The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the evaluation of Quality in a Public Service: Case Study of Academic Services of the University of Évora, Portugal

Society is more and more demanding on professional terms. Therefore, in order to achieve Excellence we need to go though processes of continuous improvement and we need to measure and to evaluate Quality which is increasingly seen as a competitive and distinguishing factor between institutions. And institutions from Public Sector like Universities are no exception. It’s urgent to evaluate their quality. But a question remains: how do we evaluate them? Why is it important? Should we evaluate the graduate and post-graduate degrees, the services that support all the University,…What? In Portugal it is compulsory to evaluate the quality of the degrees taught on a Higher Education Institution. For that purpose a set of legislation has been approved: Law n.º38/94 of 21st November, Decree-law n.º205/98 of 11th July and Law n.º1/2003 of 6th January. But if this is a compulsory procedure, shouldn’t the structures that support all the life of a Higher Education Institution also be evaluated? What happens if, for instance, the Academic Services don’t work properly or collapse? This service is considered as essential and fundamental on Higher Education Institutions

The ecology of intertidal epilithic biofilms with special reference tocyanobacteria

published_or_final_versionEcology and BiodiversityDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph

Microspatial variation in marine biofilm abundance on intertidal rock surfaces

The effect of substrate surface roughness on small-scale patchiness and the ability of molluscan grazers to feed on intertidal biofilms was examined in a factorial experiment. Granite slabs were treated to create 4 different levels of surface roughness, and biofilm and macroalgae were allowed to recruit. Biofilm cover varied greatly with slab roughness, and was spatially patchy at a scale of millimetres. Diatoms dominated the biofilm, but were less abundant on surfaces with the smallest pits. Cover of diatoms and cyanobacteria was affected by surface roughness, with increased abundance around surface features. Different species of grazer varied in their success at removing certain diatoms and cyanobacteria from slabs of varying roughness, due to either the morphology of the different food types or grazer radula structure. Cover of macroalgal species on the slabs of different roughness also varied, and one species, Hypnea sp., did not recruit on smooth slabs. Rock roughness, therefore, affects both the biofilm and algal species that recruit and their abundance. Grazers were able to remove algae from slabs of all roughness with no apparent species-specific differences in their ability. However, grazer species appear to be more or less efficient at feeding according to the level of roughness, and this combination of variation in rock roughness and grazer efficiency may explain the observed small-scale patchiness on rocky shores in Hong Kong

Comparative analysis of various clinical specimens in detection of SARS-CoV-2 using rRT-PCR in new and follow up cases of COVID-19 infection: Quest for the best choice.

BackgroundAn appropriate specimen is of paramount importance in Real Time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) based diagnosis of novel coronavirus (nCoV) disease (COVID-19). Thus, it's pertinent to evaluate various diversified clinical specimens' diagnostic utility in both diagnosis and follow-up of COVID-19.MethodsA total of 924 initial specimens from 130 COVID-19 symptomatic cases before initiation of treatment and 665 follow up specimens from 15 randomly selected cases comprising of equal number of nasopharyngeal swab (NPS), oropharyngeal swab (OPS), combined NPS and OPS (Combined swab), sputum, plasma, serum and urine were evaluated by rRT-PCR.ResultsDemographic analysis showed males (86) twice more affected by COVID-19 than females (44) (p = 0.00001). Combined swabs showed a positivity rate of 100% followed by NPS (91.5%), OPS (72.3%), sputum (63%), while nCoV was found undetected in urine, plasma and serum specimens. The lowest cycle threshold (Ct) values of targeted genes E, ORF1b and RdRP are 10.56, 10.14 and 12.26 respectively and their lowest average Ct values were found in combined swab which indicates high viral load in combined swab among all other specimen types. Analysis of 665 follow-up multi-varied specimens also showed combined swab as the last specimen among all specimen types to become negative, after an average 6.6 (range 4-10) days post-treatment, having lowest (15.48) and average (29.96) Ct values of ORF1b respectively indicating posterior nasopharyngeal tract as primary nCoV afflicted site with high viral load.ConclusionThe combined swab may be recommended as a more appropriate specimen for both diagnosis and monitoring of COVID-19 treatment by rRT-PCR for assessing virus clearance to help physicians in taking evidence-based decision before discharging patients. Implementing combined swabs globally will definitely help in management and control of the pandemic, as it is the need of the hour