Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human'

Background - Burns is a complex condition requiring assessment and addressing of both the wound and the patient in a holistic way. In spite of tremendous improvements in burn care, infection continues to remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Human Β Defensins (HBD) are a group of recently discovered antimicrobial peptides. The main subtypes include HBD1, 2 and 3 and are individually known to have other functions apart from being anti-microbial. Some of these are inherently expressed while others are induced in response to microbial challenge. Aims - The aim of the current PhD was to understand the pattern of expression of HBDs in acute burns, their source of expression, and factors influencing the expression, with a view to use these peptides as therapeutic agents in future. Methods - The expression of HBD1, 2 & 3 was determined at mRNA and protein levels in acute burn wounds of different burn durations, using real time rt-PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The influence of type and quantity of bacteria, contribution from blood cells and the influence of stress on HBD expression was determined in separate clinical situations similar to those seen in major burns. Results - The results show that HBD1, 2 and 3 mRNA is highly expressed in both early and late burns, but a parallel increase is not reciprocated at protein levels. The bacteria isolated from the burn wounds showed a trend changing from colonising organisms to more resistant forms in time, however no significant correlation with HBD was established. Peripheral blood cells produced HBD in response to inflammatory mediator’s in-vivo, thus suggesting to a possible contribution of HBD 1, 2 and 3 from blood cells in granulating burn wounds. There was no down regulation of HBD1, 2 and 3 in the presence of increased cortisol levels – a reflection of heightened stress as seen in burns. HBD1 and 3 mRNA expressions showed an early up-regulation, followed by elevation in HBD2 mRNA levels. There was no HBD2 mRNA and protein expression in keloid tissue specimens from various parts of the body. The absence of HBD2 – a unique intrinsic peptide with an ability to trigger the anti-fibrotic cytokines suggests to the possibility that HBD’s are implicated in the pathogenesis of keloids, which are usually associated with burn scars. Conclusion - The studies suggest a possible role of HBD in the pathogenesis of burn wounds and the potential to use these as therapeutic peptides to prevent infections and scarring associated with burns.

In der vorliegenden Dissertation wurde ein datengetriebenes Verfahren zum maschinellen Lernen von Mensch-Roboter Interaktionen auf Basis von Mensch-Mensch Demonstrationen entwickelt. Während einer Trainingsphase werden Bewegungen zweier Interakteure mittels Motion Capture erfasst und in einem Zwei-Personen Interaktionsmodell gelernt. Zur Laufzeit wird das Modell sowohl zur Erkennung von Bewegungen des menschlichen Interaktionspartners als auch zur Generierung angepasster Roboterbewegungen eingesetzt. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des Ansatzes wird in drei komplexen Anwendungen evaluiert, die jeweils kontinuierliche Bewegungskoordination zwischen Mensch und Roboter erfordern. Das Ergebnis der Dissertation ist ein Lernverfahren, das intuitive, zielgerichtete und sichere Kollaboration mit Robotern ermöglicht.

El desenvolupament de personatges digitals semblants a les persones és una tasca difícil, ja que els humans estem acostumats a reconèixer-nos entre nosaltres i trobar els CGI poc humanitzats. Per complir els estàndards de les produccions de videojocs i pel·lícules digitals és necessari modelar i animar aquests personatges el més proper als éssers humans. Tanmateix, és una tasca difícil i cara, ja que requereix molts artistes i especialistes treballant en un sol personatge. Per tant, per complir aquests requisits, trobem la creació automàtica de cares detallades mitjançant setups de baix cost una opció interessant per estudiar. En aquest treball, desenvolupem tècniques noves per aconseguir cares detallades combinant diferents aspectes que destaquen a l’hora de desenvolupar personatges realistes, detalls de la pell, pèls i expressions facials i microexpressions. Examinem cadascuna de les àrees esmentades amb l’objectiu de recuperar-les automàticament sense interacció de l’usuari ni dades de aprenentatge. Estudiem els problemes buscant la seva robustesa, però també la simplicitat de la configuració, preferint solucions basades en una sola imatge amb il·luminació incontrolada i mètodes que es poden calcular fàcilment amb un ordinador portàtil estàndard. Una cara detallada amb arrugues i detalls de la pell és vital per desenvolupar un personatge realista. En aquest treball, introduïm el nostre mètode per descriure automàticament les arrugues facials de la imatge i transferir-les a la cara base recuperada. A continuació, avancem a la recuperació del cabell facial mitjançant la resolució d’un problema de parametrització amb un nou model de cabell facial. Per últim, desenvolupem una funció de mapatge que permet transferir expressions i microexpressions entre diferents malles facials, que proporciona animacions realistes a la nostra cara detallada. Cobrim tots els punts esmentats parant atenció als aspectes clau com (i) com descriure les arrugues facials d’una manera senzilla, (ii) com recuperar 3D a partir de deteccions 2D, (iii) com recuperar i modelar el cabell facial a partir de 2D a 3D, (iv) com transferir expressions entre models amb detalls de la pell i cabells facials, (v) com realitzar totes les accions descrites sense dades d’aprenentatge ni interacció de l’usuari. En aquest treball, presentem les nostres propostes per resoldre aquests aspectes amb una configuració eficient i senzilla. Validem el nostre treball amb diversos conjunts de dades tant sintètiques com reals, obtenint resultats remarcables fins i tot en casos tan difícils com oclusions per ulleres, barbes denses, inclús treballant amb diferents topologies facials com ciclops d’un sol ull.
Desarrollar personajes digitales similares a los humanos es un reto, ya que los humanos estamos acostumbrados a reconocernos entre nosotros y a encontrar a los CGI poco humanos. Para cumplir con los estándares de las producciones de videojuegos y películas digitales, es necesario modelar y animar a estos personajes de la manera más parecida posible a los humanos. Sin embargo, es una tarea ardua y costosa, ya que se requiere a muchos artistas y especialistas trabajando en un solo personaje. Por lo tanto, para cumplir con estos requisitos, encontramos la creación automática de CGIs detallados a través de setups económicos una opción interesante para estudiar. En este trabajo, desarrollamos técnicas novedosas para conseguir personajes detallados combinando diferentes aspectos que se destacan al desarrollar el realismo como detalles de la piel, pelos faciales, expresiones y microexpresiones. Examinamos cada una de las áreas mencionadas con el objetivo de recuperar cada una de las partes automáticamente sin interacción del usuario ni datos para el aprendizaje. Estudiamos los problemas buscando su robustez, pero también la simplicidad de la configuración, prefiriendo soluciones que requieren una sola imagen con iluminación no controlada y cálculos que pueden obtenerse con la comodidad de un ordenador portátil estándar. Una cara detallada con arrugas y detalles de la piel es vital para desarrollar un personaje realista. En este trabajo, presentamos nuestro método para describir automáticamente las arrugas faciales en la imagen y transferirlas a la cara base recuperada. Luego proponemos la recuperación del vello facial resolviendo un problema de ajuste de parámetros con un nuevo modelo de vello facial parametrizable. Por último, introducimos una función de mapeo que permite transferir expresiones y microexpresiones entre diferentes mallas, lo que proporciona animaciones realistas a nuestra cara detallada. Cubrimos todos los puntos mencionados con el enfoque puesto en aspectos clave como (i) cómo describir las arrugas faciales de una manera simple y directa, (ii) cómo recuperar 3D a partir de las detecciones 2D, (iii) cómo recuperar y modelar el vello facial de 2D a 3D, (iv) cómo transferir expresiones entre modelos que contienen tanto el detalle de la piel como el vello facial, (v) cómo realizar todas las acciones descritas sin datos de entrenamiento ni interacción del usuario. En este trabajo, presentamos nuestras propuestas para resolver estos aspectos con una configuración eficiente y simple. Validamos nuestro trabajo con varios conjuntos de datos, tanto sintéticos como reales, demostrando resultados notables incluso en casos desafiantes como oclusiones por gafas, barbas densas y, incluso, trabajando con diferentes topologías faciales como cíclopes de un solo ojo.
Developing human-like digital characters is a challenging task since humans are used to recognizing our fellows, and find the computed generated characters inadequately humanized. To fulfill the standards of the videogame and digital film productions it is necessary to model and animate these characters the most closely to human beings. However, it is an arduous and expensive task, since many artists and specialists are required to work in a single character. Therefore, to fulfill these requirements we found an interesting option to study the automatic creation of detailed characters through inexpensive setups. In this work, we develop novel techniques to bring detailed characters by combining different aspects that stand out when developing realistic characters, skin detail, facial hairs, expressions, and microexpressions. We examine each of the mentioned areas with the aim of automatically recover each of the parts without user interaction nor training data. We study the problems for their robustness but also for the simplicity of the setup, preferring single-image with uncontrolled illumination and methods that can be easily computed with the commodity of a standard laptop. A detailed face with wrinkles and skin details is vital to develop a realistic character. In this work, we introduce our method to automatically describe facial wrinkles on the image and transfer to the recovered base face. Then we advance to the facial hair recovery by resolving a fitting problem with a novel parametrization model. As of last, we develop a mapping function that allows transfer expressions and microexpressions between different meshes, which provides realistic animations to our detailed mesh. We cover all the mentioned points with the focus on key aspects as (i) how to describe skin wrinkles in a simple and straightforward manner, (ii) how to recover 3D from 2D detections, (iii) how to recover and model facial hair from 2D to 3D, (iv) how to transfer expressions between models holding both skin detail and facial hair, (v) how to perform all the described actions without training data nor user interaction. In this work, we present our proposals to solve these aspects with an efficient and simple setup. We validate our work with several datasets both synthetic and real data, prooving remarkable results even in challenging cases as occlusions as glasses, thick beards, and indeed working with different face topologies like single-eyed cyclops.

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2018
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 134-136).
In the past ten years, the Human-Centered Design methodology has exploded--permeating our organizational and academic worlds and becoming one of the most sought-after skills. The user-first mantra has become widely accepted and internalized. Develop empathy! Find users in their natural habitat! Design for their needs, not yours! Despite its vast popularity, I believe there is a great flaw and irony in the way we practice Human-Centered Design today: without the human. Though a human perceives his/her life as a dynamic whole (Gestalt Theory), we reduce him/her to a 'user', a shard of his/her full Self. This thesis explores the foundations of a new methodology, Whole Human Design[superscript TM], that seeks to re-unify the human and equip us to design for users in the context of their whole humanness. To that end, this thesis first seeks a usable definition of the Human and our human needs, by exploring a wide range of philosophical and psychological perspectives-from material/atomistic definitions (like those found in Behaviorism) to Phenomenology-inspired definitions (Existentialism, Humanistic Psychology, Positive Psychology) to Religious perspectives. From there, based on an ethnographic research with 50 individuals, this thesis introduces a design framework, the Periodic Table of Human Elements[superscript TM], a tool to connect functional and latent needs of a user to his/her deeper human roots. Finally, in order to illustrate how this methodology can be practiced, this thesis presents a case study of how Whole Human Design was used to solve a $300B real-world problem, medication adherence.
by Alex C. Klein.
S.M. in Engineering and Management
S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program

Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Administración
Juan Pablo Valdivia Hevia [Parte I Análisis estratégico y de mercado], Francisco González Reyes [Parte IIAnálisis organizativo-financiero]
Autores no envían autorizaciones para acceso a texto completo de su documento
El mercado del reclutamiento y selección de personal, está constituido hoy en día por 1470 empresas ubicadas en todo nuestro país, quienes prestan servicios principalmente a las grandes y medianas empresas, quienes cuentan con un total de 5.879.176 empleados. Considerando que la tasa de rotación en Chile es de aproximadamente un 23%1, existe un mercado potencial aproximado de 1.352.211 personas que cambian de trabajo de manera anual. El negocio consiste en cambiar la forma de buscar y seleccionar al nuevo capital humano dentro de una organización, esto mediante la creación de una plataforma web que permita selección (mediante medios tecnológicos de respaldo virtual, entrevista y video), verificar la información de los candidatos (en base a información pública vigente) y hacer un seguimiento de tres meses una vez contratado por la empresa, dentro de la organización. Esto permite tener un alto grado de diferenciación único y valorable a través del tiempo, no generando un contrato spot entre empresa- reclutador sino buscando una relación de confianza a lo largo del tiempo con nuestros clientes, No solo buscamos el postulante ideal para esa vacante en su organización, sino asumimos el desafío de involucrarnos desde el primer minuto con el problema general de insertar a ese valioso elemento dentro de su organización. La ventaja competitiva de diferenciación son la trazabilidad de la información, que permite a las empresas contar con un seguimiento y verificación de la información, tanto antes de la contratación, como en forma posterior; una disminución de los costos asociados a la rotación del personal, ya que la mejor información previa y el seguimiento de tres meses posterior a su contratación busca asegurar una adecuada adecuación al cargo y, por último, lograr un re fortalecimiento en la organización en los procesos de reclutamiento, selección y seguimiento, que fortalece las labores de los profesionales de la rama de Recursos Humanos. El modelo de negocio consiste en el posicionamiento de la empresa en el segmento de las grandes y medianas empresas, quienes realizan procesos externos de reclutamiento. Para ello, se les ofrece el servicio de una Plataforma web que les permite realizar los procesos de selección y seguimiento en línea. Como recursos claves del negocio, es posible identificar la plataforma digital y su servicio de soporte, así como la experiencia de nuestros profesionales miembros del equipo Human Core los cuales presentan la capacidad de buscar y seleccionar el postulante más adecuado al perfil solicitado, como también el levantar los obstáculos necesarios en el proceso de inducción para el nuevo recurso humano de la organización. Al ser una empresa orientada al ámbito del servicio general de reclutamiento, el monto total de inversiones es de $60.000.000, con un activo fijo es muy bajo, alcanzando los $10.146.000. Los costos fijos se explican principalmente por salarios y beneficios, gastos de administración, publicidad y marketing (93% del total, correspondiente a $84.840.000). En cuanto a los costos variables, éstos corresponden principalmente a los asociados a la verificación de antecedentes, Safe Chalenge y Bonos de cumplimiento anuales. De acuerdo a los indicadores de evaluación de proyecto (VAN, TIR, Payback, ROI), es posible determinar que el negocio resulta viable económicamente, considerando un horizonte de cinco años. Human Core busca dar un vuelco en los procesos de selección, reclutamiento y selección que compartimos a lo largo de este plan de negocios.

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research is examining ways to make human-robot (HR) communication more natural. Incorporating natural communication techniques is expected to make HR communication seamless and more natural for humans. Humans naturally incorporate implicit levels of communication, and including implicit communication in HR communication should provide tremendous benefit. The aim for this work was to evaluate a model for human-robot implicit communication. Specifically, the primary goal for this research was to determine whether humans can assign meanings to implicit cues received from autonomous robots as they do for identical implicit cues received from humans. An experiment was designed to allow participants to assign meanings to identical, implicit cues (pursuing, retreating, investigating, hiding, patrolling) received from humans and robots. Participants were tasked to view random video clips of both entity types, label the implicit cue, and assign a level of confidence in their chosen answer. Physiological data was tracked during the experiment using an electroencephalogram and eye-tracker. Participants answered workload and stress measure questionnaires following each scenario. Results revealed that participants were significantly more accurate with human cues (84%) than with robot cues (82%), however participants were highly accurate, above 80%, for both entity types. Despite the high accuracy for both types, participants remained significantly more confident in answers for humans (6.1) than for robots (5.9) on a confidence scale of 1 - 7. Subjective measures showed no significant differences for stress or mental workload across entities. Physiological measures were not significant for the engagement index across entity, but robots resulted in significantly higher levels of cognitive workload for participants via the index of cognitive activity. The results of this study revealed that participants are more confident interpreting human implicit cues than identical cues received from a robot. However, the accuracy of interpreting both entities remained high. Participants showed no significant difference in interpreting different cues across entity as well. Therefore, much of the ability of interpreting an implicit cue resides in the actual cue rather than the entity. Proper training should boost confidence as humans begin to work alongside autonomous robots as teammates, and it is possible to train humans to recognize cues based on the movement, regardless of the entity demonstrating the movement.
ID: 031001467; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Adviser: Waldemar Karwowski.; Title from PDF title page (viewed July 10, 2013).; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-98).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Engineering and Computer Science
Industrial Engineering

Les techniques qui influencent indirectement la prise de décision des humains, connues sous le nom de "nudge"(Thaler and Sunstein, 2008) , sont peu étudiées dans les interactions parlées. Les nudges linguistiques sont des techniques de manipulation douce fondées sur les biais cognitifs et utilisent les moyens linguistiques pour encourager les changements dans la prise de décision des humains sans aucune restrictions ou sanctions pour leur choix. Addressées directement au destinataire (par exemple, sous forme de lettre ou de note), ces techniques ont prouvé leur efficacité dans plusieurs domaines. Néanmoins, avec la présence de plus en plus répandu des agents conversationnels au quotidien, plusieurs questions se posent sur l'impact du type de l'interlocuteur et la réaction de différents types de public aux nudges. En tenant compte de cette connaissance préalable, nous étudions plusieurs descripteurs linguistiques et paralinguistiques et posons la question de la pertinence d'un modèle qui prédit si quelqu'un a été verbalement manipulé. Les recherches dans ce domaine en sont encore à leurs débuts, nous proposons donc d'abord une méthodologie innovative pour la collection de données dans le but d'estimer la propension des participants à être nudgés (influencés). Nous avons testé deux types de publics : les enfants et les adultes. Le protocole compare les interactions contenant une intervention qui influence le choix (nudge) avec trois agents conversationnels (robot Pepper, enceinte Google Home, humain). Dans l'expérience avec les adultes, nous avons comparé les scores des participants quant à leur volonté d'adopter des habitudes écologiques après le nudge avec leurs scores de base afin de mesurer l'influence des nudges. Dans l'expérience avec les enfants, nous avons comparé le nombre de billes qu'ils étaient prêts à garder pour eux après le nudge avec le nombre de billes qu'ils voulaient garder avant le nudge pendant le jeu. En utilisant cette méthodologie, nous avons enregistré 22 heures d'échanges entre des adultes et trois agents conversationnels (le robot Pepper, le haut-parleur Google Home et un humain) et 10 heures d'échanges entre des enfants et les mêmes agents conversationnels. Dans un premier temps, ces données ont été transcrites manuellement et segmentées en tours de parole, puis annotées à différents niveaux affectifs. Deuxièmement, pour mesurer la capacité des différents agents conversationnels à donner des nudges de manière efficace, nous avons analysé la prise de décision des participants en fonction de l'interlocuteur et du type de nudge. Plus précisément, nous avons étudié la corrélation entre les états émotionnels des participants et leurs réponses aux nudges et aux agents conversationnels. Troisièmement, pour mieux comprendre comment l'incarnation d'un agent conversationnel peut influencer la propension d'un participant à recevoir des encouragements, nous avons proposé une comparaison de certains éléments paralinguistiques, lexicaux et discursifs pertinents des participants selon le type d'agent conversationnel. Enfin, nous avons utilisé différentes combinaisons d'annotations émotionnelles, de transcriptions et de données audio provenant des expériences enregistrées pour construire un modèle d'apprentissage profond basé sur des caractéristiques acoustiques, textuelles et des états émotionnels afin de prédire si le participant a été nudgé. Les principaux résultats soulignent que nos participants ont été nudgés quel que soit leur groupe d'âge, avec un effet plus important sur les adultes
Nudges, techniques that indirectly influence human decision-making (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008) , are little studied in spoken interactions. Linguistic nudges are techniques of latent manipulation based on cognitive biases that use linguistic means to encourage changes in human decision-making without any restrictions or penalties for their choices. Addressed directly to the recipient (e.g., in the form of a letter or a note), these techniques have proven their effectiveness in many domains. However, with the growing presence of conversational agents in everyday life, several questions have been raised about the impact of the type of interlocutor and the reaction of different types of public to nudges. With this prior knowledge in mind, we study several paralinguistic and linguistic features and question the relevance of a model that predicts whether someone has been verbally influenced. This domain is in its early stages; thus, we first propose an innovative methodology for data collection with the goal of estimating participants' propensity to be nudged. We tested two populations: children and adults. The protocol compares nudging interaction with three conversational agents (robot Pepper, smart-speaker Google Home, and human). In the experiment with adults, we compared the participants' scores of willingness to adopt selected ecological habits after the nudge with their baseline scores to measure the influence of nudges. In the experiment with children, we compared the number of little balls they were willing to keep for themselves after the nudge with the number of balls they wanted to keep before the nudge during the game. Using this methodology, we recorded 22 hours of exchanges of adults with three conversational agents (robot Pepper, smart-speaker Google Home, and human) and 10 hours of exchanges of children with the same conversational agents. Firstly, these data were manually transcribed and segmented into speaking turns and then annotated on different affective levels. Secondly, to measure the ability of the various conversational agents to nudge effectively, we analyzed the participants' decision-making according to the interlocutor and the type of nudges. Specifically, we studied the correlation between participants' emotional states and their answers to nudges and conversational agents. Thirdly, to better understand how the embodiment of a conversational agent could influence a participant's propensity to be nudged, we proposed a comparison of some relevant paralinguistic, lexical, and discursive cues of participants regarding the type of conversational agent. Finally, we used different combinations of emotional annotations, transcriptions, and audio data from the recorded experiments to build a deep-learning model based on acoustic, textual features, and emotional states to predict whether the participant was nudged. The main results underline that our participants were nudged regardless of their age group, with a more significant impact on adults

OBJETIVO: Comparar dois meios de congelamento para sêmen: o comercialmente disponível Meio de Congelamento TEST Yolk Buffer-Irvine Scientific - USA (TYB) e o crioprotetor sintético suplementado com fosfatidilcolina (PC) e antioxidante L-acetil-carnitina (ANTIOXPC - delineado pela Invitra Tecnologia de Reprodução Assistida - Brasil) em relação a motilidade progressiva (PR) e índice de fragmentação do DNA (IFD) em amostras de sêmen obtidas de homens com parâmetros seminais alterados. DESENHO: Ensaio clínico de nãoinferioridade. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: Foram incluídas amostras de sêmen com parâmetros seminais alterados (astenozoospermia) de 58 voluntários no Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo. As amostras de sêmen foram submetidas à análise antes e após a criopreservação. A motilidade dos espermatozoides foi avaliada pelo espermograma e a fragmentação do DNA espermático foi analisada pela técnica transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL). Antes da criopreservação, todas as amostras de sêmen foram divididas e randomizadas para receber os crioprotetores TYB ou ANTIOX-PC, congelados no período mínimo de 30 dias e descongelados. Uma análise exploratória dos dados foi realizada através de medidas de posição central e dispersão. O teste t pareado foi usado para comparar os grupos. Comparações entre os dois meios, ANTIOX-PC e TYB, e sêmen fresco foram realizadas através de contrastes ortogonais, utilizando o modelo de regressão linear de efeitos mistos. Este modelo foi implementado no programa SAS 9.3 considerando o PROC MIXED. RESULTADOS: A motilidade PR (P = 0,78) e o IFD (P = 0,06) não foram diferentes quando comparados os meios ANTIOX-PC (12,40 ± 11,49 e 13,33 ± 10,54) e o TYB (12,09 ± 11,11 e15,83 ± 11,04), respectivamente. Esses dados mostraram que o crioprotetor sintético delineado não foi inferior na proteção dos espermatozoides comparado com o meio TYB. Além disso, o ANTIOX-PC reteve taxas mais altas de motilidade total43,36 ± 26,77) do que o TYB (34,79 ± 22,86; P <0,0001) e reduziu significativamente as taxas de espermatozoides imóveis (56,64 ± 26,77; P <0,0001) em relação ao TYB (65.00 ± 23.00).CONCLUSÃO: O meio ANTIOX-PC não pode ser considerado menos efetivo que o TYB em relação à motilidade PR e ao IFD. Parâmetros cinéticos observados em espermatozoides pósdescongelamento do diluente ANTIOX-PC demonstraram o impacto positivo do tratamento com fosfolipídios/antioxidantes na criotolerância espermática humana na ausência de aditivos animais.
OBJECTIVE: To compare two sperm freezing media: commercially available Freezing Medium TEST Yolk Buffer-Irvine Scientific - USA (TYB) and a synthetic cryoprotectant supplemented with phosphatidylcholine (PC) and antioxidante L-acetyl-carnitine (ANTIOXPC - designed by Invitra Assisted Reproduction Technology - Brazil) in relation to progressive motility and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) in sêmen samples obtained from men with altered seminal parameters. DESIGN: Non-inferiority clinical trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Were included semen samples with altered seminal parameters (asthenospermia) from 58 volunteers at the Clinical Hospital of Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo. Semen samples were subjected to analysis both before and after cryopreservation. The sperm motility was evaluated by the spermogram and the sperm DNA fragmentation was analyzed by the transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling technique (TUNEL). Before cryopreservation, all semen samples were divided and randomized to receive the cryoprotectants TYB or ANTIOX-PC, frozen and thawed after 30 days. An exploratory data analysis was carried out through measures of central position and dispersion. The paired t-test was used to compare the groups. Comparisons between the two media ANTIOX-PC and TYB, and fresh semen were performed through orthogonal contrasts using the mixed effects linear regression model. This model was implemented in the SAS 9.3 program considering PROC MIXED. RESULTS: Progressive motility (P = 0.78) and DFI (P = 0.06) were not different when comparing ANTIOX-PC (12.40 ± 11.49; and 13,33 ± 10.54) and TYB (12.09 ± 11.11 and 15.83 ± 11.04), respectively. These data showed that the synthetic cryoprotectant designed was not inferior in sperm protection compared to the TYB medium. In addition, ANTIOX-PC retained higher rates of overall motility (43.36 ± 26.77)than TYB (34.79 ± 22.86; P<0,0001) and significantly reduced the immotile sperm rates (56.64 ± 26.77; P<0,0001) when compared with TYB (65.00 ± 23.00). CONCLUSION: ANTIOX-PC medium can not be considered less effective than TYB relative to progressive motility and IFD. Kinetic parameters observed in post-thaw sperm from ANTIOX-PC extender demonstrated the positive impact of the phospholipid/antioxidant treatment on human sperm cryotolerance in the absence of animal aditives.

OBJETIVOS: Avaliar a eficácia de um meio de criopreservação sintético para sêmen humano contendo fosfolipídios e antioxidantes (ANTIOX-PL, Invitra/Supera Parque de Inovação e Tecnologia de Ribeirão Preto) em comparação com o meio convencional à base de gema de ovo (TEST-yolk buffer, Irvine Scientific), mensurada pelos parâmetros in vitro de motilidade progressiva dos espermatozoides e índice de fragmentação do DNA espermático. MÉTODOS: Ensaio clínico de não-inferioridade. Foram recrutados 63 homens (julho de 2015 a outubro de 2016), com idade entre 18 a 50 anos, amostra seminal com volume >= 1,5 mL, concentração de espermatozoides >= 15 x 106/mL e motilidade progressiva >= 32%. O sêmen foi dividido em duas alíquotas com volumes iguais, randomizadas aleatoriamente nos grupos estudo (ANTIOX-PC) e controle (TEST-yolk buffer) para receberem os meios de criopreservação. A avaliação dos desfechos foi cega para atribuição de grupo, verificados antes do congelamento e após o descongelamento. Os dados foram comparados pelo teste t pareado pelo SAS versão 9.3; ?=0,05. RESULTADOS: A motilidade progressiva (p=0.83) e o índice de fragmentação do DNA (p=0.32) analisados nas amostras de sêmen congeladas com o meio A (ANTIOXPL) não apresentaram diferença significativa em relação às que foram congeladas com o meio B (TEST-yolk buffer). A concentração (p=0.02), a concentração total (p=0.02), o percentual de espermatozoides I (p<0.01) e a vitalidade (p<0.01) foram superiores nas amostras congeladas com o meio B (TEST-yolk buffer). A motilidade não progressiva (p<0.01) e a motilidade total (p<0.01) foram superiores nas amostras congeladas com o meio A (ANTIOX-PC). E a morfologia (p=0.07) não apresentou diferença significativa entre os meios de criopreservação. CONCLUSÕES: Em relação aos desfechos primários analisados, motilidade progressiva dos espermatozoides e índice de fragmentação do DNA espermático, a nova formulação proposta neste projeto de pesquisa, ANTIOX-PC, mostrou-se não inferior ao meio convencional, TEST-yolk buffer.
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of a synthetic cryopreservation medium for human semen containing phospholipids and antioxidants (ANTIOX-PC, Invitra / Supera Parque de Inovação e Tecnologia de Ribeirão Preto) compared to conventional egg yolk medium (TEST-yolk buffer, Irvine Scientific), measured by the in vitro parameters of progressive sperm motility and sperm DNA fragmentation index. METHODS: Non-inferiority clinical trial. 63 men (July 2015 to October 2016), aged 18 to 50 years, seminal sample with volume >= 1,5 mL, spermatozoa >= 15 x 106/mL and progressive motility >= 32% were recruited. The semen was divided into two aliquots with equal volumes, randomly randomized in the study (ANTIOX-PC) and control (TEST-yolk buffer) groups to receive cryopreservation media. The evaluation of the outcomes was blind to group assignment, verified before freezing and after thawing. The data were compared by the t-test paired by SAS version 9.3; ? = 0.05. RESULTS: Progressive motility (p=0.83) and DNA fragmentation index (p=0.32) analyzed in the semen samples frozen with medium A (ANTIOX-PL) showed no significant difference in relation to those frozen with the medium B (TEST-yolk buffer). The concentration (p=0.02), the total concentration (p=0.02), the percentage of immobile spermatozoa (p<0.01) and vitality (p<0.01) were higher in the samples frozen with medium B TEST-yolk buffer). Nonprogressive motility (p<0.01) and total motility (p <0.01) were higher in samples frozen with medium A (ANTIOX-PC). And the morphology (p=0.07) showed no significant difference between the cryopreservation media. CONCLUSIONS: The new formulation proposed in this research project, ANTIOX-PC, was not inferior to the conventional medium, TEST-yolk buffer, in relation to the primary endpoints analyzed, sperm motile spermatozoa and sperm DNA fragmentation index.

The Anelloviruses Torque Teno virus (TTV) and TTV-like minivirus (TLMV) are small, circular DNA viruses which infect humans and non-human primates. They are highly prevalent in the general population; however infection is without any apparent pathology. Both viruses are extremely heterogeneous, especially for DNA viruses, and the role of the immune system in controlling the infection has yet to be established. Initial experiments involved establishing prevalence figures for TTV and TLMV as well as SENV D and H, subtypes of TTV implicated in potential transfusion transmitted non A-E hepatitis, in Scottish blood donors. 88% of serum samples were PCR positive for either TTV, TLMV or a heterogeneous mixture of both viruses. The presence of SENV D and H was determined by Southern blot and revealed 0.5% of samples tested were infected with SENV D, 10.9% with SENV H and 1% with both SENV D and SENV H. We compared the titre of both TTV and TLMV in the bone marrow and spleen from 3 groups: HIV negative individuals, HIV positive individuals and HIV positive individuals who had progressed to AIDS, leading to immunosuppression. The AIDS group had higher tires, which were statistically significant compared with both the HIV positive and negative groups for both bone marrow and spleen. TTV/TLMV tires in HIV positive and transplant patients were compared to individuals infected with viruses not known to cause immunosuppression (HCV and HBV) and healthy blood donors. Both the immunosuppressed groups of individuals had titres of TTV/TLMV in serum higher than the other three groups. The suggestion that farm animals were infected with TTV similar to human TTV led to an investigation of TTV/TLMV homologues infecting non-human primates and farm animals. None of the farm animals were shown to be PCR positive. Sequence analysis of the primate samples determined they were infected with viruses which were genetically distinct from human TTV and TLMV.

We inhabit space. This means our deepest mental and emotional understanding of the world is tied intimately to our experiences as we perceive them in a physical context. Just like a book or film may induce a sense of presence, so too may our modern sensor drenched infrastructures and mobile information spaces. With the recent development of personal and ubiquitous computing devices that we always carry with us, and increased connectivity and robustness of wireless connections, there is an increasing tie between people and things around them. This also includes the space people inhabit. However, such enhanced experiences are usually limited to a personal environment with a personal smartphone being the central device. We would like to bring such technology enhanced experiences to large public spaces with many occupants where their movement patterns, and interactions can be shared, recorded, and studied in order to improve the occupants' efficiency and satisfaction. Specifically, we use sensor networks and ubiquitous computing to create smart built environments that are seamlessly aware of and responsive to the occupants. Human sensing system is one of the key enabling technologies for smart built environments. We present our research findings related to the design and deployment of an indoor human sensing system in large public built spaces. We use a case study to illustrate the challenges, opportunities, and lessons for the emerging field of human building interaction. We present several fundamental design trade-offs, applications, and performance measures for the case study.
Master of Science
The recent advances in mobile technologies, like smart phones and enhanced wireless communication, allow people to experience added comfort and convenience brought by these devices. For example, smart lighting and air conditioning control can be set remotely, before people arrive at their homes. However, these personal experiences are usually limited to personal spaces and tied to a specific personal smart phone. When it comes to public spaces, we seldom see such technological advancement being utilized. In reality, the concept of smart public spaces is still limited to technologies like opening / closing a door automatically. We discuss the reasons that cause such difference between personal and public spaces. We argue that Human Building Interactions should be shaped around non-intrusive indoor human sensing technologies. We present discussions, considerations and implementation of a system that uses a low cost camera network for indoor human sensing. We also describe several applications based on the developed system. We demonstrate how to bring technology enhanced experiences to public built spaces and provide smart built environments.

Dissertação de Doutoramento apresentada à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto
A gravidez humana normal desencadeia uma resposta inflamatória, que envolve vários órgãos e sistemas, e que é normalmente bem tolerada pelo organismo materno. Contudo, em gravidezes complicadas, tal como na pre-eclâmpsia (PE), uma perturbação hipertensiva característica da gravidez humana, os mecanismos reguladores da inflamação fisiológica poderão não funcionar correctamente.Apesar de intensa investigação na área da gravidez humana, algumas das modificações que ocorrem no sangue materno são ainda controversas e/ou não foram exploradas. Além disso, não existe também conformidade sobre se a PE representa uma forma exacerbada da inflamação que ocorre na gravidez normal.Este trabalho investigou, de uma forma transversal e longitudinal, alterações sistémicas que ocorrem com a gravidez e durante os três trimestres de gestação, com um interesse particular em variáveis bioquímicas que poderão estar alteradas como uma consequência do processo inflamatório. Essas mesmas variáveis foram também usadas para comparar mulheres grávidas normais e pre-eclâmpticas no terceiro trimestre de gestação. Mais ainda, variantes genéticas foram investigadas no sentido de avaliar o seu potencial envolvimento na PE.O estudo laboratorial englobou a avaliação de proteínas de fase aguda [proteína C reactiva (CRP) e haptoglobina], da função hepática (aminotransférase do aspartato e aminotransférase da alanina), do perfil lipídico e lipoproteico tradicional, juntamente com a quantificação do tamanho das LDL (tamanho predominante e médio das partículas) e das LDL oxidadas, do estado antioxidante total, e de variáveis relacionadas com a coagulação (fibrinogénio e plaquetas) e com a fibrinólise [activador do plasminogénio tecidular (t-PA), inibidor do activador do plasminogénio tipo 1, e D-dímero]. Foram também quantificados os leucócitos (contagem total e diferencial) e a activação dos neutrófilos, sendo esta determinada pela avaliação dos níveis plasmáticos de elástase e lactoferrina. O eritrócit ...

Dissertação de Doutoramento apresentada à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto
A gravidez humana normal desencadeia uma resposta inflamatória, que envolve vários órgãos e sistemas, e que é normalmente bem tolerada pelo organismo materno. Contudo, em gravidezes complicadas, tal como na pre-eclâmpsia (PE), uma perturbação hipertensiva característica da gravidez humana, os mecanismos reguladores da inflamação fisiológica poderão não funcionar correctamente.Apesar de intensa investigação na área da gravidez humana, algumas das modificações que ocorrem no sangue materno são ainda controversas e/ou não foram exploradas. Além disso, não existe também conformidade sobre se a PE representa uma forma exacerbada da inflamação que ocorre na gravidez normal.Este trabalho investigou, de uma forma transversal e longitudinal, alterações sistémicas que ocorrem com a gravidez e durante os três trimestres de gestação, com um interesse particular em variáveis bioquímicas que poderão estar alteradas como uma consequência do processo inflamatório. Essas mesmas variáveis foram também usadas para comparar mulheres grávidas normais e pre-eclâmpticas no terceiro trimestre de gestação. Mais ainda, variantes genéticas foram investigadas no sentido de avaliar o seu potencial envolvimento na PE.O estudo laboratorial englobou a avaliação de proteínas de fase aguda [proteína C reactiva (CRP) e haptoglobina], da função hepática (aminotransférase do aspartato e aminotransférase da alanina), do perfil lipídico e lipoproteico tradicional, juntamente com a quantificação do tamanho das LDL (tamanho predominante e médio das partículas) e das LDL oxidadas, do estado antioxidante total, e de variáveis relacionadas com a coagulação (fibrinogénio e plaquetas) e com a fibrinólise [activador do plasminogénio tecidular (t-PA), inibidor do activador do plasminogénio tipo 1, e D-dímero]. Foram também quantificados os leucócitos (contagem total e diferencial) e a activação dos neutrófilos, sendo esta determinada pela avaliação dos níveis plasmáticos de elástase e lactoferrina. O eritrócit ...

Intelligent devices are quickly becoming necessities to support our activities during both work and play. We are already bound in a symbiotic relationship with these devices. An unfortunate effect of the pervasiveness of intelligent devices is the substantial investment of our time and effort to communicate intent. Even though our increasing reliance on these intelligent devices is inevitable, the limits of conventional methods for devices to perceive human expression hinders communication efficiency. These constraints restrict the usefulness of intelligent devices to support our activities. Our communication time and effort must be minimized to leverage the benefits of intelligent devices and seamlessly integrate them into society. Minimizing the time and effort needed to communicate our intent will allow us to concentrate on tasks in which we excel, including creative thought and problem solving.

An intuitive method to minimize human communication effort with intelligent devices is to take advantage of our existing interpersonal communication experience. Recent advances in speech, hand gesture, and facial expression recognition provide alternate viable modes of communication that are more natural than conventional tactile interfaces. Use of natural human communication eliminates the need to adapt and invest time and effort using less intuitive techniques required for traditional keyboard and mouse based interfaces.

Although the state of the art in natural but isolated modes of communication achieves impressive results, significant hurdles must be conquered before communication with devices in our daily lives will feel natural and effortless. Research has shown that combining information between multiple noise-prone modalities improves accuracy. Leveraging this complementary and redundant content will improve communication robustness and relax current unimodal limitations.

This research presents and evaluates a novel multimodal framework to help reduce the total human effort and time required to communicate with intelligent devices. This reduction is realized by determining human intent using a knowledge-based architecture that combines and leverages conflicting information available across multiple natural communication modes and modalities. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated using dynamic hand gestures and simple facial expressions characterizing basic emotions. It is important to note that the framework is not restricted to these two forms of communication. The framework presented in this research provides the flexibility necessary to include additional or alternate modalities and channels of information in future research, including improving the robustness of speech understanding.

The primary contributions of this research include the leveraging of conflicts in a closed-loop multimodal framework, explicit use of uncertainty in knowledge representation and reasoning across multiple modalities, and a flexible approach for leveraging domain specific knowledge to help understand multimodal human expression. Experiments using a manually defined knowledge base demonstrate an improved average accuracy of individual concepts and an improved average accuracy of overall intents when leveraging conflicts as compared to an open-loop approach.

Bifidobacterium is an important genus of the human gastrointestinal microbiota, affecting several host physiological features. Despite the numerous Bifidobacterium related health-promoting activities, there is still a dearth of information about the molecular mechanisms at the basis of the interaction between this microorganism and the host. Bacterial surface associated proteins may play an important role in this interaction because of their ability to intervene with host molecules, as recently reported for the host protein plasminogen. Plasminogen is the zymogen of the trypsin-like serine protease plasmin, an enzyme with a broad substrate specificity. Aim of this thesis is to deepen the knowledge about the interaction between Bifidobacterium and the human plasminogen system and its role in the Bifidobacterium-host interaction process. As a bifidobacterial model, B. animalis subsp. lactis BI07 has been used because of its large usage in dairy and pharmaceutical preparations. We started from the molecular characterization of the interaction between plasminogen and one bifidobacterial plasminogen receptor, DnaK, a cell wall protein showing high affinity for plasminogen, and went on with the study of the impact of intestinal environmental factors, such as bile salts and inflammation, on the plasminogen-mediated Bifidobacterium-host interaction. According to our in vitro findings, by enhancing the activation of the bifidobacterial bound plasminogen to plasmin, the host inflammatory response results in the decrease of the bifidobacterial adhesion to the host enterocytes, favouring bacterial migration to the luminal compartment. Conversely, in the absence of inflammation, plasminogen acts as a molecular bridge between host enterocytes and bifidobacteria, enhancing Bifidobacterium adhesion. Furthermore, adaptation to physiological concentrations of bile salts enhances the capability of this microorganism to interact with the host plasminogen system. The host plasminogen system thus represents an important and flexible tool used by bifidobacteria in the cross-talk with the host.

Bifidobacterium is an important genus of the human gastrointestinal microbiota, affecting several host physiological features. Despite the numerous Bifidobacterium related health-promoting activities, there is still a dearth of information about the molecular mechanisms at the basis of the interaction between this microorganism and the host. Bacterial surface associated proteins may play an important role in this interaction because of their ability to intervene with host molecules, as recently reported for the host protein plasminogen. Plasminogen is the zymogen of the trypsin-like serine protease plasmin, an enzyme with a broad substrate specificity. Aim of this thesis is to deepen the knowledge about the interaction between Bifidobacterium and the human plasminogen system and its role in the Bifidobacterium-host interaction process. As a bifidobacterial model, B. animalis subsp. lactis BI07 has been used because of its large usage in dairy and pharmaceutical preparations. We started from the molecular characterization of the interaction between plasminogen and one bifidobacterial plasminogen receptor, DnaK, a cell wall protein showing high affinity for plasminogen, and went on with the study of the impact of intestinal environmental factors, such as bile salts and inflammation, on the plasminogen-mediated Bifidobacterium-host interaction. According to our in vitro findings, by enhancing the activation of the bifidobacterial bound plasminogen to plasmin, the host inflammatory response results in the decrease of the bifidobacterial adhesion to the host enterocytes, favouring bacterial migration to the luminal compartment. Conversely, in the absence of inflammation, plasminogen acts as a molecular bridge between host enterocytes and bifidobacteria, enhancing Bifidobacterium adhesion. Furthermore, adaptation to physiological concentrations of bile salts enhances the capability of this microorganism to interact with the host plasminogen system. The host plasminogen system thus represents an important and flexible tool used by bifidobacteria in the cross-talk with the host.

"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?" In his angry and depressed state, Hamlet finds no consolation in his fellow human beings, but that's not to say that he doesn't attribute them with many fine qualities. But what are we to make of this 'quintessence of dust'? What a piece of work is a (hu)man? How are we to understand ourselves? What's more to the point perhaps is, why should we try? One reason springs to mind immediately that we can point to in order to justify an attempt at such understanding. It is surely true that by way of a greater understanding of ourselves we can come to a more complete understanding of 'the way things are' per se. By coming to a greater and more complete understanding of being a human being we can start to see how what we are informs the way we are and vice versa. For instance, the sort of beings that we are as human beings allows us to experience the world around us in a particular way, it may 'open' the world up to us in some respects, whilst 'closing' it off in others. The kind of understanding that I am aiming for involves an exploration and clarification of what it is to be human; what it is to exist as a human being and if there is anything unique about being a human being. If we look for a dictionary definition of 'human being' we find something like the following: "Of or belonging to the genus Homo ... any man or woman or child of the species Homo Sapiens., Defining human beings in this way places them firmly in the 'natural order' of things, it makes them one species amongst many. Admittedly human beings are probably the most complex species in the natural world, but nevertheless they are open to understanding in just the same way as any other species be it an oyster, a cat or a chimpanzee. If we are to take this 'speciesistic', biological line then, we should aim to understand human beings in purely natural, materialistic terms supplied by the 'best' theory that science can offer to us at the time of investigation. In doing this though we might worry that we are missing out on something 'special' about human beings, surely there is something that sets human beings apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, for instance the fact that human beings possess the kind of consciousness that they do. In fact this worry goes deeper than just worrying about human beings being 'special' in some way and whether or not they are the only species that possess such consciousness. Indeed, we might think that there is in general something special about each animal species; namely that each one possesses a distinctive viewpoint upon the world and that this is only accessible if one is a member of that species. This is precisely the sort of worry aired by Nagel. Of course if Nagel is right, then human beings should have no problem with access to what it is like to be human beings, but he also argues that such access can never be explained in purely scientific, naturalistic terms. His argument focuses on attempts to capture experience from the objective perspective of science and he claims that "no matter how the form may vary, the fact that an organism has conscious experience at all means, basically that there is something it is like to be that organism.' This being the case, if a scientific naturalist account is to succeed '''something it is like to be' features must be given a physicalist account." Nagel denies that this is a possibility, he claims that: "Every subjective phenomenon is, essentially, connected with a single point of view, and it seems inevitable that an objective, physical theory will abandon that point of view." According to Nagel, materialist philosophies rest on the fundamental principle that the whole of reality can be described in objective physical terms. The physically objective world is the only world there is and it exists independently of subjective human or animal perspectives. He describes the materialist conception of reality as saying that underneath the different appearances of things there must lie a reality that is independent of how things appear to human beings or any other animals. The world would exist even if there were no human or other observers in it; hence its true nature must be detachable from how it seems to any observers. This means that according to materialist philosophies, if we wish to reach a conception of the world as it objectively is we have to not think of it from an individual point of view or perspective, and not think of it from a general human perspective. The physical world as it is in itself contains no points of view and nothing that can appear only to one particular point of view. Whatever it contains can be apprehended by a general rational consciousness divorced from the sensory organs of particular individuals or species. Although this conception of reality has been immensely useful in the development of physics, Nagel believes that it cannot be the whole story. He argues that the subjective perceptual points of view which are left out of the objective account continue to exist, furthermore they are the necessary conditions of human beings acquiring evidence about the physical world. Human beings cannot collect evidence except from their spatio-temporal location and this means they must have a perspective; as well as this, the objective conception of the world is formed by mental activity. For Nagel then, a complete explanation of reality will have to take account of these things because they are also part of reality. In his arguments against a scientific, objective conception of reality, Nagel appears to take an overly positivistic view of science and of philosophical analyses that take science seriously. However, I think Nagel is correct though in his attack on materialist theories of mind (and by implication, human beings) even if there are some problems with his arguments.7 In the next chapter I will show how materialist, conventionally naturalistic theories of human beings miss out on essential features of them, and also how non-naturalist accounts miss out on much the same sort of features. Much of this is due to both of them working with the same sort of disengaged view of the world, just the sort of view that Nagel is so critical of. I don't believe that Nagel's criticisms should make us give up on a naturalist programme altogether though. Rather what we need to do is to draw it in as inclusive a way as possible, a way that takes into account not just the 'objective' features of the world, but also the 'subjective' features of human experience of the world. In Chapter 2, I outline just such an inclusive, broad framework. Such a framework provides us with the opportunity to explore the continuity between human beings and other non-human animals, whilst at the same time preserving the uniqueness of being human without having to resort to any form of unnecessary or distorting humanism. In other words, it allows us to place human beings alongside other non-human animals firmly in the 'natural order' whilst at the same time recognising human beings unique characteristics. The most interesting of these characteristics is human beings' 'personhood', which I will explore in Chapter 6. However, human beings are also uniquely 'social' beings and I shall look at this fact in Chapter 4 and show how being a social being is an essential feature of being human. This sociality depends in part upon the 'lived' nature of the human beings bodies and I shall look in detail at this in Chapter 3. However, I believe we also need to guard against any unwarranted humanism whereby human beings are overly distanced from other non-human animals. To this end I shall show how human beings can be regarded as unique but at the same time as continuous with the rest of the 'animal kingdom' in Chapter 5. In the course of this thesis, my primary aim is not to provide conclusive or damning arguments against either conventional naturalism or non-naturalism; rather I hope to weave together the components of an alternative picture, one that presents a more convincing, persuasive and plausible alternative - broad naturalism. As Sherlock Holmes says: "One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature." In other words I intend to show that to come to anything like a full understanding of what it is like to be a human being we have to adopt a broadly naturalistic framework. Conventional naturalism and non-naturalism will be shown to be lacking because they cannot fully account for human beings' experience of the world or of how they are 'at home' in their world. However, at the same time by taking the broad approach we can accept that there are 'truths' in both conventional pictures and weave these into a cohesive whole that can account for the experience of being a human being. Most of all though a broadly naturalistic account will allow us to see what a wonderful 'piece of work' a human being truly is.

This project has evolved from my own observation of our deteriorating living environments. I am exploring the development of a visual story to represent my contemplation of humankind's consumption, and how it endangers the balance of the natural world. Through drawing and animation, I hope to develop a visual language and an approach to storytelling that will inspire people to think about balancing economic, environmental, and ethical issues in design and development, and to advocate a simple honest life and noninterference with the necessary course of natural events.

Human Subjects is a collection of eight short stories that explore the role of identity, otherness, and personhood in contemporary life. Two sex workers try to buy new faces after a botched plastic surgery, a young girl struggles to find her place in a religious sweat cult, mixed race orphans commune with ghosts in a Korean orphanage, best friends embark on a road trip across America in search of a mother. Human Subjects works to tell stories about deeply felt wants and desires from perspectives at the margins, caught in a state of in between. This collection grapples with what it means to be a subject, and what it means to be subjected.

Human levitation occurs when the physical body rises into the air and then hovers or moves around, seemingly in defiance of the force of gravity. Traditionally most levitation reports have originated from seven groups: shamanism, people supposedly possessed by demonic spiritual entities, those subjected to poltergeist activity, Spiritualism, people who believe they have been abducted by aliens, martial arts such as qigong and mysticism. These anecdotal reports generally describe levitation as rare, spontaneous and involuntary, although some people seem able to levitate at will. So far almost no scientific research appears to have been conducted into this phenomenon. In order to persuade empirical sciences such as parapsychology that human levitation warrants further investigation, this qualitative study contains two components. Firstly, there is a thematic comparison of historical and modern levitation reports from the seven groups to see what physical, cultural and phenomenological circumstances they may have in common. Three kinds of evidence have been examined in this comparison: general features of the groups that produce levitation reports; interviews about paranormal phenomena such as levitation with a sample of Christian priests and pastors, Spiritualists and qigong instructors; and six people who claim to have levitated have also been interviewed. Secondly, to assist future researchers in their investigations, the thesis includes a hypothesis generating exercise which seeks clues from the thematic comparison and interviews as to how human levitation might work. The conclusions reached in the thematic comparison are that most members of the seven groups believe in one or more spiritual realms that contain entities and/or energies that can facilitate paranormal phenomena such as human levitation. Members of some groups (eg: shamans, Spiritualists, qigong practitioners and mystics) may deliberately seek to interact with or access these entities or powers, while others (eg: poltergeist activity and spirit possession) may encounter them involuntarily. It also appears that, regardless of which group they belong to, all those who levitate, whether deliberately or involuntarily, do so while in an altered state of consciousness (ASC). The hypothesis-generating exercise, therefore, postulates that certain ASCs facilitate human levitation, and that further research into the capacity of consciousness to access what appears to be transcendent or transpersonal powers is recommended.

Orientador: Shiguenoli Miyamoto
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
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Resumo: O conceito de Segurança Humana surge na década de 1990 como uma alternativa ao tradicional conceito de segurança centrado no Estado. Para ativistas e intelectuais ligados aos novos debates sobre o conceito, é necessário que as políticas de segurança se centrem nos indivíduos, resguardando os seus direitos, tanto por meio de políticas de desenvolvimento, como pela proteção de possíveis violências físicas. Com base nisto, este trabalho destacará a Segurança humana, especialmente, a proposta feita pelo Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD). O objetivo do texto é apresentar uma análise crítica do conceito de Segurança humana, sua formulação, os seus debates e críticas. Além disso, serão apresentadas duas políticas internacionais se fundamentam no conceito de Segurança humana: o Fundo Fiduciário de Segurança Humana, encabeçado pelo Japão, e a Rede de Segurança Humana, liderada pelo Canadá
Abstract: The concept of human security arises in the 1990s as an alternative to the traditional security concept centered on the state. For activists and intellectuals linked to the new debates on the concept, it is necessary that security policies focus on individuals, protecting their rights, whether it's through development policies or through the protection of possible physical abuse. From this, this work will highlight the human security, especially the proposal of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The aim of this paper is to present a critical analysis of the concept of human security, its formulation, debates and critics. Besides, there will be presented two international policies that are based on the concept of human security: the Trust Fund for Human Security, chaired by Japan and the Human Security Network, lead by Canada
Mestrado
Relações Internacionais
Mestre em Ciência Política

The concept of sustainable urban environments aims to provide urban facilities including transport interchanges that can accommodate a wide spectrum of the human population irrespective of gender, age or disability. A major objective is to reduce levels of social exclusion which arise from inadequacy in infrastructure that strongly affects certain members of society such as the elderly, disabled and poor. This research focuses on the particular aspect of crowded public spaces where it is envisaged that improvements in crowd flow could be achieved by a proper consideration of all the users of the space but particularly the elderly and disabled. The ultimate objective would be design tools that provide architects with the means to achieve inclusivity in design for the elderly and disabled with relative ease and speed. Therefore, this research has developed a methodology and a computing tool to implement aspects of human walking behaviour in public spaces. Human behaviours have been studied using a large-scale video observation involving over 17,000 subjects. The videos have been analysed to determine a number of different behaviours and their relationship to distinguishing characteristics of the subjects such as age, gender and disability. Algorithms for representing these behaviours have been developed and implemented as a simulation tool (HIMs) within commercially available gaming software. Two case studies, within shopping malls and a bus station, have been carried out to illustrate the feasibility of the work and simple examples of small environmental design changes that significantly affect crowd flow are shown.

The objectives of this study are to determine the awareness level of knowledge sharing amongst the employees of Sasol, to determine how Sasol utilises human capital in the company and to identify and analyse the methods of knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. The literature review distinguishes between explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge leads a company to codify while tacit knowledge leads to connecting people. The literature study also covers the utilisation of human capital and identifies methods of knowledge sharing and -transfer, namely legacy pages, expert location systems, buddy systems, post-retirement agreements, identification of successors, After Action Reviews, interviews, observation, protocol analysis, teach backs, story writing and storytelling, and process mapping. The literature study forms the foundation for the formulation and designing of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed amongst the employees of two of Sasol's divisions in order to obtain data about the utilisation of human capital in Sasol and to identify and analyse the current and preferred methods to capture and share tacit knowledge and skills. The data obtained from the questionnaires was processed, analysed and interpreted. Conclusions were drawn, linking the literature review and the results obtained from the empirical study. Based on these conclusions, recommendations were made.
Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Dans la perspective des usines du futur, pour garantir une interaction productive, sure et efficace entre l’homme et le robot, il est impératif que le robot puisse interpréter l’information fournie par le collaborateur humain. Pour traiter cette problématique nous avons exploré des solutions basées sur l’apprentissage profond et avons développé un framework pour la détection de gestes humains. Le framework proposé permet une détection robuste des gestes statiques de la main et des gestes dynamiques de la partie supérieure du corps.Pour la détection des gestes statiques de la main, openpose est associé à la caméra Kinect V2 afin d’obtenir un pseudo-squelette humain en 3D. Avec la participation de 10 volontaires, nous avons constitué une base de données d’images, opensign, qui comprend les images RGB et de profondeur de la Kinect V2 correspondant à 10 gestes alphanumériques statiques de la main, issus de l’American Sign Language. Un réseau de neurones convolutifs de type « Inception V3 » est adapté et entrainé à détecter des gestes statiques de la main en temps réel.Ce framework de détection des gestes est ensuite étendu pour permettre la reconnaissance des gestes dynamiques. Nous avons proposé une stratégie de détection de gestes dynamiques basée sur un mécanisme d’attention spatiale. Celle-ci utilise un réseau profond de type « Convolutional Neural Network - Long Short-Term Memory » pour l’extraction des dépendances spatio-temporelles dans des séquences vidéo pur RGB. Les blocs de construction du réseau de neurones convolutifs sont pré-entrainés sur notre base de données opensign de gestes statiques de la main, ce qui permet une extraction efficace des caractéristiques de la main. Un module d’attention spatiale exploite la posture 2D de la partie supérieure du corps pour estimer, d’une part, la distance entre la personne et le capteur pour la normalisation de l’échelle et d’autre part, les paramètres des cadres délimitant les mains du sujet sans avoir recourt à un capteur de profondeur. Ainsi, le module d’attention spatiale se focalise sur les grands mouvements des membres supérieurs mais également sur les images des mains, afin de traiter les petits mouvements de la main et des doigts pour mieux distinguer les classes de gestes. Les informations extraites d’une caméra de profondeur sont acquises de la base de données opensign. Par conséquent, la stratégie proposée pour la reconnaissance des gestes peut être adoptée par tout système muni d’une caméra de profondeur.Ensuite, nous explorons brièvement les stratégies d’estimation de postures 3D à l’aide de caméras monoculaires. Nous proposons d’estimer les postures 3D chez l’homme par une approche hybride qui combine les avantages des estimateurs discriminants de postures 2D avec les approches utilisant des modèles génératifs. Notre stratégie optimise une fonction de coût en minimisant l’écart entre la position et l’échelle normalisée de la posture 2D obtenue à l’aide d’openpose, et la projection 2D virtuelle du modèle cinématique du sujet humain.Pour l’interaction homme-robot en temps réel, nous avons développé un système distribué asynchrone afin d’associer notre module de détection de gestes statiques à une librairie consacrée à l’interaction physique homme-robot OpenPHRI. Nous validons la performance de notre framework grâce à une expérimentation de type « apprentissage par démonstration » avec un bras robotique
In the light of factories of the future, to ensure productive, safe and effective interaction between robot and human coworkers, it is imperative that the robot extracts the essential information of the coworker. To address this, deep learning solutions are explored and a reliable human gesture detection framework is developed in this work. Our framework is able to robustly detect static hand gestures plus upper-body dynamic gestures.For static hand gestures detection, openpose is integrated with Kinect V2 to obtain a pseudo-3D human skeleton. With the help of 10 volunteers, we recorded an image dataset opensign, that contains Kinect V2 RGB and depth images of 10 alpha-numeric static hand gestures taken from the American Sign Language. "Inception V3" neural network is adapted and trained to detect static hand gestures in real-time.Subsequently, we extend our gesture detection framework to recognize upper-body dynamic gestures. A spatial attention based dynamic gestures detection strategy is proposed that employs multi-modal "Convolutional Neural Network - Long Short-Term Memory" deep network to extract spatio-temporal dependencies in pure RGB video sequences. The exploited convolutional neural network blocks are pre-trained on our static hand gestures dataset opensign, which allow efficient extraction of hand features. Our spatial attention module focuses on large-scale movements of upper limbs plus on hand images for subtle hand/fingers movements, to efficiently distinguish gestures classes.This module additionally exploits 2D upper-body pose to estimate distance of user from the sensor for scale-normalization plus determine the parameters of hands bounding boxes without a need of depth sensor. The information typically extracted from a depth camera in similar strategies is learned from opensign dataset. Thus the proposed gestures recognition strategy can be implemented on any system with a monocular camera.Afterwards, we briefly explore 3D human pose estimation strategies for monocular cameras. To estimate 3D human pose, a hybrid strategy is proposed which combines the merits of discriminative 2D pose estimators with that of model based generative approaches. Our method optimizes an objective function, that minimizes the discrepancy between position & scale-normalized 2D pose obtained from openpose, and a virtual 2D projection of a kinematic human model.For real-time human-robot interaction, an asynchronous distributed system is developed to integrate our static hand gestures detector module with an open-source physical human-robot interaction library OpenPHRI. We validate performance of the proposed framework through a teach by demonstration experiment with a robotic manipulator

Much circumstantial evidence has pointed to peripheral blood leukocytes as one site of persistence of Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in healthy carriers. However, the exact population of peripheral blood cells that carry HCMV and to what extent they express HCMV gene products in not known. I have examined the sites of HCMV persistence in the peripheral blood of healthy carriers. Analysis of pure cell populations by the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sensitive to between 1 and 10 copies of the HCMV genome, showed that the predominant site of persistence was the monocyte. In addition, analysis of healthy seronegative subjects revealed that a significant number (30%) also harbored HCMV. Finally, study of granulocytes demonstrated no evidence of persistent HCMV. Expression of HCMV during persistence was also analyzed, by using reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) with a sensitivity of between 1 and 100 infected fibroblasts. RNA from monocytes showed no evidence of polyadenylated immediate early (IE) or late transcripts. In contrast, in vitro differentiated monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) did show evidence of HCMV gene expression with the class of HCMV genes expressed dependent on the method of differentiation. MDM treated with hydrocortisone (HC) and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, expressed only lEI, but not IE2, glycoprotein B (gB) or phosphoprotein 28 (pp28) transcripts. Whereas, MDM treated with granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor and HC expressed lEI, IE2 and gB, but not pp28 transcripts. In both cases, cocultivation experiments did not show plaques. Therefore, in the healthy carrier, persistence of HCMV in monocytes is independent of HCMV lytic gene expression, but in vitro differentiation of monocytes to MDM induced endogenous HCMV transcription consistent with the known permissivity of in vivo differentiated macrophages to HCMV infection.

The field of wildlife management has been on a collision course with societal values regarding animal use for some time. Although wildlife populations are still managed largely under the “North American model of wildlife conservation” to accommodate consumptive uses, many people, often with different concerns, want to be heard in decisions about wildlife. These human dimensions present a challenge to wildlife management, a field in which policy has been generally driven by experts. This research used several public engagement methods to understand broader attitudes towards wildlife management and how to incorporate them into policy. Participants with varying levels of wildlife experience in British Columbia, Canada, were asked in online and telephone surveys for their attitudes towards, and acceptance of, specific wildlife activities and management practices. Findings indicate a gap between public and expert opinions on invasive (e.g., relocation) and lethal management practices (e.g., problem bears, predator control, protection of endangered species). Problems also emerged with the public view of wildlife feeding. This led to a review of its motivations, types and consequences, and an evaluative framework was proposed to assess when feeding is acceptable. When asked to rate the harm to wildlife caused in various ways (hunting, vehicle collisions, pollution, etc.), experts and the public largely agreed on the relative importance of harms, indicating considerable potential for finding common ground between conservation-oriented and welfare-oriented citizens. However, some current management practices, especially those involving killing animals, lacked broad public support and may be improved upon with public participation in policy development, especially with women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement and animal-protectionist values. This could take the form of public polling or increased representation on decision-making committees. Societal expectations for managing human-wildlife interactions in BC documented by this research include ensuring that actions have an appropriate conservation purpose, are controllable, use humane methods, and appear fair to both people and wildlife. Including a broader public, educating both experts and the public on issues of humaneness, and strengthening wildlife and animal protection laws and enforcement, may serve to better align wildlife policy with societal values.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010.
Committee Chair: Richard Catrambone; Committee Member: Gregory Corso; Committee Member: Jack Feldman; Committee Member: John T. Stasko; Committee Member: Wendy A. Rogers. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Our lives become longer with new advancements in medicine and technology. As a result, cognition and memory impairments will become a growing concern[23]. To be able to treat cognitive decline, dementia and related diseases, the need for early detection of memory deficiencies increases. This study aimed to validate the use of a new digital interaction version of a common memory test, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), compared with norm from the traditional human-to-human interaction version of the same test. This was performed through userstudies with both test versions in a counterbalanced order. The results consisted of quantitative results from the tests together with qualitative data from interviews with the participants in connection to each test occasion. The results showed a slight difference in some aspects of the quantitative test results, but at the same time, no significant difference for most of the measured results. Further, the interviews demonstrated that the differences in interaction and experience between the versions of the tests could be the reason for some of the differences in the quantitative result. The conclusion from this study was that there are many difficult problems to solve for speech interfaces in neurocognitive tests like the RAVLT. In line with previous research [22], the results highlight the importance of a natural speech interaction that conforms with the basic principles of human conversation, to create a stress-free experience and test results that can be reliable and comparable.

Synchroniser son comportement sur celui d’autrui est adaptatif et essentiel au maintien des interactions et de la cohésion sociale : plus deux individus sont affiliés, plus leurs comportements sont synchronisés, et inversement. Cela est observé au sein de nombreuses espèces, dont l’humain, mais l’existence de ce phénomène au niveau interspécifique n’est que peu documentée.Les travaux de thèse révèlent que les chiens de compagnie, du point de vue productif, synchronisent leurs comportements sur ceux de leur propriétaire lors de déplacements en intérieur ou en extérieur, et également lors d’une rencontre avec une personne inconnue. De plus, les comparaisons du comportement de ces dyades avec ceux des chiens de refuge accompagnés de leur soigneur montrent que la nature du lien affiliatif joue un rôle essentiel dans le degré de synchronisation comportementale. Par contre, ce phénomène n’est que peu modulé par le sexe, l’âge et la race. Enfin, inversement, du point de vue perceptif, le présent travail montre pour la première fois que les chiens de compagnie préfèrent les humains qui synchronisent leur comportement avec le leur.En conclusion, comme entre humains, la synchronisation comportementale joue le rôle de glue sociale entre les chiens et les humains. C’est la première fois qu’une telle capacité est mise en évidence entre une espèce de primate et une espèce de canidé ; cela suggère une convergence évolutive de ce comportement, et l’existence de processus cognitifs s’apparentant à ceux des humains chez le chien. Les implications pratiques et théoriques de ces résultats sont finalement discutées à la lueur des quatre questions de Tinbergen (1963)
Non-conscious behavioral synchronization is adaptive, depending on affiliation and participating in fostering social cohesion. It is found within various species, including humans, but little is known about such a phenomenon between species. Due to their close association, dog and human dyads is a good biological model to study interspecific behavioral synchronization.For the first time, behavioral synchronization of dogs with humans was evidenced between highly affiliated partners (i.e. pet dogs and their owners) when freely walking inside or in open outside area, and when facing an unfamiliar person. The effect of affiliation was also investigated: lower affiliated partners (i.e. shelter dogs and their caregiver) exhibited lower degree of synchronization with human compare to highly affiliated partners, similarly than between humans. This is the first time that the effect of affiliation on behavioral synchronization has been evidenced at interspecific level. Almost no effect of age, sex or breed was evidenced. Finally, it was evidenced that pet dogs exhibit increased affiliation towards humans who synchronized their behavior with them. It is the third species in which such an ability is evidenced, and the first time it is found in canids.To conclude, as in humans, behavioral synchronization acts as a social-glue between dogs and humans. It is the first time that such a skill is evidenced between a primate species and a canid species; it suggests a convergent evolution of this behavior, and human-like processes in dogs. Applied implications of such findings, as well as Tinbergen (1963) four’s inquiries for behavioral synchronization are discussed

El incremento de los servicios de seguridad privada a nivel mundial, tanto cuantitativo como cualitativo, ha generado en los últimos años posturas contrapuestas en cuanto al papel de la seguridad privada y su posible regulación a nivel global. Estas controversias llegan al punto de que las causas y los efectos de la seguridad privada global están siendo tratados en el marco de las Naciones Unidas por diferentes organismos que posicionan sus efectos desde el enfoque de amenaza para los derechos humanos, hasta el de oportunidad para la mejora de la seguridad humana. De estos posicionamientos depende en gran medida la percepción y el reconocimiento social de los más de 20 millones de profesionales que trabajan en el sector de la seguridad privada a nivel mundial. De hecho, aunque estos profesionales están desempeñando cometidos aparentemente de gran valor para el conjunto de la sociedad, su reconocimiento no parece ser proporcional a la labor que desempeñan, y lo que es más, entre otras circunstancias, tras los efectos de la globalización y el inicio del debate de las empresas de seguridad privadas que actúan en entornos complejos desde una perspectiva transnacional, en ocasiones no sólo no se reconoce apropiadamente la contribución de la seguridad privada en relación con la seguridad de las personas y de las comunidades en general, sino que incluso llega a ser considerada como una amenaza para dicha seguridad. Por ello, la presente tesis tiene como objeto analizar la situación actual de la seguridad privada desde un enfoque global, especialmente en relación con las opciones de regulación internacional debatidas en el entorno de las Naciones Unidas desde diferentes perspectivas de análisis y enfoques, ya que pretendemos demostrar que dicha regulación es uno de los principales instrumentos de reconocimiento social de los profesionales del sector de la seguridad privada y que sólo desde un planteamiento global de sus posibilidades y de sus limitaciones podría encontrar su espacio en la gobernanza global de la seguridad para, posteriormente, ser acotado y desarrollado a través de las legislaciones nacionales que constituirían la verdadera legitimización del papel de la seguridad privada en su contribución a la seguridad ciudadana, y por extensión a la seguridad humana. Así pues, teniendo en cuenta todos los aspectos mencionados, la presente tesis se organiza a través de seis capítulos. En el primero de ellos se contextualiza la situación actual de la seguridad privada global, para dar paso en los capítulos posteriores al análisis desde los diferentes enfoques; en concreto, en el capítulo dos desde la perspectiva de la seguridad como amenaza, en el tres como oportunidad y en el cuarto como oportunidad ante la amenaza. Por último, en el capítulo cinco se introduce la importancia del derecho administrativo global para el posible establecimiento de un marco internacional para la regulación de la seguridad privada global, se analizan los principales instrumentos de dimensión global que se han generado o se están generando, y tras el análisis del alcance, la naturaleza, los contenidos, las potencialidades y las limitaciones de dichos instrumentos, realizamos una propuesta integradora que acabamos resumiendo en las conclusiones del capítulo seis, como complemento al conjunto de conclusiones de los cinco capítulos anteriores.
The increase in worldwide private security services, both quantitative and qualitative, has in recent years generated conflicting positions regarding the role of private security and its possible global regulation. These controversies reach a point where the causes and effects of global private security being dealt with within the framework of the United Nations by different agencies that position their effects from the approach of threat to human rights, to the opportunity for the improvement of human security. The perception and social recognition of the more than 20 million professionals working in the private security sector worldwide depends to a large extent on these positions. In fact, though these professionals are apparently performing tasks of great value to society as a whole, their recognition does not seem to be proportional to the tasks they perform, and furthermore, due to other circumstances, after the effects of globalisation and start of the debate of private security companies operating in complex environments from a transnational perspective, sometimes not only is the contribution of private security in relation to the security of people and communities in general not properly recognised, but it can even come to be considered a threat to said security. With this in mind, this thesis aims to analyse the current situation of private security from a global approach, especially in relation to the international regulation options discussed in the United Nations environment from different perspectives of analysis and approaches, as we expect demonstrate that such regulation is one of the main instruments of social recognition of professionals in the private security sector and that only from a global perspective of its possibilities and limitations could it find its place in the global governance of security, subsequently, be limited and developed through the national legislations that would constitute the true legitimisation of the role of private security in its contribution to citizen security, and by extension to human security. Thus, taking into account all the aspects mentioned, this thesis is organised into six chapters. In the first chapter, the current situation of global private security is contextualised to make way for subsequent chapters to analyze from different approaches; in particular, in chapter two from the perspective of security as a threat, in the third as an opportunity and the fourth as an opportunity to face the threat. Lastly, chapter five introduces the importance of global administrative law for the possible establishment of an international framework for the regulation of global private security, discussing the main instruments of global dimension that have been generated or are being generated, and after analysing the scope, nature, contents, potentialities and limitations of these instruments, an integrative proposal is made that ends up summarizing in the conclusions of chapter six, as a complement to the set of conclusions from the previous five chapters.

Orientadores: Fausto Berzin, Eduardo Grossmann
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba
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Resumo: O presente trabalho empregou o exame de ressonância magnética nuclear do músculo temporal para verificar se existia, ou não, diferenças quanto ao gênero e lado bem como na tentativa de diferenciá-lo de um músculo denominado esfenomandibular. Foram avaliados 20 voluntários, 10 do gênero feminino e 10 do masculino, assintomáticos para cefaléia, disfunção temporomandibular, parafunção oclusal, dor articular e/ou muscular durante atividades funcionais e/ou dor muscular ao acordar, com idades entre 18 e 46 anos. Os voluntários foram submetidos a uma anamnese, a um exame clínico da cavidade bucal, das articulações temporomandibulares, dos músculos da região e dos nervos cranianos, seguido de um exame de ressonância magnética nuclear. As imagens foram realizadas em cortes sagitais, coronais e axiais. Os dados obtidos foram registrados em uma ficha clínica. Posteriormente foi realizada uma análise descritiva dos dados. O músculo temporal apresentou duas partes distintas, uma profunda e outra superficial, sendo que a profunda mostrou-se sempre maior. O volume do músculo esquerdo apresentou-se maior que o direito e a profundidade do direito apresentou-se maior que a do esquerdo, ambos independentes do gênero. No masculino observou-se que tal músculo apresentava maior volume e profundidade que o feminino. Dentro das condições desse estudo, concluiu-se que o exame de ressonância magnética nuclear possibilitou identificar a região estudada como sendo músculo temporal e não músculo esfenomandibular
Abstract: This study used the nuclear magnetic resonance of the temporalis muscle to check if there was or not gender and side differences and in an attempt to differentiate it from a muscle called sphenomandibularis. We evaluated 20 volunteers, 10 females and 10 males, with no symptoms of headache, temporomandibular disorders, occlusal parafunction, joint pain and / or muscle during functional activities and / or muscle pain on waking, aged between 18 and 46 years. The volunteers underwent a medical history, a clinical examination of the buccal cavity, temporomandibular joints, muscles of the region and the cranial nerves, followed by an examination of nuclear magnetic resonance. The images were taken in sagittal, coronal and axial slices. The data were recorded in a clinical record. It was later performed a descriptive analysis of data. The temporalis muscle had two distinct parts, one deep and one superficial and the deep was always greatest. The volume of muscle left was larger than the right and the depth of the right was higher than the left, both independent of gender. In male was observed that this muscle has greater volume and depth than females. Under the conditions of this study, it was concluded that the examination of nuclear magnetic resonance enabled identified this region as being the temporalis muscle and not sphenomandibularis muscle
Mestrado
Anatomia
Mestre em Biologia Buco-Dental