Clonal variation within a mucosal isolate derived from a patient with Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection

Three isolates over 5 years from a patient with persistent relapsing mucosal leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and 7 clones from one of these isolates were studied by zymodemes and scrodemes analysis. Results showed evidences of clonal phenotypic variation. Eight isoenzymes markers demonstrated clear differences on Cellulose Acetate (CA) and thin starch gel electrophoresis. Also a panel of specific monoclonal antibodies showed such differences. Our observations provide additional evidence that Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is composed by subpopulations of parasites with peculiar biochemical and antigenic characteristics.

Petri nets based components within globally asynchronous locally synchronous systems

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e Computadores

Recurring contact opportunities within groups of devices

The capability to anticipate a contact with another device can greatly improve the performance and user satisfaction not only of mobile social network applications but of any other relying on some form of data harvesting or hoarding. One of the most promising approaches for contact prediction is to extrapolate from past experiences. This paper investigates the recurring contact patterns observed between groups of devices using an 8-year dataset of wireless access logs produced by more than 70000 devices. This effort permitted to model the probabilities of occurrence of a contact at a predefined date between groups of devices using a power law distribution that varies according to neighbourhood size and recurrence period. In the general case, the model can be used by applications that need to disseminate large datasets by groups of devices. As an example, the paper presents and evaluates an algorithm that provides daily contact predictions, based on the history of past pairwise contacts and their duration. Copyright © 2015 ICST.

Living and growing within a museum: re-creating video art for conservation

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

Role of a novel disulfide bridge within the all-beta fold of soluble Rieske proteins

Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry (2010)15: 271-281

RAISING INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS AT PRIMARY LEVEL THROUGH STORYTELLING WITHIN A CLIL APPROACH

Trabalho de Projecto apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ensino de Inglês

Analysis of self-interference within DAG tasks

6th Real-Time Scheduling Open Problems Seminar (RTSOPS 2015), Lund, Sweden.

Platform for Smart Car to Car Content Delivery: Results of CISTER Research Centre within CarCoDe project

Poster presented in Redes de Veiculos nas sociedades do futuro (RVSF 2015). 3, Jun, 2015. Castelo Branco, Portugal.

The moral status of animals within the framework of Peter Singer's preference utilitarianism

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Filosofia

Deletions within COL11A1 in Type 2 Stickler Syndrome Detected by Multiplex Ligation - Syndrome Detected by Multiplex Ligation Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA)

Background: COL11A1 is a large complex gene around 250 kb in length and consisting of 68 exons. Pathogenic mutations in the gene can result in Stickler syndrome, Marshall syndrome or Fibrochondrogenesis. Many of the mutations resulting in either Stickler or Marshall syndrome alter splice sites and result in exon skipping, which because of the exon structure of collagen genes usually leaves the message in-frame. The mutant protein then exerts a dominant negative effect as it co-assembles with other collagen gene products. To date only one large deletion of 40 kb in the COL11A1, which was detected by RT-PCR, has been characterized. However, commonly used screening protocols, utilizing genomic amplification and exon sequencing, are unlikely to detect such large deletions. Consequently the frequency of this type of mutation is unknown. Case presentations: We have used Multiplex Ligation-Dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) in conjunction with exon amplification and sequencing, to analyze patients with clinical features of Stickler syndrome, and have detected six novel deletions that were not found by exon sequencing alone. Conclusion: Exon deletions appear to represent a significant proportion of type 2 Stickler syndrome. This observation was previously unknown and so diagnostic screening of COL11A1 should include assays capable of detecting both large and small deletions, in addition to exon sequencing.

UJI Navigation Network, Development of a pedestrian spatial network within the University Jaume I of Castellón (Spain)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Essay on external imbalances within the Euro Area

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

Adjusting to external imbalances within the EMU, the case of Portugal

From 1995 to 2010 Portugal has accumulated a negative international asset position of 110 percent of GDP. In a developed and aging economy the number is astonishing and any argument to consider it sustainable must rely on extremely favorable forecasts on growth. Portuguese policy options are reduced in number: no autonomous monetary policy, no currency to devaluate, and limited discretion in changing fiscal deficits and government debt. To start the necessary deleveraging a remaining possible policy is a budget-neutral change of the tax structure that increases private saving and net exports. An increase in the VAT and a decrease in the employer’s social security contribution tax can achieve the desired outcome in the short run if they are complemented with wage moderation. To obtain a substantial improvement in competitiveness and a large decrease in consumption, the changes in the tax rates have to be large. While a precise quantitative assessment is difficult, the initial increase in the effective VAT rate needed to allow the social security tax to decrease by 16 percentage points (pp) is approximately 10 pp. Such a large increase in the effective VAT rate could be obtained by raising most of the reduced VAT rates to the new general VAT rate of 23 percent. The empirical analysis shows that over time the suggested tax swap could generate surpluses and improve the trade balance. A temporary version of the suggested tax-swap has the attractiveness to achieve a sharper increase in the private saving rate maintaining the short run gains in competitiveness. Finally, the temporary version of the fiscal devaluation could be the basis for an automatic stabilizer to external imbalances within a monetary union.Portugal has been running large current account deficits every year since 1995. These deficits have accumulated to an astonishing 110 percent of GDP negative external asset position. The sustainability of such a large external position is questionable and must rely on fantastic productivity growth expectations. The recent global financial crisis appears to have anticipated the international investors reality check on those future expectations with the result of a large increase in the cost of external financing. Today the rebalancing of the current account through an increase in national savings and an improvement in competitiveness must be at the top of the Portuguese authorities “to do” list as the cost of a pull out from international investors is of the order of 10% of GDP. The external rebalancing is difficult as the degrees of freedom of the Portuguese authorities are limited in number: they have no autonomous monetary policy, no currency to devaluate, and little discretion in fiscal policy as deficit limits and debt targets are set by the Stability Growth Pact and the postcrisis consensus on medium-term fiscal consolidation. One possibility that remains is to change the fiscal policy mix for a given budget deficit. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of a “fiscal devaluation”1 obtained through a tax swap between employers’ social security contributions and taxes on consumption2. The paper begins by illustrating Portugal’s current account evolution during the euro period. The second section section lays out a model to offer a qualitative assessment of the dynamic outcomes of the the tax swap. I show that the suggested tax swap can in theory achieve the desired outcomes in terms of competitiveness and consumption if complemented with moderation (stickiness) in wages. I also study the effects of a temporary version of the tax swap and show that it achieves a sharper improvement in the current account that accelerate the rebalancing. The third section moves to the empirical analysis and estimates the likely effects of the tax swap for the Portuguese economy. The fourth section concludes.

Larva migrans within scalp sebaceous gland

A case of larva migrans or serpiginous linear dermatitis on the scalp of a teenager is reported. An ancylostomid larva was found within a sebaceous gland acinus. The unusual skin site for larva migrans as well as the penetration through the sebaceous gland are highlighted. The probable mechanism by which the parasite reached the skin adnexa is discussed.

Learnings from real cases route-to-market redesign within the Portuguese lubricants sector

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