RCAAP Repository

Telomeres from different eukaryotes, including trypanosomatids, are transcribed into TERRA noncoding RNAs, crucial in regulating chromatin deposition and telomere length. TERRA is transcribed from the C-rich subtelomeric strand towards the 3′-ends of the telomeric array. Using bioinformatics, we confirmed the presence of subtelomeric splice acceptor sites at all L. major chromosome ends. Splice leader sequences positioned 5′ upstream of L. major chromosomes subtelomeres were then mapped using SL-RNA-Seq libraries constructed from three independent parasite life stages and helped confirm TERRA expression from several chromosomes ends. Northern blots and RT-qPCR validated the results showing that L. major TERRA is processed by trans-splicing and polyadenylation coupled reactions. The number of transcripts varied with the parasite's life stage and continuous passages, being more abundant in the infective forms. However, no putative subtelomeric promoters involved in TERRA's transcriptional regulation were detected. In contrast, the observed changes in parasite's telomere length during development, suggest that differences in telomeric base J levels may control TERRA transcription in L. major. Also, TERRAR loops' detection, mainly in the infective forms, was suggestive of TERRA's involvement in telomere protection. Therefore, Leishmania TERRA shares conserved features with other eukaryotes and advances new telomere specific functions in a Public Health-impacting parasite.

Trust is a fundamental ingredient of prosperous democracies. In Europe, trust in existing elected democratic institutions is fading while authoritarian nationalist movements grow. Experiences of neglect, ignorance, and inferiority are one explanation for this. This paper explores the link between the experiences of households in a state of energy poverty and their trust in institutions and social networks. Using qualitative data from ten different European countries, we show that a lack of trust in both public and private institutions is widespread among energy-poor households. Our interviewees show distrust in various dimensions. In their contacts with institutions, they report experiences of powerlessness, bad and unfair treatment, and feelings of inferiority. While some interviewees do trust single individuals within institutions, others trust only their own social networks and some have no trust in anyone. We further show how trust in networks or (people in) institutions can strengthen the coping capacities of energy-poor households while a lack of trust even cuts people off from the support they could attain and thus deepens their state of energy poverty.

In this chapter, a hybrid approach integrating cellular automata (CA), fuzzy logic, logistic regression, and Markov chains for modelling and prediction of land-use and land-cover (LULC) change at the local scale, using geographic information with fine spatial resolution is presented. A spatial logistic regression model was applied to determine the transition rules that were used by a conventional CA model. The overall dimension of LULC change was estimated using a Markov chain model. The proposed CA-based model (termed CAMLucc) in combination with physical variables and land-use planning data was applied to simulate LULC change in Portimão, Portugal between 1947 and 2010 and to predict its future spatial patterns for 2020 and 2025. The main results of this research show that Portimão has been facing massive growth in artificial surfaces, particularly near the main urban settlements and along the coastal area, and reveal an early and intensive urban sprawl over time.

Objective: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is typically associated with changes in behaviour, language and movement. However, recent studies have shown that patients can also develop an abnormal response to pain, either heightened or diminished. We aimed to investigate this symptom in mutation carriers within the Genetic FTD Initiative (GENFI). Methods: Abnormal responsiveness to pain was measured in 462 GENFI participants: 281 mutation carriers and 181 mutation-negative controls. Changes in responsiveness to pain were scored as absent (0), questionable or very mild (0.5), mild (1), moderate (2) or severe (3). Mutation carriers were classified into C9orf72 (104), GRN (128) and MAPT (49) groups, and into presymptomatic and symptomatic stages. An ordinal logistic regression model was used to compare groups, adjusting for age and sex. Voxel-based morphometry was performed to identify neuroanatomical correlates of abnormal pain perception. Results: Altered responsiveness to pain was present to a significantly greater extent in symptomatic C9orf72 expansion carriers than in controls: mean score 0.40 (SD 0.71) vs 0.00 (0.04), reported in 29% vs 1%. No significant differences were seen between the other symptomatic groups and controls, or any of the presymptomatic mutation carriers and controls. Neural correlates of altered pain perception in C9orf72 expansion carriers were the bilateral thalamus and striatum as well as a predominantly right-sided network of regions involving the orbitofrontal cortex, inferomedial temporal lobe and cerebellum. Conclusion: Changes in pain perception are a feature of C9orf72 expansion carriers, likely representing a disruption in somatosensory, homeostatic and semantic processing, underpinned by atrophy in a thalamo-cortico-striatal network.

This study focuses on the physical vulnerability of buildings to flash floods using an indicator-based methodology. A physical vulnerability index (PhVI) that combines intrinsic vulnerability (IV) of buildings and flash flood intensity (FFI) is proposed. IV evaluates the propensity to suffer damage, resulting from indicators related to building properties. FFI estimates the potential to cause damage, resulting from indicators related to flow parameters. PhVI was applied to a critical section of a small drainage basin in Portugal where flash floods are frequent. Evaluating IV and the intensity of natural hazards is essential in physical vulnerability assessments. This study addresses two problems found in the literature: the lack of flash flood-dedicated physical vulnerability assessments and the difficulties in assembling building properties and the intensity of natural hazards in a vulnerability index defined from indicatorbased methodologies. PhVI is a useful tool where damage records are rare or non-existent, allowing the prioritisation of resources and application of local protection measures. This index can be adapted to other study areas and natural hazards, although more research is needed to improve the knowledge on the indicators and weights of IV and FFI.

Distributed applications executing in uncertain environments, like the Internet, need to make timing/synchrony assumptions (for instance, about the maximum message transmission delay), in order to make progress. In the case of adaptive systems these temporal bounds should be computed at runtime, using probabilistic or specifically designed ad hoc approaches, typically with the objective of improving the application performance. From a dependability perspective, however, the concern is to secure some properties on which the application can rely. This thesis addresses the problem of supporting adaptive systems and applications in stochastic environments, from a dependability perspective: maintaining the correctness of system properties after adaptation. The idea behind dependable adaptation consists in ensuring that the assumed bounds for fundamental variables (e.g., network delays) are secured with a known and constant probability. Assuming that during its lifetime a system alternates periods where its temporal behavior is well characterized (stable phases), with transition periods where a variation of the network conditions occurs (transient phases), the proposed approach is based on the following: if the environment is generically characterized in analytical terms and it is possible to detect the alternation of these stable and transient phases, then it is possible to effectively and dependably adapt applications. Based on this idea, the thesis introduces Adaptare, a framework for supporting dependable adaptation in stochastic environments. An extensive evaluation of Adaptare is provided, assessing the correctness and effectiveness of the implemented mechanisms. The results indicate that the proposed strategies and methodologies are indeed effective to support dependable adaptation of distributed systems and applications. Finally, the applicability of Adaptare is evaluated in the context of two fundamental problems in distributed systems: consensus and failure detection. The thesis proposes solutions for these problems based on modular architectures in which Adaptare is used as a middleware for dependable adaptation of assumed timeouts.

En la ciudad de Lisboa, sede de la principal aglomeración metropolitana portuguesa, las estrategias y políticas urbanas de desarrollo económico, desde la crisis internacional de 2007/08, favorecen la internacionalización, la innovación, la “ciudad inteligente” y la creatividad, con un enfoque en el emprendimiento, muy extendido, salpicado de iniciativas de integración social (André y Vale, 2018). Tras un período de intensa reestructuración económica, en los años setenta y ochenta, y con la posterior integración europea (Gaspar et al., 1998), la crisis financiera global desencadenó una serie de cambios, en línea con la intervención exterior de la “troika” — Unión Europea, Banco Central Europeo y Fondo Monetario Internacional —, tras el riesgo de quiebra en Portugal (Ferrão, 2013; Vale, 2014). Las políticas de austeridad neoliberal han empeorado el estado de la economía y se han hecho sentir en todos los grupos sociales, aunque con un mayor impacto en los más desfavorecidos (Rodrigues et al., 2016). Los recortes presupuestarios y los aumentos de los impuestos sobre la renta han tenido graves repercusiones en el desempleo y en la disminución de los ingresos de la población mayor más desfavorecida y de las familias que reciben ayudas sociales específicas [...]

Tertiary education is a restricted resource, with only 34 per cent of the world’s young people estimated to have access to universities (UNHCR 2016). Among refugees, this figure drops to 1 per cent, and many have been interrupted in their academic development. The high visibility of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe has pushed governments to work towards the integration of these people, with Italy the country in the European Union (EU) with the highest numbers of such arrivals (UNHCR 2017). This study identifies a series of measures adopted by Italian academic institutions and government—central and regional—to integrate refugees into the country’s higher education system. In this chapter, we will analyse the challenges refugees face in accessing tertiary education, and from this analysis, identify possible areas for improvement to enable students to make the most of their potential.

O presente projeto de mestrado procurou explorar os traços de personalidade borderline, considerando duas amostras de uma população clínica de 145 indivíduos: uma com prevalência nos domínios Antagonismo, Desinibição e Afetividade Negativa (n = 27), designada por ‘grupo borderline’, e uma outra com valores abaixo da média nestes domínios, denominada ‘outro grupo’ (n = 118). Este estudo tem, como principal objetivo, caracterizar e diferenciar o grupo borderline do outro grupo, com recurso ao Inventário de Personalidade para o DSM-5 (PID-5) e à Escala de Nível de Funcionamento da Personalidade (LPFS-SR). Foram analisadas as potencialidades e as limitações de ambos os instrumentos para este fim. As hipóteses foram fundamentadas na revisão de literatura efetuada, que serviu de referência à análise de resultados, assim como em critérios estabelecidos pelo Modelo Alternativo para as Perturbações de Personalidade apresentado no Manual de Diagnóstico e Estatística das Perturbações Mentais (DSM-5). Encontraram-se diferenças significativas nos resultados obtidos em ambos os grupos exceto na faceta Anedonia do PID-5. O grupo borderline obteve valores significativamente mais elevados do que o outro grupo em todas as facetas do PID-5, exceto na faceta Insensibilidade, assim como nas quatro dimensões e no resultado global da LPFS-SR. Dado que a severidade da disfunção da personalidade, avaliada pela LPFS-SR, é o aspeto fundamental do diagnóstico para as Perturbações de Personalidade na nova conceptualização do DSM-5, esperava-se que as relações entre a LPFS-SR e o PID-5 fossem mais fortes no grupo com predomínio de traços borderline (grupo borderline). Esta hipótese não se confirmou. Estes resultados são discutidos tendo como referência estudos anteriores. Não obstante as limitações deste estudo, este confirma as potencialidades do PID-5 na diferenciação de indivíduos com características de personalidade diferentes e é o primeiro estudo a ser realizado com a LPFS-SR uma amostra clínica portuguesa, contribuindo para a sua validação em Portugal.

Em 1999, um ano depois da classificação da arte paleolítica do Côa como património mundial pela UNESCO, uma sondagem em frente à rocha 1 do sítio do Fariseu revelou uma sequência de depósitos com vestígios do Paleolítico Superior sobre um painel gravado. Esta conjugação excecional de fatores humanos e naturais no registo arqueológico voltou a identificar-se em 2020, durante a realização de sondagens no mesmo sítio, uma centena de metros a montante. As observações efetuadas durante os trabalhos de campo, o estudo preliminar dos vestígios líticos e os dados adquiridos desde 1999 permitem precisar o contexto geomorfológico e a cronologia de realização das gravuras paleolíticas do Vale do Côa. Confirmam também a importância da arte ao ar livre como uma forma monumental de manifestação simbólica desde os momentos mais antigos do Paleolítico Superior.

The arrival of the first Phoenician merchants and colonists in the far western portions of the Iberian Peninsula destabilised the delicate balance of the regional Late Bronze Age networks, unleashing a wide-ranging process that would completely change the socio-political landscape of southern Portugal. However, the growing volume of data shows that, far from being a linear and straightforward process, the ensuing restructuration was complex and dynamic. Following this reasoning, we argue that “traditional” models based on normative views of culture can no longer explain the diversity of the archaeological record, requiring new and more nuanced approaches. We particularly suggest that such diversity reflects specific representational discourses that combine “traditional” and innovative elements, often exogenous, according to variable identity discourses, historically situated and socially negotiated, destined to be deployed on multiple levels – from the microregional context of intra- and intergroup interactions, to the transregional, Mediterranean level.

Nos últimos anos, o desenvolvimento da actividade arqueológica na área da Baixa Estremadura (Penínsulas de Lisboa e Setúbal, Portugal), somada à revisão de conjuntos resultantes de escavações antigas, tem vindo a revelar a existência de um número significativo de cavidades cársicas ocupadas durante a Idade do Ferro. Apresenta-se aqui um primeiro estudo de conjunto dessas ocupações, assente num inventário crítico que permite afirmar que parte significativa das mesmas se terá relacionado com funções religiosas, nas quais a prática de oferendas e o comensalismo ocuparam um lugar fulcral. As pautas cultuais ilustradas pelos materiais recolhidos nestas grutas parecem evidenciar uma confluência entre tradições com raízes no Bronze Final regional e práticas de origem nitidamente mediterrânea. A posição destas grutas no território sugere uma íntima relação com o mar e a navegação, ao passo que os ritmos de ocupação das mesmas, com um nítido pico em torno a meados do I milénio a. n. e., poderia relacionar-se com lógicas de estruturação do território dinamizadas pelos principais centros políticos regionais.

Com este artigo propomos reflectir acerca de um conjunto de práticas que visam ao aprimoramento humano, conhecidas com o nome de biohacking. Sejam intervenções no corpo fora dos circuitos biomédicos, experiências de biologia sintética em laboratórios caseiros ou a integração da tecnologia digital na gestão do próprio metabolismo, estas formas tão diferentes de praticar o biohacking têm o objetivo comum de superar aqueles que são percebidos como limites da dimensão "bio" - material, celular, genética - da vida.Embora considerado marginal na economia das biotecnologias do aprimoramento, este fenómeno representa hoje em dia uma tendência crescente na conjuntura entre cultura DIY (do-it-yourself, literalmente "faça você mesmo") e as novas formas de desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico, tendo vindo a criar uma comunidade crescente de biohackers, os quais partilham os conhecimentos on-line e se identificam com movimentos de open-access, ciborgue e transumanismo. Esta nossa primeira exploração procura olhar para as práticas que são definidas como biohacking a partir da partilha, na Internet, de informações, experiências e saberes assim como da divulgação de tutoriais e da venda de produtos no mercado informal das plataformas on-Une. Para realizar essa tarefa, iremos brevemente explorar o projecto de investigação dentro do qual a nossa pesquisa se coloca, explicar a nossa abordagem metodológica e por fim apresentar ao público português uma primeira análise dos discursos éticos, dos desafios e das contradições que acompanham estas práticas.

This paper analyses and discusses the fuel and plant offerings found in 174 primary (pyre remains) and secondary contexts (ritual pits) of the necropolis of Via XVII in Bracara Augusta (Braga), in northern Portugal. This site is one of the largest Roman funerary complexes in the Iberian Peninsula, spanning from the last decades of the 1st century BC to the 7th century AD. More than 42500 charcoal fragments, comprising 44 different taxa, were analysed. Wood from deciduous Quercus was the most frequent, although other taxa such as Fraxinus sp., Fabaceae, Salix sp., Prunus sp., Rosaceae Maloideae and Castanea sativa were also relevant. The main criteria for the wood collection and use in the pyres might have been its availability in the region, although symbolic factors cannot be discarded. Evidence of wood from Fagus sylvatica and Pinus sylvestris, allowed to discuss the range of wood catchment area. A total of 407 remains of fruits and seeds were also identified in the samples, including shells of Juglans regia nuts, seeds and cones of Pinus pinea, endocarps of Prunus avium, P. domestica and P. persica, cotyledons of domestic pulses and a fragments of Cupressus sempervirens fruits. These remains were associated with symbolic and ritual aspects of the roman cremation ceremony. The results obtained were interpreted and contextualized according to their known use in the ritual process of Roman cremations by reviewing data from classical literary sources and other sites throughout the Roman Empire.

Tras la finalización de los trabajos arqueológicos en Cáceres Viejo (Casas de Millán, Cáceres), se presentan los últimos resultados y lecturas de una ocupación fechable en la primera mitad del siglo I a. C. Aunque el conocimiento sobre este yacimiento aún es exiguo, los testimonios de ocupación, la edilicia y la cultura material apuntan a que podría haber tenido un papel destacado en las interacciones entre las dos facciones políticas romanas, por un lado, y entre romanos y aliados, por otro. Otrora clasificado como un castro de la Edad del Hierro, por el momento solamente está atestiguada una ocupación romana tardo-republicana claramente datada por la presencia de artefactos típicos de ese periodo. Prevalecen cerámicas comunes que delatan inf luencias y contactos con las comunidades de la Meseta. Otros artefactos permiten considerar una posible presencia militar en ese cerro que, ubicado no muy lejos de Cáceres el Viejo atestiguan una posible relación con este campamento militar.

This paper presents the sequence of depositions inside Pit 50 of Perdigões ditched enclosure, dating from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC, and discusses the patterning that emerges from the detailed analysis of the distribution and levels of integrity of pottery and faunal remains along the infilling sequence. It is argued that these patterns are intentional and incorporate metaphorical meanings. Some interpretative hypothesis are put forward, taking in consideration the global scenario provided by Perdigões enclosure, from which this particular context recursively retrieves and provides significance.

Este texto procura introduzir novas abordagens no debate sobre a formação de professores, deslocando-o de uma perspectiva excessivamente centrada nas dimensões académicas (áreas, currículos, disciplinas, etc.) para uma perspectiva centrada no terreno profissional (1). Na primeira parte evoca-se o percurso histórico de formação da profissão docente, argumentando-se com a necessidade de pensar a formação de professores a partir de uma reflexão fundamental sobre a profissão docente. Na segunda parte relaciona-se a formação de professores com o desenvolvimento pessoal (produzir a vida do professor), com o desenvolvimento profissional (produzir a profissão docente) e com o desenvolvimento organizacional (produzir a escola). Não se trata de um texto "fechado", mas antes do lançamento de um conjunto de ideias "abertas", que procuram estimular um pensamento diferente sobre os modos e as estratégias de formação de professores.

Research on ditched enclosures is increasingly growing but information regarding archaeofauna records is still scarce. We present an initial appraisal of the faunal record from the ditched enclosure of Santa Vitória (Campo Maior, Portugal). Some differences were noticeable between the faunal species present in the inner and exterior ditches. The latter had a small assemblage with a few equid, cattle, goat/sheep, and swine remains. From the inner ditch, we identified equid, goat, sheep, red deer, swine (including wild boar) and leporid (mainly wild rabbit) accompanied by a few molluscs (clam and scallop). Taphonomic indicators of anthropogenic action were scarce but comparatively more abundant in the inner ditch assemblage. Specificities related to anatomic abundances and formation of these contexts are preliminarily discussed.

In prehistoric sites, the most common features identified by archaeologists are negative ones, such as pits, postholes, hearths, sunken hut, and among others. However, interpretations are not easy, and some researchers prefer not to reflect upon them, classifying them as rubbish pits while other researchers argue that these structures have other functions. This paper describes and discusses different types of negative structures and how archaeobotanical studies can guide their interpretations. In order to exemplify this problem results from the Terraço Laranjeiras will be discussed. This Middle Bronze Age site is located in the Sabor Valley (NE Portugal), where different types of negative features are the only archaeological evidence of human occupation. Some of these features were initially interpreted as storage pits, and the plant remains as the result of such activities. However, the archaeobotanical analyses compared with ethnographic examples led to a different interpretation. The results from this research show that wild taxa are more common than cultivated taxa and that the majority of the plant remains are chaff and weed seeds rather than cereal grains. To conclude, the carpological remains – the abundance of chaff fragments and weeds – are probably by-products from an early cereal processing stage (e.g. threshing), these findings suggest that the site was used for processing cereal and not necessarily for storing it.

In the last few years, large-scale archaeological projects carried out at medieval sites in the Basque Country have obtained a significant collection of archaeobotanical assemblages, creating the opportunity to address, from a fresh perspective, a social history of agriculture in the region. This paper presents the study of the village of Zornoztegi (occupied from the Chalcolithic to the Late Medieval Ages, ca. 2500 BCE-1350 CE) and the estate centre of Aistra (settled during the Early Medieval period, 500–1000 CE), both of them located in the Province of Alava, 5 km apart. The comparison between the two sites, characterized by different food consumption patterns, architectures, everyday assemblages and social structure, sheds light upon food and productive practices, the socio-political structure of early medieval rural sites and the sources of social power in non-Carolingian areas. This paper also discusses site formation processes and their impact on the interpretation of the sites, crop productions and consumption patterns in the context of northern Iberia, and some remarks regarding agriculture production.