Persistent organic chemicals of emerging environmental concern

The use of chemicals and chemical derivatives in agriculture and industry has contributed to their accumulation and persistence in the environment. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are among the environmental pollutants of most concern since, when improperly handled and disposed, they can persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food web, and may create serious public health and environmental problems. Development of an effective degradation process has become an area of intense research. The physical/chemical methods employed, such as volatilization, evaporation, photooxidation, adsorption, or hydrolysis, are not always effective, are very expensive, and, sometimes, lead to generation/disposal of other contaminants. Biodegradation is one of the major mechanisms by which organic contaminants are transformed, immobilized, or mineralized in the environment. A clear understanding of the major processes that affect the interactions between organic contaminants, microorganisms, and environmental matrix is, thus, important for determining persistence of the compounds, for predicting in situ transformation rates, and for developing site remediation. Information on their risks and impact and occurrence in the different environmental matrices is also important, in order to attenuate their impact and apply the appropriate remediation process. This chapter provides information on the fate of pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), their impact, bioavailability, and biodegradation. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

Promoção da autonomia dos alunos na aprendizagem de programação para a WEB

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino de Informática

Nutritional status and food intake at workplace as health indicators for industrial workers

This study aimed to verify the correlation among the nutritional composition of the food consumed in the work environment, the energy expenditure and the nutritional status of workers from different sectors (administration and production) in different industries. The anthropometric data, in addition to the energy expenditure and food intake at lunch were evaluated for 292 workers, all of them included in the Brazilian Worker Food Program (also called PAT). The food consumption was assessed from the direct observation of the meal, for five consecutive days. The obtained data were analyzed by Pearson correlation test and by a Principal Components Analysis. Prevalence of overweight was detected in the studied population, according to the Body Mass Index (BMI). A statistically significant difference was found in terms of the energy expenditure of physical activity and daily energy expenditure in relation to gender and the working sector. The obtained results indicate that there is significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) between the following variables: body weight and BMI (r = 0.84), weight and daily energy expenditure (DEE) (r = 0.52), BMI and DEE (r = 0.27), DEE and energy (r = 0.38), and energy and lipid intake (r = 0.50). These findings seems to indicate the importance of ensuring an adequate balance of nutrients at meals, due to the heterogeneity of workers, in particular in the case of those workers who perform tasks or functions requiring less energy expenditure.

Ergonomic analysis in a food packaging workplace

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) became one of the biggest health problems in the workplace and one of the main concerns of ergonomics and despite all the technical improvements manual handling is still an important risk factor for WMSD. The current study was performed with the main objective of conducting an ergonomic analysis in a workplace that consists in packaging products in a pallet, in a food distribution industry, also called picking. In this perspective, the aim of the study is to identify if the tasks performed by operators present any risk of WMSD and, if so, to suggest proposals for minimizing the associated effort. The methodologies of ergonomic risk assessment that were initially applied were the Risk Reckoner and the Manual Handling Assessment Chart (MAC). Subsequently, in order to, on the one hand, complement the analysis performed using the two methods previously mentioned, and, on the other hand, allow an assessment of two important risk factors associated with this activity (work postures and loads handling), two additional methodologies were also selected: the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation and the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). In all the performed approaches, the tasks of palletizing at lower levels were identified as the ones that most penalize workers in what regards the risk of development of WMSD. All methodologies identified levels of risk that require an immediate or short-term ergonomic intervention, aiming at ensuring the safety and health of workers performing such activity. The implementation of measures designed to eliminate or minimize the risk may involve the allocation of significant human and material resources that is increasingly necessary to manage efficiently. Taking into account the complexity and variability of the developed tasks, it is recommended that such a decision can be preceded by a new study using more accurate risk assessment methodologies, such as those that use monitoring tools.

Reverse engineering of web applications

The MAP-i Doctoral Program of the Universities of Minho, Aveiro and Porto

Web evaluator for students: a case example

Getting the attention of students has always been a hard task for most teachers. In this context the use of new technologies can be taken into consideration for giving the teacher new means to incentive his students. The tool described in this article gives importance to the opinion of the students for their own evaluation. Thanks to it a group of students from the University of Minho was able to post questions to their colleagues and to evaluate their peer’s works on the discipline of Power Electronics Complement.

Use of a polyphasic approach including MALDI-TOF MS for identification of Aspergillus section Flavi strains isolated from food commodities in Brazil

Brazil is one the largest producers and exporters of food commodities in the world. The evaluation of fungi capable of spoilage and the production mycotoxins in these commodities is an important issue that can be of help in bioeconomic development. The present work aimed to identify fungi of the genus Aspergillus section Flavi isolated from different food commodities in Brazil. Thirty-five fungal isolates belonging to the section Flavi were identified and characterised. Different classic phenotypic and genotypic methodologies were used, as well as a novel approach based on proteomic profiles produced by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Type or reference strains for each taxonomic group were included in this study. Three isolates that presented discordant identification patterns were further analysed using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and calmodulin gene sequences. The data obtained from the phenotypic and spectral analyses divide the isolates into three groups, corresponding to taxa closely related to Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, and Aspergillus tamarii. Final polyphasic fungal identification was achieved by joining data from molecular analyses, classical morphology, and biochemical and proteomic profiles generated by MALDI-TOF MS.

Editorial overview: food mycology

[Excerpt] Food mycology has expanded beyond recognition over the past 10 years. The field of study is now considered in its own right rather than an offshoot of food microbiology. I am discussing here the subject in terms of biodeterioration rather than the use of fungi to produce food. Also, the special issue (SI) considers filamentous fungi (ff) but not yeasts, although these are very important. (...)

Produção científica da Universidade do Minho indexada na Web of Science e Scopus 2009-2013

Este relatório segue a metodologia utilizada no estudo da produção científica da Universidade do Minho do quinquénio 2008-2012. No estudo da produção de 2009-2013, para além da análise dos dados indexados na Web of Science, optou-se por acrescentar a análise dos dados indexados na Scopus, procedendo-se à comparação dos resultados entre ambas as bases de dados sempre que adequado e possível.

A review of mycotoxins in food and feed products in Portugal and estimation of probable daily intakes

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi that occur naturally in agricultural commodities worldwide. Aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin, fumonisins, zearalenone, trichothecenes and ergot alkaloids are presently the most important for food and feed safety. These compounds are produced by several species that belong to the Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Claviceps genera and can be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, neurotoxic, nephrotoxic, estrogenic and immunosuppressant. Human and animal exposure to mycotoxins is generally assessed by taking into account data on the occurrence of mycotoxins in food and feed as well as data on the consumption patterns of the concerned population. This evaluation is crucial to support measures to reduce consumer exposure to mycotoxins. This work reviews the occurrence and levels of mycotoxins in Portuguese food and feed to provide a global overview of this issue in Portugal. With the information collected, the exposure of the Portuguese population to those mycotoxins is assessed, and the estimated dietary intakes are presented.

Postcolonial co-ordinary literature and the Web 2.0/3.0: "Thinking Back" within transmediatic knowledge

Pedro Andrade destaca o papel que as literacias híbridas preenchem numa redefinição pós-colonial da Europa. Em sua opinião, as literacias híbridas constituem uma condição necessária para a desconstrução do discurso colonial e a posterior reconstrução de literacias e literaturas pós-coloniais. Como parte deste processo, o autor argumenta a necessidade de vários tipos de competências que enfatizem a leitura e escrita não apenas dentro de sua própria cultura, mas também nas culturas dos outros. A literacia digital desempenha um papel particularmente importante neste processo, o que nos permite enfatizar as multivocalidades desta alteridade, igualmente na interação entre diferentes tradições de literacia: Ocidental e Oriental, nacional e transnacional, verbal e mediática. Andrade exemplifica o conceito de literatura transmediática com uma série de projetos em que esteve envolvido, por exemplo a Web 3.0 Novel enquanto modalidade daquilo que ele nomeia "GeoNeoLogic Novel". Este género de novel experimental mistura a narrativa com a teoria e a recolha de dados no campo empírico, promovendo uma abordagem que se apresenta simultaneamente regional e global. Em suma, o autor sugere diversos conceitos em primeira mão que classifica de ‘origem Lusófona’, e que representam diversas estratégias pós-coloniais globais também visíveis na área social, política e cultural da Lusofonia: o ‘pensamento-réplica’ (thinking back); o 'conhecimento transmediático' (transmediatic knowledge); a ‘sociedade da escrita comum’ (common writing society); as ‘redes comuns de conflito/significado’ (common webs of conflict and meaning); a literatura co-ordinária (co-ordinary literature).

Getting Listeners Involved: Rádio Ás, a Community Web Project

[Excerpt] The idea of community is usually associated with radio today in the context of what Bart Cammaerts (2009,635) classifies as a "third type of broadcast, namely participatory radio, complementary to both commercial and public media". Following Ellie Rennie (2006, 3), community radio corresponds, as all other forms of community media, to non-profit media that provide "community members with an opportunity to participate in the production process". For the International Association for Media and Communication Research, which supports a research group on Community Communication, this area includes media that originate from, circulate and resonate with the sphere of civil society.

Nomadismo perceptivo na web

[Excerto] Desenvolvendo alguns dos pressupostos de McLuhan (1994), criou-se, não há muito tempo, uma disciplina a que se deu o nome de Mediologia (Debray, 2000). Nessa perspectiva, os media são as maneiras pelas quais sabemos, pelas quais pensamos, pelas quais criamos ummundo, namedida em que pensamos e vivemos cada vez mais com os media. É a implicação entre comunicação e complexidade que tece esta infra-estruturamediática: a comunicação está permanentemente a gerar comunicação. O trabalho sobre a comunicação, quer nos seus aspectos imediatamente tecnológicos (como as tecnologias do ecrã), quer nos domínios sociais e íntimos que a comunicação atinge, vem complexificar ainda mais as sociedades — vem exigir ainda mais comunicação.

An interactive web-based tool for breast reduction surgery simulation

In this work, we present a 3D web-based interactive tool for numerical modeling and simulation approach to breast reduction surgery simulation, to assist surgeons in planning all aspects related to breast reduction surgery before the actual procedure takes place, thereby avoiding unnecessary risks. In particular, it allows the modeling of the initial breast geometry, the definition of all aspects related to the surgery and the visualization of the post-surgery breast shape in a realistic environment.

Automatic eye blink detection using consumer web cameras

This research aims to advance blinking detection in the context of work activity. Rather than patients having to attend a clinic, blinking videos can be acquired in a work environment, and further automatically analyzed. Therefore, this paper presents a methodology to perform the automatic detection of eye blink using consumer videos acquired with low-cost web cameras. This methodology includes the detection of the face and eyes of the recorded person, and then it analyzes the low-level features of the eye region to create a quantitative vector. Finally, this vector is classified into one of the two categories considered —open and closed eyes— by using machine learning algorithms. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology was demonstrated since it provides unbiased results with classification errors under 5%