The impact of PBL on transferable skills development in management education

Attention to transferable skills is growing in higher education. Problem-based learning (PBL) is increasingly used in management education for its promising potential to, amongst others, promote transferable skills, including problem-solving, critical thinking and teamwork skills. However, this relationship is seldom assessed. In this study, I use structural equation modelling to examine the effectiveness of PBL, measured through students’ perceptions of satisfaction and skills development. Results show the development of transferable skills is explained by interaction with tutors and a host company, and defining teamwork rules. Satisfaction is explained by skills development, assessment issues, defining teamwork rules and understanding how organisations work. I draw conclusions and recommendations.

Sustainability education in PBL education: the case study of IEM-UMINHO

Sustainability-related skills are becoming more and more relevant for a proficient and professional engineering practice. Industrial engineers in particular, given their broad field of intervention and being at the heart of industrial activity, hold a great deal of potential and responsibility in providing and delivering best industrial practices, that support enhanced industrial systems and products. Therefore making a real contribution in generating wealth and income for all the companies’ stakeholders, including local communities, as well as adding up to more sustainable ecosystems. Previous work by the authors focused on studying the inclusion of this subject on the education of industrial engineers, especially through active-learning methodologies, as well as presenting results on the use of one such approach. The study conducted tried to identify the impacts on sustainability learning using a given specific activity, i.e. a workshop on industrial ecology, held in the 2014/2015 academic year on the Integrated MSc degree on Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Minho, Portugal. The study uses content analysis of student teams’ reports for two consecutive academic years. The former did not include one such workshop, while the latter did. The Fink taxonomy was used in the discussion of results and reflection. The study outcomes aimed at supporting decision making on worthiness of investment on similar education instruments for sustainability competency development. Some results of the study highlight that: (1) the workshop seem to globally have a positive contribution on the sustainability learning; (2) a number of dimensions of the Life cycle design strategy wheel was developed, but the approach was not broadly used, (3) There was a mismatch on the workshop schedule; (4) students enjoy the workshop; (5) a clearer endorsement on relevance of this aspect is required. Suggestions for future work are also issued.

Pervasive business intelligence platform to improve the quality of decision process in primary and secondary education – A Portuguese case study

Business Intelligence (BI) can be seen as a method that gathers information and data from information systems in order to help companies to be more accurate in their decision-making process. Traditionally BI systems were associated with the use of Data Warehouses (DW). The prime purpose of DW is to serve as a repository that stores all the relevant information required for making the correct decision. The necessity to integrate streaming data became crucial with the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the decision process. In primary and secondary education, there is a lack of BI solutions. Due to the schools reality the main purpose of this study is to provide a Pervasive BI solution able to monitoring the schools and student data anywhere and anytime in real-time as well as disseminating the information through ubiquitous devices. The first task consisted in gathering data regarding the different choices made by the student since his enrolment in a certain school year until the end of it. Thereafter a dimensional model was developed in order to be possible building a BI platform. This paper presents the dimensional model, a set of pre-defined indicators, the Pervasive Business Intelligence characteristics and the prototype designed. The main contribution of this study was to offer to the schools a tool that could help them to make accurate decisions in real-time. Data dissemination was achieved through a localized application that can be accessed anywhere and anytime.

Changes in institutional governance and management of higher education in Laos: National University of Laos

PhD thesis in Educational Sciences (specialization in Politics of Education).

Differential top-antitop cross-section measurements as a function of observables constructed from final-state particles using pp collisions at s√=7 TeV in the ATLAS detector

Various differential cross-sections are measured in top-quark pair (tt¯) events produced in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=7 TeV at the LHC with the ATLAS detector. These differential cross-sections are presented in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb−1. The differential cross-sections are presented in terms of kinematic variables of a top-quark proxy referred to as the pseudo-top-quark whose dependence on theoretical models is minimal. The pseudo-top-quark can be defined in terms of either reconstructed detector objects or stable particles in an analogous way. The measurements are performed on tt¯ events in the lepton+jets channel, requiring exactly one charged lepton and at least four jets with at least two of them tagged as originating from a b-quark. The hadronic and leptonic pseudo-top-quarks are defined via the leptonic or hadronic decay mode of the W boson produced by the top-quark decay in events with a single charged lepton.The cross-section is measured as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity of both the hadronic and leptonic pseudo-top-quark as well as the transverse momentum, rapidity and invariant mass of the pseudo-top-quark pair system. The measurements are corrected for detector effects and are presented within a kinematic range that closely matches the detector acceptance. Differential cross-section measurements of the pseudo-top-quark variables are compared with several Monte Carlo models that implement next-to-leading order or leading-order multi-leg matrix-element calculations.

Adult learning and education policies in Germany, Portugal and Sweden: An analysis of national reports to CONFINTEA VI

The chapter presents a theoretical proposal of three analytical models of Adult Learning and Education (ALE) policies. Some analytical categories and the corresponding dimensions are organised according to the ALE rationale which is typical of each social policy model. Historical, cultural and educational features are mentioned in connexion with the different policy models and its interpretative capacity to making sense of policies and practices implemented in Germany, Portugal and Sweden. !e analysis includes the states of the art and the official representations of ALE produced by the respective national authorities through national reports which were presented to CONFINTEA VI (2009).

The importance of the category of consciousness and education for sustainability in methodologies for eco‐efficiency in school buildings

This document reports the importance of the category of consciousness and education for sustainability in the school environment. Education in school has a potential to make the benefits of the building construction visible for society and media, showing to the students, parents and communities how sustainability in built environment could improve the people life in economic, social and environment aspects. Thus, this paper addresses the main events related to sustainability, such as the Stockholm Conference, the Brundtland report, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and Agenda 21, until reaching the necessity of the elaboration of Methodologies for environmental assessment of building, and later, the development of the specific methodologies according to the buildings. It is also described some examples of sustainability in schools in Germany, Finland and Italy and what kind of sustainable systems those countries are currently using.

Um modelo para a gestão do conhecimento organizacional no contexto dos serviços partilhados com recurso à utilização do e-Learning

Tese de Doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação

Measurements of the Total and Differential Higgs Boson Production Cross Sections Combining the H→γγ and H→ZZ∗→4ℓ Decay Channels at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

Measurements of the total and differential cross sections of Higgs boson production are performed using 20.3 fb−1 of pp collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Cross sections are obtained from measured H→γγ and H→ZZ∗→4ℓ event yields, which are combined accounting for detector efficiencies, fiducial acceptances and branching fractions. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of Higgs boson transverse momentum, Higgs boson rapidity, number of jets in the event, and transverse momentum of the leading jet. The total production cross section is determined to be σpp→H=33.0±5.3(stat)±1.6(sys)pb. The measurements are compared to state-of-the-art predictions.

Does dosage in abstinence education matter?

Although past reviews uniformly criticized the efficacy and effectiveness of sexual abstinence in adolescents, new studies dispute the earlier findings. Studies that unpackage intervention programs provide one means of understanding why they succeed in some settings and not in others. This study examined 3183 students spread over 35 schools on the number of hours that they received in sexual abstinence education, in a context of health behaviors promotion. A multi-level analysis (HLM) was performed. The number of hours did not appear to make any difference in the outcome scores. Reasons for this finding are presented and their implications are provided.

Differential activation of the default mode network in jet lagged individuals

Long-term exposure to transmeridian flights has been shown to impact cognitive functioning. Nevertheless, the immediate effects of jet lag in the activation of specific brain networks have not been investigated. We analyzed the impact of short-term jet lag on the activation of the default mode network (DMN). A group of individuals who were on a transmeridian flight and a control group went through a functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition. Statistical analysis was performed to test for differences in the DMN activation between groups. Participants from the jet lag group presented decreased activation in the anterior nodes of the DMN, specifically in bilateral medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. No areas of increased activation were observed for the jet lag group. These results may be suggestive of a negative impact of jet lag on important cognitive functions such as introspection, emotional regulation and decision making in a few days after individuals arrive at their destination.

Preschool education in Brazil: does public supply crowd out private enrollment?

Expanding access to preschool education is a particularly important policy issue in developing countries, where enrollment rates are generally much lower, and where private institutions constitute a much larger share of the formal preschool sector, than in developed countries. This paper examines if an expansion in the supply of public preschool crowds-out private enrollment using rich data for municipalities in Brazil from 2000 to 2006, where federal transfers to local governments change discontinuously with given population thresholds. Results from a regression-discontinuity design reveal that larger federal transfers lead to a significant expansion of local public preschool services, but show no evidence of crowding-out of private enrollment, nor of negative impacts on the quality of private providers. This finding is consistent with a theory in which households differ in willingness-to-pay for preschool services, and private suppliers optimally adjust prices in response to an expansion of lower-quality, free-of-charge public supply. In the context of the model, the absence of crowding-out effects of more public preschool providers can be rationalized by the existence of relatively large differences in willingness-to-pay for preschool services across different demand segments. Our theoretical and empirical findings therefore suggest that in developing country settings characterized by relatively high income inequality, an expansion in public preschool supply will likely significantly increase enrollment among the poorest segments of society, and need not have adverse effects on the quantity or quality of local private supply.

Measurement of differential J/psi production cross sections and forward-backward ratios in p plus Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of differential cross sections for J/ψ production in p+Pb collisions at sNN−−−−√=5.02 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector are presented. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 28.1 nb−1. The J/ψ mesons are reconstructed in the dimuon decay channel over the transverse momentum range 8differential cross section for production of nonprompt J/ψ is compared to a FONLL calculation that does not include nuclear effects. Forward-backward production ratios are presented and compared to theoretical predictions. These results complement previously published results by covering a region of higher transverse momentum and more central rapidity. They thus constrain the kinematic dependence of nuclear modifications of charmonium and b-quark production in p+Pb collisions.

Girls out of school. State, culture and education in poor rural Lao People's Democratic Republic

Tese de Doutoramento em Sociologia

Neurocognitive profile and cognitive intervention in Alzheimer's disease

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia (Especialidade de Psicologia Clínica)