City Of Porto Research Articles

The Impact of Pollution on Cultural Heritage in the Historic Centre of Porto, Portugal

Pollution is a constant threat to cultural heritage, mainly affecting its constituent materials, and it is urgent to implement mitigation and adaptation measures to prevent pollution. The city of Porto currently has several initiatives that aim to prepare this municipality for climate change adaptation. This article aims to study the impact of pollution on built heritage, as well as the initiatives that are being implemented in the Municipality of Porto (as part of the Portuguese Camino to Santiago) to protect heritage, based on three case studies, namely Carmelitas Church, São João Novo Church, and Vitória Church, contextualising them over time and understanding their structure and materials. The methodology is based on an anomalies survey through local and surrounding photographic records to assess the effects of pollution, following the model developed at Carmo Church in Olinda, Pernambuco. This study’s results showed that the stone facade of Carmelitas Church, which is in a busier area of the city, is much more deteriorated when compared with the other case studies due to the direct impact of pollution.

The role of awareness of circular economy’s concept in purchase of sustainable goods and access-based and collaborative consumption – Porto case

Purpose Circular economy (CE) is receiving increasing worldwide attention as a manner to overcome the challenges linked to current trends of unsustainable energy and resource consumption. This paper aims to fill this gap and analyze the adherence to sustainable, access-based and collaborative consumption practices by exploring the role of CE awareness, specifically in the context of Porto, the second-largest city of Portugal. Design/methodology/approach The methodology of choice is quantitative, based on partial least square-based structural equation modeling. Findings The result shows that there is an influence of CE awareness on subsequent sustainable consumption models. Research limitations/implications Present research contributes to the theory on CE awareness and sustainable consumption. It proposes a model that could be applied in other countries. As this research is developed within the city of Porto, it may limit generalizations of obtained results. Practical implications As CE practices are embodied into national and local policies, this research contributes to understanding local contexts of CE practices dissemination, providing practical suggestions for businesses and policymakers aiming the transition to the CE. Originality/value An original approach to measuring the awareness of CE economy is proposed, that is analyzed not only from the familiarity perspective but in six dimensions of its construction: familiarity, importance, perception or interpretation, advantages, social impact and barriers in this process. Further, the conceptual model of the impact that these dimensions have on the adoption of sustainable consumption models (purchase of sustainable products, access-based and collaborative consumption) is proposed.

Polluted Rivers—A Case Study in Porto, Portugal

River contamination by microorganisms, or another chemical source, poses a serious threat to both the environment and public health. Taking immediate and appropriate actions is essential to mitigate the contamination and prevent further spread. As such, regular monitoring of these pollution agents is essential to act in time and control its minor extension. However, there is a lack of commitment to this emergent concern and respective actions around the world. This work aims to study the contamination of a Portuguese river (Tinto River) within Porto city (a highly populated urban area) regarding the total aerobic microorganisms, coliforms, and Enterococcus (as colony-forming units (CFUs) using specific solid culture media) and total organic matter (TOC). Different locations were considered along the Tinto River course (i.e., 14 locations within 11 km) and samples were collected on distinct days throughout September 2022. The overall results showed microbial contamination of aerobic microorganisms (up to 2 × 105 CFU/100 mL), total coliforms (up to 7 × 104 CFU/100 mL), Escherichia coli (up to 9 × 103 CFU/100 mL), and Enterococcus (up to 8 × 103 CFU/100 mL). The results also surpassed the maximum recommended values (MRVs) described in Portuguese decree-law no. 236/98 for irrigation waters. Moreover, TOC was found in a range of 4.54 mg/L to 57.2 mg/L. This work highlights the dangerous microbial contamination and higher amount of organic matter than would be expected for a surface water resource.

Co-Production Boundaries of Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Regeneration: The Case of a Healthy Corridor

Co-production, rooted in public collaborative management (Ostrom, 1996) or science and technology (Jasanoff, 2013) evolution, has demonstrated its innovative and transformative character within participatory processes. However, there is little empirical evidence that scrutinises these contexts of interaction. Equality of partnership in many cases is used as a discursive rhetoric that seeks to prescribe co-production above any difficulty, uncertainty, conflict, or unwanted situation. As a starting point, our proposal considers co-production as a social practice, composed of multiple layers and different participatory processes, activities, and strategies. Grounded in co-production approaches, the study draws upon the ongoing evaluation findings of the European project URBiNAT, which focuses on inclusive urban regeneration through nature-based solutions. The qualitative methods of evaluation (interviews and participant observation), applied during the co-production activities in the city of Porto (Portugal), provide evidence of how the various stakeholders—elected politicians, citizens, technicians, and researchers—participate in the co-production dynamic. The boundaries of a multi-stakeholder process are revealed with the goal of implementing healthy corridors in peripheral neighbourhoods. The intended evaluation analysis lies in the techniques, the agents, the dynamics, the knowledge, and the degrees of co-production. This analysis will contribute to the lack of explicit consideration of the impacts of nature-based solutions in urban regeneration pathways, especially those related to the social fabric underlined in Dumitru et al. (2020).

Instagram as a Digital Marketing Tool of a Hotel Brand

Social media marketing is increasingly seen as one of the main ways of communicating with consumers, platforms where visual content is the main form of communication, such as Instagram. The human brain is programmed to not only pay attention to individual resources, but also to the stories that these resources tell. Stories allow humans to relate, inspire, motivate, and often be persuaded, because they mix information with emotion. In marketing, this concept of storytelling focuses mainly on details of a brand's branding. Therefore, although content shared on social networks can reach a large audience, that same content can be abandoned in the same instant, and so marketers must consciously create content that is relevant and interesting to their target audience, that tells the story of the brand and that engage the target audience with the brand. The presence of hotel units on social media, particularly Instagram, is increasingly seen as one of the main tools in the hotel industry's digital strategy. This exploratory study evaluates the role of visual marketing by analyzing how it can impact the performance of Instagram posts from a five-star hotel group brand in the city of Porto, Portugal. 77 Instagram posts were analyzed according to the following categories: day of the week of publication, content creator, engagement dimensions (number of likes, number of comments and number of hashtags), presence of people, topic, visual content analysis method (objects identified and predominant tone), color (description of color and tone) and finally, storytelling (the presence of storytelling in the publication and the type of story). The Google Vision API platform was used to analyze the visual content and color of all the publications collected. This study reveals that hotels should analyze the colors, type of stories, photographic content and topics that have the most positive effect on consumers - making the most of the interaction with consumers, leading them to make a reservation at the hotel. In this sense, the main aspects of visual marketing that are most effective are suggested, in terms of color, topic and storytelling, as well as identifying good visual marketing practices.

Guidelines for Translating Frameworks, Methods, Tools and Principles of Local Innovations for Marginalised and Vulnerable Communities – 2023

The Guidelines for Translating Methods, Tools and Principles of Local Innovations for Marginalised and Vulnerable Communities aim to reflect on the ongoing experiences and lessons learned based on the first piloting round in the cities of Amsterdam, Helsinki and Porto inside the framework of CommuniCity Horizon Europe project and propose solutions for ethical and inclusive engagement with communities aimed to translate, in its metaphorical but oftentimes also literal meaning, the aims, definitions, points of reference of the project and its pilots. The overall goal to bring together representatives of the world of technology and vulnerable and marginalised communities implies the need for translation being a starting point for the mutually rewarding engagement and co-creation of technological solutions targeted to the specific needs of cities and communities. The reflective points outlined in this work add value to the next rounds of open calls and consequent piloting processes as well as to the practices exercised by the so-called replicator cities, keeping in mind the overall project goal of proposing scalable solutions to be further taken up by the European cities and communities.

Gulls in Porto Coastline as Reservoirs for Salmonella spp.: Findings from 2008 and 2023.

Gulls act as intermediaries in the exchange of microorganisms between the environment and human settlements, including Salmonella spp. This study assessed the antimicrobial resistance and molecular profiles of Salmonella spp. isolates obtained from fecal samples of gulls in the city of Porto, Portugal, in 2008 and 2023 and from water samples in 2023. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiling revealed an improvement in the prevalence (71% to 17%) and antimicrobial resistance between the two collection dates. Two isolate collections from both 2008 and 2023 underwent serotyping and whole-genome sequencing, revealing genotypic changes, including an increased frequency in the monophasic variant of S. Typhimurium. qacE was identified in 2008 and 2023 in both water and fecal samples, with most isolates exhibiting an MDR profile. The most frequently observed plasmid types were IncF in 2008 (23%), while IncQ1 predominated in 2023 (43%). Findings suggest that Salmonella spp. circulate between humans, animals, and the environment. However, the genetic heterogeneity among the isolates from the gulls' feces and the surface water may indicate a complex ecological and evolutionary dynamic shaped by changing conditions. The observed improvements are likely due to measures to reduce biological contamination and antimicrobial resistance. Nevertheless, additional strategies must be implemented to reduce the public health risk modeled by the dissemination of pathogens by gulls.

Neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation: an experience report at the ILCN - Instituto Luso Cubano de Neurologia in Porto, Portugal

This experience report aims to describe a period of observational/ethnographic activity in Neuropsychology, carried out at the ILCN - Instituto Luso Cubano de Neurologia, in the city of Porto, Portugal. This study presents the unit's assessment and rehabilitation models, drawing parallels with the assessment and therapeutic models in Brazil; a characterization of the Institute is carried out, with a profile of the patients and the functions performed by the multi-professional team. The theoretical concepts referenced by the neurosciences will also be described, as will the procedures and instruments used in the follow-ups, the aim of which was to qualify the treatments in order to promote the development and functionality of the users in the face of the difficulties they face on a daily basis, variables which have a direct impact on the establishment of their autonomy and quality of life. To illustrate the activities carried out, two case studies were selected which were monitored by the team from the renowned institute

An analysis of psychosocial predictors of cognitive impairment in older people living in social housing ‐ data from longitudinal study: “Porto. Importa‐se”

AbstractBackgroundCognitive Impairment (CI) is a growing public health problem among the older population, with well‐established risk factors. However, the role of psychosocial predictors still needs to be clarified. This study aimed to analyze whether psychosocial factors may be predictors of CI in older persons.MethodIn the framework of “Porto. Importa‐se” longitudinal project, this study included older persons (≥70y.o. living alone and couples ≥75y.o.), living in social housing in Porto city, Portugal. The research protocol included: Six‐item Cognitive Impairment Test (CI), Barthel and Lawton Index (Basic/Instrumental Activities of Daily Living‐BADLs/IADLs), Geriatric Depression Scale‐15 (depressive symptoms) and Lubben Social Network Scale‐6 (social isolation). Loneliness was assessed with a categorical question: Do you feel lonely?. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of CI. Odds Ratio (OR) and its 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI) were calculated. A p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultOf the 1213 older persons (mean age 81±5.7) included, most were female (74%) and 36% had low education level (<4years). About 11% were severely dependent on IADLs and 27% presented CI. Around 35% of participants were at risk of social isolation, 54% reported loneliness and 48% showed depressive symptoms.The logistic regression model was statistically significant [X2(5,N = 1213) = 148.596,p<.001], explaining 19.7%(Nagelkerke R2) of variance in CI (correctly classified 77% of cases). The adjusted model had a moderate sensitivity (63%) and specificity (78%). The oldest persons (≥80 years old) were 1.77 as likely to have CI than younger (OR = 1.77, 95%CI[1.3, 2.4]). Those with less education (<4years) were 0.26 times as likely to present CI than reference group (≥4years) (OR = 0.26, 95%CI[0.2, 0.4]) and females 1.5 times more than males (OR = 1.50, 95%CI[1.0, 2.2]). Older persons at risk of social isolation were 1.85 as likely to have CI (OR = 1.85, 95%CI[1.4, 2.5] and those with depressive symptoms were 1.39 likely to present CI (OR = 1.39, 95%CI[1.0, 1.9]).ConclusionOlder age, female gender, low education, depressive symptoms and social isolation were predictors of CI. The existence of potentially modifiable factors (e.g., social isolation, depression), means that CI prevention is possible through the implementation of effective individual and community‐level interventions, aiming to protect older persons from CI.

‘Headless women in public art’: Migrant artivism and do-it-yourself practices in the city of Porto

This article focuses on the do-it-yourself artistic creation of migrant women in the city of Porto, Portugal, and emerging modalities of artivism. It is focused on the project ‘Headless Women in Public Art’, by the artist Mariana Morais; an art and design project – sustained by a do-it-yourself praxis and ethos – that aims to examine public art in the city of Porto through a feminist and (i) migrant lens, to identify/deconstruct aesthetic narratives created around women in public art. By adopting a case study methodology based on the use of a qualitative and visual methodology, we present a sociological discussion around the project ‘Headless Women in Public Art’, as well as a content analysis regarding a semi-structured interview made to the artist. The goal is to enhance social, cultural, artistic and symbolic re-significations around public art and female bodies in public art in Porto, while using do-it-yourself.

Assessment of land cover trajectories as an indicator of urban habitat temporal continuity

The trends of land cover dynamics in cities have major repercussions on urban biodiversity, ultimately impacting the health and well-being of human urbanites. Older habitats, i.e., habitats with higher spatiotemporal continuity, allow ecosystem processes promoting the maintenance of diverse microhabitats and the accommodation of diverse species over time, contributing for a richer biodiversity at the city level and beyond. Thus, we implement the analysis of land cover trajectories proposed as an indicator of habitat continuity, in order to identify priority areas for conservation or restoration that can be integrated in urban planning. The method was applied in the city of Porto, Portugal, and it was used to detect the main habitat patches associated with trends of vegetation persistence, gain and loss, between 1947 and 2019. The most common change was related to urbanization processes, where artificial built elements replaced areas of tree, shrub and herbaceous cover, completely dominating the territory in 2019 (66% cover). Moreover, tree and shrub cover had a relatively balanced dynamics, keeping a constant area (20–25%) while newly created wooded habitats compensated for the lost ones. Finally, areas covered with herbaceous vegetation suffered a drastic loss and fragmentation over the period of 72 years (from 40% in 1947 to 10% in 2019). This analysis of land cover evolution allowed for the identification of areas that have been continuously covered by vegetation, displaying a greater stability and higher probability of habitat continuity. This information, with its spatially explicit character, can help to inform future planning, design and management policies at a local scale and contribute to the conservation, restoration and expansion of urban habitats and their biodiversity.

Drivers and barriers to achieve a circular economy of small-IT: Case study from the city of Porto.

Advances in digital electronics delivered small and portable gadgets, changing human interface with technology. Demand for new small devices of Information and Telecommunication Technology (small-IT) that have a short lifespan, like smartphones and laptops, creates flows and accumulation of electronic resources. These include precious metals that show potential for Urban Mining and Circular Economy. To find out the extent of setting up an improved recycling, reuse and repair system, data collection was conducted through surveys, bin observations and social experiments. These methods enabled us to analyse stocks and flows, identify behavioural practices and map collection infrastructure. About 80% of domestic small-IT stocks are hibernated, meaning they could be directly reused or easily repaired. Results show four barriers that keep citizens from handing in their unused small-IT: Devices are kept as back-up, they contain sentimental value, citizens are suspicious of post-collection data confidentiality issues and there is a perceived high effort to recycle. Drivers to enhance circularity are: improving e-waste infrastructure, introducing economic incentives and raising awareness on environmental impacts of hibernated stocks. A more trustworthy and legitimate management system is expected to deliver safety and confidentiality of personal data and provide the quality that fits the expectations of citizens of a proper place to dispose of their valuable items.

A Intervenção Social com Pessoas em Situação de Sem-Abrigo: O papel das políticas sociais de âmbito nacional e local

The homelessness phenomenon presents itself as a problem that, even in societies with higher levels of socioeconomic development, has drawn political attention because it constitutes the most serious manifestation of social exclusion, which has provided the design of national and local social poli-cies in recent years.This article results from the reflections of a curricular internship in Social Work and intends to contribute to the systematization of the social policy instruments aimed at homeless people at the national and local levels. For this purpose, the social problem under analysis was con-ceptualized, political approaches and proposals at the national and local levels were identified, and the intervention of social workers was analyzed considering the main principles, models and ins-truments and systematized the intervention contexts of Social Work in the city of Porto. Finally, the necessity to deepen the study of this theme is reiterated, using contributions from different discipli-nary areas, with a special focus on Social Work, its potentialities and limitations.

Spatiotemporal Capsule Neural Network for Vehicle Trajectory Prediction

Through advancement of the Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) network, road safety, energy consumption, and traffic efficiency can be significantly improved. An accurate vehicle trajectory prediction benefits communication traffic management and network resource allocation for the real-time application of the V2X network. Recurrent neural networks and their variants have been reported in recent research to predict vehicle mobility. However, the spatial attribute of vehicle movement behavior has been overlooked, resulting in incomplete information utilization. To bridge this gap, we put forward for the first time a hierarchical trajectory prediction structure using the capsule neural network (CapsNet) with three sequential components. First, the geographic information is transformed into a grid map presentation, describing vehicle mobility distribution spatially and temporally. Second, CapsNet serves as the core model to embed local temporal and global spatial correlation through hierarchical capsules. Finally, extensive experiments conducted on actual taxi mobility data collected in Porto city (Portugal) and Singapore show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Análise epidemiológica, prospectiva e descritiva da taxa de infecção em feridas cirúrgicas de urgência em hospital da Amazônia Ocidental

Objective: Evaluate the rate of surgical site infection (SSI) in an Urgency Room for non-elective surgeries of the digestive system, associated organs and abdominal wall. Methods: Epidemiological, prospective and descriptive study carried out in a reference hospital in the Western Amazon, in the city of Porto Velho-Rondônia. Patients were selected for data collection and secretion samples, according to pre-established criteria. Epidemiological data were provided by the hospital coordination. Results: A total of 605 operations were performed over a period of 10 months, 3.30% had a clinical diagnosis of SSI. A greater presence of SSI was identified in men 4.97%, against 1.14% in women, the most affected age group was among patients over 50 years old (4.16%). Conclusion: Possible causes for the SSI rates can be associated with the Urgency Room context itself, which involves high turnover, with precarious infrastructure for the high number of patients.

From the city of heroes to the city of Ilhas: the Ilhíada by Alberto Pimenta

This paper reflects on the latest poem published by the Portuguese author Alberto Pimenta, Ilhíada. Even if it creates an explicit dialogue with the poem attributed to Homer, the Iliad, already from the title, it can be seen that Ilhíada is the polar opposite of the Homeric text. The story Alberto Pimenta introduces us to is a tale of the ilhas, an idiosyncratic urban organisation from the city of Porto (Portugal), usually linked to the poorest sectors of the population. As soon as the city became an important tourist destination and “the imaginal engineering” (Hiernaux, 2012) started to create a tourist hotspot narration, successive administrations began to find these ilhas a problem that had to be dealt with. In the poem, the lyrical voice remembers the everyday life that existed before their inhabitants began to be besieged by the building companies. We move, then, from the tales of Troy, an important urban centre of ancient times where heroes fight in a war, to the margins of Porto, where common people just try to live their everyday lives. In this essay, I will argue that the location in which Pimenta chooses to set this story – with the excluded ones, the “subalterns” (Spivak 1985) – challenges the categories of “city”, “hero”, “History” and even “poetry”. To that effect, I will use a comparative perspective that will allow me to uncover the main differences between the two texts.

Observational study on the influence of noise pollution on the quality of sleep of Porto residents compared with that of rural communities

Exposure to noise pollution has escalated to alarming levels and is causing a number of health problems. It leads to interrupted sleep, increasing stage 1 and awake and decreasing REM and deep sleep. We sought to find a correlation between exposure to high levels of noise pollution in industrialized districts and sleeping problems reported by their inhabitants compared with rural neighbourhoods, using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). This study was composed of 65 people, 33 living in the district of Porto and 32 in rural villages. Each participant was asked to complete two questionnaires; one where they reported their sociodemographic data and the PSQI which indirectly evaluated their sleep quality in the last month. The results from each of the studied groups were compared and analysed using binomial, T and Chi-Square tests. The present study shows that noise has an implication, although limited, on people’s sleeping patterns in the city of Porto, as it affects their daytime life and productivity with a p-value of 0.046. Preventive measures should be taken that focus on reducing nocturnal noise. The responsible departments should enforce the regulations established by the government.

Vehicular Crowdsensing with High-Mileage Vehicles: Investigating Spatiotemporal Coverage Dynamics in Historical Cities with Complex Urban Road Networks

Background. Vehicular crowdsensing (VCS) can be a cost-effective solution to gather data in urban environments, leveraging the onboard sensors of modern vehicles moving around the city. Many experimental studies have proven that high-mileage vehicles, such as taxis, can be effectively used for VCS. However, these studies have been mostly carried out in cities with regular, grid-based, road networks. Conversely, little work has been conducted to assess the suitability of VCS in cities with more complex urban road networks, such as historical ones. Goal. As a step towards filling this gap, the present study investigates the feasibility of using different-sized fleets of taxis to crowdsense information in the urban areas of the historical cities of Porto (Portugal) and Rome (Italy), whose road networks evolved over the centuries and feature a complex topology. Data and Methodology. This work leverages massive real-world datasets of taxi trajectories collected over three contiguous weeks in the cities of Porto and Rome to estimate the spatiotemporal coverage achievable by different-sized fleets of taxis if they were used for VCS. Indeed, using these trajectories, several simulations were conducted, considering four sizes of taxi fleets, ranging from 50 to 400 vehicles, for both cities. The achievable spatiotemporal road network coverage metrics were computed at a fine-grained scale of single road segments. Results. Results show that the achievable coverage in both historical cities exhibits very similar trends, with as few as 50 vehicles being capable of visiting a relevant part of the road network at least once in the considered time frame. As expected, increasing the number of involved vehicles improves spatial and temporal coverage. Still, time gaps between subsequent visits can be possibly inadequate for some VCS use cases. As a consequence, recruiting more vehicles and/or devising specialized routing/incentivization mechanisms might be necessary to achieve more comprehensive coverage of the urban road network.

ANALYSIS OF LEARNING DIFFICULTIES IN AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN PORTO ALEGRE

Learning difficulties have a lot of influence on the life of the child and family, due to the damage they cause in all areas of personal development. This article aims to investigate learning difficulties and teaching strategies applied by educators in a kindergarten located in the city of Porto Alegre/RS. Learning is strongly connected with the family environment, so that a better interaction occurs, there must be a partnership between the school, family and student. For the construction of the aforementioned research, a bibliographical analysis was carried out on the subject and observations of the school and the educator’s didactic work, where it was verified high levels of difficulties due to family and social causes and the teaching methodology.
  

The Right to Comfort in Social Housing: Energy and Thermal Performances as Parameters of a Systemic Analysis

This paper proposes a critical analysis of the intervention, over time, in the housing estates built under the Improvement Plan for the city of Porto. This plan enabled the construction of a significant number of dwellings within a limited period of time, promoting a broad and impactful urban and social restructuring of the city in the mid-twentieth century. Several post-construction interventions over the last decades were important opportunities to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants and to enhance the energy performance of the buildings. However, these buildings are still subject to architectural and construction challenges in terms of ‘energy poverty’ and the adaptation of the domestic comfort parameters. Thus, this research analyses the intervention strategies used in these buildings and the constraints resulting from current legislation and funding conditions that significantly impact design decisions. The study points to significant changes in the implementation of measures to improve the state of buildings, becoming progressively more concerned with energy consumption and thermal comfort. The discussion also highlights the impact of current measures on the comfort of interior spaces, current problems, and alternative means of balancing energy and comfort. The relevance of this research lies in the joint analysis of the interventions and frequent efficiency and comfort problems as a motto to improve the implementation of future strategies in developing a more energetically balanced housing stock. The paper also aims to deconstruct the preconceptions often associated with interventions geared towards thermal comfort, especially in social housing.