Explore the vast range of titles available.

Aggressiveness is prevalent in old age, and to adapt treatments and diminish the accompanying damage to the self and others, it is important to understand aggressiveness predictors. Poor emotional awareness, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation are potential mechanisms influencing aggressiveness. The present study examines whether alexithymia, emotion dysregulation, and impulsivity influence aggressiveness in older adults; and whether the effect of alexithymia is conditioned by emotional dysregulation and impulsivity after controlling for probable confounders. The sample consisted of 326 Portuguese older adults (63.2% female) aged 60-96 years from residential care homes and the community. Participants completed report instruments measuring alexithymia, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and aggressiveness. Results of the mediation analysis showed that older adults who had more alexithymia tended to report higher levels of emotional dysregulation and impulsivity, which in turn accounted for higher reported aggressiveness. All these effects were independent of cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms. This study suggests the relevance of evaluating and intervening on alexithymia, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation to reducing aggressiveness in older people.

Aggressiveness is prevalent in old age, and to adapt treatments and diminish the accompanying damage to the self and others, it is important to understand aggressiveness predictors. Poor emotional awareness, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation are potential mechanisms influencing aggressiveness. The present study examines whether alexithymia, emotion dysregulation, and impulsivity influence aggressiveness in older adults; and whether the effect of alexithymia is conditioned by emotional dysregulation and impulsivity after controlling for probable confounders. The sample consisted of 326 Portuguese older adults (63.2% female) aged 60-96 years from residential care homes and the community. Participants completed report instruments measuring alexithymia, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and aggressiveness. Results of the mediation analysis showed that older adults who had more alexithymia tended to report higher levels of emotional dysregulation and impulsivity, which in turn accounted for higher reported aggressiveness. All these effects were independent of cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms. This study suggests the relevance of evaluating and intervening on alexithymia, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation to reducing aggressiveness in older people.

O presente relatório de estágio está inserido no âmbito do estágio curricular estabelecido entre o Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto (ISCAP) e a entidade acolhedora Macro Consulting®. Assim, a entidade de acolhimento é uma empresa de consultoria de gestão, abrangendo outras vertentes baseadas em melhorias na gestão das organizações, focando-se em temáticas de liderança e em potenciar ao máximo as capacidades das empresas.Os objetivos do estagiário com a realização do estágio curricular definiram-se por ganhar experiência no mercado de trabalho, desempenhar funções desafiantes, adquirir conhecimentos em áreas fulcrais da consultoria de gestão e da assessoria financeira, aplicar conhecimentos apreendidos no contexto académico, desenvolver competências de comunicação com clientes e equipa, aprofundar conhecimentos acerca de fundos comunitários e especialização em ferramentas informáticas como Microsoft Excel.Relativamente às atividades e tarefas executadas pelo estagiário ao longo dos 6 meses de duração do estágio curricular, estas prenderam-se, essencialmente, em funções ao nível da consultoria e assessoria financeira: tarefa com o intuito de introduzir o estagiário à entidade e dar-lhe a conhecer todos os serviços prestados pela empresa, incluindo pesquisas sobre o setor de atividade e concorrência (com maior ênfase às temáticas de Corporate Finance e consultoria e controlo de gestão); pesquisa profunda acerca de sociedades de capital de risco, business angelse investidores privados ativos em Portugal; trabalho de aprofundamento de conhecimentos acerca de linhas de financiamento específicas como, por exemplo, microcréditos; ao longo do estágio foram sendo realizados artigos semanais sobre temas abordados nesses momentos; estudo pormenorizado e especifico acerca do PT2030; aprendizagem acerca da temática da liderança; criação e elaboração de planos de negócios com a integração da ferramenta da simulação de Monte Carlo, considerando-se este o tipo de atividade mais importante e desafiante.

Resprouting is a very important survival strategy that allows many plants to survive and recover after fire. Previous studies showed that pre-fire plant size and fire severity influence plants’ resprouting ability. In this thesis we analysed the effects of fire severity and pre-fire plant size of Arbutus unedo L., a common Ericaceae found on the Mediterranean regions, on its resprouting ability after the fire on October, 2017 in Penacova, as well as different methodologies of sampling (measuring plant height, branch length and diameter, stalk, canopy and twigs diameter). The strawberry trees, from three different sites with different disturbance histories, were classified as tree-like or shrub-like according to their pre-fire characteristics and were monitored for a year, comprising two sampling campaigns. Result revealed that fire severity negatively influenced the resprouting ability of individuals by the end of the first campaign but its effect faded with time, which could indicate that fire severity is not the best long term predictor of post-fire regeneration on Arbutus unedo. Plant size (height, branch length and diameter and canopy area), however, were significantly correlated with its resprouting ability on both field campaign, wether in resprouts length, diameter or number. It was also established that some field measurements of pre-fire plant characteristics are redundant, so in similar future studies it should not be necessary to spend as much time and resources on sampling individuals by opting for the easiest or fastest measurement, knowing that branch diameter is the most reliable one since unlike lengths or heights, it can still be used after wood removals. It was not possible to obtain statistical results that would verify the existance of regeneration differences related to the different types of strawberry trees or the sampling sites, possibly due to the limited number of individuals available for sampling.

ObjectivesAnxiety and depression are relevant comorbidities in asthma, but, in Portugal and Spain, data on this topic are scarce. We assessed, in patients with asthma, the frequency of anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the European Quality of Life Five Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D); the level of agreement between these questionnaires, and the factors associated with these symptoms.MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of the INSPIRERS studies. A total of 614 adolescents and adults with persistent asthma (32.6±16.9 years, 64.7% female) were recruited from 30 primary care centres and 32 allergy, pulmonology and paediatric clinics. Demographic and clinical characteristics, HADS and EQ-5D were collected. A score ≥8 on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety/Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression or a positive answer to EQ-5D item 5 indicated the presence of these symptoms. Agreement was determined by Cohen’s kappa. Two multivariable logistic regressions were built.ResultsAccording to HADS, 36% of the participants had symptoms of anxiety and 12% of depression. According to EQ-5D, 36% of the participants had anxiety/depression. The agreement between questionnaires in identifying anxiety/depression was moderate (k=0.55, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.62). Late asthma diagnosis, comorbidities and female gender were predictors of anxiety/depression, while better asthma control, health-related quality of life and perception of health were associated with lower odds for anxiety/depression.ConclusionAt least 1/3 of the patients with persistent asthma experience symptoms of anxiety/depression, showing the relevance of screening these disorders in patients with asthma. EQ-5D and HADS questionnaires showed a moderate agreement in the identification of anxiety/depression symptoms. The identified associated factors need to be further investigated in long-term studies.

The emergence of tools like Blogs or Wikis made the creation of online contents much easier than before. The evolving concept of Web 2.0 emphasizes the fact that the user can now easily participate in the delivery of Web contents, taking advantage of existing tools. In this thesis, two empirical studies are described. The first study was conducted with the aim of understanding faculty’s perceived usefulness of Web 2.0 tools for their teaching practices. For this study, an online survey was used which allowed gathering the opinions of 681 teachers from 11 different Portuguese higher education institutions. The integrative models generated from this study revealed that attitudes and self-efficacy (i.e. perception of self-competence) were found positive predictors of faculty’s intentions to use, and actual using Web 2.0 (in general), and Facebook and Blogs (in particular). Social norms were found influential in faculty’s intention to use Web 2.0 (in general), and Facebook, for teaching purposes, but faculty members were only significantly influenced by their peers, and not by their superiors, nor by their students. Furthermore, for Blogs, even peer influence was found non-significant as a predictor of faculty’s intention to use this specific tool in their teaching activities. Women faculty members were slightly less prone to actually use Web 2.0 tools for their teaching activities, and the same gender effect was found for the specific case of Facebook and of Blogs. The second study was performed with the student population. Data from a sample of 550 higher education students were collected on five different higher education institutions, in the classroom environment. In addition to instruments measuring the use of Web 2.0 (in general) and Facebook (in particular), a group of eight additional scales enabled the assessment of psychological variables whose relevance for understanding students educational use of Web 2.0 and Facebook was explored. In the integrative models resulting from this study, it was shown that students’ attitudes and intentions to use of Web 2.0 to supplement their in-class learning were positively affected by social self-efficacy, identity collective self-esteem, and the dimension of self-concept labeled “impulsivity / activity”. Negative effects on students’ attitudes and intentions to use Web 2.0 in this context were found for public collective self-esteem, and for general self-efficacy. The students’ educational usage of Facebook was positively influenced by their satisfaction with life, identity collective self-esteem, and institutional dimensions of academic experiences. Public collective self-esteem was a negative predictor of the educational usage of Facebook by students. Although statistically significant, the effects of the mentioned psychological variables were relatively weak.