Rain chemistry has been the subject of extensive research over the last few decades in order to determine the geochemical mechanisms that control the water composition (e.g., Négrel et al., 2007). In the present work rain samples were collected at Furnas and Fogo volcanoes, located in São Miguel (Fig.1a), in order to characterize the chemical fingerprint of the rainwaters and to investigate a possible interaction with fumarolic gases. The collected samples are plotted along the seawater dilution line in the Na+ vs. Cl- binary plot (Fig.1b). Despite the fact that some samples are close to the line, showing the influence of marine aerosols, the majority, with the exception of CRQ, depict an enrichment in Cl-, representing a local chlorine source (Fig.1b). The chlorine enrichment presented by CC is accompanied by an increment in SO4 2- (Fig.1c), which can be attributed to a volcanogenic origin (Madonia & Liotta, 2009). On the other hand, the other samples show a small increment of Cl-, which can be attributed to the fumarolic contribution, to a third source contribution (e.g., anthropogenic) or to the Cl or Na+ fractionation. The remaining sample show an increment in sodium, which can be attributed to the influence of dust particles. In order to decipher the chemical complexity of the rainwaters the sea salts and terrestrial component were calculated. Sodium was used as a reference element for the sea salt component. The marine origin ranges from 11.5 to 100 % for Cl-, 4.7 to 100 % for SO4 2-, 4.4 to 35.1 % for Ca2+, 64.2 to 90.6 % for Mg2+ and 10.3 to 48.2 % for K+. This demonstrates not only the influence of marine aerosols over the chemistry of these waters, but also the importance of other sources such as fumarolic fluids and mineral dust. Most of the rainwater samples have 87Sr/86Sr that vary from 0.70849 to 0.71027 (Fig.1d) similar or slightly higher than that of the seawater (87Sr/86Sr=0.70918 ± 1; Faure and Mensing, 2005), suggesting that sea salts are the main source of the strontium isotopic ratios. Results are within the range of values presented by rainwater in mainland Portugal (87Sr/86Sr = 0.708965 ± 31 – 0.710345 ± 38; Ribeiro et al., 2014). One sample deviates from these values, exhibiting a lower strontium isotopic ratio (0.70701). This sample is exposed to the fumarolic fluids, which are mainly composed of steam water (e.g., Caliro et al., 2015). The boiling pools that produce the steam have strontium isotopic values ranging from 0.705408 (Caldeira Asmodeu) to 0.705432 (Caldeira Grande; Ferreira et al., 2023). This confirms that the sample results from the mixture between rainwater and fumarolic fluids (Fig.1d), as interpreted from the main elemental hydrogeochemical data.

Rainwater samples were collected during final of February and early March of 2022, at Furnas and Fogo volcanoes, São Miguel (Azores), both of which display secondary manifestations of volcanism. The major-ion composition reveals that marine aerosols contribute significantly to the chemistry of these rainwaters, showed by the proximity of some samples to the Na/Cl ratio of the seawater. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.70849–0.71027) presented by the rainwater samples are similar to the seawater, indicating that marine sprays are possibly the major source of dissolved Sr, with values within the range of values presented by rainwater on the Portuguese mainland. However, other sources, such as volcanic emissions and mineral dust components showed to have also an impact. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios depicted by one sample (CC) deviates from the above mentioned values, exhibiting a lower strontium isotopic ratio (0.70701), which suggests the influence of the fumarolic fluids. Some trace elements (Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ba and REE) content also confirms the influence of the fumarolic emissions, at least in samples collected near Furnas Village fumarolic field (Furnas volcano), and the influence of mineral dust from the surrounding continents (positive anomalies in Eu). Overall, the proximity to an active fumarolic field had a significant impact on the chemistry of meteoric waters, as seen not only in the major-ions, but also in trace elements and in the Sr isotopic ratios.

Colorectal cancer is a common malignant neoplasm and its treatment usually involves surgery associated, in some cases, depending on the staging, with chemoradiotherapy. Necrotising fasciitis of the perineum is a highly lethal infection of the perineum, perirectal tissues and genitals, requiring emergency surgical debridement, broad-spectrum antibiotics and control of sepsis. We present the case of a 59-year-old man with necrotising fasciitis of the perineum as the first clinical manifestation of locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the rectum, in which successful management consisted of early and aggressive surgical debridement, followed by multimodal therapy with curative intent. 2 years and 6 months after surgery the patient is well, with no evidence of local or systemic relapse.

The aim of this paper is to present approaches to optimize stand-level, short-rotation coppice management planning, taking into account uncertainty in stand growth due to climate change. The focus is on addressing growth uncertainty through a range of climate scenarios so that an adaptive capacity may be possible and the vulnerability of the stand to climate change may be reduced. The optimization encompasses finding both the harvest age in each cycle and the number of coppice cycles within a full rotation that maximize net present revenue. The innovation lies in the combination of the process-based model (Glob3PG) with two dynamic programming (DP) approaches. The former is able to project growth of eucalypt stands under climate change scenarios. The innovative approaches are thus influential to define the management policy (e.g., stool thinning, number of coppice cycles, and cycle length) that maximizes net present revenue taking into account uncertainty in forest growth due to climate change. In both approaches, the state of the system is defined by the number of years since plantation, whereas DP stages are defined by the cumulative number of harvests. The first approach proposes the optimal policy under each climate change scenario at each state. The second approach addresses further situations when the climate scenario is unknown at the beginning of the planning horizon. Both help address uncertainty in an adaptive framework, as a set of readily available options is proposed for each scenario. Results of an application to a typical Eucalyptus globulus Labill. stand in central Portugal are discussed.

A Virtual Enterprise (VE) can be viewed as a project, with a lifecycle corresponding to the period between its creation and integration of the constituting elements until its dissolution, comprehending its operation and including its reconfigurations. The authors propose that the VE lifecycle is aligned and can be managed using the frameworks provided by several bodies of knowledge, such as the PMBoK Guide. In this paper the authors propose an alignment referential between the Project Management phases defined by PMBoK and management processes during the VE lifecycle.

O conceito de cuidar em enfermagem tem sofrido alterações ao longo do tempo. O desenvolvimento da enfermagem tem como fim dar resposta às necessidades da população, assim como adaptar-se aos conhecimentos científicos, que, assumem outra dimensão e exigência técnica. À medida que a enfermagem evolui tomam novas formas todas as áreas que a constituem, nomeadamente a área de saúde mental e psiquiatria. Inicialmente esta exposição com a abordagem das crenças dominantes da sociedade sobre a doença mental ao longo da história. De seguida, fazemos referência à assistência do doente mental em Portugal, a partir do séc. XVI, destacando o primeiro hospital psiquiátrico – Hospital de Rilhafoles. Descrevemos os tratamentos mais utilizados em psiquiatria descrevendo as indicações para as quais eram utilizados e a intervenção do enfermeiro na sua aplicação. Terminamos com a perspectiva da evolução dos cuidados de enfermagem ao doente mental, desde o inicio do séc. XX, assim como do desenvolvimento do ensino de enfermagem na área de saúde mental e psiquiatria.

The paper discusses research aiming at the development of a management scheduling model for even-aged stands that may take into consideration fuel treatments to address the risk of wildfires. A Stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) approach is proposed to determine the policy (e.g. the fuel treatment and thinning schedules and the rotation age) that produces the maximum expected discounted net revenue. Fuel treatment activities encompass shrub cleanings. Emphasis was on combining a deterministic stand-level growth and yield model with wildfire occurrence and damage models to design a SDP network. SDP stages are defined by age and state variables include both the stand basal area and the number of years since the last fuel treatment. Fire occurrence and damage scenarios are addressed at each stage. Results from an application to Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stand management scheduling in Leiria National Forest, Portugal, are presented. Results suggest that the modeling strategy may help assess the impact of wildfire risk on the optimal stand management schedule. They confirm that the maximum expected discounted net revenues decreases. Further, albeit some timber may be salvaged after the wildfire, rotation age also decreases when the risk of fire is considered. Finally, they provide interesting insights about the role of thinning and fuel treatment policies in mitigating risk.

In this paper we propose an optical monitoring scheme for the concrete curing process, based on plastic optical fibers. The proposed sensor intend to use the scattering properties of the light on a plastic optical fiber, enhanced by the use of grooves, to monitor the water content in the cement paste, and therefore to be used in the control of the cure process. The sensor can be used in field to monitor the concrete curing process and as a result optimize the construction phase.

In this work we demonstrate the monitoring of the concrete curing process using a sensing system based on plastic optical fiber. The proposed sensor is based on an unjacketed plastic optical fiber with equally spaced grooves along the core. These grooves on the fiber, depending on the substance surrounding the fiber, enhance the scattering of the propagated optical signal. The transmitted optical power can be used to estimate the water content along the curing period.

The aim of this work was to demonstrate in commercial pig farms focused in the lactation and gestation production stages, the importance to adopt good management practices for water use on the value of slurry as fertilizer. It was performed during 18 month a field study, involved four farrow-to-finishing units. During this period its was evaluated the water consumption and slurry production associated to the sows lodged in lactation and gestation phases of production, as well as the composition of the slurries produced. Based on these results it was possible to establish water consumption and slurry production ratios per animal according to lodging, drinking and feeding equipment systems. It was concluded that slurries characteristics are influenced by the water management inside the production units, therefore the fertilizer value potential is also affected. With this regard, the required storage capacity infrastructure can be conditioned and the necessary optimization of the investments penalized in function of the nutrients concentration. For the Portuguese reality, a storage capacity cost of 0,10 - 0,16 € / kg N , is expected respectively for slurries with 2,5 g N/l to 1,5 g N/l .