Implications of political-legal environment for the launch of new social ventures in Portugal

O propósito deste artigo é compreender se a existência de um ambiente político-legal favorável pode influenciar o lançamento de novas iniciativas de empreendedorismo social em Portugal. A investigação adota uma metodologia quantitativa. Os dados primários foram recolhidos através de um inquérito por questionário, on-line, enviado aos responsáveis que estiveram na base da constituição das Organizações Não-Governamentais de Cooperação para o Desenvolvimento existentes em Portugal, bem como aos responsáveis pelos projetos, que à data do inquérito, se encontravam cotados na Bolsa de Valores Sociais. No teste das hipóteses de investigação foram utilizadas técnicas de análise descritiva, técnicas de redução de dados (análise fatorial por componentes principais), e o teste t-student. Os resultados revelaram que um ambiente político-legal favorável tem uma importância baixa na decisão de lançar uma nova iniciativa social. Os resultados obtidos encontram suporte para o facto de muitos empreendedores sociais tenderem a localizar as suas atividades em ambientes político-legais desfavoráveis, contribuindo deste modo para a atenuação das assimetrias sociais e económicas entre as regiões do território nacional.The purpose of this paper is to understand whether a favorable political-legal environment influences the launch of new social ventures in Portugal. A quantitative approach is used in the study, and primary data were collected through an online survey. A questionnaire was emailed to both Portuguese Non-Governmental organizations, and projects valued on the Portuguese social stock exchange. In the analysis of the data were used descriptive statistics, factorial analysis and t-student tests to validate (or not) the research hypothesis. The results show that a favorable political-legal environment has a low importance in the decision to develop a new social initiative. Besides, this conclusion supports the idea that many social entrepreneurs can emerge even in developing regions where the political-legal environment is weak. Therefore, social entrepreneurship could be an instrument of regional development and contribute to attenuate the social and economic differences among Portuguese regions.COMPETE, QREN, FEDER, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

The potential impacts of micro-and-nano plastics on various organ systems in humans

Humans are exposed to micro-and-nano plastics (MNPs) through various routes, but the adverse health effects of MNPs on different organ systems are not yet fully understood. This review aims to provide an overview of the potential impacts of MNPs on various organ systems and identify knowledge gaps in current research. The summarized results suggest that exposure to MNPs can lead to health effects through oxidative stress, inflammation, immune dysfunction, altered biochemical and energy metabolism, impaired cell proliferation, disrupted microbial metabolic pathways, abnormal organ development, and carcinogenicity. There is limited human data on the health effects of MNPs, despite evidence from animal and cellular studies. Most of the published research has focused on specific types of MNPs to assess their toxicity, while other types of plastic particles commonly found in the environment remain unstudied. Future studies should investigate MNPs exposure by considering realistic concentrations, dose-dependent effects, individual susceptibility, and confounding factors

Digital Evolution: blockchain field research

Bernardino, C., Costa, C. J., & Aparicio, M. (2022). Digital Evolution: blockchain field research. In 2022 17th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI): proceedings (pp. 1-6). (CISTI 2022. 17th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, 22-25 June 2022, Madrid, Spain). IEEE. ISBN: 978-9-8933-3436-2. https://doi.org/10.23919/CISTI54924.2022.9820035Blockchain is a relatively new technology supported by a decentralized database that received special attention at the research level in the last years due to its fundamental characteristics. Numerous researchers have applied blockchain studies in many fields, but the scope is very large and there is no delimitation of new and emergent trends. The method used to better understand the evolution and impact of blockchain technology was a bibliometric analysis. A search was conducted at digital Elsevier’s database with a single keyword blockchain, and 23383 articles were collected. The study uses cluster analysis method, allowing to construct and visualize bibliometric networks and to build co-occurrences networks. The results indicate that there are positive correlations between countries, that China and the United States are part of the most influential cluster. Indicates also emerging developments in the areas of governance, industry, decision-making processes, management, internet of things, information security, and a new hot topic, energy.authorsversionpublishe

The Role of Padel in Improving Physical Fitness and Health Promotion: Progress, Limitations, and Future Perspectives—A Narrative Review

Benefits of regular exercise for health are beyond any doubt. However, adherence to regular physical activity is an ongoing challenge. Among the options for exercise engagement, racket sports, and particularly padel, stand as emerging practices for children and adults to have fun, improve physical fitness, and potentially develop motor and cognitive skills. In the last decade, the literature on padel is increasing exponentially. However, there is a need for further experimental research. To design safe and effective sport-base physical activity promotion interventions, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the physical requirements, technical complexity, injury risks, and strength and conditioning programs. To assist researchers to conduct effective padel-based interventions for health, this review summarizes the state-of-the-art evidence about padel, identifies key topics to be addressed in the future, and discusses the potential role of padel as a physical fitness and health promotion strategy. A narrative review is presented, summarizing the results of padel articles from three different databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Studies written in Spanish and English were the inclusion criteria. The studies had to be published from 2000 onwards and be original, as well as peer-reviewed

Financing local development through crowdfunding: An empirical analysis of social projects in Portugal

Crowdfunding (CF) is an increasingly attractive source to fund social projects. However, to our best knowledge, the study of CF for social purposes has remained largely unexplored in the literature. This research envisages a detailed examination of the role of CF on the early-stage of the social projects at regional level. By comparing the characteristics of the projects available in the Portuguese Social Stock Exchange (PSSE) platform with others that did not use this source of financial support, we explore its role on regional development. The results we got show that, in most cases, both PSSE and Non-Governmental Organizations projects complemented the services offered by the State or by the private sector. Furthermore, about a quarter of the projects present in PSSE operated in areas that were not being addressed neither by the services offered by the State nor by the ones of the private sector. The results attained show that more recent social ventures have a greater propensity to use PSSE. The same is find in those organizations which work closely with the target audience. We also observed that the use of PSSE was correlated with the geographical scope of the Social Venture. The circumstance of having the social organization acting at a local or regional level seems to be strongly associated with the possibility of using social crowdfunding for financing social projects

Utilização de sensores e dos sentidos humanos no apoioà transição do concretopara o abstrato

Apresentam-se e analisam-se os contributos de 4 estudos de caso para a compreensão do potencial da utilização sinérgica dos sentidos e de sensores no apoio à transição do pensamento concreto para o abstrato, em contextos de ensino experimental das ciências no 1º e 2º ciclo do ensino básico. Recolheram-se e analisaram-se evidências de desenvolvimento da abstração sobre tópicos de considerável complexidade, como os de biodiversidade, ser vivo, temperatura e frequência cardíaca

Effects of switching to PI monotherapy on measures of lipoatrophy: meta-analysis of six randomized HIV clinical trials

Background: Switching from triple combination treatment to protease inhibitor (PI) monotherapy may prevent or reverse adverse events related to long-term nucleoside analogues. Lipoatrophy is associated with long-term use of thymidine analogues (zidovudine and stavudine). Methods: A detailed MEDLINE search was conducted to identify randomised clinical trials of triple combination treatment versus PI monotherapy. Summary results from analysis of changes in body composition (DEXA analysis) were collected: the mean change in limb fat and trunk fat to Week 48 or 96, and the percentage of patients with lipoatrophy (20% reduction from baseline in limb fat) or lipohypertrophy (20% rise from baseline in trunk fat). Results: Six randomised trials of PI monotherapy versus triple therapy with data on body composition changes, measured by DEXA scanning at baseline and Week 48 or 96, were identified: Abbott-613 (LPV/r vs ZDV/3TC/EFV, induction-maintenance trial, n=105), Monark (LPV/r vs ZDV/3TC/LPV/r, first-line trial, n=63), Kalesolo (LPV/r vs LPV/r +2NRTIs, switch trial, n=42), MONOI (DRV/r vs DRV/r + 2NRTIs, switch trial, n=156), MONARCH (DRV/r vs DRV/r + 2NRTIs, switch trial, n=30) and KRETA (LPV/r vs LPV/r + ABC/3TC, switch trial, n=74). In the meta-analysis, there were greater rises in limb fat in the PI monotherapy arms than the triple therapy arms (mean difference =277g, 95% CI=+36 to+517g, p=0.024). The percentage of patients with lipoatrophy was significantly lower in the PI monotherapy arms (4%) than the triple therapy arms (20%), (p=0.0005). There was no difference between PI monotherapy and triple therapy for mean change in trunk fat (mean difference=−73g, 95% CI = −621 to +475g, p=ns). There was also no significant difference in the risk of lipohypertrophy between the PI monotherapy arms (32%) and the triple therapy arms (27%) (p=ns). In each of the four analyses, there was no evidence for heterogeneity of treatment effects between the trials (Cochran's Q tests, p=ns for each comparison). Conclusions: In this meta-analysis, the risk of lipoatrophy was significantly lower for patients taking PI monotherapy, compared to triple therapy. There was no significant difference between the arms for lipohypertrophy. However, several of the trials included zidovudine in the control arm, which carries a higher risk of lipoatrophy than tenofovir and abacavir, which are now more widely used

Contra los que atacan las imágenes sagradas. Discurso apologético

Polémicos son también sus discursos apologéticos «sobre las imágenes sagradas», en los que el Damasceno defiende la ortodoxia de la veneración de las imágenes en contra del criterio del emperador León III y de quienes entendían que la veneración de la imagen era, en realidad, una adoración idólatra que debía ser erradicada. El estilo sencillo que Juan de Damasco empleó en estos textos facilitó su difusión entre la población cristiana e incitó a la misma a tomar postura ante la nueva polémica promovida por el poder imperial