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Simple Summary Over the past thirty years, the thermal modification of wood has become a universally recognised and commercialised wood modification process. Thermal modifications may affect wood properties, either positively (dimensional stability and decay resistance) or negatively (mechanical properties). The combination of the impregnation of specific reagents with thermal modification may help to overcome the negative effects on wood properties. In this study, we evaluate the effect of a combination of two zwitterionic buffers, bicine and tricine, and thermal modification of two wood species (beech and spruce) against subterranean termites and their symbiotic fauna. Bicine and tricine treatments alone had a clear influence on wood mass loss and termite survival. The flagellate protist symbiotic community was affected by the treatments and responded differently to them, as a highly adaptable community. However, the combination of bicine with the thermal modification showed a negative effect on termites and their symbionts on both wood species. The combination of these different factors should be further investigated, as these results seem to be promising with regard to the enhancement of the termite resistance of wood. Abstract The majority of thermal modification processes are at temperatures greater than 180 °C, resulting in a product with some properties enhanced and some diminished (e.g., mechanical properties). However, the durability of thermally modified wood to termite attack is recognised as low. Recent attempts at combining thermal modification with chemical modification, either prior to or directly after the thermal process, are promising. Buffers, although not influencing the reaction systems, may interact on exposure to certain conditions, potentially acting as promoters of biological changes. In this study, two zwitterionic buffers, bicine and tricine, chosen for their potential to form Maillard-type products with fragmented hemicelluloses/volatiles, were assessed with and without thermal modification for two wood species (spruce and beech), with subsequent evaluation of their effect against subterranean termites (Reticulitermes grassei Clément) and their symbiotic protists. The effect of the wood treatments on termites and their symbionts was visible after four weeks, especially for spruce treated with tricine and bicine and heat treatment (bicine HT), and for beech treated with bicine and bicine and heat treatment (bicine HT). The chemical behaviour of these substances should be further investigated when in contact with wood and also after heat treatment. This is the first study evaluating the effect of potential Maillard reactions with zwitterionic buffers on subterranean termite symbiotic fauna.

IRG51 webinar on Wood Protection 10-11 June 2020. Most European wood species are rapidly and severely degraded in termite-infested areas and the marine environment. There is a need for new solutions, especially in the marine environment, since we lack wood preservatives approved for marine applications in Europe. Several wood modification systems show high resistance against both marine borers and subterranean termites. However, the existing commercialised methods of wood modification are costly. Therefore, a new, low cost and non-toxic wood modification system from inexpensive and readily-available feedstock chemicals have been used in this study. The treatment of wood with a combination of sorbitol and citric acid (PS-modification) showed good resistance against wood borers in the marine environment after one season and against subterranean termites in the laboratory after eight weeks. Future results from the ongoing field tests in the marine environment will reveal the long-term performance of PS-treated wood. The low termite survival rate in the non-choice test already in the first week of testing indicate a mode of action which is not comparable with other wood modification treatments. The Norwegian Research Council financing of the ValorWood project 302072 and the support of Oslofjordfondet, project 298869. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

ENCORE 2020 – 4º Encontro de Conservação e Reabilitação de Edifícios, Lisboa, LNEC, 3-6 novembro 2020. Conservar e Reabilitar monumentos, edifícios e espaços são oportunidades únicas para fomentar a sustentabilidade dos territórios, constituindo-se o ENCORE 2020 - 4º Encontro de Conservação e Reabilitação de Edifícios numa ocasião ímpar para discutir os desafios da transformação no espaço construído: otimizar recursos, reutilizar materiais, melhorar a eficiência energética, repensar as centralidades urbanas, promover a resiliência. O presente documento junta os textos das comunicações apresentadas sobre a multiplicidade de aspetos que se entrecruzam no âmbito da intervenção no património construído, identificando, de forma multidisciplinar e sinergética, os desafios e os caminhos para melhor Conservar e Reabilitar. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In order to meet the needs for the developing bio-based economy, maintaining and expanding the market potential for wood raw materials and wood products in indoor and outdoor construction uses remains a key activity for industries in the biotechnological and forestry sector respectively. A major restraint in this respect is the drastically deviating views and expectations on quality and performance of the material. Such differences can be found between producers and consumers, between architects and engineers, between planners and approval bodies as well as between academia on the one hand and industry and traders on the other hand. The wood protection and wood preservation sector is located exactly within this area of deviating opinions. To overcome the barriers due to different perceptions and therewith strengthen the standing of wood as a desirable building material in the future, new strategies and methods for communication, knowledge transfer and education are needed. Networking and scientific exchange between different disciplines is needed, such as forest science, silviculture, applied forestry, material sciences, wood technology, building technology, architecture and engineering. Consumer demands and preferences, which might serve as limit states to develop service life prediction and performance models, need to consider aesthetical aspects as well as the functionality of timber building assemblies. Finally, teaching students, craftsmen, and salesmen is the key to enhance the acceptance of renewable and carbon-storing products, which are both biodegradable and highly variable in their properties. All these peculiarities require a deeper understanding of their nature and characteristics to improve their purpose-related usage.

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under DB-HERITAGE project (PTDC/EPH-PAT/4684/2014). The authors also acknowledge the EMBARRO Company for supplying the majority of the mortar materials and are grateful to Antonio Santos Silva, Miguel Teixeira, Sandra Noivo, Teresa Gonçalves and Vitor Silva for the support throughout the testing campaign. The support of COST Actions FP1303 “Performance of biobased building materials” and RILEM Technical Committees TCE, “Testing and Characterisation of Earth-based building materials and elements” and HDB, “Hygrothermal behaviour and Durability of Bio-aggregate based building materials”, are also acknowledged. An experimental campaign was developed to evaluate the properties of earth plastering mortars, not only at the level of workability and physic-mechanical performance but also their susceptibility for biological colonization. A ready-mixed earth mortar and several other mortars formulated with a raw clayish earth were produced. The influence of partial replacement of fine sand by a phase change material (PCM) and the addition of low amounts of oat fibres and hydrated air lime were assessed. The experimental campaign shows that the PCM completely changes the mortar workability, with a decrease on wet density. The addition of PCM and fibres decreases the bulk density and, consequently, increases the porosity of the mortars. The presence of PCM, fibres and air lime decreases the thermal conductivity. Earth mortars are susceptible to mould development, and the fibres or PCM seem to intensify their bio-susceptibility. A low addition of air lime increases pH and inhibits fungal growth though decreasing the mechanical properties. Mortars with PCM, fibres and air lime present a higher surface roughness in comparison to other mortars, including the ready-mixed earth mortar with fibres. Surface roughness was found to be an important factor influencing the level of colonization. authorsversion published

To degrade lignocellulose efficiently, lower termites rely on their digestive tract’s specific features (i.e., physiological properties and enzymes) and on the network of symbiotic fauna harboured in their hindgut. This complex ecosystem, has different levels of symbiosis, and is a result of diverse co-evolutionary events and the singular social behaviour of termites. The partnership between termites and flagellate protists, together with prokaryotes, has been very successful because of their co-adaptative ability and efficacy in resolving the needs of the involved organisms: this tripartite symbiosis may have reached a physiologically stable, though dynamic, evolutionary equilibrium. The diversity of flagellate protists fauna associated with lower termites could be explained by a division of labour to accomplish the intricate process of lignocellulose digestion, and the ability to disrupt this function has potential use for termite control. Multi-level symbiosis strategy processes, or the cellulolytic capacity of flagellate protists, may lead to innovative pathways for other research areas with potential spin-offs for industrial and commercial use. DOP – Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas; Governo dos Açores; IMAR – Instituto do Mar info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. To degrade lignocellulose efficiently, lower termites rely on their digestive tract’s specific features (i.e., hysiological properties and enzymes) and on the network of symbiotic fauna harboured in their hindgut. This complex ecosystem, has different levels of symbiosis, and is a result of diverse co-evolutionary events and the singular social behaviour of termites. The partnership between termites and flagellate protists, together with prokaryotes, has been very successful because of their co-adaptative ability and efficacy in resolving the needs of the involved organisms: this tripartite symbiosis may have reached a physiologically stable, though dynamic, evolutionary equilibrium. The diversity of flagellate protists fauna associated with lower termites could be explained by a division of labour to accomplish the intricate process of lignocellulose digestion, and the ability to disrupt this function has potential use for termite control. Multi-level symbiosis strategy processes, or the cellulolytic capacity of flagellate protists, may lead to innovative pathways for other research areas with potential spin-offs for industrial and commercial use.

This work intended to give a perspective of industrial wood protection in Portugal. A survey was made of the companies treating wood mainly for use classes 3 and 4 such as autoclave treatments with biocides and wood modification procedures. Currently there are 23 companies with 33 production plants with an autoclave installed for wood preservation by impregnation. There are also two companies producing modified wood by thermal treatment. Most of the plants are located in the central and northern regions of Portugal. The leading preservation chemicals used in Portugal are Tanalith E and Celcure brands. The main wood species used in all companies is Pinus pinaster from local producers. The products commercialized by the treating companies are diverse: pre-fabricated houses, garden furniture and playgrounds, decks, poles, stakes, and sawn wood. Modified wood producers sell mostly decks and cladding. Considerable changes are expected in the next few years due to the requirements of European Directives and the typical constraints of the Portuguese market. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

A round robin involving 15 European participants was set up in 2006. The round robin consists of both a field test according to the double layer test method and a laboratory test with two different preconditioning methods. When comparing EN 84 preconditioning (two weeks water leaching) with natural preconditioning (1 year in field, above ground) according to CEN/TS 15397, no significant difference could be noted for untreated controls, thermally modified wood or CCA impregnated wood. However, for wood treated with a metal-free organic preservative, a clear difference could be seen where much of the efficacy seen after EN 84 preconditioning is lost when natural preconditioning is used instead. In the field tests, the control pine performs similar in all fields whereas both thermally modified and preservative treated wood performs much better in the Nordic fields than in the mid- and southern European fields. The thermally modified wood performs almost as poor as the controls in the Southern European fields, whereas the organic preservative treated wood performs well in these fields. In the six mid-European fields, the organic preservative treated and thermally modified wood performs equally poor but much better than the controls. The best compliance between field performance and laboratory test results is obtained when comparing the average results from the field tests with results from EN 113 tests with Poria placenta after natural preconditioning according to CEN/TS 15397.

Submitted by Paulo Frazão (pfrazao@lnec.pt) on 2013-06-06T12:43:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Termites Isoptera in the Azores an overview of the four.pdf: 1219951 bytes, checksum: 9ab10718f9244c32a2322c8f66a2a9eb (MD5) Approved for entry into archive by almeida.fernandes@lnec.pt(almeida.fernandes@lnec.pt) on 2013-11-04T15:42:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Termites Isoptera in the Azores an overview of the four.pdf: 1219951 bytes, checksum: 9ab10718f9244c32a2322c8f66a2a9eb (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-04T15:42:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Termites Isoptera in the Azores an overview of the four.pdf: 1219951 bytes, checksum: 9ab10718f9244c32a2322c8f66a2a9eb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:55:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 1831 bytes, checksum: ca98d29a1c87bb1020516cc6ed255c2b (MD5) Termites Isoptera in the Azores an overview of the four.pdf: 1219951 bytes, checksum: 9ab10718f9244c32a2322c8f66a2a9eb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-12T16:29:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Termites Isoptera in the Azores an overview of the four.pdf: 1219951 bytes, checksum: 9ab10718f9244c32a2322c8f66a2a9eb (MD5) license.txt: 1831 bytes, checksum: ca98d29a1c87bb1020516cc6ed255c2b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 We thank the editor Helen Rost Martins and anonymous reviewers whose invaluable critical comments helped improve this manuscript. Financial support for this research was provided in part by the University of Florida, School of Structural Fumigation, the project TERMODISP DRCT - M221-I-002-2009) and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCTSFRH/ BD/29840/2006 and PTDC/ECM/099121/ 2008). 7 39-55pp 30 DE/NEM Arquipelago - Life and Marine Sciences

Ao longo dos tempos temos verificado que o Estado desempenhou diferentes papéis, sendo nalgumas fases mais ou menos interventivo, noutras mais ou menos social. Quando existe uma recessão económica há tendência para a introdução de reformas profundas. Tais reformas, com algumas características semelhantes, estão baseadas na Nova Gestão Pública, onde as questões gestionárias e manageriais estão presentes. O processo competitivo deixa de ser exclusivo do sector privado passando também para o Estado; a eficiência e a qualidade dos serviços passa a ser um tema dominante da agenda política. Todo o processo de mudança é resultado da acção humana e necessita, por isso, da colaboração dos recursos humanos para ser concretizado com sucesso. Uma boa gestão dos recursos humanos pode potenciar o aumento da eficiência, da eficácia e da qualidade dos serviços públicos. O sucesso de uma organização depende de muitos factores, entre os quais a satisfação dos seus colaboradores; se estes estiverem satisfeitos há uma “real” possibilidade de sucesso para a organização. Neste contexto definimos como objectivo principal do nosso trabalho o estudo do nível da satisfação num contexto específico de trabalho – Instituto Politécnico da Guarda. A escolha deste estudo prende-se com dois motivos: por um lado compreender e testar em que medida alguns factores contribuem para a satisfação no trabalho, nomeadamente factores pessoais como género, idade e habilitações literárias; e factores situacionais como o tempo de serviço, vínculo, categoria e vencimento; e, avaliar o contributo dos factores organizacionais (condições de trabalho, sistemas de gestão, carreira e competências, conteúdo do trabalho e relações humanas) na satisfação profissional dos trabalhadores do Instituto Politécnico da Guarda.

This work has arisen from a research: Collaborative Evaluation in an Online Learning Environment. It aims to understand how that collaborative evaluation can promote the students' learning. The work focused specially on interviews with teachers and students from three different institutions in which they were asked about the possibilities of students' participation in the evaluation process; the results indicated that students take part in that process very rarely and many objections to their participation were mentioned. Although the Internet presents many possibilities of participation and also the importance given to the collaborative activities, evaluation still has the role of measuring students' knowledge, as a teachers' powerful and controlling tool. Este artículo se origina en la investigación: Evaluacion Participativa en el Ambiente de Aprendizaje Online y tiene por objeto comprender como la evaluacion participativa puede favorecer el aprendizaje de los alumnos. El presente artículo se ha focalizado especialmente en entrevistas realizadas a profesores y alumnos de tres instituciones, para indagar sobre las posibilidades de participacion del alumno en la evaluacion; los resultados señalaron que el alumno dificilmente participa y por otro lado, se mencionaron algunos obstaculos para realizar tal participacion. A pesar de las posibilidades de participacion propiciadas por la Internet y la importancia dada a las actividades de colaboracion, la evaluacion continúa teniendo la funcion de medir el conocimiento de los alumnos; constituyendose asi en instrumento de poder y control del profesor sobre el alumno. Este artigo teve origem com a pesquisa: Avaliação Participativa no Ambiente de Aprendizagem Online, tendo como objetivo compreender como a avaliação participativa pode favorecer o aprendizado dos alunos. O presente artigo focalizou especialmente as entrevistas realizadas com professores e alunos de tres instituicoes, indagando sobre as possibilidades de participação do aluno na avaliação, os resultados apontaram que o aluno dificilmente participa e alguns obstaculos a participação foram mencionados. Apesar das possibilidades de participação propiciadas pela internet e a importância dada às atividades colaborativas, a avaliação continua a ter a funcao de medir o conhecimento dos alunos, constituindo-se em instrumento de poder e controle do professor sobre o aluno.

This research aimed to verify if the playful use of educational softwares can contribute to the construction of children’s knowledge in an elementary school. In field research, observations were made of children working in the computer room and semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and pedagogical staff. The background theory was based on the contributions of scholars such as Papert, Piaget, Valente, Vygotsky and Winnicott, among others. The data obtained from interviews were submitted to content analysis, considering recurring themes such as: relationship between software and content, game rules, playful dimension of the game, games as a source of pleasure, learning and knowledge, mediation and interaction. The results showed that the playful use of educational software is important to the learning of children, makes classes more dynamic, encourages mediation among teachers and students, enabling the construction of knowledge., Esta investigación tubo como objetivo verificar si el uso de softwares educativos, en uma perspectiva lúdica, puede contribuir para la construcción del conocimiento de niños en la enseñanza primaria. En el campo se observó niños en la clase de informática y fueron realizadas entrevistas semiestructuradas con profesores y equipo pedagógico. La base teórica se apoyó en las contribuciones de estudiosos como Papert, Piaget, Valente, Vygotsky y Winnicott, entre otros. Los datos obtenidos en las entrevistas fueron sometidos a análisis de contenido, enfocado los temas recurrentes: relación entre software y contenidos, el juego de reglas, dimensión lúdica del juego, los juegos como fuente de placer, aprendizaje y conocimiento, mediación e interacción. Los resultados apuntaron que el uso de softwares educativos, de forma lúcida, es importante para el aprendizaje de los niños, tornan las clases más dinámicas, favorecen la mediación entre profesores y alumnos, posibilitando la construcción del conocimiento., Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar se o uso de softwares educativos, numa perspectiva lúdica, pode contribuir para a construção do conhecimento de crianças do Ensino Fundamental. Na pesquisa de campo foram feitas observações de crianças na sala de informática e realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os professores e equipe pedagógica. O embasamento teórico se apoiou nas contribuições de estudiosos comoPapert, Piaget, Valente, Vigotski e Winnicott, entre outros. Os dados obtidos nas entrevistas foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo, tendo em vista os temas recorrentes, a saber: relação entre software e conteúdos, o jogo de regras, dimensão lúdica do jogo, os jogos como fonte de prazer, aprendizagem e conhecimento, mediação e interação. Os resultados mostraram que o uso de softwares educativos, de forma lúdica, é importante para a aprendizagem das crianças, tornam as aulas mais dinâmicas, favorecem a mediação entre professores e alunos, possibilitando a construção do conhecimento.