Contributos da avaliação exterrna em dois agrupamentos do Alentejo

O presente trabalho de investigação teve como ponto de partida a questão "O contrato de autonomia representa ou não uma mais-valia no processo de desenvolvimento da organização escola?'; assumindo esta o eixo central deste trabalho: "Contributos da Avaliação Externa em dois Agrupamentos do Alentejo'’. Neste sentido, foram definidas algumas hipóteses de trabalho: em termos de visão/estratégia procurámos verificar se uma liderança forte, com objetivos definidos e hierarquizados, apresentando uma nova forma de gerir o currículo, provocará na escola uma maior aptidão para atingir as metas estabelecidas; quanto à motivação/empenho, se os órgãos de gestão da escola assumirem o processo de decisão e se responsabilizarem pelo mesmo, este facto constituirá uma mais-valia para a escola de modo a alcançar as metas propostas; no que concerne ao campo da inovação, procurámos constatar se a escola procura novos caminhos, novas soluções, facto esse que motivará o seu reconhecimento pela excelência; por último as parcerias e projetos, ou seja verificar se a existência de parcerias cativas e outras formas de associação favorecem o projeto de autonomia da escola. No que concerne ao estudo empírico, optámos por uma metodologia que privilegiou o estudo qualitativo dos dados apurados. Após apresentação dos dados recolhidos, da respetiva análise e interpretação, emitimos as nossas conclusões, entre as quais o facto da avaliação externa ter sido um facto de mudança na vida dos dois agrupamentos. Quer seja como fator de mudança e motivação para o crescimento do agrupamento como um todo, quer seja como fator de união de um agrupamento, trazendo à luz do dia as virtudes e os constrangimentos, encontrando soluções e caminhos através de um projeto de autonomia que se tornou um símbolo de todos. ABSTRACT: This work of investigation had as a starting point whether the question "The autonomy of schools becomes or not a better value in the development of the school organization?" being in the central issue of this thesis - "The contribution of externa! evaluation in two school groups from Alentejo". ln this sense, some hypothesis were defined: concerning vision/strategy we dryed to verify if a strong leadership with defined and hierarchyed objectives demonstrating new ways of managing the curriculum makes the school more capable of reaching the pre-established goals; concerning motivation/commitment, if the school management assumes the process of decision and take responsibility for it, will this be a best value for the school, in order to achieve their goal; relating to innovation, we try to establish if the school demands new ways, new solutions, bringing recognition "par excellence"; finally partnerships and projects, which intends to verify if the existence of active partnerships and others forms of association, would benefit the autonomy of the school. ln what concerns the empirical study we decided to choose a methodology which benefited the qualitative of gathered data. After the presentation of the collected results, its analysis and interpretation, we came to the conclusion, among others, that the external evaluation had been a drive for change in the two school groups. Whether as a factor of change and motivation for the development of the whole group, as well as a factor of union, bringing up the virtues and the mistakes, finding solutions and new ways through a project of autonomy which became a reference for everyone.

Tracking biochemical changes during adventitious root formation in olive (Olea europaea L.)

The activity of oxidative enzymes and the levels of free auxins were determined during adventitious root formation in olive explants. Rooting trials were performed both with in vitro-cultured micro shoots of the cultivar ‘Galega Vulgar’, treated with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and with salicylhydroxamic acid(SHAM) + IBA, as well as with semi-hardwood cuttings of the cultivars ‘Galega Vulgar’ (difficult-to-root)and ‘Cobrançosa’ (easy-to-root), treated with IBA. The auxin (IBA) was used in all experiments as a rooting promoter, while SHAM was used in micropropagation trials as rooting inhibitor, providing a negative control. Free indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and IBA concentrations were determined in microshoots, as well as in semi-hardwood cuttings, throughout the rooting period at pre-established time-points. At the sametime-points, the enzymatic activity of polyphenol oxidases (PPO), peroxidases (POX), and IAA oxidase(IAAox) was evaluated in the microshoots. Microshoots treated with SHAM + IBA revealed higher POX and IAAox activity, as well as lower PPO activity, than those treated only with IBA. IAA levels were higher in IBA-treated microshoots during induction phase, but lower during early initiation phase. Incontrast, free IBA levels were higher in microshoots treated with SHAM + IBA during induction, but lower during initiation. A similar pattern of free auxin levels was observed in semi-hardwood cuttings of the two contrasting cultivars under evaluation. The similarities found on the auxin patterns of microshoots treated with SHAM and those of semi-hardwood cuttings of the difficult-to-root olive cultivar allow considering SHAM a reliable control for when simulation of a difficult-to-root behavior is necessary. The inhibitory effect of SHAM in root formation could be related with 1) the inhibition of alternative oxidase(AOX), leading to a down regulation of phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathways, which would decrease the concentration of phenolic substrates for PPO; 2) an increase in IAAox activity resulting in lower free IAA levels or; 3) a defective conversion of IBA into IAA.

Semi-implicit finite strain constitutive integration and mixed strain/stress control based on intermediate configurations

A new semi-implicit stress integration algorithm for finite strain plasticity (compatible with hyperelas- ticity) is introduced. Its most distinctive feature is the use of different parameterizations of equilibrium and reference configurations. Rotation terms (nonlinear trigonometric functions) are integrated explicitly and correspond to a change in the reference configuration. In contrast, relative Green–Lagrange strains (which are quadratic in terms of displacements) represent the equilibrium configuration implicitly. In addition, the adequacy of several objective stress rates in the semi-implicit context is studied. We para- metrize both reference and equilibrium configurations, in contrast with the so-called objective stress integration algorithms which use coinciding configurations. A single constitutive framework provides quantities needed by common discretization schemes. This is computationally convenient and robust, as all elements only need to provide pre-established quantities irrespectively of the constitutive model. In this work, mixed strain/stress control is used, as well as our smoothing algorithm for the complemen- tarity condition. Exceptional time-step robustness is achieved in elasto-plastic problems: often fewer than one-tenth of the typical number of time increments can be used with a quantifiable effect in accuracy. The proposed algorithm is general: all hyperelastic models and all classical elasto-plastic models can be employed. Plane-stress, Shell and 3D examples are used to illustrate the new algorithm. Both isotropic and anisotropic behavior is presented in elasto-plastic and hyperelastic examples.