The impacts of EU cohesion policy on sustainable tourism: The case of POSEUR in Algarve

Sustainable tourism is a main priority of European Union policies, with the aim of mitigating the potential harmful consequences of this sector on a given territory. The main research goal of this article is to better understand the impact of the public investments financed via EU Cohesion Policy in the tourism sector in the Portuguese Algarve NUT2. This paper focuses on the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (POSEUR 20142020), which was an operational programme of a Portuguese framework to implement EU Cohesion Policy funds in Portugal between 2014 and 2020, and was specifically focused on supporting sustainable development processes. The sustainability performance of POSEUR in the Algarve was evaluated in five different dimensions of analysis: (1) low-emissions economy, (2) adaptation to climate change, (3) risk prevention and management, (4) environmental protection, and (5) resource efficiency. The results showed that POSEUR had a low impact in almost all dimensions in the Algarve, apart from the adaptation to climate change dimension, which exhibits a high impact score, mostly due to the support given for carrying out the Plans for Adaptation to Climate Change (PAAC).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing impacts of environmental sustainability public policies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area: Using the Impact-WEB-GIS platform

Urban environmental sustainability is a growing concern within the United Nations and European Union’s ongoing policy agendas to fight climate change. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting the main impacts of the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Use of Resources (POSEUR 2014– 2020) in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (NUTS II). The analysis was supported by the use of the Impact-WEB_GIS platform, specially developed for the purpose of this study, complemented by a territorial impact assessment methodology. In addition to the production of general impact scores, five analytic dimensions were further analysed, supported by state of the art: i) low-emissions economy, ii) adaptation to climate change, iii) risk prevention and management, iv) environmental protection and v) resource efficiency. At a strategic level, the research created awareness of the need to adjust regional policy to the region’s characteristics on environmental sustainability matters.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Activation of benzoate model prodrugs by mycobacteria. Comparison with mammalian plasma and liver hydrolysis.

Due to difficulties in drug penetration in M. tuberculosis, a prodrug approach based on mycobacterial activation appears as a promising strategy to increase the delivery of antitubercular drugs to the target microorganisms. Esters have been successful used by us and others to deliver drugs to mycobacteria, however because very little is known about the metabolic hydrolysis of esters by mycobacteria in connection with prodrug activation, we decided to study the process further. For that we selected a series of 13 benzoates with different chain lengths and ramifications in the alkoxy side as model prodrugs and examined their hydrolysis by a mycobacterial homogenate, comparing the results with those obtained parallelly in human plasma and in total rat liver homogenate. In all biological media, the benzoates with a linear alkyl group showed a parabolic dependence between log(k) and logP (or the number of carbons of the linear alkyl chain) that reached a maximal value for the n-butyl chain. Considering linear correlations for the total number of compounds between log(k) and chosen descriptors, for mycobacterial esterases, pKa of the leaving alcohol (pKa <sub>LG</sub> ) seem to be the most important descriptor. Plasma esterases seem to be quite sensitive to the Taft polarity parameter σ* and also to pKa <sub>LG</sub> and less sensitive to steric effects. Liver esterases seem to be more sensitive to the Taft steric descriptor E <sub>S</sub> <sup>c</sup> . Lipophilicity correlates weakly with log(k) in all the 3 media, however, is more important when one looks for mycobacterial activation selectivity in relation to plasma metabolism or in relation to liver homogenate metabolism. The importance of lipophilicity increases further when biparametric expressions are considered. We showed that it is easy to activate a wide variety of benzoate esters using a mycobacterial homogenate. The data also suggest that with careful design is possible to obtain tuberculostatic prodrug esters sensitive to mycobacterial hydrolases while reasonably resistant to plasma and liver hydrolysis. One important observation is that mycobacterial hydrolysis is less affected by bulky substituents than liver homogenate or plasma hydrolysis. tert-Butyl is probably the substituent in the alkoxy side that seems more adequate to resist simultaneously plasma and liver metabolism, while allowing activation by mycobacterial esterases. Hexyl is also a good option for the medicinal chemist if a linear alkoxy chain is needed

How impactful are public policies on environmental sustainability? Debating the Portuguese case of PO SEUR 2014–2020

Sustainable development is a key feature of national, European Union and global development strategies. The main research goal is to provide evidence on how impactful public policies on environmental sustainability in Portugal are at the regional level, in various policy areas. In this context, this paper analyses the main impacts of the Portuguese Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources (PO SEUR 2014–20). The research uses a territorial impact assessment (TIA) methodology (TARGET_TIA) to assess these impacts in five analytic dimensions (economy with low emissions, adaptation to climate change, risk prevention and management, environmental protection and resource efficiency) in the five mainland Portuguese NUTS 2. It concludes that, in overall terms, PO SEUR produced low to moderate positive impacts in all NUTS II and analysed dimensions, but it was particularly positive in measures fostering adaptation to climate change, and less impactful in measures supporting an economy with low emissions and resource efficiency in Portugal. Despite data limitations, the research provided adequate evidence that key public policies supporting environmental sustainability in Portugal are largely ineffective and inefficient in view of their policy goals and allocated funding. To turn this scenario around, the process of project selection needs to undergo significant improvements to better adjust the regional needs on environmental sustainability-related issues to the available funding. Moreover, on a policy strategic level, there needs to be support for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy in Portugal via concrete actions exploring environmental capital and a green economy in urban areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

All-optical image recognition and processing with plasmonic metasurfaces

We engage effective nonlinearity of the coherent wave interaction on a thin metamaterial absorber to demonstrate all-optical image recognition and logical functions that in principle can be performed at THz frame rates and quantum-limited intensities

Impact of fructose and fructooligosaccharides supplementation upon the fermentation of hydrolyzed okara and its impact upon bioactive components

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Políticas públicas e sustentabilidade ambiental na região do Alentejo. Os impactos do POSEUR (2014-2020)

Atualmente, a sustentabilidade Ambiental tem ganho relevância nos diferentes quadrantes da sociedade. A importância deste tópico para a União Europeia contribuiu para a criação de vários programas de apoio ao combate às alterações climáticas, importantes para o desenvolvimento dos seus estados-membros. Neste âmbito, o artigo explora o POSEUR (Programa Operacional para a Sustentabilidade e Eficiência no Uso de Recursos, 2014-2020) e o seu impacto na região do Alentejo. A análise centra-se em cinco dimensões ambientais centrais para compreender o alcance da atuação do POSEUR: 1) Economia com baixas emissões; 2) Adaptação às alterações climáticas; 3) Prevenção e gestão de riscos; 4) Proteção Ambiental e 5) Eficiência dos recursos. Para entender o impacto do programa foram realizadas entrevistas com entidades que tiveram em contacto próximo com o POSEUR, durante o seu período de atividade. Os dados qualitativos daí resultantes foram complementados com indicadores ambientais quantitativos, a nível nacional e por NUTSII, o que levou a concluir que o Alentejo, pelas suas características singulares a nível geográfico, demográfico e infraestrutural é um caso de estudo relevante para avaliar a implementação do POSEUR. Este artigo procura compreender se o POSEUR produziu uma mudança sistémica no paradigma ambiental, no Alentejo, e quais os fatores que podem justificar o sucesso ou insucesso deste programa operacional na região.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of thermal treatment and hydrolysis by Alcalase and Cynara cardunculus enzymes on the functional and nutritional value of Okara

Enzymatic hydrolysis of dried okara (autoclaved and non-autoclaved) with Alcalase (AL) and Cynara cardunculus extract (CY) was studied, assessing the impact of heat treatment and hydrolysis on potential antioxidant and antihypertensive activities of final hydrolysates. This study showed that the thermal treatment (sterilization at 121 °C, 1 atm and 15 min) facilitated the enzymatic access to substrate and increased the degree of hydrolysis (DH), especially for AL (37.9%) when compared to CY (3.6%). The antioxidant activity of dried Okara (either autoclaved or not) when hydrolysed with AL was higher (4.2 mg Trolox/mL) than that observed for CY. Additionally, the potential ACE-inhibitory activity was high for samples hydrolysed with both enzymes, however the highest ACE inhibition was also found for AL (IC50 = 9.97 µg/mL). This study allowed the identification of new peptide sequences in dried okara hydrolysed with both enzymes, and some sequences that can explain their bioactivities. The results indicate that dried okara hydrolysates can either be used as functional ingredient or as food supplement for blood pressure lowering or antioxidant applications in the future.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Assembly in G1 phase and long-term stability are unique intrinsic features of CENP-A nucleosomes

Centromeres are the site of kinetochore formation during mitosis. Centromere protein A (CENP-A), the centromere-specific histone H3 variant, is essential for the epigenetic maintenance of centromere position. Previously we showed that newly synthesized CENP-A is targeted to centromeres exclusively during early G1 phase and is subsequently maintained across mitotic divisions. Using SNAP-based fluorescent pulse labeling, we now demonstrate that cell cycle-restricted chromatin assembly at centromeres is unique to CENP-A nucleosomes and does not involve assembly of other H3 variants. Strikingly, stable retention is restricted to the CENP-A/H4 core of the nucleosome, which we find to outlast general chromatin across several cell divisions. We further show that cell cycle timing of CENP-A assembly is independent of centromeric DNA sequences and instead is mediated by the CENP-A targeting domain. Unexpectedly, this domain also induces stable transmission of centromeric nucleosomes, independent of the CENP-A deposition factor HJURP. This demonstrates that intrinsic properties of the CENP-A protein direct its cell cycle-restricted assembly and induces quantitative mitotic transmission of the CENP-A/H4 nucleosome core, ensuring long-term stability and epigenetic maintenance of centromere position.FCT fellpwships: (SFRH/BD/74284/2010, SFRH/BPD/69115/2010), National Institutes of Health grant: (GM082989), Burroughs Wellcome Fund (Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences), Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, European Commission FP7 Program, EMBO