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Shrubs growing in former burnt areas play two diametrically opposed roles. On the one hand, they protect the soil against erosion, promote rainwater infiltration, carbon sequestration and support animal life. On the other hand, after the shrubs’ density reaches a particular size for the canopy to touch and the shrubs’ biomass accumulates more than 10 Mg ha−1, they create the necessary conditions for severe wild fires to occur and spread. The creation of a methodology suitable to identify former burnt areas and to track shrubs’ regrowth within these areas in a regular and a multi temporal basis would be beneficial. The combined use of geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) supported by dedicated land survey and field work for data collection has been identified as a suitable method to manage these tasks. The free access to Sentinel images constitutes a valuable tool for updating the GIS project and for the monitoring of regular shrubs’ accumulated biomass. Sentinel 2 VIS-NIR images are suitable to classify rural areas (overall accuracy = 79.6% and Cohen’s K = 0.754) and to create normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) images to be used in association to allometric equations for the shrubs’ biomass estimation (R2 = 0.8984, p-value < 0.05 and RMSE = 4.46 Mg ha−1). Five to six years after a forest fire occurrence, almost all the former burnt area is covered by shrubs. Up to 10 years after a fire, the accumulated shrubs’ biomass surpasses 14 Mg ha−1. The results described in this paper demonstrate that Northwest Portugal presents larger shrubland areas and greater shrub biomass accumulation (average 18.3 Mg ha−1) than the Northeast (average 7.7 Mg ha−1) of the country.

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With the increase of forest fires in Portugal in recent decades, a significant part of woodlands is being converted into shrubland areas. Background: From an ecological point of view, woodlands and shrublands play an essential role, as they not only prevent soil erosion and desertification, but also contribute to soil protection, habitat preservation and restoration, and also increased biodiversity for carbon sequestration. Concerning the shrublands, the assessment of their biomass is essential for evaluating the fuel load and forest fire behavior and also beneficial for obtaining estimates of carbon and biomass for energy use. Methods: In this study, we collected data about the potential shrub biomass accumulation along fifteen years in former burnt areas within North Portugal. Results: The achieved results showed that for a post-fire period ranging from one to 15 years, the accumulated shrubs’ biomass ranged from 0.12 up to 28.88 Mg ha−1. The model developed to estimate the shrub biomass using the time after a fire (age) as a predictor variable presented a high adjustment to data (p-value of the F statistic <0.01 and R2 = 0.89), allowing estimating shrub biomass regeneration within former burnt areas with an RMSE of 3.31 Mg ha−1. Conclusions: This paper provides practical information on the availability and assessment of shrub biomass in North Portugal, highlighting the suitability of shrubs as potential sources of biomass.

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Similarly to its European counterparts, Portugal's Higher Education system has undergone profound changes as a result of the Bologna Process. Even though some difficulties in the adaptation to new teaching-learning practices have been reported [1], [2], at the Higher School of Technology and Management of the University of Aveiro the required paradigm shift in education has been implemented, namely through problem-based learning activities and, consequently, through competences aggregation between different curricular units (CU) [3], a methodology that implies the articulation between concomitant courses of a study programme.Since 2016/2017, cross-curricular problem-solving projects are being developed within the 1st cycle degree in Office Management and Business Communication: Electronic Office Applications II (EOAII) articulates with Portuguese II (PII) (2 nd semester courses) and Data Analysis (DA) articulates with Secretarial Techniques II (STII) (3 rd semester courses). The option for competences articulation aims primarily at consolidating skills in key areas for secretarial and communication professionals [4] such as languages, electronic office applications and data analysis. Since 2016/2017, 63 students from 3 different classes have been involved.Within the 2 nd semester project, two practical assignments were requested: in the first one, students produced and presented a monograph and a scientific poster; in their second assignment, they prepared a labour market integration portfolio. For the accomplishment of both tasks, competences underlying the two associated CUs converged: in PII students acquired research and information selection skills, as well as structuring, writing and text revision competences; while resourcing to various tools (e.g., Publisher, PowerPoint, Prezi, Word, Canva, Wix, Powton, etc.), EOAII students developed their design and layout development skills. For the 3 rd semester project, the production and oral presentation of a statistical report were requested. For the creation of their questionnaires, students applied skills intrinsic to the two courses involved. After having collected and processed the statistical data (DA), students structured and wrote their reports (STII).Cross-curricular projects, in addition to allowing a higher return on students' efforts (the same task is assessed in two different CUs), also emphasise the transversal nature of learning, clarifying that knowledge and skills associated with a given CU can have a concrete application in the real world, always in articulation with competences from other backgrounds. This is a clearly student-centred approach, one that provides students with the opportunity to consolidate technical and interpersonal skills essential to their professional success in an ever more collaborative environment, contributing thus to the "creation of a professional profile that meets the labour market and society's expectations" [5].

Este trabalho apresenta os resultados da análise de 844 anúncios de emprego para a área de Secretariado, publicados, em Portugal, no Jornal Expresso (formato papel), entre 1978 e 2018 e tem como objetivo geral identificar o perfil de profissional desta área procurado pelos empregadores durante estas quatro décadas. Sabendo que o profissional de Secretariado tem, atualmente, responsabilidades e características bastante diferentes das que lhe eram próprias no passado, este trabalho tem como objetivos específicos identificar alterações nos requisitos (idade, género, formação e experiência) presentes nos anúncios em análise e rastrear o espectro de competências – técnicas e transversais – mais relevantes para os empregadores. Os resultados confirmam mudanças significativas, nomeadamente no que concerne às profissões procuradas, ao género dos profissionais, ao domínio de ferramentas e técnicas de apoio à função, com o aparecimento e progressiva solicitação das ferramentas informáticas, bem como no que respeita às competências transversais mais valorizadas.

Communication is the cornerstone of organisational life, either at an internal level or exogenously [1]. As organisations expand internationally, having to interact with transcontinental intermediaries, distinct government agencies and institutions [2] or company foreign representatives, an adequate level of linguistic competence is likely to play an even more significant role in facilitating or hampering any global operation [3].As language and culture go hand in hand, in today's globalised world it is also of paramount importance to develop cultural sensitivity. According to [4], it is not just helpful to business but a recognized essential, since businesses that understand and accommodate individuals from different cultural backgrounds are better equipped to scale and build a better reputation amongst their competitors.With over 1.5 million speakers worldwide [5], English has become not only the language of science and technology [6] but also the global language of business. The awareness that communicative competence in English is crucial in today's labour market is reflected in the study programme design of the 1 st cycle degree in Office Management and Business Communication (OMBC) held at the University of Aveiro (UA), which includes five 60-hour courses of Business English: English Language (1 st semester), English Translation and Terminology (2 nd semester), English Language and Business Communication (3 rd semester), English Documentation (4 th semester), and English Language and Organizational Culture (5 th semester).Literature demonstrates that student-centred learning environments, where practical and more realistic assignments can be developed, are likely to be more effective and conducive to a greater level of development of both technical and interpersonal skills [7]. Bearing this view in mind, the present paper aims to describe two project-works developed within two OMBC courses: English Language and Business Communication and English Documentation. In their first assignment (1 st semester, 2018/19), students were called to develop research on a country of their choice, analyse it through Hofstede's 6-D model, allocate it to Hall's high-/low-context cultures and identify each country's specific characteristics in terms of business etiquette. The results of their research, whose main purpose was the development of students' intercultural business communication skills, were displayed in poster format and presented to the class, simulating a conference setting. In their second projectwork (2 nd semester, 2018/19), those same students were challenged to conduct research on the impact of digital transformation on organizations, one of the topics of their syllabus, and again exhibit their findings in a scientific poster -this time not having the classroom as venue, but in the context of a conference organized at the UA. After following the regular procedures of an abstract and poster submission, selected students have the opportunity to present their assignment in a real scientific event, to their peer...