O outro na narrativa fotográfica de Velloso de Castro: Angola, 1908

Velloso de Castro, militar de carreira, destacado em Angola, realizou centenas de fotografias da então província portuguesa, recorrendo a técnicas fotográficas bastante elaboradas para a época. Tratamos, aqui, da narrativa fotográfica de três trabalhos seus, dois publicados (um livro e uma colecção de álbuns de postais) e um inédito, que completam este ano o seu primeiro centenário. O interesse etnográfico do autor pelo outro que aparece retratado sob diversas formas nestes conjuntos fotográficos, levou-nos a traçar uma relação entre a sua narrativa e o tratamento do outro nos conteúdos dessa mesma narrativa. Lidando com as expectativas dos leitores metropolitanos, Velloso de Castro consegue construir uma narrativa que, retratando os costumes das populações autóctones, consegue, por vezes, escapar ao exotismo que transparece nos universos captados, mas não os domina.Velloso de Castro, a military officer, sent to Angola, made hundreds of photographs of at the time a Portuguese territory, using elaborated photograph techniques in that epoch. Here we analyse the photographical narrative of three of his works, two published (a book and a collection of postcards albums) and one unpublished work that accomplish their first century. The authors’ ethnographical interest for the other that appears pictured under different ways in these photographical groups, has taken us to a relation between his narrative ant the treatment of the other in narrative contents. Dealing with metropolitan readers’ expectations, Velloso de Castro is able to create a narrative that reflecting the autochthonous population practices, is sometimes able to escape to the exoticism that appears in the captivated universes but doesn’t dominate them

Sustainable urban mobility in European cities

To conceive the performance of the sustainability level in relation to transport infrastructure and systems, the economic, social and environmental composite indicators (CIs) were created. Each one was composed by 3 sub-indicators. To do that, data of 16 European cities were analyzed for the year 2015. With the creation of these indicators it is possible to discern which characteristics stand out in terms of sustainability in the transport system. The whole sample play a key role in these procedures, once the analysis of each dimensions in each city depends of the sample dimension. The perception of the forces and weaknesses at the transport level was performed through the CIs, and the cluster analysis. Additionally, the Pearson’s correlations were performed to compare some city’s specifications with the created indicators. The main findings prove that, cities that are small and denser show better results in terms of sustainability. Furthermore, richer cities tend to have a better performance in sustainability. This way, it is intended to better understand the flaws and to create more specific and efficient policies for the improvement of urban mobility.Para conceber o desempenho do nível de sustentabilidade em relação às infraestruturas e sistemas de transporte, foram criados indicadores compostos (ICs), a saber: económico, social e ambiental. Cada um deles foi composto por três sub-indicadores. Para fazer isso, dados de 16 cidades europeias foram analisadas relativamente ao ano de 2015. Com a criação desses indicadores, é possível discernir quais as características se destacam em termos de sustentabilidade no sistema de transporte. Toda a amostra desempenha um papel fundamental neste procedimento, uma vez que a análise de cada dimensão em cada cidade depende da dimensão da amostra. A perceção das forças e fraquezas no nível de transporte foi realizada por meio dos ICs e da análise de cluster. Além disso, a correlação de Pearson foi realizada para comparar algumas especificações das cidades com os indicadores criados. Os principais resultados provam que cidades pequenas e mais densas apresentam melhores resultados em termos de sustentabilidade. Também, cidades mais ricas tendem a ter um melhor desempenho em sustentabilidade. Desta forma, pretende-se compreender melhor as falhas e criar políticas mais específicas e eficientes para o melhoramento da mobilidade urbana

Electrodialytic remediation of two types of air pollution control residues and their applicability in construction materials

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente Perfil de Engenharia de Sistemas AmbientaisAir pollution control (APC) residues from municipal solid waste incineration are classified as hazardous waste and disposed of, although it contains potential resources. Due to the different fuel gas cleaning system designs (wet or semi-dry), the APC residues present distinct chemical and physical characteristics that influence the remediation success and their possible reuse. Electrodialytic (ED) process was applied to two types of APC residues aiming their remediation. The characteristics of raw residues and upgraded APC and a broad range of ED experimental conditions were studied (ED cell with – 3 and 2 compartments; 5 or 50 mA of direct current; 3, 7 and 14 days of remediation time). Obtained results showed that remediation was very difficult but the use of low level direct current promoted the immobilization of the heavy metals. The leaching behaviour, for instance, of Pb was avoided in wet system, while the remaining values were kept below the Danish regulation thresholds, with a few exceptions. Still, after 14 days of ED process the best removal rates achieved were: 84% of Cd, 67% of Pb, 67% of Zn, 30% of Cu and 21% of Cr. Thus, 5% of Ordinary Portland Cement was replaced by APC residues in mortars, with or without ED pre-treatment. Porosity, density, compressive strength, heavy metals leaching and chloride were tested. After analysing the parameters, it is possible to say that for the wet gas cleaning systems use a pre-treatment before the reuse in building materials is the best option, since the values for heavy metals leaching tests decrease after, and compressive strength are comparable to material without residue. However, for semi-dry cleaning gas systems, the heavy metals leaching after pre-treatment appears to increase, so for this type of APC it is thus possible to aggregation only of the raw residue. The results of this study suggest new possibilities for this APC waste reuse, presenting great advantages in the waste management system as well as for resource conservation.ELECTROACROSS - Electrokinetics across disciplines and continents: an integrated approach to finding new strategies for sustainable development (FP7-PEOPLE- 2010-IRSES-269289) and PTDC/ECM/111860/2009 - Electrokinetic treatment of sewage sludge and membrane concentrate: phosphorus recovery and dewaterin

Advances in applied electrokinetics: Treatment, by-products reuse and sensors’ system

Some of the barriers for a paradigm change on water reuse solutions are related to their maturing technology level, to the removal of emerging organic contaminants and to the availability of rapid, reliable and cost-effective monitoring tools. Thus, in this dissertation, electro-based techniques were applied to secondary effluents aiming to promote water reuse through the (i) removal of triclosan and inorganic contaminants, (ii) development and test of electronic tongue sensors that may be used as complementary monitoring tools coupled with degradation processes, and (iii) enhancing of the technology maturity level with the recovery of self-produced hydrogen and freshwater replacement in the production of construction materials. With these objectives, the main findings in this PhD project are described hereunder: (i) Electrochemical reactors are effective for degrading triclosan and its by-products. The type of electrodes is an important variable that strongly impacts the degradation efficiency, the kinetics and the by-products generated after treatment; GC/MS/MS selectivity and sensitivity allows, after operational optimization, the detection and quantification of triclosan, without the analyte derivatization, in the effluent at ng/L level, showing that standard methods should be adjusted “case-bycase”. (ii) Electronic tongues coated with organic polyelectrolyte thin films are able to distinguish at pico-molar resolution, by means of principal component analysis, between mineral water and secondary effluent matrices and discriminating triclosan at different concentrations; The coating’s stability is affected by characteristics of the water to be analysed (e.g. such as pH and elements content), rather than by the molecule to be detected; Due to this dependency, sputtering thin films, more robust and stable, should be added to the electronic tongue array; A customized electronic tongue proved be a potential complementary monitoring tool to follow the degradation pathway of the target compounds across the treatment, when coupled to a dynamic electrochemical reactor; It was possible to semi-quantify methyl-triclosan and triclosan using the array, whereas for phenolic compounds (2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol) best results were obtained by using a single sensor and thinner film as coating. (iii) The remediation process by-product, hydrogen, showed, on a proof of concept level, its potential to be stored, reused or used as fuel in a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell, to generate energy; The use of electro-treated effluent showed to be sustainable for replacing freshwater in construction materials production. This replacement can provide high quality materials with features that are valued by construction materials industry, increasing the market value of the reactor developed

The biological effect of raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) in oxidative and inflammatory stresses

Tese de mestrado, Ciências Biofarmacêuticas, 2021, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de FarmáciaAs Doenças Crónicas Não Transmissíveis (NCDs) tornaram-se o maior contribuidor para a mortalidade e a incapacidade, e representam globalmente a maior causa de morte em pessoas em idade produtiva. Entre as principais doenças associadas a esse fenómeno estão as doenças cardiovasculares (30%), o cancro (13%), as doenças respiratórias crónicas (7%) e diabetes (2%). Os fatores de risco comportamentais associados às NCDs incluem uma dieta rica em gordura saturada e pobre em frutas e vegetais frescos, um estilo de vida sedentário, tabagismo e excesso de álcool. Uma dieta rica em gorduras saturadas e açúcares leva a picos pós-prandiais agudos de glicose e lípidos no sangue, um fator que gera um excesso de espécies reativas de oxigênio, induzindo stress oxidativo e inflamação, que podem alterar o estado metabólico de vários tecidos. As estratégias internas de combate à oxidação são feitas por enzimas endógenas, porém, quando a proteção não é garantida por antioxidantes devido à formação exagerada de espécies reativas de oxigênio, é necessário que seja feita uma ingestão de antioxidantes exógenos por meio da dieta para ajudar a reduzir este desequilíbrio. As frutas e os vegetais são fontes ricas em nutrientes que contêm fitoquímicos (também conhecidos como compostos bioativos), que são reconhecidos pelos seus efeitos nutracêuticos e benefícios à saúde. Os fitoquímicos são compostos como Vit C, Vit E e compostos fenólicos que podem promover saúde e bem-estar e podem estar associados à redução de fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento de doenças crónicas. Os compostos fenólicos representam a classe mais importante de metabólitos secundários e desempenham uma ampla gama de funções biológicas nas plantas. Por estarem presentes nas frutas, também são considerados importantes compostos bioativos na nutrição humana e estão intimamente relacionados à redução do stress oxidativo e inflamatório. As framboesas vermelhas têm sido descritas pela sua composição única em nutrientes e fitoquímicos e pelo seu potencial papel na mitigação do risco de certas doenças. Alguns estudos em animais e humanos reconheceram que a framboesa tem muitos benefícios para a saúde. O seu consumo foi associado a um risco reduzido de desenvolvimento de várias doenças crónicas. Esta revisão pretende reunir todos os estudos realizados nas últimas duas décadas em Rubus idaeus L. dando foco à importância dos compostos bioativos presentes nas framboesas e à sua ação preventiva e / ou redutora no stress oxidativo e inflamatório.Chronic Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) have become the largest contributor to mortality and disability worldwide, globally representing the largest cause of death in people of productive age. Among the main diseases associated with this phenomenon are cardiovascular diseases (30%), cancer (13%), chronic respiratory diseases (7%) and diabetes (2%). Behavioral risk factors associated with NCDs include a diet rich in saturated fat and poor in fresh fruit and vegetables, sedentary lifestyle, smoking and excess alcohol. A diet rich in saturated fats and sugars leads to sharp postprandial peaks of glucose and blood lipids, a factor that generates an excess of reactive oxygen species, inducing oxidative stress and inflammation, which can alter the metabolic state of various tissues. The internal strategies to fight oxidation are done by endogenous enzymes, however, when protection is not guaranteed by these antioxidants due to the exaggerated formation of reactive oxygen species, it is necessary to ingest exogenous antioxidants through the diet in order to help reduce this imbalance. Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of nutrients that contain phytochemicals (also known as bioactive compounds), which are recognized for their nutraceutical effects and health benefits. Phytochemicals are compounds such as Vit C, Vit E and phenolic compounds present in fruits and vegetables that can promote health and well-being and may be associated with the reduction of risk factors for the development of chronic diseases. Phenolic compounds represent the most important class of secondary metabolites and perform a wide range of biological functions in plants. Because they are present in fruits, they are also considered important bioactive compounds in human nutrition and are closely related to the reduction of oxidative and inflammatory stresses. Red raspberries have been described for their unique composition of nutrients and phytochemicals and their potential role in mitigating the risk of diseases. Some animal and human studies have recognized raspberry as having many health benefits, since their consumption was associated with a reduced risk of developing various chronic diseases. This review intends to gather all the studies carried out in the last two decades in Rubus idaeus L. focused on the importance of bioactive compounds present in raspberries and their preventive and / or reducing action on oxidative and inflammatory stresses.Com o patrocínio da Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa

The impact of political connections on public procurement: evidence from Portugal

This paper uses the municipal elections of 2013 to infer the impact political connectionshave on public procurement. Obtaining government related contracts may be a possiblejustification for the increase in value that firms face when connected. Data on public con-tracts celebrated between 2009 and 2017 in all 308 Portuguese municipalities was combinedwith managers, politicians and companies’ financial information. Through a Difference-in-Differences strategy, a positive and significant impact was found: not only there is an increasein number, but also a rise in the volume of contracts celebrated by companies connected.This impact is extensible to firms connected with winning parties and the shift in value isamplified in procedures where companies can directly choose the contractor entity. Addi-tionally, effects are driven by companies placed in small councils and by those that contractabove the sample median