720 research outputs found

    Prisoners' expectations of the national forensic DNA database: surveillance and reconfiguration of individual rights

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    In this paper we aim to discuss how Portuguese prisoners know and what they feel about surveillance mechanisms related to the inclusion and deletion of the DNA profiles of convicted criminals in the national forensic database. Through a set of interviews with individuals currently imprisoned we focus on the ways this group perceives forensic DNA technologies. While the institutional and political discourses maintain that the restricted use and application of DNA profiles within the national forensic database protects individuals’ rights, the prisoners claim that police misuse of such technologies potentially makes it difficult to escape from surveillance and acts as a mean of reinforcing the stigma of delinquency. The prisoners also argue that additional intensive and extensive use of surveillance devices might be more protective of their own individual rights and might possibly increase potential for exoneration.We would like to thank the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) for financing this research through a post-doc fellowship (SFRH/BPD/34143/2006), the project "Forensic DNA databasing in Portugal: Contemporary issues in ethics, practices and policy" (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-009231) and also the project "Justice, media and citizenship" (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007554). We are grateful for the insightful and helpful comments of Barbara Prainsack who provided valuable feedback on earlier drafts of this article and guidance throughout the research. We are also extremely grateful to Diana Miranda for her participation in the fieldwork of this study and to Manuela Ivone Cunha for her collaboration in producing the report of this research to the General Board of Prison Services (Portugal)

    Justiça tecnológica: promessas e desafios

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    Este livro visa responder às seguintes questões:Poderá a tecnologia servir como instrumento para expandir a eficácia da justiça e consolidar a cidadania? A ciência e a tecnologia aplicadas à justiça poderão expressar o nível e intensidade de democraticidade das sociedades contemporâneas? Quais as presentes e futuras configuração das «justiça tecnológica», no plano nacional e internacional? E o que significa verdadeiramente essa expressão? Quais os seus principais actores, ideários e artefactos? Quais as virtualidades, limitações e potenciais riscos que decorrem da aplicação no sistema judiciário de instrumentos como a tecnologia de ADN e as novas tecnologias de comunicação e informação?Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Centro de Investigação em Ciências Sociai

    Matrix Acidizing Core Flooding Apparatus: Equipment and Procedure Description

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    Core flooding is a commonly used experimental procedure in the petroleum industry. It involves pressurizing a reservoir rock and flowing fluid through it in the laboratory. The cylindrical rock, called a core, can be cut from the reservoir during a separate core drilling operation or a formation outcrop. A core flooding apparatus suitable for matrix acidizing was designed and assembled. Matrix acidizing is a stimulation technique in which hydrochloric acid (HCl) is injected down the wellbore below formation fracture pressure to dissolve carbonate (CaCO3) rock creating high permeability streaks called wormholes. The main components of the apparatus include a continuous flow syringe pump, three core holders, a hydraulic hand pump, two accumulators, a back pressure regulator, and two pressure transducers connected through a series of tubing and valves. Due to the corrosive nature of the acid, the apparatus features Hastelloy which is a corrosion resistant metal alloy. Another substantial feature of the apparatus is the ability to apply 3000psi back pressure. This is the pressure necessary to keep CO2, a product of the CaCO3 and HCl reaction, in solution at elevated temperatures. To perform experiments at temperature, the core holder is wrapped with heating tape and surrounded by insulation. Tubing is wrapped around a heating band with insulation to heat the fluid before it enters the core. A LabVIEW graphical programming code was written to control heaters as well as record temperature and pressure drop across the core. Other considerations for the design include minimizing footprint, operational ease by the user, vertical placement of the accumulators and core holders to minimize gravity effects, and air release valves. Core floods can be performed at varying injection rates, temperatures and pressures up to 5000psi and 250 degF. The apparatus can handle small core plugs, 1’’ diameter X 1’’ length, up to 4’’ X 20’’ cores. The equipment description includes the purpose, relevant features, and connections to the system for each component. Finally documented is the procedure to run a core flooding test to determine permeability and inject acid complete with an analysis of pressure response data

    On the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance: A panel data analysis on SME hotels

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    This paper analysed the effect of intellectual capital on small and medium-sized hotel financial performance for the period between 2007 and 2015. Using a sample of 934 Portuguese small and medium-sized hotels, this study adopted the GMM system (1998) estimator, to analyse a dynamic panel data. The findings suggested that intellectual capital components, i.e., human capital, structural capital and relational capital provide a positive impact on hotel financial performance. Human capital and relational capital seemed to be key elements for the success of hotels, being the basis of service quality in the hotels sector. Furthermore, the results showed that human capital and structural capital are capitalized by the establishment and maintenance of long-term relationships with key stakeholders. These findings indicated that the interaction between intellectual capital components enhances the hotel financial performance. Herein, it is highlighted the importance of intellectual capital in small and medium-sized hotel financial performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    How are “farmers” adapting in Southern Portugal? Assessing land management typologies in a transition theory perspective.

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    European rural landscapes face today several changes due to market liberalization, price instability, energetic crisis, food quality and security, etc. Rural landscapes in the Mediterranean peripheric region of Alentejo (Southern Portugal) mainly managed under extensive farming systems are especially vulnerable to this global scenario, as farms traditionally base their income on production functions, unable to be competitive in this world market with the commodities they provide. These landscapes face severe threats of simplification and abandonment. But because of their extensive character and specific features, these landscapes maintain environmental and cultural values progressively demanded by society for non-commodity functions like leisure, nature conservation and identity. An increasing group of land managers (including full-time and part-time farmers, hobby farmers, business man or simply new residents) is emerging in these attractive areas giving expression to what some authors call the multifunctional transition bounded between a more productivist and more post-productivist management; or both, as they can overlap in time, space and structure. So, how are land managers adapting to society’s demand and global changes? How can land management in these peripheric landscapes better adapt to the new requirements and survive in a globalized environment? What are the local requirements for these new management strategies and forms to survive ?In this communication we intend to assess the different land management types identified in a protected area where the new functions related to the provision of public goods have already some expression, motivating land managers to adapt in different ways. The typology is anchored on the transition theory perspective and aims at identifying the possible innovative approaches for lands management in Mediterranean extensive landscapes. Propose

    The landscape on an asset in Southern European fragile agriculture systems contrasts and contradiction in land managers attitudes and practices

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    Transition theories suggest that there is a spatial, temporal and structural co-existence of several processes of transition from productivism to post-productivism going on in rural areas in multiple combinations resulting in a more complex, contested, variable mix of production, consumption and protection goals. This is particularly true for South European landscapes dominated by extensive agro-silvo-pastoral systems. The fragile agricultural sector is in some cases just entering the productivist phase, let alone moving towards post-productivism both in terms of discourse and management practices. At the same time, these are landscapes increasingly valued by society, and this demand should encourage new strategies for farm survival and new ways of managing the land. But such new strategies require a paradigm shift, not only in policy goals and formulation, but also in farmers’ attitude towards their role and their management goals. In this paper, the question addressed is how the land managers within this system, facing multiple transition options, are choosing different management paradigms, in the complex range between productivism and post-productivism. Based on a farm survey in southern Portugal, a typology of land managers is produced, aiming to grasp the combination between their management practices in the farm and their expressed attitudes towards farm management and the role of their farm in the landscape. Results reveal some inconsistencies between land managers’ intentions and their landscape outcomes, in an opposite sense to what has been earlier identified in Northwestern Europe. Even if they manage a multifunctional system, their self-concept is dominantly productivist and not affected by the public expectations of multifunctionality. This tension may reflect contradictions in the policy framework and, at the same time, raises challenges which the existing policy mechanisms do not consider

    The “Formação Musical” course in specialized music education in Portugal: Outlining its identity

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    Enquanto parte integrante do currículo dos vários cursos de música das escolas públicas portuguesas de ensino especializado, a disciplina de Formação Musical está alicerçada numa história cuja análise é aqui apresentada como objeto de estudo, num período temporal que vai desde a criação do primeiro Conservatório em Portugal, em 1835 até à atualidade. Com o objetivo de refletir sobre a génese e a identidade dessa disciplina, procura-se de uma forma global proporcionar um olhar sobre a sua evolução histórica no contexto de uma cultura escolar que a si própria se permeia das transformações geradas a partir das reformas educativas desenvolvidas no âmbito do ensino da música. A pertinência do estudo fundamenta-se no pressuposto de que o passado e o percurso evolutivo da disciplina de Formação Musical tem uma grande influência na sua identidade atual. Em termos metodológicos privilegiou-se uma análise de conteúdo à legislação criada para o ensino da música, bem como a outras referências fundamentais. O percurso temporal que esta disciplina percorreu veio a torná-la uma disciplina estruturante no currículo, apesar das indefinições quanto ao papel que desempenha e às pedagogias que promove deverem ser objeto de reflexão no contexto curricular atual.As part of the curriculum of several music undergraduate degrees in Portuguese specialized music education public schools, the ‘Formação Musical’ course has an important history, hereby presented as a subject of study, since the opening of the first Portuguese Conservatory in 1835. With the intent of reflecting on the genesis and identity of this course this article provides a comprehensive overview of the historical evolution of ‘Formação Musical’ in the context of a school culture impacted by several educational reforms implemented in the context of music education. The relevance of this study is based on the assumption that the past and the evolution of the ‘Formação Musical’ course has a considerable influence on its present identity. From a methodology perspective, the study consists of a bibliographic content analysis of the legislation that has been created for music education, as well as of other significant references.The evolution of the ‘Formação Musical’ course has resulted in a growing and structural relevance of the subject in the music curriculum, notwithstanding identified indefinitions concerning the role of the course, and concerning the pedagogical and didactical strategies being promoted in the present curricular context, which should be object of study. Key words: specialized music education , “formação musical” course, curricular identity.CIEC - Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança, IE, UMinho (UI 317 da FCT), PortugalFundos Nacionais através da FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) e cofinanciado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) com a referência POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Figura Complexa de Rey-Osterrieth e Funcionamento Executivo em Idosos Institucionalizados

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    O envelhecimento é um fenómeno biológico natural, impulsionador de alterações profundas na cognição. As deteriorações ao nível cognitivo e psicológico são frequentes em algumas dimensões que a FCR-O avalia, nomeadamente nas aptidões visuoespaciais, visuoconstrutivas e em diversas funções executivas, entre elas a memória visual, a atenção, o planeamento e a função motora. Objetivos: Com este estudo pretendemos avaliar as aptidões de planeamento e organização através dos tipos de construção da Figura Complexa de Rey-Osterrieth (FCR-O) mais frequentes em função da existência ou não de défice executivo (avaliado pela FAB). Metodologia: O presente estudo incluiu 313 sujeitos institucionalizados em estruturas residenciais de apoio à terceira idade, com idades compreendidas entre os 56 e 100 anos, 74,1%, mulheres, 78,1% não tem companheiro, 64,5% frequentaram o ensino normal, 88,2% tem uma profissão manual. Avaliámos os tipos de construção da Figura Complexa de Rey-Osterrieth (FCR-O) mais frequentes, em função da existência ou não de défice cognitivo através da Bateria de Avaliação Frontal (FAB). Resultados: Verificámos que a maior parte dos sujeitos fez uma construção tipo II (n = 113; 36,1%), menos frequentes foram o tipo III (n = 21; 6,7%) e o tipo IV (n = 19; 6,9%). Por fim, seis pessoas (0,8%) apresentam um desenho do tipo VI. A amostra em estudo apresentou uma pontuação média na FAB de 9,75 (DP = 4,02) em que (52%) não tem défice executivo. Ao analisarmos o tipo de desenho na FCR-O em função da presença ou não de défice executivo (avaliado pela FAB), verificámos uma associação entre défice executivo a qualidade da cópia. Quanto mais alta a escolaridade melhor o tipo de cópia. Também no cruzamento do FAB com a variável escolaridade se destacou que os sujeitos com escolaridade eram menos propensos ao défice executivo (67,0%). Por fim, a análise da presença de défice executivo em função do tipo de profissão dos idosos evidenciou que os sujeitos com uma profissão intelectual tiveram melhor qualidade da cópia da FCR-O e sofreram menos de défice executivo (83,3%) comparativamente com os sujeitos com uma profissão manual (50,3%). A idade e o sexo não influenciaram o desempenho na qualidade da cópia na FCR-O. Conclusão: A maioria das pessoas institucionalizadas em estruturas residenciais de apoio à terceira idade tem boas aptidões de planeamento e de organização percetiva. Concluímos ainda que a qualidade da cópia da FCR-O se associa à presença/ausência de défice executivo, o que atesta o valor desta componente da FCR-O como instrumento de avaliação do funcionamento executivo. A qualidade da cópia da FCR-O associa-se, ainda, ao nível de escolaridade e ao tipo de profissão. / Ageing is a natural biological phenomenon triggering profound cognitive change. Cognitive and psychological deteriorations occur frequently in some of the components assessed by the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF), namely visual spatial and visual-constructional abilities and various executive functions, among them visual memory, attention, planning and motor function. Objectives: In this study we intend to evaluate planning and organisational skills by means of the most frequent types of figures in the ROCF, based on the presence or absence of executive deficit (as assessed by FAB). Methodology: This study involved 313 subjects institutionalised in residential support facilities for the elderly. Subjects were aged between 56 and 100, of which 74.1% were women, 78.1% were single, 64.5% had been in standard education and 88.2% had manual work professions. We evaluated the most frequent types of figures from the ROCF, based on the presence or absence of cognitive deficit according to the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Outcomes: We found that the majority of subjects produced a type II figure (n = 113; 36.1%), type II figures (n = 21; 6.7%) and type IV figures (n = 19; 6.9%) were less frequent. Six people (0.8%) produced a type VI drawing. The average FAB score for the study sample was 9.75 (SD = 4.02), of which 53% did not have executive deficit. An analysis of the type of ROCF figure based on the presence or absence of executive deficit (assessed by FAB) showed a correlation between executive deficit and the quality of the copy. The higher the level of schooling, the better the type of copy was. Also, when compared with the FAB schooling variable, it stood out that subjects with schooling were less prone to executive deficit (67.0%). Finally, the analysis of the presence of executive deficit, based on the elderly persons’ type of profession, showed that subjects who had an intellectual profession produced better copies on the ROCF and suffered from less executive deficit (83.3%), compared to subjects with manual work professions (50.3%). Age and gender did not influence the copying exercise in the ROCF. Conclusion: Most people institutionalised in residential support facilities for the elderly have good planning and perceptual organisational skills. We also concluded that the quality of the ROCF figure copy is associated with the presence/absence of executive deficit, which attests to the value of this component of the ROCF as an instrument for assessing executive function. The quality of the ROCF copy is also associated with level of schooling and type of profession
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