Education as a key factor to end poverty among youth in Portugal : analysis of the perceived resources portuguese schools have

The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the perceived conditions Portuguese schools have on the combat of poverty and to furtherly provide insightful suggestions. The dissertation starts by offering a new, comprehensive conceptualization of poverty, with a focus on the psychological, physiological and social aspects of what it means to be poor. A set of two studies were conducted. One is dedicated to teaching staff, non-teaching staff and other school employees from schools inserted in the “Programa Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária” (TEIP Programme), and the other is destined to parents with school-age children/teenagers from the same schools as the first study. Two questionnaires were created, one for each study. Both questionnaires included quantitative and qualitative data. Results suggest that Portuguese schools, to some degree, are conscious of the already existent resources created to combat poverty and do offer some of them, even if their quality is not perceived as being on the desired level. There is a sense that schools try and make efforts. Those efforts are, however, viewed as insufficient, which does not mean respondents perceive the schools as being the responsible parties. Other reasons, such as lack of funding, might play a role. Furthermore, the respondents had multiple suggestions that were put into nine different sections. These suggestions serve as guidelines for schools to take into account and consider according to their specific needs. Some limitations to the study were identified. However, it is believed that this study was able to give new insights to the literature namely by a) providing a new conceptualization of poverty for the youth, b) evaluating how the Portuguese schools are prepared to eradicate poverty, and c) providing concrete suggestions for schools to consider when trying to end poverty and to make schools a better place for the good development of their students.O objetivo desta dissertação foi o de avaliar as condições percecionadas das escolas portuguesas no combate à pobreza, bem como fornecer sugestões relevantes. A dissertação começa por oferecer uma nova e abrangente conceptualização da pobreza, com enfoque nos aspetos psicológicos, fisiológicos e sociais do que significa ser pobre. Foi realizado um conjunto de dois estudos. Um deles dedicado ao pessoal docente, não docente e outros funcionários de escolas inseridas no "Programa Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária" (Programa TEIP), e o outro destinado aos pais de jovens em idade escolar das mesmas escolas do primeiro estudo. Foram criados dois questionários, um para cada estudo. Ambos os questionários incluíram dados quantitativos e qualitativos. Os resultados sugerem que as escolas portuguesas, em certa medida, estão conscientes dos recursos já existentes criados para combater a pobreza e oferecem alguns deles, mesmo que a sua qualidade não seja entendida como estando no nível desejado. Há uma sensação de que as escolas tentam e fazem esforços. Esses esforços são, contudo, vistos como insuficientes, o que não significa que os inquiridos considerem as escolas como sendo as partes responsáveis. Outras razões, como a falta de financiamento, podem ter um papel a desempenhar. Além disso, os inquiridos indicaram múltiplas sugestões que foram colocadas em nove diferentes secções. Estas sugestões servem como orientações para as escolas terem em conta e para considerarem de acordo com as suas necessidades específicas. Foram identificadas algumas limitações ao estudo. No entanto, acredita-se que este estudo foi capaz de dar novas perspetivas à literatura, nomeadamente a) fornecendo uma nova conceptualização da pobreza jovem, b) avaliando como as escolas portuguesas estão preparadas para erradicar a pobreza, e c) fornecendo sugestões concretas para as escolas considerarem ao tentarem erradicar a pobreza e fazer destas um lugar melhor para o bom desenvolvimento dos seus alunos

Mixed-integer linear programming for computing optimal experimental designs

We show that the optimal exact design of experiment on a finite design space can be computed via mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) for a wide class of optimality criteria, including the criteria of A-, I-, G- and MV-optimality. The key idea of the MILP formulation is the McCormick relaxation, which critically depends on finite interval bounds for the elements of the covariance matrix corresponding to an optimal exact design. We provide both analytic and algorithmic constructions of such bounds. Finally, we demonstrate some unique advantages of the MILP approach and illustrate its performance in selected experimental design settings

The Polytope of Optimal Approximate Designs

For many statistical experiments, there exists a multitude of optimal designs. If we consider models with uncorrelated observations and adopt the approach of approximate experimental design, the set of all optimal designs typically forms a multivariate polytope. In this paper, we mathematically characterize the polytope of optimal designs. In particular, we show that its vertices correspond to the so-called minimal optimum designs. Consequently, we compute the vertices for several classical multifactor regression models of the first and the second degree. To this end, we use software tools based on rational arithmetic; therefore, the computed list is accurate and complete. The polytope of optimal experimental designs, and its vertices, can be applied in several ways. For instance, it can aid in constructing cost-efficient and efficient exact designs