A PRODUÇÃO DE EDUCAÇÃO NOS AÇORES: O DESEMPENHO DO INDIVÍDUO NA MATEMÁTICA

This work is based on the theoretical tools and analytical framework, developed in the area of the Economics of Education, to evaluate the performance of students in the Azores, based on survey data obtained in various secondary schools in the region. It is intended, therefore, to contribute to a better perception of the relationship between resources (factors of production used) and the production of the educational system in the Azores, according to student performance in 9th grade mathematics. As individual performance can be explained by the Ordered Probit model, we tested the influence of different sets of variables in determining the classification obtained at the end of 9th grade (in-school summary assessment). The results point to the existence of a positive relationship between parents with higher education levels and the educational performance of the child. Positive results also occur due to parental involvement with the child, in particular, the moments of conversation about television programs. The conclusions also point to the negative effect of the presence of older siblings in the household on individual educational outcome. Another contribution is the confirmation that the individual within a low-income family is less likely to achieve higher academic results. A strong positive association between the attitude of students towards Mathematics and their performance in the discipline is evident in the results, which also prove that the school and the classroom affect the educational achievement of a student

Índice de risco relativo de mortalidade de aves ibéricas em parques eólicos baseado em modelos inflacionados em zero

Mestrado em Biologia AplicadaClimate change is one of the greatest threats towards humankind and wildlife. This consciousness motivated the search for alternatives that could contribute to mitigate climate change. Betting on renewable energies seems to be a winning strategy adopted worldwide in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global climate alterations and to improve nations’ energy independency. However, nowadays, these energy usages still have negative impacts, mostly on wildlife. Wind energy is even considered the greatest unintended human impact on avifauna. In this context, the aim of this thesis was to increase the knowledge about wind farms impacts on avifauna, which variables influence birds’ fatalities by collision with wind turbines and birds’ vulnerability. Models based on excessive zero counts were tested to understand which variables influence birds’ fatalities assessed on 25 Portuguese wind farms. This allowed to estimate the probability of mortality observation per species. The information obtained was used to build the fatality risk index that also considered the vulnerability factors, which give information of species conservation concern and resilience. Those indexes allow to prioritise the existing and limited conservation efforts on more vulnerable species. Models and indexes are also important for improving knowledge about wind energy impacts on wildlife and what can lead to reduce them, in order to achieve a sustainable and greener future.As alterações climáticas são uma das maiores ameaças para a Humanidade e para a vida selvagem. A consciência sobre a importância destas questões motivou a procura de alternativas, com intuito de mitigar estas alterações globais, causadas nomeadamente pelos gases de efeitos de estufa. Assim, as energias renováveis apresentam-se como uma possível estratégia vencedora a adotar, de forma a reduzir as emissões destes gases e levar à independência energética. No entanto, o uso destas energias renováveis ainda apresenta impactes negativos, especialmente para os ecossistemas. A energia eólica é inclusivamente considerada uma das maiores causas não intencionais de origem antropogénica para a mortalidade adicional de aves. Neste contexto, esta dissertação tem como os principais objetivos o desenvolvimento do conhecimento relativo aos impactes da energia eólica, quais as variáveis que influenciam a mortalidade de aves respeitante à colisão com as turbinas eólicas assim como as variáveis que afetam a vulnerabilidade das espécies. Foram testados modelos de contagem com excesso de zeros para compreender a influência das variáveis nas observações de mortalidade em 25 parques eólicos portugueses. A partir destes modelos foi possível estimar a probabilidade de observação de mortalidade para cada uma das espécies estudadas, provocada por colisão com eólicas. Esta informação foi ainda utilizada de forma a desenvolver um índice de risco de fatalidade com base nestas estimativas, assim como em fatores elucidativos da vulnerabilidade das espécies, nomeadamente o seu estatuto de conservação e resiliência. Desta forma é então possível direcionar esforços e recursos para a preservação das espécies com maior vulnerabilidade e prioridade de conservação. Este tipo de modelos e índices é ainda fundamental para incrementar o conhecimento sobre os impactes da energia eólica na vida selvagem e para compreender quais as medidas que podem ser tomadas para os reduzir e, assim, garantir um futuro mais verde e sustentável para todas as formas de vida

How to increase the number of students in EIT Food courses?

Internship Report presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Marketing Research and CRMEste relatório sintetiza um trabalho que visa a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação com especialização em Marketing Research e CRM, colocando em prática as competências adquiridas ao longo dos meus estudos na NOVA Information Management School. O estágio realizado decorreu entre julho e dezembro de 2021 no departamento de marketing dos Serviços Educativos da organização EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) Food, o projeto líder europeu de inovação agro-alimentar. O EIT Food tem como principal objetivo criar um sistema alimentar sustentável que perdure no tempo, e fá-lo através de quatro áreas funcionais: Inovação, Empreendedorismo, Envolvimento Público, e Educação. Esta experiência profissional decorreu na área funcional de Educação, onde o EIT Food oferece uma combinação de aprendizagem em regime online e presencial, em parceria com diferentes Universidades da Europa. Outro dos objetivos da organização é ter cada vez mais pessoas a juntarem-se à comunidade, através de uma oferta educativa em inovação e empreendorismo no setor agrolimentar. Para atingir este objetivo, foram pesquisadas e analisadas as variáveis que podem contribuir para o aumento do número de estudantes dos cursos do EIT Food. Foram identificados variáveis inerentes aos serviçoes educativos do EIT Food, tais como o ecossistema de educação e de certificação, o catálogo de cursos de 2022, a audiência desses cursos e as iniciativas de marketing aplicadas, todos cruciais para que o objetivo seja cumprido. O reconhecimento da oferta educativa do EIT Food é seguramente um fator determinante para aumentar à adesão de novos participantes nos cursos. Ao proporcionar uma oferta especializada e qualificada o EIT Food contribui para uma integração bem sucedida no mercado de trabalho. Em síntese, ao tornar a oferta educativa da organização mais competitiva, a probabilidade de atrair mais pessoas a participarem nos cursos do EIT Food aumenta.This report synthesises a work that aims to obtain a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management with a specialisation in Marketing Research and CRM, putting into practice the skills acquired during my studies at NOVA Information Management School. The internship occurred between July and December 2021, in the marketing department of the Educational Services of EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) Food, Europe's leading agri-food innovation programme. EIT Food's primary goal is to create a sustainable food system that lasts over time, and it does this through four functional areas: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Public Involvement, and Education. My professional experience was in the Educational functional area, where EIT Food offers a mix of online and face-to-face learning in partnership with different European universities. Another of the organisation's goals is to have more and more people join the community through an educational offer in innovation and entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector. To achieve this goal, the variables that can contribute to increasing the number of students in the EIT Food courses were researched and analysed. Variables inherent to EIT Food's educational services were identified, such as the education and certification ecosystem, the 2022 course catalogue, the audience for these courses, and the marketing initiatives applied, all of which are crucial for the goal met. The recognition of EIT Food's educational offering is certainly a determining factor in increasing the uptake of new course participants. EIT Food contributes to a successful integration into the labour market by providing a specialised and qualified offer. In short, by making the organisation's educational offer more competitive, the probability of attracting more people to participate in EIT Food's courses increases

Não-objetos: a perceção de uso de objetos inteligentes. O caso do smartphone

This article is part of a research conducted with the aim of obtaining the degree of Doctorate in Design, in the Product Design area. The definition of non-objects through the study of perception of use is the aim of our work. The focus on intelligent objects, namely the smartphone, comes from the growing pervasiveness of these objects in daily life, which is leading to new personal, social and working behaviours. We intend to investigate amongst other issues: how users perceive smart objects, in particular smartphones; if design as a practice embraces the ambiguous traits of these devices; understand which smart objects have more acceptance in daily life; to have a clearer notion regarding the use of smartphones: functionalities, personal or work related use; understand how important it is for the smartphone to be personal; and if users are aware of being dependent of these devices and how it provokes distancing and distraction in relation to other activities through its compulsive use. Here we review the methodology used in the research process, which includes a literary revision of key concepts and relevant authors, and a questionnaire, with the aim of understanding whether smart objects, smartphones in particular, can be defined as nonobjects.Este artigo faz parte de uma investigação com vista à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Design, na área do Design de Produto. A definição de não-objetos através do estudo da perceção de uso é o objetivo do nosso trabalho. O foco nos objetos inteligentes, nomeadamente no smartphone, vem da crescente universalidade destes objetos na vida quotidiana, que está a originar novos comportamentos pessoais, sociais e de trabalho. Pretendemos averiguar, entre outros pontos: como os utilizadores percecionam os objetos inteligentes, especificamente, o smarpthone; se a prática do design apreende as características ambíguas deste tipo de objetos; perceber quais os objetos inteligentes com mais aceitação na vida quotidiana; ter uma ideia mais clara sobre o tipo de uso de smartphones: funcionalidades, uso para trabalho ou pessoal; entender da importância de o smartphone ser um objeto pessoal; e se os utilizadores têm a noção da sua dependência e de como este provoca distanciamento e distração face a outras atividades, pelo seu uso compulsivo. Revemos aqui a metodologia empregue no trabalho de pesquisa, e que usa a revisão literária de conceitos- -chave e de autores relevantes, e um questionário, com o objetivo de perceber se os objetos inteligentes, em particular os smartphones, podem ser definidos como não-objetos.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Climate change impacts for irrigation requirements of preserved forage for horses under Mediterranean conditions

Pasture and forage production occupies a large part of the utilized agricultural area in Portugal, a country prone to the e ects of climate change. This study aims at evaluating the impacts of climate change on forage irrigation requirements and at defining and assessing di erent adaptation measures. A second objective focuses on evaluating the impacts on water deficit of rainfed forages. This study was performed in a Lusitano horse stud farm located in Azambuja Municipality, Portugal. The climate change impacts on the crop irrigation requirements and crop water deficit were simulated using the soil water balance model, ISAREG. The reference period considered was 1971–2000 and the climate scenarios were the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 (2071–2100). The results show that the adaptation measure aiming at maximum production (several cuts) will increase the irrigation requirements in the di erent climate change scenarios between 38.4% and 67.1%. The adaptation measure aiming at reducing the water consumption (only one cut) will lead to a reduction in irrigation requirements in the di erent climate change scenarios, ranging between 31.1% and 64.0%. In rainfed conditions, the water deficit is substantially aggravated in the climate change scenariosinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Updating mining reserves with uncertainty data

In mining operations, the time delay between grade estimations and decision about the scheduling of stopes mining can result in seriously outdated information and, consequently, a substantial mined reserves bias. To mitigate this gap between the grade estimation of an orebody and its exploitation, this paper proposes a new method of speedily updating resources and reserves integrated into the concept of real-time mining. This consists in the continuous and swift update of mine reserves, which requires a continuous and fast stream of the measurements of stopes in an underground mine rather than the chemical lab analysis of core samples or chip/face samples. Here we propose using portable for the swift monitoring of ore grades. However, this “fast” data be highly uncertain. For this reason, the first step consists of creating a bidistribution function between “uncertain” XRF and the corresponding “hard” measurements, based on empirical historical data. Following this, the uncertainty of the XRF measurements is derived from those bi-distributions through the conditional distribution of real values given to the known XRF measurement.The second step involves updating the reserves by integrating this uncertain XRF data, which has been quantified by conditional distributions, in the grade characterization models. For this purpose, a stochastic simulation with point distributions is applied. A case study of a sulphide copper deposit illustrates the proposed methodology

Production of Preserved Forage for Horses under Water Scarcity Conditions: A Case Study

The Mediterranean region is one of the areas most affected by climate change, which influences the production of forages. This has led producers to change from one to several forage cuttings, aiming to maintain crop productivity in increasingly water-scarce conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the nutrient content and productivity of forage produced for horses when subjected to variable water availability conditions at a Lusitano stud farm located in the central region of Portugal. The soil water content was evaluated throughout the growing season, using the gravimetric method, with soil samples collected every 15 days. Forage samples were collected from three grass cuttings (two for haylage and one for hay production), harvested from the same sward during the 2018/2019 growing season. The nutrient content of the forage samples was determined by chemical analysis. The global productivity throughout the crop-growing season was 8.3 t DM ha1, with the second harvest presenting the highest productivity (3.42 t DM ha1), corresponding to an adequate water supply, whereas the last cut, produced under water deficit conditions, presented the lowest productivity (2.1 t DM ha1). The estimated nutritive value by chemical composition analysis for both haylage and hay fell within the range reported in the literature for preserved forages for horsesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Does market volatility have predictive power for momentum returns? : evidence for the United Kingdom and Japan

Recent studies for the United States indicate that market volatility predicts momentum returns. The objective of this paper is to analyze if this happens in two different countries, the United Kingdom and Japan. Using a simple time series regression not only with variables regarding market volatility and market state but also macroeconomic variables, the return dispersion, sentiment index, default risk, and expected future volatility it turns out that indeed, in the case of the UK, market volatility has predictive power for the momentum payoff after controlling for all other variables except one, the VSTOXX. This measure of expected volatility can subsume the power of market volatility but only in the positive market state. Regarding Japan, the volatility of the market only has predictive power when it is used in combination with macroeconomic variables. This situation maintains with the rest of the variables except for the default risk proxies that in a down market take away the predictive power of market volatility. The conclusions that were obtained from the study of each country differ.Estudos recentes para os Estados Unidos indicam que a volatilidade do mercado ajuda a prever o lucro da estratégia momentum. O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar se o mesmo acontece em dois outros países, o Japão e o Reino Unido. Utilizando uma simples regressão linear, que não apenas contém variáveisrelacionadas com a volatilidade e com o estado de mercado, mas também variáveis macroeconómicas, dispersão do retorno, índice de sentimento, risco de falência das empresas e volatilidade futura esperada, concluiu-se que de facto isso acontece no Reino Unido. A volatilidade do mercado pode ser usada para prever o lucro do momentum quando é controlado o efeito de outras variáveis exceto uma, a VSTOXX. A volatilidade esperada futura absorve o poder da volatilidade do mercado, mas apenas num estado de mercado considerado positivo. No que diz respeito ao Japão, a volatilidade do mercado apenas tem poder de previsão quando são introduzidas variáveis macroeconómicas. Esta situação mantém-se quando são inseridas as restantes variáveis com a exceção da variável referente ao risco de falência das empresas, que em mercados em estado considerado negativo consegue retirar o poder da volatilidade do mercado em prever o rendimento da estratégia. As conclusões obtidas para os dois países diferem