Resilience in architecture: housing as a process

This work starts with a hypothesis that housing design process can be an open system, whose resilience becomes positive when it is understood as a process with multiple agents, among one of them is the architect. Current housing production presents inadequacies and flexibility problems that bring this system to an unbalanced situation, which makes it more difficult for people to modify the space they live. This work aims to identify if and how the insertion of other architectural strategies in housing production could foster its resilience. In order to reach this objective, this research uses an explanatory approach based on a literature review on the theme and case studies. Firstly, the concepts of system and resilience are explored under approaches that cover the reductionist and the systemic paradigm. After that, some discussions regarding housing and counter-hegemonic practices are presented. Finally, selected case studies are analysed from the perspective of the resilience characteristics in order to verify if they develop the concept of housing as a continuous process. The results enforce the need for shifting the emphasis of current housing schemes to a new configuration of dynamic balance and highlight the role of open and informational processes to achieve this goal

Resilience in architecture: housing as a process

This work starts with a hypothesis that housing design process can be an open system, whose resilience becomes positive when it is understood as a process with multiple agents, among one of them is the architect. Current housing production presents inadequacies and flexibility problems that bring this system to an unbalanced situation, which makes it more difficult for people to modify the space they live. This work aims to identify if and how the insertion of other architectural strategies in housing production could foster its resilience. In order to reach this objective, this research uses an explanatory approach based on a literature review on the theme and case studies. Firstly, the concepts of system and resilience are explored under approaches that cover the reductionist and the systemic paradigm. After that, some discussions regarding housing and counter-hegemonic practices are presented. Finally, selected case studies are analysed from the perspective of the resilience characteristics in order to verify if they develop the concept of housing as a continuous process. The results enforce the need for shifting the emphasis of current housing schemes to a new configuration of dynamic balance and highlight the role of open and informational processes to achieve this goal

Customer knowledge and behavior on the use of food refrigerated display cabinets: A Portuguese case

This article presents a study on customer knowledge and habits regarding the use of refrigerated display cabinets (RDC). The study was carried out on a sample of Portuguese retail stores’ customers, using a questionnaire survey available through an Internet platform. The sample consisted of 136 individuals, who voluntarily participated in the study. Questions included the characterization of the sociodemographic population involved. The questionnaire included different questions to related with RDC, namely customer knowledge about the appearance of each RDC equipment, questions to evaluate the respondents’ perception about the advantages and disadvantages related to open or glass-door closed RDC, questions to assess the participants’ habits and behavior when purchasing food products from glass-door closed RDC (frequency and duration of door open), questions to characterize the consumers’ habits on purchasing food products from RDC, and also questions to characterize the consumers’ shopping attitudes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. The results seem to indicate that customers prefer closed RDC; for example, 61.8% of participants prefer products preserved in glass-door closed RDC, against 6.6% that admit to preferring products preserved in open RDC. Therefore, we can deduce that the existence of doors does not appear to be an obstacle to purchasing food products. Regarding the use of glass-door closed RDC, 80.1% of the participants say they just open the door once, and 53.7% of the costumers believe they keep the door open in the interval [4‒6 s]. This indicates that Portuguese customers are quite well informed about food safety issues and seem to follow assertive attitudes when purchasing food products from RDC. This study reinforces the benefits of replacing open RDC by closed glass-doors allowing significant energy savings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Student assessment in Higher Education: a review of thesis carried out in Portuguese public universities

Student assessment has become, over the past years, an important and complex issue about higher education pedagogy. This paper aims to present a systematic review of empirical studies (Master and PhD thesis), carried out in Portuguese public universities, focused on the topic of student assessment in higher education, from the year 2010 to 2020. The research methodology followed a qualitative approach, using e PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) model to develop the systematic review. Findings show a trend of change in the assessment practices of students in higher education, whose direction points to an increase of formative assessment centered on students. A strong trend of innovation in assessment practices with the use of technologies also emerges from the studies

Fatty acids composition in yellow-legged (Larus michahellis) and lesser black-backed (Larus fuscus) gulls from natural and urban habitats in relation to the ingestion of anthropogenic materials

Research Areas: Environmental Sciences & EcologyUrban habitats offer spatially and temporally predictable anthropogenic food sources for opportunistic species, such as several species of gulls that are known to exploit urban areas and take advantage of accessible and diverse food sources, reducing foraging time and energy expenditure. However, human-derived food may have a poorer nutritional quality than the typical natural food resources and foraging in urban habitats may increase birds' susceptibility of ingesting anthropogenic debris materials, with unknown physiological consequences for urban dwellers. Here we compare the fatty acids (FA) composition of two opportunistic gull species (the yellow-legged gull, Larus michahellis, and the lesser black-backed gull, Larus fuscus) from areas with different levels of urbanization, to assess differences in birds' diet quality among foraging habitats, and we investigate the effects of ingesting anthropogenic materials, a toxicological stressor, on gulls' FA composition. Using GC–MS, 23 FAs were identified in the adipose tissue of both gull species. Significant differences in gulls' FA composition were detected among the three urbanization levels, mainly due to physiologically important highly unsaturated FAs that had lower percentages in gulls from the most urbanized habitats, consistent with a diet based on anthropogenic food resources. The deficiency in omega (ω)-3 FAs and the higher ω-6:ω-3 FAs ratio in gulls from the most urbanized location may indicate a dietinduced susceptibility to inflammation. No significant differences in overall FA composition were detected between gull species.While we were unable to detect any effect of ingested anthropogenic materials on gulls' FA composition, these data constitute a valuable contribution to the limited FA literature in gulls.We encourage studies to explore the long-term physiological effects of the lower nutritional quality diet for urban dwellers, and to detect the sub-lethal impacts of the ingestion of anthropogenic materialsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Electrochromic device composed of a Di-Urethanesil electrolyte incorporating lithium triflate and 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium chloride

A di-urethane cross-linked poly(oxyethylene)/silica hybrid matrix [di-urethanesil, d-Ut(600)], synthesized by the sol-gel process, was doped with lithium triflate (LiCF3SO3) and the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl) ionic liquid. The as-produced xerogel film is amorphous, transparent, flexible, homogeneous, hydrophilic, and has low nanoscale surface roughness. It exhibits an ionic conductivity of 3.64 x 10(-6) and 5.00 x 10(-4) S cm(-1) at 21 and 100 degrees C, respectively. This material was successfully tested as electrolyte in an electrochromic device (ECD) with the glass/ITO/a-WO3/d-Ut(600)(10)LiCF3SO3[Bmim]Cl/c-NiO/ITO/glass configuration, where a-WO3 and c-NiO stand for amorphous tungsten oxide and crystalline nickel oxide, respectively. The device demonstrated attractive electro-optical performance: fast response times (1-2 s for coloring and 50 s for bleaching), good optical memory [loss of transmittance (T) of only 41% after 3 months, at 555 nm], four mode modulation [bright mode (+3.0 V, T = 77% at 555 nm), semi-bright mode (-1.0 V, T = 60% at 555 nm), dark mode (-1.5 V, T = 38 % at 555 nm), and very dark mode (-2.0 V, T = 11% and -2.5 V, T = 7% at 555 nm)], excellent cycling stability denoting improvement with time, and high coloration efficiency [CEin = -6727 cm(2) C-1 (32th cycle) and CEout = +2794 cm(2) C-1 (480th cycle), at 555 nm].The authors are grateful to Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) and when applicable by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement for financial support under contracts PEst-OE/SAU/UI0709/2014, UID/Multi/00709/2013, UID/QUI/00686/2016, UID/QUI/00686/2018, UID/QUI/00686/2019, PEst-OE/QUI/UI0616/2016, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER037271, UID/CTM/50011/2013, LUMECD project (POCI01-0145-FEDER-016884 and PTDC/CTM-NAN/0956/2014), UniRCell project (SAICTPAC/0032/2015 and POCI-01-0145FEDER-016422). RP and SN acknowledge FCT-MCTES for grants (SFRH/BPD/87759/2012 and LUMECD, respectively). RP thanks FCT-UM for the contracts in the scope of Decreto-Lei 57/2016 and 57/2017. MF acknowledges FCTUTAD for the contract in the scope of Decreto-Lei 57/2016 -Lei 57/2017. HG acknowledges projects POCI-010145-FEDER-030858 and PTDC/BTM-MAT/30858/2017 for financial support

Consumer Knowledge about Dietary Relevance of Fruits and Vegetables: A Study Involving Participants from Portugal and France

Fruits and vegetables are recommended as low-calorie foods that contribute to the proper intake of necessary micronutrients, macronutrients, and bioactive compounds with health benefits. However, the recommendations for the dietary intake of these foods fail to be attained in most European countries. For this reason, promoting more knowledge about the health effects of fruits and vegetables is essential to decrease the incidence of chronic diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the knowledge of the health benefits of fruits and vegetables among the population of Portugal and France. The present work involved a questionnaire survey of 639 participants (257 from Portugal and 382 from France). The results revealed that most participants were young females (68.9%) with good education (76%) and an average weight range. They consumed a varied diet (57%) but had body dissatisfaction (63.2%). The respondents had good knowledge about the health effects of fruits and vegetables. However, the French population knew more about the theme than the Portuguese. Portuguese individuals were more likely to have incomplete information. Gender and education significantly influenced knowledge levels, with females and highly educated individuals demonstrating greater understanding. Dissatisfaction with body weight drives individuals to seek nutrition information. This investigation enhances our comprehension of the factors that affect knowledge of vegetable and fruit consumption among young adults in Portugal and France. Moreover, it highlights the importance of implementing focused educational programs to enhance nutrition literacy, particularly for less-aware demographic groups. Going forward, a more in-depth analysis of these factors could assist in creating more efficient strategies to encourage healthier dietary habits and improve nutrition literacy among these communities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio