Discovering Plum, Watermelon and Grape Cultivars Founded in a Middle Age Site of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) through a Computer Image Analysis Approach

The discovery of several waterlogged plant remains in a Middle Ages context (1330–1360 AD) in Sassari (NS, Sardinia, Italy) enabled the characterisation of archaeological plum fruit stones and watermelon and grape seeds through computer image analysis. Digital seed/endocarp images were acquired by a flatbed scanner and processed and analysed by applying computerised image analysis techniques. The morphometric data were statistically elaborated using stepwise linear discriminant analysis (LDA), allowing comparisons among archaeological remains, wild populations and autochthonous cultivars. Archaeological samples of plum were compared with 21 autochthonous cultivars of Prunus domestica from Sardinia, while archaeological watermelon seeds were compared with 36 seed lots of Citrullus from Europe, Africa and Asia. Moreover, archaeological grape seeds were compared with 51 autochthonous traditional cultivars of Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera from Sardinia, 16 cultivars from Tuscany, six cultivars from Liguria, and eight cultivars from Catalonia (Spain). Archaeological plum remains showed morphological affinity with five cultivars of Sardinia. Seed features of the archaeological watermelon remains demonstrated affiliation with a proper sweet dessert watermelon, Citrullus lanatus, and similarity with some Sardinian cultivars. Regarding the archaeological remains of grape, morphometric comparisons showed a high similarity with autochthonous cultivars from Catalonia and Liguria. This study provides new information about ancient fruit cultivated and consumed during the Middle Ages in Sardinia

Adaptação acadêmica de estudantes do 1º ano

O presente artigo tem como objetivo desenvolver uma reflexão teórica a partir da compreensão dos fenômenos multifacetados que estão presentes no ingresso do estudante no ensino superior. Este constructo contemplou as expectativas que este novo contexto provoca nos estudantes e o impacto das primeiras vivências adaptativas no êxito e permanência do estudante na universidade. A transição e adaptação ao ensino superior constituem verdadeiros desafios e são descritas através de diferentes dimensões adaptativas em relação à instituição, aos estudos, aos seus pares, às exigências de autonomia pessoal e emocional, ou ao planejamento da carreira. Propõem-se alternativas de prevenção ao abandono universitário precoce, aqui entendido como o direito que o estudante possui de iniciar e concluir seus estudos com qualidade, com o devido suporte acadêmico, social e político, disponível nas instituições de ensino superior. Busca-se, portanto, uma reflexão sobre novas práticas formativas nesse nível de ensino diante dos alunos, os quais, potencialmente, estão mais vulneráveis em termos de desenvolvimento de competências. Abrange-se a necessidade de apoio social, psicológico e educativo, destinado a apoiar o êxito universitário dos estudantes e, consequentemente, a conclusão dos seus cursos, fazendo diminuir as taxas de abandono, tendencialmente mais elevadas entre os estudantes do 1º ano

An ingress and a complete transit of HD 80606 b

We have used four telescopes at different longitudes to obtain near-continuous lightcurve coverage of the star HD 80606 as it was transited by its \sim 4-MJup planet. The observations were performed during the predicted transit windows around the 25th of October 2008 and the 14th of February 2009. Our data set is unique in that it simultaneously constrains the duration of the transit and the planet's period. Our Markov-Chain Monte Carlo analysis of the light curves, combined with constraints from radial-velocity data, yields system parameters consistent with previously reported values. We find a planet-to-star radius ratio marginally smaller than previously reported, corresponding to a planet radius of Rp = 0.921 \pm 0.036RJup .Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, MNRAS accepte

Dificuldades na adaptação acadêmica dos estudantes de ensino superior em tempos de pandemia

A crise de saúde pública provocada pela pandemia da Covid-19 impôs as Instituições de Ensino Superior no Brasil mudanças significativas, com a necessidade da implementação do Ensino Remoto Emergencial (ERE). Este estudo objetiva analisar as variáveis psicossociais que impactaram a adaptação acadêmica dos estudantes do Instituto Federal de Alagoas- IFAL (Campus Maceió), durante o ERE. Foi aplicado um Questionário de Adaptação ao Ensino Superior Remoto (QAES-R), em que participaram 420 estudantes, com idades entre 17 e 67 anos. A maioria dos participantes trabalha e estuda apresentando renda igual ou inferior a 1.5 salários mínimos. Os resultados apontam que os estudantes foram impactados nas dimensões pessoal/emocional, acadêmico e interpessoal das suas vivências, refletindo na qualidade da sua adaptação ao ensino superior. Esses achados revelam a necessidade de discussão dos determinantes envolvidos na experiência acadêmica e adequações institucionais visando um maior engajamento dos estudantes de forma a garantir a sua permanência e conclusão do curso, durante e após a pandemia

The discovery of WASP-151b, WASP-153b, WASP-156b: Insights on giant planet migration and the upper boundary of the Neptunian desert

To investigate the origin of the features discovered in the exoplanet population, the knowledge of exoplanets’ mass and radius with a good precision (≲10%) is essential. To achieve this purpose the discovery of transiting exoplanets around bright stars is of prime interest. In this paper, we report the discovery of three transiting exoplanets by the SuperWASP survey and the SOPHIE spectrograph with mass and radius determined with a precision better than 15%. WASP-151b and WASP-153b are two hot Saturns with masses, radii, densities and equilibrium temperatures of 0.31−0.03+0.04 MJ, 1.13−0.03+0.03 RJ, 0.22−0.02+0.03 ρJ and 1290−10+20 K, and 0.39−0.02+0.02 MJ, 1.55−0.08+0.10 RJ, 0.11−0.02+0.02 ρJ and 1700−40+40 K, respectively. Their host stars are early G type stars (with mag V ~ 13) and their orbital periods are 4.53 and 3.33 days, respectively. WASP-156b is a super-Neptune orbiting a K type star (mag V = 11.6). It has a mass of 0.128−0.009+0.010 MJ, a radius of 0.51−0.02+0.02 RJ, a density of 1.0−0.1+0.1 ρJ, an equilibrium temperature of 970−20+30 K and an orbital period of 3.83 days. The radius of WASP-151b appears to be only slightly inflated, while WASP-153b presents a significant radius anomaly compared to a recently published model. WASP-156b, being one of the few well characterized super-Neptunes, will help to constrain the still debated formation of Neptune size planets and the transition between gas and ice giants. The estimates of the age of these three stars confirms an already observed tendency for some stars to have gyrochronological ages significantly lower than their isochronal ages. We propose that high eccentricity migration could partially explain this behavior for stars hosting a short period planet. Finally, these three planets also lie close to (WASP-151b and WASP-153b) or below (WASP-156b) the upper boundary of the Neptunian desert. Their characteristics support that the ultra-violet irradiation plays an important role in this depletion of planets observed in the exoplanet population