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  • Local developments of the world summit on sustainable tourism: the municipal sustainable charter of surf in Aljezur,Portugal
    Publication . Machado, Virgílio; Pinto Contreiras, Joaquim; Carrasco, Paulo
    The object of this article is to question and answer whether an international normative instrument in tourism sustainability can be effectively implemented into the local governance plan. The research focused on a set of exercise problems of the governmental action put forth by a rural municipality, of low population density, but featuring a strong tourist intensity characterized by a dominant seasonal tourist-recreational-maritime activity: surf. Based on methodological instruments of a systemic nature linked to sustainability and law, it was possible to propose a municipal tourism sustainability charter adopted in 2017 by the municipality of Aljezur, in the tourist region of Algarve, Portugal. This may well be one of the first worldwide normative documents to adopt, complement and operationalize at a local level multiple concerns, suggestions and recommendations for local governance and sustainable tourism law originating from the World Summit on Sustainable Tourism+ 20.
    2018-10Book part Open Access Show more
  • Eros & Thanatos. Estudos de literatura
    Publication . Carvalho, Ana Alexandra Seabra
    Este livro é composto por oito estudos desenvolvidos ao longo dos últimos anos, quer como investigação pessoal, quer como material de apoio à lecionação de disciplinas da área da Literatura francesa e comparada. O seu denominador comum encontra-se na predominância das temáticas do amor e da morte no contexto da Literatura francesa (embora não exclusivamente), partindo do século XVII para chegar à atualidade.
    2018-10Book Open Access Show more
  • Pre-Solutrean rock art in southernmost Europe: Evidence from Las Ventanas Cave (Andalusia, Spain)
    Publication . Cortés Sánchez, Miguel; Riquelme-Cantal, José António; Simon-Vallejo, Maria Dolores; Parrilla Giraldez, Ruben; Odriozola, Carlos P.; Calle Roman, Lydia; Carrion, Jose S.; Monge Gomez, Guadalupe; Rodriguez Vidal, Joaquin; Moyano Campos, Juan Jose; Rico Delgado, Fernando; Nieto Julian, Juan Enrique; Anton Garcia, Daniel; Aranzazu Martinez-Aguirre, M.; Jimenez Barredo, Fernando; Cantero-Chinchilla, Francisco N.
    The south of Iberia conserves an important group of Palaeolithic rock art sites. The graph isms have been mostly attributed to the Solutrean and Magdalenian periods, while the possibility that older remains exist has provoked extensive debate. This circumstance has been linked to both the cited periods, until recently, due to the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic in the extreme southwest of Europe as well as the non-existence of some of the early periods of Palaeolithic art documented in northern Iberia. This study presents the results of interdisciplinary research conducted in Las Ventanas Cave. These results enabled us to identify a new Palaeolithic rock art site. The technical, stylistic and temporal traits point to certain similarities with the range of exterior deep engravings in Cantabrian Palaeolithic rock art. Ventanas appears to corroborate the age attributed to those kinds of graphic expression and points to the early arrival of the Upper Palaeolithic in the south of Iberia. Importantly, the results provide information on the pre-Solutrean date attributed to trilinear hind figures. These findings challenge the supposed Neanderthal survival idea at one of the main late Middle Palaeolithic southern Iberian sites (Cariguela) and, due to the parallels between them and an engraving attributed to this period in Gibraltar, it raises the possibility of interaction between modern humans and Neanderthals in the extreme southwest of Europe.
    2018-10Journal article Open Access Show more
  • Photoacclimation strategies in northeastern Atlantic seagrasses: Integrating responses across plant organizational levels
    Publication . Schubert, Nadine; Freitas, Cátia; Silva, André; Costa, Monya; Barrote, Isabel; Horta, Paulo A.; Rodrigues, Ana Cláudia; Santos, Rui; Silva, João
    Seagrasses live in highly variable light environments and adjust to these variations by expressing acclimatory responses at different plant organizational levels (meadow, shoot, leaf and chloroplast level). Yet, comparative studies, to identify species' strategies, and integration of the relative importance of photoacclimatory adjustments at different levels are still missing. The variation in photoacclimatory responses at the chloroplast and leaf level were studied along individual leaves of Cymodocea nodosa, Zostera marina and Z. noltei, including measurements of variable chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthesis, photoprotective capacities, non-photochemical quenching and D1-protein repair, and assessments of variation in leaf anatomy and chloroplast distribution. Our results show that the slower-growing C. nodosa expressed rather limited physiological and biochemical adjustments in response to light availability, while both species of faster-growing Zostera showed high variability along the leaves. In contrast, the inverse pattern was found for leaf anatomical adjustments in response to light availability, which were more pronounced in C. nodosa. This integrative plant organizational level approach shows that seagrasses differ in their photoacclimatory strategies and that these are linked to the species' life history strategies, information that will be critical for predicting the responses of seagrasses to disturbances and to accordingly develop adequate management strategies.
    2018-10Journal article Open Access Show more
  • Laxative use by community pharmacy users in southern Portugal
    Publication . Lourenço, Laura; De Sousa-Coelho, Ana Luísa; Nascimento, Tânia; Assunção, Lucília; Espírito Santo, Margarida
    The aim of this study was the characterization of laxative use by Pharmacy users, including the prevalence of use, types of laxatives used, and places for acquiring and obtaining advice on laxatives. METHODS: A cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried, using a structured questionnaire, in a Community Pharmacy located in Faro, Portugal. During a period of 3 weeks, all Pharmacy users (≥18 years) who agreed to voluntarily participate in this study, were enrolled. Our study sample included 50 users, mainly women (74%), aged from 22 to 94 years (median of 59 years). RESULTS: Most of the participants (88%) reported to be suffering or to have previously suffered from constipation, whereas 62% indicated to be suffering with symptoms for more than 3 years. From those, 64% had presented symptoms of constipation more than once a week in the previous year. Whenever users felt constipated, more than half (58%) indicated to use a laxative. Contact laxatives were the more often used (63%), while 18% and 8% of the participants indicated to have used bulk-forming and osmotic laxatives, respectively, during the previous year. Over half of the participants (54%) indicated to use laxatives at least on a weekly basis, with 38% presenting a daily consumption. Elderly users, ≥60 years, were who used laxatives more often (65% daily; p<0.001). Whereas Pharmacies were the preferred place to purchase laxatives (85%), only about 40% of the users indicated to ask for health professional advise at the time of acquisition. CONCLUSIONS: A high rate and frequency of laxative use was identified in the study sample, particularly contact laxatives. It is imperative, therefore, to provide users with more information on non-pharmacological measures to avoid and approach constipation and its symptoms, as well as further information such as overuse complications, allowing the appropriate selection of the laxative. Pharmacy professionals have a key role on this area, and related education campaigns should be implemented.
    2018-10Conference object Open Access Show more
  • Avaliação do risco de fissuração por retração plástica em argamassas de revestimento
    Publication . Oliveira, Miguel José Pereira das Dores Santos de; Silva, Luís; Sequeira, Pedro; Gonçalves, José Vilhena
    A seleção de argamassas de reabilitação ou reposição de edifícios antigos deve basear-se em critérios que garantam a compatibilidade funcional e estética com os materiais antigos remanescentes e toda a construção. A qualidade dos rebocos é um fator importante para a salubridade, conforto, durabilidade e aparência estética dos edifícios antigos e novos. A fissuração é um defeito com um impacto significativo no desempenho do revestimento, nomeadamente na sua impermeabilização e durabilidade, e um dos mais difíceis de avaliar e controlar, devido à sua dependência de vários fatores e também pela complexidade dos fenômenos. Depende de vários fatores que mudam no tempo como a evolução da retração, a relação entre o módulo de elasticidade e a resistência à tração e a capacidade da argamassa para dissipar tensões. Além disso, muitas dessas condições estão fortemente relacionadas com o ligante principal da argamassa. A retração plástica é um fenómeno comum e pode obrigar a cuidados especiais durante a aplicação. Em condições especiais, nomeadamente em grandes superfícies com altos índices de evaporação e altas temperaturas durante a aplicação podem surgir fissurações por retração plástica antes que a argamassa tenha endurecido completamente. Este tipo de fissuração deve ser totalmente evitado. As normas europeias estabelecem métodos de ensaios para argamassa de alvenaria. Por outro lado, apenas algumas entidades de investigação, como o LNEC, apresentam métodos para avaliação da resistência de uma argamassa à fissuração o que limita processos de avaliação expeditos, capazes de fornecer uma resposta preliminar rápida. Neste trabalho, dois métodos de ensaio diferentes são usados para avaliar a suscetibilidade à fissuração plástica em quatro argamassas diferentes. Particularmente um dos métodos é mais expedito e baseia-se na criação de diferentes condições de adesão numa superfície de um tijolo, em ambientes específicos. O segundo método centra-se na aplicação de argamassas em superfícies maiores que são colocadas num túnel de vento com diferentes temperaturas, humidades relativa e velocidade do vento. Através dos resultados obtidos foi possível fazer algumas considerações sobre o âmbito e limitações de cada método.
    2018-10Conference object Open Access Show more
  • Marine biotechnology: a challenging path to sustainable food, feed, energy and improved human and animal health
    Publication . Varela, João; Raposo, Sara
    As life began in the oceans, the past, but also the future of the human population is intrinsically linked to marine living resources. The oceans offer a bounty of biodiversity that needs to be protected, properly managed and exploited with responsibility. Recent studies on the biodiversity of marine organisms have revealed that the tree of life is actually a web of life with multiple interactions in terms of complex networks of gene transfers, endosymbiotic events and trophic relationships. The understanding of this complexity and the evolutionary history that underlies and explains the biology, biochemistry and ecology of marine life is key to its effective exploitation to benefit human beings as a whole in a responsible manner. We will discuss knowledge-based strategies that are currently being implemented in order to use the available marine living resources as novel sources of food, feed, energy and bioactive compounds, so that a more sustainable future can be provided to future generations.
    2018-10Book part Open Access Show more
  • Loss of Ccbe1 affects cardiac-specification and cardiomyocyte differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells
    Publication . Bover, Oriol; Justo, Tiago; Pereira, Paulo N. G.; Facucho-Oliveira, João; Inácio, José M.; Ramalho, José S.; Domian, Ibrahim J.; Belo, José A.
    Understanding the molecular pathways regulating cardiogenesis is crucial for the early diagnosis of heart diseases and improvement of cardiovascular disease. During normal mammalian cardiac development, collagen and calcium-binding EGF domain-1 (Ccbe1) is expressed in the first and second heart field progenitors as well as in the proepicardium, but its role in early cardiac commitment remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that during mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation Ccbe1 is upregulated upon emergence of Isl1- and Nkx2.5- positive cardiac progenitors. Ccbe1 is markedly enriched in Isl1-positive cardiac progenitors isolated from ESCs differentiating in vitro or embryonic hearts developing in vivo. Disruption of Ccbe1 activity by shRNA knockdown or blockade with a neutralizing antibody results in impaired differentiation of embryonic stem cells along the cardiac mesoderm lineage resulting in a decreased expression of mature cardiomyocyte markers. In addition, knockdown of Ccbe1 leads to smaller embryoid bodies. Collectively, our results show that CCBE1 is essential for the commitment of cardiac mesoderm and consequently, for the formation of cardiac myocytes in differentiating mouse ESCs.
    2018-10Journal article Open Access Show more
  • Language anxiety and integrative motivation in panish as a foreign language in Portuguese university students: an exploratory study
    Publication . Rabadán Zurita, Mercedes; Orgambidez Ramos, Alejandro
    The aim of this study was to examine to what extent language anxiety and integrative motivation predict language achievement in Spanish as a second language in a sample of 249 Portuguese university students, using multiple and hierarchical linear regression models. Results showed negative relationships between language anxiety and course grade, and positive relationships between integrative motivation and course grade. Fear of negative evaluation was the only significant predictor on course grade. Activities that increase positive attitude towards Spanish and anxiety-free class climate facilitate the acquisition and learning of Spanish as a second language.
    2018-10Journal article Open Access Show more
  • Validity and reliability evidence of the psychological capital questionnaire-12 in a sample of Mexican workers
    Publication . Santana-Cardenas, Soraya; Viseu, João; Lopez Nunez, Maria Inmaculada; Neves de Jesus, Saul
    Psychological capital is a construct that is included in the positive organizational behavior framework, which is based on positive psychology principles. This concept is composed by four dimensions, self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism, which have a synergistic action. The aim of this study was to report the psychometric properties of one of the measures of psychological capital, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire-12 (PCQ-12), in a sample of 396 Mexican workers. This instruments' factor structure was analyzed through a confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was assessed with the Cronbach's Alpha and Composite Reliability coefficients. Furthermore, convergent and discriminant validity were also evaluated. Based on three concurrent models, it was observed that the model which possessed a better fit was composed by four-correlated factors. The implications of these results are discussed, and recommendations are provided for future researches. This paper, which presents a different factor structure than the usual of psychological capital, suggests that cultural differences may play a crucial role on the way the assessed construct behaves.
    2018-10Journal article Open Access Show more