Modelação da resposta de sistemas sensores ópticos fluorescentes para pH, Mg(II), Al(III) e Zn(II)

Dissertação de Mestrado em Química apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Port

Inovação em Eficiência Energética num Pavilhão Desportivo

Na sociedade atual a eficiência energética é um fator determinante para a sustentabilidade de qualquer edifício, como é o caso dos pavilhões desportivos. Este é um caso particular onde os consumos excessivos de energia podem trazer custos bastante onerosos para os respetivos clubes, podendo mesmo colocar em causa a sua existência. As respetivas instalações estudadas apresentam bastantes lacunas no que diz respeito a utilização racional de energia, sendo que em muitos casos se encontrou consumos excessivos em vários pontos da instalação juntamente com um pobre desempenho energético dos equipamentos elétricos, podendo existir varias medidas a adotar para melhorar estes aspetos. Por outro lado, o aumento sucessivo do custo da energia elétrica faz com que seja cada vez mais importante encontrar soluções que diminuam a dependência sobre esta fonte de energia, rocurando para tal que a instalação possa produzir para colmatar as suas próprias necessidades. Contudo, a liberalização do mercado de energia veio ajudar em muito a solucionar este problema, pois deixando de existir uma hegemonia neste setor é mais fácil discutir e baixar preços que sejam benéficos para os consumidores. Em suma, as respetivas propostas apresentadas ao longo desta dissertação pretendem propor medidas, algumas inovadoras, para solucionar todos os problemas encontrados, tendo empre em conta o principal foco da utilização eficiente e racional da energia. Nas medidas apresentadas, foram calculadas as respetivas poupanças e retornos de investimento de forma a que se pudesse avaliar a viabilidade de cada uma das soluções, assim como os benefícios em termos de faturação que a instalação terá ao longo do tempo.In today’s society, energy efficiency is a key factor for the sustainability of any building, as is the case of sports halls. This is a particular case where the excessive energy consumption can bring extreamly high costs for the respective clubs, and may even jeopardize their existence. The respective studied facilities have enough gaps regarding the rational use of energy, and in many cases, excessive consumption in various points of the installation ally to a poor energy performance of electrical equipment where several steps could be implemented to make improvements in this matter. On the other hand, the successive increase in electricity cost makes it increasingly important to find solutions that reduce the dependence on this source of energy, as the installation can produce energy to meet its own needs. However, the liberalization of the energy market has helped a lot to solve this problem, for failing to be a hegemony in this sector is easier to discuss and lower prices that are beneficial to consumers. In short, the respective proposals presented throughout this thesis (paper) intend to propose measures, some innovative, to solve all the problems encountered, taking into account the main focus of efficient and rational use of energy. In the presented measures the respective savings and paybacks were calculated so that the viability of each solution could be assessed, as well as the benefits, considering the improvement in expenses the installation will have over time

Sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoiden ohjaus- ja perehdytysmateriaalin arviointi kirurgisilla vuodeosastoilla

Tämä opinnäytetyö tehtiin opinnäyteyhteistyössä HUS/HYKS:n operatiivisen tulosyksikön sekä Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulun kanssa. Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli arvioida sairaanhoitajille ja sairaanhoitajaopiskelijoille suunnattua ohjaus- ja perehdytysmateriaalia kirurgisilla vuodeosastoilla. Työn tavoitteena on kehittää kyseisen tulosyksikön opiskelijaohjausta. Aineisto kerättiin HUS/ HYKS:n operatiivisen tulosyksikön neljältä kirurgiselta vuodeosastolta. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin laadullisella tutkimusmenetelmällä ja aineisto analysoitiin induktiivisen sisällönanalyysin periaatteita noudattaen. Analyysin perusteella sairaanhoitajan ohjausmateriaalin keskeisimmiksi sisällöiksi muodostuivat opiskelijan ohjaus ja sairaanhoitajan ammatillinen osaaminen. Sairaanhoitajaopiskelijan perehdytysmateriaalin keskeisimmiksi sisällöiksi muodostuivat kirurgisen potilaan hoito-työn osaaminen ja opiskelijan rooli harjoittelussa. Ohjaus- ja perehdytysmateriaalit on tärkeä tarkastaa ajoittain ja päivittää niiden sisällöt. Osastoille on hyvä tehdä omista erikoisosaamisen materiaaleista erikseen oma kansio, jolloin ohjaus- ja perehdytyskansion sisältö ei ole niin vaikealukuinen ja kansion perimmäinen tarkoitus ja idea on tällöin selkeämmin luettavissa.This final project was carried out in cooperation with HUS the Operatiivinen tulosyksikkö and the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of this final project was to evaluate the nurses´ and nursing students´ introduction material for surgical wards. The aim is to develop nursing students´ guidance of the business unit. The data for this final project was collected from four separate surgical wards. The final project was conducted by using qualitative methods and the data was analyzed by the means of inductive content analysis. Based on the analysis, the core content of the nurses´ introduction material consisted of student guidance and nurse´s professional expertise. The core content of the nursing students´ introduction material consisted of expertise of surgical nursing and student´s role in clinical practice. It is important to check the guidance and introduction materials frequently and update the contents. It is good to make a separate folder for the wards of their special material, therefore the contents of guidance and introduction folder will not be as uneasy and the ultimate meaning and idea of the folder will then be more easy to read

Sustainable Desalinator - An EPS@ISEP 2016 Project

The European Project Semester (EPS) is a one semester capstone project/internship framework offered by the EPS providers to engineering, product design and business undergraduates. While a student-centred project-based learning offer, EPS proposes a unique multidisciplinary and multicultural teamwork set up to promote soft, technical and scientific competencies. In the spring of 2016, the EPS at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) welcomed a team of engineering students who chose to develop a sustainable water desalinator, the working principle relying on solar energy and natural temperature differences to convert saline water into fresh water. This paper describes the team's journey, including the motivation, the solution design process, considering the technical & scientific state of the art as well as the potential impact in terms of ethics, sustainability and marketing, and the development and testing of the prototype. The results obtained validate the purpose of the developed system since a significant reduction of the salt water conductivity, to values of the same order of magnitude of tap water, were observed. Although improvements can be made, the desalinator prototype produced 70 ml/d of distilled water in late spring and 7 ml/d in midwinter atmospheric conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Learning Sustainability with EPS@ISEP – Development of an Insectarium

8th International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education (PAEE)Sustainability plays a key role in EPS@ISEP programme - the European Project Semester programme at the School of Engineering of the Polytechnics of Porto. Not just the environmental, but also economical (marketing) and social (ethics) perspectives are explored by multicultural teams during this one semester capstone/internship programme. In 2015, a team of EPS@ISEP students choose to design and develop an insectarium to grow insects for reptile feeding. The team, after exploiting the topic, contemplated growing insects not only for animal feed, but also for human food. Their motivation resulted from the fact that insects, when compared with traditional sources of protein, are more sustainable, i.e., require considerably less resources per kg of protein. This approach, in the current Earth’s population growth scenario, contributes to minimise the resources required for meeting food needs. The main goal of the proposal was to raise the awareness of the participants regarding sustainable development while creating a functional, cost-effective, ecofriendly and attractive prototype. The team, driven by this multidisciplinary problem, performed: (i) a survey of competing products; (ii) a selection of the insect species to grow based on the study and comparison of the life cycle and habitat requirements of different species of insects; (iii) a marketing plan; (iv) a sustainability and an ethic and deontological analysis of the proposed solution; and (v) the design, assembling and testing of the prototype. Furthermore, the students also developed cross-cultural understanding, teamwork and communication skills. The project provided an excellent opportunity to foster the concept of sustainable development amongst the students

Six Collective Challenges for Sustainability of Almería Greenhouse Horticulture

Globally, current food consumption and trade are placing unprecedented demand on agricultural systems and increasing pressure on natural resources, requiring tradeoffs between food security and environmental impacts especially given the tension between market-driven agriculture and agro-ecological goals. In order to illustrate the wicked social, economic and environmental challenges and processes to find transformative solutions, we focus on the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world located in the semi-arid coastal plain of South-east Spain. Almería family farming, predominantly cooperative, greenhouse intensive production, commenced after the 1960s and has resulted in very significant social and economic benefits for the region, while also having important negative environmental and biodiversity impacts, as well as creating new social challenges. The system currently finds itself in a crisis of diminishing economic benefits and increasing environmental and social dilemmas. Here, we present the outcomes of multi-actor, transdisciplinary research to review and provide collective insights for solutions-oriented research on the sustainability of Almeria’s agricultural sector. The multi-actor, transdisciplinary process implemented collectively, and supported by scientific literature, identified six fundamental challenges to transitioning to an agricultural model that aims to ameliorate risks and avoid a systemic collapse, whilst balancing a concern for profitability with sustainability: (1) Governance based on a culture of shared responsibility for sustainability, (2) Sustainable and efficient use of water, (3) Biodiversity conservation, (4) Implementing a circular economy plan, (5) Technology and knowledge transfer, and (6) Image and identity. We conclude that the multi-actor transdisciplinary approach successfully facilitated the creation of a culture of shared responsibility among public, private, academic, and civil society actors. Notwithstanding plural values, challenges and solutions identified by consensus point to a nascent acknowledgement of the strategic necessity to locate agricultural economic activity within social and environmental spheres.This paper demonstrates the need to establish transdisciplinary multi-actor work-schemes to continue collaboration and research for the transition to an agro-ecological model as a means to remain competitive and to create value

ClimCast: os novos desafios para o souto no contexto de alterações climáticas

Uma rede de Soutos e Estações Meteorológicas . Determinação das necessidades de calor para cada estado fenológica em cada uma das variedades em estudo no projeto ClimCast. Evolução temporal da produtividade observada e simulada para o período 1980/1981 a 2017/2018.Financiado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) e pelo Estado Português no âmbito da Ação 1.1 "Grupos Operacionais", integrado na Medida I "Inovação" do PDR2020 - Programa de Desenvolvimento Rural do Continenteinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Low Penetrance, Broad Resistance, and Favorable Outcome of Interleukin 12 Receptor β1 Deficiency: Medical and Immunological Implications

The clinical phenotype of interleukin 12 receptor β1 chain (IL-12Rβ1) deficiency and the function of human IL-12 in host defense remain largely unknown, due to the small number of patients reported. We now report 41 patients with complete IL-12Rβ1 deficiency from 17 countries. The only opportunistic infections observed, in 34 patients, were of childhood onset and caused by weakly virulent Salmonella or Mycobacteria (Bacille Calmette-Guérin -BCG- and environmental Mycobacteria). Three patients had clinical tuberculosis, one of whom also had salmonellosis. Unlike salmonellosis, mycobacterial infections did not recur. BCG inoculation and BCG disease were both effective against subsequent environmental mycobacteriosis, but not against salmonellosis. Excluding the probands, seven of the 12 affected siblings have remained free of case-definition opportunistic infection. Finally, only five deaths occurred in childhood, and the remaining 36 patients are alive and well. Thus, a diagnosis of IL-12Rβ1 deficiency should be considered in children with opportunistic mycobacteriosis or salmonellosis; healthy siblings of probands and selected cases of tuberculosis should also be investigated. The overall prognosis is good due to broad resistance to infection and the low penetrance and favorable outcome of infections. Unexpectedly, human IL-12 is redundant in protective immunity against most microorganisms other than Mycobacteria and Salmonella. Moreover, IL-12 is redundant for primary immunity to Mycobacteria and Salmonella in many individuals and for secondary immunity to Mycobacteria but not to Salmonella in most

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016