Parques Nacionales y Naturales en Portugal. Una breve historia para entender la apropiación por parte del estado de territorios humanizados

The text examines legal frameworks in Portugal to discuss how nature conservation has been managed from a state perspective. Natural Protected Areas correspond to a desire of the political sphere to match an international environmental agenda. However, they have been implemented mainly in private properties or in "baldios" (communal, though not public lands). Therefore, in practical terms, a tension has been always present between the state and the communities and/or private owners since the beginning of the 20th Century with the creation of ‘forest perimeters’. The article flies over the critical turning points in Portuguese conservation policies from the seventies of the 20th Century to present-day with the recently created diploma of co-management for Protected Areas.El texto examina los marcos legales en Portugal para discutir cómo se ha gestionado la conservación de la naturaleza desde una perspectiva estatal. Las Áreas Naturales Protegidas corresponden a una voluntad del Ámbito Político de estar a la altura de una agenda ambiental internacional. Sin embargo, se han implementado principalmente en propiedades privadas o en baldíos (tierras comunales pero no publicas). Por lo tanto, en términos prácticos siempre ha estado presente una tensión entre el Estado y las comunidades y/o propietarios privados desde principios del siglo XX con la creación de “perímetros forestales”. El artículo sobrevuela los puntos de inflexión críticos en las Políticas de Conservación portuguesas desde los años 70 del siglo XX hasta nuestros días con el diploma de cogestión de Áreas Protegidas, recientemente creado

Estudo sobre receptividade ao m-learning no ensino básico

Os jovens de hoje nasceram rodeados por tecnologias digitais e móveis e são por isso designados por “nativos digitais” ou “geração móvel”. Têm capacidades inatas na utilização das tecnologias digitais e móveis, que começam a ser exploradas no contexto educativo, o mobile learning. O principal objectivo deste estudo consiste em inquirir a receptividade ao mobile learning ou m-learning pelos alunos do ensino básico. Para tal, desenvolveu-se um conjunto de questionários para a recolha de dados antes e depois da aplicação de um módulo lectivo, fomentando a aprendizagem móvel. Os dados recolhidos foram utilizados para determinar o grau de receptividade ao m-learning. Os alunos demonstraram um interesse genuíno pela utilização de tecnologias móveis no apoio à sua aprendizagem.nowadays youngsters were born surrounded by digital and mobile technologies, and by so, they are called “digital natives” or “mobile generation”. They have innate skills on the use of digital and mobile technologies, which starts to be exploited on an educational context, referred as mobile learning. The main objective of this case study is to realize the responsiveness to mobile learning or m-learning for elementary school students. To this end, we’ve developed a set of questionnaires to collect data before and after the application of an academic module. The data retrieved was used to determine the degree of responsiveness to m-learning. Students showed a genuine interest in the use of mobile technologies in supporting their learning process.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

From peer to peer: an opportunity to improve observers' professional development

Higher education teaching and learning in Europe faces challenging times and deep changes, largely dueto many reforms originated by the so-called Bologna process (Moore et al, 2008; Leite, 2007; Vieira,2005). What is a good professional is a question that gets, nowadays, other meanings when someonetalks about teaching. The objective of this paper is to present the results of a training + research projectthat was proposed by a Teaching and Learning Lab (TLL) set up jointly by the Faculty of EducationalSciences (FPCEUP) and the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP) at the University of Porto. Its underlyingstrategy aims to improve the quality of teaching and the quality of learning, and at the same time tocapture information about teaching and learning practices used within the university. As teachersevaluation process faces, at least in Portugal, new approaches and operative trends, it was research team intention to distinguish those two processes and when Peer Observation Teaching ( POT) experimentwas launched, its main and unique purpose was to promote teachers training; through the peer reviewmodel of POT, which emphasises the POT formative effects both to the observer and the observed.Specifically, this paper wants to argue the idea that POT is an opportunity to improve observersprofessional development.The organisational model underlying this training + research project was based on teams with fourelements, two from Educational Sciences and two from Engineering. The observation grid was adaptedfrom several models used in European Universities and in its second part adapts a model from F. Vieira(Vieira, et al., 2004). The first section covers class-related topics, namely "organisation", "presentation","class mood", "content", and "awareness and flexibility". The second section asks the observer tocompare the observed class with his/her own classes, offering the observer four leading questionsaddressing observation subjects that were not covered by the closed response items: 1) What was moststriking? 2) What questions would I like to ask to the teacher? 3) What similarities / differences werefound in relation to my own lecturing practice? 4) Can I make any recommendations? Finally, the thirdsection covers the post-observation reflective discussion.Are those two sections that are presented now as an exercise to highlight observers concerns ratherobserved teachers practices.Research data comes from 31 observation forms and could aloud us to conclude that experiment gave anopportunity to reflect upon teachers one practices as a result from observing peers

Local ecological knowledge also ‘comes from books’: cultural change, landscape transformation and conservation of biodiversity in two protected areas in Portugal

Artigo resultante de uma comunicação oral apresentada na 10th European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Conference em Agosto de 2008, na Eslovénia. Tema central: Experiencing diversity and mutuality. Painel Societies and protected areasIndexado ao SSCI (Social Sciences Citation Index ®)The study of social and economic change and the consequent landscape transformation in the Parque Natural de Montesinho and theParque Natural de Douro Internacional (two protected areas of the Northeastern Portugal) allows us to discuss the ambivalent relation between the political aims of biodiversity preservation and the social reality in protected rural areas. Ethnographic research on plant use and nature discourses, together with an analysis of social differentiation (in terms of age, gender and schooling) of ethnobotanical knowledge show us how local people dynamically combine traditional and orally-transmitted knowledge with popular or then scientific exogenous ecological knowledge, especially that learned from the media and books. These data also makes possible a reflection on what way local culture is transformed into heritage within the context of protected areas.FCT - Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) e CIMO - Centro de Investigação de Montanha (Bragança, Portugal

Estudo da influência de parâmetros ambientais (Fe e N) na produtividade lipídica da microalga Chlamydomonas sp.

Mestrado em Engenharia Química - Ramo Tecnologias de Protecção AmbientalO trabalho desenvolvido no âmbito desta dissertação teve como objetivo o estudo da influência dos parâmetros ambientais, azoto e ferro, na produtividade lipídica da microalga Chlamydomonas sp. tendo em vista a sua utilização como matéria-prima para produção de biodiesel. Deste modo, realizaram-se ensaios tendo em vista a otimização das condições de produção das microalgas com vista à obtenção de elevadas taxas de crescimento de biomassa e/ou de elevados teores lipídicos, bem como testes com vista à extração do óleo da biomassa microalgal e à transformação do óleo extraído em biodiesel. A influência do aumento da concentração de azoto (N) e ferro (Fe) nas culturas foi estudada variando a concentração de N, sob a forma de nitrato, em 5 e 10 vezes e, a concentração de Fe em 3, 5 e 10 vezes. O suplemento de Fe no meio de cultura potenciou o crescimento da Chlamydomonas sp., cerca de 1,5 vezes relativamente ao meio padrão, verificando-se os melhores resultados para o ensaio em meio padrão com adição de 5x Fe, a que correspondeu uma produtividade média e máxima de 14,82 ± 0,52 e 33,11 ± 1,55 mg/L.dia, respetivamente. O teor lipídico das células de Chlamydomonas sp. foi avaliado através da extração dos lípidos totais da biomassa das diferentes culturas, colhida no final do período de cultivo. As microalgas cultivadas nos ensaios em meio padrão com adição de ferro registaram teores lipídicos mais elevados, 24,52 ± 2,99%, 20,91 ± 5,01% e 21,33 ± 3,60%, respectivamente para os ensaios em meio padrão com adição de 3x Fe, 5x Fe e 10x Fe. Os melhores valores de produtividade lipídica máxima também se verificaram nestas condições, sendo de 6,70 ± 1,63, 6,91 ± 1,67 e 6,83 ± 2,39 mg/L.dia, respetivamente para os ensaios em meio padrão com adição de 3x Fe, 5x Fe e 10x Fe. As melhores condições para o cultivo desta microalga tendo em vista a produção de lípidos correspondem a um aumento da concentração de ferro em 5 vezes relativamente ao meio de cultura padrão. Foi realizada a esterificação dos lípidos extraídos da biomassa microalgal tendo em vista a obtenção do biodiesel. A análise dos ésteres metílicos de ácidos gordos do biodiesel produzido a partir do óleo da Chlamydomonas sp., por cromatografia gasosa, revelou a predominância dos ésteres C16:0 (palmitato) e C18:1 (oleato) considerados ideais para a produção de biodiesel de alta qualidade, estando também presentes os ésteres C14:0 (miristato) e C18:0 (estearato).The work developed within the context of this dissertation aimed to study the influence of environmental parameters, nitrogen and iron, on the lipid productivity of the microalgae Chlamydomonas sp. in order to be used as raw material for biodiesel production. Therefore, different tests were run aiming the optimization of growth conditions in order to reach high biomass growth rates and/or lipid content. Also tests were conducted aiming oil extraction from microalgae biomass and oil conversion into biodiesel. The influence of increasing nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) concentrations in the cultures was studied by varying the N concentration, in the form of nitrate, 5 and 10 times and, Fe concentration by 3, 5 and 10 times. Fe supplementation in culture medium enhanced the Chlamydomonas sp. growth, approximately 1,5 times comparing to standard cultivation conditions (Bold Basal Medium with 3-fold Nitrogen) and, the best results were found on standard medium with 5 times Fe addition, obtaining an average and maximum productivity of 14,82 ± 0,52 e 33,11 ± 1,55 mg/L.day, respectively. The lipid content of Chlamydomonas sp. cells was evaluated by total lipid biomass extraction from different cultures, harvested at the end of the cultivation period. Tests using standard medium with Fe addition conducted to higher lipid content of, 24,52 ± 2,99%, 20,91 ± 5,01% and 21,33 ± 3,60%, respectively for tests using standard medium with 3, 5 and 10 times Fe addition. The best values of maximum lipid productivity were also found in these conditions, 6,70 ± 1,63, 6,91 ± 1,67 e 6,83 ± 2,39 mg/L.day for tests in standard medium with 3, 5 and 10 times iron addition, respectively. The best conditions for the cultivation of this microalgae aiming lipid production correspond to a 5-fold increase of the Fe concentration in the culture medium, relatively to the standard medium. The esterification of lipids extracted from microalgae biomass was carried out with the intent to obtain biodiesel. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters of biodiesel produced from Chlamydomonas sp. oil, by gas chromatography, demonstrated the predominance of the esters C16: 0 (palmitate) and C18: 1 (oleate), that are considered ideal for the production of high quality biodiesel. Also C14: 0 (myristate) and C18: 0 (stearate) esters are present

Integrating Ecological Principles for Addressing Plant Production Security and Move beyond the Dichotomy ‘Good or Bad’ for Nitrogen Inputs Choice

Mankind’s strong dependence on nitrogen (N) began when we started farming and, ever since, we have depended on nitrogen in the soil for plant production. More than a century has passed since the discovery of N as an element until the advent of synthetic fertilizers. Today, after a century of Haber–Bosch innovation, many other endeavors and challenges can be launched to understand how the effects of N in the environment can be perceived as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. All this knowledge evolution was truly dependent on the scientific advances, both technological and methodological, and particularly on the approaches at the micro and macro level. As with nearly everything in our lives (e.g., events, people, food, decisions, world history), we tend to use the dichotomy ‘good or bad’ to categorize, and scientific advances are no exception. The integration of scientific and technological advances allows us to move beyond this simple dichotomy ‘good or bad’ and to make choices. Here, we review the main marks in understanding plant nutrition throughout time, with special emphasis on N, from the Greeks to the most recent trends in the 21st century. Since improving plant N use efficiency is a main avenue to meet several Sustainable Developmental Goals (e.g., SDG2 zero hunger, SDG12 responsible production and consumption, SDG15 life on land), the European Green Deal, and The Farm to Fork strategy, we propose that the ecological principles must be integrated in agro-ecosystem management. During the last 40 years, our research group has contributed to: (i) the clarification of the so-called dichotomy of choices when it comes to the environmental effects of N; and (ii) fetching natural solutions for N manmade problems. This was based on the knowledge that life is a continuous symbiotic interplay between mutualism and parasitism depending on environmental conditions and that there is a need for feeding people, assuring food quality and diminishing environmental impacts. We argue that, as a society, we have the scientific and technological means to learn from nature and to apply the ecological rules in agro-ecosystems. However, this is a choice we must make as individuals and as a society.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Echoes from the past : portuguese stabilization of the 1890s and 1920s

In the early decades of the contemporary world economy, Portugal had to perform twice difficult stabilization processes: during the 1890s as a consequence of the collapse of external and public debt payments, and during the 1920s in the wake of the First World War. This paper will analyse these Portuguese situations: the 1890s stabilization based on leaving the gold standard monetary system and on partial default of the external public debt payments led to a period of economic stagnation, which lasted until the First World War, in spite of the good international background provided by the so called belle époque; the 1920s stabilization based on a very tough fiscal adjustment opened the way to an interwar period of slight growth , in spite of the unfavourable international background provided by the problems of the 1920s and the Great Depression during the 1930s (although it was not enough to sustain the liberal republican regime, which was replaced by a military dictatorship, and later an authoritarian right-wing regime)

Flora aromática e medicinal do nordeste português: espécies, usos e saberes da Terra-Fria Transmontana

Um inventário florístico, realizado ao longo de cinco anos (2000-2005) nos termos de várias aldeias dos concelhos do Nordeste Transmontano, permitiu identificar cerca de 180 taxa de plantas vasculares, silvestres e cultivadas, tradicionalmente utilizados com fins aromáticos e medicinais e organizar um catálogo etnobotânico, onde para além da descrição das espécies mais usadas e citadas, se referem as indicações medicinais e os modos de emprego (Carvalho, 2005).Programa PRODEP, Medida 5. Acção 5.3 - Formação Avançada de Docentes. Projecto POCI/ANT/59395/2004, Etnobotânica do Nordeste Português:saberes, plantas e usos

Conocimientos acerca de plantas en la nueva ruralidad. Cambio social y agro ecología en el Parque Natural de Montesinho (Portugal)

En las últimas décadas, las regiones montañosas de Portugal han sufrido transformaciones económicas y una intensa disminución de la población que conllevaran modificaciones visibles de los agroecosistemas y en consecuencia del paisaje. Un estudio de caso, conducido en un espacio natural protegido de la provincia portuguesa de Trás-os-Montes (2006-2007) - el Parque Natural de Montesinho - y del ámbito del proyecto de investigación "Etnobotânica do Nordeste Português: saberes, plantas e usos", pretende comprobar que los conocimientos sobre plantas, sus usos y correspondiente manejo son la expresión de cambios culturales inherentes a estas dinámicas sociales y ecológicas.En un contexto social enmarcado por una "nueva ruralidad" (es decir, un modo diferente de encarar y vivir el mundo rural), coexisten conocimientos y usos tradicionales de plantas, muchos de raíz ancestral, y saberes adquiridos más recientemente e incorporados en la cultura local. El análisis de los conocimientos por género, edad, grado de escolaridad, experiencia migratoria de los informantes, permite enfocar y evaluar la pérdida de la memoria social y cultural. Los resultados que se presentan remiten aún para la discusión conceptual de los conocimientos ecológicos y tradicionales. Además, conllevan a una reflexión acerca de la preservación de estos saberes/prácticas y de la conservación de la naturaleza en el contexto de espacios naturales protegidos.For decades, the Northeastern Portugal, a mountainous territory along the Spanish border, has suffered from critical economic changes and a slow steady decline of the population that have had a degrading effect on the agroecosystems and rural landscape. A study case has been carried out inside a protected area from Trás-os-Montes (2006-2007), the Natural Park of Montesinho supported by the research project "Ethnobotany of the Northeastern Region of Portugal: local knowledge, plants and uses". How these changes are affecting the system of local knowledge of plant resources and the maintenance of traditional plant use practices are some of the questions that we address. Within a new social context, different rural life-ways have been designed. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) coexists with modern trends in plants knowledge and use, recently introduced in local culture by present-day media and popular books, for instance. People's knowledge, local perceptions and classifications of the natural environment have been confirmed and compared by gender, age, educational background, occupation and other personal data in order to analyse erosion of TEK and partial or total loss of social and cultural memory. Collected data focus on a conceptual discussion of TEK and provide some clues to the understanding of how important are TEK preservation, and the careful management of the environment and of natural resources for the conservation status of protected areas