Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2024"
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- Políticas públicas do ensino superior universitário português: a compreensão dos significados que os significantes carregam em siPublication . Soares, Rogéria Pereira Fernandes; Rodrigues, Liliana; Sousa, Jesus MariaO presente estudo, que se enquadra na linha de pesquisa de Currículo do Centro de Investigação em Educação da Universidade da Madeira (CIE-UMa), faz uma reflexão, em revisão bibliográfica, sobre as implicações das políticas de ensino superior em Portugal em universidades públicas das regiões autônomas, do interior e do litoral, buscando compreender os significados que os significantes das referidas políticas carregam em si, levando em consideração os impactos das mesmas nas instituições de ensino superior de diferentes contextos regionais. Pretende-se compreender a realidade experienciada pelas mesmas, tendo em conta as suas especificidades, face às orientações das políticas de ensino superior adotadas, enquanto organizadoras de reformas educativas.
- Relatório de sustentabilidade: Universidade da Madeira 2022+Publication . Spínola, Hélder; Carvalho, Ana Natividade
- Microalgal-based industry vs. microplastic pollution: Current knowledge and future perspectivesPublication . Mendonça, Ivana; Faria, Marisa; Rodrigues, Filipa; Cordeiro, NereidaMicroalgae can play a crucial role in the environment due to their efficient capture of CO2 and their potential as a solution for a carbon-negative economy. Water quality is critical for the success and profitability of microalgal based industries, and understanding their response to emergent pollutants, such as microplastics (MPs), is essential. Despite the published studies investigating the impact of MPs on microalgae, knowledge in this area remains limited. Most studies have mainly focused on microalgal growth, metabolite analysis, and photosyn thetic activity, with significant discrepancies in what is known about the impact on biomass yield. Recent studies show that the yield of biomass production depends on the levels of water contamination by MPs, making it necessary to reduce the contamination levels in the water. However, present technologies for extracting and purifying water from MPs are limited, and further research and technological advancements are required. One promising solution is the use of bio-based polymer materials, such as bacterial cellulose, which offer biode gradability, cost-effectiveness, and environmentally friendly detoxifying properties. This review summarises the current knowledge on MPs pollution and its impact on the viability and proliferation of microalgae-based industries, highlights the need for further research, and discusses the potential of bio-solutions for MPs removal in microalgae-based industries.
- Local identity, language and sustainable tourism: results of a survey of Madeira University tourism students about their communitiesPublication . Nunes, Naidea NunesThis study shows the potential of culture, society, and language tourism for the sustainable deve lopment of the island of Madeira. The intention is to ascertain the level of knowledge of students in the higher professional technical course of tourist information and marketing at Madeira University about their local identity and the importance of cultural heritage for sustainable tourism. The research question is about the role of com munities‘ tangible and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) (including language or linguistic heritage) for the sus tainability of tourism in the region. The qualitative and descriptive methodology used is based on data collected through a questionnaire with open questions applied in the classroom to 43 tourism students from different locali ties about their cultural heritage and identity. The results of the sample show that religious festivities, Madeiran regionalisms and traditional expressions were registered in Funchal and outside. For the city of Funchal (the capital of Madeira) there are more indications of tangible cultural heritage. For the other municipalities, ICH predominates with diverse local handicrafts and festivities of agricultu ral products. Thus, communities’ preservation of their ICH is fundamental for local identity and sustainability. Stu dents, together with Madeiran cultural associations and local people, have an important role to play in the authen ticity and sociocultural sustainability of regional tourism
- What do you think about parenting? Challenges to cohesiveness in child protection teamsPublication . Pereira, DoraChild protection work requires professionals to manage the different perspec tives regarding intervention aims and strategies associated with different per sonal, academic and organisational backgrounds. Parenting assessment is a determinant task for intervention and for children’s future where universal or automatic criteria remain unavailable. This study aimed to explore and char acterise the existing agreement (and disagreement) between child protection workers on statements related to judgements on parenting. A total of 325 Por tuguese social workers participated in the study, mostly with a background in social work and psychology and more than six years of experience in child pro tection. Professionals were required to distribute 50 sentences in a scoring sheet (Q-sort methodology) with 11 points. The results were interpreted through the matrix of operationalisation of minimally adequate parenting. Three main answer strands revealed different focuses in sorts’ configurations: the child, the procedures and the child’s ecology. The clear difference between the factors could contribute to maintaining the child protection system as an adversarial one, and not as an effectively cooperative system. To promote team cohesive ness and intervention success, and to reinforce professionals’ wellbeing and resilience, metacommunication on parenting assessment criteria is proposed as a determinant strategy.
- Il cammino collettivo come forma di cura del paesaggio. Un’intervista a Pierangelo Miola di Vaghe Stelle e TerrazziAmoPublication . Bonati, Sara; Miola, Pierangelo
- The Contribution of Sustainable Packaging to the Circular Food Supply ChainPublication . Oliveira, João Zambujal; Fernandes, CristinaAs food supply chains pursue sustainability, numerous questions arise from their agents, focusing on the role of reverse logistics in sustainable packaging design and its effective contribution to waste reduction and the conservation of natural resources. With the goal of developing a new multi-criteria decision-making framework, this article examines how several multi-criteria decision making approaches can be used to facilitate the selection of sustainable product-package designs. Using a case study, the multi criteria decision-making method analyses package design, helping decision-makers to determine and minimize the percentage of food losses at each step of the supply chain. Furthermore, the design of both the product and its packaging must encompass the entire life cycle, including materials sourcing, production, transportation, use and disposal. Achieving sustainability requires a collaborative effort among all supply chain agents, from producers to consumers. Consequently, this study aims to explore the chal lenges and opportunities of attaining sustainable product and packaging design in the food supply chain, emphasizing the need for a long-term, collaborative approach to sustainability. This study concludes that sustainable packaging is highly relevant in the cir cular food supply chain due to its direct contributions to reducing food waste, conserving resources, mitigating carbon emissions, and meeting consumer preferences for eco-friendly products. Given the consideration of relevant criteria, the multicriteria method appears to be suitable for analysing food supply chains, thanks to its systematic approach in managing the application of sustaina ble packaging throughout the entire process, including the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food products
- Association between Body Composition, Physical Activity Profile, and Occurrence of Knee and Foot Postural Alterations among Young Healthy AdultsPublication . Ashraf, Sadaf; Viveiros, Roberto; França, Cíntia; Ornelas, Rui Trindade; Rodrigues, AnaKnee and foot deformities refer to structural abnormalities in the knee and foot bones, joints, ligaments, or muscles. Various factors, including genetics, injury, disease, or excessive use, can cause these deformities. These musculoskeletal conditions can significantly impact individuals’ quality of life. This study examined foot and knee deformities in 231 young healthy adults (165 men, 66 women) aged 22.6 ± 4.9 years and their association with physical activity and body composition. The postural assessment was performed by two Physiotherapists, with the subject standing in three views: side, anterior, and posterior. Physical activity (Baecke’s Habitual Physical Activity Questionnaire) and body composition (InBody 770) were assessed. Results showed that the most common foot deformity was pes planus, while the genu recurvatum was the most common knee deformity among the individuals. Physical activity level was negatively associated with knee and foot deformities. Conversely, body composition differed with the presence of genu recurvatum. These findings present a starting point to understand the occurrence of knee and foot postural alterations according to the individuals’ body composition and physical activity profiles, which could support the deployment of tailored interventions among healthy adults. In addition, early detection of postural changes is crucial in mitigating their negative long-term impact on physical well-being.
- Exploring the impact of climate change on lodging establishments: a systematic literature reviewPublication . Mota, Luís; Leite, Eduardo; Ghasemi, VahidPurpose This study aimed to identify scientific research concentrating on climate change impacts on accommodation services and examine the most relevant outputs related to man agement strategies due to exposure to climate change. Methodology It used a systematic review of the literature of scientific articles published in the Web of Science and SCOPUS. The search strings were validated by academics, who suggested adding more keywords for studying the relationship between accommodation settings and climate change. As a result, four search strings were established and identified 39 articles for qualitative analysis with MAXQDA. Findings Some studies asserted that corporate social responsibility is important for mit igating climate change issues. hotels work together with local businesses, enforcing the community’s adaptive capacity to climate change and supporting the need for education and training programs to understand climate change risks better. Moreover, green human resources management directly relates to the level of environmental awareness in local communities. Using air conditioning for combating heat waves consumes high amounts of energy. One option lies in energy-efficient buildings such as passive houses, using compact designs for reducing the cost of operation. Currently, hotel operations rely more on being more transparent regarding informing guests and influencing eco-friendly choices. On the other hand, there is an investment in training employees regarding good practices for energy use and management. Such action leads to accountable energy savings. Nevertheless, hotels still struggling to adapt because of their elevated energy consumption for heating, hot water, lightning, or cooling aggregates.
- Noncontact Automatic Water-Level Assessment and Prediction in an Urban Water Stream Channel of a Volcanic Island Using Deep LearningPublication . Mendonça, Fabio; Mostafa, Sheikh Shanawaz; Dias, Fernando Morgado; Azevedo, Joaquim Amândio; Ravelo-García, Antonio G.; Navarro-Mesa, Juan L.Traditional methods for water-level measurement usually employ permanent structures, such as a scale built into the water system, which is costly and laborious and can wash away with water. This research proposes a low-cost, automatic water-level estimator that can appraise the level without disturbing water flow or affecting the environment. The estimator was developed for urban areas of a volcanic island water channel, using machine learning to evaluate images captured by a low-cost remote monitoring system. For this purpose, images from over one year were collected. For better performance, captured images were processed by converting them to a proposed color space, named HLE, composed of hue, lightness, and edge. Multiple residual neural network architectures were examined. The best-performing model was ResNeXt, which achieved a mean absolute error of 1.14 cm using squeeze and excitation and data augmentation. An explainability analysis was carried out for transparency and a visual explanation. In addition, models were developed to predict water levels. Three models successfully forecasted the subsequent water levels for 10, 60, and 120 min, with mean absolute errors of 1.76 cm, 2.09 cm, and 2.34 cm, respectively. The models could follow slow and fast transitions, leading to a potential flooding risk-assessment mechanism.