Higher Education Students’ perceptions about the effects of the confinement on study and learning processes

Due to Covid19 pandemic, the most part of countries have had restrictions on their social life with confinement being one of the most significant public health measures. Higher education institutions closed and all around the world, lecturers and students had to adapt to this new situation. The confinement brought several consequences to higher education students. The goal of this investigation was to understand the perceptions of higher education students about the confinement effects on their learning. Qualitative methodology was privileged, and interviews were developed using videocall resources. Participants were eight volunteer Portuguese students of social sciences scientific area degrees from a university of the interior of Portugal. Age varied between 19 and 21 years old. They responded to the question “Do you think that Covid19 pandemic confinement affects the study and learning processes?” Answers were recorded and verbatim transcribed. Thematic content analysis was used. Results showed two different positions: 1) Not to me but I believe that for some colleagues it is a Yes (academic skills and interpersonal relationships); and 2) Yes, it affects a lot (not resist to distractors at home; (de)motivation; the “loss of freedom”; the lack of interaction; the importance of spaces; inequalities in technological resources; and the future habit changing). Although the small sample, these results bring new contributions to this new field of research once they represent the students’ perspectives about the effects of the confinement in their learning processes. This information can be useful for students but also for teachers and other education stakeholders.project Learning and Teaching at the University” PTDC/CED-EDG/29252/2017and it is financed by national founds by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P

Experiences of Higher Education students during the Covid19 confinement: advantages, disadvantages and differences between face-to-face and Remote Learning

Corona Virus Disease 2019 led to a state of public health emergency, in so many countries. Preventive measures forced the regime of face-to-face classes, in higher education, to be interrupted and replaced by a system of non-face-to-face classes – Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). This change has led to the need for adaptation by both teachers and students. Several studies were developed to understand these different perspectives (e.g. [1], [2], [3]). Also, in Portugal, emergency state was declared and universities changed their classes from face-to face to non-face-to-face regime. Researchers like Leal and Chaleta (2020) tried to understand difficulties that students felt when dealing with this new approach class system and found difficulties at cognitive, motivational, interpersonal relationships and personal and academic organization levels [4]. Using a qualitative methodology, this study sought to understand the experiences and perceptions of eight higher education students (age varying from 19 to 23 years old) who suddenly found themselves immersed in this context of remote learning. Interviews were developed and applicated. Content analysis was used, and significant units were categorised, according to Bardin (2008) [5]. Explored topics were students' perception of their experiences, the differences between the two systems, advantages and disadvantages they recognize in the non-face-to-face classroom system. The main results of this study reveal a positive perception, a negative perception, and a change of perspective in the opinion about the classes in a non-face-to-face format. Advantages were found in academic, economic-financial and personal-developmental terms. The pointed-out disadvantages were at a personal, academic and social level. We conclude that these findings can be very useful in the teaching-learning process. For students in a general way, once they can identify with these verbalizations, they can feel that they are not alone in their academic issues and this can lead to motivating positive changes. For teachers, these results can serve as guidance on some aspects that may have gone better or worse, and accordingly, they may change and adapt their practices to the emergency remote teaching system. On the other hand, higher education institutions can also use these informations about learners experiences to the develop specialized helping programmes to their students(e.g., [6]).Project Learning and Teaching at University, PTDC/CED-EDG/29252/2017 - FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.

Verbos de movimento, preposições direcionais e escalas

Prepositions para and até are apparently similar in some contexts, but they give rise to distinct interpretations that are related to the aspectual profile of the predications. This work aims to explore the differences between para and até regarding the telicity of the predications projected by verbs of movement of the type caminhar. Two theoretical perspectives are compared and the data presented suggest that the contribution of these prepositions to the telicity of the predications can be described in a more accurate way by using the notion of 'scale', in a similar way to apparently unrelated constructions such as Degree Achievements

Recommendation of Tourism Resources Supported by Crowdsourcing

Context-aware recommendation of personalised tourism resources is possible because of personal mobile devices and powerful data filtering algorithms. The devices contribute with computing capabilities, on board sensors, ubiquitous Internet access and continuous user monitoring, whereas the filtering algorithms provide the ability to match the profile (interests and the context) of the tourist against a large knowledge bases of tourism resources. While, in terms of technology, personal mobile devices can gather user-related information, including the user context and access multiple data sources, the creation and maintenance of an updated knowledge base of tourism-related resources requires a collaborative approach due to the heterogeneity, volume and dynamic nature of the resources. The current PhD thesis aims to contribute to the solution of this problem by adopting a Crowdsourcing approach for the collaborative maintenance of the knowledge base of resources, Trust and Reputation for the validation of uploaded resources as well as publishers, Big Data for user profiling and context-aware filtering algorithms for the personalised recommendation of tourism resources

Perceptions of higher education students about the consequences of their academic emotions

Higher education students in learning situations are constantly being assaulted with academic emotions. The most part of times, these students are not aware of what they feel while studying or even how much these emotions can affect themselves or their learning process [1]. Thus, academic emotions are important due to the impact they can have on students in learning situations [2]. This work aims to know the perception of higher education students about their academic emotions and the consequences of those for students. Qualitative methodology was privileged. 48 Portuguese voluntary higher education students from an interior Portuguese university were interviewed (50% women). Ages varied between 18 and 27 years old. NVivo was used to organize the information.Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data [3] Results showed two different positions: students who considered that what they feel while studying did not affect them and other students who assumed this effect. For these latter subjects, their academic emotions affected them positively and negatively, regarding to cognition; affective aspects; emotional regulation needs, motivational aspects; aspects related with study and learning; academic performance; interpersonal relationships and at the level of their personal changing. These results contribute to the existing knowledge about academic emotions of higher education students and can be important to the development of structural measures in universities. Also, students and teachers can benefit using these data on their practical academic daily life.Project Learning and Teaching at University, PTDC/CED-EDG/29252/2017. FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.

The role of energy affordability in the relationship between poor housing and health status

Housing quality is a well-established determinant for health and its relevance has been increasing in the context of sustainable development. Prior research has emphasized the importance of adequate housing for the health and comfort of householders. However, this link is still poorly characterized and understood regarding the vulnerable segments of the population. In this study, a mediation analysis is proposed to test and identify the role of energy affordability in the relationship between poor housing and health status. It resorts to microdata from the European Union—Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database, focusing on the analysis of Portugal as the case study. Research findings confirm the role of energy affordability as a mediator. The research findings supported the energy efficiency as a direct pathway with protective and preventive effect for poor health, followed by energy affordability as a mediated or indirect pathway. A complementary approach that addresses energy efficiency and energy poverty should be pursued to maximize health risk reduction.This research was funded by FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - within MIT SES Portugal Doctoral Program under the scholarship PD/BD/128029/2016. This work has also been supported by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Health and housing energy expenditures: a two-part model approach

Interest in the interaction between energy and health within the built environment has been increasing in recent years, in the context of sustainable development. However, in order to promote health and wellbeing across all ages it is necessary to have a better understanding of the association between health and energy at household level. This study contributes to this debate by addressing the case of Portugal using data from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) microdata database. A two-part model is applied to estimate health expenditures based on energy-related expenditures, as well as socioeconomic variables. Additional statistical methods are used to enhance the perception of relevant predictors for health expenditures. Our findings suggest that given the high significance and coefficient value, energy expenditure is a relevant explanatory variable for health expenditures. This result is further validated by a dominance analysis ranking. Moreover, the results show that health gains and medical cost reductions can be a key factor to consider on the assessment of the economic viability of energy efficiency projects in buildings. This is particularly relevant for the older and low-income segments of the population.This research was funded by FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within MIT SES Portugal Doctoral Program under the scholarship PD/BD/128029/2016. This work has also been supported by FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/202

A review of the relation between household indoor temperature and health outcomes

This paper provides a review of research that addresses the relationship between indoor temperatures and health outcomes, taking into consideration studies that focus heat or cold exposure within the household context. It aims to extend previous research by considering both indoor temperatures from existing housing, and empirical studies that focus on energy efficiency measures and subsequent health impacts. To achieve this aim, a literature review was undertaken, combining engineering and health databases. The review established that, overall, inadequate indoor temperatures are associated with poor health status, whereas energy efficiency measures have been associated to improved indoor temperatures and occupant’s health namely regarding cardiovascular, respiratory and mental health disorders. These health conditions are among the most prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCD). The review also highlighted the need for more empirical studies with an extended timeframe to deal with climate change challenges. It underlined the potential advantages of the convergence between health and energy efficiency studies, for better modelling and planning.(undefined

Carbon key-properties for microcystin adsorption in drinking water treatment: structure or surface chemistry?

Dissertação para Obtenção de Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e BioquímicaThe carbon key-properties (structure and surface chemistry) for microcystin-LR (MC-LR) adsorption onto activated carbon were investigated. Waters with an inorganic background matrix approaching that of the soft natural water (2.5 mM ionic strength) were used. Also, model waters with controlled ionic make-up and NOM surrogate with similar size of MC-LR (tannic acid - TA) with MC-LR extracts were tested with activated carbon NORIT 0.8 SUPRA. For this AC, two particle sizes, 125-180 μm and 63-90 μm were tested. The surface chemistry of NOR 125-180 μm was modified by thermal treatment and was also preloaded with TA. The integrated analysis of carbon’s chemical and textural characterization and of kinetic and isotherm modeling using non-linear models allowed concluding that: i) the heating method is an efficient and simple process for reducing a relatively hydrophilic activated carbon and thereby enhancing its MC-LR adsorption capacity; ii) from a combination of the modification of the carbon surface chemistry and the carbon structure, it is demonstrates that both properties play an important role in the adsorption process, although carbon surface chemistry seems to be more important than its porous structure – MC-LR adsorption correlated with meso and macroporous volume and particularly well with carbon hydrophobicity (inverse of oxygen content); iii) the smaller the particle size, the more important is external mass transfer over intraparticle diffusion; iv) similar sized NOM strongly competes with MC-LR for the same AC sites; v) direct competition governs the simultaneous MC-LR and NOM adsorption; vi) the preloading phenomena reduces significantly the performance of activated carbon adsorption