Liquid crystal mobility and PDLC memory effects

Dissertation presented at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa to obtain the Degree of Master in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

The Crystal Structure of the Escherichia coli Autoinducer-2 Processing Protein LsrF

PLOS ONE, 4(8):ARTe6820

Bionanoconjugados de Citocromo Tri- hémico e nanopartículas de Ouro para biorremediação de Cr(VI)

Dissertação para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Biotecnologia

Treatment of Vascular Lesions of the Tongue with Nd: YAG Laser

The treatment of vascular lesions of the tongue is a very challenging procedure since the maintenance of the lingual tissue is of critical importance. Numerous treatment options have been described in literature but the Nd:YAG Laser appears to be one of the safest therapeutic options. We described a successful treatment of vascular lesions of the tongue with an excellent clinical result after only one treatment session with the Nd:YAG laser, with conservation of the lingual tissue and its functionality.

Using gold nanoparticles in protein crystallography: studies in crystal growth and derivatization

Dissertation for the Master Degree in Structural and Functional Biochemistry

21st century quality: Looking into the “Crystal ball”

The discussion of possible scenarios for the future of Quality is on the priority list of major Quality Practitioners Societies. EOQ – European Organization for Quality (EOQ, 2014) main team for its 58th EOQ-Congress held June 2014 in Göteborg was “Managing Challenges in Quality Leadership” and ASQ - American Society for Quality (ASQ, 2015) appointed “the Future of Quality” for Quality Progress Magazine November 2015 issue. In addition, the ISO 9001:2008 revision process carried by ISO/TC 176 aims to assure that ISO 9001:2015 International Standard remains stable for the next 10 years (ISO, 2014) contributing to an increased discussion on the future of quality. The purpose of this research is to review available Quality Management approaches and outline, adding an academic perspective, expected developments for Quality within the 21st Century. This paper follows a qualitative approach, although data from international organizations is used. A literature review has been undertaken on quality management past and potential future trends. Based on these findings a model is proposed for organization quality management development and propositions for the future of quality management are advanced. Firstly, a state of the art of existing Quality Management approaches is presented, for example, like Total Quality Management (TQM) and Quality Gurus, ISO 9000 International Standards Series (with an outline of the expected changes for ISO 9001:2015), Six Sigma and Business Excellence Models.Secondly, building on theoretical and managerial approaches, a two dimensional matrix – Quality Engineering (QE - technical aspects of quality) and Quality Management (QM: soft aspects of quality) - is presented, outlining five proposed characterizations of Quality maturity levels and giving insights for applications and future developments. Literature review highlights that QM and QE may be addressing similar quality issues but their approaches are different in terms of scope breadth and intensity and they ought to complement and reciprocally reinforce one another. The challenges organizations face within the 21st century have stronger uncertainty, complexity, and differentiation. Two main propositions are advanced as relevant for 21st Century Quality: - QM importance for the sustainable success of organizations will increase and they should be aware of the larger ecosystem to be managed for improvement, possibly leading to the emergence of a new Quality paradigm, The Civilizacional Excellence paradigm. - QE should get more attention from QM and the Quality professionals will have to: a) Master and apply in wider contexts and in additional depth the Quality Tools (basic, intermediate and advanced); b) Have the soft skills needed for its success; c) Be results oriented and better understand and demonstrate the relationships between approaches and results These propositions challenge both scholars and practitioners for a sustained and supported discussion on the future of Quality. “All things are ready, if our mind be so.” (Shakespeare, Henry V, circa 1599).

Crystal structure of the zinc-, cobalt-, and iron-containing adenylate kinase from Desulfovibrio gigas: a novel metal-containing adenylate kinase from Gram-negative bacteria

J Biol Inorg Chem (2011) 16:51–61 DOI 10.1007/s00775-010-0700-8

The first crystal structure of class III superoxide reductase from Treponema pallidum

J Biol Inorg Chem (2006) 11: 548–558 DOI 10.1007/s00775-006-0104-y

X-ray crystal structure and EPR spectra of "arsenite-inhibited" Desulfovibriogigas aldehyde dehydrogenase: a member of the xanthine oxidase family

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126 (28), pp 8614–8615 DOI: 10.1021/ja0490222

Clearing the cloudy crystal balls: Hybrid modelling for energy and climate change mitigation scenarios – A case study for Portugal

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ambiente

Laser solar de Nd: YAG bombeado por guias de onda

São propostas novas cavidades de bombeamento para lasers solares do estado sólido de Nd: YAG com o objectivo de melhorar a potência laser de saída e eficiência de bombeamento. São implementados quatro sistemas de guias de onda, um dos sistemas é simétrico e bombeado lateralmente, sendo os restantes três sistemas bombeados lateralmente e pela extremidade. A influência da geometria dos guias de onda no desempenho do bombeamento, o perfil do feixe à saída dos guias e a absorção por parte do cristal de Nd:YAG são optimizados minuciosamente, sendo modelados através do software Zemax. A cavidade de ressonância e as características do feixe são modelados em Lascad. Construíram-se e testaram-se três guias de onda de secção, octogonal, cilíndrica e quadrada. A potência laser multimodo para o sistema ótico bombeado por guia de onda cilíndrica de 20mm de diâmetro e concentrador cónico, foi de 21W, representando uma eficiência de colecção de 11.6W/m2, apresentando um erro de colecção para ΔX=1.3mm de 4.4%.

Cellulose micro/nano fibers conformational effects probed by nematic liquid crystal droplets

Probing micro-/nano-sized surface conformations, which are ubiquitous in biological systems, by using liquid crystal droplets, which change their ordering and optical appearance in response to the presence of more than ten times smaller cellulose based micro/nano fibers, might find new uses in a range of biological environments and sensors. Previous studies indicate that electrospun micro/nano cellulosic fibers produced from liquid crystalline solutions could present a twisted form [1]. In this work, we study the structures of nematic liquid crystal droplets threaded by cellulose fibers prepared from liquid crystalline and isotropic solutions as well as droplets pierced by spider-made fibers [2]. Planar anchoring at the fibers and planar and homeotropic at the drop surfaces allowed probing cellulose fibers different helical structures as well as aligned filaments.

Characterization of an OPCPA laser amplifier based on the nonlinear crystal YCOB

The work described in this thesis was performed at the Laboratory for Intense Lasers (L2I) of Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon (IST-UL). Its main contribution consists in the feasibility study of the broadband dispersive stages for an optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier based on the nonlinear crystal yttrium calcium oxi-borate (YCOB). In particular, the main goal of this work consisted in the characterization and implementation of the several optical devices involved in pulse expansion and compression of the amplified pulses to durations of the order of a few optical cycles (20 fs). This type of laser systems find application in fields such as medicine, telecommunications and machining, which require high energy, ultrashort (sub-100 fs) pulses. The main challenges consisted in the preliminary study of the performance of the broadband amplifier, which is essential for successfully handling pulses with bandwidths exceeding 100 nm when amplified from the μJ to 20 mJ per pulse. In general, the control, manipulation and characterization of optical phenomena on the scale of a few tens of fs and powers that can reach the PW level are extremely difficult and challenging due to the complexity of the phenomena of radiation-matter interaction and their nonlinearities, observed at this time scale and power level. For this purpose the main dispersive components were characterized in detail, specifically addressing the demonstration of pulse expansion and compression. The tested bandwidths are narrower than the final ones, in order to confirm the parameters of these elements and predict the performance for the broadband pulses. The work performed led to additional tasks such as a detailed characterization of laser oscillator seeding the laser chain and the detection and cancelling of additional sources of dispersion.

Estudo de metais pesados (Co, Cu, Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, Pb e Zn) na Bacia do Tarumã-Açu Manaus (AM)

Os resíduos gerados em domicílios incluem diversos produtos, como pesticidas, produtos farmacêuticos, detergentes, óleos de cozinha, metais pesados contidos em baterias e outros utensílios. Esses resíduos são lançados continuamente em aterro sanitário ou lixões em cidades como Manaus. O chorume produzido nesses aterros, quando não tratados, contamina recursos hídricos superficiais e subterrâneos. Neste estudo foi feita uma avaliação das conseqüências da liberação do chorume no sistema hídrico da bacia do Tarumã-Açu. Amostras de água e sedimento foram coletadas nos igarapés Matrinxã, Acará, Bolívia, bacia do Tarumã-Açu e dentro do aterro sanitário (Manaus - Amazonas - Brasil) em março 2001. As amostras de água foram filtradas em filtro Milipore (0,45 mm de poro) e, em seguida, tratadas com HNO3 concentrado. As amostras de sedimento foram peneiradas em malha de 0,053 mm e digeridas com HCl:HNO3 (1:3) a 150ºC. As concentrações de alguns metais pesados (Co, Cu, Fe, Cr, Ni, Mn, Pb e Zn) foram determinadas nas amostras de água e sedimento por espectrometria de absorção atômica de chama. Os resultados revelaram que a concentração dos metais pesados é muito acima dos permitidos pela resolução 357/2005 do CONAMA em praticamente todos os locais amostrados, mostrando que o Aterro Sanitário é um dos principais responsáveis pelo impacto ambiental observado nos corpos hídricos estudados. As análises dos componentes principais (PCA) e hierárquica de cluster (HCA), revelam que os pontos de coleta localizados dentro do aterro sanitário apresentam características diferentes dos outros locais amostrados. Além disso, o HCA e PCA mostraram que existe uma similaridade entre os pontos de coleta localizados fora do aterro o que permite afirmar que o chorume do aterro se dissolve por todo corpo hídrico estudado.