Co-existence in maize supply chains in Spain and Switzerland

The debate about co-existence usually focuses on the situation of neighbouring farms. Organic producers take the position that co-existence affects the whole supply chain. Therefore, this paper compares the maize grain supply chains in Switzerland and Spain in order to identify which factors influence the segregation of genetically modified (GM) maize from non-GM maize, and discusses how organic production copes with the challenge of GM maize. Considerable differences exist between Spain and Switzerland with regard to grain maize as a component of animal feed. In Spain, where GM maize is grown, it is the feed industry that defines standards in the supply chains. Since the trading co-operatives are unable to supply GM-free maize, independent and separate infrastructures have been developed for a GM-free maize supply (e.g. for maize starch). In Switzerland, the retailers define quality standards for suppliers, and these standards exclude the use of GM plants for feed. Therefore, the feed industry has to segregate GM from non-GM feed

Lifelong learning activities for older adults: a scoping review

The lifelong learning paradigm has become a global phenomenon, having an influence on the political organization of various countries. The aim of this study was to map lifelong learning activities for the older people so to understand how this paradigm has been incorporated into practical actions. The scoping review method was chosen and the literature search was con ducted across five databases (Web of Science, Scopus, AgeLine, ERIC and MedLine) in English and between the years of 1972 and 2020. All peer reviewed papers which presented the conceptual notion of lifelong learning as a central topic to the study, the target audience of older men and women (50+ years old) and which described formal, non-formal and informal educational activities, were included in the present research. A total of 2,083 records were found, of which 309 were selected for the full reading screen ing; this, in turn, resulted in 38 records included. Most of these studies were published in the last decade (66%), originating in North America (36%) and adopting a qualitative methodological approach (81%). The lifelong learning activities for older people were noticeably more frequent in the non-formal modality (60%), within a university context (46%) and from the perspective of the third generation of the concept (60%). It was concluded that there is an imbalance between lifelong learning activities for the older adults in the formal, non-formal and informal modalities and that the lifelong learning paradigm has been incorporated into practical actions by different concep tual generations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Moving ahead from food-related behaviours: an alternative approach to understand household food waste generation

Food waste prevention is a hot topic on the policy agenda. According to available data, urgent measures need to be undertaken to significantly reduce the current generation of food waste. However, it is important to thoroughly understand consumers' behaviour to define measures that will lead to a long-lasting change in the situation. The aim of the present work is to analyse consumer food waste behaviour by means of a model that brings together food-related and waste management variables. To do so, a survey was given to 418 consumers of the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Results show that food waste is directly influenced by purchasing discipline, waste prevention habits and materialism values and indirectly influenced by environmental values. This highlights the importance of addressing the problem from different perspectives and emphasizes the importance of considering this problem as a transversal element for policy makers. We suggest that household food waste prevention and reduction needs to be included as a key element in different policy areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Understanding a woman's heart: Lessons from 14 177 women with acute coronary syndrome

INTRODUCTION: Coronary artery disease is becoming the leading cause of death in women in Western society. However, the available data shows that women are still underdiagnosed and undertreated with guideline-recommended secondary prevention therapy, leading to a significantly higher rate of in-hospital complications and in-hospital mortality. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this work is to assess the approach to acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Portugal, including form of presentation, in-hospital treatment and in-hospital complications, according to gender and in three different periods. METHODS: We performed an observational study with retrospective analysis of all patients included between 2002 and 2019 in the Portuguese Registry of Acute Coronary Syndromes (ProACS), a voluntary, observational, prospective, continuous registry of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology and the National Center for Data Collection in Cardiology. RESULTS: A total of 49 113 patients (34 936 men and 14 177 women) were included. Obesity, hypertension, diabetes (p<0.001 for all) and dyslipidemia (p=0.022) were all more prevalent in women, who were more frequently admitted for non-ST segment elevation ACS (p<0.001), and more frequently presented with atypical symptoms. Women had more time until needle and until reperfusion, which is less accessible to this gender (p<0.001). During hospitalization, women had a significantly higher risk of in-hospital mortality (OR 1.94 [1.78-2.12], p<0.001), major bleeding (OR 1.53 [1.30-1.80], p<0.001), heart failure (OR 1.87 [1.78-1.97], p<0.001), atrial fibrillation (OR 1.55 [1.36-1.77], p<0.001), mechanical complications (OR 2.12 [1.78-2.53], p<0.001), cardiogenic shock (OR 1.71 [1.57-1.87], p<0.001) and stroke (OR 2.15 [1.76-2.62], p<0.001). Women were more likely to have a normal coronary angiogram or coronary lesions with <50% luminal stenosis (p<0.001 for both), and thus a final diagnosis other than ACS. Both during hospitalization and at hospital discharge, women were less likely to receive guideline-recommended secondary prevention therapy. CONCLUSION: In women admitted for ACS, revascularization strategies are still underused, as is guideline-recommended secondary prevention therapy, which may explain their higher incidence of in-hospital complications and higher unadjusted mortality.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A data-driven approach to predict first-year students’ academic success in higher education institutions

This study presents a data mining approach to predict academic success of the first-year students. A dataset of 10 academic years for first-year bachelor’s degrees from a Portuguese Higher Institution (N = 9652) has been analysed. Features’ selection resulted in a characterising set of 68 features, encompassing socio-demographic, social origin, previous education, special statutes and educational path dimensions. We proposed and tested three distinct course stage data models based on entrance date, end of the first and second curricular semesters. A support vector machines (SVM) model achieved the best overall performance and was selected to conduct a data-based sensitivity analysis. The previous evaluation performance, study gaps and age-related features play a major role in explaining failures at entrance stage. For subsequent stages, current evaluation performance features unveil their predictive power. Suggested guidelines include to provide study support groups to risk profiles and to create monitoring frameworks. From a practical standpoint, a data-driven decision-making framework based on these models can be used to promote academic success.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Bot’n roll robotic kit as a learning tool for youngsters

Activities involving robotics, projecting assembling and programming robots are in essence hands-on and inquiry-based activities leading to an effective learning of different aspects of science and technology among others. Different approaches have being used to introduce robotics in the education of young children. In this communication we will present an approach that in an inquiry based science education, IBSE, perspective, uses an informal environment to introduced robotics, as well as a range of other science and technology, concepts and competencies to young students. Many youngsters are getting interested on general technology and the robotics field in particular. Even though their knowledge is very basic they are very enthusiastic and willing to learn quickly. Most robotics events consist of competitions, and that means the youngsters still need guidance by professionals. RoboParty is a different educational robotics event that teaches the participants, with IBSE hands-on techniques, how to build a robot from scratch to program it and in the end they keep the robot they built for themselves for further exploration. Such robot to be built by the young children for the first time needs to be very easy and with a friendly programming language. The Bot’n Roll robotics kit was developed specifically for the RoboParty event, and has since then been improved with more sensors and actuators, which are simple to built and easy to use. The Bot’n Roll robot family launched recently another more complex robot that uses omnidirectional wheels and that can be used on other robotic competitions like world known RoboCup. This paper describes also the Bot’n Roll robots and show how they are built, bearing in mind that these robots were developed for youngsters who never worked with robotics

Genetic characterization of the red algae Asparagopsis armata and Asparagopsis taxiformis (Bonnemaisoniaceae) from the Azores

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Toward an Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission. IX. On the Peculiar Properties and Geometric Regularity of Lyne & Manchester's "Partial Cone" Pulsars

Lyne & Manchester (1988) identified a group of some 50 pulsars they called "partial cones" which they found difficult to classify and interpret. They were notable for their asymmetric average profiles and asymmetric polarization position-angle (PPA) traverses, wherein the steepest gradient (SG) point fell toward one edge of the total intensity profile. Over the last two decades, this population of pulsars has raised cautions regarding the core/cone model of the radio pulsar-emission beam which implies a high degree of order, symmetry and geometric regularity. In this paper we reinvestigate this population "partial cone" pulsars on the basis of new single pulse polarimetric observations of 39 of them, observed with the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope in India and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. These highly sensitive observations help us to establish that most of these "partial cones" exhibit a core/cone structure just as did the "normal" pulsars studied in the earlier papers of this series. In short, we find that many of these "partial cones" are partial in the sense that the emission above different areas of their polar caps can be (highly) asymmetric. However, when studied closely we find that their emission geometries are overall identical to core/double cone structure encountered earlier-that is, with specific conal dimensions scaling as the polar cap size.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 42 pages with 45 figures, notes to table 2 and 3 are in the beginning of the appendix sectio