Síntese de resultados e perspectivas do Projecto MINEO em Portugal (S. Domingos)

Este documento enquadra os objectivos e metodologias desenvolvidas no projecto MINEO e refere-se em particular aos principais resultados obtidos em Portugal, assim como algumas perspectivas pós-MINEO

Naturbanization and sustainability in the National Park of Peneda-Gerês

This paper introduces territorial sustainability in general and within European and Portuguese guidelines for planning and action, namely to regulate the urbanization and urban expansion processes. This topic is relevant to discuss the dynamics of urbanization and urban sprawl in rural areas of Northern Portugal integrated in and around the National Park of Peneda- Gerês, the park with the highest classification in the whole country. These dynamics relate to changes that have been re-occurring over the last fifteen years with consequences on shifts in land-use patterns, urban settlements and economic development trends. The analysis, based on the concepts of “naturbanization” and “counterurbanization”, shows some evidence of both processes. One municipality partially comprised within the National Park is selected as case study to be further analyzed, providing deeper insight of the urbanization trends as measured by development control indicators

References, authors, journals and scientific disciplines underlying the sustainable development literature: a citation analysis

This paper identifies the main references, authors and journals influencing the sustainable development literature. The task is accomplished by means of a citation analysis based on the records of ISI Web of Science. We found that the core of sustainability thinking is framed by a pattern of landmark studies published around every 5 years. Only 380 publications have been cited at least ten times. References with the highest influence are those with a global dimension and large diffusion, such as Brundtland Commission’s ‘‘Our common future’’ (1987) and classics such as Meadows’ et al. ‘‘Limits to growth’’ (1972). The list of the most influential references over the period 1960–2005 is dominated by contributions from economics (particularly ecological economics) and environmental science, but includes many other disciplines such as urban planning, political sciences and sociology. References are also made to policy documents such as ‘‘Agenda 21’’, one of the main outcomes of the Rio Summit in 1992. In analyzing citation trends, we found that ‘classics’, because of their high rates of citations per year, seem to have a more enduring and stable influence.This paper was written as part of a PhD research. The authors would like to credit the financial support provided by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (the Portuguese research foundation) under scholarship SFRH/BD/18588/2004 and project PTDC/ECM/73069/2006

market approach and positioning

EuropAssistance is currently facing a decisive moment to diversify its business modelwhich is very reliant on the auto business line. The purpose of this part of thepaper is toanalyse the market positioning and approach of the firm. Anextensive literature review, a broad range of interviews with all relevant external and internal stakeholders as well as a global industry benchmarkinghad been conducted to identify the market needs and potential solutions

e-Consultation as a tool for participation in teachers’ unions: the greater the focus, the greater the number of visits

In the 2000’s, the Internet became the preferred mean for the citizens to communicate. The YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, i.e., the social networks in general appeared together with the Web 2.0, which allows an extraordinary interaction between citizens and the democratic institutions. The trade unions constantly fight governments’ decisions, especially in periods of crisis like the one that the world, Europe and, in particular, Portugal are facing. In this regard, the use of e-participation platforms is expected to strengthen the relationship between trade unions and the education community. This paper reports the research about the planning and driving of a series of experiments of online public consultation, launched by teachers’ trade unions. These experiments are compared with those of other countries, such as Australia, United Kingdom and United States of America. A quantitative analysis of the results regarding hits, subscriptions, and response rates is presented, and it is compared with the 90-9-1 rule, the ASCU model and data from government agencies. The experiments performed used the Liberopinion, an online platform that supports bidirectional asynchronous communication. A better understanding of the benefits of these collaborative environments is expected by promoting quality of interaction between actors

Maltrato entre alunos do ensino básico: Análise em função do rendimento e da disrupção escolar

O estudo teve como objectivo analisar o maltrato (vitimação) entre pares no Ensino Básico, especificamente no 4º e 6º ano de escolaridade. A amostra foi constituída por 351 sujeitos, de duas escolas do Concelho da Amadora. Para a avaliação da vitimação, foi utilizado, como instrumento, o “Peer Victimization Scale”, recentemente adaptado para Portugal por Veiga (2007). A disrupção escolar foi avaliada com a “Escala de Disrupção Escolar Professada pelos Alunos”, de Veiga (1996, 2009). Os resultados aqui apresentados dizem respeito às seguintes questões de estudo: Q1 - Como se distribuem os alunos por aspectos específicos da vitimação, em termos de baixa ou elevada ocorrência? Q2 - Será que existem diferenças significativas, na vitimação, entre alunos com rendimento escolar baixo e alto? Q3 - Que relação existe entre os aspectos da vitimação e os aspectos da disrupção do aluno? Q4 - Que relação existe entre os itens da agressividade e os aspectos da disrupção do aluno? A análise dos resultados permitiu encontrar informação útil acerca da maneira como se distribuem os alunos por aspectos específicos da vitimação, bem como relações, no sentido esperado, entre a vitimização e as variáveis rendimento escolar, e disrupção dos alunos. O estudo inclui a discussão dos resultados e a sua comparação com outras investigações, sugerindo a necessidade de novas pesquisas, em função de novas variáveis e ao longo da escolaridade.Cette étude visait à examiner la victimisation (maltraitance) entre pairs à l'école primaire, en particulier pour les élèves du CM2 et 5e de scolarité. L'échantillon se composait de 351 sujets provenant de deux écoles de la municipalité d'Amadora. Pour l'évaluation de la victimisation, on a utilisé la « Peer Victimization Scale », récemment adaptée pour le Portugal par Veiga (2007). La disruption scolaire a été évaluée avec la “Escala de Disrupção Escolar Professada pelos Alunos” élaborée par Veiga (1996, 2009). Les résultats présentés concernent l'étude des questions suivantes: Q1 - Quelle est la distribution des étudiants en aspects spécifiques de la victimisation en termes de résultats faibles ou hauts? Q2 – Y-a-t-il des différences significatives dans la victimisation avec des élèves ayant un faible et un bon rendement scolaire ? Q3 - Quelle est la relation entre les aspects de la victimisation et les aspects de la disruption de l'élève? Q4 - Quelle est la relation entre les éléments de l'agression et les aspects de la disruption de l'élève? Les résultats ont permis de trouver des informations utiles sur la façon dont les élèves sont distribués pour des aspects spécifiques de la victimisation, sur les relations dans le sens attendu entre la victimisation et les variables de la performance scolaire ainsi que sur la disruption scolaire des élèves. L'étude comporte une analyse des résultats et des comparaisons avec d'autres recherches, ce qui suggère le besoin de recherches supplémentaires, en fonction de nouvelles variables au long de la scolarité

Divergent thinking and the design process

The paper explores a view of research on creativity in design not based on traditional cognitive science models. Research from the creative cognition standpoint is reviewed with an example and the problem of applying it to the design case is explained. Creative techniques used in design lack a scientific base and lack an evaluation of their effectiveness. They emphasise the generation of ideas and not the generation of tangible solutions. The argument states that design research should be looking neither to the act of idea generation nor to the act of form generation and reinterpretation but to the enacted use environment in which designers operate and from which functions emerge. Departing from new models in cognitive science two hypotheses are formed. The first claims that the creative outcome in design may be based on an enacted experience of use and not on a rationalisation of imagery or represented forms. The second claims that diagrams created during the design process, mainly in its first stages, may serve the purpose of problem finding and not of problem solving