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UID/CCI/04667/2016 Em setembro de 2016 a Associação Portuguesa para os Direitos do Consumidores (Deco) realizou um inquérito para aferir o conhecimento que os portugueses tinham sobre as principais organizações nacionais e internacionais. Em antepenúltimo lugar ficou o Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI). Dada a proximidade temporal entre a vinda do FMI a Portugal e a elaboração desse inquérito, consideramos pertinente analisar a imagem que os portugueses têm sobre a organização que figura entre as instituições de que os portugueses mais ouviram falar, através dos media, nos últimos anos. O desconhecimento dos portugueses relativamente ao FMI é notório nas respostas aos inquéritos, em que apenas 5% dos inquiridos classificaram de forma correta todas as afirmações sobre a instituição: o valor mais baixo dos países em estudo. In September 2016, the Portuguese Association for the Rights of Consumers (Deco) carried out a survey to determine the Portuguese’s knowledge about the main national and international organizations. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was ranked second-last. Given the time proximity between the IMF’s visit to Portugal and the elaboration of that survey, we deemed appropriate to analyze that organization’s image for the Portuguese, as it is one of the institutions that the Portuguese have heard the most through the media, in recent years. Portuguese people’s ignorance about the IMF is obvious from the answers given to the surveys, whereby only 5% of the respondents correctly classified all the statements about the institution: the lowest value of the countries under study. publishersversion published

We experimentally demonstrate the use of subwavelength optical nanoantennae to assist the gentle ablation of nanostructures directly using ultralow fluence from a Ti: sapphire oscillator through the excitation of surface plasmon waves. We show that this ablation mechanism is the same for metal and dielectric. The analytical solutions of ablation threshold are in excellent agreement with the experiment estimations. Surface plasmon assisted locally enhanced ablation at nanoscale provides a method for nanomachining, manipulation and modification the nanostructures without collateral thermal damage to the materials. It is also shown that this ablation can deposit low-density high quality thin nano film., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

Acta of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources

Using experimental and computational methods, we study the role of behavioural variability in activity bursts (or temporal activity patterns) for individual and collective regulation of foraging in A. senilis ants. First, foraging experiments were carried out under special conditions (low densities of ants and food and absence of external cues or stimuli) where individual-based strategies are most prevalent. By using marked individuals and recording all foraging trajectories, we were then able to precisely quantify behavioural variability among individuals. Our main conclusions are that (i) variability of ant trajectories (turning angles, speed, etc.) is low compared with variability of temporal activity profiles, and (ii) this variability seems to be driven by plasticity of individual behavioural through time, rather than the presence of fixed behavioural stereotypes or specialists within the group. The statistical measures obtained from these experimental foraging patterns are then used to build a general agent-based model (ABM) which includes the most relevant properties of ant foraging under natural conditions, including recruitment through pheromone communication. Using the ABM, we are able to provide computational evidence that the characteristics of individual variability observed in our experiments can provide a functional advantage (in terms of foraging success) to the group; thus, we propose the biological basis underpinning our observations. Altogether, our study reveals the potential utility of experiments under simplified (laboratory) conditions for understanding information-gathering in biological systems.

Three feeding experiments, using live mysid shrimp, grass shrimp or fish fry as prey for 1-, 30- and 60-day-old cuttlefish were conducted to determine the efficiency of each dietary source in relation to cuttlefish size and age. Additionally, a fourth experiment using fish fry and grass shrimp, but previously frozen, was also conducted. The results showed that when 1-day-old cuttlefish were fed mysids, grass shrimp or fish for 4 weeks, mysids were the best prey, but only during the first week. From this moment until the end of the experiment, the best growth rate was when cuttlefish were fed grass shrimp. Cuttlefish fed fish fry showed the poorest growth rate throughout the experiment. Similarly, cuttlefish aged 30 or 60 days fed grass shrimp or fish fry had the best growth rates when fed grass shrimp. When cuttlefish were fed live fish, survival increased with size of cuttlefish (73.3%, 91.7% and 100% for 1, 30 and 60 days cuttlefish, respectively). In the fourth experiment, using frozen diets, overall acceptance of each diet (feeding rates) was the same for fish and shrimp. However, lower growth was obtained when cuttlefish were fed fish compared to grass shrimp. This lower growth was due to a lower food conversion (28% vs. 41%). Since cephalopod paralarvae and juvenile most likely need prey rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), phospholipids and cholesterol, and a moderate content in neutral lipids, we have analyzed the biochemical compositions of the different prey to evaluate the influence of this factor on growth and survival., SI

Using experimental and computational methods, we study the role of behavioural variability in activity bursts (or temporal activity patterns) for individual and collective regulation of foraging in A. senilis ants. First, foraging experiments were carried out under special conditions (low densities of ants and food and absence of external cues or stimuli) where individual-based strategies are most prevalent. By using marked individuals and recording all foraging trajectories, we were then able to precisely quantify behavioural variability among individuals. Our main conclusions are that (i) variability of ant trajectories (turning angles, speed, etc.) is low compared with variability of temporal activity profiles, and (ii) this variability seems to be driven by plasticity of individual behavioural through time, rather than the presence of fixed behavioural stereotypes or specialists within the group. The statistical measures obtained from these experimental foraging patterns are then used to build a general agent-based model (ABM) which includes the most relevant properties of ant foraging under natural conditions, including recruitment through pheromone communication. Using the ABM, we are able to provide computational evidence that the characteristics of individual variability observed in our experiments can provide a functional advantage (in terms of foraging success) to the group; thus, we propose the biological basis underpinning our observations. Altogether, our study reveals the potential utility of experiments under simplified (laboratory) conditions for understanding information-gathering in biological systems.

The transition of Sepia officinalis culture to industrial large scale has been hampered due to bottlenecks related to the limited knowledge on nutritional physiology of the species. Determination of the endogenous ability of S. officinalis hatchlings to metabolise unsaturated fatty acids (FA) may provide new insight on the capability of hatchlings to biosynthesise different FA, as well as lipid classes containing essential fatty acids (EFA). In the present study, cuttlefish hatchlings were incubated with [1-14C]FA including C18 FA (18:1n-9, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-3) and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) (20:4n-6 (ARA), 20:5n-3 (EPA) or 22:6n-3 (DHA)), which were added individually as potassium salts bound to bovine serum albumin. The majority of radioactivity incorporated was recovered esterified into polar lipids (PL). A pattern was detected, where [1-14C]DHA, [1-14C]C18 FA and their metabolic products were preferentially esterified into phosphatidylcholine, whereas [1- 14C]ARA and [1-14C]EPA were mainly esterified into phosphatidylethanolamine. [1-14C]C18 FA were the most transformed FA with several metabolites produced by elongation and possible desaturation being obtained. Of the radioactivity incorporated into hatchling total lipid (TL) from supplemented [1- 14C]LC-PUFA only one elongation product was recovered from the three substrates, except for [1- 14C]ARA, where an unidentified product was also detected. The present in vivo results indicated that S. officinalis hatchlings may have capability for the first steps in the biosynthesis of ARA and EPA from 18:2n-6 and 18:3n-3, respectively, including the existence of a desaturase potentially involved. Nonetheless, considering the low desaturation rates detected, this process may not be sufficient to cover EFA demands during development of this species. Therefore, dietary ARA and EPA, as well as DHA, should be supplied during the hatchling stage of Sepia. While designing an inert diet, which ensures normal growth and development of this species during the hatchling stage, the C18 FA and LCPUFA levels and ratios should be considered, since the esterification pattern detected in the present study suggested competition between these FA for esterification into specific lipid classes. Moreover, considering the observed esterification pattern of LC-PUFA into different lipid classes, it is likely that the DHA/EPA/ARA ratio, rather than DHA/EPA or EPA/ARA ratios, would be of great importance for S. officinalis hatchling development.

La actividad minera trae consigo múltiples consecuencias para la salud de las personas que desarrollan la actividad y para quienes residen en las zonas aledañas a las áreas de explotación. En este sentido habitar en zonas de influencia minera podría tener consecuencias sobre la percepción de la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud. Objetivo: El presente trabajo evaluó la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud usando el cuestionario SF•36 en personas que residen en áreas de explotación minera y en personas habitantes de áreas con tradición agrícola. Metodología: Se desarrolló un trabajo de corte trasversal descriptivo. Resultados: se encontró percepción de calidad relacionada con la salud baja en las personas del área de explotación del carbón. Abstract. Mining brings many consequences to the health of people who develop the activity and for residents in areas surrounding mining areas. In this sense live in areas of mining influence could have an impact on the perception of quality of life related to health. This study evaluated the health related quality of life using the questionnaire SF • 36 with people who lives in mining areas and people inhabitants of areas with agricultural tradition. Cross-sectional study where done, in this work we fand that the perception of health related quality of live is less in people living in the area of coal mining. Maestría

This study attempts to develop an analytical study about the behavior of arbitrary shape and size noncohesive two-dimensional granular materials. Several mechanical properties and relations are unraveled by connecting micro- and macroscales in an explicit fashion that, at the same time, provides the basis for an analytical–theoretical multiscale framework. Furthermore, this study is based on three main ideas that are developed and connected progressively, namely, the obtention of explicit expressions that enable us to relate microscale parameters, such as contact forces and fabric, to stress and strain as macro (continuum) physical properties. Then, with these powerful tools, physical connections and relations between the mentioned microparameters and macroconstitutive parameters such as friction angle, dilatancy, and critical state are established.