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State-of-the-art computer technology has improved the integration of different types of representations and data and has provided new possibilities for manipulating results. Consequently, the use of computers has been widespread in urban design and the planning process. The potential that computer virtual environments brought for describing future developments to the public at large is enormous. Nevertheless, when imagery and realism dominate the communication process, they may obscure important issues that relate more to the underlying logic of urban design fabric. A sample of 23 university students from nonarchitecture courses and a sample of 23 students from architecture (contrasted group design) were used for analysing differences in their evaluation on form and content of a video presentation concerning an urban design project in Lisbon. The urban design project was focused on an important avenue of the city—Avenida da Liberdade. Several representation methods and different techniques for viewing images were used on video presentation: photography, colour film, 3D-rendered model with animation, plans, and photomontage. The results highlighted the power that imagery and realistic computer models have, when used in an unbalanced way, for overshadowing differences between subjects. This is because at the end of the questionnaire both groups had a positive opinion about the urban design project, but significant differences were found in relation to their evaluation and understanding of both content and form of video presentation.

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Objectives: Evaluation of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of aqueous extracts of C. longa, P. nigrum and C. cyminum. In addition to proposing a quantum-mechanical model to evaluate the antioxidant activity. Methods: The aqueous extracts were prepared using roots of the Curcuma longa L., seeds of the Piper nigrum L. and seeds of Cuminum cyminum. The extracts were subjected to tests to detect and quantify phenolic compounds and to assess their antioxidant capacity by different methods. Furthermore, in order to investigate the electronic nature of the antioxidant activity of the main compounds present in these extracts, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) were obtained by DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory. Results: After statistical analysis of the results, a greater number of phenolic compounds and better antioxidant activity was identified in the aqueous extracts of cumin (C. cyminum) in all three assays performed, when compared to the other extracts tested. The theoretical model based on the Pietro method is in agreement with the experimental results. Conclusion: This study has an innovative proposal with the trivial antioxidant activity combined with theoretical quantum-mechanical calculations that can serve to reduce costs and time and to predict the antioxidant activity of subsequent studies.

Universities are facing demanding challenges due to the rising of lifelong learning needs and the responsibility to accommodate new and emerging technologies in the learning process. On the European Higher Education Area "learning" takes a primordial limelight. Also, in a globalized society where information and communication technologies play a major role, employers require higher education graduates not only to be excellent in communication and in the use of information, but also to think creatively, to be able to innovate, cooperate and compete across borders. The spatial configuration of learning spaces and the facilities and initiatives they accommodate are rather important to provide effective environments for learning, where diverse studying and cultural activities combine, motivating students to become more knowledgeable and equipped with the interdisciplinary and high level skills the 21st century society requires. The main objective of this work is to present and discuss the contribution of the e-Learning Café project of the University of Porto and of the successful implementation of its program, focused on diverse pedagogical and cultural activities, to the acquisition of students' attitudes and skills essential to handle professional relationships and to facilitate learning, personal development and entrepreneurship.

As editor of scopio Editions it is a great honour to be writing this closing text about the upcoming book which communicates our last Duelo/Dueto session of Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) series that had as invited authors Valerio Olgiati and Bas Princen. I will start by talking about the book as a privileged medium for Architecture, Art and Image and then go on focusing on this book in particular and its authors. This conference series had from the start planned a publication for each session with the contribution of the invited speakers and the organization because we believe that the physical book, without prejudice towards the potential of digital publications, is still a tool of paramount importance for preserving and building knowledge, not just for students and academics, but also for all professionals and non-scholars. The physical book somehow allows the understanding of what was discussed and debated in Duelo/Dueto sessions in a different manner, encouraging and giving the right time to each viewer for a deeper thinking. The reading of these sessions also means that these events of rich exchange of ideas and personal experience between significant authors coming from AAI universe are preserved for future studies. In this way, they can be shared with a larger audience, opening the mind of many to these events and encouraging critical thinking toward a vast horizon of issues related to AAI universe. It is worth referring also that the specific potential of the physical book as a unique medium to communicate Architecture, Art and Image1 was explored in this publication, which adds to its uniqueness and makes it more an author´s book than the customary conference or roundtable publication.  It was possible to create a visual narrative where the sum is greater than the parts, which we believe has as a result an innovative reading and a more insightful understanding about the thoughts, work and artistic strategies of both authors. Thus, we believe that this book, the second of this series of four publications focused on each session, will foster a significant critical debate related to Architecture, Art and Image, as already happened with our first published book on this series. [...]

Este artigo examina a importância da inovação para as empresas de diversos setores sob a ótica das teorias modernas do ambiente organizacional. Trata-se de uma análise da literatura existente focalizando as características apresentadas pelas organizações que inovam em relação às principais teorias organizacionais ambientalistas, buscando identificar sua importância relativa para cada uma delas. A discussão leva em conta as principais teorias organizacionais agrupadas em quatro perspectivas: Contingencialista, Dependência de Recursos, Ecológica e Neoinstitucional. Além da pesquisa bibliográfica sobre o tema, o trabalho também desenvolve uma análise de dados secundários sobre inovação presentes na mais recente edição da pesquisa industrial de inovação tecnológica do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística-IBGE, e de outras publicações sobre o assunto para reforçar as proposições teóricas. São apresentados alguns setores das indústrias de transformação e de serviços que satisfazem as principais características encontradas nas organizações que inovam de forma incremental ou radical. Palavras-chave: teorias organizacionais; inovação radical; inovação incremental.