O desenvolvimento da competência intercultural através do Task-Based learning na aula de língua estrangeira

Relatório de Estágio apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ensino de Inglês e de Língua Estrangeira (Francês) no 3.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário

Aplicação criativa do e-learning à arte floral

Trabalho de Projecto apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Gestão de Sistemas de E-learning

Interactional strategies between terminologist and domain specialist. Putting order into our universe: the concept of Blended Learning

A presente comunicação visa discutir as mais-valias de um desenho metodológico sustentado numa abordagem conceptual da Terminologia aplicado ao exercício de harmonização da definição do cenário educativo mais promissor do Ensino Superior actual: o blended learning. Sendo a Terminologia uma disciplina que se ocupa da representação, da descrição e da definição do conhecimento especializado através da língua a essência deste domínio do saber responde a uma necessidade fundamental da sociedade actual: putting order into our universe, nas palavras de Nuopponen (2011). No contexto descrito, os conceitos, enquanto elementos da estrutura do conhecimento (Sager, 1990) constituem um objecto de investigação de complexidade não despicienda, pois apesar do postulado de que a língua constitui uma ferramenta fundamental para descrever e organizar o conhecimento, o princípio isomórfico não pode ser tomado como adquirido. A abordagem conceptual em Terminologia propõe uma visão precisa do papel da língua no trabalho terminológico, sendo premissa basilar que não existe uma correspondência unívoca entre os elementos atomísticos do conhecimento e os elementos da expressão linguística. É pela razões enunciadas que as opções metodológicas circunscritas à análise do texto de especialidade serão consideradas imprecisas. Nesta reflexão perspectiva-se que o conceito-chave de uma abordagem conceptual do trabalho terminológico implica a combinação de um processo de elicitação do conhecimento tácito através de uma negociação discursiva orientada para o conceito e a análise de corpora textuais. Defende-se consequentemente que as estratégias de interacção entre terminólogo e especialista de domínio merecem atenção detalhada pelo facto de se reflectirem com expressividade na qualidade dos resultados obtidos. Na sequência do exposto, o modelo metodológico que propomos sustenta-se em três etapas que privilegiam um refinamento dessa interacção permitindo ao terminólogo afirmar-se como sujeito conceptualizador, decisor e interventor: (1) etapa exploratória do domínio-objecto de estudo; (2) etapa de análise onamasiológica de evidência textual e discursiva; (3) etapa de modelização e de validação de resultados. Defender-se-á a produtividade de uma sequência cíclica entre a análise textual e discursiva para fins onomasiológicos, a interacção colaborativa e a introspecção.

Learning sustainability by developing a solar dryer for microalgae retrieval

The development of nations depends on energy consumption, which is generally based on fossil fuels. This dependency produces irreversible and dramatic effects on the environment, e.g. large greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn cause global warming and climate changes, responsible for the rise of the sea level, floods, and other extreme weather events. Transportation is one of the main uses of energy, and its excessive fossil fuel dependency is driving the search for alternative and sustainable sources of energy such as microalgae, from which biodiesel, among other useful compounds, can be obtained. The process includes harvesting and drying, two energy consuming steps, which are, therefore, expensive and unsustainable. The goal of this EPS@ISEP Spring 2013 project was to develop a solar microalgae dryer for the microalgae laboratory of ISEP. A multinational team of five students from distinct fields of study was responsible for designing and building the solar microalgae dryer prototype. The prototype includes a control system to ensure that the microalgae are not destroyed during the drying process. The solar microalgae dryer works as a distiller, extracting the excess water from the microalgae suspension. This paper details the design steps, the building technologies, the ethical and sustainable concerns and compares the prototype with existing solutions. The proposed sustainable microalgae drying process is competitive as far as energy usage is concerned. Finally, the project contributed to increase the deontological ethics, social compromise skills and sustainable development awareness of the students.

Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Anxiety Disorders: A Systematic Review

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorders observed currently. It is a normal adaptive response to stress that allows coping with adverse situations. Nevertheless, when anxiety becomes excessive or disproportional in relation to the situation that evokes it or when there is not any special object directed at it, such as an irrational dread of routine stimuli, it becomes a disabling disorder and is considered to be pathological. The traditional treatment used is medication and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, however, last years the practice of physical exercise, specifically aerobic exercise, has been investigated as a new non-pharmacological therapy for anxiety disorders. Thus, the aim of this article was to provide information on research results and key chains related to the therapeutic effects of aerobic exercise compared with other types of interventions to treat anxiety, which may become a useful clinical application in a near future. Researches have shown the effectiveness of alternative treatments, such as physical exercise, minimizing high financial costs and minimizing side effects. The sample analyzed, 66.8% was composed of women and 80% with severity of symptoms anxiety as moderate to severe. The data analyzed in this review allows us to claim that alternative therapies like exercise are effective in controlling and reducing symptoms, as 91% of anxiety disorders surveys have shown effective results in treating. However, there is still disagreement regarding the effect of exercise compared to the use of antidepressant symptoms and cognitive function in anxiety, this suggests that there is no consensus on the correct intensity of aerobic exercise as to achieve the best dose-response, with intensities high to moderate or moderate to mild.

Decision Support for Energy Contracts Negotiation with Game Theory and Adaptive Learning

This paper presents a decision support methodology for electricity market players’ bilateral contract negotiations. The proposed model is based on the application of game theory, using artificial intelligence to enhance decision support method’s adaptive features. This model is integrated in AiD-EM (Adaptive Decision Support for Electricity Markets Negotiations), a multi-agent system that provides electricity market players with strategic behavior capabilities to improve their outcomes from energy contracts’ negotiations. Although a diversity of tools that enable the study and simulation of electricity markets has emerged during the past few years, these are mostly directed to the analysis of market models and power systems’ technical constraints, making them suitable tools to support decisions of market operators and regulators. However, the equally important support of market negotiating players’ decisions is being highly neglected. The proposed model contributes to overcome the existing gap concerning effective and realistic decision support for electricity market negotiating entities. The proposed method is validated by realistic electricity market simulations using real data from the Iberian market operator—MIBEL. Results show that the proposed adaptive decision support features enable electricity market players to improve their outcomes from bilateral contracts’ negotiations.

Primary Disorders of Neurotransmitter Metabolism: Experience of a Tertiary Center

Neurotransmitter diseases are a group of inherited disorders attributable to a disturbance of neurotransmitter metabolism. Biogenic amines are neurotransmitters with multiple roles including psychomotor function, hormone secretion, cardiovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal control, sleep mechanisms, body temperature and pain. Given the multiple functions of monoamines, disorders of their metabolism comprise a wide spectrum of manifestations, with motor dysfunction being the most prominent clinical feature. Methods: Case review of 12 patients from 4 families, with primary disorders of biogenic amine metabolism. Results: Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency (4 patients from 2 families), and GTP-cyclohydrolase (8 patients from 2 families) were the two diseases identified. Age at first symptoms varied between 2 months and 6 years. Developmental delay was present in all cases except 2 patients with GTP cyclohydrolase deficiency. The combination of axial hypotonia and limb dystonia was also frequent. Children with aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase deficiency exhibited temperature instability, oculogyric crisis and disturbances of sleep. The index case of one family with GTP cyclohydrolase deficiency presented with Parkinsonism (bradykinesia, rigidity and hypomimia). Analysis of neurotransmitters and their metabolites in CSF was crucial for the identification of index cases. Response to therapy was variable but in general unsatisfactory except in a family with GTP cyclohydrolase deficiency. Conclusions: These disorders should be considered in the differential diagnosis of paediatric neurodegenerative diseases, in order to allow an adequate therapeutic trial that can favor prognosis.

Effects of self-administered exercises based on Tuina techniques on musculoskeletal disorders of professional orchestra musicians: a randomized controlled trial

Background Musicians are frequently affected by playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD). Common solutions used by Western medicine to treat musculoskeletal pain include rehabilitation programs and drugs, but their results are sometimes disappointing. Objective To study the effects of self-administered exercises based on Tuina techniques on the pain intensity caused by PRMD of professional orchestra musicians, using numeric visual scale (NVS). Design, setting, participants and interventions We performed a prospective, controlled, single-blinded, randomized study with musicians suffering from PRMD. Participating musicians were randomly distributed into the experimental (n = 39) and the control (n = 30) groups. After an individual diagnostic assessment, specific Tuina self-administered exercises were developed and taught to the participants. Musicians were instructed to repeat the exercises every day for 3 weeks. Main outcome measures Pain intensity was measured by NVS before the intervention and after 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 d of treatment. The procedure was the same for the control group, however the Tuina exercises were executed in points away from the commonly-used acupuncture points. Results In the treatment group, but not the control group, pain intensity was significantly reduced on days 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20. Conclusion The results obtained are consistent with the hypothesis that self-administered exercises based on Tuina techniques could help professional musicians controlling the pain caused by PRMD. Although our results are very promising, further studies are needed employing a larger sample size and double blinding designs.

Massive Open Online Course management: learning science and engineering through peer-reviewed projects

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are gaining prominence in transversal teaching-learning strategies. However, there are many issues still debated, namely assessment, recognized largely as a cornerstone in Education. The large number of students involved requires a redefinition of strategies that often use approaches based on tasks or challenging projects. In these conditions and due to this approach, assessment is made through peer-reviewed assignments and quizzes online. The peer-reviewed assignments are often based upon sample answers or topics, which guide the student in the task of evaluating peers. This chapter analyzes the grading and evaluation in MOOCs, especially in science and engineering courses, within the context of education and grading methodologies and discusses possible perspectives to pursue grading quality in massive e-learning courses.

O b-Learning num contexto de aprendizagem ao longo da vida

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Gestão de Sistemas de e-Learning,

O desenvolvimento curricular no b-learning

Trabalho de Projecto apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Gestão de Sistemas de e-Learning

High-Content Analysis of Breast Cancer Using Single-Cell Deep Transfer Learning

High-content analysis has revolutionized cancer drug discovery by identifying substances that alter the phenotype of a cell, which prevents tumor growth and metastasis. The high-resolution biofluorescence images from assays allow precise quantitative measures enabling the distinction of small molecules of a host cell from a tumor. In this work, we are particularly interested in the application of deep neural networks (DNNs), a cutting-edge machine learning method, to the classification of compounds in chemical mechanisms of action (MOAs). Compound classification has been performed using image-based profiling methods sometimes combined with feature reduction methods such as principal component analysis or factor analysis. In this article, we map the input features of each cell to a particular MOA class without using any treatment-level profiles or feature reduction methods. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of DNN in this domain, leveraging single-cell information. Furthermore, we use deep transfer learning (DTL) to alleviate the intensive and computational demanding effort of searching the huge parameter's space of a DNN. Results show that using this approach, we obtain a 30% speedup and a 2% accuracy improvement.

A learning approach to swarm-based path detection and tracking

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

HCV Infection in Patients with Hereditary Bleeding Disorders

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with hereditary bleeding disorders (HBDs), as a consequence of treatment with transfusion of human bloodderived components between the late 1970s and 1980s, represents a major health concern. Objectives: Assessment and evaluation of the burden of HCV infection, its complications, and treatment in a population of patients with HBDs. Methods: Analysis of a series of 161 patients with HBDs treated in the Immunohemotherapy Service of the Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central (Lisboa, Portugal), consultation and systematic review of the patients clinical processes, elaboration of a database comprising the information gathered; and statistical study of its variables: age, gender, degree of severity of the bleeding disorder, treatment modality, and major and minor complications of HCV infection. Results: Sixty-five (40%) of the 161 patients have HCV infection. Among the patients with hemophilia A, 36% are severe and 62% of those have HCV infection; 9% moderate with 57%; 25% mild with 20%. In the hemophilia B group, 8% are severe with 23% infected and 6% moderate or mild with 10%. Concerning the patients with von Willebrand disease, 12% have type 2 with 16% infected and 4% have type 3 with 86%. Conclusions: HCV infection represents a very significant complication of the treatment employed in the past in the studied population. Considering that most of these patients were infected in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the natural evolution of HCV infection in patients without bleeding disorders, it is expected that the prevalence of major complications will rise significantly in the coming years. Prophylactic measures should be implemented to enhance the follow-up protocols and prevent further development of liver damage in these patients.