Towards an Exergy Analysis of Diffusive and Non-Diffusive Processes in Living Organisms

Living organisms are open dissipative thermodynamic systems that rely on mechanothermo-electrochemical interactions to survive. Plant physiological processes allow plants to survive by converting solar radiation into chemical energy, and store that energy in form that can be used. Mammals catabolize food to obtain energy that is used to fuel, build and repair the cellular components. The exergy balance is a combined statement of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. It provides insight into the performance of systems. In this paper, exergy balance equations for both mammal’s and green plants are presented and analyzed.

Resistance to phosphine in Sitophilus oryzae in Australia: A national analysis of trends and frequencies over time and geographical spread

In Australia, along with many other parts of the world, fumigation with phosphine is a vital component in controlling stored grain insect pests. However, resistance is a factor that may limit the continued efficacy of this fumigant. While strong resistance to phosphine has been identified and characterised, very little information is available on the causes of its development and spread. Data obtained from a unique national resistance monitoring and management program were analysed, using Bayesian hurdle modelling, to determine which factors may be responsible. Fumigation in unsealed storages, combined with a high frequency of weak resistance, were found to be the main criteria that led to the development of strong resistance in Sitophilus oryzae. Independent development, rather than gene flow via migration, appears to be primarily responsible for the geographic incidence of strong resistance to phosphine in S. oryzae. This information can now be utilised to direct resources and education into those areas at high risk and to refine phosphine resistance management strategies.

PCR-Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) genes sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of clinical and environmental Aspergillus species associated with HIV-TB co infected patients in a hospital in Abeokuta, southwestern Nigeria.

Background: Aspergillosis has been identified as one of the hospital acquired infections but the contribution of water and inhouse air as possible sources of Aspergillus infection in immunocompromised individuals like HIV-TB patients have not been studied in any hospital setting in Nigeria. Objective: To identify and investigate genetic relationship between clinical and environmental Aspergillus species associated with HIV-TB co infected patients. Methods: DNA extraction, purification, amplification and sequencing of Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) genes were performed using standard protocols. Similarity search using BLAST on NCBI was used for species identification and MEGA 5.0 was used for phylogenetic analysis. Results: Analyses of sequenced ITS genes of selected fourteen (14) Aspergillus isolates identified in the GenBank database revealed Aspergillus niger (28.57%), Aspergillus tubingensis (7.14%), Aspergillus flavus (7.14%) and Aspergillus fumigatus (57.14%). Aspergillus in sputum of HIV patients were Aspergillus niger, A. fumigatus, A. tubingensis and A. flavus. Also, A. niger and A. fumigatus were identified from water and open-air. Phylogenetic analysis of sequences yielded genetic relatedness between clinical and environmental isolates. Conclusion: Water and air in health care settings in Nigeria are important sources of Aspergillus sp. for HIV-TB patients.

Chromatographic analysis of antioxidant and related compounds in Polyporus squamosus from different origins

The antioxidant potential of mushrooms is mainly attributed to their composition in polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, tocopherols and some organic acids [1]. Phenolic compounds contribute directly to the antioxidative action and play an important role in stabilizing lipid peroxidation [2]; exhibit a wide range of bioactive properties such as anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial, which have been in part related to their antioxidant activity [3]. Tocopherols are important fatsoluble antioxidants, acting in the cellular membrane; due to their role as scavenger of free radicals protecting human cells against degenerative malfunctions [4]. Some organic acids are very common in natural matrices; malic acid contributes to a pleasantly sour taste and is often used as a food additive; citric acid is known due to its antibacterial and antioxidant properties and fumaric acid is important because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and acidifying properties [5]. The purpose of the present study was to analyze antioxidant and related compounds (phenolic compounds, tocopherols and organic acids) of Polyporus squamosus (Huds.) Fr. samples originated from two different origins (Portugal and Serbia). Specimens of P. squamosus were collected in Bragança (Northeast Portugal) and Jabučki rit (Northern Serbia) during April 2015 and 2012, respectively. Phenolic compounds, organic acids and tocopherols were determined by high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) coupled to a diode array detector (DAD), in the two first cases, and a fluorescence detector in the last one. With respect to phenolic and related compounds, p-hydroxybenzoic and cinnamic acids were identified in both samples; the first one predominates in the sample from Portugal, while cinnamic acid was more abundant in the sample from Serbia. Tocopherols (α-, β and γ-isoforms) were found in the sample from Serbia, but in the sample from Portugal, γ-tocopherol was not identified. This sample showed the highest total tocopherols content, and revealed the highest level of β-tocopherol; γ- tocopherol predominated in the sample from Serbia. Among organic acids, it was possible to quantify oxalic, malic and fumaric acids in both samples. Malic acid was found in higher amounts in the sample from Serbia. Overall, the present study shows that mushroom samples from different origins have dissimilar results, but are both rich in bioactive compounds, being a valuable source for the development of natural medicines and nutraceuticals.

Bioactivity and chromatographic analysis of nutrients and non-nutrients of two Leccinum species

Nowadays the rising cost of health care and pharmaceutical products, the increase in life expectancy as well as the demand for an improved quality of life, has led to an increased concern about food intake and an emergence of new concepts of nutrition [1]. Mushrooms have been pointed out as an excellent option to include in a healthy diet, due to their nutritional value [2] associated with their bioactive properties [3]. The current study presents the chemical profile of two edible species, Leccinum molle (Ban) Ban and Leccinum vulpinum Watling, harvested in the outskirts of Bragan9a (Northeastern Portugal), regarding their content in nutrients and nonnutrients. Individual profiles of sugars and fatty acids were obtained by HPLC-RI and GC-FID, respectively. Tocopherols were analysed by HPLC-fluorescence, and the non-nutrients (i.e., phenolic and other organic acids) by HPLC-PDA. The antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts obtained from both species was assessed with different assays (e.g. reducing power, radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition) and their hepatotoxicity was evaluated in primary cell cultures obtained from porcine liver, PLP2. Generally, both Leccinum species revealed similar nutrient profiles, with low fat levels, fructose, mannitol and trehalose as the foremost free sugars, and higher percentages of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids in comparison with saturated fatty acids. The presence of bioactive compounds was also detected, namely phenolic (e.g., gallic, protocatechuic and p-hydroxybenzoic acids) and organic acids (e.g., citric and fumaric acids). Both species presented antioxidant properties, being L. vulpinum the species which showed the most promising results (higher contents of total phenolic acids and lower ECso values in all the performed assays). Neither of the extracts presented toxicity against the liver primary cells PLP2, up to maximal concentration tested (Giso > 400 μg/ml).

Costa del Sol (Spain), analysis of economic and land changes caused by tourism

Malaga is in southern Spain, in a region called Andalusia. Costa del Sol belongs to the province of Malaga, near the Strait of Gibraltar and near the coast of Africa (about 300 km) and about 2,300 km of Sluptz. The Costa del Sol is next to the Mediterranean Sea and near the Atlantic Ocean. Strong and rapid growth of tourism in the countries of southern Europe and in Poland. Spain currently (2015) is the third largest inbound of international tourism (68 mil.) and the second inbound in tourism revenue. Europe is a major world tourist region. The first recipient of tourism in the world is France. Most tourism takes place between developed countries.

Beauty and personal care in mass market: A strategic analysis of perfumery and cosmetics at Sonae MC

Directed internship

Analysis of maternal and child health policies in Malawi: The methodological perspective

The question of why most health policies do not achieve their intended results continues to receive a considerable attention in the literature. This is in the light of the recognized gap between policy as intent and policy as practice, which calls for substantial research work to understand the factors that improve policy implementation. Although there is substantial work that explains the reasons why policies achieve or fail to achieve their intended outcomes, there are limited case studies that illustrate how to analyze policies from the methodological perspective. In this article, we report and discuss how a mixed qualitative research method was applied for analyzing maternal and child health policies in Malawi. For the purposes of this article, we do not report research findings; instead we focus our dicussion on the methodology of the study and draw lessons for policy analysis research work. We base our disusssion on our experiences from a study in which we analyzed maternal and child health policies in Malawi over the period from 1964 to 2008. Noting the multifaceted nature of maternal and child health policies, we adopted a mixed qualitative research method, whereby a number of data collection methods were employed. This approach allowed for the capturing of different perspectives of maternal and child health policies in Malawi and for strengthening of the weaknesses of each method, especially in terms of data validity. This research suggested that the multidimensional nature of maternal and child health policies, like other health policies, calls for a combination of research designs as well as a variety of methods of data collection and analysis. In addition, we suggest that, as an emerging research field, health policy analysis will benefit more from case study designs because they provide rich experiences in the actual policy context.

Political ideologies and attitudes towards income inequality in the US: a critical discourse analysis of CNN and Fox News opinion articles

The topic of the thesis is media discourse about current state if income inequality in the US, and political ideologies as influences behind the discourse. The data consists of four opinion articles, two from CNN and two from Fox News. The purpose of the study was to examine how media represents income inequality as an issue, and if the attitudes conveyed are concerned or indifferent. Previous studies have indicated that the level of income is often seen as a personal responsibility, and such perspective can be linked with Republican ideology. In contrast, the Democrats typically express more concern about the consequences of inequality. CNN has been previously considered to have a Democratic bias, and Fox News has been considered to have Republican bias, which is one reason why these two news channels were chosen as the sources of the data. The study is a critical discourse analysis, and the methods applied were sociocognitive approach, which analyzes the social and cognitive factors affecting the discourse, and appraisal framework, which was applied to scrutinize the expressed attitudes more closely by identifyind specific linguistic features. The appraisal framework includes studying such features as affect, judgment and appreciation, which offer a more detailed analysis on the attitudes present in the articles. The sociocognitive approach, additionally, offers a way of analyzing a more broad context affecting the articles. The findings were then compared, to see if there are differences between the articles, or between the news sites with alleged bias. The findings showed that CNN, with alleged Democratic bias, had a more symphatetic attitude towards income inequality, whereas Fox News, with more Republican views, showed clearly less concern towards the issue. Moreover, the Fox News articles had such dubious claims that the underlying ideology behind the articles could be even supporting of income inequality, as it allows the rich to pursue all the wealth they can without having to give anything away. The results, thus, suggest that the political ideologies may a significant effect on media discourse, which, in turn, may have a significant effect on the attitudes of the public towards great issues that could require prompt measures.

Structural characterization and comparative analysis of human and piscine cartilage acidic protein (CRTAC1/CRTAC2)

Dissertação de mestrado, Biotecnologia, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014

Age-Dependent Fragility and Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Timber and Steel Distribution Poles Subjected to Hurricanes

Power distribution systems are susceptible to extreme damage from natural hazards especially hurricanes. Hurricane winds can knock down distribution poles thereby causing damage to the system and power outages which can result in millions of dollars in lost revenue and restoration costs. Timber has been the dominant material used to support overhead lines in distribution systems. Recently however, utility companies have been searching for a cost-effective alternative to timber poles due to environmental concerns, durability, high cost of maintenance and need for improved aesthetics. Steel has emerged as a viable alternative to timber due to its advantages such as relatively lower maintenance cost, light weight, consistent performance, and invulnerability to wood-pecker attacks. Both timber and steel poles are prone to deterioration over time due to decay in the timber and corrosion of the steel. This research proposes a framework for conducting fragility analysis of timber and steel poles subjected to hurricane winds considering deterioration of the poles over time. Monte Carlo simulation was used to develop the fragility curves considering uncertainties in strength, geometry and wind loads. A framework for life-cycle cost analysis is also proposed to compare the steel and timber poles. The results show that steel poles can have superior reliability and lower life-cycle cost compared to timber poles, which makes them suitable substitutes.

Determining magmatic processes from analysis of phenocrysts and gabbroic xenoliths contained in Calbuco andesites

Calbuco Volcano, in Southern Chile, has eruptive products of predominantly andesitic hornblende-bearing lava. A purpose of this work is to understand magmatic processes and how Calbuco magma chemistry is related to the explosive volcanic character. Calbuco lava has a mineral assemblage of plagioclase, hornblende, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, olivine, and magnetite and entrained gabbroic xenoliths with the same mineral assemblage. The presence of hornblende is evidence for dissolved water in the magma. Detailed petrographic/textural analysis has been done using petrographic microscopy and back-scattered electron imaging (BSE); geochemical analysis by electron microprobe (EPMA). Major findings include 1) that hornblende and hornblende-bearing gabbroic cumulates crystallize from Calbuco magma, 2) that plagioclase grains are compositionally zoned, recording evidence of temperature, chemical, and water content fluctuations in the magma, and 3) that hornblende is unstable under upper magma chamber conditions at Calbuco, and is breaking down into plagioclase, olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and magnetite in the magma.

Comparative analysis of volatile and phenolic composition of alternative wood chips from cherry, acacia and oak for potential use in enology.

The aim of present work was to investigate the phenolic and volatile composition of cherry, acacia, and oak (from different species) wood chips. By the use of HPLC-DAD 18 different phenolic compounds were detected and quantified while for volatile composition, 33 different compounds were detected by GC-MS. In general, wood samples from oak species showed the higher number of phenolic compounds detected, while cherry wood samples showed the lowest levels. In addition, some individual phenolic compounds were detected, specifically in some wood samples, such as robinetin in acacia woods and naringenin in cherry wood. For volatile composition, cherry wood chips samples showed the lowest volatile composition followed by increasing order by acacia, French, Portuguese and American wood chip samples. Oak wood chip samples from American species showed the highest volatile content, as a result of high levels of several specific compounds (furfural, 5-methyfurfural, β-methyl-γ-octalactones, guaiacol, vanillin and siringaldehyde).

IMPROVED SAMPLE INTRODUCTION SYSTEMS FOR INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTROMETRY AND THEIR APPLICATION TO THE ANALYSIS OF SIMPLE AND COMPLEX MATRICES

The objective of this thesis is to explore new and improved methods for greater sample introduction efficiency and enhanced analytical performance with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Three projects are discussed in which the capabilities and applications of ICP-OES are expanded: 1. In the first project, a conventional ultrasonic nebuliser was modified to replace the heater/condenser with an infrared heated pre-evaporation tube. In continuation from previous works with pre-evaporation, the current work investigated the effects of heating with infrared block and rope heaters on two different ICP-OES instruments. Comparisons were made between several methods and setups in which temperatures were varied. By monitoring changes to sensitivity, detection limit, precision, and robustness, and analyzing two certified reference materials, a method with improved sample introduction efficiency and comparable analytical performance to a previous method was established. 2. The second project involved improvements to a previous work in which a multimode sample introduction system (MSIS) was modified by inserting a pre-evaporation tube between the MSIS and torch. The new work focused on applying an infrared heated ceramic rope for pre-evaporation. This research was conducted in all three MSIS modes (nebulisation mode, hydride generation mode, and dual mode) and on two different ICP-OES instruments, and comparisons were made between conventional setups in terms of sensitivity, detection limit, precision, and robustness. By tracking both hydride-forming and non-hydride forming elements, the effects of heating in combination with hydride generation were probed. Finally, optimal methods were validated by analysis of two certified reference materials. 3. A final project was completed in collaboration with ZincNyx Energy Solutions. This project sought to develop a method for the overall analysis of a 12 M KOH zincate fuel, which is used in green energy backup systems. By employing various techniques including flow injection analysis and standard additions, a final procedure was formulated for the verification of K concentration, as well as the measurement of additives (Al, Fe, Mg, In, Si), corrosion products (such C from CO₃²¯), and Zn particles both in and filtered from solution. Furthermore, the effects of exposing the potassium zincate electrolyte fuel to air were assessed.

Ensuring Quality Services for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families within the BabyNet Early Intervention System: An Analysis of Current and Needed Resources

This report prioritizes the targeted, additional resources First Steps and system stakeholders believe will be necessary to ensure the BabyNet system earns a federal designation of “meets requirements” for the first time in its 25 year history. It lists key recommendations to help meet those requirements.