Teaching Crossroads: 8th IPB Erasmus Week Book uri icon

abstract

  • We are proud to present the second number of Teaching Crossroads, within the 8th IPB Erasmus week which took place in May 2012. This publication is the result of the papers delivered during our Erasmus Week that is becoming increasingly popular among teaching and non-teaching staff from several Erasmus partner Universities. Similarly to last year, we are continuing the publication of Teaching Crossroads whose main purpose is to reach students and teaching staff of the IPB (Polytechnic Institute of Bragança) and of other IPB partner universities. With this in view, the authors also made an attempt to present material in a manner which can be readily grasped by students and non-specialists. Likewise, we also believe it is important to have a written register of what is being studied by some researchers in Europe and make it available to students. Bearing in mind the open spirit of this publication, everyone is invited to participate with their papers delivered during the Erasmus Week at the IPB. The result was pleasantly rewarding as we had enthusiastic participants who very willingly made their texts available for publication. The organisation of the Erasmus week has been a tradition since started in 2005 aiming at a more efficient collaboration with our European partners so that they would become more familiar with the IPB campus, its schools, the city and the region. During the IPB Erasmus Week, the Institute organises teaching and staff training (STT) and the seminars arranged under Staff Teaching Assignment (STA) that are scheduled and introduced in the regular timetable of Bachelors and Masters’ degrees classes. Having now participated in the Erasmus mobility programme for more than twelve years, the IPB is acknowledged as one of the Portuguese institutions that promotes students and teaching mobility the most, positioning IPB on the top of the European HEIs and on a high level in the current international scene. The review of these articles has been thorough, yet some unexpected flaws may still occur. Nevertheless, the content of the texts remains intact, without distorting the aims of the texts, and the references are the authors’ own responsibility. Therefore, we accept no liabilities for any error or theoretical inconsistency or any missing information. The research areas are quite multidisciplinary, touching on areas as different as business sciences and law, agricultural sciences and natural resources, chemistry, multimedia and education. These areas comply with the areas of study that the IPB has on offer. This publication is hence rather beneficial for our students, as well as teachers and researchers. Ziemowit Kukulski, with his customary precision, expands on a topic that is truly current and relevant nowadays: ‘The elimination of double taxation in juridical sense from Polish perspective’. Notwithstanding the fact that the study focused on a particular country, the author is also concerned with comparing both the Polish and the Portuguese juridical taxation framework. Rosa Vásquez presents a study on how the environment plays an important role in the economy and can contribute to making the business sector more dynamic. Emphasising the importance of state policies that affect the environment, her text outlines the different instruments available to public administration in order to enable environmental control of productive activities and promote good conduct in favour of environmental conservation. Bodgan Vlad Avarvarei presents the results of an analysis of commodity for some yoghurt assortments sold on Iasi market, in Romania. The author also aims to inform the consumers regarding not only all the information which must be marked on, such as fat content, nutritive value, shelf life, storage temperature, etc., but also to give some hints on the product design. Mario de la Fuente Lloreda gives a lesson on different ways of Spanish viticulture, exposing examples of one of the most emblematic D.O. (denominación de origen, i.e. protected designation of origin) quality brands and their evolution up to today. Igor Barényi’s text delves into spectral analysis, focusing on the description of several spectroscopic methods to examine chemical composition of metal and alloys. Esteban Galán-Cubillo takes us on a tour to the use of systems of virtual scenography, along with the use of other digital technologies. Cláudia Martins’s text gives us a very insightful glimpse on Portuguese meteorological adages and proverbs bearing the highly suggestive title ‘Nine months of winter, three months of scorching hell’. Besides that, the author also presents a thorough linguistic explanation on fixed language, ranging from collocations to idiomatic expressions, based on several keynote authors, with a particular focus on pragmatic phrases, i.e. proverbs and adages. Jan Michalko makes an introduction to Cyber Space Economics and its relevance for such an important area as education or even training of citizens as it is in the case of public services for increasing levels of e-government. The author also emphasises the importance of Internet applications that provide a number of opportunities for education, communication and business. Slawomir Sztajer presents a deep reflection on religion, establishing a link between cognition and religion. The author expands on this new approach of religion, explaining and interpreting religious phenomena from the perspective of cognitive science. The ingredients for a gainful and stimulating reading are now served. We hope that this publication works for the interest of many students and teachers who find here information for their own studies and learn a bit more about the countries referred to here, sharing learning experiences and scientific knowledge, as well as cultural heritage. That is also the essence of the Erasmus programme.

publication date

  • 2013