A especificidade da escolha da profissão de professor de educação física nos estudantes da Faculdade de Educação Física e Desporto da Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias

RESUMO: O presente estudo pretende distinguir a especificidade das referências dos estudantes dos três ramos da licenciatura de Educação Física da Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias (ULHT), para a escolha do curso e da profissão de professor de educação física, bem como comparar a especificidade das referências dos estudantes dentro dos cinco anos constituintes da formação inicial. Pretende-se ainda caracterizar as representações dos estudantes de Educação Física e Desporto Escolar (EFDE), a frequentar o 3º ano da Licenciatura e o 1º e 2º ano do Mestrado, sobre as orientações da formação recebida. Juntos dos estudantes do 5º ano, pretende-se caracterizar as representações que estes tiveram sobre o apoio e supervisão dos Orientadores de Estágio, bem como caracterizar a auto-avaliação que realizam sobre os seus resultados profissionais no relacionamento com os alunos, durante o ano de estágio pedagógico. Participaram neste estudo 450 estudantes da Faculdade de Educação Física e Desporto, da Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias. Tendo por base o estudo “Motivação para a Profissão Docente”, de 1996, do Professor Doutor Saul Neves de Jesus e a metodologia por ele realizada, foi aplicado o mesmo tipo de estudo a outra amostra tentando perceber de que forma é que esta se manifestava, tendo em conta os objectivos delineados. O instrumento utilizado, originalmente construído e aplicado por Jesus (1996), é um inquérito por questionário, composto por 44 itens com resposta em escala tipo likert. De forma a avaliar as problemáticas em estudo, estes itens encontravam-se divididos em quatro dimensões: motivação inicial para a profissão docente, modelo de formação educacional, apoio no estágio pedagógico e resultados profissionais obtidos no ano de estágio pedagógico. Os estudantes do ramo de EDFE mostram estar mais focados nos aspectos nucleares a ter em conta aquando da escolha da profissão de professor de educação física do que os estudantes dos ramos de Exercício e Bem-Estar (EBE) e Treino Desportivo (TD). Dos três ramos em análise, os estudantes de TD são os que mais vincadamente marcam a posição de não quererem ser professores de educação física. Os estudantes de EFDE, a frequentar o 3º e último ano da Licenciatura e o 1º e 2º ano da Mestrado (descritos como 4º e 5º ano), avaliam positivamente o modelo de formação educacional recebido. Dos três anos em análise, são os alunos do 3º ano que obtiveram a média mais alta na pontuação de sete dos onze itens que compunham esta dimensão. Os estudantes do 5º ano têm uma representação bastante positiva acerca do apoio prestado pelos seus orientadores de estágio, bem como realizam uma auto-avaliação bastante positiva no que diz respeito ao relacionamento com os seus alunos e aos objectivos profissionais daí inerentes durante o ano de estágio pedagógico. ABSTRACT: The present study aims to distinguish the specificity of the references of the students in the three branches, of the Physical Education degree on Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias (ULHT), for choosing the course and the profession of physical education teacher, and to compare the specificity of the references of students within five years of initial constituents. Another objective is to characterize the representations of the students of Physical Education and School Sport (EFDE), to attend the 3rd year of Bachelor and 1st and 2nd year of the Masters on the guidelines of the education received. Have participated in this study 450 students from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, of Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias. Based on the study "Motivation for the Teaching Profession", 1996, by Professor Saul Neves de Jesus and the methodology he performs, we applied the same type of study to another sample trying to understand how this is manifested, taking into account the objectives outlined. The instrument used, originally built and used by Jesus (1996), is a questionnaire composed of 44 items with Likert scale response. In order to assess the problem under study, these items were divided into four dimensions: initial motivation for the teaching profession, type of educational background, support in teaching practice and professional results obtained in the year of teaching practice. Students of the branch EDFE shown to be more focused on core aspects to consider when choosing the profession of physical education teacher compared to students from branches of Exercise and Wellness (SBS) and Sports Training (DT). Of the three branches in analysis, students of TD are the most that distinctly mark the position of not wanting to be physical education teachers. EFDE students, to attend the 3rd and final year of the Bachelor and the 1st and 2nd year of Master (described as 4th and 5th year), positively evaluate the educational model received. Of the three years under review the third grade students are the ones who achieved the highest average score in seven of the eleven items that made up this dimension. Students in fifth grade have a very positive representation about the support provided by their advisors stage and perform a self-assessment very positive with regard to the relationship with their students and professional goals there inherent during stage pedagogical.

De Generalista a Especialista : Motivações para a formação especializada em enfermagem : o caso das organizações de saúde públicas, na sub-região oeste do distrito de Lisboa

O presente estudo, enquadrado na área de gestão de recursos humanos, tem como principal objectivo identificar os factores motivacionais que orientam a adesão à especialização, no grupo profissional dos enfermeiros. Trata-se de um estudo de natureza exploratória, transversal, descritivo, analítico, comparativo e quantitativo. A população do estudo foi o grupo de enfermeiros portugueses, sendo a sua amostra composta por 150 enfermeiros. Este grupo foi seleccionado a partir de um processo de amostragem probabilística estratificada, sem reposição. O instrumento de recolha de dados foi o inquérito por questionário. Para o efeito usou-se o questionário da motivação para a formação (QMF) de Carré (2001), tendo sido já adaptado para a população portuguesa por Correia (2009). A formação contínua é uma condição importante no desenvolvimento do indivíduo, quer a nível pessoal, quer a nível profissional; assim como no desempenho da organização onde o indivíduo exerce a sua profissão. O presente trabalho pretende, assim, identificar os factores motivacionais na função de enfermeiro, e que conduzem à adesão da especialização, em particular ao Curso de Pós-Licenciatura em Enfermagem. Numa primeira parte, faz-se a definição e avaliação da função, desenhando-se um mapa de competências; identificando-se, em paralelo, os motivos/expectativas que levam estes profissionais da saúde à especialização desta mesma escala. Decorrente dos resultados obtidos, o presente trabalho conclui que as duas principais motivações dos enfermeiros para a frequência do CPLEE são a motivação extrínseca Operacional Pessoal e a motivação extrínseca Operacional Profissional. Foi ainda possível determinar que a idade, o género, o vínculo à instituição e a situação financeira também têm um papel decisivo no que concerne à motivação dos enfermeiros para a frequência do CPLEE. Este estudo permitiu ainda consolidar o questionário da motivação para a formação desenvolvido por Philippe Carré, aplicado à população portuguesa, de forma a analisar a motivação dos enfermeiros portugueses para a frequência do CPLEE. Quanto às implicações práticas, pretende-se contribuir para o desenvolvimento e melhoria das práticas de recursos humanos no sector da saúde. Balança-se aqui, consequentemente, um equilíbrio entre o diagnóstico organizacional, e a prescrição prática. Potencialmente, poderá servir de roadmap para áreas como o recrutamento e selecção, gestão de carreiras, formação e desenvolvimento, desenho de trabalho e de funções; e, adicionalmente, para uma melhor gestão académica do ensino pós-graduado, na carreira da enfermagem.

Using a runway paradigm to assess the relative strength of rats' motivations for enrichment objects

Laboratory animals should be provided with enrichment objects in their cages; however, it is first necessary to test whether the proposed enrichment objects provide benefits that increase the animals’ welfare. The two main paradigms currently used to assess proposed enrichment objects are the choice test, which is limited to determining relative frequency of choice, and consumer demand studies, which can indicate the strength of a preference but are complex to design. Here, we propose a third methodology: a runway paradigm, which can be used to assess the strength of an animal’s motivation for enrichment objects, is simpler to use than consumer demand studies, and is faster to complete than typical choice tests. Time spent with objects in a standard choice test was used to rank several enrichment objects in order to compare with the ranking found in our runway paradigm. The rats ran significantly more times, ran faster, and interacted longer with objects with which they had previously spent the most time. It was concluded that this simple methodology is suitable for measuring rats’ motivation to reach enrichment objects. This can be used to assess the preference for different types of enrichment objects or to measure reward system processes.

Avoidance responses of an aphidophagous ladybird, Adalia bipunctata, to aphid-tending ants

1. Insect predators often aggregrate to patches of high prey density and use prey chemicals as cues for oviposition. If prey have mutualistic guardians such as ants, however, then these patches may be less suitable for predators. 2. Ants often tend aphids and defend them against predators such as ladybirds. Here, we show that ants can reduce ladybird performance by destroying eggs and physically attacking larvae and adults. 3. Unless ladybirds are able to defend against ant attacks they are likely to have adaptations to avoid ants. We show that Adalia bipunctata ladybirds not only move away from patches with Lasius niger ants, but also avoid laying eggs in these patches. Furthermore, ladybirds not only respond to ant presence, but also detect ant semiochemicals and alter oviposition strategy accordingly. 4. Ant semiochemicals may signal the extent of ant territories allowing aphid predators to effectively navigate a mosaic landscape of sub-optimal patches in search of less well-defended prey. Such avoidance probably benefits both ants and ladybirds, and the semiochemicals could be regarded as a means of cooperative communication between enemies. 5. Overall, ladybirds respond to a wide range of positive and negative oviposition cues that may trade-off with each other and internal motivation to determine the overall oviposition strategy.

Forty-eight hour access to primary care: practice factors predicting patients' perceptions

Background: The government has proposed a 48-hour target for GP availability. Although many practices are moving towards delivering that goal, recent national patient surveys have reported a deterioration in patients' reports of doctor availability. What practice factors contribute to patients' perceptions of doctor availability? Method: A cross sectional patient survey (11 000 patients from 54 inner London practices, 7247 (66%) respondents) using the General Practice Assessment Survey. We asked patients how soon they could be seen in their practice following non-urgent consultation requests and related their aggregated responses to the characteristics of their practice. Results: Three factors relating to practice administration and appointments systems operation independently predicted patients' reports of doctor availability. These were the proportion of patients asked to attend the surgery and wait to be seen, the proportion of patients seen using an emergency surgery arrangement, and the extent of practice computerization. Conclusion: Some practices may have difficulty in meeting the target for GP availability. Meeting the target will involve careful review of practice administrative procedures.

Driving saccade to pursuit using image motion

Within the context of active vision, scant attention has been paid to the execution of motion saccades—rapid re-adjustments of the direction of gaze to attend to moving objects. In this paper we first develop a methodology for, and give real-time demonstrations of, the use of motion detection and segmentation processes to initiate capture saccades towards a moving object. The saccade is driven by both position and velocity of the moving target under the assumption of constant target velocity, using prediction to overcome the delay introduced by visual processing. We next demonstrate the use of a first order approximation to the segmented motion field to compute bounds on the time-to-contact in the presence of looming motion. If the bound falls below a safe limit, a panic saccade is fired, moving the camera away from the approaching object. We then describe the use of image motion to realize smooth pursuit, tracking using velocity information alone, where the camera is moved so as to null a single constant image motion fitted within a central image region. Finally, we glue together capture saccades with smooth pursuit, thus effecting changes in both what is being attended to and how it is being attended to. To couple the different visual activities of waiting, saccading, pursuing and panicking, we use a finite state machine which provides inherent robustness outside of visual processing and provides a means of making repeated exploration. We demonstrate in repeated trials that the transition from saccadic motion to tracking is more likely to succeed using position and velocity control, than when using position alone.

Motivation in second language acquisition in Chinese research students in the UK

The present study sets out to examine motivation to learn English by Chinese research students in an informal setting. Data were collected, using semi-structured interviews, from four research students at two points in time during their first year in the UK. The main findings are: they believed that learning English was important; their main goal orientations were instrumental and extrinsic; they set learning goals and persisted to attain them; they valued their current learning environment in general and saw it as supportive of their goals; they held both positive and negative attitudes towards the British, which had differential effects on their motivation; their self-perceived support seemed to have a positive impact on their motivation and the development of self-confidence; they tended to attribute their success to stable causes such as the environment and failure to unstable but controllable causes such as effort. It is concluded that qualitative data of this kind may complement insights from quantitative research. Implications for target country institutions in the provision of support are discussed.

Neural basis of the undermining effect of monetary reward on intrinsic motivation

Contrary to the widespread belief that people are positively motivated by reward incentives, some studies have shown that performance-based extrinsic reward can actually undermine a person's intrinsic motivation to engage in a task. This “undermining effect” has timely practical implications, given the burgeoning of performance-based incentive systems in contemporary society. It also presents a theoretical challenge for economic and reinforcement learning theories, which tend to assume that monetary incentives monotonically increase motivation. Despite the practical and theoretical importance of this provocative phenomenon, however, little is known about its neural basis. Herein we induced the behavioral undermining effect using a newly developed task, and we tracked its neural correlates using functional MRI. Our results show that performance-based monetary reward indeed undermines intrinsic motivation, as assessed by the number of voluntary engagements in the task. We found that activity in the anterior striatum and the prefrontal areas decreased along with this behavioral undermining effect. These findings suggest that the corticobasal ganglia valuation system underlies the undermining effect through the integration of extrinsic reward value and intrinsic task value.

Workaround motivation model (WAMM): an adaptation of the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour

The study of workarounds (WA) has increased in importance due to their impact on patient safety and efficiency. However, there are no adequate theories to explain the motivation to create and use a workaround in a healthcare sitting. Although theories of technology acceptance help to understand the reasons to accept or reject technology, they fail to explain drivers for alternatives. Also workarounds involve creators and performers that have different motivations. Models such as Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) or Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) can help to explain the role of workaround users, but lack explanation of workaround creators’ dynamics. Our aim is to develop a theoretical foundation to explain workaround motivation behaviour models with norms that relate to sanctions to provide an integrated Workaround Motivation Model; WAMM. The development of WAMM model is explained in this paper based on workaround cases as part of further research to establish the model.

On the flexibility of attention to race

Research on the flexibility of race-based processing offers divergent results. Some studies find that race affects processing in an obligatory fashion. Other studies suggest dramatic flexibility. The current study attempts to clarify this divergence by examining a process that may mediate flexibility in race-based processing: the engagement of visual attention. In this study, White participants completed an exogenous cuing task designed to measure attention to White and Black faces. Participants in the control condition showed a pronounced bias to attend to Black faces. Critically, participants in a goal condition were asked to process a feature of the stimulus that was unrelated to race. The induction of this goal eliminated differential attention to Black faces, suggesting that attentional engagement responds flexibly to top-down goals, rather than obligatorily to bottom-up racial cues.

Introducing children with special educational needs to theatre through ‘Relaxed Performances’

This short chapter explains how a growing number of theatres are beginning to offer families living with autism and other disabilities opportunities to attend without fear of alienation or rejection by other audience members. Using one small theatre as a case study, the chapter illustrates the sort of adaptations that are made to the performance and front of house arrangements.

Change escalation processes and complex adaptive systems: from incremental reconfigurations to discontinuous restructuring

This study examines when “incremental” change is likely to trigger “discontinuous” change, using the lens of complex adaptive systems theory. Going beyond the simulations and case studies through which complex adaptive systems have been approached so far, we study the relationship between incremental organizational reconfigurations and discontinuous organizational restructurings using a large-scale database of U.S. Fortune 50 industrial corporations. We develop two types of escalation process in organizations: accumulation and perturbation. Under ordinary conditions, it is perturbation rather than the accumulation that is more likely to trigger subsequent discontinuous change. Consistent with complex adaptive systems theory, organizations are more sensitive to both accumulation and perturbation in conditions of heightened disequilibrium. Contrary to expectations, highly interconnected organizations are not more liable to discontinuous change. We conclude with implications for further research, especially the need to attend to the potential role of managerial design and coping when transferring complex adaptive systems theory from natural systems to organizational systems.

Metacognition and proofreading: the roles of aging, motivation, and interest

Objectives: The current study examined younger and older adults’ error detection accuracy, prediction calibration, and postdiction calibration on a proofreading task, to determine if age-related difference would be present in this type of common error detection task. Method: Participants were given text passages, and were first asked to predict the percentage of errors they would detect in the passage. They then read the passage and circled errors (which varied in complexity and locality), and made postdictions regarding their performance, before repeating this with another passage and answering a comprehension test of both passages. Results: There were no age-related differences in error detection accuracy, text comprehension, or metacognitive calibration, though participants in both age groups were overconfident overall in their metacognitive judgments. Both groups gave similar ratings of motivation to complete the task. The older adults rated the passages as more interesting than younger adults did, although this level of interest did not appear to influence error-detection performance. Discussion: The age equivalence in both proofreading ability and calibration suggests that the ability to proofread text passages and the associated metacognitive monitoring used in judging one’s own performance are maintained in aging. These age-related similarities persisted when younger adults completed the proofreading tasks on a computer screen, rather than with paper and pencil. The findings provide novel insights regarding the influence that cognitive aging may have on metacognitive accuracy and text processing in an everyday task.

Salesperson’s Personality, Motivation and Selling Performance : The Study of New Product Selling

In the highly competitive environment businesses invest big amounts of money into the new product development. New product success potentially depends on different factors among which salespeople play an important role. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential link between salespeople’s personality, motivation to sell new products and performance in selling new products. Based on the theoretical background of the Big Five personality dimensions, motivation and selling performance hypotheses were formulated and tested using statistical methods of correlation and regression analysis. The data was collected within one technologically intensive organization – ABB AB in Sweden using online web questionnaire and self-assessment measurements. Total investigation was conducted among organization’s salesforce. The findings confirm the importance of salesperson’s personality empirically showing that the latter significantly predicts both motivation and performance in selling new products. From all the Big Five Extraversion was confirmed to be the most important predictor of both motivation and performance in selling new products. Extraversion was found positively related with both motivation and performance in selling new products. Salespeople scoring high in Extraversion and especially possessing such characteristics as confident, energetic and sociable tend to be more motivated to sell new products and show higher performance results. Other personality dimensions such as Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to experience complexly approached are not proved to be significantly related neither with motivation nor performance in selling new products. The results are explained by the extreme importance of Extraversion in new product selling situation which analyzing in combination with the other personality dimensions suppresses the others. Finding regarding controlling for certain demographical characteristics of salespeople reveal that performance in selling new products is determined by selling experience. Salespeople’s age is not proved to be significantly related neither with motivation nor performance in selling new products. Findings regarding salespeople’s gender though proposing that males are more motivated to sell new products cannot be generalized due to the study limitations.

Motivation genom sponsring : En studie som utvärderar sponsringens möjligheter till ökad motivation bland personalen i en organisation

Sponsring är ett utbyte och en marknadsföringsmetod som används av allt fler organisationer. Med syftet att påverka personalen i en organisation är sponsring en relativt oanvänd metod för marknadsföring. Trots detta så påverkar sponsring personalen oavsett organisationens målsättning med sponsring. Syftet med studien är att utvärdera om sponsring fungerar som ett verktyg för motivation i en specifik organisation, sedan utvärderas hur sponsring bidrar till motivation. För att besvara syftet genomfördes en kvantitativ studie i form av en enkätundersökning. Denna genomfördes hos vårt studieobjekt Länsförsäkringar i Gävleborg. Analysen av den insamlade datan har genomförts med stöd av den teoretiska referensramen. Resultatet av studien visar att sponsring kan användas till att motivera personalen på Länsförsäkringar. Dock så är organisationens nuvarande sponsring något som inte tydligt motiverar personalen. Länsförsäkringar vill med sin sponsring bidra till samhället och på så sätt skapa engagemang och stolthet bland personalen. Sponsring får personalen att känna stolthet men däremot inget tydligt engagemang. Länsförsäkringar är bra på att informera personalen om sponsring, däremot så är organisationen inte lika bra på att lyssna till personalens värderingar kring sponsring. Det bristande engagemanget skulle då kunna bero på att personalen inte får tycka till om organisationens sponsring.