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The alarm substance in fsh is a pheromone released by injured individuals after a predator attack. When detected by other fsh, it triggers fear/defensive responses, such as freezing and erratic movement behaviours. Such responses can also help other fsh in the shoal to modulate their own behaviours: decreasing a fear response if conspecifcs have not detected the alarm substance (social bufering) or triggering a fear response if conspecifcs detected the alarm substance (social contagion). Response variation to these social phenomena is likely to depend on sex. Because males have higher-risk life-history strategies than females, they may respond more to social bufering where they risk not responding to a real predator attack, while females should respond more to social contagion because they only risk responding to a false alarm. Using zebrafsh, we explored how the response of males and females to the presence/absence of the alarm substance is modifed by the alarmed/ unalarmed behaviour of an adjacent shoal of conspecifcs. We found that, in social bufering, males decreased freezing more than females as expected, but in social contagion males also responded more than females by freezing at a higher intensity. Males were, therefore, more sensitive to visual information, while females responded more to the alarm substance itself. Because visual information updates faster than chemical information, males took more risks but potentially more benefts as well, because a quicker adjustment of a fear response allows to save energy to other activities. These sex diferences provide insight into the modifying efect of life-history strategies on the use of social information. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Civil, O ruído gerado pelo tráfego rodoviário é algo a ter em conta, devido aos seus prejudiciais efeitos na população, a curto e longo prazo. O caso em estudo incidirá na Rotunda de Silvares, localizada numa das principais entradas da cidade de Guimarães. As duas principais entradas na rotunda foram desniveladas, evitando, principalmente em horas de ponta, a criação de congestionamento. Este tipo de conflito, além de perigoso, devido à fila de tráfego que gerava, estendendo-se por vezes ao logo da autoestrada, constituía uma importante fonte de ruído. O presente estudo pretende avaliar a eficácia desta medida sob ponto de vista acústico. Foi desenvolvido um modelo tridimensional e avaliado o ruído existente nas imediações da rotunda nos cenários antes e após a construção da rotunda desnivelada. Adicionalmente, são propostas medidas de redução de ruído, caso persista o cenário de sobre-exposição de ruído. Com este trabalho é esperado obter a eficácia do desnivelamento de um via principal no descongestionamento do tráfego e consequentemente a redução do ruído ambiente para os níveis considerados aceitáveis de acordo com Regulamento Geral de Ruído (DL 9/2007). Foi possível concluir que a introdução da passagem desnivelada teve pouco impacto na redução de ruído na rotunda, mesmo tendo em conta que o desnível ajudava com a diminuição do ruído, pois desde a altura que a intervenção foi feita até agora o número de veículo aumentou o que levou a um pequeno aumento do ruído., The noise generated by road traffic is something to be considered, due to its harmful effects on the population in the short and long term. The case study will focus on the roundabout of Silvares, located at one of the main entrances to the city of Guimarães. The two main entrances to the roundabout were levelled off, avoiding, especially at peak hours, the creation of congestion. This type of conflict, besides being dangerous due to the queue of traffic it generated, sometimes extending along the motorway, was a major source of noise. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this measure from an acoustic point of view. A three-dimensional model was developed and the existing noise in the vicinity of the roundabout was evaluated in the scenarios before and after the construction of the unlevel roundabout. In addition, noise reduction measures were proposed in persistent acoustic conflict zones. With this project it is expected to obtain the effectiveness of the levelling off a main road in traffic decongestion and consequently the reduction of ambient noise to levels considered acceptable according to General Noise Regulation (DL 9/2007). It was possible to conclude that the introduction of the unlevel crossing had little impact on noise reduction at the roundabout, even considering that the unevenness helped with the noise reduction, because since the time that the intervention was made until now the number of vehicles increased which led to a small increase in noise.

O setor dos transportes é, frequentemente, posto em causa devido ao seu nível de eficiência. A variação irregular do preço dos combustíveis derivados de petróleo, a poluição, a eficiência energética e ambiental e a sinistralidade rodoviária são alguns dos problemas que o setor acarreta e que carecem de soluções. Nesta dissertação foi investigada a influência do contacto pneu pavimento na variabilidade da condução e no desempenho energéticoambiental. Através do software ABAQUS e das suas funcionalidades de análise pelo Método dos Elementos Finitos, FEM, foram realizadas modelações da interação do pneu com o pavimento para determinação da força de atrito de rolamento em função de parâmetros como a pressão de insuflação, a massa do veículo, a velocidade e a aceleração. Esses valores foram transferidos, posteriormente, para um modelo de emissões que relaciona as emissões de poluentes com a Potência Específica do Veículo, VSP, e foram analisados os valores do VSP e das emissões de CO2 calculados com base nas forças de atrito de rolamento extraídas da simulação. Os resultados revelaram que a variável com maior influência na força de atrito de rolamento é a aceleração instantânea do veículo, variável essa que também tem maior peso no valor do VSP. Os valores do VSP calculados a partir da força de atrito de rolamento das simulações enquadraram-se nos modos do VSP afetos às condições replicadas, concluindo-se que o ABAQUS pode ser utilizado como uma ferramenta auxiliar dos modelos de emissões para fornecer resultados fiáveis da força de atrito de rolamento. The transport sector is often called into question due to its level of efficiency. Irregular variation in the price of oil-derived fuels, pollution, energy inefficiency and road accidents are some of the problems that the sector entails and that need to be solved. In this dissertation, the influence of tire-pavement contact on the variability of conduction and environmental and energy efficiency was investigated. Through the ABAQUS software and its analysis characteristics by the Finite Element Method, FEM, simulations of the interaction of the tire with the pavement were performed to determine the rolling resistence force as a function of parameters such as the inflation pressure, the mass of the vehicle, speed and acceleration. These values were later transferred to a base model that relates emissions data to the Vehicle Specific Power, VSP, and were compensated for the VSP and CO2 emissions values calculated based on the rolling resistance rates extracted from the simulation. The results revealed that the variable with the greatest influence on the rolling resistance force is the instantaneous acceleration of the vehicle, a variable that also has greater weight in the VSP value. The VSP values calculated from the rolling resistance force of the simulations fit into the VSP modes assigned to the replicated conditions, concluding that ABAQUS can be used as an auxiliary tool for emissions models as it provides reliable results of the forces triggered in the tire's interactions with the pavement. Mestrado em Engenharia Mecânica

Access control mechanisms are used to ensure that privileged information and resources are not accessed by, or disclosed to, unauthorized entities. The XACML specification, in addition to being one of the most important standards, is also widely used to define access control policies. XACML was proposed by the OASIS consortium and defines an attribute-based access control policy language expressed in an XML format. The standard also defines a reference architecture and a processing model in which are described how access requests should be evaluated according to the attributes defined in access control policies. The main drawback of XACML is the verbosity of its syntax, since it uses XML. To overcome this issue, we defined an access control language in YAML upon the key concepts of XACML. Unlike XACML, the YAML language is simple, which makes access control policies easy to define and interpret by humans. The main challenge of creating an IoT access control system is the performance of the policy evaluation engine, particularly in systems with a large number of clients. Sun Microsystems’ implementation of the XACML specification is the most widely used solution for defining and evaluating access control rules, but it is not the most efficient, since it performs a brute force search for evaluating the predicates defined in the access request against the access control policies defined in the authorization system. Our solution is based on two tree data structures, the Decision Tree and the Combining Tree. The attributes defined in the access control policies are extracted, combined and then later used to build up the Decision Tree. The Decision Tree is used to find the applicable rules for a given set of attributes defined in an access request. On the other hand, the Combining Tree is used to calculate the final authorization decision according to the combining algorithms defined in the access control policies applicable to a given access request. The results show that our solution is about two orders of magnitude more efficient than the Sun Microsystems’ implementation. Finally, we also introduced two caching strategies to improve the performance of our engine. For each access request the engine creates and stores the subset of the Decision Tree that was used to calculate the authorization decision for a given request. In the first strategy, the engine creates and stores a Decision Tree subset applicable to each access request that hits the authorization system. In the second strategy, the client can define when each subtree should be cached by the engine. The experimental results showed that our first caching solution does not improve the performance of the engine, whereas the second solution improves the overall processing time. Os mecanismos de controlo de acesso são utilizados para prevenir que entidades não autorizadas acedam a recursos protegidos. A especificação XACML, para além de ser um dos padrões mais importantes, é também o mais utilizado para definir políticas de controlo de acesso. O XACML foi criado pelo consórcio OASIS e distingue-se por definir uma linguagem de política de controlo de acesso num formato XML baseado em atributos. Ademais, a especificação também define uma arquitetura de referência e um modelo de avaliação dos pedidos de acesso de acordo com os atributos definidos nas políticas de controlo de acesso. A principal desvantagem do XACML surge através da utilização do XML para descrever políticas de controlo de acesso, uma vez que possui uma sintaxe bastante detalhada e redundante quando comparado com outras linguagens. Por este motivo, propusemos uma linguagem de descrição de políticas de controlo de acesso baseado em XACML usando a linguagem YAML. Ao contrário do XACML, a linguagem YAML evidencia-se como mais simples, tornando as políticas de controlo de acesso mais fáceis de definir e de interpretar por humanos. Um dos maiores desafios na construção de um mecanismo de controlo de acesso em IoT diz respeito à eficiência com que o sistema necessita de avaliar os pedidos de acesso, particularmente em sistemas com um grande número de clientes. A implementação da especificação XACML da Sun Microsystems é a solução mais utilizada para definir e avaliar regras de controlo de acesso; porém, não é a mais eficiente, uma vez que avalia as políticas de controlo de acesso através de uma pesquisa por força bruta. A solução apresentada neste trabalho, baseia-se em duas estruturas de dados em árvore, nomeadamente a Árvore de Decisão e a Árvore de Combinação. Os atributos definidos nas políticas de controlo de acesso são extraídos e combinados e, posteriormente, organizados na Árvore de Decisão, que é usada para descobrir as regras que se aplicam a um determinado conjunto de atributos definidos num pedido de acesso. Por outro lado, a Árvore de Combinação é utilizada para calcular a decisão de autorização final de acordo com os algoritmos de combinação definidos nas políticas de controlo de acesso aplicáveis aos atributos definidos no pedido de acesso. Os resultados mostram que a nossa solução é cerca de duas ordens de grandeza mais eficiente que a implementação da Sun Microsystems. Por último, de forma a melhorar o tempo de avaliação dos pedidos de controlo de acesso, apresentámos duas estratégias de cache que por cada pedido de acesso guardam a sub-árvore usada para calcular a decisão de autorização. Na primeira estratégia, a sub-árvore é criada e guardada por cada pedido que é avaliado pelo sistema de controlo de acesso. No que respeita à segunda estratégia, o cliente pode definir quando é que essa sub-árvore deve ser guardada para uso futuro. Os resultados experimentais mostraram que a primeira solução não apresenta melhorias na eficiência do sistema, enquanto que a segunda solução melhora o tempo de processamento geral dos pedidos. Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemática

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High vehicular mobility in urban scenarios originates inter-vehicles communication discontinuities, a highly important factor when designing a forwarding strategy for vehicular networks. Store, carry and forward mechanisms enable the usage of vehicular networks in a large set of applications, such as sensor data collection in IoT, contributing to smart city platforms. This work focuses on two main topics to enhance the forwarding decision: i) forwarding strategies that make use of location-aware and social-based to perform neighborhood selection, ii) and packet selection mechanisms to provide Quality of Service (QoS). The neighborhood selection is performed through multiple metrics, resulting in three forwarding strategies: (1) Gateway Location Awareness (GLA), a location-aware ranking classification making use of velocity, heading angle and distance to the gateway, to select the vehicles with higher chance to deliver the information in a shorter period of time, thus differentiating nodes through their movement patterns; (2) Aging Social-Aware Ranking (ASAR) that exploits the social behaviours of each vehicle, where nodes are ranked based on a historical contact table, differentiating vehicles with a high number of contacts from those who barely contact with other vehicles; (3) and to merge both location and social aforementioned algorithms, a hybrid approach emerges, thus generating a more intelligent mechanism. Allied to the forwarding criteria, two packet selection mechanisms are proposed to address distinct network functionalities, namely: Distributed Packet Selection, that focuses primarily on data type prioritization and secondly, on packet network lifetime; and Equalized Packet Selection, which uses network metrics to calculate a storage packet ranking. To do so, the packet number of hops, the packet type and packet network lifetime are used. In order to perform the evaluation of the proposed mechanisms, both real and emulation experiments were performed. For each forwarding strategy, it is evaluated the influence of several parameters in the network's performance, as well as comparatively evaluate the strategies in different scenarios. Experiment results, obtained with real traces of both mobility and vehicular connectivity from a real city-scale urban vehicular network, are used to evaluate the performance of GLA, ASAR and HYBRID schemes, and their results are compared to lower- and upper-bounds. Later, these strategies' viability is also validated in a real scenario. The obtained results show that these strategies are a good tradeoff to maximize data delivery ratio and minimize network overhead, while making use of moving networks as a smart city network infrastructure. To evaluate the proposed packet selection mechanisms, a First In First Out packet selection technique is used as ground rule, thus contrasting with the more objective driven proposed techniques. The results show that the proposed mechanisms are capable of provide distinct network functionalities, from prioritizing a packet type to enhancing the network's performance. A elevada mobilidade em cenários veiculares urbanos origina descontinuidades de comunicação entre veículos, um fator altamente importante quando se desenha uma estratégia de encaminhamento para redes veiculares. Mecanismos de store, carry and forward (guardar, carregar e entregar) possibilitam a recolha de dados de sensores em aplicações da Internet das coisas, contribuindo para plataformas de cidades inteligentes. Este trabalho é focado em dois tópicos principais de forma a melhorar a decisão de encaminhamento: i) estratégias de encaminhamento que fazem uso de métricas sociais e de localização para efetuar a seleção de vizinhos, ii) e mecanismos de seleção de pacotes que qualificam a rede com qualidade de serviço. A seleção de vizinhos é feita através de múltiplas métricas, resultando em três estratégias de encaminhamento: Gateway Location Awareness (GLA), uma classificação baseada em localização que faz uso de velocidade, ângulo de direção e distância até uma gateway, para selecionar os veículos com maior probabilidade de entregar a informação num menor período temporal, distinguindo os veículos através dos seus padrões de movimento. Aging Social-Aware Ranking (ASAR) explora os comportamentos sociais de cada veículo, onde é atribuída uma classificação aos veículos com base num histórico de contactos, diferenciando veículos com um alto número de contactos de outros com menos. Por fim, por forma a tirar partido das distintas características de cada uma das destas estratégias, é proposta uma abordagem híbrida, Hybrid between GLA and ASAR (HYBRID). Aliado ao critério de encaminhamento, são propostos dois mecanismos de seleção de pacotes que focam distintas funcionalidades na rede, sendo estes: Distributed Packet Selection, que foca em primeiro lugar na prioritização de determinados tipos de pacotes e em segundo lugar, no tempo de vida que resta ao pacote na rede; e Equalized Packet Selection, que usa métricas da rede para calcular a classificação de cada pacote em memória. Para tal, é usado o numero de saltos do pacote, o tipo de dados do pacote e o tempo de vida que resta ao pacote na rede. De forma a avaliar os mecanismos propostos, foram realizadas experiências em emulador e em cenário real. Para cada estratégia de encaminhamento, e avaliada a influência de vários parâmetros de configuração no desempenho da rede. Para além disso, é feita uma avaliação comparativa entre as várias estratégias em diferentes cenários. Resultados experimentais, obtidos usando traços reais de mobilidade e conetividade de uma rede veicular urbana, são utilizados para avaliar a performance dos esquemas GLA, ASAR e HYRID. Posteriormente, a viabilidade destas estratégias é também validada em cenário real. Os resultados obtidos mostram que estas estratégias são um bom tradeoff para maximizar a taxa de entrega de dados e minimizar a sobrecarga de dados na rede. Para avaliar os mecanismos de seleção de pacotes, um simples mecanismo First In First Out é utilizado como base, contrapondo com as técnicas propostas mais orientadas a objectivos concretos. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os mecanismos propostos são capazes de proporcionar à rede diferentes funcionalidades, desde prioritização de determinado tipos de dados a melhoramentos no desempenho da rede. Agradeço à Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e Tecnologia pelo suporte financeiro através de fundos nacionais e quando aplicável cofi nanciado pelo FEDER, no âmbito do Acordo de Parceria PT2020 pelo projecto MobiWise através do programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (COMPETE 2020) do Portugal 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016426). Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicações

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is a Theory of Mind task that assesses the ability to understand others’ mental states in both healthy and clinical populations. The goal of the present study was to translate the revised version of the adults’ RMET to the Portuguese (European) language, investigate item validity for this version and differences related to gender. The English revised version was translated into Portuguese and 5 pilot studies were run to reach a final Portuguese version of the test. After these procedures, 130 adult participants (71 females) answered a computer version of the RMET. Thirty items showed appropriate answer distribution, while the remaining six did not meet the initially stipulated criteria for item validity. Mean scores for this adaptation were similar to those found in the original revised version and other translations. We found no differences related to gender in our sample. Future investigations should explore additional validity and reliability measures of this instrument. O Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) é uma tarefa de Teoria da Mente utilizada para avaliar a capacidade de compreender estados mentais de terceiros, tanto em populações normativas como clínicas. O presente estudo teve como objectivo traduzir para Português (Europeu) a versão adulta revista do RMET, investigar a validade dos itens desta versão e diferenças associadas ao género. A versão revista Inglesa foi traduzida para Português e foram realizados 5 estudos piloto de forma a chegar a uma versão final Portuguesa do teste. Após estes procedimentos, 130 participantes adultos (71 mulheres) responderam a uma versão computorizada do RMET. Trinta itens mostraram uma distribuição de respostas adequada, enquanto os restantes seis itens não foram de encontro aos critérios de validação interna considerados. As médias das pontuações obtidas nesta versão do RMET foram semelhantes às conseguidas tanto na versão original revista do teste como noutras traduções. Não foram observadas nesta amostra diferenças significativas entre géneros. Investigações futuras deverão explorar indicadores adicionais de validade e fiabilidade deste instrumento.

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino de Educação Física nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário, O presente relatório de estágio expõe as aprendizagens concebidas ao longo do ano letivo de 2017/2018, através da lecionação realizada numa Escola Secundária, localizada na cidade de Castelo Branco. Neste relatório de estágio é apresentada uma descrição e contextualização do que foi feito na instituição, nomeadamente os problemas que foram enfrentados ao longo do ano e as estratégias para colmatar os mesmos, no que diz respeito à lecionação. É também exposto o que foi realizado com a escola e comunidade, as atividades que foram desenvolvidas, bem como o que foi realizado no Desporto Escolar. Por fim, o projeto investigativo que foi realizado ao longo do ano letivo, onde foi estudada a realidade do Desporto Escolar na Escola Secundária Amato Lusitano, que pretendia perceber os motivos para a pratica ou não prática do mesmo. Este estudo foi constituído por 212 alunos da Escola Secundária Amato Lusitano, onde 106 desses alunos correspondiam a alunos que praticam Desporto Escolar e outros 106 a alunos que não praticam Desporto Escolar, o que no total deu o número de 212 alunos participantes neste estudo. Foram aplicados 2 questionários diferentes, um correspondente aos motivos para a prática do Desporto Escolar e outro questionário referente aos motivos para a não prática do Desporto Escolar por parte dos alunos., This internship report presents the lessons learned during the academic year 2017/2018, held at Escola Secundária Amato Lusitano, located in the city of Castelo Branco. It is presented a description and contextualization of what was done in the institution, namely the problems that were faced during the year and the strategies used to fill them regarding teaching. It is also introduced what was done with the school and community and the activities that were developed as School Sports. Concluding, this research project carried out throughout the school year, studies the difference between the reasons for a practice or not practice of sports at Escola Secundária Amato Lusitano. This study had a sample of 212 students from the Escola Secundária Amato Lusitano, where half (106 students) attended school sports and the other half (106 students) did not practiced school sports. Two different questionnaires were applied, one concerning the reasons for a sport practice and another one as to not practice sport.

The occurrence of emotions in non-human animals has been the focus of debate over the years. Recently, an interest in expanding this debate to non-tetrapod vertebrates and to invertebrates has emerged. Within vertebrates, the study of emotion in teleosts is particularly interesting since they represent a divergent evolutionary radiation from that of tetrapods, and thus they provide an insight into the evolution of the biological mechanisms of emotion. We report that Sea Bream exposed to stimuli that vary according to valence (positive, negative) and salience (predictable, unpredictable) exhibit different behavioural, physiological and neuromolecular states. Since according to the dimensional theory of emotion valence and salience define a two-dimensional affective space, our data can be interpreted as evidence for the occurrence of distinctive affective states in fish corresponding to each the four quadrants of the core affective space. Moreover, the fact that the same stimuli presented in a predictable vs. unpredictable way elicited different behavioural, physiological and neuromolecular states, suggests that stimulus appraisal by the individual, rather than an intrinsic characteristic of the stimulus, has triggered the observed responses. Therefore, our data supports the occurrence of emotion-like states in fish that are regulated by the individual’s perception of environmental stimuli. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Mestrado em Contabilidade e Análise Financeira O Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS) foi uma conquista dos portugueses e que inequivocamente se traduziu em ganhos de saúde que permitam colocar Portugal no pelotão da frente dos países da Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Económico (OCDE) em números indicadores, como sejam a esperança média de vida à nascença e taxa de mortalidade infantil. A saúde é, porém, um setor que gera um enorme consumo de recursos o que fez com que a despesa com saúde em Portugal tenha crescido, sistematicamente, a taxas superiores ao Produto Interno Bruto (PIB), o que coloca problemas de sustentabilidade colocando em causa não só o financiamento e a eficiência dos sistemas de saúde, como também a qualidade dos serviços prestados. É neste contexto, e na tentativa de controlar a escalada incontrolável da despesa, que surgem preocupações crescentes com a contenção de gestos visando aumentos de eficiência do sistema, o que tem levado a mudanças várias no modelo de gestão do sistema de saúde. Destaca-se a alteração da estrutura hospitalar, com vista à racionalização dos seus recursos internos, onde as fusões hospitalares têm assumido um papel determinante. Em Portugal, nos últimos anos, assistiu-se a uma significativa redução do número de hospitais, exclusivamente através de fusões e sem alterações no número de estruturas físicas existentes com o argumento principal do aumento da eficiência pelo ganho de economias de escala. Assim, foi objetivo desta investigação contribuir para que se perceba a amplitude dos ganhos obtidos e se esses eventuais ganhos em saúde. Os resultados obtidos levam a concluir que, se por um lado se degradou a situação económico-financeira dos centros hospitalares, por outro percebe-se uma tendência de melhoria dos indicadores assistenciais, como o número de consultas e de cirurgias e um aumento da eficiência visível pela diminuição dos custos unitários relacionados com o internamento. The National Health Service was an achievement of Portuguese and uniquivocally translate into health gains of placing Portugal at the forefront of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in several indicators, such as average life expectancy at birth and infant mortality. Health is, however, an industry that generates enourmous consumption of resources which meant that spending on health in Portugal has grown systematically higher than the Gross Domestic Product rates, which raises issues of sustainability, putting concerned not only financing and efficiency of healthcare systems, but also the quality of services provided. It is in this context, and in an attempt to control the uncontrollable escalation of expenditure arising growing concerns about cost containment aimed increases system efficiency, which has led to several changes in the management of the health system model. Noteworthy is the change of the hospital structure, with a view to rationalizing its internal resources, where hospital mergers have played a decisive role. In Portugal, in recent years, there has been a significant reduction in the number of hospitals, exclusively through mergers and without any changes in the number of the existing strutures with the main argument. Thus, aim of this research was to contribute to realise that the magnitude of the gains and such gains translate into real health gains. The results lead to the conclusion that, on the one hand deterioratad the economic and financial situation of hospitals, on the other perceives a trend of improving health care indicators such as the number of consultations and surgeries and an increase in the perceived effectiveness by decreasing unit costs associated.

In social species animals tend to adjust their social behaviour according to the available social information in the group, in order to optimize and improve their one social status. This changing environment requires for rapid and transient behavioural changes that relies primarily on biochemical switching of existing neural networks. Monoamines and neuropeptides are the two major candidates to mediate these changes in brain states underlying socially behavioural flexibility. In the current study we used zebrafish (Danio rerio) males to study the effects of acute social interactions on rapid regional changes in brain levels of monoamines (serotonin and dopamine). A behavioural paradigm under which male zebrafish consistently express fighting behaviour was used to investigate the effects of different social experiences: winning the interaction, losing the interaction, or fighting an unsolved interaction (mirror image). We found that serotonergic activity is significantly higher in the telencephalon of winners and in the optic tectum of losers, and no significant changes were observed in mirror fighters suggesting that serotonergic activity is differentially regulated in different brain regions by social interactions. Dopaminergic activity it was also significantly higher in the telencephalon of winners which may be representative of social reward. Together our data suggests that acute social interactions elicit rapid and differential changes in serotonergic and dopaminergic activity across different brain regions.

Understanding how the brain implements social behavior on one hand, and how social processes feedback on the brain to promote fine-tuning of behavioral output according to changes in the social environment is a major challenge in contemporary neuroscience. A critical step to take this challenge successfully is finding the appropriate level of analysis when relating social to biological phenomena. Given the enormous complexity of both the neural networks of the brain and social systems, the use of a cognitive level of analysis (in an information processing perspective) is proposed here as an explanatory interface between brain and behavior. A conceptual framework for a cognitive approach to comparative social neuroscience is proposed, consisting of the following steps to be taken across different species with varying social systems: (1) identification of the functional building blocks of social skills; (2) identification of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the previously identified social skills; and (3) mapping these information processing mechanisms onto the brain. Teleost fish are presented here as a group of choice to develop this approach, given the diversity of social systems present in closely related species that allows for planned phylogenetic comparisons, and the availability of neurogenetic tools that allows the visualization and manipulation of selected neural circuits in model species such as the zebrafish. Finally, the state-of-the art of zebrafish social cognition and of the tools available to map social cognitive abilities to neural circuits in zebrafish are reviewed.

Mestrado em Engenharia Civil Atualmente tem-se vindo a lutar contra vários problemas de índole económica e ambiental, nomeadamente contra as principais causas do consumo excessivo de energia, recurso cada vez mais escasso e consequentemente, mais caro. Para inverter essa tendência tem-se procurado encontrar soluções do ponto de vista sustentável e implementar medidas que reduzam o consumo global de energia. Os edifícios são um dos setores que mais contribuem para os elevados consumos de energia, sendo necessário ir ao encontro de medidas que visam torná-los mais eficientes. A Diretiva 2010/31/EU estabeleceu limites aos estados membros da União Europeia para que na construção de edifícios novos se alcance consumos de energia quase nulos. Os requisitos para se atingir um edifício passivo, segundo o conceito Passivhaus, são essenciais para se conseguir atingir esses limites, estando mesmo na génese dos edifícios de consumo quase nulo. No âmbito do balanço térmico, as pontes térmicas contribuem para uma percentagem significativa da energia que é desperdiçada pela envolvente dos edifícios, pelo que, o conceito Passivhaus estabelece que a envolvente apresente características que permitem eliminar ou pelo menos minimizar significativamente as pontes térmicas. O primeiro objetivo desta dissertação foi desenvolver um catálogo de pormenores construtivos de ligações que obedeçam às exigências da construção segundo os requisitos Passivhaus, para cada um dos quais se apresentou os valores correspondentes de Ψ (W/(m.ºC)), obtidos quer com medições exteriores quer com interiores. No desenvolvimento dos pormenores construtivos, teve-se em conta os sistemas de construção mais comuns em Portugal. Para cada uma das ligações construtivas (ponte térmica) foi realizado um estudo paramétrico, possibilitando a identificação das soluções ótimas a adotar, a fim de cumprir os requisitos Passivhaus, respeitando o valor do coeficiente de transmissão térmica linear (Ψ) ≤ 0,01 W/(m.ºC). O segundo objetivo foi fornecer suporte técnico a arquitetos, engenheiros e construtores, para projetarem e construírem segundo os requisitos Passivhaus, em relação à resolução e definição construtiva de pontes térmicas lineares. O estudo iniciou-se com o desenho das ligações e posteriormente obteve-se o valor do coeficiente de transmissão térmica linear (Ψ (W/(m.ºC))) utilizando o método de cálculo definido na EN ISO 10211: 2007. Em cada um dos pormenores de pontes térmicas realizou-se a sua modelação usando o software THERM 7® para obter o fluxo de calor em 2D. Durante o estudo paramétrico foram combinadas diferentes espessuras de isolamento térmico dos elementos construtivos e a variação da posição da camada isolante. Também foi realizado o cálculo do parâmetro de coeficiente de transmissão térmica linear (Ψ (W/(m.ºC))) usando as medições externas das dimensões dos elementos construtivos (de acordo com a metodologia Passivhaus) e internas, de acordo com o Regulamento das Características de Comportamento Térmico de Edifícios (RCCTE) e por último foi realizada uma análise crítica. Para cada ligação otimizada foi concebido o respetivo pormenor construtivo com a sua descrição e foi representado graficamente o valor do coeficiente de transmissão térmica linear (Ψ (W/(m.ºC))) para cada combinação da espessura do isolamento. O desenvolvimento de diversas soluções de ligações permitiu atingir a condição (Ψ)≤0,01 W/(m.ºC) para diferentes configurações de pontes térmicas lineares em quase todos os pormenores. No entanto, foi possível constatar que a variação da espessura da camada de isolamento não se traduz sempre na redução do coeficiente de transmissão térmica linear (Ψ (W/(m.ºC))). Para obter esta redução são essenciais aspetos construtivos, tais como a continuidade e a posição da camada de isolamento. A combinação de todos estes aspetos nos pormenores construtivos traduz-se em valores de coeficientes de transmissão térmica linear significativamente mais baixos do que os que estão tipificados no regulamento Português. Em suma, este estudo demonstra a viabilidade do projeto e da construção de acordo com o padrão Passivhaus aplicando os métodos construtivos correntes em Portugal e releva a importância da correção das pontes térmicas na fase de conceção e execução dos edifícios. The struggle against diverse economic and environmental problems is a common issue nowadays, particularly in what respects excessive energy consumption, increased resource use and therefore more expensive. In order to invert this tendency, there’s been made a general pursuit for sustainable solutions and consequently implementation of measures to reduce the overall energy consumption. Buildings are one of the sectors that most contribute to high energy consumption and it is crucial to implement measures which make them more efficient. The Directive 2010/31/EU established limits for member states of the European Union for the construction of new buildings in order to reach Nearly Zero Energy Consumption demand. In order to achieve these levels, the Passivhaus requirements are essential, being inclusively in the genesis of the NZEB building. Within the context of heat balance, thermal bridges contribute to a significant proportion of energy losses through the building envelope. As a result, the Passivhaus concept establishes that the surrounding of the building must provide characteristics which allow the elimination or very significant minimization of thermal bridges. The first objective of this thesis was to develop a catalog of construction details which satisfy the requirements of construction according to the requirements of Passivhaus, presenting detailed calculation and the corresponding values of the linear thermal transmittance (Ψ (W/(m.ºC))), obtained either with external or internal dimensional measurements. For the development of construction details, it was taken into account the most common building systems used in Portugal. For each detailed constructive connection (thermal bridge) was conducted a parametric study which allowed the identification of the optimal solutions to adopt in order to fulfill the Passivhaus requirement, respecting the target value of the linear thermal transmittance (Ψ)≤0,01 W/(m.°C). The second objective was to provide technical support to architects, engineers and builders, to design and build according to the Passivhaus requirements, concerning the resolution and constructive definition of linear thermal bridges. The study began with the drawings of the connections and the subsequent correspondent calculation of the linear thermal transmittance (Ψ (W/(m.°C))), using the calculation method defined in EN ISO 10211:2007. Each thermal bridge detail was modelled, using software THERM 7® in order to calculate 2D heat flow. For the parametric study different thicknesses of thermal insulation of building elements and the variation of the position of the insulating layer were modeled and studied. It was also calculated the parameter of linear thermal transmittance (Ψ (W/(m.°C))) using the external measurements of the dimensions of building details (according to the Passivhaus standard) and internal, according to the Portuguese National Thermal Code (RCCTE) and finally performed a critical analysis. For each optimized connection it was conceived a designed detail with the respective description and then plotted the linear thermal transmittance Ψ (W/(m.°C)) for each combination of insulation thickness defined. The development of various connection solutions allowed to reach the target condition of Ψ ≤ 0,01 W/(m.°C) for different linear thermal bridge configurations for almost every detail. However, it was possible to establish that the variation of insulating layer’s thickness does not always translate in reducing the linear thermal transmittance Ψ (W/(m.°C)). To obtain this reduction, constructive aspects are essential, such as the continuity and the position of insulating layer. The combination of all these aspects in the construction details result in linear thermal transmittance (Ψ (W/(m.°C))) significantly lower than the typified in the Portuguese thermal code (RCCTE). In summary, this study demonstrates the viability of design and consequent construction according to the Passivhaus standards applied to common constructive methods used in Portugal and enhances the importance of the correction of thermal bridges in the design phase and building planning.

If cooperation often involves investment, then what specific conditions prevent selection from acting on cheaters that do not invest? The mutualism between the Indo-Pacific cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus and its reef fish clients has been a model system to study conflicts of interest and their resolution. These cleaners prefer client mucus over ectoparasites – that is, they prefer to cheat – but punishment and partner switching by clients enforce cooperative behaviour by cleaners. By contrast, clients of Caribbean cleaning gobies (Elacatinus spp.) do not to use punishment or partner switching. Here, we test the hypothesis that the behavioural differences between these two cleaner fish systems are caused by differences in cleaner foraging preferences. In foraging choice experiments, we offered broadstripe cleaning gobies Elacatinus prochilos client-derived parasitic isopods, client mucus and a control food item. The cleaning gobies significantly preferred ectoparasites over mucus or the control item, which contrasts with cleaner wrasses. We propose that the low level of cleaner–client conflict arising from cleaning goby foraging preferences explains the observed lack of strategic partner control behaviour in the clients of cleaning gobies.

The nonapeptides arginine–vasotocin (AVT) and isotocin (IT), which are the teleost homologues of arginine– vasopressin and oxytocin in mammals, have well established peripheral effects on osmoregulation and stress response, and central effects on social behavior. However, all studies that have looked so far into the relationship between these nonapeptides and social behavior have used indirectmeasures of AVT/IT activity (i.e. immunohistochemistry of AVT/IT immunoreactive neurons, or AVT/IT or their receptorsmRNA expressionwith in situ hybridization or qPCR) and therefore directmeasures of peptide levels in relation to social behavior are still lacking. Here we use a recently developed high-performance liquid chromatography analysis with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FL)method to quantify the levels of both AVT and IT inmacro-dissected brain areas [i.e. olfactory bulbs, telencephalon, diencephalon, optic tectum, cerebellum, and hindbrain (= rhombencephalon minus cerebellum)] and pituitary of dominant and subordinate male cichlid fish (Oreochromis mossambicus). The pituitary shows higher levels of both peptides than any of the brain macroareas, and the olfactory bulbs have the highest AVT among all brain areas. Except for IT in the telencephalon there is a lack of correlations between central levels and pituitary peptide levels, suggesting an independent control of hypophysial and CNS nonapeptide secretion. There were also no correlations between AVT and IT levels either for each brain region or for the pituitary gland, suggesting a decoupled activity of the AVT and IT systems at the CNS level. Subordinate AVT pituitary levels are significantly higher than those of dominants, and dominant hindbrain IT levels are significantly higher than those of subordinates, suggesting a potential involvement of AVT in social stress in subordinate fish and of IT in the regulation of dominant behavior at the level of the hindbrain. Since in this species dominant males use urine to communicate social status and since AVT is known to have an antidiuretic effect,we have also investigated the effect of social status on urine storage. As predicted, dominantmales stored significantly more urine than subordinates. Given these results we suggest that AVT/IT play a key role in orchestrating social phenotypes, acting both as central neuromodulators that promote behavioral plasticity and as peripheral hormones that promote integrated physiological changes.

Social plasticity is a ubiquitous feature of animal behaviour. Animals must adjust the expression of their social behaviour to the nuances of daily social life and to the transitions between life-history stages, and the ability to do so affects their Darwinian fitness. Here, an integrative framework is proposed for understanding the proximate mechanisms and ultimate consequences of social plasticity. According to this framework, social plasticity is achieved by rewiring or by biochemically switching nodes of the neural network underlying social behaviour in response to perceived social information. Therefore, at the molecular level, it depends on the social regulation of gene expression, so that different brain genomic and epigenetic states correspond to different behavioural responses and the switches between states are orchestrated by signalling pathways that interface the social environment and the genotype. At the evolutionary scale, social plasticity can be seen as an adaptive trait that can be under positive selection when changes in the environment outpace the rate of genetic evolutionary change. In cases when social plasticity is too costly or incomplete, behavioural consistency can emerge by directional selection that recruits gene modules corresponding to favoured behavioural states in that environment. As a result of this integrative approach, how knowledge of the proximate mechanisms underlying social plasticity is crucial to understanding its costs, limits and evolutionary consequences is shown, thereby highlighting the fact that proximate mechanisms contribute to the dynamics of selection. The role of teleosts as a premier model to study social plasticity is also highlighted, given the diversity and plasticity that this group exhibits in terms of social behaviour. Finally, the proposed integrative framework to social plasticity also illustrates how reciprocal causation analysis of biological phenomena (i.e. considering the interaction between proximate factors and evolutionary explanations) can be a more useful approach than the traditional proximate–ultimate dichotomy, according to which evolutionary processes can be understood without knowledge on proximate causes, thereby black-boxing developmental and physiological mechanisms.

This study investigated adrenocortical activity in response to different challenging and positive affect emotional contexts in child–mother dyads, as function of attachment security (children’s secure base behaviors and mothers’ attachment representations). Fifty-one children ranging in age from 18 to 26 months and their mothers participated in this study. Secure children showed significant increases in their cortisol levels after fear episodes and significant decreases, after positive affect ones. No significant changes were found for frustration/ anger episodes. Insecure children did not show significant differences in cortisol levels in any of the episodes, which suggests that insecure attachment may be related to hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis suppression in response to challenging and positive contexts. Mothers of insecure children showed significantly higher cortisol concentrations in pre- and post-session samples, than mothers of secure children. Mothers’ personal attachment representations influenced their own cortisol responses, as well as their children’s (in a marginal significant way).

Trabalho apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção o grau de Licenciado em Enfermagem O trabalho que se apresenta surge no âmbito da Unidade Curricular de Projecto de Graduação e Integração Profissional, leccionada no 2º Semestre do 4º ano do Curso de Licenciatura em Enfermagem, da Escola Superior de Saúde da Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP) e está subordinado ao tema “Consumo de Substâncias Cannabinóides dos Alunos do 1º e 4º ano da Licenciatura em Enfermagem da Universidade Fernando Pessoa”. O presente estudo é de carácter descritivo com uma abordagem quantitativa, foi realizado na Universidade Fernando Pessoa - Porto, e tem por objectivos: desenvolver conhecimentos sobre a temática das drogas; conhecer os consumos praticados por determinados alunos na instituição de ensino supracitada; perceber se de alguma forma toda a envolvência referente à vida académica influência os consumos e tentar perceber de que forma a Enfermagem pode actuar neste campo. Com este estudo conclui-se que não existem consumos descontrolados e somente uma pequena porção apresenta consumos que podem vir a ser problemáticos. Analisou-se também que os consumos tendem a ser ligeiramente superiores nos alunos do 4º ano face aos do 1º ano, tanto nos últimos 12 meses como também nos últimos 30 dias. Todavia, observou-se que a grande maioria da totalidade dos inquiridos, 60%, referiu nunca ter sequer experimentado uma vez que fosse substâncias cannabinóides. The work is presented in the scope of the Graduate Project and Professional Integration Course, taught in the 4th year second semester of the Nursing’s Bachelor at the School of Health Sciences in Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP) and its theme as to do with the consumption of cannabinoid substances in students attending the 1st and 4th year of Nursing Degree from this University. This study is descriptive in nature with a quantitative approach, was conducted at the Universidade Fernando Pessoa - Porto, and aims to: develop knowledge about the subject of drugs, knowing the consumption practiced by certain students in the educational institution mentioned above; see if somehow all the surroundings on the academic life influence the intake and try to understand how nursing can act in this field. This study concludes that there are no uncontrolled consumption and only a small portion reveals that might become problematic. It was also analyzed that the intakes tend to be slightly higher in the 4th year students compared to the 1st year, both in the last 12 months as well as in the past 30 days. However, it was observed that the vast majority of all respondents, 60% reported never having experienced cannabinoids substances.

There is a wealth of game theoretical approaches to the evolution and maintenance of cooperation between unrelated individuals and accumulating empirical tests of these models. This contrasts strongly with our lack of knowledge on proximate causes of cooperative behaviour. Marine cleaning mutualism has been used as a model system to address functional aspects of conflict resolution: client reef fish benefit from cleaning interactions through parasite removal, but cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus prefer client mucus. Hence, feeding against their preference represents cooperative behaviour in cleaners. Cleaners regularly cheat non-predatory clients while they rarely cheat predatory clients. Here, we asked how precisely cleaners can adjust service quality from one interaction to the next. We found that non-predatory clients receive a better service if the previous client was a predator than if the previous client was a non-predator. In a related laboratory experiment, a hand-net used as a stressor resulted in cleaners feeding more against their preference in subsequent interactions. The combination of the cleaners’ behaviour in the two studies shows that the cleaners’ service quality for a given client species is not fixed, but it can be manipulated. The results suggest that short-term stress is one factor that causes cleaners to increase their levels of cooperation, a hypothesis that is amenable to further experiments manipulating the endocrine system.

In humans, physical stimulation, such as massage therapy, reduces stress and has demonstrable health benefi ts. Grooming in primates may have similar effects but it remains unclear whether the positive effects are due to physical contact or to its social value. Here we show that physical stimulation reduces stress in a coral reef fi sh, the surgeonfi sh Ctenochaetus striatus . These fi sh regularly visit cleaner wrasses Labroides dimidiatus to have ectoparasites removed. The cleanerfi sh infl uences client decisions by physically touching the surgeonfi sh with its pectoral and pelvic fi ns, a behaviour known as tactile stimulation. We simulated this behaviour by exposing surgeonfi sh to mechanically moving cleanerfi sh models. Surgeonfi sh had signifi cantly lower levels of cortisol when stimulated by moving models compared with controls with access to stationary models. Our results show that physical contact alone, without a social aspect, is enough to produce fi tness-enhancing benefi ts, a situation so far only demonstrated in humans.

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Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus were housed individually during 7 days in a continuous flow-trough respirometry system and daily exposed to one of three treatments: (1) a series of knocks on the side of the aquarium, (2) a series of photo-flashes and (3) control group. Exposure to photo-flashes did not change locomotor activity but decreased both nighttime and daytime oxygen consumption throughout the experiment. Knocking induced a shortlived increase in locomotor activity and tended to increase oxygen consumption, but this latter effect was not significant. Night-time oxygen consumption was not affected by knocking exposure. Cortisol levels assayed from fish-holding water collected at the end of the experiment were significantly lower in subjects exposed to photo-flashes than in subjects exposed to knocks or controls. Males did not respond differently than females to the treatments in any of the measurements taken. In summary, the data reported here suggest that exposure to repetitive photo-flashes, but not knocking, suppressed normal energy metabolism and cortisol levels. These effects were present hours to a half day after exposure to the flashes.

Species with alternative reproductive tactics offer the opportunity to analyse how behavioural and morphological traits are tuned to produce successfully competing phenotypes within one sex. In the teleost fish Salaria pavo, alternative reproductive tactics are sequential. The older ornamented males compete for access to females by guarding a cavity to which they attract females to spawn. Ornamented males that are found without a nest are called ‘floaters’. Younger mature males which are too small to compete with nest-holders attempt to ‘sneak’ as female mimics into successful nests and release their sperm to fertilize freshly spawned eggs. The alternative tactics in S. pavo are associated with different levels of the androgens testosterone and 11-ketotestosterone, which have been found to suppress immune function in several teleost fish. A field study was carried out to analyse the relationship between these reproductive tactics, androgens and blood levels of lymphocytes as a monitoring method of immune function. We expected highest investment in the immune system in sneakers because these have the lowest androgen levels and functionally because investing in self-maintenance increases their future prospect to switch tactic and to reproduce as a nest-holder. Indeed, the relative count of lymphocytes correlated negatively with body size and thus was highest in sneakers and lowest in nest-holders. In concordance, 11-ketotestosterone and testosterone levels were found to be higher in floaters and nest-holders than in sneakers. However, no correlation was found between individual levels of testosterone or 11-ketotestosterone and lymphocytes. Thus, a trade-off between reproductive traits associated with high androgen levels and immunocompetence might exist at the level of alternative tactics but this might not be explained by acute immunosuppressive effects of circulating androgens.

Galhardo L, Oliveira RF. Psychological Stress and Welfare in Fish. Annu Rev Biomed Sci 2009;11:1-20. The ability to respond to stress is vital to the survival of any living organism, though sustained reactions can become detrimental to the health and welfare of animals. Stress responses of vertebrates are known through several studies in their physiological, behavioural and psychological components, under acute and chronic contexts. In fish, the physiological and behavioural aspects of stress are considerably well known phenomena and show striking similarities to those of other vertebrates. However, the psychological component is not well known. Some authors deny mental experiences to fish on the basis of their lack of neocortex. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown neuroendocrine, cognitive and emotional processes in fish that are not only equivalent to other vertebrates, but also allow inferring some forms of mental representation. The integration of psychological elements in fish stress physiology is insufficiently studied, but, as discussed in this article, there is already indirect evidence to admit that some form of stimuli appraisal can take place in fish. This fact has profound implications on the regulation of the stress response, as well as on fish welfare and its management.

Fiddler crabs have compound eyes that are structurally fairly well understood. However, there has been much debate regarding their spectral sensitivity and capacity to enable colour discrimination. We examined the visual pigments of two North-American species (Uca pugnax and U. pugilator), one species from the Indo-West Pacific (U. vomeris) and the only Eastern-Atlantic species (U. tangeri) of fiddler crabs using in situ microspectrophotometry of frozen sections of dark-adapted eyes. Only one spectral class of visual receptor was found in the larger (R1–7) retinular cells of each species, with maximum absorption peaking between 508·nm and 530·nm (depending upon species). The R8 retinular cell, that might contain a shortwavelength sensitive photopigment and provide a basis for colour vision, was too small to analyze by these methods. Rhabdoms were lined with screening pigment which strongly influenced each species’ spectral sensitivity, sharpening the peak and shifting the maximum towards longer wavelengths, on occasion to as far as the 600·nm region. We hypothesize that sensitivity to longer wavelengths enhances contrast between background (blue sky or tall vegetation) and the male major claw during the waving display.

A ecologia alimentar de Nereis diversicolor (O.F. Müller, 1776) (Annelida: Polychaeta) foi estudada num período de 14 meses em três sistemas estuarino-lagunares da costa Sudoeste de Portugal (Odeceixe, Aljezur e Carrapateira). A análise do conteúdo digestivo revelou uma variação da dieta de acordo com os locais estudados, época do ano e com o tamanho dos indivíduos. Não houve diferenças nos conteúdos de machos e fêmeas. Foram encontrados em todas as estações amostradas um total de trinta itens, mas apenas cinco revelaram uma ocorrência superior à 1%. Estes foram: muco (56.3%), areia (17.6%), detritos vegetais (10.7%), Nereididae (7.7%) e Corophium sp. (1.8%). N. diversicolor evidenciou hábitos filtradores, em todas as estações amostradas embora na Carrapateira tenham sido detectadas percentagens de carnivoría ligeiramente superiores às encontradas em Odeceixe e Aljezur. O principal conteúdo do tracto digestivo foi o muco (complexo alimentar que aglutina matéria orgânica, bactérias, fungos e fitoplâncton). ------ ABSTRACT ------ The feeding ecology of Nereis diversicolor (O. F. Müller, 1776) (Annelida: Polychaeta) was studied over 14 months at three estuarine-lagoon systems of the Southwest coast of Portugal (Odeceixe, Aljezur and Carrapateira). The analyses of digestive tract revealed that diet change according to site, period of the year and individual sizes. There are no differences in the digestive contents between sexes. In all sampling stations a total of thirty items were found, but only five shown an occurrence superior to 1%. These were: mucus (56.3%), sand (17.6%), vegetable detritus (10.7%), Nereididae (7.7%) and Corophium sp. (1.8%). N. diversicolor was detected in all sampling stations with a filter-feeding behaviour, although in Carrapateira there is evidence of slightly higher carnivore behaviour than in Odeceixe and Aljezur. Mucus (a food complex including organic matter, bacteria, fungi and phytoplankton) was the main gut content.

Os peixes constituem um valioso recurso para os humanos. O seu bem-estar tem sido alvo de consideração crescente, fazendo parte da legislação Europeia de protecção, apesar das lacunas de informação existentes. O conceito de bem-estar animal tem vindo a ser aplicado a peixes, com alguma controvérsia ligada à sua capacidade de sofrimento. A formação de representações mentais declarativas é um pre-requisito para a existência de senciência e tem vindo a ser descrita em peixes em contextos de interacção social, memória espacial e aprendizagem. Tal como na fisiologia do stress, estudos recentes acerca da percepção de dor e medo em peixes têm mostrado que eles possuem características neuroanatómicas, fisiológicas e comportamentais semelhantes à dos tetrápodes. O efeito psicológico do stress em peixes tem também sido alvo de estudos recentes. A complexidade cognitiva dos peixes tem implicações relevantes para o seu estatuto moral e recomendações relacionadas com a manutenção em cativeiro.

Aggressive conflicts between males are often resolved by means of multiple ritualized agonistic displays without damaging escalation. Apparently, in such cases by using those displays opponents exchange important motivational and physical information on which they base a decision to stay or leave the interaction. In the Siamese fighting fish, the time spent spreading the dorsal fin and erecting the gill coverts predicts who will be the winner or loser of the interaction. Two experiments were carried out to study whether display performance might be costly. First, oxygen consumption was measured during mirror-image stimulation. This experiment showed that oxygen consumption was positively correlated with gill cover erection and dorsal fin spread. In the second experiment, a fight between two opponents was simulated and the oxygen consumption of the expected winner and loser was compared. Metabolic rates were not different between winners and losers before and during the fight, but winners showed higher oxygen consumption in the night after the fight. These results are in accordance with costs of display performance and with longlasting physiological consequences of winning or losing a fight.

In a sex-role reversed population of the peacock blenny, Salaria pavo, two alternative male types are present: (a) older and larger nest-holder males that defend nests in which females come to spawn, and (b) younger and smaller sneaker males that mimic female-courtship behaviour and nuptial colouration in order to try to sneak fertilizations during spawning episodes. In this study the effects of exogenous administration of arginine vasotocin (AVT, 3 μg/g body weight) on the behaviour of nest-holder males, sneakers and females was tested. AVT induced the expression of female courtship behaviour in sneakers and female nuptial colouration in sneakers and in females, but failed to promote the expression of male courtship behaviour in both male types.

In the peacock blenny Salaria pavo small sneaker males tried to steal ‘fertilizations’ at most in two different nests of large nesting males throughout the breeding season and spent most of their time associated with a particular nest. Sneakers did not associate with ripe females. As nesting males were the limiting reproductive resource in this population due to the scarcity of appropriate nest sites, sneakers were likely to maximize their chances of achieving parasitic fertilization of eggs by associating with successful nests.

This study reveals the correlation between operational sex ratio (OSR), body characteristics and pairing in one-year-old reproductively active St. Peter’s fish, Sarotherodon galilaeus, a mouth brooding tilapia that shows a wide variety in mating strategies including uni- vs biparental brood care, and monogamy vs polygamy. In this study individually marked fish were exposed to different OSR regimes: male-biased, balanced, and female-biased. Larger individuals formed a pair more rapidly than smaller ones. A bias in the OSR caused a longer delay in pairing for individuals of the more abundant sex. The same patterns were found in males and females, supporting the theory that assortative mating patterns emerge due to both male and female choice. Furthermore,we found that pairs that spawned during the experiment were more closely matched in body size than pairs that were not successful in spawning, suggesting that size assortative mating has benefits for reproductive success in S. galilaeus.

Excavation counts (absolute density), burrow counts and surface active individuals visual counts in a Uca tangeri population were compared. Population density estimated from burrow counts was not signi¢cantly di¡erent from population density estimated by excavation, but the population density estimated with visual counts was signi¢cantly lower than the absolute density. Ovigerous females should be the main cause of these di¡erences because they frequently remain underground, but other groups of crabs are also contributing to this di¡erence. Burrow counting is an accurate and quick non-invasive method for the census of U. tangeri.Other populationmeasures (e.g. sex ratio) are not obtainable by burrowcounting and only further understanding of the activity patterns of this species along the tide cycle, moon phase and reproductive season will allow visual counting of surface active individuals to be used as quick, efficient and non-invasive method for crab density and population structure estimation.

In an investigation of the relationship between reproductive success and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in the peacock blenny Salaria pavo, FA was measured in four bilaterally paired characters in successful and unsuccessful males during the breeding season. Reproductive success among successful males was assessed by calculating the number of eggs the males were defending. Absolute FA values relative to trait size were high for all characters and it is suggested that this could be a consequence of sub-optimal environmental conditions. Two of the traits presented higher absolute FA values suggesting a lower canalization during ontogeny. No difference in FA between successful and unsuccessful males was found and no relationship between FA and number of eggs among the successful males occurred for any of the measured traits. A composite index of FA, that should better reflect overall developmental competence, was also unrelated to reproductive success. These results indicate that FA is not associated with reproductive success among males of S. pavo. Successful males were larger than unsuccessful males and a strong positive correlation was detected between the body length of the parental males and the number of eggs they had in the nest, even when controlling for the internal nest area. Body size may give males a reproductive advantage by being preferred by females and by having an advantage in male-male competition for nests of higher quality.

This study investigated the features of mudballs produced by male and female Uca annulipes. Both sexes formed mudballs from mud excavated from within the burrow during the final hour of the low tide period. Males placed the centre of the mudball aggregation and the furthest mudball significantly further from the burrow than females. These observations suggest that the placement of male mudballs was not simply a by-product of burrow excavation.

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Nest-holder male Salaria pavo have lower circulating concentrations of 11-ketotestosterone (KT) at the beginning of the breeding season than at its peak. At that peak density of nesting males was higher as were the number of visits of sneaker males to nests and of agonistic interactions between nest-holders and sneaker males. There was no difference between the two dates either in the frequency of male–male interactions or in the frequency of courtship episodes. Thus, higher plasma levels in nest-holders might be explained by a more intense sneaking pressure at the peak of the breeding season. At that peak, nest-holders had higher plasma levels of KT and a higher testosterone (T) to KT metabolization index in the gonads than did floater males. Both nest-holders and floaters had higher levels of KT and T in the testicular gland than in the testis. The levels of both androgens in the testicular gland, but not in the testis, were correlated with circulating concentrations of KT. These results suggest that the testicular gland is the major source of circulating KT in blenniids. Nest-holders had higher metabolization indexes than floaters both in the testis and in the testicular gland, which suggests that nest holding status promotes the conversion of T into KT.

This paper presents an analysis of the distributional patterns of blenniids (Pisces: Blenniidae) in the north-eastern Atlantic. Two peaks of species diversity were found, both in terms of number of species and number of endemics: one in the tropical African coast and another in the Mediterranean Sea. A cluster analysis of similarity values (Jaccard coefficient) among the eastern Atlantic zoogeographical areas, revealed the following groups: a north temperate group, a tropical group formed by the tropical African coast and Mauritania, another group formed by the islands of Cape Verde, a south temperate group (South Africa), and a southern Atlantic group formed by the islands of Ascension and St Helena. Within the north temperate group, the subgroups with higher similarities were: Azores and Madeira, Canary Islands and Morocco, and the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Based on affinity indices, the probable directions of faunal flows were inferred. The tropical coast of Africa and the Mediterranean emerged from this analysis as probable speciation centres of the north-eastern Atlantic blenniid fauna. The Mediterranean may have also acted as a refuge during glacial periods.

female visits, were courted more often by females and received more spawnings. Larger males also received a higher number of male intrusions, attacked more conspecifics and defended larger territories. Larger males showed more nest cleaning behaviour and a marginally non-significant trend for higher egg fanning rate. Male courtship, male attack rate against conspecifics and parental behaviour were all correlated with the frequency of female spawnings received by each male even when controlling for male size, suggesting that these behaviour patterns influence male mating success. On the other hand, a positive partial correlation was found between female courtship and the frequency of female spawnings, controlling for the number of female visits, which suggests a role for female mate choice on male mating success. Finally, males nesting in chambers in the bottom of pools received more spawnings than males nesting either in crevices or under boulders. However, nest opening area was associated significantly negatively with male mating success, when controlling for male size. Thus, the present data suggest strongly that male characteristics overrule nest characteristics in determining male mating success in the Azorean rock-pool blenny.

Male Uca tangeri place mudballs in the area surrounding their burrows each low tide to delineate territory boundaries. We investigated the sequence of mudball placement by noting the distance at which each mudball was placed and its location in one of eight sectors around the burrow. Ten of the 13 focal males placed their mudballs in a pattern that was significantly different from random. No relationship was found between mudball distance from burrow and order of placement in the mudball sequence. However, most males placed each mudball in the same or a nearby sector to that of the previous mudball.

The Mozambique tilapia, Oreachrzlrnis rnossambicus, is used as a case study to illustrate different aspects of the relationship between androgens and social behavior in cichlid fish. First the mating system of 0. mossambicus and its variations is described, namely the occurrence of alternative male mating tactics and male-male courtship, and the influence of social status on mating decisions and mating success. A discussion of a two-way causal relationship between androgens and social behavior follows, including the implications of social modulation of androgens for the expression of androgen-dependent male displaying characters (i.e. differential expression of secondary sex characters and male social behavior according to social status). The mechanisms regulating the action of androgens upon male behavior are also discussed with original data on the activity of brain aromatase. It is shown that male 0 . mossambicus have higher levels of brain aromatase activity than females, but aromatase activity is related neither to the gonadosomatic index nor to social status. In contrast, an androgen environment with predominance of the non-aromatizable androgen 1 1 -ketotestosterone over the aromatizable testosterone is indicative of high social status and territorial possession. This suggests that 1 1 -ketotestosterone may be playing a major role in the expression of male characters, both behavioral and morphological. The role of testosterone in female aggression is also discussed. An association between female aggression and plasma testosterone was found during the mouthbrooding cycle. Finally, the relevance of cichlids for comparative studies of vertebrate behavioral endocrinology is highlighted.