Experimental and numerical study on the evaluation of ventilation efficiency

Buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption in the European Union. The reduction of energy consumption in the buildings sector constitute an important measure needed to reduce the Union's energy dependency and greenhouse gas emissions. The Portuguese legislation incorporate this principles in order to regulate the energy performance of buildings. This energy performance should be accompanied by good conditions for the occupants of the buildings. According to EN 15251 (2007) the four factors that affect the occupant comfort in the buildings are: Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), thermal comfort, acoustics and lighting. Ventilation directly affects all except the lighting, so it is crucial to understand the performance of it. The ventilation efficiency concept therefore earn significance, because it is an attempt to quantify a parameter that can easily distinguish the different options for air diffusion in the spaces. The two indicators most internationally accepted are the Air Change Efficiency (ACE) and the Contaminant Removal Effectiveness (CRE). Nowadays with the developed of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) the behaviour of ventilation can be more easily predicted. Thirteen strategies of air diffusion were measured in a test chamber through the application of the tracer gas method, with the objective to validate the calculation by the MicroFlo module of the IES-VE software for this two indicators. The main conclusions from this work were: that the values of the numerical simulations are in agreement with experimental measurements; the value of the CRE is more dependent of the position of the contamination source, that the strategy used for the air diffusion; the ACE indicator is more appropriate for quantifying the quality of the air diffusion; the solutions to be adopted, to maximize the ventilation efficiency should be, the schemes that operate with low speeds of supply air and small differences between supply air temperature and the room temperature.

Primary bioreceptivity of limestones from the mediterranean basin to phototrophic microorganisms

Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção do grau de Doutor em Conservação e Restauro pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Obesidade e cancro da próstata: Avaliação do efeito dos adipócitos nas células RM1 de carcinoma da próstata

O cancro da próstata é o segundo cancro mais frequente e a sexta causa de morte mundial por cancro no sexo masculino. A obesidade tem sido associada ao aumento da incidência e mortalidade por cancro, com alguma controvérsia. As alterações nas expressões de adipocinas associadas à obesidade têm sido um dos diversos mecanismos propostos para explicar a associação entre a obesidade e o cancro da próstata, nomeadamente na promoção do desenvolvimento e progressão celular do tumor. O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar o efeito dos fatores produzidos pelos pré-adipócitos e os adipócitos na proliferação, migração e invasão das células de carcinoma da próstata independentes dos androgénios. As células RM1 foram cultivadas na presença de diferentes concentrações de insulina e leptina, bem como em meio condicionado (MC) de pré-adipócitos e adipócitos e co-cultivadas em sistema de transwells, com as mesmas células. A proliferação celular das RM1 foi avaliada recorrendo a contagem celular em camara de Neubauer e em citometro de fluxo, e aos ensaios metabólicos alamar blue e XTT. Efetuou-se um ensaio de migração por dano nas células RM1 na presença dos meios condicionados. A invasão das células foi avaliada recorrendo a um sistema de transwells, com membrana de matrigel, quando cultivadas com pré-adipócitos e adipócitos. A insulina aumentou significativamente a proliferação celular, ao contrário da leptina que não teve efeito. O meio condicionado dos pré-adipócitos aumentou ligeiramente a proliferação, enquanto meio condicionado dos adipócitos de 1 e 2 dias aumentou significativamente a proliferação das células RM1 (p<0.01), quando avaliada por XTT. Na câmara de Neubauer não se verificaram diferenças significativas na proliferação celular. Relativamente à migração celular, observou-se um aumento significativo da migração das células RM1 cultivadas com meio condicionado de adipócitos (MCA) e pré-adipócitos (MCPA) em comparação com o controlo (p<0.01). Observou-se um aumento significativo da invasão de células RM1 cultivadas com adipócitos e pré-adipócitos (p <0.05). Os adipócitos aumentaram significativamente a proliferação das células RM1 em co-cultura (p<0.01). Em conclusão, as células RM1 parecem ser influenciadas por fatores secretados pelos adipócitos, capazes de aumentar a sua capacidade de proliferar, invadir e migrar.

Isolation of Leishmania sp. from aqueous humor of a patient with cutaneous disseminated leishmaniasis and bilateral iridocyclitis (preliminary report)

The Authors report an uncommon case of leishmaniasis with disseminated cutaneous lesions, systemic manifestations and ocular involvement, the latter being characterized by bilateral nongranulomatous iridocyclitis. The severity of the oph-thalmologic lesions and its unresponsiveness to therapy (in spite of satisfactory regression of both systemic and cutaneous manifestations) lead to a needle aspiration of the anterior eye chamber, content. From this material Leishmania sp was isolated. To our knowledge this is the first time that Leishmania has been shown into the ocular globe.

Elementos de geoquímica das rochas do maciço ígneo de Sines

The chemical and mineralogical characteristics of the intrusive and extrusive rocks of this igneous complex are presented. The suggest affinities between these rocks. The major and the trace elements lead us to conclude that these rocks were originated in a common magmatic chamber by fractional crystallization.

Reproducing stone monument photosynthetic-based colonization under laboratory conditions

Science of the total environment 405(2008) 278-285

The influence of inherent properties of building limestones on their bioreceptivity to phototrophic microorganisms

Annals of Microbiology, 59 (4) 705-713 (2009)

Comparison of contaminant removal effectiveness and air change efficiency as indicator of air diffusion quality.

The ventilation efficiency concept is an attempt to quantify a parameter that can easily distinguish the different options for air diffusion in the building spaces. Thirteen strategies of air diffusion were measured in a test chamber through the application of the tracer gas method, with the objective to validate the calculation by Computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Were compared the Air Change Efficiency (ACE) and the Contaminant Removal Effectiveness (CRE), the two indicators most internationally accepted. The main results from this work shows that the values of the numerical simulations are in good agreement with experimental measurements and also, that the solutions to be adopted for maximizing the ventilation efficiency should be the schemes that operate with low speeds of supply air and small differences between supply air temperature and the room temperature.

Performance evaluation of a cooperative reputation system for vehicular delay-tolerant networks

In the last decade, both scientific community and automotive industry enabled communications among vehicles in different kinds of scenarios proposing different vehicular architectures. Vehicular delay-tolerant networks (VDTNs) were proposed as a solution to overcome some of the issues found in other vehicular architectures, namely, in dispersed regions and emergency scenarios. Most of these issues arise from the unique characteristics of vehicular networks. Contrary to delay-tolerant networks (DTNs), VDTNs place the bundle layer under the network layer in order to simplify the layered architecture and enable communications in sparse regions characterized by long propagation delays, high error rates, and short contact durations. However, such characteristics turn contacts very important in order to exchange as much information as possible between nodes at every contact opportunity. One way to accomplish this goal is to enforce cooperation between network nodes. To promote cooperation among nodes, it is important that nodes share their own resources to deliver messages from others. This can be a very difficult task, if selfish nodes affect the performance of cooperative nodes. This paper studies the performance of a cooperative reputation system that detects, identify, and avoid communications with selfish nodes. Two scenarios were considered across all the experiments enforcing three different routing protocols (First Contact, Spray and Wait, and GeoSpray). For both scenarios, it was shown that reputation mechanisms that punish aggressively selfish nodes contribute to increase the overall network performance.

Liaisons dangereuses, conservation of modern and contemporary art: a study of the synthetic binding media in Portugal

Dissertação apresentada para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Conservação e Restauro, especialidade de Ciências da Conservação, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Preparação e caracterização de micropartículas de polissacáridos para libertação controlada de fármacos anticancerígenos no cólon

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

THE CONTROL OF ANOPHELINE MOSQUITOS BY THE SPRAYING OF DELTAMETHRIN ON RAFFIA CURTAINS USED IN MINERS' HUTS IN AREAS ENDEMIC FOR MALARIA

The residual potential of an aqueous solution of Deltamethrin (FW 25 mg i.a./m2) was evaluated on raffia curtains. These are sheets of synthetic material used in the construction of huts to house miners. Experiments were conducted during 420 days and the curtains were always rolled up in the daytime and unrolled in late afternoon. Data analyzed by logarithmic regression indicated that raffia treated with Deltamethrin had higher mortality indices than that covered with DDT. The residual capacity of Deltamethrin on raffia was high. The mortality percentage was above 85% after 360 days and dropped to about 50% at 420 days. The effect of DDT was reduced after 180 days and reached zero by the end of the experiment. Based on the results of these experiments, it is recommended that Deltamethrin be used to spray raffia curtains in mining regions and other areas that are endemic for malaria.

Heavy-metal resistance in Marinobacter aquaeolei 617 insights into copper resistance

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Biotecnologia

Jorge Lobo’s disease: experimental inoculation in Swiss mice

Sixty-four isogenic Swiss mice were intradermically inoculated in both hind foot pads. The inocula, consisting of fungal suspensions from biopsies obtained from Jorge Lobo’s Disease patients, had the total number of fungi and the viability index determined using a Neubauer chamber and the fluorescein diacetate-ethidium bromide technique (FD-EB), respectively. The animals were sacrificed at times ranging from ten days to eighteen months after inoculation. The cellular infiltrate, mainly consisting of macrophages containing fungi, increased progressively up to end of the study; however, no macroscopic alterations were observed in the inoculated feet. After nine months, small numbers of Langhans’ giant cells started to appear in the infiltrate. A considerable number of fungi was observed at the end of the experimental period, but only a few were viable when stained by the FD-EB technique. This fact suggests that there is a multiplication of fungal cells, which are destroyed by the macrophages but remain in the tissue for a long time due perhaps to the difficulties in their elimination. These findings led us to conclude that in spite of the maintenance of the infection in these animals, Swiss mice cannot be considered an ideal model to study Jorge Lobo’s Disease. However, the authors call attention to the possibility of other mouse strains being more susceptible to Paracoccidioides loboi.

A termografia aplicada à eficiência energética de equipamentos e processos em contexto industrial do tratamento de alumínios

A dissertação apresentada tem como objetivo primordial testar e validar as potencialidades da termografia na obtenção de dados para reduzir as perdas ou ganhos térmicos em equipamentos e processos, tornando-os mais eficientes. Realizada em estágio curricular, em ambiente empresarial, na empresa Ecoinside, tem como caso de estudo principal uma indústria de tratamento de alumínios. O processo e os equipamentos escolhidos para o estudo foram estudados e compreendidos. Nas imperfeições detetadas foram apontadas medidas corretivas simples e de fácil execução. Mostrou-se, ainda, algumas das poupanças energéticas concedidas por essas retificações. As capacidades da termografia foram testadas noutros ambientes, que não o industrial, pois um dos objectivos era perceber se a câmara termográfica é uma mais-valia a fornecer dados na realização de uma qualquer auditoria energética, confirmando-se que sim. Dá-se, ainda, a conhecer os princípios por detrás da termografia e um pouco da sua história. Ainda no passado, percebem-se as razões do surgimento das auditorias energéticas antes da presente preocupação ambiental e da eficiência energética.