Switching from face-to-face to electronic-mediated education caused by COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of student perceptions

Mozambique, like several other countries in the region and all over the world, faces the dilemma of the need to guarantee the minimum learning conditions for students during the state of emergency due to COVID-19. It is in this sense, which the present study aimed to analyze the perceptions of students of the Pedagogical University of Maputo (UP-Maputo) in the use of electronic platforms as a resource to support classroom teaching during the State of Emergency. The research had a quanti-qualitative character, where the analysis and control of the different variables was foreseen. It consisted of collecting information on the objectives of operationalizing the teaching and learning process in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, through the application of an electronically administered questionnaire. A sample of 1787 students was obtained, corresponding to 13.61% of the universe of students enrolled in the year 2020. The survey showed that most of the students, around 64% used some electronic platform to support their teaching and on-site learning process, after the declaration of a state of emergency the percentage of users of electronic platforms increased to 100%, highlighting the use of WhatsApp to the detriment of the others (SIGIUP, MOODLE® Institutional, Google Classroom and ZOOM®). The device they use, because 95% of the students access the platforms using their mobile phones, justifies the massive use of WhatsApp. Regarding the use of different electronic platforms, most of the students revealed a platform usage that varies from “Many Times” and “Always”. Students refer to the need for training in the use of the different platforms made available to them to support their teaching and learning process. The research made it possible to conclude that students are aware of the need to appropriate the new form of teaching they are subject to, despite having significant financial difficulties in the acquisition of internet packages and in the use of some of the electronic platforms made available for learning

The taxonomic status of the headshield slug genus Nakamigawaia Kuroda and Habe, 1961 (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea: Aglajidae), with the description of a new species from the Western Pacific

Nakamigawaia is a poorly understood genus of Aglajidae sea slugs with only two species formally ascribed. In this paper we explore new morpho-anatomical characters using stereo and scanning electron microscopy and employ different molecular approaches (a cytochrome c oxidase sub-unit I gene phylogeny, the Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery species delimitation method, and genetic distances) to compare specimens across the geographical span of the genus and from two distinct chromatic morphotypes occurring in the Western Pacific (blackish morph and white-dotted morph). Our results support the conspecificity of these two morphs and show they belong to an undescribed species here named Nakamigawaia nakanoae sp. nov. The species differs from the type species of the genus, N. spiralis, by the presence of a distinct open-dilated shell and differs from its Western Atlantic congener N. felis by subtle differences in the shell, male reproductive system and caudal lobes. Genetically (COI uncorrected p-distance) the two species (N. nakanoae and N. felis) are 18.8–20.1% distinct. The definition of the genus Nakamigawaia is discussed and the current assignment to the latter of lineages other than the type species is questioned.publishedVersio

The temperate Australasian genus Papawera Oskars and Malaquias, 2019 (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea: Haminoeidae), with a redescription of P. zelandiae and P. maugeansis

The genus Papawera includes two species of haminoeid snails found only in temperate waters of New Zealand and southeastern Australia. In this work, we redescribe the Papawera species based on characters of their external morphology, shells, and anatomical features such as radulae, jaws, gizzard plates, and male reproductive systems, using for the first time, scanning electron microscopy. A multi-locus phylogenetic hypothesis and the species delimitation method Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery based on DNA sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene were used to corroborate species status. The type species of the genus, P. zelandiae, is restricted to New Zealand and P. maugeansis is only known from South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania. These species are easily distinguished externally by the shape of the shell, colouration of the living animal, and morphology of the cephalic shield. Anatomically they have differences in the number of marginal teeth, distribution of rods in the gizzard plates, and anatomy of the fundus in the male reproductive system.publishedVersio

Molecular phylogeny of the marine snail genus Haminoea (Gastropoda, Cephalaspidea): A framework to study marine diversity and speciation

Haminoea are herbivorous, coastal snails occurring in temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific oceans, with one species present in temperate South Africa (Indian Ocean). The genus is taxonomically difficult as several available nominal species were introduced based on shell descriptions alone, or described based on subtle differences in morpho-anatomical features, without a phylogenetic molecular framework. Fifteen species are currently accepted as valid in recent scientific literature and field guides (eight Eastern Atlantic, one temperate Indian Ocean, four Western Atlantic and three Eastern Pacific). Here we generate the first complete phylogeny (Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood) of this genus based on multilocus molecular data (COI, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, 28S rRNA) using a taxon set accumulated over a period of 15 years, coupled with species delimitation analyses methods (ABGD, ASAP, bPTP) and morpho-anatomical studies. The goal of this study is to provide insights into the taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships and geographical distributions of species while generating a framework for future systematic reviews of the genus, as well as to study speciation and historical biogeography. Our results rendered four possible hypotheses of species diversity: with 14, 15, 19 and 20 candidate species and point to the fact that several taxa presently regarded as valid might be conspecific (e.g. H. orteai–H. templadoi–H. exigua; and H. alfredensis–H. antillarum–H. orbignyana), while highlighting the existence of a complex of four or five species often identified as H. elegans. Pervasive nomenclatural problems in the genus, including with the type species H. hydatis, are highlighted and discussed.publishedVersio

Diversity and systematics of Haminoeidae gastropods (Heterobranchia: Cephalaspidea) in the tropical West Pacific Ocean: New data on the genera Aliculastrum, Atys, Diniatys and Liloa

Four genera of Haminoeidae gastropods inhabiting the tropical West Pacific (Aliculastrum, Atys, Diniatys, and Liloa) were studied based on the combined analyses of live animals, external morphology, anatomy and shells aided by scanning electron microscopy and molecular sequencing. Eleven species are described including two new to Science, namely Atys pittmani sp. nov. and Atys ukulele sp. nov.. The putative synapomorphies of the genera Aliculastrum, Diniatys, and Liloa are discussed. High levels of morpho-anatomical variability were found among representatives of the genus Atys, which hampered the recognition of synapomorphies.publishedVersio

Implantação de sistemas operativos em módulos de comunicação sem fios

Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e TelecomunicaçõesA crescente adoção de redes de sensores sem fios na indústria tem potenciado esforços contínuos de investigação e desenvolvimento ao nível dos sistemas operativos que as suportam. A uniformização da programação para diferentes plataformas de hardware e a reutilização de pilhas de comunicação permite obter ganhos significativos no processo de desenvolvimento. A Micro I/O possui uma plataforma de hardware designada por μMRF que tem sido usada em várias aplicações de redes de sensores sem fios para validação de conceito e para prototipagem. Com vista a suportar aplicações com requisitos de comunicação mais exigentes e empregar um método de desenvolvimento mais eficiente, optou-se por adaptar o sistema operativo Contiki para a plataforma μMRF. Esta dissertação descreve o trabalho realizado para integrar o suporte do microcontrolador Microchip™ dsPIC33FJ256MC710 no sistema operativo Contiki. A validação deste trabalho foi realizada através de uma aplicação desenvolvida com a versão modificada do sistema operativo Contiki e com o sensor de temperatura existente na placa μMRF. Esta aplicação permite o acesso remoto à temperatura do sensor, através de um browser, usando o protocolo HTTP e a verificação de conectividade usando pacotes ICMP, ambos sobre Ipv6. O desempenho da rede sem fios foi avaliado nas vertentes de perda de pacotes e de round trip delay usando pacotes echo request e echo reply. O trabalho realizado insere-se num projecto para desenvolvimento de sistemas de “smart-parking” no qual as restrições de energia são significativas mas onde a possibilidade de aplicações, suportadas em sistemas operativos, é aliciante.Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the use of wireless sensor networks in industry. This has pushed the research and development in embedded operating systems to support applications in this domain. In fact, the possibility to turn applications independent of the hardware platforms and the possibility to reuse communications stacks leads to significant gains in the applications development process. Micro I / O has developed a hardware platform called μMRF that has been used to build several applications with wireless sensor networks for proof of concept and prototyping. In order to support applications with more demanding communication requirements, and to improve the development process, it was decided to adapt the Contiki operating system to the platform μMRF. This dissertation describes the work done to adapt the Contiki operating system to support the Microchip ™ dsPIC33FJ256MC710 microprocessor. The validation of this work was conducted through an application developed with the modified version of the Contiki operating system using the temperature sensor onboard of the μMRF platform for demonstration purposes. The developed application allowed remote access to the temperature sensor through a browser using the HTTP protocol and the connectivity verification, using ICMP packets, both through IPv6. The performance of the wireless network was evaluated through an analysis of the packet loss and round trip delays using echo request and echo reply. This work is aimed to evaluate the possibility to support smart parking applications in embedded systems connected by wireless communications, with severe restrictions in power consumption but with a significant interest in having an embedded operating system with all the correspondent functionalities

Perception of Teachers in the use of Electronic Platforms to Support Face-to-Face Teaching During the term of The State of Emergency due to Covid-19: Case of the Pedagogical University of Maputo

COVID-19 pandemic forced most of the high education institutions to revert their teaching and learning process from face-to-face teaching system to the process of teaching and learning through the use of electronic platforms. Due to this situation, each high education institution has defined one or a set of electronic platforms to continue to guarantee the effectiveness of teaching classes during this period. It was from the above that this research was developed, which aimed to analyze the perception of teachers at the Pedagogical University of Maputo about accessibility and the use of electronic platforms as a resource to support face-to-face teaching during the term of COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that most of the teachers interact with the students via WhatsApp and Email through their mobile devices and laptops

Molecular and morphological analyses reveal pseudocryptic diversity in Micromelo undatus (Brugui ere, 1792) (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Aplustridae)

The genus Micromelo (family Aplustridae) occurs in almost all tropical and subtropical waters across the globe, with the exception of the Eastern Pacific. Most authors consider Micromelo undatus (Bruguière, 1792) as the only valid species in this genus. This study examines populations of specimens identified as M. undatus across its geographic range, using morphological and genetic data from two mitochondrial genes (16S and CO1) and one nuclear gene (Histone H3). The results reveal that M. undatus is a complex of four species with consistent genetic and anatomical differences. A literature review and evaluation of type material indicates that available names exist for three of the four species. Micromelo guamensis, M. undatus and M. scriptus are resurrected for species found in the Western Pacific, the Atlantic Ocean, and widespread in the Indo-Pacific, respectively. A new name is introduced for another species found in the Western Pacific, namely Micromelo barbarae sp. nov. and a neotype is designated for the type species of the genus M. undatus.publishedVersio

Assessment of mitochondrial genomes for heterobranch gastropod phylogenetics

Background Heterobranchia is a diverse clade of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial gastropod molluscs. It includes such disparate taxa as nudibranchs, sea hares, bubble snails, pulmonate land snails and slugs, and a number of (mostly small-bodied) poorly known snails and slugs collectively referred to as the “lower heterobranchs”. Evolutionary relationships within Heterobranchia have been challenging to resolve and the group has been subject to frequent and significant taxonomic revision. Mitochondrial (mt) genomes can be a useful molecular marker for phylogenetics but, to date, sequences have been available for only a relatively small subset of Heterobranchia. Results To assess the utility of mitochondrial genomes for resolving evolutionary relationships within this clade, eleven new mt genomes were sequenced including representatives of several groups of “lower heterobranchs”. Maximum likelihood analyses of concatenated matrices of the thirteen protein coding genes found weak support for most higher-level relationships even after several taxa with extremely high rates of evolution were excluded. Bayesian inference with the CAT + GTR model resulted in a reconstruction that is much more consistent with the current understanding of heterobranch phylogeny. Notably, this analysis recovered Valvatoidea and Orbitestelloidea in a polytomy with a clade including all other heterobranchs, highlighting these taxa as important to understanding early heterobranch evolution. Also, dramatic gene rearrangements were detected within and between multiple clades. However, a single gene order is conserved across the majority of heterobranch clades. Conclusions Analysis of mitochondrial genomes in a Bayesian framework with the site heterogeneous CAT + GTR model resulted in a topology largely consistent with the current understanding of heterobranch phylogeny. However, mitochondrial genomes appear to be too variable to serve as good phylogenetic markers for robustly resolving a number of deeper splits within this clade.publishedVersio

Levantamento da variação do preço da gasolina durante os anos de 2002 a 2018 em Porto Velho – Rondônia / Survey of gasoline price variation during the years from 2002 to 2018 in Porto Velho – Rondônia

O artigo trata de uma descrição sobre a variação do preço da gasolina no período de 2002 até 2018 em Porto Velho – Rondônia. Seu objetivo principal foi o de comparar a relação da variação do preço dos combustíveis, as taxas de inflação e juros, para o mesmo período com base nos levantamentos de informações disponíveis nos sites da Agência Nacional de Petróleo - ANP, ADVFN e Portal Brasil. Trata-se de uma análise de caráter descritivo e explicativo, a partir dos dados: taxa de inflação e taxa de juros do período supracitado. Esses dados serviram de base para compreender o comportamento do preço da gasolina em relação à inflação e também aos juros. Todos dados amostrais foram analisados utilizando o programa de analise econométrica Gretl, usando o Método dos Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários – MQO