytelling. For that purpose it traces the concept(s) of memory inherited from rhetoric; the use of memory as a narrative device in traditional accounts; the adaptations imposed by hyperfiction. Using practical examples (including two Portuguese case studies - InStory 2006, and Noon 2007) it will show how narrative memory strategies can be helpful in game literacy. The main purpose is to contribute to serious game research and (trans)literary studies.

Smart windows with permanent memory effect

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

The stone and the cross. Indo-Portuguese Jesuit Architecture in Ethiopia. 1603-33

A fundação de uma missão jesuita no Norte da Etiópia em 1603, na província do Tigré, pelo enérgico Pe. Pero Pais, S. J. teólogo, construtor e historiador vindo de Goa, tomou um forte impulso com a aliança pretendida com os Portugueses pelo imperador Susénios (1619-20) para o apoio militar contra os muçulmanos; e, sobretudo, após a sua conversão oficial à Igreja Católica Romana, em 1626. Uma dúzia de inovadores edifícios foram então construídos pelos Jesuítas na região paradisíaca em torno do Lago Tana: basílicas, igrejas, palácios e jardins, complexos palatinos e eclesiásticos, colégios, etc. A tipologia em cruz latina e ornatos incisos é deliberadamente diferente das igrejas ortodoxas etíopes, circulares e em madeira. A técnica de construção em pedra e cal, ignorada na Etiópia, significou uma revolução. No presente texto procura-se determinar a quem deve ser atribuído este inédito surto construtivo, deixando de lado as teorias tradicionais de pedreiros vindos de Portugal ou de construtores locais. Com base na evidência estilística e em referências de textos da época, atribui-se a inovação a padres e “irmãos” jesuitas com experiência de arquitectos na Índia portuguesa e a construtores de Goa e de Diu, definindo a arte portuguesa na Etiópia como uma província da arquitectura indo-portuguesa na Índia, prosseguida após a expulsão dos Jesuítas (1633) com os “castelos portugueses”, ou paços acastelados da nova capital, Gondar.

Gas tungsten arc welding of NiTi shape memory alloy

Shape memory alloys are characterized by the ability of recovering their initial shape after being deformed and by superelasticity. Since the discovery of these alloys, a new field of interest emerged not only for the scientific community but also to many industries. However, these alloys present poor machinability which constitute a constrain in the design of complex components for new applications. Thus, the demand for joining techniques able to join these alloys without compromising their properties became of great importance to enlarge the complexity of existing applications. Literature shows that these alloys are joined mainly using laser welding. In the present study, similar NiTi butt joints, were produced using TIG welding. The welds were performed in 1.5 mm thick plates across the rolling direction. A special fixture and gas assist device was designed and manufactured. Also a robot arm was adapted to accommodate the welding torch to assure the repeatability of the welding parameters. Welds were successfully achieved without macroscopic defects, such as pores and distortions. Very superficial oxidation was seen on the top surface due to insufficient shielding gas flow on the weld face. The welded joints were mechanically tested and structurally characterized. Testing methods were used to evaluate macro and microstructure, as well as the phase transformation temperatures, the mechanical single and cyclic behaviour and the shape recovery ability. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), microhardness measurements were techniques also used to evaluate the welded joints. A depletion in Ni in the fusion zone was seen, as well as a shift in Ms temperature. For strain values of 4% the accumulated irrecoverable strain was of about 30% and increased with the strain imposed during cycling. Nevertheless, a complete recovery of initial shape was observed when testing the shape memory effect on a dedicated device that introduces a deformation of 6.7%. That is, the welding procedure does not remove the ability of the specimens to recover their initial shape.

Writing to queens while crises proceed: In memory of Manuel Jacinto Nunes

The project of writing to a fictional Portuguese-speaking Queen on the crises proceeding since 2008 builds on Letters to Queen Elizabeth written by the British Academy and was first published in 2013. This expanded edition signals greater awareness of the complementarity between economic potential and cultural legacy in the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) insofar as its members, observers and their areas of economic integration encompass the globe. The edition is dedicated to the memory of Manuel Jacinto Nunes, who supported the project as dean of the economics section at the Lisbon Academy of Science. The cover shows a Crown with nine CPLP flags as jewels in the shape of a 7 rising from the waves. The waves of lusophonia appear far gentler than Poe’s maelstrom, reproduced in the back flap. This material, inserted in the proceedings published on IICT’s 130th anniversary, is used at NOVASBE through its Center for Globalization and Governance (CG&G).

Untitled: Figurations of memory

The next pages will describe my experience and results of making connections between cognitive sciences and art; the transformations of my memories being the object of study and motivation for this process of self-discovery. The human body reacts according to innumerable neural functions and external stimuli. Neurons respond to the evocation of experienced events, building virtual images, map-like constellations sometimes fulfilled by imagination, desires or knowledge promoting in this way their constant reshaping. This document offers an insight into my recollections as matter. As matter these recollections take on different states and I hope to give you a better sense of my personal voice using my experience with glass to explore this transformation and accompanying my journey with lectures and scientific readings about the mind functions.