Social housing tenants, Climate Change and sustainable living: A study of awareness, behaviours and willingness to adapt

Despite a focus in the UK on providing sustainable housing in recent years, it is unlikely that targets set to reduce resource consumption in housing will be achieved without a greater focus on human behaviour. It is necessary to understand the actions of people occupying dwellings, as it is invariably the occupants rather than the buildings that decided whether or not to consume resources. In this paper the authors present a pilot study where 53 social housing tenant households in Northern Ireland were interviewed to ascertain their perceptions of Climate Change, their current behaviours and their willingness to reduce energy and water consumption in the home. The intention was to explore links between perceptions and reported behaviour as well as perceptions and willingness to reduce resource consumption. Results show that 77% of tenants believed Climate Change to be an important issue; 57% accepted that it is up to the individual to take responsibility for tackling Climate Change; and demonstrated a strong desire to make a difference to reduce their impact. The researchers identified both passive (devices) and active (behaviours) resource savings currently in place and established where further resource reduction was feasible based on tenants' willingness to alter their behaviours.

HPV vaccine acceptance in males

Background Despite Human Papillomavirus (HPV)’s impact on the health of both sexes, there is debate around the inclusion of males in HPV vaccination programmes. The aim of this scoping review was to synthesize the evidence on vaccine acceptability to males. Given that the vaccine is most effective in adolescent males, vaccine acceptance in parents and health care professionals (HCPs) was also examined. Method A rapid synthesis using specified key words of published systematic reviews into vaccine acceptability in adolescent males, parents and HCPs was conducted. The most common electronic databases were searched including: Medline, EMBASE, PsychINFO, and CINAHL. Results There was variability amongst studies with respect to design and methodological approaches. Despite this there appears to be a positive attitude towards male HPV vaccination from both parents and older males. There is currently insufficient evidence on vaccine acceptance to adolescent males. Understanding the risks involved in HPV acquisition, and receiving a recommendation from a HCP, appear to be the major factors involved in males deciding to be vaccinated. Parents consistently report the importance of a HCP recommendation, yet HCPs (in the US) appear to have a preference for vaccinating older than younger adolescents, and for vaccinating females. Conclusions The absence of an agreed definition of vaccine acceptance leads to a lack of a universally accepted tool for its measurement. This makes comparison of studies difficult. With no established theoretical framework the identification and exploration of factors that influence vaccine uptake can be variable. In addition, acceptance is not indicative of uptake. The majority of studies are cross-sectional which makes the identification of factors that lead to actual vaccine uptake difficult. Prospective, longitudinal studies identifying individuals that acted on vaccine intention should be conducted to identify the factors that mediate the uptake.

Hypofractionated radiotherapy versus conventionally fractionated radiotherapy for patients with intermediate-risk localised prostate cancer: 2-year patient-reported outcomes of the randomised, non-inferiority, phase 3 CHHiP trial

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) might detect more toxic effects of radiotherapy than do clinician-reported outcomes. We did a quality of life (QoL) substudy to assess PROs up to 24 months after conventionally fractionated or hypofractionated radiotherapy in the Conventional or Hypofractionated High Dose Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer (CHHiP) trial.

METHODS: The CHHiP trial is a randomised, non-inferiority phase 3 trial done in 71 centres, of which 57 UK hospitals took part in the QoL substudy. Men with localised prostate cancer who were undergoing radiotherapy were eligible for trial entry if they had histologically confirmed T1b-T3aN0M0 prostate cancer, an estimated risk of seminal vesicle involvement less than 30%, prostate-specific antigen concentration less than 30 ng/mL, and a WHO performance status of 0 or 1. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive a standard fractionation schedule of 74 Gy in 37 fractions or one of two hypofractionated schedules: 60 Gy in 20 fractions or 57 Gy in 19 fractions. Randomisation was done with computer-generated permuted block sizes of six and nine, stratified by centre and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk group. Treatment allocation was not masked. UCLA Prostate Cancer Index (UCLA-PCI), including Short Form (SF)-36 and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate (FACT-P), or Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) and SF-12 quality-of-life questionnaires were completed at baseline, pre-radiotherapy, 10 weeks post-radiotherapy, and 6, 12, 18, and 24 months post-radiotherapy. The CHHiP trial completed accrual on June 16, 2011, and the QoL substudy was closed to further recruitment on Nov 1, 2009. Analysis was on an intention-to-treat basis. The primary endpoint of the QoL substudy was overall bowel bother and comparisons between fractionation groups were done at 24 months post-radiotherapy. The CHHiP trial is registered with ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN97182923.

FINDINGS: 2100 participants in the CHHiP trial consented to be included in the QoL substudy: 696 assigned to the 74 Gy schedule, 698 assigned to the 60 Gy schedule, and 706 assigned to the 57 Gy schedule. Of these individuals, 1659 (79%) provided data pre-radiotherapy and 1444 (69%) provided data at 24 months after radiotherapy. Median follow-up was 50·0 months (IQR 38·4-64·2) on April 9, 2014, which was the most recent follow-up measurement of all data collected before the QoL data were analysed in September, 2014. Comparison of 74 Gy in 37 fractions, 60 Gy in 20 fractions, and 57 Gy in 19 fractions groups at 2 years showed no overall bowel bother in 269 (66%), 266 (65%), and 282 (65%) men; very small bother in 92 (22%), 91 (22%), and 93 (21%) men; small bother in 26 (6%), 28 (7%), and 38 (9%) men; moderate bother in 19 (5%), 23 (6%), and 21 (5%) men, and severe bother in four (<1%), three (<1%) and three (<1%) men respectively (74 Gy vs 60 Gy, ptrend=0.64, 74 Gy vs 57 Gy, ptrend=0·59). We saw no differences between treatment groups in change of bowel bother score from baseline or pre-radiotherapy to 24 months.

INTERPRETATION: The incidence of patient-reported bowel symptoms was low and similar between patients in the 74 Gy control group and the hypofractionated groups up to 24 months after radiotherapy. If efficacy outcomes from CHHiP show non-inferiority for hypofractionated treatments, these findings will add to the growing evidence for moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy schedules becoming the standard treatment for localised prostate cancer.

FUNDING: Cancer Research UK, Department of Health, and the National Institute for Health Research Cancer Research Network.

Protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention to increase the use of traffic light food labelling in UK shoppers (the FLICC trial)

Background: Traffic light labelling of foods—a system that incorporates a colour-coded assessment of the level of total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt on the front of packaged foods—has been recommended by the UK Government and is currently in use or being phased in by many UK manufacturers and retailers. This paper describes a protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of an intervention designed to increase the use of traffic light labelling during real-life food purchase decisions.

Methods/design: The objectives of this two-arm randomised controlled pilot trial are to assess recruitment, retention and data completion rates, to generate potential effect size estimates to inform sample size calculations for the main trial and to assess the feasibility of conducting such a trial. Participants will be recruited by email from a loyalty card database of a UK supermarket chain. Eligible participants will be over 18 and regular shoppers who frequently purchase ready meals or pizzas. The intervention is informed by a review of previous interventions encouraging the use of nutrition labelling and the broader behaviour change literature. It is designed to impact on mechanisms affecting belief and behavioural intention formation as well as those associated with planning and goal setting and the adoption and maintenance of the behaviour of interest, namely traffic light label use during purchases of ready meals and pizzas. Data will be collected using electronic sales data via supermarket loyalty cards and web-based questionnaires and will be used to estimate the effect of the intervention on the nutrition profile of purchased ready meals and pizzas and the behavioural mechanisms associated with label use. Data collection will take place over 48 weeks. A process evaluation including semi-structured interviews and web analytics will be conducted to assess feasibility of a full trial.

Discussion: The design of the pilot trial allows for efficient recruitment and data collection. The intervention could be generalised to a wider population if shown to be feasible in the main trial.

Gramsci, austerity common sense and the attacks on the welfare state: The need to understand and resist the imposition of the global neoliberal agenda and the role of the social work profession.

During the last 30 years governments almost everywhere in the world are furthering a global neoliberal agenda by withdrawing the state from the delivery of services, decreasing social spending and lowering corporate taxation etc. This restructuring has led to a massive transfer of wealth from the welfare state and working class people into capital. In order to legitimize this restructuring conservative governments engage in collective blaming towards their denizens. This presentation will examine some of the well circulated phrases that have been used by the dominant elite in some countries during the last year to legitimize the imposition of austerity measures. Phrases such as, ‘We all partied’ used by the Irish finance minister, Brian Lenihan, to explain the Irish crisis and collectively blame all Irish people, ‘We must all share the pain’, deployed by another Irish Minister Gilmore and the UK coalition administration’s sound bite ‘We are all in this together’, legitimize the imposition of austerity measures. Utilizing the Gramscian concept of common sense (Gramsci, 1971), I call these phrases ‘austerity common sense’. They are austerity common sense because they both reflect and legitimate the austerity agenda. By deploying these phrases, the ruling economic and political elite seek to influence the perception of the people and pre-empt any intention of resistance. The dominant theme of these phrases is that there is no alternative and that austerity measures are somehow self-inflicted and, as such, should not be challenged because we are all to blame. The purpose of this presentation is to explore the “austerity common sense” theme from a Gramscian approach, focus on its implications for the social work profession and discuss the ways to resist the imposition of the global neoliberal agenda.

Intentions Toward Physical Activity and Resting Behavior in Pregnant Women: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior Framework in a Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women are recommended to 1) perform daily moderate-intensity physical activity and 2) limit the amount of sedentary time. Many women do not meet these recommendations. Reduced physical activity and increased sedentary behavior may result from women actively intending to rest during pregnancy. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been used to assess attitudes (e.g., positive/negative beliefs), subjective norms (e.g., perception of others' views), perceived behavioral control (PBC) (e.g., self-efficacy), and intention toward exercising while pregnant but has not been applied to aspects pertaining to resting during pregnancy.

METHODS: Pregnant women (n = 345) completed a cross-sectional questionnaire that included two TPB Questionnaires where the target behaviors were 1) being physically active and 2) resting. Bootstrapped paired t tests, ANOVA, and linear hierarchal regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of intentions and whether intentions toward the two behaviors varied at different stages of pregnancy.

RESULTS: As women progressed in their pregnancy, their attitude, PBC, and intention toward being physically active all significantly declined. A positive attitude, subjective norms, and intention toward resting all significantly increased with the advancing trimester. Self-reported health conditions predicted lower intention for physical activity but not for resting.

DISCUSSION: The significantly inverse relationship between physical activity and resting across time suggests that women feel they should focus on one behavior at the expense of the other. Finding that women generally do not perceive these behaviors as mutually compatible has implications in strategizing as to how to encourage women to be active during pregnancy.

An evaluation of the Socrative (personal response system) app for increasing student engagement and learning in an undergraduate psychology curriculum.

Personal response systems using hardware such as 'clickers' have been around for some time, however their use is often restricted to multiple choice questions (MCQs) and they are therefore used as a summative assessment tool for the individual student. More recent innovations such as 'Socrative' have removed the need for specialist hardware, instead utilising web-based technology and devices common to students, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. While improving the potential for use in larger classrooms, this also creates the opportunity to pose more engaging open-response questions to students who can 'text in' their thoughts on questions posed in class. This poster will present two applications of the Socrative system in an undergraduate psychology curriculum which aimed to encourage interactive engagement with course content using real-time student responses and lecturer feedback. Data is currently being collected and result will be presented at the conference.
The first application used Socrative to pose MCQs at the end of two modules (a level one Statistics module and level two Individual Differences Psychology module, class size N≈100), with the intention of helping students assess their knowledge of the course. They were asked to rate their self-perceived knowledge of the course on a five-point Likert scale before and after completing the MCQs, as well as their views on the value of the revision session and any issues that had with using the app. The online MCQs remained open between the lecture and the exam, allowing students to revisit the questions at any time during their revision.
This poster will present data regarding the usefulness of the revision MCQs, the metacognitive effect of the MCQs on student's judgements of learning (pre vs post MCQ testing), as well as student engagement with the MCQs between the revision session and the examination. Student opinions on the use of the Socrative system in class will also be discussed.
The second application used Socrative to facilitate a flipped classroom lecture on a level two 'Conceptual Issues in Psychology' module, class size N≈100). The content of this module requires students to think critically about historical and contemporary conceptual issues in psychology and the philosophy of science. Students traditionally struggle with this module due to the emphasis on critical thinking skills, rather than simply the retention of concrete knowledge. To prepare students for the written examination, a flipped classroom lecture was held at the end of the semester. Students were asked to revise their knowledge of a particular area of Psychology by assigned reading, and were told that the flipped lecture would involve them thinking critically about the conceptual issues found in this area. They were informed that questions would be posed by the lecturer in class, and that they would be asked to post their thoughts using the Socrative app for a class discussion. The level of preparation students engaged in for the flipped lecture was measured, as well as qualitative opinions on the usefulness of the session. This poster will discuss the level of student engagement with the flipped lecture, both in terms of preparation for the lecture, and engagement with questions posed during the lecture, as well as the lecturer's experience in facilitating the flipped classroom using the Socrative platform.

Psychological determinants of consumer acceptance of personalised nutrition in 9 European countries

OBJECTIVE: To develop a model of the psychological factors which predict people's intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Potential determinants of adoption included perceived risk and benefit, perceived self-efficacy, internal locus of control and health commitment.

METHODS: A questionnaire, developed from exploratory study data and the existing theoretical literature, and including validated psychological scales was administered to N=9381 participants from 9 European countries (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Norway).

RESULTS: Structural equation modelling indicated that the greater participants' perceived benefits to be associated with personalised nutrition, the more positive their attitudes were towards personalised nutrition, and the greater their intention to adopt it. Higher levels of nutrition self-efficacy were related to more positive attitudes towards, and a greater expressed intention to adopt, personalised nutrition. Other constructs positively impacting attitudes towards personalised nutrition included more positive perceptions of the efficacy of regulatory control to protect consumers (e.g. in relation to personal data protection), higher self-reported internal health locus of control, and health commitment. Although higher perceived risk had a negative relationship with attitude and an inverse relationship with perceived benefit, its effects on attitude and intention to adopt personalised nutrition was less influential than perceived benefit. The model was stable across the different European countries, suggesting that psychological factors determining adoption of personalised nutrition have generic applicability across different European countries.

CONCLUSION: The results suggest that transparent provision of information about potential benefits, and protection of consumers' personal data is important for adoption, delivery of public health benefits, and commercialisation of personalised nutrition.

A criança pinta o céu de “verde”. Até que ponto lhe devemos dizer que o céu é azul?

Relatório de estágio apresentado para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ensino pré-escolar e 1º ciclo do ensino básico

Abordagens à aprendizagem em estudantes do ensino superior

Resumo - As investigações realizadas no âmbito das abordagens à aprendizagem demonstram que existem diferenças significativas entre a abordagem superficial, profunda e estratégica. As duas primeiras descrevem formas de comprometimento dos alunos com as tarefas académicas e a diferença entre ambas reside, fundamentalmente, na intenção do estudante em alcançar a compreensão pessoal ou apenas recorrer a processos de memorização mecânica. A terceira caracteriza essencialmente a atitude face ao contexto escolar com vista à obtenção dos melhores resultados (Entwistle, 2009; Lee, Johanson & Tsai, 2008). O estudo que se apresenta foi realizado com 562 estudantes de 1º ano de vários cursos de licenciatura da Universidade de Évora após avaliação do primeiro semestre. Os dados que se apresentam reportam-se às abordagens à aprendizagem e ao nível de satisfação dos estudantes tendo em conta a área científica do curso frequentado, o curso e o sucesso académico. De um modo geral encontramos que os estudantes utilizam, predominante, a abordagem profunda e a estratégica para aprender e que existe relação entre os resultados na avaliação e o nível de satisfação dos estudantes. Abstract - The investigations carried about approaches to learning demonstrate that significant differences exist between the surface, deep and strategic approaches. The first two describe the students' engagement with academic tasks. The difference between them is connected to the student's intention: achieve personal understanding or just memorization processes. The third approach characterizes attitude towards school context with a view to obtaining the best results (Entwistle, 2009; Lee, Tsai & Johanson, 2008). The study that has been conducted with 562 students from 1st year of various degree courses at the University of Évora after evaluation of the first semester. The data presented relate to approaches to learning and the level of enjoyment about scientific area, course and academic success. In general we found that students use, predominantly, the deep and strategic approach to learning and we find also a relationship between academic results and student’s enjoyment.

Alterações do comportamento em adolescentes: uma abordagem em enfermagem

Com este trabalho pretende-se realçar que os adolescentes passam por determinadas fases ou estádios da sua vida, em que se deparam com determinadas dificuldades ou até mesmo, incapacidades para levar a cabo a realização de determinadas necessidades; e que por isso mesmo, estes momentos podem vir a representar a oportunidade de crescimento da personalidade, mas ao mesmo tempo, o perigo de crescente vulnerabilidade ao distúrbio mental. Este relatório, expressa a preocupação com a problemática, analisa reflexivamente e descreve o trabalho desenvolvido na área da saúde mental e psiquiátrica por um enfermeiro, na Clínica da Juventude ao longo de seis meses, através da implementação do que se preconiza ser um Processo de Cuidados em Enfermagem (i.e., avaliação, diagnóstico, planeamento, intervenção e avaliação final), no acompanhamento de adolescentes com alterações do comportamento. O instrumento usado para avaliação diagnóstica foi a entrevista semiestrutura e semidireccionada, o planeamento e as intervenções variaram de acordo com a individualidade de cada adolescente e as suas necessidades particulares. Os resultados de uma forma geral demonstraram que o acompanhamento dos jovens com alterações do comportamento deve iniciar-se o mais precocemente possível, deve incidir na identificação das principais dificuldades ou necessidades e não nos diagnósticos médicos. O adolescente, deve também, ser abordado o mais holísticamente possível e nos diferentes setores onde se mobiliza. Conclui-se que a intencionalidade terapêutica deve recair no acompanhamento do adolescente, no sentido, de o tornar mais autónomo, capaz de assumir responsabilidades, tomar decisões, que cresça e se transforme num adulto autoconfiante e realizado; ABSTRACT: This work aims to emphasize that teenagers go through certain phases or stages of its life, when faced with certain difficulties and even disabilities to carry out the execution of particular needs, and that therefore, these moments may come to represent the opportunity for growth of personality, but at the same time, the danger of increasing vulnerability to mental disorder. This report expresses concern with the issue, reflective analysis and describes the work in the area of mental health and psychiatric care by a nurse in the Youth Clinic for six months, by implementing what it calls a procedure to be Care Nursing (ie, assessment, diagnosis, planning, intervention and final assessment), monitoring of adolescents with behavioral changes. The results generally showed that the monitoring of young people with behavioral changes should be initiated as early as possible, should focus on identifying the main difficulties or needs and not on medical diagnostics. The teen should also be approached holistically as possible and in different sectors where it is mobilized. We conclude that the intention must lie in therapeutic monitoring of the adolescent, in order, making it more autonomous, able to take responsibility, make decisions, to grow and become an adult self-confident and accomplished.

Classificação automática de documentos de arquivo corrente: estudo de caso sobre a Câmara Municipal de Palmela

Esta dissertação tem como propósito averiguar a aplicabilidade das metodologias de categorização ou classificação automática à classificação em arquivo corrente nas Câmaras Municipais, partindo do Município de Palmela como estudo de caso. A classificação continua a ser de fundamental importância numa época de proliferação de documentos eletrónicos e de sistemas informáticos que os gerem e uma solução que a simplifique e agilize mantendo a sua eficiência seria uma mais-valia. Os objetivos, numa primeira parte, serão caracterizar a classificação em arquivo e a importância da sua definição e implementação desde a origem e incluída em sistemas informáticos, e numa segunda parte caracterizar a tarefa de categorização ou classificação automática, a sua possível relação com a classificação em arquivo e a possibilidade de a automatizar. Para tal, foi realizado um teste e avaliação de resultados. Os resultados experimentais permitiram validar a hipótese colocada. /ABSTRACT - This essay has as intention to inquire the applicability of automatic categorization or classification methodologies to the classification of current archives of the City councils, having the City council of Palmela as case study. Classification continues to be of basic importance at a time of proliferation of electronic documents and informatics systems that manage them and a solution that simplifies and speeds it maintaining its efficiency would be of major value. The purposes will be, in the first chapters, to characterize classification in archives and the importance of its definition and implementation since the origin, in City councils and enclosed in those systems, and in the last chapters, to characterize the task of automatic categorization or classification, its possible relation with archival classification and the possibility of automatizing it. A test and evaluation of its results were made. The experimental results validate the hypothesis placed.

EVENTOS TURÍSTICOS E SATISFAÇÃO DO TURISTA: O CASO DA FESTA DO FIM-DO-ANO NA ILHA DA MADEIRA

The identification and analysis of the tourist satisfaction in tourism events is fundamental to maintain or improve the image of an event. The knowledge concerning the tourist level of satisfaction at an event can help the organisers to better understand tourist behaviour and intention. Tourism events, particularly those which encompass the cultural identity of a region, allow a community to celebrate its cultural singularities. Such singularities wake the tourist’s desire to experience a culture different from his/hers. The present article aims at identifying and analysing the tourist level of satisfaction at the New Year’s Eve Festivity in Madeira Island.

The analysis of political will and its role in leadership: a study of portuguese mayors

This thesis analyses the concept of Political Will, suggests its operationalization and establishes a typological theory that provides the necessary support for the diverse strategies of action of a leader. It claims that political leadership styles articulate a choice of action that results from the Political Will of a leader, which is determined by his intention and his discerned possibilities to act. One main research question guided our research: How does a political leader select and change his leadership style? The most illustrative literature on political leadership is reviewed and the characteristics of democratic governance are analyzed. This is followed by an overview of the most noteworthy theories on the theme and a claim for the need of concept coherence, given the multiplicity of the existent standpoints. After that, we concentrate on leadership styles, with a focus on the local governance context. Human action and intentionality are addressed with particular attention, as well as the motivational drivers for action, in order to advance a conceptualization of Political Will through two dimensions: intention and possibility. This analysis led to a number of relevant propositions: (1) Political Will ‘exists’ when the agent has the intent and the possibility to act; (2) these two dimensions ‘translate’ simultaneously what the agent believes he must do and can do; (3) Intention and possibility reflect diverse but limited worldviews; (4) political leadership styles result from the agent’s Political Will; (5) different combinations of the expected and actual worldviews result in different leadership styles; and (6) political leadership styles can change accordingly to several strategies which allow conformity or reflect reaction to worldviews. We suggested the operationalization of the two dimensions of Political Will through the analytical tool of Grid-group Theory, which provided the identification of the heuristic devices that allowed further comprehension on the subjectivity of the agent’s choice. Four standard property spaces – representing four types of leadership styles – result from a preliminary approach to this process. Afterwards, and because these dimensions operate simultaneously, we advance on the analysis and suggest some plausible heuristical conflicts to happen and describe which consequences, strategies and type migrations are conceivable. An inclusive and more complete set of resulting property spaces renders fourteen different types of leadership styles and sixty different predictable causal paths that result from the expected migration strategies. Case-studies were conducted as plausibility probes designed to provide improvements to our theoretical claims and addressed the cases we selected for research purposes: Portuguese Mayors. The findings from five case studies are discussed and the probable impact and congruence of each with the theoretical claims are assessed. The communalities of the causal mechanisms related to the function of intention and possibility as the dimensions of Political Will and their role in explaining different leadership styles are, finally, addressed. To conclude, we advance some repercussions, mainly in the public policies field of research, and suggest a number of different and necessary paths for further work.

O locus amoenus na produção narrativa de Júlio Dinis

No presente trabalho avalia-se o contributo de uma vasta tradição literária na configuração de um topos/motivo – o locus amoenus – patente na produção dinisiana. Analisaram-se as influências da literatura clássica greco-romana, das Sagradas Escrituras, da literatura italiana, e também da literatura produzida em Portugal desde o final da Idade Média até ao Maneirismo. As obras de dois escritores representativos do Romantismo vintista português, Pároco da Aldeia, de Alexandre Herculano, e Os contos do tio Joaquim, de Rodrigo Paganino, tornaram-se tributárias do topos/motivo. A pesquisa centrou-se na narrativa dinisiana com vista a investigar, por um lado, as relações que o locus amoenus, topos/motivo em estudo, mantém com categorias narrativas contíguas, como sejam o espaço ou a descrição; e, por outro, a aferir o eventual contributo do lugar ameno para a dissipação das fronteiras entre a narrativa e a lírica. Pretendeu-se igualmente, sem desprezar uma inclinação natural de Júlio Dinis para os ambientes campestres, demonstrar a existência de três dimensões fundamentais do lugar ameno: a psicológica, cujas origens se perdem no tempo; a social, vertente inovadora no contexto do tópico abordado; e a simbólica, em que a conexão com o locus horrendus se revelou incontornável. Com o estudo do vocabulário configurador do locus amoenus da produção narrativa dinisiana, reflectiu-se mais aprofundadamente sobre as questões tratadas no cômputo geral desta tese. A complexidade que envolve a tentativa de filiação de Júlio Dinis a um movimento ou escola não fica ainda resolvida com este trabalho. Porém surge a proposta de lançar um novo olhar sobre este assunto, à luz dos pressupostos do movimento alemão Biedermeier. Independentemente dos problemas que se levantam, fica a certeza de que muitos escritores do panorama literário nacional se inspiraram nas obras de Júlio Dinis