The impact of safety politics in the current globalization context

The globalization is a process of economical, social, cultural and political integration motivated by the needs generated by a consumption-orientated society and a set of factors that have led to its development, such as reducing transport costs, the technological advancement and the development of communication networks. However, the phenomenon of globalization has been accompanied by increasing levels of insecurity as a result of various types of threats and transnational crimes that the International Community seeks to control and minimize. Throughout this work, we examined how the globalization process has been developing and how nations are able to maintain security levels consistent with their economical status and social development, without disturbing the normal course of organizations’ economical activity and the well-being of people. From the investigation developed we concluded that, besides the confirmation that economic integration and the opening of markets have influence on internal consumption, market globalization and migrations have been causing modifications in the consumption habits. We also concluded that the security measures implemented by States or by the International Community affect international trade, but do not imply disproportionate costs or significant delays in transactions. Likewise, we concluded that the control measures implemented in international trade are sufficient to ensure the safety of the people and nations, enabling us to confirm two of the three conjectures raised in this study.

The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles: royal mediation and press mediatization

Bearing in mind the relationship between discourse and society at large, this article addresses the way the British monarchy represented Charles’s second marriage and the way the media constructed their accounts in the period from 10 February (announcement) until 9 April 2005 (wedding) in relation to wider issues such as power relations, newspaper economic structures and popular culture. Particular attention is paid to the multifunctional features of discourse (i.e. its ideational, interpersonal and textual functions), which requires a contextualized reading of a dual process of mediation: on the one hand, the staging of the ceremony by St. James’s Palace and its strategy for attaining monologic closure and, on the other hand, discursive representations by the British press open to a polyphony of voices and discursive frames

Facile synthesis of freestanding Si nanowire arrays by one-step template-free electro-deoxidation of SiO2 in molten salt

This communication presents a novel kind of silicon nanomaterial: freestanding Si nanowire arrays (Si NWAs), which are synthesized facilely by one-step template-free electro-deoxidation of SiO2 in molten CaCl2. The self-assembling growth process of this material is also investigated preliminarily.

James W. Carey as critical theorist of the information age

This paper suggests that the thought of the North-American critical theorist James W. Carey provides a relevant perspective on communication and technology. Having as background American social pragmatism and progressive thinkers of the beginning of the 20th century (as Dewey, Mead, Cooley, and Park), Carey built a perspective that brought together the political economy of Harold A. Innis, the social criticism of David Riesman and Charles W. Mills and incorporated Marxist topics such as commodification and sociocultural domination. The main goal of this paper is to explore the connection established by Carey between modern technological communication and what he called the “transmissive model”, a model which not only reduces the symbolic process of communication to instrumentalization and to information delivery, but also politically converges with capitalism as well as power, control and expansionist goals. Conceiving communication as a process that creates symbolic and cultural systems, in which and through which social life takes place, Carey gives equal emphasis to the incorporation processes of communication.If symbolic forms and culture are ways of conditioning action, they are also influenced by technological and economic materializations of symbolic systems, and by other conditioning structures. In Carey’s view, communication is never a disembodied force; rather, it is a set of practices in which co-exist conceptions, techniques and social relations. These practices configure reality or, alternatively, can refute, transform and celebrate it. Exhibiting sensitiveness favourable to the historical understanding of communication, media and information technologies, one of the issues Carey explored most was the history of the telegraph as an harbinger of the Internet, of its problems and contradictions. For Carey, Internet was seen as the contemporary heir of the communications revolution triggered by the prototype of transmission technologies, namely the telegraph in the 19th century. In the telegraph Carey saw the prototype of many subsequent commercial empires based on science and technology, a pioneer model for complex business management; an example of conflict of interest for the control over patents; an inducer of changes both in language and in structures of knowledge; and a promoter of a futurist and utopian thought of information technologies. After a brief approach to Carey’s communication theory, this paper focuses on his seminal essay "Technology and ideology. The case of the telegraph", bearing in mind the prospect of the communication revolution introduced by Internet. We maintain that this essay has seminal relevance for critically studying the information society. Our reading of it highlights the reach, as well as the problems, of an approach which conceives the innovation of the telegraph as a metaphor for all innovations, announcing the modern stage of history and determining to this day the major lines of development in modern communication systems.

Application of green zero-valent iron nanoparticles to the remediation of soils contaminated with ibuprofen

Zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVIs) are often used in environmental remediation. Their high surface area that is associated with their high reactivity makes them an excellent agent capable of transforming/degrading contaminants in soils and waters. Due to the recent development of green methods for the production of nZVIs, the use of this material became even more attractive. However, the knowledge of its capacity to degrade distinct types of contaminants is still scarce. The present work describes the study of the application of green nZVIs to the remediation of soils contaminated with a common anti-inflammatory drug, ibuprofen. The main objectives of this work were to produce nZVIs using extracts of grape marc, black tea and vine leaves, to verify the degradation of ibuprofen in aqueous solutions by the nZVIs, to study the remediation process of a sandy soil contaminated with ibuprofen using the nZVIs, and to compare the experiments with other common chemical oxidants. The produced nZVIs had nanometric sizes and were able to degrade ibuprofen (54 to 66% of the initial amount) in aqueous solutions. Similar remediation efficiencies were obtained in sandy soils. In this case the remediation could be enhanced (achieving degradation efficiencies above 95%) through the complementation of the process with a catalyzed nZVI Fenton-like reaction. These results indicate that this remediation technology represents a good alternative to traditional and more aggressive technologies.

Adsorption kinetics of removal of yellow lanasol dyestuff using gallinaceous feathers

Gallinaceous feathers are an abundant solid waste from the poultry processing industries, which poses disposal problems. A kinetic study dealing with the adsorption process of wool reactive dye, Yellow Lanasol 4G (CI Reactive Yellow 39), on gallinaceous (Gallus gallus, Cobb 500) feathers was carried out. The main research goals of this work were to evaluate the viability of using this waste as adsorbent and to study the kinetics of the adsorption process, using a synthetic effluent. The characterization of feathers was performed by scanning electron microscopy, mercury porosimetry and B.E.T. method. The study of several factors (stirring, particles size, initial dye concentration and temperature) showed their influence over the adsorption process. An adapted version of the Schumckler and Goldstein´s unreacted core model fitted the experimental data. The best fit was obtained when the rate-limiting step was the diffusion through the reacted layer, which was expected considering the size of the dyestuff molecules. The comparison with the granular activated carbon (GAC) Sutcliffe GAC 10-30 indicate that in spite of the high adsorption capacities shown by feathers the GAC presented higher values, the values obtained were respectively 150 and 219 mg g-1, for an initial concentration of 500 mg L-1. The results obtained might open future perspectives both to the valorization of feathers and to the economical treatment of textile wastewaters.

Legal and political regulation of higher education in Portugal: an evolutionary perspective on the current policy issues and the problem of order

The higher education system in Europe is currently under stress and the debates over its reform and future are gaining momentum. Now that, for most countries, we are in a time for change, in the overall society and the whole education system, the legal and political dimensions have gained prominence, which has not been followed by a more integrative approach of the problem of order, its reform and the issue of regulation, beyond the typical static and classical cost-benefit analyses. The two classical approaches for studying (and for designing the policy measures of) the problem of the reform of the higher education system - the cost-benefit analysis and the legal scholarship description - have to be integrated. This is the argument of our paper that the very integration of economic and legal approaches, what Warren Samuels called the legal-economic nexus, is meaningful and necessary, especially if we want to address the problem of order (as formulated by Joseph Spengler) and the overall regulation of the system. On the one hand, and without neglecting the interest and insights gained from the cost-benefit analysis, or other approaches of value for money assessment, we will focus our study on the legal, social and political aspects of the regulation of the higher education system and its reform in Portugal. On the other hand, the economic and financial problems have to be taken into account, but in a more inclusive way with regard to the indirect and other socio-economic costs not contemplated in traditional or standard assessments of policies for the tertiary education sector. In the first section of the paper, we will discuss the theoretical and conceptual underpinning of our analysis, focusing on the evolutionary approach, the role of critical institutions, the legal-economic nexus and the problem of order. All these elements are related to the institutional tradition, from Veblen and Commons to Spengler and Samuels. The second section states the problem of regulation in the higher education system and the issue of policy formulation for tackling the problem. The current situation is clearly one of crisis with the expansion of the cohorts of young students coming to an end and the recurrent scandals in private institutions. In the last decade, after a protracted period of extension or expansion of the system, i. e., the continuous growth of students, universities and other institutions are competing harder to gain students and have seen their financial situation at risk. It seems that we are entering a period of radical uncertainty, higher competition and a new configuration that is slowly building up is the growth in intensity, which means upgrading the quality of the higher learning and getting more involvement in vocational training and life-long learning. With this change, and along with other deep ones in the Portuguese society and economy, the current regulation has shown signs of maladjustment. The third section consists of our conclusions on the current issue of regulation and policy challenge. First, we underline the importance of an evolutionary approach to a process of change that is essentially dynamic. A special attention will be given to the issues related to an evolutionary construe of policy analysis and formulation. Second, the integration of law and economics, through the notion of legal economic nexus, allows us to better define the issues of regulation and the concrete problems that the universities are facing. One aspect is the instability of the political measures regarding the public administration and on which the higher education system depends financially, legally and institutionally, to say the least. A corollary is the lack of clear strategy in the policy reforms. Third, our research criticizes several studies, such as the one made by the OECD in late 2006 for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, for being too static and neglecting fundamental aspects of regulation such as the logic of actors, groups and organizations who are major players in the system. Finally, simply changing the legal rules will not necessary per se change the behaviors that the authorities want to change. By this, we mean that it is not only remiss of the policy maker to ignore some of the critical issues of regulation, namely the continuous non-respect by academic management and administrative bodies of universities of the legal rules that were once promulgated. Changing the rules does not change the problem, especially without the necessary debates form the different relevant quarters that make up the higher education system. The issues of social interaction remain as intact. Our treatment of the matter will be organized in the following way. In the first section, the theoretical principles are developed in order to be able to study more adequately the higher education transformation with a modest evolutionary theory and a legal and economic nexus of the interactions of the system and the policy challenges. After describing, in the second section, the recent evolution and current working of the higher education in Portugal, we will analyze the legal framework and the current regulatory practices and problems in light of the theoretical framework adopted. We will end with some conclusions on the current problems of regulation and the policy measures that are discusses in recent years.

A relação entre satisfação de cliente e word-of-mouth

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Publicidade e Marketing.

A gestão do conhecimento como estratégia de internacionalização da marca wines of Portugal

Mestrado em Gestão e Empreendedorismo

The Gap Between Knowledge and Action: Obstacles, Restraints and Deficits During the Execution of Refurbishments

This article outlines the initial draft of a PhD project which investigates refurbishment or rehabilitation projects in two German cities. The study focuses on obstacles, restraints and deficits as well as factors of success, which can be identified during the execution of the refurbishments. Moreover the study examines the process of the refurbishment itself, the general conditions under which the refurbishments are being executed as well as the implementation of sustainability criteria. First the article gives a short summary of the theoretical considerations of the study. In this respect it shortly outlines the global conditions of urban development and conducting challenges for cities in the 21st century, guiding principles of a sustainable urban development as well as goals of sustainable refurbishments. Finally the article shortly describes the case studies and presents the initial results of the empirical work.

Formal caregivers of older adults: reflection about their practice

OBJECTIVE To understand the job function of caregivers of older adults and contribute to the debate on the consolidation of this professional practice. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES This is a descriptive, qualitative, and exploratory study. Four focal group sessions were performed in 2011 with 11 elderly companions, formal caregivers of older adults in the Programa Acompanhante de Idosos (Program for Caregivers of Older Adults), Sao Paulo, SP, Southeastern Brazil. These sessions, guided by a semi-structured script, were audio-recorded and fully transcribed. Data were analyzed using the Content Analysis technique, Thematic Modality. RESULTS In view of considering the caregivers of older adults as a new category of workers, it was difficult to define their duties. The elderly companions themselves as well as the care receivers, their families, and the professionals that comprised the team were unclear about their duties. The professional practice of these formal caregivers has been built on the basis of constant discussions and negotiations among them and other team members in Programa Acompanhante de Idosos during daily work. This was achieved via a recognition process of their job functions and by setting apart other workers’ exclusive responsibilities. CONCLUSIONS The delimitation of specific job functions for elderly companions is currently one of the greatest challenges faced by these workers to develop and consolidate their professional role as well as improve Programa Acompanhante de Idosos.

Analysis of the domain of applicability of an algorithm for a resources system selection problem for Distributed/Agile/Virtual Enterprises integration

The process of resources systems selection takes an important part in Distributed/Agile/Virtual Enterprises (D/A/V Es) integration. However, the resources systems selection is still a difficult matter to solve in a D/A/VE, as it is pointed out in this paper. Globally, we can say that the selection problem has been equated from different aspects, originating different kinds of models/algorithms to solve it. In order to assist the development of a web prototype tool (broker tool), intelligent and flexible, that integrates all the selection model activities and tools, and with the capacity to adequate to each D/A/V E project or instance (this is the major goal of our final project), we intend in this paper to show: a formulation of a kind of resources selection problem and the limitations of the algorithms proposed to solve it. We formulate a particular case of the problem as an integer programming, which is solved using simplex and branch and bound algorithms, and identify their performance limitations (in terms of processing time) based on simulation results. These limitations depend on the number of processing tasks and on the number of pre-selected resources per processing tasks, defining the domain of applicability of the algorithms for the problem studied. The limitations detected open the necessity of the application of other kind of algorithms (approximate solution algorithms) outside the domain of applicability founded for the algorithms simulated. However, for a broker tool it is very important the knowledge of algorithms limitations, in order to, based on problem features, develop and select the most suitable algorithm that guarantees a good performance.

Utilization of remote experimentation in mobile devices for education

In this paper the authors intend to demonstrate the utilization of remote experimentation (RE) using mobile computational devices in the Science areas of the elementary school, with the purpose to develop practices that will help in the assimilation process of the subjects taught in classroom seeking to interlink them with the daily students? activities. Allying mobility with RE we intend to minimize the space-temporal barrier giving more availability and speed in the information access. The implemented architecture utilizes technologies and freely distributed softwares with open code resources besides remote experiments developed in the Laboratory of Remote Experimentation (RExLab) of Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), in Brazil, through the physical computation platform of the ?open hardware of construction of our own. The utilization of open code computational tools and the integration of hardware to the 3D virtual worlds, accessible through mobile devices, give to the project an innovative face with a high potential for reproducibility and reusability.

Characterization of the volatile fraction emitted by phloems of four pinus species by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Pine forests constitute some of the most important renewable resources supplying timber, paper and chemical industries, among other functions. Characterization of the volatiles emitted by different Pinus species has proven to be an important tool to decode the process of host tree selection by herbivore insects, some of which cause serious economic damage to pines. Variations in the relative composition of the bouquet of semiochemicals are responsible for the outcome of different biological processes, such as mate finding, egg-laying site recognition and host selection. The volatiles present in phloem samples of four pine species, P. halepensis, P. sylvestris, P. pinaster and P. pinea, were identified and characterized with the aim of finding possible host-plant attractants for native pests, such as the bark beetle Tomicus piniperda. The volatile compounds emitted by phloem samples of pines were extracted by headspace solid-phase micro extraction, using a 2 cm 50/30 mm divinylbenzene/carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane table flex solid-phase microextraction fiber and its contents analyzed by high-resolution gas chromatography, using flame ionization and a non polar and chiral column phases. The components of the volatile fraction emitted by the phloem samples were identified by mass spectrometry using time-of-flight and quadrupole mass analyzers. The estimated relative composition was used to perform a discriminant analysis among pine species, by means of cluster and principal component analysis. It can be concluded that it is possible to discriminate pine species based on the monoterpenes emissions of phloem samples.

Anti-Corrosion performance of a new silane coating for corrosion protection of AZ31 Magnesium alloy in Hank’s solution

Mg alloys can be used as bioresorsable metallic implants. However, the high corrosion rate of magnesium alloys has limited their biomedical applications. Although Mg ions are essential to the human body, an excess may cause undesirable health effects. Therefore, surface treatments are required to enhance the corrosion resistance of magnesium parts, decreasing its rate to biocompatible levels and allowing its safe application as bioresorbable metallic implants. The application of biocompatible silane coatings is envisaged as a suitable strategy for retarding the corrosion process of magnesium alloys. In the current work, a new glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) based coating was tested on AZ31 magnesium substrates subjected to different surface conditioning procedures before coating deposition. The surface conditioning included a short etching with hydrofluoric acid (HF) or a dc polarisation in alkaline electrolyte. The silane coated samples were immersed in Hank's solution and the protective performance of the coating was studied through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The EIS data was treated by new equivalent circuit models and the results revealed that the surface conditioning process plays a key role in the effectiveness of the silane coating. The HF treated samples led to the highest impedance values and delayed the coating degradation, compared to the mechanically polished samples or to those submitted to dc polarisation.