Desenvolvimento de recursos de design em pequenas empresas da indústria automóvel : uma abordagem metodológica

ABSTRACT: This paper reflects part of a broader investigation on the development of methodologies to identify, value and manage design capabilities in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage. With the automotive industry and smaller supplier Portuguese companies as background, this paper explores the resource-based view theory (RBV) and the dynamic capabilities theory as a theoretical construct for a further development of research tools. In the automotive industry, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) continue to control the overall design of the vehicle, as part of the ability to manage the offer portfolio and brand communication. However, the industry have been moving towards an increasing participation of smaller suppliers in product development processes, pushed towards capabilities’ development as a requirement to continue competitive in the OEM’s suppliers network. The role of design and design management capabilities have been explored as strategic resources or core competencies. However, Design is not typically found in smaller supplier firms as resource (as opposed to Design studios in larger companies) but found as a process in resourcecapability combinations, establishing the need for a new research approach. Therefore, the RBV is a tool to value the design process as a sustained competitive advantage. The RBV conceptualizes a framework to determine or identify the strategic resources available or needed within a company. At these lenses, the basis for a sustainable competitive advantage lies in the application of the bundle of valuable resources identified and at the firm's disposal and the combinations with its capabilitiesEste artigo reflete parte de uma investigação mais ampla sobre o desenvolvimento de metodologias para identificar, valorizar e gerir os recursos de design, com o objetivo de criar uma vantagem competitiva sustentável. Com a indústria automóvel e as pequenas empresas portuguesas fornecedoras como pano de fundo, este artigo explora a teoria da Resource Based View (RBV) e a teoria das Dynamic Capabili_es (DCT) como um construto teórico para o desenvolvimento de ferramentas de investigação. Na indústria automóvel, os OEM (fabricantes de equipamentos originais) continuam a controlar o design geral do veículo, como parte da capacidade de gestão do seu portfólio assim como a comunicação de marca. No entanto, o setor tem seguido um caminho para uma participação crescente de fornecedores menores nos processos de desenvolvimento de produto, impulsionados para o desenvolvimento de capacidades como requisito de competitividade na rede de fornecedores dos OEM. O papel dos recursos do design e da gestão do design foram já explorados como recurso estratégicos ou competências fundamentais. No entanto, o Design não é normalmente encontrado em empresas de menor dimensão como recurso (em oposição aos estúdios de Design em empresas maiores), mas sim como um processo de combinações de diferentes capacidades e recursos, estabelecendo a necessidade de uma nova abordagem de pesquisa. Portanto, a RBV é uma ferramenta que visa a valorização do processo de design como uma vantagem competitiva sustentada. A RBV concetualiza uma estrutura para determinar ou identificar os recursos estratégicos disponíveis ou necessários dentro de uma empresa. Deste ponto de vista, a base para uma vantagem competitiva sustentável está na aplicação do conjunto de recursos valiosos identificados e à disposição da empresa em forma de combinações das suas diferentes capacidades e recursos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What is the relationship between inspiratory muscle training and performance and respiratory biomechanics in athletes?

Inspiratory muscle training has an important role in sports performance. Scientific evidence suggests the coadjuvation of sports performance competition training with association of training of the inspiratory muscles alongside the use of a threshold. The purpose of this review is to summarize and assess the scientific evidence about optimizing respiratory biomechanics in specific sports.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integrating local and ecological knowledge to assess the benefits of trees for ecosystem services: A holistic process-based methodology

Management decisions in agriculture regarding landscape structure, biodiversity conservation, food production, climate adaptation and other planetary issues need to be supported by sound data and innovative solutions. The food system can and must become a part of the solution, particularly if it integrates nature-based solutions promoting biodiversity as services, such as pest control provided by local birds. Birds have been shown to contribute to invertebrates’ predation and pest control, among many ecosystem services, in agricultural landscapes, especially where trees are present. Trees are also services providers and can contribute to ecosystem regulation, shelter and foraging of species, among other important contributions. In this study, we developed a methodology that integrates species, trait, and crop data; pest predation indicators and local farmers’ expertise, to determine the consumption of pests by birds, in intensive farming systems of Central Portugal. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between birds and service provision over a tree gradient, at the landscape level. For that, we used point count data to estimate the daily consumption of invertebrates by birds, based on energy requirements and life cycle characteristics of each species. Using species guilds, we related habitat requirements to pest control services, which showed higher predation in annual crops close to trees or woody vegetation compared to the ones with just crops. Further, we analysed the methodology’s main challenges and strengths. Lastly, we concluded that the holistic characteristic of the developed process would guide stakeholders and policy’ elaboration more effectively, as we have learnt that farmers’ participation enabled more accurate analysis and results and could bring them closer to the research process.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Moodle nas práticas pedagógicas de uma escola básica: realidade ou ficção na inserção das TIC em sala de aula

Hoje, quando já não se questiona a sua entrada na escola, ainda persistem muitas dúvidas sobre a forma como é feita a utilização do computador em contexto pedagógico, e se esta é, efetivamente, uma realidade. As TIC podem assumir um papel importante na mudança das atitudes dos professores em especial no que se refere à substituição de atitudes pedagógicas centradas no ensino por atitudes pedagógicas centradas na aprendizagem. Mas será que, na prática, é isso que tem vindo a suceder ou a sua utilização em contexto pedagógico não passa de mera operação cosmética destinada a perpetuar velhos hábitos, mas sob uma capa nova? Como são aplicadas as tecnologias de informação e comunicação nas práticas pedagógicas e, em particular, como é utilizada a plataforma Moodle, numa escola básica com 2.º e 3.º ciclo? Foram estas as questões que estiveram na génese do estudo de caso, do qual resultou este artigo e cujas principais conclusões se prendem com a falta de formação dos professores na área das TIC e, consequentemente, com o pouco e inadequado proveito delas tirado em particular da plataforma Moodle. -- Palavras-chave: alunos, ensino-aprendizagem, plataforma Moodle, professores, TIC. -- ABSTRACT: Nowadays, when no longer the entrance of computers in schools is questioned, there are still many doubts about how they’re used in pedagogical context and if they are in fact used. ICTs can play a significant role in changing teachers’ practices, notably in what concerns the shift from pedagogical attitudes focused on teaching towards learning-centered pedagogical attitudes. The main question remains: is this really occurring in practice, or is it that old habits are maintained under a new cover? How are applied the information and communication technologies in pedagogical practices and especially how Moodle is used in a secondary school, with the 2nd and 3rd cycles of education? These were the questions that were the genesis of the case study that lead to this paper, and in which the main conclusions are related to the lack of teachers formation in ICTs, and consequently, with the little and inadequate benefit taken by them from the ICTs, in particular from the Moodle platform. -- Keywords: students, teaching-learning, Moodle, teachers, ICTs. -- Para citar este texto: Santos, J. R. (2012). A Moodle nas práticas pedagógicas de uma escola básica: realidade ou ficção na inserção das TIC em sala de aula. i>Educação, Formação & Tecnologias, 5 (1), 72-83 [Online], disponível a partir de http://eft.educom.pt. -

A utilização da plataforma Moodle numa escola básica : realidade ou ficção na inserção das TIC em sala de aula

Dissertação de Mestrado em Supervisão Pedagógica apresentada à Universidade AbertaHoje, quando já não se questiona a entrada do computador na escola, ainda persistem muitas dúvidas sobre a forma como é feita a sua utilização em contexto pedagógico, e se esta é, efectivamente, uma realidade. Com este trabalho de investigação pretende-se dar conta da forma como é utilizada a plataforma Moodle, numa escola básica com 2.º e 3.º ciclos e como são aplicadas as tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) nas práticas pedagógicas. A razão de ser da escolha deste tema para esta dissertação encontra-se, pois, essencialmente, na necessidade de aprofundar o estudo sobre a importância que os novos recursos, cada vez mais presentes no panorama escolar, como é o caso da plataforma Moodle, adquiriram no dia-a-dia de uma escola, bem como as vantagens do seu uso na Educação, em geral e nas práticas lectivas, em particular. O computador tem vindo a assumir um papel importante na modificação das atitudes dos professores, em especial, no que se refere à substituição de atitudes pedagógicas centradas no ensino por atitudes pedagógicas centradas na aprendizagem. Mas será que na prática é isso que tem vindo a suceder ou não passará de uma forma de manter velhos hábitos sob uma capa nova? É que apesar da grande diversidade de meios tecnológicos existentes nas escolas, não raras vezes verifica-se que a sua utilização tem seguido, ao longo dos tempos, um modelo de comunicação essencialmente unidireccional que se centra no professor, limitando-se este a transmitir a informação/conhecimento, mas através de um computador.Even though nowadays computers at school are taken for granted, there are still many doubts about how they are used in pedagogical context, and if, in fact, they are used. This research work aims at describing the way the Moodle is used in a secondary school, with the 2nd and 3rd cycle of education, and how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are applied in pedagogical practices. This topic of research was chosen, mainly, for the need to further study the importance that new resources, such as the Moodle, which are increasingly present in school context, have acquired in the daily life of a school, as well as the advantages of their use in Education, in general, and in teaching practices, in particular. Computers have been playing a significant role in changing teachers’ practices, notably in what concerns the shift from pedagogical attitudes focused on teaching towards learning-centered pedagogical attitudes. The main question remains: is this really occurring in practice, or is it that old habits are maintained under a new cover? Despite the great diversity of technological resources existing in schools, we often find that, over time, their use has been following a unidirectional communication model, centered on the teacher, who merely continues to convey information/ knowledge, now by means of a computer

As TIC na Escola Pública Portuguesa e a sua relação com as lideranças

Hoje vive-se numa sociedade globalizada, sedenta de conhecimento, em que o imediatismo da informação é, cada vez mais, uma necessidade tornada realidade até nos locais mais recônditos do planeta. Ao homem são exigidas novas competências, novas literacias que lhe permitam manter-se profissionalmente ativo, socialmente incluído e independente ao longo da vida. É à escola que, em primeira instância, compete fornecer as ferramentas que permitam, a quem a procura, desbravar caminho para a aquisição dessas competências e literacias. E a escola tem disso consciência. Neste primeiro quartel do século XXI, já não se questiona apenas a entrada das tecnologias da informação e comunicação na escola, mas, sobretudo, como deve a escola fazer a sua apropriação. E, é neste domínio que as lideranças da escola assumem um papel especialmente preponderante porquanto é na e da forma como lidam com as tecnologias, a importância que lhes atribuem e o impulso e orientação que dão à sua utilização, que depende o modo como a escola delas se apropria e as usa com vista não só a delas tirar o melhor partido, como, também, para chamar, e cativar, uma clientela com interesses cada vez mais díspares dos dela e que nela permanece apenas por imposição legal. É das relações entre as tecnologias da informação e comunicação e a escola pública através da análise do uso que delas fazem e do partido que delas tiram diretores e coordenadores de departamento que se fala nesta tese.Nowadays, we live in a global society, eager for knowledge, where the immediate access to information is more and more a need that came true even in the most remote places on Earth. In order to remain professionally active, socially included and independent throughout life Man needs new skills. It is the role of the school at the very early beginning to provide the tools required to explore the way towards the acquisition of those skills and literacies. School is aware of that role. In this first quarter of the 21st century, we no longer question the information and communication technology at school. The question becomes mainly how the school should acquire them. It is in this domain that leadership in a school acquires a specially important role since the way it deals with technologies, the importance it attaches to them, the impulse and orientation given to their use, will affect the way school acquires and uses them not only to make the best of ICT but also to draw, and captivate, people which interests are further away from its own and that only remain due to law imposition. This thesis deals with the relationship between information and communication technology and the public school by analyzing the use people make of ICT and the advantages that headmasters and heads of the departments take out of them

Reflexes of an eLearning in-service professionalization course on the building of teacher’s professionalism

Decorrida uma década após a realização da primeira edição (2009/10) do Curso de Profissionalização em Serviço para docentes do ensino público dos 2.º e 3.º ciclos do Ensino Básico e do Ensino Secundário realizado em eLearning, na Universidade Aberta de Portugal, fomos à procura dos seus reflexos na construção da profissionalidade dos docentes que o realizaram. Desse estudo, descritivo de abordagem quantitativa com a utilização de um questionário online como instrumento de recolha de dados e a folha de cálculo do Office 365 Excel para os analisar, surge este artigo que ambiciona ser, antes de mais, o ponto de partida de uma reflexão que se espera venha a ser alargada a todos os docentes de todas as edições do Curso de Profissionalização em Serviço. Dos resultados obtidos constata-se que para os professores que participaram no estudo as expetativas criadas antes do início do Curso, quanto ao contributo que este poderia trazer para construção da sua profissionalidade, foram concretizadas. O CPS trouxe consigo o ingresso na carreira docente para a generalidade dos docentes inquiridos que o frequentaram; o contributo do CPS, na construção da sua profissionalidade docente, foi relevante ou muito relevante.A decade after the first edition (2009/10) of the In-service Professionalization Course for public school teachers of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of Basic and Secondary Education, held in eLearning at the Open University of Portugal, we looked for its reflexes in the construction of the professionalism of the teachers who took it. This article was produced following on that descriptive, quantitative approach study, using an online questionnaire as data collection tool, and the Office 365 Excel spreadsheet to analyze such data. Above all, it aims at becoming the starting point of a reflection that is expected to be extended to all teachers of all editions of the In-service Professionalization Course (IPC). The results obtained show that, for the teachers who participated in the study, the expectations created before the beginning of the course as to the contribution it could make to building their professionalism were met; the majority of the surveyed teachers who attended the IPC entered the teaching career after concluding it; the contribution of the IPC to the construction of their teaching professionalism was relevant or very relevant.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Displaybook - Bringing online identity to situated displays

This work is part of a study in which we aim to explore multiple bridges between on-line and off-line forms of socialisation by creating bi-directional connections between Facebook and situated social interactions. In this paper, we specifically describe a study on the use of public displays for the public presentation of data from the Facebook profiles of people near the display. The key challenge is how to map the concept of sharing information within a social network, to the concept of sharing information with the places you visit. For this to be viable, people must have full control over what they share and in what circumstances they will share it. This paper addresses this issue by studying the sharing alternatives, how this sharing of profile data in a public display is perceived by people and what are the main factors affecting that perception. The results suggest that, overall, people seem to be willing to expose parts of their Facebook profiles if given proper privacy controls. However, the study has also revealed a clear gap between privacy control in Facebook and the type of privacy controls that would be needed for this particular use of Facebook information

AI on the management of existing bridges

The present paper presents a brief discussion on the current practice regarding bridge management. The main goal of this discussion is the attempt of finding some trends in the research and development of existing bridge management systems (BMS). To achieve this, it is firstly important to analyse the entire process of bridge management, understand which parts of the process are being properly addressed by current BMS and which parts are not account for nowadays. The next step consists in providing some guidance on how to improve BMS considering the parts not being well covered. Likewise, some orientation is required to deal with the parts not yet being accounted for in existing BMS. To this end, insights and tools already used in other fields of knowledge can be considered, adapted and adopted in future BMS. In this regard, artificial intelligence algorithms appear as a sound candidate

Sjögren’s syndrome and acquired splenic atrophy with septic shock: a case report

INTRODUCTION: The most frequent causes of adult-onset recurrent infections are human immunodeficiency virus infection, malignancy, and autoimmune diseases, while acquired non-surgical hyposplenism is rare. Although acquired asplenia/hyposplenism have been described in association with celiac disease and, less frequently, with autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren’s syndrome, the manifestations in this context are usually only detectable in the laboratory setting, with Howell-Jolly bodies or thrombocytosis. To the best of our knowledge, no previous case of pneumococcal septic shock in a patient with acquired hyposplenism and co-morbid Sjögren’s syndrome has been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 45-year-old Caucasian woman who developed pneumococcal pneumonia at age 42 years, pneumococcal meningitis at age 44 years and septic shock with Streptococcus agalactiae bacteremia at age 45 years and was subsequently diagnosed with radiological splenic atrophy and functional asplenia, as well as primary Sjögren’s syndrome. After appropriate immunizations, the patient has been free from clinically important infections. CONCLUSION: Hyposplenism should be suspected in patients with adult-onset infections caused by encapsulated bacteria, especially if autoantibodies are present. Early diagnosis can help prevent potentially life-threatening infections. Possible associations between splenic atrophy and Sjögren’s syndrome are discussed