Geography of the Information Society

All every day activities take place in space. And it is upon this that all information and knowledge revolve. The latter are the key elements in the organisation of territories. Their creation, use and distribution should therefore occur in a balanced way throughout the whole territory in order to allow all individuals to participate in an egalitarian society, in which the flow of knowledge can take precedence over the flow of interests. The information society depends, to a large extent, on the technological capacity to disseminate information and, consequently, the knowledge throughout territory, thereby creating conditions which allow a more balanced development, from the both the social and economic points of view thus avoiding the existence of info-exclusion territories. Internet should therefore be considered more than a mere technology, given that its importance goes well beyond the frontiers of culture and society. It is already a part of daily life and of the new forms of thinking and transmitting information, thus making it a basic necessity essential, for a full socio-economic development. Its role as a platform of creation and distribution of content is regarded as an indispensable element for education in today’s society, since it makes information a much more easily acquired benefit.”…in the same way that the new technologies of generation and distribution of energy allowed factories and large companies to establish themselves as the organisational bases of industrial society, so the internet today constitutes the technological base of the organisational form that characterises the Information Era: the network” (CASTELLS, 2004:15). The changes taking place today in regional and urban structures are increasingly more evident due to a combination of factors such as faster means of transport, more efficient telecommunications and other cheaper and more advanced technologies of information and knowledge. Although their impact on society is obvious, society itself also has a strong influence on the evolution of these technologies. And although physical distance has lost much of the responsibility it had towards explaining particular phenomena of the economy and of society, other aspects such as telecommunications, new forms of mobility, the networks of innovation, the internet, cyberspace, etc., have become more important, and are the subject of study and profound analysis. The science of geographical information, allows, in a much more rigorous way, the analysis of problems thus integrating in a much more balanced way, the concepts of place, of space and of time. Among the traditional disciplines that have already found their place in this process of research and analysis, we can give special attention to a geography of new spaces, which, while not being a geography of ‘innovation’, nor of the ‘Internet’, nor even ‘virtual’, which can be defined as one of the ‘Information Society’, encompassing not only the technological aspects but also including a socio-economic approach. According to the last European statistical data, Portugal shows a deficit in terms of information and knowledge dissemination among its European partners. Some of the causes are very well identified - low levels of scholarship, weak investments on innovation and R&D (both private and public sector) - but others seem to be hidden behind socio-economical and technological factors. So, the justification of Portugal as the case study appeared naturally, on a difficult quest to find the major causes to territorial asymmetries. The substantial amount of data needed for this work was very difficult to obtain and for the islands of Madeira and Azores was insufficient, so only Continental Portugal was considered for this study. In an effort to understand the various aspects of the Geography of the Information Society and bearing in mind the increasing generalised use of information technologies together with the range of technologies available for the dissemination of information, it is important to: (i) Reflect on the geography of the new socio-technological spaces. (ii) Evaluate the potential for the dissemination of information and knowledge through the selection of variables that allow us to determine the dynamic of a given territory or region; (iii) Define a Geography of the Information Society in Continental Portugal.

Preventing human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation: the need for a bottom-up approach : the case-study of Brazilians trafficked to Portugal

Masters Thesis – Academic Year 2007/2008 - European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization (E.MA) - European Inter-university Centre for Human Rights and Democratization (EIUC) -Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL)

Knowledge Society and Geography: A Theoretical Approach

The transition process between information and knowledge is faster and so the inputs that influence social and political practises. The dissemination of information is now determinant in terms of territorial competitiveness and both public and private sector take large benefits when the data-information- knowledge value chain repeats itself trough space and time. Mankind depends nowadays on the creation and diffusion of good and reliable information. Speed is also important and the greater the speed, the faster the opportunities for global markets. Information must be an input for knowledge and obviously for decision. So, the power of information is unquestionable. This paper focuses on concepts like information, knowledge and other, more geographical and tries to explain how territories change from real to virtual. Knowledge society appears on an evolutional context in which information dissemination is wider and technological potential overwrites traditional notions of Geography. To understand the mutations over the territories, the causes and the consequences emerges the Geography of the Knowledge Society, a new discipline inside Geography with a special concern about modern society and socio-economical developing models.

Regional change in the Algarve: A Geographic Information System approach

Thesis submitted to the Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação da Universidade Nova de Lisboa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management – Geographic Information Systems

Development of an integrative approach for the characterization of ecological risk on marine transition ecosystems: the Sado Estuary as a case study

Estuaries and other transitional waters are complex ecosystems critically important as nursery and shelter areas for organisms. Also, humans depend on estuaries for multiple socio-economical activities such as urbanism, tourism, heavy industry, (taking advantage of shipping), fisheries and aquaculture, the development of which led to strong historical pressures, with emphasis on pollution. The degradation of estuarine environmental quality implies ecologic, economic and social prejudice, hence the importance of evaluating environmental quality through the identification of stressors and impacts. The Sado Estuary (SW Portugal) holds the characteristics of industrialized estuaries, which results in multiple adverse impacts. Still, it has recently been considered moderately contaminated. In fact, many studies were conducted in the past few years, albeit scattered due to the absence of true biomonitoring programmes. As such, there is a need to integrate the information, in order to obtain a holistic perspective of the area able to assist management and decision-making. As such, a geographical information system (GIS) was created based on sediment contamination and biomarker data collected from a decade-long time-series of publications. Four impacted and a reference areas were identified, characterized by distinct sediment contamination patterns related to different hot spots and diffuse sources of toxicants. The potential risk of sediment-bound toxicants was determined by contrasting the levels of pollutants with available sediment quality guidelines, followed by their integration through the Sediment Quality guideline Quotient (SQG-Q). The SQG-Q estimates per toxicant or class was then subjected to georreferencing and statistical analyses between the five distinct areas and seasons. Biomarker responses were integrated through the Biomarkers Consistency Indice and georreferenced as well through GIS. Overall, in spite of the multiple biological traits surveyed, the biomarker data (from several organisms) are accordant with sediment contamination. The most impacted areas were the shipyard area and adjacent industrial belt, followed by urban and agricultural grounds. It is evident that the estuary, although globally moderately impacted, is very heterogeneous and affected by a cocktail of contaminants, especially metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Although elements (like copper, zinc and even arsenic) may originate from the geology of the hydrographic basin of the Sado River, the majority of the remaining contaminants results from human activities. The present work revealed that the estuary should be divided into distinct biogeographic units, in order to implement effective measures to safeguard environmental quality.

Qualidade de vida na demência : estudo sobre a perceção de Qualidade de Vida em pessoas com demência, seus familiares e cuidadores profissionais em contexto de Internamento

RESUMO: Introdução: Ao fenómeno do envelhecimento está associado uma maior incidência de doenças crónicas e incapacitantes. Atualmente é consensual, a preocupação com a Qualidade de Vida (QdV) nesta faixa etária, acrescendo importância quando falamos em QdV em demência, dada a complexidade dos sintomas, morbilidades e co-morbilidades que se verificam nesta síndrome. Objetivo: O presente estudo tem como objetivo principal avaliar a perceção da QdV em pessoas com demência, seus familiares e cuidadores profissionais, de forma a identificar dimensões que mereçam uma maior atenção na definição de programas de intervenção em situação de institucionalização. Metodologia: Este estudo é de caráter descritivo transversal com componente qualitativa e quantitativa. A população compreende as pessoas com demência do Centro Psicogeriátrico Nª Sª de Fátima (CPNSF). A amostra foi constituída pelas residentes do CPNSF com diagnóstico de demência e classificação total de Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) ≥ 10. As variáveis em análise foram: QdV, avaliada pela escala QOL-AD versão portuguesa, perfil sociodemográfico das pessoas com demência, familiares e cuidadores profissionais, por inquérito por questionário; Grau de defeito cognitivo, dependência funcional e sintomatologia depressiva das pessoas com demência, verificado por MMSE, índice de Barthel e Escala de Depressão Geriátrica (GDS-15). Foi ainda acedido ao entendimento pessoal sobre o construto de QdV, através de entrevista semiestruturada dirigida a todos os participantes. Resultados: Com base nos resultados obtidos foi possível determinar que as pessoas com demência, associam QdV a fatores como saúde física, humor/disposição, condições de vida, cognição, família, satisfação com a vida, dinheiro. Foram observadas relações negativas com sintomatologia depressiva e funcionalidade para as atividades instrumentais de vida diária. Os familiares associam positivamente QdV a bem-estar geral relacionado com as dimensões física, psicológica e relações sociais, e negativamente com o estado cognitivo e sintomatologia neuropsiquiátrica. Os cuidadores profissionais associam QdV das pessoas com demência a questões relacionadas com condições e satisfação com a vida, bem-estar físico, suporte emocional relações sociais e funcionalidade para as atividades instrumentais básicas de vida diária. Não foi possível correlacionar a QOL-AD com a dimensão funcionalidade por não existir nesta escala um item que inclua este conceito. Conclusão: Este estudo confirma que pessoas com demência, têm capacidade para aceder e avaliar aspetos da sua própria QdV, sendo que tendem a pontuar com valores mais elevados a sua QdV quando comparados com familiares e cuidadores profissionais.--------------- ABSTRACT:Background:: Aging is associated with higher incidence of chronic and debilitating illnesses. The study of quality of life in aging population has been an increasingly discussed topic. Quality of life in dementia is a particular challenging field given the complexity of symptoms, morbilities and co-morbilities that occur in this syndrome. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the perception of quality of life in elderly people with dementia and their families, in order to identify dimensions that should be prioritized in intervention programs aimed at increasing quality of life in persons with dementia living in institutions. Methodology: This study used a is cross-sectional descriptive mixed methods approach. The population comprises people with dementia in Psychogeriatric Center Nossa Senhora de Fátima (CPNSF). The sample consisted of the residents of CPNSF diagnosed with dementia and total score of Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) ≥ 10. The variables analyzed were: quality of life, assessed by QOL-AD scale Portuguese version, socio-demographic profile of people with dementia, family members and professional caregivers, by questionnaire survey; Degree of cognitive impairment, functional dependence and depressive symptoms of people with dementia, using respectively MMSE, Barthel index and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). The personal understanding of the QoL construct was also assessed, through semi-structured interviews to all participants Results: The results supported that people with dementia, related quality of life to factors such as physical health, mood / disposition, living conditions, cognition, family, life satisfaction, and money. Negative relations were observed with depressive symptoms and functionality for the instrumental activities of daily living. The family members associate quality of life positively with overall well-being related to the physical, psychological and social relationships, and negatively with cognitive status and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Professional caregivers associate quality of life of people with dementia-related issues conditions and satisfaction with life, physical well-being, social relationships and emotional support functionality to the basic instrumental activities of daily living. It was not possible to correlate the QOL-AD with the size feature does not exist on this scale for an item that includes this concept. Conclusion: This study supports the idea that people with dementia are able to assess and evaluate aspects of their own quality of life, and tend to rate their quality of life higher than family and professional caregivers.

The reasons behind the progression in PISA scores: An education production function approach using semi-parametric techniques

Research Masters