The response of buildings to tunnelling: A case study

The response of buildings to tunnelling induced ground movements is an area of great importance for many urban tunnelling projects. This paper presents the response of two buildings to the construction of a 12 m diameter sprayed concrete lining (SCL) tunnel with face reinforcement, in Italy. Soil and structure displacements were monitored through extensive instrumentation. The settlement response of the two buildings was found to differ significantly, demonstrating both flexible and rigid response mechanisms. Comparison of the building settlement profiles with greenfield settlements enables the soil structure interaction to be quantified. Encouraging agreement between the modification to the greenfield settlement profile displayed by buildings and estimates made from existing predictive tools is observed. Potential issues for infrastructure connected to buildings, arising from the embedment of rigid buildings into the soil, are also highlighted. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group.

Growth of Space Ordered on GaAs（100） Vicinal 1.3μm InAs Quantum Dots Substrates by MOCVD

Space ordered 1.3μm self-assembled InAs QDs are grown on GaAs（100） vicinal substrates by MOCVD. Photoluminescence measurements show that the dots on vicinal substrates have a much higher PL intensity and a narrower FWHM than those of dots on exact substrates, which indicates better material quality. To obtain 1.3μm emissions of InAs QDs, the role of the so called InGaAs strain cap layer （SCL） and the strain buffer layer （SBL） in the strain relaxation process in quantum dots is studied. While the use of SBL results only in a small change of emission wavelength,SCL can extend the QD＇s emission over 1.3μm due to the effective strain reducing effect of SCL.

Studies on synergistic extraction of Sc(III) with HBTMPTP and Cyanex 925

The synergistic extraction of Sc(III) from H2SO4 solution with bis(2, 4, 4-trimethylpentyl)monothiophosphinic acid(HBTMPTP, HL) and branched chain alkyl phosphine oxide mixture (Cyanex 925, B) in n-hexane has been investigated, The results indicated that synergistic effect was showed in low acidity (c(H2SO4) < 0.25 mol/L). The composition of the extracted complex of Sc(III) has been determined to be Sc(HL2)(2)B-3(SO4)(1/2) by the method of slope analysis, The mechanism of the synergistic extraction of Sc(III) may be : Sc3+ + 2(HL)(2(O)) + 3B((O)) + 1/2SO(4)(2-)reversible arrow(K12)Sc(HL2)(2)B-3(SO4)(1/2(O)) + 2H(+) ScL(HL2)(2(O)) + 3B((O)) + H+ + 1/2SO(4)(2-)reversible arrow(beta')Sc(HL2)(2)B-3(SO4)(1/2(O)) + 1/2(HL)(2(O)) Sc(SO4)(1.5)B-2(O) + B-(O) + 2(HL)(2(O))reversible arrow(beta')Sc(HL2)(2)B-3(SO4)(1/2(O)) + 2H(+) + SO42- Their equilibrium constants have been calculated to be lgK(13)=6.77+/-0.12, lg beta'=7.71, lg beta '' = 0.10, respectively, The IR spectra and FAB-MS of the saturated synergistic extraction complex of Sc(III) have been discussed as well.

矿业企业员工的应激与应对方式、心理健康和绩效间的关联性研究

本研究在河北省某大型煤炭企业集团，以整群分层随机抽样方式选取3946名矿业企业员工作为被试，采用自制的社会应激事件调查量表、简易应对方式量表、一般心理健康量表（GHQ-12）和症状自评量表（SCL-90）进行了社会转型期间主要社会应激事件、应激水平、应对方式和心理健康状况的问卷测量。 1、确立矿业企业员工应激源的因素结构。经过对3946名被试的探索性因素分析，提出企业员工应激源的9因素结构。因素分别命名为：职业发展、住房问题、工作特征、社会环境、人际关系、经济收入、子女问题、组织气氛和夫妻关系。企业员工应激源的9因素结构获得了验证性因素分析的支持。 2、确立矿业企业员工应对方式的因素结构。经过对3946名被试的探索性因素分析，提出矿业企业员工的应对方式三因素结构。因素分别命名为：问题解决、认知改变和被动规避。矿业企业员工的三因素结构获得了验证性因素分析的支持。 3、验证不同应对方式对心理健康的单独与共同影响。用分层回归的方法分析不同应对方式对心理健康的单独影响和它们之间交互作用。“被动规避”应对方式的效能受“问题解决”应对方式的影响。 4、问题解决应对方式负向调节住房问题对心理健康的影响；被动规避应对方式正向调节职业发展、人际关系和子女问题对心理健康的影响；认知改变应对方式负向调节职业发展对心理健康的影响。 5、对研究企业集团的14个不同组织单位的应激总水平与综合经济绩效进行了曲线拟合分析，结果表明他们之间的关系呈现倒“U”型曲线。

中学生自我评价、泛化信任和应对方式及其于心理健康的关系

The aim of this research is to explore the relationships between Self-evaluation, general trust, coping styles and psychological health of secondary school students. Three studies were carried out. A total of 1024 middle school students ranging in age from 11 to 20 years complete SCL-90, secondary school students self-evaluation scale, questionnaire of coping styles and GTS. It is found that: 1. There were three self-evaluation in middle school students: the self-evaluation in study, in human relations and in appearance. 2. The three factors of self-evaluation are all correlated to gender, grade and single children. 3. General trust of secondary school students is no difference in gender, grade and single children. 4. Aside from the negative exterior copied ones, three self-evaluation and general trust significantly predict the other three coping styles. 5. When we control the gender , grade and and the only-child in multiple linear regression, we found that the coping style has more effect on their psychological health than the gender , grade and and the only-child and influencing of negative coping style is highest. 6. Three self-evaluations and general trust have direct influences on psychological health of secondary school students. Taking coping styles as intermediate variables , three self-evaluations and general trust have direct influences on psychological health of secondary school students.

中学生自我状态现状及其与亲子沟通、心理健康的关系研究

The communication between parents and children is one of the focuses in adolescence research area. However，the ego states in communication were seldom referred to. In present research, the relationship among high school students’ ego states, parent-child communication status and mental health level was explored. Study1: Ego State Questionnaire (ESQ) was revised according to 400 high school students from both rural and urban areas. Study2: Revised Ego State Questionnaire was administered to 450 high school students. Data was analyzed by cluster analysis. Study3: The relationship among ego states, parent-child communication status and mental health level was researched systematically according to 450 high school students. The main results of the thesis were as follows: 1) The five factors of Johu Dusy’s ego states were confirmed. 2) The revised RESQ had good reliability and validity, and could be used in researching middle school students ego states and related area. 3) Gender differences: Girls’ NP score was higher than boys’. Boys’ Adult and AC score was higher than girls. 4)School difference: students’ A and FC from key high school scored higher than students form normal high school. 5) The students were divided into two groups according to parental education level. The split point was high school. Students whose parents’ education level was above high school scored higher in NP than the other group of students. 6) The students were clustered into 4 groups according to cluster analysis: adapted、rational、contradictory、self-centered。 7) adapted、self-centered students’SCL-90 score was lower than average level, contradictory students’ score was higher than average level, rational students’score was equal to average level. 8) Both NP and Adult ego states had significant negative correlation with SCL total score, CP ego states had significant postive correlation SCL total score. 9) NP, A ego states had significant postive correlation with family communication atmosphere, father-son, father-daughter, mother-son, mother-daughter communication status . CP had significant negative correlation with above variables. AC had significant negative correlation with family communication atmosphere . 10) The stepwise regression showed that Adult ，Control Parent ego states and communication between parents and children score had prevented from mental health significantly. Adult ego states impacted mental health through communication between parents and children.

本科实习男护生压力源、应对方式与心理健康关系的研究

Objectives:To investigate stressor and stress level,coping styles and mental health of male nursing undergraduates in clinical practice;To find out the factors that influence mental health of male nursing undergraduates in clinical practice and to put forward some suggestions to improve the mental health status of male nursing undergraduates. Methods: After doing many literaturere search both at home and abroad,I gather further consulting many nursing undergraduates in clinical practice,Finally I formulate the “Nursing Student's Clinical Stressor Scale”.80 male nursing ungraduates from Bengbu Medical Colledge were recruited. While 140 female nursing ungraduates who were in clinical practice in the same period of time were taken as a comparative group.The following questionnaire package including a background questionnair,Nursing Student's Clinical Stressor Scale NSCSS,Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire SCSQ,The Symptom Checklist 90 SCL-90 were distributed and collected together in the 14th week during the clinical practice.Of the 220 questionnaires were distributed and 198 were found to valid,the valid callback rate was 92%.The endudeed 77 were male and 121 were female .Statistices analysis was performed by SPSS13.0 and AMOS5.0 software. Results： 1.25% of male nursing undergraduates had a higher level of stress, mainly from employment,major,working nature,working contents and so on.Compared with female nursing undergraduates,male nursing undergraduates underwent a higher pressure in the employment and the profession aspect,but lower in their insufficient knowledge and ability.There was a significant negative correlation between the male undergraduates’ stress level and their satisfaction degree to clinical nursing teaching and the professional title of the clinical teachers,but it was positively correlated with their family monthly income. Stress level of female nursing undergraduates positively related with the number of children in their families,but negatively correlated with their family monthly income; 2.Male nursing undergraduates' coping style both positive and negative coping styles were adopted by male nursing undergraduates but mean at while positive coping styles.The positive coping styles adopted by male nursing undergraduates were significantly lower than that adopted by female nursing undergraduates; 3.The scores of depression,interpersonal sensitivity and anxiety in male nursing undergraduates were significantly higher than those of the nationwide youths norm.Alist all subscales scores of male nursing group were more than those of female nursing undergraduates except for fear subscale. Mental health of male nursing undergraduates was inversly correlated with the professional title of the clinical teachers and satisfaction of their majors; 4.Among male nursing undergraduates,the total score of stress and most subscale(except working nature and working contents,employment)scores of stress were positively correlated with the negative coping styles.The scores of stress level was positively correlated with the scores of SCL-90,Negative coping styles was positively correlated with the scores of SCL-90 among male nursing undergraduates,while positive coping styles were inversly correlated with most subscales(except phobic,paranoia,psychoticism)scores of SCL-90. Conclusions： 1.25% male nursing undergraduates have a higher level of stress,which is from employment, profession,working nature and working contents,financial difficulties and so on.The coping styles adopted by male nursing undergraduates were mainly positive coping styles.The mental health of male nursing undergraduates were lower; 2.Different genders have significant differences between stressors, coping style and mental health; 3.Stress,coping style,satisfaction degree to clinical nursing teaching and the professional title of the clinical teachers are predietors of mental health among male nursing undergraduates.

大学生现实自我与理想自我差异的特点、产生机制和效应

The arguments on self discrepancy can be traced back to the old ages, but the systematic investigations were started by Higgins et al. at 1985.Compared to the large number of foreign studies, only a few ones have been conducted in our own country. Numerous characteristics of undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy and a great many determinative factors have been found as well as many of its negative effects—especially the greater the actual-ideal discrepancy, the more negative on the mind and behavior. Nevertheless, there are still many issues to be solved, such as the extend of the undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy level in own country. On the other hand, although there are a great many internal and external determinative factors of actual-ideal discrepancy, how they overally influence the discrepancy of the same individual is still unknown; to what extent does actual-ideal discrepancy influence the human mind and behavior and whether the influence is positive or negtive? This research collected a sample consisting of 4 undergraduate grades and 5 majors from a middle-ranked university. We adopted questionnaires in the study, and analyzed the data using correlation analysis, regression analysis, variances analysis, and path analysis. Our aim focused on the general characteristics of the undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy in own country, the overall working mechanism of the determinative factors including environmental and personal factors on the actual-ideal discrepancy of the same individual, and the effects of the actual-ideal discrepancy on psychological adaption, motivation, and behavior. The main results are as following: (1)The improved measurement instrument possesses good validity and reliability, and can be used in future research. (2) The actual-ideal discrepancy level among undergraduates is slightly bellow medium. The proportion of undergraduates who have a higher actual-ideal discrepancy level is small. There is significant gender difference in actual-ideal discrepancy level, but no significant difference across different majors and grades. (3)This research probed the overall working mechanism of the parenting style(environmental factors) and the personality factors(personal factors) including stability, flexibility, cleverness, and esteem on the undergruaduate’s actual-ideal discrepancy. The results shows that the parenting style of warmth and understanding, stability, flexibility, and esteem influence the actual-ideal discrepancy. Esteem entirely moderate the relationship between the parenting style of warmth and understanding and actual-ideal discrepancy, partially moderate the relationship between the flexibility, stability and actual-ideal discrepancy. Furthermore, the above factors can be order as stability, flexibility, and parenting style of warmth and understanding in terms of decreasing impact on the actual-ideal discrepancy. No significant effect of cleverness and other parenting style was found. The parenting style of warmth and understanding, stability, and flexibility interactively influence the actual-ideal discrepancy in the following manner: the stability and flexibility, both of which have independent influence on the actual-ideal discrepancy, entirely moderate the relationship between the parenting style of warmth and understanding and actual-ideal discrepancy. (4) Actual-ideal discrepancy plays a negative role in adaption indices, including self-efficacy, self-identity, self-actualization. Actual-ideal discrepancy also has negative effects on the 9 symptoms measured by SCL-90, vitality, approach motivation, avoidance motivation, and performance goals. No significant influence on mastering goals was found. Actual-ideal discrepancy uniquely correlates with depression symptom. The above results contribute from the point of self-discrepancy to the understanding of self-identity of undergraduates, and they enrich the knowledge of the development of self and contribute to the understanding of the development of human personality.This research advances on the two key problems of the developmental mechanism of actual-ideal discrepancy and that promotes the knowledge of the developmental mechanism of actual-ideal discrepancy. The research probed the relationship between the actual-ideal discrepancy and motivation which is an important phenomenon and this enlarges the domain of the actual-ideal discrepancy research. The results make sure that actual-ideal discrepancy is one of the important factors influencing undergruaduate’s mind and behavior. The conclusions can provide reference and guidance in the diagnosis and intervension strategies for mental health education and counseling practice in university.

中学生日常烦恼和缓冲因素的研究

This study is a research on the stress of the secondary school students. The whole work included the construction of the Daily Hassle Scale of the Secondary School Students and the research on the mediate factors of the stressors. Six kinds of the daily hassle were found by the factor analysis: problem with academic performance, problem with school life, problem with teachers, problem with family, problem with heterosexual relation, problem with self-esteem. The reliability and validity of the scale is high. By the regression analysis of the SCL-90 score, we found that the factors which influence the physical and mental health of the secondary school students are the personal character(neuroticism, locus of control), daily hassle (problem with academic performance, problem with heterosexual relation) and age.

Investigation of polyhydroxyalkanoate production by an activated sludge microbial consortium treating artificial dairy wastewater

Petrochemical plastics/polymers are a common feature of day to day living as they occur in packaging, furniture, mobile phones, computers, construction equipment etc. However, these materials are produced from non-renewable materials and are resistant to microbial degradation in the environment. Considerable research has therefore been carried out into the production of sustainable, biodegradable polymers, amenable to microbial catabolism to CO2 and H2O. A key group of microbial polyesters, widely considered as optimal replacement polymers, are the Polyhydroxyalkaonates (PHAs). Primary research in this area has focused on using recombinant pure cultures to optimise PHA yields, however, despite considerable success, the high costs of pure culture fermentation have thus far hindered the commercial viability of PHAs thus produced. In more recent years work has begun to focus on mixed cultures for the optimisation of PHA production, with waste incorporations offering optimal production cost reductions. The scale of dairy processing in Ireland, and the high organic load wastewaters generated, represent an excellent potential substrate for bioconversion to PHAs in a mixed culture system. The current study sought to investigate the potential for such bioconversion in a laboratory scale biological system and to establish key operational and microbial characteristics of same. Two sequencing batch reactors were set up and operated along the lines of an enhanced biological phosphate removal (EBPR) system, which has PHA accumulation as a key step within repeated rounds of anaerobic/aerobic cycling. Influents to the reactors varied only in the carbon sources provided. Reactor 1 received artificial wastewater with acetate alone, which is known to be readily converted to PHA in the anaerobic step of EBPR. Reactor 2 wastewater influent contained acetate and skim milk to imitate a dairy processing effluent. Chemical monitoring of nutrient remediation within the reactors as continuously applied and EBPR consistent performances observed. Qualitative analysis of the sludge was carried out using fluorescence microscopy with Nile Blue A lipophillic stain and PHA production was confirmed in both reactors. Quantitative analysis via HPLC detection of crotonic acid derivatives revealed the fluorescence to be short chain length Polyhydroxybutyrate, with biomass dry weight accumulations of 11% and 13% being observed in reactors 1 and 2, respectively. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for medium chain length methyl ester derivatives revealed the presence of hydroxyoctanoic, -decanoic and -dodecanoic acids in reactor 1. Similar analyses in reactor 2 revealed monomers of 3-hydroxydodecenoic and 3-hydroxytetradecanoic acids. Investigation of the microbial ecology of both reactors as conducted in an attempt to identify key species potentially contributing to reactor performance. Culture dependent investigations indicated that quite different communities were present in both reactors. Reactor 1 isolates demonstrated the following species distributions Pseudomonas (82%), Delftia acidovorans (3%), Acinetobacter sp. (5%) Aminobacter sp., (3%) Bacillus sp. (3%), Thauera sp., (3%) and Cytophaga sp. (3%). Relative species distributions among reactor 2 profiled isolates were more evenly distributed between Pseudoxanthomonas (32%), Thauera sp (24%), Acinetobacter (24%), Citrobacter sp (8%), Lactococcus lactis (5%), Lysinibacillus (5%) and Elizabethkingia (2%). In both reactors Gammaproteobacteria dominated the cultured isolates. Culture independent 16S rRNA gene analyses revealed differing profiles for both reactors. Reactor 1 clone distribution was as follows; Zooglea resiniphila (83%), Zooglea oryzae (2%), Pedobacter composti (5%), Neissericeae sp. (2%) Rhodobacter sp. (2%), Runella defluvii (3%) and Streptococcus sp. (3%). RFLP based species distribution among the reactor 2 clones was as follows; Runella defluvii (50%), Zoogloea oryzae (20%), Flavobacterium sp. (9%), Simplicispira sp. (6%), Uncultured Sphingobacteria sp. (6%), Arcicella (6%) and Leadbetterella bysophila (3%). Betaproteobacteria dominated the 16S rRNA gene clones identified in both reactors. FISH analysis with Nile Blue dual staining resolved these divergent findings, identifying the Betaproteobacteria as dominant PHA accumulators within the reactor sludges, although species/strain specific allocations could not be made. GC analysis of the sludge had indicated the presence of both medium chain length as well short chain length PHAs accumulating in both reactors. In addition the cultured isolates from the reactors had been identified previously as mcl and scl PHA producers, respectively. Characterisations of the PHA monomer profiles of the individual isolates were therefore performed to screen for potential novel scl-mcl PHAs. Nitrogen limitation driven PHA accumulation in E2 minimal media revealed a greater propensity among isoates for mcl-pHA production. HPLC analysis indicated that PHB production was not a major feature of the reactor isolates and this was supported by the low presence of scl phaC1 genes among PCR screened isolates. A high percentage distribution of phaC2 mcl-PHA synthase genes was recorded, with the majority sharing high percentage homology with class II synthases from Pseudomonas sp. The common presence of a phaC2 homologue was not reflected in the production of a common polymer. Considerable variation was noted in both the monomer composition and ratios following GC analysis. While co-polymer production could not be demonstrated, potentially novel synthase substrate specificities were noted which could be exploited further in the future.

Allopregnanolone Levels Are Inversely Associated with Self-Reported Pain Symptoms in U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan-Era Veterans: Implications for Biomarkers and Therapeutics.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pain symptoms are common among Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans, many of whom continue to experience persistent pain symptoms despite multiple pharmacological interventions. Preclinical data suggest that neurosteroids such as allopregnanolone demonstrate pronounced analgesic properties, and thus represent logical biomarker candidates and therapeutic targets for pain. Allopregnanolone is also a positive GABAA receptor modulator with anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, and neuroprotective actions in rodent models. We previously reported inverse associations between serum allopregnanolone levels and self-reported pain symptom severity in a pilot study of 82 male veterans. METHODS: The current study investigates allopregnanolone levels in a larger cohort of 485 male Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans to attempt to replicate these initial findings. Pain symptoms were assessed by items from the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) querying headache, chest pain, muscle soreness, and low back pain over the past 7 days. Allopregnanolone levels were quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Associations between pain ratings and allopregnanolone levels were examined with Poisson regression analyses, controlling for age and smoking. Bivariate nonparametric Mann–Whitney analyses examining allopregnanolone levels across high and low levels of pain were also conducted. Allopregnanolone levels were inversely associated with muscle soreness [P = 0.0028], chest pain [P = 0.032], and aggregate total pain (sum of all four pain items) [P = 0.0001]. In the bivariate analyses, allopregnanolone levels were lower in the group reporting high levels of muscle soreness [P = 0.001]. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are generally consistent with our prior pilot study and suggest that allopregnanolone may function as an endogenous analgesic. Thus, exogenous supplementation with allopregnanolone could have therapeutic potential. The characterization of neurosteroid profiles may also have biomarker utility.

The notion of space in the artistic language of Alfredo Jaar

Conceptual art and communicator role has influenced the work of Chilean architect Alfredo Jaar, which has been proposed report, with other codes [verbal and nonverbal], global events influencing contemporary society. His early training as an architect has driven innovation in the design of artistic space , using the message to convey to the viewer the reason for his work for more than three decades, highlights the artistic composition with various material resources whose purpose lies in conceptualizing various topics relevant in considering the role of artistic communication. Jaar’s style is the sum of his own life experience in relation to the contradictions of the world today, which is exposed and from the perspective of postmodernism from the exploitation of the notion of space as an open stage for visual and expressiveness beyond national borders, societies and cultures of the world.

Comparison Method for Differentiation of IEC 61850 based Substation Configuration Files

The increased construction and reconstruction of smart substations has exposed a problem with version management of substation configuration description language (SCL) files due to frequent changes. This paper proposes a comparative approach for differentiation of smart substation SCL configuration files. A comparison model for SCL configuration files is built in this method, which is based on the SCL structure and abstract model defined by IEC 61850. The proposed approach adopts the algorithms of depth-first traversal, sorting, and cross comparison in order to rapidly identify differences of changed SCL configuration files. This approach can also be utilized to detect malicious tampering or illegal manipulation tailoring for SCL files. SCL comparison software is developed using the Qt platform to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Estudo das características da memória autobiográfica em idosos com e sem sintomatologia depressiva

Como objetivo neste estudo procurámos compreender numa população de idosos, com e sem sintomatologia depressiva, as características das memórias autobiográficas (MA’s), nomeadamente o seu padrão de evocação ao longo da vida, o grau de abstração das MA’s evocadas, o efeito de congruência do humor e a superioridade dos tempos de resposta na evocação de MA’s. A amostra do estudo foi selecionada através de um método não-probabilístico por conveniência, sendo constituída por 33 participantes posteriormente agrupados de acordo com a gravidade da sintomatologia depressiva (16 participantes sem diagnóstico de sintomatologia depressiva (SD) e 17 com depressão (CD) com idades entre os 65 e os 93 anos e ausência de alterações cognitivas). Foram aplicados a subescala de Depressão do Questionário Symptoms Check List (SCL-90) (Derogatis & Cleary, 1977, traduzido e adaptado por Baptista, 1993; Pereira, 2011) e o Teste de Memória Autobiográfica (TMA) (Williams & Broadbent, 1986, traduzido por Bobrowicz-Campos, Pinho & Matos, 2010). Os resultados evidenciaram diferenças quantitativas na evocação de MA’s ao longo do ciclo de vida dos indivíduos confirmando resultados prévios. Verificou-se também que os indivíduos sem depressão evocam mais MA’s específicas comparativamente aos sujeitos com depressão, embora a diferença não seja estatisticamente significativa. Observou-se que o grupo CD apresentou uma maior frequência de evocação de associados semânticos/não respostas a palavras-pista positivas comparativamente ao grupo SD, corroborando a existência de um efeito de congruência do humor. Por fim, registaram-se menores tempos de resposta até à evocação de MA, independentemente da valência da palavra-pista, com o aumento da depressão, contrariando a ideia de lentificação cognitiva no processamento de informação. As conclusões deste estudo incentivam a continuação da compreensão da influência da depressão em idosos e incitam a implementação de estratégias psicológicas e estruturas de apoio a este grupo etário.

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates from oil-containing substrates

Different oil-containing substrates, namely, used cooking oil (UCO), fatty acids-byproduct from biodiesel production (FAB) and olive oil deodorizer distillate (OODD) were tested as inexpensive carbon sources for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) using twelve bacterial strains, in batch experiments. The OODD and FAB were exploited for the first time as alternative substrates for PHA production. Among the tested bacterial strains, Cupriavidus necator and Pseudomonas resinovorans exhibited the most promising results, producing poly-3-hydroxybutyrate, P(3HB), form UCO and OODD and mcl-PHA mainly composed of 3-hydroxyoctanoate (3HO) and 3-hydroxydecanoate (3HD) monomers from OODD, respectively. Afterwards, these bacterial strains were cultivated in bioreactor. C. necator were cultivated in bioreactor using UCO as carbon source. Different feeding strategies were tested for the bioreactor cultivation of C. necator, namely, batch, exponential feeding and DO-stat mode. The highest overall PHA productivity (12.6±0.78 g L-1 day-1) was obtained using DO-stat mode. Apparently, the different feeding regimes had no impact on polymer thermal properties. However, differences in polymer‟s molecular mass distribution were observed. C. necator was also tested in batch and fed-batch modes using a different type of oil-containing substrate, extracted from spent coffee grounds (SCG) by super critical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2). Under fed-batch mode (DO-stat), the overall PHA productivity were 4.7 g L-1 day-1 with a storage yield of 0.77 g g-1. Results showed that SCG can be a bioresource for production of PHA with interesting properties. Furthermore, P. resinovorans was cultivated using OODD as substrate in bioreactor under fed-batch mode (pulse feeding regime). The polymer was highly amorphous, as shown by its low crystallinity of 6±0.2%, with low melting and glass transition temperatures of 36±1.2 and -16±0.8 ºC, respectively. Due to its sticky behavior at room temperature, adhesiveness and mechanical properties were also studied. Its shear bond strength for wood (67±9.4 kPa) and glass (65±7.3 kPa) suggests it may be used for the development of biobased glues. Bioreactor operation and monitoring with oil-containing substrates is very challenging, since this substrate is water immiscible. Thus, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) was implemented for online monitoring of the C. necator cultivation with UCO, using a transflectance probe. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was applied to relate NIR spectra with biomass, UCO and PHA concentrations in the broth. The NIR predictions were compared with values obtained by offline reference methods. Prediction errors to these parameters were 1.18 g L-1, 2.37 g L-1 and 1.58 g L-1 for biomass, UCO and PHA, respectively, which indicates the suitability of the NIR spectroscopy method for online monitoring and as a method to assist bioreactor control. UCO and OODD are low cost substrates with potential to be used in PHA batch and fed-batch production. The use of NIR in this bioprocess also opened an opportunity for optimization and control of PHA production process.