10,580 research outputs found
Environmental risk assessment in a contaminated estuary: an integrated weight of evidence approach as a decision support tool
Environmental risk assessment of complex ecosystems such as estuaries is a challenge, where innovative
and integrated approaches are needed. The present work aimed at developing an innovative integrative
methodology to evaluate in an impacted estuary (the Sado, in Portugal, was taken as case study), the
adverse effects onto both ecosystem and human health. For the purpose, new standardized lines of
evidence based on multiple quantitative data were integrated into a weight of evidence according to a
best expert judgment approach. The best professional judgment for a weight of evidence approach in the
present study was based on the following lines of evidence: i) human contamination pathways; ii)
human health effects: chronic disease; iii) human health effects: reproductive health; iv) human health
effects: health care; v) human exposure through consumption of local agriculture produce; vi) exposure
to contaminated of water wells and agriculture soils; vii) contamination of the estuarine sedimentary
environment (metal and organic contaminants); viii) effects on benthic organisms with commercial
value; and ix) genotoxic potential of sediments. Each line of evidence was then ordinally ranked by levels
of ecological or human health risk, according to a tabular decision matrix and expert judgment. Fifteen
experts scored two fishing areas of the Sado estuary and a control estuarine area, in a scale of increasing
environmental risk and management actions to be taken. The integrated assessment allowed concluding
that the estuary should not be regarded as impacted by a specific toxicant, such as metals and organic
compounds hitherto measured, but by the cumulative risk of a complex mixture of contaminants. The
proven adverse effects on species with commercial value may be used to witness the environmental
quality of the estuarine ecosystem. This method argues in favor of expert judgment and qualitative
assessment as a decision support tool to the integrative management of estuaries. Namely it allows
communicating environmental risk and proposing mitigation measures to local authorities and population
under a holistic perspective as an alternative to narrow single line of evidence approaches, which
is mandatory to understand cause and effect relationships in complex areas like estuaries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The importance of geotechnical knowledge of terrains: Beja municipality, Alentejo, Portugal
The municipality of Beja, in Alentejo (Portugal), is presented as a case in which the insufficient knowledge of the geological and geotechnical characteristics of terrains contributes to serious problems in the establishment of building platforms. In Beja three main geotechnical units can be defined: fills, residual soils from gabbro-diorite weathering and gabbro-diorite bedrock. The knowledge of location, thickness and geotechnical properties of all these formations will contribute to the accurate engineering design and construction work, and also to support urban planning and therefore to minimize geological risk by avoiding zones with thick problematic soils as shown with a case study
Comparing reverse complementary genomic words based on their distance distributions and frequencies
In this work we study reverse complementary genomic word pairs in the human
DNA, by comparing both the distance distribution and the frequency of a word to
those of its reverse complement. Several measures of dissimilarity between
distance distributions are considered, and it is found that the peak
dissimilarity works best in this setting. We report the existence of reverse
complementary word pairs with very dissimilar distance distributions, as well
as word pairs with very similar distance distributions even when both
distributions are irregular and contain strong peaks. The association between
distribution dissimilarity and frequency discrepancy is explored also, and it
is speculated that symmetric pairs combining low and high values of each
measure may uncover features of interest. Taken together, our results suggest
that some asymmetries in the human genome go far beyond Chargaff's rules. This
study uses both the complete human genome and its repeat-masked version.Comment: Post-print of a paper accepted to publication in "Interdisciplinary
Sciences: Computational Life Sciences" (ISSN: 1913-2751, ESSN: 1867-1462
Separate and combined effects of cyclic fasting and l-carnitine supplementation in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus, L. 1758)
We examined the e¡ects of cyclic fasting in red porgy
(Pagrus pagrus) fed di¡erent dietary carnitine levels. Ju venile ¢sh (23.58 3.49 g) were divided into eight
groups ^ four groups were fed every day to apparent sa tiation, while the other four were fasted for 7 days every
2 weeks. In each feeding regime, two replicates were fed
an L-carnitine non-supplemented diet (46 mg kg 1
)
and the other two groups were fed an L-carnitine sup plemented diet (630 mg kg 1
). Fish fed 630 mg L-carni tine accumulated two times more L-carnitine in muscle
than ¢sh fed 46 mg L-carnitine. Cyclic fasting reduced
the growth performance and lipid content in the liver.
Carnitine supplementation did not a¡ect performance
and body composition, but decreased the n-6 PUFA
content. Moreover, the combined e¡ects of fasting and
carnitine supplementation were observed on reducing
the n-3 fatty acid content. Areas of steatosis were found
in the livers of red porgy, but the results revealed that
supplementation of L-carnitine in cyclic fasted ¢sh con tributed towards a lower degree of vacuolization than
in ¢sh fed to apparent satiation. Regardless of the feed ing regime applied, the spleen of ¢sh fed the L-carni tine-supplemented diet was haemorrhagic and hyper
activation of melanomacrophage cells was observed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Probabilistic clustering of interval data
In this paper we address the problem of clustering interval data, adopting a model-based approach. To this purpose, parametric models for interval-valued variables are used which consider configurations for the variance-covariance matrix that take the nature of the interval data directly into account. Results, both on synthetic and empirical data, clearly show the well-founding of the proposed approach. The method succeeds in finding parsimonious heterocedastic models which is a critical feature in many applications. Furthermore, the analysis of the different data sets made clear the need to explicitly consider the intrinsic variability present in interval data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Identifying Special Structures in Interval-Data via Model-Base Clustering
In this paper we present a model-based approach to the clustering of interval data building on recently
proposed parametric models. These methods consider configurations for the variance-covariance matrix that
take the nature of the interval data directly into account. The proposed framework relies on parametrizations
considering the inherent variability of the relevant data units and the relation that may exist between
this variability and the corresponding value levels. Using both synthetic and real data sets the pertinence of
the proposed methodology is shown, as the method effectively selects heterocedastic models with restricted
covariance structures when they are the most suitable, even in situations with limited information. Moreover,
considering special configurations of the variance-covariance matrix, adapted to nature of interval data,
proves to be the adequate approach. The presented study also makes clear the need to consider both the information about position (conveyed by the MidPoints) and intrinsic variability (conveyed by the Log-Ranges)
when analysing interval data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Marketing socioambiental: o estudo de caso da participação popular em áreas de alta densidade de postes e linhas de alta tensão em Portugal
O presente artigo centra-se na análise do marketing socioambiental, promovido
por empresas do setor energético, bem como o papel da sociedade civil, por intermédio, dos
movimentos populares de reivindicação, contra os postes e linhas de alta e muito
alta tensão em áreas residenciais na União Europeia e,
especificamente, em Portugal.
O processo de urbanização crescente e o modo de vida urbano desenfreado acarretaram mudanças substanciais no tecido urbano, sobretudo,
no que diz respeito ao avanço das linhas
aéreas de
energia elétrica. Desde a década de 1960, uma série de estudos foram desenvolvidos sobre
os efeitos destas infraestruturas tecnológicas em áreas residenciais. Apesar do intenso
debate ainda não existem resultados consensuais quanto à
sua influência na saúde das populações.
Não obstante, diversos organismos internacionais, tais como, a Organização
Mundia l de Saúde (OMS) e a Comissão Internacional de Proteção Contra Radiação Não
- Ionizante (ICNIRP), já estabeleceram
parâmetros de precaução, a partir da fixação de
valores de exposição, tanto em termos ocupacionais
, quanto para a população. Neste
sentido, objetiva-se com a presente comunicação
analisar o papel do marketing socioambiental, a partir da participação popular,
dos movimentos internacionais e
nacionais contra a alta tensão, sobretudo em Portugal.
A pesquisa centrou-se numa abordagem qualitativa de fontes secundárias
de dois blogues e cinco jornais nacionais que
apresentavam notícias sobre a constituição e
as manifestações realizadas pelo Movimento
Nacional Contra Linhas de Alta Tensão em Zonas Habitadas.
Este Movimento teve a sua origem no Sul de Portugal e difundiu-se por todo o país recrutando indivíduos preocupados com a instalação das novas e das já existentes linhas aéreas de energia elétrica. O Movimento ganhou força a nível nacional com o
apoio de partidos políticos.
Também foi realizado trabalho de campo em junho de 2014
Saúde e Ambiente – estudo de caso dos impactes da exposição ao ruído de baixa frequência no bem-estar da população de Serzedelo (Guimarães)
A exposição ao ruído tem efeitos nocivos e constitui um fator de risco para a saúde humana. O principal objetivo da presente pesquisa é analisar a exposição ao ruído de baixa frequência
proveniente dos postes elétricos de alta tensão em áreas residenciais,
especialmente em Sezerdelo
(município de Guimarães) e os impactes na saúde da população que aí reside. A metodologia
utilizada para as análises do ruído ambiental foi fundamentada no documento elaborado pelo
Acoustics Research Centre
(DEFRA), da Universidade de Salford, intitulado
Procedure for the
assessment of low frequency noise complaints
(2011). Os níveis de ruído de Serzedelo ultrapassam
os valores de referência do critério da curva nas faixas de 50Hz e 63Hz de 1/3 de oitava em todos
os pontos de medição, concretizados em 2014. Neste caso, o nível de ruído proveniente dos postes
de alta tensão pode ser incomodativo e suceptível de impacter na saúde da população que reside em
Serzdelo
Dissimilar Symmetric Word Pairs in the Human Genome
In this work we explore the dissimilarity between symmetric word pairs, by
comparing the inter-word distance distribution of a word to that of its
reversed complement. We propose a new measure of dissimilarity between such
distributions. Since symmetric pairs with different patterns could point to
evolutionary features, we search for the pairs with the most dissimilar
behaviour. We focus our study on the complete human genome and its
repeat-masked version.Comment: Submitted 13-Feb-2017; accepted, after a minor revision, 17-Mar-2017;
11th International Conference on Practical Applications of Computational
Biology & Bioinformatics, PACBB 2017, Porto, Portugal, 21-23 June, 201
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