A definition of literary literacy: a content analysis of literature syllabuses and interviews with Portuguese lecturers of literature

The aim of this paper is to present a definition of literary literacy in the context of majors in languages, literatures and cultures, in Portugal. A definition of literary literacy was deduced from a content analysis of primary data sources and from the theoretical underpinnings of the transactional theory of reading. The primary data sources are fourteen Portuguese and English literature syllabuses from four Portuguese universities (Lisboa, Nova, Coimbra and Porto) and twelve interviews with Portuguese university lecturers of literature. Based on the findings of a content analysis of both syllabuses and interviews, from the lecturers‘ point of view, a literary literate student doing a major in languages, literatures and cultures must, above all, be able to contextualize literary texts and their authors both historically and culturally, must be able to present an interpretation as a coherent text, and must be able to do and organize bibliographical research.

NAA and STS effects on bract survival time, carbohydrate content, respiration rate and carbohydrate balance of potted Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd

The aims of this work were to deepen the knowledge on the physiology of bract abscission in Bougainvillea spectabilis ‘Killie Campbell’ plants, in what relates to respiration and carbon balance. Using the effects induced by Silver Thiosulphate (STS) and/or Naphtalene Acetic Acid (NAA, at high concentration: 500 mg.l-1) on bract abscission under interior conditions, the relationship between bract survival time (longevity) and, respiration rate or carbohydrate levels, was investigated. Treatments that included NAA were the ones that reduced significantly bract abscission. Unexpectedly, the higher the levels of bract soluble and total carbohydrates, measured at day 10 postproduction (PP), the higher the abscission of bracts. These results show, for the first time, that abscission can positively correlate with non structural carbohydrates levels in the organ that abscise. Bract respiration rate was significantly affected by treatment and postproduction day (PP). Treatments that had higher bract respiration rates (WATER and STS) also had higher levels of non structural carbohydrates in the bracts. Bract respiration rate decreased from day 10 to day 17 PP by approximately 50% (on average of all treatments) and was negatively correlated with bract survival time. In the carbon balance per gram of bract dry weight, the treatments WATER and STS, showed the largest decrease in the content of total carbohydrates and had the highest consumption of carbohydrates through respiration. So, these were the bracts that needed to import a higher amount of carbohydrates per gram of bract dry weight. In the carbon balance for the whole mass of bracts and adjacent stems in an average plant, the treatments WATER and STS continued to allow for the largest decreases in total carbohydrate during postproduction. However, and contradicting the results per gram of bract dry weight, the highest total consumption of carbohydrates by respiration was obtained for the NAA and STS+NAA treatments. It makes sense that bracts that last longer have lower individual carbon consumption while, at the plant level, the increased number of remaining bracts causes a higher overall expenditure. Respiration rate has been used as an indicator of flower longevity, this correlation is here extended for the flower+bract system. Plants that had higher bract respiration rates, most probably, had a higher flow of carbohydrates through the bracts (and flowers), which, in the end, was sensed as a higher carbohydrate level.

Antioxidant properties and phenol content of Portulaca oleracea L. leaf, stems and flowers infusions: health benefits

Dissertação de mest., Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Univ. do Algarve, 2011

Antioxidant activities of eight Algerian plant extracts and two essential oils

Total phenol, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavone/flavonol and flavanones/dihydroflavonol contents of hydro-alcoholic extracts, obtained by sonication, from the aerial parts of Artemisia campestris L., Anthemis arvensis L., Haloxylon scoparium Pomel, Juniperus phoenicea L., Arbutus unedo L., Cytisus monspessulanus L., Thymus algeriensis Boiss et Reut, Zizyphus lotus L (Desf.) collected in Djebel Amour (Sahara Atlas, Algeria) were quantified by spectrophotometric methods. The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from Artemisia campestris L. and Juniperus phoenicea I aerial parts were also evaluated by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antioxidant activity of the extracts and essential oils was assessed measuring the capacity for preventing lipid peroxidation using two lipidic substrates (egg yolk and liposomes), the capacity for scavenging DPPH, ABTS, superoxide anion radicals, hydroxyl radicals and peroxyl radicals. Anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by measuring the capacity for inhibiting lipoxygenase. Reducing power and chelating capacity were also assayed. The results showed different amounts of total phenols depending on the method used: A. campestris extract had the highest levels of total phenols when the measurement was made at lambda = 280 nm, whereas H. scoparium and A. unedo extracts showed the highest levels of total phenols with Folin-Ciocalteau. C. monspessulanus had the highest levels of flavones/flavonols and flavanones/dihydroflavonols. The essential oils of A. campestris and J. phoenicea were mainly constituted by alpha-pinene, beta-pinene and sabinene; and a-pinene, respectively. The methods used for assaying the capacity for preventing lipid peroxidation revealed to be inadequate for extracts due to the great interferences detected. The essential oils were more active than the generality of extracts for scavenging peroxyl radicals and for inhibiting lipoxygenase, whereas A. unedo extract was the most active for scavenging ABTS, DPPH, superoxide anion radicals and it also had the best reducing capacity. In a general way, the great majority of the antioxidant activities correlated well with the phenol content although such correlation was not so clear with the flavonoid content. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficient content pushing in IEEE 802.11p vehicular environments

Vehicular networking is a new field that is expected to be widely adopted in the near future. One of the key applications inherent to this novel communications paradigm is content delivery to on-board users. In this paper we focus specifically on broadcast-based content delivery. We propose a content delivery scheme that is optimized for performance in order to improve the maximum amount of data than can be delivered, while also reducing delivery time to a minimum. With this goal our study combines both analytical and simulation results to determine the optimal packet size for content delivery so as to achieve the maximum throughput possible at different distances, and considering both static and mobile receivers. Experimental results show that our optimizations provide efficient delivery of multimedia contents for distances up to 200 meters when relying on IEEE 802.lip based broadcasting. Copyright © 2010 ACM.