Understandings of transnational families in debates on Migration and development

International migration sets in motion a range of significant transnational processes that connect countries and people. How migration interacts with development and how policies might promote and enhance such interactions have, since the turn of the millennium, gained attention on the international agenda. The recognition that transnational practices connect migrants and their families across sending and receiving societies forms part of this debate. The ways in which policy debate employs and understands transnational family ties nevertheless remain underexplored. This article sets out to discern the understandings of the family in two (often intermingled) debates concerned with transnational interactions: The largely state and policydriven discourse on the potential benefits of migration on economic development, and the largely academic transnational family literature focusing on issues of care and the micro-politics of gender and generation. Emphasizing the relation between diverse migration-development dynamics and specific family positions, we ask whether an analytical point of departure in respective transnational motherhood, fatherhood or childhood is linked to emphasizing certain outcomes. We conclude by sketching important strands of inclusions and exclusions of family matters in policy discourse and suggest ways to better integrate a transnational family perspective in global migration-development policy.

Speeches and paradoxes of cultural mediation: A practice between the elite and the cultural poverty

This text analyzes the speeches of a group of cultural mediators working in Madrid in public and private institutions of arts. The group was organized as part of the activities of the European Project Divercity: Diving into Diversity in Museums and the City of the Complutense University in March 2015. The aim of the interview was to unravel what they mean by diversity in the profession, and analyze the contradictions and objectives professions that arise in this new field of work.

Standardization in the Pre-Columbian Pottery from El Caño, Panama: Specialization, Productivity and Consumption

The pottery found in the burials of El Cano is uniform in style to these made in the coclesanos valleys between 700 and 1000 AD. The coefficient of variability of the different pottery forms, evidence diverse standardizations values for polychrome and non-polychrome ceramics. Moreover, data of funerary contexts from the Cano recently excavated, suggest that elite has controlled ceramic production. This control over the production of certain goods reveals that these were important in the support or proper operational of the chiefdoms in Panama and mark the phase of splendour of this culture.

Geophysics: Principles, applications and emerging technologies

This book presents research in the field of Geophysics, particularly referring to principles, applications and emerging technologies. Table of Contents: Preface pp. i-xxi Environmental Geophysics: Techniques, advantages and limitations (Pantelis Soupios and Eleni Kokinou, Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Dynamics of the Ocean Floor, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Geomar)pp i-xxi Application of Innovative Geophysical Techniques in Coastal Areas (V. Di Fiore, M. Punzo, D. Tarallo, and G. Cavuoto, Institute for Marine Coastal Environment, National Research Council, Naples)pp. i-xxi Marine Geophysics of the Naples Bay (Southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy): Principles, Applications and Emerging Technologies (Gemma Aiello and Ennio Marsella, Institute for Marine Coastal Environment, National Research Council, Naples)pp. i-xxi Oceanic Oscillation Phenomena: Relation to Synchronization and Stochastic Resonance (Shinya Shimokawa and Tomonori Matsuura, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Univ. of Toyama)pp. i-xxi Assessment of ocean variability in the Sicily Channel from a numerical three-dimensional model using EOFs decomposition (R. Sorgente, A. Olita, A.F. Drago, A. Ribotti, L. Fazioli, and C. Tedesco, Institute for Marine Coastal Environment, National Research Council, Oristano)pp. i-xxi Monitoring Test of Crack Opening in Volcanic Tuff (Coroglio Cliff. Italy) Using Distributed Optical Fiber Sensor (A. Minardo, A. Coscetta, M. Caccavale, G. Esposito, F. Matano, M. Sacchi, R. Somma, G. Zeni, and L. Zeni, Department of Industrial and Information Eng., Second University of Naples Aversa, Institute for Marine Coastal Environment, National Research Council Naples, National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, Osservatorio Vesuviano Naples, Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, National Research Council Naples)pp. i-xxi

Shared services and outsourcing : a contemporary outlook:10th Global Sourcing Workshop 2016, Val d'Isère, France, February 16-19, 2016, revised selected papers

This book constitutes the revised selected papers from the 10th Global Sourcing Workshop held in Val d’Isère, France, in February 2016. The 11 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 47 submissions. The book offers a review of the key topics in outsourcing and offshoring of information technology and business services offering practical frameworks that serve as a tool kit to students and managers. The range of topics covered is wide and diverse, but predominately focused on how to achieve success in shared services and outsourcing. More specifically, the book examines outsourcing decisions and management practices, giving specific attention to shared services that have become one of the dominant sourcing models. The topics discussed combine theoretical and practical insights regarding challenges that industry leaders, policy makers, and professionals face or should be concerned with. Case studies from various organizations, industries and countries such as UK, Italy, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Denmark complete the book.

Consumer`s evaluation of the effects of gamma irradiation and natural antioxidants on general acceptance of frozen beef burger

The effect of addition of rosemary and oregano extracts on the sensory quality of irradiated beef burger was investigated. Batches of beef burgers were prepared with 400 ppm of rosemary or oregano extract and a group prepared with 200 ppm of synthetic butyl-hydroxytoluene (BHT)/butyl-hydroxy-anisol (BHA) was used as a control. Half of each formulation was irradiated at the maximum dose allowed for frozen meat (7 kGy). Samples were kept under frozen conditions (-20 degrees C) during the whole storage period, including during irradiation. Two analyses were performed after 20 and 90 days to verify the influence of the addition of the different types of antioxidants and the effect of irradiation and storage time on the acceptance of the product. Thirty-three and thirty-four untrained panelists were invited to participate in the first and second test, respectively. A structured hedonic scale ranging from 1 to 9 points was used in both analyses. BHT/BHA formulation obtained the highest score (6.73) and regarding the natural antioxidants, oregano received better acceptance (6.36). Irradiated samples formulated with oregano received a lower score, 6.03 in the first test and 5.06 in the second one, compared to the non-irradiated sample (6.36 and 5.79). In the second test (90 days), the sample formulated with BHT/BHA and which was irradiated received a higher score (6.59) when compared to the non-irradiated one (5.85). In both tests, the irradiated samples formulated with rosemary extract obtained a better score compared to the non-irradiated one, the scores being 5.00-3.82 and 5.00-3.76 in the first and second test, respectively. Our results allowed us to conclude that the natural antioxidants, rosemary and oregano extracts, present a good alternative for replacing synthetic additives in food industries, and that the irradiation process, in some cases, may help to enhance the sensory quality of food. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CD4+T cells from HIV-1-infected patients recognize wild-type and mutant human immunodeficiency virus-1 protease epitopes

P>Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 protease is a known target of CD8+ T cell responses, but it is the only HIV-1 protein in which no fully characterized HIV-1 protease CD4 epitopes have been identified to date. We investigated the recognition of HIV-1 protease by CD4+ T cells from 75 HIV-1-infected, protease inhibitor (PI)-treated patients, using the 5,6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester-based proliferation assay. In order to identify putative promiscuous CD4+ T cell epitopes, we used the TEPITOPE algorithm to scan the sequence of the HXB2 HIV-1 protease. Protease regions 4-23, 45-64 and 73-95 were identified; 32 sequence variants of the mentioned regions, encoding frequent PI-induced mutations and polymorphisms, were also tested. On average, each peptide bound to five of 15 tested common human leucocyte antigen D-related (HLA-DR) molecules. More than 80% of the patients displayed CD4+ as well as CD8+ T cell recognition of at least one of the protease peptides. All 35 peptides were recognized. The response was not associated with particular HLA-DR or -DQ alleles. Our results thus indicate that protease is a frequent target of CD4+ along with CD8+ proliferative T cell responses by the majority of HIV-1-infected patients under PI therapy. The frequent finding of matching CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses to the same peptides may indicate that CD4+ T cells provide cognate T cell help for the maintenance of long-living protease-specific functional CD8+ T cells.

Development of a genetic method to estimate effective spawner numbers in the NPF and Queensland tiger prawn fisheries

OBJECTIVES: 1. To critically evaluate a variety of mathematical methods of calculating effective population size (Ne) by conducting comprehensive computer simulations and by analysis of empirical data collected from the Moreton Bay population of tiger prawns. 2. To lay the groundwork for the application of the technology in the NPF. 3. To produce software for the calculation of Ne, and to make it widely available.

Futures of automobile industry and challenges on sustainable development and mobility

Portugal had only very few foresight exercises on the automobile sector, and the most recent one was a survey held in a project on work organisation systems in the automobile industry, its recent historical paths and the special strategies of location of companies (the WorTiS project). This involved several teams with different disciplinary backgrounds and from two Portuguese universities. The provisional main results of the first round of a Delphi survey held in Portugal on the automotive sector were already published, but a further analysis was not yet done. This foresight survey was done under the WorTiS project, developed in 2004 by IET – Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation (at FCT-UNL), and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this experience on foresight analysis is also been transferred to other projects, namely the WORKS project on work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society that received the support from EC and still is running. The majority of experts considered having an average of less knowledge in almost all the scenario topics presented. This means that information on the automotive industry is not spread enough among academics or experts in related fields (regional scientists, innovation economists, engineers, sociologists). Some have a good knowledge but in very specialised fields. Others have expertise on foresight, or macroeconomics, or management sciences, but feel insecure on issues related with futures of automobile sector. Nevertheless, we considered specially the topics where the experts considered themselves to have some knowledge. There were no “irrelevant” topics considered as such by the expert panel. There are also no topics that are not considered a need for co-operation. The lack of technological infrastructures was not considered as a hindered factor for the accomplishment of any scenario. The experts’ panel considered no other international competence besides US, Japan or Germany in these topics. Special focus will be made in this paper on the topic 2. Public policy and automobile industries, and more specifically on the technological and/or research policies issues, where one can specify the automobile’s role in transport policies with further implications like environment, safety, energy, mobility.

New approach for vitamin E extraction in rainbow trout flesh: Application in fish fed commercial and red seaweed-supplemented diets

A vitamin E extraction method for rainbow trout flesh was optimized, validated, and applied in fish fed commercial and Gracilaria vermiculophylla-supplemented diets. Five extraction methods were compared. Vitamers were analyzed by HPLC/DAD/fluorescence. A solid-liquid extraction with n-hexane, which showed the best performance, was optimized and validated. Among the eight vitamers, only α- and γ-tocopherol were detected in muscle samples. The final method showed good linearity (>0.999), intra- (<3.1%) and inter-day precision (<2.6%), and recoveries (>96%). Detection and quantification limits were 39.9 and 121.0 ng/g of muscle, for α-tocopherol, and 111.4 ng/g and 337.6 ng/g, for γ-tocopherol, respectively. Compared to the control group, the dietary inclusion of 5% G. vermiculophylla resulted in a slight reduction of lipids in muscle and, consequently, of α- and γ-tocopherol. Nevertheless, vitamin E profile in lipids was maintained. In general, the results may be explained by the lower vitamin E level in seaweed-containing diet. Practical Applications: Based on the validation results and the low solvent consumption, the developed method can be used to analyze vitamin E in rainbow trout. The results of this work are also a valuable information source for fish feed industries and aquaculture producers, which can focus on improving seaweed inclusion in feeds as a source of vitamin E in fish muscle and, therefore, take full advantage of all bioactive components with an important role in fish health and flesh quality.

Question order and context effects on multi-items scales questions

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação

Research and development expenditure in the business sector as indicator of knowledge economy: the Portuguese experience

The objective of the paper is to help to understand recent changes in the structure of R&D activities, by analyzing data on the expenditure of the business sector in research and development (R&D). The results are framed in an international context, through comparison with indicators from the most developed countries, divided by technological intensity and economic activity. The study reveals that the indicators of Portuguese R&D expenditure in the business sector are closely linked both to fiscal policy and to high foreign direct investment in knowledge-intensive industries. It also links these indicators to phenomena such as the abundance of skilled labor in pharmaceutical industries and the government intervention in some sectors of the economy (namely health and rail transportation).

Migrant Remittances and Information Flows: Evidence from a Field Experiment*

Do information flows matter for remittance behavior? We design and implement a randomized control trial to quantitatively assess the role of communication between migrants and their contacts abroad on the extent and value of remittance flows. In the experiment, a random sample of 1,500 migrants residing in Ireland was offered the possibility of contacting their networks outside the host country for free over a varying number of months. We find a sizable, positive impact of our intervention on the value of migrant remittances sent. Our results exclude that the remittance effect we identify is a simple substitution effect. Instead, our analysis points to this effect being a likely result of improved information via factors such as better migrant control over remittance use, enhanced trust in remittance channels due to experience sharing, or increased remittance recipients’ social pressure on migrants.

Industrial symbiosis potential of the Sines oil refinery – environmental and economic evaluation

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente – Perfil Gestão e Sistemas Ambientais