Earth construction: bird teaching

The paradigm of earth being a traditional and a modern building material has been related to the fact that it is natural, ecological, recycled, abundant and economic. Among the traditional Portuguese building techniques, earth construction was always one very common. The construction built with these techniques must be preserved. In this context, the main objective of this research work is to give a contribution on the material properties characterization and, in particular, for the development of adequate rehabilitation and strengthening techniques for this type of construction, based upon a biomimetics study focused on the andorinha-dos-beirais nest. A structural numerical model of a nest using a finite element computer analysis program was done in order to understand the structural behavior of this kind of natural structures. In order to identify a possible occurrence of a certain agglutination phenomenon during the building process of the nest by the birds, an experimental identification/characterization study of nest’s material using samples taken in Vila Real area was carried out. The identification of the elementary chemical and the mineralogical compositions of the material were done by the scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) and by the X-ray diffraction analysis, respectively. The identification/characterization of the organic composition was done using the colorimetric method, being the protein components detected by the biuret method and the polysaccharides/sugars components by the total sugar method. The identification of the type of polysaccharides/sugars and their amount was done by the anion-exchange chromatography method. In order to verify if the addition of polysaccharides/sugars into the nest’s material results in an improvement of the mechanical properties, in particular, of its compressive strength, mechanical tests were carried out on cubic specimens, The results show that there is a strong possibility of the bird andorinha-dos-beirais adds a certain amount of glucose into the clay material during the building process of the nest, which may increase the quality of this raw material

Bird nest construction - lessons for building with earth

The climate changes issue is probable the top priority concern of the governments of the most countries of the world. Rigid and drastic measures have to be taken by all nations in order to reduce the noxious gases emission to the atmosphere. This ambitious goal can be achieved by ruling the energy production, by having a much more sustainable industry and adopting a much more sustainable way of living by all of us. The building industry has also to adapt to these circumstances to make its contribution to achieve the above goal. Focusing on traditional building techniques which require simple technology and use natural and local building materials and, eventually, to adapt them for the present required quality standards may be a step to solve this problem. Half of the world' population, 3 billion people approximately, on six continents, live or work in buildings constructed by earth based building materials. The fact that earth is natural, abundant and local result in an unexpressive amount of energy spending and noxious gases emission when it is used as a building material and, consequently, makes it undoubtedly much more ecological and economic when compared to the others building materials such as reinforced concrete or steel. In this context, the main objective of this research work is to give a contribution on the earth based building material properties and, in particular, for the development of adequate rehabilitation and strengthening techniques, based upon a biomimetic study focused on the andorinha-dos-beirais nest. A structural numerical model of a nest using a finite element computer analysis program was done in order to understand the structural behavior of this kind of natural structures. In order to identify a possible occurrence of a certain agglutination phenomenon during the building process of the nest by the birds, an experimental identification/characterization study of nest's material using samples taken in Vila Real area was carried out. The identification of the elementary chemical and the mineralogical compositions of the material were done by the scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) and by the X-ray diffraction analysis, respectively. The identification/characterization of the organic composition was done using the colorimetric method, being the protein components detected by the biuret method and the polysaccharides/sugars components by the total sugar method. The identification of the type of polysaccharides/sugars and their amount was done by the anion-exchange chromatography method. In order to verify if the addition of polysaccharides/sugars into the nest's material results in an improvement of the mechanical properties, in particular, of its compressive strength, mechanical tests were carried out on cubic specimens, The results show that there is a strong possibility of the bird andorinha-dosbeirais adds a certain amount of glucose into the clay material during the building process of the nest, which may increase the quality of this raw material. This result may be easily extrapolated for the building industry by mixing up a certain percentage of glucose obtained by an abundant plant or fruit with the earth resulting in this way in a better performance earth based building material

Aprender a construir com terra através da andorinha-dos-beirais

O facto de a terra ser natural, ecológica, reciclável e abundante faz com que possa ser considerada um material de construção de eleição e com um enorme potencial. Na construção tradicional portuguesa as soluções construtivas que usam terra como material de construção têm uma importante expressão. Este património construído necessita de ser conservado. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho tem como principal objectivo dar um contributo na temática das soluções de melhoramento do comportamento e do reforço de elementos construtivos de terra a partir do estudo biomimético de um ninho da andorinha-dos-beirais. De modo a identificar a eventual existência de algum fenómeno de aglutinação ocorrido durante o processo de construção do ninho da andorinha-dos-beirais, procedeu-se a um trabalho experimental de caracterização a partir de amostras extraídas de diferentes ninhos recolhidos na zona de Vila Real. Para a identificação/caracterização da composição química inorgânica elementar e mineralógica realizaram-se análises em Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) e em difracção de raios-X. Para a identificação/caracterização da composição orgânica foi feita a quantificação colorimétrica do teor de proteínas pelo método do biureto, e do teor de polissacarídeos/açucares pelo método dos açúcares totais. Os resultados experimentais apontam para a existência de polissacarídeos/açucares no material do ninho e que possívelmente foram adicionados pela andorinha-dos-beirais. Por sua vez, uma simulação numérica de um ninho permitiu compreender o funcionamento desta estrutura natural de terra e verificando-se que ele funciona essencialmente à compressão. Ensaios mecânicos de provetes de solo argiloso misturado com uma solução aquosa à base de um polímero extraído do ninho revelaram uma melhoria de comportamento mecânico. Pretende-se que a partir dos resultados obtidos neste trabalho de investigação se possam retirar sugestões para o desenvolvimento de soluções de estabilização e de melhoramento de elementos construtivos existentes de terra

Portuguese isolates of Aspergillus section Flavi unraveled by the calmodulin gene

Aspergillus is a large genus, with a complex and ever evolving taxonomy. Section Flavi is one of the most significant sections in the genus. Taxonomy and species identification is subject of great interest for scientists aiming to clarify the species concept and limits within the section. Furthermore, this section comprises both toxigenic and non-toxigenic species/strains, with great interest to biotechnology and food industry. Various genes, namely the rRNA (ITS region), calmodulin and β-tubulin genes, have been widely reported as good markers for Aspergillus species identification, because they are rapid and cost-effective. In the present study, we evaluated the discriminatory power of the ITS region and the calmodulin gene to distinguish closely related taxa within Aspergillus section Flavi. For this purpose, 26 isolates of Aspergillus section Flavi obtained from Portuguese almonds were characterized at various levels: i) phenotypic, regarding various aspects of morphology and physiology; ii) spectral, using MALDI-TOF ICMS to obtain protein fingerprinting; and iii) genotypic, by sequence analysis of a 730 bp segment of the calmodulin gene and a 908 bp segment of the ITS region. For the various methods, dendrograms were created and results were compared. Both genotypic and spectral analyses divided the isolates in 3 groups corresponding to closely related taxa of A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. tamarii. Except for the ITS region, all sets of analysis positioned 5 of the 26 isolates in two unidentified clades close to A. parasiticus, and divided the A. flavus group in two distinct clades. The phylogenetic analysis of the calmodulin sequences resulted in very similar dendrograms when using various methods of analysis (Neighbor-Joining, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Inference), and altering the analytical parameters did not result in significant changes. Furthermore, the genetic dendrograms were strongly supported by the phenotypic and spectral analyses. These results confirm the calmodulin gene as a robust and reliable genomic marker for this group of fungi. The unsolved isolate identifications are currently under further analysis

Ocorrência de espécies daninhas em lavouras de soja convencional.

JIPE 2013

Phenolic composition of vine leaves infusions produced from different Portuguese and Spanish Vitis vinifera L. varieties

The main object of the present study was to analyze the phenolic composition of vine leaves infusions prepared from 8 different Portuguese (Fernão Pires, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Encruzado, Touriga Nacional, Rufete, Baga, and Siria) and Spanish (Pardina, Cayetana, Garnacha, Cigüente, Eva, Tempranillo, Macabeo and Verdelho) Vitis vinifera L. varieties. In general, a wide range of phenolic content were obtained from the vine leaves infusions according to the vine variety used. Thus, for total phenolic content the values ranged from 18 to 37 mg/L for the infusions produced from Portuguese varieties, while for Spanish varieties the values ranged from 14 to 37 mg/L. Vine leaves infusions obtained from Touriga Franca and Pardina varieties showed the highest total phenolic content. As a consequence of phenolic composition, chromatic characteristics (L*, a* and b*) of vine leaves infusions were also analyzed. Finally, it was also detected different individual phenolic compounds, such as, coutaric acid, trans-caftaric acid, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, rutin and 3 different anthocyanins from the different vine leaves infusions. All of the results obtained in this work show that vine leaves infusion may be an interesting alternative source of phenolic compounds for human diet

Antibioterapia de largo espectro como factor de risco para o isolamento de acinetobacter baumanni multiresistente

Antibioterapia de largo espectro é reconhecida como um factor de risco para a infecções multiresistentes. O objectivo é avaliar a associaçao entre antibioterapia de largo espectro com Meropenem (MP) e Piperacilina/Tazobactam (PT) com o isolamento de Acinetobacter baumanni multiresistente (ABMR). Estudo caso-controlo retrospectivo. Incluidos os individuos com ABMR+ no nosso hospital em 2010. Calculamos a incidenca nos Serviços Cirúrgicos, Serviços Médicos e Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos (UCI). Utilizamos para controlo uma amostra estratificada proporcional com 418 individuos calculada para um poder de 80%. Foi comparada a proporção de antibioterapia de largo espectro com MP e/ou PT nos ABMR+ e nos controlo. Foi comparada a distribuição da idade, sexo, score de Charlson, procedimetos invasivos e infecção previa entre os ABMR+ e os controlos. Foram incluidos 112 doentes: 14% cirurgicos, 61% médicos e 24% nas UCI. Idade média = 69 anos, 50% do sexo masculino. Incidencia global de ABMR+ foi de 0,28% (Cirurgia – 0,066%; Medicina – 0,63%; UCI-6,8%). A incidencia de ABMR foi superior entre os individuos sob MP ou PT: X2=273,5 p<0,001; OR=16,3 IC95%[10,53-25,33] para MP e X2=142,0 p<0,001; OR=9,10 IC95%[5,91-14,01] para PT. Os resultados são sobreponiveis para a analise de subpopulações. Nos doentes em UCI, o isolamento de ABMR foi indepedente do tratamento prévio com MP ou PT. A distribuição da idade, sexo, score de Charlson, procedimetos invasivos e infecção previa não foi estatisticamente diferente entre os casos e os controlos. Antiboterapia com MP e/ou PT foi um factor de risco independente no nosso hospital para a isolamento de ABMR nos Serviços de Cirurgia e Serviços de Medicina mas não em Unidades de Cuidados Intensivo

Ocorrência de Hybanthus parviflorus como planta daninha no Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul.

bitstream/item/79248/1/COT2013185.pd

The use of a geographic information system to increase outdoor tourism

Purpose: Outdoor tourism is a growing segment that still requires data for planning and management. Aimed to present the potential of the Geographic Information System (GIS) to improve outdoor tourism in the North of Portugal. To achieve this purpose, a case study was conducted on developing a Web-GIS in Northern Portugal. Methodology: Four steps were followed to develop the GIS tool with information about outdoor tourism in the North of Portugal. In the first step, municipalities in the North of Portugal sent information about outdoor activities. In the second step, the data were georeferenced and associated. In the last step, a Web-GIS was developed. Findings: The development of tools is an important source of support for tourism. This study identified that a tool such as the GIS could support a destination's decision-making and promotional processes, besides providing detailed information to the tourist and facilitating travel planning. Practical implications: GIS provides effective planning of outdoor tourism, once this tool allows an effective search of the tourist offer and, from the tourist's perspective, relevant suggestions of visits according to their location are presented, facilitating their experience in the region. Originality: Several studies relate to GIS and tourism, but there is still a gap in specific studies on outdoor activities. So, this study presents the importance of GIS to improve outdoor tourism in the North region of Portugal. Understanding this importance is essential in planning and managing tourism, helping further policymaking and marketing strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio