Seismic behavior of an old masonry building in Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal

Vila Real de Santo António is located in the Algarve region and was erected ex novo at the end of the 18th Century, after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, following a Pombaline development that showed seismic concern at an urban and architectural level. However, most of the original constructions have been subjected to continuous alterations or even substituted for new ones. The first building built in the town was the Alfândega or Customs House and was selected as a case study because it still preserves most of its original characteristics. It was studied through historical survey, visual inspection and experimental in-situ characterization. As a result, a detailed finite element model was constructed and pushover analyses were carried out to assess its seismic vulnerability. The main goals of the paper are to understand the resisting mechanisms and seismic behavior of the building, as well as to evaluate the influence of structural alterations.NAFOSTED -National Foundation for Science and Technology(PTDC/ATPAQI/ 3934/2012

Influence of polysaccharide commercial product addition on volatile composition of white sparkling wines

Póster presentado en las XI Carbohydrate Symposium (XI Jornadas de Carbohidratos), celebradas en Logroño del 28 al 30 de mayo de 2014.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of dry stone walls to out-of-plane actions

Este artigo apresenta o trabalho experimental para a caracterização de paredes de alvenaria de pedra (granito) para ações fora do plano. A parede tem uma configuração em U e o aparelho é de junta seca. Procura-se com este ensaio identificar a capacidade resistente e de deformação, o padrão de fendilhação, os mecanismos de colapso da alvenaria de pedra.This paper presents the experimental work for the characterization of the out-of-plane behavior of stone (granite) masonry walls. The wall has a U-shape and the bond in dry joint masonry. Based on test results the resistance and deformation capacity, crack pattern, collapse mechanism and hysteretic behavior are analyzed

Acacia, cherry and oak wood chips used for a short aging period of rosé wines: effects on general phenolic parameters, volatile composition and sensory profile

Research ArticleBACKGROUND: There is a restricted knowledge about the potential impact of the use of different wood chip species on the rosé wine aging process. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the general phenolic parameters, aroma composition and sensory profile of rosé wines during a shortmaturation (20 aging days) in contact with wood chips fromoak, acacia and cherry. In addition, the different wood chips were added to a rosé wine without a previous clarification process (unfined wine) and to a rosé wine submitted to a clarification process (fined wine). RESULTS: For thebriefmaturation time considered, theuseofdifferentwoodchips induceda tendency foranincreaseof phenolic content, in particular for unfined rosé wine aged in contact with acacia chips. For volatile composition, the differentiation was clearer for aldehyde compounds group. Regarding sensorial overall appreciation the panel test preferred the unfined roséwine aged in contact with acacia wood chips. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that, in general, the use of different wood chip species (acacia, cherry and oak) for a brief maturation time of rosé wines could play an important role in rosé wine characteristics, in particular in their phenolic compositioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potential of the enological use of several Brazilian wood species on the phenolic composition and sensory quality of different wines

The use of wood species from Brazilian forests has not been the subject of studies on oenology. Thus, the main goal of this study was to carry out a comparative analysis of the impact of several different Brazilian wood species (Jequitibá, Jaqueira, Ipê, Amburana, and Grápia) on global phenolic parameters, chromatic characteristics, and sensory profile of one red and white wines during a short wood contact time. In addition, toasted European oak wood (Q. petraea) was also used. Regarding the specific impact of the use of the different wood species studied, red wines stored in contact during 15 and 30 storage days with Amburana, Grápia, and Ipê wood cubes showed the highest total phenolic content, while for white wines, the highest total phenolic values were detected for the wines stored in contact with Jequitibá, Jaquera, and Amburana wood cubes after 15 storage days. Regarding the sensorial quality, after 30 storage days, red wines stored in contact with Amburana and Jaquera woods obtained the highest global appreciation scores. For white wines, the highest global appreciation scores were obtained for the wines stored in contact with Ipê and Amburana wood cubes for 15 days

Active conservation of ceramic building materials: removal of lichens on roof tiles by laser and biocides treatments

Esta comunicación participó en el: 5th International Conference YOuth in COnservation of CUltural Heritage YOCOCU 2016 21st-23rd September 2016 MadridVery recently, in monumental cities, certain conservational practices tend to use ancient/traditional roof tiles in the restoration of Heritage buildings. Numerous studies have been undertaken to remove lichens on stones. However, little has been done to date to study lichens removal from ceramic materials, despite the fact that they are commonly colonized by different lichen communities. The main goal of this contribution is making a diagnosis of alterations that lichens may cause in ceramic materials, as well as to determine the possibilities of removal by treatments based on laser irradiation and use of biocides.Geomateriales 2 (Ref. S2013/MIT-2914, Regional Government of Madrid and EU structural funds) and IPERION-CH (Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure on Cultural Heritage (Ref. H2020-INFRAIA-2014-2015 nº 654028).Peer Reviewe

Anticontractile Effect of Perivascular Adipose Tissue and Leptin are Reduced in Hypertension

Leptin causes vasodilatation both by endothelium-dependent and -independent mechanisms. Leptin is synthesized by perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT). The hypothesis of this study is that a decrease of leptin production in PVAT of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) might contribute to a diminished paracrine anticontractile effect of the hormone. We have determined in aorta from Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and SHR (i) leptin mRNA and protein levels in PVAT, (ii) the effect of leptin and PVAT on contractile responses, and (iii) leptin-induced relaxation and nitric oxide (NO) production. Leptin mRNA and protein expression were significantly lower in PVAT from SHR. Concentration-response curves to angiotensin II were significantly blunted in presence of PVAT as well as by exogenous leptin (10−9 M) only in WKY. This anticontractile effect was endothelium-dependent. Vasodilatation induced by leptin was smaller in SHR than in WKY, and was also endothelium-dependent. Moreover, release of endothelial NO in response to acute leptin was higher in WKY compared to SHR, but completely abolished in the absence of endothelium. In conclusion, the reduced anticontractile effect of PVAT in SHR might be attributed to a reduced PVAT-derived leptin and to an abrogated effect of leptin on endothelial NO release probably due to an impaired activation of endothelial NO synthase

A protective personal factor against disability and dependence in the elderly: an ordinal regression analysis with nine geographically-defined samples from Spain

Background Sense of Coherence (SOC) is defined as a tendency to perceive life experiences as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. The construct is split in three major domains: Comprehensibility, Manageability, and Meaningfulness. SOC has been associated with successful coping strategies in the face of illness and traumatic events and is a predictor of self-reported and objective health in a variety of contexts. In the present study we aim to evaluate the association of SOC with disability and dependence in Spanish elders. Methods A total of 377 participants aged 75 years or over from nine locations across Spain participated in the study (Mean age: 80.9 years; 65.3% women). SOC levels were considered independent variables in two ordinal logistic models on disability and dependence, respectively. Disability was established with the World health Organization-Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (36-item version), while dependence was measured with the Extended Katz Index on personal and instrumental activities of daily living. The models included personal (sex, age, social contacts, availability of an intimate confidant), environmental (municipality size, access to social resources) and health-related covariates (morbidity). Results High Meaningfulness was a strong protective factor against both disability (Odds Ratio [OR] = 0.50; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.29–0.87) and dependence (OR = 0.33; 95% CI = 0.19–0.58) while moderate and high Comprehensibility was protective for disability (OR = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.22–0.70 and OR = 0.39; 95%CI = 0.21–0.74), but not for dependence. Easy access to social and health resources was also highly protective against both disability and dependence. Conclusions Our results are consistent with the view that high levels of SOC are protective against disability and dependence in the elderly. Elderly individuals with limited access to social and health resources and with low SOC may be a group at risk for dependence and disability in Spain.This project was partially funded by a research contract in support of the project “Epidemiological Study of Dementia in Spain” signed by the Pfizer Foundation and Carlos III Institute of HealthS

Phenolic and furanic compounds of Portuguese chestnut and French, American and Portuguese oak wood chips

Botanical species used on aging process must be wisely and judiciously chosen, and for this selection, a basic knowledge of the chemical composition of woods is warranted. Aiming to contribute to extend the knowledge of the chemical composition of several wood species useful for enological purposes, we have focused our studies on Portuguese chestnut and French, American and Portuguese oak chips. The profile of low molecular weight phenolic composition of these chips was achieved, using an optimized extraction method based on pressurized liquid extraction, followed by the quantification of phenolic acids, phenolic aldehydes and furanic derivatives by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD). The identification of those compounds was also confirmed by LC-DAD/ESI-MS. This study allowed the determination of the low molecular phenolic composition of Portuguese chestnut and French, American and Portuguese oak wood. According to our results, the influence of the botanical species seems to be more relevant than the geographic origin of the wood species