Desenvolvimento e avaliação das características psicométricas do inventário de avaliação das percepções dos professores acerca das necessidades ao nível da promoção de competências sociais e emocionais

The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of an assessment instrument on teachers' perceptions regarding the development of socio-emotional skills. Results revealed a consistent four-factor structure (School/teachers' needs for socio-emotional skills promotion; Needs regarding teaching-learning process; Difficulties in dealing with students' socio-emotional deficits, Socio-emotional needs related to teacher's initial training) with internal consistency values above .79. Confirmatory analyses revealed a good fit of the model to the data. Teachers reported having more needs at the school/ teachers conditions for the promotion of social and emotional needs, and less needs at the level of their Teachers' initial training. The instrument also showed to be sensitive in capturing teachers' perception of schooling social and emotional needs in terms of teachers' gender, pedagogic group and school level.O objectivo deste estudo foi avaliar as características psicométricas de um instrumento de avaliação das percepções dos professores acerca das suas necessidades na promoção das competências sociais e emocionais. Os resultados revelaram uma estrutura de quatro factores (Necessidades ao nível da escola/professor, necessidades ao nível do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, Dificuldades em lidar com défices sócio-emocionais dos alunos e Necessidades ao nível da formação inicial), com valores de consistência interna acima de 0,79. As análises confirmatórias revelaram bom ajustamento do modelo aos dados. Os professores revelaram sentir maiores dificuldades ao nível das condições da escola/ professores e menores ao nível da formação inicial. O instrumento revelou-se também sensível às diferenças de percepções em termos do género, grupo pedagógico, e nível de ensino

Improving order-picking operations with precedence constraints through efficient storage location assignment: evidence from a retail company

This paper is inspired by a manual picking retail company where shape and weight constraints affect the order-picking process. We proposed an alternative clustering similarity index that considers the similarity, the weight and the shape of products. This similarity index was further incorporated in a storage allocation heuristic procedure to set the location of the products. We test the procedure in a retail company that supplies over 191 stores, in Northern Portugal. When comparing the strategy currently used in the company with this procedure, we found out that our approach enabled a reduction of up to 40% on the picking distance; a percentage of improvement that is 32% higher than the one achieved by applying the Jaccard index, a similarity index commonly used in the literature. This allows warehouses to save time and work faster.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Auto-regulação da aprendizagem em crianças e adolescentes filhos de vítimas de violência doméstica contra mulheres

A violência doméstica contra mulheres afecta negativamente o desenvolvimento de alguns domínios de auto-regulação. Contudo, pouco se conhece sobre o seu impacto na auto-regulação da aprendizagem. Este estudo avaliou a auto-regulação da aprendizagem em 50 filhos de vítimas de violência doméstica contra mulheres. O grupo de filhos de vítimas apresentou níveis inferiores de rendimento académico. O grupo de filhos de vítimas simultaneamente de violência psicológica e física registou níveis inferiores nas dimensões de Avaliação e Execução de auto-regulação da aprendizagem. Estes resultados suportam as evidências de que a exposição à violência doméstica afecta negativamente o desenvolvimento da auto-regulação. Para além disso, sugerem que a exposição a violência familiar afecta negativamente também algumas dimensões da auto-regulação da aprendizagem

THE UIP HYPOTHESIS FOR ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CHILE AND MEXICO WITH THE USE OF THE RATIONAL EXPECTATION HYPOTHESIS: NEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The aim of this study is to test uncovered interest parities for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, for the Jan/1990 to Dec/2001 period, with the use of the rational expectation hypothesis. We also intend to evaluate the degree of mobility of foreign capital in these political jurisdictions, using panel data estimations, with unit root tests proposed by Levin and Lin (1992), and Im, Pesaran, and Shin (1997). The econometric results indicate the rejection of UIR for the period under study, for the group comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. However, the UIP hypothesis is not rejected for the group comprised of Argentina, Chile, and Mexico for the Jan/1991 to Dec/2000 period.A meta deste estudo é testar a paridade de juros descoberta para a Argentina, Brasil, Chile e México no período de Jan./1990 a Dez./2001, com o uso da hipótese de expectativas racionais. Pretende-se também avaliar o grau de mobilidade de capital estrangeiro nestas jurisdições políticas, usando estimativas de Panel Data, com testes de raízes unitárias propostas por Levin e Lin (1992), e Im, Pesaran, e Shin (1997). Os resultados econométricos indicam a rejeição da UIP, no período estudado, para o grupo formado pela Argentina, Brasil, Chile e México. Contudo, a hipótese da UIP não é rejeitada para o grupo da Argentina, Chile e México no período de Jan./91 a Dez./2000

Applying Goldratt’s Framework to the Banking System

This paper describes the major elements of the Goldratt’s framework – the Theory of Constraints (TOC) – in the banking sector, and examines the factors involved in the decision to adopt the TOC by companies in this sector. Through a deep literature review, analyzing similar cases that apply the Goldratt’s framework in services and in manufacturing and the severalviews of its components, we aim at formulating a framework specifically for the banking system.The study uses a qualitative methodology supported by the information extracted from reality as it is framed in a multicase study model. As part of the quantitative approach, we test several research hypotheses raised from the review of existing studies in the area.The main factors that influence the decision to adopt the TOC are the nature and the characteristics of the banking service, the attitude towards change, the leadership and the commitment of the entire institution.By using the Goldratt’s approach outlined in this article, through the location of the constraints and develop practical measurement to facilitate the banking process improvements, banks can improve resource utilization, revenues and employee satisfaction

Understanding the experience of psychopathology after intimate partner violence: The role of personality

Objectives: To fully understand the dynamics of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) it is necessary to understand the role of personality. The current understanding of which personality characteristics are associated with IPV victimization is, however, far from comprehensive. Given this gap in the literature, our objective was to examine the associations between the dimensions of the psychobiological model of personality and psychopathological symptoms in women who had experienced IPV. Methods: Using a case-control design, a group of women who had experienced IPV and who were living in shelters ( Results: Victims of IPV showed significantly higher levels of Harm Avoidance and Self-Transcendence, and lower levels of Reward Dependence and Self-Directedness, than the non-IPV control group. Victims of IPV also reported elevated levels of psychopathological symptoms. Personality dimensions showed a broadly consistent pattern of associations across different psychopathological symptoms. A regression analysis indicated that Novelty Seeking was negatively associated with psychopathological symptoms in victims of IPV, but not significantly associated in non-victims. Conclusions: The study highlights the important role of Harm Avoidance and Self-Directedness for understanding psychopathological symptoms. Novelty Seeking appears to play an important role in the expression of individuals\u27 experiences of IPV. These results have important implications for research and practice, particularly the development and implementation of interventions

Diabetes mellitus and sensorineural hearing loss: is there an association? Baseline of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

OBJECTIVES: Although several studies have investigated the effects of diabetes on hearing loss, the relationship between these two conditions remains unclear. Some studies have suggested that diabetes may cause sensorineural hearing loss, whereas others have failed to find an association. The biggest challenge in investigating the association between diabetes and hearing loss is the presence of confounding variables and the complexity of the auditory system. Our study investigated the association between diabetes and sensorineural hearing loss. We evaluated the influence of time from diabetes diagnosis on this association after controlling for age, gender, and hypertension diagnosis and excluding those subjects with exposure to noise. METHODS: This cross-sectional study evaluated 901 adult and elderly Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) participants from São Paulo, Brazil who underwent audiometry testing as part of ELSA-Brasil’s baseline assessment. RESULTS: Hearing thresholds and speech test results were significantly worse in the group with diabetes than in the group without diabetes. However, no significant differences were found between participants with and without diabetes after adjusting for age, gender, and the presence of hypertension. Hearing thresholds were not affected by occupational noise exposure in the groups with and without diabetes. In addition, no association between the duration of diabetes and hearing thresholds was observed after adjusting for age, gender, and hypertension. CONCLUSION: We found no association between the duration of diabetes and worse hearing thresholds after models were adjusted for age, gender, and the presence of hypertension

Identification and analysis of seven effector protein families with different adaptive and evolutionary histories in plant-associated members of the Xanthomonadaceae.

The Xanthomonadaceae family consists of species of non-pathogenic and pathogenic γ-proteobacteria that infect different hosts, including humans and plants. In this study, we performed a comparative analysis using 69 fully sequenced genomes belonging to this family, with a focus on identifying proteins enriched in phytopathogens that could explain the lifestyle and the ability to infect plants. Using a computational approach, we identified seven phytopathogen-enriched protein families putatively secreted by type II secretory system: PheA (CM-sec), LipA/LesA, VirK, and four families involved in N-glycan degradation, NixE, NixF, NixL, and FucA1. In silico and phylogenetic analyses of these protein families revealed they all have orthologs in other phytopathogenic or symbiotic bacteria, and are involved in the modulation and evasion of the immune system. As a proof of concept, we performed a biochemical characterization of LipA from Xac306 and verified that the mutant strain lost most of its lipase and esterase activities and displayed reduced virulence in citrus. Since this study includes closely related organisms with distinct lifestyles and highlights proteins directly related to adaptation inside plant tissues, novel approaches might use these proteins as biotechnological targets for disease control, and contribute to our understanding of the coevolution of plant-associated bacteria

Montado

Os montados constituem ecossistemas com uma estrutura artificial do tipo parque, apresentando uma dominante arbórea. Os montados têm elevado valor em termos de diversidade biológica, qualidade paisagística e do ponto de vista produtivo, fruto de um sistema de produção em que o agricultor combina diferentes formas de utilização da terra, dos recursos de trabalho e dos meios de produção, com vista à obtenção de determinados tipos de bens vegetais, animais e florestais. O montado distribui-se por áreas de clima sub-húmido seco e semi-árido. Nestas áreas as secas são fenómenos naturais que, com alguma frequência, atingem uma extensão espacial considerável. Embora a vegetação evidencie grande capacidade de adaptação e de resistência às condições de secura, as condições de aridez em que se desenvolve o montado potenciam e aceleram os processos de degradação do arvoredo e de desertificação