Trend tests: a tendency to resampling

Trend analysis is an important problem in time series. Many studies have been developed to investigate this issue, with special attention to its application to environmental and hydrological time series. The presence of autocorrelation and missing observations affects the significance and power of trend tests, parametric or non-parametric. This study assesses the performance of two trend tests, t-test and the Mann-Kendall through an appropriate resampling technique. A new procedure based onsubsampling is proposed in order to assure good statistical properties of these tests. A comparison was established between this new approach and others already developed, such as bootstrap-based tests. In order to evaluate the performance of the new method, a simulation study is conducted considering a set of underlying slopes, different values of autocorrelation and different fractions of randomly missing data. The order of autocorrelation structure is estimated by the best fitting model obtained through the Akaike information criterion. Inspection of the data to detect missing observations is required, before applying the trend tests. In case of missing observations, their estimation and replace is performed by an imputation method available in software.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Probabilidades e estatística : álgebra dos acontecimentos I

Recurso educativo. Teoria das probabilidades : álgebra dos acontecimentos

Quidgest internationalization strategic plan to Brazil

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and EconomicsAn International Strategic Plan to Brazil is the subject of this work project. The author studies the prospect of the Portuguese company Quidgest increasing its international presence. Quidgest is a software consultant that develops Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. After an extensive analysis focused on Brazil’s economy, business conjecture and its ERP market potential, the major conclusion drawn was the fact that the company should send its operations to Brazil, mainly to the state of Minas Gerais, and initiate a partnership with a consulting company already present in this country, in a Strategic Alliance arrangement

Atitudes ambientais em alunos de geografia do 3º ciclo

Mestrado em Ciências da Educação - Formação Pessoal e SocialO trabalho pretende analisar se a disciplina de Geografia (3.º CEB, nível 2) contribui para a formação de cidadãos conscientes, críticos e intervenientes no âmbito de valores ambientais (Geografia Física). É pertinente reflectir se o ensino da Geografia, enquanto disciplina promotora de cidadania, pode contribuir para a promoção da Educação Ambiental, para o conhecimento da realidade local no que concerne às catástrofes Naturais e na resiliência desses fenómenos (Inundações e Incêndios). Deste modo, procuramos responder à seguinte questão “Como potenciar o desenvolvimento de cidadãos conscientes, críticos e interventivos no âmbito de valores ambientais, através da leccionação de conteúdos da Geografia Física?”. O estudo que sustentou esta dissertação baseou-se nas turmas de 7º Ano de Escolaridade do Agrupamento de Escolas de São João de Loure (Albergaria-a- Velha) e procurou, partindo de uma análise do currículo da área disciplinar de Geografia e identificando conteúdos promotores do desenvolvimento de atitudes ambientais em alunos de nível dois, co-conceber, co-desenvolver e co-avaliar com estes alunos, um projecto de intervenção curricular que potenciasse a melhoria das práticas pedagógicas, através da concepção, aplicação e avaliação de recursos e materiais didácticos. As técnicas de recolha de dados utilizadas foram o inquérito por questionário (Pré-teste e o Teste); a análise documental; a observação directa e os registos de campo/pessoais, elaborados durante o processo de monitorização da aplicação do projecto de intervenção curricular. Para o tratamento de dados recorremos à análise estatística (Programa SPSS). Os resultados obtidos indiciaram que os alunos participantes desconhecem a realidade local no que concerne às Catástrofes Naturais, uma melhoria significativa na assertividade às questões e que o recurso a estratégias diferenciadas produz resultados diferenciados ao nível dessa assertividade. Com efeito, a apropriação de mudanças de atitudes ambientais carece de abordagem curricular, de intervenção didáctica com recurso a experiências no domínio destas temáticas, que fomente o questionamento reflexivo e colectivo das situações problema e melhore a racionalidade e adequação das suas próprias práticas e onde o Ensino da Geografia desempenha um papel importante.It is the purpose of this paper to assess whether Geography, as a 2nd level subject of the 3rd cycle of school, contributes towards the shaping of conscientious, critical and active citizens in the scope of environmental values. It is important to reflect upon whether the teaching of Geography, as a citizenship promoting subject, can contribute to the promotion of environmental awareness, to the knowledge of local reality in terms of natural catastrophes and to the resilience of these phenomena (floods and fires). Thus, we strive to answer the following question: “How to enhance the development of conscientious, critical and active citizens in the scope of environmental awareness, through the teaching of Physical Geography’s contents?” The empirical study that supports this paper was based on 7th year classes of the group of schools of São João de Loure, in Albergaria-a-Velha and, starting with an analysis of the subject’s curriculum and through the identification of contents that promote the development of environmental awareness in 2nd level students, sought to co-conceive, co-develop and co-assess (with the students of these classes) a project of curricular intervention which could enhance the improvement of teaching practices through the design, application and assessment of resources and teaching materials. The techniques used to retrieve data were questionnaire survey (pre-testing and testing), document analyses, direct observation and field/personal records taken during the monitoring process of the curricular intervention project’s application. The data processing was done through statistical analyses (SPSS programme). The results indicated that participant students were unaware of the local reality in terms of natural catastrophes, though there was a significant improvement in the assertiveness to the issues, after the intervention. It became clear that the use of different strategies produces different results as to where the assertiveness is concerned. In fact, when it comes to seizing changes in environmental attitudes, there is a lack of a curricular approach and of a teaching intervention using experience in these matters, which would promote the collective reflexive questioning of the problematic situations and improve rationality and adequacy of its own practices, where the teaching of Geography plays an important part

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) implementation processes and practices in european higher education institutions: top-down versus participatory approaches

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) have been implemented on a large scale to improve companies’ environmental performance and to certify their achievements. More recently, universities are following this trend, which has been brought forward by the debate about campus sustainability. This empirical international research investigates EMS development and implementation processes in universities around Europe, providing an overview about European higher education institutions with EMS implemented at their campuses, and focuses on a comparison of top-down versus participatory implementation approaches. In addition to regional differences, this article discusses in which aspects an EMS at the campus can be seen as a tool that goes beyond operational aspects to tackle campus sustainability. Furthermore, it provides implications for the professional practice.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of audit reports on auditor change: verification of the determining factors for auditor change in the portuguese context

The issue of auditor change and its relation with the opinions issued in financial audit reports is a topic which has been gaining increasing importance in the accounting and auditing areas. The financial audit report represents the final materialization of an external and independent audit. As such, one expects that the opinion expressed by the auditor is not always that forecast by the shareholders or the management of the company being audited. This work attempts to ascertain whether or not a determining relation between a change in auditor and the issuance of qualified audit reports really exists in the Portuguese context, or, on the contrary, if other equally influential factors exist in relation to the said change. The conclusions drawn point to the existence of a significantly positive association between a qualified audit report and a change in auditor, although other relevant factors exist such as the company’s growth rate, governance model and the sector in which it operatesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS and related factors in Angolans aged between 15 and 49 years

Funding Information: This research was financed by the Multiannual Financial Framework, Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM), Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT), NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, reference: GHTM–UID/04413/2020. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.A comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS among men and women in Africa is reportedly low. To the best of our knowledge, no studies using any definition of comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS have been conducted in Angola. To address this gap, we aimed to describe the comprehensive knowledge held by individuals aged between 15 and 49 years regarding HIV and AIDS and some associated factors, using the most recent Angolan demographic and health survey (DHS). Using an observational, cross-sectional design, we analyzed data collected from 19,785 individuals aged between 15 and 49 years for the 2016 DHS in Angola. We conducted a logistic regression analysis of descriptive and complex samples to examine the data and to unravel possible factors associated with having a comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS. Almost half of the respondents (47.7%) had a general comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS. Individuals who watched television (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.40; 95% CI: 2.11, 2.72) or read newspapers and magazines (aOR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.72, 2.30) more than once a week had higher odds of having a comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS compared to those who did not. Similarly, having completed primary education and above (aOR: 1.83; 95% CI: 1.67, 2.00) or living in urban areas (aOR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.34, 1.71) increased the likelihood of individuals having a comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS compared to their counterparts. These results reflect inequalities that require further attention at either a research or a political level. Nevertheless, we consider that these results can assist decision-makers in advocating for continuous investment in HIV health literacy and in adapting global solutions to local Angolan contexts.publishersversionpublishe