O sistema de gestão ambiental do ISCTE-IUL: um modelo de integração-qualidade-sustentabilidade

O artigo pretende partilhar a experiência do ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) na integração da sustentabilidade na cultura de qualidade. O ISCTE-IUL assumiu o compromisso com a Qualidade enquanto pilar do seu desenvolvimento estratégico, materializando-se num Sistema Interno de Garantia da Qualidade (SIGQ-IUL). Por seu lado, a sustentabilidade institucional – nas dimensões ambiental, social e económica – constitui também uma aposta estratégica e transversal que tem vindo a ser implementada nas práticas de gestão da instituição, no ensino, na investigação e na extensão universitária. O ISCTE-IUL é certificado de acordo com a Norma Portuguesa ISO 9001 desde 2008. O projeto da Sustentabilidade foi iniciado em 2016 e envolve um conjunto de ações para a melhoria do desempenho sustentável da instituição, das quais se destacam a implementação do Sistema de Gestão Ambiental (SGA) do ISCTE-IUL e a obtenção da respetiva certificação em 2018. Considerando a abrangência do SIGQ-IUL, um primeiro desafio prendia-se com o modelo previsto para a integração da Sustentabilidade, tendo sido adotada uma integração com relativa autonomia. Discutimos as implicações que o SGA colocou a diferentes níveis, com especial destaque para a necessidade de assumir a Sustentabilidade enquanto fator-chave da estratégia e da prática diária da Instituição, desde logo ao nível do campus, onde se procura a gestão eficiente dos recursos e a diminuição dos impactes ambientais negativos. Por outro lado, todo este processo tem-se traduzido em mais uma experiência de partilha, envolvimento e aprendizagem muito positivos para o ISCTE-IUL, com um contributo relevante para a melhoria da qualidade. A comunicação centra-se em dois aspetos: (i) a apresentação do modelo de integração da Sustentabilidade no SIGQ-IUL e (ii) o desenho e a implementação do SGA. Por último, uma nota conclusiva, resumindo os desafios particulares da Gestão da Sustentabilidade no ISCTE-IUL que presidem à conceção do Sistema de Gestão Ambiental.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Factors affecting the transfer of learning to the workplace

Training aims to respond to the needs of development of individuals and organizations (Grohmann & Kauffeld, 2013). Based on Holton model, we carried out a study seeking to identify and understand the factors involved in the process of learning transfer to the workplace from two different training actions on the design and skills. The study took place at a Portuguese organization and involved 98 participants. Former students were interviewed with the purpose to explore the factors that facilitated or hindered the learning transfer, and the Inventory of the Portuguese version of the Learning Transfer System (Holton, Bates, Seyler & Carvalho, 1997; Velada & Caetano, 2009) was applied. The results suggest that the Holton model (2005) shows that the trainees have identified important issues for learning transfer and that there are differences in relation to the transfer factor pursuant to the type of training.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effectiveness of e-Learning on biosecurity practice to slow the spread of invasive alien species

Online e-Learning is increasingly being used to provide environmental training. Prevention measures including biosecurity are essential to reducing the introduction and spread of invasive alien species (IAS) and are central to international and national IAS policy. This paper is the first to evaluate the effectiveness of e-Learning as a tool to increase awareness, risk perception and biosecurity behaviour in relation to IAS among individuals conducting work activities or research (fieldwork) in the field. We surveyed participants (a mixture of students and professionals) before, and 6 months after undertaking an e-Learning course on IAS and biosecurity practices. Awareness of IAS and self-reported biosecurity behaviour increased after e-Learning among students and professionals. Students had a lower awareness of IAS than professionals before training (20% of students vs 60% of professionals), but after training students showed a greater increase in awareness which led to similar levels of awareness post-training (81%). Prior to training, risk perception was also lower amongst students than professionals (33% of students and 59% of professionals were aware of the risk that their activities posed to the accidental spread of IAS). There was no change in risk perception amongst professionals after training, however training led to a doubling of risk perception in students. E-Learning also led to an increase in reported biosecurity behaviour and cleaning practices and there were higher levels of biosecurity cleaning amongst professionals. The higher awareness and better biosecurity amongst professionals is likely to reflect their familiarity with the issues of IAS and day-to-day activities in the field. Our results suggest that e-Learning is an effective tool to raise awareness and encourage behaviour change among field workers and researchers in an attempt to reduce the risk of accidental introduction and spread of IAS

Swelling kinetics of poly(acrylamide)/poly(mono-n-alkyl itaconates) hydrogels

Hydrogels of mono-n-alkyl itaconate/N-acrylamide have been synthesised. The swelling process at three different pH values (acid, neutral and basic) has been studied. The experimental data indicate that our hydrogels follow second-order swelling kinetics. According to this, the kinetic constant, K?, and the swelling capacity at equilibrium, W?, have been calculated. The influence of the solvent pH and the molar mass of the mono-n-alkyl itaconate monomeric unit has been analysed. It seems that the general balance between the hydrogen bonding and the hydrophobic interactions regulates the swelling process of these hydrogels. © 1996 SCI

Swelling kinetics of poly(acrylamide)/poly(mono-n-alkyl itaconates) hydrogels

Hydrogels of mono-n-alkyl itaconate/N-acrylamide have been synthesised. The swelling process at three different pH values (acid, neutral and basic) has been studied. The experimental data indicate that our hydrogels follow second-order swelling kinetics. According to this, the kinetic constant, K∞, and the swelling capacity at equilibrium, W∞, have been calculated. The influence of the solvent pH and the molar mass of the mono-n-alkyl itaconate monomeric unit has been analysed. It seems that the general balance between the hydrogen bonding and the hydrophobic interactions regulates the swelling process of these hydrogels. © 1996 SCI