Contabilidade de gestão: apuramento do custo de produção vinícola, na empresa Quinta da Vacaria 1616 – Vinhos, SA.

Para que o setor do vinho assegure a sua sustentabilidade a médio e longo prazo, é necessário assegurar a relação qualidade/preço e para isso, é necessária uma constante análise à evolução do mercado, às preferências dos consumidores, mas também o controlo e gestão dos custos que irão ter, com todo o processo de produção e venda. É aqui que a Contabilidade de Gestão, assume um papel fundamental enquanto sistema de informação e gestão de recursos. Neste estudo será analisado mais propriamente o Vinho do Porto. Este vinho faz parte da história de Portugal e é um património cultural coletivo de trabalho e experiências, saberes e arte, que passam de geração em geração. O Vinho do Porto foi e é um produto chave da economia nacional sendo também um valor simbólico que distintamente representa a portugalidade no mundo (Instituto dos Vinhos do Porto). O objetivo desta dissertação foi propor à empresa um sistema de custeio baseado nas atividades, para quando tiver as instalações preparadas para proceder a todo o processo de produção de Vinho do Porto, possa tanto a valorizar a produção, como o custo da uva como objeto final e posteriormente o custo do vinho do porto já engarrafado. Com esta proposta pretende-se melhorar o sistema contabilístico da empresa atualmente. Deste modo procedeu-se a análise e repartição dos gastos anuais e procedeu-se ao apuramento do custo unitário das atividades e dos produtos, bem como a análise dos resultados obtidos.In order to the wine sector to warrant its sustainability in the medium and long term, it’s necessary to ensure the quality/price ratio and, for this, it’s necessary to analyze the evolution of the market, consumer preferences, and also control and management of costs that they will have, with the entire process of production and sale to the market. It is here that Management Accounting takes on an essential role as an information and resource management system. In this project, Porto Wine will be analyzed more specifically, that it is part of the history of Portugal, a cultural heritage of work and experiences, knowledge and art, which pass from generation to generation. Porto Wine was and is a key product of the national economy and even more a symbolic value that distinctly represents Portugal in the world (Porto Wine Institute). The main goal of this dissertation was to propose to the company a costing system based on activities, when for it has the facilities prepared to proceed with the entire process of Porto Wine’s production. With that, it has pretended to rectify the faults that may exist in the company's accounting system today. In this way, the analysis and division of annual expenses were carried out, the unitary cost of activities and products was calculated, as well as the analysis of the results obtained

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field