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Housing customization: Envisioning an interface to support co-design processes
Full text linkPurpose
There are several studies showing that end-users' participation in the architectural design process of houses is critical to their satisfaction (e.g. Önder et al., 2010; Ammar et al., 2013). Housing that is not adjusted to inhabitants' needs leads to modification works (Davidson et al., 2007) that could be avoided if their design was defined from the beginning with their participation. Digital technologies, such as 3D interactive visualization, benefit co-design processes by helping non-specialists better understand space and design possibilities (Salter et al., 2009; Schroth et al., 2006). However, the available literature shows that existing co-design digital tools were not developed based on potential users’ requirements. This paper aims to define the user requirements of a co-design tool for housing customization.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted to gather information on how participatory processes occur in housing cooperatives and identify how potential users can collaborate in the design definition of their houses using a digital tool.
Findings
The interviews were analyzed, and requirements were defined.
Originality/value
This work contributes to the advancement of knowledge since the tool is defined based on requirements collected from potential end-users. By using a user-centered approach, the tool can contribute to more effective and informed collaboration.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio
The effects of temporal aggregation on MIDAS regressions
No full textTime series used in practice are often temporal aggregates. A MIDAS regression model may be fitted wrongly assuming the independent variables are not aggregated when in fact they are. We derive the correct model’s specification under temporal aggregation of the independent variables, thus identifying the correct number of dynamic terms and the order of the MA component. We also show that these depend on the frequency of the variables and the aggregation order used. As a result, the three alternative estimators considered are asymptotically biased and it is possible to rank them according to their bias in some cases. Our results are also confirmed by Monte Carlo experiments and are illustrated with an empirical application.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio
Nature-based solutions for the revitalization of channeled urban water bodies: Ribeirão Arrudas, Brazil
No full textA degradação de corpos hídricos urbanos exige soluções integradas e sustentáveis que restabeleçam funções ecológicas e promovam serviços ecossistêmicos. Em Belo Horizonte, a intensa urbanização transformou o Ribeirão Arrudas em um canal impermeabilizado, sujeito a recorrentes inundações. Este estudo propõe Soluções Baseadas na Natureza (SbN) para revitalização do Arrudas, articulando infraestrutura verde e azul e reintegrando o rio à paisagem urbana. As intervenções incluem a descanalização parcial, a redução da impermeabilização nas áreas ripárias e o plantio de espécies arbóreas adaptadas, visando ampliar a drenagem, estabilizar margens e recuperar habitats. A metodologia compreende revisão bibliográfica, estudos de caso e modelagem hidrológica, com foco na criação e avaliação de cenários para análise de impactos socioambientais. Os principais objetivos são restaurar o ecossistema fluvial, mitigar inundações, melhorar a qualidade da água, aumentar a biodiversidade e promover espaços públicos sustentáveis. A pesquisa apresenta propostas de SbN para trechos prioritários da bacia sujeitos a risco de inundação.The degradation of urban water bodies requires integrated and sustainable solutions that restore ecological functions and ecosystem services. In Belo Horizonte, intense urbanization has transformed the Ribeirão Arrudas into an impermeable channel, leading to severe flooding throughout its basin. This study proposes Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for the revitalization of Ribeirão Arrudas, integrating green and blue infrastructure and reintegrating the river into the urban landscape. The proposed interventions include partial dechannelization, reducing impermeability in riparian areas through the planting of specific tree vegetation capable of enhancing drainage and ensuring bank stabilization. Additionally, the implementation of artificial wetlands and evapotranspiration technologies (TEvap) is suggested in areas with inadequate sanitation infrastructure, aiming to treat sewage that is discharged directly into the river or its tributaries and improve water quality. The methodology is based on a literature review, case studies, and hydrological modeling to assess environmental and social impacts. The main objectives are to restore the ecosystem, mitigate floods, enhance biodiversity, improve sanitation, and create sustainable public spaces. The research presents an NBS proposal for sections of the basin identified as flood-risk areas
Letras em marcha: Escritos de circunstância e gazetas portuguesas durante a guerra peninsular, 1808-1810
No full textO presente artigo se utiliza das gazetas e dos escritos de circunstância em Lisboa e no Rio de Janeiro para analisar a produção literária no império português entre 1808 e 1810, período crítico da Guerra Peninsular. Nas duas primeiras partes, a partir de um duplo movimento analítico, propomos um exame estatístico das propagandas literárias na imprensa e a análise de conteúdo de um conjunto de obras impressas nessa altura. Na terceira parte, apresentamos as evidências do potencial que a palavra tinha para circular rapidamente pelas ruas. O objetivo é aprofundar o conhecimento sobre um setor que se mostrou determinante no esforço de guerra português. Conseguimos, por um lado, identificar mudanças de tempo curto na circulação da palavra impressa ocorridas diante do impacto dos acontecimentos políticos, indicando um processo de expansão da leitura nos dois centros do império em paralelo com uma mudança no perfil das obras que despertam interesse; por outro, evidenciar que a mobilização dos prelos se fez acompanhar de estratégias discursivas baseadas nos tópicos mais apelativos, capazes de impactar as classes populares e de construir um consenso contra os franceses.This article uses the gazettes and circumstantial writings in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro to analyze literary production in the Portuguese empire between 1808 and 1810, a critical period in the PeninsularWar. In the first two parts, based on a double analytical movement, we propose a statistical examination of literary advertisements in the press and a content analysis of a set of works printed at the time. In the third part, we present evidence of the word’s potential to circulate quickly on the streets. The aim is to improve our knowledge of a sector that proved decisive in the Portuguese war effort. We were able, on the one hand, to identify short-term changes in the circulation of the printed word that occurred in the face of the impact of political events, indicating a process of expansion of reading in the two centers of the empire in parallel with a change in the profile of the printed works that aroused interest; on the other hand, to show that the mobilization of the presses was accompanied by discursive strategies based on the most appealing topics, capable of impacting the popular classes and building a consensus against the French people.aceit
The influence of festivals and events on tourists’ willingness to visit Madeira island
No full textThe present study aims to understand the impact of summer festivals and events in willingness to visit Madeira Island. Based on the theory of planned behavior and willingness to participate in festivals and events, it analyses the correlation of these factors in willingness to visit. Moreover, age is used as a moderator effect in willingness to participate to conclude the final impact in the intention to travel to this Island. After conducting a survey and analyzing the data collected, a new understanding on the theory of planned behavior in the tourism market was achieved. In this context, the social environment around the individual has proved to not influence the decision to visit the hosting destination. Additionally, the willingness to participate in summer festivals and events is found to be a factor motivating and directly affecting the decision to visit Madeira Island. Age plays a role in this decision, influencing the intention to attend specific types of events. Therefore, it moderates, consequently, the main object in this study. These findings are crucial to the tourism market since it enables a new strategic view that can be explored and used worldwide to attract more people to a destination. Festivals and events are a growing market, beginning to be conceptualized as a tourism product. Therefore, this study contributes to existing literature by exploring this phenomenon that attracts tourists and leverages regions. Furthermore, it supports the theory of planned behavior in the tourism context, providing new findings and developments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Guidelines for the construction of participatory science devices in urban rivers from a Global South perspective
No full textLa ciencia participativa, también llamada ciencia ciudadana, es una práctica de ciencia abierta en la que personas con y sin afiliación a instituciones científicas colaboran en un proyecto científico. Es muy utilizada para el relevamiento de diferentes variables en ciudades y particularmente en ríos. Varios proyectos de ciencia participativa a nivel global utilizan dispositivos digitales para llevar a cabo la producción de conocimiento, principalmente usando los teléfonos inteligentes como herramienta tecnológica de vinculación. Sin embargo, existen desarrollos regionales en Latinoamérica que se posicionan en un nicho similar y que su construcción se realiza desde el registro de los países y proyectos propios del sur global. ¿Cuáles son los registros propios del sur global? ¿Cómo poder pensar lineamientos para dispositivos que reflejen las motivaciones y preocupaciones del “Sur global”? Este trabajo presenta una reflexión epistemológica-metodológica con una serie de guías para poder enriquecer a la ciencia participativa desde un análisis conjunto con la etnografía colaborativa situada a través de cinco categorías: agentividad, co-construcción, colectividad, interinstitucionalidad, e instrumentación. Así nos preguntamos: ¿De qué manera la etnografía colaborativa puede diversificar y enriquecer las formas de la ciencia participativa? ¿Qué características específicas del sur global proponen una impronta particular a la construcción científica participativa? ¿Cuántas de estas características pueden ser incorporadas y de qué forma en un dispositivo digital? En este trabajo se realiza un análisis sobre diferentes dispositivos digitales propios del sur global.Participatory science, also known as citizen science, is an open science practice in which individuals, both affiliated and unaffiliated with scientific institutions, collaborate on a scientific project. It is widely used for surveying various variables in cities and, particularly, in rivers. Several participatory science projects worldwide rely on digital devices for knowledge production, primarily using smartphones as a technological tool for engagement. However, there are regional developments in Latin America that occupy a similar niche, built from the perspective of the Global South’s records and projects. What are the unique records of the Global South? How can we design guidelines for devices that reflect the motivations and concerns of the “Global South”? This paper presents an epistemological-methodological reflection with guidelines to enrich participatory science from a joint analysis with situated collaborative ethnography through five categories: agentivity, co-construction, collectivity, interinstitutionality, and instrumentation. We ask: How can collaborative ethnography diversify and enhance participatory science practices? What specific characteristics of the Global South shape a distinct approach to participatory scientific construction? How many of these characteristics can be integrated into a digital device, and in what ways? This work analyzes various digital devices developed within the Global South.publicad
Revisiting ESG performance: Do high scores translate to higher returns? A risk-adjusted analysis of S&P 500 portfolios
No full textThe rise of ESG investing is often underpinned by the belief that sustainability enhances long-term financial performance. Research suggests ESG scores correlate with superior stock market returns, but the evidence remains mixed. We contribute to the debate by directly comparing the performance of top- and bottom-ranked ESG portfolios within the S&P 500 over the period 2005–2024. Using raw returns, we find that low ESG-rated portfolios consistently outperform their higher-rated counterparts in absolute terms. However, when accounting for risk, using risk-adjusted metrics — specifically the modified Sharpe ratio — no statistically significant differences emerge. These findings challenge prevailing assumptions about ESG investing and highlight the need for a more nuanced understanding of the trade-offs between sustainability and profitability in portfolio construction.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
From deportations to “frozen conflicts”: Russian nationalism, ethnic engineering and violence in the Soviet and post-Soviet space
No full textThis article examines how Soviet and post-Soviet forms of Russian nationalism used ethnic engineering – above all mass deportations and demographic reshuffling – to transform ethno-national diversity into a structural source of conflict. Building on a qualitative, historical-comparative design, the study combines close reading of Soviet constitutional and legal texts with secondary literature on deportations and “frozen conflicts” to trace mechanisms linking Stalin-era policies to contemporary wars in the post-Soviet space. Archival decrees, census data and administrative cartography are analysed through thematic coding (e.g., “collective punishment,” “demographic engineering,” “border manipulation”) and compared across key episodes such as the deportation of Chechens and Ingush, Crimean Tatars and Volga Germans. The article then connects these historical patterns to post-1991 conflicts in the Caucasus, Crimea/Donbas and Central Asia, showing how earlier deportations and territorial rearrangements created asymmetric republics, competing memories of victimhood and territorially embedded grievances. Rather than treating Russian nationalism as a purely ideological phenomenon, the analysis conceptualizes it as a repertoire of state practices that combine coercive removal, selective rehabilitation and later “protection” of co-nationals abroad. The findings challenge accounts that explain post-Soviet conflicts solely through democratization failure or great-power rivalry, arguing instead that ethnic wars in the region are rooted in a long genealogy of state-led population politics. The article concludes by discussing the broader implications for theories of ethnofederalism and for contemporary debates on how authoritarian regimes manage diversity through forced mobility rather than inclusive citizenship.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The washback effect of external assessments and the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives of head teachers in Portugal
No full textExternal assessment of learning has been the subject of very different perspectives, conceptions, and assumptions. Considering the pressure that the existence of external assessments can generate over the functioning of education systems, some recognize benefits, and others point out negative and perverse effects of this pressure. In 2020, in most countries, the COVID-19 lockdowns involved the cancelation of large-scale external assessments in favour of teacher-built assessments. In 2023, a full reintroduction of external assessment of learning was discussed in Portugal, and the role of external assessments in the Portuguese education system was a hot topic of discussion in educational communities. In this post-pandemic context, where the pressure of external assessments has been temporarily relieved, we sought to know the point of view of Portuguese head teachers about the impact of this temporary external assessment suspension in schools. Moreover, we wanted to know, from the head teachers’ point of view, which should be the external assessment model to be implemented for the future. To do this, a series of 32 interviews were conducted with head teachers from all over the country. Results show that the pandemic has challenged the purposes and format of external assessments, highlighting different positions of value regarding its reintroduction in the Portuguese context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Hybrid reaction–diffusion epidemic models: Dynamics and emergence of oscillations
No full textIn this paper, we construct a hybrid epidemic mathematical model based on a reaction–diffusion system of the SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) type. This model integrates the impact of random factors on the transmission rate of infectious diseases, represented by a probabilistic process acting at discrete time steps. The hybrid model couples a continuous reaction–diffusion system, which describes the spatiotemporal dynamics of the infectious disease, with a discrete probabilistic process that models potential change in the transmission rate. We establish properties of both biological and mathematical interest in the hybrid model, including the existence of global solutions, stability analysis of equilibrium points, and the emergence of oscillatory behaviors. Additionally, we extend the hybrid model by including vaccination. The dynamics and emergence of oscillations in the hybrid model are investigated under various scenarios, which are illustrated through numerical simulations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio