Repositório RCAAP

Is perceiving children as not yet fully human a manifestation of dehumanization or a mere reflection that children lack the features commonly considered distinctly human? In this paper, I discuss how seeing children as human becomings or human beings ties in with different perspectives on ‘what it is to be human’, drawn from the natural sciences, philosophy, and social sciences. In so doing, I highlight the benefits of endorsing an existentialist position where the existence of a human being predates their essence, which is created by their actions in the world. Both children and adults are human beings and human becomings. Moreover, I propose that these perspectives have implications for the dehumanization of other social categories.

O aumento de fontes de energia renováveis variáveis no sistema elétrico gera problemas de excesso de produção ou consumo em tempo real, sendo necessário implementar fontes de flexibilidade no sistema elétrico. Esta dissertação estuda a integração de hidrogénio como principal tecnologia de armazenamento para o sistema elétrico de Chipre, através da modelação em EnergyPLAN. Realizaram-se três cenários em EnergyPLAN: cenário base, cenário 1 e cenário de armazenamento. O cenário de base/referência representa a situação energética atual em Chipre e tem como propósito fornecer uma base de comparação com outros cenários em estudo. Esta comparação permite avaliar os impactos potenciais das diferentes opções e identificar as soluções mais adequadas para alcançar metas energéticas. O cenário de referência foi utilizado juntamente com os dados reais do sistema elétrico atual para validar o EnergyPLAN. No cenário 1 verificou-se que é possível aumentar as VREs - fontes renováveis variáveis - e diminuir as fontes poluentes. Houve um aumento de 53% na percentagem de eletricidade produzida por VREs em relação ao cenário base e uma diminuição na emissão de GEE em 9,2% em relação ao mesmo. No cenário de armazenamento, através da implementação de H2 como tecnologia de armazenamento conseguiu-se aumentar ainda mais a quantidade de VREs e diminuir a produção elétrica a partir de fontes convencionais. Aumentou-se em 156% a percentagem de eletricidade produzida por VREs e diminuiu-se em 20 % a emissão de GEE para a atmosfera, em relação ao cenário base (a meta de redução de GEE para 2030 em Chipre é 42%). De uma perspetiva económica, verificou-se um custo de produção elétrico médio (LCOE) de 0,043 €/kWh, 0,040 €/kWh e 0,025 €/kWh para o cenário base, cenário 1 e cenário de armazenamento, respetivamente e, um custo de produção de hidrogénio (LCOH) de 12,9 €/kgH2, um valor muito alto de acordo com a revisão global de hidrogénio para 2022.

Perceived discrimination (PD) is reliably and strongly associated with partisan identity (PID) among US immigrant minorities such as Latinos and Asian Americans. Yet whether PD causes PID remains unclear, since it is possible that partisanship influences perceptions of discrimination or that other factors drive the observed association. Here, we assess the causal influence of group-level PD on PID using five experiments with Latino and Asian American adults. These experiments varied in important ways: they took place inside and outside the lab, occurred prior to and during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and tested different manifestations of PD and partisan attitudes (total n = 2,528). These efforts point to a simple but unexpected conclusion: our experiments and operationalizations do not support the claim that group-targeted PD directly causes PID. These results have important implications for understanding partisanship among immigrants and their co-ethnics and the political incorporation of Latinos and Asian Americans.

The present study tests a model of the interplay between teaching style determinants, interpersonal resources, and teacher burnout dimensions, controlling for teachers’ experience variables. Two-hundred and ninety-seven teachers in the Portuguese educational system teaching in a rural region participated in the research. Using a Structural Equation Modeling approach, the key fnding of this study is that teacher interpersonal self-efcacy and teacher–student closeness partially mediated the connections between teacher epistemological sophistication and student misbehavior and teacher burnout. Specifcally, an increment of teacher depersonalization is associated with student misbehavior, when mediated by interpersonal self-efcacy and teacher–student closeness. Moreover, while greater attunement with students (meaning lower confict) prevents emotional exhaustion caused by student misbehavior, it also has costs in terms of lower professional accomplishment. Thus, in intense interpersonal settings like schools, teacher interpersonal resources, especially teacher–student closeness and attunement, may not have an universal positive return for educators. Implications for future research are recommended, such as the replication of this model across urban and suburban settings. In addition, it seems warranted that teacher pre-service and service training readdress the topic of interpersonal resources as a means to improve teacher well-being, including its merits and limits.

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Este estudo procura investigar as normas de revisão de Legendagem em português nos dias de hoje. Orientado para o produto da revisão de Legendagem, para o processo da revisão de Legendagem e para os participantes na revisão de Legendagem, descreve de que forma os revisores de Legendagem intervêm no texto da Legenda e na temporização da Legenda e, ainda, como explicam os revisores de Legendagem as suas intervenções. Enquadrado nos Estudos Descritivos de Tradução, este estudo exploratório e quasi-experimental segue uma metodologia mista, que envolve a recolha e a análise de dados qualitativos e quantitativos através de uma experiência de revisão de Legendagem e de um questionário. Os dados textuais sobre o produto da revisão de Legendagem são obtidos através das intervenções de revisão nas Legendas. Os dados extratextuais sobre o processo da revisão de Legendagem são obtidos através das atitudes dos participantes manifestadas nos comentários à tarefa (recolhidos através de protocolos de verbalização) e nos procedimentos de revisão (recolhidos através de gravação de ecrã). Os dados extratextuais sobre os participantes na revisão de Legendagem, isto é, os seus dados socioprofissionais e as suas atitudes, percepções e expectativas relativamente à revisão de Legendagem, são obtidos através de questionário. A análise dos dados permitiu identificar que as estratégias de revisão de Legendagem são determinadas em função da maior ou menor orientação do revisor de Legendagem para os diferentes intervenientes e para os interesses destes. Não obstante as diferentes orientações, o respeito pelo trabalho do Legendador parece ser constante. Para além disto, os dados revelam que a qualidade da revisão está associada mais ao tempo dedicado à tarefa do que à experiência do revisor de Legendagem. Percebemos ainda que, na procura da eficiência da revisão de Legendagem, a eficácia da revisão de Legendagem é, por vezes, difícil de alcançar. Por fim, demos conta de que um volume considerável do trabalho do revisor de Legendagem não é notório através do produto da revisão de Legendagem, pelo que grande parte das actividades deste profissional com impacto positivo na qualidade do produto é invisível.

Individuals tend to evaluate deviant ingroup more negatively than outgroup members, as predicted by the black sheep effect. We analyzed this phenomenon in four studies based on the reaction of gay men towards a deviant (vs. normative) ingroup (vs. outgroup) member. In a qualitative study (Study 1; N = 49), gay men participants indicated the normative (e.g., egalitarian), deviant (e.g., discriminatory) and threatening (effeminate) behaviors of gay men’s identity. In Studies 2 (N = 242) and 3 (N = 264), we manipulated the target’s group membership (gay vs. straight) and social behavior (normative vs. deviant) based on the contents of the results from Study 1, whereas in Study 4 (N = 131), we manipulated gay identity threat. The results showed that the effect of deviation was stronger when the participants evaluated the ingroup target only when we made the threat to gay man identity salient, and this effect was mediated by the perceived illegitimacy of the target's social behavior.

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Assessing motivations and preferences related to cultural ecosystem services (CES) is essential, especially in areas with conflicting interests. The Lithuanian coast has a major international port, protected areas, and tourist demand, and it is a place with several conflicts regarding land use planning. In this study, we surveyed users' motivations and preferences to identify (1) preferred CES-related activities, (2) socio-demographic and recreational motivations, (3) composite variables for CES-related activities, and (4) propose relevant measures promoting sustainable development and supporting current policy and management goals for the coastal area of Lithuania. The results showed that experiential activities are the most preferred (81.6%) and aesthetic activities are the least preferred (0.2%). Among the experiential activities, tours were the most frequent (56.2%). There is a preference for tours and wellness activities, short trips (3–5 days), and staying with family and friends. The principal component analysis identified five groups. The first component is tourists’ motivations, and the other four are tourist type and visit characteristics, gender, duration of stay and accommodation type, and age group and distance to the coast. Interventions and measures need to be established by engaging all local stakeholders. They include soft mobility, tourism segmentation, promoting traditional activities, providing new experiences, and supporting a circular economy. These results are relevant for coastal management in the tourism context.

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O que é que as ciências sabem sobre o ensino e a aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita em português? Esta foi a pergunta que os editores do manual Ensino da Leitura e da Escrita Baseado em Evidências colocaram a mais de 30 especialistas investigadores. Esta publicação sintetiza as noções fundamentais sobre a alfabetização que um professor alfabetizador moderno deve conhecer; foca a literacia emergente, isto é, aquilo que as crianças podem descobrir sobre a escrita e a leitura antes de chegarem à escola; e discute as dificuldades e as perturbações na aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita. Este manual é, por isso, uma fonte importante de atualização científica para os professores que ensinam a ler e a escrever, os professores do 1º ciclo, e para quem prepara essa aprendizagem, os educadores de infância. É também apropriado para estudantes do Ensino Superior, futuros professores, porque os coloca em contacto com um conjunto de descobertas científicas e conhecimento importantes para uma prática pedagógica fundamentada, destaca a relevância do conhecimento empírico e da sua permanente atualização e, através das sugestões pedagógicas e propostas de atividades, faz a ponte para o dia a dia na sala de aula.

Shoulder pain is a common problem in clinical practice, with data in the literature showing an increased prevalence and stronger consequences with age, reaching an annual cumulative incidence of 2.4% in the age group from 45 to 64 years, with a higher incidence in women. The shoulder is one of the most frequent sites of musculoskeletal pain. There are multiple causes, but rotator cuff and subacromial pathologies are predominant. Pathologies of the glenohumeral and acromioclavicular joints, as well as referred pain, especially of cervical origin, are also pointed out as frequent etiologies. The rotator cuff is an usual site for degenerative tendinopathy, a common cause for shoulder pain which most often affects the supraspinatus; it may progress to partial or full-thickness tendon tear. Subacromial conflict has been recognized since Neer as a cause for tendinopathy and rotator cuff tear. Calcifying tendinitis has generally a more favorable course, being able to resolve completely and spontaneously, and predominates at a younger age. It involves the deposition of calcium hydroxyapatite crystals, more frequently in the supraspinatus and infraspinatus, but the etiopathogenesis is controversial; it seems to occur as a primary tendinopathy reactive to ischemia or mechanical factors in a viable tendon, in a cycle including fibrocartilaginous metaplasia of tenocytes, crystal deposition and resorption, and tendon repair. But not all calcifications are symptomatic. Calcifications with a diameter greater than 1.5 cm, with an ill-defined contour, and associated with Doppler signal and subacromial effusion have been described as related to symptoms, but only in a few studies. This research project was aimed to validate clinical tests in the determination of the level of pain and disability and to search for ultrasound characteristics in rotator cuff calcifications, or another marker or set of ultrasound markers, which allow for the prediction of symptoms and, in addition, to determine the prognosis. The dimension of calcifications was particularly focused. The project included a case-control observational study to identify characteristics associated with shoulder pain, and a longitudinal observational study to look for prognostic factors. Relevant aspects on the physical examination of patients with shoulder pain were also investigated, by an observational cross-sectional study. A total of 140 patients and 62 controls were enrolled (median age 56 years, 155 women), and inflammatory pathology was excluded. The evaluation comprised a DASH questionnaire (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand outcome measure), a physical examination and an ultrasound exam with recording of the size, morphology and location of calcifications, Doppler signal, changes in echotexture, rotator cuff tears and joint or subacromial effusion. P-values < 0,05 were considered significant. On the clinical evaluation of the patients, a linear regression model with six independent variables (age, gender, complaints on dominant side, palm-up test, range of motion in active flexion and external rotation) was found capable of predicting 44% of the variability of the DASH score (R = 0.665; p < 0.001). A calcification size ≥ 6 mm was associated with shoulder pain (p = 0.02), but only in younger subjects (< 56 years). In older subjects (≥ 56 years), a distance to the tendon insertion ≥ 6 mm was also associated with pain (p = 0.009). Pain was also associated with a positive Doppler signal (p = 0.003), the number of calcifications (p = 0.02), alterations in the tendon echotexture (p < 0.001), bone irregularity or thickening at the insertion of the supraspinatus and subscapularis tendons (p < 0.05) and rotator cuff tears (p = 0.001). Subacromial effusion was only found in symptomatic subjects (p = 0.002). Follow-up of patients suggested a better prognosis when a tendinous Doppler signal or when poorly defined or sparsely distributed calcifications were present. Clinical improvement was associated with a reduction in the Doppler signal and subacromial effusion, when present on first exam, suggesting a role in the pathophysiological mechanism of pain. An algorithm was proposed, based on a set of specific ultrasonographic criteria, which makes it possible to classify the sample of this study for rotator cuff pathology likely to cause pain, with a sensitivity of 69% and a specificity of 92%.

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Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide and despite the several treatments currently available (such as chemotherapy and hormonal treatments), these are often associated with severe side effects and often have poor results. Thus, more effective strategies are needed. In the las years anti-cancer vaccines have gained a lot of interest, as these can act as preventive or therapeutic treatments, by triggering the immune system to attack the cancer cells, hence being a promising approach to fight cancer. Importantly, as a result of its overexpression and shorter glycans in cancer cells, MUC1 is currently a drug target for many cancers, including its use as an antigen for the development of anticancer vaccines. However, therapeutic vaccines based on MUC1 face several challenges, as the natural tumor-associated MUC1 (taMUC1) is poorly immunogenic, and these derivatives can act as self-antigens, which can lead to immunosuppression. Additionally, polysaccharide-based vaccines fail to generate memory, as polysaccharide antigens only interact with specific B-cells promoting low-affinity humoral responses. Hence, when conjugated, glycoconjugate vaccines have some advantages over traditional polysaccharide-based vaccines, such as triggering T cell dependent responses leading to the establishment of B-cell memory and longerlasting immune responses. To overcome these issues, an artificial MUC1 was synthesized and conjugated to gold nanoparticles to be used as anti-cancer vaccine. The construct was tested for its ability to promote an immune response against human tumor associated MUC1 in mice. With ELISA assays, we found that the synthetic MUC1 was able to trigger the production of specific antibodies against human tumor-associated MUC1. Furthermore, the anti-sera from the immunized mice were able to bind to the natural MUC1 antigen in human breast cancer cell lines and in tumor samples from breast cancer patients, and also were able to elicit antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity towards breast cancer cells. Having obtained these promising results with the unnatural MUC1, another vaccine candidate was prepared using the same artificial MUC1 antigen conjugated with the highly immunogenic protein carrier CRM197, as the protein carrier was expected to trigger T-cell responses on its own, hence leading to a stronger immune response. Once again, specific antibodies against human MUC1 were detected, and these were able to specifically bind to the MUC1 expressed in human breast cancer cells and to promote cytotoxic T Lymphocyte responses. As predicted, antibodies against the protein carrier were also detected in high levels. Additionally, when tumors were induced in mice immunized with this second vaccine candidate, a delay in tumor growth was observed. These encouraging results will lead to further studies on the potential therapeutic effect of these vaccine candidates.

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Cada vez mais a educação deveria estar intrinsecamente ligada ao mundo das artes, visto ser um mundo em que a criatividade e a própria afirmação pessoal tomam um lugar de destaque na vida de todos nós. Este estudo visou evidenciar que o contacto das crianças em idade pré-escolar com obras de arte, lhes facilita não só a aquisição de novas aprendizagens no âmbito da estética e da linguagem visual, como também permite que estas se sintam cada vez mais à vontade para expressar os seus sentimentos e receios. Através de uma metodologia de investigação acção desenvolvida em sala de aula, com crianças de 5/6 anos, verificámos a veracidade das nossas hipóteses iniciais, ou seja, que: «as crianças que contactam regularmente com obras de arte, aprendem não só a \201Clê-la\201D, procurando através das suas vivencias a sua leitura de sentido, como se iniciam na compreensão dos elementos de uma nova linguagem, a visual, fruto da reflexão e apreciação estética a que são submetidos». Neste nosso estudo pudemos reafirmar as posições teóricas de alguns autores que haviam corroborado esta mais-valia da interacção entre crianças e obras de arte, nomeadamente, as de Michael Parsons e Abigail Housen

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The inflammatory articular rheumatic diseases are a broad group of conditions of which Spondyloarthritis (SpA) and Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are disease prototypes given their higher prevalence and potential to impair a broad group of joints. Inflammation associated with SpA and RA may have significant consequences on several dimensions of patients’ lives. The understanding of the impact of the disease on quality of life, physical function and work productivity, as well as their interplay, is of utmost importance for clinicians to undertake the most appropriated and valuable assessments in their clinical practice, and for allowing governments and scientific societies to estimate the economic burden of such diseases. The contribution of disease activity to disability had already been described in literature, both for SpA and RA. However, several knowledge gaps remained to be studied. In SpA, the evidence on early disease remained scarce, namely regarding the association of disease activity with mobility and work productivity. In RA, despite the broad use of Patient’s global assessment (PtGA) as part of some disease activity indices in clinical practice, its role remained unclear, namely in patients with low levels of disease activity. The measurement of improvements in Health Related Quality of life (HRQoL) is a key concept in terms of public health, however data on HRQoL is not always available. The possibility of using other health domains, such as disease activity and disability, to estimate the impact on HRQoL, may be useful for clinical and regulatory purposes. The main objective of our work was to study the relationship between distinct health outcomes, namely disease activity, disability and HRQoL, in SpA and RA. We used data from international observational cohorts, namely Devenir des Spondylarthropathies Indifferénciées Récentes (DESIR) and COMOrbidities in SPondyloArthritis (COMOSPA) for SpA, and Measurement of Efficacy of Treatment in the Era of Outcome in Rheumatology (METEOR) and COMOrbidities in Rheumatoid Arthritis (COMORA) for RA. The study of such cohorts allowed the analysis of a large number of patients followed in routine clinical practice, at various disease stages, namely early axSpA (in the case of data from the DESIR cohort). We used validated tools to assess a broad range of health outcomes, namely EuroQOL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) for HRQoL; Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (MHAQ) and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) remission for physical function; Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire (WPAI) and occurrence of sick leave for work productivity; Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score with C-reactive protein (ASDASCRP), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Disease Activity Score with 28-joint counts using the C-reactive protein level and 3 variables (DAS28-CRP-3v) and several definitions of remission for disease activity. To study correlations between Patient’s global assessment (PtGA) and SJC28, TJC28, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, DAS28-CRP-3v, pain scores, and function, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated. Multivariable linear regression models were used in cross-sectional studies to assess associations between the variables of interest. Univariable and multivariable Generalized estimating equations (GEE) models were used to study associations between variables in longitudinal cohort studies. Models were adjusted for potential confounders in multivariable analyses, and sensitivity analysis were performed when appropriated. In order to study the hierarchical relationship between variables the Chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) method was used to build decision trees. Time-varying Cox survival analysis was used to study time-to-event data (in the case of this thesis, time to sick leave). We have demonstrated a longitudinal association between disease activity and disability in early axial SpA. Disease activity was shown to be hierarchically superior to any other variable or disease domain, however enthesitis, gender and spinal mobility were also key factors associated with disability in early axial SpA. ASDAS-CRP and its cut offs further confirmed their validity to assess disease activity and proved to be able to discriminate between different profiles of disability in early axial SpA. ASDAS-CRP, enthesitis and MRI spinal inflammation were critical factors associated with spinal mobility in early axial SpA. Disease activity together with lower education, older age and female gender were associated with the incidence of Sick leave (SL) in this early disease population. The various remission definitions in RA confirmed their association with physical function in a clinical practice setting. PtGA was shown to be an important factor responsible for patients failing remission definitions that incorporate PtGA in their formula/algorithm, and PtGA was only moderately correlated with joint inflammation overall, and only weakly so at low levels of disease activity. Disability followed by disease activity and work productivity were major contributors to HRQoL in patients with SpA and RA. These health outcomes proved to be hierarchically superior to any other demographic or clinical variables in terms of their contribution to HRQoL, both in SpA and RA. In conclusion, our results suggest that there is a significant and consistent association between disease activity and disability in SpA and RA. Together with work productivity, they play the most important role on determining the level of HRQoL. The influence of other factors such as enthesitis and mobility impairment in SpA, and the influence of PtGA in RA should also be taken into account. Strategies to preserve quality of life in inflammatory articular rheumatic diseases should therefore be multidimensional, and include multiple health domains such as disease activity, disability, mobility and work productivity, and rheumatology healthcare teams should be proficient in these assessment as part of RA and SpA management. This will translate in better HRQoL outcomes and increased patient satisfaction and perceived value of care.

Only 62% of arm amputees resort to prosthetic devices. Moreover, 1 in 5 of these individuals abandon them. A heavily contributing factor to this is the preference of some anthropomorphic and performance related features over others due to technological impediments. This reduces the devices’ adaptability as every individual favours different feature combinations. Therefore, research on the different feature combinations is essential to increase the adaptability of hand prosthesis and decrease their abandonment percentage. In this dissertation, a light and scalable poly-articulated hand prosthesis including 1DoF in the palm was developed based on underactuation and soft-robotic elements in order to study this combination of features’ impact in a devices’ grasp capabilities and learning period. This was achieved through the design of different ideas and testing of different prototypes based on an extensive literature review. The joints’ design includes elastics to ensure soft movement from flexion to extension. The opposite movement is ensured by a cable underactuated system. A bigger device was obtained through scaling of the original one. The mentioned set of features lead to a good grasping capability and a smooth finger and thumb movement. The palm joint of the final prototype could not move completely, therefore having to be moved passively in order to test the prosthetic device. Furthermore, the learning period could not be studied due to the time limit of the internship. In the future, corrections should be made in order to better the movement of the palm joint and the soft materials could be embedded within the joints to reduce the size of the hand. Additionally, the bigger hand should be tested, as the grasping capabilities were only tested on the smaller one and the learning period should be analysed.

O Inventário da Personalidade para o DSM-5 (PID-5) é um instrumento de autorrelato que mede a presença e severidade dos traços patológicos descritos no modelo de personalidade do DSM-5, parte integrante da classificação das perturbações da personalidade proposta na secção III do DSM-5. Existe numa versão longa de 220 itens organizados em 25 facetas que caracterizam cinco domínios da personalidade, numa versão breve de 25 itens que caracterizam os cinco domínios da personalidade e numa versão reduzida de 100 itens que se revelaram medidas adequadas das 25 facetas e dos cinco domínios do modelo. A precisão e validade das três formas do PID-5 foram analisadas em amostras de estudantes universitários portugueses. Os resultados mostram que as três formas do PID-5 são medidas precisas e válidas das dimensões de personalidade descritas no modelo alternativo da personalidade do DSM-5, ainda que a forma longa de 220 itens seja a mais robusta.