ABSTRACT. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for body weight at 60 (P60), 90 (P90), and 120 (P120) days of age in escargots of the subspecies Cornu aspersum maximum, evaluating the influence of fixed and covariable effects on these traits. The data used were collected from escargots kept in a total confinement system. The significant fixed effects and covariates for these traits were tested in a general linear model by the F-test, considering a level of significance of 5%. Both the fixed effects of box and birth year and the quadratic effect of age of weighing as a covariate were significant (p < 0.05) for P60, P90, and P120. The Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) methodology was used to estimate (co)variance components and genetic parameters. High heritability for P60, P90, and P120 (0.38, 0.55 and 0.78, respectively) and high genetic correlations (0.58 to 0.77) among the traits were observed. The genetic parameters can be used as a basis for studies and practical applications to increase zootechnical indexes in this population.

ABSTRACT Lactation records from cows of the southwestern Paraná state, Brazil, form the dataset of this study. We applied the information-theoretic approach to evaluate the ability of the nonlinear Wood, Brody, Dijkstra, and Gamma functions to fit to these data by employing a two-step technique based on nonlinear mixed-effects models and generalized linear mixed-effects models. Wood's equation was fitted with the combination of a first-order autoregressive correlation structure and a variance function to account for heteroscedasticity. This version was the best choice to mimic lactation records. Some geometric attributes of Wood's model were deduced, mainly the ascending specific rate from parturition to peak milk yield and the descending specific rate as a measure of the lactation persistence of the milk yield at peak production. Breed and parity order of the cows were assumed as fixed effects to obtain a reliable model fitting process. Regardless of breed, first-order parity cows had greater persistency than their older counterparts, and the greater the ascending rate of milk yield from the parturition to the peak, the sharper the decrease in milk yield post-peak; therefore, the rates (absolute values) of ascending and descending phases correlated positively. Nonetheless, the actual estimated values of the descending phase rates are negative. Wood's equation was flexible enough to mimic either concave- and convex-shaped lactation profiles. The correlations between both peak milk yield and random estimates for β with total milk yield per lactation were positive. However, peak milk yield might not be the only variable used for ranking cows; the total milk yield integrates all information of the lactation profile through the estimated parameters of Wood's equation.

O presente estudo tem como objetivo traduzir e validar a escala de Partner Phubbing para a população portuguesa. O Phubbing é definido como o comportamento ou a ação de ignorar o outro no contacto presencial para se focar nas suas comunicações através do smartphone. Este comportamento está cada vez mais presente nas relações socias, um estudo anterior indicou que 14% dos participantes apresentavam padrões de dependência ao smartphone. Através de questionários online foram recrutados 351 participantes com mais de 16 anos (M=32.8 SD=11.78). A escala Pphubbing mostrou ter uma fiabilidade adequada (a=.861), todos os itens apresentaram distribuição normal e através da análise fatorial confirmatória foi obtido um modelo com ajustamento adequado (x2/df=2.979, RMSEA= 0.081, NFI= 0.964, CFI= 0.976). Contudo o item 7 não contribuiu significativamente para a escala (-.016). O item 7, o único item criado na negativa precisa de ser reavaliado. Deste modo, em estudos futuros deverá ser usado na mesma direção que os restantes itens da escala ou deverá ser alterada a sua posição na mesma. Apesar desta limitação, a escala Pphubbing é um instrumento válido para ser utilizado na população portuguesa e para ser utilizado neste novo campo de investigação.

The present study aims to translate and validate the Partner Phubbing scale to Portuguese. Phubbing is defined as the action to ignore face-to-face contact in order to focus on online social networking. This behaviour is a growing concern to the Portuguese population, with a previous study indicating addictive smartphone patterns in over 14% of participants. Online questionnaires gathered 351 participants over 16 years old (M=32.8 SD=11.78). reliability analysis proved to be adequate (a=.92), all items revealed a normal distribution and confirmatory factor analysis was carried out. Model fit results (x2/df=2.979, RMSEA= 0.081, NFI= 0.964, CFI= 0.976) indicated acceptable results, though item 7 did not significantly contribute to de scale (-.04). The item 7, the only item inversely created, needs to be reassessed. The item was not deleted, as its issues are restricted to its inverse wording or position in the scale. Future studies should either: rewrite the item in order to be in the same direction as all the other items; or change its placement in the order of items. Despite this limitation, the Pphubbing scale is valid for use with the Portuguese population and proves to be a valuable tool in a newly formed field of research.