The European Project Semester at ISEP: the challenge of educating global engineers

Current engineering education challenges require approaches that promote scientific, technical, design and complementary skills while fostering autonomy, innovation and responsibility. The European Project Semester (EPS) at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) (EPS@ISEP) is a one semester project-based learning programme (30 European Credit Transfer Units (ECTU)) for engineering students from diverse scientific backgrounds and nationalities that intends to address these goals. The students, organised in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, are challenged to solve real multidisciplinary problems during one semester. The EPS package, although on project development (20 ECTU), includes a series of complementary seminars aimed at fostering soft, project-related and engineering transversal skills (10 ECTU). Hence, the students enrolled in this programme improve their transversal skills and learn, together and with the team of supervisors, subjects distinct from their core training. This paper presents the structure, implementation and results of the EPS@ISEP that was created in 2011 to apply the best engineering practices and promote internationalisation and engineering education innovation at ISEP.     

Restenosis: A challenge to angioplasty

Fatty deposits clog the coronary arteries blocking blood flow to the heart muscles. This leads to coronary artery diseases. The therapeutic approach is to either provide a by-pass or clear the block by a procedure called angioplasty. However, angioplasty has a high rate of restenosisrenarrowing of the artery in due course. Scientists are looking at various options to prevent restenosis. Application of ionising radiation to the site of angioplasty is one such option.     

细菌对抗生素耐药性的研究进展

抗生素的不合理使用所导致的细菌耐药性是全球关注的公共卫生问题。本文简要综述了抗生素的抑菌机理、细菌的耐药机制、耐药菌的检测、耐药性产生因素以及预防。     

全球化:中国教育面对的新挑战

当今的全球化进程,影响深刻而广泛。教育面临着若干重大的挑战“教育产业”挑战“教育事业”;教学出现跨国界趋同化走势;新技术正在改写教育式样的生成规则。在转型期从战略上进行新的定位与整合,是我国教育发展的要求。     

Communication in intimate relationships: A research challenge

This review focuses on the structuring of research models to investigate communication in intimate relationships. Two major issues addressed are: (1) the nature of outcome variables isolated for study; and (2) the need to integrate multiple theoretical perspectives to understand communication context. Suggestions are offered for defining and measuring dyadic level, instrumental, time‐bound, and evaluative communication effects. A dialectic view of communication context is presented which integrates varied perspectives for organizing and analyzing the antecedents and consequences of intimates’ communication.     

A global collage of impressions: Preschools abroad

“What do you think of European preschools?” “Do they have good schools in Yemen?” “What are Chinese child care centers like?” I am always taken aback when asked such questions. Of course, I'm always taken aback when someone asks what I think of kindergarten education in the United States; I never know how to answer that either. Does the question refer to kindergarten classes in the school near my home? Or kindergartens across the United States? Even if the inquirer expected an answer based on the schools which I visit regularly to supervise student teachers I would have to give a general statement, followed by some qualifying statements related to different teachers, different schools, and different school districts — all withinone county! The old adage that “All generalizations are dangerous, including this one” always comes to mind.     

Teaching business ethics in the global South: control,resistance, and phronesis

We explore academic literature on business ethics education and critically compare the themes emerging from different contexts. Outlining guidelines for analysis based on Southern Theory, we conduct a content analysis on a selection of English, peer-reviewed articles and then critically compare emergent themes from across the ‘Northern'–Southern’ divide. The results suggest commonality but also substantive nuances. One key difference concerns a concerted effort from the South to decipher daily business experiences in relation to prevalent business ethics frameworks focused on the North. Furthermore, using notion of phronetic science, we critically discuss our findings to highlight inherent dynamics of control and resistance. The paper concludes by suggesting future directions for business ethics curriculum development that is more sensitive to these dynamics and by suggesting an adoption of notions related to practical wisdom.     

International dimensions: A challenge for European engineering education

Internationalization of higher education is a concept that often is transformed into a set of activities that has a certain international dimension. This can be done more or less consciously. Issues such as development of skills and knowledge, creation of an international culture on campus and the involvement of an international dimension in all activities concern university management. These are issues university managers have to deal with. But it also opens up new opportunities. The broader issues of internationalization require a strong involvement of the academic leaders and of senior officers. This contribution describes how changes around us force universities to take action and introduce clear policies for internationalization of higher education, based on the needs institutions for higher engineering education should respond to. Special attention is given to a recent Swedish evaluation on the effects of student exchange. This study is compared with experience at Chalmers.     

Human relations: A challenge to the teacher of speech

This essay illustrates some of the day‐to‐day tasks that an ombudsman performs and notes the centrality of speech communication to their resolution.