Competition and performance in European Higher Education: the role of funding instruments. Competición y desempeño en los sistemas europeos de Educación Superior: el papel de los instrumentos de financiación.

Abstract. Higher education institutions face today a demanding and complex context in which they are asked to fulfill multiple roles. Many of these challenges have to be faced in a complex financial context in which traditional modes of funding have been transformed and public sources are not as generous as they often were in the past.Like in many other public services, in recent years it became a rather common statement that higher education institutions should be more efficient in the use of taxpayers’ resources, which had a clear impact in visible changes in the funding of public higher education in Europe. In this paper we will analyse the major trends in higher education funding in Europe and underline to what extent the current debates about higher education and its funding have been significantly influenced by economic considerations. We will identify some of the main issues that dominate the current debate around higher education’s funding, drawing some comparative insights from developments across Europe. Resumen. Las instituciones de Enseñanza Superior están involucradas en un contexto complejo y exigente en el que tienen que hacer frente a múltiples demandas. Muchas de estas demandas emergen en un entorno financiero difícil, las fuentes tradicionales de financiamiento se han trasformado y los fondos públicos no fluyen con la generosidad de antes. Como en muchas áreas del sector público, las instituciones de enseñanza superior están presionadas para tener un uso más eficiente de las subvenciones públicas. Ello se observa como preocupación en los modos de financiamiento de muchos sistemas públicos de Enseñanza Superior en Europa. En este artículo se analizan algunas de las principales tendencias en el financiamiento de Educación Superior pública en Europa subrayando la influencia creciente de los razonamientos económicos en estos sistemas. En el análisis, y a partir de la comparación de algunos casos, seidentificarán algunos de los temas clave en el debate actual sobre el financiamientode la Educación Superior en ese continente

Airline environmental sustainability actions and CSR impact on customer behavior

Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are growing concerns among passengers and airlines. However, the communication of such actions by airline companies is underexplored. Accordingly, this study aims to analyze airlines' CSR and Environmental Sustainability Actions (ESA) communications' impact on customer loyalty, through a Relationship Marketing (RM) perspective. Following a text-mining approach, 6181 Facebook comments were collected. A word frequency matrix was created from the collected data and used as input for PLS-SEM to test raised hypotheses. Results suggest that communication based on ESA and CSR positively affects behavioral loyalty and commitment. RM moderated ESA's communication impact on customer loyalty but not on the relationship between CSR communication and loyalty. These findings suggest that communicating environmental efforts positively affects customer loyalty, providing airline managers with valuable insights that should be considered within communication strategies to enhance return and customer retention

Análise exploratória da aplicabilidade da abordagem tridimensional do poder no estudo de grupos de trabalhadores precários

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Paulo Roberto Neves CostaMonografia (especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Humanas, Curso de Especialização em Sociologia PolíticaInclui referênciasResumo : O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a aplicabilidade da abordagem tridimensional do poder apresentada por Steven Lukes e John Gaventa no estudo da relação de poder entre um segmento de trabalhadores precários e o Estado na condição de empregador. Nesta análise foi possível comparar os conceitos sobre Poder e processos decisórios que se desenvolveram ao longo dos programas de pesquisa estrutural-marxista (objetivista) e pluralista (subjetivista). Analisaremos os avanços que a articulação destas abordagens proposta por Gaventa (1980) e Lukes (1980), em que estes autores são, a nosso ver, pontos de contato entre as perspectivas. A partir desta análise, cabe perguntar: em que medida aqueles dois eixos teóricos podem ser conjugados no que se refere ao conceito sobre Poder e no que se refere à abordagem de uma relação de poder inserida num contexto políticoideológico ao qual tentamos tanto quanto possível traçar os contornos? Sugere-se que o programa de pesquisa subjetivista (Dahl, 2015), também denominado abordagem unidimensional, apresenta limitações analíticas ao se abordar o objeto proposto; e que a abordagem tridimensional demanda um exercício de investigação que escapa ao nosso horizonte intelectual e à extensão da investigação que por ora nos propomos, daí o caráter exploratório. Ainda, uma segunda problemática tentou apresentar as vantagens e desvantagens da metodologia adotada em cada linha teórica. Pretendemos com esta investigação identificar e relacionar hipóteses pelas quais a mobilização de um grupo em condições de privação de recursos não ocorre, propondo com isso uma reflexão em torno da teoria política contemporânea. O método de pesquisa será o hipotético-dedutivo e a técnica será a pesquisa bibliográfica, de forma a sistematizar os aspectos relevantes sobre os conceitos de Poder nos vieses objetivista e subjetivista e a propor o instrumental teórico lukiano e gaventiano como solução provisória ao problema proposto (Lakatos, 1991, p.95)

Applicability of the game MoveFitness as an aerobic training tool: Comparison with actual guidelines that define the various levels of aerobic training intensity

Objetivo: Verificar o potencial da utilização do videojogo MoveFitness para a Play Station (PS)3 como ferramenta ou complemento de um programa de exercício físico na melhoria e performance aeróbia, pretendendo-­‐se verificar se a realização de um plano pré-­‐definido de exercícios no jogo MoveFitness, para a PS3, designado como “Fortalecimento de Cardio”, se enquadra nos parâmetros de treino cardiovascular definidos na literatura. Metodologia: 30 jovens adultos saudáveis, com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 29 anos, participaram em duas fases denominadas de Fase-­‐Tutorial (FT) e Fase-­‐Prova (FP), sendo que na FT os participantes treinavam o manuseamento dos comandos Move e os vários exercícios a realizar. Durante a FP os participantes executaram o programa pré-­‐definido na PS3 (6 exercícios intervalados com pausa) e foram registados valores da frequência cardíaca em cada patamar de descanso e durante a realização do plano de exercício. Resultados: A média (DP) da frequência cardíaca dos participantes durante o plano de exercício foi de 78% (6.39). Através do T-­‐test para amostras emparelhadas, foi verificada a existência de diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre três pares de Laps: entre as Laps 1 e 2 (p=0,000), entre as Laps 2 e 3 (p=0,031) e entre as Laps 4 e 5 (p=0,049). Conclusão: A realização do plano de exercício “Fortalecimento de Cardio” do Videojogo MoveFitness para a PS3 proporciona uma atividade aeróbia adequada para jovens adultos saudáveis, visto ser possível atingir os parâmetros recomendados pela American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) e pela American Heart Association (AHA)

“Shikonin inhibits microglia activation and reduces CFA-induced mechanical hyperalgesia in an animal model of pain”

Shikonin is an ointment produced from Lithospermun erythrorhizon which has been used in traditional medicine both in Europe and Asia for wound healing and is associated with anti-inflammatory properties. The goal of this work is to assess the analgesic properties of Shikonin in the CFA-induced inflammation model of pain. Rats were subjected to inflammation of the hind paw by CFA injection with a preventive injection of Shikonin and compared to either a control group or to a CFA-inflamed group with the vehicle drug solution. Inflammation of the hind paw by CFA was assessed by measurement of the dorsal to plantar diameter. Mechanical thresholds were established by means of the Von Frey filaments which are calibrated filaments that exert a defined force. Finally, the spinal cord of the studied animals was extracted to analyse the microglia population through immunohistochemistry using the specific marker Iba-1. Our results show that Shikonin reduces the paw oedema caused by CFA inflammation. Subsequently, there is a concomitant restoration of the mechanical thresholds reduced by CFA hind paw injection. Additionally, spinal microglia is activated after CFA-induced inflammation. Our results show that microglia is inhibited by Shikonin and has concomitant restoration of the mechanical thresholds. Our findings demonstrate for the first time that Shikonin inhibits microglia morphological changes and thereby ameliorates pain-like behaviour elicited by mechanical stimulationThis work was supported by the Universidad Europea de Madrid (Grant number: 2020/UEM38). We would like to specially thank to Dr Arenillas, Hospital Universitario de Getafe (Spain) for his support and advice in animal welfar

High school and exam scores: Does their predictive validity for academic performance vary with programme selectivity?

Students are admitted into higher education based on their past performance.This paper compares two measures of past cognitive skills: teacher and national exam scores. By using a nationwide dataset, we look at how the predictive power of teacher assessment and exam scores for selecting successful students may vary with the degree of selectivity of higher education programmes. We find that teacher scores predict students’ performance in higher education more accurately, and its predictive power remains the same independently of the selectivity programme indicator considered. We found that national exam scores are noisier and only gain relevance for highly selective programmes. Furthermore, we explore national exams’ volatility and institutional selectivity as potential mechanisms to justify the results. Our results provide solid policy hints on the role that high school scores and admission exams should have for access and performance in higher education

Routes for Specialization in Psychology throughout Europe

The specialization of psychology helps to delineate fields in the practice of psychology. When establishing professional qualification criteria, associations seek to promote, in their members, scientific skills and knowledge considered fundamental for the practice of psychology in a given area. The present study reports on a survey of the member associations of the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (EFPA). The survey inquired about: (a) the initial requisites for entering the profession and (b) additional requisites for specialization. Of the 37 associations contacted, 14 replied and we retrieved the information of 12 associations from their official websites. The results indicate that specialization is widespread throughout Europe and is independent of the regulation of the profession. In almost half of the countries considered, the specialization process is completed in universities—it is frequently associated with the postgraduate level of the EuroPsy—and relies on conventional learning methods. The number of existing specialties in psychology is very high, but the traditional areas (clinical and health, education, and social/organizational) are more prevalent. The results are discussed in light of the advantages, but also the challenges posed by the specialization in psychology. A continuous model of the specialization of psychology is proposed with two stages: broad and advanced psychology area

Neural correlates of fanhood:the role of fan identity and team brand strength

Introduction: We analyzed the importance of fan identity and brand strength on fans’ neural reactions to different team-related stimuli.Methods: A total of 53 fMRI scans with fans of two professional sport teams were conducted. Following up on a previous study we focused on the differences between fandom levels as well as the contrast between two team “brand” strength. Neural responses were compared among individuals based on their levels of fan identity. In sum, group comparisons between relatively high and lower identity and between weak and strong teams were made based on the notion that the latter reflects team brand strength (strong brand and weak brand).Results: Findings indicate that brain activity in emotion regulation, memory, and cognitive control circuits is influenced by the relative level of fan identity.Discussion: Higher-level identified fans showed increased reactivity to positive stimuli and the under-recruitment of their cognitive appraisal circuits, suggesting more vulnerability to marketers’ messages. The strength of the team brand activates different neural mechanisms. Interestingly, the posterior cingulate showed larger recruitment both for weaker brands and lower fan identification, suggesting that visual memory processes are more active in these cases. Neurally processed content depends on the relative brand’s strength, highlighting the importance of brand-focused communications