Stakeholders perception of recruitment criteria: a Régnier’s abacus approach of market valued skills

Together with the emphasis on the technical skills acquisition, higher education institutions have been making an effort on developing and updating undergraduate transferable competences in order to diminish the gap between academic training and working world entrance. In other words, to recognize market needs, teachers and students representations about human resources requirements, and combine them to boost employability in business professions, must be a priority in today’s knowledge based economy. Taking into account the new teaching realities brought by Bologna agreement, as well as the exertion universities have been done in order to tune in enterprises and curricula, this activity intended to accede the way recruiters, alumni and college teachers from Catholic University [CU; Porto Regional Center (PRC), Economics and Management Faculty (MEF)] positioned themselves relatively to some recruitment and selection criteria for management and economics professions. Using a reflection activity based upon Régnier’s Abacus, participants were asked to positioned individually as experts (in their roles as recruiters, teachers or former CU alumni) in identifying market value skills, and afterwards to build a group debated conclusion to present to a larger audience. Results pointed out only one total consensual factor, that is, flexibility and adjustment skills as the most important factors when recruiting, followed by entrepreneur capabilities and valorization of work experiences in the candidates curricula. Discrepancies were found by group of experts when college of origin was the discussion subject, although there was consensus about the hierarchical place order in the three groups.Market valued skills, Management and Economics College Teachers and Graduates, Employers, Régnier’s Abacus based activity

Conspicuous distinction: a reading of Veblen and Bourdieu

The paper provides a comparative reading of two influential works of Veblen and Bourdieu, on cultural consumption. Approaches to consumers‟ taste and preferences are predominantly essentialist. However, Veblen and Bourdieu focused on the relationship between consumption and social divisions. Their views are, nonetheless, contrasting. Veblen developed a somewhat speculative approach centred on waste and conspicuous consumption as evidence for the natural quest for social honour. Bourdieu drew on empirical research to argue that culture stems from class and is related to necessity. The concepts of habitus, cultural capital and field interact to provide a complex and detailed account of different tastes emerging within different social classes. The result is a variegated social space with different statuses and an ongoing struggle for the definition of „good” and “bad” taste.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Stakeholders perception of recruitment criteria: a Régnier’s abacus approach of market valued skills.

Together with the emphasis on the technical skills acquisition, higher education institutions have been making an effort on developing and updating undergraduate transferable competences in order to diminish the gap between academic training and working world entrance. In other words, to recognize market needs, teachers and students representations about human resources requirements, and combine them to boost employability in business professions, must be a priority in today’s knowledge based economy.Taking into account the new teaching realities brought by Bologna agreement, as well as the exertion universities have been done in order to tune in enterprises and curricula, this activity intended to accede the way recruiters, alumni and college teachers from Catholic University [CU; Porto Regional Center (PRC), Economics and Management Faculty (MEF)] positioned themselves relatively to some recruitment and selection criteria for management and economics professions. Using a reflection activity based upon Régnier’s Abacus, participants were asked to positioned individually as experts (in their roles as recruiters, teachers or former CU alumni) in identifying market value skills, and afterwards to build a group debated conclusion to present to a larger audience. Results pointed out only one total consensual factor, that is, flexibility and adjustment skills as the most important factors when recruiting, followed by entrepreneur capabilities and valorization of work experiences in the candidates curricula. Discrepancies were found by group of experts when college of origin was the discussion subject, although there was consensus about the hierarchical place order in the three groups.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Explaning Demand for Higher Education

Recognising the crucial role of higher education for the development of nations and individuals, many countries have recently established ambitious targets for the percentage of graduates in their population by 2020. In peripheral European Union countries, however, such objectives may be difficult to attain. In fact, both the current stringent fiscal consolidation processes and the overall depressed economic environment may exert negative effects upon domestic demand for higher education. Such uncertain context increases the need for efficient policies and henceforth the value of obtaining reliable information on the variables that are more likely to influence demand. In this study, we employ the partial least squares methodology, which allows modelling with many variables, even with relatively few observations, to identify the most relevant determinants of demand for higher education. We focus in the case of Portugal, a country where applications for higher education are centralised and thus provides a long and reliable set of data on aggregate demand. The results of our empirical analysis suggest that the most relevant determinants of demand are institutional and/or policy dependent and, therefore, may be controlled by decision makers and managed to support national strategic objectives. These results, obtained for Portugal, are also useful particularly for other southern European Union countries, which share some of the Portuguese economic, social, demographic and cultural characteristics

Venenos e panaceias do vinho tinto

É o propósito dos autores apresentar nesta comunicação uma reflexão crítica, com base nos dados disponíveis até à data, sobre os fundamentos dos debates recentes sobre segurança alimentar no vinho, bem como sobre o papel do vinho na saúde, usando como caso de estudo dados conjuntos sobre a casta Vinhão, quanto à presença da toxina ocratoxina A e antocianas. Aspectos como a avaliação e gestão do risco quanto à ocratoxina A, em termos de estabelecimento de limites máximos recomendados, e comunicação do risco ao consumidor serão aqui debatidos dos pontos de vista científicos, políticos e económicos, tendo a saúde do consumidor em vista final. Os mesmos pontos são focados na visão inversa, dos compostos com efeito benéficos para a saúde, quanto às antocianas. Um balanço final é apresentado

Soil and climatic influence on the free and glycosidically bound volatiles of grapes from two white varieties from vinhos verdes region

The Vinhos Verdes Region is situated in the northwest of Portugal. The Atlantic Ocean and the relief markedly influence the climate. This region is in Viticultural Zone C I a) of the Winegrowing Regions of the European Communities. The produced wine is unique and its specific characteristics are mainly due to the climate and soil. The white Vinho Verde is softly alcoholic, with a delicate, fresh and fruity bouquet. In this work we investigated the influence of the climate and the soil on the volatile compounds of grapes from two autochthonous white grape varieties, Alvarinho and Loureiro, in two sub-regions for each one of them (Alvarinho - Monção and Lima; Loureiro - Lima and Cávado). The research was carried out during three years: 1996, 1997 and 1998. We found out that the global characteristics of the grapes from the two varieties depend on the harvest factor (climate) rather than on the sub-region where the vine is planted. The characteristics of the soil have an even lesser influence on the variableness of the samples, although the Alvarinho variety picked in the Lima sub-region seems to have different characteristics

Maintenance management based on organization maturity level

This article aims to discuss the management processes of the maintenance function of a company depending on the degree of maturity of the organization in connection with the maintenance, redefining training strategies, collection and analysis of failures, study and action plan to improve operational performance according to the organization's strategies. The maintenance management makes use of some tools and techniques to improve efficiency and minimize their impacts, such as the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Analysis of the Failure Mode and Effects (FMEA). The identification of the degree of maturity on the maintenance, leads us to a better planning of actions needed to adapt management strategies proposed thus appropriate computerized tools, performance indicators, technical analysis and management methodologies most appropriate, providing a horizon of improvements necessary for the successful evolution of the process and the resulting progress in the maintenance maturity level function for the company. Understanding the aspects which define the degree of maturity of an organization may not be an easy task. We intend, therefore, support the argument that the degree of maturity management processes associated with maintaining the function of a company is closely related to the degree of preparation and knowledge of tools and control systems that an organization has. Aspects related to maturity levels have been fairly dealt with in various segments of the knowledge and practice of characterizing its findings have contributed to the achievement of better results in organizations in general.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Pasture digital image analysis as a support tool for grazing management in montados: a preliminary approach

The knowledge of vegetation land cover over time is essential for an appropriate grazing management in any free range animal production system. Ground vegetation has traditionally been monitored using visual methods that produce estimates of percentage covered/bared soil, green/senescent vegetation and also grasses/forbs occurrences. Visual methods are extremely time consuming and prone to observer bias. The use of digital image to evaluate and monitor ground vegetation has increased in recent years. These techniques allow a more cost effective data collection over larger areas, avoiding the need of judgement-based choices of representative areas. The aim of this work is to test the applicability and robustness of simple image processing techniques to monitor ground vegetation in Montado. The set of images were collected using a GoPro HD HERO2 digital camera, facing down, mounted on a stand at constant distance above ground.An application of threshold segmentation techniques to a set of digital images is presented. A procedure to calibrate the threshold value is proposed. Some results are presented and analyzed for different lighting conditions, type of vegetation, as well as percentage of Montado vegetation cover. Montados are characterized by a pronounced patchiness of vegetation communities and should benefit from such an approach

C6-alcohols as varietal markers for assessment of wine origin

A significant part of the compounds present in wines having six carbon atoms, the C6-compounds, derive from grape polyunsaturated fatty acids (primarily originated from membrane lipids), namely linoleic and α-linolenic acids, through a cascade of enzymatic reactions. This biochemical pathway yield C6-aldehydes, which are subsequently reduced to C6-alcohols, which can, in turn, be esterified to produce esters. As the C6- compounds derive from varietal precursors, they could hypothetically contribute to judge wine origin and affiliation. In this way, two C6-alcohols, (E)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenol, have been referred as the most important because its ratio can act as an indicator of the variety of origin. This study presents the results, concerning the concentration of the three main C6-alcohols, 1-hexanol, (E)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenol, as well as ratios between them, for 43 monovarietal wines from Vinhos Verdes demarcated region, belonging to six white – Alvarinho (8), Arinto (1), Avesso (9), Azal (1), Loureiro (17) and Trajadura (4) – and three red – Amaral (1), Borra¸cal (1) and Vinh˜ao (1) – grape varieties. Wines were produced at experimental scale using slightly different winemaking practices and representing various terroirs and vintages, being analyzed after different conservation periods. The results showed that (E)-3-hexenol/(Z)-3-hexenol ratio clearly discriminates Loureiro wines from those of Alvarinho, Avesso and Trajadura. Moreover, 1-hexanol/(E)-3-hexenol and 1-hexanol/(Z)-3-hexenol ratios may also be able to discriminate Vinhos Verdes monovarietal wines, and can act on a second level differentiation. The remaining monovarietal wines produced results which may be observed as indicative, since only one sample of each was analysed.Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes—EVAG, the Direcção Regional de Agricultura de Entre Douro e Minho—DVF, the Solar de Serrade and the Casa da Tapada Sociedade Agrícola Lda. PO AGRO