Courts under Construction in Angola: What can they do for the Poor?

This paper is about the role that may be envisioned for the courts in Angola with respect to the poor. Looking at the period from 1992 – 2004, it analyses the factors that are necessary for getting social rights litigation successfully through the courts – and what kind of impediments that exist. In spite of rather wide constitutional guarantees of a large number of social, economic and cultural rights, Angola is a highly unequal society where discrimination has been rampant in many spheres of social, political and economic life. Yet, the state has not been challenged with upholding these constitutional guarantees. This paper tries to identify some of the conditions necessary for such cases to be introduced to courts and to be effectively ruled upon by judges. What obstacles would a poor litigant, whose rights had not been respected, be faced with? Would the case be likely to be brought to court – and if it were, would it be favourably received? The paper’s tentative conclusion is that the failure to implement social and economic rights in Angola is not primarily due to constitutional limitations, but rather due to the lack of resources among the poor as well as to lack of human and technical resources within the justice system itself

A Terceira República: Estado e Sociedade no Período Constitucional de 2010 a 2020

This article aims to analyze the political and social paradigm defined by the CRA, highlight its strengths, the advances in relation to previous republics, as well as its weaknesses, propose some measures to consolidate it and face the perspectives. KEYWORDS: Constitution. Fundamental rights. Executive. Legislative. Judiciary.O presente artigo visa analisar o paradigma político e social definido pela CRA, salientar as suas forças, os avanços em relação às repúblicas precedentes, bem como suas fraquezas, propor algumas medidas para consolidá-lo e encarar as perspectivas. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Constituição. Direitos fundamentais. Executivo. Legislativo. Judiciário

Um desafio em busca de uma nova perspectiva global contra-hegemónica no campo da saúde

Começo por cumprimentar as autoridades académicas, religiosas e políticas, bem como os estudantes e demais convidados aqui presentes. Agradeço o convite da professora, colega e amiga Doutora Fátima Viegas para vir aqui assumir tamanha responsabilidade junto deste selecto público, nesta casa do saber, a nossa Faculdade de Ciências Sociais (FCS) da Universidade Agostinho Neto (UAN) e ao seu Decano, meu colega e amigo Professor Víctor Kajibanga. Apresentar um livro é sempre um desafio, porquan..

Genome-wide clonal variability in European pear “Rocha” using high-throughput sequencing

Pears (Pyrus) are one of the most economically important fruits worldwide. The Pyrus genus is characterized by a high degree of genetic variability between species and interspecific hybrids, and several studies have been performed to assess this variability for both cultivated and wild accessions. These studies have mostly been limited by the resolving power of traditional molecular markers, although in the recent past the availability of reference genome sequences or SNP arrays for pear have enhanced the capability of high-resolution genomics studies. These tools can also be applied to better understand the intra-varietal (or clonal) variability in pear. Here we report the first high resolution genomics analysis of a pear clonal population using whole genome sequencing (WGS). Results showed unique signatures for the accumulation of mutations and transposable element insertions in each clone, which are likely related to their history of propagation and cultivation. The nucleotide diversity remained low in the clonal collection with the exception of few genomic windows, suggesting that balancing selection may be occurring. These windows included mainly genes related to plant fertility. Regions with higher mutational load were partially associated with transcription factors, probably reflecting the distinctive phenotypes in the collection. The annotation of variants also revealed the theoretical disruption of relevant genes in pear. Taken together, the results from this study show that pear clones accumulate mutations differently, and that those mutations can play a role on pear phenotypes, meaning that the study of pear clonal populations can be relevant in genetic studies, mainly when comparing with traditional association studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bioinformatic tools in the study of ancient dogs: preliminary results of an Iberian case study

In this study, we attempted to carry out a genomic amplification of ancient DNA from four pre-historic Iberian dogs using the Illumina sequencing method; to assign mtDNA sequences to the major dog haplogroups and to characterize some phenotypic traits of these dogs.This study is being developed within the Woof project - PTDC/HARARQ/29545/2017, supported by national funds by FCT/MCTES and co-supported by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) throughout COMPETE - POCI – Programa Operacional Competividade e Internacionalização (POCI-01-0145 - FEDER- 029545 ), as well as by the post-doctoral grant SFRH/BPD/112653/2015 (AEPires), SFRH/BPD/108236/2015 (CDetry) and IF/00866/2014 (CGinja)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Iberian Chalcolithic Canis: a genomic approach to know them better

To our knowledge, for Iberian ancient dogs and wolves, this is the first attempt to successfully apply NGS methods.This study is being developed within the Woof project - PTDC/HISARQ/ 29545/2017 (CIBIO-InBIO), supported by portuguese funds by FCT/MCTES and co-supported by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) throughout COMPETE - POCI – Programa Operacional Competividade e Internacionalização (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029545), as well as by the postdoctoral grant SFRH/BPD/112653/2015 (AEPires), SFRH/BPD/108236/2015 (CDetry) and IF/00866/2014 (CGinja).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Grain Composition and Quality in Portuguese Triticum aestivum Germplasm Subjected to Heat Stress after Anthesis

Funding Information: Funding: This work was supported by national funds from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the Research Unit UIDP/04035/2020 (GeoBioTec). Funding Information: This work was supported by national funds from Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the Research Unit UIDP/04035/2020 (GeoBioTec).The authors acknowledge GeoBioTec (UIDB/04035/2020) Research Center for support facilities. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a major crop worldwide, and it is highly susceptible to heat. In this work, grain production and composition were evaluated in Portuguese T. aestivum germplasm (landraces and commercial varieties), which was subjected to heat after anthesis (grain filling stage). Heat increased the test weight (TW) in Nabão, Grécia and Restauração, indicating an improved flour-yield potential. Mocho de Espiga Branca (MEB) and Transmontano (T94) showed higher thousand-kernel weight (TKW). Gentil Rosso presented increased soluble sugars, which are yeast substrates in the bread-making process. Ardila stood out for its protein increase under heat. Overall SDS was unaffected by higher temperature, but increased in T94, indicating a better dough elasticity for bread-making purposes. Under heat, lipid content was maintained in most genotypes, being endogenous fatty acids (FAs) key players in fresh bread quality. Lipid unsaturation, evaluated through the double bond index (DBI), also remained unaffected in most genotypes, suggesting a lower flour susceptibility to lipoperoxidation. In Grécia, heat promoted a higher abundance of monounsaturated oleic (C18:1) and polyunsaturated linoleic (C18:2) acids, which are essential fatty acids in the human diet. This work highlighted a great variability in most parameters both under control conditions or in response to heat during grain filling. Cluster analysis of traits revealed a lower susceptibility to heat during grain filling in Ardila, Restauração, and Ruivo, in contrast to MEQ, which seems to be more differentially affected at this stage. Characterization and identification of more favorable features under adverse environments may be relevant for agronomic, industrial, or breeding purposes, in view of a better crop adaptation to changing climate and an improved crop sustainability in agricultural systems more prone to heat stress.publishersversionpublishe

Unraveling the genomes of ancient Iberian Canis

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic analysis of the slow melting flesh character in peach

The slow-melting flesh (SMF) trait in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] defines a slower process of postharvest fruit-softening than the prevalent melting flesh (MF) types. This gives a longer shelf life and a delayed harvest-time resulting in better fruit quality. Unlike other known fruit texture traits, SMF is difficult to measure and has a complex inheritance. We examined this character over 2 years in the offspring of two crosses, both with "Big Top," an SMF nectarine, as the female parent, and with a melting flesh (MF) nectarine as the male parent ("Armking" and "Nectaross"). Following harvest, a texturometer was used to provide a textural profile analysis, and fruit firmness evolution was measured with a penetrometer over a period of 5 days' storage at 20 °C. Linkage maps were constructed with a high-density SNP chip, and a phenotype-genotype analysis allowed the detection of three independent genomic regions where most QTLs (quantitative trait loci) were located. Two of these, on linkage groups 4 and 5, explained the variability for two characters-maturity date and firmness loss-that is, the QTL on linkage group 4 found in the MF parents and that on linkage group 5 in Big Top. A third region on linkage group 6, which identified a QTL for maturity date only in Armking, has no apparent association to the softening process. The relationship between maturity date and fruit-firmness loss and a hypothesis on the inheritance of the SMF character are discussed