Turismo Religioso em Portugal: números de uma pandemia e um futuro por desenhar

Os estudos no âmbito do Turismo Religioso receberam uma nova amplitude, na sociedade contemporânea, face às alterações significativas dos ritmos de vida e das sociabilidades, incluindo a forma de ocupação dos tempos livres e de lazer, das questões económicas, das expectativas culturais, e até das questões relacionadas com a saúde. A pandemia COVID-19 provocou um impacto, não planeado, no turismo, abraçando nos indicadores estatísticos que melhor descrevem este setor: o número de viagens de população estrangeira e dos portugueses diminui, e assim decresce também o número de dormidas, de hóspedes e os proveitos totais. Em Portugal, e no que diz respeito ao turismo religioso, esta diminuição foi assinalada nos principais Santuários Marianos, com foco no Santuário de Fátima, que registou uma diminuição de peregrinos e de peregrinações organizadas. Os meios telemáticos foram uma alternativa sustentada para alicerçar as comunidades e manter algumas práticas e rituais católicos. Na era pós-COVID-19, importa aprender com o passado e projetar o futuro, olhando para o turismo religioso como uma forma de promover a identidade de um país, preservar os valores e a cultura de um povo, sendo crucial criar um modelo mais capaz de olhar para a sustentabilidade económica, social e ambiental das comunidades religiosas que recebem turistas e que dependem do turismo para a sua manutenção e valorização.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Inteligência artificial na avaliação tradicional: aquisição de conhecimento vs Prompt Engineering

No atual contexto do desenvolvimento da inteligência artificial (IA), e da sua ampla divulgação pelo público em geral, este trabalho pretendeu testar as capacidades das atuais ferramentas de IA na resolução de testes escritos, e perceber quais as competências a adquirir neste contexto de avanço tecnológico. Para isso, foram resolvidos três exames de uma unidade curricular (UC) de Bioquímica, de forma sequencial, por um utilizador do ChatGPT, com experiência em IA, mas sem conhecimentos de Bioquímica. As provas foram corrigidas pela docente da UC, tal como corrigidas para os alunos, tendo as correções sido disponibilizadas ao utilizador do ChatGPT, antes da realização da prova seguinte. Desta forma, foi possível melhorar as instruções utilizadas no ChatGPT, para melhorar a qualidade das respostas. Os resultados mostram que foi possível obter classificações superiores às classificações obtidas pelos alunos, apenas com o recurso ao ChatGPT e sem qualquer conhecimento sobre as matérias avaliadas. Pode concluir-se que a qualidade das instruções fornecidas (prompts) são um dos fatores determinantes para a obtenção de respostas mais corretas quando se utiliza este tipo de ferramentas e que poderá ser o momento para equacionar a integração progressiva e controlada das tecnologias da IA nos novos modelos de formação.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dynamics of hotel bookings: identifying key drivers of hotel conversion rate

All hotels receive numerous booking requests every day, either directly or through online travel agencies, but only a small percentage of these requests are converted into reservations. Low conversion rates generate an additional layer of uncertainty into the hotel demand function and pose a challenge for revenue maximization. Consequently, optimizing the conversion rate is a top priority for all hotel managers. Despite its importance, the factors influencing the conversion rate are not yet well understood. This longitudinal study aimed to identify the factors that explain seasonal variations in the conversion rate, providing insights to optimize it. By segmenting stay dates using machine learning algorithms and employing a logistic regression model to predict the probability of conversion per segment, this innovative research proposes a framework for conversion rate optimization. The research note contributes a new data mining methodology that can be implemented in machine learning algorithms to enhance conversion rate

Sea turtles in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, a step towards understanding bycatch and management of these species in tuna fisheries

Knowledge of the spatiotemporal behavior and interactions with fishing gear of bycatch species is essential to improve conservation and fisheries management strategies. We analyze fine-scale data from onboard observers, covering 25 fishing fleets from 2002 through 2018, to assess temporal trends and spatial variation in sea turtle bycatch in longline and purse seine tuna fisheries in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. For the spatial analysis, we used the latest Regional Management Units for Sea Turtles (RMUs). In 117,381 fishing sets (51,431 in longlines and 65,950 in purse seine), a total of 26,050 sea turtles were incidentally caught. Bycatch was significantly higher in the Atlantic than in the Indian Ocean. Some bycatch trends were observed in longline fisheries but should be interpreted with caution due to low observer coverage and uneven sampling. In purse seine fisheries, where observer coverage was higher, an increasing trend over time was found in the bycatch rate of the three most caught species during the study period. This could be related to an increase in population size as suggested in other regional-scale analyses. We identified RMUs that should receive further attention from the perspective of increased capture rates over time. Our large-scale analysis confirms that surface longline sets capture significantly more turtles than deep longline sets. Purse seine sets on fish aggregating objects (FOB) captured more turtles than sets made on free schools of fish. These results are of relevance for the management and protection of these threatened species and the development of management measures.Grant Agreement no. SI2.839159

Self-directed and prosocial wound care, snare removal, and hygiene behaviors amongst the Budongo chimpanzees

Understanding the cognitive and social foundations of healthcare behaviors in humans requires examining their evolutionary precursors in our closest living relatives. Investigating self-directed and other-directed healthcare in chimpanzees provides crucial insights into the origins of medicinal knowledge, identification of specific medicinal resources used for health maintenance, and the emergence of prosocial healthcare capacities. Here we document and analyze both previously reported and newly observed instances of selfdirected and other-directed wound care, snare removal, and putatively medicinal hygiene behaviors in the Sonso and Waibira chimpanzee communities of the Budongo Forest in Uganda. Reports of these behaviors come from archival records collected from over thirty years of observation at the Budongo Conservation Field Station (BCFS), videos recorded by researchers at the site, and all-occurrence behavioral data collected over two 4-month periods of direct observation. We describe self-directed wound care behaviors such as wound licking, leaf-dabbing, pressing fingers to wounds, and the application of chewed plant material to wounds, as well as a successful self-directed snare removal. We also document self-directed hygiene behaviors including postcoital genital leaf wiping and post-defecation leaf wiping

Technical note: large offsets between different datasets of seawater isotopic composition – an illustration of the need to reinforce intercalibration efforts

We illustrate offsets in surface seawater isotopic composition between recent public datasets from the Atlantic Ocean and the subtropical southeastern Indian Ocean. The observed offsets between datasets often exceed 0.10 parts per thousand in delta 18O and 0.50 parts per thousand in delta 2H. They might in part originate from different sampling of seasonal, interannual, or spatial variability. However, they likely mostly originate from different instrumentations and protocols used to measure the water samples. Estimation of the systematic offsets is required before merging the different datasets in order to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of isotopic composition in the world ocean surface waters. This highlights the need to actively share seawater isotopic composition samples dedicated to specific intercomparison of data produced in different laboratories and to promote best practices, a task to be addressed by the new Scientific Committee of Oceanic Research (SCOR) working group 171.ISOAR

The presence of the biface in Portuguese territory. The all-rounder, or the worldwide spread of a tool over 700,000 years ago

The ability to teach, learn and innovate was what allowed humans to become the dominant species on the planet and the biface was, together with fire, one of the main elements in the discovery and technical innovation that allowed the evolution of humanity at the beginning of our history

Desenvolvimento e otimização de bombons de alfarroba

A indústria alimentar é um setor de extrema importância por todo o mundo, pelo que se destaca a necessidade de inovação com novos produtos e reinvenção dos já existentes. A alfarroba, fruto colhido da espécie Ceratonia siliqua L., tem vindo a destacar-se em várias indústrias, incluindo a alimentar, como potencial substituto ao cacau. A presente dissertação, foi desenvolvida no âmbito de um estágio e teve como objetivo desenvolver e caracterizar bombons de alfarroba com recheio semilíquido. Os bombons foram desenvolvidos com a mesma formulação de cobertura e recheio, variando as condições de produção. Os bombons foram avaliados em termos de dimensões, cor, textura, atividade da água, presença de fat bloom e características sensoriais. Com base nos resultados obtidos, verificou-se que os bombons desenvolvidos apresentaram um diâmetro de cerca de 31 mm e uma altura entre 11 e 12 mm. Em relação à cor, os bombons apresentaram valores de luminosidade (L*) inferiores a 50, com os parâmetros a* e b* a variarem entre 1,5 e 3. Quanto à textura todos os bombons demonstraram uma dureza entre 1400 e 1500 g.f. A atividade da água do recheio e da cobertura foi bastante baixa com valores de 0,300 e 0,360, respetivamente. Verificou-se o aparecimento de fat bloom em algumas amostras, nomeadamente na amostra T2. Relativamente à análise sensorial, o painel de provadores demonstrou uma ligeira preferência pelo bombom com recheio (amostra 2), particularmente no sabor, no sabor a amêndoa e na apreciação global. Em síntese, foram recolhidos todos os dados necessários para, doravante, otimizar o protocolo e adaptar a produção à escala industrial.The food industry is an extremely important sector all over the world, so there is a need to innovate with new products and reinvent existing ones. Carob, the fruit harvested from the Ceratonia siliqua L. species, has been gaining prominence in various industries, including the food industry, as a potential substitute for cocoa. The aim of this internship project was to develop and characterize carob bonbons with a semi-liquid filling. The bonbons were developed with the same coating and filling formulation, varying the production conditions. The bonbons were evaluated in terms of their dimensions, color, texture, water activity, fat bloom and sensory analysis. The results showed that the bonbons developed had a diameter of around 31 mm and a height of between 11-12 mm. The bonbons had a luminosity (L*) of less than 50 and the a* and b* parameters varied between 1.5 and 3. In terms of texture, all the bonbons had a hardness of between 1400 and 1500 g.f. The water activity of the filling and topping used for the developed bonbons was quite low with values of 0.300 and 0.360 respectively. Fat bloom appeared in some samples, particularly in sample T2. The panel of tasters slightly preferred the filled bonbon (sample 2) in terms of taste, almond flavor and overall appreciation. In short, all the data needed to optimize the protocol and adapt production to an industrial scale has been collected

A long photoperiod following a short one, and low temperature, stimulate gametogenesis in the sea cucumber Holothuria arguinensis

Temperature and photoperiod are critical regulators of reproduction. However, few studies have evaluated experimentally their specific effects on gametogenesis in sea cucumbers. We tested the effect on gametogenesis of combinations of photoperiod and temperature: "accelerated" (long days following short days; a 12 degrees C deep in temperature), "constant" (constant short photoperiod; constant Spring/Summer temperature) and "natural" conditions (natural photoperiod and temperature). Experiment 1 started in mid-November (after gametogenesis began) and lasted until March. Experiment 2 started in September, after the spawning season (before gametogenesis started), with gonadal biopsy and spawning trials between March and May. In both experiments, the most advanced gonad development was found in accelerated photoperiod and temperature, with more than 50 % of the sea cucumbers reaching maturity and having the longest and thickest gonadal tubules. However, gametogenesis could not progress in sea cucumbers (i.e., shortest and thinnest gonad tubules) under constant short photoperiod combined with accelerated temperature. This indicates that a constant short photoperiod inhibits gametogenesis and that an accelerated thermal cycle cannot trigger gonad development alone. When accelerated photoperiod was combined with either accelerated or constant temperature, gametogenesis progressed, advancing faster in accelerated than constant temperature, with spawning only seen in these two treatments. This highlights that long days following short days are required for gametogenesis and that temperature has a modulatory role rather than a trigger, with a cool winter period being stimulatory. Altogether, our study provides essential information into environmental factors in sea cucumber reproduction, valuable for broodstock management and sustainable aquaculture

Healthy aging: the role of public policies

O envelhecimento da população é atualmente uma realidade em Portugal, sendo o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas que promovam o envelhecimento saudável imprescindíveis. Foi realizada uma revisão narrativa onde se identificaram na literatura quais os principais desafios e as principais oportunidades para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas orientadas para o envelhecimento saudável e prevenção do idadismo. Esta revisão baseou-se no levantamento bibliográfico de artigos científicos publicados nas principais bases de dados. Alguns dos principais desafios identificados passam pela necessidade crescente de combater o preconceito relacionado com a idade; permitir o acesso a serviços e recursos primordiais de forma a existir equidade intergeracional; recolha de dados e monitorização em relação ao envelhecimento saudável. É possível criar a oportunidade para, por um lado manter estes indivíduos a sentirem-se parte integrante da sociedade, e por outro, acrescentarem valor a esta.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio