O projeto integrador em um curso de engenharia: uma primeira experiência / The integrator project in an engineering course: a first experience

Considerando as mudanças na formação do engenheiro que têm ocorrido nas últimas décadas, este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma experiência que tem sido realizada nas faculdades de Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia de Produção. Foi criada uma disciplina na graduação chamada projeto integrador com objetivo de integrar teoria e prática através da formulação de um protótipo, bem como, a realização de atividades que estimulem habilidade de trabalho em projetos, autonomia, avaliação por pares e empreendedorismo. Observa-se a relevância de iniciativas como estas para alcançar as habilidades e competências definidas nas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais de Engenharia. Foi descrito no artigo como o projeto foi realizado, os resultados obtidos e a avaliação dos alunos sobre o projeto e o professor mediador

The financial fragility and the crisis of the Greek government sector

The purpose of this paper is to develop Minskyan financial fragility indices for the government sector and to examine the financial structure of the Greek government before and after the onset of the sovereign debt crisis in 2009. We provide empirical evidence that clearly shows the growing financial fragility of the Greek public sector in the 2000s. We also assess the effectiveness of the implemented bailout adjustment programmes in Greece and claim that the conducted austerity measures and fiscal consolidation have not significantly improved the financial posture of the Greek government sector. We argue that the implementation of fiscal and wage austerity in an economy that lacks structural competitiveness produces prolonged recession and unemployment with adverse feedback effects on the financial fragility of the government

The strange non-death of employer and business associations: An analysis of their representativeness and activities in Western European countries

Against the background that corporatism is on the decline in recent decades, one could expect that the representativeness of employer and business associations is also declining. In this article it is argued and shown that, contrary to this expectation, this decline is not observable for employer and business associations. So the question arises as to whether employer and business associations are simply relics of a different era with no longer any purpose. Using a cross-national approach it is shown that by adapting their organizational structure as well as their activities to the changing needs of business, employer and business organizations are as ‘strong’ and active nowadays as ever