Pass the port(o) to the right - building a community of practice for Portuguese professors to profess

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Análise de opiniões expressas nas redes sociais

As redes sociais são cada vez mais utilizadas no nosso dia-a-dia. O recente aumento de popularidade deste tipo de serviço veio trazer novas funcionalidades e aplicações. Os utilizadores contribuem com as suas opiniões e conhecimentos, formando um repositório de informação de grandes proporções. Esta informação é cada vez mais utilizada por empresas, que vêem nas redes sociais uma forma de promover os seus produtos junto do público ou analisar de que forma os mesmos são considerados. O estudo apresentado neste artigo aplicou técnicas de Análise Sentimental para verificar se a informação existente em duas redes sociais (Facebook e Twitter) pode ser utilizada para estimar valores que podem vir a ser obtidos na comercialização de bens ou serviços a serem lançados no mercado.The social networks have been increasingly used. Their popularity brought new features and applications. In social networks users contribute with their opinions and knowledge, forming a huge information repository. The use of this information by companies, which consider social networks as a way of promoting their products, has been rising. This study, through the use of Sentimental Analysis, sustain the conclusion that the information obtained from social networks (Facebook and Twitter) can be used to determine values that can be obtained in the commercialization of goods or services to be launched in the market

Práticas de avaliação online e digitais no ensino superior: o caso de uma universidade inglesa durante a pandemia COVID19

In this paper, we discuss the approach taken to online and digital assessment by an English university during the Covid19 pandemic. We explore this case because of the institutional investment in changing its assessment approach during the pandemic. This approach is explored against a sustainability model for learning technologies adoption, specifically looking at level 1 - financial support; level 2 - instructional and technical support; level 3 - institutional ownership; level 4 - institutional impact; and level 5 - stakeholders’ ownership. This will hopefully help academics and institutions to both reflect on past experiences and think forward about the sustainability of their online and digital assessment strategies. We argue in this paper that higher education should be looking at the electronic management of the assessment process in a more sustainable way. This paper concludes by recommending institutions to embrace the efforts made during the pandemic and rethink how online and digital assessments can be managed over time to encourage authentic learning.Neste artigo, discutimos a abordagem desenvolvida para a avaliação online e digital por uma universidade inglesa durante a pandemia Covid19. Exploramos este caso devido ao investimento institucional na mudança da sua abordagem de avaliação durante a pandemia. Esta abordagem é explorada face a um modelo de sustentabilidade para a adoção de tecnologias de aprendizagem, analisando especificamente o nível 1 - apoio financeiro; nível 2 - apoio instrucional e técnico; nível 3 - apropriação institucional; nível 4 - impacto institucional; e nível 5 - apropriação dos agentes educativos. Espera-se que o artigo ajude quer os docentes quer as instituições de ensino superior a refletirem sobre experiências passadas e a pensar na sustentabilidade das suas estratégias de avaliação digital e online. Neste documento, defendemos que o ensino superior deveria analisar a gestão digital do processo de avaliação de forma mais sustentável. Terminamos este artigo recomendando às instituições que abracem o esforço feito durante a pandemia para repensar as estratégias de avaliação, refletindo sobre a forma como a avaliação online e digital pode ser gerida ao longo do tempo para promover uma avaliação potenciadora de aprendizagens autênticas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The experience of co-designing a learning space with teachers and students

This paper presents the findings of an empirical research study investigating the perspectives of students and teachers on learning spaces in higher education and their participation in the design process of such spaces. The study employed a participatory design method, using workshops to involve teachers and students in redesigning a prototype learning space named the ‘Cube’. This approach allowed the researchers to actively engage users in reflective thinking on the learning spaces and their role in learning and to co-create new learning spaces through the use of their experiences and ideas. The findings are organised into 10 design themes, highlighting key considerations for the design of meaningful and effective learning spaces. The study concludes that involving teachers and students in the design process can significantly improve the learning and teaching experiences by fostering an active sense of agency and ownership over the learning spaces.This work is financially supported by National Funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the project UIDB/00194/2020 (CIDTFF), and by the Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas, CAPES and CNPQ. Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Soil erosion changes in Portugal between 1990 and 2018

Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Geographic Information Systems and ScienceSoils provide important regulating ecosystem services and have crucial implications for human well-being and environmental conservation. However, soil degradation and particularly soil erosion jeopardize the maintenance and existence of these services. This study explores the spatio-temporal relationships of soil erosion to understand the distribution patterns of sediment retention services in mainland Portugal. Based on Corine Land Cover maps from 1990 to 2018, the InVEST Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) model was used to evaluate the influence of sediment dynamics for soil and water conservation. Spatial differences in the sediment retention levels were observed within the NUTS III boundaries, showing which areas are more vulnerable to soil erosion processes. Results indicated that the Region of Leiria, Douro and the coastal regions have decreased importantly sediment retention capacity over the years. However, in most of the territory (77.52%) changes in sediment retention were little or not important (i.e. less than 5%). The statistical validation of the model proved the consistency of the results, highlighting the usefulness of this methodology to analyse the state of soil erosion in the country. These findings can be relevant to support strategies for more efficient land use planning regarding soil erosion mitigation practices.Os solos fornecem serviços de ecossistemas reguladores e têm implicações cruciais para o bem-estar humano e conservação do ambiente. No entanto, a degradação dos solos, particularmente a erosão do solo, coloca em risco a manutenção e a existência destes serviços. Este estudo pretende analisar a distribuição espaciotemporal da erosão do solo, compreendendo os padrões espaciais da retenção de sedimentos em Portugal continental. Suportado pela utilização dos mapas Corine Land Cover de 1990 a 2018, o modelo Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) do InVEST foi utilizado para avaliar a influencia das dinâmicas dos sedimentos para a conservação dos solos e água. Variações espaciais dos níveis de retenção de sedimentos dentro dos limites dos NUTS III foram observados, mostrando quais as áreas mais suscetíveis aos processos de erosão do solo. Os resultados indicam ainda, que na Região de Leiria, Douro e nas regiões costeiras a capacidade de retenção de sedimentos decresceu significativamente no decorrer dos anos. No entanto, na maioria do território (77,52%) as mudanças em retenção de sedimentos foram pouco ou nada importantes (isto é, menos de 5%). A validação estatística do modelo comprova a consistência dos resultados, destacando a utilidade desta metodologia para a análise do estado da erosão do solo no país. Estas descobertas podem ser relevantes para apoiar estratégias para um ordenamento de território mais eficiente, relativamente às práticas de mitigação da erosão do solo

Economic Analysis of Portuguese Public Hospitals Through the Construction of Quality, Efficiency, Access, and Financial Related Composite Indicators

Hospitals consume most of the health systems’ fnancial resources. In Portugal, for instance, public hospitals represent more than half of the National Health Service debt and are decisive in their fnancial insufciency. Although proft is not the primary goal of hospitals, it is essential to guarantee their fnancial sustainability to ensure users’ health care and the necessary resources. An analysis of the existing literature shows that researches focus mainly on the hospital’s technical efciency. The literature has paid little or even no attention to the use of composite indicators in hospital benchmarking studies. This study uses the Beneft of Doubt methodology alongside recent data about Portuguese public hospitals (2013–2017) to understand the factors that contribute to low performance and high indebtedness levels. Our results suggest that hospitals perform better in terms of access (average score: 0.982). The group of criteria with the lowest performance was efciency and productivity (average score: 0.919), suggesting resources waste. Financial performance is, in general, higher than quality, raising social concerns about the way that public hospitals have been managed. Findings bring relevant implications. For example, the way hospitals are currently fnanced should consider efciency, productivity, quality, and access. Regulators should ensure that minimum performance levels are fulflled, applying preventive and corrective measures to avoid future low-performance levels. We suggest that hospital managers introduce satisfaction inquiries to improve quality. These improvements can attract more patients in the medium- or long-term; thus, our results are useful to citizens to make a better choice.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Building a community of practice for engaging pharmacy students to learn in a collaborative research environment

Conventional research project supervision is not always compatible with current challenges facing Higher Education, such as students’ diverse backgrounds, increasing demands and multidisciplinary research interests. Additionally, research students may experience isolation at different stages of research. To help students coping with these challenges, approaches such as progress reports, departmental presentations and co-supervision have been introduced. Community of practices (CoP) are alternative approaches that if successfully adopted may improve the students’ learning experience. These communities were developed as knowledge-based social structures between groups of people sharing goals and interests. Considering the importance of CoPs as a strategy to engage students and researchers to work collaboratively; this study aims to investigate the impact of a formal CoP on the students’ learning experience at different levels of study

Editorial

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Insights into the transcriptional regulation of poorly characterized alcohol acetyltransferase-encoding genes (HgAATs) shed light into the production of acetate esters in the wine yeast Hanseniaspora guilliermondii

Hanseniaspora guilliermondii is a well-recognized producer of acetate esters associated with fruity and floral aromas. The molecular mechanisms underneath this production or the environmental factors modulating it remain unknown. Herein, we found that, unlike Saccharomyces cerevisiae, H. guilliermondii over-produces acetate esters and higher alcohols at low carbon-to-assimilable nitrogen (C:N) ratios, with the highest titers being obtained in the amino acid-enriched medium YPD. The evidences gathered support a model in which the strict preference of H. guilliermondii for amino acids as nitrogen sources results in a channeling of keto-acids obtained after transamination to higher alcohols and acetate esters. This higher production was accompanied by higher expression of the four HgAATs, genes, recently proposed to encode alcohol acetyl transferases. In silico analyses of these HgAat's reveal that they harbor conserved AATs motifs, albeit radical substitutions were identified that might result in different kinetic properties. Close homologues of HgAat2, HgAat3, and HgAat4 were only found in members of Hanseniaspora genus and phylogenetic reconstruction shows that these constitute a distinct family of Aat's. These results advance the exploration of H. guilliermondii as a bio-flavoring agent providing important insights to guide future strategies for strain engineering and media manipulation that can enhance production of aromatic volatiles.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio