Paixão pelo trabalho e competências de gestão interpessoal : validação de escalas para a sua avaliação junto de gestores empresariais

O presente estudo teve como objetivo a validação da Passion Toward Work Scale (PTWS – Escala da Paixão pelo Trabalho; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003) e do Political Skill Inventory (PSI – Inventário de Competências de Gestão Interpessoal; Ferris et al., 2005) para gestores empresariais portugueses. A PTWS é uma escala composta por 14 itens, distribuídos por duas dimensões: paixão obsessiva e paixão harmoniosa. O PSI, constituído por 18 itens, integra quatro dimensões: a perspicácia social, a influência interpessoal, a capacidade para estabelecer redes de relacionamento profissional, e a sinceridade genuína. Participaram neste estudo 131 gestores portugueses, do norte ao sul do país, de várias áreas de atividade, faixas etárias e de ambos os sexos. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que ambos os instrumentos apresentam elevados índices de precisão e que os constructos definidos originalmente pelos autores se replicam na sua estrutura dimensional nesta amostra portuguesa. Foi observada, ainda, uma correlação positiva e estatisticamente significativa entre as competências de gestão interpessoal avaliadas pelo PSI e a dimensão paixão harmoniosa do PTWS.This study presents the validation of the Passion Toward Work Scale (PTWS; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003) and of the Political Skill Inventory (PSI; Ferris, Treadway, Kolodinsky, Hochwarter, Kacmar, Douglas, & Frink, 2005) for Portuguese business managers. The PTWS consists of 14 items, distributed in two dimensions: obsessive passion and harmonious passion. The PSI consists of 18 items and it includes four dimensions: social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, and apparent sincerity. There were 131 Portuguese managers participating in the study, from the North, Center and South of Portugal, and from various activity domains, age cohorts, and both genders. Findings suggest that both measures present high levels of precision and that the constructs originally defined by the authors are replicated in the dimensional structure for the Portuguese sample. A statistically significant and positive relation was also found between harmonious passion, assessed with the PTWS, and interpersonal management skills, measured with the PSI

A new linear parametrization for peak friction coefficient estimation in real time

The correct estimation of the friction coefficient in automotive applications is of paramount importance in the design of effective vehicle safety systems. In this article a new parametrization for estimating the peak friction coefficient, in the tire-road interface, is presented. The proposed parametrization is based on a feedforward neural network (FFNN), trained by the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) method. Unlike traditional learning techniques for FFNN, typically based on backpropagation and inappropriate for real time implementation, the ELM provides a learning process based on random assignment in the weights between input and the hidden layer. With this approach, the network training becomes much faster, and the unknown parameters can be identified through simple and robust regression methods, such as the Recursive Least Squares. Simulation results, obtained with the CarSim program, demonstrate a good performance of the proposed parametrization; compared with previous methods described in the literature, the proposed method reduces the estimation errors using a model with a lower number of parameters

Personalidade e bem-estar subjetivo na excelência profissional: validação de escalas junto de gestores portugueses

O presente estudo teve como objetivo a validação da Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) e da Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES; Judge, Erez, Bono, & Thoresen, 2003) junto de gestores empresariais portugueses (N = 108). A escala SWLS avalia a componente cognitiva do bem-estar psicológico, isto é, a satisfação percebida face à qualidade das condições de vida. A CSES, centrada na valoração básica que a pessoa faz do seu self, abarca quatro dimensões de personalidade: autoestima, autoeficácia generalizada, neuroticismo e lócus de controlo. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que ambos os instrumentos apresentam índices adequados de precisão e que os constructos iniciais definidos pelos autores se mantêm parcialmente na estrutura dimensional das escalas nesta amostra portuguesa, havendo maior proximidade na SWLS. Foi observada, ainda, uma correlação positiva e estatisticamente significativa entre traços de personalidade avaliados pela CSES e a satisfação com a vida avaliada pela SWLS, em particular relativamente aos itens reportados à perceção de autoeficácia

Identification of gifted students by teachers: reliability and validity of the Cognitive Abilities and Learning Scale

Teachers play a relevant role in screening and identifying gifted and talented students. However, many times teacher´s assessments may be biased by personal beliefs about giftedness. In these cases, the quality of screening and identification can be enhanced through the use of measurement devices that present good psychometric properties of validity and reliability. This study presents the examination of the precision and factor validity of the Cognitive Abilities and Learning Scale (CALS: Escala de Habilidades Cognitivas e de Aprendizagem – EHC/A; Almeida, Olivira &Melo, 2000), with a sample of 262 students from fourth and fifth grades. Results suggest the existence of only one factor, not confirming the theoretical model of three factors (intellectual ability, motivation and creativity) that supports the scale. Principal components analysis for three factors shows some problems with item specification for ability and creativity. These problems contrast with high reliability coefficients obtained when arranging items according to the dimension they would theoretically be linked to. These findings suggest the need to include new items with more specificity in terms of the cognitive dimensions of giftedness

Autoconceito em alunos moçambicanos: resultados em função do género e do contexto sociocultural

O autoconceito é descrito internacionalmente como uma variável psicológica importante na explicação da aprendizagem e do sucesso escolar dos alunos, nomeadamente na adolescência. Este artigo analisa a relação entre o autoconceito e o rendimento escolar de uma amostra de alunos moçambicanos. O estudo contou com a participação de 561 alunos das escolas da Província de Sofala, com idades que variam entre 11 a 22 anos, sendo 290 do sexo masculino e 271 do sexo feminino, assim como 266 do contexto urbano e 295 do contexto rural. Os resultados sugerem níveis mais elevados de autoconceito para os alunos do contexto urbano, quando comparados com os alunos de contexto rural. Não foram encontradas diferenças nos níveis de autoconceito comparando rapazes e raparigas.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Universidade do Minh

A method for rigorous design of reconfigurable systems

Reconfigurability, understood as the ability of a system to behave differently in different modes of operation and commute between them along its lifetime, is a cross-cutting concern in modern Software Engineering. This paper introduces a specification method for reconfigurable software based on a global transition structure to capture the system's reconfiguration space, and a local specification of each operation mode in whatever logic (equational, first-order, partial, fuzzy, probabilistic, etc.) is found expressive enough for handling its requirements. In the method these two levels are not only made explicit and juxtaposed, but formally interrelated. The key to achieve such a goal is a systematic process of hybridisation of logics through which the relationship between the local and global levels of a specification becomes internalised in the logic itself.This work is financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation – COMPETE 2020 Programme and by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016692 and UID/MAT/04106/2013. The first author is further supported by the BPD FCT Grant SFRH/BPD/103004/2014, and R. Neves is sponsored by FCT Grant SFRH/BD/52234/2013. M.A. Martins is also funded by the EU FP7 Marie Curie PIRSESGA-2012-318986 project GeTFun: Generalizing Truth-Functionality

Reuse and integration of specification logics: the hybridisation perspective

Hybridisation is a systematic process along which the characteristic features of hybrid logic, both at the syntactic and the semantic levels, are developed on top of an arbitrary logic framed as an institution. It also captures the construction of first-order encodings of such hybridised institutions into theories in first-order logic. The method was originally developed to build suitable logics for the specification of reconfigurable software systems on top of whatever logic is used to describe local requirements of each system’s configuration. Hybridisation has, however, a broader scope, providing a fresh example of yet another development in combining and reusing logics driven by a problem from Computer Science. This paper offers an overview of this method, proposes some new extensions, namely the introduction of full quantification leading to the specification of dynamic modalities, and exemplifies its potential through a didactical application. It is discussed how hybridisation can be successfully used in a formal specification course in which students progress from equational to hybrid specifications in a uniform setting, integrating paradigms, combining data and behaviour, and dealing appropriately with systems evolution and reconfiguration.This work is financed by the ERDF—European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation—COMPETE 2020 Programme, and by National Funds through the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006961. M. Martins was further supported by project UID/MAT/04106/2013. A. Madeira and R. Neves research was carried out in the context of a post-doc and a Ph.D. grant with references SFRH/BPD/103004/2014 and SFRH/BD/52234/2013, respectively. L.S. Barbosa is also supported by SFRH/BSAB/ 113890/2015

Non-traditional and traditional engineering students’ academic expectations

Neste estudo comparam-se as expectativas académicas iniciais de dois grupos de alunos Portugueses do 1º ano de cursos de engenharia: alunos tradicionais e não tradicionais. Para este estudo considerou-se como alunos não tradicionais todos aqueles que ingressam no ensino superior (ES) com mais de 23 anos de idade. Participaram voluntariamente neste estudo 430 estudantes. Os estudantes responderam a um questionário sobre as suas expectativas em torno da experiência no ES versando cinco dimensões: Formação para o emprego/carreira, Qualidade da formação, Integração social, Ajustamento à pressão social, e Envolvimento político e cidadania. Os resultados mostram um padrão de elevadas expectativas nos estudantes mais jovens. Esta diferença é mais expressiva nas dimensões Pressão Social e Interação Social, sendo menos expressivos nas dimensões Envolvimento político e cidadania e Formação para o emprego/carreira. As expectativas em torno da Qualidade da formação não se diferenciam em função dos dois grupos de estudantes.This study compares the initial academic expectations of two groups of Portuguese first-year colege students in engineering programs: traditional students and non-traditional students. Non-traditional students were considered all students who assessed Higher Education (HE) with over 23 years of age. Participants included 430 students. Students answered a questionnaire about their expectations regarding experiences in the focusing on five dimensions: Training for career development, Quality of training, Social interaction, Adjustment to social pressure, and Political engagement and citizenship. Results showed that younger students present a profile of overall higher expectations, when compared to older students. Such a difference is more evident in the dimensions Adjustment to social pressure and Social interaction, and weaker in the dimensions Political engagement and citizenship, and Training for career development. Expectations for Quality of training were not different regarding both groups of students.Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETEFundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT