The Portuguese programme ‘one laptop per child’ and its impact on families: a study on parents’ and children’s perspectives

This paper intends to present and reflect upon some of the findings emerging from a research project entitled “Navigating with ‘Magalhães’: Study on the Impact of Digital Media on Schoolchildren” that was conducted at the Communication and Society Research Centre at the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. The project focused on the politics of the governmental programme “One Laptop per Child” part of the Portuguese Technological Plan for Education, and the uses of the “Magalhães” computer, and other media, by children aged 8-10 years. This paper analyses the impact of this particular public policy on digital literacy of young children based mostly on the perspectives of parents and their modes of mediation. It also debates parents’ and children’s perspectives on parental rules on computer and Internet usage. It ends by concluding that the impact of this programme occurred mainly at the level of access rather than the social and educational uses and practices. It also highlights the importance of family in the way children access and use ICT.

Silent citizens: on silence and silencing in journalism

Constructivist approaches to journalism, which have dominated the field for most of the second half of the 20th century, underline how selection and ranking processes produce representations and interpretations of social reality. Theoretical perspectives such as agenda-setting or framing have been pointing to the ways production of news messages are shaped and issues are defined. Research inspired by these contributions does however seem to keep in an area of relative shade not so much what is said and published but what is not selected: the unsaid, the withheld, the untold of journalism. The reality that remains in silence, for not being noticed or for being silenced, is the reverse of the coin of what is made visible. In this paper, it is suggested that this situation opens up the debate to a relatively unknown continent, which could contribute to the larger discussion on the current crisis in journalism. It is our contention that ‘the untold’ might be at the confluence of different levels: the journalistic agenda-setting by news sources; the deterioration of working conditions of journalists, compromising the investigation; and the social capital asymmetries from important segments of the population, hampering the public word (speech?) and the right to communicate. In order to build a comprehensive picture of the potentialities and contradictions of journalism from the unsaid side, we would put forward the outline of a typology of journalism's silences, with particular emphasis on some aspects of "discursive discrimination" (Boréus, 2006), on the one hand, and on citizen silence in the process of journalistic production, on the other hand.

Pharmacological evaluation of plant extracts from Chapada Diamantina (Bahia, Brazil): Focus on antioxidant and cytotoxic properties

Tese de Doutoramento em Biologia de Plantas MAP - Bioplant

Current approaches and future perspectives on strategies for the development of personalized tissue engineering therapies

Personalized tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) therapies propose patient-oriented effective solutions, considering individual needs. Cell-based therapies, for example, may benefit from cell sources that enable easier autologous set-ups or from recent developments on IPS cells technologies towards effective personalized therapeutics. Furthermore, the customization of scaffold materials to perfectly fit a patientâ s tissue defect through rapid prototyping technologies, also known as 3D printing, is now a reality. Nevertheless, the timing to expand cells or to obtain functional in vitrotissue substitutes prior to implantation prevents advancements towards routine use upon patient´s needs. Thus, personalized therapies also anticipate the importance of creating off-the-shelf solutions to enable immediately available tissue engineered products. This paper reviews the main recent developments and future challenges to enable personalized TERM approaches and to bring these technologies closer to clinical applications.