The tourism potential of board regions - endogenous resources and destination image evaluation

Tourism has an enormous potential while instrument of regional development. However, the opportunities are not the same for each territory and it is easy to understand that, considering the resources available, not every region has the choice to base its development strategy in the touristic industry. Taking this in consideration, the mission of classifying, evaluating and compare, from a consistent and realistic point a view, several groups of tourist resources became a necessary task and a precondition to define the touristic vocation of a region. This approach allows to select the best alternative to tourism development. The paper attempts to catalogue the tourist resources of the selected territory and to evaluate the different sort of resources available, using several classification approaches, aiming to calculate its index of touristic potential. We believe that the before mention methodology might be a valuable instrument to identify the strongnesses and weaknesses of the Minho-Lima sub-region (Portugal) in what refers to its touristic development, as well as the degree of integration of the tourism sector in the local productive system.

Contributos para o desenvolvimento da literacia: a aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita ao longo do 1º ciclo do ensino básico

Este projecto tem por objectivo principal estudar as relações entre a implementação de um programa de promoção de competências de leitura e a aquisição da leitura e da escrita ao longo do primeiro ciclo. O programa foi desenvolvido no ano lectivo 2000/01 junto de um grupo de crianças com 5 anos de idade, envolvendo jardins de infância e famílias. As crianças foram avaliadas no final do ensino pré-escolar e durante o 1º ano de escolaridade. As análises então efectuadas enfatizaram a relação entre a participação da família no programa e o desenvolvimento de competências linguísticas, de descodificação da leitura e codificação da escrita. Durante o ano 2003/04 foram avaliadas cerca de 60 crianças frequentando o 3º ano de escolaridade. Este grupo de crianças incluía aquelas crianças que tinham frequentado o programa atrás citado. Privilegiou-se, nesta fase, a análise dos processos envolvidos na compreensão de textos lidos. Esta comunicação pretende descrever o trabalho efectuado ao longo deste ano lectivo enfatizando os resultados sobre as possíveis relações entre os processos agora avaliados e a participação no programa implementado no final do ensino pré-escolar

Efeitos económicos da melhoria da ligação ferroviária Porto-Vigo na euroregião Norte de Portugal-Galiza

A introdução de um comboio de altas prestações numa linha mista no eixo Porto-Vigo terá importantes consequências sobre o modelo de transporte da euro-região Norte de Portugal-Galiza. A sua avaliação deve ter em consideração várias dimensões analíticas: microeconómica, macroeconómica, espacial e de rede. Uma análise desta natureza deve incidir sobre um número restrito de alternativas de traçado e de conectividade. Globalmente foram avaliadas duas grandes possibilidades para o troço português do eixo Porto-Vigo: construção de uma linha de raiz Braga-Valença e utilização temporária da actual infra-estrutura Porto-Braga; e construção de uma linha de raiz Porto-Valença. Os condicionantes em termos de traçado e de conectividade, associados ao tráfego de passageiros, vêem-se ainda amplificados ao ter em consideração as racionalidades subjacentes à movimentação de mercadorias. O presente trabalho propõe um novo modelo de transporte para a região, no qual o comboio assume um papel preponderante. Ademais, analisa e discute diversos aspectos fundamentais para aprofundar o conhecimento sobre os efeitos económicos e territoriais do projecto em estudo, centrando a análise no território português directamente afectado. Os aspectos de natureza estratégica são também uma prioridade. Neste âmbito, as questões da articulação territorial e da construção de um novo modelo de transporte merecem especial destaque

Melhoria da ligação ferroviária Porto-Vigo na euroregião Norte de Portugal-Galiza

A introdução de um comboio de altas prestações para tráfego misto no eixo Porto-Vigo terá importantes consequências sobre o modelo de transporte da região Norte. A sua avaliação deve ter em consideração várias dimensões analíticas: microeconómica, macroeconómica, espacial e de rede. O ponto de partida para uma análise desta natureza é a correcta definição de um número restrito de alternativas de traçado e de conectividade que permitam levar a cabo o processo de avaliação de forma consistente, evitando a dispersão derivada da consideração de alternativas escassamente relevantes do ponto de vista técnico. Com essa finalidade, o estudo dos efeitos económicos da melhoria da ligação ferroviária em causa pautou-se por uma simplificação justificada das alternativas potenciais, utilizando informação formal e informal, partindo das diferentes possibilidades actualmente em aberto. Globalmente, existem duas grandes possibilidades para o troço português do eixo Porto-Vigo: construção de uma linha de raiz Braga-Valença e utilização temporária da actual infra-estrutura Porto-Braga, até à construção de uma nova linha entre estas duas cidades; e construção de uma linha de raiz Porto-Valença. Os condicionantes em termos de traçado e de conectividade com as redes de transportes existentes, associados ao tráfego de passageiros, vêem-se ainda amplificados ao ter em consideração as racionalidades subjacentes à movimentação de mercadorias. Este último aspecto implica que a minimização do número de transferências seja uma condição indispensável para incrementar a competitividade do modo ferroviário e das respectivas cadeias logísticas. Assim, o presente trabalho propõe um novo modelo de transporte para a região Norte, no qual o comboio assume um papel preponderante. Ademais analisa e discute diversos aspectos fundamentais para aprofundar o conhecimento sobre os efeitos económicos e territoriais do projecto em estudo, centrando a análise no território português directamente afectado. Os aspectos de natureza estratégica são também uma prioridade. Neste âmbito, as questões da articulação territorial e da construção de um novo modelo de transporte merecem especial destaque

The tourism potential of board regions - endogenous resources and destination image evaluation

Tourism has an enormous potential while instrument of regional development. However, the opportunities are not the same for each territory and it is easy to understand that, considering the resources available, not every region has the choice to base its development strategy in the touristic industry. Taking this in consideration, the mission of classifying, evaluating and compare, from a consistent and realistic point a view, several groups of tourist resources became a necessary task and a precondition to define the touristic vocation of a region. This approach allows to select the best alternative to tourism development. The paper attempts to catalogue the tourist resources of the selected territory and to evaluate the different sort of resources available, using several classification approaches, aiming to calculate its index of touristic potential. We believe that the before mention methodology might be a valuable instrument to identify the strongnesses and weaknesses of the Minho-Lima sub-region (Portugal) in what refers to its touristic development, as well as the degree of integration of the tourism sector in the local productive system

Quantification of table olives' acid, bitter and salty tastes using potentiometric electronic tongue fingerprints

The intensities of the gustatory attributes of table olives is one of the sensory set of parameters evaluated by trained sensory panels accordingly to the recommendations of the International Olive Council. However this is an expensive and time-consuming process that only allows the evaluation of a limited number of samples per day. So, an electronic tongue coupled with multivariate statistical tools, is proposed for assessing the median intensities of acid, bitter and salty tastes perceived in table olives. The results showed that the device, coupled with linear discriminant analysis, could be used as a taste sensor, allowing classifying aqueous standard solutions according to the three basic tastes (repeated K-fold cross-validation: 98% ± 3% of correct classifications) based on the electrochemical signals of 5 sensors. It was demonstrated that the taste sensor with multiple linear regression models, enabled quantifying the median intensities of the three basic tastes (repeated K-fold cross-validation: R2 ? 0.96 ± 0.04) perceived in table olives by a trained sensory panel, based on the potentiometric fingerprints (2125 signal profiles) of aqueous olive pastes and brines. The overall satisfactory results showed the electronic tongue potential to assess the intensities of gustatory attributes of table olives, formerly only achievable by sensory panels.This work was financially supported by Project POCI-01–0145-FEDER-006984 – Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM and by Project UID/QUI/00616/2013 – CQ-VR both funded by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) – and by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal. Strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit is also acknowledged. Nuno Rodrigues thanks FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE for the Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/104038/2014)

Classroom quality and children's social skills and problem behaviors: dosage and disability status as moderators

Multiple studies have reported associations between early childhood education (ECE) quality and dosage and children’s social and behavior development, with some suggesting that this association may be stronger for specific groups of children. In this study, we examined the association between classroom quality and children’s social skills and problem behaviors, as reported by ECE teachers, as well as the moderating effects of ECE dosage and children’s disability status. Participants were 222 children (Mage = 63.75, SD = 7.77), including 180 typically developing (90 boys) and 42 children with disabilities (29 boys), from 44 inclusive classrooms in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, Portugal. Our results indicated that children’s social skills and behavior problems were not directly associated with observed classroom quality domains. However, lower classroom organization predicted lower social skills and higher externalizing behavior at higher number of months with the lead teacher; and instructional support predicted increased social skills for children with disabilities. Days absent from school predicted lower social skills. Overall, our results suggest that diverse types of dosage influence teacher’s reports of social and behavioral outcomes in different ways.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Activity settings in toddler classrooms and quality of group and individual interactions

This study examined the variation of interaction quality both at the group and child levels across different activity settings in toddler classrooms. Participants were 104 children, with an average of 30.4 months old, of which 53.8% were boys. Educator-child interactions, at the group level, and child interactions with their educators, peers and tasks, at the child level, were observed through video-recordings across four activity settings, namely free play, early academic activities, aesthetics/arts activities and meals. Group level interactions were observed with the CLASS Toddler, and child level interactions with the inCLASS Toddler. Results showed that the quality of interactions at the group and child levels varied across different activity settings, but not always in the same direction. Findings suggest that activity settings play an important role in explaining the quality of interactions experienced by toddlers. Implications for early childhood educators are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Assessment of table olives' organoleptic defect intensities based on the potentiometric fingerprint recorded by an electronic tongue

Table olives are prone to the appearance of sensory defects that decrease their quality and in some cases result in olives unsuitable for consumption. The evaluation of the type and intensity of the sensory negative attributes of table olives is recommended by the International Olive Council, although not being legally required for commercialization. However, the accomplishment of this task requires the training and implementation of sensory panels according to strict directives, turning out in a time-consuming and expensive procedure that involves a degree of subjectivity. In this work, an electronic tongue is proposed as a taste sensor device for evaluating the intensity of sensory defects of table olives. The potentiometric signal profiles gathered allowed establishing multiple linear regression models, based on the most informative subsets of signals (from 24 to 29 recorded during the analysis of olive aqueous pastes and brine solutions) selected using a simulated annealing meta-heuristic algorithm. The models enabled the prediction of the median intensities (R2 ≥ 0.942 and RMSE ≤ 0.356, for leave-one-out or repeated K-fold cross-validation procedures) of butyric, musty, putrid, winey-vinegary, and zapateria negative sensations being, in general, the predicted intensities within the range of intensities perceived by the sensory panel. Indeed, based on the predicted mean intensities of the sensory defects, the electrochemical-chemometric approach developed could correctly classify 86.4% of the table olive samples according to their trade category based on a sensory panel evaluation and following the International Olive Council regulations (i.e., extra, 1st choice, 2nd choice, and olives that may not be sold as table olives). So, the satisfactory overall predictions achieved demonstrate that the electronic tongue could be a complementary tool for assessing table olive defects, reducing the effort of trained panelists and minimizing the risk of subjective evaluations.This work was financially supported by Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006984—Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM, by Project UID/QUI/00616/2013 —CQ-VR, and UID/AGR/00690/ 2013—CIMO, all funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through COMPETE2020—Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. Strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit is also acknowledged. Nuno Rodrigues thanks FCT, POPH-QREN, and FSE for the Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/104038/2014).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monovarietal extra-virgin olive oil classification: a fusion of human sensory attributes and an electronic tongue

Olive oil quality grading is traditionally assessed by human sensory evaluation of positive and negative attributes (olfactory, gustatory, and final olfactorygustatory sensations). However, it is not guaranteed that trained panelist can correctly classify monovarietal extra-virgin olive oils according to olive cultivar. In this work, the potential application of human (sensory panelists) and artificial (electronic tongue) sensory evaluation of olive oils was studied aiming to discriminate eight single-cultivar extra-virgin olive oils. Linear discriminant, partial least square discriminant, and sparse partial least square discriminant analyses were evaluated. The best predictive classification was obtained using linear discriminant analysis with simulated annealing selection algorithm. A low-level data fusion approach (18 electronic tongue signals and nine sensory attributes) enabled 100 % leave-one-out cross-validation correct classification, improving the discrimination capability of the individual use of sensor profiles or sensory attributes (70 and 57 % leave-one-out correct classifications, respectively). So, human sensory evaluation and electronic tongue analysis may be used as complementary tools allowing successful monovarietal olive oil discrimination.This work was co-financed by FCT/MEC and FEDER under Program PT2020 (Project UID/EQU/50020/2013); by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia under the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit; and by Project POCTEP through Project RED/AGROTEC-Experimentation network and transfer for development of agricultural and agro industrial sectors between Spain and Portugal