Managing sustainability: the role of multinational corporations in the global south

Multinational corporations and international business practices as well as international investment are considered important elements for the diffusion of new modes of production, namely through a flow of cleaner production and new management practices such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). This view is lacking consistency and is not buttressed on strong empirical evidence. The positive driver of environmental sustainability is probably not international business and trade but strong and good institutions. The focus here is on four limitations: the context of the private firms and corporations, the workings of complex organizations, the technology and the right institutions that buttress the global, national and local contexts, taking as concrete examples some specific cases from the Global South, as Mozambique. The article concludes that these aspects have to be considered and contrasted to the technological and management solutions for sustainability.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Trends and challenges of mathematic education in Mozambique (1975-2016)

Mathematics has always been a difficult issue, especially in the African countries. Mozambique is not an exception. This country had been colonized by Portugal until 1975. When the independence was obtained, a socialist regime was adopted (1977). The learning of mathematics entered the struggle against colonial and imperialistic ideas. Its best ally was Paulus Gerdes, one of the most relevant ethnomatematicians of the world, who carried out an intense promotion of this approach to mathematics in Mozambican school system. Albeit the great international impact of Gerdes’ ideas, Mozambique never implemented his methodology. When, at the end of the 80s, the country changed from socialism to liberalism, voting a democratic Constitution in 1990, its school system was aligned to the measures of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB). The most recent ones are represented by the Millennium Development Goals. Despite the various reforms of Mozambican school system, the results of Mozambican children in mathematics are among the worst in Africa. The reasons of such a failure are here explained, through a historical approach based on national documents. The most recent experiences of school reform carried out by international agencies together with national institutions are stressed. The negative results obtained by the Mozambican learners as to mathematics are due to several reasons: 1) a lack of consideration of the Mozambican cultural substrate; 2) an improper massification of the school system, where the quality of instruction has been neglected; 3) the specific choice to marginalize mathematics education.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Editorial to: "A challenge for the analysis of environmental stress. The measurement of chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) from plants to ecosystems"

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A new war in Mozambique?

The political situation in Mozambique is agitated. At sunrise on April 4, a group of about 200 members of Renamo (National Resistance of Moçambique, the main opposition party) organized a meeting in Muxunguè (Chibabava, Province of Sofala). The FIR (Police of Rapid Intervention) then entered the meeting room in order to disperse the people. It seems that a woman died. As a reaction, in the night of the same day, a Renamo group attacked the Police Headquarters. Five people died and 11 were injured

On popularization of Scientific Education in Italy between 12th and 16th Century

Mathematics education is also a social phenomenon because it is influenced both by the needs of the labour market and by the basic knowledge of mathematics necessary for every person to be able to face some operations indispensable in the social and economic daily life. Therefore the way in which mathematics education is framed changes according to modifications of the social environment and know\u2013how. For example, until the end of the 20th century, in the Italian faculties of engineering the teaching of mathematical analysis was profound: there were two complex examinations in which the theory was as important as the ability in solving exercises. Now the situation is different. In some universities there is only a proof of mathematical analysis; in others there are two proves, but they are sixth\u2013month and not annual proves. The theoretical requirements have been drastically reduced and the exercises themselves are often far easier than those proposed in the recent past. With some modifications, the situation is similar for the teaching of other modern mathematical disciplines: many operations needing of calculations and mathematical reasoning are developed by the computers or other intelligent machines and hence an engineer needs less theoretical mathematics than in the past. The problem has historical roots. In this research an analysis of the phenomenon of \u201cscientific education\u201d (teaching geometry, arithmetic, mathematics only) with respect the methods used from the late Middle Ages by \u201cmaestri d\u2019abaco\u201d to the Renaissance humanists, and with respect to mathematics education nowadays is discussed. Particularly the ways through which mathematical knowledge was spread in Italy between late Middle ages and early Modern age is shown. At that time, the term \u201cscientific education\u201d corresponded to \u201cteaching of mathematics, physics\u201d; hence something different from what nowadays is called science education, NoS, etc. Moreover, the relationships between mathematics education and civilization in Italy between the 12th and the 16th century is also popularized within the Abacus schools and Niccol\uf2 Tartaglia. These are significant cases because the events connected to them are strictly interrelated. The knowledge of such significant relationships between society, mathematics education, advanced mathematics and scientific knowledge can be useful for the scholars who are nowadays engaged in mathematics education research

Gestão e comunicação do risco ambiental num contexto africano: o caso do bypass da Mozal em Moçambique

This article aims to analyze the way in which Environmental Risk is managed and communicated to local people in an African context. In particular, the article considers the experience of one of the largest multinationals that operates in Mozambique: Mozal (Mozambique Aluminum). In 2010, it decided to make a “bypass” at its two Fume Treatment Centres. For six months, Mozal had been authorized to discharge emissions into the air without any filters, possibly damaging human health. The article seeks to understand how the various parties involved, institutional or otherwise, acted in order to prevent, manage and communicate this risk. The study is developed at two levels: firstly, the debate on risk communication in the Mozambican context; secondly, the same debate but at international level. As a conclusion, it is possible to argue that the weak and formal model of democracy present in Mozambique did not make it possible to obtain guarantees that have been considered serious and significant at international level.Este artigo pretende analisar o modo em que o Risco Ambiental é gerido e comunicado às populações locais num contexto africano. De forma mais específica, o artigo considera a experiência de uma das maiores multinacionais que operam em Moçambique: a Mozal (Mozambique Aluminum). Em 2010, a Mozal decidiu levar a cabo um “bypass” aos seus dois Centros de Tratamento de Fumos. A Mozal tinha conseguido uma autorização para lançar as suas emissões no ar sem filtros durante seis meses, com a séria possibilidade de prejudicar a saúde humana. O artigo procura perceber como os vários intervenientes envolvidos, quer institucionais, quer não, atuaram para prevenir, gerir e comunicar este risco. A pesquisa desenvolve-se de acordo com dois níveis de análise: primeiro, o debate sobre a comunicação do risco no contexto moçambicano; segundo, o mesmo debate mas ao nível internacional. Como conclusão, é possível deduzir que o modelo fraco e formal de democracia presente em Moçambique tem tornado impossível obter garantias que, pelo contrário, têm sido consideradas sérias e significativas no cenário internacional

Media Freedom and the “Transition” Era in Mozambique: 1990-2000

In this article the author aims at analysing the evolution of Mozambican journalism, since 1990 (when the new Constitution was approved) until today. The key hypothesis is that Mozambican journalism has been strictly related to Mozambican democracy, and that in 1999-2000 there has been important facts which have determined the option for different avenues from the side of private and public press. After giving a short framework on the political situation in Mozambique, the article focuses its attention on the legal basis of Mozambican media freedom, stressing the limitations that, till today, it continues to register