A sociocultural framework for understanding technology integration in Secondary School mathematics. 'Un marco sociocultural para comprender la integración de la tecnología en las matemáticas escolares de Secundaria'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Assessment for learning : science teachers' ideas on assessment of core competences in science understanding. 'Evaluar para el aprendizaje : ideas de los profesores de ciencias sobre cómo evaluar competencias fundamentales para comprender la ciencia'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Supporting Computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) in conceptual design

In order to gain a better understanding of online conceptual collaborative design processes this paper investigates how student designers make use of a shared virtual synchronous environment when engaged in conceptual design. The software enables users to talk to each other and share sketches when they are remotely located. The paper describes a novel methodology for observing and analysing collaborative design processes by adapting the concepts of grounded theory. Rather than concentrating on narrow aspects of the final artefacts, emerging “themes” are generated that provide a broader picture of collaborative design process and context descriptions. Findings on the themes of “grounding – mutual understanding” and “support creativity” complement findings from other research, while important themes associated with “near-synchrony” have not been emphasised in other research. From the study, a series of design recommendations are made for the development of tools to support online computer-supported collaborative work in design using a shared virtual environment.

Conceptual development of a harmonised method for tracking change and evaluating policy in the agri-environment: The Agri-environmental Footprint Index

An aggregated farm-level index, the Agri-environmental Footprint Index (AFI), based on multiple criteria methods and representing a harmonised approach to evaluation of EU agri-environmental schemes is described. The index uses a common framework for the design and evaluation of policy that can be customised to locally relevant agri-environmental issues and circumstances. Evaluation can be strictly policy-focused, or broader and more holistic in that context-relevant assessment criteria that are not necessarily considered in the evaluated policy can nevertheless be incorporated. The Index structure is flexible, and can respond to diverse local needs. The process of Index construction is interactive, engaging farmers and other relevant stakeholders in a transparent decision-making process that can ensure acceptance of the outcome, help to forge an improved understanding of local agri-environmental priorities and potentially increase awareness of the critical role of farmers in environmental management. The structure of the AFI facilitates post-evaluation analysis of relative performance in different dimensions of the agri-environment, permitting identification of current strengths and weaknesses, and enabling future improvement in policy design. Quantification of the environmental impact of agriculture beyond the stated aims of policy using an 'unweighted' form of the AFI has potential as the basis of an ongoing system of environmental audit within a specified agricultural context. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards an improved understanding of farmers' behaviour: the integrative agent-centred (IAC) framework

An effective approach to research on farmers' behaviour is based on: i) an explicit and well-motivated behavioural theory; ii) an integrative approach; and iii) understanding feedback processes and dynamics. While current approaches may effectively tackle some of them, they often fail to combine them together. The paper presents the integrative agent-centred (IAC) framework, which aims at filling this gap. It functions in accordance with these three pillars and provides a conceptual structure to understand farmers' behaviour in agricultural systems. The IAC framework is agent-centred and supports the understanding of farmers' behavior consistently with the perspective of agricultural systems as complex social-ecological systems. It combines different behavioural drivers, bridges between micro and macro levels, and depicts a potentially varied model of human agency. The use of the framework in practice is illustrated through two studies on pesticide use among smallholders in Colombia. The examples show how the framework can be implemented to derive policy implications to foster a transition towards more sustainable agricultural practices. The paper finally suggests that the framework can support different research designs for the study of agents' behaviour in agricultural and social-ecological systems.

A conceptual life event framework for government-to-citizen electronic service provision

In recent years, life event approach has been widely used by governments all over the world for designing and providing web services to citizens through their e-government portals. Despite the wide usage of this approach, there is still a challenge of how to use this approach to design e-government portals in order to automatically provide personalised services to citizens. We propose a conceptual framework for e-government service provision based on life event approach and the use of citizen profile to capture the citizen needs, since the process of finding Web services from a government-to-citizen (G2C) system involves understanding the citizens’ needs and demands, selecting the relevant services, and delivering services that matches the requirements. The proposed framework that incorporates the citizen profile is based on three components that complement each other, namely, anticipatory life events, non-anticipatory life events and recurring services.

The aims of early years outdoor education in England: a conceptual and empirical investigation

This paper explores the place of aims in the early years foundation stage outdoor environment in England. Through examining the writing of academics, various themes are identified, and constructed into possible aims. These themes/aims are compared to an empirical study of early years teachers’ attitudes. Data was collected by questionnaire from schools within the University of Reading partnership. There was general agreement between experts and teachers as to the aims. While some respondents were able to explain what the aims of outdoor activity were, a significant number were unable to identify aims; further, a significant number did not distinguish between approach/practice and aims. A lack of understanding and agreement as to what the aims are may indicate teachers are unsure about the purpose of outdoor education for young children. A result of this study is to agree and make explicit the aims for outdoor education in the early years.

A (re)significação conceptual nas práticas colaborativas com professores do Ensino Fundamental

The work objectified to apprehend the degree of the teachers' concept concerning the territory concept and to intervene with situations of critical reflections to accompany and to analyze the process of conceptual elaboration. It contemplates on the (new)meaning of knowledge and (new)elaboration of the concept in study done inside a pedagogic intervention. The Municipal School Dr. Julio Senna - Ceará-Mirim/RN and six (6) teacher-collaborators that taught in the 3rd and 4th grades of the fundamental teaching, constitutes the empiric field of the research. Its theoretical-methodological contributions are built in the studies of Vigotski (2000a, 2000b and 2001) on the formation process and development of concepts; in the methodology colaborate (Ibiapina (2004), Bartomé (1986), Kemmis and Mctaggart (1988), Arnal, Del Ricon and Latorre (1992), Pepper and Ghedin (2002), among others) and in the critical-reflexive conception of the Geography (Soares Júnior (2000 and 1994), Silva (1998), Raffestin (1993), Santos (1994), Felipe (1998), among others). The accomplishment of the work presupposed starting from the reflections on the following subjects: which the teachers' understanding in the school space concerning the territory concept? How does happen the process of conceptual construction territory for the teachers? The analysis of the teachers' previous knowledge on the concept in study, evidenced that its apprehensions on the attributes of the referred concept went mentioned the to light of the perceptible dimension of the real-concrete relationships of the reality linked to the degree of the spontaneous concepts and followed by the ideas of the traditional, humanistic and cultural geographical conceptions (positivism and phenomenology), restricting the territory meaning the notion of State-Nation and place of the men's dwelling. In the intervention process, it was verified to real possibility of the acquisition of indispensable scientific concepts to the process of (new)meaning conceptual of geographical knowledge through the continuous practice of the educational formation, when it was evidenced that the teacher-collaborators acquired high degrees of attributions of the significance of the territory concept to the they elaborate generalizations by means of analyses and syntheses of the concept-attribute (essential and multiples) of the reference conceptual in study

Archival information and organic information: a conceptual analysis of the Brazilian literature

Information has increasingly become a crucial resource for organizations that want to remain competitive in the market. For this reason, analysis and a correct understanding of informational types that are present in these environments become relevant to achieving the highest levels of performance. The aim of this paper is to review the literature of the concepts of organic and archival information within the organizational context/business environments. This is still an emerging theoretical field and therefore is conducive to intense discussions. We point out elements that help to characterize and distinguish these two types of information.

Green teams: Understanding their roles in the environmental management of companies located in Brazil

Green teams are frequently considered in the state-of-the-art literature as an essential factor for companies aiming to implement and improve environmental management approaches and practices. However, most of the available literature on green teams is conceptual and theoretical by nature. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to evaluate the main characteristics of green teams in Brazilian companies and to analyse the relationships between green teams and the maturity level of environmental management in those companies. Based on a conceptual background on corporate environmental management and green teams, a research was done in two complementary phases: a survey of 94 companies with ISO 14001 certification; and a multiple case study of four industrial companies. Survey results suggest that 82% of the studied companies have cross-functional green teams, i.e. involving various companies' departments; and 65% have functional green teams, i.e. individual department teams. The results of the case study suggest that the use of green teams is an instrument to the greening of companies with ISO 14001 in Brazil. The company with the most proactive and advanced environmental management is the same company which uses green teams more intensely. Green teams are especially necessary for implementing more technical environmental management practices, e.g. Life Cycle Assessment. Since this is one of the first studies analysing green teams, the results presented can be useful for companies and public policies aiming to implementation of environmental initiatives. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding the process of greening of Brazilian business schools

This study analyses business schools' incorporating environmental management issues into their core activities, defined through teaching, research, outreach and management. Taking into account the relative lack of literature on this theme, case study fieldwork is utilized. Two case studies were conducted at Brazilian business schools. The results were analyzed using the conceptual background of barriers to organizational change, transition to a more sustainable society, and path dependence. The main findings indicate that: (a) the incorporation of environmental management issues tends to begin with researching and teaching; (b) this incorporation process depends on the personal motivation of few or single faculty researchers; (c) the trajectory of the analyzed business schools is marked by advances and stagnation, when analyzing the incorporation of environmental management issues to its four core activities; (d) paradoxically, the analyzed business schools can be considered academic leaders in the field, but have had difficulties in adopting environmental management practices internally; (e) there is a path dependence effect in this process; (f) there are barriers to organizational change towards green business schools; (g) institutional entrepreneurs are important to the process of greening. This research represents the first research shedding light to understanding the process of greening of Brazilian business schools while considering the multidimensional aspects (teaching, research, outreach and university management). © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Translation and cultural adaptation of Brazilian Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting: conceptual and semantic equivalence

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A new conceptual model of nitrification: A key factor in resolving the metabolic state of the ocean

Máster en Oceanografía

Conceptual and normative issues of memory enhancement

Our growing understanding of human mind and cognition and the development of neurotechnology has triggered debate around cognitive enhancement in neuroethics. The dissertation examines the normative issues of memory enhancement, and focuses on two issues: (1) the distinction between memory treatment and enhancement; and (2) how the issue of authenticity concerns memory interventions, including memory treatments and enhancements. rnThe first part consists of a conceptual analysis of the concepts required for normative considerations. First, the representational nature and the function of memory are discussed. Memory is regarded as a special form of self-representation resulting from a constructive processes. Next, the concepts of selfhood, personhood, and identity are examined and a conceptual tool—the autobiographical self-model (ASM)—is introduced. An ASM is a collection of mental representations of the system’s relations with its past and potential future states. Third, the debate between objectivist and constructivist views of health are considered. I argue for a phenomenological account of health, which is based on the primacy of illness and negative utilitarianism.rnThe second part presents a synthesis of the relevant normative issues based on the conceptual tools developed. I argue that memory enhancement can be distinguished from memory treatment using a demarcation regarding the existence of memory-related suffering. That is, memory enhancements are, under standard circumstances and without any unwilling suffering or potential suffering resulting from the alteration of memory functions, interventions that aim to manipulate memory function based on the self-interests of the individual. I then consider the issue of authenticity, namely whether memory intervention or enhancement endangers “one’s true self”. By analyzing two conceptions of authenticity—authenticity as self-discovery and authenticity as self-creation, I propose that authenticity should be understood in terms of the satisfaction of the functional constraints of an ASM—synchronic coherence, diachronic coherence, and global veridicality. This framework provides clearer criteria for considering the relevant concerns and allows us to examine the moral values of authenticity. rn

Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks for Organised Violence

The possibility of violence is ubiquitous in human social relations, its forms are manifold and its causes complex. Different types of violence are interrelated but in complex ways, and they are studied within a wide range of disciplines, so that a general theory, while possible, is difficult to achieve. This paper acknowledges that violence can negate power and that all forms of social power can entail violence, proceeds on the assumption that the organisation of violence is a particular source of social power. It therefore explores the general relationships of violence to power, the significance of war as the archetype of organised violence, the relationships of other types (revolution, terrorism, genocide) to war, and the significance of civilian-combatant stratification for the understanding of all types of organised violence. It then discusses the problems of applying conceptual types in analysis, and the necessity of a historical framework for theorising violence. The paper concludes by offering such a framework in the transition from industrialised total war to global surveillance war.