Redes, comunicações e segurança informática

Este trabalho começa por apresentar uma instalação de rede informática local efetuada sob supervisão do candidato e parcialmente por ele, descrevendo de seguida algumas considerações que na altura se lhe levantaram. Sendo ligada à saúde, para além das preocupações normais de instalação de qualquer solução, a questão humana e social foi particularmente sentida. Várias organizações e pessoas individuais necessitam de implementar e utilizar soluções de comunicações informáticas, pelo que a privacidade e confiabilidade das informações processadas se torna um assunto premente. No sentido de obter uma resposta para este problema, o candidato evoluiu para a área da criptografia e segurança de comunicações, implementado alguns dos protocolos existentes e estudando-os com maior rigor. É justamente a descrição dessa evolução e da segurança com que se pode contar quando se utilizam meios informáticos o âmbito deste trabalho, focando principalmente o impacto que tem na sua utilização

Trabalho colaborativo: um conceito polissêmico = Collaborative work: a polysemic concept

O Trabalho colaborativo é apontado como um suporte aos desafios existentes no campo educacional, ocupando lugar central em inúmeras políticas educativas. Entretanto, a complexidade do conceito nem sempre é apreendida pelos envolvidos nestes processos. O artigo apresenta resultados de uma pesquisa com o objetivo de dentificar os sentidos da concepção de Trabalho Colaborativo, e a relação que lhe é atribuída com a aprendizagem. Para isso, recorre a opiniões de diretora e professoras de uma escola de educação básica, e professores do ensino superior envolvidos desde o final dos anos 90 na concretização de políticas que valorizam este modo de trabalho docente. Essas opiniões revelaram que o Trabalho Colaborativo é um conceito polissêmico, atravessado pelo discurso do senso comum, pelo discurso  político e pelo discurso acadêmico, e resignificado no modo como é concretizado. Na relação com a aprendizagem foi identificada uma divergência de concepções entre os participantes do estudo. Constatou-se ainda que a redução de processos colaborativos é influenciada pela intensificação do trabalho docente e pelos formatos e processos instituídos pelas políticas educativas.Palavras-chave: Trabalho Colaborativo. Educação Básica. Trabalho docente. Políticas pública

Comentários escritos produzidos pelos alunos na aula de matemática: um estudo no ensino básico

No âmbito do relatório final de estágio do Mestrado em ensino do 1.º e do 2.º ciclo do ensino básico, foi desenvolvido um estudo exploratório centrado na capacidade de comunicação escrita dos alunos em sala de aula, envolvendo todas as áreas disciplinares do estágio profissional. O estudo teve o propósito de identificar e analisar aspetos da capacidade dos alunos comentarem, por escrito, trabalhos produzidos em grupo pelos colegas, sob a forma de galeria ou de diário de bordo. Este texto foca-se apenas na parte do estudo relacionada com a área da matemática. A investigação segue uma abordagem qualitativa e interpretativa, envolvendo os alunos de duas turmas, uma do 1.º ciclo e outra do 2.º ciclo. A recolha de dados foi feita através dos comentários escritos por cada grupo de alunos aos trabalhos apresentados pelos colegas. A análise dos dados baseou-se em quatro dimensões definidas previamente (clareza, fundamentação, lógica, profundidade) e em três níveis de desempenho (baixo, médio, elevado). Globalmente, a análise dos comentários escritos dos alunos aponta para melhores desempenhos em clareza e em lógica e para maiores dificuldades em fundamentação e em profundidade, especialmente na apresentação de justificações e argumentos para suportar as suas ideias e raciocínios e nas referências aos temas matemáticos trabalhados.In the context of the master final report in Teaching in the 1st and 2nd basic education cycles, it was developed an exploratory study focused on students’ written communication abilities in the classroom, involving all the disciplinary areas of the professional internship. The purpose of the study was to identify and analyze aspects of students' ability to comment, in written form, work produced in groups by their colleagues and elaborated in the form of gallery or logbook. This paper presents the part of the study focused on the area of mathematics. The research follows a qualitative and interpretative approach, involving the students of two classes, one of the 1st cycle and the other of the 2nd cycle. Data collection was done through the comments written by each group of students about the presentations made by colleagues. Data analysis was based on four previously defined dimensions (clarity, reasoning, logic, depth) and three levels of performance (low, medium, high). The analysis of students' written comments points to better performances in both clarity and logic and to greater difficulties in both reasoning and depth, especially in the justifications and arguments to support their ideas and in the references to the mathematical topics worked.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Una visión general sobre las imágenes del área de la salud: una propuesta de construcción de una ontología

The images of the field of health are of great importance to confirm or deny the existence of a disease, allowing a greater accuracy in diagnostic investigations and treatment of diseases. They are rich sources of information and therefore require treatment of information. In this context, this article is part and presents the results of a research whose objective is to design and build an image domain ontology from nephrology aiming indexal representation and retrieval of imagery in the electronic environment. The corpus of the study was the electronic patient record. The ontology of the verbal text was built in Protégé-software-Stanford University and imported into the software Active Media Software - Ontology-based Annotation system Sheffield University, to build the ontology of the image. The results show that it is possible to build ontologies from texts verbal and nonverbal, with the union of these two softwares

Relação entre atividade física e atividade sexual em alunos universitários

A atividade física tem uma relação inversa com as doenças degenerativas, onde o exercício físico tem sido indicado na prevenção de doenças cardiovasculares e músculo esqueléticas, bem como na prevenção de outras doenças degenerativas. No entanto, a maioria dos estudos têm priorizado o efeito do exercício em diversas disfunções metabólicas, dando-se pouca ou nenhuma atenção à função sexual. O presente estudo tem como principal objetivo, tentar perceber a relação entre a atividade física e a atividade sexual em alunos que frequentam a Universidade do Minho, Braga. A amostra será constituída por dois grupos de 60 alunos cada, em que um grupo pratica regularmente atividade física e outro não pratica, com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e 27 anos de idade. Será aplicado um Questionário com perguntas sobre a atividade física (frequência, duração, tipo) e atividade sexual (disposição, frequência). A análise estatística dos dados obtidos será posteriormente tratada utilizando o programa SPSS. Devido à temática ser de carisma intimista e pessoal, os indivíduos serão informados do anonimato e da confidencialidade dos dados, para assim poder tornar estes resultados mais fiáveis. Com a realização deste estudo, pretende-se verificar se existe uma relação benéfica do desempenho entre a atividade física e a atividade sexual, podendo eventualmente evidenciar-se diferenças a nível de género entre os universitários.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, UM (UI 317 da FCT

Pattern of right ventricular pressure fall and its modulation by afterload

Pattern of right ventricular pressure (RVP) fall and its afterload dependence were examined by analyzing ventricular pressure curves and corresponding pressure-dP/dt phase planes obtained in both ventricles in the rat heart in situ. Time and value of dP/dt(min), and the time constant tau were measured at baseline and during variable RV afterload elevations, induced by beat-to-beat pulmonary trunk constrictions. RVP and left ventricular pressure (LVP) decays were divided into initial accelerative and subsequent decelerative phases separated by corresponding dP/dt(min). At baseline, LVP fall was decelerative during 4/5 of its course, whereas only 1/3 of RVP decay occurred in a decelerative fashion. During RV afterload elevations, the absolute value of RV-dP/dt(min) and RV-tau increased, whilst time to RV-dP/dt(min) decreased. Concomitantly, the proportion of RVP decay following a decelerative course increased, so that in highly RV afterloaded heartbeats RVP fall became more similar to LVP fall. In conclusion, RVP and LVP decline have distinct patterns, their major portion being decelerative in the LV and accelerative in the RV. In the RV, dP/dt(min), tau and the proportional contribution of accelerative and decelerative phases for ventricular pressure fall are afterload-dependent. Consequently, tau evaluates a relatively much shorter segment of RVP than LVP fall

Water activity in lamellar stacks of lipid bilayers: "Hydration forces" revisited

Water activity and its relationship with interactions stabilising lamellar stacks of mixed lipid bilayers in their fluid state are investigated by means of osmotic pressure measurements coupled with small-angle x-ray scattering. The (electrically-neutral) bilayers are composed of a mixture in various proportions of lecithin, a zwitterionic phospholipid, and Simulsol, a non-ionic cosurfactant with an ethoxylated polar head. For highly dehydrated samples the osmotic pressure profile always exhibits the "classical" exponential decay as hydration increases but, depending on Simulsol to lecithin ratio, it becomes either of the "bound" or "unbound" types for more water-swollen systems. A simple thermodynamic model is used for interpreting the results without resorting to the celebrated but elusive "hydration forces"Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in The European Physical Journal

Differential right and left ventricular diastolic tolerance to acute afterload and NCX gene expression in Wistar rats

This study evaluated right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) diastolic tolerance to afterload and SERCA2a, phospholamban and sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX) gene expression in Wistar rats. Time constant tau and end-diastolic pressure-dimension relation (EDPDR) were analyzed in response to progressive RV or LV afterload elevations, induced by beat-to-beat pulmonary trunk or aortic root constrictions, respectively. Afterload elevations decreased LV-tau, but increased RV-tau. Whereas LV-tau analyzed the major course of pressure fall, RV-tau only assessed the last fourth. Furthermore, RV afterload elevations progressively upward shifted RV-EDPDR, whilst LV afterload elevations did not change LV-EDPDR. SERCA2a and phospholamban mRNA were similar in both ventricles. NCX-mRNA was almost 50% lower in RV than in LV. Left ventricular afterload elevations, therefore, accelerated the pressure fall and did not induce diastolic dysfunction, indicating high LV diastolic tolerance to afterload. On the contrary, RV afterload elevations decelerated the late RV pressure fall and induced diastolic dysfunction, indicating small RV diastolic tolerance to afterload. These results support previous findings relating NCX with late Ca2+ reuptake, late relaxation and diastolic dysfunction

Effect of denture-related stomatitis fluconazole treatment on oral Candida albicans susceptibility profile and genotypic variability

Denture-related stomatitis (DRS) is the most common condition affecting removable-denture wearers, and Candida albicans the most frequent pathogenic agent. Systemic antifungal treatment is indicated but recurrences are frequent. The aim of this study was to characterize the oral load, fluconazole susceptibility profile and genotypic variability of oral C. albicans isolates from patients with DRS before (T0), immediately after fluconazole treatment (Tat) and after 6-months follow-up (T6m). Eighteen patients presenting DRS and treated with fluconazole were followed at the Faculty of Dentistry of Oporto University. Seventy C. albicans isolates were obtained and identified using standard cultural and biochemical multi-testing. Fluconazole susceptibility was tested by E-test®. Microsatellite-primed PCR was performed to assess the genotypic variability of C. albicans isolates. The patientsâ mean age was 58.0±3.2 years, and 55.6%/44.4% had total/partial dentures. Before treatment, 22.2%, 44.4% and 33.3% of the patients presented DRS type I, II or III, respectively. Fluconazole treatment healed or improved DRS in 77.8% of the patients, accompanied by an 83.5% reduction in oral C. albicans load. However, after 6-months, oral C. albicans load increased significantly and DRS severity was similar to the one observed before treatment. Moreover, the prevalence of patients presenting fluconazole resistant isolates of C. albicans increased significantly throughout the study: T0-5.6%, Tat-10.0% and T6m-42.9%. A change in the genotypic variability of C. albicans isolates was also verified, being mostly associated to fluconazole susceptibility profile change. In conclusion, fluconazole presents a good short-term DRS treatment efficiency, but may be associated to a long-term emergence of C. albicans fluconazole resistance. © Figueiral et al.; Licensee Bentham Open

The influence of the preparation methods on the inclusion of model drugs in a β-cyclodextrin cavity

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2009 Feb;71(2):377-386. Epub 2008 Oct 17.The work aims to prove the complexation of two model drugs (ibuprofen, IB and indomethacin, IN) by bcyclodextrin (bCD), and the effect of water in such a process, and makes a comparison of their complexation yields. Two methods were considered: kneading of a binary mixture of the drug, bCD, and inclusion of either IB or IN in aqueous solutions of bCD. In the latter method water was removed by air stream, spray-drying and freeze-drying. To prove the formation of complexes in final products, optical microscopy, UV spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, DSC, X-ray and NMR were considered. Each powder was added to an acidic solution (pH = 2) to quantify the concentration of the drug inside bCD cavity. Other media (pH = 5 and 7) were used to prove the existence of drug not complexed in each powder, as the drugs solubility increases with the pH. It was observed that complexation occurred in all powders, and that the fraction of drug inside the bCD did not depend neither on the method of complexation nor on the processes of drying considered