Cooperação Internacional, entre Angola e Portugal, no âmbito de cursos de mestrado: que potencialidades e constrangimentos?

Este trabalho centra-se numa experiência de cooperação internacional (CI) entre o Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (ISCED-Huíla) de Angola e três universidades públicas portuguesa nomeadamente a Universidade de Aveiro (UA), no âmbito da 2ª edição de dois cursos de mestrado (CM) da responsabilidade do ISCED-Huíla. As seguintes questões de investigação nortearam o estudo: Que potencialidades e constrangimentos são identificados na CI estabelecida entre a UA & ISCED-Huíla? Que recomendações emergem para futuras colaborações? Recorreu-se a uma metodologia predominantemente qualitativa, com um desenho de estudo de caso a partir de: (i) testemunhos dos pontos focais da cooperação da UA & ISCED-Huíla; e (ii) resultados sistematizados em outros trabalhos que envolveram a aplicação de dois questionários, a realização de 18 entrevistas a docentes, mestrandos e empregadores, e a análise documental de 27 dissertações. Apesar do balanço ser bastante positivo, em termos das potencialidades ocorridas na CI (ex. quanto ao prestígio que esta deu aos CM), identificaram-se constrangimentos (défices de comunicação entre as instituições e diferenças ao nível das culturas institucionais). Sugerem-se, assim, recomendações a ter em conta em futuras experiências de CI, nomeadamente a necessidade de um conhecimento mais profundo das realidades institucionais/profissionais envolvidas e dos papéis a desempenhar por cada uma das partes. Palavras-chave: cooperação internacional; instituições públicas de ensino superior de Angola e Portugal; cursos de mestrado; potencialidades e constrangimentos

Relatório Final do Projeto Avaliação do Impacto dos Cursos de Mestrado “Desenvolvimento Curricular” e “Ensino das Ciências” (2ª edição/2012-2016) do ISCED da Huíla

Entre 2011 e 2016 decorreu a 2ª edição dos cursos de mestrado “Desenvolvimento Curricular” e “Ensino das Ciências” do ISCED da Huíla. Os cursos em questão envolveram um conjunto considerável de pessoas. Matricularam-se mais de 400 profissionais e envolveram-se mais de 50 académicos ao nível das unidades curriculares e ao nível da supervisão dos mestrandos. Dada a complexidade do processo, justificou-se a realização de um projeto investigativo que fornecesse evidências que permitissem sustentar um processo reflexivo institucional e, desta forma, potenciar uma ação futura mais eficaz, mais eficiente e mais efetiva1 do ISCED. (...)publishe

Potenciar o impacte da formação pós-graduada de professores em Angola: recomendações sustentadas num projeto de avaliação interinstitucional

Nesta comunicação apresentam-se os principais resultados de um estudo focado na avaliação do impacto de dois cursos de mestrado ministrados, entre janeiro 2011 e agosto 2016, pelo Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação (ISCED) da Huíla (Lubango, Angola), destinados preferencialmente a professores. O estudo de avaliação decorreu entre maio 2016 e dezembro 2017 e foi concetualizado e implementado no âmbito de um protocolo de colaboração entre o ISCED_Huíla e a Universidade de Aveiro (UA), duas instituições de ensino superior públicas com larga experiência na formação de professores. A relevância deste estudo enquadra-se no objectivo 4 da Agenda 2063 da União Africana, assim como no papel atribuído à cooperação internacional com Países em Desenvolvimento. A partir da articulação entre os resultados emergentes da avaliação e a problematização do percurso de colaboração estabelecido entre as duas instituições tecem-se recomendações específicas no sentido de potenciar futuras cooperações no âmbito da melhoria da qualidade do ensino superior nos países africanos de língua portuguesa.This paper presents the main results of a study focused on the impact evaluation of two masters courses taught between January 2011 and August 2016 by the Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of Huíla ISCED (Lubango, Angola). In-service teachers were the main students. The evaluation study was conceptualized and implemented as part of a collaboration protocol between ISCED and the University of Aveiro (UA), two public higher education institutions with large experience in teacher education. The relevance of this study is sustained by Goal 4 of the 2063 Agenda from the African Union, as well as the role of international cooperation among developing countries. Based on the articulation between the results that emerged from the evaluation and the problematization of the collaboration experiences established between the two institutions, the authors present specific recommendations to potentiate future cooperation protocols aiming to improve the quality of higher education in Portuguese-speaking African countries

COOPEDU IV — Cooperação e Educação de Qualidade

O quarto Congresso Internacional de Cooperação e Educação-IV COOPEDU, organizado pelo Centro de Estudos Internacionais (CEI) do Instituto Universitário de Lisboa e pela Escola Superior de Educação e Ciências Sociais do Instituto Politécnico de Leiria decorreu nos dias 8 e 9 de novembro de 2018, subordinado à temática Cooperação e Educação de Qualidade. Este congresso insere-se numa linha de continuidade de intervenção por parte das duas instituições organizadoras e dos elementos coordenadores e este ano beneficiou do financiamento do Instituto Camões, obtido através de um procedimento concursal, que nos permitiu contar com a participação presencial de elementos dos Países Africanos de Língua Portuguesa, fortemente implicados nas problemáticas da Educação e da Formação. Contou também com a participação do Instituto Camões e da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, entidades que sistematizaram a sua intervenção nos domínios da cooperação na área da educação nos últimos anos. A opção pela temática da qualidade pareceu aos organizadores pertinente e actual. Com efeito os sistemas educativos dos países que constituem a Comunidade de países de língua portuguesa têm implementado várias reformas mas em vários domínios mantem-se a insatisfação de responsáveis políticos, pedagogos, técnicos sociais face aos resultados obtidos. Aliás o caminho de procura da Qualidade é interminável porque vai a par da aposta na exigência e na promoção da cidadania e responsabilidade social. As comunicações que agora se publicam estão organizadas em dois eixos: o das Políticas da Educação e Formação e o das dimensões em que se traduzem essas políticas. Neste último eixo encontramos fios condutores para agregarmos as comunicações apresentadas

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Outcomes of elective liver surgery worldwide: a global, prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study

Background: The outcomes of liver surgery worldwide remain unknown. The true population-based outcomes are likely different to those vastly reported that reflect the activity of highly specialized academic centers. The aim of this study was to measure the true worldwide practice of liver surgery and associated outcomes by recruiting from centers across the globe. The geographic distribution of liver surgery activity and complexity was also evaluated to further understand variations in outcomes. Methods: LiverGroup.org was an international, prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study following the Global Surgery Collaborative Snapshot Research approach with a 3-month prospective, consecutive patient enrollment within January–December 2019. Each patient was followed up for 90 days postoperatively. All patients undergoing liver surgery at their respective centers were eligible for study inclusion. Basic demographics, patient and operation characteristics were collected. Morbidity was recorded according to the Clavien–Dindo Classification of Surgical Complications. Country-based and hospital-based data were collected, including the Human Development Index (HDI). (NCT03768141). Results: A total of 2159 patients were included from six continents. Surgery was performed for cancer in 1785 (83%) patients. Of all patients, 912 (42%) experienced a postoperative complication of any severity, while the major complication rate was 16% (341/2159). The overall 90-day mortality rate after liver surgery was 3.8% (82/2,159). The overall failure to rescue rate was 11% (82/ 722) ranging from 5 to 35% among the higher and lower HDI groups, respectively. Conclusions: This is the first to our knowledge global surgery study specifically designed and conducted for specialized liver surgery. The authors identified failure to rescue as a significant potentially modifiable factor for mortality after liver surgery, mostly related to lower Human Development Index countries. Members of the LiverGroup.org network could now work together to develop quality improvement collaboratives

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost