Portuguese Authorities Research Articles

Portuguese Authority Health Role at Hydrotherapy Establishment

Water is an essential element for Humans that brings many benefits for health and well-being. However if it's not controlled and proper for consumption, water can be life-threatening for humans. Water used at hydrotherapy establishments (HE), is a natural mineral water (NMW), that doesn't undergo any treatment and remains as found at spring. NMW isn't sterile water but, in normal conditions, the micro-organisms that are presents are harmless for bath users. Thermal baths are places of population influx and therefore must be periodically controlled, monitored and followed-up to guarantee the safety and quality of the services. This surveillance must be done by the owners of the establishments and supervised by the Public Health Department, Public Health Unit and Public Health Regional Laboratory, accordingly to the legislation and directives of the baths water quality control program of the Directorate General for Health (DGS). The sanitary surveillance done at HE by the Health Authority (HA) is composed of four aspects: hygienic-sanitary (guarantee the correct functioning and hygienic conditions at the facilities); technological (ensure the quality and maintenance of the equipment and procedures); analytical (periodical water samples collection to analyze the quality of the water and verify if the results provided by the bath's concessionaire are accurate and respect the reference values); epidemiological (epidemiological studies to see the relation between health and the bath uses). In case of failing to fulfill either one of this areas, the violation must be communicated to the responsible entity, as establish by DGS. Due to the interaction between this four areas, a breach in one of them can compromised the others thus the objective of the sanitary surveillance done by the HA in harmony with the HE is the way to assure and oversight the quality of the facilities and the waters used in the thermal springs treatments in order to avoid any disturbance potentially harmful to its users.

Ruy Cinatti, the French–Portuguese mission and the construct of East Timor as an ethnographic site

ABSTRACTThe French–Portuguese Ethnological Mission to Portuguese Timor (1966/1969) financed by French and Portuguese research bodies and initially directed by Louis Berthe was the first mission that conducted lengthy and thorough ethnographic research in East Timor vernaculars and with East Timorese communities. Using personal and scientific archives, printed and oral sources, this article analyses the mission’s background, the role of Ruy Cinatti (a Portuguese poet, former colonial official in Timor and anthropologist trained in Oxford) in its launch, and its political and scientific context. The mission, undertaken during the Portuguese late colonial period and subject to the Portuguese authorities’ approval and surveillance, marked East Timor as a site of anthropological inquiry into the Anthropology of European tradition produced in Southeast Asia, affiliated to post-war structuralism. This case study throws light on individual agency, Portugal’s shortcomings in modern anthropology training, the international competition for Portuguese Timor as part of the Indonesian “field of ethnological study” and the transnational connections in its construction in the era of decolonization.

Notas documentais sobre o Cabo Delgado e Niassa no Século XIX

O presente artigo documenta os fatos históricos ocorridos na segunda metade do século XIX em Cabo Delgado e Niassa no norte de Moçambique. A pesquisa realizada entre os anos de 2010 e 2011 incidiu sobre a documentação dos fundos do governo-geral de Moçambique e do governo do Distrito de Cabo Delgado do Arquivo Histórico de Moçambique (AHM). Constam no artigo os expedientes portugueses referentes a disputa entre Zanzibar e Portugal sobre a fronteira norte de Moçambique em Cabo Delgado e ao Tratado de Comércio e Amizade celebrado entre os dois governos. Constam também expedientes sobre a “Expedição ao Niassa”, os diferendos que se desenvolveram entre autoridades portuguesas de Moçambique e autoridades inglesas da África Central Britânica (Niassalândia, hoje Malawi) e sobre as lutas de resistência em Niassa.

DeGóis – The Portuguese National Academic CV Platform

Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) is the Portuguese authority responsible for the management of science and technology that deals with a large part of governmental funds to be allocated to researchers, in terms of grants and research projects financing. FCT owns DeGóis, a Portuguese academic CV platform derived from Lattes, the Brazilian system of curricula. Due to that, Degóis inherited almost all the assumptions adopted for that platform without any alignment with the international recommendations or standards and best practices about usability in use today. This fact introduced several problems concerning the interoperability with other national and international systems and kept away many potential users. A consequence of this was the decision to develop a new version of DeGóis, as part of the national project PTCRIS (Portuguese Current Research Information System). In this article we describe the path that led to the development of the new version of DeGóis, highlighting the objectives, motivations, expectations, options, results, limitations and future work.

Travelling Spirits, Localizing Roots: Transnationalisms, Home and Generation among Portuguese-Canadians in British Columbia

The objective of this article is to address the relation between transnationalism and intergenerational transformations of the notions of home and belonging. While doing an ethnographic research in Vancouver, British Columbia, it was possible to pinpoint the existence of two discourses about Portuguese-Canadian ethnicity. The first one, centered on the Holy Ghost festivals, (re)produces an idea of ‘azoreanness’, albeit fragmented along the islands of origin, and is linked to specific social networks that go from Vancouver to the Azores. It is essentially fostered by the migrants that arrived in the region after the 1950s and to whom the festas are a constant reminder of the emotional, symbolic and social ties with these Atlantic Islands. The second discourse is fostered by the children of these migrants, which moved away from the Holy Ghost festas and the Portuguese Catholic Parish, and is centered on a notion of portugueseness. This enactment of a national identity has to be interpreted in the context of Canadian multicultural politics and specific diasporic politics developed by the Portuguese authorities in the region. Simultaneously, this second discourse is also part and parcel of an intergenerational social mobility process. Based on this ethnographic case study, this article has two main arguments: on one hand, I want to show how home and homeland are fields of struggle for hegemonic representation in the public domain and and on the other hand how such debates have to be interpreted in relation to local and transnational political contexts and subjectivities.

In Search of a Shared Language: The Goan Diplomatic Protocol

This paper analyzes the Ceremonial de que uzão os VReys [Vice-Reys] quando escrevem aos Reys da Azia. The Ceremonial was a manual of etiquette that aimed to help the Viceroy in his contacts with local rulers such as the Persian and Mughal emperors, the princedoms of Kanara, Sonda, Tannor, and the Sardessais of Sawantvandi. It will be argued that by selecting specific words to address local rulers, inspired by Indo-Persian ideas of kingship and diplomacy, the Portuguese authorities used some elements of the local political culture to facilitate the negotiations between Goa and the Indian courts and develop a comprehensible image of the Portuguese Crown to most South Asian rulers.

A Seismic Risk Simulator for Iberia

Abstract Iberia is positioned close to the Eurasia–Africa plate boundary. The return period between events is long, due to the moderate plate convergence rate. In the past, many Iberian cities have been severely damaged by earthquakes. A large record of historic events such as the 1344, 1531, 1722, 1755, and 1859 earthquakes were mentioned in coeval writings. A new seismic risk simulator, SImulador de Risco sismiCO (SIRCO), is proposed to estimate the seismic risk in Portugal. This methodology could also be transversally applied to the Iberian Peninsula. Two historic events, that of 1722 in the Algarve ( M w ∼7) and that of 1531 in Lisbon ( M w ∼6), have been modeled using SIRCO. These results have been compared with the results obtained with other seismic risk estimator software (ERSTA) and with the isoseismal maps obtained from historical data. A direct comparison between models suggests that SIRCO performs efficiently in estimating seismic risk for a large part of the Iberian Peninsula. The calculation time is acceptable as, currently, the whole process takes approximately 18–20 min. It could therefore be used as an almost real‐time tool. This makes SIRCO a valuable tool for Portuguese authorities for planning, prevention, and response.

Coaching and Coach Education in Portugal

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of coaching and coaching education in Portugal. In Portugal, sport coaching is traditionally considered a part-time vocation. There has been a growing concern of the Portuguese authorities to increase the standards of quality for sport coaching. Following the 1974 revolution there were profound alterations in how coaching and coach education are regulated. The legislative changes in coach education occurred mainly due to the harmonisation of the qualifications in the European Union. More recently, the responsibility for coach certification has moved from the different sports federations to a national sports organization that has created four grades of coach education. Coach education in all grades requires a general and a specific curricular component as well as an internship supervised by an accredited mentor. The academic formation is now well regulated. However, some sport federations are resistant to this academic certification process because they fear losing their exclusive control of their coach certification.

O sertão e a geografia

Os sertões foram conquistados e ocupados aos poucos, com base em um conheci­mento dividido entre mito e realidade. Criou-se assim uma “geografia imaginária” sobre os ser­tões dos dois lados do Atlântico, que começou a ser superada com mais vigor no século XVIII. Até então, o interior do continente constituía um extenso vazio cartográfico que, a partir daí, começou a ser preenchido. Esse preenchi­mento somente foi possível, a exemplo do que ocorreu com a própria expansão pelos sertões, por uma estreita interpendência entre as ações da Coroa e as dos particulares.

Saved by the Civil War: African ‘Loyalists’ in the Portuguese Armed Forces and Angola's Transition to Independence

ABSTRACTThe article examines the trajectories of ‘loyal’ African troops in Angola before and after the demise of Portugal's authoritarian regime in 1974. It starts by placing the ‘Africanisation’ drive of the Portuguese counterinsurgency campaign in a historical perspective; it then explores the rocky transition from colonial rule to independence in the territory between April 1974 and November 1975, describing the course of action taken by the Portuguese authorities vis-à-vis their former collaborators in the security forces. A concluding section draws a comparison between the fate of Portugal's loyalists in Angola and the one experienced by similar groups in other ex-Portuguese colonies. The choice of Angola has the advantage of allowing us to look into a complex scenario in which the competition amongst rival nationalist groups, and a number of external factors, helped to produce a more ambiguous outcome for some of the empire's local collaborators than what might have been otherwise expected.

Climate change and pollutant emissions impacts on air quality in 2050 over Portugal

Changes in climate and air pollutant emissions will affect future air quality from global to urban scale. In this study, regional air quality simulations for historical and future periods are conducted, with CAMx version 6.0, to investigate the impacts of future climate and anthropogenic emission projections on air quality over Portugal and the Porto metropolitan area in 2050. The climate and the emission projections were derived from the Representative Concentrations Pathways (RCP8.5) scenario. Modelling results show that climate change will impact NO2, PM10 and O3 concentrations over Portugal. The NO2 and PM10 annual means will increase in Portugal and in the Porto municipality, and the maximum 8-hr daily O3 value will increase in the Porto suburban areas (approximately 5%) and decrease in the urban area (approximately 2%). When considering climate change and projected anthropogenic emissions, the NO2 annual mean decreases (approximately 50%); PM10 annual mean will increase in Portugal and decrease in Porto municipality (approximately 13%); however PM10 and O3 levels increase and extremes occur more often, surpassing the currently legislated annual limits and displaying a higher frequency of daily exceedances. This air quality degradation is likely to be related with the trends found for the 2046–2065 climate, which implies warmer and dryer conditions, and with the increase of background concentrations of ozone and particulate matter. The results demonstrate the need for Portuguese authorities and policy-makers to design and implement air quality management strategies that take climate change impacts into account.

On the Precipice of Ruin: Consumption, Sumptuary Laws, and Decadence in Early Modern Portuguese India

In the Indo-Portuguese context there is much that can be learned about the social order and mentalities through “sumptuary” discourses, and there is still much work to be done. Menezes’s 1715 polemic knowingly echoed the economic, social, and moral denunciations of Tavora and Cota in the 1680s—which, in turn, were evocative of both the language and objectives of pragmaticas in Portugal. Where sumptuary discourses in India diverged significantly from the rhetoric in Portugal was in relation to religion. Vigilias , and to a lesser extent the use of palanquins and andoras , came under scrutiny because, aside from the exorbitant spending and unnecessary public displays of wealth, they were also perceived by Portuguese authorities as native and even specifically “Hindu” practices that had been misguidedly adopted by crown vassals. Their dubious nature was couched in economic and moral terms, further evidence of Portuguese decadence and dangerously conflating the parameters that divided Catholics and Hindus. Although upholding the social hierarchy among the Portuguese themselves was essential to preserving order, maintaining religious boundaries was even more crucial for assuring colonial authority. The failure to do so revealed the cracks in the colonial edifice—the very difficulties of governing such a far-flung empire—and the widening gap between mere imperial rhetoric and the reality in Portuguese India.

Espiões, Mentiras e Livros. Literatura de viagens e (des)informação nos anos 30 ou: a vida e os escritos do Dr. Manfred Zapp

The name of Dr. Manfred Zapp became internationally known for having been accused of espionage and expelled from the United States in 1941, when he was director of the Nazi news agency Transocean News Service in New York. Before 1941 Zapp had been in Portugal, where he held positions at German institutions closely related to the German legation in Lisbon; after 1945 there is evidence that he was still connected to the Portuguese authorities providing information services and public relations to the Salazar regime. Drawing on the life and writings of this cosmopolitan and well-travelled character the essay seeks to reflect on the centrality of politics to the twentieth century world and on the continuities that the labyrin thine bio- bibliographical path of Zapp unveils.

Diplomacia transfronteriza en tiempos de revolución: el Alto Río Negro iberoamericano, 1815-1820

This article studies the impacts of the independence war in the regional border of the High Negro River, taking as it’s object of analysis the existing multiples connections between the inhabitants of both sides of the imaginary boundary line. From July 1817, the independence war in Venezuela changed the coordinates: the struggles between the republican patriots and those obedient to the King (Realistas), faithful to the restoration of the Spanish monarchy of Fernando VII, managed the great border region, and influenced the political, social and local dynamics, mainly the existing cross-border relations between both, impacted the ordinary life of the local population and affected the diplomacy between the Portuguese and Spanish American authorities, those faithful to the King (Realistas) and patriots.

AIRPORT PLANNING AND REGIONAL PLANNING PROCESSES: THE CASE OF THE NEW AIRPORT OF LISBON

The processes of airport planning and location choice for a new airport take usually a long time to develop and mature. During this time various changes usually occur. Generally these changes comprehend technological changes, changes in environmental legislation, usually becoming more restrictive, changes in the processes and paradigms of territorial planning, to name a few. In regions with high urban growth rates, the processes of sprawl and spatial growth could result in the abandonment of some initial potential airport locations. The main purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between the planning process of the New Lisbon Airport (NLA) and the several territorial (both regional and local) and sectorial (transportation and road) planning instruments that were in place during the several iterations of this airport planning process. At the end of the 1960s decade, the Portuguese authorities began to consider the need to plan for a new airport to replace the existing Portela Airport. In this process which took place over several decades a series of possible locations were analyzed with different depth levels. Several of these locations were over time invalidated for reasons arising from the urban expansion that took place in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA). Others were invalidated for environmental reasons, due to changes in the environmental legislation during this period of four decades. This paper analyses the various planning instruments that were in place during this period and their relationship with the planning process of NAL.

Comercio, conflictos y alianzas en la frontera luso-española: Capitanía de Río Negro y provincia de Maynas, 1780-1820

In the colonial period, the Spanish politics towards the American frontiers was oriented not only to recognition and military protection of the borders, but also to control trade in the regions. During the demarcation of the boundaries in the 18th Century, the smuggling in the borders degenerated in various conflicts between the Spanish and Portuguese authorities. However, illegal trade played an important role en la satisfaction of the provisions in the zone, making possible the establishment of local alliances. This article addresses these questions taking as object the study the border Luso-Spanish in the Amazon Valley, between captaincy of Negro River and the province of Maynas, 1780-1820.

Police shootings against civilians in Portugal: Contextual, forensic medical and judicial characterization

The aim of this study was to analyse the circumstances, the forensic assessment and the legal assessment of police shootings of civilians, according to the severity of the victim's injuries. Sixty-nine cases tried in Portuguese criminal courts were analysed. Of the 32 cases that resulted in death, 16 were on the public thoroughfare and 13 were in the victim's vehicle or in third-party vehicles. The majority of the lethal cases occurred when the region of the body hit was the thorax/abdomen. The firearm most frequently used was a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol. In cases resulting in death police officers involved were convicted whilst those involved in non-lethal cases were acquitted. The results of this study can be taken into account by Portuguese authorities for the implementation of policies that will allow the restriction of firearms use by police officers to situations of imminent danger of death or serious injury and that will make it possible to avoid shooting at fleeing civilians.

‘THE TIME OF THE LEAFLET’: PAMPHLETS AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE UPA (NORTHERN ANGOLA, AROUND 1961)

ABSTRACTIn March 1961, war broke out in Northern Angola. The Portuguese authorities attributed the violence to the UPA – a nationalist movement led by Northern Angolan immigrants resident in Congo. The movement's leadership tried to keep in contact with its (potential) followers in Northern Angola by various means, pamphlets being one of the most important. Written for a local audience, these pamphlets provide an insight into the inner lines of communication – and internal hierarchies – of the nationalist movement. By using Darnton's ‘communication circuit’ model, this article investigates the processes of writing, distributing and reading the pamphlets and analyses their generic characteristics, and their position in a tradition of regional popular literacy. In so doing, an interpretation is offered of the social history of the pamphlets: they are treated as a historical subject in their own right. While they can be read as anti-colonial tracts, it is shown that the pamphlets' main concern is to establish the mandate of a leadership in exile over a constituency in Northern Angola.

Engendering West Central African History: The Role of Urban Women in Benguela in the Nineteenth Century

AbstractThis study stresses the role of common women in the history of Benguela in the nineteenth century. I emphasize the importance of parish records to unveil sectors of the society that tend to be invisible in the history of Angola, such as farmers, poor women who acted as vendors in the urban centers, and particularly, enslaved women. While some attention has been paid to merchant women, the so-calleddonas, and on political leaders, particularly Queen Nzinga, the same cannot be said about the poor and the enslaved women. Parish records allow us to access bits of information on the lives of women who did not leave written records and did not gain attention from the Portuguese authorities.

Reforming the Legal and Institutional Framework for the Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Claims in Portugal

This paper discusses the recent major reforms in the area of civil and commercial claims enforcement undertaken by the Portuguese authorities in the context of the IMF/EU-supported adjustment program. The economic literature has long recognized that slow claims enforcement affects economic growth, foreign direct investment, credit and labor markets, and firm size. The Portuguese authorities together with IMF/EU staff deployed a novel approach that has focused on incentives tackling weaknesses in the enforcement process with the aim of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of claims enforcement and resolving court backlogs. The paper finds impressive quantifiable changes affecting, in particular, court backlog reduction, court processing speed, and private debt recovery. The economic literature suggests that this will impact positively on the payment culture and overall growth, even if such impact cannot be determined at this stage.