FMI 5000: Um projecto sobre mudanças ambientais holocénicas

FMI 5000. A project on the environmental changes during the holocene.This paper presents the aims, the proposed methodology and the cases to be studied within the FMI 5000 – Environmental Changes: Fluvio‑marine interactions over the last 5000 years (Project FCT nº: PTDC/CTE‑GIX/104035/2008). The estuarine environments are sensitive areas in the climate change and sea level rise framework, as they are in the interface between fluvial and marine dynamics. They are also strategic areas because of their great biodiversity and the various economic activities they support. These environments record the sea level changes as well as the changes in their drainage basin, whether they are natural or man induced. The goal of the project is to evaluate the balance between marine and fluvial influences, the answers to climatic events and the land use changes impacts, in a 5000 years’ time window. The estuaries of Rio Neiva, of Rio Alcabrichel and of Ribeira de Bensafrim were chosen to develop this research; the first two are located on the western coast and the third one in the Algarve southern coast

Dynamic whole-body motion generation under rigid contacts and other unilateral constraints

The most widely used technique for generating wholebody motions on a humanoid robot accounting for various tasks and constraints is inverse kinematics. Based on the task-function approach, this class of methods enables the coordination of robot movements to execute several tasks in parallel and account for the sensor feedback in real time, thanks to the low computation cost. To some extent, it also enables us to deal with some of the robot constraints (e.g., joint limits or visibility) and manage the quasi-static balance of the robot. In order to fully use the whole range of possible motions, this paper proposes extending the task-function approach to handle the full dynamics of the robot multibody along with any constraint written as equality or inequality of the state and control variables. The definition of multiple objectives is made possible by ordering them inside a strict hierarchy. Several models of contact with the environment can be implemented in the framework. We propose a reduced formulation of the multiple rigid planar contact that keeps a low computation cost. The efficiency of this approach is illustrated by presenting several multicontact dynamic motions in simulation and on the real HRP-2 robot

Wastewater Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Populations on a Country-wide Scale Through Targeted Sequencing

SARS-CoV-2 surveillance of viral populations in wastewater samples is recognized as a useful tool for monitoring epidemic waves and boosting health preparedness. Next generation sequencing of viral RNA isolated from wastewater is a convenient and cost-effective strategy to understand the molecular epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 and provide insights on the population dynamics of viral variants at the community level. However, in low- and middle-income countries, isolated groups have performed wastewater monitoring and data has not been extensively shared in the scientific community. Here we report the results of monitoring the co-circulation and abundance of variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2 in Uruguay, a small country in Latin America, between November 2020—July 2021 using wastewater surveillance. RNA isolated from wastewater was characterized by targeted sequencing of the Receptor Binding Domain region within the spike gene. Two computational approaches were used to track the viral variants. The results of the wastewater analysis showed the transition in the overall predominance of viral variants in wastewater from No-VOCs to successive VOCs, in agreement with clinical surveillance from sequencing of nasal swabs. The mutations K417T, E484K and N501Y, that characterize the Gamma VOC, were detected as early as December 2020, several weeks before the first clinical case was reported. Interestingly, a non-synonymous mutation described in the Delta VOC, L452R, was detected at a very low frequency since April 2021 when using a recently described sequence analysis tool (SAM Refiner). Wastewater NGS-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 is a reliable and complementary tool for monitoring the introduction and prevalence of VOCs at a community level allowing early public health decisions. This approach allows the tracking of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, who are generally under-reported in countries with limited clinical testing capacity. Our results suggests that wastewater-based epidemiology can contribute to improving public health responses in low- and middle-income countries

Hygienic quality of dehydrated aromatic herbs marketed in Southern Portugal

Dehydrated aromatic herbs are highly valued ingredients, widely used at home level and by food processing industry, frequently added to a great number of recipes in the Mediterranean countries. Despite being considered low-moisture products and classified as GRAS, during pre and post-harvesting stages of production they are susceptible of microbial contamination. In Europe an increasing number of food recalls and disease outbreaks associated with dehydrated herbs have been reported in recent years. In this study the microbial quality of 99 samples of aromatic herbs (bay leaves, basil, coriander, oregano, parsley, Provence herbs, rosemary and thyme) collected from retails shops in the region of Algarve (Southern Portugal) was assessed. All the samples were tested by conventional methods and were assayed for the total count of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, coagulase-positive staphylococci and filamentous fungi. Almost 50 % of the herbs did not exceed the aerobic mesophilic level of 104 CFU/g. The fungi count regarded as unacceptable (106 CFU/g) was not found in any of the tested herbs, while 84 % of the samples ranged from ≤102 to 104 CFU/g. No sample was positive for the presence of Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli and staphylococci. The results are in compliance with the European Commission criteria although they point out to the permanent need of surveillance on the good standards of handling/cooking practices as well as the importance of avoiding contamination at production, retailing and distribution. The microbiological hazards associated with the pathogenic and toxigenic microbiota of dried herbs remain as a relevant public health issue, due to the fact that they are added to foods not submitted to any following lethal procedure. Control measures should be adopted in order to ensure that all phases of their supply chain respect the food safety standards.FCT: UID/BIA/04325/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

La imagen de la mujer en las manifestaciones artísticas de la cueva de Ardales (Ardales, Málaga). Un enfoque desde la relación dialéctica producción y reproducción social

Desde una perspectiva social, consideramos que un análisis de las representaciones femeninas debe superar la simple descripción y la adscripción de estilo. Presentamos los registros, analizamos sus técnicas y su disposición espacial en Cueva de Ardales. Hemosenmarcado este trabajo en el interesante debate conceptual de la situación de la mujer en la formación social cazadora-recolectora

Estratégias e entraves na superovulação de éguas

A superovulação é uma biotécnica que traz benefícios para a reprodução equina, advindos do maior número de ovulações por ciclo. Ainda não é usada rotineiramente, e isso se deve a alguns entraves, em especial, a baixa resposta ovariana aos diferentes hormônios empregados. A presente revisão teve como objetivo abordar as principais estratégias e entraves na superovulação de éguas. Diversas substâncias já foram testadas, como: extrato de pituitária equina (EPE), hormônio folículoestimulante suíno (p-FSH), vacinas anti-inibina, gonadotrofina coriônica equina (eCG), hormônio liberador de gonadotrofinas (GnRH), hormônio folículo estimulante equino (e-FSH) e hormônio folículo estimulante recombinante (re-FSH) em associação com hormônio luteinizante recombinante (re-LH). Somente algumas destas substâncias mostram-se eficientes, por este motivo as pesquisasse direcionaram para protocolos que utilizam EPE, e-FSH e mais recentemente o re-FSH associado ao re-LH. Estes protocolos vêm apresentando um aumento no número de ovulações e embriões produzidos, mas barreiras como a falta de um produto comercial padronizado e o baixo número de embriões produzidos em relação à taxa de ovulação impedem a introdução desta biotécnica no manejo reprodutivo dos haras

Neuroethics guiding principles for the NIH Brain Initiative

Neuroscience presents important neuroethical considerations. Human neuroscience demands focused application of the core research ethics guidelines set out in documents such as the Belmont Report. Various mechanisms, including institutional review boards (IRBs), privacy rules, and the Food and Drug Administration, regulate many aspects of neuroscience research and many articles, books, workshops, and conferences address neuroethics. (Farah, 2010; https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/pcsbi/studies.html; http://www.neuroethicssociety.org/annual-meeting). However, responsible neuroscience research requires continual dialogue among neuroscience researchers, ethicists, philosophers, lawyers, and other stakeholders to help assess its ethical, legal, and societal implications. The Neuroethics Working Group of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, a group of experts providing neuroethics input to the NIH BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group, seeks to promote this dialogue by proposing the following Neuroethics Guiding Principles (Table 1)

(Micro)evolutionary changes and the evolutionary potential of bird migration

Seasonal migration is the yearly long-distance movement of individuals between their breeding and wintering grounds. Individuals from nearly every animal group exhibit this behavior, but probably the most iconic migration is carried out by birds, from the classic V-shape formation of geese on migration to the amazing nonstop long-distance flights undertaken by Arctic Terns Sterna paradisaea. In this chapter, we discuss how seasonal migration has shaped the field of evolution. First, this behavior is known to turn on and off quite rapidly, but controversy remains concerning where this behavior first evolved geographically and whether the ancestral state was sedentary or migratory (Fig. 7.1d, e). We review recent work using new analytical techniques to provide insight into this topic. Second, it is widely accepted that there is a large genetic basis to this trait, especially in groups like songbirds that migrate alone and at night precluding any opportunity for learning. Key hypotheses on this topic include shared genetic variation used by different populations to migrate and only few genes being involved in its control. We summarize recent work using new techniques for both phenotype and genotype characterization to evaluate and challenge these hypotheses. Finally, one topic that has received less attention is the role these differences in migratory phenotype could play in the process of speciation. Specifically, many populations breed next to one another but take drastically different routes on migration (Fig. 7.2). This difference could play an important role in reducing gene flow between populations, but our inability to track most birds on migration has so far precluded evaluations of this hypothesis. The advent of new tracking techniques means we can track many more birds with increasing accuracy on migration, and this work has provided important insight into migration's role in speciation that we will review here