Patente farmacêutica: especificidades e tutela

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito dos Contratos e da Empresa

Bone turnover markers for early detection of fracture healing disturbances: A review of the scientific literature

Imaging techniques are the standard method for assessment of fracture healing processes. However, these methods are perhaps not entirely reliable for early detection of complications, the most frequent of these being delayed union and non-union. A prompt diagnosis of such disorders could prevent prolonged patient distress and disability. Efforts should be directed towards the development of new technologies for improving accuracy in diagnosing complications following bone fractures. The variation in the levels of bone turnover markers (BTMs) have been assessed with regard to there ability to predict impaired fracture healing at an early stage, nevertheless the conclusions of some studies are not consensual. In this article the authors have revised the potential of BTMs as early predictors of prognosis in adult patients presenting traumatic bone fractures but who did not suffer from osteopenia or postmenopausal osteoporosis. The available information from the different studies performed in this field was systematized in order to highlight the most promising BTMs for the assessment of fracture healing outcome.

Occupational Ergonomics and Safety, Part 1

[Excerpt] It seems that significant progress has been made in last years in what concerns the scientific knowledge about work and its impact on workers’ wellbeing and health, which includes but it is not limited to occupational ergonomics and safety. Even considering that this domain is very transversal and comprehensive, as it may include researchers from multidisciplinary teams, research in this domain has clearly increased and we have now a larger number of scientific events, a higher number of researchers publishing their works, and a high emergence rate of research groups at universities and other research institutions, which was also followed by an increasing concern about these issues by governments and other regulators. Even though it is strikingly difficult to demonstrate it in an unequivocal way, this appears to have had a clear effect on companies and on their ability to implement plans and measures to prevent and control occupational risk factors. But despite these advances, occupational risk prevention is still a domain for which solutions are neither complete nor permanent, since the evolution of work systems gives rise to new challenges.

The domestic architecture of Bracara Augusta and its evolution

The excavations carried out under the rescue “Project of Bracara Augusta” have generated significant amounts of data that enabled the reconstruction of Bracara Augusta urban evolution and the characterization of its buildings and blocks. This paper aims to enhance the existing data related with the domestic architecture of the roman town, which was mainly represented by the houses of domus type.

HEP-Frame: A software engineered framework to aid the development and efficient multicore execution of scientific code

This work was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) within Project Scope (UID/CEC/00319/2013), by LIP (Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas) and by Project Search-ON2 (NORTE-07-0162- FEDER-000086), co-funded by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework, through the European Regional Development Fund.

Evolution of the surface plasmon resonance of Au:TiO2 nanocomposite thin films with annealing temperature

This paper reports on the changes in the structural and morphological features occurring in a particular type of nanocomposite thin-film system, composed of Au nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in a host TiO2 dielectric matrix. The structural and morphological changes, promoted by in-vacuum annealing experiments of the as-deposited thin films at different temperatures (ranging from 200 to 800 C), resulted in a well-known localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon, which gave rise to a set of different optical responses that can be tailored for a wide number of applications, including those for optical-based sensors. The results show that the annealing experiments enabled a gradual increase of the mean grain size of the Au NPs (from 2 to 23 nm), and changes in their distributions and separations within the dielectric matrix. For higher annealing temperatures of the as-deposited films, a broad size distribution of Au NPs was found (sizes up to 100 nm). The structural conditions necessary to produce LSPR activity were found to occur for annealing experiments above 300 C, which corresponded to the crystallization of the gold NPs, with an average size strongly dependent on the annealing temperature itself. The main factor for the promotion of LSPR was the growth of gold NPs and their redistribution throughout the host matrix. On the other hand, the host matrix started to crystallize at an annealing temperature of about 500 C, which is an important parameter to explain the shift of the LSPR peak position to longer wavelengths, i.e. a red-shift.

Instrumentos de políticas públicas do turismo: uma análise empírica dos municípios portugueses

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Administração

Variation of the physicochemical and morphological characteristics of solvent casted poly(vinylidene fluoride) along its binary phase diagram with dimethylformamide

Poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, films and membranes were prepared by solvent casting from dimethylformamide, DMF, by systematically varying polymer/solvent ratio and solvent evaporation temperature. The effect of the processing conditions on the morphology, degree of porosity, mechanical and thermal properties and crystalline phase of the polymer were evaluated. The obtained microstructure is explained by the Flory-Huggins theory. For the binary system, the porous membrane formation is attributed to a spinodal decomposition of the liquid-liquid phase separation. The morphological features were simulated through the correlation between the Gibbs total free energy and the Flory-Huggins theory. This correlation allowed the calculation of the PVDF/DMF phase diagram and the evolution of the microstructure in different regions of the phase diagram. Varying preparation conditions allow tailoring polymer 2 microstructure while maintaining a high degree of crystallinity and a large β crystalline phase content. Further, the membranes show adequate mechanical properties for applications in filtration or battery separator membranes.

Portuguese publication in the aim of regional science: a study of articles published in RPER from 2003 to 2015

This paper is a study of the full content of articles published by RPER, the Portuguese Review of Regional Studies, from the time it was launched in 2003 until the first quarter of 2015. RPER is a journal edited by the Portuguese section of the European Regional Science Association, which was established in the first half of the 1980s. The Association (APDR) and the journal are the result of contributions by researchers and technicians from different scientific fields, including mainly Economics, Geography, Sociology, Engineering and Architecture. The main focus of these contributions is the socio-economic life of concrete sites, and the way this life is conditioned by resources and capabilities, the historical and cultural heritage and institutions. Content analysis was undertaken to identify the main subjects chosen during the total period under analysis, the nature of the articles published (theoretical or empirical) and the main analytical framework used. The analysis also covers sub-periods to investigate major trends found in terms of subjects chosen and analytical methods, questioning the rationale behind them. The paper concludes with a few notes regarding the social echo the research received and an identification of the main limitations of the research. In the first part of the article, we conduct a summary review of the genesis and evolution of Regional Science at international level to serve as a basis for the empirical approach developed.

Arquitecturas imaginárias. Espaço real e ilusório no Barroco português

Tese de Doutoramento em Arquitectura / Cultura Arquitectónica.

3D representation of the urban evolution of Braga using the cityengine tool

The morphological evolution of the city of Braga has been the subject of several studies focusing on different urban areas in different periods. Using the accumulated knowledge provided by the available archaeological, historical and iconographic data of Braga, from the Roman times to the nineteenth century, we intend to present a working methodology for 3D representation of urban areas and its evolution, using the CityEngine ESRI tool. Different types of graphic and cartographic data will be integrated in an archaeological information system for the characterization of urban buildings. Linking this information system to the rules of characterization of urban spaces through the CityEngine tool, we can create the 3D urban spaces and their changes. The building characterization rules include several parameters of architectural elements that can be dynamically changed according the latest information. This methodology will be applied to the best known areas within of the city allowing the creation of different and dynamic layouts. Considerations about the concepts, challenges and constraints of using the CityEngine tool for recording and representing urban evolution knowledge will be discussed.

Homogenization of scalar field cosmologies

We summarise recent results about the evolution of linear density perturbations in scalar field cosmologies with an exponential potential. We use covariant and gauge invariant perturbation variables and a dynamical systems' approach. We establish under what conditions do the perturbations decay to the future in agreement with the cosmic no-hair conjecture.

Poker learner: modelação de jogadores através de data mining

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de Informação

A protecção constitucional da família por via dos impostos: um estudo comparado entre o ordenamento jurídico Angolano e o ordenamento jurídico Português

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito Tributário e Fiscal

Microstructural evolution of Au/TiO2 nanocomposite films: The influence of Au concentration and thermal annealing

Nanocomposite thin films consisting of a dielectric matrix, such as titanium oxide (TiO2), with embedded gold (Au) nanoparticles were prepared and will be analysed and discussed in detail in the present work. The evolution of morphological and structural features was studied for a wide range of Au concentrations and for annealing treatments in air, for temperatures ranging from 200 to 800 °C. Major findings revealed that for low Au atomic concentrations (at.%), there are only traces of clustering, and just for relatively high annealing temperatures, T ≥ 500 °C. Furthermore, the number of Au nanoparticles is extremely low, even for the highest annealing temperature, T = 800 °C. It is noteworthy that the TiO2 matrix also crystallizes in the anatase phase for annealing temperatures above 300 °C. For intermediate Au contents (5 at.% ≤ CAu ≤ 15 at.%), the formation of gold nanoclusters was much more evident, beginning at lower annealing temperatures (T ≥ 200 °C) with sizes ranging from 2 to 25 nm as the temperature increased. A change in the matrix crystallization from anatase to rutile was also observed in this intermediate range of compositions. For the highest Au concentrations (> 20 at.%), the films tended to form relatively larger clusters, with sizes above 20 nm (for T ≥ 400 °C). It is demonstrated that the structural and morphological characteristics of the films are strongly affected by the annealing temperature, as well as by the particular amounts, size and distribution of the Au nanoparticles dispersed in the TiO2 matrix.