Search

Social participation represent one of the major outcomes of inclusive education. Students with additional support needs often encountered negative attitudes of social acceptance exhibited by their typically developing peers hindering their social participation in the educational context. This study explored the multicomponent structure of Portuguese children's attitudes toward their peers with disabilities using a modified short form of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes toward Children with Handicaps scale (CATCH). In particular, this study aimed to: (1) determine the factor structure of the CATCH; and (2) evaluate the measurement invariance across age and gender. To identify the CATCH factor structure, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data collected from 1,038 children aged 8-18 years. Analyses revealed that a modified short form of the CATCH consisting of a 20- item measure with a three-factor structure displayed acceptable fit and internal consistency indices. This model proved to be invariant across groups. The Portuguese-modified short form of the CATCH, in which cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions are represented, has acceptable psychometric properties and the potential to evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs designed to improve children's attitudes.

This study aimed to translate, adapt linguistically and culturally, and validate the Portuguese version of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment/Preferences for Activities of Children (CAPE/PAC). CAPE/PAC is a tool that measures the participation of children and youth with and without disabilities in leisure activities, considering behavioral, contextual and affective aspects. The Portuguese version resulted from a process of translation, back-translation, analysis by experts and pilot application to obtain evidence of content validity. The instrument was administered with 361 children -- 306 without disabilities and 55 with disabilities -- from five school clusters in the district of Porto, aged 6 to 18 years old. Data were analyzed for internal consistency -- to determine the degree of homogeneity of the instrument's items -- as well as for the standardization of the participation of children and youth with and without disabilities, and their comparison with evidence from studies evaluating similar constructs. The results revealed that the Portuguese version of CAPE/PAC exhibits emerging evidence of reliability and validity.

Participation is recognised as an important indicator of school inclusion and educational success of children with and without disabilities and one of the fundamental human rights. In particular, the participation in leisure activities plays a vital role in children's life and needs to be given a higher attention. The aim of the present exploratory study was to reflect on the inclusion of children with disabilities in Portuguese schools, by portraying and comparing their participation profiles in leisure activities to those of typically developing peers. The participation patterns in leisure activities of 61 children with disabilities and 114 children without disabilities were assessed. Results indicate that the pattern of participation of children with and without disabilities differs whether they are school or community-based activities. Regarding school-based activities, findings reveal that children with disabilities participate more frequently in these activities, but in solitary and constrained spaces at school compared to children without disabilities. For community contexts, our findings indicate that children with disabilities participate in less diverse activities than children without disabilities. In addition, the range of activities is correlated to their level of independence. This exploratory study contributes to an understanding of the pattern of participation of children with and without disabilities.

In keeping with the international trend towards inclusive education and a context-sensitive approach to students' needs, Portugal enacted, in 2008, a law that stipulated the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) to inform special needs assessment and eligibility procedures. The necessity of conceptual and practical adjustments in the use of the ICF-CY brings up the need for training programmes that can properly prepare regular and special education teachers. This paper examines the impact of an in-service training for teachers on using the ICF-CY for describing the functioning profiles of students supported by special education services. A 25-hour in-service training was developed focusing on the biopsychosocial and person-environment fit perspectives of the ICF-CY framework. To evaluate the effects of training, 236 descriptions of functioning profiles--produced before and after the in-service training--were compared. Results showed that the model adopted in the in-service teacher training course contributed to the enhancement of teachers' skills in describing more comprehensive functioning profiles of students, reflecting a dynamic perspective among the ICF-CY components. Specifically, teachers were more able to describe the impact of the environment on student's functioning, identifying facilitators and barriers that may inform the definition of strategies in Individualized Education Programs.

Current Portuguese Public Law No. 3/2008 requires the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) as a reference framework to guide assessment and intervention procedures for students with additional support needs. This study explores whether the ICF-CY use fostered multidimensional and interrelational descriptions of students' needs, and enhanced the congruence between assessment data and intervention plans. Content analyses were conducted on a total of 198 Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) concerning 99 students. Two IEPs were compared for each student, one delineated before and the other designed after the mandatory ICF-CY usage. An analytic process was conceived to measure operational indicators of multidimensionality, interrelatedness and congruency in the descriptions written in the IEPs. The results indicate that the ICF-CY use has supported more complete portrayals of students' functioning, a broader emphasis on person-environment reciprocal influences, and greater individualised responses, linking goals and strategies to individual and environmental specific circumstances. It had not made an impact on the intervention procedures, namely on regard to multidimensionality and interrelatedness. The integration of the ICF-CY conceptual framework into the IEPs, as a stage of implementation that goes beyond the usage of its taxonomic structure, is discussed.

This paper reports the results of a national two-year project, commissioned by the Portuguese Ministry of Education, to investigate the implementation of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) under Decree-Law 3/2008. The Decree-Law also introduced the principle that the documentation of students' functioning profiles should be the basis for eligibility decision-making--replacing the need of a diagnosis. Of specific interest was the study of the ICF implementation in the assessment, eligibility and intervention processes of students in need of specialised supports. To that end, the study was based on a document analysis of case records of 214 students. The analysis of functioning profiles showed that the ICF use promoted a functional approach in students' assessment. In addition, the use of the ICF contributed to the differentiation of eligible and non-eligible students based on their functioning profiles and addressed the most suitable educational interventions within the Individualised Education Plans.

Portugal was the first country decreeing the mandatory use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Child and Youth (ICF-CY) framework for guiding special education assessment process and to base eligibility decision-making on students' functioning profiles--in contrast with traditional approaches centred on medical diagnosis. Considering the conceptual and pragmatic adjustments underlying this change, this study intends to explore how the professionals involved in assessment procedures perceive the impact of the ICF-CY use. Inscribed in an external evaluation commissioned by the Portuguese Ministry of Education, a content analysis was conducted over 33 focus groups composed of 192 educational professionals selected from a stratified random sampling design. Professionals' opinions revealed that the ICF-CY use supported a better understanding of students' functioning by prompting the description of the environmental influence on students' participation. Challenges were pointed out regarding the ICF-CY use, namely: (1) the need of assessment tools that can provide information about the environmental influences on students' functioning; (2) the establishment of collaboration mechanisms between professionals; and (3) the professionals' ICF-CY training. Based on these three challenges/dimensions, recommendations were drawn in order to prompt a multidimensional approach on educational assessment and intervention planning.

The Individualised Education Programme (IEP) is a fundamental document that describes all educational responses to the additional support needs of students, setting up the guideline for their learning and developmental experiences. Specifically, the IEP goals represent the personal destination translated into desirable behaviours and skills that will enable students with additional support needs to meet their educational and functional needs. This paper analysis the quality of the 2497 IEP goals established for 135 Portuguese students with additional support needs and their fit to the students' level of severity and educational level. The quality of IEP goals was measured using the "Revised IFSP/IEP Goals and Objectives Rating Instrument" and the content was categorised in reference to the "International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, version for Children and Youth." Findings showed that goals are generally poorly written, particularly in terms of their measurability and that their quality decreases as students' progress in education. Results also showed that IEP goals for students with a highly individualised curriculum do not attend to their needs of more functional contents. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for teacher training.

At home, children often have pets that they take care of and play with; even in the classroom it is not uncommon to find a wormery, an aquarium or an ant farm. However, children rarely have the opportunity to own and care for a plant over a lengthy period of time, let alone a tree. The authors describe a project in Portugal aimed at improving children's plant knowledge by giving them the opportunity to own and care for a "pet tree." They chose the cork oak ("Quercus suber" L.) species to work with because it is a common native tree in the area, and one of economic importance. They hoped that experimental activities involving a very common tree, in a constructivist environment, would increase children's interest in plant science; they also wanted to promote learning of several key concepts related to the influence of environmental factors on how plants grow, which are part of the national curriculum for primary grade 5 (age 8-10 years). The authors found that experimental activities involving an important native tree increased the children's interest in plant science, and convinced them that having a "pet tree" is an effective way of motivating children to observe, take care of and love plants. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)

Copyright of Comunicação, Mídia e Consumo is the property of Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The development of technological and communication platforms generates academic, political and social debates. In the field of Media Studies, there is a special concern with the younger generations, as studies document that they express particular behaviors due to the increased diffusion of digital consumption in their lives (Silveira & Amaral, 2018). In the field of media literacy, news literacy becomes even more relevant today due to the rise of fake news, which is one of the biggest challenges for digital journalism today, because it endangers the truth and instigates misinformation, which could have serious repercussions for society in general and for the youngest more susceptible generations, in particular. Based on these assumptions, this article comprehends and analyses the dynamics of reception of news and social media by university students studying in Portugal, specifically in the Faculty of Design, Technology and Communication - European Unievrsity of Lisbon (in the academic year 2018/2019), located in Lisbon. Through the development of a qualitative methodology, we set to find the participants particular uses of social media for news access and consumption. We intend to define these audiences preference profiles, identify practices, analyse their relationship with the media and find patterns in their use of technology to access information and fake news. The results allow us to conclude that these audiences get their news almost exclusively through online platforms. Some of them distinguish fake news due to format and content, while others share them unknowingly. They seem to rely more on newspaper and TV for reliable sources of information and think that most of fake news are found online. All seem to think that the proliferation of fake news is discrediting journalism and the media in general and both media and citizens should strive to make news literacy a reality for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an approach for identifying and characterizing shipping routes using information contained in Automatic Identification System messages broadcasted by ships and recorded by the coastal Vessel Traffic Service centre. The approach consists of using historical Automatic Identification System data to build a graph, where nodes are cells of a grid covering the geographical area being studied and the weights of directional edges are inversely related to ship movements between cells. Based on this graph, the Dijkstra algorithm is used to identify a potential safe route, assumed to be the most used route by ships between two locations. A second graph is created simultaneously, with the same nodes and edges, but with edge weights equal to the average speed of transitions between cells, thus allowing the determination of the average speed profile for any possible path within the graph. The proposed approach is applied to two scenarios: an approach to the port of Lisbon and the entry through the fairway to a RO-RO terminal in the port of Setubal in Portugal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia y Politica: Ideas, Procesos y Movimientos Sociales is the property of Departamento De Historia del Pensamiento y de los Moviemientos Sociales y Politicos (Madrid) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Turismo is the property of Associacao Nacional de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduacao em Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the study intended to translate and validate for the Portugese language, a Brazilian version of the Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ), verifying its clarity and validity for Cardiopulmonary and Metabolic Rehabilitation (CPMR) Program participants. The study found that all questions of the SNAQ Brazilian version presented positive results on its clarity. The authors conclude its validity for use in CPMR program participants.

Copyright of Revista da Faculdade de Letras: História is the property of Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of CEM Cultura, Espaço & Memória: Revista do CITCEM is the property of Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of CEM Cultura, Espaço & Memória: Revista do CITCEM is the property of Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of CEM Cultura, Espaço & Memória: Revista do CITCEM is the property of Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista da Faculdade de Letras: História is the property of Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Portuguese Journal of Public Health / Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública is the property of Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública - Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Lack of information is one of the reason of low public and consumer acceptance of ESM in Portugal. • Marketing communication efforts may ensure transition of the power system into smart grid. • Social Media platforms are not commonly used for information diffusion about electricity and ESM. • Social media can play a great role in marketing strategy to accelerate the diffusion of ESM. • The right mixture of content and communication platform is crucial to optimize marketing efforts. National roll-outs of electricity smart meters (ESM) have been undertaken in most of the European countries. The exchange of traditional meters into smart ones is a part of power system transmission into so called smart grids. In these smart grids, the communication and sharing of information happens in real-time and all market players, such as energy suppliers, sellers and consumers, play an important role. As the literature reveals, the successful deployment of ESM requires consumers' awareness and engagement. That is why, within this paper, we investigate the impact of consumers' knowledge on what ESM is, as well as the role of marketing platforms: both traditional (i.e. TV or radio) and modern ones (i.e. social media) in ESM diffusion. Based on the on-line survey conducted in Portugal (N = 518), we provide some policy and practical recommendations for energy companies and local authorities regarding the effective usage of marketing platforms and content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compilation of all beach nourishment projects conducted along mainland Portugal was made, totalizing 134 interventions up until 2017. The objectives, type of deposition, borrow area, responsible entities and geographic distribution of each intervention were identified and are herein briefly presented and discussed. Beach nourishments were mostly carried out to improve the stability of the coastline, as a mitigation measure for coastal erosion, and to increase beach width for recreational use, as a tool for adding value to the coast. Operations concentrated in: 1) urban areas where erosion can pose risks to people and assets, 2) close to river mouth/inlets where port structures are established, and 3) touristic areas with high recreational value. Port Administrations contributed most (in number and volume) for the nourishment operations (62% of all operations), favouring the placement of the dredged sediments on the nearshore, and, more recently, providing the sediment of opportunity for subaerial beach fills and/or dune reinforcement carried out in cooperation with the State Environment/Coastal Authorities. The increase in the number of beach nourishments was accompanied by a decrease in the number of "hard" coastal structures, concurring to the optimization of an integrated coastal sediment management policy, in a clear paradigm shift that started in the 90s in regard to the coastal protection/defence strategy. There is a growing awareness regarding the beneficial use of sediments dredged by Ports to counter the coastal sediment deficit, making coastal nourishments mainly supply-driven in mainland Portugal. Beach nourishment practice has evolved to be the major contributor to a regional and national-scale coastal protection strategy focused on coastal sediment management. • A compilation is presented of all beach nourishments in Portugal until 2017. • 134 interventions are identified and analysed in terms of their characteristics. • Main objectives are the increase of coastline stability and mitigation of erosion. • Nourishment resorts mainly to sediment of opportunity from maintenance dredging. • A shift from hard to soft protection enhances regional sediment management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study presents a characterisation of online reviews for small and medium hotels (SMH) in Portugal. We collected and analysed 1500 online reviews from 50 SMH. The findings show that room, staff and location were the concepts most frequently appeared in the reviews, with cleanliness, friendliness, helpfulness, and centrality of position the terms most frequently used to qualify the concepts. This study points out the main features which SMH managers should prioritize. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The general objective of this study was to identify the variation in heart rate (HR) of Portuguese skydivers during 6 moments in their first jump of the day, bearing in mind the variable level of experience. Thirty-one Portuguese skydivers, 28 men and 3 women, aged between 19 and 62, participated in the study, 12 had A and B licenses (less experienced) and 19 had C and D licences (more experienced). The instrument used to record the heart rate of the skydivers at the different moments of their first jump of the day was the WIMU PRO. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyse HR at different moments in the jump and its relation with the variables level of experience. Bonferroni multiple comparisons were performed to study the importance of the differences observed in HR at the different moments. The effect size was evaluated with partial eta squared. The results showed that average HR in this group of skydivers was 130 bpm, in the different moments of the jump. HR increases from the value recorded at rest until the moment of jumping from the plane and opening the parachute, reaching the highest average at that moment, then decreasing until contact with the ground. Comparing the variable, we found that the less experienced had higher HR than the more experienced at all moments during the jump. Statistically significant differences were found at the different moments of the jump, regarding HR (Max: p < 0.001, ƞ2p = 0.820; Min: p < 0.001, ƞ2p = 0.821; AVG: p < 0.001, ƞ2p = 0.834) Level of experience with jumping moment interaction, we only verified differences related to HR Min (p = 0.007, ƞ2p = 0.056),. With regard to experience, the identified differences were not statistically significant. Skydiving triggers an acute adaptive cardiovascular response which is reflected in the increase in the HR, between the moment of boarding the plane and the moment at which the parachute opens, thereafter decreasing until contact with the ground. The most experienced parachutists recorded the highest HR at the moment of landing and the least experienced at the moment of free fall.

The demand for food with high nutritional value that can sustain the growth of human population while safeguarding sustainability deserves urgent attention. A possible strategy is the inoculation of crops with plant growth promoting (PGP) bacteria. Plants are naturally colonized by bacteria that can exert beneficial effects on growth and stress tolerance. N 2 fixation by rhizobia in the root nodules of legumes is a well-known PGP effect. These bacteria can be used as inoculants to boost legumes productivity and can be especially interesting if they are able to survive to abiotic stresses, such as drought. Herein we report the phylogenetic diversity of bacteria colonizing the root nodules of several wild legume species, from four geographic locations in Portugal with different bioclimates. Interestingly, the vast majority of strains belonged to Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas and other genera apart from rhizobia. PGP abilities other than N 2 fixation (production of indol acetic acid, siderophores and volatile organic compounds) and osmotolerance were screened. Location and host plant species did not influence PGP abilities and osmotolerance. Taken together, results evidenced that bacterial strains from wild legumes displaying PGP abilities and osmotolerance can be regarded as good candidates for inoculants of a broad range of hosts, including non-legumes., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Portuguese version of the Marks Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-M) has already proven to have good diagnostic properties, and is suitable for use with Portuguese asthma patients. The last forty years have seen a worldwide rise in the rate, morbidity, mortality and economic burden associated with asthma and the disease continues to be underdiagnosed and undertreated. In this study the AQLQ-M was administered to 826 asthmatic patients from continental Portugal (97.9% Caucasian, mean age 40.5 years, 30.2% male, 69.8% female), followed up by pulmonologists and allergologists. Patients were classified in line with the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) severity categories: 40.5% intermittent asthma, 26.9% mild persistent, 21.4% moderate persistent, 11.2% severe persistent. AQLQ-M scores maintained significant relationships with asthma severity, symptoms and lung function. Most of the patients were not managed and 74.6% were observed in an emergency room during last year. Women reported poorer QoL than men in all the questionnaire's subscales. Surprisingly, smokers presented better QoL than non-smokers. The results of this study evidence that the Portuguese version of the AQLQ-M is a useful instrument for measuring health-related quality of life in adults with asthma.

Quality of Life is one of the leading evaluations in the diagnosis, therapy and investigation of patients with asthma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-M) designed by Marks in Australia. This questionnaire consists of 20 items describing the impact of asthma on patient's lifestyle and covers 4 dimensions (breathlessness, mood, social limitation and worrying). After a process of translation, backtranslation, and pretest, the Portuguese version of AQLQ-M was administered to 82 adults asthmatics living in 3 different urban areas. The following data were also recorded: age, sex, main symptoms, duration of disease, hospital visits, severity of disease, and medication. All patients performed spirometry. The reliability study (internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha coefficient and inter-item correlation analysis) gave satisfactory results (range of r= 0.58 to 0.94; a= 0.91 to 0.97). Results for construct validity shown that the breathlessness dimension presented the largest numbers of significant correlations with the most important clinical variables of asthma. In conclusion, this study has shown that the Portuguese version of the AQLQ-M has good psychometric properties, and is suitable for use on individual patients with asthma in our country.