Assessing student perceptions and comprehension of climate change in portuguese higher education institutions

The higher education system has a critical role to play in educating environmentally aware and participant citizens about global climate change. Yet, few studies have focused on higher education students’ knowledge and attitudes about this issue. This study aims to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of views and attitudes about climate change issues, across the postgraduate student population in three universities—the on Campus University of Porto and University of Coimbra, and the distance learning Universidade Aberta, Portugal. We surveyed university students and graduates from three master programs in environmental sciences targeting their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour on climate change issues, and their views of the role that their master degree had on it. A majority of the respondents believed that climate change is factual, and is largely human-induced; and a majority expressed concerns about climate change. Still, the surveyed students hold some misconceptions about basic causes and consequences of climate change. Further research is necessary to comprehend the university postgraduate students’ population, so that curricula programs can be adapted to grant consensus on scientific knowledge about climate change, and an active engagement of the graduate citizens, as part of the solution for climate change problems.

Tthe right to effective judicial protection and disability: the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

On 13 December 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century. The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. Precisely, the Convention marks a 'paradigm shift' in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities The Convention contains two articles directly connected with judicial effective protection, one more than the other, but on the other hand, one cannot be understood without the other. Both articles are Article 12 –Equal recognition before the law- and Article 13 –access to justice- As a scholar in Procedural Law, my contribution to the International Scientific Congress on Private Law of the Philippines and Spain aims to enshrine the relevant importance of the both provisions that guarantee effective judicial protection for persons with disabilities in order to analyze, subsequently, the implementation of them in Spanish legislation

Marketing channel behaviour and performance

Thesis submitted to University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Business Administration.

Integrated pest management and the (un)sustainable use of pesticides

Doutoramento em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - UL

Convergence of gender roles in a globalized world: international comparison of family and gender roles

This paper examines emerging and changing gender roles in different regions of the world. Using data on 12 countries from last three ISSP Special Modules “Family and Changing Gender Roles” (1994, 2002 and 2012), we compare the evolution of gender roles about motherhood and fatherhood and its relation with the extension of women as breadwinners around the world: four Western Europe countries, representatives of different models of Welfare State (Germany, United Kingdom, Norway and Spain) plus United States, three former Soviet nations (Russia, Poland and Czech Republic), two Latin American countries (Chile and Mexico) and two Asian nations (Japan and Taiwan). Data show that family change (measured both in terms of attitudes and social practices) is spreading from Western contexts to other regions of the world, although the pace of this change varies from one country to another, depending on cultural, economic and political factors.

Aortic Intima-Media Thickness and Mean Platelet Volume in Children With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Diabetes mellitus type 1 is the most common endocrine metabolic disorder occurring in childhood and adolescence due to the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells as a result of various environmental factors interacting with an underlying genetic predisposition. Diabetes is a risk factor for early onset atherosclerosis, and the high mortality rate seen in these patients is partially related to cardiovascular diseases. Objectives: This study was conducted to compare mean platelet volume as a marker of early atherosclerosis with aortic intima-media thickness in children with type 1 diabetes and to identify its correlation with known cardiovascular risk factors. Patients and Methods: The study included 27 patients between age range of 6 and 17 years that were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and 30 healthy children of the same age range who did not have any chronic disease. In both groups, we used the color Doppler ultrasound to measure children’s aortic intima-media thickness and identify their mean platelet volumes. Results: There was no significant difference between the groups regarding gender distribution, age, High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (P > 0.05). Also no significant difference could be documented between the patient and control groups regarding the aortic intima-media thickness and mean platelet volume (P > 0.05). However, there was a significant correlation between aortic intima-media thickness and mean platelet volume (r = 0.351; P < 0.05). Conclusions: In the present study, there was no evidence of early atherosclerosis in children with type 1 diabetes. However, mean platelet volume having a significant correlation with aortic intima-media thickness may be useful as an early marker of atherosclerosis.

Healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in Malaysia – a mini systematic review

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Malaysia. Therefore, it is important for the public to be educated on breast cancer and to know the steps that need to be taken to detect it early. Healthcare providers are in a unique position to provide public health education due to their good knowledge of health issues and their roles in healthcare. A systematic review of studies conducted from 2008 till 2015 was undertaken to analyze the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of Malaysian healthcare providers regarding breast cancer, in an attempt to obtain an overall picture of how wellequipped the healthcare providers are to provide optimal breast cancer education, and to ascertain their perceptions and actual involvement in such education. The systematic review was conducted via a primary search of various databases and journal websites, and a secondary search of references cited in eligible studies. Criteria for eligibility include studies conducted in Malaysia and published from the year 2008 to 2015, and written in English language. A total of fifteen articles were identified and reviewed but only two studies were eligible for this review. The findings suggest that future and current Malaysian healthcare providers have moderate knowledge of breast cancer, showed a positive disposition towards involvement in breast cancer education, but displayed poor involvement.

The Relationship of Culturally Responsive Instruction and the Reading Comprehension and Attitude of Struggling Urban Adolescent Readers

Culturally responsive instruction refers to the identification of relevant cultural aspects of students’ lives and infusion of these into the curriculum. This instructional approach assumes that a culturally appropriate curriculum can potentially motivate, engage, and lead students to higher rates of achievement. This quasi-experimental study (N=44) investigated the relationship of culturally responsive instruction and the reading comprehension and attitude of struggling urban adolescent readers. The study incorporated the use of culturally responsive instruction using culturally relevant literature (CRL), the Bluford Series Novels, as authentic texts of instruction. Participants were seventh grade reading students at a Title I middle school in South Florida. After a baseline period, two different classes were taught for 8 weeks using different methods. One class formed the experimental group (n=22) and the other class formed the comparison group (n=22). The CRI curriculum for the experimental group embraced the socio-cultural perspective through the use of small discussion groups in which students read and constructed meaning with peers through interaction with the Bluford Series Novels; gave written responses to multiple strategies according to SCRAP – Summarize, Connect, Reflect, Ask Questions, Predict; responded to literal and inferential questions, while at the same time validating their responses through evidence from the text. The Read XL (basal reader) curriculum of the comparison group utilized a traditional form of instruction which incorporated the reading of passages followed by responses to comprehension questions, and teacher-led whole group discussion. The main sources of data were collected from the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR), and the Rhody Secondary Reading Attitude Assessment. Statistical analyses were performed using Repeated Measures ANOVAs. Findings from the study revealed that the experimental participants’ reading attitudes and FAIR comprehension scores increased when compared to the comparison group. Overall, the results from the study revealed that culturally responsive instruction can potentially foster reading comprehension and a more positive attitude towards reading. However, a replication of this study in other settings with a larger, more randomized sample size and a greater ethnic variation is needed in order to make full generalizations.

Internal market orientation and market/oriented behaviours

Purpose – The purpose of this empirical paper is to investigate internal marketing from a behavioural perspective. The impact of internal marketing behaviours, operationalised as an internal market orientation (IMO), on employees' marketing and other in/role behaviours (IRB) were examined. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data measuring IMO, market orientation and a range of constructs relevant to the nomological network in which they are embedded were collected from the UK retail managers. These were tested to establish their psychometric properties and the conceptual model was analysed using structural equations modelling, employing a partial least squares methodology. Findings – IMO has positive consequences for employees' market/oriented and other IRB. These, in turn, influence marketing success. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides empirical support for the long/held assumption that internal and external marketing are related and that organisations should balance their external focus with some attention to employees. Future research could measure the attitudes and behaviours of managers, employees and customers directly and explore the relationships between them. Practical implications – Firm must ensure that they do not put the needs of their employees second to those of managers and shareholders; managers must develop their listening skills and organisations must become more responsive to the needs of their employees. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the scarce body of empirical support for the role of internal marketing in services organisations. For researchers, this paper legitimises the study of internal marketing as a route to external market success; for managers, the study provides quantifiable evidence that focusing on employees' wants and needs impacts their behaviours towards the market. © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

HRM and innovation:looking across levels

Studies are starting to explore the role of HRM in fostering organizational innovation but empirical evidence remains contradictory and theory fragmented. This is partly because extant literature by and large adopts a unitary level of analysis, rather than reflecting on the multi-level demands that innovation presents. Building on an emergent literature focused on HRM’s role in shaping innovation, we shed light on the question of whether, and how, HRM might influence employees’ innovative behaviours in the direction of strategically important goals. Drawing upon institutional theory, our contributions are three-fold: to bring out the effect of two discrete HRM configurations- one underpinned by a control and the other by an entrepreneurial ethos, on attitudes and behaviours at the individual level; to reflect the way in which employee innovative behaviours arising from these HRM configurations coalesce to shape higher-level phenomena, such as organizational-level innovation; and to bring out two distinct patterns of bottom-up emergence, one driven primarily by composition and the other by both composition and compilation.

Book review: Laurel Kamada, Hybrid Identities and Adolescent Girls: Being Half in Japan. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2010

Arguably, the catalyst for the best research studies using social analysis of discourse is personal ‘lived’ experience. This is certainly the case for Kamada, who, as a white American woman with a Japanese spouse, had to deal first hand with the racialization of her son. Like many other mixed-ethnic parents, she experienced the shock and disap-pointment of finding her child being racialized as ‘Chinese’ in America through peer group taunts, and constituted as gaijin (a foreigner) in his own homeland of Japan. As a member of an e-list of the (Japan) Bilingualism Special Interest Group (BSIG), Kamada learnt that other parents from the English-speaking foreign community in Japan had similar disturbing stories to tell of their mixed-ethnic children who, upon entering the Japanese school system, were mocked, bullied and marginalized by their peers. She men-tions a pervasive Japanese proverb which warns of diversity or difference getting squashed: ‘The nail that sticks up gets hammered down’. This imperative to conform to Japanese behavioural and discursive norms prompted Kamada’s quest to investigate the impact of ‘otherization’ on the identities of children of mixed parentage. In this fascinat-ing book, she shows that this pressure to conform is balanced by a corresponding cele-bration of ‘hybrid’ or mixed identities. The children in her study are also able to negotiate their identities positively as they come to terms with contradictory discursive notions of ‘Japaneseness’, ‘whiteness’ and ‘halfness/doubleness’.The discursive construction of identity has become a central concern amongst researchers across a wide range of academic disciplines within the humanities and the social sciences, and most existing work either concentrates on a specific identity cate-gory, such as gender, sexuality or national identity, or else offers a broader discussion of how identity is theorized. Kamada’s book is refreshing because it crosses the usual boundaries and offers divergent insights on identity in a number of ways. First, using the term ‘ethno-gendering’, she examines the ways in which six mixed-ethnic girls living in Japan accomplish and manage the relationship between their gender and ethnic ‘differ-ences’ from age 12 to 15. She analyses in close detail how their actions or displays within certain situated interactions might come into conflict with how they are seen or constituted by others. Second, Kamada’s study builds on contemporary writing on the benefits of hybridity where identities are fluid, flexible and indeterminate, and which contest the usual monolithic distinctions of gender, ethnicity, class, etc. Here, Kamada carves out an original space for her findings. While scholars have often investigated changing identities and language practices of young people who have been geographi-cally displaced and are newcomers to the local language, Kamada’s participants were all born and brought up in Japan, were fluent in Japanese and were relatively proficient in English. Third, the author refuses to conceptualize or theorize identity from a single given viewpoint in preference to others, but in postmodernist spirit draws upon multiple perspectives and frameworks of discourse analysis in order to create different forms of knowledge and understandings of her subject. Drawing on this ‘multi-perspectival’ approach, Kamada examines grammatical, lexical, rhetorical and interactional features from six extensive conversations, to show how her participants position their diverse identities in relation to their friends, to the researcher and to the outside world. Kamada’s study is driven by three clear aims. The first is to find out ‘whether there are any tensions and dilemmas in the ways adolescent girls of Japanese and “white” mixed parentage in Japan identify themselves in terms of ethnicity’. In Chapter 4, she shows how the girls indeed felt that they stood out as different and consequently experienced isolation, marginalization and bullying at school – although they were able to make better sense of this as they grew older, repositioning the bullies as pitiable. The second aim is to ask how, if at all, her participants celebrate their ethnicity, and furthermore, what kind of symbolic, linguistic and social capital they were able to claim for themselves on the basis of their hybrid identities. In Chapter 5, Kamada shows how the girls over time were able to constitute themselves as insiders while constituting ‘the Japanese’ as outsiders, and their network of mixed-ethnic friends was a key means to achieve this. In Chapter 6, the author develops this potential celebration of the girls’ mixed ethnicity by investigating the privileges they perceived it afforded them – for example, having the advantage of pos-sessing English proficiency and intercultural ‘savvy’ in a globalized world. Kamada’s third aim is to ask how her participants positioned themselves and performed their hybrid identities on the basis of their constituted appearance: that is, how the girls saw them-selves based on how they looked to others. In Chapter 7, the author shows that, while there are competing discourses at work, the girls are able to take up empowering positions within a discourse of ‘foreigner attractiveness’ or ‘a white-Western female beauty’ discourse, which provides them with a certain cachet among their Japanese peers. Throughout the book, Kamada adopts a highly self-reflexive perspective of her own position as author. For example, she interrogates the fact that she may have changed the lived reality of her six participants during the course of her research study. As the six girls, who were ‘best friends’, lived in different parts of the Morita region of Japan, she had to be proactive in organizing six separate ‘get-togethers’ through the course of her three-year study. She acknowledges that she did not collect ‘naturally occurring data’ but rather co-constructed opportunities for the girls to meet and talk on a regular basis. At these meetings, she encouraged the girls to discuss matters of identity, prompted by open-ended interview questions, by stimulus materials such as photos, articles and pic-tures, and by individual tasks such as drawing self-portraits. By giving her participants a platform in this way, Kamada not only elicited some very rich spoken data but also ‘helped in some way to shape the attitudes and self-images of the girls positively, in ways that might not have developed had these get-togethers not occurred’ (p. 221). While the data she gathers are indeed rich, it may well be asked whether there is a mismatch between the girls’ frank and engaging accounts of personal experience, and the social constructionist academic register in which these are later re-articulated. When Kamada writes, ‘Rina related how within the more narrow range of discourses that she had to draw on in her past, she was disempowered and marginalized’ (p. 118), we know that Rina’s actual words were very different. Would she really recognize, understand and agree with the reported speech of the researcher? This small omission of self-reflexivity apart – an omission which is true of most lin-guistic ethnography conducted today – Kamada has written a unique, engaging and thought-provoking book which offers a model to future discourse analysts investigating hybrid identities. The idea that speakers can draw upon competing discourses or reper-toires to constitute their identities in contrasting, creative and positive ways provides linguistic researchers with a clear orientation by which to analyse the contradictions of identity construction as they occur across time in different discursive contexts

Contextual effects of power differentials: Construct validation and concurrent validity of the Power Differential Scale

Power distance can produce contextual effects that surpass the cultural level of analysis, allowing predicting how the assimilation of these cultural values impacts individuals motivations to attain power positions and behaviors towards authorities. Power distance value can be conceived both at a micro and macro level of analysis. However existing measures used at a cultural level have been the object of several critics, and others applied at the individual level need further study in terms of their psychometric properties. This article presents the main psychometric properties of the Earley and Erez (1997) Power Differential Scale. This scale measures the acceptability of power and status differences both at micro and macro level. Two studies analyse the scale’s construct validity and its factorial invariance across groups of participants (Study 1); and its predictive validity at an individual level (Study 2). The results obtained support the proposed unidimensionality of the scale. Furthermore, it demonstrated predictive power by showing the role of power distance in the prediction of individual motivations to attain power and to respond to power situations using withdrawal or confrontational strategies. Future research is discussed, specifically the impact of power differential construct in individual attitudes and behavior.

Human resources management, citizenship behavior, and turnover intention in the portuguese public administration

Framed by a social exchange perspective, this study address the issue of whether positive employees’ perceptions about human resource management practices influence positive attitudes and behaviour. We hypothesize that human resource management practices (HRMP) have a significant negative effect on intention to voluntary leave the organization and a positive effect on organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and that OCB could mediate the relationship between HRMP and turnover intention. A sample of 165 employees from the Portuguese public administration participated in the study. Data was analysed through descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and hypotheses were tested using single and multiple linear regressions. Results indicate that HRMP is positively associated with OCB, but only internal communication practice is highly valued by Portuguese public employees and successfully predicts OCB. HRMP also show a positive association with turnover intention but only celebration and recognition practices are predictors of turnover intention. Contrary to our hypothesis OCB did not acted as mediator between HRMP and turnover intention. Some suggestions on managerial human resource practices were proposed as well as some main questions raised in the Portuguese public administration context.

Emotional competences and promotion of school success: Preliminary data of an intervention programme with teachers

Teachers’ emotional competences and well-being are fundamentally important to developing and maintaining positive relationships in the classroom, which can contribute to improving pedagogical action. References to several intervention programmes are found in the literature with the purpose of changing the practices, attitudes, and beliefs of teachers, who show evidence of a significant improvement in personal competences and school success. Therefore, an intervention with teachers integrating a broader line of research was carried out, involving parents and students as well. It consists of a programme which promotes personal (well-being and emotional intelligence) and professional (acquiring differentiated pedagogical strategies) competences over a period of six months, followed by a focus group to assess the contribution of an empowerment programme with the intention of promoting school success. The preliminary action-research study involved 10 teachers of two classes with students who show disruptive behaviour in the 7th year in a school in the central region of Portugal. The teachers, of both genders, are aged between 44 and 52, and belong to several recruitment groups. The main research question was: “To what extent does an intervention programme, intended for training, contribute to developing personal and professional competences in teachers of the 3rd cycle of basic education?” The teachers revealed a rather favourable view of their participation in the programme, considering that it helped them perceive some behaviours and practices which are less adjusted to their action in the classroom with these students (shouting, scolding, etc.). From the pretest to the posttest, statistically significant differences were found in assessing their own emotions and in their use. Signs of improvement in positive affections and satisfaction with life were also found, though with a marginal significance. The preliminary data in this empowerment programme for these educational agents points towards the importance of teachers’ awareness in what concerns their pedagogical action, as well as the need to change traditional pedagogical practices that contribute to discouraging students towards learning. The need to establish closer and systematic contact with the students and their families in order to meet their needs and expectations was also highlighted.

International Branding Strategies : In Swedish and Russian Fashion Companies

There are a lot of different business strategies for any company. However, in the fashion industry, the best way to become successful is to develop the brand using special branding strategies. Hence, a brand is the main weapon for fashion companies, which helps to launch international market and to create loyal customers around the world. Nowadays, due to the difficult current political situations and the collapse of oil and the dollar a lot of companies in different industries have to change their business strategies. It is especially true for fashion companies, because they depend on consumers ' income and their purchasing power. In the case of the fashion industry, branding strategy development can be more effective, than just business strategy. Hence, this thesis discusses the following problem: What branding strategy should Russian and Swedish fashion companies choose in order to build a strong brand and enter the international market.  The purpose of this thesis is to analyze various branding strategies of Russian and Swedish fashion companies during the process of entering foreign markets. At the end of this thesis, practical contribution in their process of international branding strategy creation will be discussed. In order to answer research questions more broadly and accurately, the mixed research method, using quantitive and qualitative study through interviews and survey was chosen. Semi-structured interviews were made with the CEO and brand managers of Russian and Swedish fashion companies. Moreover, the survey was made with two different questionnaires: for Russian and for Swedish customers. In the case of qualitative research, the author found that fashion companies from Russia and Sweden have got not just some features and differences, but also common aspects. The primary data from interviews allowed the author to understand the specifics of brand management in the fashion industry. It was found, that there are some useful aspects in Swedish strategies, which can be used by Russian companies to develop their brands on the international market. In the case of quantitative research, preferences of consumers from Russia and Sweden were analyzed and also some features were identified. Survey results provided the author with a common understanding about purchase habits, attitudes and perceptions to fashion brands. According to these, some hypothesizes, which are formulated in the first part of the thesis, have been proven or disproven. It was found, that preferences of Russian and Swedish people are pretty the same, however Russian customers do not like to risk with new brands and prefer well-known and trusted brands while Swedish customers are open for any brand, which can satisfy their tastes.