Emotions and emotions in design

This chapter discusses and clarifies the concepts and definitions of emotion, feeling, and mood. Although they refer to distinct phenomena, these concepts are normally used indiscriminately when someone refers to emotions. This is followed by a brief review of the literature on the main theories applied to the study of emotions. This reference to the study of emotions will serve as the basis for the introduction and exploration of the concept, purpose, and application of Emotional Design.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Implementation of quality management systems in HEI: The approach of the Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (Portugal)

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have special features that matter to consider in the implementation of its Quality Management Systems (QMS). These should convey clear and broadly accepted messages, so they need to find the best balance between academic freedom and responsibility for accountability. Given these characteristics, as well as the weakness of diagnostic tools, the culture of independence of teachers and insufficient authority and stability of the management bodies, the QMS of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (IPS) was designed to be based on two fundamental pillars: profound knowledge of the variables with impact on results and evidence-based management. In other words, it was not based on procedures (as usual), but in information. In this sense, and assuming known statement that “we cannot manage what we do not know”, the basic component of the QMS is a monitoring system. We applied the recommendation of Snyder et al. (2000, p.320) "Stimulating the imbalance with information", urging people to act on the basis of clear information. The work undertaken till now (last five years) is described and discussed critically. This work includes, among other activities and projects, the design of a Global Model Process, the design of the organizational structure of IPS’s Integrated Management System (SIGIPS), and the definition of the institutional Quality Policy. In addition, and assuming QMS as multidisciplinary fields, it has also been stepping up the contribution of Research and Development (R&D) activities of some teachers, combined with the needs of scientific and technical support related to the implementation of the system itself. It is in this context that SIGIPS’s central coordination unit (UNIQUA/IPS), whose constitution also includes a Studies and Planning Center, has been operating a set of complementary studies in priority areas, particularly with regard to the teaching and learning process. Examples of this are the (annual) reports of socio demographic characterization of students and the studies about the evaluation of the implementation of Bologna process in the context of the institution and about issues of academic success/failure and dropout. The main findings are presented, namely the reduction of the administrative and burocratic work, the increase of management support and the availability of updated and relevant information, reinforcing the management style based on facts. The initiatives have always had technical and scientific support, gathering support and credibility to QMS. The top structure of the QMS is innovative, balancing academic knowledge and the application of quality techniques and methods to HEI, contributing to a structure of practical research. The questionnaires for assessing student perceptions were discussed and it was concluded that traditionally they are "too reactive" (applied in end of semesters), which means that other diagnostic instruments (proactive and dynamic) are necessary. This situation has, therefore, reinforce the need to use instruments nearer to the "problem situation" in regard to the teaching learning process, which would contribute to more effective process improvement and could even involve the participation of students or be managed by them. Finally, an adequate Information System based on the Information and Communication Technologies is definitely an indispensable resource.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Estudio de memorias falsas: reflexión histórica

Este trabalho consiste numa revisão teórica com o objetivo de enquadrar historicamente o modo como as falsas memórias têm sido estudadas. Embora a maior parte dos estudos sobre falsas memórias tenha sido realizada a partir da última década do século XX, os primeiros datam do final do século XIX. Assim, e com o objetivo de assinalar os grandes marcos históricos na investigação das falsas memórias, começam por apresentar-se os estudos pioneiros realizados ainda no século XIX, bem como as pesquisas realizadas sobre o efeito das perguntas nos relatos de crianças e adultos. Posteriormente, apresentam-se as primeiras pesquisas realizadas com o objetivo específico de estudar o efeito de perguntas sugestivas no aparecimento de falsas memórias, seguidas dos estudos que recorreram a uma abordagem naturalista tendo-se tornado decisivos para a compreensão deste fenômeno. Já na segunda metade do século XX, ganha peso uma abordagem mais cognitivista no estudo deste fenômeno, e surgem os paradigmas da desinformação e DRM, que serão também discutidos. Ao longo do texto, reflete-se também sobre os mecanismos que foram considerados como estando na base do aparecimento das falsas memórias, bem como sobre as implicações científicas e sociais deste fenómeno.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Human-robot interaction: Exploring the ability to express emotions by a social robot

Robots should have characteristics that make the interaction effective and fluent for a successful Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Since the emotions play a fundamental role in the human interaction process, many robots are introduced facial expressions, speech, body movements, among others to deepen the HRI. This chapter presents the exploration, design, and evaluation of the recognition of emotions displayed by a social robot. Initially, a pre-experiment was done to program the emotions in a virtual prototype. Afterwards, a pilot study and two experiments were conducted by manipulating the robot facial expressions and body movements to evaluate the recognition of the emotions. The results show that joy, surprise, and sadness have higher correct recognition and fear, disgust, and anger reported as lower recognition. Further study is needed regarding body movement and displacement of the robot for disgust, fear, and anger. Moreover, a robot should be introduced in a specific context to increase the recognition of emotions.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Redox tuning of the catalytic activity of soluble fumarate reductases from Shewanella

AbstractMany enzymes involved in bioenergetic processes contain chains of redox centers that link the protein surface, where interaction with electron donors or acceptors occurs, to a secluded catalytic site. In numerous cases these redox centers can transfer only single electrons even when they are associated to catalytic sites that perform two-electron chemistry. These chains provide no obvious contribution to enhance chemiosmotic energy conservation, and often have more redox centers than those necessary to hold sufficient electrons to sustain one catalytic turnover of the enzyme. To investigate the role of such a redox chain we analyzed the transient kinetics of fumarate reduction by two flavocytochromes c3 of Shewanella species while these enzymes were being reduced by sodium dithionite. These soluble monomeric proteins contain a chain of four hemes that interact with a flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) catalytic center that performs the obligatory two electron–two proton reduction of fumarate to succinate. Our results enabled us to parse the kinetic contribution of each heme towards electron uptake and conduction to the catalytic center, and to determine that the rate of fumarate reduction is modulated by the redox stage of the enzyme, which is defined by the number of reduced centers. In both enzymes the catalytically most competent redox stages are those least prevalent in a quasi-stationary condition of turnover. Furthermore, the electron distribution among the redox centers during turnover suggested how these enzymes can play a role in the switch between respiration of solid and soluble terminal electron acceptors in the anaerobic bioenergetic metabolism of Shewanella

The modalities of Iranian soft power: from cultural diplomacy to soft war

Through exploring Iran's public diplomacy at the international level, this article demonstrates how the Islamic Republic's motives should not only be contextualised within the oft-sensationalised, material or ‘hard’ aspects of its foreign policy, but also within the desire to project its cultural reach through ‘softer’ means. Iran's utilisation of culturally defined foreign policy objectives and actions demonstrates its understanding of soft power's potentialities. This article explores the ways in which Iran's public diplomacy is used to promote its soft power and craft its, at times, shifting image on the world stage

World state of quality: a frontier approach to benchmark the performance of countries worldwide

Purpose - The World State of Quality (WSQ) Project aims to evaluate, analyse, rank and categorise countries according to their performance in quality as a multidimensional concept. The Project involves the computation of an overall score for each country, obtained as a weighted average of ranking positions of 16 metrics, with weights determined by a panel of experts. Methodology-This work proposes an alternative strategy for that procedure, using a Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BoD) Composite Indicator approach under the framework of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This strategy avoids the need of using subjective weights and normalising data by rank positions, using a more objective procedure to obtain the countries’ ranking. A new overall score of the World State of Quality is proposed, which allows the categorisation of countries’ performance. The novel insights resulting from the use of this methodology are discussed, including the identification of strengths and weaknesses of the various countries, and the peers that can be used for facilitating continuous improvements policies. Findings - The results show that the BoD approach and the original method used by the WSQ Project present comparable results. Countries’ strengths and weaknesses and their suitable peers and targets for benchmarking are presented with illustrative examples. Originality/value – A novel frontier approach for countries’ benchmarking regarding their performance in quality is proposed, incorporating new insights into the current method.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(2021.05244)The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology) through PhD research grants and SFRH/BD/131285/2017. This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020