A distributed order viscoelastic model for small deformations

In this work we discuss the connection between classical, fractional and dis- tributed order viscoelastic Maxwell models, presenting the basic theory supporting these constitutive equations, and establishing some background on the admissibility of the dis- tributed order Maxwell model. We derive the storage and loss modulus functions for the distributed order viscoelastic model and perform a fitting to experimental data. The fitting results are compared with the Maxwell and Fractional Maxwell models.L.L. Ferr´as would also like to thank FCT for financial support through projects UIDB/ 00013/2020 and UIDP/00013/2020. M.L. Morgado aknowledges funding by FCT through project UID/Multi/04621/2019 of CEMAT/IST-ID, Center for Computational and Stochastic Mathematics, Instituto Su perior T´ecnico, University of Lisbon. This work was partially supported by the Funda¸c˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia (Por tuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the project UIDB/00297/2020 (Centro de Matem´atica e Aplica¸c˜oes). The authors also acknowledge financial support from COST Action CA15225, a network supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)

Assessing the involvement of Dis3L1 in mammalian quality control pathways

The exosome is an evolutionarily conserved protein complex that is involved in all aspects of RNA metabolism, namely, RNA decay, processing and quality control. The only catalytic subunit of the core exosome is a 3´end exoribonuclease from the RNase II family of enzymes. In humans, two different homologues of this protein were identified, Dis3 and Dis3L1. While Dis3 mainly localizes in the nucleoplasm and has endonucleolytic activity, Dis3L1 is strictly cytoplasmic and has no endonucleolytic activity. The rapid decay of aberrant transcripts is not completely understood, but it is known that involves both 5’ to 3’ and 3’ to 5’ degradation. Despite that it localizes in the same compartment where NMD generally occurs, nothing is known about the role of Dis3L1 in quality control processes. In this work, we assessed the involvement of Dis3L1 in the 3’ to 5’ degradation of reporter human b-globin transcripts with premature termination and nonstop codons

Production Process Analysis and Improvement of Corrugated Cardboard Industry

This work was developed into a corrugated cardboard industrial company. In this sector are produced plans resulting from the union between corrugated cardboard produced and the sheets printed in the previous sector. The PDCA cycle was the main methodology used in this work. Firstly, the initial state of the production was analyzed by data collection in both existent lines and it was concluded that a great variability of the parameters was being used in the process for similar works. The main problems in the process were identified and it was concluded that warp and detached plans were the main reasons for concern. It was implemented a set of measures to reduce these incidences. Control charts were implemented to the starch glue and through the analysis of these charts and cause-effect diagrams several changes to the starch glue circuit and to its own recipe were implemented. The steam pressure of the boiler was reduced from 12 bar to 8 bar and a table with temperatures regarding each paper weight was implemented. The results obtained show that the percentage of waste in the sector was reduced from values ranging between 9 and 12% to values around 4%. Regarding starch glue consumption, it dropped from 11 g/m2 to 8 g/m2. The energy consumption, namely gas, showed a saving of 9%. Thus, this work represents an important contribute to the sector, allowing energy savings and quality and competitiveness improvements.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization of the bacterial population in water dams of the Sado watershed

As barragens são fundamentais para a gestão dos recursos hídricos. Estas infraestruturas permitem regular os caudais e aproveitar a água para diversas atividades como a agricultura, pecuária, captação para consumo humano e turismo (p.e. praias fluviais e despor tos aquáticos). Neste estudo, foi avaliada a flora bacteriana (planctónica e organizada em biofilmes) presente em 4 barragens da bacia hidrográfica do rio Sado. A caracterização da flora bacteriana presente para além de permitir a caracterização do ecossistema permite inferir sobre potenciais riscos para a saúde humana decorrentes dos diversos usos da água.Water dams are crucial for water management. These inf rastructures al low the control of water f lows and usage of water for acti vi ties such as agr iculture, li vestock, for human consumption and tour ism (e.g. beaches and aquatic spor ts). In this study, the bacter ial f lora present in four dams located at the hydrographic basin of Sado r i ver was evaluated (plank tonic and organized in biof ilms). The character ization of the bacter ial f lora al lows the character ization of the ecosystem and speculate about the potential r isks for human heal th caused by water usage for di f ferent applications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Delignification of Cistus ladanifer biomass by organosolv and alkali processes

Residues of Cistus ladanifer obtained after commercial steam distillation for essential oil production were evaluated to produce cellulose enriched solids and added-value lignin-derived compounds. The delignification of extracted (CLRext) and extracted and hydrothermally pretreated biomass (CLRtreat) was studied using two organosolv processes, ethanol/water mixtures (EO), and alkali-catalyzed glycerol (AGO), and by an alkali (sodium hydroxide) process (ASP) under different reaction conditions. The phenolic composition of soluble lignin was determined by capillary zone electrophoresis and by Py-GC/MS, which was also used to establish the monomeric composition of both the delignified solids and isolated lignin. The enzymatic saccharification of the delignified solids was also evaluated. The ASP (4% NaOH, 2 h) lead to both the highest delignification and enzymatic saccharification (87% and 79%, respectively). A delignification of 76% and enzymatic hydrolysis yields of 72% were obtained for AGO (4% NaOH) while EO processes led to lower delignification (maximum lignin removal 29%). The residual lignin in the delignified solids were enriched in Gand H-units, with S-units being preferentially removed. The main phenolics present in the ASP and AGO liquors were vanillic acid and epicatechin, while gallic acid was the main phenolic in the EO liquors. The results showed that C. ladanifer residues can be a biomass source for the production of lignin-derivatives and glucan-rich solids to be further used in bioconversion processesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

a modelling study for Portugal

Funding Information: The authors acknowledge financial support from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT through project “Projection of the Impact of Non-pharmacological real-time Control and mitigation measures for the COVID-19 epidemic” (COVID-19 in-CTRL) - project n° 692 from the 2nd edition of RESEARCH 4 COVID-19. The first author also acknowledges FCT within the PhD grants program “DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19”, Grant No 2020.10172.BD. The second author also acknowledges FCT within projects UIDB/04621/2020 and UIDP/04621/2020. The third author also acknowledges FCT within the Strategic Project UIDB/00297 /2020 (Centro de Matemática e Aplicações, Universidade Nova de Lisboa ). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)Vaccination strategies to control COVID-19 have been ongoing worldwide since the end of 2020. Understanding their possible effect is key to prevent future disease spread. Using a modelling approach, this study intends to measure the impact of the COVID-19 Portuguese vaccination strategy on the effective reproduction number and explore three scenarios for vaccine effectiveness waning. Namely, the no-immunity-loss, 1-year and 3-years of immunity duration scenarios. We adapted an age-structured SEIR deterministic model and used Portuguese hospitalisation data for the model calibration. Results show that, although the Portuguese vaccination plan had a substantial impact in reducing overall transmission, it might not be sufficient to control disease spread. A significant vaccination coverage of those above 5 years old, a vaccine effectiveness against disease of at least 80% and softer non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as mask usage and social distancing, would be necessary to control disease spread in the worst scenario considered. The immunity duration scenario of 1-year displays a resurgence of COVID-19 hospitalisations by the end of 2021, the same is observed in 3-year scenario although with a lower magnitude. The no-immunity-loss scenario presents a low increase in hospitalisations. In both the 1-year and 3-year scenarios, a vaccination boost of those above 65 years old would result in a 53% and 38% peak reduction of non-ICU hospitalisations, respectively. These results suggest that NPIs should not be fully phased-out but instead be combined with a fast booster vaccination strategy to reduce healthcare burden.publishersversionpublishe

Frequency and functional activity of Th17, Tc17 and other T-cell subsets in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

To compare frequency and functional activity of peripheral blood (PB) Th(c)17, Th(c)1 and Treg cells and the amount of type 2 cytokines mRNA we recruited SLE patients in active (n = 15) and inactive disease (n = 19) and healthy age- and gender-matched controls (n = 15). The study of Th(c)17, Th(c)1 and Treg cells was done by flow cytometry and cytokine mRNA by real-time PCR. Compared to NC, SLE patients present an increased proportion of Th(c)17 cells, but with lower amounts of IL-17 per cell and also a decreased frequency of Treg, but with increased production of TGF-b and FoxP3 mRNA. In active compared to inactive SLE, there is a marked decreased in frequency of Th(c)1 cells, an increased production of type 2 cytokines mRNA and a distinct functional profile of Th(c)17 cells. Our findings suggest a functional disequilibrium of T-cell subsets in SLE which may contribute to the inflammatory process and disease pathogenesis

Numerical solution for diffusion equations with distributed order in time using a Chebyshev collocation method

In this work we present a new numerical method for the solution of the distributed order time fractional diffusion equation. The method is based on the approximation of the solution by a double Chebyshev truncated series, and the subsequent collocation of the resulting discretised system of equations at suitable collocation points. An error analysis is provided and a comparison with other methods used in the solution of this type of equation is also performed

COOPEDU IV — Cooperação e Educação de Qualidade

O quarto Congresso Internacional de Cooperação e Educação-IV COOPEDU, organizado pelo Centro de Estudos Internacionais (CEI) do Instituto Universitário de Lisboa e pela Escola Superior de Educação e Ciências Sociais do Instituto Politécnico de Leiria decorreu nos dias 8 e 9 de novembro de 2018, subordinado à temática Cooperação e Educação de Qualidade. Este congresso insere-se numa linha de continuidade de intervenção por parte das duas instituições organizadoras e dos elementos coordenadores e este ano beneficiou do financiamento do Instituto Camões, obtido através de um procedimento concursal, que nos permitiu contar com a participação presencial de elementos dos Países Africanos de Língua Portuguesa, fortemente implicados nas problemáticas da Educação e da Formação. Contou também com a participação do Instituto Camões e da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, entidades que sistematizaram a sua intervenção nos domínios da cooperação na área da educação nos últimos anos. A opção pela temática da qualidade pareceu aos organizadores pertinente e actual. Com efeito os sistemas educativos dos países que constituem a Comunidade de países de língua portuguesa têm implementado várias reformas mas em vários domínios mantem-se a insatisfação de responsáveis políticos, pedagogos, técnicos sociais face aos resultados obtidos. Aliás o caminho de procura da Qualidade é interminável porque vai a par da aposta na exigência e na promoção da cidadania e responsabilidade social. As comunicações que agora se publicam estão organizadas em dois eixos: o das Políticas da Educação e Formação e o das dimensões em que se traduzem essas políticas. Neste último eixo encontramos fios condutores para agregarmos as comunicações apresentadas