Reinterpretation de l'Histoire Stratigraphique et Tectonique de la Structure de Serra de El-Rei (Portugal)

Les travaux faits sur le terrain et les interprétations cartographiques de ces dernières années, montrant la pertinence des observations de Paul Choffat au siècle dernier, permettent de préciser l'échelle stratigraphique et de mieux distinguer les phases de l'histoire tectonique de la structure de Serra de EI-Rei. En attendant la publication d'une cartographie très détaillée mettant en évidence le détail des déformations tectoniques, il faut souligner la dissymétrie des deux flancs de cette structure ainsi que le rôle de certaines failles transverses. Sur son flanc nord, la série liasique, allant des dolomies du Lias inférieur au Toarcien inférieur ou moyen, est recouverte stratigraphiquement et en légère discordance par le "Lusitanien" qui remanie à sa base des éléments du Toarcien inférieur ou moyen. Sur son flanc sud, dans la partie centrale, la série stratigraphique liasique est comparable à celle de l'autre flanc, mais les dépôts du Toarcien, plus complets, sont affectés au cours de la zone à Meneghinii par des perturbations synsédimentaires avec fossiles brisés et/ou remaniés et des réductions d'épaisseur. Plus à l'Est, le Toarcien est très réduit et (tectoniquement?) en contact avec le Dogger. Au Sud-Ouest en revanche, prés de Bolhos, la série toarcienne est plus complète et couronnée par l'Aalénien inférieur, mais tronquée par un contact oblique N-S, repris par la tectonique récente. Sur ce flanc, le Bajocien inférieur est représenté mais peu épais; il est suivi par le Bajocien supérieur, le Bathonien et le Callovien très développés qui sont recouverts par un "Lusitanien" épais, très différent de celui du flanc nord. Cette série du Jurassique moyen et supérieur a été décrite dans la thèse de Christiane Ruget (1963). La structure de Serra de EI-Rei constitue une sorte de raccord E-W entre les importantes structures (diapiriques ?) méridiennes de Caldas da Rainha au NE et de Bolhos au SW. II s'agit d'une structure de tectonique distensive, en demi-graben, d'âge jurassique, qui est responsable de la dissymétrie des séries lithostratigraphiques sur ses deux flancs; au Miocène, pendant la compression bétique, cette structure a subi une inversion en constriction. Un modèle de l'évolution sédimentaire du secteur est présenté.

Forest management in an urbanizing landscape

This paper aims at building a theoretical framework to examine the impact of development pressure on private owner’s forest management practices, namely, on regeneration and conversion cut dates. As the rent for developed land is rising over time, our model creates the possibility of switching from forestry to residential use at some point in the future, thus departing from the Faustmann’s traditional setup. Comparative statics results with respect to stumpage prices, regeneration costs and urban growth parameters are provided. The results obtained depend on the impact on the opportunity cost of holding the stand and the impact on the opportunity cost of holding the land, generalizing Faustmann’s unambiguous results.

Mental health care assessed based on structure, process and outcome : a retrospective cohort study

RESUMO: As doenças mentais são comuns, universais e associadas a uma significativa sobrecarga pessoal, familiar, social e económica. Os Serviços de Saúde Mental devem abordar de forma adequada as necessidades dos pacientes e familiares tanto ao nível clínico como também ao nível social. O presente estudo foi realizado num período de grande transformação nos sistemas de saúde primário e de saúde mental em Portugal, num Departamento de Psiquiatria desenvolvido com base nos princípios da OMS. Os objectivos incluem a caracterização: 1) das Unidades Funcionais do Departamento; 2) dos pacientes internados pela primeira vez no internamento de agudos; 3) da utilização dos serviços nas equipas comunitárias após a alta; e 4) da avaliação de alguns dos indicadores de qualidade do departamento, com recurso ao modelo de Donabedian sobre a articulação entre a Estrutura-Processo-Resultados. Metodologia: Foi escolhido um estudo de coorte retrospectivo. Todos os pacientes internados pela primeira vez entre 2008 e 2010 foram incluídos no estudo. Os seus processos clínicos e a base de dados do hospital onde são registados todos os contactos que estes tiveram com os profissionais de saúde mental foram revistos de forma a obter dados sociodemográficos e clínicos, durante o período do estudo e após a alta. Os instrumentos utilizados foram o WHO-ICMHC (Classificação Internacional de Cuidados de Saúde Mental), para caracterizar o Departamento, o AIESMP (Avaliação Inicial de Enfermagem em Saúde Mental e Psiquiatria) para recolha dos dados sociodemográficos, e o VSSS (Escala de Satisfação com os Serviços de Verona) de forma a avaliar a satisfação dos pacientes em relação aos cuidados recebidos. A análise estatística incluiu a análise descritiva, quantitativa e qualitativa dos dados. Resultados: As Unidades Funcionais do Departamento revelaram níveis elevados de articulação e consistência com as necessidades de cuidados psiquiátricos e reabilitação psicossocial dos pacientes. Os 543 pacientes admitidos pela primeira vez eram maioritariamente (56.9%) mulheres, caucasianas (81.2%), com diagnóstico de perturbações do humor (66.3%), internadas voluntariamente (59.7%), e uma idade média de 45.1 anos. Estas eram significativamente mais velhas, mais frequentemente empregadas, casadas/coabitar e tinham uma prevalência mais elevada de perturbações do humor, comparativamente aos homens. O internamento compulsivo era mais significativo nos homens (54.7%). A taxa de abandono no pós-alta (4.2%) e a taxa de reinternamentos (2.9%) na quinzena após a alta revelaram-se inferiores aos padrões na literatura internacional. De forma global, a satisfação dos pacientes com os cuidados de saúde mental foi positiva. Conclusões: Os cuidados prestados mostraram-se eficazes, adaptados e baseados nas necessidades e problemas específicos dos pacientes. A continuidade e a abrangência de cuidados foram difundidos e mantidos ao longo do processo de cuidados. Este Departamento pode ser considerado um exemplo de como proporcionar tratamento digno e eficiente, e uma referência para futuros serviços de psiquiatria.-------------- ABSTRACT: Mental health disorders are common, universal, and associated with heavy personal, family, social and economic burden. Mental health services should be aimed at adequately addressing patients’ and families’ needs at clinical and social level. The current study was carried out at a time of great transformation in the health and mental health systems in Portugal, in a Psychiatric Department developed taking in consideration the WHO principles. The objectives included characterizing: 1) the Psychiatric Department’s different units; 2) the patients admitted for the first time to the inpatient unit; 3) their use of community mental health services after discharge; and 4) assessing some of the department’s quality indicators, with resource to Donabedian’s Structure-Process-Outcome model. Methodology: A retrospective cohort design was chosen. All the firstly admitted patients in the period between 2008 and 2010 were included in the study. Their clinical records and the hospital’s database which registers all of the contacts the patients had with the mental health professionals during the study period, were reviewed to retrieve sociodemographic and clinical data and information on follow-up. The instruments used were the WHO International Classification of Mental Health Care (ICMHC) to characterize the department, the Initial Nurses’ Assessment in Mental Health and Psychiatry (AIESMP) for patients’ sociodemographic data, and the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale (VSSS) to assess patients’ satisfaction with care received. Statistical analysis included descriptive, quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data. Results: The Department’s Functional units revealed high levels of articulation, and were consistent with patients’ needs for psychiatric care and psychosocial rehabilitation. The 543 patients firstly admitted were mainly (56.9%) female, Caucasian (81.2%), diagnosed with mood disorders (66.3%), voluntarily admitted (59.7%), and with a mean age of 45.1 years. Female patients were significantly older, more frequently employed, married/cohabiting and had a higher prevalence of mood disorders when compared to males. Involuntary admission was more significant in males (54.7%). Dropout rates during follow-up (4.2%) and readmission rates (2.9%) in the fortnight following discharge were lower than standards in international literature. Overall patients’ satisfaction with mental health care was positive. Conclusions: The care delivered was effective, adapted and based on the patients’ specific needs and problems. Continuity and comprehensiveness of care was endorsed and maintained throughout the care process. This department may be considered an example of both humane and effective treatment, and a reference for future psychiatric care.

TURISMO, CIDADES E PAISAGEM/TOURISM, CITIES AND LANDSCAPE

Os espaços públicos das cidades, sobretudo os daquelas para onde converge o turismo mundial, são sujeitos a múltiplos mecanismos de representação que os fragmentam e, em última análise, os reduzem a imagens idealizadas. Os autores dessas imagens, e dos seus sentidos, são muito diversificados, mas os profissionais ligados ao turismo (agências de viagem, revistas turísticas, documentaristas, etc.) e as instâncias públicas interessadas na divulgação turística das cidades (câmaras municipais, governos regionais, etc.) são, sem dúvida, duas das instâncias que mais operam no interior desses processos complexos de representação (e de mercadorização) do espaço das cidades. E se esses processos se associam hoje à relação feliz que milhões de pessoas estabelecem com as cidades no mundo inteiro, é no entanto necessário não esquecer que parte dessas paisagens são cuidadosamente construídas de forma, por um lado, a obliterar a lamentável realidade do urbanismo envolvente e, por outro, a delas excluir todos aqueles que inviabilizam a dinâmica cultural de construção de paisagens. We consider that the public spaces of cities, especially those which converge to the global tourism, are subject to multiple mechanisms of representation that fragment and, ultimately, reduce its idealized images. The authors of these images, and their senses are very diverse, but the professionals linked to tourism (travel agencies, tourist magazines, documentaries, etc.) and the government stakeholders interested in the dissemination of tourist cities (municipalities, regional governments, etc.) are undoubtedly two of the actors that operate within these more complex processes of representation of all urban space. And if these processes are associated today with the happy relationship that millions of people have with cities worldwide, it is however necessary not to forget that part of these landscapes are carefully constructed in a way, on one hand, to obliterate the unfortunate reality of the urban environment and, secondly, to delete all those that prevent the construction of dynamic cultural landscapes.

Clonal structure of Trypanosoma cruzi Colombian strain (biodeme Type III): biological, isoenzymic and histopathological analysis of seven isolated clones

The clonal structure of the Colombian strain of Trypanosoma cruzi, biodeme Type III and zymodeme 1, was analyzed in order to characterize its populations and to establish its homogeneity or heterogeneity. Seven isolated clones presented the basic characteristics of Biodeme Type III, with the same patterns of parasitemic curves, tissue tropism to skeletal muscle and myocardium, high pathogenicity with extensive necrotic-inflammatory lesions from the 20th to 30th day of infection. The parental strain and its clones C1, C3, C4 and C6, determined the higher levels of parasitemia, 20 to 30 days of infection, with high mortality rate up to 30 days (79 to 100%); clones C2, C5 and C7 presented lower levels of parasitemia, with low mortality rates (7.6 to 23%). Isoenzymic patterns, characteristic of zymodeme 1, (Z1) were similar for the parental strain and its seven clones. Results point to a phenotypic homogeneity of the clones isolated from the Colombian strain and suggest the predominance of a principal clone, responsible for the biological behavior of the parental strain and clones.

The impact of changing the transportation cost structure of a food retail company

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Italian interlocking directorates: structure, evolution and cross-country comparisons

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

STRUCTURE-FUNCTION ANALYSIS OF MULTI-COPPER OXIDASES

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Biochemistry, Structural Biochemistry

Landscape composition and climatic parameters significant in the spread of an invasive species (Pine wood Nematode)

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente

Ageing on commercial automotive catalysts, a structure reactivity study

Increasingly stringed regulations for diesel engine emissions have a significant impact on the required efficiency of DOC. Lowered DOC oxidation efficiency due to thermal aging effects influences the efficiency of the exhaust aftertreatment systems downstream of the DOC. In this work carried out in the Jean Le Rond d’Alembert Institute the effect of hydrothermal aging on the reactivity and structure of a commercial DOC was investigated. The characterization of the catalytic performance was carried out on a synthetic gas bench using carrots catalyst under conditions close to the realistic conditions i.e. using a synthetic gas mixture, representative of the exhaust gases from diesel engines. Different structural characterization techniques were performed: textural and morphological proprieties were analyzed by BET and TEM, the characterization of the presented crystallographic phases was performed by DRX and the determination of the number of reducible species was possible by TPR. TEM results shown, an increase of the metal particle size with the aging caused by the agglomeration of metal particles, revealing the presence of metal sintering. DRX results also suggest the presence of support sintering. Furthermore, DRX and BET results unexpectedly reveal that the most drastic aging conditions used actually activated the catalyst surface. As expected, the aging affected negatively the catalyst performance on the oxidation of methane and CO, however an improvement of the NO oxidation performance with the aging was observed. Nevertheless, for the aging conditions used, catalytic activity results show that the influence of aging in DOC performance was not significant, and therefore, more drastic aging conditions must be used.

UAV - based imagery processing using structure from motion and remote sensing technology

With the recent advances in technology and miniaturization of devices such as GPS or IMU, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles became a feasible platform for a Remote Sensing applications. The use of UAVs compared to the conventional aerial platforms provides a set of advantages such as higher spatial resolution of the derived products. UAV - based imagery obtained by a user grade cameras introduces a set of problems which have to be solved, e. g. rotational or angular differences or unknown or insufficiently precise IO and EO camera parameters. In this work, UAV - based imagery of RGB and CIR type was processed using two different workflows based on PhotoScan and VisualSfM software solutions resulting in the DSM and orthophoto products. Feature detection and matching parameters influence on the result quality as well as a processing time was examined and the optimal parameter setup was presented. Products of the both workflows were compared in terms of a quality and a spatial accuracy. Both workflows were compared by presenting the processing times and quality of the results. Finally, the obtained products were used in order to demonstrate vegetation classification. Contribution of the IHS transformations was examined with respect to the classification accuracy.

Wind Power in the Portuguese Landscape: Global Concerns and Local Costs

Wind turbines and solar panels are becoming second nature in Portugal, as its occurrence in the country becomes ubiquitous. Somehow, one could argue that renewable energy in Portugal is in the process of ‘naturalisation’ as part of a new – mechanised, but environmentally benign – landscape. Portuguese Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity (ICNB) has shown an ambiguous stance on this issue, defending global concerns towards renewable energy, while at the same time attempting to engage locals in the preservation of extensive ‘classified areas’. In the course of this research, we tried to focus on these incongruities and to analyse how they are impacting local communities during the process of wind power installation.

How do current term structure model behave beyond the last liquid point?: A comparison of the DNS and Smith-Wilson methods

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Master’s Double Degree in Finance from Maastricht University and NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Design and characterization of novel biopolymeric structure using biocompatible ionic liquids

The main objective of this thesis was the development of polymeric structures from the dissolution of FucoPol, a bacterial exopolysaccharide (EPS), in a biocompatible ionic liquid, choline acetate. The FucoPol was produced by the bacteria Enterobacter A47 using glycerol as carbon source at controlled temperature and pH (30ºC and 7, respectively). At the end of 3 days it was produced 7 g/L of FucoPol. The net yield of Fucopol in glycerol (YP/S) was 0.22 g/g and the maximum productivity 2.37 g/L.d This polymer was characterized about its composition in sugars and acyl groups (by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography - HPLC), containing fucose (35 % mol), galactose (21 % mol), glucose (29 % mol), rhamnose (3% mol) and glucuronic acid (12% mol) as well as acetate (14.28 % mol), pyruvate (2.15 % mol) and succinate (1.80 % mol). Its content of water and ash was 15% p/p and 2% p/p, respectively, and the chemical bonds (determined by Infrared Spectroscopy - FT-IR) are consistent to the literature reports. However, due to limitations in Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) equipment it was not possible to determine the glass transition temperature. In turn, the ionic liquid showed the typical behavior of a Newtonian fluid, glass transition temperature (determined by DSC) -98.03ºC and density 1.1031 g/cm3. The study of chemical bonds by FT-IR showed that amount of water (8.80%) influenced the visualization of the bands predicted to in view of their chemical structure. After the dissolution of the FucoPol in the ionic liquid at different temperatures (50, 60, 80 and 100 ° C) it was promoted the removal of this by the phase inversion method using deionized water as a solvent, followed by drying in an oven at 70 ° C. The mixtures before and after the phase inversion method were characterized through the studies mentioned above. In order to explore possible application field’s biocompatibility assays and collage on balsa wood tests were performed. It was found that the process of washing with water by the phase inversion method was not totally effective in removing the biocompatible ionic liquid, since all FucoPol – IL mixtures still contained ionic liquid in their composition as can be seen by the DSC results and FT-IR. In addition, washing the mixtures with water significantly altered the composition of FucoPol. However, these mixtures, that developed a viscous behavior typical of a non-Newtonian fluid (shear-thinning), have the potential to be applied in the biomedical field as well as biological glues.

Does ownership structure matter? Three essays in finance

Management