A utilização da plataforma Educast@fccn, como ferramenta de gravação de aulas no ambiente de e-learning português

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Audiovisual e Multimédia.

A combined barcode and morphological approach to the systematics and biogeography of Laurencia pyramidalis and Laurenciella marilzae (Rhodophyta)

Copyright © 2014 British Phycological Society.

User modeling In adaptive hypermedia educational systems

This document is a survey in the research area of User Modeling (UM) for the specific field of Adaptive Learning. The aims of this document are: To define what it is a User Model; To present existing and well known User Models; To analyze the existent standards related with UM; To compare existing systems. In the scientific area of User Modeling (UM), numerous research and developed systems already seem to promise good results, but some experimentation and implementation are still necessary to conclude about the utility of the UM. That is, the experimentation and implementation of these systems are still very scarce to determine the utility of some of the referred applications. At present, the Student Modeling research goes in the direction to make possible reuse a student model in different systems. The standards are more and more relevant for this effect, allowing systems communicate and to share data, components and structures, at syntax and semantic level, even if most of them still only allow syntax integration.

Unmixing hyperspectral intimate mixtures

Proceedings of International Conference Conference Volume 7830 Image and Signal Processing for Remote Sensing XVI Lorenzo Bruzzone Toulouse, France | September 20, 2010

Interactive light and sound table: an EPS@ISEP project

Interactive products are appealing objects in a technology-driven society and the offer in the market is wide and varied. Most of the existing interactive products only provide either light or sound experiences. Therefore, the goal of this project was to develop a product aimed for children combining both features. This project was developed by a team of four thirdyear students with different engineering backgrounds and nationalities during the European Project Semester at ISEP (EPS@ISEP) in 2012. This paper presents the process that led to the development of an interactive sound table that combines nine identical interaction blocks, a control block and a sound block. Each interaction block works independently and is composed of four light emitting diodes (LED) and one infrared (IR) sensor. The control is performed by an Arduino microcontroller and the sound block includes a music shield and a pair of loud speakers. A number of tests were carried out to assess whether the controller, IR sensors, LED, music shield and speakers work together properly and if the ensemble was a viable interactive light and sound device for children.

Conceção técnica e avaliação económica de um veículo solar para venda de produtos refrigerados

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Mecânica

Red blood cell structure and dynamics explored with digital holographic microspcopy

Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is a technique that allows obtaining, from a single recorded hologram, quantitative phase image of living cell with interferometric accuracy. Specifically the optical phase shift induced by the specimen on the transmitted wave front can be regarded as a powerful endogenous contrast agent, depending on both the thickness and the refractive index of the sample. Thanks to a decoupling procedure cell thickness and intracellular refractive index can be measured separately. Consequently, Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), two highly relevant clinical parameters, have been measured non-invasively at a single cell level. The DHM nanometric axial and microsecond temporal sensitivities have permitted to measure the red blood cell membrane fluctuations (CMF) on the whole cell surface. ©2009 COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering.

Havia alguma ciência no Brasil setecentista?

In the past decade several articles have been published in this journal and elsewhere by different authors, dealing with the institutionalization of science in Brazil, its origins and subsequent history. The emphasis has often been directed to the work of Brazilian scientists working abroad, to foreigners in Brazil, or to a few private individuals within the country, as well as to cultural, social, economic and political considerations. Much of the attention has also been focused on "academic" science, rather than on empirical or technical developments. The present article presents some of these situations, particularly in the mining district, where the application of technology, sometimes quite up-to-date for the time, tended to blur somewhat the distinction between science and its applications. It is hoped that this may start a debate which will enrich our historiography in this field and be of interest to those who want to assess Brazil's position in the history of science.

Processo químico industrial de extração de óleo vegetal: um experimento de química geral

In this study we describe an experimental procedure based on a chemical industrial process of soya-bean oil extraction applied in general chemistry for undergraduate students. The experiment was planned according to the Science, Technology and Society (STS) approach to teach basic chemical concepts and provide grounding in the management of environmental care. The use of real life chemistry problems seems to salient the relevance of chemistry to our students and enhances their motivation to learn both the practical and theoretical components of the discipline.

Fish colonization of artificial reefs in a large Neotropical reservoir: material type and successional changes

Artificial reefs have barely been used in Neotropical reservoirs (about five studies in three reservoirs), despite their potential as a fishery management tool to create new habitats and also to understand fish ecology. We experimentally assessed how reef material (ceramic, concrete, and PVC) and time modulated fish colonization of artificial reefs deployed in Itaipu Reservoir, a large reservoir of the mainstem Parana´ River, Brazil. Fish richness, abundance, and biomass were significantly greater in the reef treatments than at control sites. Among the experimental reefs, ceramic followed by the concrete treatments were the materials most effectively colonized, harboring the majority of the 13 fish species recorded. Although dependent on material type, many of the regularities of ecological successions were also observed in the artificial reefs, including decelerating increases in species richness, abundance, mean individual size, and species loss rates with time and decelerating decreases of species gain and turnover rates. Species composition also varied with material type and time, together with suites of life history traits: more equilibrium species (i.e., fishes of intermediate size that often exhibit parental care and produce fewer but larger offspring) of the Winemiller-Rose model of fish life histories prevailed in later successional stages. Overall, our study suggests that experimental reefs are a promising tool to understand ecological succession of fish assemblages, particularly in tropical ecosystems given their high species richness and low seasonality

Niche Differentiation and Fine-Scale Projections for Argentine Ants Based on Remotely Sensed Data

Modeling ecological niches of species is a promising approach for predicting the geographic potential of invasive species in new environments. Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) rank among the most successful invasive species: native to South America, they have invaded broad areas worldwide. Despite their widespread success, little is known about what makes an area susceptible - or not - to invasion. Here, we use a genetic algorithm approach to ecological niche modeling based on high-resolution remote-sensing data to examine the roles of niche similarity and difference in predicting invasions by this species. Our comparisons support a picture of general conservatism of the species' ecological characteristics, in spite of distinct geographic and community contexts

Interactions of bacteria and fungi on decomposing litter: differential extracellular enzyme activities

Fungi and bacteria are key agents in plant litter decomposition in freshwater ecosystems. However, the specific roles of these two groups and their interactions during the decomposition process are unclear. We compared the growth and patterns of degradativeenzymes expressed by communities of bacteria and fungi grown separately and in coexistence on Phragmites leaves. The two groups displayed both synergistic and antagonistic interactions. Bacteria grew better together with fungi than alone. In addition, there was a negative effect of bacteria on fungi, which appeared to be caused by suppression of fungal growth and biomass accrual rather than specifically affecting enzyme activity. Fungi growing alone had a high capacity for the decomposition of plant polymers such as lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. In contrast, enzyme activities were in general low when bacteria grew alone, and the activity of key enzymes in the degradation of lignin and cellulose (phenol oxidase and cellobiohydrolase) was undetectable in the bacteria-only treatment. Still, biomass-specific activities of most enzymes were higher in bacteria than in fungi. The low total activity and growth of bacteria in the absence of fungi in spite of apparent high enzymatic efficiency during the degradation of many substrates suggest that fungi provide the bacteria with resources that the bacteria were not able to acquire on their own, most probably intermediate decomposition products released by fungi that could be used by bacteria

The Role of the Delay Time in the Modeling of Biological Range Expansions

The time interval between successive migrations of biological species causes a delay time in the reaction-diffusion equations describing their space-time dynamics. This lowers the predicted speed of the waves of advance, as compared to classical models. It has been shown that this delay-time effect improves the modeling of human range expansions. Here, we demonstrate that it can also be important for other species. We present two new examples where the predictions of the time-delayed and the classical (Fisher) approaches are compared to experimental data. No free or adjustable parameters are used. We show that the importance of the delay effect depends on the dimensionless product of the initial growth rate and the delay time. We argue that the delay effect should be taken into account in the modeling of range expansions for biological species

Ciência como cultura: paradigmas e implicações epistemológicas na educação científica escolar

"Science as culture" is based on the assumption that science is a valuable component of human culture. We therefore have to build the bridge, in cultural terms, from the scientific community to the common citizen. Teaching science as culture requires the co-construction of knowledge and citizenship. Ways of articulating science/technology with society are invoked, pondering on the ethical ambivalence of such connections. The goals of this reflection are to think about: a) epistemological obstacles that, in favouring the logic of monoculture, oppose the implantation of the science as culture; b) epistemological strategies that point towards a diversity of cultural practices and "constellations" of knowledge leading to the reconfiguration of the being through knowledge; c) imperatives that force us to (re)think the epistemological bases suited to the paradigmatic changes and which translate the dynamics and complexity of the evolution of the frameworks that currently sustain science and school scientific education.