The micro-macro politics of audience action

The political significance of audience practices takes on potentially new meanings in a changing media landscape.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modelo de cooperação da China para África: análise de um estudo de caso em Moçambique

O objectivo desta dissertação é sugerir um quadro explicativo da estratégia de longo prazo da China para África e realçar o papel da ajuda chinesa na prossecução dos seus desígnios, tendo por base a cooperação entre a China e Moçambique. O reforço das relações entre China e África é uma tendência que vai continuar a desenvolver-se. A China tem capital para investir e tecnologia mas necessita de matérias-primas para sustentar a sua indústria, alimentar a sua população, continuar a aumentar os volumes de exportação e afirmar-se nos mercados internacionais. África, por sua vez, disponibiliza de matérias-primas, mas carece de infra-estruturas e de tecnologia para as explorar. A continuidade e o aumento da interacção comercial e de investimento implica que a China mantenha um entendimento com todos os países africanos, por forma a cultivar influências e reforçar a rede de apoio político. É neste contexto que se intensificam as relações com Moçambique, ao mesmo tempo que cresce o envolvimento comercial e empresarial chinês nos sectores moçambicanos da construção civil, da agricultura e da extracção de recursos como a madeira. A Moçambique interessa-lhe explorar as oportunidades oferecidas pelo governo chinês para contrabalançar a forte dependência face aos doadores tradicionais. Aquelas oportunidades traduzem-se no cancelamento da dívida, na oferta de donativos e concessão de empréstimos preferenciais, na capacitação técnica na agricultura e no fornecimento de construção de baixo custo. Esta dissertação suscita questões, que deixa em aberto para que sejam aprofundadas em investigações futuras. Uma dessas interrogações prende-se com a sustentabilidade do modelo de cooperação e de desenvolvimento proposto pela China, assente numa relação de interdependência entre as economias chinesa e africana, com fraco investimento no desenvolvimento das capacidades locais e poucos resultados na melhoria do bem estar das populações.The purpose of this thesis is to suggest an explanatory framework of China’ s long-term strategy in Africa and highlight the role of Chinese aid in the pursuit of its own designs, based on the cooperation between China and Mozambique. The strengthening of relations between China and Africa is a trend that will continue to develop. China has capital to invest and technology but it needs raw materials to sustain its industry, feed its population, continue to increase its export volumes and assert itself in international markets. Africa, in turn, has raw materials, but lacks the infrastructures and technology to exploit them. The continuation and increase of this commercial and investment interaction imply that China maintains an agreement with all African countries, so as to gain influence and strengthen its network of political support. It is in this context that relations with Mozambique intensify, as Chinese business and commercial involvement grows in the Mozambican sectors of civil construction, agriculture and resource extraction such as timber. Mozambique is interested in exploring the opportunities offered by the Chinese government to counterbalance its strong dependence on traditional donors. These opportunities include debt cancellation, the offering of grants and the concession of preferential loans, technical training in agriculture and the provision of low cost construction. The thesis raises open-ended questions, paving the way for more in – depth future research. One such question concerns the sustainability of China’s model of cooperation and development, based on a relationship of interdependence between the Chinese and African economies, with little investment in developing local capacity and limited results in improving the welfare of the people

Collaboration potentials in micro and macro politics of audience creativity

In our stakeholder consultation following up on trends concerning the micro and macro politics of audience action, we explore the potential impact of audiences’ micro-participation and connection to macro-actions. We address this issue taking into consideration intrinsic continuities and discontinuities between academia and the stakeholders’ perspectives.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Combinatorial chemistry: advanced tool for drug leads discovery

A Química Combinatória (QC) é atualmente uma das mais promissoras ferramentas para a descoberta e o desenvolvimento de novas moléculas com potencialidades terapêuticas. Nesta metodologia de síntese os produtos são formados simultaneamente e podem ser testados biologicamente em uma só vez, seja em forma de misturas ou separadamente. A principal meta desta nova metodologia é reduzir o tempo necessário para a obtenção de um novo fármaco. A síntese de quimiotecas pode ser realizada através da utilização de polímeros insolúveis, solúveis ou pela tradicional síntese em solução, sendo que cada uma delas apresenta características que podem ser vantajosas ou não, dependendo da metodologia utilizada. O desenvolvimento de técnicas de high throughput screening (HTS) devido às suas características peculiares necessita de tempo, razão pela qual a síntese de quimiotecas pequenas e racionais é enfatizada.Nowadays, Combinatorial Chemistry is one of the most promising tools used in the design and discovery of new molecules potentially useful in the therapeutics. In this methodology, the reaction products are synthesized simultaneously and can be evaluated once, either in a complex mixture or as isolated compounds. The main aim of this new approach is the time for the development of new drugs. The synthesis of combinatorial libraries can be performed using either insoluble or soluble polymers and also by the traditional organic synthesis in solution. Each one of these approaches presents features that may be advantageous depending on the final objective of the synthetic process. The development of high throughput screening (HTS) assays takes much time, which makes the synthesis of small and well designed combinatorial libraries the most recommended strategy

Социальная ответственность бизнеса: опыт внедрения, характерные черты и особенности

Целью написания данной статьи является изучения опыта украинских предприятий (компаний) с наилучшими показателями в сфере социальной политики, выявление и анализ особенностей их реализации для разработки концептуального подхода к формированию модели внедрения принципов социальной ответственности в других компаниях (на предприятиях).Изучен опыт лучших компаний Украины в сфере корпоративной социальной ответственности; выявлены характерные черты и особенности разработки социальной политики в компании. Предложен концептуальный подход к формированию модели внедрения принципов социальной ответственности бизнеса.Вивчений досвід кращих компаній України в сфері соціальної відповідальності; виявлені характерні риси та особливості розробки соціальної політики в компанії. Запропонований концептуальний підхід до формування моделі впровадження принципів соціальної відповідальності бізнесу.The experience of the best Ukrainian companies in the sphere of the corporate social responsibility is studied; the personal traits and features of the development of social policy in a company are exposed. The conceptual approach is proposed to the formation of model of business social responsibility principles introduction

Biopolymer monitoring using quantitative image analysis techniques

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are intracellular biopolymers with many applications, particularly as substitutes of polypropylene and polyethylene, due to their thermoplastic properties and biocompatible nature. Furthermore, glycogen is a polysaccharide of glucose with high importance in the metabolism of microbial communities and polyphosphate is a microbial storage compound that should be recovered in order to offset the worldwide depletion of phosphorus sources. The determination of these biopolymers by chemical analysis is a laborious task, often involving digestion processes prior to gas and high-performance liquid chromatography, which are time consuming and difficult to apply in industry. Currently, it is important to develop new, rapid and simple techniques to monitor these polymers. Image analysis is a non-invasive and rapid technique that has the potential to be used to quantify these intracellular polymers quickly, in real-time. Mesquita et al. (2013) showed that it is possible to predict the concentration of glycogen and PHAs by quantitative image analysis, using aniline blue and nile blue staining, respectively. Polyphosphate can also be predicted by this technique through DAPI staining, which is currently under development. These biopolymers are produced by several different microorganisms, and combining their quantification with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques for microbial identification can enable the determination of organisms that store high quantities of each biopolymer. In this work, an advanced quantitative technique is developed to perform real time monitoring of these three biopolymers in a bioreactor performing biological phosphorus removal. Image analysis of the biopolymers was combined with FISH to determine the storage level of each compound within the different microbial populations. This technique will further enable the assessment of biopolymer levels within microbial communities, which can be applied in the biopolymer production industry

Microbial taxonomy in the post-genomic era: Rebuilding from scratch?

Microbial taxonomy should provide adequate descriptions of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic microbial diversity in ecological, clinical, and industrial environments. Its cornerstone, the prokaryote species has been re-evaluated twice. It is time to revisit polyphasic taxonomy, its principles, and its practice, including its underlying pragmatic species concept. Ultimately, we will be able to realize an old dream of our predecessor taxonomists and build a genomic-based microbial taxonomy, using standardized and automated curation of high-quality complete genome sequences as the new gold standard.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Grant DEB-1046413)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Grant CNS-1305112)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF Grant DEB 0918333)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant OCE 1441943)Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationUnited States. Dept. of Energy. Office of ScienceUnited States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Biological and Environmental ResearchOak Ridge National LaboratoryCarlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de JaneiroBrazil. Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (grant)Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (Brazil

Sex difference and intra-operative tidal volume: Insights from the LAS VEGAS study

BACKGROUND: One key element of lung-protective ventilation is the use of a low tidal volume (VT). A sex difference in use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) has been described in critically ill ICU patients.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether a sex difference in use of LTVV also exists in operating room patients, and if present what factors drive this difference.DESIGN, PATIENTS AND SETTING: This is a posthoc analysis of LAS VEGAS, a 1-week worldwide observational study in adults requiring intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery in 146 hospitals in 29 countries.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Women and men were compared with respect to use of LTVV, defined as VT of 8 ml kg-1 or less predicted bodyweight (PBW). A VT was deemed 'default' if the set VT was a round number. A mediation analysis assessed which factors may explain the sex difference in use of LTVV during intra-operative ventilation.RESULTS: This analysis includes 9864 patients, of whom 5425 (55%) were women. A default VT was often set, both in women and men; mode VT was 500 ml. Median [IQR] VT was higher in women than in men (8.6 [7.7 to 9.6] vs. 7.6 [6.8 to 8.4] ml kg-1 PBW, P < 0.001). Compared with men, women were twice as likely not to receive LTVV [68.8 vs. 36.0%; relative risk ratio 2.1 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.1), P < 0.001]. In the mediation analysis, patients' height and actual body weight (ABW) explained 81 and 18% of the sex difference in use of LTVV, respectively; it was not explained by the use of a default VT.CONCLUSION: In this worldwide cohort of patients receiving intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery, women received a higher VT than men during intra-operative ventilation. The risk for a female not to receive LTVV during surgery was double that of males. Height and ABW were the two mediators of the sex difference in use of LTVV.TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01601223