josé Palma-Oliveira - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by josé Palma-Oliveira

Research paper thumbnail of Comisión de seguimiento de la fábrica de Secil Outao: participación de las partes implicadas

En este articulo se define el ambito y la reglamentacion de la Comision de Seguimiento Medioambie... more En este articulo se define el ambito y la reglamentacion de la Comision de Seguimiento Medioambiental (CSM) implementada desde 2003 en la planta SECIL-OUTAO; la definicion de los 17 stakeholders involucrados en las actividades de la CSM; la descripcion de la informacion medioambiental distribuida en las reuniones mensuales de la CSM; la descripcion de las comunicaciones presentadas acerca de distintas materias y de las visitas a las plantas cementeras del Grupo SECIL y la planta del Grupo CRH en Wildegg (Suiza); la descripcion de actividades especiales desarrolladas en la CSM como, por ejemplo, la discusion de un gran proyecto de Calificacion Visual y Recuperacion Paisajistica de la Antigua Zona del Proceso por Via Humeda durante dos reuniones sin la presencia de los representantes de SECIL, haciendo posible una reflexion y discusion libres del mismo, cuyas conclusiones fueron transmitidas a SECIL. Otro tema fue el seguimiento de las pruebas de combustion de residuos no-peligrosos y...

Research paper thumbnail of Knowing Much While Knowing Nothing: Perceptions and Misperceptions about Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials are not technological newcomers. However the use of an integrative concept to descr... more Nanomaterials are not technological newcomers. However the use of an integrative concept to describe the diverse and complex array of these very small products is new. This chapter aims to describe some of the attitudes and risk perception studies about these materials. Furthermore it will be presented an empirical research where we will introduce some of the psychological factors that could help in understanding the psychometrics of the nanomaterials risk perception. One could conclude that despite the agreement that there is a widespread lack of knowledge, people can still apply attitudes and deduce a risk perception estimate that differs essentially according to the application domains. Furthermore risk perception about nanomaterials can be easily modified if some new negative phenomena arrive. In this context the design of a good risk communication strategy is particularly important especially because according to many studies and the one to be presented, the nano experts have d...

Research paper thumbnail of Resilience : Moving Forward from a Metaphor

Resilience remains a field of tremendous potential to improve the management and sustainability o... more Resilience remains a field of tremendous potential to improve the management and sustainability of ecological and environmental systems – particularly in the manner by which humans engage within them. Many papers have argued that as a property of a system, resilience focuses upon ‘bouncing back’ to an initial steady state. Further, others operate under the assumption that resilience is a normatively positive characteristic to possess and tends to produce desirable outcomes. While in many cases this is somewhat true, in others it raises the threat of misdiagnosis of systemic threats as well as mismanagement of at-risk ecological systems.

Research paper thumbnail of Stress ambiental: Ponto da situação e modelo explicativo

Revista Portuguesa de Psicologia

Research paper thumbnail of Social Resilience and Critical Infrastructure Systems

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security

Resilience analysis and thinking serve as emerging conceptual frameworks relevant for application... more Resilience analysis and thinking serve as emerging conceptual frameworks relevant for applications assessing risk. Connections between the domains of resilience and risk assessment include vulnerability. Infrastructure, social, economic, and ecological systems (and combined social-ecological systems) are vulnerable to exogenous global change, and other disturbances, both natural and anthropologically derived. Resilience analysis fundamentally seeks to provide the groundwork for a 'soft landing', or an efficient and robust restoration following disturbance as well as the ability to reduce harms while helping the targeted system rebound to full functionality as quickly and efficiently where possible. Such applications are consistent

Research paper thumbnail of Comparative, collaborative, and integrative risk governance for emerging technologies

Environment Systems and Decisions

Various emerging technologies challenge existing governance processes to identify, assess, and ma... more Various emerging technologies challenge existing governance processes to identify, assess, and manage risk. Though the existing risk-based paradigm has been essential for assessment of many chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear technologies, a complementary approach may be warranted for the early-stage assessment and management challenges of high uncertainty technologies ranging from nanotechnology to synthetic biology to artificial intelligence, among many others. This paper argues for a risk governance approach that integrates quantitative experimental information alongside qualitative expert insight to characterize and balance the risks, benefits, costs, and societal implications of emerging technologies. Various articles in scholarly literature have highlighted differing points of how to address technological uncertainty, and this article builds upon such knowledge to explain how an emerging technology risk governance process should be driven by a multi-stakeholder effort, incorporate various disparate sources of information, review various endpoints and outcomes, and comparatively assess emerging technology performance against existing conventional products in a given application area. At least in the early stages of development when quantitative data for risk assessment remain incomplete or limited, such an approach can be valuable for policymakers and decision makers to evaluate the impact that such technologies may have upon human and environmental health.

Research paper thumbnail of From dry land to water: psychosocial impact on the lakeside villages of the Alqueva dam / Desde tierra firme al agua: impacto psicosocial en los pueblos junto de la presa de Alqueva

Psyecology

The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

Research paper thumbnail of Community-Driven Hypothesis Testing: A Solution for the Tragedy of the Anticommons

Risk Analysis

Shared ownership of property and resources is a longstanding challenge throughout history that ha... more Shared ownership of property and resources is a longstanding challenge throughout history that has been amplifying with the increasing development of industrial and postindustrial societies. Where governments, project planners, and commercial developers seek to develop new infrastructure, industrial projects, and various other land-and resource-intensive tasks, veto power shared by various local stakeholders can complicate or halt progress. Risk communication has been used as an attempt to address stakeholder concerns in these contexts, but has demonstrated shortcomings. These coordination failures between project planners and stakeholders can be described as a specific kind of social dilemma that we describe as the "tragedy of the anticommons." To overcome such dilemmas, we demonstrate how a two-step process can directly address public mistrust of project planners and public perceptions of limited decision-making authority. This approach is examined via two separate empirical field experiments in Portugal and Tunisia, where public resistance and anticommons problems threatened to derail emerging industrial projects. In both applications, an intervention is undertaken to address initial public resistance to such projects, where specific public stakeholders and project sponsors collectively engaged in a hypothesis-testing process to identify and assess human and environmental health risks associated with proposed industrial facilities. These field experiments indicate that a rigorous attempt to address public mistrust and perceptions of power imbalances and change the pay-off structure of the given dilemma may help overcome such anticommons problems in specific cases, and may potentially generate enthusiasm and support for such projects by local publics moving forward.

Research paper thumbnail of Mapping Exposure to Multi-Pollutants Using Environmental Biomonitors-A Multi-Exposure Index

Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A, 2017

Atmosphere is a major pathway for transport and deposition of pollutants in the environment. In i... more Atmosphere is a major pathway for transport and deposition of pollutants in the environment. In industrial areas, organic compounds are released or formed as by-products, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F's). Inorganic chemical elements, including lead and arsenic, are also part of the pollutants mixture, and even in low concentrations may potentially be toxic and carcinogenic. However, assessing the spatial pattern of their deposition is difficult due to high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Lichens have been used as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition, because these organisms encompass greater spatial detail than air monitoring stations and provide an integration of overall pollution. Based upon the ability of lichens to concentrate pollutants such as PCDD/F and chemical elements, the main objectives of this study were to develop a new semi-quantitative multi-pollutant toxicity exposure index (TEQ-like), derived from risk estimates, in an...

Research paper thumbnail of Features of resilience

Environment Systems and Decisions, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Dynamic mental representations of habitual behaviours: Food choice on a web-based environment

Psychology, Community & Health, 2016

AimRather than being rigid, habitual behaviours may be determined by dynamic mental representatio... more AimRather than being rigid, habitual behaviours may be determined by dynamic mental representations that can adapt to context changes. This adaptive potential may result from particular conditions dependent on the interaction between two sources of mental constructs activation: perceived context applicability and cognitive accessibility.MethodTwo web-shopping simulations offering the choice between habitually chosen and non-habitually chosen food products were presented to participants. This considered two choice contexts differing in the habitual behaviour perceived applicability (low vs. high) and a measure of habitual behaviour chronicity.ResultsStudy 1 demonstrated a perceived applicability effect, with more habitual (non-organic) than non-habitual (organic) food products chosen in a high perceived applicability (familiar) than in a low perceived applicability (new) context. The adaptive potential of habitual behaviour was evident in the habitual products choice consistency acro...

Research paper thumbnail of Public policy and social norms: The case of a nationwide smoking ban among college students

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Identification with the neighborhood: Discrimination and neighborhood size

Research paper thumbnail of Tracking the spatial fate of PCDD/F emissions from a cement plant by using lichens as environmental biomonitors

Environmental science & technology, 2016

In an area with multiple sources of air pollution it is difficult to evaluate the spatial impact ... more In an area with multiple sources of air pollution it is difficult to evaluate the spatial impact of a minor source. Here we describe the use of lichens to track minor sources of air pollution. The method was tested by transplanting lichens from a background area to the vicinity of a cement manufacturing plant that uses alternative fuel and is located in a Natural Park in an area surrounded by other important sources of pollution. After 7 months of exposure, the lichens were collected and analyzed for 17 PCDD/F congeners. The PCDD/F profiles of the exposed lichens were dominated by TCDF (50%) and OCDD (38%), which matched the profile of the emissions from the cement plant. The similarity in the profiles was greatest for lichens located northeast of the plant, i.e. in the direction of the prevailing winds during the study period allowing to evaluate the spatial impact of this source. The best match was found for sites located on the tops of mountains whose slopes faced the cement plan...

Research paper thumbnail of Urban neighbourhoods and intergroup relations: the importance of place identity

Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2016

The aim of this paper is to bring the concept of place identity into the context of intergroup re... more The aim of this paper is to bring the concept of place identity into the context of intergroup relationships in urban place, using the social identity approach. A field study was conducted in four adjacent neighbourhoods in the city of Lisbon, in order to explore the influence of place identity on the perception of the participants' own neighbourhood and its residents (in-group) and of the other neighbourhoods and their residents (out-groups). The results showed that place identity was highly correlated with neighbourhood satisfaction, relevant out-group differentiation, and favouritism to the in-group and depreciation of the relevant out-group. The results also enabled the identification of three types of possible relationships between the groups: a relevant out-group for comparison, an idealized reference group for approximation, and a devaluated group for avoidance. Moreover, in this study, we extend the predictions of SIA to the comprehension of specific distance estimation distortion patterns.

Research paper thumbnail of What are they doing? Influence of social norms on pro-environmental behaviour mechanisms

Research paper thumbnail of Vaccinating against the anti-ecological behavior epidemic: Barriers and facilitators of proenvironmental intentional decisions to buy organic food

Research paper thumbnail of Determinants of risk perception towards toxic landfills and incinerators: how social factors can play a role

Psychological studies that tried to describe and explain why lay people have a different risk eva... more Psychological studies that tried to describe and explain why lay people have a different risk evaluation predicts that environmental and industrial risk perception could be described as a bimodal distribution. However the results of some studies including our ones find a unimodal distribution. Some consequences will be drawn from those results namely in terms of practical strategies to community involvement.

Research paper thumbnail of The concept of ?entitativity? and the understanding of ?place

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring Place and identity: The importance of place to the self-definition

Research paper thumbnail of Comisión de seguimiento de la fábrica de Secil Outao: participación de las partes implicadas

En este articulo se define el ambito y la reglamentacion de la Comision de Seguimiento Medioambie... more En este articulo se define el ambito y la reglamentacion de la Comision de Seguimiento Medioambiental (CSM) implementada desde 2003 en la planta SECIL-OUTAO; la definicion de los 17 stakeholders involucrados en las actividades de la CSM; la descripcion de la informacion medioambiental distribuida en las reuniones mensuales de la CSM; la descripcion de las comunicaciones presentadas acerca de distintas materias y de las visitas a las plantas cementeras del Grupo SECIL y la planta del Grupo CRH en Wildegg (Suiza); la descripcion de actividades especiales desarrolladas en la CSM como, por ejemplo, la discusion de un gran proyecto de Calificacion Visual y Recuperacion Paisajistica de la Antigua Zona del Proceso por Via Humeda durante dos reuniones sin la presencia de los representantes de SECIL, haciendo posible una reflexion y discusion libres del mismo, cuyas conclusiones fueron transmitidas a SECIL. Otro tema fue el seguimiento de las pruebas de combustion de residuos no-peligrosos y...

Research paper thumbnail of Knowing Much While Knowing Nothing: Perceptions and Misperceptions about Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials are not technological newcomers. However the use of an integrative concept to descr... more Nanomaterials are not technological newcomers. However the use of an integrative concept to describe the diverse and complex array of these very small products is new. This chapter aims to describe some of the attitudes and risk perception studies about these materials. Furthermore it will be presented an empirical research where we will introduce some of the psychological factors that could help in understanding the psychometrics of the nanomaterials risk perception. One could conclude that despite the agreement that there is a widespread lack of knowledge, people can still apply attitudes and deduce a risk perception estimate that differs essentially according to the application domains. Furthermore risk perception about nanomaterials can be easily modified if some new negative phenomena arrive. In this context the design of a good risk communication strategy is particularly important especially because according to many studies and the one to be presented, the nano experts have d...

Research paper thumbnail of Resilience : Moving Forward from a Metaphor

Resilience remains a field of tremendous potential to improve the management and sustainability o... more Resilience remains a field of tremendous potential to improve the management and sustainability of ecological and environmental systems – particularly in the manner by which humans engage within them. Many papers have argued that as a property of a system, resilience focuses upon ‘bouncing back’ to an initial steady state. Further, others operate under the assumption that resilience is a normatively positive characteristic to possess and tends to produce desirable outcomes. While in many cases this is somewhat true, in others it raises the threat of misdiagnosis of systemic threats as well as mismanagement of at-risk ecological systems.

Research paper thumbnail of Stress ambiental: Ponto da situação e modelo explicativo

Revista Portuguesa de Psicologia

Research paper thumbnail of Social Resilience and Critical Infrastructure Systems

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security

Resilience analysis and thinking serve as emerging conceptual frameworks relevant for application... more Resilience analysis and thinking serve as emerging conceptual frameworks relevant for applications assessing risk. Connections between the domains of resilience and risk assessment include vulnerability. Infrastructure, social, economic, and ecological systems (and combined social-ecological systems) are vulnerable to exogenous global change, and other disturbances, both natural and anthropologically derived. Resilience analysis fundamentally seeks to provide the groundwork for a 'soft landing', or an efficient and robust restoration following disturbance as well as the ability to reduce harms while helping the targeted system rebound to full functionality as quickly and efficiently where possible. Such applications are consistent

Research paper thumbnail of Comparative, collaborative, and integrative risk governance for emerging technologies

Environment Systems and Decisions

Various emerging technologies challenge existing governance processes to identify, assess, and ma... more Various emerging technologies challenge existing governance processes to identify, assess, and manage risk. Though the existing risk-based paradigm has been essential for assessment of many chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear technologies, a complementary approach may be warranted for the early-stage assessment and management challenges of high uncertainty technologies ranging from nanotechnology to synthetic biology to artificial intelligence, among many others. This paper argues for a risk governance approach that integrates quantitative experimental information alongside qualitative expert insight to characterize and balance the risks, benefits, costs, and societal implications of emerging technologies. Various articles in scholarly literature have highlighted differing points of how to address technological uncertainty, and this article builds upon such knowledge to explain how an emerging technology risk governance process should be driven by a multi-stakeholder effort, incorporate various disparate sources of information, review various endpoints and outcomes, and comparatively assess emerging technology performance against existing conventional products in a given application area. At least in the early stages of development when quantitative data for risk assessment remain incomplete or limited, such an approach can be valuable for policymakers and decision makers to evaluate the impact that such technologies may have upon human and environmental health.

Research paper thumbnail of From dry land to water: psychosocial impact on the lakeside villages of the Alqueva dam / Desde tierra firme al agua: impacto psicosocial en los pueblos junto de la presa de Alqueva

Psyecology

The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

Research paper thumbnail of Community-Driven Hypothesis Testing: A Solution for the Tragedy of the Anticommons

Risk Analysis

Shared ownership of property and resources is a longstanding challenge throughout history that ha... more Shared ownership of property and resources is a longstanding challenge throughout history that has been amplifying with the increasing development of industrial and postindustrial societies. Where governments, project planners, and commercial developers seek to develop new infrastructure, industrial projects, and various other land-and resource-intensive tasks, veto power shared by various local stakeholders can complicate or halt progress. Risk communication has been used as an attempt to address stakeholder concerns in these contexts, but has demonstrated shortcomings. These coordination failures between project planners and stakeholders can be described as a specific kind of social dilemma that we describe as the "tragedy of the anticommons." To overcome such dilemmas, we demonstrate how a two-step process can directly address public mistrust of project planners and public perceptions of limited decision-making authority. This approach is examined via two separate empirical field experiments in Portugal and Tunisia, where public resistance and anticommons problems threatened to derail emerging industrial projects. In both applications, an intervention is undertaken to address initial public resistance to such projects, where specific public stakeholders and project sponsors collectively engaged in a hypothesis-testing process to identify and assess human and environmental health risks associated with proposed industrial facilities. These field experiments indicate that a rigorous attempt to address public mistrust and perceptions of power imbalances and change the pay-off structure of the given dilemma may help overcome such anticommons problems in specific cases, and may potentially generate enthusiasm and support for such projects by local publics moving forward.

Research paper thumbnail of Mapping Exposure to Multi-Pollutants Using Environmental Biomonitors-A Multi-Exposure Index

Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A, 2017

Atmosphere is a major pathway for transport and deposition of pollutants in the environment. In i... more Atmosphere is a major pathway for transport and deposition of pollutants in the environment. In industrial areas, organic compounds are released or formed as by-products, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F's). Inorganic chemical elements, including lead and arsenic, are also part of the pollutants mixture, and even in low concentrations may potentially be toxic and carcinogenic. However, assessing the spatial pattern of their deposition is difficult due to high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Lichens have been used as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition, because these organisms encompass greater spatial detail than air monitoring stations and provide an integration of overall pollution. Based upon the ability of lichens to concentrate pollutants such as PCDD/F and chemical elements, the main objectives of this study were to develop a new semi-quantitative multi-pollutant toxicity exposure index (TEQ-like), derived from risk estimates, in an...

Research paper thumbnail of Features of resilience

Environment Systems and Decisions, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Dynamic mental representations of habitual behaviours: Food choice on a web-based environment

Psychology, Community & Health, 2016

AimRather than being rigid, habitual behaviours may be determined by dynamic mental representatio... more AimRather than being rigid, habitual behaviours may be determined by dynamic mental representations that can adapt to context changes. This adaptive potential may result from particular conditions dependent on the interaction between two sources of mental constructs activation: perceived context applicability and cognitive accessibility.MethodTwo web-shopping simulations offering the choice between habitually chosen and non-habitually chosen food products were presented to participants. This considered two choice contexts differing in the habitual behaviour perceived applicability (low vs. high) and a measure of habitual behaviour chronicity.ResultsStudy 1 demonstrated a perceived applicability effect, with more habitual (non-organic) than non-habitual (organic) food products chosen in a high perceived applicability (familiar) than in a low perceived applicability (new) context. The adaptive potential of habitual behaviour was evident in the habitual products choice consistency acro...

Research paper thumbnail of Public policy and social norms: The case of a nationwide smoking ban among college students

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Identification with the neighborhood: Discrimination and neighborhood size

Research paper thumbnail of Tracking the spatial fate of PCDD/F emissions from a cement plant by using lichens as environmental biomonitors

Environmental science & technology, 2016

In an area with multiple sources of air pollution it is difficult to evaluate the spatial impact ... more In an area with multiple sources of air pollution it is difficult to evaluate the spatial impact of a minor source. Here we describe the use of lichens to track minor sources of air pollution. The method was tested by transplanting lichens from a background area to the vicinity of a cement manufacturing plant that uses alternative fuel and is located in a Natural Park in an area surrounded by other important sources of pollution. After 7 months of exposure, the lichens were collected and analyzed for 17 PCDD/F congeners. The PCDD/F profiles of the exposed lichens were dominated by TCDF (50%) and OCDD (38%), which matched the profile of the emissions from the cement plant. The similarity in the profiles was greatest for lichens located northeast of the plant, i.e. in the direction of the prevailing winds during the study period allowing to evaluate the spatial impact of this source. The best match was found for sites located on the tops of mountains whose slopes faced the cement plan...

Research paper thumbnail of Urban neighbourhoods and intergroup relations: the importance of place identity

Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2016

The aim of this paper is to bring the concept of place identity into the context of intergroup re... more The aim of this paper is to bring the concept of place identity into the context of intergroup relationships in urban place, using the social identity approach. A field study was conducted in four adjacent neighbourhoods in the city of Lisbon, in order to explore the influence of place identity on the perception of the participants' own neighbourhood and its residents (in-group) and of the other neighbourhoods and their residents (out-groups). The results showed that place identity was highly correlated with neighbourhood satisfaction, relevant out-group differentiation, and favouritism to the in-group and depreciation of the relevant out-group. The results also enabled the identification of three types of possible relationships between the groups: a relevant out-group for comparison, an idealized reference group for approximation, and a devaluated group for avoidance. Moreover, in this study, we extend the predictions of SIA to the comprehension of specific distance estimation distortion patterns.

Research paper thumbnail of What are they doing? Influence of social norms on pro-environmental behaviour mechanisms

Research paper thumbnail of Vaccinating against the anti-ecological behavior epidemic: Barriers and facilitators of proenvironmental intentional decisions to buy organic food

Research paper thumbnail of Determinants of risk perception towards toxic landfills and incinerators: how social factors can play a role

Psychological studies that tried to describe and explain why lay people have a different risk eva... more Psychological studies that tried to describe and explain why lay people have a different risk evaluation predicts that environmental and industrial risk perception could be described as a bimodal distribution. However the results of some studies including our ones find a unimodal distribution. Some consequences will be drawn from those results namely in terms of practical strategies to community involvement.

Research paper thumbnail of The concept of ?entitativity? and the understanding of ?place

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring Place and identity: The importance of place to the self-definition