Repositório RCAAP

There has been increasing interest in the application of virtual reality (VR) to occupational therapy and rehabilitation fields. This work presents a VR-based city adventure framework designed for occupational therapy. Its concept is based on taking the user to travel around a virtual city, where the motion is powered by the execution of some type of physical exercise, namely cycling in the current example. This framework is extensible and may integrate different goals focused on improving/maintaining motor and cognitive skills necessary for daily activities, mainly through upper and lower limb exercises and mental challenges. This led to the development of an immersive system, which was tested with an elderly sample (15 participants) in a day center and at a retirement home. Usability, satisfaction, performance and side effects were evaluated to understand future applicability and work directions.

In Galicia and the north of Portugal, from the 8th to the 11th century, Viking and Norman peoples were present. Initially through piracy activities that they developed and later through their support in crusades and holy wars. Local communities felt the need to revitalise these memories through thematic festivals, to assess the possibility of developing these events and to understand which strategies should be used to ensure the cultural sustainability of festivals. In this study the qualitative method was used, where the participants who are part of the scientific community, event organizers and tourism promoters with links to Viking thematic festivals in the Euro-region of Northern Portugal and Galicia were selected. The main results show that the biggest challenge for those responsible for organizing Viking thematic festivals is to maintain the levels of authenticity, following the principles of conservation of intangible heritage.

A very brief overview on research on classroom language learning seems to support Gitlin's statement that Educational research is still a process that for the most part silences those studied, ignores their personal knowledge, and strengthens the assumption that researchers are the producers of knowledge. (1990: 444) Research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in general and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in particular has moved in recent years from “an almost exclusive concern with the teacher and teaching procedures to issues related to the learner and learning processes” (Kübler, 1991: 1). However, the ultimate focus of many of the early studies on learners was still the optimisation of teaching and the development of teaching techniques (Allwright, 1988), rather than an attempt to describe and understand better learners' contributions to the classroom.

The Portuguese healthcare system had to adapt at short notice to the COVID-19 pandemic. We implemented workflow changes to our molecular pathology laboratory, a national reference center, to maximize safety and productivity. We assess the impact this situation had on our caseload and what conclusions can be drawn about the wider impact of the pandemic in oncological therapy in Portugal. Material and Methods. We reviewed our database for all oncological molecular tests requested between March and April of 2019 and 2020.

Tourism is a fast-growing sector at national level, but also at global level. This growth has generated positive externalities, but also some negative ones. This study aims to understand how the (negative) impacts of tourism are perceived by residents of the Sé parish, and how they affect their quality of life. To achieve the main objective of the study, a face-to-face survey was carried out among the inhabitants of the parish of the Sé. The answers of 234 participants were collected and then analysed in the SPSS statistical software. The results obtained prove that the residents have quality of life, are satisfied with the conditions of their environment, noting also that these two variables are related to each other. However, it was not possible to correlate residents' perceptions regarding the role of tourism activity. Through the results obtained it is expected that tourist entities and bodies evaluate, the growth and maintenance of tourism, but also all the issues that are directly or indirectly related to it.

In vitro methods have gained rising importance in ecotoxicology due to ethical concerns. The aim of this study was to assess the single and combined in vitro effects of gold, as nanoparticle (AuNPs) and ionic (Au+) form, and the pharmaceutical gemfibrozil (GEM). Sparus aurata liver organ culture was exposed to gold (4 to 7200 μg·L−1), GEM (1.5 to 15,000 μg·L−1) and combination 80 μg·L−1 gold +150 μg·L−1 GEM for 24 h. Endpoints related with antioxidant status, peroxidative/genetic damage were assessed. AuNPs caused more effects than Au+, increasing catalase and glutathione reductase activities and damaging DNA and cellular membranes.

Experimental research examining emotional processes is typically based on the observation of images with affective content, including facial expressions. Future studies will benefit from databases with emotion-inducing stimuli in which characteristics of the stimuli potentially influencing results can be controlled. This study presents Portuguese normative data for the identification of seven facial expressions of emotions (plus a neutral face), on the Radboud Faces Database (RaFD). The effect of participants’ gender and models’ sex on emotion recognition was also examined. Participants (N = 1249) were exposed to 312 pictures of white adults displaying emotional and neutral faces with a frontal gaze. 

Dementia is characterized by the presence of cognitive decline and can lead to sensory-perceptual alterations, compromising the functionality in activities of daily living. The main objective of this work is to review the characteristics of sensory stimulation programs in dementia and its effectiveness.

This work addresses the development of a disposable electrochemical genosensor for the detection of the toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium minutum. Analyzing public databases, a specific 70 bp DNA probe, targeting A. minutum, was selected and designed. The genosensor methodology implied the immobilization of a A. minutum-specific DNA-capture probe onto screen-printed gold electrodes (SPGE). To improve both the selectivity and to avoid strong secondary structures, that could hinder the hybridization efficiency, a sandwich format of the A. minutum gene was designed using a fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled signaling DNA probe and enzymatic amplification of the electrochemical signal. Using this electrochemical genosensor, a concentration range from 0.12 to 1.0 nM, a LD of 24.78 pM with a RSD <5.2% was determined. The genosensor was successfully applied to the selective analysis of the targeted A. minutum specific region denatured genomic DNA extracted from toxic dinoflagellates present in the Atlantic Ocean.

To characterize the optimal Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) parameters that assist the “turn on the light” task (TOTL) on post stroke participants and to analyze the related upper limb (UL) kinematics repeatability.

A variabilidade espacial existente na fratura do colo do fêmur (FCF) pode estar relacionada com a variabilidade geográfica da composição da água para consumo (CAC), devido à ação dos minerais na fragilidade óssea. O objetivo do artigo foi investigar o efeito da CAC no risco de FCF em Portugal (2000-2010). Do registo nacional de altas hospitalares, foram selecionadas todas as admissões em indivíduos ≥50, com diagnóstico de FCF causado por trauma de baixo/moderado impacto. Os componentes e características da água foram usados ao nível do município. Um modelo espacial aditivo generalizado, com a distribuição binomial negativa como função de ligação, foi usado para estimar a associação de FCF e as variações da CAC. Foram selecionadas 96.905 FCF (77,3% em mulheres). 

No summary/description provided

Com o decorrer dos tempos, a importância dos meios de comunicação foi assumindo uma dimensão capital: espalharam-se por todo o globo, os seus tentáculos atingiram todas as áreas vitais da sociedade e interligaram-se, passando a caracterizar a sociedade em que vivemos como sociedade de informação. A esta designação acrescentamos e do conhecimento, porque o conhecimento e a inovação "estão a tornar-se cada vez mais na fonte decisiva de riqueza e, também, na principal fonte de diferença entre nações, empresas e pessoas" (Cimeira de Lisboa, 2000). Mais recentemente, a combinação da escrita, do som e da imagem com os meios informáticos originou o conceito de multimedia, disponibilizando fontes de informação inesgotáveis, proporcionando contactos de e para todo o mundo, em diversos formatos, a qualquer hora do dia, em tempo real ou não, graças aos satélites de retransmissão que cobrem a totalidade do espaço terrestre1. Todo o panorama descrito deu origem à designação aldeia global. Este conceito designa a possibilidade de se efectuarem comunicações de e para todos os pontos do globo, sem importar a distância e ultrapassando barreiras culturais. Efectivamente, a interacção verbal entre os seres humanos passou a funcionar como se de uma pequena comunidade se tratasse e a informação é trocada (entre os diversos meios de comunicação de massas de todos os países), como se uma mercadoria fosse. Mais recentemente, por força dos progressos científicos, técnicos e tecnológicos, assistimos ao surgimento das comunicações via satélite, da televisão interactiva, e aguardamos a todo o momento a profusão social dos telemóveis de terceira geração.

The design of Intelligent Intersection Management (IIM) schemes for fully Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and mixed with Human-driven Vehicles (HVs) has focused mainly on throughput maximization and users’ safety. However, new IIM strategies should consider environmental factors and human health conditions in their design, given their impact on fuel wastage and emission of dangerous air pollutants. In this paper, we compare the ecological footprint of two IMM protocols that follow opposite paradigms in handling AVs and HVs with an internal combustion engine. We consider Round-Robin (RR) that favors the crossing of multiple consecutive cars from one road at a time and the recently proposed Synchronous Intersection Management Protocol (SIMP) that favors the crossing of multiple cars simultaneously, one from each road. Through experiments in the SUMO simulator, we observe that SIMP promotes more fluid traffic flows, causing traffic throughput to be up to 3.7 times faster and consume less fuel than the RR schemes, with similar results for vehicular emissions (PMx, NOx, CO, CO 2 , and HC).

The global insurance market has been continually adapting to challenges and new opportunities. Nowadays, most insurances have centralized systems, which could be inefficient and less transparent. Moreover, such solutions can also create distrust and conflicts of interest between insurance companies and policyholders. Other recent technologies can improve existing business models. Distributed ledger technology, in specific, can offer to the insurance sector transparency and efficiency at another level, without compromising the security and privacy that the sector requires. Distributed ledger technology avoids the single point of failure problem. This protection increases the security level of the system since it is more demanding, or nearly impossible, to compromise the data in the ledger. This document presents a comprehensive overview of different distributed ledger technologies, which lead to the decision of the one that best suits the business case. The prototype design and implementation are fully described, along with the tests and the evaluation of the results. A solution was explored to create a decentralized data storage, for workers' insurance information sharing, using a distributed ledger technology. This decentralized approach diminishes the responsibilities of the central authority by removing the project dependence upon centralized computing resources for storing and processing.

O couro sintético é um material com ampla gama de utilização, nomeadamente, na produção de estofos. Neste trabalho, o couro sintético usado, como ponto de partida, foi um revestimento para estofos contract (estofos usados no mobiliário e indústria automóvel) da Monteiro, Ribas-Revestimentos S.A., que tem como seu principal constituinte o PVC. O desenvolvimento de novos produtos com carácter mais biodegradável, tem sido uma crescente preocupação deste grupo de investigação, tendo sido já avaliada a substituição na formulação do produto convencional de alguns constituintes, por forma a substituir por compostos com menor toxicidade e melhorar a biodegradabilidade do produto final. Procedeu-se à produção de dois produtos, o Convencional e um novo produto, denominado de Alternativo, em que se substituíram as seguintes matérias-primas: o plastificante Convencional (ftalato de diisonilo) por um plastificante biodegradável, e a masterbatch de azodicarbonamida pela masterbatch de amido e água. Foi, ainda, estudada a aplicação de um suporte têxtil (100 % poliamida biodegradável) ao revestimento polimérico. Os resultados obtidos estão, globalmente, em concordância com os dos trabalhos anteriores. A substituição do agente expansor não produziu defeitos de bolha na película, contudo, a espessura do produto Alternativo, relativamente ao produto Convencional, foi inferior em 30,8%, no ensaio à escala laboratorial. O suporte têxtil (100 % poliamida biodegradável) apresentou uma má adesão ao revestimento de PVC. Em alternativa, selecionou-se para o produto em desenvolvimento um suporte 100% algodão biológico. Os produtos finais apresentaram, na generalidade, valores para os parâmetros físico-mecânicos dentro das especificações. Para a resistência ao rasgamento obtiveram-se valores inferiores às especificações, devido à aplicação do suporte 100% de algodão biológico, que apresenta uma baixa resistência ao rasgamento. Não foi possível avaliar a biodegradabilidade do produto Alternativo devido à pandemia da Covid-19. Contudo, com as substituições realizadas é expectável um aumento da biodegradabilidade, resultante da incorporação no produto final de um suporte 100% algodão, de uma masterbatch de amido e de um plastificante de origem biológica.

A crescente utilização de energias renováveis fez surgir variações na produção de energia, provocando novos desafios na gestão da rede. No caso das micro redes, estas variações são ainda mais preocupantes. Como tal, há a necessidade de utilizar estratégias para mitigar estes problemas, sendo uma delas, a utilização de flexibilidade das cargas (demand response). Nesta dissertação são abordadas as micro redes, dando-se grande importância à produção de energia elétrica através de fontes de energia renováveis. A produção de energia elétrica através de energia eólica, painéis fotovoltaicos e centrais mini-hídricas, é a base da produção para esta implementação. Com recurso a cargas flexíveis, aplicam-se programas de demand response. Deste modo, é feita uma gestão dos consumos face à produção, assegurando o fornecimento de energia elétrica a todos os clientes da rede. Para tal, foram aplicadas metodologias e controlados os emuladores do laboratório, através de uma infraestrutura SCADA. Esta implementação conta com a aplicação de programas de demand response, de forma a controlar os consumos da micro rede. A emulação é dividida em duas partes distintas. Na primeira, é feita a emulação dos diversos equipamentos do laboratório, de forma a estudar o seu funcionamento individual. Numa segunda parte, é emulado o caso de estudo que consiste numa micro rede constituída pelos equipamentos do laboratório, testados na primeira parte. A gestão de cargas num determinado intervalo, é feita pelo uso de programas de demand response aplicados, sucessivamente, até se atingir a redução desejada (ramping). Com base nos resultados apresentados, fez-se uma análise do tempo de resposta dos equipamentos, bem como da viabilidade deste tipo de implementação em micro redes. Assim permite-se garantir um controlo fiável e seguro dos consumos e produções, de uma micro rede inteligente.

This report documents the conception of the project Development of an application to help anxiety disorders. In this dissertation it is documented the analysis, design, development and evaluation of a mobile application and recommendation system that have the objective of helping people with anxiety. In recent years, recommendation systems have grown in popularity and appreciation with users searching for ease and convenience when receiving predictions and recommendations based on their preferences and characteristics. With anxiety disorders affecting a considerable percentage of the population, tools for anxiety self-management can help people who aren’t being accompanied by a therapist. The mobile application will have a variety of exercises that will provide ways for users to relieve their anxiety and provide tools for learning how to self-manage anxiety. The mobile application will be connected to a recommendation system which will be able to suggest anxiety relieving exercises to users by taking into account exercise ratings and user characteristics. To evaluate the general functionality of developed components tests were developed, with positive results. Additionally, the recommendation techniques were also tested to analyze the prediction error of each one. Overall the results were also positive with considerably low errors.

Num contexto de rápidas mudanças, a informação e o conhecimento desempenham um papel cada vez mais importante e decisivo na competitividade e sucesso das organizações. Para responder aos desafios e oportunidades do meio envolvente, adoptam-se novos modelos de organização social, cada vez mais flexíveis e dinâmicos, voltados para o trabalho em equipa, bem como tecnologias de informação que permitam, precisamente, responder, com qualidade e precisão, a estes desafios.

This study aimed to examine the associations between perceived stress, coping, emotion dysregulation, affect and psychosomatic symptoms in higher education. Participants were 183 first-year undergraduates (84% female) that completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Brief-COPE, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the PANAS, and the Manifestations of Physical Discomfort Questionnaire. Significant gender differences were found in perceived stress and psychosomatic symptoms (both higher in women), and in coping (emotional vs. humour support strategies higher for women and men, respectively).