Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2024-09-20"
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- Shared heritage, shared future: cross-border conservation strategies for natural and cultural preservation in Iguaçu and Iguazú national parksPublication . Pietrobeli, Maria Fernanda Fracassi; Surian, Alessio; Rodrigues, Domingos Manuel MartinsThis dissertation is a first study on border dynamics, developed during an academic internship at the European Association of Border Regions for the international master’s program STeDe - Sustainable Territorial Development. It focuses on two national parks located on the Brazil-Argentina border, near Paraguay, and their cooperation. The study aims to understand their history, trace a territorial panorama, and suggest areas for fruitful collaboration to maintain the heritage. The first chapter presents key concepts for border studies, bridging different author’s perspectives on globalization, colonization, territory, region, borders, and regional identity. These concepts form the framework needed to analyse the chosen region. The second one, offers a panorama of the Triple Border Region, known for the confluence of the Iguaçu and Paraná Rivers, creating the border among the three countries. It starts by describing the region’s physical aspects, including its unique geology, fauna, and flora, and the impact of national divisions and development projects. The chapter also covers the history of human occupation, territorial disputes, and socio-economic aspects of important municipalities, highlighting the pre-Columbian inhabitants and their role in the region's natural richness. The following chapter introduces Parque Nacional do Iguaçu in Brazil and Parque Nacional Iguazú in Argentina. By comparing their histories, goals, and management plans, the author identifies potential areas for joint improvement in heritage preservation, leisure, and education. The final chapter explores cross-border cooperation between the parks, analysing current collaboration and proposing a project that involves indigenous populations in the parks’ activities. This project aims to preserve cultural aspects while engaging visitors, the community, and academia in alignment with the parks’ goals.
- The impact of cognitive training on social cognition abilities: an exploratory study with acquired brain injuryPublication . Vasconcelos, Raquel Susana Sá Pereira de; Faria, Ana Lúcia dos Santos; Bermúdez i Badia, SergiIntroduction: Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI)are responsible for progressive and irreversible cognitive and behavioral deterioration, which can impair patients’ lives, increasing social isolation and mood changes, low control of impulses, reduced quality of life and, sometimes, loss of work. Post-ABI neuropsychological assessment is generally focused on memory, attention, language, and executive functions. Social cognition abilities are often overlooked, but these deficits can significantly impact a patient's personal and professional life. Assessment and intervention in social cognition within the context of ABI pose several challenges, namely the fact that existing instruments are mostly paper-and-pencil and, as such, might be impossible to perform by patients with motor deficits and, also importantly, lack ecological validity. Interactive technologies represent a promising alternative to tackle traditional paper-and-pencil instrument limitations. In the present study, we have used a virtual reality social cognition test - the CogMap Social Cognition - to examine the impact of a tablet-based cognitive training program on ABI patients’ social cognition, mood, and quality of life. Method: A single-blind experimental study with 12 ABI patients was performed. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (N=6) or control group (N=6). The experimental group underwent a 12-session tabled-based intervention with the Task Generator 2.0, and the control group performed time-matched treatment-as-usual (TAU). Both groups went through a multidomain neuropsychological assessment, which included the CogMap-SC, pre- and post intervention. Results: The experimental group improved significantly in all the cognitive domains assessed: memory, attention, executive functions, and social cognition, with higher levels of quality of life and a decrease in depressive symptomatology. In the control group, slight improvements were observed in attention and memory domains, along with a slight reduction in perceived quality of life and an increase in depressive symptomatology. However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups in social cognition after intervention. We have used the reliable change index to confer some robustness to our results. According to it, there were significant individual improvements in all the cognitive domains, suggesting that there was a change after the cognitive training. Conclusions: Despite the well-known cognitive training benefits in patients who suffered an ABI, there is no solid evidence to corroborate the efficacy of this intervention, mainly due to the study's small sample size and lack of statistical power. Although the results are modest and require further investigation, our study outcomes are promising and suggest that cognitive training benefits not only memory, attention, and executive functions but can generalize to social cognition abilities.