Variation of the ultraviolet extinction law across the Taurus-Auriga star forming complex. A GALEX based study

The Taurus-Auriga molecular complex (TMC) is the main laboratory for the study of low mass star formation. The density and properties of interstellar dust are expected to vary across the TMC. These variations trace important processes such as dust nucleation or the magnetic field coupling with the cloud. In this article, we show how the combination of near ultraviolet (NUV) and infrared (IR) photometry can be used to derive the strength of the 2175 \AA\ bump and thus any enhancement in the abundance of small dust grains and PAHs in the dust grains size distribution. This technique is applied to the envelope of the TMC, mapped by the GALEX All Sky Survey (AIS). UV and IR photometric data have been retrieved from the GALEX-AIS and the 2MASS catalogues. NUV and K-band star counts have been used to identify the areas in the cloud envelope where the 2175 \AA\ bump is weaker than in the diffuse ISM namely, the low column density extensions of L1495, L1498 and L1524 in Taurus, L1545, L1548, L1519, L1513 in Auriga and L1482-83 in the California region. This finding agrees with previous results on dust evolution derived from Spitzer data and suggests that dust grains begin to decouple from the environmental galactic magnetic field already in the envelope.Comment: Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

A selective spatial discrimination deficit following fornicotomy in the rat.

The fornix is the major afferent and efferent pathway of the hippocampus. However, it is not the only pathway. The hippocampus receives afferents from (11, IZ, Z9) and sends efferents to (10) the entorhinal cortex. Thus the hippocampus has two anatomically distinct afferent and efferent systems. There is accumulating evidence that these two anatomical systems subserve different functions. Animals sustaining lesions in the entorhinal cortex are deficient in the acquisition of a passive avoidance response (5, 36) while fornix lesioned animals are not deficient (3, 6, 35, 36). Animals with lesions of the fornix acquire a two-way active avoidance response faster than control animals (19, 35, 36) while animals with entorhinal lesions do not differ from control animals (36). Finally, animals are deficient at the acquisition of one-way active avoidance following fornix lesions (3, 19) but not following entorhinal lesions (34). Thus these two systems appear to be not only anatomically distinct but also functionally distinct

Perceptions on the effectiveness of public policies supporting entrepreneurship and internationalization

Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão e Internacionalização de EmpresasIt is widely recognized that entrepreneurs and policy makers play a critical role in both economic growth and the growth and development of firms. The ability to innovate is recognized at the international level as a key competitive factor in the business world and public policies are a key instrument that often assist companies to grow to international levels. Entrepreneurship emerges as one of the main mechanisms of social and economic growth and as a result, gains a progressive interest both in the academia to investigate this phenomenon and in several public and private initiatives that promote business activity. The literature shows that entrepreneurship is an important growth factor and therefore it is extremely important to understand if such support has been effective in stimulating entrepreneurial activity. In order to accomplish the objective of the work, a research was developed based on the review of scientific publications related to entrepreneurship- and internationalisation-related public policies, highlighting the contemporaneous approaches on governmental policies and regulations and international business, corroborated by an empirical support that allowed to identify the relations between the public politics supporting entrepreneurship and internationalization of firms. This dissertation includes five key dimensions: innovation, entrepreneurship; public policy; economic growth and internationalisation. The approach of the quantitative study consisted of using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database that is a research program focused on the relationship between entrepreneurship and the context allowing economic growth and, based on the identification of variables related to public policies to analyse the extent to which they influence the experts’ perceptions on the efficiency of governmental policies to supporting new and growing business. Our data was subjected to statistical, univariate and multivariate analysis that allowed producing the results presented in the two studies. Our results show that the effectiveness of public policies is associated with the information and infrastructures available; adequacy of programs; recognition of the importance of public bodies for entrepreneurship policies; the competence and effectiveness of policy-related institutions; the priority of such policies in the context of national policies; the existence of support for young entrepreneurs; the bureaucratic system and the regulatory framework; and the concentration of policies in a single institution. Our results also suggest that governments gain a reputation and that according to this reputation; individuals evaluate different types of policies in a similar way. In addition, there is evidence that, in some countries, experts evaluate their policies in a more homogeneous way, while others have important divergences when experts evaluate the efficiency of their governments in implementing policies. It has also shown that investing in a reputation can be the result of the conditions that governments create in their societies and economies, in particular as regards a strong institutional and legal framework, the education system and the development of a coherent national culture, conditions of individuals' lives and levels of investment in technology and politics.É geralmente reconhecido que os empresários e os decisores políticos desempenham um papel fundamental tanto no crescimento económico como no crescimento e desenvolvimento de muitas empresas. A capacidade de inovar é reconhecida, a nível internacional, como um fator competitivo chave no mundo dos negócios e as políticas públicas são um instrumento fundamental que muitas vezes ajudam as empresas a crescer para níveis internacionais. O empreendedorismo surge como um dos principais mecanismos de crescimento económico e, consequentemente, social e, como resultado, adquire um interesse progressivo quer no meio académico para investigar esse fenómeno quer em diversas iniciativas públicas e privadas que promovem a atividade empresarial. A literatura mostra que o empreendedorismo é um fator de crescimento e, portanto, é extremamente importante entender se esse apoio tem sido eficaz para estimular a atividade empresarial. Para alcançar o objetivo do trabalho, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa baseada na revisão de publicações científicas relacionadas com políticas públicas de apoio ao empreendedorismo e à internacionalização de empresas, destacando as abordagens de referência atuais sobre o tema das políticas e regulamentos governamentais e negócios internacionais, corroborado por um apoio empírico que permitiu identificar as relações entre as políticas públicas que apoiam o empreendedorismo e a internacionalização das empresas. Esta dissertação inclui cinco dimensões-chave: inovação, empreendedorismo; políticas públicas; crescimento econômico e internacionalização. A abordagem deste estudo, de natureza quantitativa, consistiu no uso da base de dados do Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) – base de dados focada na relação entre o empreendedorismo e o contexto propício ao crescimento económico, com base na identificação de variáveis relacionadas com políticas públicas para analisar em que medida estas influenciam a perceção dos especialistas sobre a eficiência das políticas governamentais em apoiar negócios novos e em crescimento. Os dados recolhidos foram sujeitos a análises estatísticas, univariadas e multivariadas, que permitiram obter os resultados apresentados nos dois estudos. Os resultados mostram que a eficácia das políticas públicas está associada às informações e infraestruturas disponíveis; adequação de programas; reconhecimento da importância dos órgãos públicos para as políticas de empreendedorismo; á competência e à eficácia das instituições relacionadas com políticas; à prioridade de tais políticas no contexto das políticas nacionais; à existência de apoio a jovens empreendedores; ao sistema burocrático e ao quadro regulatório; e à concentração de políticas numa única instituição. Os resultados sugerem, também, que os governos ganham reputação e que, de acordo com essa reputação, os indivíduos avaliam diferentes tipos de políticas de forma semelhante. Adicionalmente, há evidência de que em alguns países, os peritos avaliam as suas políticas de forma mais homogénea, enquanto outros têm divergências importantes quando os especialistas avaliam a eficiência dos seus governos na implementação de políticas. Também mostrou que investir numa reputação pode ser o resultado das condições que os governos criam nas suas sociedades e economias, em particular no que diz respeito a um forte quadro institucional e jurídico, ao sistema educacional e ao desenvolvimento de uma cultura nacional coerente, condições de vidas de indivíduos e níveis de investimento em tecnologia e política

Halocinas e lantipéptidos de Haloferax mediterranei

The study of archaea's secondary metabolites, including archaeocins, is still limited. These antimicrobial peptides are poorly studied, especially when compared to the numerous studies on antibiotic production by other microorganisms. Only two types of archaeocins are known: i) halocins, produced by halophilic archaea and ii) sulfolobicins, produced by the extremely thermophilic Sulfolobus spp. There are also promising reports of archaeocins endowed with anticancer properties. Halophilic archaea have recently been found to be present in the human gut, thus showing that they are not confined to high salt environments alone. Halocins were firstly discovered in the 80’s and most of their characterization was solely based on supernatant-based assays. In fact, only a few halocins were successfully purified and sequenced, and even fewer have a proposed biosynthetic mechanism. Also, their mode of action, ecological role and biotechnological potential are still little explored. H. mediterranei ATCC 33500 has antiarchaeal activity. Studies determined that these strains produced the HalH4 halocin. However, over the last years, it was shown that strains lacking the halH4 gene retained their antiarchaeal ability. So, the molecule(s) responsible for its microbial activity is still unknown. This strain encodes in its genome three class II lanthipeptide synthetases (MedM1, MedM2 and MedM3) and some putative lanthipeptide precursor peptides. A high percentage of the lanthipeptides produced by Bacteria has antimicrobial activity. This study aimed to summarize the information available so far on haloarcheocins (the halocins produced by Archaea) at two levels: bibliographical and by analysing the gene clusters known so far using comparative genomics. For the haloarcheocin, HalC8, it was possible to determine the putative biosynthetic clusters involved in the production of HalC8 and HalC8-related peptides by Haloarchaea, which includes a protein of unknown function (HalU), two membrane-located peptides (HalP1 and HalP2) and a transcriptional regulator (HalR). Other aim of this study was to determine if the lanthipeptides of H. mediterranei ATCC 33500 were haloarcheocins contributing to its antimicrobial profile. To achieve this, knock-out mutants without medM1, medM2 and medM3 genes were obtained by employing the pop-in and pop-out strategy. It was found that approximately 20 days and 6 months are required to obtain a single or a triple knock-out strains, respectively. The bioactivity of the triple knock-out (ΔM1M2M3) was tested against other halobacteria. However, no differences were observed in the halos produced by the ΔM1M2M3 strain and its parental strain (WR510). These results prove that the putative class II lanthipeptides of H. mediterranei are not involved in its antiarchaeal profile. Thus, their function in haloarchaea is still to be unravelled.O estudo dos metabolitos secundários produzidos por Arquea, incluindo as arqueocinas, péptidos com atividade antimicrobiana, é ainda muito limitado, especialmente quando comparado com os estudos existentes relacionados com a produção destes compostos por outros microrganismos. Apenas dois tipos de arqueocinas são conhecidos: i) halocinas produzidas por arqueas halofílicas e ii) sulfolobicinas, produzidas por um extremófilo do género Sulfolobus spp.. Também foram reportadas, arqueocinas promissoras com possíveis caraterísticas anticancerígenas. Arquea halofílicas foram recentemente encontradas no intestino humano, mostrando que a sua presença não se restringe apenas a ambientes hipersalinos. A descoberta das halocinas é recente e grande parte da sua caracterização baseia-se em ensaios feitos com sobrenadantes de culturas. Apenas algumas halocinas foram purificadas e sequenciadas com sucesso, e só para um grupo mais restrito é que existe uma proposta de modelo biossintético. H. mediterranei ATCC 33500 tem atividade anti-arquea. Estudos determinaram que esta estirpe produz a halocina HalH4. No entanto, ao longo dos últimos anos, foi demonstrado que mesmo na ausência do gene halH4 esta estirpe manteve a sua capacidade anti-arquea. Assim, a(s) molécula(s) responsável(eis) por tal atividade ainda é desconhecida. H. mediterranei codifica no seu genoma três enzimas modificadoras de lantipéptidos de classe II (MedM1, MedM2 e MedM3) e alguns péptidos precursores. Uma elevada percentagem dos lantipéptidos produzidos por bactérias tem actividade antimicrobiana. Este estudo teve como objectivo resumir a informação disponível até agora sobre as haloarqueocinas (as halocinas produzidas por Archaea) a dois níveis: bibliográfico e através da análise dos clusters biossintéticos conhecidos até agora utilizando genómica comparativa. Para a haloarqueocina HalC8, foi possível determinar os possíveis genes biossintéticos envolvidos na sua produção. Estes genes codificam uma proteína de função desconhecida (halU), dois péptidos localizados na membrana (halP1 e halP2) e um regulador transcricional (halR). Outro objetivo foi determinar se os lantipéptidos de H. mediterranei ATCC 33500 eram haloarqueocinas. Para tal, mutantes knock-out sem os genes medM1, medM2 e medM3 foram obtidos utilizando a estratégia pop-in e pop-out. Verificou-se que são necessários aproximadamente 20 dias e 6 meses para obter uma única ou tripla estirpe knock-out, respetivamente. A bioatividade do knock-out triplo (ΔM1M2M3) foi testada contra outras haloarqueas. No entanto, não foram observadas diferenças nos halos produzidos pela estirpe ΔM1M2M3 e pela sua estirpe parental (WR510). Estes resultados provam que os supostos lantipéptidos de classe II de H. mediterranei não estão envolvidos no seu perfil anti-arquea. Assim, a sua função em haloarquea continua desconhecida.Mestrado em Microbiologi

HySEA model verification for Tohoku 2011 Tsunami. Application for mitigation tsunami assessment

In many aspects Tohoku-Oki 2011 mega tsunami has changed our perception of tsunami risk. The tsunami-HySEA model is used to numerically simulate this event and observed data will we used to verify the model results. Three nested meshes of enhanced resolution (4 arc-min, 32 arc-sec and 2 arc-sec) will be used by the numerical model. The propagation mesh covers all Pacific Ocean with more of 7 million cells. An intermediate mesh with 5 millions cells contains the Japanese archipelago and, finally, two finer meshes, with nearly 8 and 6 millions cells, cover Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures at Tohoku region, the most devastated areas hit by the tsunami. The presentation will focus on the impact of the tsunami wave in these two areas and comparisons with observed data will be performed. DART buoys time series, inundation area and observed runup is used to assess model performance. The arrival time of the leading flooding wave at the vicinity of the Senday airport, as recorded by video cameras, is also used as verification data for the model. After this tsunami, control forests as well as breakwaters has been discussed as suitable mitigation infrastructures. As particular case, we will analyse the evolution of the tsunami in the area around the Sendai airport (Miyagi Prefecture) and its impact on the airport. A second simulation has been performed, assuming the existence of a coastal barrier protecting the area. The role of this barrier in modifying tsunami wave evolution and mitigating flooding effects on the airport area are discussed. The protection effect of the breakwaters near Kamaishi (Iwate Prefecture) is also assessed. The numerical model shows how these structures, although did not provide a full protection to tsunami waves, they helped to largely mitigate its effects in the area.Acknowledgements. This research has been partially supported by the Junta de Andalucía research project TESELA (P11-RNM7069), the Spanish Government Research project DAIFLUID (MTM2012-38383-C02-01) and Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. The multi-GPU computations were performed at the Laboratory of Numerical Methods (University of Malaga)