Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T15:09:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_7652_Fernanda Couto.pdf: 1993328 bytes, checksum: 61036f0c8fd9ac88c02c272a9a80e880 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-11 / Animais híbridos representam um desafio à taxonomia e sistemática, pois correpondem a unidades evolutivas sem clara delimitação morfológica, comportamental e molecular. Híbridos podem ser morfologicamente intermediários aos parentais ou, devido à introgressão e retrocruzamentos, suas características podem se misturar tornando difícil a identificação. No entanto, resultados conflitantes entre dados moleculares provenientes do DNA mitocondrial (DNAmt) e DNA nuclear (DNAn) podem ser devido ao sorteamento incompleto de polimorfismos ancestrais (ILS). Em localidades do Espírito Santo, Brasil, foram coletados indivíduos de morfologia distinta de Trachycephalus mesophaeus e T. nigromaculatus, que são as únicas espécies do gênero conhecidas para esse estado. Porém, estudos piloto usando o gene mitocondrial COI agruparam esses espécimes com amostras de T. typhonius. Devido a estas incongruências, foram sequenciados fragmentos de dois genes mitocondriais (COI e ND2) e um exon nuclear (tirosinase) de 173 indivíduos de Trachycephalus, de forma a clarificar as identificações taxonômicas e investigar a correspondência entre caracteres morfológicos e genéticos nesta linhagem, na sua área de ocorrência As filogenias moleculares, divergências genéticas, redes de haplótipos e polimorfismos de nucleotídeos únicos (SNPs) confirmaram as três espécies acima mencionadas como linhagens evolutivas distintas e revelaram mais sete indivíduos potencialmente híbridos, mas morfologicamente assinalados a uma espécie. Devido à taxa de evolução lenta da tirosinase, as espécies mais recentes T. typhonius e T. nigromaculatus parecem não terem sido sorteadas completamente nesse gene. Já T. mesophaeus é a espécie mais antiga das três e foi recuperada inequivocamente em todas as análises. De forma inédita, as análises moleculares evidenciaram a ocorrência de introgressão bidirecional entre T. nigromaculatus e T. typhonius e entre T. nigromaculatus e T. mesophaeus, sendo que há indícios de indivíduos F1. A utilização do gene ND2 mostrou-se mais eficiente do que o gene COI nas filogenias e, apesar da tirosinase ser um gene nuclear de evolução lenta, contribuiu para a identificação de incongruências citonucleares. Nossos resultados mostram que a história filogenética de Trachycephalus é complexa e que o uso de marcadores nucleares de evolução mais rápida e ampliação dessas análises para outras espécies do gênero podem revelar eventos de hibridação.

Pour la première fois l'oxydation partielle du méthane en gaz de synthèse a été effectué en présence de pérovskites lamellaires Nd2-xCaxCoO4±δ et La2-xSrxCoO4±δ (x = 0.75; 1.0). Nouveau catalyseur d'oxydation partielle NdCaCoO3.96 de méthane a été suggéré qui permet d’obtenir la sélectivité en gaz de synthèse proche de 100% avec 90% de la conversion de CH4 (T = 900ºC; CH4/O2 = 2; W = 20 L·g-1·h-1; brevet russe № 2433950, 21/04/2010). Le catalyseur a été active et stable au moins 140 h, aucune tendance à la désactivation n’a été observée. Sur la base des analyses DRX, MEB et MET, il a été déterminé que l'activité et la sélectivité élevées de NdCaCoO3.96 ainsi que la stabilité dans l'oxydation partielle du méthane sont dues à sa transformation au cours de la réaction de la structure initiale en des nanoparticules de cobalt métallique dispersées dans Nd2O3-CaO matrice. Il a été observé que l'activité des pérovskites lamellaires dans l'oxydation partielle du méthane dépend à la fois de la taille des particules métalliques actives formées et à la stabilité de la structure initiale. / For the first time partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas over layered perovskite-type oxides Nd2-xCaxCoO4±δ and La2-xSrxCoO4±δ (x = 0.75; 1.0) was investigated. New catalyst NdCaCoO3.96 for partial oxidation of methane was suggested allowing the selectivity toward synthesis gas close to 100% with 90% of CH4 conversion (T = 900ºC; CH4/O2 = 2; W = 20 L·g-1·h-1; Russian patent № 2433950, 21/04/2010). The catalyst was active and stable at least for 140 h, no trend to deactivation was observed. Based on XRD, SEM and TEM results it was determined that high activity and selectivity of NdCaCoO3.96 as well as stability in partial oxidation of methane are due to its transformation during reaction of initial structure to nanosized particles of metallic cobalt dispersed in Nd2O3-CaO matrix. It was observed that the activity of synthesized layered perovskite-type oxides in partial oxidation of methane depends both on the size of the formed active metallic particles and on the stability of initial structure.

In this study the sexual and geographical variations in the genus Miniopterus were deeply investigated, using multidisciplinary analysis (morphometric cranial, dental, fenetic and shape analysis; molecular analysis of mt gene ND2). Different populations from western Palearctic and adjacent regions were analysed: Miniopterus schreibersii (Morocco, West Europe, Pannonia, Balkans, Crete, Near East, Middle East), Miniopterus natalensis (Yemen, Ethiopia) a Miniopterus inflatus (Ethiopia). Extensove samples of Miniopterus schreibersii were tested and existence of sexual dimorphism in cranial constitution was showed: males had generally bigger and relatively higher, shorter and narrower skulls than females; female mandibles were generally bigger than the male ones, females showed also more robust and larger teeth than males. On the other hand, males had markedly bigger canines and relatively higher P4 (in relation to other premolares). The sexes also deiffered in shape of P4 and upper molars. According to the interpopulation variation found, Miniopterus schreibersii samples from West Europe, Pannonia, Balkans, Crete, Sicily, Georgia, coastal Turkish and Moroccan areas belong most probably to the subspecies M. s. schreibersii (Kuhl, 1817). The samples from Afganistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and from localities...

The well-known lanthanide cuprates exist in two principal forms, T and T´, which behave as p-type and n-type conductors, respectively. In order to understand the structural properties and crystal chemistry from the T to T´ phase, the Nd₁.₈₋ₓLaₓPr₀.₂CuO₄ (NLPCO) system was studied varying the La substitution ratio (0≤x≤1.8) and then characterised using high temperature X-ray powder diffraction. From analysis of the X-ray diffraction patterns obtained at room temperature, there are clearly five distinguishable regions for the NLPCO system. They are, (1) monophasic T´ solid–solution (2) two phase mixture T´ + T´´ (3) monophasic T´´solid–solution (4) two phase mixture T´´ + O and finally (5) monophasic O phase solid–solution. The T´´ form has previously been suggested as an ordered form of T´; however here we show via high temperature X-ray diffraction studies that it is a non-transformable metastable phase formed on quenching of the T phase via an orthorhombically distorted variant. Also neutron diffraction and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) studies confirmed that the T ´´phase is 4- fold Cu coordinated. The structural, magnetic and electrical properties of this NLPCO series have been investigated for the selected compositions using X-ray diffraction, magnetization measurements, thermal analysis and conductivity measurements. The aim of the second half of this work was to discover the basic high temperature electrical characteristics of Nd₂₋ₓPrₓCuO₄ and investigate how this matches with those required for components on the SOFC cathode side to identify which dopant level shows highest conductivity and whether it is stable at different temperatures. The idea was to make a new concept in SOFC cathodes and current collector development, using n-type conductors instead of p- type conductors and to try to produce a high conductivity material which is stable under the chemical and thermal stresses that exist while under load that can be used in cathode or current collector applications. The Nd₂₋ₓPrₓCuO₄ (NPCO) series has been studied over a range of dopant levels (x=0.15 - 0.25) and maximum conductivity of 86.7 Scm⁻¹ has been obtained for the composition where x = 0.25. Also NPCO shows n-type semiconductor behaviour which gives operational advantages when operating at mild oxygen deficiency. AC impedance studies have been carried out on symmetrical cells to investigate the performance of NPCO as a cathode material. These studies mainly focused on polarization resistance and the activation energies of the cells. Low Rp values and low activation energies are obtained for a composite cathode compared to pure cathode material. Two configurations of NPCO as cathode materials were tested, pre-fired and in-siu fired. Pre-fired NPCO exhibited better performance than in-situ fired NPCO. Both in-situ and pre-fired current collecting NPCO still showed lowest activation energies which suggest good catalytic activity. From all of these studies, it is evident that the praseodymium doped neodymium cuprate material shows considerable promise as a potential cathode material for solid oxide fuel cell applications.

Today, DNA-barcoding with the gene COI is regularly used in the identification of fish. However, this is not an adequate way of identifying species of tuna due to COI lacking sufficient interspecies divergence. This is problematic since fraud and mislabeling are a major concern within the fish and tuna industries. Thus, there is a need for a new genetic barcode region when identifying the 15 tuna species within the tribe Thunnini. This study has considered six mitochondrial genetic regions (16S, ATP8, COII, CR, CytB, and ND2) and their potential as barcodes in comparison to COI. To be of practical use, the barcode has to be able to differentiate between all 15 tuna species, as well as contain conserved primer binding sites and be approximately 400 bp, or shorter. Analyses of the regions were made through Multiple Sequence Alignments built using ClustalW in Mega 11.0. The candidates were first evaluated through neighbor-joining trees and plots of inter- and intraspecies variation, and then analyzed further in search of conserved regions for primer binding, flanking a segment of approximately 400 bp (or shorter). This resulted in two possible barcode candidates with corresponding primers from the CR and ND2 genes. As a final step, these two were analyzed for specificity using BLAST, to evaluate their actual utility in differentiating the tuna species. The results show that they both can identify the different tuna species, but that ND2 is superior with 100% identification accuracy. In addition to the theoretical analysis, the ability of the primers was measured through a real PCR amplification. Unfortunately, only the CR barcode could be evaluated, but the results show it to be practically useful. Even though the utility of ND2 in PCR could not be analyzed, it is highly recommended as a region for further investigations. Given the strong theoretical support, it definitely shows promise as a new barcode for species identification of tuna.