Language and culture: representations of English-speaking cultures in 1st year secondary english language coursebooks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Dissertação apresentada para o cumprimento dos requisitos necessários á obtenção do grau de Mestre em Didáctica de Inglês

Quality of process modeling using BPMN: a model-driven approach

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Informática

Development of a "green process" for the isolation of natural functional extracts with anti-cancer activity - Application of high-pressure technology

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

Making connections: engineering and language issues in teaching english for specific purposes

Tese apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Línguas, Literaturas e Culturas

Functional and structural studies of a mini-ferritin protein

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Bioquímica

English Language Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom in Portugal

This study investigates the way of learning the English language in Portugal. First-year students of the faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of New University of Lisbon were selected as participants in the case study. As data collection tools a questionnaire and focus-groups were used. 115 students completed the designed questionnaire and after that 12 students were selected for the more detailed focus-group discussions. Results of the research show that most part of the students´ English knowledge is received from outside the classroom by means of movies, songs, computer games, the Internet, communication with friends and other sources. Also, the results show that motivation is very important in language learning process and motivated students acquire the language faster and easier.

Structural and functional characterization of ModA and TupA proteins belonging to the molybdate and tungstate transport system from desulfovibrio alaskensis G20

Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - EXPL/BBB-BEP/0274/2012

Genetic and functional analysis of the bacillus subtilis BSP1 gam cluster

Mannans (linear mannan, glucomannan, galactomannan and galactoglucomannan) are the major constituents of the hemicellulose fraction in softwoods and show great importance as a renewable resource for fuel or feedstock applications. As complex polysaccharides, mannans can only be degraded through a synergistic action of different mannan-degrading enzymes, mannanases. Microbial mannanases are mainly extracellular enzymes that can act in wide range of pH and temperature, contributing to pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, food and feed, oil and textile successful industrial applications. Knowing and controlling these microbial mannan-degrading enzymes are essential to take advantage of their great biotechnological potential. The genome of the laboratory 168 strain of Bacillus subtilis carries genes gmuA-G dedicated to the degradation and utilization of glucomannan, including an extracellular -mannanase. Recently, the genome sequence of an undomesticated strain of B. subtilis, BSP1, was determined. In BSP1, the gmuA-G operon is maintained, interestingly, however, a second cluster of genes was found (gam cluster), which comprise a second putative extracellular β-mannanase, and most likely specify a system for the degradation and utilization of a different mannan polymer, galactoglucomannan. The genetic organization and function of the gam cluster, and whether its presence in BSP1 strain results in new hemicellulolytic capabilities, compared to those of the laboratory strain, was address in this work. In silico and in vivo mRNA analyses performed in this study revealed that the gam cluster, comprising nine genes, is organized and expressed in at least six different transcriptional units. Furthermore, cloning, expression, and production of Bbsp2923 in Escherichia coli was achieved and preliminary characterization shows that the enzyme is indeed a β-mannanase. Finally, the high hemicellulolytic capacity of the undomesticated B. subtilis BSP1, demonstrated in this work by qualitative analyses, suggests potential to be used in the food and feed industries.

Structural and functional studies of a high activity NiFeSe Hydrogenase

Theawareness that fossil fuels exist in limited quantities has stimulated research into energy production from renewable sources. Future energy sources! should! be! plentiful! with! negligible! impact! on! the! environment.! Hydrogen!has!the!potential!to!satisfy!these!requirements.!Nevertheless,!current! methods! of! H2! production! rely! on! nonOrenewable! resources.! Biological! H2! production! from! sunlight! or! biomass! is! an! appealing! alternative! to! current! production!methods.!!(...)

A domain specific language for domotic systems

To cope with modernity, the interesting of having a fully automated house has been increasing over the years, as technology evolves and as our lives become more stressful and overloaded. An automation system provides a way to simplify some daily tasks, allowing us to have more spare time to perform activities where we are really needed. There are some systems in this domain that try to implement these characteristics, but this kind of technology is at its early stages of evolution being that it is still far away of empowering the user with the desired control over a habitation. The reason is that the mentioned systems miss some important features such as adaptability, extension and evolution. These systems, developed from a bottom-up approach, are often tailored for programmers and domain experts, discarding most of the times the end users that remain with unfinished interfaces or products that they have difficulty to control. Moreover, complex behaviors are avoided, since they are extremely difficult to implement mostly due to the necessity of handling priorities, conflicts and device calibration. Besides, these solutions are only reachable at very high costs, yet they still have the limitation of being difficult to configure by non-technical people once in runtime operation. As a result, it is necessary to create a tool that allows the execution of several automated actions, with an interface that is easy to use but at the same time supports all the main features of this domain. It is also desirable that this tool is independent of the hardware so it can be reused, thus a Model Driven Development approach (MDD) is the ideal option, as it is a method that follows those principles. Since the automation domain has some very specific concepts, the use of models should be combined with a Domain Specific Language (DSL). With these two methods, it is possible to create a solution that is adapted to the end users, but also to domain experts and programmers due to the several levels of abstraction that can be added to diminish the complexity of use. The aim of this thesis is to design a Domain Specific Language (DSL) that uses the Model Driven Development approach (MDD), with the purpose of supporting Home Automation (HA) concepts. In this implementation, the development of simple and complex scenarios should be supported and will be one of the most important concerns. This DSL should also support other significant features in this domain, such as the ability to schedule tasks, which is something that is limited in the current existing solutions.

Improving Learners’ Motivation through Feedback in English Language Teaching and Learning at Polytechnic School in Benguela, Angola

Currently, it is widely perceived among the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching professionals, that motivation is a central factor for success in language learning. This work aims to examine and raise teachers’ awareness about the role of assessment and feedback in the process of language teaching and learning at polytechnic school in Benguela to develop and/or enhance their students’ motivation for learning. Hence the paper defines and discusses the key terms and, the techniques and strategies for an effective feedback provision in the context under study. It also collects data through the use of interview and questionnaire methods, and suggests the assessment and feedback types to be implemented at polytechnic school in Benguela

Functional genomic analysis of heat stress in Vitis vinifera

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is one of most agro-economically important fruit crops worldwide, with a special relevance in Portugal where over 300 varieties are used for wine production. Due to global warming, temperature stress is currently a serious issue affecting crop production especially in temperate climates. Mobile genetic elements such as retrotransposons have been shown to be involved in environmental stress induced genetic and epigenetic modifications. In this study, sequences related to Grapevine Retrotransposon 1 (Gret1) were utilized to determine heat induced genomic and transcriptomic modifications in Touriga Nacional, a traditional Portuguese grapevine variety. For this purpose, growing canes were treated to 42 oC for four hours and leaf genomic DNA and RNA was utilized for various techniques to observe possible genomic alterations and variation in transcription levels of coding and non-coding sequences between non-treated plants and treated plants immediately after heat stress (HS-0 h) or after a 24 hour recovery period (HS-24 h). Heat stress was found to induce a significant decrease in Gret1 related sequences in HS-24 h leaves, indicating an effect of heat stress on genomic structure. In order to identify putative heat induced DNA modifications, genome wide approaches such as Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism were utilized. This resulted in the identification of a polymorphic DNA fragment in HS-0 h and HS-24 h leaves whose sequence mapped to a genomic region flanking a house keeping gene (NADH) that is represented in multiple copies in the Vitis vinifera genome. Heat stress was also found to affect the transcript levels of various non-coding and gene coding sequences. Accordingly, quantitative real time PCR results established that Gret1 related sequences are up regulated immediately after heat stress whereas the level of transcript of genes involved in identification and repair of double strand breaks are significantly down regulated in HS-0 h plants. Taken together, the results of this work demonstrated heat stress affects both genomic integrity and transcription levels.

Functional characterization and directed engineering of redox proteins for a rational improvement of Bioelectrochemical systems

In recent years, new methods of clean and environmentally friendly energy production have been the focus of intense research efforts. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are devices that utilize naturally occurring microorganisms that feed on organic matter, like waste water, while producing electrical energy. The natural habitats of bacteria thriving in microbial fuel cells are usually marine and freshwater sediments. These microorganisms are called dissimilatory metal reducing bacteria (DMRB), but in addition to metals like iron and manganese, they can use organic compounds like DMSO or TMAO, radionuclides and electrodes as terminal electron acceptors in their metabolic pathways.(...)

Functional MRI of stimulus interference on auditory processing in normal listeners and tinnitus patients

We are constantly immersed in stimuli. Upon reaching our senses, stimuli are processed within various brain systems along various pathways into the brain, and eventually turned into a percept. However, there are percepts that do not result from responses to external source stimuli. A particular case of this situation is the auditory percept known as tinnitus. Tinnitus can be seen as a task-irrelevant auditory percept, commonly reported to interfere with normal daily tasks. This is known from reports made by tinnitus sufferers that refer to their phantom percept as distracting, and that it diverts their focus from the task-relevant stimuli.(...)

Effects of an exercise program on the functional capacity of patients with chronic Chagas' heart disease, evaluated by cardiopulmonary testing

INTRODUCTION: Despite all efforts to restrict its transmission, Chagas' disease remains a severe public health problem in Latin America, affecting 8-12 million individuals. Chronic Chagas' heart disease, the chief factor in the high mortality rate associated with the illness, affects more than half a million Brazilians. Its evolution may result in severe heart failure associated with loss of functional capacity and quality of life, with important social and medical/labor consequences. Many studies have shown the beneficial effect of regular exercise on cardiac patients, but few of them have focused on chronic Chagas' heart disease. METHODS: This study evaluated the effects of an exercise program on the functional capacity of patients with chronic Chagas' disease who were treated in outpatient clinics at the Evandro Chagas Institute of Clinical Research and the National Institute of Cardiology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The exercises were performed 3 times a week for 1 h (30 min of aerobic activity and 30 min of resistance exercises and extension) over 6 months in 2010. Functional capacity was evaluated by comparing the direct measurement of the O2 uptake volume (VO2) obtained by a cardiopulmonary exercise test before and after the program (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Eighteen patients (13 females) were followed, with minimum and maximum ages of 30 and 72 years, respectively. We observed an average increase of VO2peak > 10% (p = 0.01949). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest a statistically significant improvement in functional capacity with regular exercise of the right intensity.