Influência de marés na distribuição vertical de larvas de peixes de recifes costeiros e escolha de substratos de assentamento no Parque Marinho Luíz Saldanha

Dissertação mest., Biologia Marinha, Universidade do Algarve, 2009

Padrões de crescimento em otólitos de larvas de Pomatoschistus pictus (Pisces, Gobiidae)

Dissertação mest., Biologia Marinha, Universidade do Algarve, 2006

Composition, temporal and spatial patterns of very-nearshore larval fish assemblages at the Arrábida marine park

Tese dout., Ciências do Mar, Universidade do Algarve, 2006

Ontogeny of behavioural abilities in temperate reef fish larvae

Tese de dout., Ciências do Mar, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2010

Padrões verticais e inter-anuais nas assembleias de larvas de peixe junto ao substrato rochoso do Parque Marinho da Arrábida

Dissertação de mest., Biologia Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univ. do Algarve, 2009

Trance psicadélico no Algarve: um estudo sobre as práticas culturais de um movimento marginal

Dissertação de mest., Comunicação, Cultura e Artes (Estudos Culturais), Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Univ. do Algarve, 2011

Implementação de um plano de medição e verificação de eficiência energética num edifício de serviços

O presente projeto, enquadra-se no projeto final do mestrado em energia e climatização de edifícios e tem por objetivo a implementação de um plano de medição e verificação relativamente a consumos energéticos de um pequeno edifício de serviços, através do enquadramento e concretização da legislação aplicável relativamente à certificação e eficiência energética em edifícios. Para o efeito, optou-se por selecionar uma creche do Centro de Ação Social, Cultura e Desporto dos Trabalhadores da Saúde e Segurança Social do Distrito de Faro (CASCD) existente na localidade de Falfosa, em Santa Bárbara de Nexe, Faro e que foi construída em duas fases distintas. Assim o projeto em causa terá como titulo: "Implementação de um plano de medição e verificação de eficiência energética num edifício de serviços."

Development of a Piggybac based direct reprogramming system for derivation of integration free induced pluripotent stem cells

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSc) have great potential for applications in regenerative medicine, disease modeling and basic research. Several methods have been developed for their derivation. The original method of Takahashi and Yamanaka involved the use of retroviral vectors which result in insertional mutagenesis, presence in the genome of potential oncogenes and effects of residual transgene expression on differentiation bias of each particular iPSc line. Other methods have been developed, using different viral vectors (adenovirus and Sendai virus), transient plasmid transfection, mRNA transduction, protein transduction and use of small molecules. However, these methods suffer from low efficiencies; can be extremely labor intensive, or both. An additional method makes use of the piggybac transposon, which has the advantage of inserting its payload into the host genome and being perfectly excised upon re-expression of the transposon transposase. Briefly, a policistronic cassette expressing Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and C-Myc flanked by piggybac terminal repeats is delivered to the cells along with a plasmid transiently expressing piggybac transposase. Once reprogramming occurs, the cells are re-transfected with transposase and subclones free of tranposon integrations screened for. The procedure is therefore very labor intensive, requiring multiple manipulations and successive rounds of cloning and screening. The original method for reprogramming with the the PiggyBac transposon was created by Woltjen et al in 2009 (schematized here) and describes a process with which it is possible to obtain insert-free iPSc. Insert-free iPSc enables the establishment of better cellular models of iPS and adds a new level of security to the use of these cells in regenerative medicine. Due to the fact that it was based on several low efficiency steps, the overall efficiency of the method is very low (<1%). Moreover, the stochastic transfection, integration, excision and the inexistence of an active way of selection leaves this method in need of extensive characterization and screening of the final clones. In this work we aime to develop a non-integrative iPSc derivation system in which integration and excision of the transgenes can be controlled by simple media manipulations, avoiding labor intensive and potentially mutagenic procedures. To reach our goal we developed a two vector system which is simultaneously delivered to original population of fibroblasts. The first vector, Remo I, carries the reprogramming cassette and GFP under the regulation of a constitutive promoter (CAG). The second vector, Eneas, carries the piggybac transposase associated with an estrogen receptor fragment (ERT2), regulated in a TET-OFF fashion, and its equivalent reverse trans-activator associated with a positive-negative selection cassette under a constitutive promoter. We tested its functionality in HEK 293T cells. The protocol is divided in two the following steps: 1) Obtaining acceptable transfection efficiency into human fibroblasts. 2) Testing the functionality of the construct 3) Determining the ideal concentration of DOX for repressing mPB-ERT2 expression 4) Determining the ideal concentration of TM for transposition into the genome 5) Determining the ideal Windows of no DOX/TM pulse for transposition into the genome 6) 3, 4 and 5) for transposition out of the genome 7) Determination of the ideal concentration of GCV for negative selection We successfully demonstrated that ENEAS behaved as expected in terms of DOX regulation of the expression of mPB-ERT2. We also demonstrated that by delivering the plasmid into 293T HEK cells and manipulating the levels of DOX and TM in the medium, we could obtain puromycin resistant lines. The number of puromycin resistant colonies obtained was significantly higher when DOX as absent, suggesting that the colonies resulted from transposition events. Presence of TM added an extra layer of regulation, albeit weaker. Our PCR analysis, while not a clean as would be desired, suggested that transposition was indeed occurring, although a background level of random integration could not be ruled out. Finally, our attempt to determine whether we could use GVC to select clones that had successfully mobilized PB out of the genome was unsuccessful. Unexpectedly, 293T HEK cells that had been transfected with ENEAS and selected for puromycin resistance were insensitive to GCV.

The effect of conservation measures on the spatial and temporal variation of rocky fish assemblages in the Arrábida Marine Park

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been widely proposed for conservation purposes and as a tool for fisheries management. The Arrábida Marine Park is the first MPA in continental Portugal having a management plan, fully implemented since 2009. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of protection measures on rocky reef fish assemblages and target invertebrates through before-after and control-effect (no-take vs. fished areas) underwater visual surveys and analysis of landings trends. Second, we used surveys before, during and after implementation of the management plan to understand fishers‟ preferences for fishing grounds and adaptation to the new rules, and evaluated the reserve effect through analysis of both ecological responses and fishing effort density. Third, we identified the main oceanographic drivers influencing the structure of reef fish assemblages and predicted the community structure for the last 50 years, in light of climatic change. Overall results suggest positive responses in biomass but not yet in numbers of some commercial species, with no effects on non-target species. The reserve effect is reinforced by the increase in landings of commercial species, despite increased fishing effort density in some areas, especially with octopus traps. Fishing grounds are mainly chosen based on the distribution of target species and associated habitats, but distance to port, weather conditions and safety also influence fishers‟ choices. Moreover, different fisheries respond differently to the protection measures, and within each fishery, individual fishers show distinct strategies, with some operating in a broader area whereas others keep preferred territories. Our results also show that wind stress and temperature are the main oceanographic drivers for rocky reef fish assemblages, with tropicalization of assemblages and polewards movements of species over the last 50 years consistent with temperature trends. We believe this study provides significant lessons for marine conservation and management of coastal systems.

A produção de culturas ao ar livre em modo de produção biológico, no Algarve: um diagnóstico do sector e contas de cultura

Dissertação de mestrado, Hortofruticultura, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014

Innovative edible films to improve storage ability of fresh-cut apple cv. Bravo de Esmolfe

Dissertação de mestrado, Hortofruticultura, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Redes de transmissão de dados em meios submarinos

Dissertação de Mestrado, Engenharia Eletrica e Eletrónica, Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Revisão das orientações terapêuticas da Hipertensão Arterial em ambulatório

Dissertação de mestrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014