Improving the Knowledge on Seismogenic Sources in the Lower Tagus Valley for Seismic Hazard Purposes

The Lower Tagus Valley, that includes the metropolitan area of Lisbon, has been struck by several earthquakes which produced significant material damage and loss of lives. Their exact location remains unknown. Our goal is to shed some light into the seismogenic sources in the area using seismic reflection and geological data. In areas with no seismic coverage, potential-field data interpretation was carried out. Seismicity was overlaid to the potential seismogenic structures and high-resolution data was acquired in order to confirm which structures have been active into the Quaternary. Three major fault-zones affecting the Neogene were identified: V. F. Xira, Samora-Alcochete and Pinhal Novo. For the first fault, strong evidences suggest it is active. The other two fault-zones and other structures previously unknown can be correlated with several epicentres. Empirical relationships between maximum moment magnitude and fault area indicate that MW > 6.5 earthquakes can be expected for the larger structures

Primary cutaneous actinomycosis caused by Actinomyces meyeri as first manifestation of HIV infection

Primary cutaneous actinomycosis is very uncommon. We report a patient with cutaneous actinomycosis with multiple lesions without any detectable extra-cutaneous lesions. In our patient the actinomycosis was the presenting manifestation of HIV infection

Dinâmica das populações de abius em uma área sob manejo na Floresta Nacional do Tapajós, PA.

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Scalable quantum field simulations of conditioned systems

We demonstrate a technique for performing stochastic simulations of conditional master equations. The method is scalable for many quantum-field problems and therefore allows first-principles simulations of multimode bosonic fields undergoing continuous measurement, such as those controlled by measurement-based feedback. As examples, we demonstrate a 53-fold speed increase for the simulation of the feedback cooling of a single trapped particle, and the feedback cooling of a quantum field with 32 modes, which would be impractical using previous brute force methods.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Development of Ag/TiO2NM-treated leathers with antibacterial activity for footwear industry

This work aims to contribute to the industrial development of safer and advanced leathers using nanomaterials (NMs) that are based in titanium oxide doped with silver (Ag-TiO2NMs). These NMs present an ecological alternative to volatile organic biocides and organic solvents, frequently used nowadays. Safe application of these NMs brings added value to footwear and leather products and reduces the bulk chemical wide pollution. These newly developed materials are expected to be useful for footwear manufacturing (for common or professional use) with advanced protection against bacteria and fungus, which are the most common cause of feet infections, for either common or professional use. Hence, the main aim of this work is the improvement of leather footwear in order to overcome the feet infections and ensure minimum risk of human skin penetration. In order to accomplish the main aim, the cytotoxicity, antimicrobial and self-cleaning properties of leather surface, treated with Ag-TiO2NMs by sputtering deposition were assessed. The Ag-TiO2 coatings were deposited onto leather substrates by DC-pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering using two targets, Ti and Ag, in an Ar + O2 atmosphere. Compositional analysis was achieved by X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDX). Contact angle of the coatings was measured and the results show that with the introduction of silver in TiO2 microstructure promotea an increase in hydrophobicity. The antibacterial activity of the samples was assessed by agar diffusion method and the results point out to a silver antibacterial activity

Estudo da região ITS de Curvularia sp. e Bipolaris sp. (Teleomorfo cochliobolus sp.) provenientes de palma de óleo.

O gênero Cochliobolus (anamorfos Bipolaris, Curvularia) possui muitos fitopatógenos que causam grandes perdas no mundo, dentre as culturas afetadas se encontra a palma de óleo. A taxonomia de Cochliobolus é confusa devido às alterações de nomenclatura que tem ocorrido nos estados sexual e assexual das espécies há mais de 50 anos. A análise da sequencia de DNA tem sido utilizada para identificar e/ou auxiliar na caracterização das espécies de fungos e nos estudar a filogenia. Recentemente, isolados de Bipolaris e Curvularia com morfologia semelhante foram obtidos de plantas de dendê e seu híbrido (E. guineensis x E. oleifera). Assim, objetivou-se comparar a região ITS entre um isolado de Bipolaris e quatro de Curvularia provenientes de palma de óleo do Estado do Pará, e acessos disponíveis em banco de gene. Para isso, tecidos de folhas de palma de óleo que apresentavam necrose foram plaqueados em meio ágar-água. Posteriormente, os fungos foram repicados para meio BDA e mantidos a temperatura ambiente. Após 10 dias, o fungo teve seu DNA extraído para realização do PCR utilizando os primers ITS4 e ITS5. Os produtos do PCR foram sequenciados e avaliados via programas Blast e ClustalW. Verificou-se que um isolado de Curvularia proveniente da cultivar Tanzania x Ekona agrupou com vários acessos de C. Affinis, dois isolados de Curvularia de HIE com acessos de C. eragrostidis e o isolado de Bipolaris (mudas do BAG da Embrapa Amazônia Oriental) com B. spicifera e B. papendorfii. Comparando os isolados de Curvularia com o de Bipolaris provenientes do estado Pará verificou-se a identidade de 74 a 85%