Influence of curing conditions in lime-metakaolin blended mortars – A mineralogical and mechanical study

3rd Historic Mortars Conference, 11-14 September 2013, Glasgow, Scotland

A constructive technology assessment of stationary energy storage systems: prospective life cycle orientated analysis

Based on the presentation and discussion at the 3rd Winter School on Technology Assessment, December 2012, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), Caparica Campus, PhD programme on Technology Assessment

Caraterização estatística dos valores percentuais de sangue do grupo AB0 colhido pelo Centro Regional de Sangue de Lisboa e respetivo emparelhamento com a distribuição a nível hospitalar

RESUMO: A Medicina Transfusional está a mudar rapidamente em resposta a um número de diferentes catástrofes, patologias e novas técnicas da ciência. Por detrás de uma transfusão de sangue existe todo um conjunto de procedimentos, técnicas e atuações que salvaguardam o rigor e segurança científicas resultando numa maior eficiência na diminuição da morbilidade/mortalidade humana. Todo o processo de colheita, análise, processamento e distribuição de concentrados de eritrócitos comporta um capital elevado em termos da economia para a saúde e os requisitos básicos de uma gestão de qualidade, na área da saúde em geral e da hemoterapia em particular, tem de compreender, com rigor, estas condições de gestão parceria de forma a evitar um aumento nos custos da saúde. Para identificar as discrepâncias nos pedidos efetuados pelos Hospitais Públicos e Privados ao Centro de Sangue e Transplantação de Lisboa, no que diz respeito ao Sistema AB0 dos concentrados de Eritrócitos, foi feito um estudo quantitativo, com fins descritivos simples, aos 95 984 concentrados de eritrócitos enviados às 32 Instituições de Saúde da abrangência do CST de Lisboa. Tendo em conta o Sistema AB0 RhD, confirma-se que o grupo sanguíneo prevalente, tanto na população portuguesa como nos dadores de sangue que efetuaram a sua dádiva de sangue em 2011, é o grupo A Rh+. Observou-se no entanto que o grupo sanguíneo mais pedido e enviado pertence ao grupo 0 Rh positivo. Assim, apurou-se que existe uma disparidade, mesmo que pouco acentuada, nos pedidos efetuados pelos Hospitais Públicos e Privados ao Centro de Sangue e Transplantação de Lisboa no que configura ao Sistema AB0 dos concentrados de eritrócitos. Os Hospitais Públicos Sem Serviço de Colheita de Sangue e os Hospitais Privados são responsáveis por este desencontro de valores. No que se refere às inutilizações por prazo de validade ressalva-se que os desaproveitamentos de CE’s não são tão acentuados como se esperaria numa primeira fase de estudo. No entanto, e em termos económicos, se existem inutilizações por prazo de validade, existe igualmente despojo financeiro. Por detrás de cada unidade inutilizada existe um alto investimento que será desperdiçado por carência de solicitação. De forma a minimizar gastos e a salvaguardar um Banco de Sangue capaz de suportar qualquer eventualidade de rutura de stock estão patentes propostas de estratégias capazes de impedir constrangimentos diários e futuros no que diz respeito à disponibilidade de sangue e componentes sanguíneos.--------------ABSTRACT: The Transfusion Medicine it is changing fast in response to a number of different catastrophes, disease and new techniques of science. From behind a blood transfusion there is a whole set of procedures, techniques and actions that safeguard the safety and scientific rigor resulting in greater efficiency in reducing morbidity / mortality human. The entire process of procurement, testing, processing and distribution of concentrated erythrocytes involves a high capital in terms of the economy to health and the basic requirements of a quality management in healthcare in general and hemotherapy in particular has to understand with rigor, this partnership in order to avoid an increase in health costs. In order to identify discrepancies in the orders placed by the Government and Private Hospitals Center Blood and Transplant Lisbon regarding the AB0 system of concentrated erythrocytes was made a quantitative study with simple descriptive purposes to 95,984 erythrocytes concentrates sent to 32 Health Institutions of the scope of CST Lisbon. Having regard to the system AB0 blood group RhD prevalent both in the Portuguese population as blood donors, who made his blood donation in 2011, confirms that belong to group A Rh +. It was found that blood group most requested and sent belongs to group 0 Rh positive. Thus, it was found that there is a disparity, even a little sharp, requests made by the Government and Private Hospitals Blood Center and Transplantation in Lisbon that configures the system AB0 erythrocyte concentrates. The Public Hospitals without Blood Harvest and Private Hospitals are responsible for this clash of values. With regard the expiry date by disables proviso that the wastes of CE's are not as sharp as one would expect in a first phase of the study. However, in economic terms, if there is disables by expiry date, there is also financial squandering. Behind every unused unit is a high investment to be wasted by shortage of request. To minimize costs and safeguarding a Blood Bank can support any event of rupture of stock patents are proposed strategies to prevent future and diaries constraints with regard to the availability of blood and blood components.

Protesting or justifying? A latent class model for contingent valuation with attitudinal data

This article develops a latent class model for estimating willingness-to-pay for public goods using simultaneously contingent valuation (CV) and attitudinal data capturing protest attitudes related to the lack of trust in public institutions providing those goods. A measure of the social cost associated with protest responses and the consequent loss in potential contributions for providing the public good is proposed. The presence of potential justification biases is further considered, that is, the possibility that for psychological reasons the response to the CV question affects the answers to the attitudinal questions. The results from our empirical application suggest that psychological factors should not be ignored in CV estimation for policy purposes, allowing for a correct identification of protest responses.

Diagnosis of rubella infection by detecting specific immunoglobulin M antibodies in saliva samples: a clinic-based study in Niterói, RJ, Brazil

This study was designed to investigate whether saliva could be a feasible alternative to serum for the diagnosis of recent rubella infection in a clinic setting. Forty-five paired blood and saliva samples collected 1 to 29 days after onset of illness were tested for specific immunoglobulin (Ig) M by antibody-capture radioimmunoassay (MACRIA). Rubella IgM was detected in all serum samples and in 38 (84.4%) saliva specimens. Forty-six serum and saliva samples from other patients with rash diseases were tested by MACRIA for control purposes and two saliva specimens were reactive. The saliva test had specificity of 96%. These results indicate that salivary IgM detection may be a convenient non-invasive alternative to serum for investigation of recent rubella cases, especially for disease surveillance and control programmes.

Growth and unemployment: understanding Okun's law for Portugal

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

How to create a relevant pool of users for Mobitto

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

Constituição e transcendência: os casos dos regimes comunitários do entre-guerras

Tede de Doutoramento, na especialidade de Ciências Políticas apresentada à FDUNL

Establishment of HTLV-I-infected cell lines from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Brazilian patients

To investigate epidemiological and pathogenetic features of HTLV-I infection, a cohort of carriers has been followed at the USP Teaching Hospital since 1991. This study describes the establishment of cell lines from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of infected subjects. Ex vivo PBMC were cultured with those from a seronegative donor and morphologic evidence of cell transformation was obtained after 90 days with detection of multinucleated cells exhibiting cerebriform nuclei. Integration of HTLV-I proviral DNA and expression of viral antigens was demonstrated in culture by PCR and immunofluorescence. Cell lines were maintained for 240 days, gradually weaned from exogenous IL-2. Immunophenotyping of cell lines on flow cytometry yielded evidence of cell activation. Establishment of HTLV-I-infected cell lines from ex vivo PBMC is feasible and may be useful for studies on lymphocyte phenotypic changes and on mechanisms of HTLV-induced cell proliferation. Moreover they may be used with diagnostic purposes in immunofluorescence tests.

Controlling gene expression in enterobacteriaceae: studies on sRNAs and strategies for synthetic biology

Dissertation presented to obtain the Master Degree in Molecular, Genetics and Biomedicine

Correction of the anisotropy in resistivity: application to pore pressure prediction

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Geológica (Georrecursos)

Amorphous silicon e 3D sensors applied to object detection

Nowadays, existing 3D scanning cameras and microscopes in the market use digital or discrete sensors, such as CCDs or CMOS for object detection applications. However, these combined systems are not fast enough for some application scenarios since they require large data processing resources and can be cumbersome. Thereby, there is a clear interest in exploring the possibilities and performances of analogue sensors such as arrays of position sensitive detectors with the final goal of integrating them in 3D scanning cameras or microscopes for object detection purposes. The work performed in this thesis deals with the implementation of prototype systems in order to explore the application of object detection using amorphous silicon position sensors of 32 and 128 lines which were produced in the clean room at CENIMAT-CEMOP. During the first phase of this work, the fabrication and the study of the static and dynamic specifications of the sensors as well as their conditioning in relation to the existing scientific and technological knowledge became a starting point. Subsequently, relevant data acquisition and suitable signal processing electronics were assembled. Various prototypes were developed for the 32 and 128 array PSD sensors. Appropriate optical solutions were integrated to work together with the constructed prototypes, allowing the required experiments to be carried out and allowing the achievement of the results presented in this thesis. All control, data acquisition and 3D rendering platform software was implemented for the existing systems. All these components were combined together to form several integrated systems for the 32 and 128 line PSD 3D sensors. The performance of the 32 PSD array sensor and system was evaluated for machine vision applications such as for example 3D object rendering as well as for microscopy applications such as for example micro object movement detection. Trials were also performed involving the 128 array PSD sensor systems. Sensor channel non-linearities of approximately 4 to 7% were obtained. Overall results obtained show the possibility of using a linear array of 32/128 1D line sensors based on the amorphous silicon technology to render 3D profiles of objects. The system and setup presented allows 3D rendering at high speeds and at high frame rates. The minimum detail or gap that can be detected by the sensor system is approximately 350 μm when using this current setup. It is also possible to render an object in 3D within a scanning angle range of 15º to 85º and identify its real height as a function of the scanning angle and the image displacement distance on the sensor. Simple and not so simple objects, such as a rubber and a plastic fork, can be rendered in 3D properly and accurately also at high resolution, using this sensor and system platform. The nip structure sensor system can detect primary and even derived colors of objects by a proper adjustment of the integration time of the system and by combining white, red, green and blue (RGB) light sources. A mean colorimetric error of 25.7 was obtained. It is also possible to detect the movement of micrometer objects using the 32 PSD sensor system. This kind of setup offers the possibility to detect if a micro object is moving, what are its dimensions and what is its position in two dimensions, even at high speeds. Results show a non-linearity of about 3% and a spatial resolution of < 2µm.

Serological reactivity of different antigenic preparations of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and the Leishmania braziliensis complex

Total antigen from Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and isolates from the Leishmania braziliensis complex, along with their respective antigenic fractions obtained by affinity chromatography on concanavalin-A-Sepharose and jacalin-agarose columns evaluated using immunoenzymatic ELISA assay. For this, serum samples from 229 patients were used, grouped as American tegmental leishmaniasis (nº=58), visceral leishmaniasis (nº=28), Chagas disease (nº=49), malaria (nº=32), tuberculosis (nº=13) and healthy volunteers (nº=49). Samples from American tegmentary leishmaniasis showed higher reactivity with antigens isolated from the Leishmania braziliensis complex than with antigens from Leishmania amazonensis (p<0.001). ELISA assays showed a sensitivity range from 60% to 95% with antigens isolated from the Leishmania braziliensis complex. There was marked nonspecific reactivity among serum samples with the use of antigenic fractions binding with concanavalin-A and jacalin from both Leishmania complexes, in comparison with other antigens (p<0.001). The results presented in this study suggest that the use of homologous antigens increases the efficiency of anti-Leishmania immunoglobulin detection, which may be very valuable for diagnostic purposes.

Enterprise Social Networking

Microblogging in the workplace as a functionality of Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) platforms is a relatively new phenomenon of which the use in knowledge work has not yet received much attention from research. In this cross-sectional study, I attempt to shed light on the role of microblogging in knowledge work. I identify microblogging use practices of knowledge workers on ESN platforms, and I identify its role in supporting knowledge work performance. A questionnaire is carried out among a non-representative sample of knowledge workers. The results shed light on the purposes of the microblogging messages that knowledge workers write. It also helps us find out whether microblogging supports them in performing their work. The survey is based on existing theory that supplied me with possible microblog purposes as well as theory on what the actions of knowledge workers are. The results reveal that “knowledge & news sharing”, “crowd sourcing”, “socializing & networking” and “discussion & opinion” are frequent microblog purposes. The study furthermore shows that microblogging benefits knowledge workers’ work. Microblogging seems to be a worthy addition to the existing means of communication in the workplace, and is especially useful to let knowledge, news and social contact reach a further and broader audience than it would in a situation without this social networking service.

Needs assessment of people with severe mental illnesses and their families in Azerbaijan

RESUMO: Os indivíduos com doença mental grave, assim como os seus familiares, podem ser caracterizados como uma população em que ocorre uma combinação complexa de necessidades médicas e psicossociais, nomeadamente a nível do diagnóstico e do acesso aos serviços de saúde mental. A avaliação de necessidades pode fornecer informações importantes para o desenvolvimento de intervenções eficazes, tanto a nível da população como a nível individual. Este estudo teve como objetivo determinar as diferentes necessidades reportadas pelos pacientes com doença mental grave e seus familiares , assim como investigar as possíveis relações entre o estado de necessidades e as variáveis sócio-demográficas e clínicas. Simultaneamente, o estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a sobrecarga familiar e a satisfação dos utentes com os serviços de saúde mental. Foi elaborado um estudo transversal, realizado numa amostra de conveniência de cinquenta díades de paciente/membro da família, seguidos em regime de ambulatório no Centro Nacional de Saúde Mental. Foram utilizados como instrumentos de avaliação um questionário sociodemográfico, a Escala Breve de Avaliação Psiquiátrica (BPRS), o questionário de Avaliação de Necessidades de Camberwell (CAN), o Questionário de Avaliação do Envolvimento (IEQ) e a Escala de Verona de Satisfação com os Serviços (VSSS). As mais frequentes necessidades não-satisfeitas foram o ‘sofrimento psicológico’, as ‘atividades sociais’ e os ‘benefícios sociais’. O estudo mostrou uma sobrecarga significativa nas famílias que cuidam de pessoas com doença mental grave, que se correlacionou com as suas opiniões sobre as necessidades dos pacientes e teve um impacto negativo sobre o bem-estar psicológico. Os três mais importantes predictores de sofrimento psíquico em familiares foram o sexo, a situação laboral e a relação com o paciente. A avaliação da satisfação com os serviços revelou a existência de um hiato significativo entre os serviços prestados e os serviços desejados, reportados pelos pacientes e seus familiares. A maioria dos participantes do estudo desejavam ter um trabalho protegido, ou receber ajuda para encontrar emprego. Os resultados deste estudo poderão ser usados para fins de planeamento desenvolvimento e avaliação de serviços de saúde mental no Azerbeijão. Algumas recomendações sobre a melhoria dos serviços de saúde mental para pacientes com doença mental grave e suas famílias são feitas na secção final do trabalho.----------ABSTRACT: Patients suffering from severe mental illness, in addition to their family members, may be characterized as a population with a complex combination of medical and psychosocial needs, which are under-recognized and under-addressed by mental health services. At the same time, needs assessment provides important information necessary for developing effective interventions at both population and individual level. The study was aimed to determine various needs perceived by patients with SMI and their family members, as well as to find out possible relations between the needs and socio-demographic and clinical variables. Similarly the study was intended to evaluate family burden and users’ satisfaction with services. This was a cross-sectional study conducted on a convenience sample. Fifty dyads of a patient and family member applying for out-patient services to the National Mental Health Centre participated in the study. Sociodemographic questionnaire, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Camberwell Assessment of Need, Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire, and Verona Service Satisfaction Scale were used as assessment tools. The most prominent unmet needs reported by people with SMI and their relatives were psychological distress, social activities and welfare benefits. The study showed significant burden in families caring for people with SMI, which correlated with their views about patients’ needs and had a negative impact on the psychological well-being. The three most important predictors of psychological distress in family members were gender, employment status and relationship to patient. Evaluation of satisfaction with services pointed out the gap between provided and desired services reported by patients and their relatives. Most of study participants wished to have sheltered work, or receive help in finding employment. The results of this study may be used for the purposes of mental health service planning, development and evaluation in our country. Some recommendations on improvement of mental health services for patients with SMI and their families have been made in the conclusion.