Instability in spatial evolutionary games

We investigate the aspects that influence the instability of spatial evolutionary games, namely the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Snowdrift games. In this paper instability is defined as the proportion of strategy changes in the asymptotic period of the evolutionary process. The results show that with the Prisoner's Dilemma, when the level of noise present in the decision process is very low, the instability decreases as the synchrony rate decreases. With the Snowdrift this pattern of behavior depends strongly on the interaction topology and arises only for random and scale-free networks. However, for large noise values, the instability in both games depends only on the proportion of cooperators present in the population: it increases as the proportion of cooperators approaches 0.5. We advance an explanation for this behavior

Mammals in Portugal: A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Open Research: The complete data set is available as Supporting Information and are also available in Figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14938437Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ca. 26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated to habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of Azores and Madeira that includes 107,852 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (42%), sign surveys (38%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radio-tracking and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: 1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, 2) capture, 3) colony, 4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, 5) genetic confirmation, 6) inquiries, 7) observation of live animal, 8), observation in shelters, 9) photo trapping | video, 10), predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, 11) scat | track | ditch, 12) telemetry and 13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n = 34,754) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,858), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,679), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 6,400). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus (n = 12,407), Monachus monachus (n = 1512), and Lynx pardinus (n = 197)]. We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets which would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publicationsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

mHealth Applications to Monitor Lifestyle Behaviors and Circadian Rhythm in Clinical Settings: Current Perspective and Future Directions

Metabolic diseases are a global rising health burden, mainly due to the deleterious interaction of current lifestyles with the underlying biology of these diseases. Daily habits and behaviors, such as diet, sleep, and physical exercise impact the whole-body circadian system through the synchronization of the peripheral body clocks that contribute to metabolic homeostasis. The disruption of this system may promote the development of metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes, emphasizing the importance of assessing and monitoring variables that affect circadian rhythms. Advances in technology are generating innovative resources and tools for health care management and patient monitoring, particularly important for chronic conditions. The use of mobile health technologies, known as mHealth, is increasing and these approaches are contributing to aiding both patients and healthcare professionals in disease management and education. The mHealth solutions allow continuous monitoring of patients, sharing relevant information and data with physicians and other healthcare professionals and accessing education resources to support informed decisions. Thus, if properly used, these tools empower patients and help them to adopt healthier lifestyles. This article aims to give an overview of the influence of circadian rhythms disruption and lifestyle habits in the progression of metabolic diseases while also reviewing some of the mobile applications available to monitor lifestyle behaviors and individual chronobiology. Herein is also described the design and development of the NutriClock system, an mHealth solution developed by our team to monitor these variables

Personality heterogeneity in female adolescent inpatients with features of eating disorders

Objective: This study examined evidence for personality variability in adolescents with eating disorder features in light of previous evidence that personality variability in adult women with eating disorder symptoms carries important clinical implications. Method: Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory personality data from adolescent girls with disturbed eating who were psychiatrically hospitalized were cluster analyzed, and resulting groups were compared in eating and comorbid psychopathology. Results: Three subgroups were identified among the 153 patients with eating disorder features: high functioning, internalizing, and externalizing. The internalizing group was marked by eating-related and mood dysfunction; the externalizing group by elevated eating and mood psychopathology as well as impulsivity, aggression, and substance use; and the high-functioning group by lower levels of psychopathology and relatively high self-esteem. Conclusions: These findings converge with previous research using different personality models in adult samples and highlight the clinical use of considering personality heterogeneity among adolescent and adult women with disturbed eating

A pedagogical example: a family of stochastic cellular automata that plays Alesia

International audienceAlesia is a two-player zero-sum game which is quite similar to the rock-paper-scissors game: the two players simultaneously move and do not know what the opponent plays at given round. The simultaneity of the moves implies that there is no deterministic good strategy in this game, otherwise one would anticipate the moves of the opponent and easily win the game. We explore how to build a family of one-dimensional stochastic cellular automata to play this game. The rules are built in an iterative way by progressively increasing the complexity of the transitions. We show the possibility to construct a family of rules with interesting results, including a good performance when confronted to the Nash-equilibrium strategy

Laser induced synthesis of nickel alloy (alumel) nanoparticles in liquids

Pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) has been growing as a powerful technique for the synthesis of multielement nanoparticles (NPs) such as metal alloys with complex composition. In consequence, there is a great necessity in expanding the current knowledge about alloy NPs formation during this method, aiming to control the chemical composition of produced NPs. In this work, a nanosecond Nd:YAG laser was used to synthesize NPs of a novel nickel (Ni) alloy, and a brief description regarding the influence of liquid media in size and stability of produced nanoparticles is presented. The results showed great stability in the colloids produced in isopropanol medium without using a surfactant, whereas this environment allowed the production of smaller nanoparticles.This work has been supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – Portugal) in the scope of the projects UID/EEA/04436/2013 and NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000018-HAMaBICo. It is also co-funded by National Funds through FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Reference UID/CTM/50025/2013 and FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme under the project number POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007688. Thank the CNPq (205791/2014-0) and CAPES for financial support

Promoção de uma oferta equitativa no setor dos cuidados continuados integrados: desenvolvimento de uma abordagem multi-período e multiobjetivo para apoio ao planeamento da oferta de cuidados

Este estudo propõe um modelo de programação matemática multi‑objetivo e multi‑período para apoiar as decisões de planeamento no setor dos cuida‑ dos continuados integrados (CCI). O modelo proposto permite apoiar o pla‑ neamento da oferta de CCI em regime de internamento, tanto em termos de seleção das melhores localizações para esses serviços, como também da capa‑ cidade a instalar, e isto com o propósito de construir uma rede de cuidados mais equitativa. Serão, assim, considerados três objetivos de equidade – equi‑ dade de acesso, equidade geográfica e equidade socioeconómica. Serão tam‑ bém contabilizados os custos, mas na forma de restrições do modelo. A funçãoobjetivo do modelo incorpora estes múltiplos objetivos de equidade através da atribuição de pesos que são obtidos com recurso à metodologia Measuring Attractiveness by a Category‑Based Evaluation TecHnique (MACBETH). A uti‑ lidade do modelo é ilustrada através da sua aplicação a um caso de estudo na região da Grande Lisboa em Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL: A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ca. 26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated to habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished geo-referenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of Azores and Madeira that includes 107,852 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (42%), sign surveys (38%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radio-tracking and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: 1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, 2) capture, 3) colony, 4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, 5) genetic confirmation, 6) inquiries, 7) observation of live animal, 8), observation in shelters, 9) photo trapping | video, 10), predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, 11) scat | track | ditch, 12) telemetry and 13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n = 34,754) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,858), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,679), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 6400). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus (n = 12,407), Monachus monachus (n = 1512), and Lynx pardinus (n = 197)]. We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets which would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications

ERAS® protocol improves survival after radical cystectomy: A single-center cohort study.

To evaluate Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS®) protocol on oncological outcomes for patients treated with radical cystectomy (RC) for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB). A prospectively maintained single-institutional database comprising 160 consecutive UCB patients who underwent open RC from 2012 to 2020 was analyzed. Patients receiving chemotherapy and those with a urinary diversion other than ileal conduit were excluded. Patients were divided into two groups according to the perioperative management (ERAS® and pre-ERAS®). The study aimed to evaluate the impact of the ERAS® protocol on survival at five years after surgery using a Kaplan-Meier log-rank test. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify prognostic factors for cancer-specific (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Of the 107 patients considered for the final analysis, 74 (69%) were included in the ERAS® group. Median follow-up for patients alive at last follow-up was 28 months (interquartile range [IQR] 12-48). Five-years CSS rate was 74% for ERAS® patients, compared to 48% for the control population (P = 0.02), while 5-years OS was 31% higher in the ERAS® (67% vs. 36%, P = .003). In the multivariable analysis, ERAS® protocol and tumor stage were independent factors of CSS, while ERAS®, tumor stage so as total blood loss were independent factors for OS. A dedicated ERAS® protocol for UCB patients treated with RC has a significant impact on survival. Reduction of stress after a major surgery and its potential improvement of perioperative patient's immunity may explain these data

Depressive symptomatology, temperament and oxytocin serum levels in a sample of healthy female university students

Abstract Background Depressive symptomatology is prevalent among female university students with adverse effects on their quality of life and academic performance. Previous research suggested associations between depressive symptomatology and oxytocin levels and between depressive symptomatology and Temperament Traits. Despite this evidence, to the best of our knowledge no research has studied the effects fboth oxytocin serum levels and temperament dimensions on depressivesymptoms in a healthy sample. The present study aimed to analyse the effect of oxytocin levels and temperament traits on depressive symptomatology in healthy female university students. Methods All participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Blood samples were collected between 8 and 8H30 a.m. after 12 h of fasting and between 5 and 8 day of the menstrual cycle and serum oxytocin levels were quantified using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A hierarchical multiple regression model using a stepwise method was conducted to identify predictors of depression. Results Forty-five women aged between 18 and 25 years old (19.37 ± 1.32 years) volunteered to participate in this study. Depressive symptomatology was negatively associated with oxytocin serum levels and "Negative affect" and positively associated with "Effortful control" and "Activation Control". In the final regression model, only oxytocin level was a predictor (B = − 0.090, p < 0.0001), the model explaining 65.2% of the depression variation. Oxytocin played a mediation role between "Negative affects" and Depressive symptomatology. Conclusions Our results showed that oxytocin level, rather than personality dimensions, was associated with depressive symptomatology. These results highlight the relevance of the discussion on the use of oxytocin as a biological marker of emotional and social symptoms that characterize depression.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio