Proposta de atualização da segunda edição do Sistema Brasileiro de Classificação de Solos.

O Sistema Brasileiro de Classificação de Solos (SiBCS), publicado originalmente em 1999, está em constante aperfeiçoamento. A mola propulsora para tal são as ideias e propostas emanadas das reuniões técnicas de classificação e correlação de solos, conhecidas como RCCs (Reunião de Classificação e Correlação de Solos), juntamente com as numerosas sugestões enviadas por usuários do SiBCS ao Comitê Executivo Nacional de Classificação de Solos, sob coordenação da Embrapa Solos. As sugestões são discutidas, avaliadas e consolidadas no âmbito do referido Comitê em reuniões presenciais e discussões via internet. O presente trabalho é resultado dessa trajetória de evolução do conhecimento dos solos brasileiros e da organização estrutural da comunidade pedológica brasileira a fim de consolidar tal conhecimento num sistema taxonômico mais abrangente, preciso e que atenda a multiusuários. No entanto, este documento não está liberado para uso em substituição à segunda edição do SiBCS, tendo em vista que trata-se de um documento de divulgação das propostas de alterações até então consolidadas no Sistema com vistas à sua 3a edição. Dentre estas, destacam-se: ajustes, correções e redefinições de conceitos básicos relativos às definições de caráter plânico, caráter rúbrico, cerosidade, horizontes A antrópico, B textural, B latossólico, B nítico, B espódico e B plânico. É sugerida a extinção dos horizontes A moderado e A fraco, ambos agrupados no proposto horizonte A ócrico, bem como a criação do caráter retrátil, referindo-se à retração acentuada da massa do solo após exposição e secamento de perfis de solos, condição típica de proposta de atualização da segunda edição do Sistema Brasileiro de Classificação de Solos alguns Latossolos e Nitossolos do sul do país até então com reconhecidas dificuldades na sua identificação e classificação taxonômica. Alterações de redação, de eliminação ou incorporação de classes de solos são propostas no nível categórico de ordem (Nitossolos e Planossolos), de subordem (Cambissolos Húmicos, Latossolos Brunos, Nitossolos Brunos, Neossolos Flúvicos e Planossolos Nátricos), de grande grupo (inclusão de Alíticos nos Cambissolos Húmicos, inclusão de Sódicos nos Gleissolos Melânicos e Gleissolos Háplicos, exclusão de Acriférricos e Ácricos nos Latossolos Brunos, redefinição da seção de controle, no terceiro nível categórico, nos Gleissolos Melânicos, Gleissolos Háplicos, Neossolos Flúvicos e Planossolos Háplicos) e de subgrupo (inclusões de inúmeras classes de solos), bem como no nível categórico de família (criação dos subgrupamentos texturais e de atividade da fração argila).

Inspection Methods in Programming

The work reported here lies in the area of overlap between artificial intelligence software engineering. As research in artificial intelligence, it is a step towards a model of problem solving in the domain of programming. In particular, this work focuses on the routine aspects of programming which involve the application of previous experience with similar programs. I call this programming by inspection. Programming is viewed here as a kind of engineering activity. Analysis and synthesis by inspection area prominent part of expert problem solving in many other engineering disciplines, such as electrical and mechanical engineering. The notion of inspections methods in programming developed in this work is motivated by similar notions in other areas of engineering. This work is also motivated by current practical concerns in the area of software engineering. The inadequacy of current programming technology is universally recognized. Part of the solution to this problem will be to increase the level of automation in programming. I believe that the next major step in the evolution of more automated programming will be interactive systems which provide a mixture of partially automated program analysis, synthesis and verification. One such system being developed at MIT, called the programmer's apprentice, is the immediate intended application of this work. This report concentrates on the knowledge are of the programmer's apprentice, which is the form of a taxonomy of commonly used algorithms and data structures. To the extent that a programmer is able to construct and manipulate programs in terms of the forms in such a taxonomy, he may relieve himself of many details and generally raise the conceptual level of his interaction with the system, as compared with present day programming environments. Also, since it is practical to expand a great deal of effort pre-analyzing the entries in a library, the difficulty of verifying the correctness of programs constructed this way is correspondingly reduced. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by the design of an initial library of common techniques for manipulating symbolic data. This document also reports on the further development of a formalism called the plan calculus for specifying computations in a programming language independent manner. This formalism combines both data and control abstraction in a uniform framework that has facilities for representing multiple points of view and side effects.

Classificacao taxonomica, baseada na caracterizacao molecular, das estirpes de rizobio recomendadas para a culturas da soja e do feijoeiro.

As culturas da soja [Glycine max (L.) Merril] e do feijoeiro (Phaseolus vulgaris) sao de grande importancia economica e social para o Brasil e ambas podem ser capazes de suprir suas necessidades do nutriente nitrogenio pela simbiose com bacterias da familia Rhizobiaceae. Para garantir a maximizacao do processo biologico, porem, deve-se proceder a inoculacao das sementes com estirpes de rizobio eficientes e competitivas, recomendadas pela pesquisa. No Brasil, sao comercializadas, anualmente, cerca de 13 milhoes de doses de inoculantes, sendo 99% destinadas a cultura da soja. Neste trabalho, determinou-se a posicao taxonomica das estirpes de rizobio recomendadas comercialmente para as duas culturas por duas tecnicas, o RFLP-PCR da regiao correspondente ao 16S rRNA (regiao conservada entre bacterias mas suficientemente variavel e carregando informacoes que permitem a determinacao das relacoes filogeneticas entre bacterias) e o sequenciamento parcial dos genes desta regiao. O sequenciamento parcial permitiu definir que duas das estirpes recomendadas para a cultura da soja, SEMIA 587 e SEMIA 5019, pertencem a especie Bradyrhizobium elkanii e as duas outras, SEMIA 5079 e SEMIA 5080, a especie B. japonicum. As duas estirpes recomendadas para a cultura do feijoeiro, SEMIA 4077 e SEMIA 4080, pertencem a especie Rhizobium tropici. As sequencias obtidas para essas estirpes foram depositadas no banco mundial de genes.

Strategies that students use to trace code: an analysis based in grounded theory

Fitzgerald, S., Simon, B., and Thomas, L. 2005. Strategies that students use to trace code: an analysis based in grounded theory. In Proceedings of the First international Workshop on Computing Education Research (Seattle, WA, USA, October 01 - 02, 2005). ICER '05. ACM, New York, NY, 69-80

Constructing Visual Taxonomies by Shape

Cook, Anthony; Gibbens, M.J., (2006) 'Constructing Visual Taxonomies by Shape', 18th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR'06) Volume 2, pp. 732 - 735 RAE2008

Os blogues corporativos como meio de comunicação organizacional

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Comunicação, especialização em Relações Públicas.

Examining the post-adoptive infusion of mobile technology in a healthcare domain: determinants and outcomes

The healthcare industry is beginning to appreciate the benefits which can be obtained from using Mobile Health Systems (MHS) at the point-of-care. As a result, healthcare organisations are investing heavily in mobile health initiatives with the expectation that users will employ the system to enhance performance. Despite widespread endorsement and support for the implementation of MHS, empirical evidence surrounding the benefits of MHS remains to be fully established. For MHS to be truly valuable, it is argued that the technological tool be infused within healthcare practitioners work practices and used to its full potential in post-adoptive scenarios. Yet, there is a paucity of research focusing on the infusion of MHS by healthcare practitioners. In order to address this gap in the literature, the objective of this study is to explore the determinants and outcomes of MHS infusion by healthcare practitioners. This research study adopts a post-positivist theory building approach to MHS infusion. Existing literature is utilised to develop a conceptual model by which the research objective is explored. Employing a mixed-method approach, this conceptual model is first advanced through a case study in the UK whereby propositions established from the literature are refined into testable hypotheses. The final phase of this research study involves the collection of empirical data from a Canadian hospital which supports the refined model and its associated hypotheses. The results from both phases of data collection are employed to develop a model of MHS infusion. The study contributes to IS theory and practice by: (1) developing a model with six determinants (Availability, MHS Self-Efficacy, Time-Criticality, Habit, Technology Trust, and Task Behaviour) and individual performance-related outcomes of MHS infusion (Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Learning), (2) examining undocumented determinants and relationships, (3) identifying prerequisite conditions that both healthcare practitioners and organisations can employ to assist with MHS infusion, (4) developing a taxonomy that provides conceptual refinement of IT infusion, and (5) informing healthcare organisations and vendors as to the performance of MHS in post-adoptive scenarios.

Evolutionary characters, phenotypes and ontologies: curating data from the systematic biology literature.

BACKGROUND: The wealth of phenotypic descriptions documented in the published articles, monographs, and dissertations of phylogenetic systematics is traditionally reported in a free-text format, and it is therefore largely inaccessible for linkage to biological databases for genetics, development, and phenotypes, and difficult to manage for large-scale integrative work. The Phenoscape project aims to represent these complex and detailed descriptions with rich and formal semantics that are amenable to computation and integration with phenotype data from other fields of biology. This entails reconceptualizing the traditional free-text characters into the computable Entity-Quality (EQ) formalism using ontologies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used ontologies and the EQ formalism to curate a collection of 47 phylogenetic studies on ostariophysan fishes (including catfishes, characins, minnows, knifefishes) and their relatives with the goal of integrating these complex phenotype descriptions with information from an existing model organism database (zebrafish, http://zfin.org). We developed a curation workflow for the collection of character, taxonomic and specimen data from these publications. A total of 4,617 phenotypic characters (10,512 states) for 3,449 taxa, primarily species, were curated into EQ formalism (for a total of 12,861 EQ statements) using anatomical and taxonomic terms from teleost-specific ontologies (Teleost Anatomy Ontology and Teleost Taxonomy Ontology) in combination with terms from a quality ontology (Phenotype and Trait Ontology). Standards and guidelines for consistently and accurately representing phenotypes were developed in response to the challenges that were evident from two annotation experiments and from feedback from curators. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The challenges we encountered and many of the curation standards and methods for improving consistency that we developed are generally applicable to any effort to represent phenotypes using ontologies. This is because an ontological representation of the detailed variations in phenotype, whether between mutant or wildtype, among individual humans, or across the diversity of species, requires a process by which a precise combination of terms from domain ontologies are selected and organized according to logical relations. The efficiencies that we have developed in this process will be useful for any attempt to annotate complex phenotypic descriptions using ontologies. We also discuss some ramifications of EQ representation for the domain of systematics.

RCN4GSC Workshop Report: Managing Data at the Interface of Biodiversity and (Meta)Genomics, March 2011.

Building on the planning efforts of the RCN4GSC project, a workshop was convened in San Diego to bring together experts from genomics and metagenomics, biodiversity, ecology, and bioinformatics with the charge to identify potential for positive interactions and progress, especially building on successes at establishing data standards by the GSC and by the biodiversity and ecological communities. Until recently, the contribution of microbial life to the biomass and biodiversity of the biosphere was largely overlooked (because it was resistant to systematic study). Now, emerging genomic and metagenomic tools are making investigation possible. Initial research findings suggest that major advances are in the offing. Although different research communities share some overlapping concepts and traditions, they differ significantly in sampling approaches, vocabularies and workflows. Likewise, their definitions of 'fitness for use' for data differ significantly, as this concept stems from the specific research questions of most importance in the different fields. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that there is much to be gained from greater coordination and integration. As a first step toward interoperability of the information systems used by the different communities, participants agreed to conduct a case study on two of the leading data standards from the two formerly disparate fields: (a) GSC's standard checklists for genomics and metagenomics and (b) TDWG's Darwin Core standard, used primarily in taxonomy and systematic biology.

Towards Cloud-Based Knowledge Capturing Based on Natural Language Processing

Paper presented at the Cloud Forward Conference 2015, October 6th-8th, Pisa

A Competence-Based Course Authoring Concept for Learning Platforms with Legacy Assignment Tools

This paper is concerned with several of the most important aspects of Competence-Based Learning (CBL): course authoring, assignments, and categorization of learning content. The latter is part of the so-called Bologna Process (BP) and can effectively be supported by integrating knowledge resources like, e.g., standardized skill and competence taxonomies into the target implementation approach, aiming at making effective use of an open integration architecture while fostering the interoperability of hybrid knowledge-based e-learning solutions. Modern scenarios ask for interoperable software solutions to seamlessly integrate existing e-learning infrastructures and legacy tools with innovative technologies while being cognitively efficient to handle. In this way, prospective users are enabled to use them without learning overheads. At the same time, methods of Learning Design (LD) in combination with CBL are getting more and more important for production and maintenance of easy to facilitate solutions. We present our approach of developing a competence-based course-authoring and assignment support software. It is bridging the gaps between contemporary Learning Management Systems (LMS) and established legacy learning infrastructures by embedding existing resources via Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). Furthermore, the underlying conceptual architecture for this integration approach will be explained. In addition, a competence management structure based on knowledge technologies supporting standardized skill and competence taxonomies will be introduced. The overall goal is to develop a software solution which will not only flawlessly merge into a legacy platform and several other learning environments, but also remain intuitively usable. As a proof of concept, the so-called platform independent conceptual architecture model will be validated by a concrete use case scenario.

The biodiscovery potential of marine bacteria: an investigation of phylogeny and function

A collection of marine bacteria isolated from a temperate coastal zone has been screened in a programme of biodiscovery. A total of 34 enzymes with biotechnological potential were screened in 374 isolates of marine bacteria. Only two enzymes were found in all isolates while the majority of enzyme activities were present in a smaller proportion of the isolates. A cluster analysis demonstrated no significant correlation between taxonomy and enzyme function. However, there was evidence of co-occurrence of some enzyme activity in the same isolate. In this study marine Proteobacteria had a higher complement of enzymes with biodiscovery potential than Actinobacteria; this contrasts with the terrestrial environment where the Actinobacteria phylum is a proven source of enzymes with important industrial applications. In addition, a number of novel enzyme functions were more abundant in this marine culture collection than would be expected on the basis of knowledge from terrestrial bacteria. There is a strong case for future investigation of marine bacteria as a source for biodiscovery.

Identification of the copepodite developmental stages of twenty-six North Atlantic copepods. Occasional Publication of the Marine Biological Association No. 21 (revised edition)

This identification guide to the copepodite developmental stages of twenty-six North Atlantic copepods has been revised and extended, to include new information, to update the taxonomy and to give additional details on how to determine sex in the later copepodite stages of gymnoplean copepods.

Contributions to the bryological flora of the tropical and subtropical forests from the Argentina (Bryophyta, Musci).

The authors present here a list of 32 mosses belonging to 15 families: Brachytheciaceae, Cryphaeaceae, Entodontaceae, Hedwigiaceae, Hypnaceae, Leptodontaceae, Meteoriaceae, Neckeraceae, Pilotrichaceae, Polytrichaceae, Pterobryaceae, Racopilaceae, Rigodiaceae, Stereophyllaceae, and Trachypodaceae, all collected in the mountainous forests of the Yungas of the NW of the Argentina (Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca and Tucumán provinces), and also in the rainforests from the NE of the country (Misiones province). Eight species: Atrichum polycarpum, Chrysohypnum elegantulum, Pilosium chlorophyllum, Pilotrichella flexilis, Porotrichodendron lindigii, Pseudotrachypus martinicensis, Steerecleus scariosus, and Thamnobryum fasciculatum are new records for the bryologic flora from Argentina. Braunia imberbis and Squamidium brasiliense are two new records for the bryophytic flora of the Catamarca province; Porotrichodendron superbum is new for the Salta province, while Forsstroemia coronata is the first record for the Catamarca and Jujuy provinces. Aerolindigia capillacea, Braunia reflexifolia, Chryso-hypnum diminutivum, Meteorium deppei and Meteoridium remotifolium are five new citations for the Jujuy province, and Schoenobryum concavifolium is new for the bryophytic flora of the Misiones province. Many studied species occur more frequently in the Yungas than in the NE rainforests; others show separated distribution but live in both areas, the Yungas and Paranaense area, and others are more or less restricted to the Paranaense rainforest of the NE of Argentina. The taxonomy of species is updated, and comments are included on bibliographical precedents, ecology and chorology of each taxon.

Impact of zooplankton food selectivity on plankton dynamics and nutrient cycling

Within models, zooplankton grazing is typically defined as being dependent on total prey concentration, with feeding selectivity expressed only as a function of prey size. This behavior ignores taxonomic preferences shown by the preda- tors and the capacity of some zooplankton to actively select or reject individual prey items from mixtures. We carried out two model experiments comparing impacts of zooplankton displaying passive and active selection, which resulted in contrasting dynamics for the pelagic system. Passive selection by the grazer resulted in a top down control on the prey with a fast turn-over of nutrients. Active selection, on the other hand led to a bottom-up control, with slower nutrient turnover constraining primary production by changing the system toward export of particulate matter. Our results suggest that selective feeding behavior is an important trait, and should be considered alongside size and taxonomy when studying the role of zooplankton impact in the ecosystem.