Spatial variability of soil properties and soil erodibility in the Alqueva reservoir watershed

The aim of this work is to investigate how the spatial variability of soil properties and soil erodibility (K factor) were affected by the changes in land use allowed by irrigation with water from a reservoir in a semiarid area. To this end, three areas representative of different land uses (agroforestry grassland, lucerne crop and olive orchard) were studied within a 900 ha farm. The interrelationships between variables were analyzed by multivariate techniques and extrapolated using geostatistics. The results confirmed differences between land uses for all properties analyzed, which was explained mainly by the existence of diverse management practices (tillage, fertilization and irrigation), vegetation cover and local soil characteristics. Soil organic matter, clay and nitrogen content decreased significantly, while the K factor increased with intensive cultivation. The HJ-Biplot methodology was used to represent the variation of soil erodibility properties grouped in land uses. Native grassland was the least correlated with the other land uses. The K factor demonstrated high correlation mainly with very fine sand and silt. The maps produced with geostatistics were crucial to understand the current spatial variability in the Alqueva region. Facing the intensification of land-use conversion, a sustainable management is needed to introduce protective measures to control soil erosion

Internal stakeholders perspectives in a cultural event: the case of Noc Noc, Guimaraes - Portugal

Given the significant impact that cultural events may have in local communities and their inherent organization complexity, it is important to understand their specificities. Most of the times cultural events disregard marketing and often marketing is distant from art. Thus an analysis of an internal marketing perspective might bring significant returns to the organization of such an event.This paper considers the three editions (2011, 2012 and 2013) of a cultural event - Noc Noc - organized by a local association in the city of Guimaraes, Portugal. Its format is based in analogous events, as Noc Noc intends to convert everyday spaces (homes, commercial outlets and a number of other buildings) into cultural spaces, organized and transformed by artists, hosts and audiences. By interviewing a sample of people (20) who have hosted this cultural event, sometimes doubling as artists, and by experiencing the three editions of the event, this paper analyses how the internal stakeholders understand this particular cultural event, analyzing specifically their motivations, ways of acting and participating, as well as their relationship with the public, with the organization of the event and with art in general. Results support that the motivations of artists and hosts must be identified in a timely and appropriate moment, as well as their views of this particular cultural event, in order to keep them participating, since low budget cultural events such as this one may have a key role in small cities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dynamic Scaling of Non-Euclidean Interfaces

The dynamic scaling of curved interfaces presents features that are strikingly different from those of the planar ones. Spherical surfaces above one dimension are flat because the noise is irrelevant in such cases. Kinetic roughening is thus a one-dimensional phenomenon characterized by a marginal logarithmic amplitude of the fluctuations. Models characterized by a planar dynamical exponent $z>1$, which include the most common stochastic growth equations, suffer a loss of correlation along the interface, and their dynamics reduce to that of the radial random deposition model in the long time limit. The consequences in several applications are discussed, and we conclude that it is necessary to reexamine some experimental results in which standard scaling analysis was applied

Insight into the interaction between α-lapachone and bovine serum albumin employing a spectroscopic and computational approach

<p class="Mabstract">Serum albumin is the most abundant protein in blood plasma; among its functions is the transport of a high variety of drugs in the body. Quinones show several biological and pharmacological activities, such as anti-malarial, antitumor, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic. We report fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic studies to try to understand the interaction process between α-lapachone (α-LAP) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Studies using computational methods, such as molecular docking, were performed to identify the main cavity in which this interaction occurs as well as the type of intermolecular interactions between the amino acid residues from albumin and the ligand. The BSA fluorescence quenching by added α-LAP is a static process, indicating an initial association BSA: α-LAP. The K_a and K_b values for the interaction BSA: α-LAP are in the range 10⁵-10⁴ L∙mol^-1, indicating a strong binding between these two species. CD data show that there is no significant perturbation on the secondary structure of the protein with binding. The negative ΔG^o values are consistent with spontaneous binding occurring endothermically (ΔH^o = 127 kJ∙mol^-1), and possibly driven by hydrophobic factors (ΔS^o = 0.526 kJ∙mol^-1∙s^-1). The number of binding sites (<em>n</em>) indicates the existence of just one main binding site in BSA for α-LAP, with molecular docking results showing that it binds preferentially to the albumin in the domain IIA, where the Trp-212 residue is located. The ligand interacts <em>via</em> hydrogen bond with Arg-259 and Tyr-149 residues and <em>via</em> T-stacking with the fluorophore Trp-212 residue.</p

Fundo de participação dos municípios e equidade de serviços públicos- um estudo para os municípios brasileiros

O Fundo de Participação dos Municípios – FPM é uma das principais fontes de recursos municipais no Brasil e possui o declarado objetivo constitucional de promover o equilíbrio sócio-econômico entre as municipalidades do País. Este trabalho avalia se existe de fato uma trajetória em direção à equidade municipal no Brasil, ou seja, se tem ocorrido convergência na cobertura de serviços públicos municipais ao longo do tempo. Para tanto, foi construída uma fronteira de melhor disponibilidade de serviços, por meio da metodologia DEA, para a qual foram considerados 2677 municípios brasileiros em dois momentos do tempo- 1991 e 2000. Em seguida, usando as matrizes de transição de Markov, estimou-se a probabilidade de convergência na cobertura dos serviços. Os resultados mostraram um maior nível de cobertura nos municípios com até 5 mil habitantes e para aqueles com mais de 50 mil. Observou-se uma redução do déficit relativo médio em serviços municipais de 0,72 para 0,81. Além disso, verificou-se um melhor nível de atendimento das necessidades locais pelos municípios do Rio de Janeiro e de São Paulo. No nível regional, a região sul foi a que apresentou, em média, a maior cobertura de serviços. Por fim, evidenciou-se uma trajetória convergente na prestação de serviços.

Argamassas de revestimento para paredes de tabique

A nova realidade da construção cada vez mais se centra na crescente necessidade de reabilitar devido ao excesso de construção e ao abandono dos centros urbanos, onde era prática corrente até início do século XX o recurso ao tabique como técnica construtiva, nomeadamente em paredes divisórias. Uma técnica que nos últimos anos caiu em desuso devido ao fato da utilização em larga escala de materiais como o betão ou alvenaria de tijolo. O tabique, também conhecido por “taipa de fasquio”, “taipa de rodízio”, “taipa de sopapo”, “taipa de chapada”, “pau a pique”, ou “barro armado” no Brasil, define-se como uma técnica tradicional construtiva que emprega como material, a terra, a madeira ou a cana. Esta técnica é considerada por alguns como o primeiro material compósito, por usar a madeira como uma estrutura resistente e a terra como material de enchimento (ou seja secundário).Para aumentar a resistência, em algumas bibliografias é referido que adicionalmente usavam no material de enchimento materiais como óleos vegetais, óleos de baleia ou até mesmo espigas de milho. O presente estudo é motivado pela falta de informação sobre o comportamento das paredes de tabique com argamassas à base de terra. Com a falta desta informação, na maioria ou praticamente em todas as intervenções de reabilitação resulta na demolição e substituição destas paredes por materiais mais correntes nos dias de hoje. Deste modo, julga-se necessário desmitificar o uso do tabique tradicional e contribuir para que a sua reabilitação passe a ser prática corrente. O principal objetivo deste trabalho consiste, por isso, em estudar as argamassas de revestimento/preenchimento à base de saibro e cal para paredes em tabique, caracterizando-as de modo a promover a sua reabilitação com qualidade. Neste contexto, realizaram-se ensaios de resistência mecânica e ensaios de absorção de água por capilaridade e por imersão. De um modo geral, os resultados mostram um bom desempenho das composições de solo estabilizado com cal viva. Com a adição de uma pequena percentagem de óleo vegetal usado consegue-se obter uma redução da absorção de água, sobretudo a absorção por capilaridade em todas as composições testadas. Como o tabique é uma técnica que usa materiais facilmente amigos do ambiente, com reduzido consumo de CO2, poderá considerar-se um bom exemplo de construção sustentável. Ou seja um estudo mais aprofundado pode incentivar não só ser utilizado na reabilitação, mas também em novas construções

Clinical and biochemical footprints of inherited metabolic diseases. IX. Metabolic ear disease

Damages to the ear are very diverse and can depend on the type of inherited metabolic diseases (IMD). Indeed, IMDs can affect all parts of the auditory system, from the outer ear to the central auditory process. We have identified 219 IMDs associated with various types of ear involvement which we classified into five groups according to the lesion site of the auditory system: congenital external ear abnormalities, acquired external ear abnormalities, middle ear involvement, inner ear or retrocochlear involvement, and unspecified hearing loss. This represents the ninth issue in a series of educational summaries providing a comprehensive and updated list of metabolic differential diagnoses according to system involvement. Keywords: Conductive hearing loss; Ear; External ear; Hearing loss; Inborn errors of metabolism; Inherited metabolic diseases; Sensorineural hearing loss; Tinnitus

(Oligo)thienyl-imidazo-benzocrown ether derivatives : synthesis, photophysical studies and evaluation of their chemosensory properties

A series of novel (oligo)thienyl-imidazobenzocrown ethers were synthesised through a simple method and evaluated as fluorimetric chemosensors for transition metal cations. Interaction with Ni2+, Pd2+, and Hg2+ in ACN/DMSO solution (99:1) was studied by absorption and emission spectroscopy. Chemoselectivity studies in the presence of Na+ were also carried out and a fluorescence enhancement upon chelation (CHEF) effect was observed following Hg2+ complexation. Considering that most systems using fluorescence spectroscopy for detecting Hg2+ are based on the complexation enhancement of the fluorescence quenching (CHEQ) effect, the present work represents one of the few examples for sensing of Hg2+ based on a CHEF effect.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/QUI/66250/2006, SFRH/BD/36396/2007, SRFH/BPD/72557/201