Sediment physicochemical properties condition pollutant association : a multivariate study of polybrominated diphenyl ethers on the Mendoza River irrigation areas

This work is a multidisciplinary environmental study that provides new insights into the relationships between sediment-organic matter characteristics and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) concentration. The aim of the present multivariate study was to correlate factors influencing PBDEs accumulation in sediment by using principal component analysis (PCA). Organic matter studies by Fourier Transform-Infrared spectroscopy and physicochemical analyses (Total Organic Carbon, pH, electrical conductivity) of sediment samples were considered for PCA. Samples were collected from an artificial irrigation network on the Mendoza River irrigation areas. PCA provided a comprehensive analysis of the studied variables, identifying two components that explained 63% of the data variance. Those factors were mainly associated to organic matter degradation degree, which represent a new insight into the relationships between organic matter in sediments and PBDEs fate. In this sense it was possible to determine that not only the content but also the type of organic matter (chemical structure) could be relevant when evaluating PBDEs accumulation and transport in the environment. Typification of organic matter may be a useful tool to predict more feasible areas where PBDE, may accumulate, as well as sediment transportation capability.

Normalizar la utopía: Un proyecto de sistematización de la normativa en vivienda social = Normalizing Utopia: A Project of Systematization of Regulations on Social Housing

La presente tesis doctoral aborda el estudio del proyecto de vivienda colectiva social desde la noción de norma, entendida desde la sistematización o normalización de los instrumentos del proyecto arquitectónico de vivienda protegida. Esto es, desde una idea de tipificación taxonómica en cuanto ajuste a un conjunto de reglas comunes productoras de sistemas normativos. La hipótesis de partida se basa en la consideración de la vivienda pública como un laboratorio de estudio histórico de los ideales de confort y calidad de vida. Este campo de pruebas ha constituido una sólida base que ha servido como punto de encuentro muy particular entre proyecto y normativa desde las primeras vanguardias europeas hasta la actualidad. El principal objetivo de la investigación es la revalorización de una normativa de vivienda que ha producido ejemplos de innegable calidad en el contexto nacional e internacional, así como un intento de actualización de su codificación. La investigación se sirve de los instrumentos específicos de la disciplina arquitectónica para explicar una disociación detectada desde la segunda mitad del siglo pasado entre la utopía del proyecto social de vivienda y el pragmatismo de la norma que lo regula, más allá de los aspectos sociales y culturales asociados a las nuevas composiciones familiares, las tecnologías cambiantes, los ritos domésticos contemporáneos o el valor creciente del tiempo libre. La propuesta de una nueva terminología que aborde nuevas relaciones en el acercamiento al proyecto de vivienda desde la normativa española deriva en un conjunto de estrategias de proyecto desde las que proponer sistemas normativos. Dichas estrategias se basan principalmente en mecanismos de cualificación espacial que permitan un nuevo acercamiento entre dichas normas y las formas de habitar actuales. ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis deals with the study of the project of social collective housing from the notion of rule, understanding it from the systematization or standardization of the instruments of architectural project for social housing. Thus, it deals with an idea of taxonomic typification as an adjustment to a set of common rules which produce regulation systems. The initial hypothesis is based on the consideration of public housing as a laboratory for studying the historical ideals of comfort and quality of life. This testing ground has been a solid base that has served as a very specific meeting point between project and regulations from the first European avant‐garde to nowadays. The main objective of this research is the revaluation of housing regulations, which have produced examples of undeniable quality in the national and international stage, as well as an attempt to update their codification. The research assumes the specific tools of the discipline of architecture for explaining a dissociation detected between the utopia of the project for social housing and the pragmatism of the regulations from the second half of last century, beyond social and cultural aspects associated to the new family arrangements, the changing technologies, the contemporary domestic rituals or the rising value of leisure time. The proposal of a new terminology that tackles new relations in the approach to housing project from the Spanish legislation results in a set of strategies to propose regulation systems. Those strategies are mainly based on mechanisms for spatial qualification which allow a new approach between these rules and the current ways of living.

Estructuras óptimas de detección y corrección de errores dirigidas a computadores construidos con lógica de alto nivel de Integración: aplicación industrial

Este trabajo trata de la aplicación de los códigos detectores y correctores de error al diseño de los Computadores Tolerantes a Fallos, planteando varias estrategias óptimas de detección y corrección para algunos subsistemas. En primer lugar,"se justifica la necesidad de aplicar técnicas de Tolerancia a Fallos. A continuación se hacen previsiones de evolución de la tecnología de Integración, así como una tipificación de los fallos en circuitos Integrados. Partiendo de una recopilación y revisión de la teoría de códigos, se hace un desarrollo teórico cuya aplicación permite obligar a que algunos de estos códigos sean cerrados respecto de las operaciones elementales que se ejecutan en un computador. Se plantean estrategias óptimas de detección y corrección de error para sus subsistemas mas Importantes, culminando en el diseño, realización y prueba de una unidad de memoria y una unidad de proceso de datos con amplias posibilidades de detección y corrección de errores.---ABSTRACT---The present work deals with the application of error detecting and correctíng codes to the désign of Fault Tolerant Computers. Several óptimo» detection and correction strategies are presented to be applied in some subsystems. First of all, the necessity of applying Fault Tolerant techniques is explained. Later, a study on íntegration technology evolution and typification of Integrated circuit faults 1s developed. Based on a compilation and revisión of Coding Theory, a theoretical study is carried out. It allows us to force some of these codes to be closed over elementary operations. Optimum detection and correction techniques are presented for the raost important subsystems. Flnally, the design, building and testing of a memory unit and a processing unit provided with wlde error detection and correction posibilities 1s shown.

Biosystematics of the Genus Andryala L. (Asteraceae)

Andryala (Asteraceae: Cichorieae) is a little-known Mediterranean-Macaronesian genus whose taxonomy is much in need of revision. The aim of the present biosystematic study was to elucidate species relationships within this genus based on morphological and molecular data. In this study several taxa are recognised: 17 species, 14 subspecies, and 3 hybrids. Among these, 5 species are Macaronesian endemics (A. glandulosa, A. sparsiflora, A. crithmifolia Aiton, A. pinnatifida, and A. perezii), 4 species are Northwest African endemics (A. mogadorensis, A. maroccana, A. chevallieri, and A. nigricans) and one species is endemic to Romania (A. laevitomentosa). Historical background regarding taxonomic delimitation in the genus is addressed from Linnaean to present day concepts, as well as the origin of the name Andryala. The origin of Asteraceae and the systematic position of Andryala is shortly summarised. The morphological study was based on a bibliographic review and the revision of 1066 specimens of 13 herbaria as well as additional material collected during fieldwork. The variability of the morphological characters of the genus, including both vegetative taxonomic characters (root, stem, leaf and indumentum characters) and reproductive ones (inflorescence, floret, fruit and pappus characters), is assessed. Numerical analysis of the morphological data was performed using different similarity or dissimilarity measures and coefficients, as well as ordination and clustering methods. Results support the segregation of the recognised taxa and the congruence of the several analyses in the separation of the recognised taxa (using quantitative, binary or multi-state characters). The proposed taxonomy for Andryala includes a new infra-generic classification, new taxa and new combinations and ranks, typifications and diagnostic keys (one for the species and several for subspecies). For each taxon a list of synonyms, typification comments and a detailed description are provided, just as comments on taxonomy and nomenclature, and a brief discussion on karyology. Additionally, information on ecology and conservation status as well as on distribution and a list of studied material are also presented. Phylogenetic analyses based on different nuclear and chloroplast DNA markers, using Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods of inference, were performed. Results support three main lineages: separate ones for the relict species A. agardhii and A. laevitomentosa and a third including the majority of the Andryala species that underwent a relatively rapid and recent speciation. They also suggest a single colonization event of Madeira and the Canary Islands from the Mediterranean region, followed by insular speciation. Biogeography and speciation within the genus are briefly discussed, including a proposal for the centre of origin of the genus and possible dispersal routes.

In journalism, we are all men: material voices in the production of gender meanings

This study uses qualitative data to examine how male and female professionals in newsrooms experience and vocalize gender both in their lifeworlds and in media production in general. The research was based on semi-structured interviews with 18 Portuguese journalists. The responses were analysed through phenomenological and feminist lenses and indicated the issues men and women considered salient or negligible within our realms of inquiry. The study used the lived experience of the media professionals to identify two clusters of meaning that help explain how material practices and norms in journalism are lived and understood in the newsroom: gender views in journalism and gender differences in day-to-day professional life. Overall, the findings confirm that organizational factors and the traditional gender system play important roles in journalists’ attitudes and perceptions about the role of gender in their work. The results are significant because they show how gender is simultaneously embodied and denied by both female and male journalists in a process of phenomenological “typification” and adoption of a “natural attitude” towards the gender system that may prevent the disclosure of new possibilities and understandings of the objective social world and of our gender relations.

Análise de risco para computação em nuvem

Têm-se notado nos últimos anos um crescimento na adoção de tecnologias de computação em nuvem, com uma adesão inicial por parte de particulares e pequenas empresas, e mais recentemente por grandes organizações. Esta tecnologia tem servido de base ao aparecimento de um conjunto de novas tendências, como a Internet das Coisas ligando os nossos equipamentos pessoais e wearables às redes sociais, processos de big data que permitem tipificar comportamentos de clientes ou ainda facilitar a vida ao cidadão com serviços de atendimento integrados. No entanto, tal como em todas as novas tendências disruptivas, que trazem consigo um conjunto de oportunidades, trazem também um conjunto de novos riscos que são necessários de serem equacionados. Embora este caminho praticamente se torne inevitável para uma grande parte de empresas e entidades governamentais, a sua adoção como funcionamento deve ser alvo de uma permanente avaliação e monitorização entre as vantagens e riscos associados. Para tal, é fundamental que as organizações se dotem de uma eficiente gestão do risco, de modo que possam tipificar os riscos (identificar, analisar e quantificar) e orientar-se de uma forma segura e metódica para este novo paradigma. Caso não o façam, os riscos ficam evidenciados, desde uma possível perda de competitividade face às suas congéneres, falta de confiança dos clientes, dos parceiros de negócio e podendo culminar numa total inatividade do negócio. Com esta tese de mestrado desenvolve-se uma análise genérica de risco tendo como base a Norma ISO 31000:2009 e a elaboração de uma proposta de registo de risco, que possa servir de auxiliar em processos de tomada de decisão na contratação e manutenção de serviços de Computação em Nuvem por responsáveis de organizações privadas ou estatais.

Otimização da caracterização de fibras musculares estriadas em cão (Canis familiaris) por histoquímica e imunohistoquímica com potencial aplicação ao diagnóstico

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina Veterinária