Macau in China's relations with the lusophone world

After the transfer of the Portuguese administration to China, Macau kept its role as a bridge between East and West, inspired in the Portuguese settlement 500 years ago. The pragmatism of the Chinese central government, using the Lusophone specificities of this Special Administrative Region, supported the creation of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries, reviving the statute of the Portuguese language and culture in its own territory.

The European Union and the Member States: two different perceptions of border

Abstract In this article we analyze two different perceptions of border inside Europe. On the one hand, we have the perception idealized by the European Union as an international organization, which believes that states benefit more from cooperation and dilution of borders in a common space than from keeping its borders as a symbol of its sovereignty. On the other hand, we have the European member states, taken individually, with particular interests and goals that, given the threat of illegal immigration, which is currently felt in the large-scale Europe, adopt a realistic perception of the border, and look at each territory as a space that needs protection from external threats. Following this argument, we reason that the current construction of walls in several European countries reflects the rebirth of a realistic perception of the border, and this is one more challenge for Europe regarding its unity and solidarity. Is this the end of the Schengen Agreement? What is going to happen to the European project if each state unilaterally adopts a strategy to deal with illegal immigration and refugees that are coming to Europe? Can immigration lead to a retrocession of the EU idealist significance of border?

Animação Viral, Vanguarda Trash e o Capital Simbólico dos nossos Piores Defeitos: a Ideologia de Bruno Aleixo

"Bruno Aleixo" is a viral animation character, created by the Portuguese collective GANA, that surfaced online in 2008. Their animation works have meanwhile crossed onto the most diverse media, and have been branching out in multiple webs of narratives, constantly referring to each other, as well as constantly quoting disparate references such as film classics, chatrooms and TV ads for detergents. This paper attempts a triple analysis of this object of study: the ways in which technology has been fostering non-linear narratives while widening the available aesthetic spectrum, the ways in which processes of cultural consumerism are being reinvented in light of the web 2.0, and the use of "pseudo-nonsense" as a process of oblique cultural psychoanalysis. We will further attempt to demonstrate how new media and web networks have been contributing to a fragmentation of audiences, as well as a blurring between dominant cultures and sub-cultural phenomena; and we will end by positing that the structural principles behind the "Bruno Aleixo" series can be applied in social and cultural contexts situated at the opposite end of the spectrum of traditional expectations regarding Animation.

Polymer indentation with mesoscopic molecular dynamics

Indentation tests are used to determine the hardness of a material, e.g., Rockwell, Vickers, or Knoop. The indentation process is empirically observed in the laboratory during these tests; the mechanics of indentation is insufficiently understood. We have performed first molecular dynamics computer simulations of indentation resistance of polymers with a chain structure similar to that of high density polyethylene (HDPE). A coarse grain model of HDPE is used to simulate how the interconnected segments respond to an external force imposed by an indenter. Results include the time-dependent measurement of penetration depth, recovery depth, and recovery percentage, with respect to indenter force, indenter size, and indentation time parameters. The simulations provide results that are inaccessible experimentally, including continuous evolution of the pertinent tribological parameters during the entire indentation process.

Planning Considerations for Tourism in the Minho-Lima Region (Northwest Portugal)

In administering their territories, most local municipalities aim to preserve their natural, historical and ethnographical resources while simultaneously using them to increase revenue and employment. In order to efficiently promote the products and services available and attract tourists, decision makers, private and public, need to know and incorporate tourists’ preferences in their marketing strategies. In this chapter we illustrate the use of stated preferences as an instrument to identify national and foreign tourists’ preferences regarding the products and services that the touristic destination of the Minho-Lima region (Northwest Portugal) should offer. As a starting point, we have taken the three general groups of touristic resources mentioned above as attributes. We take Ponte de Lima, a municipality in this region that has a strong cultural tourism potential as an example to identify possible future tourism scenarios for this territory. We believe the previously identified methodology can be a valuable instrument in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the selected territory and, thus, support the decision making process behind its future tourist development and marketing strategies.

«Estudar história com os pés na terra»: uma perspectiva museológica aplicada ao currículo da história no 3º ciclo do Ensino Básico: o caso de Alcobaça

RESUMO: Analisando o actual contexto do Ensino Básico na perspectiva da docência da História, o presente trabalho problematiza a contribuição da disciplina para a formação dos cidadãos. Estruturado a partir da análise das sintonias existentes entre a Educação, a História e a Museologia, relativamente a conceitos-chave como o Património Cultural e as suas formas de abordagem, a investigação propõe uma perspectiva museológica sobre o actual currículo da disciplina de História. Aplicando metodologias e conceitos desenvolvidos na Museologia, a proposta curricular estrutura-se a partir das componentes locais e regionais do currículo (na óptica da História) da região específica de Alcobaça. Centrado na aplicação da relação entre o Ensino da História por competências e o desenvolvimento da Consciência Histórica, num espaço concreto, este trabalho constrói uma proposta visando contribuir para os debates existentes e necessários no contexto da relação entre os saberes da escolaridade e as práticas de Cidadania, designadamente a contribuição activa dos indivíduos para o desenvolvimento da(s) comunidade(s). ABSTRACT: This research arises the problem of Compulsory Highschool from the perspective of teaching History, that matters the contribution to the Education of Citizenship. Structured from the analyses of the agreements between Education, History and Museology, concerning concepts like Cultural Heritage and its forms of communication, this research makes a proposition based on a museological perspective applied to History curriculum. This curricular approach is anchored in local and regional components of curriculum (from the historical view point) to Alcobaça and its region. Focused on the exercise of a relationship between Teaching History by skills development and the bringing up of an Historical Consciousness in a specific territory, this research builds a curricular proposition aiming to contributing to the discussions (current and necessaries) in the context of the connections between school acknowledgments and citizenship practices, specially the individual’s active engagement in communities development.

Relationship of balance to function independence in stroke survivors

Cerebral vascular disease is the primary cause of permanent disability in Portugal. Impaired stability is considered an important feature after stroke as it is related with higher risk of falls and functional dependence. Physiotherapy intervention usually starts early after stroke in order to direct motor recovery and help patients to improve their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). Purpose: to investigate the relationship of balance to functionality in acute stroke patients. Methods: 16 subjects (8 women and 8 men), mean age 63,62 ± 2,16y, with unilateral ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery territory, who were admitted to physiotherapy department of Fernando Fonseca Hospital in Portugal, within the first month after stroke were recruited to participate in this study. All subjects have no cognitive impairment according to Mini Mental State, no history of lower extremity orthopedic problems and no other disease that could interfere with treatments. All patients gave their inform consent to participate in this study. Subjects were assessed with the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS).

Lightning Data Observed With Lightning Location System in Portugal

This paper presents an investigation into cloud-to-ground lightning activity over the continental territory of Portugal with data collected by the national Lightning Location System. The Lightning Location System in Portugal is first presented. Analyses about geographical, seasonal, and polarity distribution of cloud-to-ground lightning activity and cumulative probability of peak current are carried out. An overall ground flash density map is constructed from the database, which contains the information of more than five years and almost four million records. This map is compared with the thunderstorm days map, produced by the Portuguese Institute of Meteorology, and with the orographic map of Portugal. Finally, conclusions are duly drawn.

Magma flow, exsolution processes and rock metasomatism in the Great Messejana-Plasencia dyke (Iberian Peninsula)

Magma flow in dykes is still not well understood; some reported magnetic fabrics are contradictory and the potential effects of exsolution and metasomatism processes on the magnetic properties are issues open to debate. Therefore, a long dyke made of segments with different thickness, which record distinct degrees of metasomatism, the Messejana-Plasencia dyke (MPD), was studied. Oriented dolerite samples were collected along several cross-sections and characterized by means of microscopy and magnetic analyses. The results obtained show that the effects of metasomatism on rock mineralogy are important, and that the metasomatic processes can greatly influence anisotropy degree and mean susceptibility only when rocks are strongly affected by metasomatism. Petrography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and bulk magnetic analyses show a high-temperature oxidation-exsolution event, experienced by the very early Ti-spinels, during the early stages of magma cooling, which was mostly observed in central domains of the thick dyke segments. Exsolution reduced the grain size of the magnetic carrier (multidomain to single domain transformation), thus producing composite fabrics involving inverse fabrics. These are likely responsible for a significant number of the 'abnormal' fabrics, which make the interpretation of magma flow much more complex. By choosing to use only the 'normal' fabric for magma flow determination, we have reduced by 50 per cent the number of relevant sites. In these sites, the imbrication angle of the magnetic foliation relative to dyke wall strongly suggests flow with end-members indicating vertical-dominated flow (seven sites) and horizontal-dominated flow (three sites).

Eastwards / westwards: which direction for gender studies in the 21st century?

Eastwards / Westwards: Which Direction for Gender Studies in the XXIst Century? is a collection of essays which focus on themes and methods that characterize current research into gender in Asian countries in general. In this collection, ideas derived from Gender Studies elsewhere in the world have been subjected to scrutiny for their utility in helping to describe and understand regional phenomena. But the concepts of Local and Global – with their discoursive productions – have not functioned as a binary opposition: localism and globalism are mutually constitutive and researchers have interrogated those spaces of interaction between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, bearing in mind their own embeddedness in social and cultural structures and their own historical memory. Contributors to this collection provided a critical transnational perspective on some of the complex effects of the dynamics of cultural globalization, by exploring the relation between gender and development, language, historiography, education and culture. We have also given attention to the ideological and rhetorical processes through which gender identity is constructed, by comparing textual grids and patterns of expectation. Likewise, we have discussed the role of ethnography, anthropology, historiography, sociology, fiction, popular culture and colonial and post-colonial sources in (re)inventing old/new male/female identities, their conversion into concepts and circulation through time and space. This multicultural and trans-disciplinary selection of essays is totally written in English, fully edited and revised, therefore, it has a good potential for an immediate international circulation. This project may trace new paths and issues for discussion on what concerns the life, practices and narratives by and about women in Asia, as well as elsewhere in the present day global experience. Academic readership: Researchers, scholars, educators, graduate and post-graduate students, doctoral students and general non-fiction readers, with a special interest in Gender Studies, Asia, Colonial and Post-Colonial Literature, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, History, Historiography, Politics, Race, Feminism, Language, Linguistics, Power, Political and Feminist Agendas, Popular Culture, Education, Women’s Writing, Religion, Multiculturalism, Globalisation, Migration. Chapter summary: 1. “Social Gender Stereotypes and their Implication in Hindi”, Anjali Pande, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. This essay looks at the subtle ways in which gender identities are constructed and reinforced in India through social norms of language use. Language itself becomes a medium for perpetuating gender stereotypes, forcing its speakers to confirm to socially defined gender roles. Using examples from a classroom discussion about a film, this essay will highlight the underlying rigid male-female stereotypes in Indian society with their more obvious expressions in language. For the urban woman in India globalisation meant increased economic equality and exposure to changed lifestyles. On an individual level it also meant redefining gender relations and changing the hierarchy in man-­woman relationships. With the economic independence there is a heightened sense of liberation in all spheres of social life, a confidence to fuzz the rigid boundaries of gender roles. With the new films and media celebrating this liberated woman, who is ready to assert her sexual needs, who is ready to explode those long held notions of morality, one would expect that the changes are not just superficial. But as it soon became obvious in the course of a classroom discussion about relationships and stereotypes related to age, the surface changes can not become part of the common vocabulary, for the obvious reason that there is still a vast gap between the screen image of this new woman and the ground reality. Social considerations define the limits of this assertiveness of women, whereas men are happy to be liberal within the larger frame of social sanctions. The educated urban woman in India speaks in favour of change and the educated urban male supports her, but one just needs to scratch the surface to see the time tested formulae of gender roles firmly in place. The way the urban woman happily balances this emerging promise of independence with her gendered social identity, makes it necessary to rethink some aspects of looking at gender in a gradually changing, traditional society like India. 2. “The Linguistic Dimension of Gender Equality”, Alissa Tolstokorova, Kiev Centre for Gender Information and Education, Ukraine. The subject-matter of this essay is gender justice in language which, as I argue, may be achieved through the development of a gender-related approach to linguistic human rights. The last decades of the 20th century, globally marked by a “gender shift” in attitudes to language policy, gave impetus to the social movement for promoting linguistic gender equality. It was initiated in Western Europe and nowadays is moving eastwards, as ideas of gender democracy progress into developing countries. But, while in western societies gender discrimination through language, or linguistic sexism, was an issue of concern for over three decades, in developing countries efforts to promote gender justice in language are only in their infancy. My argument is that to promote gender justice in language internationally it is necessary to acknowledge the rights of women and men to equal representation of their gender in language and speech and, therefore, raise a question of linguistic rights of the sexes. My understanding is that the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights in 1996 provided this opportunity to address the problem of gender justice in language as a human rights issue, specifically as a gender dimension of linguistic human rights. 3. “The Rebirth of an Old Language: Issues of Gender Equality in Kazakhstan”, Maria Helena Guimarães, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. The existing language situation in Kazakhstan, while peaceful, is not without some tension. We propose to analyze here some questions we consider relevant in the frame of cultural globalization and gender equality, such as: free from Russian imperialism, could Kazakhstan become an easy prey of Turkey’s “imperialist dream”? Could these traditionally Muslim people be soon facing the end of religious tolerance and gender equality, becoming this new old language an easy instrument for the infiltration in the country of fundamentalism (it has already crossed the boarders of Uzbekistan), leading to a gradual deterioration of its rich multicultural relations? The present structure of the language is still very fragile: there are three main dialects and many academics defend the re-introduction of the Latin alphabet, thus enlarging the possibility of cultural “contamination” by making the transmission of fundamentalist ideas still easier through neighbour countries like Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (their languages belong to the same sub-group of Common Turkic), where the Latin alphabet is already in use, and where the ground for such ideas shown itself very fruitful. 4. “Construction of Womanhood in the Bengali Language of Bangladesh”, Raasheed Mahmood; University of New South Wales, Sydney. The present essay attempts to explore the role of gender-based language differences and of certain markers that reveal the status accorded to women in Bangladesh. Discrimination against women, in its various forms, is endemic in communities and countries around the world, cutting across class, race, age, and religious and national boundaries. One cannot understand the problems of gender discrimination solely by referring to the relationship of power or authority between men and women. Rather one needs to consider the problem by relating it to the specific social formation in which the image of masculinity and femininity is constructed and reconstructed. Following such line of reasoning this essay will examine the nature of gender bias in the Bengali language of Bangladesh, holding the conviction that as a product of social reality language reflects the socio-cultural behaviour of the community who speaks it. This essay will also attempt to shed some light on the processes through which gender based language differences produce actual consequences for women, who become exposed to low self-esteem, depression and systematic exclusion from public discourse. 5. “Marriage in China as an expression of a changing society”, Elisabetta Rosado David, University of Porto, Portugal, and Università Ca’Foscari, Venezia, Italy. In 29 April 2001, the new Marriage Law was promulgated in China. The first law on marriage was proclaimed in 1950 with the objective of freeing women from the feudal matrimonial system. With the second law, in 1981, values and conditions that had been distorted by the Cultural Revolution were recovered. Twenty years later, a new reform was started, intending to update marriage in the view of the social and cultural changes that occurred with Deng Xiaoping’s “open policy”. But the legal reform is only the starting point for this case-study. The rituals that are followed in the wedding ceremony are often hard to understand and very difficult to standardize, especially because China is a vast country, densely populated and characterized by several ethnic minorities. Two key words emerge from this issue: syncretism and continuity. On this basis, we can understand tradition in a better way, and analyse whether or not marriage, as every social manifestation, has evolved in harmony with Chinese culture. 6. “The Other Woman in the Portuguese Colonial Empire: The Case of Portuguese India”, Maria de Deus Manso, University of Évora, Portugal. This essay researches the social, cultural and symbolic history of local women in the Portuguese Indian colonial enclaves. The normative Portuguese overseas history has not paid any attention to the “indigenous” female populations in colonial Portuguese territories, albeit the large social importance of these social segments largely used in matrimonial and even catholic missionary strategies. The first attempt to open fresh windows in the history of this new field was the publication of Charles Boxer’s referential study about Women in lberian Overseas Expansion, edited in Portugal only after the Revolution of 1975. After this research we can only quote some other fragmentary efforts. In fact, research about the social, cultural, religious, political and symbolic situation of women in the Portuguese colonial territories, from the XVI to the XX century, is still a minor historiographic field. In this essay we discuss this problem and we study colonial representations of women in the Portuguese Indian enclaves, mainly in the territory of Goa, using case studies methodologies. 7. “Heading East this Time: Critical Readings on Gender in Southeast Asia”, Clara Sarmento, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. This essay intends to discuss some critical readings of fictional and theoretical texts on gender condition in Southeast Asian countries. Nowadays, many texts about women in Southeast Asia apply concepts of power in unusual areas. Traditional forms of gender hegemony have been replaced by other powerful, if somewhat more covert, forms. We will discuss some universal values concerning conventional female roles as well as the strategies used to recognize women in political fields traditionally characterized by male dominance. Female empowerment will mean different things at different times in history, as a result of culture, local geography and individual circumstances. Empowerment needs to be perceived as an individual attitude, but it also has to be facilitated at the macro­level by society and the State. Gender is very much at the heart of all these dynamics, strongly related to specificities of historical, cultural, ethnic and class situatedness, requiring an interdisciplinary transnational approach.

Representações coloniais no feminino: o oriente de Isabel Tamagnini

O Diário de uma Viagem a Timor (1882-1883) descreve o itinerário de Isabel Pinto da França Tamagnini entre Singapura e Díli. O Diário oferece uma representação peculiar da cultura asiática e das suas mulheres, através do olhar de uma europeia cuja formação e mundividência em pouco ultrapassavam a esfera doméstica e religiosa. A escrita de Tamagnini reflecte a sensibilidade de um estrato privilegiado da sociedade, que considerava a escrita feminina como um passatempo tolerável de senhoras prendadas. Logo nas primeiras linhas do Diário, Tamagnini afirma claramente que a sua produção e recepção devem restringir-se ao círculo da família e amigos, pois ela mesma o considera um texto recreativo e impressionista. Mas é precisamente esta característica que faz do Diário de Tamagnini um documento da sociedade colonial portuguesa de finais do século xix. Tamagnini compõe uma representação subjectiva de uma realidade ‘exótica’ e dos seus actores, recordando a noção de ‘orientalismo’ de Edward Said. O olhar de Tamagnini é dominado pela pertença a uma elite etnocêntrica e produz um texto crítico, simultaneamente confessional e moralizador. Tamagnini parece viajar através de espaços de socialização aristocrática, mais do que através de geografias e culturas. Mas o espaço urbano é progressivamente substituído pelo território ‘selvagem’, à medida que a viagem se aproxima do destino. E aqui o Diário funciona como texto paradigmático, se bem que por vezes irreverente, de uma representação etnocêntrica da colónia, dos agentes coloniais e ‘seus’ colonizados, com especial atenção à descrição dos ‘tipos’ femininos observados ao longo desta Viagem a Timor.

As relações intergeracionais e as sociedades envelhecidas : Envelhecer numa sociedade não Stop – O território multigeracional de Lisboa Oriental

A dissertação de mestrado subordinada ao tema das Relações Intergeracionais e as Sociedades Envelhecidas surgiu, no âmbito do Mestrado em Educação Social e Intervenção Comunitária, da Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa e teve como ponto de partida saber se a participação em actividades intergeracionais promove o envelhecimento ativo de 8 mulheres com 65 e mais anos, residentes num território multigeracional de Lisboa Oriental. A abordagem concetual do envelhecimento social, do envelhecimento ativo, das relações intergeracionais e da participação conduziu o estudo, através da triangulação dos instrumentos de análise qualitativa de entrevistas de histórias de vida e de focus group. As mulheres entrevistadas têm entre 65 e 85 anos de idade cronológica, mas em média dizem sentir que têm menos 34 anos. Afirmam, ser jovens de espirito e por isso preferem ser chamadas de seniores. Manifestam que sempre foram e são, mulheres autónomas, livres, independentes, com poder de decisão, com auto-estima elevada e com qualidade de vida. Mulheres que ocupam o tempo em actividades da vida diária, em actividades de tempos livres, e voluntariado. Mulheres reivindicativas, proativas, frontais e determinadas que assumem um papel social ativo envolvendo-se socialmente em todas as actividades produtivas ou orientadas para a performance e em actividades colectivas e ou orientadas para a união, com vista alcançar objetivos comuns. Mulheres, que ganham prestígio e estatuto na comunidade por se envolverem socialmente no processo de tomadas de decisão, organização, execução e avaliação, com as gerações mais novas. São visionárias ancestrais de espirito jovem que abrem novas portas para a construção social da velhice nas sociedades neoliberais e desafiam os humanistas quando afirmam que as atividades produtivas na velhice dão sentido à própria existência. São histórias de mulheres que nos fazem acreditar que a participação social contribui espontaneamente para o diálogo entre as gerações, em todas as fases da vida. - Abstract A dissertation on the subject of Intergenerational Relationships and Societies Aged emerged within the Master of Education Social and Community Intervention, School of Education and Lisbon had as starting point whether participation promotes intergenerational activities on aging 8 active women aged 65 years and older, residing in the territory of Eastern Lisbon multigenerational. The conceptual approach of social aging, active aging, intergenerational relations and participation conducted the study through triangulation of instruments qualitative analysis of interviews and life stories focus group. The women interviewed are between 65 and 85 years of chronological age, but on average say they feel they are under 34 years old. They claim to be young in spirit and so they prefer to be called seniors. Demonstrate that have always been and are women autonomous, free, independent, decision-making, self-esteem and quality of life. Women who occupy the time in activities of daily life, in leisure activities, and volunteering. Women reivindicativas, proactive, front and determined to play an active social role by engaging in socially productive activities or any performance-oriented and collective activities and or targeted at the union in order to achieve common objectives. Women who gain prestige and status in the community by becoming involved socially in the process of decision making, organization, implementation and evaluation with the younger generations. They are young visionary spirit of ancestors that open new doors to the social construction of old age in neoliberal societies and challenge humanists say when productive activities in old age give meaning to their own existence. These are stories of women who have us believe that social participation contributes to spontaneous dialogue between generations, in all stages of life.

A marcha humana: circuitos neuronais entre estruturas corticais vs sub-corticais

As conexões entre os níveis corticais e sub-corticais na activação da marcha Humana carecem de discussão. As alterações da marcha por lesão no território da Artéria Cerebral Média (ACM) podem ser explicadas pela disfunção de circuitos neuronais dos Núcleos da Base ao córtex e Núcleos Pedúnculo-Pontino. Este trabalho tem como objectivo identificar os percursos anatómicos das principais conexões entre as estruturas encefálicas referidas no território da ACM. Com base na topografia das conexões neuronais, é aceitável que as alterações da marcha sejam explicadas por alterações na função dos Núcleos da Base, através das suas conexões, enquanto moduladores da actividade motora.

Perspetivas dos professores do 1º ciclo sobre a supervisão no processo de avaliação de desempenho e os seus efeitos no desenvolvimento profissional

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialização Supervisão em Educação

O teatro. espaço de encontro de uma comunidade

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Educação Artística - Especialização em Teatro na Educação