Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2023-04-01"
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- Autoavaliação de qualidade: seu impacto na melhoria de uma instituição de ensino superior. «Estudo de caso»Publication . Basílio, Felismino; Alves, José MatiasO estudo foi realizado com objetivo de avaliar o impacto da autoavaliação na melhoria de qualidade de ensino, pesquisa e extensão numa universidade da província de Tete-Moçambique. Definiu-se um estudo de caso único, com abordagem qualitativa. Os dados foram colhidos através da entrevista, análise documental, observação direta e inquérito e foram discutidos à luz da triangulação de fontes e do quadro teórico. Os resultados foram apresentados por categorias temáticas. Concluiu-se que a autoavaliação de qualidade gera poucos contributos para a melhoria da IES, sendo os poucos existentes concentrados no ensino e quase insignificantes para a pesquisa e inexistentes para a extensão, o fato é motivado, de entre outras razões, pela realização descontínua da autoavaliação na instituição, isto é, só ocorre quando a IES pretende submeter um curso para a acreditação. Recomenda-se que as IES devem elaborar instrumentos próprios, com base nos documentos do CNAQ, constituídos por critérios que permitam efetivamente promover e avaliar a melhoraria da qualidade de ensino, pesquisa e extensão e posterior promoção da cultura de autoavaliação contínua.
- Production of soy protein concentrate with the recovery of bioactive compounds: from destruction to valorizationPublication . Coscueta, Ezequiel R.; Malpiedi, Luciana Pellegrini; Pintado, Maria Manuela; Nerli, Bibiana B.This work aimed to develop a novel methodology based on aqueous micellar systems (AMS), for producing soy protein concentrates (SPC) from soybean flour and recovering high-valuable bioactive compounds as by-products. Ethoxylated aliphatic alcohols Tergitol 15-S-7 and Tergitol 15-S-9, non-toxic and biodegradable surfactants, were selected to form the AMS. The methodology consisted of an extractive stage of soybean flour with AMS, which rendered both a pellet, i.e., the SPC, and a supernatant containing the extracted bioactive compounds. The latter was further heated above the cloud point temperature, thus resulting in a biphasic system formed by a micelle-rich phase (MP) and an aqueous phase (AP). Obtained SPC showed a noticeable loss (∼90%) of trypsin inhibitor activity, a total protein content close to 60%, soluble protein amounts varying from 19% to 34%, and remarkable released (by simulated digestion) antioxidant and antihypertensive activities. Those indicators are similar to or even better than those corresponding to SPC from the classical acid-extraction method. The AMS also exhibited an enhanced efficiency for extracting antinutrients such as non-digestible oligosaccharides, trypsin inhibitors, and lectins mostly recovered at the AP and separated from isoflavones, which were concentrated and isolated at the MP. The recovery of all the mentioned bioactive compounds, whether beneficial or undesirable, broadens their uses in research, food, and pharmacological fields. This successful performance, simplicity, scalability, and sustainability make the proposed AMS-based extraction a powerful tool for processing plant derivatives and valorizing their by-products.
- Coordinated enactment: how organizational departments work together to implement CSRPublication . Risi, David; Wickert, Christopher; Ramus, TommasoResearch on the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has revealed the critical role of CSR departments vis-a-vis functional departments. While both CSR and functional departments influence CSR implementation, the question of how they work together remains underexamined. We address this question by mobilizing and merging two complementary yet separate perspectives on CSR implementation: "coordination" and "enactment." Building on a comparative case study involving seven large Swiss financial institutions that have established CSR departments and implemented CSR to varying extents, we inductively derive six courses of actions conducing to CSR implementation, involving both coordination and enactment. We distinguish between four courses of actions in the CSR departments (centralizing, coalescing, orchestrating, and consulting) and two courses of actions in the functional departments (decentralizing and tailoring). As our data suggest that coordination and enactment work in tandem, we capture these insights in a model of CSR implementation as coordinated enactment. Our research contributes to the literature by explaining how CSR departments and functional departments enact and simultaneously coordinate CSR at a particular implementation stage, thus illuminating how and why the variance in CSR implementation occurs.
- Musical achievement during a lockdown: the parental support miraclePublication . Oliveira, António; McPherson, Gary; Ribeiro, Luísa Mota; Oliveira-Silva, PatríciaThe quality of parental support is recognized as a crucial factor in the early stages of a student’s development, and particularly in instrumental music education. At the start of 2020, the outbreak of a global pandemic crisis posed new and unprecedented challenges to education, forcing families to stay at home to prevent contagion. This investigation was conducted during the period of a COVID pandemic lockdown in Portugal. We explored whether parental support, provided during the lockdown period, was associated with their child’s achievement as reported by their instrumental music teacher. For this study, 39 parent–teacher dyads of first-grade students of an instrument music course were recruited from two public music conservatories. Parents supplied information on the frequency in which they provided student-support-related attitudes and actions in the home context. Simultaneously, teachers provided information about the student’s achievement during the lockdown compared with the previous in-person performance period. Results indicate a strong relationship between parental support and musical achievement, with students who received higher levels of supportive parental involvement performing better than before the pandemic crisis. The findings are discussed in relation to the importance of parental involvement in a child’s instrumental music education.
- ECB's discretion vs legitimacy: in defence of a limited central bankPublication . Faria, Luís Leal deThe European sovereign debt crisis, and later the pandemic, led the ECB to take unconventional monetary policy measures to restore confidence in the Euro. While these measures were necessary to preserve Europe’s financial and economic stability, they also resulted in an increasing accumulation of power by the ECB, which may warrant a rebalance of the framework that underpins its legitimacy. While independent central banks are widely recognised as essential to avoid manipulation in favour of short-term political interests, it is also crucial to ensure that they remain legitimate in the eyes of constitutional democracies. This balance seems increasingly challenging to achieve, especially when the ECB’s actions imply value judgments that may be outside its technocratic scope. Moreover, doubts arise as to whether it can effectively deliver on its mandate in the current high inflation context. Against this background, this paper assesses how the ECB’s increasing scope of action may threaten its legitimacy. To carry out this analysis, we first focus on the concept of discretion, illustrating how some of the ECB’s current policies fall outside its technocratic sphere, entering a political dimension. Then, we reflect on the consequences of this behaviour, arguing that the ECB needs to reduce its scope of action to remain relevant in the future.
- Academic freedom as a defensive rightPublication . Stachowiak-Kudła, Monika; Westa, Sina; Botelho, Catarina Santos; Bartha, IldikóEnsuring the proper implementation of academic freedom can be difficult both for policymakers and university authorities. Hence, great emphasis should be given to the defensive function of academic freedom. In this paper, we analyse the legal regulations and the jurisprudence of the constitutional courts of Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. We identify who is the holder of academic freedom, how the defensive function of academic freedom works and what academic activities are being protected. The study shows that individual countries emphasise slightly different aspects of the defensive function of academic freedom but remain unanimous on the essence of this function. As academic freedom is not defined unequivocally in most constitutions and legal frameworks, constitutional courts play a significant role in shaping its defensive function.