Landscape Ecology dialogue: facing societal and environmental challenges in Southern Europe

A Universidade de Évora aprovou, em 2013, o Mestrado em Ecologia da Paisagem, o 1º em Portugal, cuja 1ª edição vai ter lugar no próximo ao letivo. A presente conferência tem como objetivo dar a conhecer e divulgar o referido mestrado aos potenciais interessados, trazendo para o diálogo os desafios que atualmente se colocam em Ecologia da Paisagem, nomeadamente os sociais e ambientais, num contexto transdisciplinar que lhe é inerente. Serão abordados temas dentro de um vasto leque de realidades, questões e escalas de análise, desde o ensino à investigação e à sua aplicação prática, para o que se convidaram especialistas e investigadores de diferentes países, com diferentes competências e formações. Pretende-se identificar as questões mais atuais e os desafios a considerar no futuro, articulando ensino e investigação e equacionado de que forma a Ecologia da Paisagem contribui para dar resposta às rápidas transformações e dinâmicas territoriais e ambientais. As apresentações da conferência podem ser solicitadas à organização por correio electrónico

Patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex excretion and characterization of super-shedders in naturally-infected wild boar and red deer

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) are the main maintenance hosts for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in continental Europe. Understanding Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) excretion routes is crucial to define strategies to control bTB in free-ranging populations, nevertheless available information is scarce. Aiming at filling this gap, four different MTC excretion routes (oronasal, bronchial-alveolar, fecal and urinary) were investigated by molecular methods in naturally infected hunter-harvested wild boar and red deer. In addition MTC concentrations were estimated by the Most Probable Number method. MTC DNA was amplified in all types of excretion routes. MTC DNA was amplified in at least one excretion route from 83.0% (CI95 70.8-90.8) of wild ungulates with bTB-like lesions. Oronasal or bronchial-alveolar shedding were detected with higher frequency than fecal shedding (p 10(3) CFU/g or mL (referred here as super-shedders). Red deer have a significantly higher risk of being super-shedders compared to wild boar (OR = 11.8, CI95 2.3-60.2). The existence of super-shedders among the naturally infected population of wild boar and red deer is thus reported here for the first time and MTC DNA concentrations greater than the minimum infective doses were estimated in excretion samples from both species.We are grateful to all owners, hunters and hunting organizations that helped us to collect samples. Thanks are also due to Monica Cunha (INIAV, Portugal) for her advice during the setup of the laboratorial diagnosis techniques. Nuno Santos was supported by the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/69390/2010). This is also a contribution to MINECO Plan Nacional grant AGL2014-56305 and FEDER, and to the EU FP7 grant ANTIGONE # 278976

Using mouse dynamics to assess stress during online exams

"Lecture notes in computer science series", ISSN 0302-9743, vol. 9121Stress is a highly complex, subjective and multidimensional phenomenon. Nonetheless, it is also one of our strongest driving forces, pushing us forward and preparing our body and mind to tackle the daily challenges, independently of their nature. The duality of the effects of stress, that can have positive or negative effects, calls for approaches that can take the best out of this biological mechanism, providing means for people to cope effectively with stress. In this paper we propose an approach, based on mouse dynamics, to assess the level of stress of students during online exams. Results show that mouse dynamics change in a consistent manner as stress settles in, allowing for its estimation from the analysis of the mouse usage. This approach will allow to understand how each individual student is affected by stress, providing additional valuable information for educational institutions to efficiently adapt and improve their teaching processes.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEI-SII/1386/2012) and project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2014

Mouse dynamics correlates to student behaviour in computer-based exams

Nowadays, it is common for higher education institutions to use computer-based exams, partly or integrally, in their evaluation processes. These exams, much like their paper-based counterparts, are one of the most significant sources of stress in the life of students. However, the fact that exams are undertaken in a computer allows for new features to be acquired that may provide more reliable insights into the behaviour and state of the student during the exam. In this article we analyse these novel behavioural features and explore, to which extent, they can point out previously unknown phenomena. Specifically, we show that the time a student takes to complete an exam is correlated with mouse dynamics features. In practical terms, we are able to predict the duration of each individual exam with a satisfying error based on the interaction patterns of the student.COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. This work was funded by ‘EUSTRESS – Sistema de Informação para a monitorização e avaliação ̧ dos níveis do stress e previsão de stress cónico’, N◦2015/017832 P2020 SI I&DT, (NUP, NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-017832) in co-promotion between Optimizer-Lda and ICVS/3B’s-Uminhoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Role of paracrine factors released by mesenchymal progenitors from the umbilical cord in neurons/glial cell viability, proliferation and differentiation

[Excerpt] Umbilical Cord Stem Cells are able to integrate within the CNS upon injury and to improve the condition of animals suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. However the mechanisms by which such phenomena are mediated are unknown. Therefore the main objective of the present work was to understand how a population of umbilical cord mesenchymal progenitor cells isolated from the Wharton Jelly (HUCPVCs), regulates viability, proliferation and different ion of post-natal hippocampal neurons and cortical glial cells. Hippocampal neurons and glial cells were exposed to HUCPVCs conditioned media (CM) (obtained 24, 48, 72 and 96 after 3 days of culture of HUCPVCs) for 1 week. Cell viability (MTS test) experiments revealed that HUCPVCs CM obtained for all time points did not cause any deleterious effects on both cell populations when compared to the control condition. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Serological and Molecular Survey of Leishmania infantum in a Population of Iberian Lynxes (Lynx pardinus)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Leishmania Research: From Basic Parasite Biology to Disease Control.Leishmania infantum, the sand fly-transmitted protozoan parasite responsible for leishmaniasis in humans, dogs, and cats, is endemic in the Iberian Peninsula. However, the impact of L. infantum infection on the conservation of the endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is unknown. Herein, we describe for the first time the occurrence of L. infantum infection among a population of reintroduced and wild-born L. pardinus living in the Portuguese Guadiana Valley Park. The presence of infection was addressed by molecular detection of Leishmania kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) in 35 lynxes, with further confirmation of L. infantum species performed by an internally transcribed spacer (ITS)-1 sequencing. Eight blood samples were positive for kDNA, and ITS-1 sequencing confirmed the presence of L. infantum in two of those samples. Exposure to Leishmania was screened in a group of 36 lynxes using an immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) and a multi-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using SPLA, rK39, and CPX as Leishmania-specific antigens. Four animals presented a positive IFAT at a dilution of 1:40. Eight samples were considered seropositive to all ELISA Leishmania-specific antigens. Agreement between PCR, IFAT, and all ELISA antigens was found for 1 in 27 samples. These results highlight the susceptibility of autochthonous L. pardinus to L. infantum infection. Further investigation is required to assess the impact of L. infantum infection on this wild species conservation.This research was funded by the Parasite Disease Group at i3S, Porto, Portugal, and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the PhD scholarship number 2020.07306.BD and the project PTDC/CVT-CVT/6798/2020.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Control and Monitoring of a Robotic Soccer Team: The Base Station Application

Abstract. In robotic soccer, teams of autonomous robots play soccer according to rules similar to the official FIFA rules. The game is refereed by a human and his orders are communicated to the teams using an appli-cation called “Referee Box”. No human interference is allowed during the games except for removing malfunctioning robots and re-entering robots in the game. The base station, a software application as described in this paper, has a determinant role during the development of a robotic soccer team and also during a game. This application must control the agents interpreting and sending high level instructions, like Start or Stop, and monitor information of the robots, for example the position and velocity, allowing easily to attest the feasibility of the robots behavior. This paper discusses the importance of the control and monitoring of a robotic soc-cer team, presenting the main challenges and the approaches that were used by the CAMBADA team in the conception of the base station ap-plication. As far as we know, no previous work has been published about the study of these important problems and the discussion of an efficient architecture to a base station application. The results obtained by the team confirms the good performance of this software, both during the games and in the development of the team.

Spatial Analysis of Wildlife Tuberculosis Based on a Serologic Survey Using Dried Blood Spots, Portugal

We investigated the spatial epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in wildlife in a multihost system. We surveyed bovine TB in Portugal by serologic analysis of elutes of dried blood spots obtained from hunted wild boar. We modeled spatial disease risk by using areal generalized linear mixed models with conditional autoregressive priors. Antibodies against Mycobaterium bovis were detected in 2.4% (95% CI 1.5%-3.8%) of 678 wild boar in 2 geographic clusters, and the predicted risk fits well with independent reports of M. bovis culture. Results show that elutes are an almost perfect substitute for serum (Cohen unweighted κ = 0.818), indicating that serologic tests coupled with dried blood spots are an effective strategy for large-scale bovine TB surveys, using wild boar as sentinel species. Results also show that bovine TB is an emerging wildlife disease and stress the need to prevent further geographic spread and prevalence increase.Plan Nacional (grant CGL2017-89866 from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain, and Fondo Europeo de Desarollo Regional) and Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (grant ON.2 O Novo Norte), Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional through the Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional. N.S. was supported by PhD grant SFRH/BD/69390/2010 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio