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Dissertação de Mestrado - Ciclo de Estudos Integrados Conducentes ao Grau de Mestre em Design e Marketing de Produto têxtil, vestuário e acessórios, O desenvolvimento de produtos sustentáveis tem sido uma das grandes preocupações que correm, devido à problemática ambiental atual, com origem no consumo excessivo e ao mau uso dos recursos naturais. O momento é de precaução e atenção a todas as formas de produção. Desta forma são inúmeros os desafios dos designers nos dias de hoje, sendo o principal objetivo desenvolver produtos que atendam ao mercado consumidor cada vez mais exigente, sem deixar de pensar nas requisitos para a sustentabilidade, seja ambiental, socio-ética ou económica. Por essas razões, este estudo desenvolvido através da metodologia de Design Thinking buscou encontrar uma solução para o problema da reutilização de resíduos de lã provenientes da indústria têxtil. O acúmulo de sobras de fios armazenados sem utilização que são descartados em aterros sanitários causa sérios danos ao meio ambiente. A proposta deste estudo é desenvolver um novo produto através da reutilização de sobras industrais limpas de lã pela tecnologia de produção de não-tecidos para ser aplicado à fabricação de revestimentos e produtos destinados ao Design de Superfície, expecificamente para os Interiores (decoração de interiores). Com este processo consegue-se obter, através do Design de Superfícies, superfícies têxteis consistentes e com gramáticas visuais apelativas tendo como principal preocupação a sustentabilidade., The development of sustainable products has been a major concern today, given the current environmental problems due to excessive consumption and misuse of natural resources, the moment is caution and attention to all forms of production. In this way, there are innumerous challenges of the designers today, being the main one to develop products that meet the increasingly demanding consumer market without leaving aside the concerns about sustainability, whether environmental, socioethical or economic. For these reasons, this study developed through the methodology of Design Thinking sought to find a solution to the problem of reuse of wool yarn waste from the textile industry. The accumulation of leftover stored wires that are disposed of in landfills causes serious damage to the environment. The proposal of this study is to develop a new product through the reuse of leftover yarns by the technology of production of nonwovens to be applied to the manufacture of coatings and products applied to Interior Design. Through this process it is possible to obtain, through the Design of Surfaces, consistent textile surfaces and with appealing visual grammars having as main concern the sustainability.

Rhodnius prolixus not only has served as a model organism for the study of insect physiology, but also is a major vector of Chagas disease, an illness that affects approximately seven million people worldwide. We sequenced the genome of R. prolixus, generated assembled sequences covering 95% of the genome (similar to 702 Mb), including 15,456 putative protein-coding genes, and completed comprehensive genomic analyses of this obligate blood-feeding insect. Although immune-deficiency (IMD)-mediated immune responses were observed, R. prolixus putatively lacks key components of the IMD pathway, suggesting a reorganization of the canonical immune signaling network. Although both Toll and IMD effectors controlled intestinal microbiota, neither affected Trypanosoma cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas disease, implying the existence of evasion or tolerance mechanisms. R. prolixus has experienced an extensive loss of selenoprotein genes, with its repertoire reduced to only two proteins, one of which is a selenocysteine-based glutathione peroxidase, the first found in insects. The genome contained actively transcribed, horizontally transferred genes from Wolbachia sp., which showed evidence of codon use evolution toward the insect use pattern. Comparative protein analyses revealed many lineage-specific expansions and putative gene absences in R. prolixus, including tandem expansions of genes related to chemoreception, feeding, and digestion that possibly contributed to the evolution of a blood-feeding lifestyle. The genome assembly and these associated analyses provide critical information on the physiology and evolution of this important vector species and should be instrumental for the development of innovative disease control methods.

Except for honey as food, and silk for clothing and pollination of plants, people give little thought to the benefits of insects in their lives. This overview briefly describes significant recent advances in developing insect natural products as potential new medicinal drugs. This is an exciting and rapidly expanding new field since insects are hugely variable and have utilised an enormous range of natural products to survive environmental perturbations for 100s of millions of years. There is thus a treasure chest of untapped resources waiting to be discovered. Insects products, such as silk and honey, have already been utilised for thousands of years, and extracts of insects have been produced for use in Folk Medicine around the world, but only with the development of modern molecular and biochemical techniques has it become feasible to manipulate and bioengineer insect natural products into modern medicines. Utilising knowledge gleaned from Insect Folk Medicines, this review describes modern research into bioengineering honey and venom from bees, silk, cantharidin, antimicrobial peptides, and maggot secretions and anticoagulants from blood-sucking insects into medicines. Problems and solutions encountered in these endeavours are described and indicate that the future is bright for new insect derived pharmaceuticals treatments and medicines.

Polyester pad was utilized as solid support for rearing Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel larvae in liquid diet and compared with the ground meat diet. There were no significant differences in the mean third instar larvae and pupal weights, number of pupae, emergence and rearing efficiency. The tests were conducted through four consecutive generations, presenting no detectable effect in any of the life history parameters. We propose that the polyester pad can be used as solid support for rearing C. hominivorax larvae in liquid diets and can be reutilized reducing the costs of mass rearing. A utilização de manta de poliéster como substrato para a criação de larvas de Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel em dieta líquida foi comparada com dieta à base de carne moída. Não foram verificadas diferenças na média dos pesos de larvas de terceiro estágio e pupas, número de pupas formadas, emergência e eficiência de criação. Os resultados foram obtidos por quatro gerações consecutivas, não demonstrando interferência em nenhum parâmetro biológico avaliado. Propõe-se que manta de poliéster pode ser utilizada como suporte para a criação laboratorial de C. hominivorax em dieta líquida, reduzindo os custos de criação, uma vez que pode ser reutilizada.