GEOCHEMISTRY AND GEOCHRONOLOGY OF SURFICIAL ACRE BASIN SEDIMENTS (WESTERN AMAZONIA): KEY INFORMATION FOR CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION.

Geochemical and geochronological analyses of samples of surficial Acre Basin sediments and fossils indicate an extensive fluvial-lacustrine system, occupying this region, desiccated slowly during the last glacial cycle (LGC). This research documents direct evidence for aridity in western Amazonia during the LGC and is important in establishing boundary conditions for LGC climate models as well as in correlating marine and continental (LGC) climate conditions.

Plataforma de gestão educativa de mediação entre a secretaria e a comunidade educativa

O presente Relatório tem como objetivo expor o trabalho desenvolvido durante o estágio, no âmbito da componente não letiva do mestrado em Ciências da Educação, realizado ao abrigo de um protocolo entre a Faculdade de Ciências Socais e Humanas (FCSH) da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL) e a Escola Profissional Gustave Eiffel (EPGE), sob orientação científica do Professor Doutor Luís Manuel Bernardo da FCSH e orientação prática pela Mestre Maria Goreti Freitas, da EPGE. O estágio teve a duração de três meses, com um total de 400 horas. Deste modo, serão descritas as práticas de estágio, sustentadas nos conhecimentos adquiridos nas componentes letivas do mestrado em Ciências da Educação. O relatório está estruturado em três capítulos, finalizando com uma reflexão sobre a produtividade do estágio para a nossa aprendizagem. No primeiro capítulo, pretende-se justificar a escolha da temática deste relatório, procedendo-se à caracterização da secretaria e da escola, fundamentada através de uma revisão de literatura, bem como por algumas entrevistas realizadas durante o estágio. Neste capítulo dá-se importância ao facto deste estágio ter permitido uma interação com toda a comunidade educativa, nas suas respetivas diferenças, em diferentes níveis e situações. No segundo capítulo, efetuou-se a uma contextualização acerca das plataformas de gestão educativas bem como a sua importância para a gestão da comunidade educativa. Evidenciou-se em particular o papel das plataformas de gestão na educação, enquanto elo de ligação entre a secretaria e toda a comunidade educativa. No terceiro capítulo levou-se a cabo a descrição das principais atividades desenvolvidas durante o estágio curricular. Por fim, apresenta-se a uma reflexão crítica sobre o processo de estágio. Todo o trabalho remete para documentos anexos, os quais comprovam a documentação complementar. Alguns destes documentos foram elaborados de forma original, designadamente as entrevistas realizadas no decurso do estágio.

On occurrence, habitat specificity and natural history of adult tiger beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae) near Manaus, Central Amazonia, and key to the larvae of tiger beetle genera

Over a seven year period from 1991 to 1997, 22 species of tiger beetles, representing nine genera, were recorded near Manaus, Brazil. In the Whitewaterfloodplains along the Rio Solimões-Amazonas (Ilha de Marchantaria), three diurnal species inhabit inundation forests and six species (two diurnal, four nocturnal) live in open areas. Data on their natural history and adaptation to living conditions in floodplains are presented. Fifteen species were located on non-flooded uplands (Reserva Florestal A. Ducke). Five diurnal species inhabit the forest floor, two species are canopy dwellers, and eight species (seven diurnal, one nocturnal) live in open areas on whitesand or laterite. Only one species, Pentacomia lacordairei, was found in both floodplain and upland forests. A key to the larvae of tiger beetle genera located near Manaus is presented.

Epidemic store for massive scale systems

The MAP-i doctoral program of the Universities of Minho, Aveiro and Porto

Assessment of liposome disruption to quantify drug delivery in vitro

Efficient liposome disruption inside the cells is a key for success with any type of drug delivery system. The efficacy of drug delivery is currently evaluated by direct visualization of labeled liposomes internalized by cells, not addressing objectively the release and distribution of the drug. Here, we propose a novel method to easily assess liposome disruption and drug release into the cytoplasm. We propose the encapsulation of the cationic dye Hoechst 34,580 to detect an increase in blue fluorescence due to its specific binding to negatively charged DNA. For that, the dye needs to be released inside the cell and translocated to the nucleus. The present approach correlates the intensity of detected fluorescent dye with liposome disruption and consequently assesses drug delivery within the cells.

Biochemical and physical surface functionalization of polycaprolactone as a key mediator of osteogenic differentiation and vascularized tissue morphogenesis

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia de Tecidos, Medicina Regenerativa e Células Estaminais.

A hybrid MAC Scheme to improve the transmission performance in body sensor networks

Wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) constitute a key technology for closing the loop between patients and healthcare providers, as WBSNs provide sensing ability, as well as mobility and portability, essential characteristics for wide acceptance of wireless healthcare technology. However, one important and difficult aspect of WBSNs is to provide data transmissions with quality of service, among other factors due to the antennas being small size and placed close to the body. Such transmissions cannot be fully provided without the assumption of a MAC protocol that solves the problems of the medium sharing. A vast number of MAC protocols conceived for wireless networks are based on random or scheduled schemes. This paper studies firstly the suitability of two MAC protocols, one using CSMA and the other TDMA, to transmit directly to the base station the signals collected continuously from multiple sensor nodes placed on the human body. Tests in a real scenario show that the beaconed TDMA MAC protocol presents an average packet loss ratio lower than CSMA. However, the average packet loss ratio is above 1.0 %. To improve this performance, which is of vital importance in areas such as e-health and ambient assisted living, a hybrid TDMA/CSMA scheme is proposed and tested in a real scenario with two WBSNs and four sensor nodes per WBSN. An average packet loss ratio lower than 0.2 % was obtained with the hybrid scheme. To achieve this significant improvement, the hybrid scheme uses a lightweight algorithm to control dynamically the start of the superframes. Scalability and traffic rate variation tests show that this strategy allows approximately ten WBSNs operating simultaneously without significant performance degradation.

Data quality in biofilm high-throughput routine analysis: intralaboratory protocol adaptation and experiment reproducibility

Biofilm research is growing more diverse and dependent on high-throughput technologies and the large-scale production of results aggravates data substantiation. In particular, it is often the case that experimental protocols are adapted to meet the needs of a particular laboratory and no statistical validation of the modified method is provided. This paper discusses the impact of intra-laboratory adaptation and non-rigorous documentation of experimental protocols on biofilm data interchange and validation. The case study is a non-standard, but widely used, workflow for Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm development, considering three analysis assays: the crystal violet (CV) assay for biomass quantification, the XTT assay for respiratory activity assessment, and the colony forming units (CFU) assay for determination of cell viability. The ruggedness of the protocol was assessed by introducing small changes in the biofilm growth conditions, which simulate minor protocol adaptations and non-rigorous protocol documentation. Results show that even minor variations in the biofilm growth conditions may affect the results considerably, and that the biofilm analysis assays lack repeatability. Intra-laboratory validation of non-standard protocols is found critical to ensure data quality and enable the comparison of results within and among laboratories.

An efficient chronic unpredictable stress protocol to induce stress-related responses in C57BL/6 mice

Exposure to chronic stress can have broad effects on health ranging from increased predisposition for neuropsychiatric disorders to deregulation of immune responses. The chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) protocol has been widely used to study the impact of stress exposure in several animal models and consists in the random, intermittent, and unpredictable exposure to a variety of stressors during several weeks. CUS has consistently been shown to induce behavioral and immunological alterations typical of the chronic stress-response. Unfortunately C57BL/6 mice, one of the most widely used mouse strains, due to the great variety of genetically modified lines, seem to be resistant to the commonly used 4-week-long CUS protocol. The definition of an alternative CUS protocol allowing the use of C57BL/6 mice in chronic stress experiments is a need. Here, we show that by extending the CUS protocol to 8?weeks is possible to induce a chronic stress-response in C57BL/6 mice, as revealed by abrogated body weight gain, increased adrenals weight, and an overactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis with increased levels of serum corticosterone. Moreover, we also observed stress-associated behavioral alterations, including the potentiation of anxious-like and depressive-like behaviors and a reduction of exploratory behavior, as well as subtle stress-related changes in the cell population of the thymus and of the spleen. The present protocol for C57BL/6 mice consistently triggers the spectrum of CUS-induced changes observed in rats and, thus, will be highly useful to researchers that need to use this particular mouse strain as an animal model of neuropsychiatric disorders and/or immune deregulation related to CUS.

Widespread environmental contamination with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex revealed by a molecular detection protocol

Environmental contamination with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) has been considered crucial for bovine tuberculosis persistence in multi-host-pathogen systems. However, MTC contamination has been difficult to detect due to methodological issues. In an attempt to overcome this limitation we developed an improved protocol for the detection of MTC DNA. MTC DNA concentration was estimated by the Most Probable Number (MPN) method. Making use of this protocol we showed that MTC contamination is widespread in different types of environmental samples from the Iberian Peninsula, which supports indirect transmission as a contributing mechanism for the maintenance of bovine tuberculosis in this multi-host-pathogen system. The proportion of MTC DNA positive samples was higher in the bovine tuberculosis-infected than in presumed negative area (0.32 and 0.18, respectively). Detection varied with the type of environmental sample and was more frequent in sediment from dams and less frequent in water also from dams (0.22 and 0.05, respectively). The proportion of MTC-positive samples was significantly higher in spring (p<0.001), but MTC DNA concentration per sample was higher in autumn and lower in summer. The average MTC DNA concentration in positive samples was 0.82 MPN/g (CI95 0.70-0.98 MPN/g). We were further able to amplify a DNA sequence specific of Mycobacterium bovis/caprae in 4 environmental samples from the bTB-infected area.

Occupational stress and coping among portuguese military police officers

This study describes the professional experience of military police officers from the Portuguese Republican National Guard (N = 95). We focused on the main sources and consequences of stress and the coping strategies used to deal with stress. The evaluation protocol included one closed-ended question and four open-ended questions. Data analysis of meaningful text segments was conceptually based and data categorization followed deductive content analysis. Results allowed the identification of 483 meaning units. Factors intrinsic to the job and the relationships at work were the main stressors referred by participants. The consequences of stressors were evident at an individual level, affecting family, psychological, and physical/health domains. The coping strategies used to deal with the main source of stress in the professional career were focused on problem solving (e.g., active confrontation) and emotional regulation (e.g., situation acceptance). Practical implications and future avenues of research with these professionals are discussed.

Updated List and identification key of 219 tree species of white sand forests of the Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve, Loreto, Peru

White sand forests, although low in nutrients, are characterized not only by several endemic species of plants but also by several monodominant species. In general, plants in this forest have noticeably thin stems. The aim of this work was to elaborate a parallel dichotomous key for the identification of Angiosperm tree species occurring on white sand forests at the Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve, Loreto, Peru. We compiled a list of species from several publications in order to have the most comprehensive list of species that occur on white sand forest. We found 219 species of Angiosperm, the more abundant species were Pachira brevipes (26.27%), Caraipa utilis (17.90%), Dicymbe uaiparuensis (13.27%), Dendropanax umbellatus (3.28%), Sloanea spathulata (2.52%), Ternstroemia klugiana (2.30%), Haploclathra cordata (2.28%), Parkia igneiflora (1.20%), Emmotum floribundum (1.06%), Ravenia biramosa (1.04%) among others. Most species of white sand forests can be distinguished using characteristics of stems, branches and leaves. This key is very useful for the development of floristic inventories and related projects on white sand forests from Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve.

The influence of kaolin application on key metabolic pathways associated with grape berry quality: a molecular and biochemical analysis

Dissertação de mestrado em Biologia Molecular, Biotecnologia e Bioempreendedorismo em Plantas

Study of grapevine solute transporters involved in berry quality. A biochemical and molecular approach

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia de Plantas

HOXA9 as a key regulator in glioma initiation, aggressiveness and response to therapy

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Saúde