Shades of red and blue: Government ideology and sustainable development

We study the effect of government ideology on sustainable development, measured as investment in genuine wealth, in a dynamic panel of 79 countries between 1981 and 2013. We find robust and statistically significant evidence that genuine investment grows faster under right-wing governments than under left-wing or center governments. In contrast, we find no indication of opportunistic cycles

Desenvolvimento de uma plataforma multidisciplinar para autoria de jogos 3D interativos e educativos

Este artigo apresenta SABERLÂNDIA, uma plataforma computacional para o desenvolvimento de jogos eletrônicos educacionais que, a partir de contextos e conteúdos fornecidos, propicia a geração automática de jogos de ação. As principais características de tal proposta são: i. o desenvolvimento de um sistema de autoria que estimule a construção do conhecimento, de forma lúdica, propiciando aos diferentes sujeitos (professores, aprendizes), nas diferentes áreas, atuarem como autor no desenvolvimento destes jogos; ii. a utilização de recursos multimídias como motivação, fazendo uso de recursos de Realidade Virtual e Robótica. Apresentam-se as funcionalidades e a arquitetura da plataforma, assim como as ferramentas que a compõem

Protein aggregation containing beta-amyloid, alpha-synuclein and hyperphosphorylated tau in cultured cells of hippocampus, substantia nigra and locus coeruleus after rotenone exposure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein aggregates containing alpha-synuclein, beta-amyloid and hyperphosphorylated tau are commonly found during neurodegenerative processes which is often accompanied by the impairment of mitochondrial complex I respiratory chain and dysfunction of cellular systems of protein degradation. In view of this, we aimed to develop an <it>in vitro </it>model to study protein aggregation associated to neurodegenerative diseases using cultured cells from hippocampus, locus coeruleus and substantia nigra of newborn Lewis rats exposed to 0.5, 1, 10 and 25 nM of rotenone, which is an agricultural pesticide, for 48 hours.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We demonstrated that the proportion of cells in culture is approximately the same as found in the brain nuclei they were extracted from. Rotenone at 0.5 nM was able to induce alpha-synuclein and beta amyloid aggregation, as well as increased hyperphosphorylation of tau, although high concentrations of this pesticide (over 1 nM) lead cells to death before protein aggregation. We also demonstrated that the 14kDa isoform of alpha-synuclein is not present in newborn Lewis rats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Rotenone exposure may lead to constitutive protein aggregation <it>in vitro</it>, which may be of relevance to study the mechanisms involved in idiopathic neurodegeneration.</p

Assessment of sediment contamination in an impacted estuary: differential effects and adaptations of sentinel organisms and implications for biomonitoring

Conferência realizada em Lisboa, de 6-9 November de 2013Estuarine pollution is reflected in the concentration of toxicants in sediments, depending on their geochemical properties, since sediments trap substances from the water column, either dissolved or bound to suspended matter. However, determining risk of sediment contaminants to biota has many constraints. For such reason, integrative approaches are keystone. Taking the Sado estuary (SW Portugal) as a case study, contrasted to a reference estuary (the Mira) within the same geographical location, the present study aimed at integrating sediment contamination with the effects and responses to pollutants in distinct benthic organisms with commercial and ecological value

Write-erase and read paper memory transistor

Applied Physics Letters, Vol.93, issue 20We report the architecture and the performances of a memory based on a single field-effect transistor built on paper able to write-erase and read. The device is composed of natural multilayer cellulose fibers that simultaneously act as structural support and gate dielectric; active and passive multicomponent amorphous oxides that work as the channel and gate electrode layers, respectively,complemented by the use of patterned metal layers as source/drain electrodes. The devices exhibit a large counterclockwise hysteresis associated with the memory effect, with a turn-on voltage shift between 1 and −14.5 V, on/off ratio and saturation mobilities of about 104 and 40 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively, and estimated charge retention times above 14 000 h

Different patterns of evolution for duplicated DNA repair genes in bacteria of the Xanthomonadales group

BACKGROUND: DNA repair genes encode proteins that protect organisms against genetic damage generated by environmental agents and by-products of cell metabolism. The importance of these genes in life maintenance is supported by their high conservation, and the presence of duplications of such genes may be easily traced, especially in prokaryotic genomes. RESULTS: The genome sequences of two Xanthomonas species were used as the basis for phylogenetic analyses of genes related to DNA repair that were found duplicated. Although 16S rRNA phylogenetic analyses confirm their classification at the basis of the gamma proteobacteria subdivision, differences were found in the origin of the various genes investigated. Except for lexA, detected as a recent duplication, most of the genes in more than one copy are represented by two highly divergent orthologs. Basically, one of such duplications is frequently positioned close to other gamma proteobacteria, but the second is often positioned close to unrelated bacteria. These orthologs may have occurred from old duplication events, followed by extensive gene loss, or were originated from lateral gene transfer (LGT), as is the case of the uvrD homolog. CONCLUSIONS: Duplications of DNA repair related genes may result in redundancy and also improve the organisms' responses to environmental challenges. Most of such duplications, in Xanthomonas, seem to have arisen from old events and possibly enlarge both functional and evolutionary genome potentiality

Prediction of sunlight-driven CO2 conversion: producing methane from photovoltaics, and full system design for single-house application

ABSTRACT: CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) technologies are being immensely researched as means to close the anthropogenic carbon cycle. One approach known as artificial photosynthesis uses solar energy from photovoltaics (PV), carbon dioxide and water to generate hydrocarbon fuels, being methane (CH4) a preferential target due to the already in place infrastructures for its storage, distribution and consumption. Here, a model is developed to simulate a direct (1-step) solar methane production approach, which is studied in two scenarios: first, we compare it against a more conventional 2-step methane production route, and second, we apply it to address the energetic needs of concept buildings with usual space and domestic hot water heating requirements. The analysed 2-step process consists in the PV-powered synthesis of an intermediate fuel - syngas - followed by its conversion to CH4 via a Fischer -Tropsch (methanation) process. It was found that the 1-step route could be adequate to a domestic, small scale use, potentially providing energy for a single-family house, whilst the 2-step can be used in both small and large scale applications, from domestic to industrial uses. In terms of overall solar-to-CH4 energy efficiency, the 2-step method reaches 13.26% against the 9.18% reached by the 1-step method. Next, the application of the direct solar methane technology is analysed for domestic buildings, in different European locations, equipped with a combination of solar thermal collectors (STCs) and PV panels, in which the heating needs that cannot be fulfilled by the STCs are satisfied by the combustion of methane synthesized by the PV-powered electrolyzers. Various combinations of situations for a whole year were studied and it was found that this auxiliary system can produce, per m(2) of PV area, in the worst case scenario 23.6 g/day (0.328 kWh/day) of methane in Stockholm, and in the best case scenario 47.4 g/day (0.658 kWh/day) in Lisbon.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microwave Synthesis of Visible-Light-Activated g-C3N4/TiO2 Photocatalysts

Funding Information: This work was financed by national funds from FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within the scope of projects UI/BD/151292/2021 (Ph.D. research scholarship), LA/P/0037/2020, UIDP/50025/2020 and UIDB/50025/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling, and Nanofabrication-i3N, but also the 2021.03825.CEECIND. Acknowledgments are also given to the EC project SYNERGY H2020-WIDESPREAD-2020-5, CSA, proposal nº 952169, EMERGE-2020-INFRAIA-2020-1, proposal nº 101008701, and to the European Community’s H2020 program under grant agreement No. 787410 (ERC-2018-AdG DIGISMART). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.The preparation of visible-light-driven photocatalysts has become highly appealing for environmental remediation through simple, fast and green chemical methods. The current study reports the synthesis and characterization of graphitic carbon nitride/titanium dioxide (g-C3N4/TiO2) heterostructures through a fast (1 h) and simple microwave-assisted approach. Different g-C3N4 amounts mixed with TiO2 (15, 30 and 45 wt. %) were investigated for the photocatalytic degradation of a recalcitrant azo dye (methyl orange (MO)) under solar simulating light. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the anatase TiO2 phase for the pure material and all heterostructures produced. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that by increasing the amount of g-C3N4 in the synthesis, large TiO2 aggregates composed of irregularly shaped particles were disintegrated and resulted in smaller ones, composing a film that covered the g-C3N4 nanosheets. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) analyses confirmed the existence of an effective interface between a g-C3N4 nanosheet and a TiO2 nanocrystal. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) evidenced no chemical alterations to both g-C3N4 and TiO2 at the heterostructure. The visible-light absorption shift was indicated by the red shift in the absorption onset through the ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) absorption spectra. The 30 wt. % of g-C3N4/TiO2 heterostructure showed the best photocatalytic performance, with a MO dye degradation of 85% in 4 h, corresponding to an enhanced efficiency of almost 2 and 10 times greater than that of pure TiO2 and g-C3N4 nanosheets, respectively. Superoxide radical species were found to be the most active radical species in the MO photodegradation process. The creation of a type-II heterostructure is highly suggested due to the negligible participation of hydroxyl radical species in the photodegradation process. The superior photocatalytic activity was attributed to the synergy of g-C3N4 and TiO2 materials.publishersversionpublishe

Understanding the Influence of the Biomass-Derived Alcohols on the Activity and Stability of Pt Nanoparticles Supported on Graphene Nanoribbons

We produced Pt/GNRs by a one-step synthesis procedure and evaluated their electroactivity and stability towards glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GEOR) for the first time. We compared the electrocatalytic performance of GEOR with methanol and ethanol electrooxidation on Pt/GNRs at identical experimental conditions. The activities and stabilities for the electrooxidation of these biomass-derived alcohols on Pt/GNRs were compared to commercial Pt/C. The synthesis of the Pt/GNRs was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffractometry, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, and Raman spectroscopy. We found that the activities of Pt/GNRs for these reactions are comparable to Pt/C, with improvement in terms of current density for methanol electrooxidation. Comparing potentiostatic measurements, we found that glycerol produces lower pseudo-stationary current densities than ethanol and methanol on both catalysts, with greatest values found for methanol electrooxidation on Pt/C. Otherwise, the GNRs remarkably enhance the stability of the catalyst for all the reactions, by increasing the stability of the current density during successive potential cycles, and by preventing the loss of electrochemically active surface area by avoiding carbon corrosion and Pt detachment. Moreover, we showed that the stability of the NPs depends on the biomass-derived alcohol used. The solution containing methanol reveals itself the most aggressive electrochemical environment to the catalyst, impacting in the decrease of surface area, while glycerol is less aggressive. Hence, the different products formed at the interface electrode/solution might lead to a different electrochemical environment, which plays an important role on the stability of the catalysts.The authors acknowledge financial assistance from CNPq (grant no. 454516/2014-2), FUNDECT (grant no. 026/2015), FAPESP (grant no. 2016/01365-0), CAPES, FINEP, and FAPESP.Peer reviewe