Zika, chikungunya and dengue: the causes and threats of new and re-emerging arboviral diseases.

The recent emergence and re-emergence of viral infections transmitted by vectors-Zika, chikungunya, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile, yellow fever and others-is a cause for international concern. Using as examples Zika, chikungunya and dengue, we summarise current knowledge on characteristics of the viruses and their transmission, clinical features, laboratory diagnosis, burden, history, possible causes of the spread and the expectation for future epidemics. Arboviruses are transmitted by mosquitoes, are of difficult diagnosis, can have surprising clinical complications and cause severe burden. The current situation is complex, because there is no vaccine for Zika and chikungunya and no specific treatment for the three arboviruses. Vector control is the only comprehensive solution available now and this remains a challenge because up to now this has not been very effective. Until we develop new technologies of control mosquito populations, the globalised and urbanised world we live in will remain vulnerable to the threat of successive arbovirus epidemics

A construtibilidade em projectos de edifícios para o ensino superior público em Portugal

A Construtibilidade é definida como “The optimum use of construction knowledge and experience in planning, design, procurement, and field operations to achieve overall project objectives “ - A aplicação de forma optimizada dos conhecimentos e das experiências da construção durante as fases iniciais do projecto, de planeamento e concepção, de forma a facilitar o cumprimento dos objectivos do projecto. O correcto entendimento deste conceito e da sua integração nas metodologias de projecto, durante o período global do seu ciclo de vida, constitui-se como uma potente ferramenta para a construção dos objectivos de projecto e para a satisfação dos requisitos do dono de obra. Os dezassete princípios da Construtibilidade, aplicáveis ás diferentes fases do ciclo do projecto, são orientadores dos procedimentos de gestão e de decisão do projecto, procurando melhorar, do ponto de vista da Construtibilidade, as diferentes soluções de concepção. A implementação da Construtibilidade pode ser feita com recurso a meios mais ou menos formais, que devem ser escolhidos em função de factores diversos como o tipo, dimensão e complexidade do projecto, o tipo de dono de obra, as formas de contratação de projectistas e construtores, o tipo de organizações funcionais intervenientes, entre outros. Entre estas metodologias de implementação contam-se as revisões da construtibilidade e os programas da construtibilidade

Linguagem, cognição e argumentatividade: a construção de sentidos no modelo de espaços mentais

Enfoca os processos e operações subjacentes à produção de significados pela mente humana, à luz da Teoria da Integração Conceptual

PAHs and metals in a coastal lagoon (Esmoriz/Paramos), Portugal

Esmoriz/Paramos is a coastal lagoon on the northwest coast of Portugal with an area of approximately 5.6 km2 and occasional communication with the sea. This habitat has a great ecological importance due to the characteristics of its fauna and vegetation. For the last 25 years, the wet area of the lagoon has been reduced as well as its biodiversity and at present it is very degraded and in-filled. The transport of particles from land through the main affluent is one of the causes for siltation. Pollution sources include untreated sewage water, industrial effluents and run-off from agricultural activities. Dredging the sediments is the strategy planned by the local authorities to restore this ecosystem and improve its recreational value. Thus, evaluation of sediment quality is important for planning disposal purposes. The objective of this work was to evaluate de water quality of the lagoon and to assess the contamination of its sediments by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals. The water analysis carried out in three different stations within the lagoon, showed a poor quality, namely low oxygen concentrations and high inorganic nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand, whereas the sediments revealed moderate concentrations of PAHs with different patterns of distribution along stations and depth. Zinc was the most abundant metal followed by copper and smaller concentrations of lead and chromium. Metal variation in sediments was larger between stations than along depth. Therefore an average concentration of metals exposure to living organisms was calculated

A segurança da utilização de edifícios públicos universitários

A segurança da utilização de edifícios é hoje uma preocupação social a vários níveis, designadamente nos aspectos associados à protecção e ao conforto, de entre os quais se pode salientar: a protecção contra intempéries, catástrofes naturais, incêndios, terrorismo, bio-terrorismo, roubos, agressões, raptos, acidentes, quedas, segurança ocupacional, higiene, segurança e saúde no trabalho, segurança ambiental, qualidade do ar, etc..Os edifícios devem ser objecto de uma especial preocupação enquanto espaços privilegiados para a permanência de um grande número de pessoas Nos edifícios destinados ao ensino superior universitário as funções desempenhadas dentro destes edifícios atingem crescente complexidade, sobretudo nos espaços destinados à investigação. Esta diversidade de funções ou usos, está muito associada às características específicas do espaço físico universitário. O estudo da segurança em projectos de edifícios deve ser abrangente e atender às particularidades especificas de todos os momentos do ciclo de vida de um edifício, bem como a toda a diversidade de possíveis ocupantes do edifício, seja qual for a sua actividade dentro do edifício ou o período de tempo em que lá permanecem. Nesta comunicação procurar-se-á abordar os princípios básicos do conceito da segurança da utilização e os benefícios emergentes da aplicação deste conceito para a melhoria do conforto e da protecção dos utilizadores para a melhoria da eficiência energética dos edifícios e a sustentabilidade das suas soluções construtivas e também para o aumento da produtividade das organizações e a melhoria do planeamento financeiro dos investimentos na construção de edifícios

Análise de um modelo para a gestão da construtibilidade em projectos de edifícios para escolas do ensino superior em Portugal

A Construtibilidade é definida pela aplicação, de forma optimizada, dos conhecimentos e das experiências da construção durante as fases iniciais do projecto, de planeamento e concepção, de forma a facilitar e garantir o cumprimento dos objectivos do projecto. O entendimento deste conceito, das suas leis fundamentais, das principais metodologias de implementação, bem como da sua evolução teórica ao longo das últimas décadas, permite reconhecer como falhas da construtibilidade muitos dos principais problemas dos projectos de construção actualmente. Estas falhas da construtibilidade são frequentes também nos projectos de construção de escolas ou outros edifícios para o ensino superior público em Portugal. O conhecimento detalhado destes problemas, por parte de um dos autores, serviu como base de estudo e caracterização de uma metodologia de carácter informal para a implementação da construtibilidade a este tipo de projectos de construção, baseada num Modelo de Revisões da Construtibilidade que procura gerir a aplicação organizada de um conjunto de check-lists, organizadas para cada uma das principais especialidades destes projectos e de aplicação especifica a cada uma das fases de desenvolvimento dos projectos

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Fostering quality in MOOCs: a european approach

Societal, educationaland personal changes have brought Open (Online) Education in the forefront of the global learning setting. One of the most significant challenges behind the EU Modernization Agenda is for education to respond to the characteristics of future students and to new needs in society. According to the Europe 2020 agenda, 40% of young people should complete higher education studies by 2020. The entire European university sector witnesses an increase of student numbers. Conventional learning methods are suboptimalsolutions for these massive student numbers. Thus, important questions and issues arise: How can we anticipate increasing student numbers combined with the likelihood of lower funding? How should we combine online and traditional formats to devise sustainable university business-models? In order to address these challenges Europe is investing in flexible educational solutions as this is embraced by the EC in its Open Educational Resource (OER) agenda. During the last years Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) became very popular: Since the year 2008, when the first MOOC was provided, the number of MOOCs is constantly increasing. The year 2012 was considered as the "Year of the MOOCs". However, MOOCs and OER are a good solution as long as they retain a certain level of quality. So far, experience and practice are leading to an increasing debate about their quality as an educational tool. The high drop-out rates of MOOCs that are typically measured in traditional distance education courses as well as in all formal education settings are discussed causing requests for rebooting MOOCs and the research on them and their quality. This article addresses the open issue of integration of quality approaches and mechanisms into the design of MOOCs through the development of a European MOOC Quality Reference Framework (QRF). The MOOC QRF provides a generic, organisation-wide system to help Higher Education Institutions and external stakeholders to design, develop, monitor, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of MOOCs along with the quality management practices. Based on flexible, configurable quality criteria and indicative descriptors, monitoring and reporting is adapted to organisational needs. The article presents the structure and quality dimensions of the MOOC QRF.It is based on the first international quality standard ISO/IEC 40180 and currently submitted to the European and international standardization committee (CEN TC 353 and ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36) for approval as first quality standard for MOOCs. The MOOC QRF is practical to encompass a wide range of approaches to quality assurance emphasizing that it is the quality of the outcomes that matters most in the design of MOOCs, thus leading to a new era of learning experiences in Europe.This article is supported by MOOQ, the European Alliance for Quality of Massive Open Online Courses (www.MOOC-quality.eu). The vision of MOOQ is to foster and improve quality in MOOCs leading to a new era of learning experiences. MOOQ is partly funded bythe European Commission under the following project number: 2015-1-NL01-KA203-008950.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fostering quality in MOOCs: a european approach

Societal, educationaland personal changes have brought Open (Online) Education in the forefront of the global learning setting. One of the most significant challenges behind the EU Modernization Agenda is for education to respond to the characteristics of future students and to new needs in society. According to the Europe 2020 agenda, 40% of young people should complete higher education studies by 2020. The entire European university sector witnesses an increase of student numbers. Conventional learning methods are suboptimalsolutions for these massive student numbers. Thus, important questions and issues arise: How can we anticipate increasing student numbers combined with the likelihood of lower funding? How should we combine online and traditional formats to devise sustainable university business-models? In order to address these challenges Europe is investing in flexible educational solutions as this is embraced by the EC in its Open Educational Resource (OER) agenda. During the last years Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) became very popular: Since the year 2008, when the first MOOC was provided, the number of MOOCs is constantly increasing. The year 2012 was considered as the "Year of the MOOCs". However, MOOCs and OER are a good solution as long as they retain a certain level of quality. So far, experience and practice are leading to an increasing debate about their quality as an educational tool. The high drop-out rates of MOOCs that are typically measured in traditional distance education courses as well as in all formal education settings are discussed causing requests for rebooting MOOCs and the research on them and their quality. This article addresses the open issue of integration of quality approaches and mechanisms into the design of MOOCs through the development of a European MOOC Quality Reference Framework (QRF). The MOOC QRF provides a generic, organisation-wide system to help Higher Education Institutions and external stakeholders to design, develop, monitor, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of MOOCs along with the quality management practices. Based on flexible, configurable quality criteria and indicative descriptors, monitoring and reporting is adapted to organisational needs. The article presents the structure and quality dimensions of the MOOC QRF.It is based on the first international quality standard ISO/IEC 40180 and currently submitted to the European and international standardization committee (CEN TC 353 and ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36) for approval as first quality standard for MOOCs. The MOOC QRF is practical to encompass a wide range of approaches to quality assurance emphasizing that it is the quality of the outcomes that matters most in the design of MOOCs, thus leading to a new era of learning experiences in Europe.This article is supported by MOOQ, the European Alliance for Quality of Massive Open Online Courses (www.MOOC-quality.eu). The vision of MOOQ is to foster and improve quality in MOOCs leading to a new era of learning experiences. MOOQ is partly funded bythe European Commission under the following project number: 2015-1-NL01-KA203-008950.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nanomedicines for the delivery of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs)

Microbial infections are still among the major public health concerns since several yeasts and fungi, and other pathogenic microorganisms, are responsible for continuous growth of infections and drug resistance against bacteria. Antimicrobial resistance rate is fostering the need to develop new strategies against drug-resistant superbugs. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptide-based molecules of 5–100 amino acids in length, with potent and broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties. They are part of the innate immune system, which can represent a minimal risk of resistance development. These characteristics contribute to the description of these molecules as promising new molecules in the development of new antimicrobial drugs. However, efforts in developing new medicines have not resulted in any decrease of drug resistance yet. Thus, a technological approach on improving existing drugs is gaining special interest. Nanomedicine provides easy access to innovative carriers, which ultimately enable the design and development of targeted delivery systems of the most efficient drugs with increased efficacy and reduced toxicity. Based on performance, successful experiments, and considerable market prospects, nanotechnology will undoubtedly lead a breakthrough in biomedical field also for infectious diseases, as there are several nanotechnological approaches that exhibit important roles in restoring antibiotic activity against resistant bacteria.Elena Sanchez-Lopez belongs to 2017SGR-1477. Elena Sanchez-Lopez, Marta Espina and Maria L. GarciaacknowledgethesupportfromtheInstituteofNanoscienceandNanotechnology(ART2018project). Eliana B. Souto acknowledges the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT/MCT) and European Funds (PRODER/COMPETE) for the projects M-ERA-NET-0004/2015-PAIRED and UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund), co-funded by FEDER, under the partnership Agreement PT2020. Maria C. Teixeira wishes to acknowledge FCT for the individual fellowship (PD/BDE/135086/2017).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio