Localized Abdominal Idiopathic Lipodystrophy

Localized loss of subcutaneous tissue can occur after panniculitis, injections of corticosteroids and other drugs, or associated with infectious, autoimmune or neurologic diseases. The "idiopathic lipoatrophies" are a group of poorly characterized diseases, with focal disappearance of subcutaneous fat, and usually the thighs, abdomen or the ankles are affected. Three subtypes have been described based on clinical presentation: lipoatrophia semicircularis, annular lipoatrophy of the ankles and centrifugal lipodystrophy. We describe a 52-year-old female patient who developed a localized atrophy of the abdominal areas over a period of 3 months without any inflammatory signs over the evolution of the disease. The patient denied any previous local trauma or medication of any type. The atrophy stabilized, showing no progression over the last 6 years. The histopathological examination was normal except for the absence of subcutaneous fat, although the biopsy was taken down to the fascia. There was no clinical or serologic evidence of autoimmune diseases and laboratory testing for Borrelia burgdorferi infection was negative. Other causes of localized lipoatrophies were excluded and the final diagnosis was localized idiopathic lipodystrophy. Our patient is the second report on an abdominal lipodystrophy, with no previous inflammatory signs, absence of subcutaneous fat and no associated pathogenic factor. There is no established treatment for idiopathic lipodystrophy, and the lesions do not tend to resolve spontaneously

Institutional conditions for effective and legitimate industrial policies: the case of Portugal

State intervention in support of specific productive activities aiming to foster structural change (i.e., industrial policy) has been a controversial topic in both academic and political debates. In spite of many years of theoretical and empirical research, such debate has not reached definite conclusions. Recently, the debate on industrial policy has been experiencing a change of focus, falling away from the rationale of such public interventions to focus on the institutional conditions that promote the success of the policies pursued. In this paper we analyse the conditions for effective and legitimate industrial policies, examining four cases of such type of interventions in Portugal. Our analysis emphasises the differences between the various interventions according to two dimensions: the number of (potential) beneficiaries targeted by the policy and the diversity of public agencies in possession of relevant skills for its implementation. These factors help to determine the level of scrutiny to which public policies are subjected, either by private actors or within the State apparatus. Both sources of scrutiny help to minimise the risks of capture of public resources by private interests, and to foster institutional learning processes that promote the effectiveness of policies.FCT

Possibilidades e aplicações de ensaios não destrutivos

Comunicação apresentada no Encontro sobre a Madeira e suas Aplicações Nobres : "Bem utilizar a madeira", Lisboa, Portugal, 22 Novembro 2005

Sistemas em madeira e derivados na reabilitação urbana em situações pós-catástrofe

Os centros históricos são elementos importantes e fundamentais de muitas cidades. Representam a sua história e evolução, sendo por isso parte essencial do Património Cultural. São contudo elementos extremamente vulneráveis, sendo vários os exemplos ao longo da história de situações imprevistas como terramotos, tsunamis, cheias, vulcões, incêndios, etc., que provocaram danos significativos nos edifícios e monumentos de cidades históricas importantes. Após um desastre destes, a situação é previsivelmente crítica e torna-se urgente proteger os monumentos e demais edifícios históricos. Deverá evitar-se a propagação e avanço dos danos, prevenindo colapsos locais e falhas globais. Neste cenário, torna-se crucial a utilização de sistemas de construção rápidos baseados em elementos leves e pequenos. Estes elementos devem permitir uma instalação fácil e rápida, bem como proporcionar a resistência suficiente para prevenir o aumento das perdas. Por outro lado, é fundamental que estes sistemas tenham em linha de conta a manutenção da traça arquitectónica, através de soluções que preservem as características estéticas e materiais dos edifícios. Este artigo apresenta uma primeira abordagem ao uso de sistemas à base de madeira e derivados em situações pós-catástrof

Guidelines to improve sustainability and cultural integration of temporary housing units

Unfortunately, natural disasters have drastically increased over the last decades causing extensive material and non-­material damages. The destruction of houses and the number of homeless people are some of the most visible effects of post-­disaster scenarios. Housing is one of the people’s most important needs and it is also essential for their well-­being. After a disaster it is crucial to supply temporary accommodation in order to provide victims with comfort, protection, and privacy until they have a permanent house. Temporary housing is an extremely important solution of temporary accommodation allowing victims to gradually return to their normal life activities during the reconstruction process. Although it has been widely used after the most large-scale disasters, the urgent need of fast solutions has not led to effective options. Therefore, temporary housing solutions have been greatly criticized mainly for being unsustainable, and also culturally and locally inadequate. Through literature review and case-­studies’ analysis the research points out the main factors and reasons that cause the problems of temporary housing units. It also refers to possible solutions to overcome or minimize those problems, offering guidelines based on concepts that have been proved effective in previous studies. The guidelines focus on useful concepts in the development of more sustainable, locally sensitive and culturally integrated solutions. It was found that an essential change is needed in the development of temporary housing solutions. These solutions should be developed through a people-­oriented strategy rather than focusing on the technical aspects of the units. The suggested guidelines have that objective

Capacity of a traditional timber mortise and tenon joint

The safety and quality of traditional timber structures mostly depends on the conditions of their connections. A testing campaign has investigated the behaviour of mortise and tenon timber joint. The present paper addresses the quantification of the strength capacity of wood-wood mortise and tenon joint by physical testing of full-scale specimens. In addition, the performance of different non-destructive techniques (NDT) for assessing global strength is also evaluated. For this three non-destructive methods (ultrasonic testing, Resistograph and Pilodyn) are considered and the possibility of their application is discussed based on the application of simple linear regression models. New (NCW) and old (OCW) chestnut wood, obtained from structural elements belonging to old buildings, is used. Finally, a nonlinear model has been formulated and the predicted behaviour compared with the behaviour observed in the full-scale experiments, in terms of failure mode and the ultimate load. The study has shown very good agreement with the experimental values.(undefined

Temporary housing after disasters: a state of the art survey

The number of natural disasters has drastically increased, causing great damages on buildings. A large number of houses have suffered damage and become unusable, causing a high number of homeless people. Housing reconstruction programmes play a decisive role on the disaster recovery and providing temporary housing is a crucial step of these programmes. During the reconstruction of permanent housing, it allows victims to have a private and secure place to return to their normal lives. This has been widely used after the largest scale disasters but it has also been greatly criticised, mainly for being unsustainable and culturally inadequate. The study aims to present a state-of-the-art survey on the topic, as well as to identify the main problems, their origin and the existing proposals to avoid them. The research also proposes some guidelines that can reduce the effects of those problems

Compressive behavior and NDT correlations for chestnut wood (Castanea sativa Mill.)

The goal of the present work consists in the characterization of the mechanical behavior of chestnut wood under compression perpendicular to the grain. After a review of the problems usually involved in characterizing timber under this type of loading, a mechanical test was set-up. The timber specimens used in the testing program were divided in two groups: (a) new chestnut wood (NCW), which has never been used structurally even so it comes from logs that could be used as such; and (b) old chestnut wood (OCW), which were already used in structural elements from ancient constructions (date and precise origin unknown). The mechanical behavior of the specimens is discussed taking into account the orientation of the annual growth rings along the direction of the load. Correlations between mechanical properties and NDT (ultrasonic pulse velocity and drilling resistance) are also provided, taking into account the density of the wood.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) -SFRH/BD/6411/2001. Augusto de Oliveira Ferreira e Companhia Lda