Collaborative learning in the office management studies field: a COIL experience between Portugal and Cabo Verde

The internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) can occur across borders and at home. In recent years, the option for virtual mobility or collaborative online international learning (COIL) has been gaining special relevance. COIL "encompasses projects based on the involvement of teachers and students with different geographical, language and cultural backgrounds, for the development of collaborative teaching and learning processes using online communication tools" [1], thus facilitating not only the consolidation of technical skills, but also of transversal skills. This article describes a COIL project that took place between March and June 2021, involving 26 students from the degree in Office Management and Business Communication (OMBC) of the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and the degree in Public Relations and Executive Secretariat (PRES) of the Public University of Cape Verde. The project, entitled "Communication tools in the context of job search in Portuguese-speaking markets: Portugal and Cape Verde", was streamlined in a context of competences aggregation between disciplines in the area of Portuguese and Computer Science, with the participation of 5 teachers. Each student selected a job offer in the partner country and produced a multiformat CV (digital support and video CV), adapting it to a situation of applying for real job opportunities. The project included familiarisation sessions, open classes regarding the labour market in both countries, extra class meetings between students and moments (in class and extra-class) to follow up the work in progress. After the end of the project, a questionnaire was applied to the students involved, and 24 answers were obtained: 13 from Portugal (all participants) and 11 from Cape Verde (out of 13 possible). The respondents indicated curiosity, the possibility of meeting new cultures/people and acquiring new knowledge as factors that motivated them to participate in this COIL project. Overall, participants were very satisfied with the development of this project. The answers obtained also made it possible to identify the most and least positive aspects in the implementation of the project, to find out the technical and transversal skills developed from this experience, and to list the communication tools/digital tools that the students used the most.publishe

Supplying new cocoa planting material to farmers: a review of propagation methodologies

The review, coordinated by Bioversity International, presents an impartial, evidence-based review of cacao propagation methods, to serve as a basis for the assessment and implementation of strategies for providing farmers with quality planting materials, adapted to current and future needs (cultural, institutional, technical, environmental and financial). It describes the various propagation methods available for the production and supply of large numbers of cacao plants to growers. It is hoped that the result of the efforts of the key authors provides a basis to build on for case-specific recommendations. As the supply of new improved planting material to farmers is at the heart of improving cocoa productivity and modernizing the crop, we hope that the information in the review will make its way into national cocoa plans, and help to make cocoa farming more attractive and more sustainable

Level of physical activity, stress and health of bank clerks

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among level of physical activity, stress and health in male and female bank clerks. Two hundred eighty three bank clerks answered the Questionnaire of Habitual Physical Activities (Pate et al., 1995), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Karmack, & Mermelsteinm, 1983), and two scales of self-evaluated health (Andrade, 2001). More active bank clerks showed themselves as less stressed (F = 4.87, p = .008), significant results only for women (F = 4.11, p = .019). More active bank clerks also perceived themselves as healthier (p = .000, gamma = .56) and fell ill less frequently (p = .02, gamma = −.34), significant results only for men (p = .001, gamma = .60 e p = .033, gamma = −.33, respectively). Bank clerks with better perceived health showed significantly lower stress (F = 13.45, p = .000), significant results for both men (F = 9.75, p = .000) and women (F = 7.88, p = .000), as well as those getting sick less frequently (F = 5.40, p = .001), significant results only for women (F = 4.60, p = .004). Findings indicated a relationship among all the variables investigated and differing relationships for men and women

A Family of Exact, Analytic Time Dependent Wave Packet Solutions to a Nonlinear Schroedinger Equation

We obtain time dependent $q$-Gaussian wave-packet solutions to a non linear Schr\"odinger equation recently advanced by Nobre, Rego-Montero and Tsallis (NRT) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 (2011) 10601]. The NRT non-linear equation admits plane wave-like solutions ($q$-plane waves) compatible with the celebrated de Broglie relations connecting wave number and frequency, respectively, with energy and momentum. The NRT equation, inspired in the $q$-generalized thermostatistical formalism, is characterized by a parameter $q$, and in the limit $q \to 1$ reduces to the standard, linear Schr\"odinger equation. The $q$-Gaussian solutions to the NRT equation investigated here admit as a particular instance the previously known $q$-plane wave solutions. The present work thus extends the range of possible processes yielded by the NRT dynamics that admit an analytical, exact treatment. In the $q \to 1$ limit the $q$-Gaussian solutions correspond to the Gaussian wave packet solutions to the free particle linear Schr\"odinger equation. In the present work we also show that there are other families of nonlinear Schr\"odinger-like equations, besides the NRT one, exhibiting a dynamics compatible with the de Broglie relations. Remarkably, however, the existence of time dependent Gaussian-like wave packet solutions is a unique feature of the NRT equation not shared by the aforementioned, more general, families of nonlinear evolution equations

Railway infrastructure asset management: the whole-system life cost analysis

Delivering the railway infrastructure whose functionality is sustainable and uncompromised in terms of safety and availability under ever decreasing budget constraints is a great challenge. The successful accomplishment of this task relies on the effective management of individual assets within a wider whole system perspective. This is a highly complex decision-making task where mathematical models are required to enable well-informed choices. In this study, a novel modelling framework is proposed for performing the whole system lifecycle cost analysis. The framework is based on two models: railway network performance and costs. Using the former model investigations of the effects of decisions can be carried out for the individual asset and the whole system. A Petri net modelling technique is used to construct the model. A form of Monte Carlo simulation is then used to obtain model results. The infrastructure performance model is then integrated with the cost model to perform the lifecycle cost analysis. A superstructure example is presented to demonstrate the application of the approach. The results show that taking into account interdependencies among the intervention activities greatly influences, not only the performance of the infrastructure, but also its lifecycle costs and thus should be included in the cost analysis

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Climatic change emphasize the importance of biodiversity maintenance, Suggesting that germplasm adapted to organic, low input, or conventional conditions is needed to face future demands. This Study presents: I - The two steps genesis of the synthetic maize population Fandango, A) NUTICA creation: in 1975, Miguel Mota and Silas Pego, initiated a new type of polycross method involving 77 yellow elite inbred lines (dent and flint; 20% Portuguese and 80% North American germplasm) from the NUMI programme (NUcleo de melhoramento de Milho, Braga, Portugal). These inbreds were intermated in natural isolation and progenies submitted to intensive selection for both parents during continued cycles; B) From NUTICA to Fandango: Tandango was composed of all the crosses that resulted from a North Carolina Design I matting design (1 male crossed with 5 females) applied to NUTICA. II - The diversity evolution of Fandango under a Participatory Breeding project at the Portuguese Sousa Valley region (VASO) initiated in 1985 by Pego, with CIMMYT support. Morphological, fasciation expression, and yield trials were conducted in Portugal (3 locations, 3 years) and in the USA (4 locations, I year) using seeds obtained from five to seven cycles of mass selection (MS). The selection across cycles wits clone by the breeder (until cycle 5) and farmer (before cycle II in present). ANOVA and regression analysis on the rate of direct response to selection were performed when the assumption of normality was positively confirmed. Otherwise the non parametric Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) was performed. Response to mass selection in lowa showed significant decrease in yield, while in Portugal a significant increase for time of silking, plant and ear height, ear diameters 2, 37 4, kernel number, cot) diameters, and rachis was observed. At this location also a significant decrease was observed for thousand kernel weight and ear length. These results showed that mass selection were not effective for significant yield increase, except when considered Lousada with breeder selection (3.09% of gain per cycle per year). Some non-para metric methods (MARS, decision trees and random forests) were used to get insights on the causes that explain yield in Fandango. Kernel weight and ear weight were the most important traits, although row numbers, number of kernels per row, ear length, and ear diameter were also of some importance influencing Fandango yield

New features of quantum discord uncovered by q-entropies

The notion of quantum discord introduced by Ollivier and Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett 88, 017901 (2001)] (see also Henderson and Vedral [J. Phys. A 34, 6899 (2001)]) has attracted increasing attention, in recent years, as an entropic quantifier of non-classical features pertaining to the correlations exhibited by bipartite quantum systems. Here we generalize the notion so as to encompass power-law q-entropies (that reduce to the standard Shannon entropy in the limit $q \to 1$) and study the concomitant consequences. The ensuing, new discord-like measures we advance describe aspects of non-classicality that are different from those associated with the standard quantum discord. A particular manifestation of this difference concerns a feature related to order. Let $D_1$ stand for the standard, Shannon-based discord measure and $D_q$ for the $q \ne 1$ one. If two quantum states $A$, $B$ are such that $D_1(A) > D_1(B)$, this order-relation does not remain invariant under a change from $D_1$ to $D_q$.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Ohm's Law for Plasma in General Relativity and Cowling's Theorem

The general-relativistic Ohm's law for a two-component plasma which includes the gravitomagnetic force terms even in the case of quasi-neutrality has been derived. The equations that describe the electromagnetic processes in a plasma surrounding a neutron star are obtained by using the general relativistic form of Maxwell equations in a geometry of slow rotating gravitational object. In addition to the general-relativistic effect first discussed by Khanna \& Camenzind (1996) we predict a mechanism of the generation of azimuthal current under the general relativistic effect of dragging of inertial frames on radial current in a plasma around neutron star. The azimuthal current being proportional to the angular velocity $\omega$ of the dragging of inertial frames can give valuable contribution on the evolution of the stellar magnetic field if $\omega$ exceeds $2.7\times 10^{17} (n/\sigma) \textrm{s}^{-1}$ ($n$ is the number density of the charged particles, $\sigma$ is the conductivity of plasma). Thus in general relativity a rotating neutron star, embedded in plasma, can in principle generate axial-symmetric magnetic fields even in axisymmetry. However, classical Cowling's antidynamo theorem, according to which a stationary axial-symmetric magnetic field can not be sustained against ohmic diffusion, has to be hold in the general-relativistic case for the typical plasma being responsible for the rotating neutron star.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Decomposition and nutrient release of leguminous plants in coffee agroforestry systems.

Leguminous plants used as green manure are an important nutrient source for coffee plantations, especially for soils with low nutrient levels. Field experiments were conducted in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais State, Brazil to evaluate the decomposition and nutrient release rates of four leguminous species used as green manures (Arachis pintoi, Calopogonium mucunoides, Stizolobium aterrimum and Stylosanthes guianensis) in a coffee agroforestry system under two different climate conditions. The initial N contents in plant residues varied from 25.7 to 37.0 g kg-1 and P from 2.4 to 3.0 g kg-1. The lignin/N, lignin/polyphenol and(lignin+polyphenol)/N ratios were low in all residues studied. Mass loss rates were highest in the first 15 days, when 25 % of the residues were decomposed. From 15 to 30 days, the decomposition rate decreased on both farms. On the farm in Pedra Dourada (PD), the decomposition constant k increased in the order C. mucunoides < S. aterrimum < S. guianensis < A. pintoi. On the farm in Araponga (ARA), there was no difference in the decomposition rate among leguminous plants. The N release rates varied from 0.0036 to 0.0096 d-1. Around 32 % of the total N content in the plant material was released in the first 15 days. In ARA, the N concentration in the S. aterrimum residues was always significantly higher than in the other residues. At the end of 360 days, the N released was 78 % in ARA and 89 % in PD of the initial content. Phosphorus was the most rapidly released nutrient (k values from 0.0165 to 0.0394 d-1). Residue decomposition and nutrient release did not correlate with initial residue chemistry and biochemistry, but differences in climatic conditions between the two study sites modified the decomposition rate constants