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Denitrification, or dissimilative nitrate reduction, is an anaerobic process used by some bacteria for energy generation. This process is important in many aspects, but its environmental implications have been given particular relevance. Nitrate accumulation and release of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere due to excess use of fertilizers in agriculture are examples of two environmental problems where denitrification plays a central role. The reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gas is accomplished by four different types of metalloenzymes in four simple steps: nitrate is reduced to nitrite, then to nitric oxide, followed by the reduction to nitrous oxide and by a final reduction to dinitrogen. In this manuscript we present a concise updated review of the bioinorganic aspects of denitrification. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The recent application of wide band gap oxide semiconductors to transparent thin film transistors (TTFTs) is making a fast and growing (r)evolution on the contemporary solid-state electronics. In this paper we present some of the recent results we have obtained using wide band gap oxide semiconductors, like indium zinc oxide, produced by rf sputtering at room temperature. The devices work in the enhancement mode and exhibit excellent saturation drain currents. On-off ratios above 106 are achieved. The optical transmittance data in the visible range reveals average transmittance higher than 80%, including the glass substrate. Channel mobilities are also quite respectable, with some devices presenting values around 25 cm2/Vs, even without any annealing or other post deposition improvement processes. The high performances presented by these TTFTs associated to a high electron mobility, at least two orders of magnitude higher than that of conventional amorphous silicon TFTs and a low threshold voltage, opens new doors for applications in flexible, wearable, disposable portable electronics as well as battery-powered applications.

In this paper we report some of the recent advances in transparent thin film oxide semiconductors, specifically zinc oxide (ZnO), produced by rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature with multifunctional properties. By controlling the deposition parameters it is possible to produce undoped material with electronic semiconductor properties or by doping it to get either n-type or p-type semiconductor behavior. In this work we refer our experience in producing n-type doping ZnO as transparent electrode to be used in optoelectronic applications such as solar cells and position sensitive detectors while the undoped ZnO can be used as UV photodetector or ozone gas sensor or even as active layer of fully transparent thin film transistors.

A scenario is a policy analysis tool that describes a possible set of future conditions. The most useful scenarios (for corporations, for policy decision makers) are those that display the conditions of important variables over time. In this approach, the quantitative underpinning enriches the narrative evolution of conditions or evolution of the variables; narratives describe the important events and developments that shape the variables. In terms of innovative methods for policy analysis, the foresight and scenario building methods can be an interesting reference for social sciences. Some examples of these exercises will be present in this paper, either related to vision in science and technology developments, social and technological futures, or related to aggregated indicators on human development. Two cases (Japan and Germany) are held on behalf the ministries of science and education (respectively, MEXT and BMBF), and another with the support of United Nations.

Flexibilisation and complexification of working places, due to the information technologies, requires an holistic approach to the labour reality, in an integrative and wide perspective of different scenarios and operational contexts. Such new changes implies the development of new personal and professional features that are beyond the restrict frame of the autonomous, discrete and specialised work. The knowledge needed for the work in organisations can be searched in the working processes modelling. And that can be a constructive basis of a “knowledge map”. Thus, are described the activities of different working processes, and that induces the emergence of a group of informations (indicators) necessary to the construction of each competence that supports the execution of those processes. This action even allows the existence of possible gaps in the strategies of long-life education and training. They assume more and more a critical support to the need of updating and maintenance of professional competences. How to identify and operationalise the professional competences in a working complex system is one of the main issues in this paper. The case study presented in this paper is refered to the air traffic control and it presents the methodology used for the identification and validation of a group of structuring professional competencies that are evident in a complex working system.

This paper presents and discusses two case studies in the Portuguese motor vehicle industry – Salvador Caetano’s Ovar Industrial Division (SCOID), a ‘Brownfield site’ with minority Toyota ownership; and Autoeuropa, a ‘Greenfield site’ wholly owned by Volkswagen. Basically, it considers the scope for the meaningful application of ‘Japanese’ organisational methods in these contexts, focusing on the human factor – i.e. as close as possible to the actors on the shop floor. After providing some insights into the Portuguese automotive industry, it profiles both SCOID and Autoeuropa and assesses each of their methods of work, within this balance of commitment between global and local. The main findings reveal the lag that can exist between theoretical models (namely those following a geographical criteria) and the actual practice carried out by manufacturers when tested outside their point of geographical origin.

Logistics performance can be affected by the presence of uncertainties in the decision making process. To reduce decision making uncertainties, a topology of sources of supply chain ({SC)} uncertainty is proposed, in order to identify different types of uncertainty. A conceptual framework is developed for the analysis of decision making uncertainty sources in {SC’s}, providing the basis for the design and selection of improved {SC} scenarios. A case study is presented to illustrate the potential of simulation techniques in modeling scenarios for the Supply Chain: a set of performance measures is proposed, and results are obtained based on a predetermined selection criterion.

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