Ecological crisis, sustainability and social worlds: developing a critical agenda

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A critical framework to develop human-centric positive energy districts: Towards justice, inclusion, and well-being

Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are a new energy initiative from European member states. They are, simply put, local districts which produce more energy than they consume. PEDs are expected to adopt a more human-centric perspective in order to create more liveable and sustainable urban neighbourhoods. However, as previous research on energy transitions has demonstrated, the mainstream approach and technocratic tradition of research and policy vis-à-vis energy transitions could result in the perpetuation of social inequalities, energy injustices, and the passive participation of citizens also within PEDs. Hence, it is crucial in these early days of PEDs to discuss what a human-centric approach should entail and how it should be enacted. Based on a narrative literature review of critical social sciences' energy research (and specifically from social and environmental psychology), this paper will propose a critical framework containing five key dimensions which are relevant for creating more just and inclusive PEDs. These are: uncertainty, risk perception and trust; distributive justice; recognition justice and people-place relations; procedural justice; and, routines, capabilities and lived experiences. To that end, it will also discuss the different implications of mainstream and critical approaches in energy research and social sciences in relation to the deployment of human-centric PEDs. The review concludes that in order to successfully deploy human-centric PEDs, a critical approach is needed and presents some concrete recommendations for future research and policy in order to adopt such an approach. These include: considering justice, inclusion and the well-being of affected socio-ecological systems in the whole-life cycle of PEDs; better integration of indigenous capabilities; and, an ethos of de-growth and circularity in their deployment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Participatory budgeting in the age of post-politics: examining the discourses of citizens and representatives of expert-political systems in three municipalities in Portugal

In recent decades, a growing body of research has discussed and illustrated the so-called deliberative speak ‐ or how, despite representatives of the expert-political system agreeing with public participation in decision-making processes, in practice effective public participation barely occurs. To address this, new governing tools have recently been developed and implemented, such as participatory budgeting, particularly in societies in the Global North. We have also witnessed several profound sociopolitical and economic changes ‐ the post-political turn and localist agendas are all part and parcel of a new era of governance and political institutions that are being discussed increasingly by social scientists as questioning democracy. However, empirical analyses of if and how these changes are being appropriated ‐ reproduced and/or resisted ‐ in the everyday practices of expert-political systems and of citizens and what their consequences are for public participation have been neglected. To overcome that, this article will examine the discourses of citizens and representatives of expert-political systems about their participatory budgeting in three Portuguese municipalities.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Cidade straight versus cidade dissidente: a street art como demarcação do lugar em Lisboa

O artigo discute aspectos da formação do espaço urbano em Lisboa na sua relação com a mobilidade e de que maneira a street art tem se configurado enquanto expressão ativista de outros sujeitos (i)móveis da cidade. A análise leva em conta a presença do automóvel como estruturante da cidade sexualizada e as expressões urbanas produzidas por mulheres e coletivos artísticos como forma de resistência e demarcação do lugar e da mobilidade. Os estudos queer, a sociologia, a antropologia urbana e a filosofia compõem o arsenal teórico que dão suporte a essa investigação multidisciplinar.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The SIforAGE project: social innovation for active and healthy ageing

This article describes the SIforAGE Project – an innovative approach to an aged Europe. The SIforAGE consortium is integrated by a wide range of stakeholders working together in order to promote an active and healthy ageing. ISCTE-IUL is one of the partners involved in this project and has been developing an important role in different work packages: (i ) Technology Experience cafés aiming to involve older people in the development of technological devices addressed to them (which had a general positive impact regarding the attitudes and intentions of older participants to use technologies); (ii ) conceptualization and development of an intervention program (imAGES) to fight ageism among children (the pilot program developed in Lisbon revealed the efficacy of this program); (iii ) analysis of the anti-age discrimination laws (AADL’s) in five European countries (these laws are present in the European countries analyzed but it was identified a gap between legislation and its compliance); (iv) organization of a call for prize on social innovation research on the ageing field (which was widely disseminated across several European countries). Through these several activities, the SIforAGE project constitutes a step forward towards the development of a more inclusive society, a society for all «ages».info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Monitoring Antibiotic Comsumption in the Surgery and Orthopaedics

A monitorização do consumo de antimicrobianos é um instrumento de interesse indiscutível e tem merecido uma atenção particular nos últimos anos, devido às crescentes preocupações com a emergência de estirpes microbianas multi-resistentes. Os objectivos do presente estudo consistiram, por um lado, na monitorização do consumo e na avaliação do impacto económico da prescrição hospitalar de antimicrobianos, em serviços de cirurgia e ortopedia. Por outro lado, pretendeu-se estudar e a relação indicação-prescrição terapêutica e profilática. Tendo presentes estes objectivos realizou-se um estudo-piloto longitudinal, com recolha de dados durante o mês de Maio de 2004, em seis Hospitais SA, incidindo numa amostra total de 1.122 doentes internados. Verificámos uma taxa de incidência de prescrição de 76,9%, com dispensa de 1.154 antimicrobianos, dos quais 71,2% se destinaram, em média, à profilaxia da infecção pós-cirúrgica, atestando a adesão geral à prática da profilaxia da infecção no local cirúrgico. O custo médio da antibioterapia foi mais elevado nos casos de “suspeita de infecção” (€9,09) ou “infecção declarada” (€8,74) e mais baixo quando utilizados para “profilaxia” (€5,67), facto relacionado com a menor duração média dos episódios de profilaxia. Os regimes de profilaxia utilizados apresentaram variações consideráveis entre os diferentes hospitais no que respeita ao tipo de antibiótico utilizado e uma duração média de 2,61 dias, com cerca de metade dos episódios de profilaxia prolongando-se por mais de 24 horas, sugerindo uma implementação insuficiente das actuais recomendações quanto ao tipo de fármaco a utilizar para esta prática, o que aponta para o necessidade duma avaliação da existência nas unidades hospitalares, de recomendações claras para a profilaxia da infecção do local cirúrgico, bem como da adesão dos clínicos a estas

Treatment planning systems dosimetry auditing project in Portugal

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The Medical Physics Division of the Portuguese Physics Society (DFM_SPF) in collaboration with the IAEA, carried out a national auditing project in radiotherapy, between September 2011 and April 2012. The objective of this audit was to ensure the optimal usage of treatment planning systems. The national results are presented in this paper. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The audit methodology simulated all steps of external beam radiotherapy workflow, from image acquisition to treatment planning and dose delivery. A thorax CIRS phantom lend by IAEA was used in 8 planning test-cases for photon beams corresponding to 15 measuring points (33 point dose results, including individual fields in multi-field test cases and 5 sum results) in different phantom materials covering a set of typical clinical delivery techniques in 3D Conformal Radiotherapy. RESULTS: All 24 radiotherapy centers in Portugal have participated. 50 photon beams with energies 4-18 MV have been audited using 25 linear accelerators and 32 calculation algorithms. In general a very good consistency was observed for the same type of algorithm in all centres and for each beam quality. CONCLUSIONS: The overall results confirmed that the national status of TPS calculations and dose delivery for 3D conformal radiotherapy is generally acceptable with no major causes for concern. This project contributed to the strengthening of the cooperation between the centres and professionals, paving the way to further national collaborations

Beyond technology: A research agenda for social sciences and humanities research on renewable energy in Europe

This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.acceptedVersio

A phase II study of sequential 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC) and paclitaxel in advanced breast cancer (Protocol PV BC 97/01)

Sequential administration of the association of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC) and paclitaxel could be better tolerated than the association of an anthracycline and paclitaxel while having a similar antitumour effect. 69 patients with advanced breast cancer previously untreated with anthracyclines or paclitaxel entered a phase II multicentre study in which FEC was followed by paclitaxel. Both regimens were administered 4 times every 21 days. The median follow-up is 20 months and 38/69 patients have died. Grade III–IV toxicity was acceptable. Leukopenia occurred in 26% of patients, thrombocytopenia in 2% and anaemia in 4%. One patient had reversible heart failure during FEC therapy. Peripheral neuropathy and arthralgia-myalgia occurred in 9% and 4% of patients, respectively and one patient had respiratory hypersensitivity during paclitaxel treatment. 9 patients did not complete therapy because of: treatment refusal (n= 1), cardiac toxicity (n= 1), early death during FEC chemotherapy (n= 1), major protocol violations (n= 4), hypersensitivity reaction (n= 1) and early death during paclitaxel chemotherapy (n= 1). The overall response rate was 65% (95% CI = 53–76), and 7% of patients had stable disease. Therapy was defined as having failed in 28% of patients because they were not evaluable (13%) or had progressive disease (15%). The median time to progression and survival are 13.2 and 23.5 months, respectively. Sequential FEC-paclitaxel is a suitable strategy for patients with metastatic breast cancer who have not been previously treated with anthracyclines and/or taxanes. In fact, it avoids major haematologic toxicity and has a good antitumour effect. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co