De Hintze a Afonso Costa: o fenómeno (anti)clerical na imprensa madeirense (1901-1910)

Os fenómenos de oposição e de defesa do cosmo clerical são testemunhos do percurso que o respeito pela alteridade teve que galgar ao longo da História. Acreditar que os registos desses comportamentos estão confinados ao passado é desconsiderar a incrível atualidade que as doutrinas de ódio, promovidas tanto pelo campo secular como pelo confessional, têm no globo. Através da análise textual a quatro periódicos madeirenses da primeira década do séc. XX, num intervalo temporal que vai desde a publicação do decreto de legalização das congregações através do modelo associativo, em 1901, ao crepúsculo da monarquia perante a república e a separação, em 1910, identificámos e segmentámos um vasto material, presente em centenas de edições analisadas, que configuram uma parte do corpus temático dessas duas correntes antinómicas, o clericalismo e o anticlericalismo, na Madeira. A religião que é capaz de mobilizar tanta fé como estigmas, molda as identidades individuais e coletivas de uma nação. Os ambientes que não estão providos de uma política religiosa plural e inclusiva, acabam por se contrair e perder a promoção de debates que irão conduzir a um cosmo de liberdade religiosa.The opposition and clerical universe defence phenomena are living testimonies of the path that the respect for otherness had to be built throughout History. The belief that the records of those behaviours are confined in the past is to disregard the astounding actuality that the hate doctrines, promoted not only by the secular but also by the confessional parties, have on the world. Through the textual analysis conducted in four Madeiran journals from the first decade of the 20th century, in a temporal interlude that goes from the publication of the congregations’ legalization diploma through the associative model, in 1901, to the monarchy twilight towards the republic and the eminent separation, in 1910, we identified and classified a vast sum of material, included in hundreds of analysed editions, that form a part of the thematic corpus from the two antinomic factions, the clericalism and the anti-clericalism, in Madeira. The religion that mobilizes such faith as stigmas, shapes the individual and collective identities of a nation. The environments that do not provide a plural and inclusive religious policy end up restraining and losing the promotion of debates that would lead to a universe of religious freedom

Insight into trade‐off between wood decay and parasitism from the genome of a fungal forest pathogen

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91191/1/j.1469-8137.2012.04128.x.pd

Genetics of Dispersal

Dispersal is a process of central importance for the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of populations and communities, because of its diverse consequences for gene flow and demography. It is subject to evolutionary change, which begs the question, what is the genetic basis of this potentially complex trait? To address this question, we (i) review the empirical literature on the genetic basis of dispersal, (ii) explore how theoretical investigations of the evolution of dispersal have represented the genetics of dispersal, and (iii) discuss how the genetic basis of dispersal influences theoretical predictions of the evolution of dispersal and potential consequences. Dispersal has a detectable genetic basis in many organisms, from bacteria to plants and animals. Generally, there is evidence for significant genetic variation for dispersal or dispersal-related phenotypes or evidence for the micro-evolution of dispersal in natural populations. Dispersal is typically the outcome of several interacting traits, and this complexity is reflected in its genetic architecture: while some genes of moderate to large effect can influence certain aspects of dispersal, dispersal traits are typically polygenic. Correlations among dispersal traits as well as between dispersal traits and other traits under selection are common, and the genetic basis of dispersal can be highly environment-dependent. By contrast, models have historically considered a highly simplified genetic architecture of dispersal. It is only recently that models have started to consider multiple loci influencing dispersal, as well as non-additive effects such as dominance and epistasis, showing that the genetic basis of dispersal can influence evolutionary rates and outcomes, especially under non-equilibrium conditions. For example, the number of loci controlling dispersal can influence projected rates of dispersal evolution during range shifts and corresponding demographic impacts. Incorporating more realism in the genetic architecture of dispersal is thus necessary to enable models to move beyond the purely theoretical towards making more useful predictions of evolutionary and ecological dynamics under current and future environmental conditions. To inform these advances, empirical studies need to answer outstanding questions concerning whether specific genes underlie dispersal variation, the genetic architecture of context-dependent dispersal phenotypes and behaviours, and correlations among dispersal and other traits.Peer reviewe

Large-scale GWAS identifies multiple loci for hand grip strength providing biological insights into muscular fitness

Hand grip strength is a widely used proxy of muscular fitness, a marker of frailty, and predictor of a range of morbidities and all-cause mortality. To investigate the genetic determinants of variation in grip strength, we perform a large-scale genetic discovery analysis in a combined sample of 195,180 individuals and identify 16 loci associated with grip strength (P<5 x 10(-8)) in combined analyses. A number of these loci contain genes implicated in structure and function of skeletal muscle fibres (ACTG1), neuronal maintenance and signal transduction (PEX14, TGFA, SYT1), or monogenic syndromes with involvement of psychomotor impairment (PEX14, LRPPRC and KANSL1). Mendelian randomization analyses are consistent with a causal effect of higher genetically predicted grip strength on lower fracture risk. In conclusion, our findings provide new biological insight into the mechanistic underpinnings of grip strength and the causal role of muscular strength in age-related morbidities and mortality

Identification of multiple risk loci and regulatory mechanisms influencing susceptibility to multiple myeloma

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have transformed our understanding of susceptibility to multiple myeloma (MM), but much of the heritability remains unexplained. We report a new GWAS, a meta-analysis with previous GWAS and a replication series, totalling 9974 MM cases and 247,556 controls of European ancestry. Collectively, these data provide evidence for six new MM risk loci, bringing the total number to 23. Integration of information from gene expression, epigenetic profiling and in situ Hi-C data for the 23 risk loci implicate disruption of developmental transcriptional regulators as a basis of MM susceptibility, compatible with altered B-cell differentiation as a key mechanism. Dysregulation of autophagy/apoptosis and cell cycle signalling feature as recurrently perturbed pathways. Our findings provide further insight

Principles of Biomass Pyrolysis with Emphasis on the Formation of the Nitrogen-Containing Gases HNCO, HCN and NH3

This thesis investigates some aspects of the pyrolysis and combustion of biomass. The emphasis of the work is on the formation of nitrogen-containing species under pyrolysis. Since the low nitrogen concentrations in biomass make identification of nitrogen-containing gases from biomass difficult, proteins have been used as model compounds for the nitrogen in wood. Apart from HCN and NH3, HNCO has also been observed to be a pyrolysis product from wood bark as well as from all protein model compounds used. The temperature was found to have a marked impact on the distribution between the nitrogen-containing species. The temperature influence on the selectivity between HNCO and HCN was similar for the proteins and for cyclic amides, which are believed to be intermediate pyrolysis products from proteins. The results in this work indicate that the proteins in biomass pyrolyse without interaction with the other constituents of biomass. Hence, experiments with model compound proteins with amino acid compositions similar to that found in the biomass of interest will give the same pyrolysis products as the biomass itself. The advantage of model compounds over biomass is that the pyrolysis products are easily quantified with high accuracy. The effects of particle size and reactor temperature on the devolatilisation and char combustion of biomass pellets in a fluidised bed have also been investigated, as have the effects of particle size, form of biomass, final temperature and heating rate on the shrinkage and fragmentation behaviour of biomass particles under pyrolysis. The findings are expected to contribute to the fundamental understanding of, and lead to improved modelling of, the processes involved in pyrolysis and combustion in general, and of nitrogen oxide reduction in particular

Principles of Biomass Pyrolysis with Emphasis on the Formation of the Nitrogen-Containing Gases HNCO, HCN and NH3

This thesis investigates some aspects of the pyrolysis and combustion of biomass. The emphasis of the work is on the formation of nitrogen-containing species under pyrolysis. Since the low nitrogen concentrations in biomass make identification of nitrogen-containing gases from biomass difficult, proteins have been used as model compounds for the nitrogen in wood. Apart from HCN and NH3, HNCO has also been observed to be a pyrolysis product from wood bark as well as from all protein model compounds used. The temperature was found to have a marked impact on the distribution between the nitrogen-containing species. The temperature influence on the selectivity between HNCO and HCN was similar for the proteins and for cyclic amides, which are believed to be intermediate pyrolysis products from proteins. The results in this work indicate that the proteins in biomass pyrolyse without interaction with the other constituents of biomass. Hence, experiments with model compound proteins with amino acid compositions similar to that found in the biomass of interest will give the same pyrolysis products as the biomass itself. The advantage of model compounds over biomass is that the pyrolysis products are easily quantified with high accuracy. The effects of particle size and reactor temperature on the devolatilisation and char combustion of biomass pellets in a fluidised bed have also been investigated, as have the effects of particle size, form of biomass, final temperature and heating rate on the shrinkage and fragmentation behaviour of biomass particles under pyrolysis. The findings are expected to contribute to the fundamental understanding of, and lead to improved modelling of, the processes involved in pyrolysis and combustion in general, and of nitrogen oxide reduction in particular