The impact of Portuguese demographic changes on the demand and supply of blood in the region of Algarve

Dissertação de Mastrado, Gestão de Unidades de Saúde, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

Equity-focused health impact assessment of Portuguese tobacco control legislation

The World Health Organization recommend the Equity-Focused Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as a means to assess the impact of social and economic policies on the health of populations, and acknowledges their contribution to health inequality. We describe the application of the Equity-focusedImpact Assessment methodology on the Portuguese law on Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control (Law No. 37/2007). A rapid assessment was carried out to issue recommendations which could be incorporated into the law during a revision in 2014. Quantitative (consumption and health status indicators; equity analysis) and qualitative (Focus Group) approaches were taken to evaluate the impact of the law and formulate recommendations. Young people, men and women of low socioeconomic status, and pregnant women were identified as requiring specific and appropriate interventions to prevent smoking and support smoking cessation.

A supervised machine learning method for word sense disambiguation of Portuguese nouns

Dissertação de Mestrado, Ciências da Linguagem, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, 2010

Taking Issue with History: Empathy and the Ethical Imperatives of Creative Interventions

The purpose of this thesis was to contribute to a dialogue that considers the relationship between history, literature, and empathy as a literary affect. Specifically, I explored sites of literature’s transformative potential as it relates to cultural studies and the ethics of deconstruction. Via a deconstructive, post-colonial reading of Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I considered how subjects in our current socio-political moment can feel history. Emerging from a post-structurally mediated engagement with history, signification, and feeling, I argued that empathy, as it is contentiously presented in the context of deconstruction, is not necessarily a reductive or essentialist approach towards relating or “being-with” an-other. Instead, I proposed that the act of reading historiographical novels that take constructions of the Atlantic Slave Trade to task might generate an affective empathy, which could in turn engender a more empathetic relationality and way of being-in-the-world.

"Jose Martí: Resisting Melancholia for the Image of the Cuban Hero", Lecture by Emilio Bejel

This flyer promotes the event ""Jose Martí: Resisting Melancholia for the Image of the Cuban Hero", Lecture by Emilio Bejel", cosponsored by the Department of Modern Languages at FIU.

Sleep and academic performance of Portuguese teenagers

Abstract: Sleep has numerous important functions in the body, such as consolidation of memory, concentration and learning. Changes in sleep cycles in adolescents lead to sleep deprivation with consequences to academic performance. Our research question was What are the sleep habits that influence school performance (study environment, study planning, study method, reading skills, motivation to study, overall school performance) in adolescents? We aimed to identify sleep habits predictors of the quality of school performance in adolescents. Research Methods: Crosssectional analytical study. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire with socio-demographic questions, sleep habits and school performance scale. The sample consisted of 380 students between 7th and 9th grade, with an average age of 13.56 ± 1.23 years in the school year 2011/2012, from a 2nd and 3rd Cycle Basic School of the municipality of Viseu, Portugal. Findings: School performance in adolescents was associated with better subjective quality of sleep (p=0.000), with longer sleep duration (p=0.000), with watching tv/video before sleep (p=0.000), with the habit of studying before bedtime (p=0.012), with no computer use (p=0.013) and with reading habits before bed (p=0.000). School performance was also associated with adolescents who reported not feeling sleepy during class. The teenagers who sleep more and better, and who watch tv/video, study, do not use computers, and who read before going to bed, have a better school performance.

What Is a Firm’s Life Expectancy? Empirical Evidence in the Context of Portuguese Companies

It is a fact that the uncertainty about a firm’s future has to be measured and incorporated into a company’s valuation throughout the explicit analysis period – in the continuing or terminal value within valuation models. One of the concerns that can influence the continuing value of enterprises, which is not explicitly considered in traditional valuation models, is a firm’s average life expectancy. Although the literature has studied the life cycle of a firm, there is still a considerable lack of references on this topic. If we ignore the period during which a company has the ability to produce future cash flows, the valuations can fall into irreversible errors, leading to results markedly different from market values. This paper aims to provide a contribution in this area. Its main objective is to construct a mortality table for non-listed Portuguese enterprises, showing that the use of a terminal value through a mathematical expression of perpetuity of free cash flows is not adequate. We provide the use of an appropriate coefficient to perceive the number of years in which the company will continue to operate until its theoretical extinction. If well addressed regarding valuation models, this issue can be used to reduce or even to eliminate one of the main problems that cause distortions in contemporary enterprise valuation models: the premise of an enterprise’s unlimited existence in time. Besides studying the companies involved in it, from their existence to their demise, our study intends to push knowledge forward by providing a consistent life and mortality expectancy table for each age of the company, presenting models with an explicitly and different survival rate for each year. Moreover, we show that, after reaching a certain age, firms can reinvent their business, acquiring maturity and consequently postponing their mortality through an additional life period.

Juniperus navicularis - a study of Portuguese population structure and fitness

Juniperus navicularis Gand. is a dioecious endemic conifer that constitutes the understory of seaside pine forests in Portugal, areas currently threatened by increasing urban expansion. The aim of this study is to assess the conservation status of previously known populations of this species located on its core area of distribution. The study was performed in south-west coast of Portugal. Three populations varying in size and pine density were analyzed. Number of individuals, population density, spatial distribution and individual characteristics of junipers were estimated. Female cone, seed characteristics and seed viability were also evaluated. Results suggest that J. navicularis populations are vulnerable because seminal recruitment is scarce, what may lead to a reduction of genetic variability due solely to vegetative propagation. This vulnerability seems to be strongly determined by climatic constraints toward increasing aridity. Ratio between male and female shrubs did not differ from 1:1 in any population. Deviations from 1:1 between mature and non-mature plants were found in all populations, denoting population ageing. Very low seed viability was observed. A major part of described Juniperus navicularis populations have disappeared through direct habitat loss to urban development, loss of fitness in drier and warmer locations and low seed viability. This study is the first to address J. navicularis conservation, and represents a valuable first step toward this species preservation.

The influence of forest management on bird communities of portuguese montados

The world distribution of cork oak Quercus suber and holm oak Q. rotundifolia is basically restricted to the western Mediterranean basin. These two evergreen oaks are the base of the Portuguese montado and the Spanish dehesa. This thesis aims to analyse how bird communities of the montado are influenced by management practices. We used different approaches to study this relationship, and to evaluate which features are responsible for species distribution in different typologies of montado. First, we reviewed the concept of montado in order to better understand the system and to set thresholds on what can be considered as montado. Afterwards, we studied the elements that promote higher species diversity and individual species, or group of species, that can act as indicators of High Nature Value for montados. Finally, we evaluated how the bird communities are structured, and the influence of the main management actions (e.g. cattle and cork exploitation) on those communities; Resumo: A distribuição mundial do sobreiro Quercus suber e da azinheira Quercus rotundifolia é praticamente restrita à bacia do Mediterrâneo. Estas duas espécies de carvalhos são a base dos montados em Portugal e das dehesas em Espanha. No âmbito desta tese analisamos como as comunidades de aves do montado são influenciadas pela gestão florestal. Para este efeito usámos diferentes abordagens e avaliámos quais as características do montado responsáveis pela distribuição das espécies ao longo das suas diferentes tipologias. Fizemos uma revisão do conceito de montado e proposemos uma definição para o sistema, englobando a sua multifuncionalidade. Estudámos os elementos singulares que promovem a diversidade de aves e que podem ser simultaneamente indicadores de áreas de Alto Valor Natural (HNV). Por fim, avaliámos qual a influência da gestão (p. ex. pastoreio e descortiçamento) na estruturação das comunidades de aves.

FOR A SOCIOINTERACIONIST CONCEPTION OF LANGUAGE: GUIDELINES FOR THE TEACHING OF PORTUGUESE

The text displayed here makes considerations around the social interaction conception of language and, based on that, understands it as a fundament for didactic and methodological approaches of language teaching and, similarly, relates it to social practices, which means understanding the interactions as fundamental for the process of development and learning of the human being. To do so, this text goes back to Vygotsky, according to whom the relationships of interaction are favorable to the development of language, as the beginning and the development of cognition are charged upon language and social interactions. We discussed language – which is conceived as a historical fact and the result of collective actions that men developed in working processes along history – through a theoretical standpoint.

A fé contra o crime: A bakhtinian analysis of the image of evangelicals in Brazil in the cover of Veja magazine

The present paper, based on the concept of surplus of vision discussed in some works of the bakhtinian Circle, as, mainly Bakhtin (2010a) and Bakhtin (2010b), has the main aim to analyse the image of evangelicals in a cover delivered by Veja magazine from the bakhtinian categories of exotopy, otherness and expressive intonation and, consequently, the meaning effects resulting from them. Therefore, anchored by the perspective of Bakhtinian Studies (BS), we analysed the magazine cover, seeking to apprehend the meanings constructed by this genre of verb-visual basis. To the constitution of the corpus of analysis, we selected the cover of the edition 1555, published on July, 15, 1998, entitled A fé contra o crime: Numa cruzada em presídios e redutos de traficantes, os evangélicos estão convertendo bandidos em soldados de Jesus, to analyse in which way the magazine, from its discursive place, appropriates the image of the evangelicals and represents it with its intonations in its statements. From the analysis, we can state that Veja constructs an image that tends to the homogenization of the evangelicals in Brazil, from its surplus of vision, with its tone of sarcasm, prejudice and vilification of this group, attempting to position the consumer/reader of Veja against the protestant sphere. The conclusion of this research, therefore, is that the exotopic position assumed by Veja with regard to its otherness, the evangelical discursive sphere, articulates axiologic aprehensions materialized in the form of intonation on the cover of the magazine that we analysed, disseminating, with the character of truth, the protestant group as integrant of mere dualities. Although the cover figures the group as an agent of change in society, this change gets the intonation by the magazine so that it seems false or, at least, incomplete, which equips the Veja readers of mistrust and, therefore, discredit to the actions of the discussed discursive sphere.

Ecce homo - Chinua Achebe's image of Conrad

In his famous essay, "An image of Africa: racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness", the late Nigerian writer, scholar and critic Chinua Achebe points out how the permanent place held by Joseph Conrad and his novel in the literary pantheon has contributed towards perpetuating "comforting myths" where Africa and its people serve as a coarse foil against which to show Western civilisation's refinement and achievements (ACHEBE In ARMSTRONG, 2006, p. 339). A ferocious "Ecce homo", this seems to be the bottom line of Achebe's unapologetically emotional criticism. Tainted by irredeemable eurocentrism and racism, Joseph Conrad should then be finally overthrown by critics and ostracised by the public. But, relevant and (always) timely as it is, should cultural criticism, especially when championed by an eminent, authoritative African scholar as Achebe, refuse Conrad the benefit of the doubt? Literature, genuine literature, we believe, won't pass the test of time unless it proves to be more than ideological prestidigitation and strikes a chord that is more than decorous compassion. It is by looking at Heart of Darkness as first and foremost a work of art that we attempt to outline an alternative image to the racist Conrad presented by Achebe.

Initial training of Portuguese teachers for Speakers of Other Languages at UTFPR-CT: integrating theory and classroom practice

The purpose of this article is to analyze the initial training of foreign language teachers within an extension project, whose goal is to promote teaching Portuguese for Speakers of Other Languages ​​(PFOL) in the Federal  University of Technology- Paraná ( UTFPR), Curitiba Campus. Thus, a brief history about the activities developed in the program  will be presented as well as its relevance within the university. Also, an analysis of the program and its current status within the Language and Literature undergraduate course - UTFPR will be discussed. Finally, concepts of reflective teaching  (Perrenoud, 2002) and  teaching based on the indissociation between practice and theory (GIMENEZ, 2005) will be brought up.

A HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE TEACHING MANUALS IN BRAZIL, IN THEIR VARIOUS LANGUAGES

This article aims to study the historical constitution of Portuguese Language Teaching Manuals in Brazil (PLT) in Brazil. To do this, we offer firstly an overview view of research on these Teaching Manuals as used in schools and in Portuguese language classes throughout the whole time they have existed. From this extensive period we draw attention to some historical perspectives that have decisively changed the direction of PLT, its classes and the day to day life in schools. From these we shall single out the public policies regarding quality pertaining to the National Program for Teaching Manuals (NPTM) and to the National Program for Teaching Manuals for High Schools, specifically and for 2015 (NPTMHS 2015). We seek theoretical support in: Comenius (1954), Oliveira et al. (1984), Soares (1986, 1998, 2001), Bittencourt (1993), Freitag et al. (1993), Munakata (1997), Coracini (1999), Batista (2001, 2003, 2004), Batista and Costa Val (2004), Bunzen (2001, 2005, 2009), Bunzen and Rojo (2008) Rojo and Batista (2008), among others. The result of this research will give a history of PLT made up of diverse social and political factors, as well as those continually arising.