Public private partnership health programme in Portugal – court of auditors’ report of 2008 – Report no. 15/2009 AUDIT

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Blockchain and public procurement

Public procurement relies in an apparent irreconcilability between competition, which implies some confidentiality, and transparency. The latest Public Procurement Directives have made e-procurement a mandatory feature. Since blockchain technology has been developed and designed to accomplish integrity, transparency, efficiency and data accuracy, goals which are very much appreciated in public procurement, an interesting question then arises: is there room to apply this technology within public procurement procedures? Will smart contracts be an interesting tool within public procurement? Considering public duties such as data protection, which must be complied with by contracting authorities, and some blockchain features such as non-withdrawable information and the likely broad access to the information there enclosed, one can be drawn to conclude that there is no possible conciliation between these two procedures. The mandatory e-procurement implies some neighbouring problems with this technology. Yet, are there any technological solutions for some of the drawbacks?info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Funções Executivas e Satisfação com a Vida

Objectivos: Sabe-se que com a idade há declínio das funções executivas e que este declínio tem um impacto enorme no normal processo de envelhecimento. Relativamente à satisfação com a vida, a literatura não se demonstra consensual na relação desta com a idade. Sabendo que com o envelhecimento ocorrem alterações ao nível das funções executivas, pretendemos caracterizar a população idosa no que respeita à prevalência de défice executivo e da satisfação/insatisfação. É também nosso objectivo analisar a relação entre as funções executivas e a satisfação com a vida. Método: Para avaliar a presença ou ausência de défice executivo foi utilizada a Bateria de Avaliação Frontal (FAB) e para avaliar a satisfação com a vida utilizou-se a Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). No total, 487 pessoas responderam aos dois instrumentos, dos quais 76,6% do sexo feminino e 23,4% do sexo masculino. A idade média da nossa amostra é de 80,6 anos (DP = ± 6,65). Resultados: O estudo da correlação entre o défice executivo e a satisfação com a vida, não demonstrou ser significativo. Contudo, verificámos que 72,1% da nossa amostra apresenta défice das funções executivas dos quais 55,9% se encontram insatisfeitos. Conclusão: Embora não tenhamos encontrado associação entre as duas variáveis estudadas, concluímos existir a necessidade de replicar os achados numa população que não se encontre sob resposta social, de forma a verificar se o factor institucionalização contribuiu para os resultados verificados. / Objectives: It is known that with age there are a decline in the executive functions and that they have an important function on the normal aging process. In what concerns to life satisfaction, the literature it‟s not consensual, in the relation between age and satisfaction. Knowing that the aging process results in modifications in the executive functions we want to discriminate the prevalence of executive deficit and satisfaction/insatisfaction. We also pretend to analyze the relation between variables. Method: To assess the existence or not of executive deficit we used the Frontal Battery Assessment (FAB) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) to evaluate the life satisfaction. 487 persons answered to both instruments. 76,6% female and 23,4% man with a mean age of 80.6 years (SD= 6.65). Results: Although there was no significant correlations between executive deficit and life satisfaction, 72,1% presents deficit in executive functions, 55,9% of them are unsatisfied. Conclusion: Although we have find no associations between the two studied variables , we assume the importance of replicate the study to a population who is not under social response, so that we can understand if the institutionalization has contributed to our findings

Functional and molecular characterization of SR45, a plant-specific factor involved in sugar and stress signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Molecular BiologyThe process by which introns are removed from the precursor mRNA (pre-mRNA) is called RNA splicing. Multiple forms of mature mRNAs can be generated from a single pre-mRNA via a mechanism termed alternative splicing, which allows more than one polypeptide product to arise from a single gene and therefore largely contributes to generating transcriptome and proteome diversity. As sessile organisms, plants have evolved unique developmental and physiological strategies that allow them to adapt to an environment that is in constant change. Alternative splicing provides a quick and adjustable means of gene expression regulation, which is likely to be important in plant adaptive processes. The number of reported examples of alternative splicing in plants has increased exponentially over the past few years, and there is growing evidence that this posttranscriptional regulation mechanism plays a pivotal role in plant responses to environmental stress. Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins constitute a highly conserved family of splicing factors that play key roles in the early steps of spliceosome assembly. These RNAbinding proteins influence splice site selection in a concentration-dependent manner and are known to be key players in mammalian alternative splicing. At least 18 genes encoding SR proteins are present in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. The SR45 splicing factor, which had been regarded as a classical SR protein, now falls outside the recently revised SR protein definition.Financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal through grant SFRH/BD/27948/200

LEARNING STRATEGIES IN ORGAN PRACTICE: A preliminary investigation as a potential tool in the preparation of a contrapuntal work

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential oflearning strategies used as a tool for organ students in their first contactwith a musical work. They were designed considering the initial practice of acontrapuntal organ piece and divided into the following categories: melodic,technical and contrapuntal strategies. This exploratory study filmed oneorgan student during ten organ lessons in order to assess his difficulties andbuild strategies for each one. The question arose: Did the student learn thisscore faster and more efficiently than the others of his repertoire for thesemester? Results show that this work was ready for performance before theothers even though it was considered the most challenging of all

Entrepreneurship, methodologies in higher education an experience in a portuguese business school

Today entrepreneurship education is an important issue to improve the process of creating new firm assuming new risks and rewards. The theoretical discussion about around the question: “Entrepreneurs are born or made?” assume that is possible educate to be entrepreneurs. Schools have an important role in this process. Believing in this possibility our Business School developed a set of pedagogical methodologies supported in apprenticeship based on “learning by doing”. This pedagogical methodology was created through a study of best practices. This study aims to propose a set of innovative methodologies and students perceptions about their apprenticeship experience/process. The study concludes with a set of recommendations and a best practices manual useful to appliance in higher education.Innovative methodologies; entrepreneurship education; learning by doing

Compositional Devices in six Chorale Preludes, Op. 41 (1938), by Paul Pisk

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the compositional devices utilized in the organ work Six Chorale Preludes, Op. 41, by Paul Pisk. The analysis and discussion include cantus firmus treatment, motives derived from or related to the cantus firmus, and harmony and form, when they relate to the above. Chorale prelude types have been categorized according to those used by Bach. This study is aimed for organists as well other musicians, since the analytical aspects demonstrate the use of contrapuntal techniques in a composer who belonged to the Second Viennese School. Understanding how the chorale tune and its derivations are employed is essential for an organist to select registration, change manuals, and present a sound performance

Testing the protective effect of a candidate small molecule in a Drosophila model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting upper and lower motor neurons. Patients display progressive paralysis with death typically resulting from diaphragmatic failure. Considerable evidence points out for a significant, but nevertheless complex genetic contribution for both ALS forms, familial and sporadic. Hence, subsequent work has identified a broad set of mutated genes associated with ALS symptoms, including Fused in Sarcoma (FUS). Not surprisingly, current efforts to develop new treatments for ALS involve the identification of small molecules that counteract the cellular hallmarks of the pathology. Ample evidence suggests that small bioactive molecules such as polyphenols have protective effects in neurodegenerative disorders. In fact, many studies have been supporting the possibility of changing the progression of the neurodegeneration through diet. Our study had a two-fold objective: to characterize the neuronal and kinematic decay of a Drosophila model of ALS; to test the protective effect of a small molecule previously identified for its capability to improve cellular growth of a yeast model overexpressing FUS. Since Drosophila has a relatively complex nervous system and a stereotyped set of motor outputs, it represents a step forward in the validation of this promising small molecule. Consistent with previous transgenic models, the Drosophila model of ALS overexpressing human FUS alleles (wild type and R521C) exhibited locomotor deficits, impairment of the climbing ability, reduced reproduction and shortened life span, with the degree of severity of mutant FUS phenotypes more aggressive than the wild type form. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the locomotor pattern of the flies modelling ALS, using the custom-made FlyWalker system, revealed that the motor phenotype of these flies is evident after 14 days of FUS wild type expression. In addition, FUS wild type transgenic flies exposed to 10 mM of the small molecule showed a significant increase in the survival rate. Collectively, we conclude that the Drosophila model captures important aspects of human FUS-based ALS, providing a useful tool to test the efficacy of bioactive molecules

Schottky principal G-bundles over compact Riemann surfaces

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)- PhD grant SFRH/BD/37151/2007; projects PTDC/MAT/099275/2008; PTDC/MAT/119689/2010; PTDC/MAT/120411/2010; PTDC/MAT-GEO/0675/201

Analysis of organophosphorous pesticides in postmortem biological fluids

Following the intensification of agriculture and the promotion of agro-chemicals in low and middle income countries, acute pesticide poisoning has become a major public health problem with more than 300,000 deaths each year around the world. The easy availability of highly toxic pesticides in the homes of farming communities has made pesticides a preferred choice for suicide with an extremely high case fatality. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that there may be 1 million serious unintentional poisonings each year and in addition 2 million people hospitalized for suicide attempts with pesticides. The goal of this work was the detection and quantification of eight organophosphorous pesticides in blood samples using solid phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The studied analytes were omethoate, dimethoate, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, parathion, clorfenvinphos, quinalphos and azinphos. Ethion was used as internal standard (IS). The analytes and IS were extracted by solid-phase extraction using Oasis® HLB extraction cartridges, and the extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography-electron ionisation-mass spectrometry (GC/EI-MS). Calibration curves were established using a weighed linear calibration model (except for omethoate, for which a power regression was used) between 0.05 and 25.00 μg/mL. The correlation coefficients were higher than 0.991. Precision (intraday and intermediate) and accuracy were in conformity with the criteria normally accepted in bioanalytical method validation. Limits of quantification were 50 ng/mL for all compounds, except for ometoathe, for which 100 ng/mL were obtained. Because of its simplicity and speed, the proposed method can be applied in the determination of these compounds in post-mortem blood samples, and is suitable for application in toxicology routine analysis