REPOSITÓRIO P.PORTO
Repositório Científico do Politécnico do Porto
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The face of low back pain: A preliminary method for quantifying pain-related facial expressions
Publication . Parolini, Franciele; Pires, Ricardo; Santos, Sara Dereste dos; Goethel, Márcio F.; Becker, Klaus; Vilas-Boas, João Paulo; Santos, Rubim; Ervilha, Ulysses F.; Rubim Silva Santos, Manuel; Carvalho Santos Parolini, Franciele
Facial expressions of pain are essential for pain assessment, yet subjective pain reports often vary between sexes. Traditional self-report measures are prone to bias, and objective methods are needed for more reliable pain evaluation. To develop and validate a subjectivity-free automated tool to assess acute low back pain using facial expressions recorded during a functional spinal extension task. Thirty healthy adults, aged 18–40 years. Methods: Participants received intramuscular injections of hypertonic (pain) and isotonic (placebo) saline in the lumbar region during separate sessions. Facial expressions were video-recorded during a submaximal lumbar extension task and analyzed using a custom software based on Haar Cascade and Local Binary Pattern Histogram algorithms, which are techniques that do not require neither training data nor subjective labeling, contrary to what happens in deep learning solutions. The tool successfully detected significant differences in facial expressions between pain, placebo, and pain-free conditions (p < 0.001). Test–retest reliability was good (ICC = 0.85). While both sexes showed similar facial expression patterns during pain, males reported higher pain scores on the numeric rating scale (p < 0.01). Pain significantly reduced steadiness of force in both sexes. The automated tool objectively quantified facial expressions associated with acute low back pain and revealed sex-related differences in subjective pain perception. This multimodal approach integrating expression analysis, physical performance, and self-report may enhance the accuracy of pain assessment in physiotherapy settings.
Sustentabilidade, Governação Colaborativa e Iniciativas Público-Privadas
Publication . Monteiro de Oliveira, Antonio; Monteiro, Sofia
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Sustainability and Ethics in Integrated Annual Reports – A Preliminary Study
Publication . Alves, Ricardo; Monteiro de Oliveira, Antonio; Borges, Aaa
Purpose: The importance of sustainability (De Villiers et al, 2022), as well as the way organizations report on issues related to their social performance (Ibáñez-Forés et al, 2023), has been increasing (De Villiers, et al, 2022; 2024; Şahin & Çankaya, 2020).
This increase, especially in large European companies (Lock & Seele, 2016; Moneva et al, 2023; Tarquinio et al, 2018), is related to different objectives, among which we can highlight: legal obligation (Camilleri, 2022), the relationship between ethics, sustainability and financial performance (Kim et al, 2023; Thuy et al, 2021), or organizational reputation (Odriozola et al, 2017).
Nevertheless, different authors (e.g., Elving, 2013; Greenwood & Van Buren, 2013; García-Sánchez et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2023) have noted problems of lack of trust on the part of stakeholders with regard to the information disclosed (Nguyen et al., 2023), which they refer to as CSR-Scepticism and Green-Scepticism), and the credibility of this information is necessary for business development (Moggi, 2023).
Within the scope of this analysis, behaviors and the reporting of sustainability and ethics are particularly relevant. Aguinis & Glavas (2019) point out that the most common method used to focus on the company and the analysis of its analytical results, but today it focuses on individual analysis (Kim et al., 2023; Marti et al., 2023; Zhao et al., 2023) and it is this reporting process that we propose to analyze.
This analysis aims to contribute to the debate and, increasing prominence, of Sustainability and Ethics in the Integrated Annual Reports of large European companies.
Methodology: We adopt post-positivism as philosophical ground and a quantitative approach. In data collection, we used systematic and individual documentary observation. The sample collected consists of 250 Integrated Reports from 25 companies over the period from 2013 to 2022 – 10 years. The 25 companies, 5 per country, were selected based on the Market Capitalization – national MarketCap, at the date the data was obtained. We selected 5 countries: Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom and as a MarketCap proxy the main national indices: DAX 40, CAC 40, FTSE MIB, PSI 20 and FTSE 100 respectively. To compute the multiple regression models, we used STATA/SE 13.1.
Results: The growing importance of Sustainability and Ethics references for the period under analysis is statistically significant. There is also statistically significant evidence regarding the Corporate Governance effect, the behavior of different countries, different sectors and their annual evolution.
Research limitations: From an empirical point of view, the sample was limited to the 5 largest companies from 5 European countries, which limits the generalization of behavior. As this is a preliminary study, more must be carried out.
Originality: This analysis is innovative in providing new insights into Sustainability and Ethics reporting in the Integrated Annual Reports of large European companies.
Urbex Arte – a comodificação do abandono
Publication . Monteiro de Oliveira, Antonio; Castedo, Ilda
A Urbex Arte é por nós entendida como a evolução lógica do ato ilegal de invasão de edifícios abandonados que caracteriza a definição de Urbex. Na literatura, este ato de invasão ilegal é a característica fundamental da definição e garante o anonimato dos participantes (e.g. Offenstadt, 2019, Rojon, 2014; Stones, 2016). A partir de uma metodologia interdisciplinar baseada na Teoria Fundamentada definida por Glaser & Strauss (1967) e Strauss & Corbin (1990), assente no eixo Construtivista definido por Charmaz (2006; 2009), constatamos que, hoje, os participantes querem ser reconhecidos. Não só se identificam, como comercializam a prática e os locais identificados através da curadoria, da filmagem, da fotografia e da instalação. Destacamos, entre outros, os trabalhos de Bob Thissen, Gina Soden, Michael Schwan, Nicolas Offenstadt e Sarah Rojon. Estes espaços inabitados readquirem por esta via valor económico e desta reflexão emerge a questão de entender o fenómeno, que de hobbie (Rojon, 2014) se transforma em negócio. Se o Urbex subverte as hierarquias e estruturas de poder que criam as normas da sociedade, a Urbex Arte será tendencialmente legalizada, alinhando-se com o marketing, a publicidade e as instituições de arte (museus, galerias e marchands d’art) orientadas para o lucro que possibilita e potencia este fenómeno (Gehman & Soubliere, 2017), mas dissociada dos processos dinâmicos socioculturais que estiveram na sua origem. Paralelamente, interessa perceber o valor económico criado e, de um modo particular, como é que os interesses de Bem Público e Vizinhança Urbana são afetados por esta readquirida funcionalidade (Sharp, Pollock & Paddison, 2005).
Impacto das barreiras normativas e regulamentos na criação de novas organizações
Publication . Monteiro de Oliveira, Antonio; Lima Rua, Orlando
O principal objetivo deste estudo é avaliar o impacto das barreiras normativas e
regulamentares que se interpõem no processo que decorre entre a intenção e a ação
empreendedora e que condicionam a criação de novas organizações.
Assumimos uma abordagem pós-positivista e um método de pesquisa de
levantamento, do qual emergiram as hipóteses de investigação que possibilitam
enquadrar o objetivo proposto. Procedeu-se assim a um estudo empírico
fundamentado na complementaridade entre metodologias de investigação
qualitativa e quantitativa.
Na recolha de dados utilizou-se um questionário a partir da base de dados da
Associação Nacional de Jovens Empresários (ANJE) composta por 569 potenciais
empreendedores, com intenção empreendedora expressa, construindo-se uma
amostra longitudinal (1985 a 2006) composta por 323 observações (56.8% do total).
Através da aplicação do método CHAID – Chi-square Automatic Indentificator
Detector, concluiu-se que 69% dos inquiridos não criaram qualquer tipo de
organização, sendo que destes 2.2% para o Grupo 1 e 1.1% para o Grupo 2 não o
fazem alegando barreiras normativas e regulamentares. Estas conclusões são
significativamente distintas em função, por um lado, do envolvimento do indivíduo
no processo e, por outro, da maior ou menor facilidade de acesso a recursos
financeiros.