Informal learning at school. Science fairs in basic schools

The communication herein reports on the second edition of the annual Science Fair at Externato Maria Auxiliadora, in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. It was intended to give continuity to the research project on science fairs of the previous year improving, based on past conclusions, some aspects: the age group of the participants was enlarged to ages 10 to 15, and there was a major effort to engage parents and the whole school community in the process and in the development/construction of the projects to the science fair. Besides that, to the teachers involved in the project, was assigned an increased set of weekly hours to give support to the works realization. The participation of the students was not obligatory and it had no weight in the student’s formal evaluation. The results suggested that the whole school benefited from the enlargement of the age group of the participants in the event, and that the projects made by the younger students were particularly interesting. We concluded again that the Science Fair contributed effectively to an increase of the student’s interest on scientific subjects

Discards of the beach seine fishery in the central coast of Portugal.

The beach seine fishery is performed regularly along the Portuguese coast in shallow water sandy areas. The catches and discards of this fishery were studied from March until November 1999, on the coast south of Lisbon. Fishing operations were monitored weekly and estimates of the weight of catches and discards per species were determined for each haul. A total of 60 fish species was identified in the catches but Scomber japonicus, Trachurus trachurus and Diplodus bellottii represented approximately 90% of the catches. For most of the species the percentage of discarded fishwas extremely high (ca. 100%). The species for which the estimates of discards were lower than 25% of the catches were Sardina pilchardus, Merluccius merluccius,\ud Dicentrarchus labrax, Dicentrarchus punctatus, T. trachurus, several Sparidae species, Spicara maena, S. japonicus, Solea senegalensis, and Solea solea.Most of the species exhibited a marked seasonal abundance pattern that varied according to the species. Discards also varied considerably within and between seasons. The relationships between discards and total catch, species catch, mean length of fish and percentage of fish above minimum legal size were different according to species. For S. japonicus and S. pilchardus discards were negatively correlated with their catch, mean length of fish and percentage of fish\ud above minimum legal size, while for T. trachurus significant correlations were obtained only for the last two variables

Estudos multitemporais com dados de detecção remota sobre a fronteira da Guiné-Bissau

Este estudo incidiu sobre duas regiões muito importantes no que respeita à definição da fronteira na Guiné-Bissau, Cabo Roxo e Ponta Cajete e tem como objectivo desenvolver estudos multitemporais para definir a posição exacta dos marcos de fronteira, com base em informação geográfica e dados de detecção remota antiga e recente. Foram utilizadas imagens do satélite de alta resolução espacial (WorldView2) de 2013 e 2014. Para melhorar a resolução espacial das imagens e consequentemente beneficiar a interpretação do terreno, foram testados vários algoritmos de fusão das bandas multiespectrais com a pancromática. O resultado da análise multitemporal permitiu detectar a localização exacta do marco de fronteiro nº 184 e algumas mudanças nas formas de relevo litorais nas duas regiões em estudo

Maternal smoking: a life course blood pressure determinant?

Introduction: Exposure to maternal smoking early in life may affect blood pressure (BP) control mechanisms. We examined the association between maternal smoking (before conception, during pregnancy, and 4 years after delivery) and BP in preschool children. Methods: We evaluated 4295 of Generation XXI children, recruited at birth in 2005–2006 and reevaluated at the age of 4. At birth, information was collected by face-to-face interview and additionally abstracted from clinical records. At 4-year follow-up, interviews were performed and children’s BP measured. Linear regression models were fitted to estimate the association between maternal smoking and children’s BP. Results: Children of smoking mothers presented significantly higher BP levels. After adjustment for maternal education, gestational hypertensive disorders, and child’s body mass index, children exposed during pregnancy to maternal smoking presented a higher systolic BP (SBP) z-score (β = 0.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04 to 0.14). In crude models, maternal smoking was associated with higher SBP z-score at every assessed period. However, after adjustment, an attenuation of the association estimates occurred (β = 0.08, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.13 before conception; β = 0.07, 95%CI 0.02 to 0.12; β = 0.04, 95%CI −0.02 to 0.10; and β = 0.06, 95%CI 0.00 to 0.13 for the first, second, and third pregnancy trimesters, respectively; and β = 0.07, 95%CI 0.02 to 0.12 for current maternal smoking). No significant association was observed for diastolic BP z-score levels. Conclusion: Maternal smoking before, during, and after pregnancy was independently associated with systolic BP z-score in preschool children. This study provides additional evidence to the public health relevance of maternal smoking cessation programs if early cardiovascular health of children is envisaged. Implications: Using observational longitudinal data from the birth cohort Generation XXI, this study showed that exposure to maternal smoking—before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and 4 years after delivery—was associated with a systolic BP-raising effect in children at the age of 4. The findings of this study add an important insight into the need to support maternal smoke-free environments in order to provide long-term cardiovascular benefit, starting as early as possible in life.Generation XXI has been funded by the Operational Health Programme XXI Health, Community support framework III (co-funded by Feder), Administração Regional de Saúde do Norte, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BSAB/113778/2015; PD/BD/105824/2014; PD/BD/105827/2014; F-COMP-01-0124-FEDER-011008; FCT—PTDC/SAU-ESA/105033/2008). Also, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology funds the Epidemiology Research Unit of the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (UID/DTP/04750/2013). This article is a result of the project DOCnet (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000003), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Inter-annual variations of macrobenthic communities over three decades in a land-locked coastal lagoon (Santo André, SW Portugal)

Santo Andre is an enclosed brackish water coastal lagoon with temporary connections to the sea by a man-made channel. The exchange and mixture of saltwater and freshwater is irregular and the lagoon may show daily and seasonal fluctuations, but also long-term variation. Different benthic communities may be present along the annual cycle according to the magnitude of episodic freshwater and sea water inputs. In the last 30 years the communication with the sea has followed different regimes from year to year and, as a consequence, macrobenthic communities, assessed several times during the period before the opening to the sea, shifted from freshwater to marine affinities. Major differences were found between 1979 and 2010, with a preponderance of species with marine affinity, and the 1980s in which the organisms with freshwater affinity prevailed. Benthic communities are frequently used to assess aquatic environmental condition. Metrics used in the indices currently under discussion to assess ecological status of aquatic ecosystems within the scope of European Water Framework Directive were applied to Santo Andre data and the applicability of these metrics to assess quality in this coastal land-locked lagoon was discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.National Institute of Scientific Research; ICNB (Nature, Conservation and Biodiversity Institute); EEC (European Economic Community); Cohesion Fund under Priority 111 of the Operational Programme for Territorial Development (POVT); FCT (Science and Technology Foundation) [PTDC/AAC-AMB/104639/2008, PEst-OE/MAR/UI0199/2011]; FCT [SFRH/BPD/29579/2006