Inorganic Semiconductors as biocidal materials

Treball Final de Grau en Química. Codi: QU0943. Curs acadèmic: 2020/2021A class of material that has great interest is the inorganic semiconductors that are defined as inorganic solids capable of changing their conductivity, passing from an insulator to a conductor. Inorganic semiconductors figure prominently in many current technologies, and they will play an important role in enabling a host of future applications. In this context, metal oxides as semiconductors are an important area of research because almost all contemporary electronic technologies involve the use of these materials. They have attracted huge attention due to their unique material properties and their practical applications in chemistry, physics, materials science, biology, and medicine. This TFG addresses recent investigations performed on different metal oxide semiconductors to find a relationship between the material properties (photocatalytic and biocide activities). In particular, the most representative metal oxides as well as metal oxides composed of Ag have been presented as photocatalytic and biocide-based materials. An understanding of the corresponding mechanisms is obtained based on the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are the significant players, generated from the electron transfer process involving O2 and the bond making/breaking processes associated to H2O, in the development and function of photocatalytic and biocide materials. As case example the representative ZnO metal oxide has been selected

Entrepreneurship in Portugal : aggregate trend and evolution of the individual characteristics of entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has a major role in economic growth, job creation and social mobility. However, it has been documented its decline in the past decade. We study entrepreneurship in Portugal between 1998-2014. We define entrepreneurs as self-employed with employees. The rate of entrepreneurship –that is, the proportion of entrepreneurs in the labor force– has decreased for the aggregate level and, also, for decompositions based on education level, area of residence and age group. We proceed to study the entrepreneurs’ characteristics such as age, education level, area of residence, gender and nationality. Entrepreneurs are older and more educated. We regress entrepreneurs on the previously mentioned characteristics. The highest coefficients are on older age groups and higher education levels, meaning that individuals with that particular set of characteristics are more likely to be an entrepreneur. Further, the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition is used to study the mean difference on being an entrepreneur; first, for the first and last year and, second, for every pair of consecutive years. We found that endowments have become more favorable to entrepreneurship. However, the coefficients effect dominates, decreasing the entrepreneurship mean. Thus, the coefficients on the characteristics have become lower. We study the most common previous occupational choices of entrepreneurs and find a surge of individuals leaving unemployment for entrepreneurship; yet the total entrance in entrepreneurship has decreased. Finally, we study the relation between aggregate entrepreneurship, real GDP growth and unemployment. However, we discard those two series as causes for the decline in entrepreneurship.O empreendedorismo tem um papel relevante no crescimento económico, na criação de emprego e na mobilidade social. Contudo, este tem vindo a diminuir na passada década. Estudamos empreendedorismo em Portugal entre 1998-2014. O empreendedor é definido como um trabalhador por conta própria que emprega. A taxa de empreendedorismo –proporção de empreendedores na população ativa– está diminuindo tanto em termos agregados como, também decompondo a mesma por grupos etários, níveis de educação e áreas de residência. Procedemos com o estudo das características dos empreendedores; como idade, género, nível de escolaridade, área de residência e nacionalidade. Os empreendedores estão mais velhos e têm maior escolaridade. Regredimos empreendedor nas características anteriores. Os coeficientes mais elevados são em grupos etários mais velhos e em indivíduos com maior escolaridade. Assim, indivíduos com estas características têm maior probabilidade de serem empreendedores. Em seguida, a Decomposição de Blinder-Oaxaca é utilizada para estudar a diferença na média de ser empreendedor; primeiramente, para o primeiro e último ano, seguidamente, para todos os pares de anos consecutivos. Descobrimos que a evolução das características é favorável ao empreendedorismo. Contudo, o efeito dos coeficientes é dominante, diminuindo a média de empreendedor. Assim, os coeficientes nas características diminuíram. Estudamos as anteriores ocupações dos empreendedores e descobrimos que há um aumento de anteriores desempregados que entram no empreendedorismo, contudo, a entrada total no empreendedorismo diminuiu. Por fim, estudamos a relação entre empreendedorismo agregado, crescimento real do PIB e desemprego. No entanto, excluímos estas séries como possíveis causas da diminuição do empreendedorismo

Perceção de saúde na população portuguesa ? 35 anos*

OBJECTIVE : To evaluate the exploratory relationship between determinants of health, life satisfaction, locus of control, attitudes and behaviors and health related quality of life in an adult population. METHODS : Observational study (analytical and cross-sectional) with a quantitative methodological basis. The sample was composed oy 1,214 inhabitants aged ≥ 35 in 31 civil parishes in the County of Coimbra, Portugal, 2011-2012. An anonymous and voluntary health survey was conducted, which collected the following information: demographic, clinical record, health and lifestyle behaviors; health related quality of life (Medical Outcomes Study, Short Form-36); health locus of control; survey of health attitudes and behavior, and quality of life index. Pearson’s Linear Correlation, t-Student, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney; One-way ANOVA; Brown-Forsythe’s F; Kruskal-Wallis; Multiple Comparisons: Tukey (HSD), Games-Howell and Conover were used in the statistical analysis. RESULTS : Health related quality of life was shown to be lower in females, in older age groups, in obese/overweight individuals, widows, unassisted, those living alone, living in rural/suburban areas, those who did not work and with a medium-low socioeconomic level. Respondents with poor/very poor self-perceived health (p < 0.0001), with chronic disease (p < 0.0001), who consumed < 3 meals per day (p ≤ 0.01), who were sedentary, who slept ≤ 6 h/day and had smoked for several years revealed the worst health results. Health related quality of life was positively related with a bigger internal locus, with better health attitudes and behaviors (physical exercise, health and nutritional care, length of dependence) and with different areas of life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS : Better health related quality of life was associated with certain social, psychological, family and health characteristics, a satisfactory lifestyle, better socioeconomic conditions and a good internal locus of control over health attitudes and behaviors.OBJETIVO : Analisar a relação entre determinantes de saúde, satisfação com a vida, locus de controlo, atitudes e comportamentos com a qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde numa população adulta. MÉTODOS : Estudo observacional (analítico-transversal) com base metodológica quantitativa. A amostra foi de 1.214 habitantes ≥ 35 anos de 31 freguesias do Concelho de Coimbra, Portugal, 2011-2012. Foi realizado inquérito de saúde anónimo e voluntário com as seguintes informações: demográfica, inventário clínico, comportamentos de saúde e estilos de vida; qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde (Medical Outcomes Study, Short Form-36); locus de controlo da saúde; questionário de atitudes e comportamentos de saúde e índice de qualidade de vida. Para análise estatística foram utilizados os métodos: Correlação Linear de Pearson; t-Student; Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney; ANOVA a um Fator; F de Brown-Forsythe; Kruskal-Wallis; Comparações Múltiplas: Tukey HSD, Games-Howell e Conover. RESULTADOS : A qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde esteve diminuída no sexo feminino, nos grupos etários mais avançados, nos indivíduos com excesso de peso/obesidade, baixas habilitações, viúvos, sozinhos, residentes no meio rural/suburbano, inativos profissionalmente e estatuto socioeconómico médio baixo. Expressaram piores indices de saúde: os inquiridos com autoperceção de saúde de mau/muito mau (p < 0,0001), na presença de doença crónica, a sua frequência (p < 0,0001), que consumiam < 3 refeições diárias (p ≤ 0,01), os sedentários, os que dormiam ≤ 6 h/dia; e os com maior número de anos de tabagismo. A qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde esteve positivamente associada com maior locus de controlo interno, melhores atitudes e comportamentos de saúde (atividade física, cuidados alimentares e de saúde, duração da dependência) e com diferentes áreas de satisfação com a vida. CONCLUSÕES : Determinadas características sociais e psicológicas, familiares e de saúde, estilos de vida adequados, melhores condições socioeconómicas, bom locus de controlo interno sobre a saúde e atitudes e comportamentos evidenciaram melhor qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde

Modeling and analysis of network resilience : the security perspective

The increased impact of global Internet in our daily lives is a continuous challenge for those who are responsible for their design, planning, implementation and administration. As the Internet becomes more important to citizens, organizations and nations, more pressure is placed in their reliability, availability and security or, in other terms, in its Resilience. Because Internet was not initially designed to support the actual levels of responsibility in the global economy, it is now evident that new paradigms and enhancements are needed to make this a resilient network. From the three disciplines that mainly characterize network resilience, security is one of the most challenging. In fact, the range of security threats that nowadays affect Internet is immense and increasingly complex, with the beginning of a new era where the concept of cyber-wars between nations becomes reality. One of the most relevant security threats is the malware and botnet phenomenon. Despite the development of several different types of countermeasures to fight these threats during more than a decade, this continues to be a field with big challenges and where new and solid improvements are needed

Fighting botnets - a systematic approach

The increasing impact of Internet in the global economy has transformed botnets into one of the most feared security threats for citizens, organizations and governments. Despite the significant efforts that have been made over the last years to understand this phenomenon and develop detection techniques and countermeasures, this continues to be a field with big challenges to address. The most important detection approaches and countermeasures that have been proposed are usually oriented to address some specific type of botnet threat or fight botnets in particular scenarios or conditions. This paper proposes a generic and systematic model to describe the network dynamics whenever a botnet threat is detected, defining all actors, dimensions, states and actions that need to be taken into account at each moment. We believe that the proposed model can be the basis for developing systematic and integrated frameworks, strategies and tools to predict and fight botnet threats in an efficient way.This research was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under research project PTDC/EEA-TEL/101880/2008

Desenvolvimento da aplicação da Radioscopia em ensaios não destrutivos

Estágio realizado na Ajorgelima, Ld.ªTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Metalúrgica e de Materiais. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Hydrochemistry of mediterranean temporary ponds and associated groundwater in SW Portugal

Under the project LIFE Charcos we aim to understand the influence of groundwater in the water balance and hydrochemistry of Mediterranean Temporary Ponds, located in Costa Sudoeste in Portugal, to explain the variations observed in biodiversity between ponds. This paper represents a first step for establishing a relationship between the chemical composition of the ponds waters and the chemical composition of its associated groundwater. Most of the sampled waters are circum-neutral with very low mineralization (TDS < 1000 mg/L) and show varied composition. In the north of the Costa Sudoeste the ponds waters are mostly of sodium-chloride type and have mixed composition at south. During the ongoing project surface water and groundwater samples will continue to be collected and results will be updated. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.European Union LIFE programme [LIFE12 NAT/PT/000997

A importância da capacitação e da valorização dos profissionais do CRAS (Centro de Referência de Assistência Social)

Orientador : Adriana Roseli Wünsch TakahashiProjeto Técnico (especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Curso de Especialização em Gestão PúblicaInclui referênciasResumo : O presente Projeto Técnico tem por objetivo mostrar a importância da capacitação e da valorização dos servidores públicos que exercem suas funções no CRAS (Centro de referência de Assistência Social). Para tanto buscou-se definir otivação, valorização profissional e Capacitação, discorreu sobre a Assistência Social e o CRAS. Considera-se que a pesquisa de campo realizada dentro da instituição foi de fundamental importância para o levantamento dos dados necessários para propor uma ação de valorização profissional para estes servidores. Identificou-se com a pesquisa realizada que a maioria dos profissionais busca e precisam ser mais capacitados para o exercício de sua função e valorizados como profissionais que trabalham com o público alvo da Assistência Social. Constatou-se que além de capacitação e valorização profissional, os funcionários almejam por cursos sobre motivação onde buscam estratégias para lidar com situações conflituosas do dia a dia. A ação proposta de valorização busca uma melhoria dos trabalhos desenvolvidos pelo CRA