MicroRNAs and target genes involved in E. globulus xylogenesis: in silico prediction and experimental validation

Mestrado em Biologia Funcional - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaPortugal is one of the largest producers of pulp and paper derived from Eucalyptus globulus, which makes this a valuable species for the country. Wood is a complex and variable material, and its posttranscriptional regulation knowledge is only beginning. MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small size (21-24nt), endogenous non-coding RNAs, involved in post-transcriptional regulation. MiRBase v20 database encloses thousands of entries, however none from Eucalyptus. In this study we aim to validate E. globulus miRNAs candidates; to predict in silico and validate experimentally the miRNAs targets; and analyze the gene expression of validated targets. Four miRCa-02, miRCa-04, miRCa-08 and miRCa-09 candidates were validated by Northern blot and there in silico prediction revealed 42 target genes. Fourteen predicted target genes were tested through the RLM 5’-RACE methodology, but only three predicted targets were validated (Eucgr.E01509, Eucgr.C01382 and Eucgr.J02113 predicted target genes for miR171, miRCa-04 and miRCa-08, respectively). Expression of these three target genes analyzed by RT-qPCR suggests that the distinct expression levels found may be related with to wood formation in Eucalyptus globulus. For the first time, four Eucalytus miRNAs and their target genes were disclosed and validated by bioinformatic and molecular tools

Yellow Fever immunization: an integrative review on vacinal security / Imunização contra Febre Amarela: uma revisão integrativa sobre segurança vacinal

Introduction: Yellow fever (YF) is an acute, febrile, non-contagious infectious disease caused by arboviruses. Clinically, YF ranges from asymptomatic to malignant forms. The disease is transmitted by the bite of the female hematophagous arthropods of the Culicidae family. The main form of prevention of YF is vaccination. In this bias, some conditions determine the highest incidence of adverse effects of vaccination, such as: primary vaccination in people over 60 years of age, vaccination of patients with immunosuppressive diseases or hematological diseases. Adverse effects are also related to the techniques used, material used and patient guidance. Materials and methods: The databases used were Lilacs and Scielo to review the national and indexed literature about safety of yellow fever vaccine. The descriptors were: “immunization” and “yellow fever”. Original articles in Portuguese or English published from January 2010 to April 2020 were included. Articles that do not address vaccine safety and those that did not contain a Brazilian author were excluded. Editorials and reviews were excluded. Discussion: 71 articles were found. Of these, 66 were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Thus, five studies were included. They claim, based on epidemiology, that most adverse reactions are due to the immunogenicity of the pertussis component – especially in children under 12 months of age – and methodological administration errors – such as primary vaccination in those over 60 years of age. The most common effects are fever, rash and hypersensitivity. Adverse reactions are rare, and serious ones, such as viceroscopic disease, are a minority. This scenario is caused by high efficiency in the quality verification of the National Immunization Program in Brazil. However, the efficiency of vaccination could increase through legislative mechanisms that regulate the forms of presentation on the packaging, avoiding waste and expiration. Conclusion: Little is national production on the theme. References indicate high safety and quality in the surveillance and legislation of immunization - despite, greater training of professionals involved in prescription and administration could increase the cost benefit of vaccination. Thus, the discussion and clarification about vaccine safety is one of the foundations for opposing the growing of against-vaccination trend. Financial Support: This scientific work does not have financial support from institutions or people

Engineering education addressing professional challenges

Engineering profession is very demanding because of the different competences young graduates need to master. The exponential growth in technology, even though very beneficial to all, tends to worsen their needs of expertise, having to endlessly update themselves. Engineering education has been addressing these issues, hoping to contribute to better teaching practices more aligned with engineering professional world. Students must develop the necessary competences from the beginning of their education and engage into actively learning the subjects. Three aspects of this problematic are presented in this special session: educational experiences, students’ learning and professional challengesThe chairs of this track session would like to thank the members of its Scientific Committee and all contributing authors for their efforts in enhancing the discussion upon this thematic. The authors would also like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Foundation for Science and Technology Project, FCT UID/EQU/04730/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Engineering Education and Technological / Professional Learning

Engineering business is a demanding and dynamic market, which universities must understand and accompany. Being aware of the market needs is a step forward in training successful professionals. The presented works contributed to enhance the present discussion addressing different topics like emergent technologies, professional, scientific and social competences or projects that allow students to perform the first contacts with the real world. The view of students, teachers and company supervisors are considered.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tomar, Convento de Cristo e a água: interpretação morfológica e suas inter-relações com as estruturas hidráulicas (séc. XVI-XIX)

A cidade é formada pela sobreposição de camadas históricas e reúne em um só espaço diferentes tempos simultaneamente. A forma urbana que observamos hoje é o resultado de informações passadas que se mantêm no presente e permanecerão no futuro. Assim, é necessária a compreensão dos diferentes períodos e elementos de formação da cidade e como estes se expressam no espaço urbano. Em Tomar, foi observado um triângulo de inter-relações na formação da cidade, compreendendo o Convento de Cristo, Rio Nabão e as estruturas hidráulicas desenvolvidas na região. A Ordem de Cristo, enquanto detentora do direito de exploração das águas do Rio Nabão, ditou as regras de desenvolvimento de Tomar. Estas relações de poder na gestão do território criaram uma ocupação singular no panorama nacional português, em que a água é entendida como fundamental neste processo. Assim, esta dissertação buscou confirmar que a evolução urbana de Tomar se deu a partir da relação com a água e as estruturas hidráulicas desenvolvidas ao longo do Rio Nabão, afirmando o papel da Ordem de Cristo na consolidação do traçado geométrico de Tomar, compreendendo as inter-relações presentes nesta dinâmica. Para tanto, o estudo foi apoiado pela elaboração de mapas representativos da evolução urbana da cidade, e estudos de caso específicos da realidade de Tomar como ferramentas de análise. Diversos fatores contribuíram para a organização espacial de matriz geométrica da cidade e a representação de seus elementos e períodos de formação permitiu a clara visualização da importância do Rio Nabão, das estruturas hidráulicas e a Ordem de Cristo na evolução urbana de Tomar.The city is formed by the overlapping of historical layers and brings together different times in one space simultaneously. The urban form we observe today is the result of past developments that remain in the present and will remain in the future. Thus, it is necessary to understand the different periods and elements of city formation and how they are expressed in the urban space. In Tomar, a triangle of interrelations is observed in the formation of the city, comprising the Convent of Christ, the Nabão River and the hydraulic structures constructed in the locality. The Order of Christ, as the holder of the right to exploit the waters of the Nabão River, dictated Tomar development rules. These relations of power extant in the management of the territory fostered a unique occupation in the Portuguese national panorama, in which water is understood as fundamental in this process. Thus, this dissertation argues that the urban evolution of Tomar occurred from the relations with the water and the hydraulic structures developed along the Nabão River, high lightening the role of the Order of Christ in the consolidation of the geometric layout of Tomar and the interrelationships present in this dynamic. To unfold these arguments, the interpretation is supported by the elaboration of maps representative of the urban evolution of the city, and specific case studies of the reality of Tomar as analysis tools. Several factors contributed to the spatial organization of the city's geometric pattern and the representation of its elements and periods of formation allowed a clear visualization of the importance of the Nabão River, water devices and the Order of Christ in the urban evolution of Tomar

Movimentos políticos negros no Atlântico: análise de uma oficina pedagógica sob uma perspectiva antirracista e decolonial

The general Education and, more specifically, History teaching have been deeply transformed by recent epistemological proposals, which oppose exclusionary narratives. This paper intends to analyze the experience of applying a History workshop to Brazilian 8th graders, based on a decolonial theoretical framework. This workshop presented three black movements: Bahian Conspiracy (1798), the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) and the Aponte Conspiracy (1812). Therefore, the paper contemplates materials produced by those students, analyzing the knowledge building regarding these historical events. On what level does the students' perception of the historical narrative relate to these materials? What is the potential of an anti-racist and decolonial education regarding History teaching?  A escola e o ensino de história vêm sendo profundamente transformados por novas propostas epistemológicas, que buscam combater narrativas excludentes. A partir de um aporte teórico decolonial, pretendemos analisar a experiência da aplicação de uma oficina pedagógica de história no ensino básico, em duas turmas de oitavo ano do Ensino Fundamental II, sobre três movimentos políticos majoritariamente negros no Atlântico: a Conjuração Baiana (1798), a Revolução Haitiana (1791-1804) e a Conspiração de Aponte (1812). Para isso, mobilizaremos reflexões a partir de materiais produzidos pelos estudantes. Pretendemos, desse modo, lançar pistas sobre a construção de saberes acerca desses movimentos, a percepção dos estudantes sobre a narrativa histórica e a potencialidade de uma educação antirracista e decolonial no ensino de história

O “Sócrates de Caracas”: a concepção de república defendida no projeto de educação popular de Simón Rodríguez (1826-1849)

O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar, da perspectiva da História Intelectual, o conceito de república presente no projeto de educação de Simón Rodríguez (1771-1854), entre 1826 e 1849. Para isso, mobilizamos as obras Sociedades Americanas en 1828 (1841), Luces y Virtudes Sociales (1834) e Extracto Sucinto de mi obra sobre la educación republicana (1849), situando tais obras no conturbado contexto político das Independências Hispano-americanas. Para a compreensão da relação entre texto e contexto, assim, discutiremos não apenas as contribuições teóricas de Simón Rodríguez, mas sua trajetória, sua relação com Simón Bolívar, as disputas na emergência do regime republicano na América Hispânica e a forma como a obra de Rodríguez defende, por meio de discussões sobre projeto de educação, uma ideia de República incompatível com aquela levada a cabo pela elite criolla

TORCS Training Interface : uma ferramenta auxiliar ao desenvolvimento de pilotos do TORCS

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 2013.A ineficiente maneira como os pilotos são testados e desenvolvidos para jogo e simulador de corrida TORCS é um problema relevante por conta das limitações impostas sobre trabalhos de desenvolvimento de pilotos, i.e., algoritmos que determinam o comportamento dos carros não controlados por jogadores humanos. Porque este software tem um papel de plataforma para benchmark de diferentes abordagens de Inteligência Articial, é importante que se procure mitigar tal problema. Aqui desenvolveu-se a TORCS Training Interface, uma ferramenta que oferece automatizações para melhorar a eficiência das chamadas desimulações e retornar dados mais completos – ambos fatores importantes para as necessárias avaliações que têm como objetivo estimar habilidades de pilotos. Os resultados dos testes comparativos realizados indicam que ousoda ferramenta é uma alternativa viável às abordagens observadas na literatura, apresentando vantagens que podem torná-la a forma mais adequada para processos similares aos considerados neste trabalho. _____________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT: The inefficient manner in which drivers are tested and developed for the racing game and simulator TORCS is a relevant problem because of the limitations imposed over projects of development of drivers, i.e., algorith ms that determine the behavior of cars that are not controlled by human players. Because this software has a role of benchmark for different techniques of Articial Intelligence, it is important to work on mitigating this problem. The TORCS Training Interface was developed, a tool that offers automatizations in order to improve the efficiency of simulation calls and return more complete data-both of which are important for the necessary evaluations that have as a goal estimating the fitness of drivers. Results of the comparative tests performed indicate that the use of the tool is a viable alternative to the approaches seen in the literature, presentin g advantages that can make it the most fitting to processes that are similar to the ones considered here

Rammed Earth Construction Nowadays - Comparing Methodologies and Design Between Portugal and USA

The future of earthen construction depends on the way it is adapted to our comfort needs, to the new standards and building codes. Based on site visits and interviews, this study is a comparative overview of several rammed earth recent works, in Portugal and in the USA. The main goal is to compare different strategies of rammed earth construction, regarding distinct cultures, climate and resources, technical background and methodologies, taking into consideration all the agents involved within the process. A detailed analysis of contemporary rammed earth masterworks was performed in both countries and a very distinct approach was found regarding design and constructive solutions. New strategies have been developed for innovation, combining traditional techniques with modern construction systems and new materials, changing the earthen construction paradigm. Nevertheless, earthen materials are still seen as an alternative and experimental resource, fulfilling some clients expectations and builders ambition to make different architecture

Major roads have a negative impact on the Tawny Owl Strix aluco and the Little Owl Athene noctua populations

The increasing road networks threaten ecosystems by direct effects such as increased mortality due to collision with vehicles and by various indirect effects leading to road avoidance. We censused Tawny Owls Strix aluco and Little Owls Athene noctua in 2005, 2007 and 2009 in a rural landscape in Southern Portugal in order to study the effects of roads and habitat characteristics on Tawny Owl density and Little Owl presence. The presence of both owl species in the 70 census locations was coherent among years. Our results showed that Tawny Owl density near major roads was lower, with the negative effects extending possibly up to 2 km. The probability of Little Owl presence was also negatively affected by the proximity to major roads. The negative effects of roads were significant even considering habitat preferences and spatial autocorrelation, which had the most marked effect on the density or presence of both owls. The reduced occupancy by Tawny Owls and Little Owls of habitats near major roads may be caused by several factors, including increased mortality, disturbance caused by high traffic density, and increased fragmentation. Traffic noise in particular may affect intra-specific communication and hunting efficiency. Consequently, habitat near roads may represent lower-quality territories for owls