Accretion from debris disks onto white dwarfs : Fingering (thermohaline) instability and derived accretion rates

Recent observations of a large number of DA and DB white dwarfs show evidence of debris disks, which are the remnants of old planetary systems. The infrared excess detected with \emph{Spitzer} and the lines of heavy elements observed in their atmospheres with high-resolution spectroscopy converge on the idea that planetary material accretes onto these stars. Accretion rates have been derived by several authors with the assumption of a steady state between accretion and gravitational settling. The results are unrealistically different for DA and DB white dwarfs. When heavy matter is accreted onto stars, it induces an inverse $\mu$-gradient that leads to fingering (thermohaline) convection. The aim of this letter is to study the impact of this specific process on the derived accretion rates in white dwarfs and on the difference between DA and DB. We solve the diffusion equation for the accreted heavy elements with a time-dependent method. The models we use have been obtained both with the IRAP code, which computes static models, and the La Plata code, which computes evolutionary sequences. Computations with pure gravitational settling are compared with computations that include fingering convection. The most important result is that fingering convection has very important effects on DAs but is inefficient in DBs. When only gravitational settling is taken into account, the time-dependent computations lead to a steady state, as postulated by previous authors. When fingering convection is added, this steady state occurs much later. The surprising difference found in the past for the accretion rates derived for DA and DB white dwarfs disappears. The derived accretion rates for DAs are increased when fingering convection is taken into account, whereas those for DBs are not modified. More precise and developed results will be given in a forthcoming paper

Serial mediation model predicting covid-19 vaccines acceptance in Portugal: The critical role of conspiracy theories in the wake of perceived quality of government communication and national stereotypes

Ever since the Covid-19 vaccination rollout, governments have aimed for herd immunity. Yet, many countries are far from achieving this goal mainly due to vaccine refusal. Previous research has pointed to conspiracy beliefs and the role of trust in governments as predictors of vaccine acceptance, yet a more comprehensive explanatory model is still missing. Using data from a convenience sample of 377 residents in Portugal (Mage = 33.56, SD = 13.67), the present study extends previous research by proposing a serial mediation model in the prediction of vaccine acceptance. The results confirm the critical role of conspiracy beliefs mediating the link between perceived quality of government communication and general vaccine acceptance (Model 1) as well as national stereotypes and acceptance of the Sinovac vaccine from China (Model 2). The implications are discussed considering that Portugal is currently ranked the second country in the world with the highest vaccination rate.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Investigating the human value “forgiveness” across 30 countries: a cross-cultural meta-analytical approach

The current study focuses on the human value of forgiveness and explores its correlates using a country-level meta-analytical approach. We investigated the importance of forgiveness using the Rokeach Value Survey with 41,975 participants from 30 countries to address the following research questions: How important is forgiveness across different countries? What contextual variables correlate with the ranked importance of forgiveness? This study provides important insights on country-level correlates of forgiveness in regard to conditions that may favor prioritizing the value forgiveness and its possible implications for societies. The results show that the value forgiveness is related to a highly developed socioeconomic and sociopolitical environment as well as to subjective well-being at the country level.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Cultural conceptions of morality: examining laypeople’s associations of moral character

Whether moral conceptions are universal or culture-specific is controversial in moral psychology. One option is to refrain from imposing theoretical constraints and to ask laypeople from different cultures how they conceptualize morality. Our article adopts this approach by examining laypeople's associations of moral character in individualistic- and collectivistic-oriented cultures. Using correspondence analysis we found that the concept of moral character yielded widely shared associations with justice and welfare concerns. Yet, there were also clear cultural differences with individualistic-oriented samples associating more frequently rights-based features and collectivistic-oriented samples more frequently associating duty-based attributes. When matching freelisted trait categories with Schwartz's value types, moral value hierarchies were similar across cultures and correlated significantly with explicit moral value ratings. We conclude that imposing constraints through an expert-designed category system can narrow the scope of inquiry to common moral aspects related to problem-solving, promotion of prosocial actions and control of antisocial behaviour.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

What kinds of microaggressions do women experience in the health care setting? Examining typologies, context and intersectional identities

Microaggressions are everyday verbal and non-verbal indignities, promoted intentionally or by well-intentioned people towards minority and disadvantaged individuals or groups. Microaggressions are often unconscious, socially normalized and naturalized. This qualitative study intended to examine and understand microaggressions lived by women with different intersectional identities (women of Color, immigrant women, straight women, LGBTQ+ women, functionally diverse women) in the Portuguese healthcare context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using the Critical Incident Technique. Seventeen self-identified female feminists, activists and/or that were involved with NGOs and organizations actively committed to social causes participated. Content and thematic analysis were used in order to recognize the different microaggressive forms (microinsults, microinvalidations, microassaults) and manifestations (verbal, nonverbal/behavioral, environmental) committed in the healthcare context. The results are discussed in light of diversity training opportunities to raise awareness about subtle forms of discrimination among health care practitioners.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The EURAGE Group: examining ageing and ageism in context through the European Social Survey

The experience of ageism has important health implications for older adults. Yet, to date very little is known about the interplay of psychological and contextual factors in fostering ageism. This paper presents research conducted by EURAGE (European Research Group on Attitudes to Age) which aims to study the experience of ageism and age prejudice from a multilevel perspective. EURAGE is an international group of researchers with members from the Health for All group at the Centre for Research and Social Intervention (CIS-IUL, Portugal) and the Centre for the Study of Group Processes at the University of Kent (UK). Members of EURAGE designed the Experiences and Expressions of Ageism Module in Round 4 of the European Social Survey (ESS) which is perfectly suited for multilevel analyses. The multi-level approach is briefly outlined as well as some of EURAGE’s key findings to date. Implications for policy and social interventions are briefly discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Expressões de microagressões dirigidas a mulheres no contexto do sistema de saúde: uma abordagem baseada em incidentes críticos

Purpose. Patients belonging to social minorities can be exposed to various forms of discrimination in the healthcare context. Previous research in this domain has overlooked expressions of microaggressions against women and the role of intersectional identities. This study aims to uncover the themes that underly the experience of microaggressions by diverse women in Portugal. Methods. Using an interview model based on the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) 17 women were interviewed about their microaggression experiences in the healthcare setting. Among those with an intersectional identity, social minority membership was also based on ethnicity, LGB sexual orientation and functional diversity. Results. A total of 17 microaggressive themes were retrieved, five of which were found to be related to microaggressions towards women in general and a total of seven were unique for women with specific intersectional identities. Another four themes reflected providers’ general attitudes towards patients without being related to gender or any intersectional minority group, and one theme described systemic microaggressions. Conclusion. Some of the retrieved themes reflect microaggressions that women seem to experience in their everyday life but that are exacerbated by the health provider-patient power disparity. Some themes appear to be specific to the healthcare context and related to providers’ lack of patient-centeredness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Teaching psychological measurement: taking into account cross-cultural comparability and cultural sensitivity

If your students come from a Western culture and have a middle-class background, they probably found it easy to answer question 1. However, they may have struggled to figure out the meaning of the words in question 2 and 3, which are taken from intelligence tests designed for African Americans in the United States (Dove, 1971; Redden and Simon, 1986).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Raising awareness of climate change causes? Cross-national evidence for the normalization of societal risk perception of climate change

Increasing the awareness of climate change causes is often considered the key to public support of mitigation and adaptation policies. However, higher awareness might not always relate to higher risk perceptions. Previous research suggests that a process of risk normalization might occur, wherein individuals more exposed and aware of hazards minimize their risk perception to psychologically cope with hazards. This study elaborates on and expands this research, by conducting multilevel analyses on more recent data from the International Social Survey Programme from 33 countries (N = 46,221). Results show that in countries with higher carbon dioxide emissions, where people are more exposed to the activities and technologies related to climate change, individuals tend to have lower societal risk perceptions of climate change due to their higher awareness of climate change causes. New insight is provided, as results confirm this effect of risk normalization after controlling for the country socioeconomic context and individual-level covariates (gender, age, education, political orientation, place of living). Of most relevance, results further illustrate that this effect is moderated by the environmental concern of individuals.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the Portuguese breakthrough pain assessment tool with cancer patients

Breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) is a transient exacerbation of pain that occurs over persistent, stable, and adequately controlled cancer background pain. It is prevalent and bears severe consequences to patients' quality-of-life. The effective management of BTcP depends on fast and reliable (re)assessment. The Breakthrough pain Assessment Tool (BAT) is one of the most concise and reliable self-report instruments adapted to clinical contexts so far, showing good psychometric qualities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and South Korea. As to promote the effective management of BTcP in Portuguese-speaking communities this study, first aimed to culturally adapt and validate the Portuguese version of the BAT (BAT-Pt). Second, and most importantly, it sought to provide novel evidence on its criterion validity by investigating its association with measures of psychological distress, which has not been yet investigated. The BAT was translated into European Portuguese, using the back-translation method, and culturally adapted. Its psychometric properties (factor structure, internal consistency, construct and criterion validity) were analyzed in a cross-sectional multicenter study, with a sample of 65 cancer patients (49.2% women) recruited from eight hospitals in mainland Portugal (a priori power analysis determined a minimum sample of 50). Health professionals collected patients' clinical information, assessed their functional disability (ECOG Performance Status) and the adequacy of pain control. In addition to the Portuguese version of the BAT (BAT_Pt), patients completed the Portuguese versions of the Brief Pain Inventory, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, a Distress Thermometer and answered questions about the adequacy of pain control. The BAT-Pt was very well accepted by experts and patients. As hypothesized, a Principal Axis Factor Analysis revealed two underlying factors accounting for 55.2% of the variance: (1) Pain Severity and Impact of BTcP and (2) Duration of BTcP and Medication Inefficacy. Two items (on episode frequency and medication efficacy) were analyzed separately given their lower/cross loadings. The BAT-Pt showed good internal consistency overall (?=0.79) and for each sub-scale, namely, Pain Severity and Impact of BTcP (n=5 items; ?=0.86) and Duration of BTcP and Medication Inefficacy (n=2 items; rsb=0.62).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio