Soccer and media in Brazil

This essay analyzes the complex relations between soccer and media in Brazil. Both massmedia and sports arrived in Brazil at the same time, in the late nineteenth century, both associated with the values of modernity in urban centres. It discusses the media coverage of the World Cup and data regarding audiences in particular. The World Cup is considered to be a very important social fact in contemporary Brazilian culture, and since its beginning, the World Cup has been available in Brazil exclusively through the mass media. Since the first international radio transmissions in the late 1930s, Brazil’s matches reached outstanding audience numbers. In the last three World Cups, the share of the total audience for the matches was around 95%, something like 110 million viewers per match, on average. The essay discusses the media’s role in projecting Brazilian football.     

Computer-aided Engineering Education and Technical Management

The computer-aided engineering (CAE) system gives an engineer a set of powerful new tools for proper realization of his/her design tasks. Therefore, it is also necessary to accept this methodological development adequately within the engineering curriculum of technical universities in the successful education of the new generation of engineers. CAE methodology influences all areas of an engineer's work and should be accompanied by principal changes in the traditionally used methods of engineering education. But the student's use of computer tools within many engineering disciplines hides the danger of gaining practical skills by means of the computer instead of traditional educational goals concerning the proper understanding of the solution principles of technical problems. Sometimes the students are not able to recognize the significance of, for example, software development problems or engineer workstation organization problems, in view of the main goal of engineering design—to develop a new technical system. To avoid this danger it is necessary to present methods of technical management as an integral part of CAE education. Such orientation has an important role within an engineer's education in the twentieth century.     

How Do National Economic Competitiveness Indices View Human Capital?

Economic competitiveness is at the top of national, regional and global political and economic agendas. Several countries in all regions of the world have established policies and institutions devoted to economic competitiveness, including in developing and transition countries. This leads to the question of how to define national economic competitiveness and, as a logical consequence, how to measure it. This article provides a critical analysis of two major global indices measuring national economic competitiveness, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), with a special focus on the index published by the WEF due to its broader global coverage. The article shows that human capital has been given relatively little explicit recognition, despite the large weight of human capital in the WEF index. This article asserts through simulations based on WEF data that countries performing poorly in national economic competitiveness rankings can improve their standings significantly by focusing reform efforts on raising quality of education and on expanding access to education and training. The simulations also show that the potential improvements in national economic competitiveness are unequally distributed across the globe, and that in terms of national economic competitiveness, developing and transition countries stand to gain relatively most from improving their education and training systems compared to developed nations. Suggestions for improving measurements of education and training in the WEF index conclude the article and it is shown that educationalists can help refocus policy discussions on how to improve education and training systems through discussions on substance.     

Three-dimensional kinematics of the lower limbs during forward ice hockey skating

The objectives of the study were to describe lower limb kinematics in three dimensions during the forward skating stride in hockey players and to contrast skating techniques between low- and high-calibre skaters. Participant motions were recorded with four synchronized digital video cameras while wearing reflective marker triads on the thighs, shanks, and skates. Participants skated on a specialized treadmill with a polyethylene slat bed at a self-selected speed for 1 min. Each participant completed three 1-min skating trials separated by 5 min of rest. Joint and limb segment angles were calculated within the local (anatomical) and global reference planes. Similar gross movement patterns and stride rates were observed; however, high-calibre participants showed a greater range and rate of joint motion in both the sagittal and frontal planes, contributing to greater stride length for high-calibre players. Furthermore, consequent postural differences led to greater lateral excursion during the power stroke in high-calibre skaters. In conclusion, specific kinematic differences in both joint and limb segment angle movement patterns were observed between low- and high-calibre skaters.     

数据库建筑：对可能性艺术的人类学考察

康斯坦特.纽文惠斯的＂新巴比伦＂作为一种富有远见的建筑设计方案在赛博空间理论方面有重要发现,成为当今重组城市化与数据库建筑的典型案例。数据库建筑概念不只是一种信息论的体现,更重要的是代表了一种面向未来的智能环境建筑理念。数据库建筑借助计算机辅助设计手段,意味着建筑发展趋向无限可能的艺术形式,并促成完全虚拟的建筑设计和建造,可能让人们居住在赛博空间,居住在完全由信息构造的建筑物里。人在本性上的有限、自由、游戏、无家可归成为重审＂新巴比伦＂、正视数据库建筑的重要基础。     

Formation d'Ingénieurs en Génie Sanitaire: un exemple de collaboration entre deux universités

For eight years, the Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and the Ecole Inter-Etats d'Ingénieurs de I'Equipement Rural (EIER) at Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, have collaborated in the postgraduate education and training of university engineers, offering a course in Sanitary Engineering, comprising 8 months in Ouagadougou, followed by 3 months in Lausanne. Successful students receive a diploma confered by the two Engneering Schools. Such collaboration is productive only if planned on a long-trem basis forcing some of the limiting principles of technical development programmes to be sidestepped. The better students may continue their studies towards an MSc or a PhD, developing the EIER's research facilities, working on topics directly related to Afircan needs and may benefit fiom EPFL's facilities and scientific experience.