The main objectives of this work focus, firstly, on a review of the current existent methodologies to estimate air quality modelling uncertainty, and, secondly, in the preparation of guidelines for modelling uncertainty estimation, which can be used by local and regional authorities responsible for air quality management. From the application exercise, it was concluded that it is possible to define a subset of statistical parameters able to reproduce the general uncertainties estimation. Concerning the quality indicators defined by EU directives, the results show that the legislated uncertainty estimation measures are ambiguous and inadequate in several aspects, mainly in what concerns the error measures for hourly and daily indicators based on the highest observed concentration. A relative error at the percentile correspondent to the allowed number of exceedances of the limit value was suggested and tested, showing that is a more robust and appropriate parameter for model performance evaluation.

Legislation obliging the maintenance of ecologically defined quality standards has focused attention on the accuracy of bioassessment metrics. Describing the statistical distribution of ecological indicators, Taylor’s Law (TL) has important relevance to the design and interpretation of bioassessment protocols. Analyzing a detailed UK dataset revealed that most macroinvertebrate indicators were characterized by similar geometric distributions, providing a theoretical imperative to log-transform indicator abundance prior to metric derivation. Evaluating a range of bioassessment metrics revealed a 2–4 fold increase in precision and up to 50% improvement in fidelity compared to standard assessment metrics, based on raw-abundance data. Similar improvement in metric fidelity for North American rivers (up to 60%) indicates the broad biogeographic relevance of this analytical modification. Reducing the risk of misclassifying biological quality for a suite of environmentally contrasting rivers from 80% to 4% emphasizes the benefit that this application of TL could deliver to river management. Requiring no increase in costs and with the potential for retrospective application to historical data, this simple modification is entirely compatible with contemporary assessment practice.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) represents a transformation of the guidelines for water quality assessment and monitoring across all EU Member States. At present, it is widely accepted that the WFD requires holistic and multidisciplinary ecological approaches by integrating multiple lines of evidence. Within the scope of the WFD, the scientific community identified clear opportunities to take advantage of an ecotoxicological line of evidence. In this context, ecotoxicological tools, namely biomarkers and bioassays, were proposed to contribute to the integration of the chemical and biological indicators, and thus to provide an overall insight into the quality of a water body. More than one decade after the publication of the WFD, we reviewed the studies that have attempted to integrate ecotoxicological tools in the assessment of surface water bodies. For this purpose, we reviewed studies providing an ecological water status assessment through more conventional community based approaches, in which biomarkers and/or bioassays were also applied to complement the evaluation. Overall, from our review emerges that studies at community level appear suitable for assessing the ecological quality of water bodies, whereas the bioassays/biomarkers are especially useful as early warning systems and to investigate the causes of ecological impairment, allowing a better understanding of the cause–effect-relationships. In this sense, community level responses and biomarkers/bioassays seem to be clearly complementary, reinforcing the need of combining the approaches of different disciplines to achieve the best evaluation of ecosystem communities’ health.

The organic acids present in beer provide important information on the product's quality and history, determining organoleptic properties and being useful indicators of fermentation performance. NMR spectroscopy may be used for rapid quantification of organic acids in beer and different NMR-based methodologies are hereby compared for the six main acids found in beer (acetic, citric, lactic, malic, pyruvic and succinic). The use of partial least squares (PLS) regression enables faster quantification, compared to traditional integration methods, and the performance of PLS models built using different reference methods (capillary electrophoresis (CE), both with direct and indirect UV detection, and enzymatic essays) was investigated. The best multivariate models were obtained using CE/indirect detection and enzymatic essays as reference and their response was compared with NMR integration, either using an internal reference or an electrical reference signal (Electronic REference To access In vivo Concentrations, ERETIC). NMR integration results generally agree with those obtained by PLS, with some overestimation for malic and pyruvic acids, probably due to peak overlap and subsequent integral errors, and an apparent relative underestimation for citric acid. Overall, these results make the PLS-NMR method an interesting choice for organic acid quantification in beer. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | FCT - SFRH/BD/31056/2006 | LabRMN | National NMR Network | National Programme for Scientific Reequipment - REDE/1517/RMN/2005 | POCI 2010 | FEDER

Interest in measuring faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) as indicators of physiological homeostasis and performance in wildlife is increasing. However, current reference techniques, specifically enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) and radioimmunoassays (RIAs), are expensive, time-consuming, reagent-based, and the samples are destroyed during their application. Conversely, near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) is a rapid, reagent-free and non-destructive technique, which, once calibrated by standard laboratory methods, can be used at a low cost. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of using NIRS to predict glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in red deer (Cervus elaphus) faeces, as well as the effect of lyophilisation and oven drying on FGM quantification. Seventy-eight fresh faecal samples were collected directly from the rectum of hunter-harvested red deer and then divided into two equal portions; one portion of each individual sample was lyophilised and the other portion was oven-dried. After dehydration, all faecal samples were ground and then analysed by RIA (standard laboratory technique) and scanned with an NIR spectrophotometer. Modified partial least squares regression was used to generate NIRS calibration equations for both lyophilised and oven-dried samples and a cross-validation procedure was employed for their optimisation. Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy proved to be a feasible, acceptably accurate and reliable technique for predicting FGM concentrations in red deer faeces subjected either to lyophilisation or to oven drying. Calibration and cross-validation results indicated that predictive equations for lyophilised faeces were slightly more precise and robust than for the oven-dried ones (lyophilised: R2 = 0.90, r2cv = 0.81, RPD = 2.72; oven-dried: R2 = 0.88, r2cv = 0.79, RPD = 2.26; CV: cross-validation, RPD: ratio of performance to deviation). Nevertheless, oven-dried faeces may be used as an alternative to lyophilised ones to quantify FGM levels accurately, provided that an appropriate combination of dehydration time and temperature is used during the desiccation process. High degrees of association and statistically significant positive correlations (p < 0.001) were found between the lyophilised and oven-dried samples regarding their FGM content, both for RIA assays and NIRS analyses. This study provides a new approach for assessing stress levels in free-ranging populations and has practical implications concerning wildlife monitoring as it makes it possible to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost and time constraints of current analytical techniques.

Mestrado em Inovação e Políticas de Desenvolvimento | Esta dissertação tem por objectivo contribuir para um melhor conhecimento do fenómeno turístico na Região Autónoma da Madeira e aferir se as instituições existentes a nível da produção e tratamento estatístico são suficientes ou se porventura a Região necessita de um organismo que concentre toda a informação turística e se preocupe com a investigação contínua na área do turismo, visando a formulação de estratégias promocionais e de marketing, assegurando um desenvolvimento sustentado do sector. O trabalho assenta em quatro partes. A primeira apresenta uma reflexão histórica do turismo em Portugal e na Madeira em específico. A segunda aborda a evolução do turismo da Madeira no período compreendido entre 1975 a 2000, onde é analisado alguns indicadores do sector. A terceira está reservada ao tratamento e análise dos resultados obtidos a partir do questionário realizado a várias instituições públicas e privadas que “consomem” estatísticas do turismo. Finalmente, a quarta apresenta os resultados das entrevistas efectuadas a personalidades da Madeira responsáveis pelo sector do turismo. O planeamento turístico é um processo contínuo e evolutivo, sendo fundamental para qualquer região que tenha no turismo a sua principal fonte de receitas. Nos 25 anos analisados, os 6 principais mercados turísticos da Madeira foram sempre Portugal, Alemanha, Reino Unido, Suécia Bélgica e Dinamarca. O número de estabelecimentos hoteleiros aumentaram de forma significativa, de 88 em 1975, passou para 261 em 2000 e o número de camas de 8.433 passou para 24.520. O pessoal ao serviço na hotelaria quase duplicou, pois de 3.333 em 1975, passou para 6.265 em 2000, correspondendo a 8% da população activa da RAM. As taxas de ocupação ao longo dos 25 anos mantiveram-se quase sempre acima dos 50%. Quanto ao estudo de caso, verificou-se que 72,3% dos inquiridos concorda com a existência de um organismo que concentre toda a informação turística e 84,2% acha que o mesmo é de interesse para as instituições públicas e privadas. Consideram ainda os indicadores do turismo fundamentais no estudo do turismo, sendo por isso importante analisá-los periodicamente, como forma de medir, avaliar e planificar o futuro do sector. No tocante às entrevistas efectuadas, verificou-se que quase todos consideraram que o tratamento das estatísticas do turismo deveriam estar centralizadas numa única instituição e que a realização periódica de estudos permitem inovar, gerir e requalificar o sector, tendo por base estruturante a trilogia Produto/Promoção/Pessoal, a fim de alcançar uma consciência Turística. Concordam com o Observatório do Turismo, embora questionem se este deverá continuar a depender do Governo da República ou deverá ser regionalizado. | The aim of this essay is to contribute to a better knowledge of the touristic phenomenon i the Região Autónoma da Madeira and to check whether the existing institutions in the production and statistic treatment are enough or if an organism which concentrates all t information in this area, is needed, and whose aim is to investigate continually in the ar of tourism, regarding the formulation of promotion strategies and marketing, insuring a sustained development in the sector. The work is divided into four parts. The first represents an historic reflection of the touris in Portugal and in Madeira specifically. The second one is about the evolution of touris Madeira between 1975 and 2000, where some indicators of the sector are analysed third is reserved to the treatment and analyses of the results based on the questionn done to several institutions, private and public who “consume” tourism statistics. Finall fourth presents the results of the interviews effectuated to several personalities of Madeir directly or indirectly related to this sector. The touristic planning is a continuum evolutive process, and fundamental to any region who has tourism has its main sourc income. The 25 years analysed, the six main touristic markets of Madeira were always Port Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Denmark. The number of institutions grow significantly, from 88 in 1975, to 216 in 2000 and the number of beds fro 8.433 to 24.520. The staff in service in the hotel institutions almost duplicate, from 3.333 i 1975 to 6.265 in 2000 corresponding to 8% of the active population of the RAM occupation rate during the last twenty five years were almost above 50%. Regarding t study case, we verified that 72,3% of the inquired people agree with the existence o organism which concentrates all the touristic information and 84,2% believes that it is ver important for private and public institutions. They also considerer the tourism indicator fundamental tool in the study of tourism therefore it is important to analyse t periodically as a way to measure, evaluate and plan the future of the sector. Regarding the interviews effectuated, it was verified that almost everybody considered the treatment of tourism statistics should be centralised in an unique institution and that the periodical realisation of studies allow to innovate, manage and requalify the sector, having as structure base the triad Product/Promotion/Staff, in order to obtain a touristic conscious. They also agree with the Tourism Observatory, though they question if the same should depend on Republic Government or should be Regionalised.