Sapientia
Repositório Científico da UAlg
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Analyzing economic and social inequalities in housing: a visual storytelling case study in Portugal
Publication . Crespo, Afonso; Barateiro, José; Cardoso, Elsa
Housing inequalities remain a major challenge for contemporary urban governance, as they combine economic, social, spatial, and demographic dynamics that are difficult to capture through single indicators. This paper develops a data-driven assessment of housing inequalities in Portugal between 2015 and 2025, drawing on official national and European statistics and applying a Business Intelligence (BI) and urban analytics framework oriented towards policy monitoring. Official data from Statistics Portugal and Eurostat are integrated through an analytical pipeline including automated extraction via public APIs, data enrichment, and visual analytics. The workflow follows a CRISP-DM-inspired structure, creating a set of normalized indicators to capture different dimensions of housing conditions. The results point to a structurally polarized housing market. Housing valuations increased across all regions, but at uneven rates, reinforcing territorial disparities rather than convergence. Metropolitan and tourism-oriented regions experienced faster appreciation and indirect effects, while year-over-year growth in completed dwellings slowed after 2021–2022, indicating an uneven supply response. Beyond its empirical findings, the primary contribution of this study lies in demonstrating how BI and data science methodologies can be operationalized to monitor housing inequalities using official statistics. The proposed framework is replicable and can be adapted to other territorial and policy contexts.
Microalgae protein: a comparison between spray-dryed and frozen paste cells
Publication . Moreira, Catarina; Nunes, Rafaela; Kholany, Mariam; Pereira, Hugo; Teixeira, José A.; Ferreira-Santos, Pedro; Rocha, Cristina M.R.
The need for sustainable protein substitutes is being driven by the growing global population. Because of their high protein content and environmental sustainability, microalgae are a viable source. In this study, proteins extracted from frozen paste and spray-dried biomass from Nannochloropsis oceanica and Tetraselmis chui were studied. High-pressure homogenization, followed by ultrafiltration (non-purified, NPS) and ammonium sulfate precipitation (purified, PS), was used to process the protein extracts. PS extracts showed higher protein concentrations, reaching approximately three-fold higher levels than NPS in spray-dried N. oceanica and about 2.7-fold higher in frozen paste samples, while frozen paste T. chui exhibited a 2.6-fold increase. Spectroscopic and chromatographic analyses revealed that frozen paste extracts preserved a greater proportion of native protein structures and displayed higher hydrophobic site exposure, whereas spraydrying and purification reduced α-helix content and promoted protein aggregation. Despite their lower protein concentration, frozen paste NPS extracts exhibited more favorable structural characteristics that may support improved techno-functional performance. These results highlight the importance of selecting processing conditions based on intended applications. Future food formulations could benefit greatly from the use of microalgal proteins, especially those derived from frozen biomass, as adaptable and sustainable ingredients.
The antithyroid drug methimazole as an emerging aquatic contaminant: physiological and reproductive disruption in female goldfish (Carassius auratus) and partial mitigation by thyroxine
Publication . Abdollahpour, Hamed; Karimzadeh, Milad; Jafari Pastaki, Naghmeh; Zamani, Hosseinali
Thyroxine (T4), a key thyroid hormone, plays a crucial role in regulating growth, metabolism, and reproduction in fish, whereas methimazole (MMI), a thyroid peroxidase inhibitor, can disrupt these processes by inducing hypothyroidism. This study investigates thyroid-modulating compounds' physiological and reproductive effects on the growth and development of mature female goldfish (Carassius auratus). A total of 240 adult female goldfish were divided into four treatment groups: control (coconut oil), T4, MMI, and T4+MMI (combined). The fish were acclimatized for four weeks before receiving injections of the respective compounds. Growth performance, blood biochemistry, thyroid hormone (THs) levels, oocyte development, and liver histology were evaluated over a 28-day experimental period. Results indicated significant differences in growth indices, with the T4 group showing the highest weight gain, specific growth rates, and lowest feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05), while the MMI group exhibited the lowest growth parameters. Blood glucose, triglyceride, and total protein levels were significantly elevated in the T4-treated group, whereas cholesterol was reduced (P < 0.05). Plasma T3 and T4, were highest in the T4 group and lowest in the MMI group. Histological analysis revealed advanced oocyte maturation in the T4 group, with a higher proportion of oocytes at the O4 stage, while the MMI group showed delayed development, with most oocytes remaining at the O2 stage. The T4+MMI group exhibited intermediate effects, with some improvement in oocyte development relative to the MMI group. Hepatic histopathology demonstrated normal liver structure in the control and T4 groups, while severe hepatic alterations, including necrosis and vacuolation, were observed in the MMI group. The T4+MMI group displayed intermediate liver damage. These findings demonstrate that the pharmaceutical methimazole, an emerging aquatic contaminant, acts as a potent endocrine disruptor, inducing hypothyroidism that severely impairs growth, metabolic homeostasis, and reproductive maturation in fish. The partial mitigation by thyroxine suggests potential complex interactions in environments contaminated with multiple bioactive compounds. This study underscores the significant ecological risk of antithyroid drugs in aquatic ecosystems and contributes critical data for environ mental risk assessment.
Rapid growth in a Neandertal infant from Amud Cave in Israel
Publication . Been, Ella; Hovers, Erella; Rak, Yoel; Cabec, Adeline Le; Dean, Christopher; Barash, Alon
Neandertal infants are rarely found, with only a few individuals documented in the literature. Therefore, their growth and development remain poorly understood. Amud 7 is the articulated skeleton of an infant Neandertal discovered in Amud Cave, northern Israel.1,2 The cave was excavated in the 1960s1 and the 1990s2–11 and has yielded several human remains with distinct Neandertal affinities,1,9–14 as well as Middle Paleolithic stone tool assemblages,15–21 dated to approximately 51–56 thousand years old.22,23 Nearly 111 skeletal pieces of Amud 7 were found in situ, of which only the cranial bones were thoroughly described.24–27 It is the most complete Neandertal infant assigned to the 6- to 14-month age range. As such, it plays a significant role in our understanding of Neandertal paleobiology. The skeleton exhibits distinct Neandertal affinities in both cranial and postcranial remains, and its morphological features shed light on Neandertal phylogeny, growth, and development. Most notably, the infant exhibits signs of unusually rapid somatic growth, suggesting that Neandertals had a distinct developmental strategy in early life. Other rare Neandertal infants show the same pattern of accelerated early somatic and endocranial growth, suggesting a consistent difference in how our evolutionary relatives developed. Simultaneously supporting faster somatic growth and brain development would have resulted in high energetic demands. These findings emphasize the diversity of developmental strategies among hominin species and demonstrate that Neandertals might have followed a different developmental path, distinguishing them from H. sapiens.
Technostress's impact on well-being and turnover intent: comparing mediation and network analysis
Publication . Pinheirinho Coelho, Pedro; Antunes, João Paulo; Neves de Jesus, Saúl
Purpose – As information technology becomes more ubiquitous in the workplace, it becomes increasingly important to understand how employees’ experiences with these technologies impact their well-being and turnover intention. Technostress, the inability to relate to new technologiesin a positive way, has been studied as a cause of turnover, but these studies tend to ignore the possibility of turnover intention also leading to heightened feelings of technostress. Design/methodology/approach – The present study aimed to assess the relationship between technostress, well-being and turnover intent (TI) among a sample of 428 workers, through both a top-down (mediation) and a bottom-up (network analysis) methodology. Findings –Results coincided with previous models ofturnover, indicating that turnoverintention usually results from reduced workplace well-being, originating from technostress. Yet, network analysis showed that TI had a significant relationship with both technostress and well-being, indicating that a positive feedback loop might be present in this process. The results highlight the importance of constant training in information technology to maintain worker well-being and reduce turnover. Originality/value – This is the first paper to compare mediation with network analysis within TI. Beyond identifying cyclical effects, the paper identifies how different elements of technostress affect TI and the pathways through which this association is established.