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The Madeira archipelago has a unique underwater landscape that is characterised by narrow shelves, steep slopes and a large submarine tributary system that boosts primary productivity in oligotrophic waters and thus offers a potential for hotspots of biodiversity. Despite this, there have been limited deep-water exploration activities with less than five expeditions since the 1960s. Here, we investigated the seabed on the southern side of the Madeira-Desertas Ridge using a manned submersible along a 3.8 km long transect starting at 366 m depth up the ridge shelf until its top at 73 m. Benthic habitats and community composition were documented with video along a depth gradient from mesophotic to deep sea. Six distinct biotopes were recognised (three deeper, and three shallower than 115 m depth). Our results showed a rich biodiversity with deep biotopes characterised by sponges and non-reef-building corals (e.g., Pachastrella monilifera, Viminella flagellum, Eunicella verrucosa) and shallow biotopes comprising macroalgae and the gorgonian Paramuricea cf. grayi. The pronounced benthic zonation reflects the steep environmental gradient that includes high topographic variation, heterogeneous substrates, and bidirectional regular wave-motion at the shallow mesophotic part. Together with biotic factors, such as low density of sea urchins and presence of predatory fish, this environment with unusual deep light penetration, a mesoscale cyclonic eddy, and deep wave-motion, has allowed the establishment of a mature deep-water kelp population of Laminaria ochroleuca in the plateau (max. >100 individuals p/100 m2). At the same time, a conspicuous coral fauna was observed on a wide range of soft to hard bottoms with several species taking advantage of the favourable hydrodynamic regime and seawater properties together with substratum availability to create coral gardens. These habitats were previously not known from Madeira, and their newfound discovery in the archipelago merit further investigation and protection.

Abstract Studies on microbial communities are pivotal to understand the role and the evolutionary paths of the host and their associated microorganisms in the ecosystems. Meta-genomics techniques have proven to be one of the most effective tools in the identification of endosymbiotic communities of host species. The microbiome of the highly exploited topshell Phorcus sauciatus was characterized in the Northeastern Atlantic (Portugal, Madeira, Selvagens, Canaries and Azores). Alpha diversity analysis based on observed OTUs showed significant differences among regions. The Principal Coordinates Analysis of beta-diversity based on presence/absence showed three well differentiated groups, one from Azores, a second from Madeira and the third one for mainland Portugal, Selvagens and the Canaries. The microbiome results may be mainly explained by large-scale oceanographic processes of the study region, i.e., the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, and specifically by the Canary Current. Our results suggest the feasibility of microbiome as a model study to unravel biogeographic and evolutionary processes in marine species with high dispersive potential.

Black scabbardfish, Aphanopus carbo, is a commercially important species that takes distant migrations throughout its life cycle. Sex steroids were measured by radioimmunoassay in the blood plasma of specimens caught off the Madeira Archipelago and mainland Portugal to link this species migratory path with its reproductive cycle. Furthermore, a pilot study using Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) was designed to evaluate the effect of sample freshness on steroid levels because black scabbardfish blood was collected at separate times after specimens were caught. The changes in T and 11-KT concentrations between the time of blood extraction and the time after preservation did not statistically differ among the different methods applied. Therefore, measured black scabbardfish steroid concentrations were directly used in the subsequent data analyses. In females, E2 and in T concentrations peaked at a late stage of vitellogenesis. E2 concentration was significantly different between females caught off each area. Clustering E2 and T concentrations from all developing females resulted in the separation of two distinct groups, independently of their geographical area. In males, T and 11-KT were not significantly different between maturity stages. The hepatosomatic index of males caught off mainland Portugal was relatively high. This may reflect a mechanism for storing energy that will later be consumed during migration to the spawning grounds. The trend of sex steroids concentrations throughout the sexual maturation of the species is consistent with the morphological indicators and shows evidence of the reproductive and migratory pattern hypothesised for the black scabbardfish in NE Atlantic.

The present study was conceptualized to study the muraenid species (moray eels) occurring around the volcanic archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary and Cabo Verde islands (eastern-central Atlantic). The biogeographic patterns of these species were analysed and compared. We then hypothesized that this fish family is an ideal group for testing at small-scale the coherency of Macaronesia and its direct biogeographic units: i.e. the Azores, Webbnesia and Cabo Verde, as proposed in recent scientific literature. Additionally, this paper provides for the first time separate fishery statistics for this group in the region that were analysed to contrast the biogeographic results.

Even though the milder climate scenario and constant evolution of thermal building regulation are in light of European initiatives, in Portugal, there are few houses where occupants can remain all the time in perfectly comfortable temperature conditions without resorting to heating or cooling. According to the Long Term Strategy for the Renewal of Buildings (ELPRE), this results from the combination of several factors, namely, low energy use for air conditioning compared to energy needs and aged building stock with poor energy performance. In fact, around 70% of the dwellings currently certified have low energy efficiency (C or less). The purpose of this review article was to analyse and discuss the factors affecting indoor thermal comfort, the inability to keep the home adequately warm in winter and cool in summer, and the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European context, namely in Portugal. It fills the gap in the literature researching and analysing the motivations for these lower consumptions in Southern Europe, being Portugal a paradigmatic case. The current work integrates the indoor thermal comfort evolution and the current situation in Portugal in the EU context through different thermal comfort indicators and linking with the other statistics data, which may impact the indoor thermal comfort.

The deep-sea sharks associated as by-catch of the Madeiran midwater drifting longline fishery for scabbardfishes (Aphanopus spp.) were investigated by means of an experimental survey at 800-1200 m depth within the Canary Islands Exclusive Economic Zone, whose fishing grounds have been exploited during the past 15 years. Nine species of chondrichthyans were identified, belonging to five families: Pseudotriakidae, Centrophoridae, Etmopteridae, Somniosidae and Chimaeridae. Data on length, weight and sex ratio for the 436 chondrichthyan individuals caught in the March 2009 survey are given. Several voucher specimens of each species caught were deposited in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Funchal.

Composition and bycatch of semi-floating shrimp-trap fisheries (SSTF) were compared among areas with different levels of anthropogenic alteration of marine ecosystems. The three areas selected were Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Mean species richness and diversity of the SSTF did not show significant differences among areas. The dominant species in catches of the SSTF for all regions studied was the main target species, Plesionika edwardsii, which accounted for 96.0% of the catch in Cape Verde, 75.8% in Madeira and 59.1% in the Canary Islands. Targeted pandalid shrimps accounted for more than 96.8% of total catches for all areas combined. Numbers of non-target species caught were 18 (Madeira), 14 (Canary Islands) and 16 (Cape Verde), of which 13 (Madeira), 8 (Canary Islands) and 11 (Cape Verde) were always discarded. Bycatch accounted for 0.5% (Madeira), 0.7% (Canary Islands) and 3.1% (Cape Verde) in numbers. Shark species accounted for 0.11% of all individuals caught. A total of 5 species in Madeira, 6 in the Canary Islands and 4 in Cape Verde, accounting for 0.2% to 0.8% of total catches, were not landed due to the small size of individuals or low numbers of individuals caught (self-consumption). The present results suggest that the selectivity of traps for the main target species, P. edwardsii, in SSTF changes due to changes in species dominance, which are probably linked to the degree of human fishing exploitation of the marine ecosystems in each area.

Object relative clauses are harder to process than subject relative clauses. Under Grillo’s (2009) Generalized Minimality framework, complexity effects of object relatives are construed as intervention effects, which result from an interaction between locality constraints on movement (Relativized Minimality) and the sentence processing system. Specifically, intervention of the subject DP in the movement dependency is expected to generate a minimality violation whenever processing limitations render the moved object underspecified, resulting in compromised comprehension. In the present study, assuming Generalized Minimality, we compared the processing of object relatives with the processing of subject control in ditransitives, which, like object relatives, instantiates a syntactic dependency across an intervening DP. This comparison is justified by the current debate on whether Control should be analyzed as movement: if control involves movement of the controller DP, as proposed by Hornstein (1999), a parallel between the processing of object relatives and subject control in ditransitives may be anticipated on the basis of intervention. In addition, we explored whether general cognitive factors contribute to complexity effects ascribed to movement across a DP. Sixty-nine adult speakers of European Portuguese read sentences and answered comprehension probes in a self-paced reading task with moving-window display, comprising four experimental conditions: Subject Relatives; Object Relatives; Subject Control; Object Control. Furthermore, participants performed four supplementary tasks, serving as measures of resistance to interference, lexical knowledge, working memory capacity and lexical access ability. The results from the reading task showed that whereas object relatives were harder to process than subject relatives, subject control was not harder to process than object control, arguing against recent movement accounts of control. Furthermore, we found that whereas object relative complexity effects assessed by response times to comprehension probes interacted with Reading Span, object relative complexity effects assessed by comprehension accuracy and reading times did not interact with any of the supplementary tasks. We discuss these results in light of Generalized Minimality and the hypothesis of modularity in syntactic processing (Caplan and Waters, 1999).

Loneliness may be a consequence of social distancing, a measure imposed by several governments to try to reduce the contagion of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Despite being necessary, this measure may have thus caused a rise in mental health issues, leading to higher psychological distress and symptomatology. Thus, it is also important to explore how loneliness relates to the regulation of psychological needs. This study aims to explore the relationships between loneliness, symptomatology, and the regulation of psychological needs. 142 individuals (M age=32.7, SD=10.9), answered self-report questionnaires in a cross-sectional design. Results show that loneliness is positively correlated with symptomatology and difficulties in the regulation of psychological needs, with these relationships being mediated by psychological distress and psychological well-being. We discuss our results with a focus on loneliness and related psychopathological symptomatology, as they seem to be core factors in the regulation of psychological needs.

Introduction: Computerized decision support decreases the number of computed tomography pulmonary angiograms (CTPA) for pulmonary embolism (PE) ordered in emergency departments, but it is not always well accepted by emergency physicians. We studied a department-endorsed, evidence-based clinical protocol that included the PE rule-out criteria (PERC) rule, multi-modal education using principles of knowledge translation (KT), and clinical decision support embedded in our order entry system, to decrease the number of unnecessary CTPA ordered. Methods: We performed a historically controlled observational before-after study for one year pre- and post-implementation of a departmentally-endorsed protocol. We included patients > 18 in whom providers suspected PE and who did not have a contraindication to CTPA. Providers entered clinical information into a diagnostic pathway via computerized order entry. Prior to protocol implementation, we provided education to ordering providers. The primary outcome measure was the number of CTPA ordered per 1,000 visits one year before vs. after implementation. Results: CTPA declined from 1,033 scans for 98,028 annual visits (10.53 per 1,000 patient visits (95% CI [9.9–11.2]) to 892 scans for 101,172 annual visits (8.81 per 1,000 patient visits (95% CI [8.3–9.4]) p

Enhancing energy efficiency of water supply systems by recovering part of the excessive pressure is currently an issue of growing interest for water companies. The installation of micro hydro plants for energy recovery can be profitable in sites with excessive pressure, though requiring proper technical and economical evaluation. This paper presents a methodology for assessing the energy recovery potential in water supply systems under high seasonal demand variation. The methodology is based on the calculation of head and flow rate conditions that maximize energy production for a specific energy recovery technology, given available head and flow rate ranges. The methodology is applied to the inlet of a storage tank of a water transmission system using hourly collected data over one year. Results show that, in systems of high variability of flow rate, the installation of turbomachines in parallel is necessary for maximizing energy recovery and that the developed methodology returns lower, but more realistic, energy production estimates than other approaches based on average head and flow rate data.