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Tapobhūmi: When spiritual power saturates the landscape
Get PDFThe sacred geography of India has long captivated scholars, who have emphasized its mythologization and demonstrated how this landscape connects places to deities, saints and heroes, creating a network that links locations and people through pilgrimage. This paper explores a rarely investigated typology of sacred places, the tapobhūmi. Tapobhūmi, the ground (bhūmi) of spiritual power (tapas), refers to a place where someone has performed ascetic practices (tapasyā) to such an extent that the accumulated spiritual power has been transmitted to the area. These places continue to attract ascetics, who, by practising there, are believed to further increase the tapas of the area. India is dotted with numerous sites recognized as tapobhūmis, which can sometimes evolve into pilgrimage destinations, preserving the memory of renowned ascetics who once practised there. By linking the concept of tapobhūmi to that of guphā (cave) as places for ascetic practice, this paper analyses various forms of tapobhūmi. Using visual examples from central and northern India along with ethnographic data, it illustrates how tapobhūmis embody a human rather than a divine or deified endeavour, forming a parallel sacred geography that is primarily transmitted within ascetic circles and operates according to individual or sampradāyic agendas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A concise review of Home Health Care Routing and Scheduling Problem
Get PDFThe Home Health Care Routing and Scheduling Problem (HHCRSP) plays a crucial role in optimizing the delivery of home-based healthcare services by efficiently allocating caregivers to patient locations while adhering to logistical, operational, and regulatory constraints. This concise review provides an analysis of HHCRSP, discussing its key objectives, constraints, and solution methodologies. The study examines various optimization approaches, including exact algorithms, heuristics, and metaheuristic techniques. Furthermore, the impact of HHCRSP on healthcare delivery efficiency is explored, highlighting its role in reducing operational costs, improving service quality, and ensuring continuity of care. The article also discusses the regulatory requirements affecting HHCRSP, addressing compliance with legal and organizational requirements, quality assurance frameworks, economic constraints, and patient prioritization mandates. The challenges associated with HHCRSP, including logistical complexities, workload balancing, and technological barriers, are also reviewed. To align HHCRSP with regulatory frameworks, this review discusses various strategies such as adaptive scheduling, advanced algorithmic solutions, and the integration of environmental and social sustainability considerations. Additionally, emerging technological advancements, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and intelligent transport systems, are evaluated for their potential to enhance HHCRSP efficiency. The article concludes by summarizing key findings, discussing the practical implications of HHCRSP for healthcare providers, and outlining future research directions. Addressing existing gaps, such as AI explainability, blockchain integration for secure scheduling, and sustainable healthcare logistics, remains a critical avenue for further exploration. As the demand for home healthcare services grows, innovative HHCRSP solutions will be essential to ensuring high-quality, cost-effective, and patient-centered care.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
O lugar da dimensão política do Serviço Social na formação de Assistentes Sociais: A realidade no Brasil e em Portugal
Get PDFEssa tese tem como pergunta de partida: Como a presença da dimensão política do Serviço Social na formação de assistentes sociais tem sido inserida no ensino/aprendizagem nas universidades públicas e equiparadas de Portugal e nas universidades públicas da Região Nordeste do Brasil? Para responder a este questionamento apresenta como objetivo geral: Analisar a presença da dimensão política do Serviço Social na formação de assistentes sociais visando identificar a sua inserção no ensino/aprendizagem nos cursos de Serviço Social no Brasil e em Portugal. Convém resgistrar que será apresentado o resultado de uma pesquisa situada no presente (2022-2023), utilzando Métodos Mistos. O levantamento de dados baseou-se nas técnicas de pesquisa documental, de observação e de entrevista em três etapas. Em uma primeira fase, foi realizada a análise dos programas curriculares em Portugal e no Brasil, tendo como base nove categorias essenciais dos direitos humanos. Em seguida, foram escolhidas duas universidades, uma em cada país, para recolha dos dados empíricos das segunda e terceira etapas: observação em sala de aula e entrevista aos estudantes e professores e à (ao) diretor(a) do curso. O aporte téórico baseia-se na concepção freireana de educação como um ato político e no paradigma transformativo. Em relação à relevância teórica, é possível perceber que não é um tema tão pesquisado no que se refere à formação, por isso torna-se necessário à sua ampliação. Já quanto à relevância social, a aplicabilidade da dimensão política na formação poderá impactar em uma intervenção profissional mais comprometida com a garantia dos direitos humanos.This thesis has as its starting question: How has the presence of the political dimension of Social Work in the training of social workers been inserted in teaching/learning in public universities and similar universities in Portugal and in public universities in the Northeast Region of Brazil? To answer this question, the general objective is: To analyze the presence of the political dimension of Social Work in the training of social workers in order to identify their insertion in teaching/learning in Social Work courses in Brazil and Portugal. It should be noted that the result of a research located in the present (2022-2023) will be presented, using Mixed Methods. The data collection was based on the techniques of documentary research, observation and interview in three stages. In a first phase, the analysis of the curricula in Portugal and Brazil was carried out, based on nine essential categories of human rights. Then, two universities were chosen, one in each country, to collect the empirical data of the second and third stages: classroom observation and interview with students and professors and the course director. The theoretical contribution is based on Freire's conception of education as a political act and on the transformative paradigm. Regarding the theoretical relevance, it is possible to perceive that it is not a theme that has been so researched in terms of training, so it is necessary to expand it. As for social relevance, the applicability of the political dimension in training may impact on a professional intervention more committed to the guarantee of human rights
Doppëlgangers, degenerações e feedbacks revolucionários em Angola
Get PDFIn this article I describe the emergence of the so-called Revolutionary Movement ("Revú") in Angola, which appeared in 2011 in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork with this movement since 2015, I will debate how this revolutionary emergence is an epistemological feedback against a previous revolutionary process in the country – that of the liberationist and independence movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Invoking concepts of cyclicity (Gonçalves 2017; Blanes 2019) and rhetorical feedback, I will describe an effect of ‘mutual epistemology’ between both revolutionary processes, through which the perception of one is dynamically determined by the perception of the other. In this framework, more than a mimetic revolutionary semiotic, I will entertain the idea of a ‘revolutionary doppëlgangers’, the concurrent construction of ‘evil twins’ as part of a process of political dialectic between regime enablers and oppositionists.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Emigração Portuguesa 2024: Relatório Estatístico
No full textCaracterização da emigração e da população portuguesa emigrada com base num conjunto diversificado de dados e fontes nacionais e internacionais. Dados referentes a 2023 e ao período 2000-2023 (ou últimos anos disponíveis).aceit
Intersectionality as a lens for dialogue with urban and digital space: Readings on gender, race and class in the Brazilian South-Southeast axis
Get PDFO artigo aborda a ideia norteadora de interseccionalidade, com ênfase em três marcadores intercruzados — gênero, classe, raça —, em diálogo com o espaço urbano e o digital. Começa com uma apresentação da região selecionada para a leitura do tema, o eixo Sul-Sudeste brasileiro, para explicar, sob perspetiva histórica, lógicas de opressão e privilégio contemporâneas e sua relação com a materialidade; e as tecnologias digitais como lugar de mediação e reprodução destes processos. O objetivo é usar esta lente interseccional para perceber práticas urbanas relacionadas com mulheres pobres e racializadas, e como esta realidade se relaciona com as suas representações midiáticas. Para tal, recorre-se à construção de um quadro teórico-conceitual estruturante, assente numa revisão bibliográfica crítica sobre essa ideia de interseccionalidade e sua relação com a discriminação e o privilégio; à construção de um quadro empírico sobre desigualdades no acesso digital e seu impacto em termos de acesso aos benefícios das tecnologias; à seleção de plataformas digitais, concretamente de redes sociais que informem sobre performances identitárias para a escolha de casos de estudo ilustrativos; e à análise de casos concretos para aprender, por um lado, com paradigmas de exclusão, opressão e invisibilidade e, por outro lado, com casos de resistência inspiradora conducentes a um feminismo digital apontado para inclusão (social, espacial, urbana) e transformação social.The article addresses the notion of intersectionality, emphasising the intersection of three markers — gender, class, and race — in relation to urban and digital spaces. It begins by presenting the region selected for exploring the theme under study — the Brazilian South-Southeast axis — in order to explain the contemporary logics of oppression and privilege from a historical perspective and their relationship with the material world; and digital technologies as a means of mediating and reproducing these processes. The aim is to use this intersectional lens to understand urban practices relating to poor, racialised women, and to examine how this reality is reflected in their media representations. To this end, a theoretical-conceptual framework has been developed based on a critical review of the literature on the concept of intersectionality, and its relationship to discrimination and privilege; an empirical framework has been developed based on inequalities in digital access and their impact on technological benefits; a selection of digital platforms - specifically social networks that inform about identity performances -, were used to choose illustrative case studies; and case studies where used to learn, on the one hand, from paradigms of exclusion, oppression and invisibility and, on the other hand, from models of inspiring resistance leading to a digital feminism aimed at (social, spatial, and urban) inclusion, and social transformation.publicad
Social inequalities in international student mobility: Reviewing conceptual approaches
Get PDFIn recent years, research on international student mobility (ISM) has increased considerably. One recurring topic within this emerging interdisciplinary research field deals with the various social inequalities that exist in relation to accessing and participating in this form of mobility. However, while methodological and empirical aspects are becoming ever more refined, there is a paucity of discussion in relation to its theoretical concerns. Against this background, this paper provides a review of the main theoretical-conceptual approaches currently in use for explaining inequalities in access to and the experience of ISM: rational choice theory, Bourdieusian class theory, critical race theory, intersectional and post- and decolonial perspectives. This allows us to highlight some shortcomings in the debate and possible points of convergence between these approaches while suggesting new avenues for future research on ISM-related social inequalities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The post-human paradigm and the risks of depoliticizing governance
Get PDFEste artigo tem como principais objetivos caraterizar as lógicas que estão subjacentes a uma governação enquadrada dentro do paradigma pós-humano, enfatizar os riscos deste tipo de governação e mencionar os princípios organizacionais para uma governação alternativa. A abordagem do texto toma como questão central o desenvolvimento das tecnologias de automação e da internet das coisas e as suas aplicações na sociedade e no ambiente. Perante as lógicas políticas e económicas da atual globalização, é defendida a necessidade de uma cidadania participativa e representativa nos diferentes níveis de decisão política, incluindo em questões de partilha e transmissão do conhecimento científico-tecnológico.This article’s main objectives are to characterize the logics that underlie governance framed within the post-human paradigm, to emphasize the risks of this type of governance and to mention the organizational principles for alternative governance. The text’s approach takes as its central issue the development of automation technologies and the internet of things and their applications in society and the environment. Given the political and economic logics of current globalization, the need for participatory and representative citizenship at different levels of political decision-making is defended, including in matters of sharing and transmission of scientific-technological knowledge.publicad
Building a profitable trend trading system: A technical analysis guide
Get PDFTrend trading based on technical analysis can be described as a system that attempts to capture the underlying asset’s momentum, be it in appreciation or depreciation. Such a system utilizes analysis based on historical data, from which statistical calculations are used in order to determine patterns and predict the price of the asset, usually in the form of indicators. In order to successfully construct such a system, rigorous back-testing is needed in order to optimize and fine tune the amalgam of indicators used. Such a method is advantageous due to its entry signals being very clear, leaving no space for abstract interpretation. Due to such properties, it is also easily automated. This piece of work will show how to create a trend trading system step by step, introducing each individual function of its indicators, the risk management utilized as well as how to back-test and optimize it. Moreover, the system’s trading data will be provided alongside its profitability metrics showing this method can be useful in various situations, such as hedging a portfolio or a simple way to increase our returns in a moderately risky manner.O trading de tendências baseado em análise técnica pode ser descrito como um sistema que tenta capturar o momentum do ativo subjacente, seja de apreciação ou depreciação. Este sistema utiliza análise baseada em dados históricos, dos quais são feitos cálculos estatísticos para determinar padrões e prever o preço do ativo, geralmente na forma de indicadores. Para construir com sucesso um sistema desse tipo, é necessário realizar testes rigorosos para otimizar e ajustar os indicadores usados. Este trabalho irá mostrar como criar um sistema de trading de tendências passo a passo, introduzindo cada função dos indicadores, a gestão de risco utilizada, assim como testar e otimizar o sistema. Além disso, serão apresentados os dados de trading do sistema junto com as métricas de rentabilidade, mostrando que este método pode ser útil em várias situações, como hedging de uma carteira ou uma maneira simples de aumentar nossos retornos de forma moderadamente arriscada
Acceptance of digital health in Portugal: An example of digital divide
Get PDFIntroduction: Digital health technologies are becoming increasingly important in achieving broader healthcare goals worldwide, with significant investments in infrastructure and legislative frameworks to regulate this growing sector. However, despite substantial structural support, a gap remains between investment and consumer usage, particularly evident in Portugal. Methods: This study aims to understand attitudes and behaviors toward digital health among the Portuguese population and identify key variables influencing their adoption. Utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model, sociodemographic and subjective factors were examined in a national online survey, part of the CROss-National Online Survey 2 panel associated with the European Social Survey Round 10. Results: The results indicate a positive perception of digital health technologies, with high scores for perceived ease of use (M = 4.97, SD = 1.18) and for the value attributed to these tools (M = 4.71, SD = 1.14). However, their actual use remains relatively low (M = 1.23, SD = 0.94), with concerns about the quality of care and dependence on technology (M = 4.01, SD = 0.94). Older people perceived less ease of use of digital health tools (r = −0.234, p < 0.01), along with less favorable attitudes (r = −0.195, p < 0.01) and lower intention to use them (r = −0.145, p < 0.01). In contrast, literacy, income and education level were positively associated with the above dimensions, highlighting the digital health divide. While digital health technologies offer promising opportunities, it is essential to address their potential to exacerbate health inequalities. Conclusions: This study underscores the significance of understanding sociodemographic and subjective factors in shaping attitudes and behaviors toward digital health. The implications of the findings for policy and intervention aiming to enhance digital healthcare engagement and accessibility are discussed, including the implementation of targeted national digital health literacy programs and the integration of digital health education into formal education curricula.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio