O efeito da redução do habitat causado por estradas no uso do espaço e padrões de movimento de um roedor ameaçado

Nesta dissertação pretendo avaliar como a redução do habitat devido à presença de estradas afecta o uso do espaço e padrões de movimento de um roedor ameaçado. A espécie alvo é o rato de Cabrera (Microtus cabrerae), um endemismo Ibérico com estatuto Nacional de “Vulnerável”. Foram selecionadas duas parcelas de habitat com diferentes níveis de influência de estradas: uma mais pequena e exposta a estradas (a Berma) e outra maior e menos exposta a estas infra-estruturas (Prado). Os resultados mostraram que os indivíduos da Berma tiveram áreas vitais mais reduzidas e menos complexas que as dos indivíduos do Prado. Os padrões de movimento foram influenciados pelo período do dia apenas na Berma. Os dados mostraram um efeito barreira das estradas em ambas as parcelas de habitat, embora mais forte na Berma. Este estudo mostra que o uso do espaço e os padrões de movimento poderão ser afectados pela redução de habitat causada pela presença das estradas; Abstract In this dissertation I intend to assess how the habitat encroachment by roads affects the space use and movement patterns of an endangered vole. The target species is the Cabrera vole (Microtus cabrerae), an Iberian endemism considered “Vulnerable” at the national level. Two habitat patches with different degrees of encroachment by roads were selected: one more encroached (Verge) and one less encroached (Meadow). Results showed that individuals from the Verge had smaller and less complex home ranges than those of individuals from the Meadow. Movement patterns were influenced by the day period only in the Verge patch. The data showed a barrier effect on both habitat patches, although stronger in the Verge. The present study shows that space use and movement patterns might be affected by the habitat encroachment by roads

Análise de conteúdo dos programas e manuais sobre a biodiversidade no ensino básico (1.º ciclo)

A actual e continuada degradação do meio ambiente resultante da acção do Homem constitui uma ameaça à diversidade biológica, que é em grande parte desconhecida, visto não haver um conhecimento total dessa realidade. Dado que uma das vertentes para a conservação da diversidade biológica é a Educação Ambiental surgiu assim a questão que orienta a presente investigação: Que preocupações e conceitos transmite o ensino formal sobre a diversidade biológica? Para responder a esta questão optamos pela análise de conteúdo aplicando-a em dois objectos de estudo, sendo eles: 1) Programa e competências do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico; 2) Manuais escolares do 2.º e 3.º anos de 4 editoras diferentes sobre o Estudo do Meio. Para realizar esta análise construíram-se várias categorias à priori com o objectivo de estudar os seguintes eixos: 1) local vs global; 2) visão antropocêntrica vs visão biocêntrica; 3) visão pessimista vs visão optimista; perspectiva ambientalista vs perspectiva educativa; complexidade vs simplicidade; e, quanto à parte icónica dos manuais, 6) imagem-forma vs imagemfunção. Como síntese dos resultados obtidos podemos concluir que as orientações fornecidas pelo Programa e competências, e pelos manuais, os conteúdos encaminham-nos para uma abordagem a partir do meio local assumindo uma visão antropocêntrica, pois as classificações dos seres vivos surgem, fundamentalmente, em relação às necessidades do Homem. Ao reconhecerem a existência de problemas ambientais procuram encontrar soluções para os combater encaminhando-nos desta forma para uma visão optimista. Através das orientações fornecidas, consideramos que estas assumem uma perspectiva educativa, iniciando as orientações com uma visão simplista da realidade, pois, principalmente no 2.º ano do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, são abordados vários aspectos dos seres vivos de uma forma isolada. Estes resultados serão apresentados e discutidos em detalhe

Fungal silver nanoparticles

Este resumo faz parte de: Book of abstracts of the Meeting of the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2, Braga, Portugal, 2010. A versão completa do livro de atas está disponível em: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/1096

Design, Construction and Validation of a New Generation of Bioreactors for Tissue Engineering Applications.

132 p.The thesis reports on the design, fabrication and validation of a new generation of bioreactors for cell culture stimulation, in order to improve cell proliferation in advanced tissue engineering strategies. Bioreactors are developed to take advantage of responsive materials allowing to mimic cell microenvironments, resembling some of the most common physical stimuli within the human body. Some stimuli can be produced by polymer-based scaffolds such as magnetoelectric, which can work as mechanical and electrical actuators.Two types of bioreactors were developed: one for bone tissue engineering through magnetoelectric stimulation (through mechanical vibration and piezoelectricity) and another for muscle tissue engineering through mechanical stretching and controlled current impulses.This project encompasses several fields of engineering such as device engineering, design, mechanics and electronics, having also into account proper material selection and the final biomedical application

Localized magnetic moments with tunable spin exchange in a gas of ultracold fermions

We report on the experimental realization of a state-dependent lattice for a two-orbital fermionic quantum gas with strong interorbital spin exchange. In our state-dependent lattice, the ground and metastable excited electronic states of $^{173}$Yb take the roles of itinerant and localized magnetic moments, respectively. Repulsive on-site interactions in conjunction with the tunnel mobility lead to spin exchange between mobile and localized particles, modeling the coupling term in the well-known Kondo Hamiltonian. In addition, we find that this exchange process can be tuned resonantly by varying the on-site confinement. We attribute this to a resonant coupling to center-of-mass excited bound states of one interorbital scattering channel

Fungal nanotechnology

Due to the outbreak of infectious diseases caused by different pathogenic microorganisms and the development of drug resistance, nanoscale materials have emerged up as novel antimicrobial agents and the well known activity of silver ions and silver-based compounds has promoted research in this field. For this reason, there is an essential need to develop environmentally benign procedures for synthesis of silver nanoparticles for commercialization purposes. In this study, silver nanoparticles were synthesised extracellularly from silver nitrate using the fungi supplied by Micoteca da Universidade do Minho (MUM) fungal culture collection, and the morphology of the nanoparticles was characterised The potential to manipulate key parameters, which control growth and other cellular activities, to achieve an optimised production of nanoparticles were also investigated. In addition, a preliminary study was performed to assess the anti-fungal silver nanoparticles activity against bacteria

Tsunami Hazard Assessment at Oeiras Municipality, Portugal

Portugal has had several large tsunamis in the past, yet Oeiras municipality has not implemented mitigation strategies and awareness to the general public, to the authors’ knowledge. In addition, Oeiras has 10 beaches that are very popular among residents and tourists, who can become at high risk of a potential tsunami if they do not evacuate from the low ground areas on time. Thus, the tsunami numerical model of the 1755 event was carried out to calculate the inundation, complemented with a field survey, in order to assess the tsunami evacuation conditions of the beaches. The results show the tsunami hits Oeiras municipality 26 to 36 min after the earthquake, inundating all the beaches. The local tsunami hazard classification is Low on 3 beaches, Moderate on 1 beach, High on 5 beaches, and Critical on 1 beach. In addition, there are no tsunami evacuation signs to guide the people to move to higher ground. Therefore, it is important to conduct mitigation strategies to avoid and reduce fatalities in a future tsunami.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A contribuição da competência relacional do empreendedor para aperfeiçoar a qualidade de relacionamento entre empresas de base tecnológica

ABSTRACTThe dynamic and interdependent nature of contemporary businesses requires a more open-minded conceptualization of entrepreneurial behavior, especially in regards to the acquisition of capital. It also requires an approach that is based in the study of relationships. Many partnerships fail due to the inability of an entrepreneur to develop and maintain successful relationships with partners on an interpersonal level. By means of content analysis, we describe how relationship building skills can enhance the quality of interpersonal relationships in high-tech businesses in the Recife metropolitan area. The results reveal that competence in maintaining relationships and the performance of the partnership are important aspects in terms of the quality of articulation among agents in a network. The relative bargaining power between partners and efforts at consensus building between agents are fundamental elements for negotiating and maintaining healthy relationships. An entrepreneur’s stability and endurance within social networks occurs primarily from competence in building and maintaining relationships and through the development of alliances. This is shown to be a key element for a successful partnership