Reconstruindo a cidadania activa: a contribuição do trabalho comunitário

Embora hoje em dia a cidadania activa esteja muito em moda, em muitas declarações políticas (Making an European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality, European Commission, 2001), em muitas conferências internacionais (por exemplo, CONFI NTEA, V Conferência da UN ESCO sobre Educação de Adultos, Hamburgo, 1997) e em programas nacionais de aprendizagem ao longo da vida e de desenvolvimento social, o próprio conceito não é novo e nem sempre é definido explícita e claramente. Mesmo quando é apresentada uma definição, ela continua bastante abstracta e vaga. Por exemplo, na Comunicação da Comissão da União Europeia (21.11.2001), a cidadania activa refere-se à "participação cultural, económica, político-democrática elou social dos cidadãos na sociedade, como um todo e na sua própria comunidade"

Voting with your wallet? Municipal budget policy and election results

In this research letter, we examine the impact of municipal budget policy on the percentage of votes for the incumbent majority parties in subsequent elections. We contribute to the academic literature by examining the combined influence of taxes, expenditures and debt. Based on data for Flanders (Belgium) between 1994 and 2012, we find no significant association between these budget variables and the actual election results

Why do adults learn? Developing a motivational typology across 12 European countries

Participation in adult education is today generally considered an individual responsibility. However, participation is the result of a complex bounded agency between individuals, educational institutions and regulating governments. This paper explores the motives of 12,000 European adult learners in formal adult education in 12 European countries. Analysis shows consistent patterns comparable to welfare state typologies. Further exploration demonstrates that motives to participate in adult education courses can be interpreted in relation to the labour market, education and social policy in the country of participation.status: publishe

Single step spray-dried polyelectrolyte microparticles enhance the antigen cross-presentation capacity of porcine dendritic cells

C

The Narrative Quality of Career Conversations in Vocational Education

Due to the individualization of society and the rise of a service economy, youngsters have to develop a career identity. In this article we explore to what extent career guidance conversations in vocational education enable the development of a career identity. Using core concepts of dialogical self theory, we understand identity development in terms of positioning: as a dynamic process from I-positions to a meta-position and subsequently to a promoter-position. We want to know what happens when in a conversation an I-position is formulated. Based on 30 guidance conversations between students and a teacher or workplace mentor, four different strategies of teachers or mentors are distinguished: ignoring the I-position, repositioning by talking on behalf of the student, broadening the I-position without conclusion, and dialogue resulting in the formulation of a promoter-position. The results show that dialogical self theory can support teachers and mentors in broadening their positioning repertoire to improve the narrative quality of their guidance conversations with students

Entrepreneurship Education and Training in a Small Business Context: Insights from the Competence-based Approach

The concept of competence, as it is brought into play in current research, is a potentially powerful construct for entrepreneurship education research and practice. Although the concept has been the subject of strong debate in educational research in general, critical analysis of how it has been used, applied and experienced in entrepreneurship education practice is scarce. This article contributes specifically to the discussion of entrepreneurial competence by theoretically unfolding and discussing the concept. Subsequently, the implications of applying a competence-based approach in entrepreneurship education are illustrated and discussed based on analysis of two cases t

Patterning of graphene on silicon-on-insulator waveguides through laser ablation and plasma etching

We present the use of femtosecond laser ablation for the removal of monolayer graphene from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides, and the use of oxygen plasma etching through a metal mask to peel off graphene from the grating couplers attached to the waveguides. Through Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, we show that the removal of graphene is successful with minimal damage to the underlying SOI waveguides. Finally, we employ both removal techniques to measure the contribution of graphene to the loss of grating-coupled graphene-covered SOI waveguides using the cut-back method. This loss contribution is measured to be 0.132 dB/μm

Development of an electrochemical procedure for monitoring hydrogen sorption/desorption in steel

Hydrogen embrittlement leads to mechanical degradation of metals. Hence, hydrogen sorption/desorption properties of metals need to be characterized. An electrochemical procedure based on cyclic voltammetry (CV) and potentiostatic polarization is elaborated on plain-carbon steel. The procedure consists of first two consecutive CV cycles (pretreatment and reference CV), followed by cathodic H-charging, and subsequent CV scans to study and quantify the H-sorption/desorption. Best practice in this procedure is to perform all steps consecutively without interruption or sample manipulations between steps to avoid spontaneous H-loss. The H-related interaction with the steel is clearly identified in the CV and can be differentiated from the electrolyte contribution coming from thiourea. The study confirms the role of thiourea as H-recombination poison in alkaline solution, and also demonstrates that it contributes to the CV response. Additionally, various charging times are investigated to study the time to H-saturation, and also the scan rate during the CV procedure is varied to study time-related phenomena. Dedicated discharging experiments were included in the study to complement the CV data, giving additional insights in the H-steel interaction. Moreover, hydrogen related findings are successfully verified by using a complimentary method, i.e. hot extraction. The better understanding of the peaks in the CV and the continuous procedure result in a reliable methodology to characterize the H-sorption/desorption in steel