Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2025-03"
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- Identification of depressing tweets using natural language processing and machine learning: application of grey relational gradesPublication . Ullah, Wusat; Oliveira-Silva, Patrícia; Nawaz, Muhammad; Zulqarnain, Rana Muhammad; Siddique, Imran; Sallah, MohammedDepression is a global public health concern that affects millions of people worldwide. Social media platforms, where individuals connect and share personal data, have emerged as potential sources for mental health detection. This study explored the use of computational models to identify individuals with depression based on Twitter posts. We retrieved and cleaned 1.6 million tweets using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques for feature extraction. The Grey Relational Grade (GRG) technique was applied to investigate the association between likes and shares of Twitter posts. Furthermore, the significant values of GRG in both cases, when data is limited and when data is large, represent that GRG provides better results at large data sets. The equal distri bution and selection approach (EDSA) can extract a small sample to describe the large data set and apply the GRG technique. Subsequently, we applied various machine learning models to classify user tweets into "stressed" or "not stressed" categories. These models achieved promising results, demonstrating high accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. Specifically, Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine, XGBoost Classifier, and Random Forest Classifier yielded accuracies of 96, 95, 96, and 97%, respectively. These findings suggest the potential of social media data and computational models for mental health detection, thus opening avenues for further research and development.
- More than words: conceptualizing narrative computational thinking based on a multicase studyPublication . Schlauch, Michael; Sylla, Cristina; Gil, MaitêThis paper presents an investigation that compares and analyzes the interactions of three groups of pre-and-primary school children with three different storytelling systems. We identify emerging patterns through which they engaged in what we refer to as narrative computational thinking. The latter describes broadened aspects of narrative literacy practices that are linked to computational thinking. By applying a multicase study approach and through various vignettes, we illustrate how children applied computational thinking to understand and influence the narrative possibilities offered by the different tools. Our results illustrate circumstances under which digital storytelling activities provide a favorable basis for narrative computational thinking, and that when computational thinking functions as a scaffold for story creation, it encourages a blend of creativity and computational thinking, providing a compelling approach to introducing emerging digital literacies to young children in a narrative context.
- Nutritional properties, antioxidant activity, and consumer acceptability of sourdough bread supplemented with marine algae powder using selected traditional startersPublication . Boujamaai, Mounir EL; Brahimi, Imane; Benyamane, Meryem; Belasla, Nouhaila; Rocha, João Miguel; Errachidi, Faouzi; Zinedine, AbdellahThis study aimed at producing a sourdough bread supplemented with two marine algae powders of Ulva lactuca and Gelidium corneum at 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10% (w/w, g/100 g DW) at the laboratory scale using mixed starters prepared with three lactic acid bacteria (LAB) combinations (LCS1, LCS2, and LCS3). The phytochemical composition, nutritional value, organoleptic properties, and acceptability of algae bread by consumers were then assessed. Good results were obtained for enriched bread with Gelidium at 2.5% (GB1) with a reducing sugar of 0.77 ± 0.1%, total sugar of 36.90 ± 3.15, and protein content of 8.3 ± 0.2%. While total phenolic content was 8.32 ± 1.20 mg GAE/g DW, total flavonoids was 225.00 ± 11.31 mgQE/g DW, and the antioxidant activity ranged from 71.05 ± 3.71 to 82.93 ± 3.61%. Regarding enriched bread with Ulva at 10% (UB12), reducing sugar was 0.48 ± 0.03%, total sugar was 45.45 ± 5.75%, and protein content was 3.7 ± 0.07%. The total phenolic content value was 6.45 ± 1.19 mg GAE/g DW, total flavonoids was 191.20 ± 12.52 mgQE/g DW, while the antioxidant activity values ranged from 52.06 ± 6.21 to 80.51 ± 1.72%. Microbiological analysis showed that all pathogenic bacteria were not detected in algae bread. The consumer acceptability test revealed that bread enriched at the level of 10% of algae powder was significant for the five selected criteria (general appearance, crumb color, odor, taste, and texture). Traditional bread supplemented with Gelidium powder at 2.5% and Ulva powder at 10%, prepared with combined sourdough (LCS1), showed good antioxidant and nutritional properties and consumer acceptance.
- Athletes' perspective on parental involvement, motivation, and performance throughout a football seasonPublication . Morais, Catarina; Gomes, A. Rui; Teixeira, Marco; Branco, CatarinaProblem Statement: Athletes’ goal orientation is a widely-studied topic in sports because motivation significantly influences sport participation and overall development. According to Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), athletes adopt either a task/mastery orientation – where success is determined by continuous development – or an ego orientation, where success is determined by comparison to others’ performance. These orientations impact athletes’ effort, perseverance and, ultimately, their performance. However, goal orientation is not only intrinsic; it can also be shaped by parental behaviors and involvement in sports. The present study tests the assumption that athletes’ perception of parental involvement affects their goal achievement orientation, which, in turn, predicts their performance. Approach: A total of 153 young athletes competing at elite levels were followed across a football season. At Time 1 (T1), participants completed a questionnaire assessing their parents’ involvement in sport (for both mothers and fathers), their own goal achievement orientation, and their perceived performance. At Time 2 (T2), the final stage of the season, they again completed a measure of perception of performance. Additionally, objective performance data were collected by researchers at both T1 and T2. Results and Conclusions: The results revealed that athletes’ perceptions of ´parental involvement can influence their goal orientations – specifically, the involvement of their fathers, but not mothers. This, in turn, affects their perceptions of performance, though it does not have an impact on actual (objective) performance. In other words, the more athletes perceive their fathers to be involved in their sport, the stronger their mastery orientation, which contributes to a more positive perception of performance at T1 and consequently T2.
- COVID-19 through Bolsonaro's speech: old sources for a new diseasePublication . Siqueira, Maity; Tota, Felippe; Ferrari, Caroline Girardi; Duarte Jr., Sergio; Lipert, Luiz Felipe; Garcia, FernandaIn the context of Brazil's alarming COVID-19 death toll, metaphors in the discourse of former President Jair Bolsonaro seemed to minimize the magnitude of the pandemic scenario. Our goal is to analyse his use of figurative language in response to the widespread transmission of the virus in Brazil. We departed from the hypothesis that war, religion, and health mappings would be plentiful in Bolsonaro’s speeches, considering his military past, religious beliefs, and the current pandemic. Our corpus consists of excerpts from Bolsonaro’s public speeches, ranging from March 10th, the day the subject started to be addressed on the government website, to mid-August 2020, when Brazil surpassed 100,000 deaths. Bolsonaro's metaphorical utterances regarding COVID-19 were identified using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group, 2007). In our results, WAR, a common source domain in politics, was one of the most used ones by Bolsonaro to talk about COVID-19 and its consequences. Linguistic instantiations of health and religious source domains were not frequent. Instead, religious beliefs came up as a frame that often underlies his speech. Moreover, results point to the possibility that Bolsonaro's speeches instantiate the Strict Father Model (Lakoff, 1996; 2004), a framework that describes conservative politics in the US.
- The volatility puzzle of the beta anomalyPublication . Barroso, Pedro; Detzel, Andrew; Maio, PauloThis paper shows that leading theories of the beta anomaly fail to explain the anomaly's conditional performance. Abnormal returns and Sharpe ratios of betting-against-beta (BAB) factors rise following months with below-median realized volatility, even controlling for mispricing, limits to arbitrage, lottery preferences, analyst disagreement, and sentiment. Moreover, the leverage constraints theory counterfactually predicts that market and BAB Sharpe ratios increase with volatility. We further show that institutional investors shift their demand from high- to low-beta stocks as volatility increases, and the resulting price impact is sufficient to explain the difference in abnormal BAB returns between high- and low-volatility states.
- Inclusão, sucesso e qualidade: desafios para a ação do conselho pedagógicoPublication . Oliveira, António
- A digital tool for self-reporting cardiovascular risk factors: the RADICAL studyPublication . Santos, José Ferreira; Castela, Inês; Madeira, Sara Gamboa; Furtado, Sofia; Pereira, Hugo Vieira; Teixeira, Diana; Dores, HélderAims: Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide. Risk stratification and early interventions are essential to overcome this reality. The RADICAL Study (Risk Assessment via Digital Input for Cardiovascular And Lifestyle Factors) aimed to evaluate the prevalence of self-reported cardiovascular risk factors in individuals without known cardiovascular disease using a digital tool. Methods and results: A digital self-reported cardiovascular risk stratification tool, comprising 23 questions about classical and lifestyle cardiovascular risk factors, was completed by 4149 individuals aged 40–69 years (median age 53.0 [47.0; 60.0] years; 78 % women). Among the cardiovascular risk factors, 40.9 % reported hypercholesterolemia, 26.8 % hypertension, 17.3 % smoking, 5.8 % diabetes, 58.4 % physical inactivity, 19.4 % obesity, 33.7 % sleep less than 7 h/night, and 12.1 % had composite dietary risk factors. Most of the participants (89.9 %) referred having at least one of the eight cardiovascular risk factors. Women had 27 % higher odds of having at least one cardiovascular risk factor compared to men (OR = 1.27, 95 % CI [1.00, 1.60]). Participants aged 50–59 years also had higher odds of having at least one CV risk factor compared to those aged 40–49 years (OR = 1.35, 95 % CI [1.07, 1.70]). Conclusion: The RADICAL Study reveals a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in adults without known cardiovascular disease. Beyond the relevance of traditional risk factors, such as hypercholesterolemia and hypertension, the results regarding physical activity, dietary and sleeping habits are concerning. A self-reported cardiovascular risk identification digital tool could be feasible and help to improve cardiovascular prevention.
- The ECB’s APP’s impact on non-financial firms’ cost of borrowing and debt choicePublication . Kanda, Joana F.; Pinto, João M.; Silva, Beatriz P.We examine the impact of the ECB’s asset purchase programmes on euro area non-financial firms’ cost of borrowing and their choice between corporate bonds and syndicated loans. Our findings indicate that the Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP) reduced spreads for both eligible and non-eligible corporate bonds, and that ECB purchases of covered bonds positively affected corporate bond spreads. The CSPP also compressed spreads across all syndicated loans, irrespective of eligibility. We find evidence supporting a “cost of borrowing channel” for covered bonds under the first programme and asset-backed securities, indicating that syndicated loan spreads reflect banks’ borrowing costs in the bond market. Additionally, our results reveal that the CSPP significantly influenced firms’ debt financing choices, with these effects being more pronounced for non-switchers.
- Unlocking essential oils’ potential as sustainable food additives: current state and future perspectives for industrial applicationsPublication . Bautista-Hernández, Israel; Gómez-García, Ricardo; Martínez-Ávila, Guillermo Cristian Guadalupe; Medina-Herrera, Nancy; González-Hernández, María DoloresEssential oils (EOs) comprise a relevant bioactive fraction from diverse plant sources and vegetable tissues. Their beneficial properties have been mainly related to the presence of bioactive molecules such as monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, among others, with beneficial properties against critical issues in the food industry that could promote sustainable production beyond organoleptic boosters. This review collects up-to-date information concerning EOs and their bioactive applications in the food field. In addition, a bibliometric analysis was applied to scientific and intellectual property databases to elucidate the current technological trends for EOs in the food sector. Thus, the current information on the evaluation of EOs in food systems has demonstrated that their application guarantees safe and high-quality foods, as they have the potential to partially replace some of the conventional synthetic antioxidants and antimicrobial agents according to sustainable trends.