Kompetensutveckling som konkurrensmedel : En kvalitativ intervjustudie med fokus på förskollärarstudenters och förskollärares uppfattning av kompetensutveckling som konkurrensmedel

Studiens syfte handlar om huruvida kompetensutveckling kan fungera som konkurrensmedel när en kommun har för avsikt att attrahera och behålla förskollärare. Bakgrunden inleds med vilka kompetenshöjande insatser kommunen arbetat med för att bli en attraktiv arbetsgivare. Det efterföljs av en teoretisk beskrivning om hur kompetensutveckling kan fungera som konkurrensmedel samt skolan som attraktiv arbetsgivare. Metoden som användes vid insamlandet av data var semistrukturerade intervjuer. Forskningsansatsen inspirerades av fenomenologin och styrde sedan arbetet med insamlandet av data samt val av analysmetod. Då urvalet innefattade två grupper; förskollärare och förskollärarstudenter skapades en intervjuguide för respektive grupp som utformades efter studiens syfte och frågeställningar. I studiens resultat framkommer samtliga intervjupersoners upplevelse av att kompetensutveckling är något positivt. Förskollärarna såg det som en avgörande faktor vid val av arbetsgivare medan förskollärarstudenterna värderade exempelvis lön som en faktor av större betydelse. I resultatet lyfts andra övergripande faktorer som exempelvis arbetsklimat, stöd från chef och storlek på barngrupper vilka även styr intervjupersonernas val av arbetsgivare. Det lyfts också möjliga kommunspecifika utvecklingsområden samt generellt för förskolor. 

Talent Management : Utan Talent Management?

Syftet med denna studie är att kontrastera en utvald organisations strategier för att attrahera, behålla, utveckla och avveckla de viktigaste resurserna mot Talent Management och dess komponenter. Studien ämnar således mot att göra en kontrastering mellan traditionellt kompetensförsörjningsarbete mot det mer moderna konceptet Talent Management. Författarna har valt att undersöka detta genom att samla empiri från intervjuer med sex medarbetare kombinerat med analys av interna dokument. Resultatet visar att delar av myndighetens arbete med kompetensförsörjning kan likställas med Talent Management men att vissa komponenter är uteblivna. Baserat på resultatet framhålls i resultatdiskussionen att myndigheten möter stora utmaningar gällande enhetligt arbete med kompetensutveckling, kompetensförsörjning och ledarskap på grund utav det delegerade ansvaret från central nivå. I slutskedet av avsnittet för resultatdiskussion redovisas även en sammanfattande slutsats som grundar sig i ett framgångsrikt arbete inom blocken attrahera och avsluta samtidigt som arbete inom blocket behålla och utveckla varierar inom organisationen, dels på grund av delegerat ansvar. Slutligen presenteras förbättringsförslag inom organisationen och vidare forskning inom ämnet. 

Can You Hear the Eco? : A Study of How Swedish Municipalities Can Market their CSR-Activities

Background: In an increasingly globalised world, municipalities more than ever have to compete with each other. Thus, the need to create a brand image has become vital for municipalities. Place branding is the tool that has enabled municipalities to create a brand image in order to attract stakeholders such as potential visitors, residents and businesses. The sustainability phenomenon Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has recently become an attractive factor within place branding. Although, the concept of CSR is most commonly implemented within the private sector, CSR initiatives within the public sector are recognised as an integral part. Therefore, the issue of how municipalities can market and communicate their CSR-actives has arisen.  Purpose: The aim of this research is to explore how Swedish municipalities can market their CSR-activities, in order to gain competitive advantages as attractive cities. In further details, this research focuses on how municipalities can use place branding to market their CSR-activities and how they can communicate this to current and potential stakeholders. Method: In order to fulfil this purpose, an interpretivist methodology was adopted with an abductive approach. In regard to this, an exploratory design was developed. More specifically, it was conducted with a mixed method, using a quantitative content analysis and qualitative indepth interviews with knowledgeable experts within CSR from the most relevant departments in the municipalities. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the use of place branding can help municipalities with a sustainable profile to gain competitive advantages. Furthermore, it became apparent that the use of place branding strategies, such as slogan, logotypes, events and cooperation with stakeholders, could enhance the brand image of municipalities and enable them to attract potential stakeholders. In regards to the communication channels, the findings suggest municipalities to communicate their CSR-activities through websites, social media, press conferences, seminars and events.

Decision-making process in Portuguese Erasmus student mobility: case study

With the evolution of nowadays knowledge-based economies, the labour class becomes more competitive. As a way of getting skills that bring benefits to their careers, university students take advantage of the many opportunities available and go abroad to study. This study develops and empirically tests a structural model that examines the antecedents that influence the decision-making process of an Erasmus student under mobility for studies (EMS) in Aveiro, Coimbra and Porto (2014-2015). Reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis and linear regressions were used to evaluate the model. Based on a survey with a sample of 872 valid responses, this study has demonstrated that EMS students are also influenced by touristic factors, which gives support to what has recently been approached by other authors. Conclusions and suggestions can be applied by other organizations, mainly Higher Education Institutions in order to attract more EMS students.

As manifestações artísticas urbanas e o ensino de artes visuais

O presente estudo, inserido no Mestrado em Ensino de Artes Visuais no 3.º ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário, aborda a importância das Manifestações Artística Urbanas no ensino de Artes Visuais. Esta investigação pretende analisar a forma como estas manifestações podem ser adaptadas ao currículo do programa da disciplina de desenho numa escola secundária artística, no sentido de munir os alunos de capacidade crítica para o atual estado da arte, assim como atraí-los para o desenho, levando-os a descobrir e desenvolver seu próprio traço. O facto de a prática de ensino supervisionada se ter realizado na Escola Artística Soares dos Reis, no Porto, uma das mais prestigiadas instituições artísticas em Portugal, privilegiou e potenciou a investigação tendo em conta a cultura artística e urbana demostrada pela comunidade escolar.

Natal qual é a sua cara?: análise do perfil edilício da avenida Eng. Roberto Freire (Natal/RN) à luz da acessibilidade

This study focuses on the building ensemble of Avenida Roberto Freire, a main road in Natal, Brazil, as a material expression of the confluence of various factors among which the following may be emphasized: high level of accessibility due to urban spatial re-structuring and the growth of the real estate market, in view of the increasing number of consumers, who arrived in Natal within the last decades. The intense urban modification process that has been going on in Natal since at least the 1980s, has engendered the formation of long axial lines which express the expansion dynamics and some of the forces subjacent to it. Avenida Roberto Freire has been an iconic example of an urban thoroughfare where architecture becomes primarily a communication support that can be perceived by fast moving passers-by, what brings it close to the venturian concept of strip (Venturi at al, 1972). The building types that line the road not only respond to the dynamics in process but also contribute to intensify it, as they house a variety of uses which attract people and generate more movement. The dynamics is further strengthened by the action of the real estate business which benefits from the increase of highly accessible locations, and from the private and public investments and incentives to tourism that aim to insert this city into the globalized world. Although the intention of reconstituting part of the history of density increase on this avenue in a diachronical perspective was attempted within the limits of the available references and documentation, the central contribution of this study is to understand the relations between topological accessibility and the typological nature of the building ensemble. By observing the synchronic morphological frame resulting from the spatial configuration analysis pertinent to this avenue (cf. Hillier and Hanson,1984) and the inventory and classification of the building ensemble there existing, this study aims to understand how architecture responds to accessibility in view of the real estate pressure, boosted by a cosmopolitanizing process brought about by the continuous flow of foreign and Brazilian arrivals as visitors, temporary or permanent residents

Arquitetura da (in)segurança: estudando relações entre configuração espacial, artifícios de segurança e violência urbana no bairro Manaíra, João Pessoa, Paraíba

João Pessoa, the capital city of the state of Paraíba (Northeast Brazil), is reputed throughout the country as a quiet place, although it has been acquiring, over the past years, an urban character with social implications similar to those of major metropolitan Brazilian areas. The new situation is evident by the social inequalities, with the creation of confined spaces, which segregate and cause enclosure of the inhabitants, leading to death the public space. This study correlates accessibility in spatial structure with two types of crime data, burglary and robbery, recorded in 2008 and 2009, by the Secretaria de Segurança da Paraíba (The government agency public in charge of safety), in the district of Manaíra, an upper middle class neighborhood, which has, in recent times, been considered one of the most violent areas in João Pessoa. Sought to understand connections between these events and morpho-social aspects of the built environment, where examined the spatial properties, such as accessibility of the urban net, the presence of control measures, the safety of buildings and their uses. Spatial properties were also validated by the observation of pedestrian flows at strategic points of the study area. It was concluded that the presence of intense flows helps to attract potential thieves, physical security and control offers little protection

Defensin-Like ZmES4 Mediates Pollen Tube Burst in Maize via Opening of the Potassium Channel KZM1

In contrast to animals and lower plant species, sperm cells of flowering plants are non-motile and are transported to the female gametes via the pollen tube, i.e. the male gametophyte. Upon arrival at the female gametophyte two sperm cells are discharged into the receptive synergid cell to execute double fertilization. The first players involved in inter-gametophyte signaling to attract pollen tubes and to arrest their growth have been recently identified. In contrast the physiological mechanisms leading to pollen tube burst and thus sperm discharge remained elusive. Here, we describe the role of polymorphic defensin-like cysteine-rich proteins ZmES1-4 (Zea mays embryo sac) from maize, leading to pollen tube growth arrest, burst, and explosive sperm release. ZmES1-4 genes are exclusively expressed in the cells of the female gametophyte. ZmES4-GFP fusion proteins accumulate in vesicles at the secretory zone of mature synergid cells and are released during the fertilization process. Using RNAi knock-down and synthetic ZmES4 proteins, we found that ZmES4 induces pollen tube burst in a species-preferential manner. Pollen tube plasma membrane depolarization, which occurs immediately after ZmES4 application, as well as channel blocker experiments point to a role of K(+)-influx in the pollen tube rupture mechanism. Finally, we discovered the intrinsic rectifying K(+) channel KZM1 as a direct target of ZmES4. Following ZmES4 application, KZM1 opens at physiological membrane potentials and closes after wash-out. In conclusion, we suggest that vesicles containing ZmES4 are released from the synergid cells upon male-female gametophyte signaling. Subsequent interaction between ZmES4 and KZM1 results in channel opening and K(+) influx. We further suggest that K(+) influx leads to water uptake and culminates in osmotic tube burst. The species-preferential activity of polymorphic ZmES4 indicates that the mechanism described represents a pre-zygotic hybridization barrier and may be a component of reproductive isolation in plants.

O enoturismo e o mercado chinês: Portugal como destino

O objetivo principal desta dissertação é relacionar o enoturismo com o maior mercado emissor de turistas do mundo – a China, nomeadamente no que diz respeito às potencialidades de Portugal como destino enoturístico para este mercado. Para o efeito, estruturou-se o trabalho de forma a dedicar um capítulo à caracterização do enoturismo, um segundo capítulo à caracterização do mercado emissor de turistas chinês com destaque para a caracterização do enoturismo na China e do enoturista chinês. Reservou-se um terceiro capítulo para proceder à caracterização de Portugal como destino de enoturismo, fazendo a caracterização da oferta e da procura, com particular enfoque para a procura chinesa. A metodologia de pesquisa desta dissertação assentou em revisão bibliográfica e na análise de dados fornecidos por fontes secundárias e terciárias, como estudos já conduzidos sobre o tema ou temas relacionados e dados quantitativos recolhidos junto das principais instituições nacionais e internacionais de referência. Apresentou-se a caracterização do enoturismo, em termos concetuais, mas sobretudo no contexto dos seus principais mercados de oferta. Com base na análise da oferta nestes mercados procedeu-se à recolha e apresentação de uma série de boas práticas internacionais, tanto no que toca ao enoturismo, como no que diz respeito a iniciativas de captação do turismo emissor chinês. Procedeu-se à caracterização do desenvolvimento do turismo emissor na China, da realidade do enoturismo na China e construiu-se um perfil do enoturista chinês.

Investigation of the roles of CheD in the Bacillus subtilis chemotactic signal transduction

Abstract The two-component based chemotaxis signal transduction system allows flagellated bacteria to sense their surrounding chemical environment and move towards more favorable conditions. The attractant signals can be sensed by transmembrane chemoreceptors, and then transmitted to the histidine kinase CheA. Once activated, CheA interacts with the response regulator CheY through phosphorelay, which causes a change in the rotation of the flagella. The direction of flagella rotation determines whether a cell swims straight or just tumbles. Cells also need adaptation to respond to a change in chemical concentrations, and return to their prestimulated level. Adaptation in the B. subtilis chemotaxis system is achieved by three coordinated systems: the methylation system, the CheC/CheD/CheY-p system and the CheV system. CheD, the previously identified receptor deamidase, was shown to be critical to the ability of B. subtilis to perform chemotaxis and is the main focus of this study. This study started from characterization of the enzymatic mechanism of CheD. Results showed that CheD deamidase uses a cysteine hydrolase mechanism. The catalytic triad consisting of Cys33-His50-Thr27, and Ser27 is essential for receptor recognition and binding. In addition, in this study CheC was found to inhibit CheD’s deamidase activity. Through mutant screening, Phe102 on CheD was found to be the essential site to interact with CheC. Furthermore, the CheD/CheC interaction is necessary for the robust chemotaxis in vivo as demonstrated by the cheD (F102E) mutant, which lacks the ability to swim on swarm plates. Despite its deamidase activity, we hypothesized that CheD’s main role is its involvement in the CheD-CheC-CheY-p negative feedback pathway during adaptation. In particular, CheD is likely to help stabilize the transient kinase-activating state through binding to receptors. When CheY-p level is increased, CheC-CheY-p complex may attract CheD away from receptors. In this study, CheC-CheD binding kinetics with CheY or CheYp presence was successfully obtained by a series of SPR experiments. The increased affinity of CheD for CheC in presence of CheYp but not CheY makes likely the hypothesis that CheC-CheD-CheY interact as part of a negative feedback pathway during adaptation. Last, the interaction between CheD and chemoreceptor McpC was studied in order to better understand the role of CheD in adaptation. Results showed that Q304 and Q305 on McpC are essential to recruit CheD. Additionally, the reduced levels of CheD in mcpC (Q304A) or (Q305A) mutants suggested that the dynamic interaction between CheD and receptors is vital to maintain the normal CheD level. These findings suggest more complicated roles of CheD than its previously identified function as a receptor deamidase, and will lead to a clearer picture of the coordination of the three adaptational systems in the B. subtilis chemotactic sensory transduction system.

Paisagem, um patrimônio esquecido: subsídios para a construção de uma metodologia de valoração e proteção do cenário natural litorâneo

The so-called "residential tourism" came to intensify the previous occupation of the coastal zones, characterized by traditional beach houses, and brought significant consequences for their spatial configuration, and especially for its scenic value of the landscape. Although there is the intention to regulate the activities of enterprising groups by some legal instruments to control the use and occupation of land, and to contain some negative effects, the actions of government are still inefficient in trying to follow the implications on the landscape from the accelerated growth of the real estate and touristic sectors. Supported in the speech of economic development and income generation, public managers prioritize areas to attract tourists to the detriment of preserving important physical attributes of the natural environment that contribute significantly to the quality of life. The result can be noticed in the use of natural elements as one of the major components in the land valorization, and in the immediate attraction of investors and enterprising. Therefore, the objective of this work is to contribute to the debate on the landscape preservation a little detailed thematic in view of their relevance in the current context - by indicating subsidies to the creation of a methodology for the evaluation and protection of coastal zones that may assist the government in creating new instruments, and better prepare it in control of the occupation of these areas. For such, was followed two ways to analysis: the indirect method and the direct method. The first is grounded in the evaluation of landscape attributes, which is based on the work of Raquel Tardin (2008) and Eduardo Cuesta, Encarnación Algarra and Isabel Pastor (2001). The second, based on the research of Leticia and Carlos Hardt (2010) and on the concepts of phenomenology - expressed by Antonio Christofoletti (1985) and Yi-Fu Tuan (1983) - considers the population perspective on the quality of the natural scenery. Developed through cartographic materials, photographic collections and quantitative tables, this dissertation utilized as a case study the beaches of Barra de Tabatinga and Camurupim, located in the city of Nísia Floresta/RN. Despite already being sighted spaces of advanced stage of landscape degradation in these locations, areas of remarkable scenic value can still be found, what reinforce the urgency in adopting preservationists actions. The absence of laws focused on the management and protection of the landscape singularities associated with the inefficiency of the government to invigilate the land occupation in coastal zones, encourage the excessive action of the real estate-tourism, and consequently make the government the main responsible for the environmental and landscape impacts in these areas - by its omission or by their connivance. Therefore, the legislation permeates this entire process and constitutes itself as the most effective way to guarantee the right to the landscape to present and future generations. Are also pointed some important considerations to build a methodology, especially concerning possibilities of improvements and adaptations of its applicability in each case

A hora do conto: a importância de contar histórias em contexto pré-escolar

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Paula Frassinetti, para obtenção do grau de mestre em Educação Pré-Escolar

Licenciamento Ambiental: uma ferramenta de marketing - O caso de uma empresa agro-alimentar

Mestrado em Gestão e Empreendedorismo

Las vanguardias artísticas del siglo XX y su contribución teórica en la definición exhibicionista de la naturaleza del cine

A pesar de que las vanguardias artísticas de principios de siglo constituyen un grupo de movimientos heterogéneo coinciden en un ideal común: la ruptura del estatus del arte en la sociedad burguesa. El desplazamiento del sujeto del centro del proceso creador y la aparición de un nuevo sistema de representación basado en la perspectiva múltiple harán que el cine se sitúe en el punto de mira de distintas propuestas rupturistas como el cubismo, el futurismo o el dadaísmo. El objetivo del presente texto es destacar las aportaciones de los movimientos de vanguardia emergentes durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX en la fragua de conceptos teóricos capaces de dotar al cine de un estatus discursivo basado en la forma y la construcción al que denominaremos exhibicionista, que se opone al de su consideración como cine clásico supeditado a suceder a la literatura decimonónica en su misión narrativa