Comment on: ‘Screening’ for Breast Cancer: Misguided Research Misinforming Public Policies, by O. S. Miettinen

Our commentary of the article “‘Screening’ for Breast Cancer: Misguided Research Misinforming Public Policies” has two main parts. First we address some of the methodological points raised by Professor Miettinen. Then we review more specific aspects of the Swiss Medical Board statement on mammography screening for early detection of breast cancer.

Public policies and multilingualism in HCI

Language is an essential aspect of human communication and interaction, not only between humans but also between humans and interactive systems. Indeed, the use of the language is a keystone for the design of interactive systems.Inappropriate use of language might limit the access of users to information and induce users to make mistakes or to lose control of interactive systems. Despite the existence of public policies, the diversity of languages poses serious problems when considering full-fledged/seamless support for all existing languages. And yet standardization processes have successfully defined mechanisms for ensuring cross-platform compatibility between languages, at least at the level of format and the set of characters that can be used.

Measuring the effectiveness of two public policies on the sectors of labor markets and urban infraestructure. Experimental and quasi-experimental evidence from developing countries

La tesis presenta evidencia rigurosa de la efectividad de las políticas públicas utilizando metodologías experimentales y cuasi-experimentales. La tesis comienza con una introducción completa y una revisión rigurosa de las metodologías que se utilizarán en el análisis posterior de los datos. El primer capítulo, "Habilidades personales y habilidades técnicas en programas de formación de jóvenes. Evidencia Experimental de Largo Plazo de República Dominicana ", evalúa el impacto de un programa de empleo de los jóvenes en una serie de variables de interés. El programa ofrece capacitación en las habilidades vocacionales y en las habilidades no cognitivas a jóvenes en riesgo de exclusión social. Cabe destacar que la metodología utilizada para evaluar el programa es un ensayo controlado aleatorio, que proporciona evidencia robusta del efecto causal del programa. Mientras que estudios previos analizaron el impacto de los programas para jóvenes relacionados, ningún estudio anterior había evaluado los efectos de 4 años después de la implementación del programa. Esto representa una contribución importante debido a que las ganancias a corto plazo de varios programas de desarrollo han demostrado no ser sostenida en el tiempo. Esto es también lo que este estudio encuentra para los resultados del mercado de trabajo: mientras que el programa genera una mejora a corto plazo de los resultados de empleo para las mujeres, este efecto se disipa en el largo plazo. Sin embargo, el programa parece conducir a cambios persistentes en las expectativas del mercado de trabajo de las mujeres: las mujeres que asistieron al entrenamiento de informar una visión más optimista de las perspectivas del mercado de trabajo hasta 4 años después del programa...

Public policies and work integration social enterprises: the challenges of institutionalism in a neoliberal era.

One particular field of Social Enterprise – WISEs or Work Integration Social Enterprises – has become increasingly recognised as being emblematic of the dynamics of social enterprises and now constitutes a major sphere of their activity globally. From their early roots, focusing on providing productive activity for the blind and those with other physical and/or intellectual disabilities, WISEs are pioneers in promoting the integration of excluded persons through a productive activity. In recent decades, WISEs have incrementally evolved as a tool for implementing national and regional labour market policies. The papers in this special edition explore how populations of WISEs in different country contexts have emerged, and in some instances, shifted in their identities over time in relation to changing national or regional public policies. This special issue is part of the ICSEM project, a worldwide research project aiming to identify, analyze and compare social enterprise models across countries, regions and fields. The special issue features five country specific analyses from the first stage of the ICSEM project where researchers focusing on WISEs examined the policy environment surrounding WISEs and the heterogeneity of the organizational WISE models that have emerged in different contexts: Ireland, the United States, Japan, Austria and Switzerland.

Urban public policies: towards the improvement of landscape ecological system. The case-study of the city of Évora, Portugal.

The Charter of European Planning 2013 presents a Vision for the future of European cities and regions, highlighting the sustainability of cities and the preservation of urban ecosystems, integrating the man-made environment with the natural ecosystems and contribute to the well-being and quality of life of their inhabitants and other stakeholders. Thus, urban public policies are crucial to the improvement of the landscape ecological system, achievable by city planning and design. The paper aims to analyse if public urban policies in Portugal have been integrating strategies and/or guidelines to enhance the ecological system of the landscape. Then, which new perspectives are possible, framed by the recently approved law Bases of Public Policy of Soils, Land Management and Urban Planning (2014). This new law, in contrast with the previous ones, don’t allow reserving land to urbanize, in municipal master plans. Moreover, it is possible to revert land classified for urban purposes in those plans into rustic soils (when it is not yet infra-structured or built). It allows creating new planning and design dynamics, convert several areas and including them in the urban ecological structure, essential to the enhancement of landscape ecological system. This is a filed of work where landscape architecture has huge responsibilities, by associating and harmonize man-made environment with natural systems, enlightening sustainability consistent with conservation and improvement of Nature while contributing to the well-being and quality of life of Man. A sustainability that is ethical, aesthetic, ecological and cultural. The study is supported by a case study – the city of Évora. The ultimate goal is to propose measures to promote larger and better integration of ecological component in urban public policies, framed by the new territorial management law, taking into account and highlighting the specificities of the landscape system – Man and Nature – at the local level.

Impact assessment of the production and utilization of entomopathogens and its effects on public policies.

2008

A percepção dos docentes da UFRN sobre o programa de apoio a planos de reestruturação e ampliação das universidades federais - REUNI

In recent decades higher education in Brazil has gone through several changes. The Programa de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais REUNI has been the greatest overhaul performed by the government in public universities in the last years. REUNI is presented as the biggest reform in tertiary education in contemporary times, having as the main goal a gradual increase in the average rate of conclusion in live learning graduation courses up to 90%, as well as a rate expansion of graduating students in face to face classes per professor. This research aims at studying the perception of professors from UFRN concerning the REUNI program in execution from 2008 until 2012. The study seeks to understand how professors evaluate the program and what the dimensions that most influence in this evaluation are. The study made use of a research tool (survey) which was sent through the internal system of the university, SIGAdmin, to all professors of superior teaching from UFRN. The answers generated by the survey were processed using SPSS statistical software (Statistical Package for Social Science). Factorial Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression were used as an analysis technique. 180 answers were obtained, reaching all UFRN Centers and some academic units, as well as some campuses in the countryside of the state. Through the research was possible to analyze how professors from UFRN perceive the REUNI program implemented in the institution. The results point to the program approval by the professors. Statistical tests showed that the average values obtained in the Centers and academic units are basically the same. It was demonstrated that the extent that most influenced in the answers is linked to practical outcomes of the program, whereas the knowledge of REUNI goals was the least that impacted on the marks given to the program. Another dimension which influenced the perception of professors relates to the influence of REUNI in their activities. It was observed that professors from UFRN don t see REUNI as an impediment to them

Revenue diversification in higher education: the case of Portugal

Socio-economic changes, alterations in societal expectations and new public policies have put pressures on higher education public funding, bringing the issue of funding diversification to the forefront. Income diversification, namely, generation of funds from private, as well as from competitive public sources, has become increasingly important in European higher education due to a complex financial environment and perceived deficit of innovation transfer. Although there are numerous studies about changes in national funding systems and allocation mechanisms, few have focused on diversification of funding sources, especially in the European context, making Portugal no exception. Thus, this study aims at exploring income diversification at the institutional level and its influence on the internal organisational structures. For this purpose two Portuguese public universities were chosen as case studies. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews with top management and middle management of each university and through documentary analysis. Data analysis demonstrated that both universities are in the process of institutionalizing and formalising practices of income diversification, notably by getting more professional in how they are dealing with external stakeholders, such as businesses, local community, and students. However, the study also revealed that there is no formal, organised strategy to deal with income diversification. In general, the universities are reacting to external demands rather than pro-actively exploring opportunities. In this respect, the analysis determined several factors that promote or inhibit income diversification activities. Quality and favourable organizational culture were named by the interviewees as the most relevant factors for successful income diversification. External factors such as legal arrangements and funding conditions were cited as major constraints. This research has also revealed that revenue diversification activities tend to develop along the continuum towards higher sophistication and systematisation of activities that are supported by a powerful infrastructure. Together with efforts at the institutional level, the role of government policies proves to be crucial in providing tools and incentives to higher education institutions and creating a harmonious higher education system.

Environmental impact assessment in higher education and training in Portugal

Journal of Cleaner Production, nº 16, p. 639-645

Políticas públicas e direito: democratização do acesso ao Sistema Federal de Ensino Superior

A presente dissertação tem como objeto de pesquisa as políticas públicas de democratização do ensino criadas após a Constituição Federal de 1988. Com as teorias de direito e desenvolvimento e a educação superior como pano de fundo, pretende-se relacionar aspectos do direito e políticas públicas sob o enfoque institucional, buscando compreender a realidade dos programas ProUni, Reuni, Fies e Lei de Cotas. Questiona-se, com base em uma em uma metodologia jurídica das políticas públicas, como são construídos os programas para democratização do acesso ao ensino superior tendo em vista os planos macro, meso e microinstitucional como definido por Bucci e como funcionam as ações governamentais de inclusão nas instituições superiores de ensino público e privado. A pesquisa possibilitou constatar que faltam arranjos mesoinstitucionais que coordenem as políticas, tornando-as complementares e mais coerentes entre si, Não foram encontradas agregações institucionais exclusivas para as políticas de acesso ao ensino superior.

Equity in the public budget

Includes bibliography

Media Education and Brazilian Educational Policies for the Enhancement of Learning

As media education concepts and practices have been disseminated and strengthened in European countries and Americas, the policies responsible for that expansion remain little known, particularly in countries where the achievements have been recently noted. That is the case for Brazil, where there have been new opportunities for media education, considered as a valuable resource to help accomplish goals of the educational system. This paper looks into the contribution of media education to the enhancement of teaching and learning in the context of innovations brought by recent policies of the Brazilian Ministry of Education. After educational reform programmes which brought the opportunity for emerging fields such as media education, we produced teaching material and conducted a series of workshops with students and teachers from state secondary schools. By reading and producing multimedia information about local public services available to young people, pupils learned about democracy, citizenship, civic engagement, media language, and identity. Lessons from our experiment are discussed against the backdrop of education policies being implemented to ameliorate harsh conditions resulting from the recent economic crisis. We suggest that media education can help by creating a learning environment in which the students become aware of the value of educational attainments.

Acesso e permanência de alunos de engenharia da UTFPR - Câmpus Medianeira

Pós-graduação em Educação - FFC