Bio-optical modelling of reservoirs: a solution for a rapid water quality assessment?

Reservoirs are subject to anthropogenic stressors, becoming increasingly degraded. However, this ecosystem provides habitats to a large amount of species as well as critical ecosystem services, making it important evaluate changes within reservoirs and understand their magnitude and implications towards the ecosystem. In this study we intend to validate the utility of remote sensing techniques to assess the ecological potential of Portuguese reservoirs, established by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). WFD defines several metrics to assess water quality requiring field work followed by laboratory analyses, making a process slow and expensive. However, Remote Sensing techniques provide a complementary, cost effective and practical solution that has a broad coverage and can be frequently executed with expressive results. Thus, this study aims to determine the relationship between certain Water Quality Parameters (WQP) - chlorophyll-a, phycocyanin and turbidity - and digital data from the Sentinel-2 satellite to estimate and map these WQP. Sentinel-2 Level-1C satellite images dating from January 2017 to December 2018 were used as inputs regarding water quality via image processing chain based on the “waterquality” R package, in order to analyse spatial and temporal differences between reservoirs. Indeed, after validation with in situ data, these estimates can help to predict future evolutions of water quality in reservoirs, as well as understand the significance of anthropogenic stressors and environmental pressures in the water bodies. Therefore, with global climate changes in mind, this digital tool is undeniably needed for the evolution of limnetic knowledge and its integration with other fields of researc

A Graph Database Representation of Portuguese Criminal-Related Documents

Organizations have been challenged by the need to process an increasing amount of data, both structured and unstructured, retrieved from heterogeneous sources. Criminal investigation police are among these organizations, as they have to manually process a vast number of criminal reports, news articles related to crimes, occurrence and evidence reports, and other unstructured documents. Automatic extraction and representation of data and knowledge in such documents is an essential task to reduce the manual analysis burden and to automate the discovering of names and entities relationships that may exist in a case. This paper presents SEMCrime, a framework used to extract and classify named-entities and relations in Portuguese criminal reports and documents, and represent the data retrieved into a graph database. A 5WH1 (Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How) information extraction method was applied, and a graph database representation was used to store and visualize the relations extracted from the documents. Promising results were obtained with a prototype developed to evaluate the framework, namely a name-entity recognition with an F-Measure of 0.73, and a 5W1H information extraction performance with an F-Measure of 0.65

Estado, autoridades tradicionais e processos políticos no Gana "pós-colonial": o caso da Região Ashanti

A presente investigação desenvolve-se em torno da temática das relações políticas tecidas entre o Estado ganês e as Autoridade Tradicionais Asante, em contexto “pós-colonial”, na região Ashanti. O propósito científico desta tese, consubstancia-se na demonstração da existência de uma governação política dualista nesta região do Gana, promovida por legitimações políticas procedentes de duas matrizes político-culturais historicamente diferenciadas: a primeira, escora-se no moderno sistema político do Estado ganês, cuja legitimidade assenta, sobretudo, num aparelho burocrático-racional que deriva do primado das normas jurídicas e dos preceitos constitucionais. A segunda, funda-se no tradicional sistema político Asante, no qual a “produção do político” e os códigos simbólicos do sagrado constituem um todo coerente e indissolúvel. Neste sentido, a coexistência de lógicas legitimadoras antagónicas, “abre a porta” a uma situação política concorrencial mais ou menos velada: se as bases da legitimidade política do Estado ganês e das Autoridades Tradicionais Asante não são as mesmas, então ambas as partes podem defender que a sua autoridade política é legítima sem recorrer à negação da legitimidade política da outra parte, limitando-se a reivindicar que ela se exerce numa esfera distinta da sua. Com ou sem esferas de atuação separadas, o facto é que estes agentes políticos posicionam-se relacionalmente no campo político da região Ashanti. Pelo que, em termos práticos, se encontram desde o período colonial em permanente relação política, competindo, cooperando ou interdependendo entre si, em função das espécies de capital de que dispõem e das estratégias políticas que convocam em determinada conjuntura histórico-política, “institucionalizando” assim um paradoxo político que edificou uma dualidade política na governação, perdurante até aos dias de hoje.The current research work addresses the subject of the political relations established between the Ghanaian State and the Asante Traditional Authorities, in a “postcolonial” context, in the Ashanti region. The scientific purpose of this thesis lays on the demonstration of the existence of a dualistic system of political governance in this region of Ghana, which is promoted through political rationales that derive from two historically differentiated political and cultural matrices: the first, lies in the modern political system of the Ghanaian State, which mainly draws its legitimacy from a bureaucratic and rational apparatus based on the rule of law and on constitutional principles. The second, finds its roots in the traditional Asante political system, where the “production of the political” and the symbolic codes of sacred join together as a coherent and indissoluble whole. In this sense, the coexistence of opposing logics of legitimacy allows for a more or less overtly competitive political situation: as the Ghanaian State and the Asante Traditional Authorities do not draw their political legitimacy from the same bases, both are able to assert the legitimacy of their own political authority without having to deny the political legitimacy of one another, merely claiming that each of them exerts its authority in its own separate sphere. With or without separate domains of action, these political agents undoubtedly operate in a relational way within the political field of the Ashanti region. Therefore, from a practical point of view, they have stood in permanent political relation ever since the colonial period, either competing, cooperating or mutually depending on each other, as a result of the species of capital that they possess and of the political strategies that they resort to in each historical and political period, thus “institutionalising” the political paradox that lies at the source of the political duality that has been present in governance until the present day

Estado, Autoridades Tradicionais e Legitimidade Política: os parâmetros de um «casamento de conveniência» em Mandlakazi

O processo de «modernização política» que actualmente se verifica em Moçambique tem conferido grande visibilidade e uma nova importância à questão do relacionamento entre o Estadoe as Autoridades Tradicionais. Comefeito, e dada a persistência das Autoridades Tradicionais enquanto agentes de mediação entre o passado e o presente, o Estado pós-colonial não pode hoje ignorar o papel dessas autoridadesna arena política. Trata-se, assim, de um quadro relacional ambíguo e complexo: apesar de predominantementebaseado num aparelho político moderno, oEstado vê-se na contigência de tentar absorver as Autoridades Tradicionais, procurando deste modo beneficiar simultaneamentede factores de legitimação política «modernos» e «tradicionais». As Autoridades Tradicionais, por outro lado, enquanto lutam pela manutenção do seu controlo sob as populações, procuram ao mesmo tempo capturar parte dos recursosdo Estado e utilizá-los para manter padrões de dominação baseados na existência de redes familiares e clientelaresalimentadas pela redistribuiçãode riqueza e de lugares de poder.It is commonly accepted that the current process of «political modernization» in Mozambique has given increased visibility and importance to the problems concerningthe relationship between State and the Traditional Authorities.In face of the resilience of Traditional Authorities as mediation agencies between the present and the past, the State cannot afford to ignore their presence in the political landscape. The picture is rather complex: however predominantlybased on a modern political apparatus, the State also tries to include the Traditional Authorities under its umbrella, thus seeking to benefit both from «modern» and «traditional» political legitimization. Traditional Authorities, on the other hand, while fighting to keep control over their communities on their own terms, are nevertheless eager to capture some of the State resources, to increase their ability to maintainthe old ruling patterns, based on the existence of a clientelist network nurtured through the redistribution of wealth and positions of power

On the origin of Goa Cathedral former altarpiece: Material and technical assessment to the work of Garcia Fernandes, Portuguese painter from 16th century Lisbon workshop

Goa Cathedral former altarpiece is one of the oldest set of paintings in India. The seven remaining paintings from the first altarpiece of Goa Cathedral, nowadays in the sacristy, are attributed by some art historians to Master Garcia Fernandes (act. 1514–1565), Portuguese painter from Lisbon workshop. The 16th century was the “Golden age” of Portuguese painting. In this context the Royal Lisbon workshop played a predominant role, where the activity of the painter Garcia Fernandes and his workshop can be distinguished. In this new approach, Goa paintings are being studied and compared with other works in Portuguese territory attributed to this same painter, as St. Bartholomew altarpiece from the chapel of Bartolomeu Joanes in Lisbon Cathedral. The stratigraphic study allowed to compare ground layers, pigments and binders which, were characterized using complementary analytical and imaging techniques: (X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), Infrared Reflectography (IRR), Infrared Photography (IRP), Macro Photography (MP), micro-X-ray Diffraction (μ-XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Raman micro-spectroscopy (μ-Raman), Fourier Transform Infrared micro-spectroscopy (μ-FTIR), Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (PY-GC/MS). This work brought a new insight on the techniques and materials used in this Masterpiece and highlighted the conclusion that Goa Cathedral former altarpiece must be a Portuguese production

A (ir)relevância da felicidade como direito constitucional positivo

Embora a Constituição Federal de 1988 não inclua uma previsão expressa sobre o direito à felicidade, este foi reconhecido pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal. O objetivo do presente trabalho é verificar se países que positivam o direito à felicidade em suas constituições são mais felizes que os demais, por meio de uma pesquisa comparativa de 143 constituições estrangeiras e da análise de dados do Relatório Mundial da Felicidade de 2022. Nesse contexto, o estudo busca apresentar brevemente o tratamento doutrinário e jurisprudencial sobre essa matéria, especialmente analisando a utilização desse instituto pelos TribunaisSuperiores. Pretende-se mapear ainda quais países adotam a positivação constitucional, além de apresentar os argumentos favoráveis e contrários comumente invocados no debate jurídico. Com uma metodologia quantitativa e baseada no tratamento de dados em estatística, é observado que a simples adição textual do direito à felicidade na Constituição aparenta ser insignificante e dispensável para a materialização desse bem na sociedade

MINERAÇÃO DE AREIA DE ENCOSTA NA REGIÃO NORTE DE MINAS GERAIS: CARACTERIZAÇÃO ECONÔMICO-AMBIENTAL E MAPEAMENTO LITOESTRATIGRÁFICO POR KRIGGAGEM

A mineração de areia de barranco na Serra Velha, Município de Montes Claros – MG tem ocasionado conflitos sócio-ambientais em virtude da erosão das encostas e do assoreamento dos cursos de água. Como forma de propor soluções, foi realizado estudo sobre as áreas potenciais de extração para mineração. Para tanto, foi realizado mapeamento de detalhe do arenito urucuia sobre a Serra Velha. O mapeamento foi realizado por inferência hidrogeológica das encostas, utilizando a técnica geoestatística de interpolação por kriggagem. Também foram analisadas as alternativas técnicas e jurídicas que direcionem a um modelo mais sustentável para a mineração de construção civil na Região Norte de Minas Gerais

The Role of Gene Duplication and Unconstrained Selective Pressures in the Melanopsin Gene Family Evolution and Vertebrate Circadian Rhythm Regulation

Melanopsin is a photosensitive cell protein involved in regulating circadian rhythms and other non-visual responses to light. The melanopsin gene family is represented by two paralogs,OPN4x and OPN4m, which originated through gene duplication early in the emergence of vertebrates. Here we studied the melanopsin gene family using an integrated gene/protein evolutionary approach, which revealed that the rhabdomeric urbilaterian ancestor had the same amino acid patterns (DRY motif and the Y and E conterions) as extant vertebrate species, suggesting that the mechanism for light detection and regulation is similar to rhabdomeric rhodopsins. Both OPN4m and OPN4x paralogs are found in vertebrate genomic paralogons, suggesting that they diverged following this duplication event about 600 million years ago, when the complex eye emerged in the vertebrate ancestor. Melanopsins generally evolved under negative selection (ω = 0.171) with some minor episodes of positive selection (proportion of sites = 25%) and functional divergence (θI = 0.349 and θII = 0.126). The OPN4m and OPN4x melanopsin paralogs show evidence of spectral divergence at sites likely involved in melanopsin light absorbance (200F, 273S and 276A). Also, following the teleost lineage-specific whole genome duplication (3R) that prompted the teleost fish radiation, type I divergence (θI = 0.181) and positive selection (affecting 11% of sites) contributed to amino acid variability that we related with the photo-activation stability of melanopsin. The melanopsin intracellular regions had unexpectedly high variability in their coupling specificity of G-proteins and we propose that Gq/11 and Gi/o are the two G-proteins most-likely to mediate the melanopsin phototransduction pathway. The selection signatures were mainly observed on retinal-related sites and the third and second intracellular loops, demonstrating the physiological plasticity of the melanopsin protein group. Our results provide new insights on the phototransduction process and additional tools for disentangling and understanding the links between melanopsin gene evolution and the specializations observed in vertebrates, especially in teleost fish

Community-based population recovery of overexploited Amazonian wildlife

The Amazon Basin experienced a pervasive process of resource overexploitation during the 20th-century, which induced severe population declines of many iconic vertebrate species. In addition to biodiversity loss and the ecological consequences of defaunation, food security of local communities was relentlessly threatened because wild meat had a historically pivotal role in protein acquisition by local dwellers. Here we discuss the urgent need to regulate subsistence hunting by Amazonian semi-subsistence local communities, which are far removed from the market and information economy. Following positive examples from community-based management of aquatic and terrestrial resources, we advocate that hunting practices, based on modern scientific principles firmly grounded in population ecology, represent a strong window of opportunity to recover viable populations of previously overexploited wildlife

An Annotated Corpus of Crime-Related Portuguese Documents for NLP and Machine Learning Processing

Criminal investigations collect and analyze the facts related to a crime, from which the investigators can deduce evidence to be used in court. It is a multidisciplinary and applied science, which includes interviews, interrogations, evidence collection, preservation of the chain of custody, and other methods and techniques of investigation. These techniques produce both digital and paper documents that have to be carefully analyzed to identify correlations and interactions among suspects, places, license plates, and other entities that are mentioned in the investigation. The computerized processing of these documents is a helping hand to the criminal investigation, as it allows the automatic identification of entities and their relations, being some of which difficult to identify manually. There exists a wide set of dedicated tools, but they have a major limitation: they are unable to process criminal reports in the Portuguese language, as an annotated corpus for that purpose does not exist. This paper presents an annotated corpus, composed of a collection of anonymized crime-related documents, which were extracted from official and open sources. The dataset was produced as the result of an exploratory initiative to collect crime-related data from websites and conditioned-access police reports. The dataset was evaluated and a mean precision of 0.808, recall of 0.722, and F1-score of 0.733 were obtained with the classification of the annotated named-entities present in the crime-related documents. This corpus can be employed to benchmark Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods and tools to detect and correlate entities in the documents. Some examples are sentence detection, named-entity recognition, and identification of terms related to the criminal domain