Documento confidencial. Não pode ser disponibilizado para consulta / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2012

Este trabalho consiste num relatório sobre o estágio efectuado no âmbito do mestrado de Ciências da Comunicação, na campanha eleitoral da Coligação Gaia Na Frente para as eleições autárquicas de 2009. No relatório é descrito o trabalho realizado durante a campanha eleitoral e faz-se o contraponto da teoria com a prática,

Pretende-se aprofundar e sistematizar os conhecimentos sobre a evolução urbanística do litoral de Gaia, em particular sobre a praia de Miramar. A informação recolhida permitiu avaliar a dinâmica dessa evolução, as suas causas e efeitos mais mercantes em termos especiais e as relações estabelecidas com as dinâmicas de lazer e turismo da área. A pesquisa incidiu fundamentalmente sobre documentação existente em arquivos públicos, e o intervalo de tempo situa-se entre os primeiros anos do século XX e a década de 70 do mesmo século.

O comportamento social pode ser descrito como qualquer atividade de interação intraespecífica incluindo a escolha entre parceiros reprodutivos, reconhecimento da espécie, comportamento altruísta e organização da sociedade animal. Entre as espécies de animais mais sintonizadas com seu ambiente social estão os insetos que, como por exemplo nas espécies de abelhas das tribos Apini e Meliponini, apresentam um padrão complexo de socialidade conhecido como comportamento altamente eussocial. As abelhas constituem um grupo ideal para o estudo das bases da evolução deste comportamento, pois apresentam uma grande diversidade de organização social, desde espécies solitárias até altamente eussociais. Embora a evolução da eussocialidade tenha sido motivo de muitos estudos, as mudanças genéticas envolvidas nesse processo não são completamente conhecidas. Dados da literatura fornecem um ponto de partida para o entendimento da relação entre alterações gênicas específicas e a eussocialidade, mas questões fundamentais na evolução do comportamento social ainda precisam ser respondidas. Recentemente, novas tecnologias de sequenciamento têm permitido o estudo de organismos modelo e não modelo de forma mais detalhada e não direcional. Análises deste tipo são promissoras para o estudo evolutivo de características complexas como o comportamento. Neste contexto, realizamos um amplo estudo sobre as bases moleculares envolvidas em diferentes características comportamentais relacionadas à evolução da socialidade em abelhas. Para tanto, o padrão global de expressão de genes, em espécies e fases do desenvolvimento distintas, foram analisados comparativamente através de múltiplas abordagens. No Capítulo 1, utilizamos contaminantes do transcriptoma da abelha solitária Tetrapedia diversipes para analisar os recursos florais utilizados por esta espécie em suas duas gerações reprodutivas. Neste estudo concluímos que a riqueza de espécies visitadas durante a primeira geração é muito maior do que durante a segunda geração, o que está provavelmente relacionado à floração de primavera durante o primeiro período reprodutivo. No Capítulo 2, verificamos que o padrão de expressão dos genes das fêmeas fundadoras possivelmente afeta o desenvolvimento larval em T. diversipes. O padrão bivoltino de reprodução desta espécie, com diapausa em uma das gerações, pode ser importante para a evolução do comportamento social. Além disso, entre os genes possivelmente envolvidos nessa característica, podemos encontrar genes mitocondriais e lncRNAs. Os resultados obtidos no Capítulo 3 sugerem que a especialização em subcastas de operárias ocorreu posteriormente nas diferentes linhagens de abelhas, envolvendo genes específicos. No entanto, esses genes afetam processos biológicos comuns nas diferentes espécies. Por sua vez, o Capítulo 4 apresenta um método promissor para a identificação de genes comportamentais em diferentes espécies de abelhas, através de uma análise de expressão comparativa. Com base nessas análises, 787 genes comportamentais, que possivelmente fazem parte de um toolkit eussocial em abelhas, foram encontrados. O padrão de metilação desses genes, em espécies com diferentes níveis sociais, indicou ainda que o contexto genômico da metilação pode ser relevante para eussocialidade. Os resultados obtidos nesses estudos apresentam novas perspectivas metodológicas e evolutivas para o estudo da evolução do comportamento social em abelhas / The social behaviour can be widely described as any intraspecific interaction in the animal life, including but not restricted to, female choice, species recognition, altruistic behaviour and the organization of animal society. Among the animal species most attuned to their social environment are the insects that, for example, in the Apini and Meliponini tribes, present a complex behaviour known as highly eusocial. Bees are an ideal group to study the evolution of the social behaviour because they have a great diversity of social life styles that evolved independently. The tribes Apini and Meliponini comprise only highly eusocial species whereas various levels of sociality can be detected in other tribes, being most bees indeed solitary. Although the evolution of eusociality has been the subject of many studies, the genetic changes involved in the process have not been completely understood. Results from studies conducted so far provide a starting point for the connection between specific genetic alterations and the evolution of eusocial behaviour. However fundamental questions about this process are still open. Recently, new sequencing technologies have allowed genetic studies of model and non-model organisms in a deep and non-directional way, which is promising for the study of complex characteristics. Herein, we present a broad analysis of the molecular bases of different behavioural characteristics related to the evolution of sociality in bees. To that end, the global expression pattern of genes involved in different behavioural features, in a number of bee species and distinct developmental stages, was comparatively studied using multiple approaches. Through these approaches different results were obtained. In Chapter 1, we used contaminant transcripts from the solitary bee Tetrapedia diversipes to identify the plants visited by this bee, during its two reproductive generations. These contaminant transcripts revealed that the richness of plant species visited during the first reproductive generation was considerably greater than during the second generation. Which is probably related to the floral boom occurring in spring during the first reproductive period. In Chapter 2, data suggests that the expression pattern in foundresses affect larval development in T. diversipes. The bivoltinism presented by this species, with diapause in one generation, might be an important feature for the evolution of sociality. Our results suggest that mitochondrial genes and lncRNAs are involved in this reproductive pattern. Results described in Chapter 3 indicate that specialization in worker subcastes occurred posteriorly in distinct bee lineages, driven by specific genes. However, these genes affected common biological processes in the different species. In Chapter 4 is described a promising analyses method to identify, comparatively, genes involved in bee social behaviour. Using this approach, we identified 787 behavioural genes that might be involved in social behaviour of different species. The methylation pattern of these genes suggests that the DNA context in which methylation marks occur, might be especially relevant to bee sociality. Results obtained here presents new methodological and evolutionary approaches to the study of social behaviour in bees

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 214-238).

Thesis (M.A.)--Queen's University at Kingston, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Awareness and concern about the environment have been growing in recent years, and this fact has not been lost on churches. Though arguments have been made that Christianity is a cause of the world’s current ecological problems, many denominations have issued statements encouraging environmental responsibility, and a growing number of churches are teaching an ethic of care for what God has made. This thesis examines several churches who have been acting on environmental issues to understand what concern looks like in their faith communities. It was seen that the doctrine of stewardship is a primary reason for care, and there is a need for teaching on the theological basis of concern. Groups and activity within churches happen when there is a champion to move things forward, and environmental concern is just one part of a connected existence that links people with their faith, each other, and life outside the church.

From the British capture of Port Royal in 1710 to the end of the Seven Years’ War, imperial borders in northeastern North America were highly uncertain and vigorously contested. The British “conquest” of Acadia was not an event, but rather a disputed process that took over half a century and required a massive deportation. The rise and fall of French Acadia under de jure British rule demonstrated geography’s central role in the struggle for territorial control. Aboriginal land rights, especially those of the Mi’kmaq and their allies, challenged British and French claims to sovereignty. This dissertation is the first in-depth study of how eighteenth-century geographic knowledge influenced relations among the British, French, and Native peoples in Nova Scotia. Geographic debates – especially boundary negotiations, mapping projects, and settlement plans – underscored Nova Scotia’s strategic importance in the eighteenth century and complicate the concept of “salutary neglect”. Cartography was a powerful and multi-faceted tool, capable of illustrating past possessions and projecting future claims. It was also constrained by technologies of production and competing interpretations, as overtly biased maps were recognized as such and dismissed. Maps and geographic evidence cannot be properly understood outside of their historical context. British and French subjects were presented with maps and geographic reports in monthly magazines, allowing them to engage with the transatlantic imperial imagination. The growth of printed material, especially in Britain, allowed geographers to influence, and be influenced by, public opinion. This dissertation argues that eighteenth-century Nova Scotia/Acadia was neither British nor French, but rather a political and cultural battleground founded on negotiations over geography. The Mi’kmaq shaped these discussions, influencing and modifying European expansion into Aboriginal territory: their claims to sovereignty, represented on maps, surveys, and in treaty negotiations, challenged English pales in the northeast and circumscribed French territorial power. For most of the eighteenth century, contested sovereignty, negotiated alliances, and fragile peace depended on cultural understandings built on shared territory. Mi’kmaq influence continued after 1763, but the Acadian deportation and the arrival of New England planters marked an imperial and geographic watershed as the British successfully mapped Nova Scotia over Acadia.

Purpose: To describe patient & tumor characteristics among rectal cancer patients in Nova Scotia, to determine factors associated with permanent colostomy and oncologic outcomes and to determine the relationship between surgeon knowledge and oncologic outcomes.Methods:The Provincial cancer registry identified new rectal cancer patients from in Nova Scotia. A comprehensive review of inpatient, outpatient and cancer center medical records was used to assemble the cohort. Surgeon knowledge was assessed using a survey with questions pertaining to rectal cancer care.Results: Patient & tumor characteristics were similar between hospitals providing rectal cancer care. Patients treated by high volume cancer center surgeons are less likely to undergo a permanent colostomy or have a local recurrence compared to patients treated elsewhere. Patients treated by surgeons with a high survey score have improved clinical and oncologic outcomes.Conclusions: There is an opportunity to improve rectal cancer care in Nova Scotia.