Correction:A study of the structural properties of sites modified by the O-linked 6-N-acetylglucosamine transferase

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184405.]

The role of food in re-imagining the city: From the neighbourhood to the region

Humanity is now believed to live in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, as changes have been reported on the atmosphere, air, water, and soil, but also on societal perceptions of these issues. This presentation departs from the theoretical assumption that the impact of the abovementioned changes on culture and the environment have not yet found a stable influence on urban planning. This presentation overviews the implications of the food system within urban planning while considering it as a socio-technical system which integrates production, distribution, transformation, consumption and disposal patterns. The production phase of the food system in particular, emerges as a fundamental planning challenge, extending to urban form solutions, individual behaviours, dietary regimes, inequalities in foodsheds planning, and the cultural capital of food. Accordingly, the food system emerges here as an opportunity to identify how current urban fabrics of cities and their rural and regional hinterlands can be transformed in terms of their metabolic function and respond to the needs of people and the environment. To do so, this presentation introduces the preliminary results of an analysis conducted by an ongoing research project SPLACH – Spatial Planning for Change, at two particular scales: the region and the neighbourhood. Thus, while focusing in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), in Portugal, we provide an analysis of the Regional Plan as well as of specific residential neighbourhoods located in LMA, regarding the relationship between the food system functioning and urban planning approaches. The analysis includes a comparative number of case studies which differ in urban form solutions, socio-economic conditions, but also geographical location. The results support the request for a stronger integration of the above-identified underexplored topics of the food system within urban planning, which will be fundamental to inform a new theory of the city that makes any serious contribution towards a sustainability transition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reunion overseas: introduced wild boars and cultivated orange trees interact in the Brazilian Atlantic forest

Little is known concerning novel interactions between species that typically interact in their native range but, as a consequence of human activity, are also interacting out of their original distribution under new ecological conditions. Objective: We investigate the interaction between the orange tree and wild boar, both of which share Asian origins and have been introduced to the Americas (i.e. the overseas). Methods: Specifically, we assessed whether i) wild boars consume orange (Citrus sinensis) fruits and seeds in orchards adjacent to a remnant of the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, ii) the orange seeds are viable after passing through boar’s digestive tract and iii) whether the orange tree may naturalise in the forest remnant assisted by wild boars. Results: Our camera surveys indicated that wild boar was by far the most frequent consumer of orange fruits (40.5 % of camera trap-days). A considerable proportion of sown orange seeds extracted from fresh boar feces emerged seedlings (27.8 %, N = 386) under controlled greenhouse conditions. Further, 37.6 % of sown seeds (N = 500) in the forest remnant emerged seedlings in July 2015; however, after ~4 years (March 2019) only 9 seedlings survived (i.e. 4.8 %, N = 188). Finally, 52 sweet orange seedlings were found during surveys within the forest remnant which is intensively used by wild boars. This study indicates a high potential of boars to act as effective seed dispersers of the sweet orange. However, harsh competition with native vegetation and the incidence of lethal diseases, which quickly kill sweet orange trees under non-agricultural conditions, could seriously limit orange tree establishment in the forest. Conclusions: Our results have important implications not only because the wild boar could be a vector of potential invasive species, but also because they disperse seeds of some native species (e.g. the queen palm, Syagrus romanzofiana) in defaunated forests, where large native seed dispersers are missing; thus, wild boars could exert critical ecological functions lost due to human activityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improving the Knowledge on Seismogenic Sources in the Lower Tagus Valley for Seismic Hazard Purposes

The Lower Tagus Valley, that includes the metropolitan area of Lisbon, has been struck by several earthquakes which produced significant material damage and loss of lives. Their exact location remains unknown. Our goal is to shed some light into the seismogenic sources in the area using seismic reflection and geological data. In areas with no seismic coverage, potential-field data interpretation was carried out. Seismicity was overlaid to the potential seismogenic structures and high-resolution data was acquired in order to confirm which structures have been active into the Quaternary. Three major fault-zones affecting the Neogene were identified: V. F. Xira, Samora-Alcochete and Pinhal Novo. For the first fault, strong evidences suggest it is active. The other two fault-zones and other structures previously unknown can be correlated with several epicentres. Empirical relationships between maximum moment magnitude and fault area indicate that MW > 6.5 earthquakes can be expected for the larger structures

Modeling electrodialysis and a photochemical process for their integration in saline wastewater treatment.

Oxidation processes can be used to treat industrial wastewater containing non-biodegradable organic compounds. However, the presence of dissolved salts may inhibit or retard the treatment process. In this study, wastewater desalination by electrodialysis (ED) associated with an advanced oxidation process (photo-Fenton) was applied to an aqueous NaCl solution containing phenol. The influence of process variables on the demineralization factor was investigated for ED in pilot scale and a correlation was obtained between the phenol, salt and water fluxes with the driving force. The oxidation process was investigated in a laboratory batch reactor and a model based on artificial neural networks was developed by fitting the experimental data describing the reaction rate as a function of the input variables. With the experimental parameters of both processes, a dynamic model was developed for ED and a continuous model, using a plug flow reactor approach, for the oxidation process. Finally, the hybrid model simulation could validate different scenarios of the integrated system and can be used for process optimization

An infrared diagnostic for magnetism in hot stars

Magnetospheric observational proxies are used for indirect detection of magnetic fields in hot stars in the X-ray, UV, optical, and radio wavelength ranges. To determine the viability of infrared (IR) hydrogen recombination lines as a magnetic diagnostic for these stars, we have obtained low-resolution (R~1200), near-IR spectra of the known magnetic B2V stars HR 5907 and HR 7355, taken with the Ohio State Infrared Imager/Spectrometer (OSIRIS) attached to the 4.1m Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope. Both stars show definite variable emission features in IR hydrogen lines of the Brackett series, with similar properties as those found in optical spectra, including the derived location of the detected magnetospheric plasma. These features also have the added advantage of a lowered contribution of stellar flux at these wavelengths, making circumstellar material more easily detectable. IR diagnostics will be useful for the future study of magnetic hot stars, to detect and analyze lower-density environments, and to detect magnetic candidates in areas obscured from UV and optical observations, increasing the number of known magnetic stars to determine basic formation properties and investigate the origin of their magnetic fields.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Chelas Zone J revisited: Urban morphology and change in a recovering neighbourhood

Among new council housing areas from 1960s Lisbon is the Chelas Valley, by then overwhelmingly agrarian. Although an integral urbanization plan - the Plano de Urbanização de Chelas (PUC) – was prepared until 1964, the area was divided into six zones, urbanized in different periods, with great deviances from the original plan. Upon construction, Chelas was challenged by social problems. One of the zones, Zone J, has been particularly associated with this negative image. The architectural designs by Tomás Taveira and Victor Consiglieri introduced changes to the urban plan by Francisco Silva Dias and José Lobo de Carvalho. After construction, several municipal initiatives tried to improve living conditions in Zone J, ranging from façade changes to demolitions. All along, it has been accepted that the urban form of Zone J was a determinant factor of its failure as a habitat. Here, we revisit the original Zone J Plan. How was it implemented, and how has it changed since? What has been the input of the residents in the territory they inhabit? Can it contribute to make Lisbon a more sustainable city? This presentation aims to answer these questions while trying to identify parallels with other urban areas in a crisis that share morphological characteristics with Chelas Zone J.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Designing for productive urban landscapes. Applying the CPUL concept in Lisbon Metropolitan Area

Designing for urban agriculture has been recently acknowledged as a young discipline requiring the attention of architects, urban designers, and planners to promote more sustainable urban cities and continuous productive landscapes. However, how to assess such landscape proposals? How can these be evaluated in terms of their social, ecological, and spatial dimensions? Based on the Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) tool proposed by Bohn and Viljoen (2005) this presentation exposes a framework for action which could be applied in Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) in order to evaluate the spatiality of its the contemporary food system and promote design solutions to improve it. In order to do so, this paper is organized into three parts. First, it introduces the problem under analysis and the case study. Secondly, it exposes how an analysis of urban agriculture, more precisely along the Lisbon - Vila Franca de Xira axis, contributed to expanding our understanding of the productive dimension of the LMA Food System and interrelates it to a morphological perspective. Finally, it introduces the CPUL concept and a possible application of it within the case study, with impact at the several stages of food system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio