Knowledge management : critical perspectives on e-business activities

This article is both a review and an agenda-setting piece. It argues that knowledge management suffers from conceptual and definitional ambiguity, oversimplification of its development processes, and methodological limitations. Nevertheless, there is a consensus in business and academia that knowledge is a key component of success and allows firms to achieve and sustains competitive advantages. In a digital era, these advantages arise from the potential of data and information that can be gathered, processed, shared, and used to improve e-business activities. Thus, this research bridges the gap in the assessment of knowledge management and e-business relationship, by applying an SEM to a large database sample of KM activities performed by European firms.N/

Genocidio en América.

Sin resume

Los jesuitas en América.

Sin resume

Tourism development potential in an insular territory : the case of Ribeira Grande in the Azores

The Autonomous Region of the Azores is one of the most sustainable destinations in the world. Being an archipelago comprised of nine small islands, quality and sustainability are critical features in the tourism sector, inducing the need for thorough and technical strategic development processes. Ribeira Grande is an important municipality in the Azores, which envisioned tourism as a strategic sector to develop when the partial liberalization of the air passenger transport sector occurred in 2015. However, this destination had little tourism maturity and competitiveness and required some structural planning work. The development of a strategic plan for tourism for the municipality of Ribeira Grande, including the selection of tourism products, is explained in detail in this article, which highlights the main challenges and results of the process.N/

The impact of digital in learning spaces: an analysis on the perspective of teachers in higher education

Proceedings of Informing Science & IT Education Conference (InSITE) 2013The generalized use of Communication Networks and Information Technologies is nowadays a global phenomenon. It has multiple impacts on how to teach/learn and on the contexts in which this process takes place (the Learning Environments). These areas include Physical Learning places, Virtual Learning sites, Collaborative Learning Spaces, among others. These proposals provide new scenarios for the teaching/learning process, but their outlines are not well defined yet. A Learning Space requires a complex set of materials and human resources. Further and continued research is significant and justified by the relevance of Higher Education Institutions.The overall objective of the present research is to understand the perceptions of the Professors in their Learning Environments. In this context it has been considered relevant to gather opinions on the needs/priorities, utility, quality and sustainability, as a result of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the teaching/learning spaces

Skin disorders in renal transplant recipients: a retrospective study

© 2017 by Anais Brasileiros de DermatologiaBackground: Immunosuppressive therapy, which is necessary to avoid graft rejection in renal transplant recipients, presents an increased risk of several pathologies, namely infectious and neoplastic. Objectives: To identify the most frequent skin diseases and their clinical and demographical risk factors within a population of renal transplant recipients. Methods: A retrospective study of renal transplant recipients referred to dermatology visit and observed for the first time from January 2008 to December 2014. Results: The study included 197 patients, 120 men (60,9%). Mean age was 50,7 years (±13,4). 12 patients (6,1%) had previous skin cancer. Infections were the most frequent reason of referral (93/197; 44%). From the total referred, 18,3% (36/197) presented pre-cancerous lesions. Malignancy was diagnosed in 36 patients (18,3%), with 29 non-melanoma skin cancers (14,7%) and 7 Kaposi sarcomas (3,6%). Ratio of basal cell carcinoma to squamous cell carcinoma was 1,1:1. Non-melanoma skin cancer was significantly associated with older age (p = 0,002), male gender (p = 0,028), history of previous skin cancer (p = 0,002) and higher duration of immunosuppressive therapy (p<0,001). Study limitations: Retrospective study, with data from the first visit in dermatology. We didn't made classification on skin-types. Conclusions: The great incidence of cutaneous infections and skin cancer is responsible for a significant morbidity. It is important to assure the regular dermatological follow-up of renal transplant recipients, which will promote the prevention, an early diagnosis and an efficient treatment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Proposal for Codification of a DSM Design Approach for Cold-Formed Steel Short-to Intermediate Angle Columns

This paper presents a proposal for the codification of an efficient design approach for cold-formed steel short-to-intermediate equal-leg angle columns, consisting of a slight modification of a design approach developed by Dinis & Camotim (2015) and based on the Direct Strength Method (DSM). After (i) collecting the available experimental and numerical failure load data, comprising fixed-ended and pin-ended columns with several geometries (cross-section dimensions and length) and reported by various researchers, and (ii) briefly reviewing the mechanical reasoning behind the proposed procedures, the search for new/simpler expressions to provide the DSM design curves is addressed. Their merits are assessed through (i) the quality of the estimates of the available failure load data and (ii) the determination of the corresponding LRFD resistance factors. Concerning the latter, it is shown that the value recommended, for compression members, by the North American Specification (NAS) for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members (AISI 2012), namely Φc =0.85, can also be adopted for angle columns

Proposal to Improve the DSM Design of Cold-Formed Steel Angle Columns: Need, Background, Quality Assessment and Illustration

This paper presents a proposal for the codification of an efficient design approach, based on the Direct Strength Method (DSM), for cold-formed steel equal-leg angle columns with short-to-intermediate lengths, i.e., those buckling in flexural-torsional modes. Initially, the available experimental failure load data, comprising fixed-ended and pin-ended (“cylindrical hinges”) columns with several geometries (cross-section dimensions and lengths) and tested by various researchers, are collected and used to show that the currently codified DSM design provisions are not able to handle adequately short-to- intermediate angle columns and that a specific DSM-based design approach is needed to estimate the failure loads of such columns. Then, the paper presents a brief overview of the structural reasoning behind the DSM-based design approach proposed by Dinis & Camotim (2015, 2016). Next, the quality (accuracy and reliability) of the failure load estimates obtained with this design approach is assessed through the comparison with the above experimental failure load data and also a fairly large number of numerical failure loads. This merit assessment includes the determination of the LRFD resistance factors concerning the failure-to-predicted load ratios -- it is shown that the value recommended, for compression members, by the North American Specification (AISI 2016), Φc=0.85, can also be adopted for short-to-intermediate angle columns designed with this DSM-based approach. Finally, the paper presents and discusses a few numerical examples, which illustrate the application of the proposed design approach and provide evidence of its advantages and benefits, when compared with the currently codified one

A comparative analysis of three high school textbooks’ concepts in Algebra in South Africa and Angola.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of algebra sections in three textbooks; one South African grade 9, one South African grade 10, and one Angolan grade 10. Firstly, I compared the textbooks in terms of topics covered. Secondly, I compared the distribution of the text on explanations, examples and exercises, respectively. Thirdly, I used the levels of understanding of algebraic expressions suggested by Sfard and Linchevski (1994) to investigate progression and consistency of the texts. Finally, I looked at the number of steps required to move from task to solution in the examples and exercises, providing a different measure of progression. The findings revealed that the textbook for Angola is more advanced than the textbooks for South Africa in terms of topics, explanations and examples, and contains far fewer exercises. Therefore, in terms of their explanations, the textbooks from Angola are denser and have more detailed clarifications than the South African textbooks. In terms of examples and exercises, the textbooks from Angola have fewer exercises than South African textbooks. The progression both in terms of levels of understanding of algebraic expressions and in terms of number of steps required to solve tasks is swifter in the Angolan textbook. Also, there is less focus on symbol manipulation without conceptual content in the Angolan textbook. Although much depends on the ways in which textbooks are used in the classroom, this suggests that the Angolan textbook offers the learners more opportunities to learn. There were some signs that the South African textbooks had been organized in ways informed by research, and in a few cases the exercises in the South African textbooks were more explorative, allowing learners more opportunities to develop deeper conceptual understanding. This was, however, not a dominant feature