Paulo Ferreira

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence hold the potential of significantly augmenting human cognitive and physical performance, giving light-speed and extreme accuracy to human systems and processes, contributing to overcome some of the most complex challenges that humankind faces nowadays. But intelligent technologies also pose high risks to human safety, autonomy and dignity and they can also negatively impact the environment affecting and even threatening the planet’s sustainability and the life of other species. By questioning the ontological status of intelligent tools, this book analyzes their level of efficiency and ethical performance, across distinct domains and settings, highlighting the role of standardisation, certification and governance in the production and deployment of beneficial intelligent systems. The present book is a fundamental reading both to academia and industry, i.e. to all those involved in the design, production and safe and ethical deployment of intelligent technologies.

The European Project Semester (EPS), offered by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), is a capstone programme designed for undergraduate students in engineering, product design, and business. EPS@ISEP fosters project-based learning, promotes multicultural and interdisciplinary teamwork, and ethics- and sustainability-driven design. This study applies Natural Language Processing techniques, specifically text mining, to analyse project papers produced by EPS@ISEP teams. The proposed method aims to identify evidence of ethical concerns within EPS@ISEP projects. An innovative keyword mapping approach is introduced that first defines and refines a list of ethics-related keywords through prompt engineering. This enriched list of keywords is then used to systematically map the content of project papers. The findings indicate that the EPS@ISEP robotics project papers analysed demonstrate awareness of ethical considerations and actively incorporate them into design processes. The method presented is adaptable to various application areas, such as monitoring compliance with responsible innovation or sustainability policies.

Objetivou-se com este estudo avaliar o impacto de três estratégias de suplementação na fase de recria de novilhas criadas a pasto durante as águas. O objetivo foi determinar a influência dessas dietas no ganho de peso e na eficiência alimentar em sistemas extensivos. O experimento foi conduzido na forma de parcelas subdivididas no tempo 4x3. As parcelas foram constituídas dos dias de experimentação (0, 15, 30 e 45 dias) e as subparcelas por três suplementações (Dieta Total (DT), Blond 200 (BD) e Mineral UP (MU)), com 18 blocos. Não houve interação entre os dias de experimentação e os tipos de suplementação para o ganho de peso dos animais, mas houve para o ganho de peso médio diário (GMD). Houve ajuste quadrático para o peso das novilhas e para o GMD. Os períodos estudados indicaram redução do GMD em torno dos 30 dias de suplementação. As novilhas suplementadas com DT apresentaram o melhor desempenho, iniciando com 258,94 kg e atingindo 303,72 kg após 45 dias, com um ganho total de 44,78 kg e GMD de 0,995 kg/dia. No tratamento MU, os animais passaram de 262,66 kg para 293,33 kg, resultando em um ganho de 30,67 kg e um GMD de 0,682 kg/dia. Já as novilhas do tratamento BD começaram com 256,16 kg e finalizaram com 281,44 kg, totalizando um ganho de 25,28 kg e um GMD de 0,562 kg/dia. Além dos parâmetros de peso, analisaram-se os scores de fezes e de cocho. A DT apresentou escore de fezes de 3,02, mais próximo do ideal, enquanto BD e MU obtiveram valores de 2,90 e 2,91, respectivamente. Quanto ao score de cocho, DT registrou 2,01, indicando ingestão completa e maior saciedade, ao passo que BD e MU apresentaram scores mais altos (2,69 e 2,66), sugerindo menor eficiência na ingestão alimentar. Os resultados indicam que a suplementação com Dieta Total foi a mais eficaz para otimizar o ganho de peso. Já os tratamentos BD e MU, apesar de apresentarem pontos positivos, não proporcionaram o mesmo nível de desempenho.

In 1923, Sir Arthur Keith proposed that many common back problems are due to the stresses caused by our evolutionarily novel form of locomotion, bipedalism. In this article, we introduce an updated version of Keith’s hypothesis with a focus on acquired spinal conditions. We begin by outlining the main ways in which the human spine differs from those of our closest living relatives, the great apes. We then review evidence suggesting there is a link between spinal and vertebral shape on the one hand and acquired spinal conditions on the other. Next, we discuss recent studies that not only indicate that two common acquired spinal conditions—intervertebral disc herniation and spondylolysis—are associated with vertebral shape, but also suggest that the pathology-prone vertebral shapes can be understood in terms of the shift from quadrupedalism to bipedalism in the course of human evolution. Subsequently, we place the aforementioned findings under an umbrella hypothesis, which we call the “Evolutionary Shape Hypothesis.” This hypothesis contends that individuals differ in their propensity to develop different acquired spinal conditions because of differences in vertebral shape that relate to the evolutionary history of our species. We end the article with some possible directions for future research.

The aim of this work is to establish a relationship between the notion of supplement, particularly that of “dangerous supplement”, and the passion for botany in Rousseau. For that, I will take as a guide the interpretations of Jacques Derrida, Alain Grosrichard and Alexandra Cook to analyze some passages from Confessions, Reveries and Letters on the botany. I have the hypothesis that botanical activity can be considered as a kind of inoffensive supplement because it evokes an image that combines sex and innocence.

O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar o papel da sexualidade na antropologia de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Para tanto, tomaremos como fonte principal o Discurso sobre a origem e os fundamentos da desigualdade entre os homens, mas faremos três pequenas referências em outros textos para aprofundar alguns detalhes. No Fragmento da influência dos climas sobre a civilização, analisaremos o caráter ambivalente da necessidade sexual, no capítulo IX do Ensaio sobre a origem das línguas, analisaremos a questão do incesto, e no Emílio, analisaremos a questão do pudor. Com base nesses textos, podemos afirmar que a sexualidade confere singularidade ao selvagem e desempenha um papel importante no processo de socialização da espécie humana.