The Academic-enterprise experiences framework as a guide for design education

The establishment of support platforms for the development of a new culture in design education, in order to achieve both research exploitation and its results, as an approach to the industrial community, challenges higher education institutions to rethink their functioning, divided between investigation on their own initiative or on demand, and its usefulness / practical application. At the same time, through design education, how can they be the engine that aggregates all these frequently antagonistic interests? Polytechnic institutes are predisposed to collaboration and interdisciplinarity. In our course of Technology and Design of Furniture, the availability of a production unit, testing laboratories, and expertise in engineering, design and marketing, encourage the development of a holistic project. In order to develop such knowledge, we adapt three important ways of thinking in designing interactions influenced by the traditional approach, namely, 1) identifying and understanding a design problem, i.e. a market need, 2) defining the design process and knowing what can be used for design education, i.e. opportunities for design education, and 3) sustainability of this framework and design projects' alignment with education in the same field. We explain our approach by arguing from the academicenterprise experiences perspective. This concept is proposed as a way to achieve those three ways of thinking in design education. Then, a set of interaction attributes is defined to explain how engineering and product design education can enhance meaningful relations with manufacturers, stakeholders and society in general. A final discussion is presented with the implications and benefits of this approach. The results suggest that through academic-enterprise partnerships in design, several goals such as students' motivation, product design innovation and potential for knowledge transfer to industries can be achieved.

Genetic architecture and sexual conflict in the life history of Drosophila

Because males and females of a species express many homologous traits, sex-specific selection on these traits can shift the opposite sex away from its phenotypic optimum. This mode of sexually antagonistic selection, known as intralocus sexual conflict (IaSC), arises when the evolution of sexual dimorphism is constrained by the two sexes sharing a common gene pool. As IaSC has been historically overlooked, many outstanding questions remain. For example, what is its contribution in maintaining genetic variation for fitness in populations? What characters underlie this variation in fitness? How does the selection history of the population influence the standing genetic variation? I used the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to attempt to resolve some of these questions. The first part of my Master’s project involved assessing the detectability of sexually antagonistic alleles in populations at different stages of adaptation to the laboratory. For the second part of my Master’s project, I looked for evidence of conflict during the development of body size, a well-known sexually dimorphic trait. While the first part of my thesis proved inconclusive, the second part revealed a surprising source of sexual conflict in pre-adult stages of D. melanogaster.

Fungal endophytic communities associated to the phyllosphere of grapevine cultivars under different types of management

Fungal endophytes present in different asymptomatic grapevine plants (Vitis vinifera L.) located in different vineyards within Alentejo, a highly important viticulture region in Portugal, were identified in this study. Sampled grapevine plants included the three most representative cultivars in the region, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Aragonez, growing under two different modes of management, conventional and biological. Sixteen fungal taxa were identified through sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region. Total number of endophytic fungi isolated showed significant differences both in management mode and in cultivars, with higher numbers in grapevines under conventional mode and from Syrah cultivar. The composition of fungal endophytic communities did not show significant differences among cultivars, but differences were observed between fungal communities isolated from grapevines under biological or conventional modes. The most fungal taxa isolated from grapevines cultivated under biological mode were Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium sp., and Nigrospora oryzae, and under conventional mode Botrytis cinerea, Epicoccum nigrum, and Epicoccum sp. These differences suggest that the different products used in grapevine production have impacts in fungal endophytic composition. Further investigation of the identified fungi with respect to their antagonistic characteristics and potential use in plant protection to ensure food safety is now in course.

Green mitigation strategy for cultural heritage: bacterial potential for biocide production

Several biosurfactants with antagonistic activity are produced by a variety of microorganisms. Lipopeptides (LPPs) produced by some Bacillus strains, including surfactin, fengycin and iturin are synthesized nonribosomally by mega-peptide synthetase (NRPS) units and they are particularly relevant as antifungal agents. Characterisation, identification and evaluation of the potentials of several bacterial isolates were undertaken in order to establish the production of active lipopeptides against biodeteriogenic fungi from heritage assets. Analysis of the iturin operon revealed four open reading frames (ORFs) with the structural organisation of the peptide synthetases. Therefore, this work adopted a molecular procedure to access antifungal potential of LPP production by Bacillus strains in order to exploit the bioactive compounds synthesis as a green natural approach to be applied in biodegraded cultural heritage context. The results reveal that the bacterial strains with higher antifungal potential exhibit the same morphological and biochemical characteristics, belonging to the genera Bacillus. On the other hand, the higher iturinic genetic expression, for Bacillus sp. 3 and Bacillus sp. 4, is in accordance with the culture antifungal spectra. Accordingly, the adopted methodology combining antifungal screening and molecular data is represent a valuable tool for quick identification of iturin-producing strains, constituting an effective approach for confirming the selection of lipopeptides producer strains.

Combined Use of NMR, LC-ESIMS and Antifungal Tests for Rapid Detection of Bioactive Lipopeptides Produced by Bacillus

The science and technology interact with the art in several ways. Biotechnological coupled with analytical approaches can play an important role in protecting and preserving cultural heritage for future generations. Many microorganisms influenced by environmental conditions are the main responsible for biological contamination in built heritage. Biocides based on chemical compounds have been used to mitigate this problem. Thus, it is vitally important to develop proper remediation actions based on environmentally innocuous alternative. Bacillus specie is emerging as an optimistic alternative for built heritage treatment due to their capacity to produce secondary metabolites with antagonistic activities against many fungal pathogens. Therefore, the intent of this work was to access a rapid evaluation of antifungal potential of bioactive metabolites produced by Bacillus strains and simultaneously their characterization using spectroscopic (NMR) and chromatographic techniques (LCESI- MS). The high antifungal activity obtained for Bacillus sp. active compounds produced in this study confirms the great potential to suppress biodeteriogenic fungi growth on historical artworks. Additionally, the proposed methodology allowed to access bioactive metabolites produced without need of the laborious total previous isolation and could be used as a viable alternative to be employed for screening and production of new green biocides.

Toxicological assessment of novel green biocides for cultural heritage.

The damaging of buildings and monuments by biological contamination is a cause of serious concern. Biocides based on chemical toxic compounds have been used to mitigate this problem. However, in the past decade many of the most effective biocides have been banned due to their environmental and health hazards. Therefore, proper remediation actions for microbiologically contaminated historic materials based on environmentally safe solution is of vital importance. Bacillus species are emerging as a promising alternative for built heritage treatment. They produce a great diversity of secondary metabolites with biological activity, well known to possess antagonistic activities against many fungal pathogens. In order to evaluate the antifungal activity of the novel biocides produced in our laboratory by cultures of selected bacterial strains, liquid interaction assays using four biodeteriogenic fungi were achieved, revealing a nearly 100% of inhibitory capacity to fungal proliferation. To confirm their effective safe toxicological properties, in vivo tests using two different biological models were performed. The lyophilized supernatant of the Bacillus culture broth showed no lethality against brine shrimp and also no toxicological effects in Swiss mice through administration of acute dose of 5000 mg/kg by oral gavage. In fact, the bioactive compounds were no lethal at the tested dose unlike Preventol® (commercial biocide) that induced acute toxicity with 10 times minor concentration dose administrated in the same conditions. Therefore, the new bioactive compounds that suppress growth of biodeteriogenic fungi on historical artworks, presenting at the same time no toxicity against other living organisms, constituting an efficient and green safe solution for biodegradation/biodeterioration treatment of Cultural Heritage.

Essential – Mineral Balance on Growing Male Cattle

An experiment was designed to study the effect of unconventional protein source on the essential minerals balances of growing cattle.  The experiment had been conducted by experimental method with Completely Randomized Block Design, on twelve growing male cattle of Ongole Grade.  Based on the body weight, the animal trial was separated to three blocks, as the replication.  The tested treatment was four kind of protein sources in the ration (R):  R1 = kapok – seeds cakes; R2 = lamtoro – leave meals; R3 = cacao – pod meals and R4 = goat’s faeces.  The compose of ration was 50 percent of Elephant grass and 50 percent of concentrate (DM basis).  The measured variables were: the essential mineral balances i.e. Calcium, Phosphorus, Sodium, Potasium, Chlorine, Magnesium, Sulphur and Nitrogen.  The balance – trial was conducted by the total collection method.  The data was analyzed by the analysis of variance, and that of the interaction (Synergistic and antagonistic) by the Regression Analysis.  The result indicated that the total of essential mineral balance of each protein source or each ration on growing cattle of Ongole Grade is:  Cacao – pod meals = 116.09 g/day; Goat’s faeces = 111.89 g/day; lamtoro – leave meal = 84.64 g/day and Kapok – seed cake = 78.55 g/day.  These phenomena shown that all of the animal trial was in normal growth.  The strong synergistic interaction was reached by Ca « P (P <0.01; R2 = 0.92 – 0.98) while the weak interaction by Na « Cl (P > 0.05; R2 = 0.03 – 0.05).  Among the five couples of mineral elements of the antagonistic interaction the strong interaction was N ® S (P < 0.01; R2 = 0.70 – 0.75), while the weak interaction was Na ® P (P > 0.05; R2 = 0.08).  Based on all the variables measured, the experiment is concluded that: (1) all of the unconventional protein sources are able to improve the quality of the ration, indicated by the positive essential mineral balance on growing cattle of Ongole grade; (2) based on the total essential mineral balance, the most suitable protein source for growing cattle is cacao – pod meals; (3) the strong synergistic interaction was reached by Ca <----> P, while the antagonistic interaction was N ----> S.  (Animal Production 6(2): 101-109 (2004) Key Words: mineral, protein source, Ongole, cattle

ORDER AND DISORDER: THE DIALECTIC OF TRICKERY IN "OSCARINA"

Marques Rebelo adopts the suburban areas of the city of Rio de Janeiro as a privileged space to situate his narratives, choosing individuals who represent the lower classes of society as characters. These characters, given the precarious nature of their condition, living in border situation between order and disorder, oscillate between hope and disillusion, sometimes glimpsing the remote possibility of upward mobility, now threatened by the fear of poverty and marginality. By doing this, the writer puts into scene two different social worlds living side by side and peacefully: those who seek to live according to the values ​​of the bourgeois social order and those who transgress the laws and moral principles and live by artifices and illegal means. This article examines some aspects of the short story "Oscarina", trying to understand how the worlds of order and disorder, or work and trickery are configured in narrative form through the trajectory of the character Jorge, the protagonist of the story. We seek to demonstrate that the boundaries between the two supposedly antagonistic universes are eventually diluted by the movement of the protagonist, who moves between the two spaces, which communicate and intertwined dialectically.