Aplicação dos resultados de um estudo Delfos ao de­senvolvimento e revisão de currículos em Biblioteconomia e Ciên­cia da Informação

O método Delfos tem sido amplamente utilizado, nos países industrializados, para detectar tendências nas necessidades do mercado de trabalho e para orientar novas estruturas curriculares em Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação. Comparativamente, só alguns exemplos de aplicações desse tipo encontram-se na literatura dos países em desenvolvimento

Unconventional Charge-to-Spin Conversion in Graphene/MoTe2 van der Waals Heterostructures

Spin-charge interconversion (SCI) is a central phenomenon to the development of spintronic devices from materials with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC). In the case of materials with high crystal symmetry, the only allowed SCI processes are those where the spin-current, charge-current, and spin-polarization directions are orthogonal to each other. Consequently, standard SCI experiments are designed to maximize the signals arising from the SCI processes with conventional mutually orthogonal geometry. However, in low-symmetry materials, certain nonorthogonal SCI processes are also allowed. Since the standard SCI experiment is limited to charge current flowing only in one direction in the SOC material, certain allowed SCI configurations remain unexplored. Here, we perform a thorough SCI study in a graphene-based lateral spin valve combined with low-symmetry MoTe2. Due to a very low contact resistance between the two materials, we can detect SCI signals using both a standard configuration, where the charge current is applied along MoTe2, and a recently introduced [three-dimensional- (3D) current] configuration, where the charge-current flow can be controlled in three directions within the heterostructure. As a result, we observe three different SCI components, one orthogonal and two nonorthogonal, adding valuable insight into the SCI processes in low-symmetry materials. The large SCI signals obtained at room temperature, along with the versatility of the 3D-current configuration, provide feasibility and flexibility to the design of the next generation of spin-based devices.This work is supported by the Spanish MICINN under Projects No. RTI2018-094861-B-I00, No. PGC2018-101988-B-C21, No. PID2019-109905GB-C21, No. MAT2017-88377-C2-2-R, and the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme (Grants No. MDM-2016-0618 and No. CEX2020-001038-M); the “Valleytronics” Intel Science Technology Center; the Gipuzkoa Regional Council under Projects No. 2021-CIEN-000037-01 and No. 2021-CIEN-000070-01; and the European Union H2020 under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (Grants No. 0766025-QuESTech and No. 794982-2DSTOP). N.O. thanks the Spanish MICINN for support from a Ph.D. fellowship (Grant No. BES-2017-07963). J.I.-A. acknowledges support from the “Juan de la Cierva-Formación” program by the Spanish MICINN (Grant No. FJC2018-038688-I) for a postdoctoral fellowship. R.C. acknowledges funding from Generalitat Valenciana through Grant No. CIDEGENT/2018/004 M.G.V. and I.R. thanks support from the Spanish MICINN (grant PID2019-109905GBC21), the German Research Foundation DFG (grant nr. GA3314/1-1-FOR 5249 QUAST) and the European Research Council ERC (Grant No. 101020833)

A randomized study of nutritional supplementation in patients with unilateral wet age-related macular degeneration

The purpose of this study is evaluate the efficacy and safety of medicinal products con-taining the original Age-Related Eye Disease group (AREDS) formulation at doses approved in Europe (EU, control group; n = 59) with a product that adds DHA, lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol and hydroxytyrosol to the formula (intervention group; n = 50). This was a multicenter, random-ized, observer-blinded trial conducted in patients aged 50 years or older diagnosed with unilateral exudative Age related Macular Degeneration AMD. At month 12, the intervention did not have a significant differential effect on visual acuity compared with the control group, with an estimated treatment difference in Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) of -1.63 (95% CI -0.83 to 4.09; p = 0.192). The intervention exhibited a significant and, in most cases, relevant effect in terms of a reduction in some inflammatory cytokines and a greater improvement in the fatty acid profile and serum lutein and zeaxantin concentration. In patients with unilateral wet AMD, the addition of lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, hydroxytyrosol and DHA to the AREDS EU recommended doses in the short-term did not have a differential effect on visual acuity compared to a standard AREDS EU formula but, in addition to improving the fatty acid profile and increasing carotenoid serum levels, may provide a beneficial effect in improving the proinflammatory and proangiogenic profile of patients with AMD. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Assessing sustainability in North America’s ecosystems using criticality and information theory

Sustainability is a key concept in economic and policy debates. Nevertheless, it is usually treated only in a qualitative way and has eluded quantitative analysis. Here, we propose a sustainability index based on the premise that sustainable systems do not lose or gain Fisher Information over time. We test this approach using time series data from the AmeriFlux network that measures ecosystem respiration, water and energy fluxes in order to elucidate two key sustainability features: ecosystem health and stability. A novel definition of ecosystem health is developed based on the concept of criticality, which implies that if a system’s fluctuations are scale invariant then the system is in a balance between robustness and adaptability. We define ecosystem stability by taking an information theory approach that measures its entropy and Fisher information. Analysis of the Ameriflux consortium big data set of ecosystem respiration time series is contrasted with land condition data. In general we find a good agreement between the sustainability index and land condition data. However, we acknowledge that the results are a preliminary test of the approach and further verification will require a multi-signal analysis. For example, high values of the sustainability index for some croplands are counter-intuitive and we interpret these results as ecosystems maintained in artificial health due to continuous human-induced inflows of matter and energy in the form of soil nutrients and control of competition, pests and disease