Paulo Jorge Santos

Career Decision Statuses among Portuguese Secondary School Students: A Cluster Analytical Approach.

Career indecision is a complex phenomenon and an increasing number of authors have proposed that undecided individuals do not form a group with homogeneous characteristics. This study examines career decision statuses among a sample of 362 12th-grade Portuguese students. A cluster-analytical procedure, based on a battery of instruments designed to assess career and personality dimensions, was employed to understand the heterogeneous groupings that underlie the concept of career indecision. Three groups of career decision statuses were identified and their characteristics described. Finally, implications for career counseling interventions are discussed.

Exploring the Meaning of Motivation across Cultures: IRT Analyses of the Goal Instability Scale.

The present study uses item response theory (IRT) to establish comparability between the English and Portuguese versions of the Goal Instability Scale (GIS), a measure of generalized motivation. A total of 2,848 American and 679 Portuguese high school students were administered their respective language versions of the GIS. Results showed only minor differences in item performance between language versions, suggesting equivalent measurement of the underlying motivational construct. Implications regarding the interpretation of IRT analyses for intervention purposes, as well as future research, are discussed.

Motivational Correlates of Portuguese High Schoolers' Vocational Identity: Cultural Validation of the Goal Instability Scale.

This study examined the relevance of the Goal Instability Scale-Portuguese Adaptation (GIS-P) on the vocational identity and career certainty of 375 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade Portuguese high schoolers. After translating the GIS-P, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factorial unidimensionality and reliability of the construct. A multitrait-monomethod correlation matrix demonstrated convergent and divergent validity with personality, career, and social constructs. As expected, the GIS-P was a stronger predictor of vocational identity than global self-esteem and differentiated those students with postsecondary plans from those who were uncertain about their plans. This research supports the cultural relevance of the goal instability construct and of motivational determinants of academic and career adjustment with Portuguese students.

Building a Scale of the Meanings of Transition From Higher Education to Work

Higher education institutions intend to provide young people with a range of capabilities and skills that will prepare them to face transition into the labor market. In modern societies, however, marked by structural unemployment, forms of temporary work prevail, offering increasingly unstable conditions, lower security, and fewer social rights. At this critical historical and social juncture, it becomes important for both the research and social agenda to understand the meanings Portuguese higher education students attribute their transition from education to work. In Study 1, based on a sample of 712 Portuguese higher education students, words associated with the transition from higher education to work were collected and they were grouped by their semantic proximity. These semantic groups served to build items for a first version of the Scale of the Meanings of Transition from Higher Education to Work (SMTHEW). Study 2 was developed based on this version, with a sample of 546 participants. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a version of the SMTHEW consisting of four subscales (Professional Achievement, Uncertainty, Unemployment, and Professional Responsibility) with psychometric qualities we considered appropriate. In Study 3, based on data from 505 participants, a confirmatory factor analysis of the SMTHEW was conducted, defining thus its final version, which revealed appropriate levels of adjustment to the proposed model.

Career Dilemmas in Career Counseling Groups: Theoretical and Practical Issues

A career dilemma is a hypothetical or real situation in which a character is confronted with several career options each of which has advantages and disadvantages. The main purpose of presenting and discussing a dilemma in career counseling groups is to confront several appraisals of the situation in order to promote more complex thinking about career choices. Another important aim of this technique is to enhance interaction between group members and to analyze similar career dilemmas that the group participants have experienced in the past. The use of the discussion of career dilemmas is described, especially the role of the career counselor, and some suggestions for future research are presented.

Transmission gas pipelines: 2D models simulation

This article presents four state-space models for high pressure gas pipelines, departing from a system of nonlinear partial differential equations. The models were derived taking advantage of an electrical analogy and are very accurate and simple, therefore suitable for network simulation and analysis. The models’ simulation is compared with the data obtained with Simone, a commercial simulator of gas transport and distribution networks used by many european companies, and exhibit similar accuracy.

Subspace algorithm for identifying bilinear repetitive processes with deterministic inputs

In this paper we introduce a bilinear repetitive process and present an iterative subspace algorithm for its identification. The advantage of the proposed approach is that it overcomes the “curse of dimensionality”, a hurdle commonly encountered with classical bilinear subspace identification algorithms. Simulation results show that the algorithm converges quickly and provides new alternatives for modeling/identifying nonlinear repetitive processes.