Resistance to β-lactams in bacteria isolated from different types of Portuguese cheese

The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of beta-lactam-resistant bacteria in six different types of Portuguese cheese. The numbers of ampicillin resistant (AMP(r)) bacteria varied from 4.7 x 10(2) to 1.5 x 10(7) CFU/g. Within 172 randomly selected beta-lactam-resistant bacteria, 44 resistant phenotypes were found and 31.4% were multidrug resistant. The majority (85%) of the isolates identified belonged to the Enterobacteriaceae family. The presence of the bla(TEM) gene was detected in 80.9% of the tested isolates. The results suggest that without thermal processing of the milk and good hygienic practices, cheese may act as a vehicle of transfer of beta-lactam-resistant bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract of consumers.

Brewer's spent grain from different types of malt: Evaluation of the antioxidant activity and identification of the major phenolic compounds

The antioxidant activity and phenolic composition of brewer's spent grain (BSG) extracts obtained by microwave-assisted extraction from twomalt types (light and darkmalts) were investigated. The total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity among the light BSG extracts (pilsen, melano, melano 80 and carared)were significantly different (p b 0.05) compared to dark extracts (chocolate and black types), with the pilsen BSG showing higher TPC (20 ± 1 mgGAE/g dry BSG). In addition, the antioxidant activity assessed by 2,2-diphenyl- 1-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and deoxyribose assays decreased as a result of increasing kilning temperatures in the following order: pilsen N melano N melano 80 N carared N chocolate N black. HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS/MS analysis indicated the presence of phenolic acids, such as ferulic, p-coumaric and syringic acids, as well as several isomeric ferulate dehydrodimers and one dehydrotrimer. Chocolate and black extracts, obtained frommalts submitted to the highest kilning temperatures, showed the lowest levels of ferulic and p-coumaric acids. These results suggested that BSG extracts from pilsen malt might be used as an inexpensive and good natural source of antioxidants with potential interest for the food, pharmaceutical and/or cosmetic industries after purification.

Response surface methodology applied to SPE for the determination of ibuprofen in various types of water samples

Over the last few years, there has been a growing concern about the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment. The main objective of this study was to develop and validate an SPE method using surface response methodology for the determination of ibuprofen in different types of water samples. The influence of sample pH and sample volume on the ibuprofen recovery was studied. The effect of each studied independent variable is pronounced on the dependent variable (ibuprofen recovery). Good selectivity, extraction efficiency, and precision were achieved using 600 mL of sample volume with the pH adjusted to 2.2. LC with fluorescence detection was employed. The optimized method was applied to 20 water samples from the North and South of Portugal.

Assigning real-time tasks on heterogeneous multiprocessors with two unrelated types of processors

A preliminary version of this paper appeared in Proceedings of the 31st IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, 2010, pp. 239–248.

Assigning real-time tasks on heterogeneous multiprocessors with two types of processors

Consider the problem of scheduling a set of implicitdeadline sporadic tasks on a heterogeneous multiprocessor so as to meet all deadlines. Tasks cannot migrate and the platform is restricted in that each processor is either of type-1 or type-2 (with each task characterized by a different speed of execution upon each type of processor). We present an algorithm for this problem with a timecomplexity of O(n·m), where n is the number of tasks and m is the number of processors. It offers the guarantee that if a task set can be scheduled by any non-migrative algorithm to meet deadlines then our algorithm meets deadlines as well if given processors twice as fast. Although this result is proven for only a restricted heterogeneous multiprocessor, we consider it significant for being the first realtime scheduling algorithm to use a low-complexity binpacking approach to schedule tasks on a heterogeneous multiprocessor with provably good performance.

Comparison Among Aerobic Exercise and Other Types of Interventions to Treat Depression: A Systematic Review

Depression is a common and disabling disease that affects over 100 million people worldwide and can have a significant impact on physical and mental health, reducing their quality of life. Thus, the aim of this article was to provide information on research results and key chains related to the therapeutic effects of chronic aerobic exercise compared with other types of interventions to treat depression, which may become a useful clinical application in a near future. Researches have shown the effectiveness of alternative treatments, such as physical exercise, minimizing high financial costs and minimizing side effects. In this review, the data analyzed allows us to claim that alternative therapies, such as exercise, are effective on controlling and reducing symptoms. 69.3% of the studies that investigated the antidepressant effects of exercise on depressive were significant, and the other 30.7% of the studies improved only in general physiological aspects, such as increased oxygen uptake, increased use of blood glucose and decreased body fat percentage, with no improvement on symptoms of depression. From the sample analyzed, 71.4% was composed of women, and regarding the severity of symptoms, 85% had mild to moderate depression and only 15% had moderate to severe depression. However, there is still disagreement regarding the effect of exercise compared to the use of antidepressants in symptomatology and cognitive function in depression, this suggests that there is no consensus on the correct intensity of aerobic exercise as to achieve the best dose-response, with intensities high to moderate or moderate to mild.

Some translation difficulties in the use of false friends in english

This paper will focus on some aspects of translation based on blending distinct linguistic domains such as English Language and Portuguese in using false friends in the English class in tertiary level students, reflecting namely on: 1. the choice of a word suitable to the context in L2 ; 2. the difficulties encountered by choice of that word that could be misleading, by relying in a false L1 reality that is going to adulterate reality in the L2 domain; 3. the difficulty in making such type of distinctions due to the lack of linguistic and lexical knowledge. 4. the need to study the cause of these difficulties by working, not only with their peers, but also with their language teacher to develop strategies to diminish and if possible to eradicate this type of linguistic and, above all, translation problem by making an inventory of those types of mistakes. In relation to the first point it is necessary to know that translation tasks involve much more than literal concepts ( Ladmiral, 1975) : furthermore it is necessary and suitable to realise that lexicon relies in significant contexts (Coseriu 1966), which connects both domains, that, at first sight do not seem to be compatible. In other words, although students have the impression they dominate lexicon due to the fact that they possess at least seven years of foreign language exposure that doesn’t mean they master the particularities engaged in such a delicate task as translation is concerned. There are some chromaticisms in the words (false friends), that need to be researched and analysed later on by both students and language teachers. The reason for such state of affairs lies in their academic formation, of a mainly general stream, which has enabled them only for knowledge of the foreign language, but not for the translation as a tool as it is required only when they reach the tertiary level. Besides, for their translations they rely, most of the times, on glossaries, whose dominant language is portuguese of Brazil, which is, obviously, much different from the portuguese mother tongue reality and even more of English. So it seems necessary to use with caution the working tools (glossaries) that work as surpluses, but could bring translation problems as we will see.

Intelligent management of end consumers loads including electric vehicles through a SCADA system

The large penetration of intermittent resources, such as solar and wind generation, involves the use of storage systems in order to improve power system operation. Electric Vehicles (EVs) with gridable capability (V2G) can operate as a means for storing energy. This paper proposes an algorithm to be included in a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system, which performs an intelligent management of three types of consumers: domestic, commercial and industrial, that includes the joint management of loads and the charge/discharge of EVs batteries. The proposed methodology has been implemented in a SCADA system developed by the authors of this paper – the SCADA House Intelligent Management (SHIM). Any event in the system, such as a Demand Response (DR) event, triggers the use of an optimization algorithm that performs the optimal energy resources scheduling (including loads and EVs), taking into account the priorities of each load defined by the installation users. A case study considering a specific consumer with several loads and EVs is presented in this paper.

Market impact of international sporting and cultural events

We study market reaction to the announcements of the selected country hosting the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, the World Football Cup, the European Football Cup and World and Specialized Exhibitions. We generalize previous results analyzing a large number and different types of mega-events, evaluate the effects for winning and losing countries, investigate the determinants of the observed market reaction and control for the ex ante probability of a country being a successful bidder. Average abnormal returns measured at the announcement date and around the event are not significantly different from zero. Further, we find no evidence supporting that industries, that a priori were more likely to extract direct benefits from the event, observe positive significant effects. Yet, when we control for anticipation, the stock price reactions around the announcements are significant.

In vitro transference and molecular characterization of bla TEM genes in bacteria isolated from Portuguese ready-to-eat foods

The principal aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of transference to Escherichia coli of β-lactam resistance genes found in bacteria isolated from ready-to-eat (RTE) Portuguese traditional food. From previous screenings, 128 β-lactam resistant isolates (from different types of cheese and of delicatessen meats), largely from the Enterobacteriaceae family were selected and 31.3% of them proved to transfer resistance determinants in transconjugation assays. Multiplex PCR in donor and transconjugant isolates did not detect bla CTX, bla SHV and bla OXY, but bla TEM was present in 85% of them, while two new TEMs (TEM-179 and TEM-180) were identified in two isolates. The sequencing of these amplicons showed identity between donor and transconjugant genes indicating in vitro plasmid DNA transfer. These results suggest that if there is an exchange of genes in natural conditions, the consumption of RTE foods, particularly with high levels of Enterobacteriaceae, can contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Motivations and management factors of volunteer work in nonprofit organisations: a literature review

The objective of this paper is to review and discuss the literature about volunteers’ motivations to donate their time to NPOs and the management factors that can influence volunteer work. Firstly, the paper illustrates and compares the different types of motivation followed by a presentation of a typology that organises the volunteers’ motivations into four types: (i) altruism, (ii) belonging, (iii) ego and social recognition and (iv) development and learning. Secondly we discuss the key management factors in volunteering: recruitment, training and rewarding. Finally, we present four gaps in the literature that justify the scope for further research: (i) omission of differences between motivations related to volunteers’ "Attraction" versus "Retention"; (ii) focus of the research on the USA, UK and Australia context; (iii) absence of comparative analyses that relate motivations by NPO types and (iv) comprehension of how management factors (recruitment, training and rewarding) influence volunteers’ satisfaction and retention.

Influence of environmental temperature and humidity on the acute ventilatory response to exercise in asthmatic adolescents

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the respiratory airways affecting people of all ages, and constitutes a serious public health problem worldwide (6). Such a chronic inflammation is invariably associated with injury and repair of the bronchial epithelium known as remodelling (11). Inflammation, remodelling, and altered neural control of the airways are responsible for both recurrent exacerbations of asthma and increasingly permanent airflow obstruction (11, 29, 34). Excessive airway narrowing is caused by altered smooth muscle behaviour, in close interaction with swelling of the airway walls, parenchyma retractile forces, and enhanced intraluminal secretions (29, 38). All these functional and structural changes are associated with the characteristic symptoms of asthma – cough, chest tightness, and wheezing –and have a significant impact on patients’ daily lives, on their families and also on society (1, 24, 29). Recent epidemiological studies show an increase in the prevalence of asthma, mainly in industrial countries (12, 25, 37). The reasons for this increase may depend on host factors (e.g., genetic disposition) or on environmental factors like air pollution or contact with allergens (6, 22, 29). Physical exercise is probably the most common trigger for brief episodes of symptoms, and is assumed to induce airflow limitations in most asthmatic children and young adults (16, 24, 29, 33). Exercise-induced asthma (EIA) is defined as an intermittent narrowing of the airways, generally associated with respiratory symptoms (chest tightness, cough, wheezing and dyspnoea), occurring after 3 to 10 minutes of vigorous exercise with a maximal severity during 5 to 15 minutes after the end of the exercise (9, 14, 16, 24, 33). The definitive diagnosis of EIA is confirmed by the measurement of pre- and post-exercise expiratory flows documenting either a 15% fall in the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), or a ≥15 to 20% fall in peak expiratory flow (PEF) (9, 24, 29). Some types of physical exercise have been associated with the occurrence of bronchial symptoms and asthma (5, 15, 17). For instance, demanding activities such as basketball or soccer could cause more severe attacks than less vigorous ones such as baseball or jogging (33). The mechanisms of exercise-induced airflow limitations seem to be related to changes in the respiratory mucosa induced by hyperventilation (9, 29). The heat loss from the airways during exercise, and possibly its post-exercise rewarming may contribute to the exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) (27). Additionally, the concomitant dehydration from the respiratory mucosa during exercise leads to an increased interstitial osmolarity, which may also contribute to bronchoconstriction (4, 36). So, the risk of EIB in asthmatically predisposed subjects seems to be higher with greater ventilation rates and the cooler and drier the inspired air is (23). The incidence of EIA in physically demanding coldweather sports like competitive figure skating and ice hockey has been found to occur in up to 30 to 35% of the participants (32). In contrast, swimming is often recommended to asthmatic individuals, because it improves the functionality of respiratory muscles and, moreover, it seems to have a concomitant beneficial effect on the prevalence of asthma exacerbations (14, 26), supporting the idea that the risk of EIB would be smaller in warm and humid environments. This topic, however, remains controversial since the chlorified water of swimming pools has been suspected as a potential trigger factor for some asthmatic patients (7, 8, 20, 21). In fact, the higher asthma incidence observed in industrialised countries has recently been linked to the exposition to chloride (7, 8, 30). Although clinical and epidemiological data suggest an influence of humidity and temperature of the inspired air on the bronchial response of asthmatic subjects during exercise, some of those studies did not accurately control the intensity of the exercise (2, 13), raising speculation of whether the experienced exercise overload was comparable for all subjects. Additionally, most of the studies did not include a control group (2, 10, 19, 39), which may lead to doubts about whether asthma per se has conditioned the observed results. Moreover, since the main targeted age group of these studies has been adults (10, 19, 39), any extrapolation to childhood/adolescence might be questionable regarding the different lung maturation. Considering the higher incidence of asthma in youngsters (30) and the fact that only the works of Amirav and coworkers (2, 3) have focused on this age group, a scarcity of scientific data can be identified. Additionally, since the main environmental trigger factors, i.e., temperature and humidity, were tested separately (10, 28, 39) it would be useful to analyse these two variables simultaneously because of their synergic effect on water and heat loss by the airways (31, 33). It also appears important to estimate the airway responsiveness to exercise within moderate environmental ranges of temperature and humidity, trying to avoid extreme temperatures and humidity conditions used by others (2, 3). So, the aim of this study was to analyse the influence of moderate changes in air temperature and humidity simultaneously on the acute ventilatory response to exercise in asthmatic children. To overcome the above referred to methodological limitations, we used a 15 minute progressive exercise trial on a cycle ergometer at 3 different workload intensities, and we collected data related to heart rate, respiratory quotient, minute ventilation and oxygen uptake in order to ensure that physiological exercise repercussions were the same in both environments. The tests were done in a “normal” climatic environment (in a gymnasium) and in a hot and humid environment (swimming pool); for the latter, direct chloride exposition was avoided.

Determination of total petroleum hydrocarbons in soil from different locations using infrared spectrophotometry and gas chromatography

Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) are important environmental contaminants which are toxic to human and environmental receptors. Several analytical methods have been used to quantify TPH levels in contaminated soils, specifically through infrared spectrometry (IR) and gas chromatography (GC). Despite being two of the most used techniques, some issues remain that have been inadequately studied: a) applicability of both techniques to soils contaminated with two distinct types of fuel (petrol and diesel), b) influence of the soil natural organic matter content on the results achieved by various analytical methods, and c) evaluation of the performance of both techniques in analyses of soils with different levels of contamination (presumably non-contaminated and potentially contaminated). The main objectives of this work were to answer these questions and to provide more complete information about the potentials and limitations of GC and IR techniques. The results led us to the following conclusions: a) IR analysis of soils contaminated with petrol is not suitable due to volatilisation losses, b) there is a significant influence of organic matter in IR analysis, and c) both techniques demonstrated the capacity to accurately quantify TPH in soils, irrespective of their contamination levels.

The importance of qualitative methodology in management empirical research

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of qualitative research within the scope of management scientific studies, referring to its philosophy, nature and instruments. It also confronts it with quantitative methodology, approaching its differences as well as its complementariness and synergies, with the purpose of explaining, from a more analytic point of view, the relevance of qualitative methodology in the course of an authentic and real research despite its complexity. Design/methodology/approach: Regardless of its broad application, one may attest the scarcity literature that focuses on qualitative research applied to the management scientific area, as opposed to the large amount that refers to quantitative research. Findings: The paper shows the influence that qualitative research has on management scientific research. Originality/value:. Qualitative research assumes an important role within qualitative research by allowing for the study and analysis of certain types of phenomena that occur inside organisations, and in respect of which quantitative studies cannot provide an answer.

Evaluating the efficiency of a vegetal coagulant in the treatment of industrial effluents

The present work aims at evaluating the efficiency of an organic polymer from vegetal source used as coagulant for treating different types of industrial effluents. This coagulant (Flox-QT) is obtained from the Black Acacia (Acacia mearnsii). The effluents studied were produced in petrochemical, leather, cork stoppers, metalworking, olive oil, glue, paint (printing), textile and paper industries. The parameters analyzed in the effluents before and after treatment were selected according to the type of wastewater and included pH, conductivity, apparent colour, turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and some metals. The coagulant proved to be efficient for almost all effluents tested. The best results were obtained for the paper industry wastewater, with 91% removal of chemical oxygen demand and 95% of total suspended solids removal. The estimated cost of this treatment would be only 0.24 Euro per cubic meter of treated effluent, only regarding the price of the coagulant and the required dosage. The use of this coagulant is also adequate for the valorisation of the sludge obtained, which in this case could be recycled for paper production.