Towards Emotional Interaction: Using Movies to Automatically Learn Users' Emotional States

The HCI community is actively seeking novel methodologies to gain insight into the user’s experience during interaction with both the application and the content. We propose an emotional recognition engine capable of automatically recognizing a set of human emotional states using psychophysiological measures of the autonomous nervous system, including galvanic skin response, respiration, and heart rate. A novel pattern recognition system, based on discriminant analysis and support vector machine classifiers is trained using movies’ scenes selected to induce emotions ranging from the positive to the negative valence dimension, including happiness, anger, disgust, sadness, and fear. In this paper we introduce an emotion recognition system and evaluate its accuracy by presenting the results of an experiment conducted with three physiologic sensors.

Influence of electrospinning parameters on Poly(hydroxybutyrate) electrospun membranes fiber size and distribution

Poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) obtained from sugar cane was dissolved in a blend of chloroform and dimethylformamide (DMF) and electrospun at 40 ºC. By adding DMF to the solution, the electrospinning process for the PHB polymer becomes more stable, allowing complete polymer crystallization during the jet travelling between the tip and the grounded collector. The influence of processing parameters on fiber size and distribution was systematically studied. It was observed that an increase of tip inner diameter promotes a decrease of the fiber average size and a broader distribution. On the other hand, an increase of the electric field and flow rate produces an increase of fiber diameter until a maximum of ~2.0 m, but for electric fields higher than 1.5 kV.cm-1, a decrease of the fiber diameter was observed. Polymer crystalline phase seems to be independent of the processing conditions and a crystallinity degree of 53 % was found. Moreover, thermal degradation of the as-spun membrane occurs in single step degradation with activation energy of 91 kJ/mol. Furthermore, MC-3T3-E1 cell adhesion was not inhibited by the fiber mats preparation, indicating their potential use for biomedical applications.

Processing and characterization of alpha-elastin electrospun membranes

Elastin isolated from fresh bovine ligaments was dissolved in a mixture of 1,1,1,3,3,3-Hexafluoro-2-propanol and water and electrospun into fiber membranes under different processing conditions. Fiber mats of randomly and aligned fibers were obtained with fixed and rotating ground collectors and fibrils were composed by thin ribbons whose width depends on electrospinning conditions; fibrils with 721 nm up to 2.12 m width were achieved. After cross-linking with glutaraldehyde, -elastin can uptake as much as 1700 % of PBS solution and a slight increase on fiber thickness was observed. The glass transition temperature of electrospun fiber mats was found to occur at ~ 80 ºC. Moreover, -Elastin showed to be a perfect elastomeric material, and no mechanical hysteresis was found in cycle mechanical measurements. The elastic modulus obtained for oriented and random fibers mats in a PBS solution was 330 ± 10 kPa and 732 ± 165 kPa, respectively. Finally, the electrospinning and cross-linking process does not inhibit MC-3T3-E1 cell adhesion. Cell culture results showed good cell adhesion and proliferation in the cross-linked elastin fiber mats.

Comportamento agronômico de progênies F4 de cafeeiros oriundos do cruzamento entre os cultivares Mundo Novo e Catuaí

A espécie Coffea arabica L é cultivada em todas as regiões cafeeiras do Estado de Minas Gerais, com predominância dos cultivares Catuaí e Mundo Novo, por seu vigor vegetativo, alto potencial produtivo e boa qualidade de bebida. Visando a identificar e selecionar progênies de cafeeiro com boas características agronômicas, foi instalado e conduzido um experimento na Fazenda Experimental da EPAMIG, no município de Três Pontas, MG. Foram avaliadas 39 progênies na 4ª geração de autofecundação, após o 2º retrocruzamento entre 'Catuaí' e 'Mundo Novo' (genitor recorrente), desenvolvidas pelo programa de melhoramento genético da Epamig. Os cultivares Catuaí Vermelho MG 99, Rubi MG 1192 e Acaiá Cerrado MG 1474 foram utilizados como testemunhas. Foram analisadas as características: produção de café beneficiado em sc.ha-1 de oito safras (1998/1999 a 2005/2006), vigor vegetativo, percentagem de frutos chochos e classificação quanto à peneira. Ficou evidente que existe variabilidade genética dentro do grupo de progênies estudadas. As maiores produtividades foram encontradas na sétima e oitava colheita. As progênies 1189-9-80-1 e 1189-9-80-3 apresentaram melhor desempenho, em todas as características avaliadas e serão selecionadas para futuros trabalhos de melhoramento genético, sendo lançadas como cultivar ou utilizadas em hibridações.

Towards the design of efficient nonbeacon-enabled ZigBee networks

This paper presents experimental results of the communication performance evaluation of a prototype ZigBee-based patient monitoring system commissioned in an in-patient floor of a Portuguese hospital (HPG – Hospital Privado de Guimar~aes). Besides, it revisits relevant problems that affect the performance of nonbeacon-enabled ZigBee networks. Initially, the presence of hidden-nodes and the impact of sensor node mobility are discussed. It was observed, for instance, that the message delivery ratio in a star network consisting of six wireless electrocardiogram sensor devices may decrease from 100% when no hidden-nodes are present to 83.96% when half of the sensor devices are unable to detect the transmissions made by the other half. An additional aspect which affects the communication reliability is a deadlock condition that can occur if routers are unable to process incoming packets during the backoff part of the CSMA-CA mechanism. A simple approach to increase the message delivery ratio in this case is proposed and its effectiveness is verified. The discussion and results presented in this paper aim to contribute to the design of efficient networks,and are valid to other scenarios and environments rather than hospitals.

The need for standardized tests to evaluate the reliability of data transport in wireless medical systems

Wireless medical systems are comprised of four stages, namely the medical device, the data transport, the data collection and the data evaluation stages. Whereas the performance of the first stage is highly regulated, the others are not. This paper concentrates on the data transport stage and argues that it is necessary to establish standardized tests to be used by medical device manufacturers to provide comparable results concerning the communication performance of the wireless networks used to transport medical data. Besides, it suggests test parameters and procedures to be used to produce comparable communication performance results.

Accessing movies based on emotional impact

Emotions play a central role in our daily lives, influencing the way we think and act, our health and sense of well-being, and films are by excellence the form of art that exploits our affective, perceptual and intellectual activity, holding the potential for a significant impact. Video is becoming a dominant and pervasive medium, and online video a growing entertainment activity on the web and iTV, mainly due to technological developments and the trends for media convergence. In addition, the improvement of new techniques for gathering emotional information about videos, both through content analysis or user implicit feedback through user physiological signals complemented in manual labeling from users, is revealing new ways for exploring emotional information in videos, films or TV series, and brings out new perspectives to enrich and personalize video access. In this work, we reflect on the power that emotions have in our lives, on the emotional impact of movies, and on how to address this emotional dimension in the way we classify and access movies, by exploring and evaluating the design of iFelt in its different ways to classify, access, browse and visualize movies based on their emotional impac

The effect of leaf area reduction on corn plants during the reproduction phase

Reduction in leaf area in corn plants during reproduction changes physiological metabolism and consequently the accumulation of dry matter in grains. The aim of this work was to study changes in agronomic characteristics caused by defoliation in corn during the reproduction phase. The experiment was carried out in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais state, in the agricultural year 2007/2008. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design, consisting of seven treatments: control without defoliation, removal of two apical leaves, removal of four apical leaves, removal of all leaves above spike, removal of four intermediate leaves, removal of all leaves below spike, and removal of all plant leaves, with five repetitions. The genotype used for the evaluations was hybrid NB 7376. Defoliation was carried out when plants were at the growth stage R2. The variables assessed were: yield, density of spikes and corncobs, root resistance and stem integrity. When all leaves above the spike were removed, grain yield was reduced by 20%. Corncob density, stem integrity and root resistance to uprooting were also affected. Spike density was only affected when all plant leaves were removed. The leaf area remaining physiologically active above the spike was found to be most efficient in terms of grain yield.

Os Custos da Qualidade: Estudo de Casos de Empresas Portuguesas

Desde sempre que as empresas se preocuparam com a satisfação dos seus clientes apostando na qualidade dos produtos e serviços prestados. A própria contabilidade deverá proporcionar informações que auxiliem a tomada de decisões a este nível, não se limitando única e exclusivamente à quantificação dos chamados custos da qualidade. Assim, a problemática da contabilização e classificação dos custos da qualidade tem sido objecto de estudo ao longo dos anos, no sentido de se proporem alternativas de tratamento contabilístico, já que os sistemas contabilísticos tradicionais são considerados insuficientes no fornecimento de informação relevante neste âmbito. Face ao exposto, a Contabilidade de Custos e de Gestão tem vindo a assumir um papel crucial no fornecimento das referidas informações. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem por objectivo avaliar a importância atribuída pelos gestores das empresas à implementação de sistemas de custos da qualidade e à necessária reestruturação dos sistemas contabilísticos nelas vigente. Para tal, apresentamos três casos de empresas portuguesas com um comportamento distinto ao nível do tratamento e contabilização dos custos da qualidade.

Dinâmica dos micronutrientes em cafeeiros enxertados

As respostas à disponibilidade dos nutrientes variam entre espécies distintas dentro de um mesmo gênero, por causa, principalmente, das exigências nutricionais variáveis, capacidade de absorção, translocação e utilização dos nutrientes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficiência de absorção, translocação e uso dos micronutrientes por diferentes cultivares de Coffea arabica L., enxertados em Apoatã IAC 2258 (Coffea canephora). O experimento foi instalado em casa de vegetação, utilizando-se o método de cultivo em solução nutritiva. Foi utilizado um fatorial 7 x 3 + 2, sendo sete cultivares de Coffea arabica L. (Palma II, Catucaí 2 SL, Oeiras MG 6851, Obatã IAC 1669-20, Acauã, Topázio MG 1190 e Paraíso MG H 419-1), três tipos de mudas (pé franco, autoenxertada e enxertada sobre o cultivar Apoatã IAC 2258) e duas testemunhas (Apoatã autoenxertado e Apoatã pé franco). O porta-enxerto utilizado influenciou negativamente na absorção de boro, ferro e manganês. A translocação dos micronutrientes boro e cobre obteve maiores índices nas mudas enxertadas. O cultivar Palma II, quando enxertado, apresentou o maior índice de utilização dos nutrientes, mostrando-se passível de ser enxertado. O porta-enxerto utilizado mostrou-se apto para a enxertia, por não sofrer influência negativa, tanto pela enxertia, quanto pelos cultivares utilizados.

The perceived potential of business social networking sites

Business social networking is a facilitator of several business activities, such as market studies, communication with clients, and identification of business partners. This paper traduces the results of a study undertaken with the purpose of getting to know how the potential of networking is perceived in the promotion of business by participants of the LinkedIn network, and presents two main contributions: (1) to disseminate within the business community which is the relevance given to social networking; and (2) which are the social networks best suitable to the promotion of business, to support the definition of strategies and approaches accordingly. The results confirm that LinkedIn is the most suitable network to answer the needs of those that look for professional contacts and for the promotion of business, while innovation is the most recognized factor in the promotion of business through social networking. This study contributes to a better understanding of the potential of different business social networking sites, to support organizations and professionals to align their strategies with the perceived potential of each network.

PHB-PEO electrospun fiber membranes containing chlorhexidine for drug delivery applications

Fiber meshes of poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(hydroxybutyrate)/ poly(ethylene oxide) (PHB/PEO) with different concentrations of chlorhexidine (CHX) were prepared by electrospinning, for assessment as a polymer based drug delivery system. The electrospun fibers were characterized at morphological, molecular and mechanical levels. The bactericidal potential of PHB and PHB/PEO electrospun fibers with and without CHX was investigated against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) by disk diffusion susceptibility tests. Electrospun fibers containing CHX exhibited bactericidal activity. PHB/PEO-1%CHX displayed higher CHX release levels and equivalent antibacterial activity when compared to PHB/PEO with 5 and 10 wt% CHX. Bactericidal performance of samples with 1 wt% CHX was assessed by Colony Forming Units (CFU), where a reduction of 100 % and 99.69 % against E. coli and S. aureus were achieved, respectively.

Effect of filler content on morphology and physical-chemical characteristics of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/NaY-zeolite filled membranes

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) electrospun membranes have been prepared with different NaY zeolite contents up to 32%wt. Inclusion of zeolites induces an increase of average fiber size from ~200 nm in the pure polymer up to ~500 nm in the composite with 16%wt zeolite content. For higher filler contents, a wider distribution of fibers occurs leading to a broader size distributions between the previous fiber size values. Hydrophobicity of the membranes increases from ~115º water contact angle to ~128º with the addition of the filler and is independent on filler content, indicating a wrapping of the zeolite by the polymer. The water contact angle further increases with fiber alignment up to ~137º. Electrospun membranes are formed with ~80 % of the polymer crystalline phase in the electroactive  phase, independently on the electrospinning processing conditions or filler content. Viability of MC3T3-E1 cells on the composite membranes after 72 h of cell culture indicates the suitability of the membranes for tissue engineering applications.

Effect of neutralization and cross-linking on the thermal degradation of chitosan electrospun membranes

Thermal degradation of as electrospun chitosan membranes and samples subsequently treated with ethanol and cross-linked with glutaraldehyde (GA) have been studied by thermogravimetry (TG) coupled with an infrared spectrometer (FTIR). The influence of the electrospinning process and cross-linking in the electrospun chitosan thermal stability was evaluated. Up to three degradation steps were observed in the TG data, corresponding to water dehydration reaction at temperatures below 100 ºC, loss of side groups formed between the amine groups of chitosan and trifluoroacetic acid between 150 – 270 ºC and chitosan thermal degradation that starts around 250 ºC and goes up to 400 ºC. The Kissinger model was employed to evaluate the activation energies of the electrospun membranes during isothermal experiments and revealed that thermal degradation activation energy increases for the samples processed by electrospinning and subsequent neutralization and cross-linking treatments with respect to the neat chitosan powder.

Quedas em altura na construção em Portugal: um estudo sobre requisitos, omissões e melhorias na utilização de guarda corpos

As estatísticas informam que o acidente de trabalho de queda em altura é das principais causas de morte no setor da construção em Portugal. Com base nas lacunas legais nacionais e regulamentos normativos aplicáveis, pretende-se com a presente dissertação identificar medidas organizacionais e legais que contribuam para o aumento da eficácia da proteção coletiva temporária guarda corpos. A recolha de dados procedeu-se através de um inquérito por questionário, do qual se obtiveram 155 respostas de técnicos superiores de segurança e higiene no trabalho. Os resultados da análise e verificação das hipóteses concluem sobre a importância de outros requisitos não legislados ou usualmente não considerados. São estes, entre outros, os ensaios, a certificação, a altura mínima de implementação, procedimentos e registos específicos da sua utilização.