Perfil sanitário apícola na zona controlada da Terra Quente Transmontana

O presente estudo teve como objectivo principal avaliar a prevalência de agentes patogénicos que acometem colónias de abelhas melíferas (Apis mellifera iberiensis) instaladas na Zona Controlada da Terra Quente (ZCTQ) do Nordeste Transmontano. A colheita de amostras foi efectuada no ano civil de 2011, em apiários instalados nos Concelhos de Vila Flor, Mirandela, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Alfândega de Fé e Torre de Moncorvo, seguindo as normas para rastreio epidemiológico de doenças das abelhas. No Laboratório de Patologia Apícola da ESAB/AAPNM, foram executadas um total de 162 análises anatomo-patológicas utilizando técnicas de diagnóstico baseadas no exame microscópico e macroscópico do material biológico. O material biológico analisado correspondeu a amostras de abelhas adultas (cerca de 60 abelhas/amostra) e criação (secções de favo com cerca de 12x12cm), seguindo os procedimentos laboratoriais utilizados pelo Laboratório Nacional de Investigação Veterinária (LN IV)

The Azorean Biodiversity Portal: an internet database for regional biodiversity outreach

Copyright © 2010 The Natural History Museum.There is a growing interest in academia to provide biodiversity data to both the scientific community and the public. We present an internet database of the terrestrial lichens, bryophytes, vascular plants, molluscs, arthropods, vertebrates and coastal invertebrates of the Azores archipelago (Portugal, North Atlantic): the Azorean Biodiversity Portal (ABP, http://www.azoresbioportal.angra.uac.pt/). This is a unique resource for fundamental research in systematics, biodiversity, education and conservation management. The ABP was based on a regional species database (ATLANTIS), comprised of grid-based spatial incidence information for c. 5000 species. Most of the data rely on a comprehensive literature survey (dating back to the 19th century) as well as unpublished records from recent field surveys in the Azores. The ABP disseminates the ATLANTIS database to the public, allowing universal, unrestricted access to much of its data. Complementarily, the ABP includes additional information of interest to the general public (e.g. literature on Macaronesian biodiversity) together with images from collections and/or live specimens for many species. In this contribution we explain the implementation of a regional biodiversity database, its architecture, achievements and outcomes, strengths and limitations; we further include a number of suggestions in order to implement similar initiatives

A comparison between cost optimality and return on investment for energy retrofit in buildings-A real options perspective

tEuropean Union (EU) regulations aim to ensure that the energy performance of buildings meets thecost-optimality criteria for energy efficiency measures. The methodological framework proposed in EUDelegated Regulation 244 is addressed to national authorities (not investors); the optimal cost level iscalculated to develop regulations applicable at domestic level. Despite the complexity and the large num-ber of possible combinations of economically viable efficiency measures, the real options for improvingenergy performance available to decision makers in building retrofit can be established. Our study con-siders a multi-objective optimization approach to identify the minimum global cost and primary energyneeds of 154,000 combinations of energy efficiency measures. The proposed model is solved by the NSGA-II multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. As a result, the cost-optimal levels and a return on investmentapproach are compared for a set of suitable solutions for a reference building. Eighteen combinations ofretrofit measures are selected and an analysis of the influence of real options on investments is proposed.We show that a sound methodological approach to determining the advantages of this type of investmentshould be offered so that Member States can provide valuable information and ensure that the minimumrequirements are profitable to most investors