Architecture and Design Behind Creativity

In this communication is presented a female fashion collection to the autumn/winter season which result of the rapprochement between the design of clothing, fashion and architecture in all its monumentality, history, culture and art. The imagination of this whole environment and proximity between the architecture and clothing, that the result is more than satisfactory, awakened from a big event worldwide, in the past year of 2007. The election of the 7 Wonders of the Portugal and the new 7 Wonders of the World the event that really caused impact around world. The fruits collected were six outfits which breathe the sophistication, elegance, finesse and distinction, influenced by the royalty archi- tecture. Allied to the aesthetics, functionality and balance, resulting from the application of design in all its essence. The fashion clothing design is one of the highest vulnerable areas of the design in gener- al, always searching for innovation and creativi- ty, chosen of imaginative and rich themes for Ana Cristina Broega / Silvia Ma Fernandes (Portugal) inspiration. The past year of 2007 was the elec- tion of the new 7 Wonders of the World a event that really caused impact around world. Taking advantage of this event, it has proposed by Clothing Design Subject the creation of a fash- ion collection for woman. For this theme, as the element of inspiration, was used the monu- ments candidates to Wonder of Portugal, the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa. The aim of this col- lection is to use the monumental architecture as tool of inspiration for clothing design. This sub- ject provides forms that adapted to the body offer new ways to interpret the silhouette and volumetric lines. The colours palette, the selec- tion of materials, silhouettes and patterns were also inspired in trends for the autumn/winter season, 07/08. This project resulted on a cre- ative collection, with harmony and full of mean- ing, which reflects the monumental architecture, but above all, reveals the increasingly close relationship between the design and architec- ture, contemporaneous or monumental.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Occurrence, properties and pollution potential of environmental minerals in acid mine drainage

This paper describes the occurrences, the mineralogical assemblages and the environmental relevance of the AMD-precipitates from the abandoned mine of Valdarcas, Northern Portugal. At this mining site, these precipitates are particularly related with the chemical speciation of iron, which is in according to the abundance of mine wastes enriched in pyrrhotite and pyrite. The more relevant supergene mineralogical assemblages include the following environmental minerals: soluble metal-salts, mainly sulphates, revealing seasonal behaviour, iron-hydroxysulphates and iron-oxyhydroxides, both forming ochre precipitates of poorly and well-crystalline minerals. Pollution potential of the most highly water soluble salts was analysed in order to evaluate the environmental effect of their dissolution by rainfall. Laboratory experiments, carried out with iron and aluminium sulphates, demonstrated the facility to release metals, sulphate and acidity upon dissolution. Regarding the ochre precipitates, composed by several less soluble iron (III)-minerals, the spatial distribution on the nearby aqueous system as well as the proportion of Jarosite, Schwertmannite and Goethite in the mixtures gave information about the halo’s contamination promoted by the AMD emerging from the waste-dump

A meta-analysis of brain DNA methylation across sex, age and Alzheimer’s disease points for accelerated epigenetic aging in neurodegeneration [preprint]

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by specific alterations of brain DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns. Age and sex, two major risk factors for AD, are also known to largely affect the epigenetic profiles in the brain, but their contribution to AD-associated DNAm changes has been poorly investigated. In this study we considered publicly available DNAm datasets of 4 brain regions (temporal, frontal, entorhinal cortex and cerebellum) from healthy adult subjects and AD patients, and performed a meta-analysis to identify sex-, age- and AD-associated epigenetic profiles. We showed that DNAm differences between males and females tend to be shared between the 4 brain regions, while aging differently affects cortical regions compared to cerebellum. We found that the proportion of sex-dependent probes whose methylation changes also during aging is higher than expected, but that differences between males and females tend to be maintained, with only few probes showing sex-by-age interaction. We did not find significant overlaps between AD- and sex-associated probes, nor disease-by-sex interaction effects. On the contrary, we found that AD-related epigenetic modifications are significantly enriched in probes whose DNAm changes with age and that there is a high concordance between the direction of changes (hyper or hypo-methylation) in aging and AD, supporting accelerated epigenetic aging in the disease. In conclusion, we demonstrated that age-associated, but not sex-associated DNAm concurs to the epigenetic deregulation observed in AD, providing new insight on how advanced age enables neurodegeneration

Raciocínios desenvolvidos na verificação das soluções de sistemas de equações lineares

Numa investigação sobre o ensino e aprendizagem de álgebra Linear, em que um dos objetivos era identificar os erros e dificuldades sentidos pelos estudantes, propuseram-se algumas questões sobre sistemas de equações lineares a estudantes de engenharia do ensino superior politécnico que frequentavam a unidade curricular álgebra linear e geometria analítica. Neste texto, faz-se uma breve exposição dos resultados obtidos numa das questões em que se pretendia a verificação da solução de um sistema de equações lineares. Concluiu-se que, embora o tema tenha sido estudado no ensino básico/secundário e superior, os estudantes demonstraram ainda dificuldades consideráveis na resolução da tarefa proposta, evidenciando-se, também, o facto de muitos dos que responderam corretamente terem necessidade de resolver o sistema para verificar a solução

Higher education students’ readiness for the learning of linear algebra

Neste artigo estuda-se a prontidão de alunos do ensino superior para a aprendizagem de álgebra linear, salientando a natureza teórica desta área de conhecimento. Participaram no estudo alunos do ensino superior, de uma turma do 1.º ano, de um Instituto Politécnico do norte de Portugal. Os alunos responderam a um teste diagnóstico, cujas questões incorporavam conteúdos lecionados durante os anos escolares anteriores à entrada no ensino superior, considerados como pré-requisito para a aprendizagem de álgebra linear numa vertente mais teórica. Dos resultados do estudo, destacam-se as grandes dificuldades dos alunos em todos os conteúdos avaliados, verificando-se que mais de metade apresentou respostas incorretas ou não respondeu às questões colocadas, donde se conclui que os alunos não apresentam um grau de prontidão adequado para aprendizagem de álgebra linear.In this paper we study the readiness of higher education students for linear algebra learning, emphasizing the theoretical nature of this area of knowledge. Higher education students participated in the study, a class of 1st year of a Polytechnic Institute from the north of Portugal. Students answered a diagnostic test, whose questions incorporated content taught during the previous school years to entry into higher education, considered as a prerequisite for learning linear algebra in a more theoretical approach. From the results of the study, we highlight the great difficulties of the students in all evaluated contents, verifying that more than half had incorrect answers or did not respond to the questions. So we conclude that students do not have an appropriate degree of readiness to learning linear algebra.Este trabalho contou com o apoio de Fundos Nacionais através da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia no âmbito do projeto PEst-OE/CED/UI1661/2014 do CIEd-UM.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

PAHs and metals in a coastal lagoon (Esmoriz/Paramos), Portugal

Esmoriz/Paramos is a coastal lagoon on the northwest coast of Portugal with an area of approximately 5.6 km2 and occasional communication with the sea. This habitat has a great ecological importance due to the characteristics of its fauna and vegetation. For the last 25 years, the wet area of the lagoon has been reduced as well as its biodiversity and at present it is very degraded and in-filled. The transport of particles from land through the main affluent is one of the causes for siltation. Pollution sources include untreated sewage water, industrial effluents and run-off from agricultural activities. Dredging the sediments is the strategy planned by the local authorities to restore this ecosystem and improve its recreational value. Thus, evaluation of sediment quality is important for planning disposal purposes. The objective of this work was to evaluate de water quality of the lagoon and to assess the contamination of its sediments by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals. The water analysis carried out in three different stations within the lagoon, showed a poor quality, namely low oxygen concentrations and high inorganic nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand, whereas the sediments revealed moderate concentrations of PAHs with different patterns of distribution along stations and depth. Zinc was the most abundant metal followed by copper and smaller concentrations of lead and chromium. Metal variation in sediments was larger between stations than along depth. Therefore an average concentration of metals exposure to living organisms was calculated

O ensino de álgebra linear nos institutos politécnicos segundo a visão dos professores

Conteúdos de álgebra são trabalhados ao longo do ensino básico e secundário, porém, no que diz respeito à álgebra linear, as suas temáticas são essencialmente abordadas no ensino superior. Especificamente no caso dos institutos politécnicos portugueses, os conteúdos de álgebra linear estão integrados no currículo de diversas licenciaturas, sendo frequente integrarem o plano de estudos do 1.º ano dos cursos de engenharia. Apesar da sua relevância, parece ser consensual que a álgebra linear é uma fonte de dificuldades para muitos alunos do ensino superior tanto a nível nacional como internacional. Ora, a exígua investigação realizada, sobretudo em Portugal, destaca a necessidade de efetuar mais estudos de investigação na área da álgebra linear, que possam fundamentar, de forma coerente, as decisões que precisam ser assumidas no ensino superior como forma de ultrapassar as dificuldades e implementar metodologias de ensino que conduzam a alterações significativas em termos da aprendizagem dos estudantes. Nesta comunicação, com base em dados recolhidos através da aplicação de um questionário a professores do ensino superior politécnico, caracteriza-se o ensino da álgebra linear segundo a perspetiva desses professores, a partir das dimensões preparação e implementação das aulas. O questionário, que se preenchia online, foi enviado aos professores do ensino superior politécnico, de várias instituições do país, que lecionavam a unidade curricular Álgebra Linear, ou similar, no ano letivo 2011/2012, tendo-se considerado válidas sessenta respostas. Dos resultados obtidos conclui-se que, embora o ensino assuma características essencialmente expositivas e se recorra pouco à utilização de computadores e calculadoras, é feita alguma referência à promoção de discussões em grande grupo, assim como se revela a preocupação em preparar tarefas que enfatizam a discussão sobre erros e dificuldades dos alunos e que permitam a exploração de diferentes representações dos conceitos e a sua articulação

Realização e revisão de minitestes para aprofundar a aprendizagem de álgebra linear no ensino superior

A álgebra linear constitui uma fonte de dificuldades para muitos alunos do ensino superior, como corroboram estudos realizados a nível nacional e internacional. Face a esta realidade, é importante que se investiguem e implementem metodologias de ensino que conduzam a alterações significativas na aprendizagem dos alunos. Enquanto resposta a esta preocupação realizou-se uma experiência de ensino com uma turma de alunos de engenharia do ensino superior politécnico que frequentavam a unidade curricular Álgebra Linear e Geometria Analítica, com o intuito de averiguar o impacto de um ensino centrado na exploração dos erros e dificuldades sobre a aprendizagem dos alunos em álgebra linear. No âmbito da experiência de ensino, perspetivando a avaliação como uma componente não dissociada do processo educativo, implementouse uma metodologia de avaliação, que contribuísse igualmente para a superação de erros e dificuldades. Esta metodologia de avaliação assumiu a forma de realização (numa primeira fase) e revisão (numa segunda fase) de minitestes. Na segunda fase, o aluno, para além de ser confrontado com as respostas antes dadas, também tinha acesso aos comentários efetuados pela professora, de modo a proporcionar-lhe uma nova oportunidade para voltar a refletir sobre a correção e adequação dos processos usados para responder às questões colocadas, criando-se, assim, um novo momento de aprendizagem. Nesta comunicação pretende-se descrever a experiência de avaliação realizada e retratar as opiniões dos alunos sobre o processo.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Carbon stock estimation in a Mediterranean riparian forest: a case study combining field data and UAV imagery

This study aims to estimate the total biomass aboveground and soil carbon stocks in a Mediterranean riparian forest and identify the contribution of the different species and ecosystem compartments to the overall riparian carbon reservoir. We used a combined field and object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach, based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) multispectral imagery, to assess C stock of three dominant riparian species. A linear discriminator was designed, based on a set of spectral variables previously selected in an optimal way, permitting the classification of the species corresponding to every object in the study area. This made it possible to estimate the area occupied by each species and its contribution to the tree aboveground biomass (AGB). Three uncertainty levels were considered, related to the trade-o between the number of unclassified and misclassified objects, leading to an error control associated with the estimated tree AGB.We found that riparian woodlands dominated by Acacia dealbata Link showed the highest average carbon stock per unit area (251 90 tC ha1) followed by Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertner (162 12 tC ha1) and by Salix salviifolia Brot. (73 17 tC ha1), which are mainly related to the stem density, vegetation development and successional stage of the different stands. The woody tree compartment showed the highest inputs (79%), followed by the understory vegetation (12%) and lastly by the soil mineral layer (9%). Spectral vegetation indices developed to suppress saturation effects were consistently selected as important variables for species classification. The total tree AGB in the study area varies from 734 to 1053 tC according to the distinct levels of uncertainty. This study provided the foundations for the assessment of the riparian carbon sequestration and the economic value of the carbon stocks provided by similar Mediterranean riparian forests, a highly relevant ecosystem service for the regulation of climate change effectsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio