Seagrasses colonise coastal areas worldwide. Despite their high primary production, a considerable proportion becomes detritus that can be used as food, physical habitat and occasional or permanent shelter by several benthic macroinvertebrates. In turn, macroinvertebrates can contribute to regulating seagrass decomposition, and represent an important trophic link between primary producers a…
Academic institutions require students to participate every year in specific surveys, aiming at gathering their viewpoint about the organisation of the single courses, and the feelings about the traits and the effectiveness of the teaching activity.
Industrial / commercial art & design
This chapter will focus on didactic Audio Description (AD) and didactic free commentary. Firstly, it will provide the reader with an overview of the main types of didactic AD (DAD) and didactic free-commentary (DFC), differentiating between intersemiotic for both modes as well as intralingual, and interlingual for free commentary. Afterwards, it will present how didactic AD and didactic free co…
The combinatorial number of possible methylomes in biological time and space is astronomical. Consequently, the computational analysis of methylomes needs to cater for a variety of data, throughput and resolution.
Biosensors are analytical devices used for the detection of a chemical substance, or analyte, which combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. Detection and quantification are based on the measurement of the biological interactions. The biological element of a biosensor may consist of tissues, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies and nucleic acid…
This book results from a Special Issue related to the latest progress in the thermodynamics of machines systems and processes since the premonitory work of Carnot. Carnot invented his famous cycle and generalized the efficiency concept for thermo-mechanical engines. Since that time, research progressed from the equilibrium approach to the irreversible situation that represents the general case.…
The state of São Paulo, Brazil, is one of the most densely populated and developed areas in South America. Such development is evident both in terms of industrialization and urbanization, as well as in agriculture, which is heavily based on sugar cane, Eucalyptus plantations and livestock. This intense land use has resulted in great alteration of the original land cover and fragmentation of na…
Air pollution is a worldwide environmental hazard that poses serious consequences not only for human health and the climate but also for agriculture, ecosystems, and cultural heritage, among other factors. According to the WHO, there are 8 million premature deaths every year as a result of exposure to ambient air pollution. In addition, more than 90% of the world's population live in areas wher…
The current book contains twenty-two chapters and is divided into three sections. Section I consists of nine chapters which discuss synthesis through innovative as well as modified conventional techniques of certain advanced ceramics (e.g. target materials, high strength porous ceramics, optical and thermo-luminescent ceramics, ceramic powders and fibers) and their characterization using a comb…