The use of robots had already been proven to encourage the promotion of social interaction and skills lacking in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, who typically have difficulties in recognizing facial expressions and emotions. The main goal of this research is to study the influence of a humanoid robot to develop socio-emotional skills in children with ASD. The children’s performance in game scenarios aiming to develop facial expressions recognition skills is presented. Along the sessions, children who performed the game scenarios (...) with the robot and the experimenter had a significantly better performance than the children who performed the game scenarios without the robot. The main conclusions of this research support that a humanoid robot is a useful tool to develop socio-emotional skills in the intervention of children with ASD, due to the engagement and positive learning outcome observed. (shrink)

Introduction: Physical distancing under the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic had a significant impact on lifestyles, including exercise routines. In this study, we examined the relationship between mental health and addictive behaviors, such as excessive exercise and the use of image and performance enhancing drugs across 12 sport disciplines.Materials and methods: A large cross-sectional sample of the adult population was surveyed. The mean age was 33.09. The number of male participants was 668. The use of IPEDs was assessed in conjunction with (...) psychometric measures such as the Exercise Addiction Inventory and the Appearance Anxiety Inventory. The participants were grouped into activity group and non-activity group according to the presence or absence of their exercise habits. The results were compared between these groups, as well as across sport disciplines, while taking into account the relationship between different psychological measures and IPEDs consumption.Results: The frequency of IPEDs use was higher among AG than NAG, although AG participants reported less history of addictions than NAG. The logistic regression analysis revealed that scores equal to or above cutoff points, in both the EAI and AAI, predicted the IPEDs use. Regarding the differences across the various sport disciplines, those who were involved in practicing Weight Lifting and Cross Fit were found to be more at risk of excessive exercising and more inclined to use a wide range of IPEDs.Conclusions: Although exercise could help to increase well-being and prevent addictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results show that those in the AG are particularly vulnerable to excessive IPEDs use. Sport disciplines associated with higher EAI and AAI scores have also shown a higher tendency to excessive IPEDs use. Furthermore, the factor of having above the cutoff scores in EAI or AAI in each sport could indicate larger IPEDs consumption regardless of the discipline. In light of the current findings, it is necessary to better define the “non-excessive” levels of exercise in various sport disciplines and an adequate intake of IPEDs to ensure the safety and well-being of people during a pandemic. (shrink)

BackgroundOrgan transplantation represents the most effective and acceptable therapy for end-stage organ failure. However, its frequent practice often leads to a shortage of organs worldwide. To solve this dilemma, some countries, such as Portugal, have switched from an opt-in to an opt-out system, which has raised concerns about respect for individual autonomy. We aimed to evaluate whether young university students are aware of this opt-out system so that they can make informed, autonomous and conscious decisions, as well as to identify (...) the factors that determine a positive attitude toward post-mortem organ donation.MethodsAn observational, cross-sectional study was developed and a questionnaire was administered to first-year students from six faculties of the University of Porto.ResultsOf the 841 participants, 60% were unaware that Portugal had adopted an opt-out system. Among the informed individuals, their main sources of information included social media, internet, and family. Furthermore, only 48% of all participants agreed with the current opt-out system. Female sex (p = 0.049; OR 1.393), knowledge of the law (p < 0.001; OR 4.749) and family being the primary source of information (p < 0.001; OR 2.855) were independent factors associated with a positive attitude toward post-mortem organ donation law.ConclusionsThere is a significant lack of knowledge among young university students regarding the presumed post-mortem organ donation law and how it works. Female sex, having family as a primary source of information and being aware of the presumed post-mortem organ donation law are the strongest independent factors that determine a positive attitude toward the opt-out system. (shrink)

Os estudos sobre as comunidades quilombolas tem se ampliado significativamente nos últimos anos no Brasil. Áreas como História, Sociologia, Antropologia, Educação tem evidenciado, com diferentes enfoques teóricos e metodológicos, a importância de se compreender as dimensões histórias, culturais, educacionais dessas comunidades. Neste artigo apresentamos aspectos da história e memória da comunidade quilombola Orquídio Pereira. Os dados foram construídos por meio de entrevistas com moradores antigos e nos permitiu entender as memórias de moradores em uma perspectiva benjaminiana. Palavras-chave: Memória. Narrativa. Comunidade (...) quilombola. (shrink)

This book gathers the contribution of Brazilian and Argentine philosophers around themes of contemporary analytical philosophy.

IntroductionTranscranial magnetic stimulation is a consolidated procedure for the treatment of depression, with several meta-analyses demonstrating its efficacy. Theta-burst stimulation is a modification of TMS with similar efficacy and shorter session duration. The geriatric population has many comorbidities and a high prevalence of depression, but few clinical trials are conducted specifically for this age group. TBS could be an option in this population, offering the advantages of few side effects and no pharmacological interactions. Therefore, our aim is to investigate the (...) efficacy of TBS in geriatric depression.Clinical trial registration[https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/], identifier [NCT04842929]. (shrink)

In a time marked by the development of innovative treatments in healthcare and the need for health professionals to deal with resulting ethical dilemmas in clinical practice, this study was developed to determine the influence of the bioethics teaching on the moral competence of medical and nursing students. The authors conduct a longitudinal study using the Moral Competence Test extended version before and after attending the ethics curricular unit, in three nursing schools and three medical schools of Portugal. In this (...) questionnaire the participant is confronted with three ethical dilemmas and asked to evaluate arguments for and against the attitude of the main character. For both nursing and medical students, C-score was lower after the attendance of the ethics curricular units, with a statistically significant decrease in the total score for nursing students and a decrease not statistically significant for medical students. A multivariate analysis did not find any association between this decrease and gender, course, or age. The phenomenon of moral segmentation was observed, with better performance in the worker and judge dilemma, than in the doctor dilemma. These results highlight the need to reflect on the curricular strategies that can be implemented for health professionals to better develop moral competence and decision-making, allowing for the provision of humanized health care. (shrink)

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo geral investigar a vivência de papéis desempenhados por idosos durante o Ciclo de Vida Familiar. Participaram 12 homens, sendo que seis pertenciam ao Grupo Reviver, da Universidade Aberta à terceira idade, de uma faculdade situada em Paulo Afonso; e seis não participavam do referido projeto. Todos os participantes são da camada média e moradores da área urbana. Eles foram entrevistados individualmente, tendo sido as entrevistas analisadas a partir dos seguintes temas: fase de aquisição, criação (...) e desenvolvimento dos filhos, saída dos filhos de casa, fase última, percepção do tratamento dispensado ao idoso ao longo do tempo e o que gostaria de mudar em sua vida. Pode-se concluir que os idosos que fazem parte do Grupo Reviver mostraram-se mais otimistas, com planos para o futuro e vida social ativa, o que não ocorreu com o outro grupo. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir para os profissionais que lidam com as questões da velhice e da família. (shrink)

RESUMO Esta pesquisa aborda o ato interpretativo e tem como objetivo conhecer melhor a atuação do intérprete de língua brasileira de sinais (Libras), que atua na modalidade simultânea, no contexto de Conferências acadêmicas. A reflexão sobre esta prática baseia-se em autores que se fundamentam em conceitos bakhtinianos. Assim, foi desenvolvida pesquisa descritiva de abordagem qualitativa, usando a técnica da autoconfrontação simples na coleta de dados. O estudo mostrou que a conferência é um contexto complexo de atuação para esses profissionais, quanto: (...) (i) ao tempo necessário para tomada de decisões; (ii) à exposição resultante do destaque físico; (iii) à posição, ao lado ou um pouco à frente no palco, e (iv) ao preparo, que por vários motivos nem sempre é possível ser previamente executado. A compreensão mais aprofundada do contexto de interpretação em Conferência favorece a proposição de ações formativas adequadas às demandas e indica a necessidade de novos estudos nesse campo. (shrink)

O propósito deste artigo é analisar a obra de Carl Schmitt sob o prisma do pensamento conservador. Isso será realizado em três momentos: a primeira seção apresenta de forma sucinta alguns elementos caracterizadores do pensamento conservador; a segunda seção procura identificar tais elementos na obra de Carl Schmitt e, por fim, a terceira seção analisa os reflexos da vinculação de Schmitt a um determinado tipo de conservadorismo na sua concepção de democracia.

The extensive quality of the idea of limit expressed by finis becomes evident in the aporia posed in De finibus by the necessity that the supreme good, in order to be perfect, must not increase with duration. The semantic comparison between τέλος and finis explains the difficulty -in the Ciceronian treaty- to understand virtuous acts as non-cinetic acts and, therefore, capable of increasing intensively.

While firms' engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility has been associated with positive performance impacts, little is known about the incorporation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda into business practices. Precisely, although the literature suggests that firms are pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are limited insights on their strategy to implement them in the context of developing countries. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive large-scale investigation of 2030 Agenda adoption by Brazilian companies. Accordingly, the analysis of our (...) multicase study reveals (1) variations on the business opportunities brought by the SDGs depending on the firm position in the value chain, (2) which SDGs and target stakeholders are addressed through corporate policies and practices, (3) the different ways firms embrace the SDGs to pursue ambidexterity. Our findings clarify how firms in the developing countries interpret the institutional pressures and assemble their internal resources to respond to the SDGs challenges. Boundary conditions and policy implications are further discussed. (shrink)

A number of biologists and philosophers have noted the diversity of interpretations of evolvability in contemporary evolutionary research. Different clusters of research defined by co-citation patterns or shared methodological orientation sometimes concentrate on distinct conceptions of evolvability. We examine five different activities where the notion of evolvability plays conceptual roles in evolutionary biological investigation: setting a research agenda, characterization, explanation, prediction, and control. Our analysis of representative examples demonstrates how different conceptual roles of evolvability are quasi-independent and yet exhibit important (...) relationships across scientific activities. It also provides us with the resources to detail two distinct strategies for how evolvability can help to synthesize disparate areas of research and thereby potentially serve as a unifying concept in evolutionary biology. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta um projeto de pesquisa clínica qualitativa, que busca compreender a função da família, seu caráter de transmissão, no que se refere à constituição subjetiva da criança, considerando as profundas transformações contemporâneas das instituições, inclusive da família. Propomos uma discussão sobre a temática em articulação com a educação, abordando-a no contexto social e avançando para perspectiva psicanalítica. Notamos que a noção de função da psicanálise pode nos fazer avançar teórica e clinicamente na tentativa de superar modelos parentais ou (...) de comportamentos que supostamente pudessem garantir um desenvolvimento adequado à criança, permitindo a problematização dos ideais de família marcantes em nosso imaginário social e a reflexão sobre seus possíveis impactos na saúde mental dos aprendentes, familiares e educadores nos contextos educativos. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this study, we present an analysis of the utterance Aonde tu vai rapaz [Where’d Ya Go Man], focusing on linguistic-enunciative resources from a dialogic perspective. The methodology consists of a dialogic analysis interconnected to the concepts of chronotope, ideology, utterance, dialogism, and social axiologies. Results reveal that institutionalized ideologies tend to nullify the one in everyday life. However, those results are confronted in some way with the counter word that is manifested by the ladrão de marabaixo chants. Intonation (...) refracts pain, lamentation, indignation, anger, and slander, in addition to expressing value judgments of disapproval and opposition. Re-enunciation of the everyday-life word allows us to take a glimpse at segregation, denunciation, powerlessness, and the silencing of culture and identity. However, at the same time, it reverberates consolidated values such as African descent, identity, resistance, resilience, and re-existence. (shrink)

Objetivou-se estratificar fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares (DCV) em dez anos em jogadores de basquetebol em cadeiras de rodas. O percentual de risco cardiovascular foi estratificado pelos escores de Framingham (ERF) e de Risco Global (ERG). Dos treze jogadores avaliados, 38,46% apresentava sobrepeso e obesidade e 77%, alterações na porcentagem de gordura corporal e na circunferência abdominal. O ERF identificou 15,38% dos jogadores com risco intermediário para desenvolvimento de DCV e pelo ERG, 15,4% dos homens apresentava risco intermediário, 7,7% (...) alto risco por diabetes e 7,7% muito alto risco por doenças ateroscleróticas. Os resultados de composição corporal demonstram uma predisposição para desenvolvimento de DCV, sendo que o ERG identificou indivíduos com alto risco e muito alto risco. Conclui-se que a identificação dos fatores de risco é útil para que ocorra uma maior prevenção das DCV e aconselhamento adequado sobre adoção de hábitos de vida saudáveis por esses indivíduos. (shrink)

Vivemos nos desdobramentos daquilo que Manuel Castells (2005) nomeou de Sociedade em Rede, em cujo cerne estão as Tecnologias de Informação (TIs). Ele indicou as características-chave do novo cenário que diagnosticou, a saber, são tecnologias que agem sobre a própria informação e que também introduziram a lógica das redes; que promovem a convergência tecnológica e, por conseguinte, um sistema altamente integrado de aparatos técnicos; e que acentuadamente penetram pelos diferentes processos e âmbitos sociais. De lá para cá testemunhamos grandes e (...) rápidos saltos tecnológicos bem como o adensamento das transformações na dinâmica econômico-política organizacional e institucional e na construção das vidas humanas e não-humanas no planeta. Essas mudanças alcançaram não apenas modos informais de aprendizagem, mas também a educação formal. O objetivo desse artigo é discutir aspectos atuais da plataformização educacional presentes na educação básica brasileira, tendo como referência o ensino de Filosofia no Ensino Médio. Para tanto será desenvolvida reflexão sobre a plataformização educacional, fenômeno que diz respeito ao modelo de negócios presente na atual fase do capitalismo e que utiliza as plataformas sustentadas pela IA e também a constante extração de dados de quem transita pelas infovias do ciberespaço; sobre o que nomeamos como Escola do Cansaço, em diálogo com o conceito de Sociedade do Cansaço desenvolvido por Byung Chul Han; e sobre algumas implicações decorrentes que já se fazem presentes na administração do trabalho docente, na realização do trabalho docente e nas relações de ensino-aprendizagem. (shrink)

O presente estudo se propõe analisar como a produção de conhecimento, em dois periódicos locais em Duque de Caxias: a Revista Hidra de Igoassú e a Revista Pilares da História, abordam a temática das culturas afro brasileiras. Assim, o objetivo é identificar como os agentes de produções estão conectadas as agências na cidade de Duque de Caxias e como articulam as produções para projetação e divulgação de ações patrimoniais na cidade. Palavras-chave: Baixada Fluminense, Culturas afro brasileiras, História Local.

A discussão por mudanças na educação brasileira é tema recorrente desde a “descoberta” do Brasil. Com o advento da pandemia do novo Coronavírus, percebeu-se, por exemplo, a intensificação da tentativa de regulamentar o homeschooling no Brasil como um modal educacional, justificando, assim, a necessidade de discussão a respeito de uma propositiva de educação escolar domiciliar. Nesse viés, o presente estudo teve por objetivo compreender os elementos constitutivos do homeschooling no Brasil. Com base em pressupostos críticos e fazendo uso de estudo (...) bibliográfico e análise documental, o corpus teórico utilizado foi de Lubienski (2007), Roldão (2007), Saviani (2003; 2008), entre outros, tendo como referência o levantamento nas bases de dados ANPEd, CAPES e BDTD. Como recorte temporal no período 2019-2021, concluiu-se que o ensino domiciliar seria um retrocesso para a educação brasileira, aumentando a desigualdade social outrora existente, além de acarretar perdas irreparáveis para os estudantes. (shrink)

La evangelización es el resultado de la unión entre la libertad de expresión y la libertad religiosa. Al buscar convencer sobre la veracidad de sus creencias, puede constituir discursos de odio religioso, fomentar la intolerancia, la hostilidad y la discriminación contra minorías históricas y socialmente estigmatizadas. Algunas obras publicadas por líderes católicos y evangélicos fueron objeto de juicios, acusadas de promover el odio religioso mediante la demonización de los Candomblés, de las Umbandas y del Espiritismo. Las mismas surgen de los (...) imaginarios para concretizarse luego en violencias físicas y morales. Las crecientes prácticas de intolerancia religiosa desafían la laicicidad del Estado, y es en este marco que nos cuestionamos, respecto de las religiones afro-brasileñas: cuáles son los argumentos constitucionales presentados por el Supremo Tribunal Federal para no reconocer ni responsabilizar el discurso evangelizador de los cristianos que se manifiesta como discurso de odio; por qué los criterios constitucionalmente reconocidos para caracterizar el discurso de odio racial no fueron aplicados de manera coherente e íntegra en el juicio sobre evangelización y discurso de odio religioso; bajo qué argumentos el discurso de odio contra las religiones de matrices africanas puede ser considerado racismo religioso; qué otras dimensiones presenta el racismo religioso en la sociedad brasileña; cómo se manifiesta el racismo religioso en tanto apropiación cultural y racismo ambiental. (shrink)

Evangelization is the result of the union between freedom of expression and religious freedom. When one attempts to convince someone of the truthfulness of one's beliefs, one can construct discourses of racial hatred, foment intolerance, hostility, and discrimination against minorities that are historically and socially stigmatized. Works published by catholics and evangelicals have been the object of lawsuits in which they were accused of promoting religious hatred by demonizing Afro-Brazilian religions such as candomblé, umbanda, and spiritism. This imaginary later leads (...) to concrete moral and physical violence. The growing practices of religious intolerance defy the State's lay character. I therefore question the arguments presented by the Supreme Court not to recognize or make accountable Christians' evangelizing discourse that manifests itself as hate speech; why the constitutional criteria recognized to characterize racial hate speech have not been applied in coherent and integral fashion in the trial that dealt with evangelization and religious hate speech; under what arguments hate speech against religions of African matrix can be considered religious racism; what other dimensions religious racism takes in Brazilian society; how religious racism manifests itself as cultural appropriation and environmental racism. (shrink)

Rubens Casara possui graduação em Direito pela Universidade Cândido Mendes, mestrado em Ciências Penais pela Universidade Cândido Mendes e doutorado em direito pela UNESA/RJ. Tem experiência na área de Direito, com ênfase em Direito Processual Penal, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: processo penal, hermenêutica, poder judiciário e sociedade brasileira. É também juiz de direito do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, fundador do Movimento da Magistratura Fluminense pela Democracia, membro da Associação Juízes para a Democracia e do (...) Corpo Freudiano. (shrink)

El objetivo de este estudio es elaborar una síntesis rigurosa y actualizada sobre la educación y la igualdad de género en el ámbito académico. Para ello, se lleva a cabo un análisis bibliométrico orientado a evaluar de forma objetiva y cuantificable el estado de la literatura sobre estos dos aspectos. El período objeto de estudio engloba 11 años, dado que se inicia el 1 de enero de 2011 y finaliza el 31 de diciembre de 2021. De este modo, el análisis (...) incluye un período de cinco años, antes y después de 2016, considerado como el inicio oficial de la Agenda 2030.Los resultados preliminares muestran que la investigación sobre educación e igualdad de género se ha trasladado desde el ámbito norteamericano hasta territorio asiático. Se confirma la importancia del tema debido al elevado número de estudios subvencionados por entidades públicas y privadas. (shrink)

This book offers a collection of reflective essays on current testimonial production by researchers and practitioners working in multifaceted fields such as art and film performance, public memorialization, scriptotherapy, and fictional and non-fictional testimony. 0The inter-disciplinary approach to the question of testimony offers a current account of testimony's diversity in the twenty-first century as well as its relevance within the fields of art, storytelling, trauma, and activism. The range of topics engage with questions of genre and modes of representation, ethical (...) and political concerns of testimony, and the flaws and limitations of testimonial production giving testament to some of the ethical concerns of our present age. (shrink)

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar a filosofia de Kant e o pensamento de Bohr como formas de conhecimento que se encontram, segundo alguns comentadores, a partir de conceitos da física clássica. Ademais, a epistemologia de Kant apresentou grande aproximação com a filosofia natural de Newton e, conceitualmente, alguns limites de fronteira com a filosofia da física quântica, se consideramos a fase inicial da mecânica clássica. Tais conceitos limítrofes adquiriram forma na física de Bohr e, por sua vez, se modificaram (...) no pensamento do físico dinamarquês. Assim, aborda-se aqui a posição de Bohr sobre conceitos aproximados da filosofia kantiana, pelo viés clássico da preservação de conceitos como espaço, tempo, realismo e causalidade da física. Por outro lado, serão apresentados argumentos que indicam como não se sustentam todas as interpretações que construíram um “Bohr kantiano”. (shrink)

A transferência de informação se estabelece em uma área de conhecimento muito extensa e envolve vários meios de comunicação. Nesse sentido, o presente artigo tem como objetivo conhecer os impactos no processo da transferência da informação no contexto da Ciência Aberta (CA). Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva que utiliza-se como referencial teórico clássicos da Ciência da Informação para assim discutir características, aspectos e as repercussões ocasionadas pelo surgimento da Ciência Aberta. A pesquisa mostra que embora a transferência da informação seja (...) uma ação humana, no âmbito da CA, o foco é referente aos dados que geram a informação, em especial os dados científicos e/ou dados de pesquisa com a finalidade de torná-los abertos (dados digitais abertos). Assim, cria-se uma relação das etapas da transferência da informação destacadas por Shannon e Weaver (transmissor, canal, mensagem, receptor) com a perspectiva da Ciência Aberta, destacando os impactos políticos, sociais, econômicos e científicos. (shrink)

A collection of interdisciplinary essays examining how far and to what extent humanity and monstrosity have become intertwined.

This book paints a comprehensive portrait of Mexico’s system of assisted reproduction first from a historical perspective, then from a more contemporary viewpoint. Based on a detailed analysis of books and articles published between the 1950s and 1980s, the first section tells the story of how the epistemic, normative, and material infrastructure of the assisted reproduction system was built. It traces the professionalization process of assisted reproduction as a medical field and the establishment of its professional association. Drawing on ethnographic (...) material, the second part looks at how this system developed and flourished from the 1980s up to 2010, its commercialization process, how the expansion of reproductive services took place, and the messages regarding reproductive technologies that circulated within a wide discursive landscape. Given its scope and methods, this book will appeal to scholars interested in science and technology studies, reproduction studies, history of medicine, medical anthropology, and sociology. (shrink)

This article has two objectives: the first, to analyze the professionalization process of assisted reproduction (AR) in order to see how AR is consolidating into an independent field within medicine, and the second, to see how AR arrived and was assimilated into Mexican culture. As opposed to other projects that have traced back the story of a particular specialty to see how it emerged as such, this article looks at an ongoing process: specialization in action. By analyzing the data collected (...) through three years of multisited ethnography using tools offered by the sociology of professions and the history of medical specialization, I identify specific moments in which AR is gaining cognitive, normative, and evaluative consolidation, structure, and independence. This leads me to suggest that AR might separate from gynecology and become an independent specialty within medicine. I offer examples to support this argument and show how AR has developed into a biomedical service, a professional biomedical field, and a biomedical business. (shrink)

O presente trabalho busca investigar a formação propagada pelos cursos de Direito do Estado de Alagoas, objetivando avaliar se atendem aos postulados da Educação em Direitos Humanos. Partindo-se do pressuposto de que ainda preponderam o dogmatismo e o olhar legalista na formação dos futuros bacharéis, deixando em segundo plano a formação humanística, adotou-se como opção teórico-metodológica a abordagem de natureza qualitativa, com ênfase na revisão de literatura e na análise dos 18 currículos dos cursos de Direito ofertados em Alagoas. Para (...) a análise dos dados utilizou-se a Análise de Conteúdo de Bardin, elegendo como categorias a presença da disciplina “Direitos Humanos” nos currículos dos cursos de Direito e a proporção de disciplinas de Formação Humanística em relação às técnico-jurídicas. A fim de compreender como a educação em direitos humanos pode influenciar a formação do estudante de Direito, foram analisados os resultados do Enade nos anos de 2006, 2009, 2012 e 2015, nas questões que abordaram, de forma direta ou indireta, os direitos humanos. O referencial teórico pauta-se por autores como: Tardif, Apple, Giroux, Tomaz Tadeu, Barbosa, dentre outros. Palavras-chave: Educação em Direitos Humanos. Cursos Jurídicos. Currículos. Enade. Alagoas. (shrink)

Pulmonary rehabilitation has demonstrated patients’ physiological and psychosocial improvements, symptoms reduction and health-economic benefits whilst enhances the ability of the whole family to adjust to illness. However, PR remains highly inaccessible due to lack of awareness of its benefits, poor referral and availability mostly in hospitals. Novel models of PR delivery are needed to enhance its implementation while maintaining cost-efficiency. We aim to implement an innovative community-based PR programme and assess its cost-benefit. A 12-week community-based PR will be implemented in (...) primary healthcare centres where programmes are not available. Healthcare professionals will be trained. 73 patients with CRD and their caregivers will compose the experimental group. The control group will include dyads age- and disease-matched willing to collaborate in data collection but not in PR. Patients/family-centred outcomes will be dyspnoea, fatigue, cough and sputum, impact of the disease, emotional state, number of exacerbations, healthcare utilisation, health-related quality of life and family adaptability/cohesion. Other clinical outcomes will be peripheral and respiratory muscle strength, muscle thickness and cross sectional area, exercise capacity, balance and physical activity. Data will be collected at baseline, at 12 weeks, at 3- and 6-months post-PR. Changes in the outcome measures will be compared between groups, after multivariate adjustment for possible confounders, and effect sizes will be calculated. A cost-benefit analysis will be conducted. This study will enhance patients access to PR, by training healthcare professionals in the local primary healthcare centres to conduct such programmes and actively involving caregivers. The cost-benefit analysis of this intervention will provide an evidence-based insight into the economic benefit of community-based PR in chronic respiratory diseases. The trial was registered in the ClinicalTrials. gov U.S. National Library of Medicine, on 10th January, 2019. (shrink)

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) has been considered as a measure of heart-brain interaction and autonomic modulation, and it is modified by cognitive and attentional tasks. In cognitive tasks, HRV was reduced in participants who achieved worse results. This could indicate the possibility of HRV predicting cognitive performance, but this association is still unclear in a high cognitive load sport such as chess Objective: To analyse modifications on HRV and subjective perception of stress, difficulty and complexity in different chess problem (...) tasks. Design: HRV was assessed at baseline. During the chess problems, HRV was also monitored, and immediately after chess problems the subjective stress, difficulty and complexity were also registered. Method: A total of 16 male chess players, age: 35.19 (13.44) and ELO: 1927.69 (167.78) were analysed while six chess problem solving tasks with different level of difficulty were conducted (two low level, two medium level and two high level chess problems). Participants were classified according to their results into two groups: high performance or low performance. Results: Friedman test showed a significant effect of tasks in HRV indexes and perceived difficulty, stress and complexity in both high and low performance groups. A decrease in HRV was observed in both groups when chess problems difficulty increased. In addition, HRV was significantly higher in the high performance group than in the low performance group during chess problems. Conclusions: An increase in autonomic modulation was observed to meet the cognitive demands of the problems, being higher while the difficulty of the tasks increased. Non-linear HRV indexes seem to be more reactive to tasks difficulty, being an interesting and useful tool in chess training. (shrink)

The philosophy of blockchain technology is concerned, among other things, with blockchain ontology, how it might be characterised, how it is being created, implemented, and adopted, how it operates in the world, and how it evolves over time. This paper concentrates on whether Bitcoin/blockchain can be considered a complex system and, if so, whether it is a chaotic one. Beyond mere academic curiosity, a positive response would raise concerns about the likelihood of Bitcoin/blockchain entering a 2010-Flash-Crash-type of chaotic regime, with (...) catastrophic consequences for financial systems based on it. The paper starts by highlighting the relevant details of the Bitcoin/blockchain ecosystem formed by the blockchain itself, bitcoin end users, capital gains seekers, miners, full nodes maintainers, and developers, and their interactions. Then the Information Theory of Complex Systems is briefly discussed for later use. Finally, the blockchain is investigated with the help of Crutchfield's Statistical Complexity measure. The low non-null statistical complexity value obtained suggests that the blockchain may be considered algorithmically complicated but hardly a complex system and unlikely to enter a chaotic regime. (shrink)

The world of work has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high instability observed in the labor market, bringing several new challenges for leaders and employees. The present study aims to analyze the role of organizational and job resources in predicting employees’ job insecurity during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, through the mediating role of work engagement. A sample of 207 Portuguese employees participated, of which 64.7% were women. Data was collected using an online (...) survey, including self-report measures of organizational resources, job resources, job insecurity, and work engagement. Data showed that job and organizational resources negatively influenced job insecurity. Moreover, work engagement was a significant mediator of the relation between performance feedback and job insecurity. Findings suggest that investing in job and organizational resources can act as protective factors to minimize feelings of job insecurity. Likewise, leaders should foster work engagement among employees to help them balance the relation between these resources and job insecurity, especially in crisis situations. Overall, this study takes a new, underexplored perspective, theoretically bridging organizational and job resources with job insecurity and work engagement during a time of great uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)