[pt] Com o crescente aumento da competitividade e a distribuição de software livre através da Internet, os fabricantes de software preocupam-se cada vez mais em produzir software de alta qualidade que de fato possa melhorar a vida das pessoas e oferecer uma experiência de uso agradável e produtiva. Para tanto, uma necessidade da indústria é que haja métodos e técnicas de avaliação desta experiência de uso. Existem ferramentas computacionais desenvolvidas para apoiar a aplicação de alguns métodos de avaliação existentes. Algumas delas são comerciais, outras foram desenvolvidas em universidades ou instituições nãogovernamentais. Há ainda as que foram desenvolvidas por órgãos governamentais. O foco deste trabalho é o método de avaliação de comunicabilidade, uma ferramenta epistêmica proposta pela Engenharia Semiótica - uma teoria semiótica da interação humano-computador. O método consiste de um procedimento sistemático para avaliar a experiência do usuário ao interagir com sistemas, enfatizando aspectos da comunicação. Apesar de ser ensinado em boa parte dos programas de graduação e pós-graduação em Informática brasileiros, o método não tem escala de utilização suficiente, para trazer novos conhecimentos para a área de pesquisa Interação Humano-Computador, nem tampouco para consolidarse como ferramenta para uso extensivo na prática profissional do mercado. Isto se deve às dificuldades existentes no ensino e aprendizado do método (Bim et al., 2007). Por isso o trabalho apresenta uma ferramenta computacional de apoio à aplicação da avaliação de comunicabilidade, especificamente projetada para facilitar o ensino e aprendizado do método. / [en] With increasing competition among software producers and free distribution of software over the Internet, there is a growing concern with developing highquality software, which can actually improve people's lives and allow for pleasant and productive use experience. To this end, one of the industry's needs is the availability of methods and techniques for evaluating use experience. Some computer tools have been developed to support the application of existing evaluation methods. Among them, some are commercial, others have been developed in universities, in non-governmental organizations, and some have even been developed by government agencies. The focus of this work is on the communicability evaluation method, an epistemic tool proposed by Semiotic Engineering, a semiotic theory of human-computer interaction. The method consists of a systematic procedure for evaluating the users' experience as they interact with systems, emphasizing the communicative aspects of the process. Although it is taught in a considerable number of graduate and undergraduate schools of Informatics in Brazil, the method is not sufficiently utilized to either generate new knowledge for human-computer interaction research, or consolidate itself as a tool for extensive professional practice. This is the consequence of difficulties in learning and teaching the method (Bim et al., 2007). Therefore, this work presents a computer tool to support the application of the communicability evaluation method, specifically designed to facilitate the teaching and learning of the method.

As cidades são as grandes modificadoras da paisagem natural, uma vez que não são organismos auto-sustentáveis e sim grandes consumidores dos insumos agrícolas, industriais e dos recursos naturais, sem, no entanto, reciclá-los ou reutilizá-los. São Paulo, com quase 11 milhões de habitantes, apresenta entre outros problemas, um grande déficit habitacional, seja pela insuficiência na quantidade de habitações para atender a demanda existente, seja pela inadequação das unidades existentes. Com a finalidade de melhorar a qualidade do ambiente construído e minimizar seu impacto negativo no ambiente natural, diversas metodologias de avaliação de sustentabilidade vêm sendo desenvolvidas por diferentes países e regiões. No contexto apresentado, este artigo teve como objetivo analisar algumas destas metodologias de avaliação de sustentabilidade do ambiente construído que foram desenvolvidas internacionalmente estudando seus indicadores, estrutura e a sua aplicabilidade na avaliação de conjuntos habitacionais no contexto da realidade brasileira. A partir da revisão bibliográfica, foram selecionados alguns métodos que foram aplicados em estudos de caso formados por dois conjuntos habitacionais de interesse social produzidos pela Companhia de Desenvolvimento Habitacional e Urbano do Estado de São Paulo - CDHU. Como resultado, foi possível verificar quais requisitos de sustentabilidade são atendidos pelos conjuntos e quais métodos e indicadores são aplicáveis ou não à realidade brasileira. / Cities are the major modifier of the natural landscape, they are large consumers of agricultural inputs, industrial and natural resources, without, however, recycle it or reuse it. To improve the quality of the built environment, developed countries have designed methodologies to assess sustainability both of building constructions and urban areas. Among other problems, São Paulo, with almost 11 million inhabitants, has a significant housing deficit, both owing to the insufficiency of housing units to meet the existing demand and the low quality of existing units. In order to improve the quality of the built environment and minimize its negative impact on the natural environment, different methodologies for assessing sustainability have been developed by different countries and regions. In the presented context, the purpose of this research was to analyze some sustainable assessment methods existing internationally, reviewing their indicators, structure and its applicability in the Brazilian reality applying them to two housing schemes. With such analysis, the author has reviewed the situation of housing schemes in regard to sustainability and, at the same time, analyzed the applicability of international methods to the Brazilian reality, identifying the main difficulties of the assessments and also identifying which methods and indicators are able to be applied or not in Brazilian reality.

Economia e Gestão Internacional / Master in International Economics and Management / Os estudos que se debruçam sobre a influência e o impacto de organizações geradores de conhecimento (e.g., universidades ou instituições de I&D) têm sido, normalmente, abordados por meio da análise estritamente económica, enfatizando o seu impacto económico no âmbito local, regional ou nacional. No presente estudo, avança-se com uma metodologia alternativa de modo a avaliar a influência e o impacto científico internacional de uma instituição geradora e difusora de conhecimento. São assim estudados dois ramos da literatura que tratam, por um lado, da mensurabilidade do impacto económico de organizações de I&D, e por outro lado, dos fluxos de conhecimento: nomeadamente, estudos económicos tradicionais e análises cienciométricas e bibliométricas. Consequentemente, apresentamos aqui uma metodologia complementar, baseada na cienciometria e bibliometria, por considerar a influência de uma instituição de I&D através da análise da produção científica desenvolvida e por via do reconhecimento da sua relevância pela comunidade científica internacional. Concretamente, tendo como caso de estudo o INESC Porto, analisamos a dinâmica da sua produção científica durante os últimos doze anos, dando especial relevo à evolução das suas co-autorias científicas internacionais, delineando a arquitectura da sua network de conhecimento, bem como da sua estrutura (provavelmente) mutável. Adicionalmente, dando um enfoque especial às suas áreas científicas mais prolíficas, e atendendo ao trabalho científico registado no Science Citation Index (SCI), mapeamos as citações e inferimos sobre a sua influência e o seu impacto científico internacional. Desta forma, somos capazes de quantificar e mapear a rede científica internacional de uma organização produtora de conhecimento, através do uso de métodos estatísticos descritivos e geográficos, bem como por meio de modelos logit, que permitem a visualização do âmbito e a avaliação da importância da estrutura de influência internacional do INESC Porto. Os resultados demonstram que o INESC Porto tem vindo a expandir a sua rede científica internacional. De facto, a sua rede de influência ao nível do conhecimento chega aos cinco continentes. Para além disso, as estimações econométricas levam-nos a concluir que a influência geográfica alargada da investigação científica do INESC Porto não é resultado do seu posicionamento internacional em termos de co-autorias, mas antes sim da qualidade intrínseca da sua produção científica.

Sprachverständnisuntersuchungen sind sowohl für die Forschung zum Spracherwerb und zu dessen Störungen als auch für die Diagnostik in der klinischen Praxis von essentieller Bedeutung. Zwei der verbreitetesten Methoden zur Erfassung des Verständnisses von syntaktischen Strukturen sind das Ausagieren von Sätzen (AS) und die Satz-Bild-Zuordnung (SBZ). Beide Methoden sind mit unterschiedlichen Anforderungen an die Probanden sowie mit spezifischen Vor- und Nachteilen verbunden (vgl. z.B. Goodluck 1996, Gerken & Shady 1996), woraus sich die Frage ergibt, inwiefern die Wahl der Methode das Testergebnis und die damit verbundenen Schlussfolgerungen beeinflusst. In der hier beschriebenen empirischen Untersuchung wurden die AS- und die SBZ-Methode anhand des Verstehens semantisch reversibler Sätze mit Objektvoranstellung direkt miteinander verglichen: Jeweils 24 monolingual mit Deutsch als Muttersprache aufwachsenden, sprachunauffälligen Kindern im Alter von 3;0 bis 3;5 bzw. 5;0 bis 5;5 Jahren wurden insgesamt zwölf Items, von denen neun aus semantisch reversiblen Sätzen mit Objektvoranstellung und drei aus entsprechenden subjektinitialen Kontrastsätzen bestanden, sowohl mittels der AS-Methode als auch mittels der SBZ-Methode präsentiert. Zum Ausagieren der Testsätze (AS-Test) wurden Spielzeugfiguren verwendet, für die Satz-Bild-Zuordnung (SBZ-Test) wurden pro Item ein Ziel- und zwei Ablenkerbilder erstellt. Die kindlichen Reaktionen wurden nach syntaktischen Kriterien als korrekt bzw. inkorrekt bewertet, Abweichungen wurden hinsichtlich der Fehlerart klassifiziert. Zusätzlich wurde bei den einzelnen Kindern der Erwerbsstand der untersuchten Struktur beurteilt und es wurden, sofern möglich, die eingesetzten Sprachverständnisstrategien ermittelt. Der Vergleich der Methoden ergab für die einzelnen Altersgruppen sehr unterschiedliche Befunde: Bei den 3;0- bis 3;5-jährigen Kindern zeigten sich im SBZ-Test teilweise starke Rateeffekte, die zu verfälschten Ergebnissen und kaum interpretierbaren Reaktionsmustern führten, während dies im AS-Test nicht der Fall war. Für diese Altersgruppe ist demnach die AS-Methode als die geeignetere anzusehen. Bei den 5;0- bis 5;5-jährigen Kindern konnte indes keine derartige Diskrepanz zwischen den beiden Tests festgestellt werden. Vielmehr waren die Leistungen hier insgesamt vergleichbar, so dass für diese Altersgruppe die AS- und die SBZ-Methode als für die Untersuchung des Syntaxverständnisses gleichwertig gelten können. Darüber hinaus bestätigte die Untersuchung viele der in der Literatur beschriebenen Vor- und Nachteile der beiden Methoden, darunter der geringere Materialbeschaffungsaufwand bei der AS-Methode, die größere Durchführungspraktikabilität der SBZ-Methode, die höhere Attraktivität und das geringere Risiko für Antwort-biases bei der AS-Methode, die leichtere Bewertbarkeit der kindlichen Reaktionen bei der SBZ-Methode. Im Vergleich der Altersgruppen zeigte sich, dass die 5;0- bis 5;5-jährigen Kinder Testsätze mit Objektvoranstellung deutlich besser verstanden als die 3;0- bis 3;5-jährigen: Die meisten der jüngeren Kinder hatten die untersuchte Struktur offenbar noch nicht erworben – sie interpretierten die Sätze mit Objektvoranstellung stattdessen am häufigsten nach der Wortreihenfolgestrategie, verstanden sie also wie subjektinitiale Strukturen. Von den 5;0- bis 5;5-jährigen Kindern dagegen hatten 75% die untersuchte Struktur rezeptiv erworben, interpretierten die Testsätze also primär korrekt nach der grammatischen Strategie. Aus diesen Ergebnissen wurde geschlossen, dass die Struktur semantisch reversibler Sätze mit Objektvoranstellung frühestens ab einem Alter von 5;0 bis 5;5 Jahren als in der ungestörten Sprachentwicklung rezeptiv erworben gelten kann. Da sich jedoch in beiden Altersgruppen trotz allem eine erhebliche interindividuelle Variation hinsichtlich der Verständnisfähigkeiten zeigte, muss insgesamt von einem relativ langen Zeitfenster für den ungestörten Erwerb dieser Struktur ausgegangen werden. / The assessment of children’s receptive language abilities plays an essential part in both experimental research on language acquisition and clinical diagnostics of language acquisition impairments. Two of the most prevalent methods especially used for assessing syntax comprehension are act-out and picture selection. The two methods do not only differ in their requirements on the proband/patient, but also have specific advantages and disadvantages concerning the development, administration, and interpretation of experimental or diagnostic tests (cf. Goodluck 1996, Gerken & Shady 1996). This leads to the question of how far the adopted method influences the result of the test and the conclusions drawn from it. In the study reported here, act-out and picture selection were, by means of a comprehension task using semantically reversible sentences with object fronting, directly compared to each other. Subjects were 48 German-speaking children with normal language development: 24 aged 3;0 to 3;5 years and another 24 aged 5;0 to 5;5 years. The children were presented with twelve stimuli, nine consisting of semantically reversible sentences with object fronting and three of correspondent subject initial constructions, using both an act-out procedure with toy props and a picture selection procedure with three choices per sentence. The child’s responses were scored correct or incorrect according to syntactic criteria, with incorrect responses categorised by type. In addition, the child’s level of acquisition of the structure in focus and, when possible, the comprehension strategies used by the child were determined. The comparison of the two methods yielded very different results for the individual age groups: A considerable proportion of the 3;0 to 3;5-year-olds displayed strong effects of guessing with the picture selection procedure, which led to inaccurate results and response patterns that were hardly interpretable, whereas this was not the case with the act-out procedure. According to these findings then, act-out is to be considered the more suitable method for children of this age. However with the 5;0 to 5;5-year-olds, no such discrepancy between the two methods was found, their results in both tests being comparable. Thus, for children aged five years or older, picture selection and act-out can be regarded as equivalent methods for the assessment of syntax comprehension. In addition to these findings, many of the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods described in the literature were confirmed in the study, such as the lower material provision costs with the act-out procedure, the higher administration practicability of the picture selection method, the greater appeal for children and the lower risk for response-biases with act-out tasks, and with picture selection, the easier scoring of the child’s responses . Comparing the two age groups, the 5;0 to 5;5-year-olds showed considerably better comprehension of the semantically reversible sentences with object fronting than the 3;0 to 3;5-year-olds: The majority of the younger children obviously had not yet acquired the structure in question and instead, mostly relying on the so called word order strategy, misinterpreted the sentences with object fronting as subject-initial structures. In contrast, 75% of the older children had receptively acquired the syntax of object fronting, since they interpreted most of the test sentences correctly according to a grammatical strategy. From these results, it was concluded that the structure of semantically reversible sentences with object fronting can be regarded as receptively acquired in normal language development at the earliest at age 5;0 to 5;5 years. However, since there was considerable interindividual variation in the comprehension abilities in both age groups, the time frame for the acquisition of this structure must be assumed to be relatively large.

<p>The main objective of this study was to investigate the attitudes, perceptions and factors affecting the implementation of the Consumer Studies teaching portfolio in the<br /> Educational Management Developmental Centres (EMDCs) of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). The sub-objectives were firstly to assess the teachers' attitudes toward the Consumer Studies teaching portfolio as an assessment tool. A second aim was to describe teachers&rsquo / perceptions of assessment methods in the Consumer Studies teaching portfolio, while a third was to identify the factors that affect the development of the said portfolio.</p>

When the huge building stock in Turkey is considered, it is practically impossible to carry out detailed structural analyses for all of the buildings. In order to cope with the seismic safety evaluation of a large number of existing buildings, it is necessary to use simplified techniques, which can predict the seismic vulnerability of the existing buildings in a relatively short time. The comprehensive structural data compiled for the 48 different reinforced concrete buildings contain full information on their structural characteristics before and after retrofitting and are used in this study. The first basic goal of the study is to develop a procedure through which the building stock under consideration can be classified as &ldquo / safe&rdquo / or &ldquo / unsafe&rdquo / according to the current Turkish Seismic Code. The classification procedure is based on discriminant analysis. The cross-sectional area of the load-bearing members of a building and its preliminary assessment score are selected as the discriminator variables. The second and ultimate basic goal of the study is to propose a method through which the minimum retrofitting cost for satisfying the provisions of the Turkish Seismic Code can be estimated. A quick and uncostly assessment of retrofitting cost estimates based on the procedure described in this thesis will provide a useful input for decisions concerning whether a seismically &ldquo / unsafe&rdquo / building should be rebuilt or retrofitted. Such a situation will save time, labor and money, when it is used for the evaluation of building stocks involving large number of buildings and also in urban transformation operations.

Performance-based Maintenance Contracts (PBMCs) are increasingly being used for roadway maintenance as an alternative to method-based specifications. However, this technique is still relatively new and several issues have not been adequately addressed in the literature. The paper provides a systematic process for developing quality assurance measures to be used within these contracts. The process addresses key issues, including the development of performance standards and targets, a method for monitoring the roadside performance, and a methodology for developing pay adjustment factors. The developed performance standards presented in the paper are easily measured and assigned grades of pass, fail, or not applicable. The required sample size is a function of the project characteristics, including performance variability along the project, required confidence level, and allowable tolerance. Finally, the pay adjustment curves are a function of the initial project LOS, the target LOS, and the maintenance cost to achieve the target LOS.

The purpose of this study was to explore and investigate perceptions and needs of the primary school teachers&rsquo / in 4th and 5th grade public schools in Yenimahalle and &Ccedil / ankaya districts related to the teaching and assessment methods based on individual differences in science and technology classes. Furthermore this study investigated the teachers&rsquo / perceptions on new science and technology curriculum in Turkey and their perceptions on individual differences. The research type of this study include survey, causal-comparative, and also qualitative research in nature which are non-experimental research methods. The study was conducted in the 2005-2006 academic year in Ankara. Three data collection methods were used to collect data from primary school teachers. First, a needs assessment questionnaire was administered on 155 primary school teachers. Then, the researcher carried out in depth interviews with 13 primary school teachers. Furthermore an observational case study including video typing in two science and technology classes was carried out. Quantitative part of the study was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics by using SPSS (e.g., frequences, percentage analysis, and analyses of variance). Qualitative part of the study was analyzed by using qualitative methods (Generating categories, themes, patterns and coding the data). The findings from quanitative and qualitative data indicated that primary school teachers have various needs to apply teaching and assessment methods based on individual differences related to knowledge, experience, students, parents, administrators, resources, opportunities, time, and science books. Also teachers mostly use new approaches in new Science and Technology Curriculum such as individual presentations.

There are several different methods of assessment of functional communication in individuals with aphasia. However, these are not very established in Sweden. A number of assessment methods are not translated and adapted to Swedish. The views about what functional communication means are scattered. The purpose of this study was to, with the help of a questionnaire survey, identify how Swedish speech and language therapists assess functional communication, to what extent and what they want that an assessment method should contain to be clinically useful. The study involved 54 clinically active speech and language therapists in the area of aphasia. Participants felt that it was important to assess functional communication. Assessment was commonly used but with different methods. The most common way of assessment was that the speech  and language therapists assessed the functional communication through dialogue and observation. It was less claimed to use only structured and published assessment materials. The speech and language therapists in the study considered it important that the results from an assessment method should be comparable over time to be clinically useful. An increased knowledge and dissemination of assessment materials for functional communication might increase the use. There is a need for new Swedish assessment material and/or translations of existing material regarding functionell communication. Another aspect that is important for a more thorough assessment of functional communication is the lack of time as many speech and language therapists where experiencing. / Det finns flertalet bedömningsmetoder för funktionell kommunikation hos personer med afasi. Dessa är dock inte särskilt etablerade i Sverige. Flera av bedömningsmetoderna finns inte översatta till svenska och är därmed inte anpassade till svenska förhållanden. Åsikterna kring vad funktionell kommunikation innebär är spridda. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att med hjälp av en enkätundersökning kartlägga hur och i vilken utsträckning logopeder i Sverige bedömer funktionell kommunikation vid afasi, samt vad de vill att en bedömningsmetod ska innehålla för att den ska vara kliniskt användbar.  I studien deltog 54 kliniskt aktiva logopeder inom afasiområdet. Deltagarna ansåg att det var viktigt att bedöma funktionell kommunikation. Bedömningen utfördes i hög grad men med olika metoder. Det vanligaste var att logopederna bedömde funktionell kommunikation genom samtal och observation. En mindre andel uppgav sig använda enbart strukturerade och publicerade bedömningsmaterial. Det logopederna ansåg viktigast för att en bedömningsmetod ska vara kliniskt användbar var att det gick att jämföra resultatet över tid. Det framkom av svaren att en utökad kunskap och spridning av bedömningsmaterial för funktionell kommunikation skulle få logopeder att använda dessa mer. Det behövs nya svenska material och/eller översättningar av redan befintliga material. Tidsbrist för bedömning av funktionell kommunikation är något som många deltagare angav som en anledning till att det inte genomförs i stor utsträckning.

The environmental assessment system Miljöbyggnad is a Swedish system initiated by Bygga-Bo-Dialogen to assess buildings with regards to three main areas; “Energy”, “Indoor climate” and “Materials”. A building can obtain three different classifications depending on how well it manages to meet the demands. GOLD is the highest classification and is followed by SILVER and BRONZE. The majority of the measures needed to comply with the demands are done during the design phase. During the production phase a considerable amount of work is required to make sure to document the built in products and make sure they do not contain any dangerous substances. The thesis is based on the experiences retrieved by working with Miljöbyggnad in Skanska’s project Sickla Udde skola which is aiming for the highest classification GOLD. Interviews have been conducted with employees of Skanska working with the system in order to take part of their experiences. The thesis identifies difficulties linked to working with the main area “Materials” during the production phase. It also describes the available product data bases used to simplify the work with the system. Furthermore the thesis gives suggestions on how to work with Miljöbyggnad during the production phase.