Information and communication in a networked infosphere: a review of concepts and application in social branding

This paper aims at providing a contribution to the comprehensive review of the impact of information and communication, and their supporting technologies, in the current transformation of human life in the infosphere. The paper also offers an ex- ample of the power of new social approaches to the use of information and commu- nication technologies to foster new working models in organizations by presenting the main outcomes of a research project on social branding. A discussion about some trends of the future impact of new information and communication technologies in the infosphere is also included

Floods in southern Portugal: their physical and human causes, impacts and human response

Floods have been the most deadly natural disasters in Portugal during the last century, followed by earthquakes. The type of flood known as a ‘progressive flood’ mainly affects the larger basins, such as that of the Tagus River, and results in a large inundated area. These floods are caused by heavy rains associated with a westerly zonal circulation that may persist for weeks. The system of dams within the basin reduces the frequency of flooding, but cannot ‘tame’ the river. The dam system has even contributed to an increase in the peak flow, as in the 1979 flood. Nevertheless, these floods are not a danger for the human population. In contrast, flash floods are more dangerous and deadlier than progressive floods, as demonstrated in 1967 and 1997. They affect the small drainage basins and are caused by heavy and concentrated rainfall, created by convective depressions (active cold pools or depressions caused by the interaction between polar and tropical air masses), active in the south of the country, in the Lisbon region, Alentejo and the Algarve. Deforestation, soil impermeability, chaotic urbanization, building on floodplains, the blockage of small creeks or their canalisation, and the building of walls and transverse embankments along the small creeks all contribute to the aggravation of this kind of flood.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Acceso a la salud de las mujeres en el contexto de la migración forzada en Portugal: vulnerabilidades y adaptación

Introduction: This article presents, the vulnerabilities related with regarding access to health services faced by refugee women. Objective: The overall goal was to gain a better understanding of the psychosocial reality of women who arrived in Portugal as a result of forced migration, focusing on the main difficulties of the migratory and adaptation journey - highlighting vulnerabilities related to health and access to health services at the present article - and the protective factors that facilitated their processes of resilience, adaptation, and social integration. Methodology: The meanings of the protagonists' experiences were disclosed through semi-structured and in-depth interviews with women´s of Iraq, Syria and Libya. Results: The investigation uncovered a number of vulnerabilities triggered by the migratory experience and gender belonging, such as prejudice, social isolation, and cultural shock (mostly linked to religion and clothing), which validated the intersectional analysis. The findings highlight a number of obstacles in the host nation, including access to health care, the quality of institutional interactions, and knowledge of the Portuguese language. Conclusions: The current investigation led to the conclusion that there are flaws in Portugal in terms of ensuring full access to health care for forced migrant women, highlighting as major obstacles: a lack of information in languages other than Portuguese, a lack of offers to learn and master the Portuguese language, a lack of knowledge about how health institutions work, and a lack of sensitivity and intercultural skills in healthcare services.Introdução: Este artigo apresenta as vulnerabilidades relacionadas no acesso aos serviços de saúde sentidas por mulheres refugiadas. Objetivo: O objetivo geral foi conhecer melhor a realidade psicossocial das mulheres que chegaram a Portugal como resultado da migração forçada, focando as principais dificuldades do percurso migratório e de adaptação, destacando as vulnerabilidades relacionadas com a saúde e acesso aos serviços de saúde, além dos fatores de proteção que facilitaram seus processos de resiliência, adaptação e integração social. Metodologia: Os significados das vivências das protagonistas foram relevados por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas e em profundidade, realizadas individualmente, gravadas e transcritas, a mulheres do Iraque, da Síria e da Líbia. Resultados: A investigação revelou um conjunto de vulnerabilidades causadas pela experiência migratória e pertença de gênero, como a discriminação sentida sob a forma de preconceitos, o isolamento social e o choque cultural (sobretudo relacionado com a religião e o vestuário utilizado), o que justificou a análise intersecional. Os resultados revelam um conjunto de desafios no país de acolhimento, como o acesso à saúde, a qualidade das relações institucionais e o domínio da língua portuguesa. Conclusões: A presente investigação permitiu concluir que existem algumas carências em Portugal no que diz respeito à garantia do pleno acesso aos cuidados de saúde sentidas pelas mulheres migrantes forçadas, destacando-se como principais obstáculos: a falta de informação numa língua que não o português, a falta de domínio da língua portuguesa, o desconhecimento sobre o funcionamento das instituições de saúde e a falta de sensibilidade e de competências interculturais nos cuidados de saúde.Introducción: Este artículo presenta, las vulnerabilidades relacionadas con en el acceso a los servicios de salud que sienten las mujeres refugiadas. Objetivo: El objetivo fue comprender la realidad psicosocial de las mujeres que llegaron a Portugal como resultado de la migración forzada, centrándose en las principales dificultades del viaje de migración y adaptación, destacando vulnerabilidades relacionadas con la salud y el acceso a los servicios de salud, además de los factores de protección que facilitaron sus procesos de resiliencia, adaptación e integración social. Metodología: Los significados de las experiencias fueron revelados a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas y en profundidad, realizadas individualmente, grabadas y transcritas, con mujeres de Irak, de Siria y de Libia. Resultados: La investigación reveló vulnerabilidades provocadas por la experiencia migratoria y la pertenencia de género, como la discriminación sentida en forma de prejuicio, el aislamiento social y el choque cultural (principalmente relacionado con la religión y la vestimenta), que justificaron el análisis interseccional. Los resultados revelan desafíos en Portugal, como el acceso a la salud, la calidad de las relaciones institucionales y el dominio de la lengua portuguesa. Conclusiones: La presente investigación llevó a la conclusión de que existen fallas en Portugal en cuanto a garantizar el pleno acceso a la atención de la salud de las refugiadas, destacándose: falta de información en un idioma diferente al portugués, falta de dominio de la lengua portuguesa, falta de conocimiento sobre el funcionamiento de las instituciones de salud y falta de sensibilidad y habilidades interculturales en la atención de la salud.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Radionuclide therapy in nuclear medicine : applying Monte Carlo simulation to investigate Bremsstrahlung imaging with a gamma camera

Radionuclide therapy is an innovative treatment in nuclear medicine that uses unsealed sources to treat some specific tumours in the human body. With an increasing interest in this modality, some efforts have been done to improve this field in nuclear medicine, such as the radiopharmaceuticals administered or the components of the imaging equipment. Pure beta emitters are the radionuclides most used in radionuclide therapy. They are described to have extremely high potential in the treatment of malignant and non-malignant disorders. The energy of these radionuclides is absorbed close to the target site due to its low range (few mm in tissue). The problem is the impossibility of imaging their uptake in the interest places since there are no gamma rays emissions and the beta radiation is impossible to detect externally. As a result, the only radiation capable to be perceived by the gamma camera is the bremsstrahlung photons produced when an accelerate beta particle passes close to the atomic nucleus and is deflected towards it. The detection of these photons is relevant for dosimetric purposes, in order to detect the real uptake of the radionuclide and hence to know the absorbed dose in the patient. Thus, the current dissertation reports a study about bremsstrahlung characteristics by using a Monte Carlo simulation. The study attempts to realise in what way the bremsstrahlung photons are produced in different types of biological materials, using different beta particles energies. The simulator used was the EGSnrc (Electron Gamma Shower) system (V4 2.3.2), a package for Monte Carlo simulations. The programs were written in Mortran language and compiled to Fortran. With this study, an additional aim was to obtain a strong knowledge on EGSnrc system and to be able to modify and produce a wide range of different simulations in different physical conditions. In order to understand the bremsstrahlung photons several simulations were performed, in different media and with different energies of beta particles emissions. Future work should be necessary in order to relate the bremsstrahlung photons understanding with the gamma camera components. The aim will be to improve the bremsstrahlung imaging and hence gathering realistic dosimetric data for the pure beta emitters.A terapia com radionuclídeos é um tratamento inovador em medicina nuclear, o qual utiliza fontes não seladas para tratar tumores específicos no corpo humano. Com o crescente interesse por esta especialidade terapêutica, alguns esforços têm sido feitos para melhorar este campo da medicine nuclear, nomeadamente através dos radiofármacos administrados ou na tecnologia dos equipamentos de imagiologia. Os emissores beta puros (electrões) são os radionuclídeos mais utlizados nesta terapia. São descritos na literatura como os que apresentam um elevado potencial no tratamento de doenças malignas e benignas, uma vez que a energia destes radionuclídeos é absorvida perto do local alvo (poucos mm de alcance nos tecidos). O problema da utilização de beta puros reside na impossibilidade de se formar uma imagem médica, uma vez que estes radionuclídeos não emitem qualquer radiação gama. Como resultado, a única radiação capaz de ser detectada pela câmara gama são os fotões bremsstrahlung (radiação de travagem), produzidos quando ocorre uma desaceleração e deflexão dos electrões acelerados quando estes passam perto dos núcleos atómicos. A detecção de bremsstrahlung é muito importante para fins dosimétricos, dado que permite conhecer a verdadeira dose absorvida pelo paciente. A presente dissertação tem como principal objectivo estudar as características dos fotões bremsstrahlung, através da utilização de um simulador Monte Carlo - EGSnrc (Electron Gamma Shower). Pretende-se compreender de que forma os fotões bremsstrahlung são produzidos no interior de diferentes tipos de materiais biológicos, utilizando partículas beta de diferentes energias. Os códigos foram programados em linguagem Mortran e compilados para Fortran. Pretende-se também obter um forte conhecimento sobre o sistema usado, de forma a ser possível produzir qualquer tipo de simulação para diferentes condições físicas. Torna-se necessário prosseguir este trabalho, a fim de se relacionar as características dos fotões bremsstrahlung com os componentes da câmara gama. O objectivo será melhorar as imagens criadas por fotões bremsstrahlung e, portanto, reunir dados dosimétricos realistas para os emissores beta puros

Globalisation & Technology: educational challenges

Publicado em "Recent research developments in learning technologies", vol. 1Nowadays we are witnessing globalisation processes that converge to universal values and competencies also due to a fast and intense technologic development. Nevertheless, globalisation and technology are contradictory processes, of conflict between states, social groups and individuals in the sense that they can be agents of development but also of social exclusion. According to this, education plays a major role in the research for alternatives and in the democratisation of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Therefore, school must make an intentional effort in the sense of promoting and facilitating the access to technologic media, as technology may even permit a balanced, fair and democratic development. Yet, the social impact of the technological improvements can only be positive with the necessary human resources, namely teachers, prepared to use them as means to foster permanent innovation in the educational process. This may correspond to the needs mentioned above, thus leading to new changes. In this context, the use of ICT in active and strongly participated learning environments, may contribute to the education of intellectually autonomous individuals with the ability to teach them, that is, being able to determine their apprenticeship throughout their lives from the point of view of citizenship. Particularly in telecommunications, ICT allow the creation of virtual learning and working environments where there is actual interaction and communication among every intervenient, eliminating barriers of time and space with competitive advantages to the citizen. In this presentation we shall make a reflection about the contribution of Education and ICT to foster counter-hegemonic globalisation and to give visibility to childhood through a shared and participated relationship between all the actors of educational community.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Index

Proceedings index of the Fourth International Congress of CiiEM: Health, Well-Being and Ageing in the 21st Century, held in the Egas Moniz University Campus at Monte de Caparica, Portugal, from 3–5 June 2019.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Posttraumatic growth and cognitive and emotional processing from disclosure in the aftermath of a traumatic event

Poster presented at the 3rd International Congress of CiiEM - Research and Innovation in Human and Health Sciences. Monte da Caparica, Portugal, 20-22 June 2018N/

Análise de diferentes protocolos de terapia de movimento induzida por restrição em AVE: revisão sistemática

Projeto de Graduação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Licenciada em FisioterapiaObjectivo: Analisar diferentes protocolos de terapia de movimento induzida por restrição (CIMT) quanto ao tempo e duração de tratamento, tempo de restrição e duração de acidente vascular encefálico (AVE), bem como determinar os efeitos de CIMT comparando com outros tratamentos. Metodologia: Pesquisa computorizada nas bases de dados Pubmed e PEDro. Resultados: Foram incluídos nesta revisão sistemática 11 artigos que obedeceram aos critérios de inclusão e exclusão, com o total de participantes de 698 pessoas. Sete dos estudos avaliaram efeitos do CIMT comparando com terapia usual, um estudo comparou efeitos do CIMT com terapia usual intensiva (com o mesmo tempo de tratamento), outro dos estudos comparou as três referidas anteriormente. Um estudo avaliou os efeitos do uso de uma luva de restrição e por fim um estudo comparou os efeitos do CIMT num grupo de pacientes com AVE crónico e outro agudo. Conclusão: Há discordância entre os autores quanto à eficácia de CIMT comparado com terapia convencional, bem como à duração dos seus benefícios. O CIMT é uma técnica elegível para pacientes com AVE agudo e crónico. Quanto ao tempo de restrição, não há concordância entre os autores. Já quanto ao tempo de tratamento encontram-se resultados benéficos em tratamentos de 6h/dia, como também em tratamentos de 2h/dia.Objective: To analyze different protocols of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) as to the time and duration of treatment, time constraint and duration of stroke, and to determine the effects of CIMT compared with other treatments. Methodology: computerized search in the Pubmed database and PEDro. Results: We included in this systematic review of 11 articles that met the inclusion criteria and exclusion of participants with total of 698 people. Seven studies evaluated the effects of CIMT compared with usual therapy, one study compared the effects of intensive CIMT usual therapy (with the same treatment time), and another study compared the three mentioned above. One study evaluated the effects of using a glove restriction and finally a study comparing the effects of CIMT in a group of patients with chronic stroke and other acute. Conclusion: There is disagreement among authors as to the efficacy of CIMT compared with conventional therapy, as well as the duration of their benefits. The CIMT is a technique for eligible patients with acute and chronic stroke. As to the time constraint, there is no agreement among authors. As for the treatment time are also found to be beneficial in 6h/dia treatments as well as treatments in 2h/day results

Heritage Keepers: The Perils in Textile Conservation

One of the most frequent professional afflictions in Conservators-Restorers is the onset of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). The conservation of textiles is recognizably vulnerable to these problems. However, the assessments of the ergonomic conditions for these workers are rare or even non-existing. The present study focuses on a group of conservators-restorers of textiles and relies on the use of a Nordic Questionnaire for musculoskeletal disorders coupled with a Quick Exposure Check for the task of consolidation on a horizontal table to determine the severity and exposure levels to WMSDs. All surveyed workers reported numbness, pain or discomfort in the last 12 months for the neck region, while 67% reported the same afflictions for the back, shoulders/arms and hands/wrist. In the same time period, half of the workers used pain relievers in order to maintain their professional activity. For the textile consolidation task, the neck and back areas showed high and very high levels of exposure, respectively, and the results place these workers at a high-risk for WMSDs due to cumulative stress. Mitigation strategies are proposed but these should be paired with professional counseling. Although preliminary, this study is the first of its kind to assess the ergonomic impact of the profession in Portugal and presents a methodology that can be used to perform similar evaluations in other workplaces and/or other specialties in the Conservation and Restoration sphere, both nationally and internationall