Evolution of matrix and bone gamma-carboxyglutamic acid proteins in vertebrates

The evolution of calcified tissues is a defining feature in vertebrate evolution. Investigating the evolution of proteins involved in tissue calcification should help elucidate how calcified tissues have evolved. The purpose of this study was to collect and compare sequences of matrix and bone γ-carboxyglutamic acid proteins (MGP and BGP, respectively) to identify common features and determine the evolutionary relationship between MGP and BGP. Thirteen cDNAs and genes were cloned using standard methods or reconstructed through the use of comparative genomics and data mining. These sequences were compared with available annotated sequences (a total of 48 complete or nearly complete sequences, 28 BGPs and 20 MGPs) have been identified across 32 different species (representing most classes of vertebrates), and evolutionarily conserved features in both MGP and BGP were analyzed using bioinformatic tools and the Tree-Puzzle software. We propose that: 1) MGP and BGP genes originated from two genome duplications that occurred around 500 and 400 million years ago before jawless and jawed fish evolved, respectively; 2) MGP appeared first concomitantly with the emergence of cartilaginous structures, and BGP appeared thereafter along with bony structures; and 3) BGP derives from MGP. We also propose a highly specific pattern definition for the Gla domain of BGP and MGP. Previous Section Next Section BGP1 (bone Gla protein or osteocalcin) and MGP (matrix Gla protein) belong to the growing family of vitamin K-dependent (VKD) proteins, the members of which are involved in a broad range of biological functions such as skeletogenesis and bone maintenance (BGP and MGP), hemostasis (prothrombin, clotting factors VII, IX, and X, and proteins C, S, and Z), growth control (gas6), and potentially signal transduction (proline-rich Gla proteins 1 and 2). VKD proteins are characterized by the presence of several Gla residues resulting from the post-translational vitamin K-dependent γ-carboxylation of specific glutamates, through which they can bind to calcium-containing mineral such as hydroxyapatite. To date, VKD proteins have only been clearly identified in vertebrates (1) although the presence of a γ-glutamyl carboxylase has been reported in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (2) and in marine snails belonging to the genus Conus (3). Gla residues have also been found in neuropeptides from Conus venoms (4), suggesting a wider prevalence of γ-carboxylation.

Entomofauna associated with the olive tree in southern Portugal

Since 2004 several studies have been carried out in order to identify the main insect species that usually inhabiting the olive ecosystem. The field trials have taken place in two olive groves, one situated in Olhão and the other one in Loulé, both in Algarve and also under Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The sampling techniques used differ according to their purpose (sticky traps, pheromone traps, pitfall traps and samples of aerial parts of the trees such as inflorescences, leaves, fruits and branches). Results showed that the main insect pests of olive tree in southern Portugal were the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae Gmelin (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the olive moth Prays oleae Bernard (Lepidoptera: Hyponeumetidae). Other insect pests were also found in our olive groves namely the olive psyllid Euphyllura olivina Costa (Homoptera: Psyllidae), the olive dark beetle Phloeotribus scarabaeoides Bernard (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), the mediterranean black scale Saissetia oleae (Olivier) (Homoptera: Coccidae) and the olive thrip Liothripes oleae Costa (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae). Concerning the auxiliary insects that were found in our olives groves they belong to the following orders and families: Diptera (Syrphidae), Coleoptera (Carabidae, Coccinelidae and Staphylinidae), Hemiptera (Anthocoridae and Miridae), Neuroptera (Chrysopidae) and Hymenoptera (Braconidae, Encyrtidae, Eulophidae, Formicidae and Trichogrammatidae).

Valorização de resíduos carbonosos de gasificação como precursores de materiais para adsorção de poluentes em fase aquosa

Tese de doutoramento, Energia e Ambiente (Energia e Desenvolvimento Sustentável), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Design and Qualitative/Quantitative Analysis of Multi-Agent Spatial Simulation Library

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2012

Graffiti composition: screenplay

Ongoing collaboration with Christian Marclay. ‘Graffiti Composition’ and ‘Screenplay’ are two related works consisting of live musical improvisation and performance. They are part of an ongoing collaboration with the artist Christian Marclay. 'Graffiti Composition' involved Beresford directing an invited orchestra of improvising musicians. The work focuses on making music from the random compositional acts of strangers. Prior to realization, Marclay fly-posted several hundred sheets of blank manuscript paper, collecting the sheets some days later, after passers-by had written on them – using either traditional music notation or more transgressive interference modes (colour-blocks, torn holes in or abstract graphic symbols on the paper) – and sending photographs of them to Beresford. Beresford’s directorial decisions helped these random graffiti become music via simple formal processes – restricting each musician to a handout of two MS each, or stipulating a mini-concerto for each player. Beresford’s contribution explores the paradox of improvisation stipulated by strangers and controlled, however loosely, by the structuring agency of a musical director. ‘Screenplay’ extended this collaborative process between Marclay and Beresford. Beresford and other musicians responding to a visual track comprising found and public domain moving images manipulated by Marclay – gunfight scenes from a TV Western; running water; racing cars morphing into crying children, and so on, in black-and-white, with single-colour blocks appearing and developing as lines, spots, and other suggestive ‘notation’. The elliptical, surprising, humorous nature of the images at times is hyperexplicated by the improvised music, and at others challenged, ignored or contradicted by the musicians’ interaction. ‘Graffiti Composition’ was performed by the LSO at St. Luke’s, London, March 22, 2005. ‘Screenplay’ premiered in Dundee in 2006, and toured Europe during 2007. Reviewed in the Herald (21 Feb 06) and Times (24 March 07). Beresford’s work as improviser, composer and performer was profiled in The Wire (April 2002, May 2005).

Discrete Gaussian Sampling for Low-Power Devices

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2015

Sistema de fundações para postes de catenária com betão com pré-colocação de agregados (PAC)

Trabalho de Projecto de natureza científica para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil

ECO-betão com adição de resíduo da indústria petrolífera

Dissertação de natureza Científica para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização em Edificações

Bridging between programming exercises formats with BabeLO

Assessment plays a vital role in learning. This is certainly the case with assessment of computer programs, both in curricular and competitive learning. The lack of a standard – or at least a widely used format – creates a modern Ba- bel tower made of Learning Objects, of assessment items that cannot be shared among automatic assessment systems. These systems whose interoperability is hindered by the lack of a common format include contest management systems, evaluation engines, repositories of learning objects and authoring tools. A prag- matical approach to remedy this problem is to create a service to convert among existing formats. A kind of translation service specialized in programming prob- lems formats. To convert programming exercises on-the-fly among the most used formats is the purpose of the BabeLO – a service to cope with the existing Babel of Learning Object formats for programming exercises. BabeLO was designed as a service to act as a middleware in a network of systems typically used in auto- matic assessment of programs. It provides support for multiple exercise formats and can be used by: evaluation engines to assess exercises regardless of its format; repositories to import exercises from various sources; authoring systems to create exercises in multiple formats or based on exercises from other sources. This paper analyses several of existing formats to highlight both their differ- ences and their similar features. Based on this analysis it presents an approach to extensible format conversion. It presents also the features of PExIL, the pivotal format in which the conversion is based; and the function definitions of the proposed service – BabeLO. Details on the design and implementation of BabeLO, including the service API and the interfaces required to extend the conversion to a new format, are also provided. To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of this approach this paper reports on two actual uses of BabeLO: to relocate exercises to a different repository; and to use an evaluation engine in a network of heterogeneous systems.

Radiation dose rates and exposure associated to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM) at locations of a Portuguese coal-fired power plant

Coal contains trace quantities of natural radionuclides such as Th-232, U-235, U-238, as well as their radioactive decay products and 40K. These radionuclides can be released as fly ash in atmospheric emissions from coal-fired power plants, dispersed into the environment and deposited on the surrounding top soils. Therefore, the natural radiation background level is enhanced and consequently increase the total dose for the nearby population. A radiation monitoring programme was used to assess the external dose contribution to the natural radiation background, potentially resulting from the dispersion of coal ash in past atmospheric emissions. Radiation measurements were carried out by gamma spectrometry in the vicinity of a Portuguese coal-fired power plant. The radiation monitoring was achieved both on and off site, being the boundary delimited by a 20 km circle centered in the stacks of the coal plant. The measured radionuclides concentrations for the uranium and thorium series ranged from 7.7 to 41.3 Bq/kg for Ra-226 and from 4.7 to 71.6 Bq/kg for Th-232, while K-40 concentrations ranged from 62.3 to 795.1 Bq/kg. The highest values were registered near the power plant and at distances between 6 and 20 km from the stacks, mainly in the prevailing wind direction. The absorbed dose rates were calculated for each sampling location: 13.97-84.00 ηGy/h, while measurements from previous studies carried out in 1993 registered values in the range of 16.6-77.6 ηGy/h. The highest values were registered at locations in the prevailing wind direction (NW-SE). This study has been primarily done to assess the radiation dose rates and exposure to the nearby population in the surroundings of a coal-fired power plant. The results suggest an enhancement or at least an influence in the background radiation due to the coal plant past activities.

A Tribo : o teatro como ferramenta para a liberdade : trabalho de projeto

Trabalho de Projeto submetido à Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Teatro - especialização em Teatro e Comunidade.

Modelling the Contribution of 40K, 232Th and 226Ra to Radiation Dose and Risk from Airborne Discharges of Coal-Fired Power Plants

Coal contains trace elements and naturally occurring radionuclides such as 40K, 232Th, 238U. When coal is burned, minerals, including most of the radionuclides, do not burn and concentrate in the ash several times in comparison with their content in coal. Usually, a small fraction of the fly ash produced (2-5%) is released into the atmosphere. The activities released depend on many factors (concentration in coal, ash content and inorganic matter of the coal, combustion temperature, ratio between bottom and fly ash, filtering system). Therefore, marked differences should be expected between the by-products produced and the amount of activity discharged (per unit of energy produced) from different coal-fired power plants. In fact, the effects of these releases on the environment due to ground deposition have been received some attention but the results from these studies are not unanimous and cannot be understood as a generic conclusion for all coal-fired power plants. In this study, the dispersion modelling of natural radionuclides was carried out to assess the impact of continuous atmospheric releases from a selected coal plant. The natural radioactivity of the coal and the fly ash were measured and the dispersion was modelled by a Gaussian plume estimating the activity concentration at different heights up to a distance of 20 km in several wind directions. External and internal doses (inhalation and ingestion) and the resulting risk were calculated for the population living within 20 km from the coal plant. In average, the effective dose is lower than the ICRP’s limit and the risk is lower than the U.S. EPA’s limit. Therefore, in this situation, the considered exposure does not pose any risk. However, when considering the dispersion in the prevailing wind direction, these values are significant due to an increase of 232Th and 226Ra concentrations in 75% and 44%, respectively.

Controller implementation using analog reconfigurable hardware (FPAA)

This Thesis has the main target to make a research about FPAA/dpASPs devices and technologies applied to control systems. These devices provide easy way to emulate analog circuits that can be reconfigurable by programming tools from manufactures and in case of dpASPs are able to be dynamically reconfigurable on the fly. It is described different kinds of technologies commercially available and also academic projects from researcher groups. These technologies are very recent and are in ramp up development to achieve a level of flexibility and integration to penetrate more easily the market. As occurs with CPLD/FPGAs, the FPAA/dpASPs technologies have the target to increase the productivity, reducing the development time and make easier future hardware reconfigurations reducing the costs. FPAA/dpAsps still have some limitations comparing with the classic analog circuits due to lower working frequencies and emulation of complex circuits that require more components inside the integrated circuit. However, they have great advantages in sensor signal condition, filter circuits and control systems. This thesis focuses practical implementations of these technologies to control system PID controllers. The result of the experiments confirms the efficacy of FPAA/dpASPs on signal condition and control systems.

Pozzolanic components in lime mortars: correlating behaviour, composition and microstructure.

Int. J. for Restoration of Buildings and Monuments, vol.11, nº 2 (2005), p.111-118

Analysis of chromium behaviour and speciation during the electrodialytic process

The interest in chromium (Cr) arises from the widespread use of this heavy metal in various industrial processes that cause its release as liquid, solid and gaseous waste into the environment. The impact of Cr on the environment and living organisms primarily depends on its chemical form, since Cr(III) is an essential micronutrient for humans, other animals and plants, and Cr(VI) is highly toxic and a known human carcinogen. This study aimed to evaluate if the electrodialytic process (ED) is an appropriate treatment for Cr removal, through a critical overview of Cr speciation, before and after the ED experiments, to assess possible Cr(III)-Cr(VI) interconversions during the treatment. ED was the treatment technique applied to two types of matrices containing Cr: chromate copper arsenate (CCA) contaminated soil and municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash. In order to study Cr remediation, three EDR set-ups were used: a new set-up, the combined cell (2/3C or 3/2C), with three compartments, alternating current between two anodes and different initial experimental conditions, one set-up with three compartments (3C cell) and the other set-up with two compartments (2C cell). The Cr removal rates obtained in this study were between 10-36% for the soil, and 1-13% for the fly ash. The highest Cr removal rates were achieved in the 26 days experiments: 36% for the soil, 13% for the fly ash. Regarding the 13 days experiments, the highest Cr removal rates were attained with the 2/3C set-up: 24% for the soil, 5% for the fly ash. The analysis of Cr(VI) was performed before and after ED experiments to evaluate eventual changes in Cr speciation during the treatment. This analysis was conducted by two methods: USEPA Method 3060A, for the extraction of Cr(VI); and Hach Company Method 8023, for the detection of Cr(VI). Despite the differences in Cr total concentration, both matrices presented a similar speciation, with Cr(III) being the main species found and Cr(VI) less than 3% of Cr total, before and after the treatment. For fly ash, Cr(VI) was initially below the detection limit of the method and remained that way after the treatment. For soil, Cr(VI) decreased after the treatment. Oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) did not occur during the ED process since there was no increase in Cr(VI) in the matrices after the treatment. Hence, the results of this study indicate that ED is an appropriate technique to remediate matrices containing Cr because it contributes to Cr removal, without causing Cr(III)-Cr(VI) interconversions.