Environmental technology education in Portugal : analysis and perspectives

The scope of the present communication is the current status of environmental engineering in Portugal. The different approaches concerning the environmental engineering courses available at undergraduate levels as well as some post-graduation studies are described. Furthermore, an analysis based on strengths, weakness, opportunities and trend issues regarding the environmental engineering profession in Portugal is presented

Tratamento anaeróbio de efluentes líquidos industriais: alguns pontos focais

Esta comunicação aborda os fundamentos bioquímicos e microbiológicos que condicionam a concepção de reactores anaeróbios para tratamento de efluentes líquidos industriais e, complementarmente, apresenta vários aspectos referentes ao projecto de sistemas anaeróbios indicando alguns factores da opção aerobiose/anaerobiose, principais tipos de reactores e uma menção a aplicações industriais conhecidas

Mass transfer coefficients within anaerobic biofilms effects of external liquid velocity

This work concerns mass transport in anaerobic biofilms, formed under upflow liquid velocities similar to the prevailing conditions in anaerobic reactors used for wastewater treatment. During biofilm formation under liquid velocities of 1.5 and 13.2 m/h, internal mass transfer coefficients were routinely measured. Mass transfer coefficients attained pseudo steady-state values between 2-4 x 10ˉ³ m/h, no dependence being observed between bulk flow and internal mass transport rates. However, a transient variation in the liquid velocity from 1.5 up to 13.2 m/h, imposed after the biofilm had reached the steady-state, increased the internal mass transport by 20% on average. This result suggests that periodic changes in the bulk fluid velocity can be used as a tool to increase the transport of soluble substrates inside already formed biofilms, although the effect seems to be limited.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PRAXIS XXI (2/2.1/BIO/37/94). European Commission

Towards the bridging of molecular genetics data across Xenopus species

Indexación: ScopusBackground: The clawed African frog Xenopus laevis has been one of the main vertebrate models for studies in developmental biology. However, for genetic studies, Xenopus tropicalis has been the experimental model of choice because it shorter life cycle and due to a more tractable genome that does not result from genome duplication as in the case of X. laevis. Today, although still organized in a large number of scaffolds, nearly 85 % of X. tropicalis and 89 % of X. laevis genomes have been sequenced. There is expectation for a comparative physical map that can be used as a Rosetta Stone between X. laevis genetic studies and X. tropicalis genomic research. Results: In this work, we have mapped using coarse-grained alignment the 18 chromosomes of X. laevis, release 9.1, on the 10 reference scaffolds representing the haploid genome of X. tropicalis, release 9.0. After validating the mapping with theoretical data, and estimating reference averages of genome sequence identity, 37 to 44 % between the two species, we have carried out a synteny analysis for 2,112 orthologous genes. We found that 99.6 % of genes are in the same organization. Conclusions: Taken together, our results make possible to establish the correspondence between 62 and 65.5 % of both genomes, percentage of identity, synteny and automatic annotation of transcripts of both species, providing a new and more comprehensive tool for comparative analysis of these two species, by allowing to bridge molecular genetics data among them.https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-016-2440-

How Hertzian solitary waves interact with boundaries in a 1-D granular medium

We perform measurements, numerical simulations, and quantitative comparisons with available theory on solitary wave propagation in a linear chain of beads without static preconstrain. By designing a nonintrusive force sensor to measure the impulse as it propagates along the chain, we study the solitary wave reflection at a wall. We show that the main features of solitary wave reflection depend on wall mechanical properties. Since previous studies on solitary waves have been performed at walls without these considerations, our experiment provides a more reliable tool to characterize solitary wave propagation. We find, for the first time, precise quantitative agreements.Comment: Proof corrections, ReVTeX, 11 pages, 3 eps (Focus and related papers on http://www.supmeca.fr/perso/jobs/