Estudio de Factibilidad para la creación de una empresa dedicada a la Producción y Comercialización de Yogur de Uvilla bajo en Calorias, ubicada e el Cantón Cayambe con Mercado objetivo la Ciudad de Quito

En el mundo, las empresas y países que han incursionado en la industria láctea se han especializado en la elaboración de algún producto específico. Dentro de los principales productos derivados de leche podemos mencionar: leche fluida o fresca, leche en polvo, quesos y otros productos lácteos. Según la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) la producción mundial de leche entera en el 2008 alcanzó un volumen de 693,2 millones de toneladas equivalentes en leche, lo que representa un crecimiento de 2,5% respecto al 2007.1

Mitochondrial dysfunction in fatty acid β-oxidation disorders

Mitochondria are central organelles for cell survival with particular relevance in energy production and signalling, being mitochondrial fatty acid β–oxidation (FAO) one of the metabolic pathways harboured in this organelle. FAO disorders (FAOD) are among the most well studied inborn errors of metabolism, mainly due to their impact in health. Nevertheless, some questions remain unsolved, as their prevalence in certain European regions and how pathophysiological determinants combine towards the phenotype. Analysis of data from newborn screening programs from Portugal and Spain allowed the estimation of the birth prevalence of FAOD revealing that this group of disorders presents in Iberia (and particularly in Portugal) one of the highest European birth prevalence, mainly due to the high birth prevalence of medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. These results highlight the impact of this group of genetic disorders in this European region. The characterization of mitochondrial proteome, from patients fibroblasts with FAOD, namely multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD) and long chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (LCHADD), provided a global perspective of the mitochondrial proteome plasticity in these disorders and highlights the main molecular pathways involved in their pathogenesis. Severe MADD forms show an overexpression of chaperones, antioxidant enzymes (MnSOD), and apoptotic proteins. An overexpression of glycolytic enzymes, which reflects cellular adaptation to energy deficiency due to FAO blockage, was also observed. When LCHADD fibroblasts were analysed a metabolic switching to glycolysis was also observed with overexpression of apoptotic proteins and modulation of the antioxidant defence system. Severe LCHADD present increased ROS alongside with up regulation of MnSOD while moderate forms have lower ROS and down-regulation of MnSOD. This probably reflects the role of MnSOD in buffering cellular ROS, maintain them at levels that allow cells to avoid damage and start a cellular response towards survival. When ROS levels are very high cells have to overexpress MnSOD for detoxifying proposes. When severe forms of MADD were compared to moderate forms no major differences were noticed, most probably because ROS levels in moderate MADD are high enough to trigger a response similar to that observed in severe forms. Our data highlights, for the first time, the differences in the modulation of antioxidant defence among FAOD spectrum. Overall, the data reveals the main pathways modulated in FAOD and the importance of ROS levels and antioxidant defence system modulation for disease severity. These results highlight the complex interaction between phenotypic determinants in FAOD that include genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. The development of future better treatment approaches is dependent on the knowledge on how all these determinants interact towards phenotype.!

Contributos para o estudo da clorose férrica

Dissertação de mest., Hortofruticultura, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univ. do Algarve, 2013

An integrated and comparative approach to genetic selection of the aquaculture species Dicentrarchus labrax

The European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax, is one of the most important marine species cultivated in Southern Europe and has not benefited from selective breeding. One of the major goals in the sea bass (D. labrax) aquaculture industry is to understand and control the complexity of growth associated traits. The aim of the methodology developed for the studies reported in the thesis was not only to establish genetic and genomic resources for sea bass, but to also develop a conceptual strategy to efficiently create knowledge in a research environment that can easily be transferred to the aquaculture industry. The strategy involved; i) establishing an annotated sea bass transcriptome and then using it to, ii) identify new genetic markers for target QTL regions so that, iii) new QTL analysis could be performed and marker based resolution of the DNA regions of interest increased, and then iv) to merge the linkage map and the physical map in order to map the QTL confidence intervals to the sea bass genome and identify genes underlying the targeted traits. Finally to test if genes in the QTL regions that are candidates for divergent growth phenotypes have modified patterns of transcription that reflects the modified whole organism physiology SuperSAGE-SOLiD4 gene expression was used with sea bass with high growth heterogeneity. The SuperSAGE contributed to significantly increase the transcriptome information for sea bass muscle, brain and liver and also led to the identification of putative candidate genes lying in the genomic region of growth related QTL. Lastly all differentially expressed transcripts in brain, liver and muscle of the European sea bass with divergent specific growth rates were mapped to gene pathways and networks and the regulatory pathways most affected identified and established the tissue specific changes underlying the divergent SGR. Owing to the importance of European sea bass to Mediterranean aquaculture and the developed genomics resources from the present thesis and from other studies it should be possible to implement genetic selection programs using marker assisted selection.

Importância da formação contínua dos professores do ensino básico e secundário na utilização pedagógica das tecnologias de informação e comunicação

O presente relatório enquadra-se no âmbito da obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ensino de Informática, na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade do Algarve. É o produto final referente à minha atividade profissional durante o período compreendido entre 2007 e 2012. A atividade profissional decorreu em diferentes escolas do ensino básico e secundário de Portugal. Na primeira parte faço uma descrição detalhada de todas as atividades referentes ao meu percurso profissional como professor de Informática. Na segunda parte apresento uma breve fundamentação teórica acerca da temática em análise, relativa à Importância da Formação Contínua dos Professores do Ensino Básico e Secundário na Utilização Pedagógica das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação. Inclui ainda uma componente sobre os modelos de ensino e aprendizagem. Termino com uma reflexão sobre o meu percurso profissional e sobre a minha opinião baseada na experiência acumulada sobre a formação contínua de professores no âmbito das TIC e competências pedagógicas com as TIC.

Análise de uma unidade documental: biblioteca da Universidade do Algarve - Campus da Penha

Apresenta-se este relatório na sequência do curso de Mestrado em Ciências Documentais, ramo de Biblioteca e Documentação, cuja entidade promotora é a Universidade do Algarve – Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Sendo funcionário da Câmara Municipal de Tavira, a desempenhar funções na Biblioteca Pública Municipal Álvaro de Campos, pensei em fazer o meu estágio na Biblioteca da UALG uma vez que esta apresenta outras realidades e tipologias documentais diferentes por forma a acrescentar outros conhecimentos e aprender algo de novo. A primeira fase do estágio foi conhecer todos os serviços e recursos existentes na Biblioteca da UALG – Campus da Penha, familiarizar-me e trabalhar tecnicamente os registos ao nível das monografias, recursos contínuos ou material não livro em termos de catalogação, indexação e classificação da documentação e, assim contribuir para o desenvolvimento de competências profissionais. O presente relatório está estruturado em seis capítulos da forma seguinte: O primeiro é a introdução, onde apresento uma breve clarificação do projecto de estágio proposto e seus objectivos. O segundo capítulo mostra a caracterização da análise bibliográfica em geral e particularmente do fundo local e fundo regional da Biblioteca Pública Municipal de Tavira, onde exerço a minha actividade profissional. O terceiro capítulo faz a caracterização da Biblioteca da UALG, mostrando qual a sua missão, os objectivos e outros aspectos que a caracterizam. O quarto capítulo refere o serviço de atendimento à comunidade académica e ao público em geral que se dirige à Biblioteca da UALG. O quinto capítulo identifica as tarefas desenvolvidas por mim, enquanto estagiário, análise do estudo bibliográfico do fundo local e regional da Biblioteca Municipal de Tavira e identificação das fases do tratamento documental elaborado na Biblioteca da UALG. O sexto e último capítulo diz respeito ao impacto das novas tecnologias nos sistemas de informação documentais, observando-se alguns temas que no primeiro capítulo deste trabalho (Introdução) será melhor especificado. E, a finalizar este trabalho faço algumas considerações finais sobre a minha experiência de estágio na UALG - Penha embora, por decisão própria, não queira constituir este tema como capítulo.

Structural issues on the portuguese fig production: recent developments

Fig production evolution registered an enormous decrease in Portugal on the last decades. In what concerns any agricultural production and its evolution we have to look to the structural issues affecting the culture trying to understand what is going on and where to act. This paper will begin to show the decrease on Portuguese fig production, according to FAO statistics. Then, we will look to this evolution in parallel with the evolution of farm structure on the last decades that has been quite strong, in Portugal, even if in what concerns farm area and the distribution of farms among area classes there has been only slight modifications. The population evolution is also a matter of importance and we will try to characterize the Portuguese agricultural population, in what concerns educational level and age and then move to fig producers, trying to understand what is the age and educational level of those who produce rig in Portugal. Finally, we will briefly focus on the economics of production. As a conclusion, there will be some appointments on the fig production future in Portugal.

A influência da batimetria no regime de impacte de tempestades. Estudo de um caso prático com recurso a SIG

Dissertação de Mestrado, Geomática – Ramo de Ciências da Informação Geográfica, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

A presença da metafísica na ciência

Tese de doutoramento, História e Filosofia das Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Machine learning methods for quantitative structure-property relationship modeling

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Bioinformática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Wind resource mapping using landscape roughness and spatial interpolation methods

Energy saving, reduction of greenhouse gasses and increased use of renewables are key policies to achieve the European 2020 targets. In particular, distributed renewable energy sources, integrated with spatial planning, require novel methods to optimise supply and demand. In contrast with large scale wind turbines, small and medium wind turbines (SMWTs) have a less extensive impact on the use of space and the power system, nevertheless, a significant spatial footprint is still present and the need for good spatial planning is a necessity. To optimise the location of SMWTs, detailed knowledge of the spatial distribution of the average wind speed is essential, hence, in this article, wind measurements and roughness maps were used to create a reliable annual mean wind speed map of Flanders at 10 m above the Earth’s surface. Via roughness transformation, the surface wind speed measurements were converted into meso- and macroscale wind data. The data were further processed by using seven different spatial interpolation methods in order to develop regional wind resource maps. Based on statistical analysis, it was found that the transformation into mesoscale wind, in combination with Simple Kriging, was the most adequate method to create reliable maps for decision-making on optimal production sites for SMWTs in Flanders.

O impacto do excesso de gordura corporal sobre a remodelação óssea de adolescentes

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A organização do espaço: o seu impacto na aprendizagem das crianças

Relatório da Prática Profissional Supervisionada Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar

Geostatistical Prediction of Ocean Outfall Plume Characteristics Based on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Geostatistics has been successfully used to analyze and characterize the spatial variability of environmental properties. Besides giving estimated values at unsampled locations, it provides a measure of the accuracy of the estimate, which is a significant advantage over traditional methods used to assess pollution. In this work universal block kriging is novelty used to model and map the spatial distribution of salinity measurements gathered by an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle in a sea outfall monitoring campaign, with the aim of distinguishing the effluent plume from the receiving waters, characterizing its spatial variability in the vicinity of the discharge and estimating dilution. The results demonstrate that geostatistical methodology can provide good estimates of the dispersion of effluents that are very valuable in assessing the environmental impact and managing sea outfalls. Moreover, since accurate measurements of the plume’s dilution are rare, these studies might be very helpful in the future to validate dispersion models.

Characterization of soils in an area of prescribed fire

The prescribed fire is a technique that is often used, it has several advantages. Pedological and hydropedological techniques were tested to assess the prescribed fire changes may cause in soils. This work was performed in Tresminas area (Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Northern Portugal), during February and March 2011. In the present study we applied several techniques. For the field sampling was followed the ISO 10381-1[1], ISO 10381-2[2], and FAO rules [3], as well as were used a grid with 17 points for measuring the soil parameters. During the fire, we have tried to check, with the assistance of the Portuguese Forestry Authority, some important parameters such as, the propagation speed, the size of the flame front and the intensity of energy emitted per unit area. Before the fire, was collected carefully soil disturbed and undisturbed samples for laboratory analysis, and measured soil water content; we also have placed four sets of thermocouples for measuring soil temperature. After the fire, were collected the thermocouples and new soil samples; the water content were measured in the soil and collected ashes. In the laboratory, after preparing and sieving the samples, were determined the soil particle size. The soil pH and electrical conductivity in water was also determined. The total carbon (TC) and inorganic carbon (IC)[4] was measured by a Shimadzu TOC-Vcsn. The water content in soil has not varied significantly before and after the fire, as well as soil pH and soil electrical conductivity. The TC and IC did not change, which was expected, since the fire not overcome the 200° C. Through the various parameters, we determined that the prescribed fire didn’t affect the soil. The low temperature of the fire and its rapid implementation that lead to the possible adverse effects caused by the wild fire didn’t occurred.