The physical properties of the cubic and ferrimagnetic spinel ferrite LiFe5O8 has made it an attractive material for electronic and medical applications. In this work, LiFe5O8 nanosized crystallites were synthesized by a novel and eco-friendly sol-gel process, by using powder coconut water as a mediated reaction medium. The dried powders were heat-treated (HT) at temperatures between 400 and 1000 °C, and their structure, morphology, electrical and magnetic characteristics, cytotoxicity, and magnetic hyperthermia assays were performed. The heat treatment of the LiFe5O8 powder tunes the crystallite sizes between 50 nm and 200 nm. When increasing the temperature of the HT, secondary phases start to form. The dielectric analysis revealed, at 300 K and 10 kHz, an increase of $ε$′ (≈10 up to ≈14) with a tan$δ$ almost constant (≈0.3) with the increase of the HT temperature. The cytotoxicity results reveal, for concentrations below 2.5 mg/mL, that all samples have a non-cytotoxicity property. The sample heat-treated at 1000 °C, which revealed hysteresis and magnetic saturation of 73 emu g−1 at 300 K, showed a heating profile adequate for magnetic hyperthermia applications, showing the potential for biomedical applications.

The energy levels of hydrogen-like atomic systems can be calculated with great precision. Starting from their quantum mechanical solution, they have been refined over the years to include the electron spin, the relativistic and quantum field effects, and tiny energy shifts related to the complex structure of the nucleus. These energy shifts caused by the nuclear structure are vastly magnified in hydrogen-like systems formed by a negative muon and a nucleus, so spectroscopy of these muonic ions can be used to investigate the nuclear structure with high precision. Here we present the measurement of two 2S–2P transitions in the muonic helium-4 ion that yields a precise determination of the root-mean-square charge radius of the $\alpha$ particle of 1.67824(83) femtometres. This determination from atomic spectroscopy is in excellent agreement with the value from electron scattering1, but a factor of 4.8 more precise, providing a benchmark for few-nucleon theories, lattice quantum chromodynamics and electron scattering. This agreement also constrains several beyond-standard-model theories proposed to explain the proton-radius puzzle2–5, in line with recent determinations of the proton charge radius6–9, and establishes spectroscopy of light muonic atoms and ions as a precise tool for studies of nuclear properties. The 2S–2P transitions in muonic helium-4 ions are measured using laser spectroscopy and used to obtain an $\alpha$-particle charge-radius value five times more precise than that from electron scattering.

Material, Culture, Scientific Culture: Industrial Heritage for the Future

Interactions of glycan-specific epitopes to human lectin receptors represent novel immune checkpoints for investigating cancer and infection diseases. By employing a multidisciplinary approach that combines isothermal titration calorimetry, NMR spectroscopy, molecular dynamics simulations, and X-ray crystallography, we disclosed the molecular determinants that govern the recognition of the tumour and pathogenic glycobiomarker LacdiNAc (GalNAc?1-4GlcNAc, LDN), including their comparison with the ubiquitous LacNAc epitope (Gal?1-4GlcNAc, LN), by two human immune-related lectins, galectin-3 (hGal-3) and the macrophage galactose C-type lectin (hMGL). A different mechanism of binding and interactions is observed for the hGal-3/LDN and hMGL/LDN complexes, which explains the remarkable difference in the binding specificity of LDN and LN by these two lectins. The new structural clues reported herein are fundamental for the chemical design of mimetics targeting hGal-3/hMGL recognition process.

In this paper we will address the impacts on work and employment in Portugal of undergoing reconfigurations in automotive Global Value Chains (GVC). Due to its contributions to employment, exports and production the automotive sector is regarded as strategic for Portugal. Currently, it is caught in the midst of a turmoil, spurred by major trends that are reshaping its global outlook, with perils and opportunities for firms and workers depending on their position in different segments of GVC. The emergence of GVC transformed the patterns of international division of labour, trade and investment. Countries and regions specialize not only in products and services but increasingly in tasks and functions. Value is created globally and is apportioned along the chain depending on the tasks performed, the resources and type of workforce engaged in production in each node, its geographical location and the relative power relations within the production network. Typically, along GVC’s production stages, labour intensive, low skill tasks are ascribed – offshored and subcontracted by lead firms – to firms and workers in peripheral countries, while knowledge intensive, more complex or higher skilled tasks are retained in core regions. The value captured, as well as the share of value ascribed to labour and the quality of employment, are broadly correlated with its position in the chain. GVC, besides firms or even sectors, thus become an appropriate locus for analysing labour processes and employment patterns.
Major trends reconfiguring automotive global networks of production, include: (i) automation; (ii) digitalisation; (iii) electrification of vehicles; (iv) shifting geographies of production; and (v) industrial, employment and social policies. Manufacture of vehicles is known to be an automation-intensive sector permeated by technological developments such as new cyber-physical systems and flexible lightweight robots with an impact on work and employment, particularly on low-skilled workers. National and regional industrial, trade and investment policies articulated with company strategies, are also participating in the reshaping of the automotive GVC and changing the geographies of production. Finally, employment and social policies impinge on and are conditioned by foreign investment and location decisions of automotive multinationals, thus participating in the reshaping of GVC. In order to respond to the main overarching research question (what are the actual and prospective impacts on work and employment in Portugal driven by transitions taking place in the automotive GVC?) an analytical model will be designed. It will place the ongoing and prospective transformations of work and employment patterns as consequence of the interplay of actor’s strategies and public policies, against the background of structures and institutions. The research study will be based on major OEM operating in Portugal (VW, Stellantis, Mitsubishi and Toyota) and on automotive supply chain companies, most of them major player on the automotive GVC (Faurecia, KWD, Vintech, Sodecia, Preh).

Abstract This paper analyses the performance of the experimental setups to assess the punching strength of slab-column connections in continuous flat slabs under vertical and horizontal loading. In the last years, several experimental campaigns have been performed to investigate the punching strength of slab-column connections, but most of the experimental tests concerned isolated slab-column connections. Among the few setups aimed at reproducing the eccentric punching failure in continuous flat slabs, the setup developed at the NOVA School of Science and Technology in Lisbon is considered in this paper. The performance of the Lisbon setup is assessed through nonlinear finite element analyses, calibrated on experimental data, by comparison with numerical results of a theoretical continuous setup. Then, the performance of the isolated setups, used in many researches and at the base of some international codes, is also evaluated through the same finite element model. Numerical analyses highlight that the setup developed in Lisbon could provide reliable ultimate rotations of continuous flat slab connections, but it underestimates the punching strength. Despite isolated setups lead to similar results when compared with the Lisbon setup, the latter seems to provide a better representation of a continuous slab-column connection. The numerical analyses presented in this paper have been performed assuming monotonic lateral loading.

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The Kap Stewart Group (Rhaetian-Sinemurian, Triassic–Early Jurassic) of the Jameson Land Basin in central East Greenland has traditionally been regarded as a strictly continental unit with delta and perennial lake sediments. New finds of plesiosaur bone remain in a thin storm deposited sandstone bed in the middle part of the Rhætelv Formation of the Kap Stewart Group, however, indicates a likely period of marine influence. At the study area at the eastern margin of the basin, the Rhætelv Formation is 300-m thick and overlies unconformably the Norian Fleming Fjord Group. The bone-bearing sandstone occurs 190 m above the base of the group and is closely associated with black laminated mudstones; palynological investigation of three samples from these mudstones indicates that they are of a younger Hettangian age. The Hettangian was a relatively short stage (201.3–199.5 Ma) and elsewhere characterized by two episodes of sea-level highstands. Assuming that the marine incursion in the Jameson land Basin evidenced by the plesiosaur fossil remains took place during the youngest of these sea-level highstands, the bone-bearing bed of the Rhætelv Formation can be dated to 200 Ma and thereby gives the first numerical age constraint of this hitherto poorly dated succession.

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In this work, we present a novel application of the full-field energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) imaging system based on a MicroPattern Gaseous Detector (2D-THCOBRA) in the cultural heritage field. The detector has an intrinsic imaging capability with spatial resolution of 400μmFWHM, and is energy sensitive, presenting an energy resolution of approximately 1keVFWHM at 5.9keV. The full-field XRF scanner based on the 2D-THCOBRA detector allows mapping the distribution of elements in large area samples with high detection efficiency (75 % at 5.9keV), being a very promising choice for elemental mapping analysis of large area cultural heritage samples. In this work, we have demonstrated the imaging capabilities of the full-field XRF scanner and used it to assess the restoration of a Portuguese faience piece.