The inventory of geological heritage of the state of São Paulo, Brazil: Methodological basis, results and perspectives

An inventory of geological sites based on solid and clear criteria is a first step for any geoconservation strategy. This paper describes the method used in the geoheritage inventory of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, and presents its main results. This inventory developed by the geoscientific community aimed to identify geosites with scientific value in the whole state, using a systematic approach. All 142 geosites representative of 11 geological frameworks were characterised and quantitatively evaluated according to their scientific value and risk of degradation, in order to establish priorities for their future management. An online database of the inventory is under construction, which will be available to be easily consulted and updated by the geoscientific community. All data were made available to the State Geological Institute as the backbone for the implementation of a future state geoconservation strategy.The authors acknowledge the Science Without Borders Programme, Process 075/2012, which supported this study and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Process 2011/17261-6. We also thanks C. Mazoca for his help with maps and figures.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Can the vector space model be used to identify biological entity activities?

Abstract Background Biological systems are commonly described as networks of entity interactions. Some interactions are already known and integrate the current knowledge in life sciences. Others remain unknown for long periods of time and are frequently discovered by chance. In this work we present a model to predict these unknown interactions from a textual collection using the vector space model (VSM), a well known and established information retrieval model. We have extended the VSM ability to retrieve information using a transitive closure approach. Our objective is to use the VSM to identify the known interactions from the literature and construct a network. Based on interactions established in the network our model applies the transitive closure in order to predict and rank new interactions. Results We have tested and validated our model using a collection of patent claims issued from 1976 to 2005. From 266,528 possible interactions in our network, the model identified 1,027 known interactions and predicted 3,195 new interactions. Iterating the model according to patent issue dates, interactions found in a given past year were often confirmed by patent claims not in the collection and issued in more recent years. Most confirmation patent claims were found at the top 100 new interactions obtained from each subnetwork. We have also found papers on the Web which confirm new inferred interactions. For instance, the best new interaction inferred by our model relates the interaction between the adrenaline neurotransmitter and the androgen receptor gene. We have found a paper that reports the partial dependence of the antiapoptotic effect of adrenaline on androgen receptor. Conclusions The VSM extended with a transitive closure approach provides a good way to identify biological interactions from textual collections. Specifically for the context of literature-based discovery, the extended VSM contributes to identify and rank relevant new interactions even if these interactions occcur in only a few documents in the collection. Consequently, we have developed an efficient method for extracting and restricting the best potential results to consider as new advances in life sciences, even when indications of these results are not easily observed from a mass of documents.</p

Fator de impacto e pós-graduação stricto sensu em alimentos, nutrição e ciência e tecnologia de alimentos Impact factor and stricto sensu post graduation in foods, nutrition and science and food technology

Com o objetivo de analisar a relação entre o fator de impacto de publicações e o conceito da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior para os programas de pós-graduação stricto sensu envolvidos com Alimentos e Nutrição, foram selecionados 39 programas do triênio 2001-2003, de 4 Comitês (Agrárias, Alimentos, Medicina II e Nutrição e Zootecnia). Apesar de a publicação científica ser muito valorizada, sua aplicação na conceituação de programas é limitada. Uma correlação muito pobre (r²= 0,0611) entre o conceito atribuído ao programa e a média anual de fator de impacto por docente, por programa, foi encontrada. Por outro lado, 48,6% dos artigos produzidos no triênio 2001-2003 por esses programas foram enviados para periódicos não indexados pelo Institute of Scientific Information. Houve, nos programas de pós-graduação analisados neste período, 1149 (51%) trabalhos publicados em 231 revistas não indexadas na base Institute of Scientific Information, e 1216 (49%) trabalhos publicados em 331 periódicos indexados no Institute of Scientific Information. Esses dados sugerem a necessidade de aprimorar a avaliação da produção intelectual na área de Alimentos e Nutrição, no sentido de ajustar as medidas de produção para reconhecer as particularidades da produção científica dessa área. É preciso, também, desenvolver mecanismos de inclusão da medida de fator de impacto de publicações nacionais.<br>Aiming to analyze the relationship between the impact factor of publications and the concept of graduate nutrition and food programs, 39 programs were selected from the years 2001-2003 from 4 Committees (Agrarian, Foods, Medicine II and Nutrition and Zootechny). Even though scientific publications are highly valued, their application in the conceptualization of programs is very limited. A very poor correlation (r²= 0.0611) between the concept given to the program and the annual mean of the impact factor per professor per program was found. On the other hand, 48.6% of the articles produced from 2001 to 2003 by these programs were sent to journals that are unindexed by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI). Among the graduate programs analyzed in this period, there were 1149 (51%) published in 231 journals not indexed by the Institute of Scientific Information and 1216 (49%) studies published in 331 journals indexed by the Institute of Scientific Information. These data suggest that there is a need to improve the intellectual production in the area of Food and Nutrition in the sense of adjusting the measures of production in order to recognize the particularities of scientific production in this area. It is also necessary to develop mechanisms to include the measurement of the impact factor in national publications