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The occurrence of the exotic Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Portunidae) is reported for the first time from the Moroccan Atlantic coast. Working with local fishermen, we gathered 160 records of the Atlantic blue crab from several estuarine, coastal and marine areas, in the period between June and August 2021. These new records confirm its establishment in the Atlantic coasts of North Africa, suggesting a southern range expansion. These findings, likely exacerbated by growing populations along the Atlantic coast of Morocco and temperate coastal waters, provide new insights into the invasion dynamics of this species in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In this article we propose a novel approach for comparing the persistent homology representations of two spaces (filtrations). Commonly used methods are based on numerical summaries such as persistence diagrams and persistence landscapes, along with suitable metrics (e.g. Wasserstein). These summaries are useful for computational purposes, but they are merely a marginal of the actual topological information that persistent homology can provide. Instead, our approach compares between two topological representations directly in the data space. We do so by defining a correspondence relation between individual persistent cycles of two different spaces, and devising a method for computing this correspondence. Our matching of cycles is based on both the persistence intervals and the spatial placement of each feature. We demonstrate our new framework in the context of topological inference, where we use statistical bootstrap methods in order to differentiate between real features and noise in point cloud data.

Hay fever affects people differently and can change over a lifetime, but data is lacking on how environmental factors may influence this. This study is the first to combine atmospheric sensor data with real-time, geo-positioned hay fever symptom reports to examine the relationship between symptom severity and air quality, weather and land use. We study 36145 symptom reports submitted over 5 years by over 700 UK residents using a mobile application. Scores were recorded for nose, eyes and breathing. Symptom reports are labelled as urban or rural using land-use data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics. Reports are compared with AURN network pollution measurements and pollen and meteorological data taken from the UK Met Office. Our analysis suggests urban areas record significantly higher symptom severity for all years except 2017. Rural areas do not record significantly higher symptom severity in any year. Additionally, symptom severity correlates with more air quality markers in urban areas than rural areas, indicating that differences in allergy symptoms may be due to variations in the levels of pollutants, pollen counts and seasonality across land-use types. The results suggest that a relationship exists between urban surroundings and hay fever symptoms.

International audience; The commercial value of agar in the phycocolloid market depends mostly on the agar yield and quality. The present study investigates the agar content and characterization of two Gelidiales Gelidium corneum and Gelidium microdon from the Moroccan Atlantic coast. Spectroscopic and rheological characterization of extracted agar without and with alkali pretreatments were evaluated. The highest agar yield was detected for mild alkaline pretreatment (N2CO3). The native agar content in G. corneum was 16.21%, while those pretreated with NaOH and N2CO3 ranged from 6.2 to 20.50 %. The agar yields of G. microdon showed values of 12.23%, 14.87%, and 17.73%, corresponding respectively to native agar, NaOH, and Na2CO3 pretreatments. Agar with alkali pretreatments depicted the better gelling property with higher gel strength and elevated gelling and melting temperatures. 13C NMR spectroscopy showed that G. Corneum has a typical unsubstituted and weakly methylated agar pattern. However, G. microdon revealed the presence of methyl and sulfate groups at the C4 of 4-O-L-galactose residues, responsible for the low gelling ability of the native agar. The decline of sulfate groups after alkali pretreatments were proved by FTIR spectroscopy. This study demonstrates that G. microdon produces a quality of agar similar to that of G. corneum. Thus G. microdon could be regarded as a potential additional source of agar industry in Morocco.

We present the 'Mine-the-Gaps' geospatial web application and use it to present our recently published series of cleaned and imputed environmental datasets. The Mine-the-Gaps tool positions environment sensor and regional estimation data side-by-side on a map, allowing researchers to visually check sensor locations, regional coverage, and the likely accuracy of any regional approximation methods. Users can upload their own time-series geospatial data datasets, but as a proof-of-concept, we present an online version of this tool (http://minethegaps.manchester.ac.uk) pre-loaded with our recently published environmental dataset. This contains 5 years of cleaned and pre-processed UK sensor data, originally from DEFRA (air quality) and the Met Office (pollen and weather) monitoring stations alongside our basic region estimations.Sensors can’t be installed everywhere, so many areas are sparsely covered, with some measurements (e.g. pollens and SO2) even more sparse than others. Mine-the-Gaps allows users to, for example, approximate the level of pollen for somebody reporting severe allergy symptoms in Manchester if the nearest sensor is in Chester. Two basic, distance-based estimation algorithms are pre-loaded but more importantly, we provide researchers with methods to visualize, evaluate and compare new regional estimation techniques. Estimated data can be loaded into the application via a CSV file, or new algorithms can be added to our region estimations Python package, used by Mine-the-Gaps to calculate estimations on the fly. Uploaded data is presented on a map and time-series charts can be displayed that compare sensor data with approximations for that location, had the sensor been missing.If users have their own sensor and/or region datasets, these can be uploaded to Mine-the-Gaps, which can be cloned from our code repository. Just 2 lines of script are required to get it running locally and accessible from any browser. Time-series sensor data from any location can then be uploaded and estimations made for any regions.We publish Mine-the-Gaps, our environmental data-sets, and associated tools with a focus on making these resources as accessible and adaptable as possible, thus allowing researchers to get on with the key job of evaluating the impact and variance of environmental data, rather than becoming bogged down in pre-processing. Importantly, the emphasis on a transparent data processing and visualization methodology enables researchers to determine the usefulness, or not, of any technique used for mapping single site measurements to represent a specific geographical region.Potential use cases include the evaluation of current and new regional estimation methods for sensor data; evaluating the effects of variation in region shape and size when making estimations; helping to determine where a new sensor would be best positioned to fit with the existing networks; the visualization of irregularly spaced datasets; and visualizing sensor data over time.

Os Planos Diretores Municipais têm papel fundamental na gestão de riscos e desastres. Este artigo apresenta estudo da Política Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Civil – PNPDEC (Lei nº12.608/12) e da Política Urbana relacionando redução de riscos de desastres e planejamento urbano, tendo o município de São José dos Campos-SP como estudo de caso. O artigo relaciona o macrozoneamento urbano, definido nos Planos Diretores, com as áreas de risco mapeadas no município. Observou-se que as áreas de risco se encontram tanto na área urbana quanto na área rural, porém especialmente em núcleos informais de habitação, motivo pelo qual as moradias não seguem padrões mínimos de construção e urbanismo, o que aumenta o risco de deslizamentos e inundações. Embora haja avanço nos Planos Diretores e na política de redução de riscos de desastres em São José dos Campos, observa-se que a questão de desastres está também relacionada ao processo de urbanização acelerado, falta de fiscalização pelo poder público, déficit habitacional e, carência de políticas sociais que atendam pessoas com recursos insuficientes para a construção de moradias seguras e/ou fora de áreas de risco.

Volatile compounds from the marine cyanolichen

The ampithoid amphipod crustacean Pleonexes gammaroides Spence Bate, 1857 is reported from Morocco (northeastern Atlantic Ocean) for the first time, where it is the only representative of the genus Pleonexes Spence Bate, 1857 so far. Specimens were collected from the upper fringe of the infralittoral zone (including low intertidal) of El Jadida coastline associated with the holdfasts of the kelp Saccorhiza polyschides (Lightfoot) Batters (Phaeophyceae), colonising the sublittoral fringe in the southernmost distribution limit (Morocco). This finding updates the known geographical distribution of P. gammaroides in northern Africa and northeastern Atlantic. Some ecological and distributional details of this amphipod species are briefly discussed here. National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST), Morocco 5UCD2017, AGA- KHAN Foundation under the project MARAFRICA AGA-KHAN/540316524/2019 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

International audience; The inhibition effect of the invasive brown seaweed Sargassum muticum extract (ESM), harvested from the Atlantic coast of Morocco, against the corrosion of carbon steel (CS) in 1 M HCl medium was studied for the first time using gravimetric, electrochemical and surface techniques. The methanolic crude extract of Sargassum muticum (ESM) is rich in alginate biopolymer. The evaluation corrosion tests showed that this algal extract acts as a good mixed corrosion inhibitor for CS substrate in 1 M HCl since inhibition efficiency of 97% was reached with 1 g/L of ESM at 303 K. AC impedance findings showed that the seaweed extract adding in the corrosive electrolyte increases the polarization resistance and conversely decreases the charge capacitance at the interface. Adsorption of ESM on the substrate surface followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses (XPS) demonstrated that the corrosion inhibition mechanism of CS substrate in 1 M HCl environment by the investigated algal extract is typical of the chemisorption process and the protective barrier is mainly formed by the adsorbed biological macromolecules.

This chapter discusses urban mobility considering two main analyses approaches. Based on the relationship between mobility and vulnerability, the first approach analyzed commuter's vulnerability using basin as unit of analysis. The second one analyzes variables related to land use such as population density and its relation with job offer in the city and people's income using traffic zones as unit of analysis. The two scales dialogue and can be used concurrently. The municipality of São José dos Campos (Brazil) was used as a case study. Origin-destination research was the main database used in the analyses. Authors used geospatial tools, like spatial join operation and thematic maps, which enable the in-depth analysis of important data for urban studies or transport planning and can be replicated in any study area. The analysis of mobility data aggregated by basin contributed to an understanding of the implications of the urban configuration, with its displacement patterns related to water courses if any flooding or landslide occurs and interrupts people's flow.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui penerapan Sistem Informasi Akuntansi yang digunakan dalam pengelolaan data keuangan agar lebih efektif bagi kelangsungan jangka panjang di Toko Pratama Baby Shop. Dalam suatu perusahaan siklus pendapatan dan pengeluaran merupakan hal penting, sebab peningkatan ekonomi dapat dilihat dari kedua siklus tersebut. Toko Pratama Baby Shop merupakan perusahaan dagang yang bergerak dalam usaha jual beli perlengkapan bayi. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan yaitu dengan wawancara dan studi pustaka. Sumber data yang dipakai adalah data primer berupa gambaran umum perusahaan, dokumen perusahaan, bukti transaksi, pedoman prosedur perusahaan pada SIA pendapatan dan pengeluaran. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pada bagian operasional penjualan masih ada beberapa kekurangan sehingga perlu adanya perbaikan khususnya pada sistem yang dijalankan.

The present study focused on the dynamics of the phenology and life cycle of the Phaeophyceae invader Sargassum muticum at three sites on the Atlantic coast of Morocco over a period of two years (2013 and 2014). The results showed that S. muticum has two distinct growth phases; one with slower growth in winter followed by one with faster growth in spring-early summer, when the species exhibited high elongation and branching activities with thalli length ranging from 1 to more than 5 m depending on the study site. The site S1, with a rocky substratum covered by submerged sands, promotes thalli elongation, with maximum lengths of 643.33 11.10 cm recorded in July. At the rocky sites (S2 and S3), the maximum length of the seaweed depends on the pools’ depth. Although the elongation of thalli is enhanced by the water body depth, the settlements’ density (5-48 ind. m–2) seems to be mainly related to the nature of the substrate. The maturity index progressively increases from spring to early summer, when it reaches the highest values. S. muticum seems to be more abundant and more easily acclimated in shallow rockpools (sufficiently lighted and semi-exposed to wave action at the mid and lower tidal levels) than in protected sandy bottom sites with low hydrodynamic forces., El presente trabajo se centró en el estudio de la fenología y el ciclo de vida del alga parda invasoraSargassum muticumen tres localidades de la costa atlántica de Marruecos durante dos años (2013 y 2014). Los resultados mostraron queS. muticumtiene dos fases de crecimiento distintas; la primera se caracteriza por un crecimiento más lento y ocurre durante el invierno, y la segunda fase caracterizada por un crecimiento más rápido ocurre durante la primavera y principios del verano, cuando la especie mostró una alta tasa de elongación y ramificación alcanzando longitudes entre 1 y más de 5 m dependiendo del sitio de estudio. El sitio S1, donde el sustrato rocoso estuvo cubierto por arena, los talos presentaron una mayor elongación con longitudes máximas de 643.33±11.10 cm registradas en julio. En los sitios rocosos (S2 y S3), la longitud máxima de las algas dependió de la profundidad de las piscinas. Aunque el alargamiento de los talos fue mayor con la profundidad, la densidad de los asentamientos (5-48 ind. m-2) parece estar principalmente relacionada con la naturaleza del sustrato. El índice de madurez aumentó progresivamente desde la primavera hasta principios del verano alcanzando los valores más altos durante el verano.S. muticumparece ser más abundante y se aclimata mejor en pozas rocosas poco profundas (suficientemente iluminadas y semi-expuestas a la acción del oleaje en los niveles medios e inferiores del intermareal), que en sitios protegidos de fondos arenosos con bajas fuerzas hidrodinámicas.

The alpha complex is a subset of the Delaunay triangulation and is often used in computational geometry and topology. One of the main drawbacks of using the alpha complex is that it is non-monotone, in the sense that if ${\cal X}\subset{\cal X}'$ it is not necessarily (and generically not) the case that the corresponding alpha complexes satisfy ${\cal A}_r({\cal X})\subset{\cal A}_r({\cal X}')$. The lack of monotonicity may introduce significant computational costs when using the alpha complex, and in some cases even render it unusable. In this work we present a new construction based on the alpha complex, that is homotopy equivalent to the alpha complex while maintaining monotonicity. We provide the formal definitions and algorithms required to construct this complex, and to compute its homology. In addition, we analyze the size of this complex in order to argue that it is not significantly more costly to use than the standard alpha complex.

Alginates are widely used as gelling agents in textile print pastes, medical industries, impression material in dentistry, and anticoagulant material in toothpaste. In the present study, the content and spectroscopic characterization (1H NMR and FT-IR) of the sodium alginates were investigated in the eight brown seaweeds Sargassum muticum, Fucus vesiculosus f. volubilis, Carpodesmia tamariscifolia, Bifurcaria bifurcata, Laminaria ochroleuca, Cystoseira humilis, Saccorhiza polyschides, and Fucus guiryi harvested from the NW Atlantic coast of Morocco. The results proved that the most studied algae depicted alginate yields higher than 18% dry weight. The FT-IR analysis showed that the spectra of the extracted alginates exhibited significant similarities to the commercial alginate from Sigma-Aldrich. The 1H NMR spectroscopy indicated that the extracted alginates have a high content of β-d-mannuronic (M) than α-l-guluronic acid (G) with M/G ratio values ranging from 1.04 to 4.41. The homopolymeric fractions FMM are remarkably high compared to the FGG and heteropolymeric fractions (FGM = FMG) especially for F. guiryi, C humilis, C. tamariscifolia, L. ochroleuca, and S. polyschides. Nevertheless, the heteropolymeric fractions (FGM/FMG) are quite abundant in the alginates of S. muticum, F. vesiculosus f. volubilis, and B. bifurcata accounting for more than 52% of the polymer diads. Based on these results, the investigated algal species (except Fucus guiryi and Bifurcaria bifurcata) could be regarded as potential sources of alginates for industrial uses.

Desa Pedindang merupakan satu dari sebelas desa yang mengelilingi kawasan TAHURA Gunung Mangkol. Sejak dulu, masyarakat di kedua desa ini memenuhi kebutuhan hidup sehari-hari dengan memanfaatkan sumber daya alam di sekitar TAHURA Gunung Mangkol. Salah satu sumber daya alam yang ada di TAHURA tersebut adalah satwa liar yang biasa dimanfaatkan sebagai obat tradisional. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui satwa liar apa saja yang dimanfaatkan sebagai obat tradisional oleh masyarakat Desa Pedindang, dan untuk mengetahui apa saja bagian yang dimanfaatkan, jenis pemanfaatan, dan cara pengolahan dari satwa liar tersebut. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada 1 November 2021 sampai dengan 31 Desember 2021. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah pengumpulan data memanfaatkan survei dan pemilihan responden dengan menggunakan teknik snowball sampling. Responden terpilih kemudian diwawancarai sesuai dengan kuesioner. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, sembilan spesies satwa liar dimanfaatkan sebagai obat tradisional oleh masyarakat Desa Pedindang. Bagian satwa liar yang dimanfaatkan adalah daging, kepala, otak, dan empedu. Jenis pemanfaatan satwa liar adalah sebagai obat asma, obat sakit kulit, obat luka bekas operasi, obat kebotakan, dan penambah stamina pria. Cara pengolahan satwa liar yang dimanfaatkan adalah dimasak, dibakar untuk diambil minyaknya, dicampur dengan bahan lain, dan tanpa diolah.

Biomass of the invasive seaweed Sargassum muticum harvested from the Atlantic coast of Morocco was investigated as a natural biosorbent for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions. FTIR spectroscopy was used to examine the variability of functional groups participating in the interaction between MB and biosorbent. The zero point charge (pHZPC) of the biomass was about 5.45. The factors affecting the efficiency of the biosorption process such as the biosorbent dose, the initial solution pH, the initial dye concentration and the contact time were investigated. The theoretical monolayer saturation capacity was estimated to be 191.38 mg/g. The biosorption process was generally not dependent on pH for values ranging from 2 to 10. The biosorption occurs very fast in the first 5 min and reaches the equilibrium within 60–90 min. The pseudo-second-order model was found to explain the adsorption kinetics most effectively. Four conventional isotherm models were applied to describe the biosorption equilibrium data and classified according to their correlation coefficients in the following order: Temkin model (R2 = 0.989) > Dubinin–Radushkevich (R2 = 0.982) > Langmuir (R2 = 0.938) > Freundlich (R2 = 0.934). The Temkin constants (KT = 0.825 L/g, bT = 43.165 J/mol) and the Dubinin–Radushkevich mean free energy (ED= 0.731 kJ/mol) indicated that the adsorption of MB onto the biomass of the invasive seaweed could be a physisorption process. The values of the thermodynamic parameters showed that adsorption is a spontaneous and exothermic process. This study suggests that biomass of the invasive seaweed Sargassum muticum has a good potential capacity to remove MB dye and it could offer promising opportunity, as a low-cost biosorbent for the treatment of cationic dye industrial wastewaters.

Despite the popularity of photo editors used to improve image attractiveness and expressiveness on social media, many users have trouble making sense of color filter effects and locating a preferred filter among a set of designer-crafted candidates. The problem gets worse when more computer-generated filters are introduced. To enhance filter findability, we semantically name and organize color effects leveraging data curated by creative communities online. We first model semantic mappings between color themes and keywords in everyday language. Next, we index and organize each filter by the derived semantic information. We conduct three separate studies to investigate the benefit of the semantic features on filter exploration. Our results indicate that color theme semantics constructed through social curation enhances filter findability, providing important implications into how to use the wisdom of the crowd to improve user experience with image editors.

The littoral paranthurid isopod crustacean Paranthura nigropunctata (Lucas, 1846) is recorded for the first time from the littoral of El Jadida located on the Atlantic northwest coast of Morocco. Specimens were obtained from the invasive brown seaweed Sargassum muticum and the natives Bifurcaria bifurcata and Cystoseira tamariscifolia in January 2015. This new record further confirms a significant southward distribution of P. nigropunctata and contributes to the knowledge of the biogeography of this isopod. Heretofore, the species was only known from the western and eastern Mediterranean and some Atlantic coasts. The present finding is the first of the species from Moroccan Atlantic shores, and suggests that the species may also be present in other coastal localities from Morocco and Africa. Some data on morphology, ecology and spatial distribution of the species are provided.

The diversity and structure of epiphytic macrofaunal assemblages on the introduced invasive brown macroalga Sargassum muticum and native fucoids (Bifurcaria bifurcata, Cystoseira humilis, Cystoseira tamariscifolia and Sargassum vulgare) were compared over a 1-year period in intertidal rockpools on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. In comparison with the epiphytic fauna associated to other macroalgae from European shores, we found that the associated epiphytic macrofauna was moderately diverse (H'

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using sodium alginate extracted from the invasive macroalga Sargassum muticum harvested from the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The characterization of silver nanoparticles was determined by various analytical techniques (UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)). The X-ray diffraction patterns proved the crystal phase of AgNPs. The interaction of the functional groups of sodium alginate in the AgNPs was confirmed by FTIR analysis. They were spherical in shape with average size around 21.95 ± 0.96 nm and they exhibit important thermal stability. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the synthesized nanoparticles exhibited high antibacterial activity against the tested human pathogenic bacteria Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These eco-friendliness alginate-mediated silver nanoparticles may serve as antibacterial agents for pharmaceutical applications.

Humans often struggle to understand conditional probability, which underlies the interpretation of many important procedures including medical tests. Visualisation has proved effective in communicating risk in healthcare settings, but its role in facilitating Bayesian reasoning is complex, with contradictory evidence as to its utility, and a lack of understanding as to how it is best applied. This paper evaluates both established and novel techniques for visualising conditional probabilities, examining not just whether they facilitate understanding, but how people use the way the information is presented to interpret the data. We report a controlled study comparing different visualisations of a well-known Bayesian problem, the mammography problem, to its textual description. We use eye tracking, coupled with a novel technique to measure the reasoning process (which we term the utilisation metric), alongside measures of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction, to reveal cognitive processes underpinning human-graph understanding. The results demonstrate that the rarity of an event strongly affects how far someone's estimation deviates from the true value of the risk, with rare events resulting in a larger deviation than common events. The results also show that the way in which the data is presented affects both speed and accuracy of interpretation, and that people have preferences that cannot be explained by performance data alone. Whilst Venn diagrams appear to be equal to tree diagrams in terms of task performance, people find the latter easier to interpret. Icon arrays, which are commonly used for presenting risk data, are perceived to be particularly poor at conveying information about conditional probabilities.

The use of desktop technologies, opposed to their mobile counterparts, is still predominant in the business domain and daily corporate activities. For complex business tasks, the usability of mobile applications is still perceived as inferior. Nevertheless, mobile computing could support work activities in different ways. This research seeks to explore whether mobile applications, especially sophisticated real-time groupware such as Group Decision Support Systems can match or even outperform their desktop-based counterparts regarding task performance and user satisfaction. To provide a more comprehensive comparison, two widely used web metric frameworks, HEART and PULSE (the former focusing on human behavior and the latter focusing on technology), have been used to evaluate and compare a web-based mobile group decision support app with its desktop counterpart on a chair-led multi-step decision-making process in lab settings and real-world contexts. Moreover, data from web tracking tools and system logs of these two apps have been analyzed to deepen the level of analysis. Therefore, an innovative methodology for usability research combining lab experiments with long-term web observations is proposed. The results have shown that users interacting with the mobile version of the system had a steeper learning curve than users interacting with the desktop one. After a short practice period, participants using the mobile version of the groupware could perform as efficiently as participants using its desktop counterpart. Not only both the mobile and the desktop version of the app were used effectively for the group decision tasks chosen for this study, but also the two versions of the application were rated similarly in terms of user satisfaction. Furthermore, the mobile version had a faster adoption, better engagement, and better retention than its desktop counterpart. Despite an additional groupware middleware layer and a sophisticated user interface rendering layer, both groupware versions have yielded a user-to-user response time sufficient for real-time group interactions. These results convey important implications: as society is quickly moving towards mobile computing, web-based mobile technologies can now support multi-step group decision-making tasks. A comprehensive comparative evaluation of mobile and desktop GDSS is presented.The mobile can match the desktop on task performance after brief practicing.The mobile performed better on user adoption, engagement, and retention.The integration of the mobile with popular social media systems is deemed useful.Web-based real-time mobile groupware can now support group decision-making tasks.

This paper examines the role that lived experience plays in the human capacity to reason about uncertainty. Previous research shows that people are more likely to provide accurate responses in Bayesian tasks when the data are presented in natural frequencies, the problem in question describes a familiar event, and the values of the data are in line with beliefs. Precisely why these factors are important remains open to debate. We elucidate the issue in two ways. Firstly, we hypothesize that in a task that requires people to reason about conditional probabilities, they are more likely to respond accurately when the values of the problem reflect their own lived experience, than when they reflect the experience of the average participant. Secondly, to gain further understanding of the underlying reasoning process, we employ a novel interaction analysis method that tracks mouse movements in an interactive web application and applies transition analysis to model how the approach to reasoning differs depending on whether data are presented using percentages or natural frequencies. We find (1) that the closer the values of the data in the problem are to people's self-reported lived experience, the more likely they are to provide a correct answer, and (2) that the reasoning process employed when data are presented using natural frequencies is qualitatively different to that employed when data are presented using percentages. The results indicate that the benefits of natural frequency presentation are due to a clearer representation of the relationship between sets and that the prior humans acquire through experience has an overwhelming influence on their ability to reason about uncertainty.

SUMMARY The Japanese brown seaweed Sargassum muticum, recently invaded several shorelines worldwide including the Atlantic coast of Morocco with large well-established populations. Within the framework of a sustainable strategy to control this invasive seaweed, we report on extraction yield, spectroscopic characterization and rheological properties of alginate, a commercially valuable colloid, from harvested biomass of S. muticum. Extraction yield was about 25.6% on dry weight basis. Infrared spectroscopy analysis shows that the obtained Fourier transform infrared spectra of the extracted biopolymer exhibit strong similarities with that of the commercial alginate. Furthermore, Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that S. muticum alginate has almost equal amounts of β-D-mannuronic acid (M; 49%) and α-L-guluronic acid (G; 51%) with an M/G ratio of 1.04 and a high content of heteropolymeric MG GM diads suggesting a sequence distribution of an alternated polymer type. Rheological measurements were performed at different sodium alginate concentrations, temperatures and shear rates. The hydrocolloid exhibited pseudoplastic behavior and showed shear thinning, particularly at high solution concentration and low temperature which is consistent with the rheological behavior reported for commercial alginates. Considering the abundance of S. muticum in the Northwestern Atlantic coast of Morocco and the quality of the extracted hydrogel, this invasive species could be considered as a potential source of alginates.

O presente artigo analisa as leis de zoneamento urbano de Sao Jose dos Campos-SP com objetivo de avaliar a continuidade nas politicas de uso e ocupacao do solo, bem como o ordenamento do espaco e planejamento urbano no municipio. Sao Jose dos Campos euma cidade de grande porte, com alto desenvolvimento tecnologico e que teve fortes intervencoes do Estado em seu territorio. Observou-se que a delimitacao de zonas industriais e o incentivo ao setor economico foram prioritariosno planejamento do municipio, muitas vezes se sobrepondo ao social e ao ambiental. Existem varios conflitos de uso do solo entre uma legislacao e outra, e entre a lei e a pratica. Adicionalmente, a proliferacao de loteamentos clandestinos favorece o crescimento espraiado da cidade, evidenciando a falta de fiscalizacao e de um planejamento que se aplique de forma efetiva em todo o municipio.

Resumo Eventos como inundações e movimentos de massa podem provocar desastres, afetando amplamente a saúde pública brasileira. Além de mortes, traumas e lesões, podem ocorrer danificação de estações de tratamento de água, postos de saúde e hospitais, comprometimento de equipamentos e estoque de remédios, epidemias e proliferação de doenças, bem como danos psicossociais. Neste artigo, com o objetivo de identificar e analisar características pré e pós-impacto relacionadas à saúde pública, são estudados dois cenários: inundações ocorridas em Santa Catarina, em 2008, e em Pernambuco, em 2010. Procuramos analisar as condições socioambientais e de cobertura de serviços de saúde prévias e os danos pós-impacto em municípios que decretaram estado de calamidade pública. Para caracterizar a vulnerabilidade socioambiental, foram utilizados dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) do Serviço Geológico do Brasil (CPRM), da Secretaria Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Civil (Sedec) e do Sistema Único de Saúde (Datasus). Encontramos grandes diferenças entre os dois estados, principalmente nos indicadores sociais, mas os efeitos das inundações foram severos para ambos, incluindo maior número de óbitos em Santa Catarina, estado com alto índice de desenvolvimento humano e menores índices de pobreza. Estes resultados evidenciam a necessidade de inclusão do tema saúde pública em todas as etapas do gerenciamento do risco de desastres. Abstract Events such as floods and landslides can cause disasters that affect Brazilian public health extensively. Impacts include traumas and injuries, damage to water treatment plants and hospitals, disruption of equipment and medicine supply, epidemics and the spread of diseases, as well as lasting psychosocial damage. In this article, we study disaster scenarios in municipalities from two Brazilian states that had declared a state of public calamity as a result of flooding - Santa Catarina (2008) and Pernambuco (2010). The object was to identify and analyze the impacts of these disasters on social and environmental conditions as well as on the coverage of public health. To this purpose, the before and after disaster situation in affected municipalities was analyzed. To characterize socio-environmental vulnerability, we used data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Brazilian Geological Survey (CPRM), the National Protection and Civil Defense Secretariat (SEDEC) and the Health Ministry. Although there are expressive differences between the two investigated states, especially in regards to social indicators, both of them suffered strong impacts after floods. Despite a higher human development index and low levels of poverty, Santa Catarina suffered more deaths than Pernambuco. Altogether, results demonstrate the need to include public health issues in all steps of disaster risk management. Resumen Eventos tales como las inundaciones y los derrumbes pueden causar desastres, afectando ampliamente la salud pública en Brasil. Además de las muertes, traumas y lesiones, pueden causar daños a las estaciones de tratamiento del agua, centros de salud y hospitales, comprometer el equipamiento y el stock de medicamentos, además de generar epidemias, proliferación de enfermedades y daños psicosociales. Con el objetivo de identificar y analizar las características pre y post impacto relacionadas con la salud pública, en este artículo se estudian dos escenarios: las inundaciones ocurridas en Santa Catarina en 2008 y en Pernambuco en 2010. Se analizan las condiciones socioambientales y de la cobertura de los servicios de salud previas y los daños posteriores al impacto en los municipios que decretaron el estado de emergencia pública. Para caracterizar la vulnerabilidad socioambiental se utilizaron datos del Instituto Brasileño de Geografía y Estadística (IBGE), del Servicio Geológico de Brasil (CPRM), de la Secretaría Nacional de Protección y Defensa Civil (SEDEC) y del Ministerio de Salud. Se encontraron grandes diferencias entre los dos estados, principalmente en los indicadores sociales, aunque los efectos de las inundaciones fueron severos para ambos, e incluso hubo un mayor número de muertos en Santa Catarina, estado con un alto índice de desarrollo humano y menores niveles de pobreza. Estos resultados muestran la necesidad de incluir el tema de la salud pública en todas las etapas de la gestión del riesgo de desastres.

The prevalence of functional and affordable wearable biosensors has led to an increase in stress management applications for learning about and improving one’s mental health. Previous research suggests that different types of graphical interfaces may evoke diverse user experiences with biofeedback interpretations and related interventions. In this research, we systematically investigate the effect of various biofeedback visual designs on supporting user engagement during a guided stress management practice. Specifically, we hypothesize that certain visual designs will affect user engagement and, thus, the training attention and physiological measures, due to their specific design features. Following a series of design studies, we assess five different styles of visual design and, for each style, we identify a suitable representative (i.e., raw numbers for the numerical style, bar charts for the analytical style, waves for the illustrative style, butterfly drawings for the artistic style, and table lamps for the ambient style). In a controlled within-subject experiment with 35 participants, we assess these five designs through a biofeedback-assisted stress management practice. We find that, overall, visual representation of data increases engagement and, thus, better facilitates stress management training when compared to a numerical display. The analysis through the results suggests that a certain level of abstraction in the interpretation of data encoding helps users move away from being judgmental; whereas animations and transitions augment the experience of being in the present moment.

Scanpath analysis is a controversial and important topic in eye tracking research. Previous work has shown the value of scanpath analysis in perceptual tasks; little research has examined its utility for understanding human reasoning in complex tasks. Here, we analyze n-grams, which are continuous ordered subsequences of participants' scanpaths. In particular we studied the length of n-grams that are most appropriate for this form of analysis. We reuse datasets from previous studies of human cognition, medical diagnosis and art, systematically analyzing the frequency of n-grams of increasing length, and compare this approach with a string alignment-based method. The results show that subsequences of four or more areas of interest may not be of value for finding patterns that distinguish between two groups. The study is the first to systematically define the parameters of the length of n-gram suitable for analysis, using an approach that holds across diverse domains.

O caminho de afirmacao Pipipa expressa-se por meio de multiplas formas: organizacao interna, escolas indigenas (educacao diferenciada), retomada do “Aricuri” com seu significado espiritual e “diacritico”, construcao da Capela de Santo Expedito e organizacao do batismo das criancas no Aricuri. A pesquisa aqui apresentada procurou interpretar o significado desses aspectos na perspectiva da “viagem de volta”, a afirmacao da identidade do povo indigena Pipipa, municipio de Floresta, Sertao de Pernambuco. Realizou-se uma pesquisa participante, como instrumento de coleta de dados e construcao de um “dialogo intercultural”, tendo como fundamentos teoricos reflexoes da Antropologia e da Historia, que se tornam instrumentos importantes para analisar o projeto do povo Pipipa. A celebracao do batismo de criancas no contexto do “aricuri” e uma especie de ponto de encontro de duas intencionalidades: a de Pipipa em seu caminho de volta e a do Concilio Vaticano II em seu desejo de reforma da Liturgia na perspectiva da participacao dos individuos com diferentes expressoes socioculturais.

Electricity system in Indonesia is still dominated by coal and this trend will remain to meet its electricity demand in the future. However, many of the power plants have been operating more than fifteen years. As means to cope with instability of power supply and reduce environmental issues, the Government of Indonesia is considering the upgrading and modernization of the existing coal power plants. Not only increasing the efficiency, rehabilitation also gives impact on GHGs emission reduction, like CO 2 . This study compared 2 methodologies: IPCC 2006 and UNFCCC AM0061 to calculate GHG CO 2 emission reduction by rehabilitation of a coal power plant with capacity 2×400MW in Indonesia. Furthermore, a cost-effectiveness analysis was performed which resulted implementing rehabilitation of coal-fired power plant in Indonesia costs $ 700–900/tœ 2 annually with IRR 28–29% using foreign loans.

In this paper, we introduce new lower bounds on the distortion of scalar fixed-rate codes for lossy compression with side information available at the receiver. These bounds are derived by presenting the relevant random variables as a Markov chain and applying generalized data-processing inequalities a la Ziv and Zakai. We show that by replacing the logarithmic function with other functions, in the data-processing theorem we formulate, we obtain new lower bounds on the distortion of scalar coding with side information at the decoder. The usefulness of these results is demonstrated for uniform sources and the convex function Q(t)=t1-α, α > 1. The bounds in this case are shown to be better than one can obtain from the Wyner-Ziv rate-distortion function.

The Japanese brown seaweed Sargassum muticum (Yendo) Fensholt (Fucales, Phaeophyta) is reported for the first time in Atlantic Morocco, along the shoreline of Doukkala (S of Casablanca). This record, the first in the African continent, represents a remarkable range expansion of this invasive marine species. Indeed, it is the southern-most occurrence of the species in the Atlantic. Preliminary phenological and ecological data of this non-native species were provided from the Doukkala coast. The major effects on benthic structure and composition of this invasive brown macroalga were also evaluated from published data. Oyster transfers from the French coast were the most likely primary

Com o intuito de contribuir para os estudos geográficos sobre a cidade, com enfoque na organização e produção do espaço, planejamento urbano e nas políticas públicas ambientais, este trabalho busca elucidar a relevância da Geografia para o estudo do meio urbano. Parte-se do estudo do espaço geográfico, como produto do trabalho humano. A ação humana transforma a Natureza Primeira em Natureza Segunda, que é assim entendida como natureza socializada. O espaço é, também, marcado por políticas adotadas pelo Estado, que atua como um fator por excelência de elaboração do espaço. Por meio de políticas territoriais, o Estado é o dotador dos grandes equipamentos e infraestrutura, sendo o grande indutor da ocupação e organização do espaço. O Planejamento Urbano se torna, assim, um importante instrumento na produção e organização do espaço, por meio de políticas públicas desenvolvidas pelo Estado junto à participação dos cidadãos, que exerçam sua cidadania, visando a um meio ambiente saudável e equilibrado. Desta forma, este trabalho estuda a efetivação das políticas públicas ambientais na escala local, tendo como unidade territorial de análise o município de São José dos Campos, sendo um município de grande porte, com alto desenvolvimento tecnológico e de destaque econômico no território nacional. O espaço urbano joseense sofreu grande intervenção do Estado. Embora a cidade tenha crescido com certo planejamento, nem sempre este ocorreu de forma justa e igualitária, o que é visível nos inúmeros problemas sociais e ambientais existentes no município. Por meio da análise da legislação urbanística e ambiental, em especial Planos Diretores e Leis de Zoneamento Urbano, além de trabalhos de campo, entrevistas, levantamento cartográfico e pesquisa documental, analisa-se a efetivação das políticas ambientais no município, se verifica se o que foi planejado em lei, está sendo executado na prática, se as questões ambientais estão sendo planejadas na escala local, com objetivo de alcançar as cidades sustentáveis, o desenvolvimento social e ambiental. In order to contribute to the geographical studies of a city, emphasizing the space organization, urban planning and public environmental policies, this paper attempts to elucidate the relevance of geography as a science for studying the urban environment. The geographical space is understood as a result of the human action. The human action changes the First Nature into Second Nature, which is then understood as socialized nature. The space is also marked by politics adopted by the State, which acts as a main factor to construct the space. By means of territorial policies the State becomes the great provider of equipment and infrastructure acting as the great inductor of the occupation and organization of the space. The urban planning then becomes an important instrument for the production and organization of the space, through public policies developed by the State with the citizens participation, seeking a healthy and balanced environment. Hence, this paper presents the studies of the effectuation of environmental public policies in local scale, using as territorial unit for analysis, the municipality of São José dos Campos, a large city, with high technological development and an economical reference in national territory. The urban space of São José has been subjected to major state intervention. Although the city has grown guided by some planning, this was not always happened in an equitable way, binging about many social and environmental problems in the municipality. Through the analysis of urban and environmental lawmaking, in particular Master Plans and Zoning Laws, field research, interviews, mapping and documental research, the effectuation of environmental public policies in the municipality is analyzed, and it is verified if what was planned in the law is being executed, if the environment issues are being planned in the local scale, with the objective of achieve sustainable cities, social and environmental development.

As elsewhere, Libya too is affected by human-induced climate change and the volatility of world oil markets. This chapter is designed to present the potential and prospects for replacing nonrenewable fossil fuels (i.e., hydrocarbon) as a backbone of the economy by a range of renewables including wind, solar-PV, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass to deliver energy. The focus is on land opportunities and constraints and on production costs as a function of resource availability and depletion and of innovation dynamics. After outlining a range of renewable production technologies it demonstrates how to try to spread and instill the culture within Libyan society of the idea of renewable energy (RE). It uses best practices and lessons learned to start this culture at an early stage via universities, Libyan academies, high institutes and technical colleges in Libya, and even lower schools. Finally lessons learned are described to highlight a way forward towards a low carbon economy in the country to combat the dangers of global warming through the use of abundantly available renewable potential sources of clean energy.

Raw biomass of the invasive Japanese brown seaweed Sargassum muticum, recently introduced to the Atlantic coast of Morocco, has been applied for the removal of hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. Various parameters such as biomass dose, initial pH, contact time and initial Cr(VI) concentration were studied to reveal their effects on the biosorption process. At optimum values of the above mentioned parameters, total removal of Cr(VI) can be achieved within 10 min at pH 2, adsorbent dose of 0.5 g/100 mL for initial chromium ions concentration of 50 mg/L. Cr(VI) biosorption follows pseudo second-order kinetics. Adsorption isotherms were determined at room temperature and the experimental data were modelled with the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm equations. The isotherm data were found to be well fitted by linear Langmuir equation. The maximum sorption capacity calculated from Langmuir isotherm was estimated to be about 143 mg per gram of dry biosorbent. Thus, the biomass used in this study can be considered a promising and valuable natural adsorbent for the treatment of aqueous solution containing toxic hexavalent chromium ions.

In this paper, we derive lower bounds on the distortion of scalar fixed-rate codes for lossy compression with side information available at the receiver. These bounds are derived by presenting the relevant random variables as a Markov chain and applying generalized data processing inequalities a la Ziv and Zakai.

We present adaptive on-line schemes for lossy encoding of individual sequences under the conditions of the Wyner-Ziv (WZ) problem. In the first part of this article, a set of fixed-rate scalar source codes with zero delay is presented. We propose a randomized on-line coding scheme, which achieves asymptotically (and with high probability), the performance of the best source code in the set, uniformly over all source sequences. The scheme uses the same rate and has zero delay. We then present an efficient algorithm for implementing our on-line coding scheme in the case of a relatively small set of encoders. We also present an efficient algorithm for the case of a larger set of encoders with a structure, using the method of the weighted graph and the Weight Pushing Algorithm (WPA). In the second part of this article, we extend our results to the case of variable-rate coding. A set of variable-rate scalar source codes is presented. We generalize the randomized on-line coding scheme, to our case. This time, the performance is measured by the Lagrangian Cost (LC), which is defined as a weighted sum of the distortion and the length of the encoded sequence. We present an efficient algorithm for implementing our on-line variable-rate coding scheme in the case of a relatively small set of encoders. We then consider the special case of lossless variable-rate coding. An on-line scheme which use Huffman codes is presented. We show that this scheme can be implemented efficiently using the same graphic methods from the first part. Combining the results from former sections, we build a generalized efficient algorithm for structured set of variable-rate encoders. The complexity of all the algorithms is no more than linear in the sequence length., Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures