The agro-industrial system regional sustainable development, a coherent strategy

The agro-industrial system represents annually circa 3,6 x 109 € in the formation of the Centro Region of Portugal gross income and that accounts for 39% of the Portuguese overall return for this sector. Given this dynamics it is of utmost importance to perform a consistent strategy to promote the sustainable growth of this regional system income. Therefore, the CERNAS/IPC research unit has developed an integrated approach bringing together several regional actors under a networking logic that links the industrial needs with the academia R&D capabilities, and of capacity building and entrepreneurship (2011-2013). This strategy is rooted in the InovCluster, where CERNAS leads two anchor projects, the in_AGRI and the ECODEEP, and collaborates with a third one, the AGRITRAINING. The in_AGRI aims the upgrade of the system value chains by bridging the academia with the industry in a series of workshops, supported with a knowledge transfer platform and a network of research facilities, and ECODEEP will develop eco-efficiency tools, based on a LCA approach to enhance the overall sustainability by improving practises and find new solutions within an industrial ecology framework. The AGRITRAINING surveys the training needs of the system, looking forward to complement the actual capacity building achieved by the Master courses in Food Engineering and Environmental Management. In addition, an advanced training in Environmental Entrepreneurship is being implemented, and an Innovation Management for SME’s program is being designed, promoting a cultural change towards the sustainable welfare of our present and future generations.InAGRI – Proj. n.º 3494 (Mais Centro/PORC); EcoDeep – Proj. n.º 18643 (SIAC/COMPETE/POFC); InovEnergy– Proj. n.º 18642 (SIAC/COMPETE/POFC); Agritraining – Proj. n.º 8310 (SIAC/COMPETE/POFC); GovCluster –Proj. n.º 8063 (SIAC/COMPETE/POFC

Metal contaminants in Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) collected in large dams from Tejo River basin and small irrigation dams

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is a very important fresh water fish in the Portuguese regional cuisine mainly in the countryside (Central region and north Alentejo). Because there’s no aquaculture industry, all eaten largemouth bass in Portugal are collected in large dams (Basins of Tejo and Guadiana rivers) and small irrigation dams. For decades, the Tejo River received environmental pollutants from non-point and point sources that included intensive agriculture, industrial entities, municipalities and nuclear power plant. The aim of this work was to evaluate some metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Pb, Zn) present on largemouth bass muscle tissue collected in the section of Tejo River that makes border between Portugal and Spain (TR) (N=9) and collected in three irrigation reservoirs (IR) located near Castelo Branco – Portugal (N=11). Individual were weighted and measured. Age was determined by examining fish scales, and sex determined by gonads observation. Samples for liver, dorsolateral muscle and tail muscle were collected from the right side of the fish. TR average weight 435.14g (±109.15), average length 278.33mm (±23.28), average K condition factor 1.98 (±0.09) and average age 3.11 years (±0,78) were similar (P>0.05) to IR average weight 410.84g (±137.71), average length 278.36mm (±31.13), average K condition factor 1.86 (±0.17) and average age 3.18 years (±0,60). Total mercury was determined in freeze-dried samples by atomic absorption spectrometry with thermal decomposition and gold amalgamation. For the other metal analysis, freeze-dried powders were mineralized with a mixture of HNO3 and H2O2, followed by ICP-OES quantification. Cd and Pb presented concentrations below LOQ (0.025 and 0.15mg.kg-1wet.weight, respectively) for all muscle samples. These values are below legal limits in EU (0.05 and 0.3mg.kg-1wet.weight, respectively). Average Hg levels are below legal limits (0.5mg.kg-1wet.weight) and muscle presented higher levels than liver. These contaminant levels indicate that are no contamination sources in the sampling sites. Cu, Cr, Fe, Mn and Zn are essential micronutrients. Their concentrations were not significantly different between dorsal and tail muscle and were higher in liver (P>0.05), with mean concentrations on muscle being, respectively: TR 0.16 (±0.07), <LOQ(0.03), 1.45 (±0.42), 0.04 (±0.04) and 3.76 (±0.39) mg.kg-1wet.weight; IR 0.16 (±0.02), <LOQ(0.03), 1.80 (±0.52), 0.05 (±0.05) and 4.17 (±0.56) mg.kg-1wet.weight. We concluded that metallic concentrations of largemouth bass muscle tissues were below the maximum permissible for a safety utilization of theses fishes in human nutrition

Analysis and improvement of the packaging sector of an industrial company

Manual operations in manufacturing companies are still a common practice. This often results in high costs, high cycle times and therefore in lower productivity, particularly for companies operating in western countries. This is why many manufacturing companies relocated their production facilities in low age countries. This study was developed at a leading Portuguese material construction manufacturing company. The objective was to improve the packaging and labeling processes, that were identified as main bottlenecks in the factory. Lean was used to streamline these processes before being automated. This allowed for annual savings of 12432 €, with human operators being reallocated to other departments where they are more useful. Furthermore, cycle times were reduced by 42,9%, non-value-added activities were minimized, and operations with potentially high ergonomic risks were eliminated. In addition, a reduction of 84,3% in lithographed packaging was achieved, with a cost reduction of around 36 000 €/year, which is expected to continue in the forthcoming years.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lean manufacturing applied to a wiring production process

This project was carried out at a company in the electric mobility sector, which manufactures chargers for electric vehicles, specifically in the wiring section. The main objective of the developed work was to improve the production processes in order to enhance responsiveness to the growing demand. After analyzing the processes in the section, the objectives were outlined to enable the improvement of some practices in the production department, such as the ones related to the organization of the raw material supermarket, as well as the calculation of the wiring consumption by chargers, and the implementation of a production control system. After the improvement actions were implemented, it was possible to observe a 14,9% reduction in the changeover process of the cable cutting process; weekly wiring consumptions were estimated, and procedures were defined to generate orders of raw material and supply to the workstation, which led to the elimination of stock shortages. In addition, worker autonomy increased and production downtime was reduced.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

From Megawatts to Kilowatts: A Review of Small Wind Turbine Applications, Lessons From The US to Brazil

Increased use of fossil fuels has contributed to global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, which has led countries to implement policies that favor the gradual replacement of their use with renewable energy sources. Wind expansion in Brazil is a success story, but its adherence to distributed generation is still a big challenge. In this context, the authors of this paper argue that the development of robust and viable distributed power grids will also depend in the future on improving small wind generation as an important alternative to the diversity of decentralized power grids. In this study, the authors present an overview of the small-sized Aeolic (or wind) energy market in Brazil, with the objective to support the debate regarding its expansion. Promoting the small wind market in Brazil is still a big challenge, but lessons can be learned from the United States. In this context, the article uses the United States learning curve, analyzing barriers that were found, as well as public policies implemented to overcome them. The lessons learned in the American market may guide public policies aimed at fostering this technology in Brazil. If technological improvements, certification and introduction of financial incentives were implemented in Brazil, the small wind industry chain could grow substantially, building a trajectory to promote the low carbon economy

An EST-based analysis identifies new genes and reveals distinctive gene expression features of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora

Background: Coffee is one of the world’s most important crops; it is consumed worldwide and plays a significant role in the economy of producing countries. Coffea arabica and C. canephora are responsible for 70 and 30% of commercial production, respectively. C. arabica is an allotetraploid from a recent hybridization of the diploid species, C. canephora and C. eugenioides. C. arabica has lower genetic diversity and results in a higher quality beverage than C. canephora. Research initiatives have been launched to produce genomic and transcriptomic data about Coffea spp. as a strategy to improve breeding efficiency. Results: Assembling the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of C. arabica and C. canephora produced by the Brazilian Coffee Genome Project and the Nestlé-Cornell Consortium revealed 32,007 clusters of C. arabica and 16,665 clusters of C. canephora. We detected different GC3 profiles between these species that are related to their genome structure and mating system. BLAST analysis revealed similarities between coffee and grape (Vitis vinifera) genes. Using KA/KS analysis, we identified coffee genes under purifying and positive selection. Protein domain and gene ontology analyses suggested differences between Coffea spp. data, mainly in relation to complex sugar synthases and nucleotide binding proteins. OrthoMCL was used to identify specific and prevalent coffee protein families when compared to five other plant species. Among the interesting families annotated are new cystatins, glycine-rich proteins and RALF-like peptides. Hierarchical clustering was used to independently group C. arabica and C. canephora expression clusters according to expression data extracted from EST libraries, resulting in the identification of differentially expressed genes. Based on these results, we emphasize gene annotation and discuss plant defenses, abiotic stress and cup quality-related functional categories. Conclusion: We present the first comprehensive genome-wide transcript profile study of C. arabica and C. canephora, which can be freely assessed by the scientific community at http://www.lge.ibi.unicamp.br/ coffea. Our data reveal the presence of species-specific/prevalent genes in coffee that may help to explain particular characteristics of these two crops. The identification of differentially expressed transcripts offers a starting point for the correlation between gene expression profiles and Coffea spp. developmental traits, providing valuable insights for coffee breeding and biotechnology, especially concerning sugar metabolism and stress tolerance

Hypothalamic Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Of Overtrained Mice After Recovery

knowing the relationship between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and inflammation and based on the fact that downhill running-based overtraining (OT) model increases hypothalamus levels of some pro-inflammatory cytokines, we verified the effects of three OT protocols on the levels of BiP, pIRE-1 (Ser734), pPERK (Thr981), pelF2alpha (Ser52), ATF-6 and GRP-94 proteins in the mouse hypothalamus after two weeks of recovery. Methods: the mice were randomized into control (CT), overtrained by downhill running (OTR/down), overtrained by uphill running (OTR/up) and overtrained by running without inclination (OTR) groups. After 2-week total recovery period (i.e., week 10), hypothalamus was removed and used for immunoblotting. Results: The OTR/down group exhibited high levels of BiP and ATF6. The other OT protocols showed higher levels of pPERK (Th981) and pelf-2alpha (Ser52) when compared with the CT group. Conclusion: The current results suggest that after a 2-week total recovery period, the overtrained groups increased partially their ER stress protein levels, but without hypothalamic inflammation, which characterizes a physiological condition related to an adaptation mechanism.2

How does reproductive strategy influence demography? A case study in the tropical, unisexual epiphyllous moss Crossomitrium patrisiae

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Leaf-inhabiting organisms offer an experimentally tractable model system within which to investigate the influence of alternative reproductive strategies on plant metapopulation dynamics. We conducted a field study to determine whether (1) threshold colony sizes exist for the onset of sexual and asexual expression, and (2) alternative reproductive strategies differentially influence within-patch dynamics of the tropical pleurocarpous moss Crossomitrium patrisiae. METHODS: The growth, reproduction, and fate of 2101 colonies of C. patrisiae were followed over 2 years to investigate threshold size and age for sporophyte and brood branch formation and their influence on within-patch growth rates and longevity. KEY RESULTS: Asexual expression rather than sexual onset was limited by a minimal colony size. Age was uncoupled with threshold sizes. Colonies bearing brood branches survived nearly twice as long as sterile and solely sporophytic colonies. However, no effect of reproductive strategies on colony growth rates was found. C ONCLUSIONS: This study is among the few attempts to correlate life history strategies with demographic parameters of terrestrial plants. Specifically, we provide evidence for differential influence of reproductive strategies on metapopulation survivorship. © 2016 Botanical Society of America

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis carrying biofilm formation genes: detection of clinical isolates by multiplex PCR

Staphylococcus epidermidis is the most prevalent coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS) and is a major cause of hospital bacteremia. Based on 18 reference strains and 149 Staphylococcus clinical strains, used in a novel multiplex PCR method, the aim of this study was to identify S. epidermidis with respect to the sequence of three genes: recN, which encodes a recombination/repair protein, mecA (methicillin resistance), and icaAB, which is involved in biofilm formation. Amplicons of 219 bp (S. epidermidis-recN gene), 154 bp (mecA gene), and 546 bp (icaAB genes) were obtained. Reliableresults were achieved for 100% of the evaluated strains, suggesting that this new multiplex-PCR approach could be useful forthe accurate identification of methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis with the potential to produce biofilm. [Int Microbiol 2011;14(1):13-17

Spectral method for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap

We study the numerical resolution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a non-linear Schroedinger equation used to simulate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Considering condensates trapped in harmonic potentials, we present an efficient algorithm by making use of a spectral Galerkin method, using a basis set of harmonic oscillator functions, and the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We apply this algorithm to the simulation of condensate breathing and scissors modes.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure