MYCOTOX-PALOP - Multi-actor partnership for the risk assessment of mycotoxins along the food chain in African Portuguese-speaking countries (PALOP)

The health impact of mycotoxin exposure is grossly underreported in Angola (AN) and Mozambique (MZ) due to the lack of coordinated monitoring and medical surveillance, and its control is inadequately addressed. Due to inherent climatic, agricultural and political conditions, these countries are subjected to major food security issues, which could be partially mitigated by increasing the awareness to crop losses due to fungal and mycotoxin contamination. The aims of the project are to: gather knowledge on food and feed fungal losses and mycotoxin contamination in MZ and AN; set mycotoxin risk assessment programmes; and establish intervention strategies to reduce human exposure to mycotoxins and their negative impacts, by means of safe and efficient intervention strategies. Access, training and extension actions at the scientific, technical and community levels will be strongly promoted to build human and technical capacity, bridging the gap between research and the various stakeholders, including farmers, retailers, trading companies, and regulatory agencies. Integrated actions and policies will expectedly be adopted, in a way of contributing to the improvement of the governance policies and programmes. This project finally aims at contributing to long-term benefits for citizens, economy and society, as it meets important Development Goals set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Goal 2 “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. MYCOTOX-PALOP builds on the scientific, technical and field expertise of a joint task force including CIMO-IPB and CEB-UMinho (Portugal), ISPKS (AN) and UEM (MZ).Project ref. FCT – Aga Khan/541590696/2019info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MYCOTOX-PALOP - Multi-actor partnership for the risk assessment of mycotoxins along the food chain in African Portuguese speaking countries (PALOP)

The health impact of mycotoxin exposure is grossly underreported in Angola (AN) and Mozambique (MZ) due to the lack of coordinated monitoring and medical surveillance, and its control is inadequately addressed. Due to inherent climatic, agricultural and political conditions, these countries are subjected to major food security issues, which could be partially mitigated by increasing the awareness to crop losses due to fungal and mycotoxin contamination. The aims of the project are to: gather knowledge on food and feed fungal losses and mycotoxin contamination in MZ and AN; set mycotoxin risk assessment programmes; and establish intervention strategies to reduce human exposure to mycotoxins and their negative impacts, by means of safe and efficient intervention strategies. Access, training and extension actions at the scientific, technical and community levels will be strongly promoted to build human and technical capacity, bridging the gap between research and the various stakeholders, including farmers, retailers, trading companies, and regulatory agencies. Integrated actions and policies will expectedly be adopted, in a way of contributing to the improvement of the governance policies and programmes. This project finally aims at contributing to long-term benefits for citizens, economy and society, as it meets important Development Goals set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Goal 2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. MYCOTOX-PALOP builds on the scientific, technical and field expertise of a joint task force including CIMO-IPB and CEB-UMinho (Portugal), ISPKS (AN) and UEM (MZ).Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)Aga-Khan Development Networkinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Avaliação do transporte sedimentar no estuário do rio Douro em diferentes cenários hidrodinâmicos

A bacia hidrográfica do rio Douro é a mais importante fonte sedimentar fluvial na costa NW Portuguesa. Durante as últimas décadas, verificou-se uma diminuição significativa de sedimentos principalmente devido à alteração das descargas fluviais, provocadas pela construção de barragens. O estuário superior é estreito e tem uma profundidade normalmente superior a 10 m. No estuário inferior a largura aumenta e a profundidade diminui, só ultrapassando os 10 m excecionalmente no canal principal, o qual permanece confinado à margem norte. Na embocadura, está localizado o banco de areia do Cabedelo disposto perpendicularmente ao eixo do estuário, confinando o escoamento ao canal estreito junto à margem norte. O Cabedelo é um banco arenoso sendo a sua forma modulada pelo regime de agitação e pelo escoamento fluvial e pela maré. Em situações de cheia, para caudais da ordem dos 10000 m3/s o banco era galgado e destruído pelo escoamento, sendo reconstruído progressivamente pelo escoamento depois de terminada a cheia. Te m - se constatado que ao longo do tempo o banco de areia tem migrado para montante no estuário. Foi construído um modelo tridimensional morfodinâmico do estuário com o programa Delft3D, constituído por 12267 células de cálculo por camada, tendo - se utilizado dez camadas na discretização vertical. Apresentam-se os resultados para a dinâmica sedimentar em função das condicionantes hidrodinâmicas como o caudal fluvial e a amplitude da maré. A descarga fluvial apresenta-se como fator chave para a exportação de sedimentos para a plataforma costeira, sendo que nos cenários de cheia a morfologia do estuário é completamente modificada. Os resultados obtidos são naturalmente condicionados pelas características dimensionais dos sedimentos transportad

Analysing sulphate and chloride in mineral drinking water by flow injection analysis with a single acoustic wave sensor

Sulphate is a very hydrophilic anion, and, therefore, difficult to be selectively determined in aqueous solution with a coated sensor. Zinc(II) 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-Octatosylaminophthalocyanine was used for the first time as a sensitive coating. Selectivity to sulphate regarding chloride was not enough to ignore its contribution in mineral waters, and, therefore, an analytical protocol was carefully designed to allow the determination of both anions with this sensor. Results displayed on the label of eight commercial bottles of mineral waters are within the confidence interval of the values obtained with the FIA-sensor system, both for chloride and sulphate. However, results for chloride obtained by titrimetry are, in half of the cases, statistically different from the ones obtained by the sensor, and in 7 out of 8 of them more precise. There is an evidence of a systematic error in the chloride titrimetric analysis, consistent with a small overtaking of the equivalence point. Precision of the results obtained by the titrimetric analysis of sulphate were in 6 out of 8 of the analysis less precise than with the sensor, probably due to losses of the barium sulphate precipitate, which is consistent with the occurrence of lower values.publishe

Analysis of estuarine flood levels based on numerical modelling. The Douro river estuary case study

Estuarine hydrodynamics present intermittent and complex circulation patterns. In this context, from the point of view of the coastal management associated with flood risks in riverine areas, numerical models allow predicting scenarios under specific hypotheses. This work simulates flood events occurring in the Douro river estuary recurring to numerical modelling tools. This estuary, located in the northern region of Portugal, periodically suffered severe flooding, with the associated losses and damages for the local protected landscape areas and hydraulic structures. The occurrence of these events justify the importance of a complete characterization of the areas that present risk of inundation and how they can be affected. A 2D-horizontal numerical model implemented with the Delft3D software was developed for this estuarine region including also the adjacent coastal zone. Available in-situ data were used for model calibration and validation processes. The obtained results are consistent with the in-situ measured water levels, allowing to understand the dynamics of the estuary during flood events. The robustness of the implemented numerical model allows to anticipate flood scenarios effects and associated water levels. The simulations results can then be used for sustainable management of this estuarine zone that presents high social, economic and environmental values.This research was partially supported by the Research Line ECOSERVICES, integrated in the Structured Program of R&D&I INNOVMAR: Innovation and Sustainability in the Management and Exploitation of Marine Resources (NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000035), funded by the Northern Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020) through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) through a scholarship granted to the 1st author (Process 200016 / 2014-8)

A study on the behavior of laminated and sandwich composite plates using a layerwise theory

The numerical study of structures constituted from composite materials, regardless the underlying shear deformation theory used may be framed into an equivalent single-layer or a layerwise methodology. The adoption of one of these approaches is mainly ruled by the detail one needs to put in the description of the deformation kinematics and on the subsequent description of other relevant quantities such as stresses or frequencies. Being important to address both qualitative and quantitatively the influence of different parameters involved in the models and materials used to represent a structure, it is also relevant to understand how layerwise theories can predict its static and dynamic response. These different issues may be addressed by carrying out parametric studies to characterize the influence of specific parameters on the mechanical performance of sandwich and laminated composite plates. To this purpose a layerwise theory based on the first order shear deformation theory, is considered, and a set of different test cases are analyzed in light of this approach, providing results which may also be useful for later comparison purposes

Chemical composition and bioactivity of essential oils and extracts from Oregano from Madeira Island, Portugal

In the course of ongoing investigations on polymorphic Lamiaceae species, we studied Origanum vulgare spp. virens growing wild in several locations of Madeira Island, Portugal. Variation in essential oil composition with climate conditions was studied. The antimicrobial activity of the various essential oils was determined against 10 strains of bacteria and yeasts, usually found as human pathogenic or food contaminants. The essential oils inhibited all the bacteria tested excepting for P. aeruginosa. The most sensitive microorganism was M. smegmatis with MIC = 25 µg ml-1 for two of the oils. The results of this study suggest a potential application of these oils in preventing the human pathogenic and food contaminant microorganisms growth. Radical scavenging capacity of essential oils and solvent extract (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol) were also determined, since interest of oregano resides in both non polar and polar fractions, all known by their very high antioxidant activity. From the hexane fraction, we obtained a large amount of 1-hexacosanol, C26H54O, a long chain alcohol, which was previously extracted in the non-esterified form only from Hygrophila erecta.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio