Impact of excipients in the chronic toxicity of fluoxetine on the alga Chlorella vulgaris

Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) widely used in the treatment of major depression. It has been detected in surface and wastewaters, being able to negatively affect aquatic organisms. Most of the ecotoxicity studies focused only in pharmaceuticals, though excipients can also pose a risk to non-target organisms. In this work the ecotoxicity of five medicines (three generic formulations and two brand labels) containing the same active substance (fluoxetine hydrochloride) was tested on the alga Chlorella vulgaris, in order to evaluate if excipients can influence their ecotoxicity. Effective concentrations that cause 50% of inhibition (EC50) ranging from 0.25 to 15 mg L−1 were obtained in the growth inhibition test performed for the different medicines. The corresponding values for fluoxetine concentration are 10 times lower. Higher EC50 values had been published for the same alga considering only the toxicity of fluoxetine. Therefore, this increase in toxicity may be attributed to the presence of excipients. Thus more studies on ecotoxicological effects of excipients are required in order to assess the environmental risk they may pose to aquatic organisms.

An economical model for dumping by dumping in a Cournot model

We consider an international trade economical model where two firms of different countries compete in quantities and can use three different strategies: (i) repeated collusion, (ii) deviation from the foreigner firm followed by punishment by the home country and then followed by repeated Cournot, or (iii) repeated deviation followed by punishment. In some cases (ii) and (iii) can be interpreted as dumping.We compute the profits of both firms for each strategy and we characterize the economical parameters where each strategy is adopted by the firms.

Intervalos melódicos: diferentes estratégias de aprendizagem

O presente documento foi realizado no âmbito do Mestrado em Ensino de Música, ramo Formação Musical, na Escola Superior de Educação e Escola Superior de Música Artes e Espectáculos do Instituto Politécnico do Porto. O objectivo central deste documento visa, num primeiro capítulo, contextualizar o meio, a escola e a turma. No segundo capítulo deste documento constará a reflexão da Prática Pedagógica em Formação Musical, no Conservatório de Música de Paredes. No terceiro capítulo será apresentado o Projecto de Investigação em estudo – Intervalos melódicos: diferentes estratégias de aprendizagem. Esta investigação surge no sentido de tentar perceber quais as estratégias que surtem efeitos mais positivos para a aprendizagem de intervalos melódicos. As estratégias adoptadas foram três, são elas: aprendizagem por canções; aprendizagem por grau conjunto; aprendizagem por canções e grau conjunto. Foram seleccionados 18 indivíduos com idades compreendidas entre os 8 e os 12 anos de idade, de ambos os sexos. Todos eles têm em comum o facto de frequentarem o 1º grau de Formação Musical. A metodologia utilizada foi o estudo de caso, com abordagem quantitativa. Para testar as diferentes estratégias de aprendizagem foi realizado um teste após um período de oito semanas (8 aulas). Será feita uma revisão bibliográfica, onde serão abordadas algumas perspectivas de diferentes autores, para que possamos compreender melhor o tema desta investigação. As conclusões deste estudo revelam que a aprendizagem de intervalos melódicos utilizando a complementaridade das estratégias por canções e por grau conjunto são mais positivas, ainda que os resultados não sejam muito evidentes.

Comparing the schedulers and power saving strategies with SPARTS

We have developed SPARTS, a simulator of a generic embedded real-time device. It is designed to be extensible to accommodate different task properties, scheduling algorithms and/or hardware models for the wide variety of applications. SPARTS was developed to help the community investigate the behaviour of the real-time embedded systems and to quantify the associated constraints/overheads.

Energy resources management in three distinct time horizons considering a large variation in wind power

The intensive use of distributed generation based on renewable resources increases the complexity of power systems management, particularly the short-term scheduling. Demand response, storage units and electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles also pose new challenges to the short-term scheduling. However, these distributed energy resources can contribute significantly to turn the shortterm scheduling more efficient and effective improving the power system reliability. This paper proposes a short-term scheduling methodology based on two distinct time horizons: hour-ahead scheduling, and real-time scheduling considering the point of view of one aggregator agent. In each scheduling process, it is necessary to update the generation and consumption operation, and the storage and electric vehicles status. Besides the new operation condition, more accurate forecast values of wind generation and consumption are available, for the resulting of short-term and very short-term methods. In this paper, the aggregator has the main goal of maximizing his profits while, fulfilling the established contracts with the aggregated and external players.

Digital marketing strategies

Internship Report presented to Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto for the Master’s degree in Marketing Digital under the guidance of Dr. José Magalhães Author Note This internship was carried out under the Erasmus Program for college students and under the agreement between the sending institution, Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto and the host company, eRise, located in Budapest, Hungary, under the guidance of Vilmos Schwarz.

Strategies to assess web resources credibility: results of a case study in primary and secondary schools from Portugal

In this paper, three approaches for the assessment of credibility in a web environment will be presented, namely the checklists model, the cognitive authority model and the contextual model. This theoretical framework was used to conduct a study about the assessment of web resources credibility among a sample of 195 students, from elementary and secondary schools in a municipality in Oporto district (Portugal). The practices that young people and children claim to use regarding the use of criteria for web resources selection will be presented. In addition, these results will be discussed and compared with the perceptions that these respondents have demonstrated for the use of criteria to establish or assess authorship, originality, or information resources structure. These results will be also discussed and compared with the perceptions that these respondents have demonstrated for the elements that make up each of these criteria.

Countries three Wise Men: Sustainability, Innovation, and Competitiveness

Purpose: The studies on links between sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness have been mainly focused at organizational and business level. The purpose of this research is to investigate if there is a correlation between these three variables at country level. Using international well recognized rankings of countries sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness, correlation analysis was performed allowing for the conclusion that there are indeed high correlations (and possible relationships) between the three variables at country level. Design/methodology/approach: Sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness literature were reviewed identifying a lack of studies examining these three variables at country level. Three major well recognized indexes were used to support the quantitative research: The World Economic Forum (2013) Sustainability-adjusted global competitiveness index, the Global Innovation Index (2014) issued by Cornell University, INSEAD, and WIPO and the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (2014). After confirming the distributions normality, Pearson correlation analysis was made with results showing high linear correlations between the three indexes. Findings: The results of the correlation analysis using Pearson correlation coefficient (all correlation coefficients are greater than 0.73) give a strong support to the conclusion that there is indeed a high correlation (and a possible relationship) between social sustainability, innovation and competitiveness at country level. Research limitations/implications: Further research is advisable to better understand the factors that contribute to the presented results and to establish a global paradigm linking these three main constructs (social sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness). Some authors consider that these measurements are not fully supported (e.g. due to different countries standards), however, it is assumed these differing underlying methodological approaches, by being used in conjunction, can be considered as a set of reliable and useful performance indicators. Practical implications: The results highlight the simultaneous relationship between social sustainability, innovation and competitiveness superior performance and the need to take that these considerations into business and operating models. Social implications: This research suggests that sustainability and innovation policies, strategies and practices are relevant for countries competitiveness and should be promoted particularly in countries ranked low on sustainability and innovation global scoring indexes. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies addressing the relationships between sustainability, innovation and competitiveness at country level.

Experimental study on the impact of using a fan coil in the evaluation of contaminant removal effectiveness of common air diffusion strategies

Indoor Air 2016 - The 14th International Conference Indoor Air Quality and Climate