http://hdl.handle.net/10071/2104 2026-04-15T18:12:55Z http://hdl.handle.net/10071/36611 Título próprio: Using virtual reality to explore older adults' preferences for green streets: Design guidelines Autoria: Eloy, S.; Marques, S.; Samora-Arvela, A.; Montalvão, M.; Silva, N. P. da; Do Bú, E.; Melo, F.; Dias, J. Editor: Cellucci, Cristiana; Revellini, Rosaria; Tatano, Valeria; Trabucco, Dario Resumo: Con l’invecchiamento della popolazione, la progettazione degli spazi pubblici deve rispondere ai bisogni degli anzia- ni per prevenire l’esclusione sociale causata da barriere architettoniche. Tuttavia, l’ambiente costruito esistente ri- mane ancora insufficientemente accessibile, in particolare nella progettazione delle “green streets”, che integrano modalità di mobilità attiva come biciclette e monopattini insieme alla vegetazione. La progettazione di questi spazi spesso trascura le esigenze dei pedoni anziani. Per creare spazi pubblici realmente inclusivi, è essenziale promuovere il coinvolgimento diretto degli anziani nei processi decisionali locali relativi alla loro progettazione. L’obiettivo principale della ricerca è studiare gli effetti della progettazione dellegreen streets urbane sulla mobilità, sull’integrazione sociale e sull’invecchiamento. Inoltre, intendiamo integrare metodologie all’avan- guardia, come le tecnologie di realtà virtuale (VR) e le misurazioni fisiologiche, per simulare sperimentalmente specifici ambienti stradali e valutare le percezioni naturali degli anziani rispetto a tali spazi. Il progetto si sviluppa in tre fasi. La fase 1 si concentra sull’analisi del concetto digreen streets e della loro integrazione nei piani verdi della città di Lisbona da una prospettiva architettonica. Attraverso osservazioni e investigazioni sceintifiche, la fase 2 esamina la percezione e l’uso dellegreen streets da parte degli anziani. Nella fase 3, testiamo l’impatto di questi ambienti sulla “camminabilità”, sull’integrazione sociale e sui modelli di invec- chiamento utilizzando la VR. L’utilizzo di un ambiente VR ci consente di simulare contesti “verdi” e “non verdi” e di testare gli effetti causali di caratteristiche specifiche della strada sia su esiti soggettivi sia su esiti oggettivi. Questo articolo descrive il sistema tecnologico impiegato per l’esperimento in VR, inclusi la progettazione dell’ambiente immersivo e i protocolli per la raccolta dei dati biometrici. È stato adottata una progettazione sperimentale between-subjects con quattro parametri. I partecipanti vivono una delle quattro configurazioni stradali, in cui manipoliamo le caratteristiche delle green streets secondo un progetto fattoriale 2 (presenza o assenza di vegetazione) x 2 (pista ciclabile congiunta o separata). Abbiamo seguito approcci all’avanguardia per progettare l’ambiente VR adatto agli anziani e per raccogliere dati oggettivi. Le misure oggettive includono segnali biometrici, come la variabilità della frequenza cardiaca e il tracciamento dello sguardo e delle fissazioni, che possono essere correlati agli stati di attivazione e attenzione negli anziani. Le percezioni soggettive vengono valutate tramite un questionario. La definizione delle quattro simulazioni stradali in VR considera diversi aspetti chiave, qui discussi, come la presenza e il realismo della luce naturale, della vegetazione, del suono, delle persone virtuali (agenti), degli oggetti e degli edifici. Inoltre, viene effettuata un’analisi critica delle strategie progettuali, attingendo alla letteratura esistente e agli obiettivi specifici del nostro studio. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10071/34843 Título próprio: Students’ perceptions of food offer in Portuguese canteens and adherence to mediterranean diets Autoria: Souza, C.; Prada, M. Editor: Ricardo Mexia; Sónia Dias; Charlotte Marchandise Resumo: Adherence to healthy eating behaviors, as in the Mediterranean Diet, is related to a better quality of life, better educational performance, and reduced risk of physical illness among higher education students. The provision of good quality and sustainable food is imperative in university environments. Nevertheless, the availability of healthy options tends to be limited across campuses (e.g., affordable fast food; the convenience of high-sugary foods in vending machines), including university canteens. Understanding students’ views on canteens and the factors that prevent them from embracing healthy eating habits may help to improve the food supply on campuses. In the present study, we aimed to examine students’ perceptions of canteen services and its food supply and to verify students’ knowledge and promptness to comply with a Mediterranean Diet menu. A large sample of academic students from Portuguese universities answered an online survey with a mixed approach. Specifically, participants were requested to characterize their dietary practices and report their perceptions about food services and offers in campus canteens. Additionally, students were asked about their knowledge, perceptions, and adherence to Mediterranean Diet. Our findings allow us to map perceptions and attitudes regarding food offered in university canteens and to identify the potential to adhere to more sustainable and healthier food patterns according to individual. Moreover, we identified the main psychological and environmental barriers to adhering Mediterranean Diet. Correlational data indicated a relationship between health-related measures and food-related factors. Advancing data about modifiable factors associated with better adherence to healthy dietary habits in the university context informs the development of actions/interventions to prevent unhealthy food choices and overcome limited and unhealthy food offers in canteen campuses. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10071/34388 Título próprio: News coverage of euthanasia in Portugal and United Kingdom: A comparative study of public issues and argument structures between 2016 and 2024 Autoria: Costa, B. F.; Azevedo, J.; Bernardes, S. F.; Garcia-Blanco, I. Resumo: As artefacts of mediation, economic activity, and social organisation, newspapers provide individuals with ways of experiencing the lives of others and seeing themselves represented (Deuze, 2014). It is up to journalistic publics to decide how intensely and in what ways they connect to the (hyper)mediation of the shared world (Pasquali et al., 2022). In the new social reality of public death in the media (Sumiala, 2022), the hegemonic values associated with suffering and the politics of mercy are summoned to public negotiations. The desire for a change in the law to allow access to euthanasia has seen growing public acceptance. Polls carried out in Portugal (Coutinho, 2023) and the UK (Booth, 2023) revealed that 72.5% and 65% of citizens, respectively, are in favour of legalising euthanasia. The Portuguese context is particularly relevant in this regard, given the ongoing process of regulating euthanasia. In 2023, the euthanasia law was passed by confirmation to circumvent the fifth veto by the President of the Portuguese Republic (Lusa and SIC Notícias, 2023). The United Kingdom is still debating the decriminalisation of euthanasia (Booth, 2023). Although previous studies have examined the issue of euthanasia in the news media, there are currently gaps in the literature that we have attempted to fill with this study. There is no specific focus on the Portuguese context and therefore no comparison with the British scenario, despite both countries having a history of public debate about euthanasia in the media. Furthermore, the existing studies on the British media are mostly from before 2011 and do not consider the evolution of public discussion over the last decade. The aims of this study were to identify the similarities and differences that characterise the news coverage of euthanasia between 2016 and 2024 in Portugal and the United Kingdom; to analyse how newspapers frame the political, legal, religious, and medical dimensions of the public debate; and to compare the argumentative structures of these nations. To apply a longitudinal comparative statistical analysis, our sample includes journalistic texts published in the digital media of the newspapers Público, Expresso, The Guardian, and The Telegraph. Quantitative content analysis (Krippendorff, 2019/1980) and argumentative discourse analysis (Hajer, 2006) are combined to obtain the observable patterns of the representations of euthanasia in the texts and to examine the associated argumentative structure. The variables in this study are as follows: (a) date; (b) country; (c) media; (d) author; (e) journalistic genre; (f) length; (g) theme; (h) geographical scope; (i) number of voices; (j) occupation of voices; (k) role played; (l) position adopted in relation to euthanasia; (m) arguments mobilised in favour of euthanasia; (n) arguments mobilised against euthanasia; (o) degree of manifestation of the argument; (p) origin of the argument; (q) level of the argument; (r) scale of evaluation in relation to the argument; (s) who evaluated the argument; (t) specific terminology used; (u) decoding and explanation of the terms; (v) presence of context or background information on the topic. This communication presents the results of this ongoing study. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10071/34219 Título próprio: Dissociating between ‘is’ and ‘ought’: Recognizing and interpreting positions in climate change controversies Autoria: Üzelgün, M. A.; Castro, P. Editor: Dima Mohammed; Marcin Lewinski Resumo: This presentation focuses on the uses of dissociation in controversial debates. We report findings from an argumentative analysis of (N=22) interviews, in which participants were presented with contentious assertions concerning climate change action. We show how the interview responses were characterized by contrastive and concessive uses of the connective but, and explore the – temporal and spatial – patterns through which dissociation was used in enhancing the dialectical reasonableness together with the rhetorical effectiveness of the arguments. 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z