Analysis of a Local HIV-1 Epidemic in Portugal Highlights Established Transmission of non-B and -G Subtypes

Existing data supports Portugal as the Western Europe country with highest HIV-1 subtype diversity. However, detailed phylogenetic studies of Portuguese HIV-1 epidemics are still scarce. Thus, our main goal was to analyze the phylodynamics of a local HIV-1 infection in the Portuguese region of Minho. Molecular epidemiological analysis was applied to data from 289 HIV-1 infected individuals followed in the reference Hospital of the province of Minho, Portugal, in which isolated viruses had been sequenced between 2000 and 2012. Viruses of the G (29.1%) and B (27.0%) subtypes were the most frequent, followed by recombinant forms (17.6%), C (14.5%), F1 (7.3%) and A1 (4.2%) subtypes. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that the odds of being infected with A1 and F1 subtype increased over the years when compared with B, G, C or recombinant viruses. As expected, polyphyletic patterns suggesting multiple and old introductions of subtypes B and G were found. However, transmission clusters of non-B and -G viruses among native individuals were also found with the dates of the most recent common ancestor estimated to the early 2000s. Our study supports that the HIV-1 subtype diversity in the Portuguese region of Minho is high and has been increasing in a manner that is apparently driven by factors other than immigration and international travel. Infections with A1 and F1 viruses in the region of Minho are becoming established and were mainly found in sexually transmitted clusters, reinforcing the need for more efficacious control measures targeting this infection route.

Task clustering on ETL systems – A pattern-oriented approach

Usually, data warehousing populating processes are data-oriented workflows composed by dozens of granular tasks that are responsible for the integration of data coming from different data sources. Specific subset of these tasks can be grouped on a collection together with their relationships in order to form higher- level constructs. Increasing task granularity allows for the generalization of processes, simplifying their views and providing methods to carry out expertise to new applications. Well-proven practices can be used to describe general solutions that use basic skeletons configured and instantiated according to a set of specific integration requirements. Patterns can be applied to ETL processes aiming to simplify not only a possible conceptual representation but also to reduce the gap that often exists between two design perspectives. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of an ETL pattern-based approach using task clustering, analyzing a real world ETL scenario through the definitions of two commonly used clusters of tasks: a data lookup cluster and a data conciliation and integration cluster.

Jet energy measurement and its systematic uncertainty in proton-proton collisions at s√=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The jet energy scale (JES) and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector using proton–proton collision data with a centre-of-mass energy of s√=7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb −1 . Jets are reconstructed from energy deposits forming topological clusters of calorimeter cells using the anti- kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0.4 or R=0.6 , and are calibrated using MC simulations. A residual JES correction is applied to account for differences between data and MC simulations. This correction and its systematic uncertainty are estimated using a combination of in situ techniques exploiting the transverse momentum balance between a jet and a reference object such as a photon or a Z boson, for 20≤pjetT<1000 GeV and pseudorapidities |η|<4.5 . The effect of multiple proton–proton interactions is corrected for, and an uncertainty is evaluated using in situ techniques. The smallest JES uncertainty of less than 1 % is found in the central calorimeter region ( |η|<1.2 ) for jets with 55≤pjetT<500 GeV . For central jets at lower pT , the uncertainty is about 3 %. A consistent JES estimate is found using measurements of the calorimeter response of single hadrons in proton–proton collisions and test-beam data, which also provide the estimate for pjetT>1 TeV. The calibration of forward jets is derived from dijet pT balance measurements. The resulting uncertainty reaches its largest value of 6 % for low- pT jets at |η|=4.5 . Additional JES uncertainties due to specific event topologies, such as close-by jets or selections of event samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks or gluons, are also discussed. The magnitude of these uncertainties depends on the event sample used in a given physics analysis, but typically amounts to 0.5–3 %.

Cultura, liderança e resultados escolares: uma abordagem a partir das representações dos alunos do ensino secundário

Grande parte dos estudos produzidos sobre a liderança escolar tem incidido na análise da relação entre os processos de liderança, a aprendizagem e o sucesso. Embora esta convergência de enfoque (liderança/sucesso) encubra abordagens teóricas, disciplinares e metodológicas muito diferenciadas, é evidente a presença de uma perspetiva unidirecional, mais focada nas políticas e nas práticas de liderança e menos na forma como estas são entendidas pelos alunos. Neste artigo, propomos um enfoque invertido, focado nas representações dos alunos sobre os processos de liderança. Do ponto de vista metodológico, recorremos aos dados recolhidos no âmbito de quatro estudos de caso realizados em escolas/agrupamentos com ensino secundário, resultantes da administração de um inquérito por questionário e da realização de focus group a alunos com resultados académicos de excelência e a alunos não incluídos neste nível de desempenho. Elegemos como referência analítica um estudo de caso de longa duração, a partir do qual colocamos em confronto os dados recolhidos nos outros três contextos estudados. Os resultados deste estudo apontam para a existência de relações e diferenças significativas entre a cultura organizacional da escola e os estilos de liderança, sendo destacada a importância do papel do Diretor na condução do ideário de excelência da escola.

Monitorização com base no currículo na identificação de alunos em risco de dislexia: estudo quantitativo no 4º ano do 1º ciclo do ensino básico no concelho de Braga

Dissertação de mestrado em Educação Especial (área de especialização em Dificuldades de Aprendizagem Específicas)