https://docentes.fct.unl.pt/lblm/files/chemeurj-2019-25-4309.pdf

The current curricular guidelines for mathematics education in Portugal emphasize the relevance of working with different representations of functions to promote understanding. Given this relevance, we seek understanding about the notion of function held by 37 basic education pre-service teachers in their first year of a master’s course. Data were collected through a task focusing on identifying functions in situations based on different representations. The content analysis technique was then adopted in the search for an understanding of the justifications given by the participants. The results achieved suggest it is easier for the pre-service teachers to identify examples that are not functions than examples that are functions. There is also a tendency for greater accuracy in the identification of examples expressed by tables than by algebraic expressions. The justifications presented show a notion of function as a relation between values of two non-empty sets, but without guaranteeing that this relation is single-valued.

Este capítulo apresenta uma visão geral da paleobiodiversidade alfa de Angola com base no registo fóssil disponível, o qual se limita às rochas sedimentares, a sua idade variando entre o Pré‑Câmbrico e o pre‑
sente. O período geológico com a maior paleobiodiversidade no registo fóssil angolano é o Cretácico, com mais de 80% do total dos táxones fósseis conhecidos, especialmente moluscos marinhos, sendo estes na sua maioria
amonites. Os vertebrados representam cerca de 15% da fauna conhecida e cerca de um décimo destes são espécies descritas pela primeira vez com base em espécimes de Angola.

This article focuses the choice and use of examples by two students of the 11th grade to prove or refute a set of statements. The use of representations of sequences and functions is also considered. The study adopts a qualitative approach and data were collected by interviews and documental gathering. The conclusions suggest most of the examples used were well-known sequences or functions. However, the students sought different purposes for the use of examples, such as understanding the conjecture, demonstrate the falsity or truthfulness of the statement and conveying a general argument. The students made a satisfactory articulation between the various types of representations but relied mostly in the cartesian graph.

In this work, the design and operation planning of a multi-period, multi-product closed-loop supply chain is addressed. Recovered end-of-life products from customers are evaluated in disassembly centers and accordingly are sent back to factories for remanufacturing, or leave the network either by being sold to third parties or by being sent to disposal. Typical uncertain parameters are product demand, production cost, and returned product volume and evaluation, among others. So, stochastic optimization approaches should be used for problem solving, where different topology decisions on the timing, location and capacity of some entities (factories, and distribution and sorting centers) are to be considered along a time horizon. A two-stage multi-period stochastic mixed 0–1 bilinear optimization model is introduced, where the combined definition of the available entities at the periods and the products’ flow among the entities, maximizes the net present value of the expected total profit along the time horizon. A version of the mixture of chance-constrained and second order stochastic dominance risk averse measures is considered for risk management at intermediate periods of the time horizon. Given the high dimensions of the model it is unrealistic to look for the optimality of the solution in an affordable computing effort for current hardware and optimization software resources. So, a decomposition approach is considered, namely a Fix-and-Relax decomposition algorithm. For assessing the computational validation of the modeling and algorithmic proposals, pilot cases are taken from a real-life glass supply chain network whose main features are retained.

The mathematical proof is assumed as a central element in the development of Mathematics. However, proof is conceived in different ways and assumed as having different functions in Mathematics. And when we move from mathematics to its teaching, the multiplicity of perspectives becomes even more significant. This diversity can have an impact on the students and on the relationship they establish with Mathematics. In these circumstances, this study seeks knowledge over the perspectives of future teachers regarding the mathematical demonstration. Specifically, it intends to achieve a deeper knowledge over the future teachers’ perspectives about what is a mathematical proof and about its functions. The study adopts a qualitative approach and uses interviews to collect data. The conclusions reached point to a traditional perspective of mathematical proof, closely tied to mathematical formalism and the validation function, where the teaching context introduces some changes, adjusting the formalism to the level of the students and highlighting the understanding function of proof, but maintaining the dominant character of the algebraic language.

Mathematics is present everywhere. However, uncovering the relevance of Mathematics requires, from the teachers, a special kind of knowledge. This study tries to characterize the knowledge used by pre-service teachers when developing a mathematical task intending to promote the students’ exploration of barcodes. The study adopts a qualitative and interpretative methodology and the data were collected using class observation and interviews. The analysis is guided by the Application and Pedagogical Content Knowledge, a model inspired on TPACK (from Mishra and Koehler) and MKT (from Ball and colleagues). The conclusions point to some difficulties to see the potential of the situation to promote mathematical learning. The knowledge on the mathematical content seems to be dominant on the options assumed and operated in a rigid way that prevent the pre-service teachers from exploring the richness of the situation on the tasks they developed.

A zig-zag (or fence) order is a special partial order on a (finite) set. In this paper, we consider the semigroup $TF_{n}$ of all
order-preserving transformations on an $n$-element zig-zag ordered set. We determine the rank of $TF_{n}$ and provide a minimal generating set for $TF_{n}$. Moreover, a formula for the number of idempotents in $TF_{n}$ is given.

In recent years, statistical data revealed a strong dynamism in terms of Research and Development (R&D) growth, of development of innovation structures and emergence of programs, and a growth in terms of industrial integration. However, the political and financial changes from 2007 at the global level revealed as well how fragile are these
outcomes in terms of sustainable development strategy, and how far dependent are from the external markets and political structures. Based on the available information and data, we will present the changes observed in recent years, and understand how the industrial integration can be achieved with clear linkages to the national innovation system and the importance of R&D policy to structure the articulation between innovation and the economic market. The challenges and potential problems can be anticipated if the social implications are also present on the policy options, and if clear technology assessment procedures are taken. When this does not occur, the probability of endogenization of innovation and R&D will become problematic. For these reasons it can be difficult to talk
about a “success story” when all these elements are not considered as a whole and are only seen through very specific angles and with very specialized approaches.

Summary The emergence of bacterial resistance to different antibiotics in clinical use, together with the knowledge on the mechanisms by which bacteria resist the action of aminoglycosides, have contributed to the renewed interest in these molecules as potential antimicrobials. Here, we give an overview on natural and semisynthetic aminoglycosides and their structural features and modes of action, focusing on the structural insight underlying resistance mechanisms. Developments on carbohydrate chemistry and microarray technology are highlighted as powerful approaches toward generation of new aminoglycosides and for screening their interactions with RNAs and proteins. The link between antibiotic uptake and the human gut microbiome is also addressed, focusing on gut microbiome function and composition, antibiotic-induced alterations in host health, and antibiotic resistance. In addition, strategies to modulate human microbiome responses to antibiotics are discussed as novel approaches for aminoglycoside usage and for the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy.

Energy storage systems (ESS) are seen as one of the main pillars for a renewable-based energy system. Selecting the most suitable and sustainable ESS for a given project is a problem that involves multiple stakeholders with quite often diverging objectives that cannot all be fulfilled by a single technology. Several studies are available that tackle this problem applying multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). However, these use very different Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) approaches, criteria and goals for decision support, why their results are difficult to compare or to reproduce. This work presents a review of existing MCDA-literature using MADM as a tool for sustainability evaluation of grid-tied ESS. Available studies are summarized, the goals, used MADM methods, and quantification of criteria are analyzed and discussed to provide tentative recommendations. The reviewed studies cover multiple technologies ranging from electrochemical, mechanical or electric ESS. Considered criteria are mainly structured around technology, economy, society, and environment, comprising a high number of individual sub-criteria. The aggregation of these criteria is mainly realized through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in combination with a wide set of other methods. The quantification of various criteria is often based on different literature sources wherein context-free data for cost, and environmental impacts are used, leading in some cases to inconsistent comparisons in the assessments. Only in a few cases, assessments are linked to specific application requirements, which are decisive factors for the design of an ESS. A minority of the reviewed works include a representative set of decision-makers in their approaches, wherein the number or type of participants is often not communicated transparently. Therefore, most of the studies are considered to have a limited orientation towards practical decision making, but they provide valuable information regarding MADM method development.