Sapientia
UAlg Scientific Repository
About Sapientia
The SAPIENTIA repository gathers an exhaustive set of Algarve University's (UAlg) teachers and researchers scientific publications with an express goal of maximising its visibility, ensure easy and universal access and amelliorate the overall public impact of the university scientific endeavors, as well as the ongoing preservation of its memory.
Recent Submissions
Sustainable use of volcanic ash in mortars as a replacement for cement or sand: shrinkage and physical and mechanical properties
Publication . Gil-Martín, Luisa María; Oliveira, Miguel José; Fernández-Ruiz, Manuel Alejandro; Branco, Fernando G.; Hernández-Montes, Enrique
The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on 19 September 2021 resulted in the deposition of over 20 million cubic meters of tephra, posing significant environmental and logistical challenges in the affected areas. This study aimed to explore the valorization of volcanic ash (VA) by evaluating its potential use in producing sustainable mortar by incorporating it as a replacement for cement or sand. Various experimental mixtures were prepared with different proportions of VA which substituted either cement or sand, and these mixes were characterized through a mechanical and microstructural campaign. Additionally, shrinkage was evaluated for the mixtures which showed good mechanical results. The results suggest that partially replacing cement with up to 15% ground VA as well as substituting sand with up to 25% VA are promising strategies for the production of sustainable mortar mixes. This research contributes to the understanding of the influence of VA in cementitious matrices and offers a novel approach for integrating locally available geomaterials into infrastructure design in volcanic active regions.
A glycymeris-rich unit as evidence of a late pleistocene tsunami event from NW algeria: a biostratigraphic, taphonomic, and sedimentological approach
Publication . Doukani, Mohamed Amine; Satour, Linda; Ozer, Caner Kaya; Belkebir, Lahcene; Voelker, Antje; Tedjeddine, Hassane; Landau, Bernard; Uchman, Alfred; Bessedik, Mostefa; Johnson, Markes E.; Hipólito, Ana; Madeira, José; Ávila, Sérgio P.
Compared to the extensive research carried out on the Neogene deposits of the Lower Chelif Basin, the Pleistocene series is still poorly studied, with no detailed lithological succession published to date. This study focuses on the Glycymeris-rich Unit (GRU) along the coastal area of the Hachacha Plateau in Northwestern Algeria. This unit unconformably overlies Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene basements. The latter was identified for the first time in this work using a biostratigraphic approach based on calcareous nannofossils and planktonic foraminifera. The GRU is interpreted as a tsunami-related deposit, formed in a coastal environment (foreshore/backshore) during the upper Pleistocene, corresponding to the Last Interglacial period, i.e., Marine Isotopic Substage 5e (MIS 5e). This interpretation provides a first multidisciplinary description of a tsunami deposit in Algeria that is supported by distinctive biotic, taphonomic, and sedimentological features. The deposits contain a mixture of marine organisms from different ecological zones (supralittoral to shallow circalittoral biocenoses), including molluscan assemblages such as the so-called Senegalese fauna (bivalves and gastropods), sponges, serpulids, coralline algae and corals. Occasionally, rare terrestrial snails are also found mixed with the marine fauna. Taphonomic analysis reveals low percentages of boring, absence of encrustation, and excellent shell preservation, suggesting that powerful waves eroded sediment masses and transported them inland from deeper areas beneath the taphonomic active zone. The predominance of sharp-edged fragmented shells, chaotic arrangements with oblique to vertical shell orientations and the good shell sorting, indicates transport by mass flows and rapid deposition during an extreme event – a tsunami –, distinguishing these deposits from those associated with gradual and oscillatory flows, such as storm events. Sedimentological characteristics, including irregular erosive base, lateral facies variations, wide grain size ranges (clay to boulders), normal and inverse grading, and diagnostic structures (both fragile and hard-rock rip-up clasts, high-energy flow features such as horizontal and oblique laminations, and hummocky cross-stratification, injection of sediment into the substrate, imbrication of large angular boulders and soft sediment deformation structures), combined with the active tectonic context of Northwestern Algeria support the interpretation as a seismically triggered tsunami and enhances the understanding of this type of deposits in similar coastal settings.
Coral garden conservation and restoration: how host taxon and ex-situ maintenance affect the microbiome of soft and hard corals
Publication . Rola, Marcellina; Coelho, Márcio A. G.; Pruckner, Christian; Quiroga-Pérez, Manuela; Stock, Willem; Baylina, Núria; Engelen, Aschwin; Wägele, Heike; Serrao, Ester A.; Frade, Pedro R.
Temperate coral gardens are dense coral formations, which support rich marine species diversity, enabling benthic-pelagic coupling. Over the past decades, coral gardens have been increasingly threatened by bottom fishing, oil and gas exploitation, and climate change. Microbiome research bears great potential for assisted resilience in targeted conservation and restoration approaches. Yet, fundamental parameters of the coral garden microbiome remain poorly understood. Here, we provide a first broad record of bacterial communities associated with NE Atlantic coral garden corals and their community changes as response to human maintenance in conservation research. Octocorals (10 species), scleractinians (2 species) and one black coral species, were opportunistically collected from fisheries bycatch at 60-480 m depth around Cape St. Vincent (SW Portugal). Metabarcoding of the 16S-rRNA gene using third-generation sequencing revealed a high microbial host-specificity in the wild-collected coral species analyzed, and supported the importance of bacterial families Endozoicomonadaceae (mean relative abundance +/- SE; 28.3 +/- 10.5%), Spirochaetaceae (8.2 +/- 5.8%) and Spongiibacteraceae (4.6 +/- 1.8%). Endozoicomonadaceae were particularly dominant in the octocoral order Malacalcyonacea (67.7 +/- 14.5%). The low microbial alpha diversity and limited interspecies differences among the Malacalcyonacea species suggest a conserved microbiome within this group, as compared to orders Scleralcyonacea, Antipatharia, and Scleractinia. Microbial responses to ex-situ maintenance of two branching octocoral species, Eunicella verrucosa and Paramuricea cf. grayi (Order Malacalcyonacea), were investigated (1) over 45 days under standardized aquaria conditions in the research station (Ramalhete Marine Station, CCMAR) and (2) over long-term captivity in two public aquaria, Ocean & aacute;rio de Lisboa and Zoomarine. Eunicella verrucosa displayed a stronger microbial community shift to short-term captivity (45 days), in contrast to greater microbiome stability in P. cf. grayi. However, long-term captivity in public aquaria led to microbiome shifts in both species. The strong host specificity of microbial diversity and its response to maintenance indicate that conservation and restoration of coral gardens require taxon-specific strategies.
Exploring cbersecurity treats to solo female travelers
Publication . Ghaderi, Zahed; Bagheri, Fatemeh; Esfehani, Minoo; Beal, Luc; Houanti, L’Hocine
The rise of solo female travel and increased reliance on digital tools for planning, booking, and activities highlight the significance of cybersecurity. However, this topic remains underexplored in tourism research, particularly for vulnerable solo female travelers. This study addresses the gap by examining the cybersecurity risk perceptions of solo female travelers, employing Protection Motivation Theory and conducting interviews with 26 solo female travelers worldwide. Findings reveal a remarkable shift in awareness, with participants moving from underestimating risks to adopting proactive measures. Commonly cited concerns include data breaches, identity theft, phishing, ransomware extortion, cyberstalking, and sexual harassment. Travelers expressed heightened susceptibility (threat appraisal) and a commitment to mitigation strategies (coping appraisal). They emphasized the importance of digital literacy, secure travel applications, and robust safety protocols. This study proposes that tourism businesses and destination managers institutionalize cybersecurity strategies that protect and empower digitally vulnerable solo female travelers, fostering trust and resilience.
A elaboração de um léxico-gramática para os adjetivos do Português Brasileiro
Publication . Martinez, Ryan Saldanha; Baptista, Jorge; Vale, Oto Araújo
Este artigo descreve uma classificação e descrição em larga escala, ainda em andamento, dos adjetivos do português brasileiro. Classificamos em predicativo ou n ̃ao predicativo os 3.367 lemas mais frequentes de adjetivo em um corpus de referência, o que corresponde a 92.09% das ocorrências de adjetivos nesse corpus. Os adjetivos predicativos receberam classificações adicionais com base no número (um ou dois) e tipo de argumentos (grupo nominal ou ora ̧c ̃ao), o que levou a seis classes diferentes de adjetivo predicativo, acrescidos de outras duas subclasses. Também descrevemos as propriedades distribucionais de cada adjetivo predicativo: sujeito e complemento humano ou n ̃ao humano, modo dos argumentos oracionais, verbos copulativos e preposições. A classe mais representativa foi a dos adjetivos não predicativos, seguida pelos adjetivos intransitivos com grupo nominal e com sujeito oracional, respetivamente. Os adjetivos tendem a se construir com verbo copulativo ser, selecionar mais argumentos não humanos e, quando estes são orações, só mais comumente reduzidas de infinitivo ou orações modo subjuntivo. As preposições mais comumente aceitas foram para de e a.