Análise dunha experiencia APS na Facultade de Ciencias

[Resumo] Para provocar un cambio no xeito que ten o alumnado de aproximarse aos contidos da materia Fanerogamia, troncal do 3º do Grao en Bioloxía, considerada excesivamente teórica e de pouco interese na sociedade actual, planteouse no curso 2016-2017 aplicar a metodoloxía APS (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996; Astin et al. 2000). A proposta consistiu en contactar con dúas ONG ambientalistas as cales plantexaron unha serie de proxectos que foron consensuados cos profesores da materia. Así mesmo, explicouse ós alumnos a posibilidade de participar nesta metodoloxía e pedíronse voluntarios. Esta actividade sería paralela a outros traballos de investigación teórica que realizan o resto dos estudantes mais coa mesma carga de créditos e peso na cualificación final. Os estudantes escolleron o proxecto no que desexaban traballar e realizárono en grupos. Representantes das ONG explicaron a cada grupo de alumnos o seu proxecto, para que os estudantes percibisen a problemática social que había detrás do traballo que se lles pedía, a importancia de aplicar os coñecementos adquiridos con rigor e a responsabilidade que asumían á hora de desenvolver o proxecto. Por outra banda, os estudantes terían que organizar o traballo en grupo e, finalmente, presentar os resultados aos membros das ONG. Para avaliar o proxecto APS deseñáronse enquisas como un cuestionario con escala tipo Likert e unha rúbrica para os profesores (Campo 2015). Como resultado, é salientable a gran aceptación e a melloría na percepción da materia por parte dos estudantes, aumentando a súa comprensión e interese polos contidos. Entre os problemas o volume de traballo e a organización temporal. Por parte das ONG perciben a necesidade de implicarse máis no desenvolvemento dos traballos e clarificar mellor o proceso de avaliación. No profesorado, os problemas xurdiron pola escasa flexibilidade das guías docentes e o volume de traballo xerad

Personal centered care in long term residences: how to evaluate client satisfaction?

The evaluation of client’s satisfaction allows improving the quality of services as a result of feedback from their clients. The purpose of this study is to develop a scale to assess the client s satisfaction under the scope of personal-centered care model (PCC). A cross-sectional study, based on personal interviews by using a client’s satisfaction questionnaire, was conducted among 160 older adults from 12 long-term care services (LTC). Principal component analysis was performed to assess the underlying scale structure and factor loadings were computed. We excluded questions on issues that are not easily assessed by the elderly and we reworded others items to make them clear and simple questions for comprehension among elderly and unambiguous in regards the theoretical construct. We proposed a more succinct instrument, sensitive to the personal-centered care issues, to assessing the client’s satisfaction of the LTC.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Are diversification rates and chromosome evolution in the temperate grasses (Pooideae) associated with major environmental changes in the Oligocene-Miocene?

The Pooideae are a highly diverse C3 grass subfamily that includes some of the most economically important crops, nested within the highly speciose core-pooid clade. Here, we build and explore the phylogeny of the Pooideae within a temporal framework, assessing its patterns of diversification and its chromosomal evolutionary changes in the light of past environmental transformations. We sequenced five plastid DNA loci, two coding (ndhF, matk) and three non-coding (trnH-psbA, trnT-L and trnL-F), in 163 Poaceae taxa, including representatives for all subfamilies of the grasses and all but four ingroup Pooideae tribes. Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were conducted and divergence times were inferred in BEAST using a relaxed molecular clock. Diversification rates were assessed using the MEDUSA approach, and chromosome evolution was analyzed using the chromEvol software. Diversification of the Pooideae started in the Late-Eocene and was especially intense during the Oligocene-Miocene. The background diversification rate increased significantly at the time of the origin of the Poodae + Triticodae clade. This shift in diversification occurred in a context of falling temperatures that potentially increased ecological opportunities for grasses adapted to open areas around the world. The base haploid chromosome number n = 7 has remained stable throughout the phylogenetic history of the core pooids and we found no link between chromosome transitions and major diversification events in the Pooideae.España, Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología CGL2006-00319, CGL2009-12955-C02-0

Kaolin foliar application has a stimulatory effect on phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways in grape berries

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2016. 01150Drought, elevated air temperature, and high evaporative demand are increasingly frequent during summer in grape growing areas like the Mediterranean basin, limiting grapevine productivity and berry quality. The foliar exogenous application of kaolin, a radiation-reflecting inert mineral, has proven effective in mitigating the negative impacts of these abiotic stresses in grapevine and other fruit crops, however, little is known about its influence on the composition of the grape berry and on key molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways notably important for grape berry quality parameters. Here, we performed a thorough molecular and biochemical analysis to assess how foliar application of kaolin influences major secondary metabolism pathways associated with berry quality-traits, leading to biosynthesis of phenolics and anthocyanins, with a focus on the phenylpropanoid, flavonoid (both flavonol- and anthocyanin-biosynthetic) and stilbenoid pathways. In grape berries from different ripening stages, targeted transcriptional analysis by qPCR revealed that several genes involved in these pathways—VvPAL1, VvC4H1, VvSTSs, VvCHS1, VvFLS1, VvDFR, and VvUFGT—were more expressed in response to the foliar kaolin treatment, particularly in the latter maturation phases. In agreement, enzymatic activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), flavonol synthase (FLS), and UDP-glucose:flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT) were about two-fold higher in mature or fully mature berries from kaolin-treated plants, suggesting regulation also at a transcriptional level. The expression of the glutathione S-transferase VvGST4, and of the tonoplast anthocyanin transporters VvMATE1 and VvABCC1 were also all significantly increased at véraison and in mature berries, thus, when anthocyanins start to accumulate in the vacuole, in agreement with previously observed higher total concentrations of phenolics and anthocyanins in berries from kaolin-treated plaThe work was supported by European Union Funds (FEDER/COMPETE-Operational Competitiveness Programme —INNOVINE—ref. 311775, Enoexcel—Norte—07-0124FEDER-000032 and INTERACT - NORTE-01-0145-FEDER000017 - Linha VitalityWine - ON 0013), and by Portuguese national funds (FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) under the project FCOMP-01-0124FEDER-022692. AC was supported by Enoexcel—Norte— 07-0124-FEDER-000032 and INTERACT - NORTE-010145-FEDER-000017.This work also benefited from the networking activities within the European funded COST ACTION FA1106 “QualityFruit.”info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Desilusão

ARTE E CULTURA VISUAL é uma revista do Centro de Investigação e de Estudos em Belas-Artes (CIEBA), com a periodicidade de um número anual, a sair no final de cada ano. O âmbito a que se dedica é, como o título faz antever, as artes plásticas e a cultura visual, procurando um discurso reflexivo, diverso, actual, problematizante e orgânico, que permita conferir enfoque aos dispositivos da arte e das imagens artísticas na sua ontologia e nos seus contextos – pontuais ou sistémicos – históricos, culturais, estéticos, institucionais, sociais, e, inclusivamente, económicos e políticos. Centrando- se neste campo de pensamento – e as imagens assumem também uma forma de pensamento –, a revista convoca pensadores pluridisciplinares e artistas que desejem partilhar a sua reflexão e a sua obra. Cada número é dedicado a um tema. Este número é dedicado à DESILUSÃO. Desilusão reporta-se a uma sensação de desapontamento, a um sentimento de frustração ou de decepção. Naturalmente, que este desapontamento implica que antes a si existiu, de alguma forma, uma expectativa, eventualmente uma ilusão, que, por conseguinte, não foi cumprida. Depois do alívio da pandemia, de repente, a guerra foi outra. A Rússia invadia a Ucrânia em Fevereiro. Perdem-se vidas, comentem-se abusos de variada ordem. A guerra seguiu-se à peste, como se voltássemos à Idade Média, a um lugar que nos parecia distante, superado. A desilusão pode, contudo, não se limitar à guerra. Este número de Arte e Cultura Visual procura explorar e interpelar este conceito na sua plural abrangência e significado.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Isolamento

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influenza seroprotection correlates with predominant circulating viruses during 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons in Portugal

Rede Portuguesa de Laboratórios para o Diagnóstico da GripeBACKGROUND: Population immune profile for influenza is highly affected by circulating influenza viruses, thus changing the risk of infection for influenza. This study aims to assess influenza immunity in the Portuguese population by age groups, during 2014 and 2015 and establish a relationship between seroprotection and circulating influenza viruses in 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. METHODS: Two cross-sectional studies were developed based on a convenience serum sample collected in June 2014 (n=626) and July 2015 (n=675) in hospitals from mainland and Azores and Madeira.Serums equally represent all age groups. Antibody titers were evaluated by HI assay for strains recommended for seasonal influenza vaccine northern hemisphere,2014/15 and 2015/2016. Seroprevalences were estimated for each strain by age group and the association with seasonal cumulative influenza-like illness (ILI) rates for influenza virus during both seasons was analised. RESULTS: In June 2014 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza A(H3) (39.0%; 95% CI: 36.2-43.8%) and A(H1)pdm09 (29.7; 95% CI: 26.3-33.4%), with higher levels in children 5-14 years old. In 2014/2015 a dominant circulation of influenza B/Yamagata was observed with high incidence rates in individuals under 65 years old, the ones that had lower seroprotection. Although before the start of the season high protection for A(H3) was observed, the circulation of the new drift A(H3) strains had gained an immunological advantage,in accordance with A(H3) elevated incidence rates observed during 2014/15. In July 2015 the highest seroprotection was observed for influenza B/ Yamagata (55.1%; 95% CI: 51.4-58.9%), 2.4 times the estimated 2014.This increase was even more pronounced in younger (≤ 4 years old), 6.3 times increase in 2015.This fact is in agreement with the predominant influenza B virus detected and the high ILI incidence rate observed in children during 2014/2015 epidemic. Seroprotection levels for influenza A in July 2015 were not significantly different from 2014.During 2015/16 season, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was predominant, with high incidence rate in < 65 year old. Influenza B/Victoria lineage,although detected at low levels increased in frequency, in agreement with the lowest level of seroprotection detected in the general population before the start of 2015/2016 season (21.8%; 95% CI: 18.7-24.0%). CONCLUSIONS There was a correlation between virus circulation, incidence rates for each age group and the previous seroprotection for seasonal influenza viruses.Our study highlights the value of measuring the serological profile for influenza to establishe risk groups for infection for which an increase preventive measures, including vaccination, should be fostered.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The institutions of archaic post-modernity and their organizational and managerial consequences: The case of Portugal

The long march of modernization of the Western societies tends to be presented as following a regular sequence: societies and institutions were pre-modern, and then they were modernized, eventually becoming post-modern. Such teleology may provide an incomplete or distorted narrative of societal evolution in many parts of the world, even in the ‘post-modern heartland’ of Western Europe, with Portugal being a case in point. The concept of archaic post-modernity has been developed by a philosopher, José Gil, to show how Portuguese institutions and organizations combine elements of pre-modernity and post-modernity. The notion of an archaic post-modernity is advanced in order to provide an alternative account of the modernization process, which enriches discussion of the varieties of capitalism. Differences in historical experiences create singularities that may be considered in the analysis of culture, management and organization