Maternal attachment representations in relation to emotional availability and discipline behaviour

"Published online: 15 Sep 2015."

Learning joint representations for order and timing of perceptual-motor sequences: a dynamic neural field approach

Many of our everyday tasks require the control of the serial order and the timing of component actions. Using the dynamic neural field (DNF) framework, we address the learning of representations that support the performance of precisely time action sequences. In continuation of previous modeling work and robotics implementations, we ask specifically the question how feedback about executed actions might be used by the learning system to fine tune a joint memory representation of the ordinal and the temporal structure which has been initially acquired by observation. The perceptual memory is represented by a self-stabilized, multi-bump activity pattern of neurons encoding instances of a sensory event (e.g., color, position or pitch) which guides sequence learning. The strength of the population representation of each event is a function of elapsed time since sequence onset. We propose and test in simulations a simple learning rule that detects a mismatch between the expected and realized timing of events and adapts the activation strengths in order to compensate for the movement time needed to achieve the desired effect. The simulation results show that the effector-specific memory representation can be robustly recalled. We discuss the impact of the fast, activation-based learning that the DNF framework provides for robotics applications.

Intervention program on adolescent’s creativity representations and academic motivation

Creativity and its promotion are widespread concerns in education. However, few efforts have been made to implement intervention programs designed to promote creativity and other related aspects (e.g., academic motivation). The Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI), aimed for training creativity representations and creative problem solving skills in young people, has been one of the most implemented programs. This intervention’s materials and activities were adapted for Portuguese students, and a longitudinal study was conducted. The program was implemented during four months, in weekly sessions, by thirteen teachers. Teachers received previous training for the program and during the program’s implementation. Intervention participants included 77 Basic and Secondary Education students, and control participants included 78 equivalent students. Pretest-posttest measures of academic motivation and creativity representations were collected. Results suggest a significant increase, in the intervention group, in motivation and the appropriate representations of creativity. Practical implications and future research perspectives are presented.

School governance and academic excellence: the representations of distinguished students in an annual award of excellence

Within a research project on «academic excellence in the state school», this paper is a contribution to the sociological reflection on the cultural and organisational characteristics of the school and its relationship with the academic success of students. The data we present stem from a case study underway at a secondary school in the north of Portugal, referring to the universe of students that since 2003 have distinguished themselves for achieving grades equal to or greater than 18 (on a scale of 0 to 20) and have thus been included in the school’s Framework of Excellence. From a contextual approach to this educational practice, we focused on the cultural characteristics of the school/subject as analytical support for the study of school and non-school dimensions in their mutual connections. To this end, we used the information from document analysis and data collected from a questionnaire survey administered to more than two-thirds of the students included in the above-mentioned Framework of Excellence. Subsequently, we will use the data from this survey to understand the extent to which academic excellence is perceived as an indivisible social construction of the school’s political and organisational matrix, particularly in terms of the educational and teaching guidelines adopted by the management body. We will conclude by questioning the meaning of the school’s management policies regarding the emphasis on educational outcomes, with particular focus on the representations of excellent students in the processes of school leadership, teaching organisation, school merit and justice.

Post-divorce representations of marital negotiation during marriage predict parenting alliance in newly divorced parents

Literature demonstrates that marital and co-parenting subsystems are intercorrelated and have autonomous functions in the family system. This study explored representations of marital negotiation strategies for conflict resolution during marriage and parenting alliance relationship after divorce, using data from Portuguese newly divorced parents. In multiple regression analysis, representations of marital negotiation strategies for conflict resolution during marriage used by ex-spouses predict positive parenting alliance relationship after divorce. These results suggest that representations of pre-divorce marital relationship influence positively current interparental relationship regarding child rearing after marital dissolution. Implications for clinical interventions are also discussed.

Careers, identities and professionalization. A study on doctors about their social representations related to the labor market today and its foreseeable future

This study is in line with the analyses of university and working career in their interaction in relation with conditioning factors. It comprises two central issues: the issue of identity bound to the issue of professionalization within the domain of training and employment. Nowadays, professionalization of the individuals, inside a troubled occupational world, demands the implementation of mechanisms favoring the development of both the individuals and the institution in which they work. All this has an impact at the local, regional and even national levels. Three levels of analysis interplay from a sui generis perspective: macro-meso-micro-macro (Aparicio, 2005; 2007a; 2007b, 2013a, 2014, 2015 b, d – See the Three- Dimensional Spiral of Sense Theory). The aim was to be aware of the doctors’ representations regarding the value of such degree under the present “degree devaluation”, and its impact on the professional future as well as on the core issues of the labor market which need urgent measures with a view to a belter interaction between the two systems. The methodology used was quanti-qualitative (semi-structured questionnaires, interviews, and hierarchical evocations). The population consisted of doctors (2005-2012) from the National University of Cuyo, in Argentina. The results helped us understand the nucleus of such representations and the peripheral aspects by career and institution, thus revealing professional and disciplinary identities. The professional identities show the situated needs in terms of professionalization within the different contexts and, particularly, within the labor market.

Ontology-based representation and generation of workflows for micro-task human-machine computation

Doctoral Program in Computer Science

A autonomia no processo de aquisição da competência plurilingue e intercultural no âmbito da aprendizagem do Espanhol

Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ensino de Português no 3.º ciclo do Ensino Básico Secundário e do Ensino do Espanhol no Ensino Básico e Secundário

Ecos do tempo. A mobilidade de investigadores e estudantes brasileiros em Portugal

A investigação que apresentamos, de caráter exploratório, recaiu sobre histórias biográficas de brasileiros que escolhem Portugal para prosseguir formação e ou investigação. Procura-se encontrar na sua experiência elos de ligação explicativos sobre as motivações e os processos que os trazem para Portugal, assim como as expetativas e os projetos que comportam para os seus futuros e que incluem, ou não, este país. Temos em conta, especialmente, a forma como essa narrativa transporta sentidos identitários decorrentes das formas de relacionamento intercultural e político entre Portugal e Brasil e formas de cooperação implícitas, assim como mapas representacionais acerca dos lugares de eleição para desenvolvimento de carreiras científicas e académicas. A nossa pesquisa incide sobre as informações recolhidas através de um inquérito por questionário e entrevistas realizadas junto de estudantes e bolseiros brasileiros em Portugal.

Secure multiParty computation protocols

Dissertação de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática

Um olhar sobre a surdez: uma história de vida

Dissertação de mestrado em Educação Especial (área de especialização em Intervenção Precoce)

Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa e o significado da lusofonia: análise comparativa

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Comunicação (área de especialização em Sociologia da Comunicação e da Informação).

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).

Cinco para ouvir: discursos de ex-reclusos/as sobre a Prisão

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia

O Display da morte na ficção de José Saramago

Tese de Doutoramento em Ciências da Literatura (área de especialização em Literatura Portuguesa).