Assessing impacts of Common Agricultural Policy changes on regional use patterns with a decision support system. An application in Southern Portugal

This paper discusses research aiming at assessing Common Agricultural Policy impacts on agriculture and forestry. For this purpose an approach is developed that includes a linear programming model to estimate the Positive Mathematical Programming production cost function coefficients of current agricultural– forestry activities. It further includes a heuristic — simulated annealing — to generate solutions for each policy scenario. This model base approach is integrated within a decision support system (DSS) for testing purposes. The DSS further encompasses a relational database that stores agricultural–forestry technical and economic data and a geographic information system that stores topological data of regional farm-type land units. The DSS Graphical User Interface provides tabular and geographical reporting capabilities. Results are discussed for an application to the Alentejo region in Southern Portugal. Results demonstrate the usefulness and relevance of the proposed approach to assess the impact of changes in prices and in agricultural policy on land use patterns and on forestr

Statistical mechanics in the context of special relativity

In the present effort we show that $S_{\kappa}=-k_B \int d^3p (n^{1+\kappa}-n^{1-\kappa})/(2\kappa)$ is the unique existing entropy obtained by a continuous deformation of the Shannon-Boltzmann entropy $S_0=-k_B \int d^3p n \ln n$ and preserving unaltered its fundamental properties of concavity, additivity and extensivity. Subsequently, we explain the origin of the deformation mechanism introduced by $\kappa$ and show that this deformation emerges naturally within the Einstein special relativity. Furthermore, we extend the theory in order to treat statistical systems in a time dependent and relativistic context. Then, we show that it is possible to determine in a self consistent scheme within the special relativity the values of the free parameter $\kappa$ which results to depend on the light speed $c$ and reduces to zero as $c \to \infty$ recovering in this way the ordinary statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. The novel statistical mechanics constructed starting from the above entropy, preserves unaltered the mathematical and epistemological structure of the ordinary statistical mechanics and is suitable to describe a very large class of experimentally observed phenomena in low and high energy physics and in natural, economic and social sciences. Finally, in order to test the correctness and predictability of the theory, as working example we consider the cosmic rays spectrum, which spans 13 decades in energy and 33 decades in flux, finding a high quality agreement between our predictions and observed data. PACS number(s): 05.20.-y, 51.10.+y, 03.30.+p, 02.20.-aComment: 17 pages (two columns), 5 figures, RevTeX4, minor typing correction

CREATIVE TOURISM IN THE ALENTEJO (PORTUGAL): THE CREATOUR PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Creative tourism has contributed greatly to the preservation and enhancement of cultural and natural heritage in many places. The Alentejo region’s offer of creative tourism is associated with the unique characteristics of each territory. The main objective of this article is to characterize the creative offer of public and private organizations in the Alentejo region that are part of the CREATOUR project (to develop creative tourism destinations in small towns and rural areas) and also to describe the involvement of participants in some creative activities. Qualitative techniques and non-participant observation were used as a methodology.This research is funded with a grant from the FCT—National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology, COMPETE, FEDER, Portugal 2020 under the project—UIDB/00057/2020— CIDEHUS. Additionally, this research had the support of CREATOUR project (with the reference 16437), which is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/MEC) through national funds and cofunded by FEDER through the Joint Activities Programme of COMPETE 2020 and the Regional Operational Programmes of Lisbon and Algarve

Variational Mean Field approach to the Double Exchange Model

It has been recently shown that the double exchange Hamiltonian, with weak antiferromagnetic interactions, has a richer variety of first and second order transitions than previously anticipated, and that such transitions are consistent with the magnetic properties of manganites. Here we present a thorough discussion of the variational Mean Field approach that leads to the these results. We also show that the effect of the Berry phase turns out to be crucial to produce first order Paramagnetic-Ferromagnetic transitions near half filling with transition temperatures compatible with the experimental situation. The computation relies on two crucial facts: the use of a Mean Field ansatz that retains the complexity of a system of electrons with off-diagonal disorder, not fully taken into account by the Mean Field techniques, and the small but significant antiferromagnetic superexchange interaction between the localized spins.Comment: 13 pages, 11 postscript figures, revte

Segmenting tourists by expenditure patterns: An instrument for enhancing tourism economic benefits on a Portuguese World Heritage site

Tourism is an activity with high potential for stimulating the development of local economies, with different types of visitors having distinct environmental, social and economic effects on destinations (Lundie, Dwyer, & Forsyth, 2007; Nickerson, Jorgenson, & Boley, 2016). Notwithstanding, there is a research gap on strategies aimed at maximizing the economic relevance of tourism for local tourism destinations using market segmentation, based on visitors’ daily expenditure level at the destination, as a starting point (Lima, Eusébio, & Kastenholz, 2012). This gap becomes more evident when we refer to World Heritage Sites (WHS) destinations (Amir, Osman, Bachok, & Ibrahim, 2016). This study presents the results of the tourist market segmentation of a Portuguese municipality - Évora, a UNESCO’s WHS, located in Alentejo. The study aims to identify the homogenous groups of visitors that prevail in a WHS destination based on expenditure patterns and furthermore at contributing to the development of marketing strategies to enhance the economic development of this cultural destination.This research is funded with a grant from the FCT – National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology, COMPETE, FEDER, Portugal 2020 under the project UID/HIS/00057/ 2013 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007702) – CIDEHUS

Dermatophylosis in Santa Inês sheep from Distrito Federal

Relataram-se quatro casos de dermatofilose em ovinos da raça Santa Inês, no período de um ano. Microscopicamente observaram-se filamentos na forma de "trilho de bonde" e zoósporos nos quatro casos. A tentativa do isolamento do microrganismo foi realizada por meio do método de Haalstra e em apenas um caso obteve-se sucesso, observando-se colônias de aparência lisa, formato circular, cor amarelada e hemolítica em ágar sangue. O exame direto com coloração de Gram mostrou-se um método bastante eficiente na confirmação da presença do microrganismo afetando a epiderme em razão da morfologia típica do agente.Four cases of dermatophylosis were reported in Santa Inês sheep in a study period of one year. Microscopically, septate filaments and coccoid forms zoospores were observed. Attempts to isolate the microorganisms were accomplished using Haastra's method and it was successful in only one case. Dermatophilus congolensis samples have grown on blood agar, colonies where hemolytic, small, round and pigmentation vary from yellow to orange. The gram staining method was efficient to confirm the presence of the microorganism affecting the epidermis due to typical morphology of the agent

The cAMP pathway is important for controlling the morphological switch to the pathogenic yeast form of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a human pathogenic fungus that switches from a saprobic mycelium to a pathogenic yeast. Consistent with the morphological transition being regulated by the cAMP-signalling pathway, there is an increase in cellular cAMP levels both transiently at the onset ( 120 h) of the transition to the yeast form, and this transition can be modulated by exogenous cAMP. We have cloned the cyr1 gene encoding adenylate cyclase (AC) and established that its transcript levels correlate with cAMP levels. In addition, we have cloned the genes encoding three Gα (Gpa1–3), Gβ (Gpb1) and Gγ (Gpg1) G proteins. Gpa1 and Gpb1 interact with one another and the N-terminus of AC, but neither Gpa2 nor Gpa3 interacted with Gpb1 or AC. The interaction of Gpa1 with Gpb1 was blocked by GTP, but its interaction with AC was independent of bound nucleotide. The transcript levels for gpa1, gpb1 and gpg1 were similar in mycelium, but there was a transient excess of gpb1 during the transition, and an excess of gpa1 in yeast. We have interpreted our findings in terms of a novel signalling mechanism in which the activity of AC is differentially modulated by Gpa1 and Gpb1 to maintain the signal over the 10 days needed for the morphological switch

Estratégia de sensibilização dos alunos universitários para o tema do turismo acessível: O caso da licenciatura em Turismo da Universidade de Évora

Vive-se atualmente um contexto de reflexão internacional por parte de diversos investigadores que reconhecem a necessidade de reinventar os planos de estudos e as suas dinâmicas de formação, de modo a que os alunos fiquem mais aptos a enfrentar os desafios do mercado de trabalho (e.g. Ayikoru, Tribe & Airey, 2009; Fidgeon, 2010; Hoidn & Kärkkäinen, 2014; OECD, 2016; Stergiou, Airey & Riley, 2008). São valorizadas iniciativas que envolvam dinâmicas educativas inovadoras e que sejam capazes de incutir nos alunos as qualidades humanas necessárias para desenvolver um sentido mais crítico sobre os problemas sociais que realmente afetam a nossa sociedade e, em consequência, possam ter efeitos positivos no nível de competitividade das empresas. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar o contexto no qual a licenciatura em Turismo da Universidade de Évora promoveu uma iniciativa, de carácter voluntário e inovador, para comemorar o Dia Mundial de Turismo, em 27 de setembro de 2016, subordinado ao tema “Tourism For All – Promoting Universal Accessibility”. Em anos anteriores, o Dia Mundial de Turismo foi comemorado com a dinamização de iniciativas que visavam sensibilizar a população local para a existência deste acontecimento. No entanto, este ano optou-se por uma estratégia educativa que pudesse reforçar as competências dos alunos sobre este tema de relevante atualidade e importância.Este trabalho é financiado por fundos nacionais através da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia e pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) e PT2020, no âmbito do projeto UID/HIS/00057 – POCI-01-0145-FEDER-00770

Liquid chromatography–diode array detection–electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry/nuclear magnetic resonance analyses of the anti-hyperglycemic flavonoid extract of Genista tenera Structure elucidation of a flavonoid-C-glycoside

The anti-hyperglycemic flavonoid extract obtained from Genista tenera was first studied by liquid chromatography (LC)–diode array detection (DAD) which showed the presence of two major compounds. One of them was identified as genistein-7-O-glucoside. Luteolin-7-O-glucoside was detected as a minor constituent, while luteolin-7,3′-di-O-glucoside and rutin were found in trace amounts. LC–DAD–ESI–MS and NMR were used to confirm the structure of these compounds and allowed the elucidation of the structure of the unknown major compound, which is the flavonoid 5,7,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone-8-C-glucoside.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ARIA 2016: Care pathways implementing emerging technologies for predictive medicine in rhinitis and asthma across the life cycle

The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative commenced during a World Health Organization workshop in 1999. The initial goals were (1) to propose a new allergic rhinitis classification, (2) to promote the concept of multi-morbidity in asthma a