Spider diversity (Arachnida: Araneae) in Atlantic Forest areas at Pedra Branca State Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

BACKGROUND: There has never been any published work about the diversity of spiders in the city of Rio de Janeiro using analytical tools to measure diversity. The only available records for spider communities in nearby areas indicate 308 species in the National Park of Tijuca and 159 species in Marapendi Municipal Park. These numbers are based on a rapid survey and on an one-year survey respectively. NEW INFORMATION: This study provides a more thorough understanding of how the spider species are distributed at Pedra Branca State Park. We report a total of 14,626 spider specimens recorded from this park, representing 49 families and 373 species or morphospecies, including at least 73 undescribed species. Also, the distribution range of 45 species was expanded, and species accumulation curves estimate that there is a minimum of 388 (Bootstrap) and a maximum of 468 species (Jackknife2) for the sampled areas. These estimates indicates that the spider diversity may be higher than observed.Fil: Castanheira, Pedro. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Pérez González, Abel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Baptista, Renner L. C.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasi

Estrategias de intervención tutorial en la universidad: una experiencia para la formación integral del alumnado de nuevo ingreso

The requirements that the university education raises in the frame of the EEES make the putting necessary in practice of strategies that allow to achieve a more integral vision of the formation of the student. The university tutoring allows an approximation the budgets that define the process of European Convergence, since across the same one there is reached a more integral vision of the formative process, a major autonomy of the student body and a better preparation along the life. In this article there is defined the model of action who follows in the Faculty of Education of the University of La Laguna (Spain) and there are described the results obtained in a program with students of the first course.Las exigencias que plantea la enseñanza universitaria en el marco del EEES hacen necesario la puesta en práctica de estrategias que permitan lograr una visión más integral de la formación del alumnado. La tutoría universitaria permite un acercamiento a los presupuestos que definen el proceso de Convergencia Europea, puesto que a través de la misma se alcanza una visión más integral del proceso formativo, una mayor autonomía del alumnado y una mejor preparación a lo largo de la vida. En este artículo se define el modelo de actuación que se sigue en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de La Laguna (España) y se describen los resultados obtenidos en un programa con estudiantes de primer curso

El asesoramiento y la tutoría de carrera en la Enseñanza Superior : resultados de un programa de atención al alumnado en la Universidad de la Laguna

El Espacio Común Europeo de Educación Superior ha traído consigo cambios sustanciales en los fines y en la forma de organizar la enseñanza, ya que se intenta ahora que sea el alumnado el verdadero protagonista de su proceso formativo y que esta formación tenga una dimensión profesionalizadora. Con ello la función tutorial del profesorado universitario se ha revalorizado debido a su importante contribución como guía de aprendizaje y estimulador del desarrollo integral del alumnado. En este trabajo se define un modelo de actuación y los resultados de una experiencia con la que se potencia desde la tutoría de carrera la adaptación de los estudiantes a la enseñanza universitaria y el desarrollo de las competencias trasferibles para su futuro profesional.The European Higher Education Area brings with it substantial change in the purposes and organization of education. Those changes flow from the recognition of the student as the centre of the learning process, and the pursuing of a training that educate students not only in the academic field but as professionals. All these have supposed the revaluation of the tutorial functions of university teaching, because of its contribution as a guide of learning and animator of the integral development of students. In this article we define a model of performance, and the results of an experience of career tutoring which promoted the adjustment of the students to university education and the development of competences transferable for her professional future

Residual Forage and Animal Performance from a Kikuyo Pasture under Mixed Grazing and Supplementation

Five grazing strategies were compared: grazing by ewes only and mixed grazing (ewes + heifers), in mixed grazing heifers received no supplement or one of three supplements. Ruminal undegradable protein (RUP) varied among supplement: 4.25, 9.11 and 9.13%, the supplement with the highest RUP included protected methionine. All supplements were 21% crude protein and 3.0 Mcal/kg of metabolizable energy. Grazing was on kikuyu, ratio was 30 kg of ewe per 100 kg of heifer in the mixed grazing treatments. Experimental grazing lasted 84 days. Variables measured were residual forage, proline content in residual forage and liveweight gains per animal and per hectare. Experimental design was a completely random with two replicates. Residual forage was the highest (P\u3c 0.05) in mixed grazing and RUP in supplement was above 4.25%. The highest (P\u3c 0.05) proline content was found in grazing by ewes only, 52% above the proline content found in mixed grazing without supplement, when heifers received supplement proline content decreased (P\u3c 0.05) further. Grazing by ewes only and mixed grazing with heifersreceiving the highest RUP in supplement showed the highest (P\u3c 0.05) daily liveweight gain per ewe of 134 g. Mixed grazing in which heifers received no supplement gave a 100% increase (P\u3c 0.05) in liveweight gain per hectare compared to grazing by ewes only. In mixed grazing offering a supplement with 9.13% RUP and protected methionine gave both the highest liveweight gains per animal and per hectare. It was concluded that mixed grazing allowed a lower stress level on kikuyu due to defoliation and a higher liveweight gain per hectare than grazing by ewes only

Electromagnetic freezing: Effects of weak oscillating magnetic fields on crab sticks

Since the earlier 2000s, electromagnetic freezers have been sold all over the world. According to the manufacturers, the oscillating magnetic fields (OMFs) applied by these devices are capable of avoiding ice damage in frozen foods. To assess the effectiveness of OMFs in preserving food quality, we froze crab sticks in a commercial electromagnetic freezer, both with (<2 mT, 6-59 Hz) and without OMF application. Crab sticks were also frozen in a conventional freezer, both with static- and forced-air conditions, to compare electromagnetic freezing with conventional methods. After 24 h and 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of storage, we did not find any effect of the OMFs on the drip loss, water-holding capacity, toughness, and whiteness of the crab sticks frozen in the electromagnetic device. Moreover, no advantage of electromagnetic freezing over air-blast freezing was detected at the conditions tested. More experiments at larger magnetic field strength and wider frequency ranges are needed to have a complete view of the potential effects of OMFs on food freezing.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the project AGL2012-39756-C02-01. Antonio C. Rodríguez acknowledges the predoctoral contract BES-2013-065942 from MINECO, jointly financed by the European Social Fund, in the framework of the National Program for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability (National Sub-Program for Doctors Training).Peer reviewe

Effects of magnetic fields on freezing: Application to biological products

Magnetic freezing is nowadays established as a commercial reality mainly oriented towards the food market. According to advertisements, magnetic freezing is able to generate tiny ice crystals throughout the frozen product, prevent cell destruction, and preserve the quality of fresh food intact after thawing. If all these advantages were true, magnetic freezing would represent a significant advance in freezing technology, not only for food preservation but also for cryopreservation of biological specimens, such as cells, tissues, and organs. Magnetic fields (MFs) are supposed to act directly on water by orientating, vibrating and/or spinning molecules to prevent them from clustering and, thus, promote supercooling. However, many doubts exist about the real effects of MFs on freezing and the science behind the potential mechanisms involved. To provide a basis for extending the understanding of magnetic freezing, this paper presents a critical review of the materials published in the literature up to now, including both patents and experimental results. After examining the information available, it was not possible to discern whether MFs have an appreciable effect on supercooling, freezing kinetics, ice crystals, quality, and/or viability of the frozen products. Experiments in the literature frequently fail to identify and/or control all the factors that can play a role in magnetic freezing. Moreover, many of the comparisons between magnetic and conventional freezing are not correctly designed to draw valid conclusions and wide ranges of MF intensities and frequencies are unexplored. Therefore, more rigorous experimentation and further evidence are needed to confirm or reject the efficacy of MFs in improving the quality of frozen products.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the project AGL2012-39756-C02-01. A. C. Rodríguez acknowledges a predoctoral contract from MINECO, jointly financed by the European Social Fund, in the framework of the National Program for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability (National Sub-Program for Doctors Training).Peer reviewe

Probabilistic classification models for the in situ authentication of iberian pig carcasses using near infrared spectroscopy

Iberian pig ham is one of several high value European food products that are the subject of significant attempts at fraud because of the high price differences between commercial categories. Iberian pig products are classified by the Spanish regulations into different categories, mainly depending on the feeding regime during the fattening phase and the race involved, being of Premium quality those products obtained from the animals fed with acorns and other natural resources. Most of the previous NIRS studies related to the Iberian pig have involved the use of at-line instruments to predict quantitative quality parameters. This paper explores the use of the NIR spectra (369 for training and 199 for validation) to classify samples according to the categories Premium (animals fed with acorn) and Non Premium (animals fed with compound feeds), using a MicroNIR™ Pro1700 microspectrometer to analyse individual carcasses in situ at the slaughterhouse line. Four discriminant methods were explored: linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), Kernel Bayes and Logistic Regression. These are all discriminant methods that naturally produce classification probabilities to quantify the uncertainty of the results. Rules were tuned and methods compared using both classification error rates and a probability scoring rule. LDA gave the best results, attaining an overall accuracy of 93% and providing well-calibrated classification probabilities

Semantic Reference Model in Medical Time Series

The analysis of time series databases is very important in the area of medicine. Most of the approaches that address this problem are based on numerical algorithms that calculate distances, clusters, index trees, etc. However, a domain-dependent analyis sometimes needs to be conducted to search for the symblic rather than numerical characteristics of the time series. This paper focuses on our work on the discovery of reference models in time series of isokinetics data and a technique that transforms the numerical time series into symblic series. We briefly describe the algorithm used to create reference models for population groups an its application in the real world. Then, we describe a method based on extracting semantic information from a numerical series. This symbolic information helps users to effciently analyze and compare time series in the same or similar way as a domain expert would

Quantum state of the multiverse

A third quantization formalism is applied to a simplified multiverse scenario. A well defined quantum state of the multiverse is obtained which agrees with standard boundary condition proposals. These states are found to be squeezed, and related to accelerating universes: they share similar properties to those obtained previously by Grishchuk and Siderov. We also comment on related works that have criticized the third quantization approach.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure