Technology assessment in Non-PTA countries: an overview of recent developments in Europe

Paper based on the text to be published in Moniz, A.B. and Okuwada, K. (2016), Technology Assessment in Japan and Europe, Karlsruhe, KIT Scientific PublishingThis work aims to describe the latest developments in European countries or regions that lack a structure to develop Parliamentary Technology Assessment activities (named non-PTA). They are countries or regions where parliamentary-oriented technology assessment activities have not yet resulted in a formal structure, but where these activities can be detected to some extent. We will concentrate on activities in Portugal, Wallonia, and other Central and Eastern countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria. Catalonia is mentioned as a specific case where a formal PTA structure exists but the way it is organized and financed is similar to the national and regional experiences at the non-PTA countries. We can conclude that TA institutionalization in non-PTA countries appears to be dependent on the level of public production of knowledge. In fact, the presence or absence of Science & Technology (S&T) issues on the public agenda of these countries and regions affects the need for parliamentary policy advice: in their presence, S&T agenda pushes the need for TA advice by parliamentarians; in their absence, the promotion of innovation tries to keep up with globalization pressures and to generate economic growth, without significant demands for TA advice.KIT-ITAS, Japan Science and Technology Agenc

Renewable energy systems the theme for the PACITA summer school on TA, Liège, Belgium, 25 28 June 2012

The summer school “Renewable Energy Systems: Role and Use of Parliamentary Technology Assessment” was the first European Summer School with a pure focus on technology assessment. The aim of the three-day long summer school of the European project Parliaments and Civil Society in Technology Assessment (PACITA) was to create awareness of the potential of technology groups in Europe. Therefore, the summer school involved keynotes, practical exercises, mutual reflection, cutting edge training and networking to deal with the theme of renewable energy systems out of the perspective of Technology Assessment (TA), to meet transition objectives or to critically assess energy technologies

Pela construção de um repositório científico (temático) geológico

e-Terra - Revista Electrónica de Ciências da Terra ISSN 1645-0388, Volume 15 – nº 10 2010É apresentado o panorama actual, nacional e internacional, sobre o Acesso Livre ao conhecimento científico através da Web. São apresentadas estatísticas que demonstram os benefícios e a utilidade desta nova forma de divulgação do conhecimento, não apenas pelo incremento das citações, mas também pela formação dos jovens investigadores e, mesmo do ponto de vista ético. São também apresentadas estatísticas sobre as publicações periódicas de Geologia em Portugal, sobre as quais se conclui também pela necessidade da constituição de um repositório bibliográfico digital

The influence of age diversity practices on workers’ well-being and intention to leave:The role of the relational psychological contract

O envelhecimento da população mundial acarreta inúmeros desafios para as organizações, entre os quais a retenção de uma força de trabalho cada vez mais diversa em termos de idade. Com base nas teorias do contrato psicológico e da troca social, este estudo examina o efeito das práticas de diversidade etária no bem-estar subjetivo e na intenção de saída dos trabalhadores via contrato psicológico relacional. Uma amostra de 257 trabalhadores portugueses respondeu a um questionário. A análise de equações estruturais foi aplicada para testar o modelo de mediação. Os resultados mostraram que a existência de práticas de diversidade etária contribui para o desenvolvimento de um contrato psicológico do tipo relacional o que, por sua vez, leva a maiores níveis de bem-estar e a menores intenções de saída da organização. As implicações teóricas e práticas dos resultados são discutidas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diabetes hinders community-acquired pneumonia outcomes in hospitalized patients

This deposit is composed by the main article, and it hasn't any supplementary materials associated.This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and its impact on hospital length of stay and in-hospital mortality.Pfizer Grant; Ernesto Roma Foundation grant: (FER2014/01)

Seasonal water level fluctuations: Implications for reservoir limnology and management

With the purpose of finding out whether seasonal water level fluctuations could affect water quality in a reservoir subjected to those changes, trends in environmental variables and in phytoplankton and zooplankton assemblages were analysed. The reservoir’s hydrological cycle was characterized by three regimes. The maximum level phase lasted from January to the beginning of June, the emptying phase existed between mid-June to the beginning of September and the minimum level phase lasted from mid-September to the beginning of the first autumn/winter rain events. The highest values of total phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, water colour and chlorophyll a were found during the minimum level phase. The phytoplankton assemblage was dominated by taxa typical of meso-eutrophic environments during the emptying and minimum level phases. However, during the maximum level phase, taxa generally found in more oligotrophic systems were observed here also. Similar to other disturbed systems, the zooplankton assemblage was dominated by Rotifera, except in summer and autumn when the cladoceran Ceriodaphnia quadrangula and/or the copepod Tropocyclops prasinus became dominant. Although those shifts seem to be related to water level variations, further research is needed to evaluate to what extent they might also be induced by other seasonal factors acting independently of water fluctuations. Based upon the obtained data, suggestions for reservoir management are proposed

A estrutura do carvão e do char: a sua relação com a mitigação dos gases de estufa

The results of projects POCI/CLI/60557/2004 and PPCDT/CLI/60557/2004 are summarized. The aim of these projects was the characterization of two coal sets (one vitrinite-rich increasing rank coal set; and one medium rank coal set with increasing inertinite volume) and their related char, and their relation with fluidized bed NO and N2O emission

Co-firing of biomass and other wastes in fluidised bed systems

A project on co-firing in large-scale power plants burning coal is currently funded by the European Commission. It is called COPOWER. The project involves 10 organisations from 6 countries. The project involves combustion studies over the full spectrum of equipment size, ranging from small laboratory-scale reactors and pilot plants, to investigate fundamentals and operating parameters, to proving trials on a commercial power plant in Duisburg. The power plant uses a circulating fluidized bed boiler. The results to be obtained are to be compared as function of scale-up. There are two different coals, 3 types of biomass and 2 kinds of waste materials are to be used for blending with coal for co-firing tests. The baseline values are obtained during a campaign of one month at the power station and the results are used for comparison with those to be obtained in other units of various sizes. Future tests will be implemented with the objective to achieve improvement on baseline values. The fuels to be used are already characterized. There are ongoing studies to determine reactivities of fuels and chars produced from the fuels. Reactivities are determined not only for individual fuels but also for blends to be used. Presently pilot-scale combustion tests are also undertaken to study the effect of blending coal with different types of biomass and waste materials. The potential for synergy to improve combustion is investigated. Early results will be reported in the Conference. Simultaneously, studies to verify the availability of biomass and waste materials in Portugal, Turkey and Italy have been undertaken. Techno-economic barriers for the future use of biomass and other waste materials are identified. The potential of using these materials in coal fired power stations has been assessed. The conclusions will also be reported

Conceptions of basic education teachers about math proof: influence of professional experience

A prova é uma atividade que desempenha um papel fundamental na construção do conhecimento matemático, razão pela qual adquire relevância nos programas escolares de Matemática. Admitindo que as conceções dos professores sobre a prova afetam a forma como ela é tratada em sala de aula, procuramos averiguar as conceções de professores portugueses de Matemática do 3.º ciclo do Ensino Básico (do 7.º ao 9.º ano) sobre diferentes aspetos da prova matemática e a influência que a experiência profissional tem nessas conceções. Adotando uma abordagem metodológica mista, recolhemos os dados através de um questionário, respondido por 72 professores, e de uma entrevista a duas professoras com experiências profissionais diferentes. Os resultados revelam que os professores, sobretudo os que têm menos tempo de docência, consideram que a prova matemática tem uma natureza distinta da de outras disciplinas, é uma atividade essencial para a construção do conhecimento matemático, tem como função verificar e explicar a veracidade de uma afirmação e permite desenvolver o raciocínio e a comunicação matemática. No que respeita à participação dos alunos na atividade de provar, são os professores com mais tempo de docência que mais o destacam, o que permite aos alunos perceberem a natureza desta atividade. Em termos curriculares, são os professores com menos experiência docente que mais concordam com a presença da prova logo nos primeiros anos, embora salientem que esta atividade só faz sentido em alguns tópicos programáticos.Proof is an activity that plays a key role in the construction of mathematical knowledge, which is why it acquires relevance in mathematics programs. Admitting that teachers' conceptions about proof influence how it is handled in the classroom, we tried to investigate the conceptions of Portuguese mathematics teachers from the 3rd cycle of basic education (grade 7 to 9) on different aspects of mathematical proof and the relationship that the teachers’ experience has in these conceptions. Adopting a mixed methodological approach, we collected data through a questionnaire answered by 72 teachers, and an interview with two teachers with different professional experience. The results show that teachers, especially those with less experience, consider that mathematical proof has a distinct nature from other disciplines, it is an essential activity for the construction of mathematical knowledge and its function is to verify and explain the truth of a statement by developing reasoning and mathematical communication. With respect to student participation in the activity of proving, teachers with more teaching experience are the ones that most highlight it, which allows students to realize the nature of this activity. In curriculum terms, teachers with less experience are the ones that most agree with the presence of proof in early grades, while emphasizing that this activity only makes sense in some program topics.Este trabalho contou com o apoio de Fundos Nacionais através da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia no âmbito do projeto PEst-OE/CED/UI1661/2014, do CIEdUM e do projeto UID/Multi/04016/2016info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Epigenetic marks in the mature pollen of Quercus suber L. (Fagaceae)

We have analysed the distribution of epigenetic marks for histone modifications at lysine residues H3 and H4, and DNA methylation, in the nuclei of mature pollen cells of the Angiosperm tree Quercus suber; a monoecious wind pollinated species with a protandrous system, and a long post-pollination period. The ultrasonic treatment developed for the isolation of pollen nuclei proved to be a fast and reliable method, preventing the interference of cell wall autofluorescence in the in situ immunolabelling assays. In contrast with previous studies on herbaceous species with short progamic phases, our results are consistent with a high level of silent (5-mC and H3K9me2) epigenetic marks on chromatin of the generative nucleus, and the prevalence of active marks (H3K9me3 and H4Kac) in the vegetative nucleus. The findings are discussed in terms of the pollination/fertilization timing strategy adopted by this plant specie