The two-component system of a novel copper resistant operon of Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus

Dissertation for the Master’s Degree in Structural and Functional Biochemistry

On the track of β-lactam resistance: Studies on the regulation of methicillinresistance in Staphylococcus aureus

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Biologia

Molybdenum Induces the expression of a protein containing a new heterometallic Mo-Fe cluster in desulfoVibrio alaskensis

Biochemistry. 2009 Feb 10;48(5):873-82. doi: 10.1021/bi801773t.

Creating a business model for a pharmaceutical bank in Lisbon

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

Towards cryogenic liquid –vapor energy storage units for space applications

Dissertation to obtain the Doctoral degree in Physics Engineering

Financial depth, stock markets and economic growth in the EU-15 countries

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of financial depth on economic growth in the EU-15 countries from 1970 until 2012, using the two-step System GMM estimator. Even though it might be expected a positive impact, the results show it is negative and sometimes even negative and statistically significant. Among the reasons presented for this, the existence of banking crises seems to better explain these results. In tranquil periods, financial deepening appears to have a positive impact, whereas in banking crises it is persistently negative and statistically significant. Also, after an assessment of the impact of stock markets on economic growth, it appears that more developed countries in the EU-15 have an economy more reliant on this segment of the financial system rather than in bank intermediation.

Primera Reservoir Ltd. strategic position analysis

The purpose of this work is to understand the internal and external structure in which the company operates to provide an idea of the strategic actions needed to accomplish their organizational objectives. A strategic software was employed to build up phase one and phase two, phase one involved analysing internal and external factors that influence the company, comprehending their core competences, factors that influence the market and identification of strengths and weaknesses. Phase two consisted on providing an idea of their real competitive position and the suggestion of a development strategy, given the possible limitations in the external factors, the company should carefully analyse some of the opportunities present in the industry overseas to continue to develop their business and increase its profitability. Furthermore, a source of competitive advantage was found in their outbound logistics which could serve a differentiator between their competitors.

Aqueous biphasic system based on cholinium ionic liquids: extraction of biologically active phenolic acids

Phenolic acids are aromatic secondary plant metabolites, widely spread throughout the plant kingdom. Due to their biological and pharmacological properties, they have been playing an important role in phytotherapy and consequently techniques for their separation and purification are in need. This thesis aims at exploring new sustainable separation processes based on ionic liquids (ILs) in the extraction of biologically active phenolic acids. For that purpose, three phenolic acids with similar chemical structures were selected: cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid and caffeic acid. In the last years, it has been shown that ionic liquids-based aqueous biphasic systems (ABSs) are valid alternatives for the extraction, recovery and purification of biomolecules when compared to conventional ABS or extractions carried out with organic solvents. In particular, cholinium-based ILs represent a clear step towards a greener chemistry, while providing means for the implementation of efficient techniques for the separation and purification of biomolecules. In this work, ABSs were implemented using cholinium carboxylate ILs using either high charge density inorganic salt (K3PO4) or polyethylene glycol (PEG) to promote the phase separation of aqueous solutions containing three different phenolic acids. These systems allow for the evaluation of effect of chemical structure of the anion on the extraction efficiency. Only one imidazolium-based IL was used in order to establish the effect of the cation chemical structure. The selective extraction of one single acid was also researched. Overall, it was observed that phenolic acids display very complex behaviours in aqueous solutions, from dimerization to polymerization and also hetero-association are quite frequent phenomena, depending on the pH conditions. These phenomena greatly hinder the correct quantification of these acids in solution.