Fireproofing biosourced-phenolic resins for the protection of wood and wood composites.

257 p.En la presente Tesis Doctoral el trabajo desarrollado se ha centrado en la elaboración de bio-resinas fenólicas para la protección de la madera contra el fuego. Dichas resinas se han sintetizado como una alternativa a los productos existentes en el mercado actual (naturaleza no renovable), que pueda proporcionar un rendimiento y propiedades similares. Además, el proceso de síntesis se ha basado en el concepto de economía circular con vistas a minimizar el impacto ambiental del producto obtenido. De este modo, se han empleado dos compuestos fenólicos provenientes de la naturaleza como son la lignina y los taninos como materias primas de las resinas. Con el objetivo de mejorar las propiedades térmicas y la resistencia al fuego, se ha utilizado dos tipos de nanopartículas de naturaleza inorgánica como nanoarcillas y nanosilicatos. Una vez se sintetizaron las resinas se han aplicado como revestimiento en la madera con el fin de conseguir ralentizar y extinguir las llamas derivadas del ataque del fueg

Fireproofing biosourced-phenolic resins for the protection of wood and wood composites.

257 p.En la presente Tesis Doctoral el trabajo desarrollado se ha centrado en la elaboración de bio-resinas fenólicas para la protección de la madera contra el fuego. Dichas resinas se han sintetizado como una alternativa a los productos existentes en el mercado actual (naturaleza no renovable), que pueda proporcionar un rendimiento y propiedades similares. Además, el proceso de síntesis se ha basado en el concepto de economía circular con vistas a minimizar el impacto ambiental del producto obtenido. De este modo, se han empleado dos compuestos fenólicos provenientes de la naturaleza como son la lignina y los taninos como materias primas de las resinas. Con el objetivo de mejorar las propiedades térmicas y la resistencia al fuego, se ha utilizado dos tipos de nanopartículas de naturaleza inorgánica como nanoarcillas y nanosilicatos. Una vez se sintetizaron las resinas se han aplicado como revestimiento en la madera con el fin de conseguir ralentizar y extinguir las llamas derivadas del ataque del fueg

Exploring the experience of stigma in severe mental illness : a Portuguese contribution to the validation of a psychometric instrument

RESUMO: Fizemos uma análise da evolução do conceito de estigma, das suas correlações e das suas consequências e analisámos os instrumentos psicométricos utilizados para estudar experiências pessoais de estigma. Revimos os principais estudos de investigação sobre estigma em Portugal. Revimos, igualmente, os estudos relevantes utilizando o “Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire” (CESQ) e as propriedades psicométricas já documentadas. O nosso estudo teve como objetivos: explorar as experiências de estigma numa amostra portuguesa de pessoas com perturbação mental grave e contribuir para a documentação das propriedades psicométricas do “Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire” e para a validação da sua versão portuguesa. Fizemos um estudo transversal, descritivo e analítico, recolhemos dados sociodemográficos e clínicos e medimos as experiências de estigma e o funcionamento global. A frequência das respostas da secção de estigma foi semelhante à dos restantes estudos utilizando a CESQ. A frequência das respostas na secção de discriminação foi ligeiramente inferior à reportada noutros estudos. Verificámos a existência de uma associação entre a pontuação da subescala de discriminação, o sexo masculino e o facto de se viver na comunidade. A pontuação da subescala de discriminação está também correlacionada de forma positiva com o funcionamento global. Os alfas de Cronbach para a CESQ e para as suas subescalas foram considerados bons. Os coeficientes de correlação intraclasse foram igualmente considerados igualmente bons. Utilizando técnicas de análise fatorial, verificámos que a maior parte dos itens da CESQ se enquadrava em dois fatores, correspondendo sensivelmente às subescalas definidas previamente. Concluímos que o presente estudo explorou com sucesso a questão do estigma em Portugal, contribuindo em simultâneo para a validação do “Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire.--------------ABSTRACT: We reviewed the evolution of concept of stigma, its correlates and consequences, and analysed psychometric instruments that were used to study personal experiences of stigma. We provided an insight over research of stigma in Portugal. We reviewed relevant studies that use Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire and documented psychometric properties of this instrument. Our study aimed both to explore experiences of stigma in a Portuguese sample of people with severe mental illness and to contribute to the assessment of the psychometric properties of Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire and to the validation of its Portuguese translation. We performed a cross sectional descriptive and analytic study, collected socio-demographic data and measured experiences of stigma and global functioning. Frequency of responses regarding stigma section of CESQ matched previous studies using that scale. Frequency of responses in discrimination section was slightly lower than previously reported studies. We found an association between the discrimination score of CESQ and both male gender and living in the community. The discrimination score also positively correlated with global functioning. Cronbach alphas for CESQ and its subscales were good. Intraclass correlation coefficients for CESQ and stigma subscale were also good. Using factor analysis we found most of the items in CESQ would fit 2 factors, grossly corresponding to the previously defined subscales. We conclude that this study successfully explored stigma in Portugal, contributing in simultaneous to the validation of Consumer Experiences Questionnaire

Cartas de Jorge Guillén a Leonardo Sciascia.

Sin resume

Effects of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone and bovine somatotrophin on hormone profiles and ovarian function in postpartum beef cows

Reproductive efficiency in beef cows is limited by the length of the postpartum anoestrous period which in turn is controlled by pituitary gonadotrophins and gonadal steroids and/or proteins. The first aim of this study was to elucidate the role of LH pulses in the development of ovarian activity in postpartum beef cows, specifically to determine whether or not the normal, relatively slow process of follicular development could be accelarated in cows in low body condition (BC) with pulses of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH). The second aim was to determine the role of the metabolic hormones and in particular growth hormone (GH) in ovarian follicle development and function.Treatment of cows in low BC with pulsed intravenous infusions of 2 pg every 2 hours from 5 to 7 weeks postpartum induced ovulation in 10 out of 12 cows. Saline infusions resulted in ovulation in only 1 of 12 cows in high BC and 1 of 11 cows in low BC groups. Plasma concentrations of GH, IGF-I and insulin were not affected by GnRH treatment, but cows in high BC had higher IGF-I and lower GH levels than cows in low BC. Gonadotrophin profiles, luteinizing hormone (LH) pulse frequency and LH pulse amplitude were not affected by either GnRH treatment or BC. Numbers of small (3-7.9 mm diameter) and large (> 8 mm diameter) follicles present at week 7 postpartum and numbers of LH receptors in theca and granulosa tissue were not affected by GnRH treatment or BC. The number of granulosa cells present in large follicles at week 7 postpartum was also unaffected. Intrafollicular concentrations of oestradiol, testosterone and IGF-I in large follicles at 7 weeks postpartum were not significantly affected by GnRH treatment or BC but there was a marked trend towards higher concentrations of oestradiol in cows in high BC compared with cows in low BC.In Experiment 2, depot injections of 320 mg bovine somatotrophin (bST) (each designed to release 23 mg/day for 14 days) administered at weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8 postpartum induced ovulation in 4 out of 17 cows while 0 out of 15 ovulated in the control group (p= 0.10). While peripheral concentrations of GH and IGF-I were significantly increased throughout the postpartum period, there was no effect of bST on circulating concentrations of insulin, glucose, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), LH, LH pulse frequency or LH pulse amplitude. Numbers of small (3-7.9 mm diameter) and large (≥8 mm diameter) follicles and numbers of LH and FSH receptors in both theca and granulosa tissue at week 9 and numbers of granulosa cells present in large follicles was also unaffected. bST treatment significantly enhanced intrafollicular concentrations of oestradiol and IGF-I in large follicles (≥8 mm diameter) at 9 weeks postpartum but no difference in testosterone concentrations was observed.It is concluded that infusion of exogenous GnRH pulses enhanced the process of follicular development in cows in low BC. While it was not possible to identify causal relationships between BC, plasma GH and IGF-I concentrations and intrafollicular oestradiol concentrations, bST treatment was found to increase oestradiol production in large follicles. This effect was not mediated through changes in gonadotrophin profiles or receptors, indicating that GH has a more direct role in the control of ovarian function. It is suggested that this effect may be mediated through changes in intrafollicular IGF-I concentrations

Scalable video transcoding for mobile communications

Mobile multimedia contents have been introduced in the market and their demand is growing every day due to the increasing number of mobile devices and the possibility to watch them at any moment in any place. These multimedia contents are delivered over different networks that are visualized in mobile terminals with heterogeneous characteristics. To ensure a continuous high quality it is desirable that this multimedia content can be adapted on-the-fly to the transmission constraints and the characteristics of the mobile devices. In general, video contents are compressed to save storage capacity and to reduce the bandwidth required for its transmission. Therefore, if these compressed video streams were compressed using scalable video coding schemes, they would be able to adapt to those heterogeneous networks and a wide range of terminals. Since the majority of the multimedia contents are compressed using H.264/AVC, they cannot benefit from that scalability. This paper proposes a technique to convert an H.264/AVC bitstream without scalability to a scalable bitstream with temporal scalability as part of a scalable video transcoder for mobile communications. The results show that when our technique is applied, the complexity is reduced by 98 % while maintaining coding efficiency