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The Covid-19 pandemic has been a real-time laboratory for a technological future that Anderson, Rainie and Vogels (2021) describe as "tele-everything". Among other mediated practices, online shopping, virtual schooling, teleworking, telehealth, online workout, and even virtual parties were adopted in unprecedented ways to avoid physical contact during the outbreak. The pandemic has pushed people into new socially mediated practices and posed demanding challenges to those who had difficulties dealing with internet addiction or separating work time from leisure. Despite the surge of various studies about Covid-19 tracing apps, there is a lack of studies regarding students' use of mobile apps during the lockdown. Considering the ubiquitous presence of smartphones in the students' lives (Silver et al., 2019), mobile apps have been the proxy for reconfiguring the relationships between students, their families and teachers, studying routines and other social practices. This exploratory study seeks to understand the role of mobile apps in the lives of Portuguese higher education students during the period of social isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The empirical research draws on a quantitative methodology through an online questionnaire applied during the first state of emergency declared by the Portuguese Government in early 2020. A snowball process was used to gather a non-probabilistic sample (N=88), and data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis. The results indicate that most respondents (77.2%) intensified the use of mobile apps in this period. Nevertheless, there is a considerable perception (59%) that these patterns of use of mobile apps are a waste of time ; Financial support from Portuguese national funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) in the framework of the project "Mediated young adults' practices: advancing gender justice in and across mobile apps" (PTDC/COM-CSS/5947/2020)

Media literacy has been one of the main strategies for promoting the inclusion of disadvantaged groups in Europe. These policies that favour empowering uses of media and information are based on the knowledge that it is not enough to guarantee access to ICTs. Cultural and social environments can say a lot about the uses of the media and how the information is used as a capital for personal and collective development and empowerment. Social exclusion is a multidimensional process. Following the European values that place knowledge at the heart of social and economic development, international institutions have focused on policies that promote social cohesion by favouring empowering personal uses of the media. In recent years, fighting the digital divide became less about access and more about its uses. The role of media and technology in the process of social development is not underestimated. They are seen as instruments for having citizens that are more active and participative. This paper analyses recommendations and proposals that address social inequalities in the European Union through the promotion of media literacy. This analysis shows that there is a consensus regarding the acquisition of skills that can promote critical thinking and offers a deeper understanding of the various dimensions that are favoured in the European context.

Hate speech in social media has been an increasing concern, particularly during the last decade. Today, the rates of technology adoption are very high, particularly among the younger groups. Students are permanently connected through mobile technologies and the explosion of social media led to major changes in the flows of communication. Social platforms became the chosen vehicle for personal communication, for getting the news and for entertainment. At the same time, social media reflects the growing ideological polarization that is particularly visible on politics, religion, environmental and gender and sexuality issues. Hate speech is not a new phenomenon but it has specific characteristics in the online world that pose new challenges. International organizations have been promoting initiatives to support countries in tackling this issue. Social media platforms are also defining rules against diverse forms of intolerance particularly directed at vulnerable groups. Currently, there is a growing body of feminist research that has mainly focused on identifying how social media platforms can be toxic environments for women, namely by facilitating image-based sexual abuses and the sexual objectification of women and girls. Higher education students are a critical group regarding this problem. Not only they are permanently connected, but they are also frequently less prepared to deal with disinformation and discriminatory digital interactions than they think. In this qualitative study, we want to know how higher education students in Portugal deal with online hate speech, particularly gender-focused hate speech. We present results from four focus groups that were conducted with both Portuguese and Brazilian students (n = 28). Findings promote a deeper understanding of the proliferation of hate speech on social media, particularly towards female foreign students and point at the importance of promoting curricular and extra-curricular literacy programs, as well as mechanisms of monitoring on social platforms.

The social isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic was a challenge to the ongoing digitisation of societies. The massive use of the Internet and mobile applications has (re)configured social practices, relationships, and labour routines in unprecedented ways. Facing the challenges brought by social isolation, the uses of mobile apps have also changed during this period. Therefore, it is essential to understand how they dialogue with personal, social and civic intervention contexts. Research on mobile applications has mostly taken the theory of uses and gratifications or the approach to risks and opportunities. Specifically, regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the research performed during this period has focused on contact tracing apps and privacy concerns. Considering the lack of in-depth research on the individual, social and civic implications of the uses of mobile applications in Portugal during the period of social isolation, we present an exploratory study to contribute to understanding a). the role of these digital platforms in citizens' daily lives, and b). the perceptions of people regarding their use of mobile apps. The empirical research, conducted during the first state of emergency the government declared, was operationalised through a quantitative-extensive methodological strategy using an online questionnaire survey. Sampling was non-probabilistic collected through the snowball process (N = 220). Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential (bivariate) statistical analysis. The study indicates that the use of mobile apps became more frequent during social isolation. The results show how contacting family and/or friends through mobile applications and consulting the news media to learn more about the situation have become frequent activities. Regarding the perceptions of usage, results suggest that some patterns are considered a waste of time. The study results contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of mobile apps in everyday life during social lockdowns. The results ...

Endolysins, which are peptidoglycan-degrading enzymes expressed during the terminal stage of the reproduction cycle of bacteriophages, have great potential to control Gram-pos- itive pathogens. This work describes the characterization of a novel endolysin (PlyPl23) encoded on the genome of Paenibacillus larvae phage phiIBB_Pl23 with high potential to control American foulbrood. This bacterial disease, caused by P. larvae, is widespread in North America and Europe and causes important economic losses in apiculture. The restric- tion to antibiotic residues in honey imposed by the EU legislation hinders its therapeutic use to combat American foulbrood and enforces the development of alternative antimicrobial methods. The new endolysin described herein has an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine ami- dase catalytic domain and exhibits a broad-spectrum activity against common P. larvae genotypes. Moreover, the enzyme displays high antimicrobial activity in a range of pH that matches environmental conditions (pH between 5.0 and 7.0), showing its feasible applica- tion in the field. At pH 7.0, a concentration of 0.2 M of enzyme was enough to lyse 104 CFU.mL-1 of P. larvae in no more than 2 h. The presence of sucrose and of the substances present in the larvae gut content did not affect the enzyme activity. Interestingly, an increase of activity was observed when PlyPl23 was previously incubated in royal jelly. Furthermore, in vivo safety evaluation assays demonstrated that this enzyme is not toxic to the bee lar- vae. The present work describes for the first time an endolysin encoded in a P. larvae phage that presents high potential to integrate a commercial product to control the problematic American foulbrood. ; FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and the European Community fund FEDER, through Program COMPETE, under the scope of the Projects FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-007025 (PTDC/AMB/68393/2006), PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013, PEST-C/FIS/UI607/2013, RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 ...

O presente artigo quer problematizar o papel da equipe gestora da escola, (re)significando sua ação frente aos desafios e desassossegos causados pela sociedade hodierna. Traz reflexões acerca de como essa poderá estar planejando o conjunto de atividades pedagógicas, definindo metas, organizando recursos e esforços para alcançar resultados no cotidiano de aprendência do educando. A investigação se caracterizou como bibliográfica, descritiva e de abordagem qualitativa. Deste modo, faz-se necessário refletir uma nova forma de gestar a escola, (re)elaborando, assim, as competências e os conhecimentos éticos e políticos. Palavras chave: equipe gestora, sociedade hodierna, educação.