Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2018-03"
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- The Fisherman´S Route Project: An Interinstitutional Collaboration InitiativePublication . Martins, Susana; Carvalho, MilenaThe School of Management and Industrial Studies (ESEIG-Vila do Conde) of the Polytechnic of Porto (IPP), through the bachelor degree in Information and Documentation Sciences and Technologies (CTDI) was approached in 2015 by the parish of Vila do Conde to develop a joint project with the intention of preserving the identity and the cultural connection of Vila do Conde with the fishing activity and its fishermen - that have in Caxinas and Poça da Barca one of the biggest communities of fishermen in the country - through the creation of a cultural and touristic project called “A Rota do Pescador” (The Fisherman´s route). In the school year of 2016/2017 the bachelor degree in CTDI has started to be taught in the Porto Accounting and Business School (ISCAP), also from the Polytechnic of Porto, and the project has continued in the same lines that had been established. The increasing importance of the informational heritage as an agent that generates value and as a distinct identity is, nowadays, a key element to create, distinguish and enrich tourism activities based on the realities of the local heritage. As a matter of fact, the tourism is now seen as strategic for the local development. This intends to be a multifaceted project that was born from the collaboration between a local government body and a higher education institution, that aims to collect, recover and recreate information, traditions, as well as inventory resources covering several forms of heritage. Actually this project assumes that the information is more than ever something that must be preserved, and therefore we have gathered the information about the fishing and gastronomic traditions of these communities, as well as about their own use of language and we have carried out the mapping of a touristic pedestrian route – All this work was developed by some students, within the scope of the curricular unit of internship, in the third year of the degree and always under the supervision and guidance of the teacher responsible for these internships. So far, it was possible, through this project, to infer the importance of the collection and retrieval of information skills that the information professional holds, and its implementation in alternative scenarios and working realities, in this specific case, in collaboration with a local government body and in the development of a project of cultural and touristic nature. Another aspect considered, is the acceptance given by the communities under consideration to the efforts developed in order to promote and preserve this traditional knowledge that at the end represents the information that has been conveyed from generation to generation. This project is still in progress, we intend to develop more work in the scope of this institutional collaboration, creating, for example, a family tree of these communities, an electronic catalogue, a glossary with a visual navigation system and a website for the project.
- A hiperglicemia e o secretoma de adipócitos alteram o padrão de crescimento de micobactérias in vitroPublication . Fernandes, Rúben; Bronze, M.; Pereira, C.; Coelho, Pedro; Prudêncio, Cristina
- Avaliação de riscos biológicos e implementação do plano de ação em laboratórios BSL3Publication . Neto, Flávio; Gomes Pereira, Sandra Isabel; Neto, Hernâni VelosoBiological risk assessment is an essential tool to trigger and develop appropriate protective measures, which are determined by the characteristics of the agents involved in the activity and by the adequacy of the facilities, equipment and work practices. The main purpose of this work was to evaluate and manage biological risks in biosafety level 3 (BSL3) facilities, as well the risk assessment and categorization in the activities developed in a research laboratory. The method selected was the MARAT (method of risk assessment and work accidents) and the biological agent under evaluation was Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria responsible for human tuberculosis. The BSL3 laboratory and the research procedures were evaluated concerning the infrastructure (including equipment) and laboratory organization, good laboratory practice, decontamination procedures, emergency procedures in case of an incident /laboratory accident and transport of biological samples. The assessment study of biological risks and the development of an action plan in BSL3 contributes to the development of risk management and guarantees the safety and health of the workers exposed in these laboratories.
- Using a 3-tier Training Model for Effective Exchange of Good Practices in as ERASMUS+ ProjectPublication . Alves, Gustavo R.; Fidalgo, André; Marques, Maria A.; Viegas, Clara; Felgueiras, Carlos; Costa, Ricardo J.; Lima, Natércia; Kulesza, Wlodek; García-Zubía, Javier; Castro, Manuel; Pester, Andreas; Pavani, Ana; Silva, Juarez B. da; Schlichting, Luis; Marchisio, Susana; Fernández, Ruben; Oliveira, Vanderli F. de; Pozzo, María I.VISIR+ is an Erasmus+ project that aims to develop educational modules for electric and electronic circuits theory and practice following an enquiry-based teaching and learning methodology. The project has installed five new VISIR remote labs in Higher Education Institutions located in Argentina and Brazil, to allow students doing more experiments and hence acquire better experimental skills, through a combination of traditional (hands-on), remote and virtual laboratories. A key aspect for the success of this project was to motivate and train teachers in the underpinning educational methodology. As such, VISIR+ adopted a 3-tier training process to effectively support the use of VISIR in the Institutions that received it. This process is based on the “train the trainer” approach, which required the participating partner institutions to identify and engage a number of associated partners, interested in using their newly installed remote lab. To measure the quality of the training process, the same satisfaction questionnaire was used in all training actions. This paper presents a detailed description of the training actions along with the analysis of the satisfaction questionnaire results. Major conclusions are that the quality level of the training process remained practically the same across all training actions and that trainees sometimes considered the practical use of the VISIR remote lab as difficult, irrespectively of where and when the training action took place.
- La variación diatópica del español de América a través de una (hiper)pedagogía plurilingüística e interculturalPublication . Cruz, Mário; Saracho, MartaLas exigencias de comunicación del mundo globalizado de hoy nos plantean nue- vos retos a los profesores de ELE acerca de la variedad o variedades de español que nuestros estudiantes aprenden en las aulas. Por otro lado, nos encontramos ante una expansión sin precedentes de hablantes de lengua española en el mundo (Quilis, 2002), cobrando el español un papel de lengua internacional y las culturas de los pue- blos hispanoamericanos un peso considerable (Mora-Figueroa, 1998). Debido a ello, son cada vez más abundantes los estudios relacionados con la necesidad de incluir las variedades lingüísticas y culturales del español hispanoamericano, en nuestro caso, en el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje. El proyecto que presentamos contiene una pro- puesta didáctica basada en los discursos literarios e hipermedia, siguiendo un enfoque comunicativo experiencial. Así, el contenido lingüístico de nuestro estudio son las variedades léxicas y morfosintácticas, y también las llamadas variantes fraseológicas (Koike, 2001; García-Page, 2008). Además, las variedades también se trabajan desde un punto de vista cultural (Galisson, 1991; Anadón Pérez, 2003). Utilizamos la técnica de la gamificación (Foncubierta y Rodríguez, 2015) para la presentación de activida- des y usamos estrategias que facilitan el desarrollo de actitudes y valores positivos en los estudiantes frente a otras culturas y variedades. Este proyecto se posiciona en la línea del aprendizaje de ELE para la acción comunicativa y el diálogo intercultural.
- Electrochemical genoassays on gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles to quantify genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and feed as GMO percentagePublication . Plácido, Alexandra; Pereira, Clara; Guedes, Alexandra; Barroso, M. Fátima; Miranda-Castro, Rebeca; Santos-Álvarez, Noemí de-los-; Delerue-Matos, CristinaThe integration of nanomaterials in the field of (bio)sensors has allowed developing strategies with improved analytical performance. In this work, ultrasmall core-shell Fe3O4@Au magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were used as the platform for the immobilization of event-specific Roundup Ready (RR) soybean and taxon-specific DNA sequences. Firstly, monodisperse Fe3O4 MNPs were synthesized by thermal decomposition and subsequently coated with a gold shell through reduction of Au(III) precursor on the surface of the MNPs in the presence of an organic capping agent. This nanosupport exhibited high colloidal stability, average particle size of 10.2 ± 1.3 nm, and spherical shape. The covalent immobilization of ssDNA probe onto the Au shell of the Fe3O4@Au MNPs was achieved through a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) created from mixtures of alkane thiols (6-mercapto-1-hexanol and mercaptohexanoic acid). The influence of the thiols ratio on the electrochemical performance of the resulting electrochemical genoassays was studied, and remarkably, the best analytical performance was achieved for a pure mercaptohexanoic acid SAM. Two quantification assays were designed; one targeting an RR sequence and a second targeting a reference soybean gene, both with a sandwich format for hybridization, signaling probes labelled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), enzymatic amplification and chronoamperometric detection at screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCE). The magnetogenoassays exhibited linear ranges from 0.1 to 10.0 nM and from 0.1 to 5.0 nM with similar detection limits of 0.02 nM and 0.05 nM for the event-specific (RR) and the taxon-specific (lectin) targets, respectively. The usefulness of the approach was demonstrated by its application to detect genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in feed and food.
- Dispersion of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in [BMIM]PF 6 for electrochemical sensing of acetaminophenPublication . Gomes, Rayane N.; Sousa, Camila P.; Casciano, Paulo N.S.; Ribeiro, Francisco Wirley P.; Morais, Simone; Lima-Neto, Pedro de; Correia, Adriana N.The influence of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (fMWCNT) in the presence of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([BMIM]PF6) in different ratios was investigated on the acetaminophen (ACOP) electrochemical determination. The electrochemical behavior of the ACOP exhibited a pair of well-defined redox peaks, suggesting that the reversibility of ACOP was significantly improved in comparison to irreversible oxidation peak on bare GCE. The redox process was controlled by adsorption, involves two electrons and the value of apparent rate constant (ks) was equal to 14.7 s-1 ± 3.6 s-1. The analytical curves were obtained for concentrations of ACOP ranging from 0.3 to 3.0 μmol L-1. The values of the detection limit were calculated from SWV and found to be 6.73 × 10-8 mol L-1. The proposed electrochemical sensor exhibited good stability and reproducibility and was applied for ACOP determination in tablets (Tylenol® and Tylenol®DC) with satisfactory results.
- HPLC-DAD, ESI-MS/MS, and NMR of Lycopene Isolated From P. guajava L. and Its Biotechnological ApplicationsPublication . Amorim, Adriany G. N.; Souza, Jessica M. T.; Santos, Raimunda C.; Gullón, Beatriz; Oliveira, Ana; Santos, Luiz F. A.; Virgino, Adamor L. E.; Mafud, Ana C.; Petrilli, Helena M.; Mascarenhas, Yvonne P.; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Pintado, Manuela E.; Leite, José R. S. A.Psidium guajava L. have been reported to be a rich source of antioxidant compounds. Its carotenoids have been highlighted by their high antioxidant capacity, which offers several benefits for human health. In this sense, lycopene isomers need to be identified. In this work, the comprehensive chemical characterization, by HPLC‐DAD, MS/MS, and NMR, of lycopene isolated from P. guajava L., antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of lycopene extracts and isolated lycopene are evaluated. The FTIR results reported a structure with Z configuration, confirmed by UV‐Vis, with λmax = 448, 473, and 505 nm for 5‐Z lycopene. Furthermore, MS/MS positive ionization shows one fragment m/z 309 [M‐227]+, relatively abundant for isolated lycopene. Experimental and Theoretical NMR studies revealed that guava may contain 5‐Z lycopene because of the similarity found among the peaks. Lycopene extracts presented higher antioxidant activity than isolated lycopene, from both P. guajava L. and tomato, when measured by ABTS and ORAC (r2 = 0.9995 and r2 = 0.9992, respectively). In addition, lycopene extract shows antibacterial efficacy against E. coli, S. aureus, and L. innocua, presenting MBC values of 20 mg mL−1. These results suggest that lycopene extract have potential applicability for food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industry.Practical Applications: Lycopene from P. guajava L. is characterized by HPLCDAD, MS, NMR, FTIR, and X-Ray, presented antioxidant capacity by ORAC and antibacterial efficacy against food pathogens.
- Green zero valent iron nanoparticles dispersion through a sandy column using different injection sequencesPublication . Soares, António Alves; Ramos, Sandra; Albergaria, José Tomás; Delerue-Matos, CristinaThe contamination of soils is a global environmental problem that urges an increased effort to recover polluted sites. In Europe, there are an estimated 20,000 polluted sites that need to be remediated and around 350,000 sites that are classified as potentially contaminated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Remediation is a part of the solution to this problem, requiring the most innovative and sustainable technologies. In this context, the use of zero valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) is a promising, low cost and efficient technology for the remediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with a wide range of organic and inorganic pollutants. Among the nZVIs, the ones produced using Green synthesis methods (green nZVIs (gnZVI)) using natural extracts, such as green tea, are increasingly considered an alternative technology for the future. However, there are issues related to the application of gnZVI in soil that are still not fully understood, requiring further research, among these is the study of their transport in soils. Therefore, this work aims to study the transport of gnZVIs in sandy soils under diverse conditions such as soil particle size, soil saturation level and injection sequence. Several experiments were performed in an acrylic column with two sandy soils with different particle sizes (between 0.5 and 1.0 mm and higher than 1.0 mm), using two distinct water saturation conditions (saturated and dry) and four injection sequences. After these tests the distribution of the gnZVI along the soil column was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. This work allowed concluding that the injection sequence might be one of the most important factors influencing the rate of nZVI dispersion through a sandy column. According to the results it was possible to propose, for distinct types of contamination (deep, superficial, hot spot or dispersed), the most appropriate injection sequence.
- Exposição ocupacional a fungos: um estudo de caso na indústria transformadora da cortiçaPublication . Rocha, Ricardo; Neves, Maria Paula; Girão, Mariana; Carvalho, M. Fátima; Oliveira, Rui S.; Santos, JoanaOccupational exposure to fungi in the cork industry is responsible for several respiratory problems and can be influenced by factors such as automation level of the production process, type of ventilation, storage conditions and cooking times of cork boards. Thus, the main objective of this study was to evaluated and identified fungal species existing in the air and surfaces of slicing and punching workplaces in cork small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). Air and surfaces samples were collected in five cork SMEs, included a total of eighteen workplaces. The collection of pure fungal colonies and their respective isolation was performed by plaque scoring technique, and DNA extraction, followed by the PCR technique and sequencing. The fungi identified were Penicillium glabrum and Neurospora spp. Improve the ventilation and storage conditions, as well as increase automation level of the production can reduce the risk of occupational exposure in SMEs.
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