Evaluation and control process in higher education institutions: a comparative analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the evaluation and control processes in the governance systems of higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach This study compares the performance and control processes of strategic management in four HEIs in two European countries with binary systems – Portugal and The Netherlands. Using a case study approach, the authors find that HEIs with different missions and contexts have performance and control systems that are generally indistinguishable. Findings The controlling strategies in the public HEIs have taken on isomorphic characteristics based on processes that enhance competition, decentralize functions and solidify performance management. Originality/value In this paper, the authors “unpackage” strategic management to focus on the forms of control associated with performance evaluation. Performance evaluation is central to the management process and increasingly assuming an integral part of the institution’s identity and culture.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Testing strong line metallicity diagnostics at z~2

High-z galaxy gas-phase metallicities are usually determined through observations of strong optical emission lines with calibrations tied to the local universe. Recent debate has questioned if these calibrations are valid in the high-z universe. We investigate this by analysing a sample of 16 galaxies at z~2 available in the literature, and for which the metallicity can be robustly determined using oxygen auroral lines. The sample spans a redshift range of 1.4 < z < 3.6, has metallicities of 7.4-8.4 in 12+log(O/H) and stellar masses 10^7.5-10^11 Msun. We test commonly used strong line diagnostics (R23, O3, O2, O32, N2, O3N2 and Ne3O2 ) as prescribed by four different sets of empirical calibrations, as well as one fully theoretical calibration. We find that none of the strong line diagnostics (or calibration set) tested perform consistently better than the others. Amongst the line ratios tested, R23 and O3 deliver the best results, with accuracies as good as 0.01-0.04 dex and dispersions of ~0.2 dex in two of the calibrations tested. Generally, line ratios involving nitrogen predict higher values of metallicity, while results with O32 and Ne3O2 show large dispersions. The theoretical calibration yields an accuracy of 0.06 dex, comparable to the best strong line methods. We conclude that, within the metallicity range tested in this work, the locally calibrated diagnostics can still be reliably applied at z~2.Comment: 12 pages, 8 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Academic culture in doctoral education: are companies making a difference in the experiences and practices of doctoral students in Portugal?

Aim/Purpose: This article examines the experience and practice of doctoral students by focus-ing on different dimensions of the PhD socialization process. It addresses the question of whether university collaborations with businesses influence the ex-perience and practice of PhD students. Background: The study explores the academic culture in the PhD process through the analy-sis of the experiences and practices of doctoral students in two groups - those without business collaborations (academic trajectories) and those with business collaborations (hybrid trajectories). Academic trajectories are seen as traditional academic disciplinary based doctoral education, while hybrid trajectories cross boundaries collaborating with companies in the production of new knowledge.Methodology: The article uses a qualitative methodology based on extensive interviews and analysis of the curriculum vitae of fourteen Portuguese PhD students in three scientific domains (engineering and technology sciences, exact sciences, and so-cial sciences). The doctoral program profiles were defined according to a survey applied to the directors of all doctoral programs in Portugal. Contribution: The study contributes to the reflection on the effects of collaboration with companies, in particular on the trajectories and experiences of doctoral stu-dents. It contributes to the understanding of the challenges associated with business collaborations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Case study : comparison between the acoustic performance of a mixed building technology building and a conventional building

The objective of this work is to compare the acoustical performance of MBT (Mixed Building Technology) constructions and conventional buildings. The sound insulation performance of a MBT construction was assessed by tests done in situ. The results were compared with similar data from earlier measurements undertaken by the Building Physics Laboratory of the University of Minho in Portugal, and from simplified prediction methods. The building where this comparison was done is a 3-storey building. The first 2 storeys were refurbished using conventional construction methods, but the 3rd storey was built using MBT methods, characterised by using lightweight materials, with high thermal insulation, and large fenestration areas. Based on the work undertaken, some conclusions and proposals for further work are presented.(undefined

Inheritances, social classes, and wealth distribution

We consider a simple theoretical model to investigate the impact of inheritances on the wealth distribution. Wealth is described as a finite resource, which remains constant over different generations and is divided equally among offspring. All other sources of wealth are neglected. We consider different societies characterized by a different offspring probability distribution. We find that, if the population remains constant, the society reaches a stationary wealth distribution. We show that inequality emerges every time the number of children per family is not always the same. For realistic offspring distributions from developed countries, the model predicts a Gini coefficient of $G\approx 0.3$. If we divide the society into wealth classes and set the probability of getting married to depend on the distance between classes, the stationary wealth distribution crosses over from an exponential to a power-law regime as the number of wealth classes and the level of class distinction increase.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Staff and youth views on autonomy and emancipation from residential care: a participatory research study

The use of participatory approaches in designing services is still relatively uncommon. In this study, we helped design a service to support the transition of youth from residential care to independent living by exploring the perspectives of staff and of youth regarding: a) the concept and development of autonomy; and b) key factors in developing this type of service. We gathered the data through 10 interviews with staff (n = 10) and 4 focus groups with youth (n = 21), and subjected the data to a thematic content analysis. Staff defined autonomy as self-regulation and self-care, and identified three paths to foster autonomy - a sense of normality, meaningful relationships, and planning for emancipation. The staff and youth identified the following important aspects in designing the service: achieving normality (e.g. limited number of residents), promoting youth capacity (e.g. skill-building activities), providing social support (e.g. trust and respect between residents), and assuring guidance and boundaries (e.g. supervision of youth).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

From assessing needs to designing and evaluating programs: case study of a family support program in Portugal

In the last years, researchers have been emphasizing the importance of promoting needs-led, context-specific, user-centered services in the context of child protection. However, policy-makers and service planners around the world largely depend on US-based research evidence of what is effective in the domain of family support. This work presents, in two studies, the process of design and evaluation of a targeted family support intervention that was developed and implemented in Portugal. Following the Common Language Approach to needs assessment (Dartington Social Research Unit, 2001), in study 1 we screened 100 children and their families attending a generalist child care service for risk and protective factors. Four different clusters of needs were identified. One cluster was selected as target-group for the design of a service to match their needs. Results indicated that families in this cluster had socioeconomical disadvantages, a challenging family environment and inadequate parenting practices. Children were showing signs of problematic social behaviors. In study 2 we describe the theoretical process model and the logic model for the intervention, and experimentally evaluate the program's efficacy. Results from pre-post assessments indicate improvements in the intervention group (N = 20) in several areas of parental empowerment and family relations, comparing with the control group (N = 20). This approach to need-service matching seems to be a viable pathway to design needs-led, context-specific, and user-centered services, and to assess their efficacy, thereby informing policy makers and service plannersinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Quality of Life Predictors and Normative Data

Purpose: Identify predictors and normative data for quality of life (QOL) in a sample of Portuguese adults from general population Methods: A cross-sectional correlational study was undertaken with two hundred and fifty-five (N=255) individuals from Portuguese general population (mean age 43yrs, range 25-84yrs; 148 females, 107 males). Participants completed the European Portuguese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life short-form instrument (WHOQOL-Bref) and the European Portuguese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Demographic information was also collected. Results: Portuguese adults reported their QOL as good. The physical, psychological and environmental domains predicted 44% of the variance of QOL. The strongest predictor was the physical domain and the weakest was social relationships. Age, educational level, socioeconomic status and emotional status were significantly correlated with QOL and explained 25% of the variance of QOL. The strongest predictor of QOL was emotional status followed by education and age. QOL was significantly different according to: marital status; living place (mainland or islands); type of cohabitants; occupation; health. Conclusions: The sample of adults from general Portuguese population reported high levels of QOL. The life domain that better explained QOL was the physical domain. Among other variables, emotional status best predicted QOL. Further variables influenced overall QOL. These findings inform our understanding on adults from Portuguese general population QOL 2 and can be helpful for researchers and practitioners using this assessment tool to compare their results with normative data

From the web of bibliographic data to the web of bibliographic meaning: structuring, interlinking and validating ontologies on the semantic web

Bibliographic data sets have revealed good levels of technical interoperability observing the principles and good practices of linked data. However, they have a low level of quality from the semantic point of view, due to many factors: lack of a common conceptual framework for a diversity of standards often used together, reduced number of links between the ontologies underlying data sets, proliferation of heterogeneous vocabularies, underuse of semantic mechanisms in data structures, "ontology hijacking" (Feeney et al., 2018), point-to-point mappings, as well as limitations of semantic web languages for the requirements of bibliographic data interoperability. After reviewing such issues, a research direction is proposed to overcome the misalignments found by means of a reference model and a superontology, using Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) to solve current limitations of RDF languages.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio