Active ageing index and quality of life

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Development of novel active pharmaceutical ionic liquids and salts based on antibiotics and anti-fungal drugs

Ionic Liquids (ILs) are class of compounds, which have become popular since the mid-1990s. Despite the fact that ILs are defined by one physical property (melting point), many of the potential applications are now related to their biological properties. The use of a drug as a liquid can avoid some problems related to polymorphism which can influence a drug´s solubility and thus its dosages. Also, the arrangement of the anion or cation with a specific drug might be relevant in order to: a) change the correspondent biopharmaceutical drug classification system; b) for the drug formulation process and c) the change the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients’ (APIs). The main goal of this Thesis is the synthesis and study of physicochemical and biological properties of ILs as APIs from beta-lactam antibiotics (ampicillin, penicillin G and amoxicillin) and from the anti-fungal Amphotericin B. All the APIs used here were neutralized in a buffer appropriate hydroxide cations. The cation hydroxide was obtained on Amberlite resin (in the OH form) in order to exchange halides. The biological studies of these new compounds were made using techniques like the micro dilution and colorimetric methods. Overall a total of 19 new ILs were synthesised (6 ILs based on ampicillin, 4 ILs, based on amoxicillin, 6 ILs based on penicillin G and 4 ILs based on amphotericin B) and characterized by spectroscopic and analytical methods in order to confirm their structure and purity. The study of the biological properties of the synthesised ILs showed that some have antimicrobial activity against bacteria and yeast cells, even in resistant bacteria. Also this work allowed to show that ILs based on ampicillin could be used as anti-tumour agents. This proves that with a careful selection of the organic cation, it is possible to provoke important physico-chemical and biological alteration in the properties of ILs-APIs with great impact, having in mind their applications.

Working in IT projects – Options and Limits of Work Design

Flexible forms of work like project work are gaining importance in industry and services. Looking at the research on project work, the vast majority of present literature is on project management, but increasingly, problems concerning the quality of work and the efficiency of project teams become visible. The question now is how project work can be structured in order to simultaneously provide efficient and flexible work and healthy working conditions ensuring the development of human resources for a long time. Selected results of publicly funded research into project work will be presented based on case studies in 7 software development /IT consulting project teams (N=34). A set of different methods was applied: interviews with management/project managers, group interviews on work constraints, a monthly diary about well-being and critical incidences in the course of the project, and a final evaluation questionnaire on project outcomes focusing on economic and health aspects. Findings reveal that different types of projects exist with varying degree of team members’ autonomy and influence on work structuring. An effect of self-regulation on mental strain could not be found. The results emphasize, that contradicting requirements and insufficient organizational resources with respect to the work requirements lead to an increased work intensity or work obstruction. These contradicting requirements are identified as main drivers for generating stress. Finally, employees with high values on stress for more than 2 months have significantly higher exhaustion rates than those with only one month peaks. Structuring project work and taking into account the dynamics of project work, there is a need for an active role of the project team in contract negotiation or the detailed definition of work – this is not only a question of individual autonomy but of negotiation the range of option for work structuring. Therefore, along with the sequential definition of the (software) product, the working conditions need to be re-defined.

Assessment of climate change statistical downscaling methods: Application and comparison of two statistical methods to a single site in Lisbon

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente

Derivation methods for hybrid knowledge bases with rules and ontologies

Trabalho apresentado no âmbito do Mestrado em Engenharia Informática, como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Part I : Comparing derivatization methods for amino acids – one and two-step procedures using gas chromatography – flame ion detector (GC-FID) Part II: Story of an icon from its execution until its conservation

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Conservação e Restauro

Applications of Fourier methods to the analysis of some stochastic processes

Dissertação de Doutoramento em Matemática: Processos Estocásticos

Comparative analysis of time-frequency methods estimating the time-varying microstructure of sleep EEG spindles

Proceedings of the Information Technology Applications in Biomedicine, Ioannina - Epirus, Greece, October 26-28, 2006

New ultrasonic-based methods in proteomics

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Bioquímica pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia.A presente dissertação foi preparada no âmbito do convénio bilateral existente entre a Universidade Nova de Lisboa e a Universidade de Vigo.

A proteomic approach toward the selection of proteins with enhanced intrinsic conformational stability

Journal of Proteome Research (2006)5: 2720-2726

A study on parallel versus sequential relational fuzzy clustering methods

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática

Industry level foresight: designing foresight methods for Lithuanian energy sector

Enterprise and Work Innovation Studies,6,IET, pp.9-51

Extremum estimators and stochastic optimization methods

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of PhD in Mathematics, in the Speciality of Statistics in the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Efeitos imediatos da técnica de mobilização com movimento aplicada na articulação tíbio-peroneal inferior na amplitude de dorsiflexão em indíviduos com história de entorse do tornozelo

RESUMO: A entorse do tornozelo é uma das lesões músculo-esqueléticas mais comuns. A limitação da amplitude de dorsiflexão tem sido demonstrada como uma das consequências desta lesão, bem como um dos factores contribuintes para a recorrência. Vários estudos têm demonstrado que o membro lesado de indivíduos com história de entorse, apresenta uma falha posicional anterior do peróneo. Um estudo realizado em cadáveres revelou que um deslizamento póstero-superior ao nível da articulação tibioperoneal inferior pode contribuir para aumentar a amplitude de dorsiflexão. Está descrita uma técnica de terapia manual que realiza o deslizamento póstero-superior do maléolo lateral associada ao movimento activo de flexão dorsal (MWM). No entanto, não existe, até à data, nenhum estudo que investigue a efectividade desta MWM em indivíduos com limitação da FD e história de entorse unilateral do tornozelo. Desenho de estudo: Ensaio clínico aleatorizado e controlado por placebo, duplamente cego. Objectivos: Avaliar os efeitos imediatos da MWM na articulação tibio-peroneal inferior na amplitude de flexão dorsal e no deslizamento posterior do astrágalo em indivíduos com história de entorse unilateral do tornozelo e limitação da flexão dorsal. O protocolo experimental foi aplicado uma única vez e os seus efeitos comparados com uma intervenção placebo. Metodologia: Uma amostra de 30 indivíduos com história de entorse unilateral e limitação da amplitude de flexão dorsal foi aleatoriamente distribuído por dois grupos: grupo MWM e grupo placebo. Foram avaliados o deslizamento posterior do astrágalo e a avaliação da amplitude de flexão dorsal em carga. As avaliações foram realizadas imediatamente antes e após a intervenção. Resultados: Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os grupos na avaliação inicial (baseline). A realização da one-way ANCOVA revelou que, imediatamente após a intervenção, se verificou um aumento na amplitude de flexão dorsal no grupo MWM (aumento de 1.37 cm (DP, 0.97) significativamente superior ao grupo placebo (diminuição de 0.15cm (DP, 0.63) (P<.001). O deslizamento posterior do astrágalo aumentou 1.51º (DP, 1.77) no grupo MWM, no entanto este aumento não foi significativamente superior ao aumento de 0.76º (DP, 1.26) do grupo placebo (P=.113). Conclusão: Os resultados sugerem que a MWM na articulação tibioperoneal inferior produziram um efeito significativo na amplitude de flexão dorsal embora o mesmo não se tenha verificado no deslizamento posterior do astrágalo. Estes resultados fornecem evidência preliminar para a efectividade da MWM como intervenção em indivíduos com história de entorse unilateral e limitação da amplitude de flexão dorsal.---------------ABSTRACT:Background: Ankle sprains are one of the most common musculo-skeletal injuries. Impaired dorsiflexion range of motion has been shown to be one of the consequences of this injury, as well as one of the contributing factors to recurrence. Several studies have shown the presence of an anterior positional fault of the fibula in injuried ankles. A cadaveric study revealed that a posterosuperior glide of the distal tibiofibular may contribute to improve dorsiflexion. There is a manual therapy technique which provides a posterosuperior glide of the lateral malleolus combined with dorsiflexion active movement (MWM). However, there was no study, until now, that investigated the effectiveness of this MWM in individuals with impaired dorsiflexion and history of unilateral ankle sprain. Design: Double-blind randomized placebo controlled trial. Objectives: To determine the immediate effects of a distal tibiofibular MWM in ankle dorsiflexion and talar posterior glide in patients with history of unilateral ankle sprain and limitation of dorsiflexion. The treatment technique was used as a single treatment against a placebo group. Methods: A sample of 30 subjects with a history of unilateral ankle sprain and limitation of dorsiflexion were randomized into two groups: distal tibiofibular MWM or a placebo group. The outcome measures used in this study were the posterior talar glide and weight-bearing (WB) ankle dorsiflexion range of motion. The measures were taken before and immediately after the intervention. Results: No significant differences were found in baseline measures between groups. A one-way ANCOVA revealed that, immediately after the intervention, there was an improvement in ankle dorsiflexion in the MWM group (increase of 1.37 cm (SD, 0.97) significantly superior to the placebo group (decrease of 0.15cm (SD, 0.63) (P<.001). Posterior talar glide increased by 1.51º (SD, 1.77) for the MWM group, which was more than 0.76º (SD, 1.25) for the placebo intervention although there wasn’t a significant difference between groups (P=.113). Conclusion: This investigation’s findings suggest that an inferior tibio-fibular MWM produced a significant effect on WB dorsiflexion range of motion and posterior talar glide. These results provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of mobilisations with movement in the management of individuals with history of unilateral ankle sprain and limitation of dorsiflexion.

Recommending media content based on machine learning methods

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática