Diegus nom. nov., a replacement name for the recent described genus Didacus Delicado, Machordom and Ramos 2015 (Caenogastropoda, Hydrobiidae) and subsequent new combination Diegus gasulli (Boeters, 1981) comb. nov.

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The community of science and technology sociologists in Portugal

A Secção Temática Conhecimento, Ciência e Tecnologia da Associação Portuguesa de Sociologia foi constituída em 2010. 8 anos volvidos, com 4 congressos e 3 conferências realizadas, que balanço fazer da ST CCT? Esta comunicação tem por objetivo fazer um mapeamento de pessoas, instituições e temas de investigação. Pretende-se conhecer como a comunidade de sociólogos da ciência tem evoluído e que colaborações tece entre si, que zonas de fronteiras com outros ramos da sociologia e outras disciplinas científicas se estabelecem, que questões de investigação emergem ou desaparecem, que papel desempenha a Secção na formação de jovens investigadores e na integração de sociólogos fora da academia. Este balanço afigura-se-nos como um contributo para a reflexão sobre novas estratégias e caminhos a serem trilhados. Mas também poderá servir para conhecer melhor a sociologia da ciência portuguesa e contextualizá-la no panorama dos estudos de ciência em Portugal, bem como no âmbito europeu e internacional mais lato.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Glycaemia Fluctuations Improvement in Old-Age Prediabetic Subjects Consuming a Quinoa-Based Diet: A Pilot Study

This study aimed to observe if quinoa could produce a benefit on postprandial glycemia that would result in less progression to type 2 diabetes (T2D). A cross-over design pilot clinical study with a nutritional intervention for 8 weeks was performed: 4 weeks on a regular diet (RD) and 4 weeks on a quinoa diet (QD). Nine subjects aged ?65 years with prediabetes were monitored during the first 4 weeks of RD with daily dietary records and FreeStyle Libre®. Subsequently, participants started the QD, where quinoa and 100% quinoa-based products replaced foods rich in complex carbohydrates that they had consumed in the first 4 weeks of RD. The glycemic measurements recorded by the sensors were considered as functions of time, and the effects of nutrients consumed at the intended time period were analyzed by means of a function-on-scalar regression (fosr) model. With QD participants, decreased body weight (-1.6 kg, p = 0.008), BMI (-0.6 kg/m2p = 0.004) and waist circumference (-1.5 cm, p = 0.015) were observed. Nutrients intake changed during QD, namely, decreased carbohydrates (p = 0.004) and increased lipids (p = 0.004) and some amino acids (p < 0.05). The fosr model showed a reduction in postprandial glycemia in QD despite intrapersonal differences thanks to the joint action of different nutrients and the suppression of others consumed on a regular diet. We conclude that in an old age and high T2D-risk population, a diet rich in quinoa reduces postprandial glycemia and could be a promising T2D-preventive strategy

Participação associativa dos investigadores científicos em Portugal

A participação associativa dos portugueses é geralmente considerada baixa, apesar da profusão de associações. Este artigo dá conta das práticas e motivações associativas de um grupo particular, os investigadores científicos. Com base num inquérito por questionário sobre a sua participação em associações científicas nacionais e internacionais, explora-se questões como a pertença ou não pertença, os perfis motivacionais para a adesão e as formas de envolvimento na vida destas organizações, procurando aferir a sua relação com as variáveis sociodemográficas relevadas

Children and the Internet: generational order revisited

The article contributes to the theoretical debate around childhood as a generation, in view of the social changes brought about by the use of information and communication technologies by children and adults. It is based on a questionnaire survey to students in elementary education and on in-depth interviews with children and parents. The findings challenge both the notion of children as the dominated side in power/knowledge relations between generations and the technological determinism that sees them as digital natives, by highlighting the key role of family background, namely social divides.O artigo pretende contribuir para o debate teórico sobre a infância como geração, à luz das transformações sociais associadas ao uso das novas tecnologias por crianças e adultos. Tem por base empírica um inquérito por questionário a alunos do ensino básico e um conjunto de entrevistas em profundidade a crian- ças e pais. Os resultados põem em questão tanto a conceção das crianças como o elemento dominado nas relações de poder e saber entre gerações, como o determinismo tecnológico que as elege como “nativos digitais”, realçando a importância do contexto familiar, nomeadamente as clivagens sociais

Representing complex data using localized principal components with application to astronomical data

Often the relation between the variables constituting a multivariate data space might be characterized by one or more of the terms: ``nonlinear'', ``branched'', ``disconnected'', ``bended'', ``curved'', ``heterogeneous'', or, more general, ``complex''. In these cases, simple principal component analysis (PCA) as a tool for dimension reduction can fail badly. Of the many alternative approaches proposed so far, local approximations of PCA are among the most promising. This paper will give a short review of localized versions of PCA, focusing on local principal curves and local partitioning algorithms. Furthermore we discuss projections other than the local principal components. When performing local dimension reduction for regression or classification problems it is important to focus not only on the manifold structure of the covariates, but also on the response variable(s). Local principal components only achieve the former, whereas localized regression approaches concentrate on the latter. Local projection directions derived from the partial least squares (PLS) algorithm offer an interesting trade-off between these two objectives. We apply these methods to several real data sets. In particular, we consider simulated astrophysical data from the future Galactic survey mission Gaia.Comment: 25 pages. In "Principal Manifolds for Data Visualization and Dimension Reduction", A. Gorban, B. Kegl, D. Wunsch, and A. Zinovyev (eds), Lecture Notes in Computational Science and Engineering, Springer, 2007, pp. 180--204, http://www.springer.com/dal/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=1-40109-22-173750210-

Gauging the current status of natural history collections in Malaysia

This study was carried out to gauge the current status of natural history collection centres in Malaysia, primarily focused on animal collections. Part of the research is reported here and it constituted objective one which is to compare the status of natural history collection between the various centres in Malaysia and also with three selected Southeast Asian tropical region museums in trying to understand need of the Malaysian public for a natural history museum. It maps out the locations, describes the number and kinds of specimens kept at each collection centre. Financial and governance aspects are also described. In total 11 centres were visited all over Malaysia. These collection centres and museums were managed by federal or state government or universities. Duration of visit at each location ranged from one to seven days. During the visit interviews were carried out with collection manager to obtained Questionnaire was also left behind for managers of centre to fill in and sent back to researchers. In addition, three natural history collection centres and museums in South East Asia tropical region were also visited: Bogor Zoological Museum, Indonesia; Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore and Mahachakri Sirindhorn Natural History Museum, Prince of Songkhla University, Thailand. Following the same protocol as with Malaysian centres, the information obtained enable researcher to make comparison between Malaysia and those in the region. This paper found that most of the natural history museums and collection centres were focused in the centre of peninsular Malaysia. However, natural history collections in Malaysia are still limited by state and national borders. Coordination and integration of these centres, currently runned separately by the federal, state governments, research institutions and institution of higher learning, is seen as the way forward to provide for a strong basis of understanding biodiversity among the Malaysian public

Interface design considerations for an in-vehicle eco-driving assistance system

This high-fidelity driving simulator study used a paired comparison design to investigate the effectiveness of 12 potential eco-driving interfaces. Previous work has demonstrated fuel economy improvements through the provision of in-vehicle eco-driving guidance using a visual or haptic interface. This study uses an eco-driving assistance system that advises the driver of the most fuel efficient accelerator pedal angle, in real time. Assistance was provided to drivers through a visual dashboard display, a multimodal visual dashboard and auditory tone combination, or a haptic accelerator pedal. The style of advice delivery was varied within each modality. The effectiveness of the eco-driving guidance was assessed via subjective feedback, and objectively through the pedal angle error between system-requested and participant-selected accelerator pedal angle. Comparisons amongst the six haptic systems suggest that drivers are guided best by a force feedback system, where a driver experiences a step change in force applied against their foot when they accelerate inefficiently. Subjective impressions also identified this system as more effective than a stiffness feedback system involving a more gradual change in pedal feedback. For interfaces with a visual component, drivers produced smaller pedal errors with an in-vehicle visual display containing second order information on the required rate of change of pedal angle, in addition to current fuel economy information. This was supported by subjective feedback. The presence of complementary audio alerts improved eco-driving performance and reduced visual distraction from the roadway. The results of this study can inform the further development of an in-vehicle assistance system that supports ‘green’ driving