Air quality in the North of Portugal.

Air pollution in urban areas is a major topic of concern in many large cities. In Portugal, a monitoring network measures relevant pollutants for zones and agglomerations. The measurements of two zones and four agglomerations located in the North of Portugal were used to diagnose the pollution level and the relative air quality. It was found that, despite the need for densification of the network of monitoring stations, ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10) reach significant levels in a number of days during the year. Some recommendations are made regarding the inclusion of planning and mitigation actions in the Regional and Municipal Master Plan

Revisiting the outstanding flooding episode of November 1967 in the greater metropolitan Lisbon area

The deadliest storm affecting Portugal since, at least, the early 19th century, took place on the 25 and 26 November 1967 causing more than 500 fatalities. Here we provide a comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessment of this episode, including the main socio-economic impacts, particularly the numbers and location of victims (dead, injured, homeless and evacuated). Based on the sub-daily time series of a representative station, and its Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves, we have found that the exceptionality of this rainfall event is particularly linked to rainfall intensities ranging in duration from 4 to 9 hours compatible with return periods of 100-years or more. This range of time scale is similar to the estimated concentration time values of the hydrographic basins affected by the flash flood event. Most victims were sleeping or were caught by surprise at home in the small river catchments within the greater metropolitan Lisbon area. The majority of people who died or who were severely affected by the flood lived in degraded housing conditions often raised in a clandestine way, occupying flood plains near the stream beds. This level of destruction observed at the time is in stark contrast to what was observed in subsequent episodes of similar amplitude. In particular, since 1967 the Lisbon area, was struck by two comparable intense precipitation events in 1983 and 2008 but generating considerably fewer deaths and evacuated people.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influence de l'administration directe d'enzymes fibrolytiques sur l'activité fibrolytique dans le rumen du mouton

6 pages, 3 tables.--Contributed to: 12th Seminar of the FAO-CIHEAM Sub-NetWork on Sheep and Goat Nutrition. "Nutritional and foraging ecology of sheep and goats"(Thessalonica, Grecia, Oct 11-13, 2007).Six rumen-fistulated Merino sheep were used in a crossover design experiment to evaluate the effects of a direct-fed exogenous fibrolytic enzyme (12 g/d; ENZ) on ruminal fermentation. The enzyme presented endoglucanase and xylanase activities. Sheep were fed a mixed grass hay:concentrate (70:30; fresh matter basis) diet at a daily rate of 60 g/kg body weight 0.75. Concentrations of NH3-N and volatile fatty acids (VFA) and enzymatic activities were determined in ruminal samples at 0, 4 and 8 h after feeding. Samples of the grass hay were incubated in situ in the rumen of each sheep to measure dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) degradation. ENZ treatment did not affect (P>0.05) ruminal pH or concentrations of NH3-N and total VFA at any sampling time. In contrast, at 0 and 4 h after feeding, molar proportion of propionate tended (P<0.10) to be greater and acetate:propionate ratio tended (P<0.10) to be lower in ENZ-supplemented sheep. No effects of ENZ (P>0.10) were detected 8 h after feeding. Both the ruminally insoluble potentially degradable fraction (b) of grass hay DM and its fractional rate of degradation (c) were increased (P<0.05) by ENZ treatment. Supplementation with ENZ also increased (P=0.009 to 0.023) effective and potential degradability of grass hay DM and NDF. Ruminal fluid endoglucanase and xylanase activities were greater (P<0.05) at 4 h post-feeding in ENZ-supplementd sheep than in control animals. ENZ supplementation did not affecf (P=0.151 to 0,815) either exoglucanase or amylase activity at any sampling time.The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support received from the M.C.Y.T. of Spain (Proyect AGL2001-0130) and Junta de Castilla y León (LE040A05). L. A. Giraldo gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the Fundación Carolina.Peer reviewe

Static, dynamic and creep behaviour of a full-scale GFRP-SFRSCC hybrid footbridge

A three-year research project (Pontalumis) was carried out for the development of an innovative simply supported hybrid footbridge, with 11 m of length and 2 m of width. The footbridge is composed of two pultruded I-shaped glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) girders (400×200(×15) mm2) bonded and bolted to a 37.5 mm thick deck in steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC). The present paper describes the material/structural concept of this footbridge, its design and construction process, and summarizes the response of the prototype when submitted to static short and long-term load tests, and dynamic load tests. The prototype was simple and fast to execute, presenting a reduced dead-weight of only about 3 tonf. The static and dynamic behaviour of the prototype as well as its long-term deflection fulfil standards’ requirements for footbridge structures and are in good agreement with conventional analytical and numerical design tools.AD

DNA-based population density estimation of black bear at northern Mexico: A preliminary study

The analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microsatellites from hair samples obtained by the non-invasive method of traps was used to estimate the population density of black bears (Ursus americanus eremicus) in a mountain located at the county of Lampazos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The genotyping of bears was performed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using an average of two hairs for each animal. Samples were obtained with barbed wire placed at the traps, which contained food as bait. Multiplex PCR was performed with the GenomiPhiTM, G.E. kit and genotyping with an automated DNA sequencing machine (ABI 310 System). Allelic frequency, heterozygosis and exclusion probability of seven DNA microsatellites were calculated and analyzed with computer programs to determine the population density. Three of the microsatellites had a heterozygosis higher than 0.7 and the population density was calculated in at least 1 bear/km2.Keywords: Black bear, Ursus americanus, population size, DNA microsatellite, MexicoAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(2), pp. 103-10

Catalytically Active Imine-based Covalent Organic Frameworks for Detoxification of Nerve Agent Simulants in Aqueous Media

A series of imine-based covalent organic frameworks decorated in their cavities with di erent alkynyl, pyrrolidine, and N-methylpyrrolidine functional groups have been synthetized. These materials exhibit catalytic activity in aqueous media for the hydrolytic detoxification of nerve agents, as exemplified with nerve gas simulant diisopropylfluorophosphate (DIFP). These preliminary results suggest imine-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as promising materials for detoxification of highly toxic molecules.MINECO (MAT2016-77608-C3-1-P and 2-P, CTQ2017-84692-R) and EU FEDER fundin

Elevação do Número Absoluto de Eosinófilos Sanguíneos após Quimioterapia Antineoplástica, Provável Relação com Melhor Resposta Terapêutica

Foram estudados 52 pacientes adultos e portadores de tumores sólidos malignos, de diversos tipos histológicos, e de localização primária também variada, submetendo-se à poliquimioterapia antineoplásica. Foram distribuídos em 4 grupos: grupo 1 (n= 12) pacientes que receberam radioterapia prévia; grupo II (n= 15) pacientes com invasão neoplásica de serosa; grupo 111 (n 6) pacientes portadores de carcinomas broncogênicos; grupo IV (n= 19) pacientes com tumores sólidos que não se enquadram nos grupos anteriores. Nenhum paciente era portador de doença alérgica ou infecciosa, ou verminose, ou estava em uso de medicamentos que alterassem o número absoluto de eosinófilos. A análise estatística demonstrou a elevação do número de eosinófilos após a quimioterapia antineoplásica nos grupos II e IV. Também, foi observado que a elevação do número de osinófilos correlacionou-se positivamente à melhor responsividade terapêutica à quimioterapia, principalmente no grupo II. Foram aventadas as prováveis causas do fenômeno, relacionando-as à necrose tumoral e/ou a fatores correspondentes à fase de "reconhecimento" antigênico do complexo processo imunológico em relação às neoplasias

Reconstruction of Past Environment and Climate Using Wetland Sediment Records from the Sierra Nevada

Understanding the effects of climate change and human activities on fragile mountain ecosystems is necessary to successfully managing these environments under future climate scenarios (e.g., global warming, enhanced aridity). This can be done through the study of paleoecological records, which can provide long paleoenvironmental databases containing information on how ecosystems reacted to climate change and human disturbances before the historical record. These studies can be particularly interesting when focusing on especially warm and/or dry past climatic phases. Biotic (pollen, charcoal) and abiotic (physical, geochemistry) analyses from wetland sediment records from the Sierra Nevada, southern Spain record changes in vegetation, fire history and lake sedimentation since ~11,700 years (cal yr BP). This multiproxy paleoecological study indicates that maxima in temperature and humidity occurred in the area in the Early and Middle Holocene, with a peak in precipitation between ~10,500 and 7000 cal yr BP. This is deduced by maxima in water runoff, the highest abundance of tree species and algae and high total organic carbon values recorded in the alpine wetland’s sedimentary records of the Sierra Nevada during that time period. In the last 7000 cal yr BP, and especially after a transition period between ~7000 and 5000 cal yr BP, a progressive aridification process took place, indicated by the decrease in tree species and the increase in xerophytic herbs in this region and a reduction in water runoff evidenced by the decrease in detritic input in the wetland sedimentary records. An increasing trend in Saharan dust deposition in the Sierra Nevada wetlands is also recorded through inorganic geochemical proxies, probably due to a coetaneous loss of vegetation cover in North Africa. The process of progressive aridification during the Middle and Late Holocene was interrupted by millennial-scale climatic oscillations and several periods of relative humid/droughty conditions and warm/cold periods have been identified in different temperature and/or precipitation proxies. Enhanced human impact has been observed in the Sierra Nevada in the last ~3000 cal yr BP through the increase in fires, grazing, cultivation, atmospheric pollution as well as reforestation by Pinus and the massive cultivation of Olea at lower altitudes.This study was supported by projects CGL2013-47038-R and CGL2017-85415-R funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional FEDER; Séneca Project 20788/PI/18; Junta de Andalucía I+D+i Junta de Andalucía 2020 Retos P-20-00059, FEDER Project B-RNM-144-UGR18, UGR-FEDER B-RNM-144-UGR18 Proyectos I + D + i del Programa Operativo FEDER 2018 and the research group RNM-190 (Junta de Andalucía). M.J.R.R. acknowledges the postdoctoral funding provided by the European Commission/H2020 (ERC-2017-ADG, project number 788616). J.C. acknowledges the postdoctoral funding provided by the Academy of Finland (project number 316702). A.G.-A. acknowledges the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RYC-2015-18966 provided by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of the Spanish Government. M.R.G. acknowledges funding by the Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación program in the University of Granada (IJCI-2017-33755) from Secretaría de Estado de I+D+i, Spain. RSA acknowledges several travel grants from Northern Arizona University to support this work

Gender equality in STEM programs: a proposal to analyse the situation of a university about the gender gap

[EN]According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, most of the countries have achieved gender parity in educational attainment. Furthermore, Latin America and Europe have more women than men enrolled in tertiary education. The problem arises when those numbers are analysed by degree studies. There is a gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), with a low number of women enrolled in those programs and even lower numbers of graduates. The universities have a key role to steer new conceptions and understanding of the females in STEM . The higher education institutions have to define measures and policies to reduce the gender gap in the careers of the future. This work aims to provide a proposal to analyse the gender equality gap in STEM as a first step to define gender equality action plans focused on processes of attraction, access and retention and guidance in STEM programs. The proposal was applied in ten Latin American universities from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico, and five European universities from Finland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom