The experience of motherhood in a female same-sex parenting family

A família nuclear heterossexual tem como marca a atribuição das funções materna/paterna aliada ao sexo dos cuidadores. Arranjos familiares diferentes são vistos como exceção e considerados como fonte de psicopatologias. Embora haja predomínio das famílias heteroparentais, elas hoje dividem espaço com novas configurações, como as famílias homoparentais. O presente ensaio buscou compreender, por meio do método de estudo de caso, como se dá o desempenho da função materna em uma família homoparental feminina, composta pelas parceiras e pelo filho biológico de uma delas. Foi realizada uma entrevista com o casal em separado e aplicação de desenho da família com estórias. Com a criança, realizou-se uma sessão lúdica. Também houve uma entrevista familiar diagnóstica com o casal e a criança, e uma devolutiva. O material foi interpretado pelo referencial psicanalítico. Observou-se que a maternagem foi, em grande parte, desempenhada pela parceira e não pela mãe biológica.In families with a heterosexually-based core, maternal and paternal functions are associated with the gender of the care-givers. Families of non-traditional orientation are usually seen as a source of psychopathologies. Even though the conventional, traditional arrangement is still prevalent, this arrangement has come to share its space and importance with new and questioning family configurations, among which one may quote same-sex parents. The present essay has attempted to understand, by way of case studies, the performance of the maternal function in a female same-sex parenting family, composed of a female couple in the role of parents and the biological child of one of them. For the purpose of this analysis, an interview was conducted with the couple, separately, followed by the use of the family drawing test. A game was devised to test the child. There was also a diagnostic family interview with the couple and with child, with feedback. The material was interpreted on the basis of psychoanalytical reference. It was observed that the maternal function was largely conducted by the other partner and not by the biological mother

Sobre lectores, lecturas y salud : Experiencias en la Biblioteca Ambulante del Hospital de Niños

Fil: Gagliardi, Lucas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina

Wetting properties of flat-top periodically structured superhydrophobic surfaces

In recent years, superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted a considerable amount of attention from the academic and industrial communities. This growing interest is mainly caused by the fundamental physico-chemical theoretical aspects that remain obscure and the number of promising practical applications emerging in a wide range of fields, such as textiles, self-cleaning coatings, and micro-fluidic systems. Superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit simultaneously high static water contact angles and low resistance to liquid motion on the surface (i.e. low contact angle hysteresis). These properties result from the combination of the chemical hydrophobicity of the topmost layers of the surface and its roughness, the latter being the dominant factor. In this PhD work, advantage has been taken of recent advances in micro-/nano-processing technologies to fabricate microstructured surfaces with specific and controlled roughness. This has enabled systematic experimental investigations to be carried out to address some of the still unanswered questions relating to superhydrophobic phenomena. Silicon wafers were microstructured by photolithography in order to obtain periodical distributions of well-defined flat-top obstacles. A gas-phase silanization process was used to cover the prepared microstructured surfaces with a hydrophobic dense mono-layer of perfluorodecyltrichlorosilane. Several series of samples in which each roughness parameter (distance between obstacles, obstacle height, obstacle size, obstacle shape, etc.) was individually varied were fabricated, and static and dynamic contact angle variations as a function of each parameter were studied. The results obtained by water contact angle measurements were compared to the classic Wenzel and Cassie models. The first assumes that the liquid wets the asperities of the rough substrate completely (referred to as wetted state), whilst the second describes the liquid as sitting on a mixture of air and solid (referred to as composite state). By systematically varying a given parameter, a transition between the composite and the wetted regime was observed. Simple thermodynamic considerations based on the energy minimization of the drop-substrate system showed that Cassie and Wenzel contact angles correspond to two energy minima of the system. Experimentally, the Cassie regime is observed when the Cassie angle is the absolute energy minimum, while when the Wenzel angle is the absolute energy minimum, either the Wenzel regime or a metastable Cassie state is observed. The existence of these metastable states is explained theoretically by the energy barrier that the system has to overcome to reach the Wenzel state when a drop is gently deposited on the surface, and good agreement with experimental data is demonstrated. Water and n-hexadecane dynamic contact angle measurements performed in two different configurations, i.e. with a "negligible" and a "NON-negligible" extra-pressure exerted on the drop-substrate system, permitted the validity of the theoretical model proposed to be confirmed. They clearly evidenced the region of stability of both Wenzel and Cassie regimes, and particularly the region where the Cassie regime is metastable, which is the really interesting one for all the potential applications of rough superhydrophobic surfaces as self-cleaning, and non-sticking surfaces, since only the metastable composite states are those characterized by a very high contact angle and a very low contact angle hysteresis, the two main requirements for a good superhydrophobic surface. With systematic reduction of the absolute size of the obstacles in the micrometer range, an increase in the extent and robustness of the composite states was observed. Drop contact line fragmentation seems to be the most important factor in determining the extent and robustness of the observed composite states. Results obtained by varying the obstacle top-surface shape demonstrate that contact line length and corrugations are only secondary factors. Studies on the influence of asperity absolute size performed in the micrometer range, together with preliminary but fundamental results obtained on nanostructured substrates, allow the proposal of interesting conclusions concerning determination of roughness size where macroscopic superhydrophobicity appears and vanishes. A typical size of ∼ 50 µm (where "typical size" refers to the width of the obstacle top-surface) can be considered the upper limit of the superhydrophobicity scale range, with a length scale of some tens of nanometers as the lower limit. In this range, the length scale comprised between several hundred nanometers and one micrometer can be assumed the most suitable size for obtaining superhydrophobic properties of larger extent and robustness. The related appropriate asperity height must be sufficiently great to prevent the drop meniscus from touching the bottom of the asperities by vibration, inducing a transition to the wetted Wenzel state

Conectividade da paisagem para Alouatta guariba clamitans em área periurbana no extremo-sul do Brasil

Os ecossistemas e, consequentemente, a paisagem, se alteram drasticamente ao longo do tempo, evidenciando mudanças tanto na estrutura quanto na composição da matriz. Essas mudanças são causadas, principalmente, por interferência antrópica (Mitchell et al. 2015b). As principais atividades humanas que causam a degradação do habitat são os desmatamentos, as queimadas, a alta taxa de urbanização e a utilização de áreas para agricultura. A perda e degradação do habitat causada por ação antrópica é um impacto cada vez mais frequente, que causa grande alteração nos ecossistemas e representa uma grande ameaça à biodiversidade, sendo a principal causa de extinção de primatas no mundo (Estrada et al. 2017). Enquanto a ocupação humana avança e altera o ambiente, as espécies que não se adaptarem a essa nova configuração da paisagem, seja persistindo no habitat modificado ou dispersando, estão indubitavelmente ameaçadas localmente de extinção. O movimento que um indivíduo precisa executar para realizar suas atividades diárias ou eventuais dispersões depende estritamente da permeabilidade da paisagem em que está inserido (Nathan et al. 2008) e da sua percepção em relação a ela. Em consequência da expansão urbana, os principais fatores de risco ao deslocamento dos primatas que habitam áreas periurbanas são construções, estradas e cabos de energia elétrica, o que resulta em uma matriz heterogênea com baixa permeabilidade (Wellian & Smith 2021). As populações de primatas que habitam áreas periurbanas são afetadas diretamente pela fragmentação do habitat, fazendo com que o grau de permeabilidade da matriz exerça papel fundamental no sucesso ou fracasso do deslocamento de indivíduos, seja para as atividades diárias ou para dispersões. Com o habitat reduzido, baixa disponibilidade de alimento, impossibilidade de explorar a matriz para dispersar e presença de elementos urbanos, estes primatas acabam sendo expostos a riscos como choques na rede elétrica, 16 atropelamentos, ataque por cães, mortes, doenças, endogamia e até mesmo extinções locais (Silva et al. 2018). Uma paisagem fragmentada e pouco permeável limita o potencial de deslocamento de espécies, obrigando estes animais a procurarem por alternativas dentro do contexto periurbano para garantir sua sobrevivência. Consequentemente, o que se observa, além das fatalidades citadas anteriormente, é a utilização de elementos antrópicos para realização de movimentos de espécies arborícolas. Um estudo de caso realizado por Corrêa et al. (2018) identificou uma contribuição significativa de 23% do uso dos fios da rede elétrica no deslocamento diário de um grupo de bugios-ruivos, representando uma importante conexão entre as árvores e exercendo uma conectividade estrutural que já não estava mais ali. Porém, é importante salientar que quanto mais estes animais utilizam os fios, maiores as chances de acidentes na rede elétrica (Lokschin et al. 2007). Diante deste cenário, são desenvolvidas ações a fim de mitigar estes impactos, manter a ligação entre fragmentos e áreas naturais protegidas, bem como assegurar a persistência das espécies a longo prazo. Tais ações incluem, instalação e manejo de travessias de fauna, mapeamento e monitoramento de conflitos e promoção de atividades de educação ambiental. Desde 1993, o Programa Macacos Urbanos (PMU) atua pela conservação do bugio-ruivo nos municípios de Porto Alegre e Viamão, sendo responsável pela confecção, instalação e manejo de pontes de corda. Atualmente, estas etapas são realizadas em parceria com a equipe gestora da Reserva Biológica do Lami José Lutzenberger (RBL), e algumas vezes com moradores da região, demonstrando uma importante articulação entre órgãos ambientais e comunidade para implementação de medidas mitigatórias (Buss 2012). Três espécies de mamíferos já foram registradas utilizando as pontes de corda no bairro Lami, Porto Alegre, área de estudo para este trabalho: o bugio-ruivo (Alouatta guariba clamitans), o gamba-de-orelha-branca (Didelphis albiventris) e o ouriço- 17 cacheiro (Sphiggurus villosus) (Teixeira et al. 2013). Atualmente, existem 15 pontes de corda instaladas no município de Porto Alegre, sendo 10 delas localizadas na área de estudo. Para que estas estratégias sejam cada vez mais efetivas, é necessário que se faça um mapeamento da conectividade da paisagem e uma avaliação da permeabilidade da matriz. Os principais fatores envolvidos nesta avalição consideram: número, tamanho e qualidade dos fragmentos; número, comprimento e qualidade dos corredores; e características da matriz (Rodriguez-Toledo et al. 2003). Porém, estas variáveis não se enquadram para estudos em escalas maiores, visto que frequentemente os animais se restringem a poucos agrupamentos de árvores ou até mesmo árvores isoladas. Por isso, estudos de conectividade e deslocamento com enfoque local são necessários para entender como as espécies se movimentam em uma matriz antropizada, buscando contribuir para o bemestar dos animais, evitando acidentes e visando o aumento a chance de sua persistência a longo prazo, possibilitando um sistema de imigração-emigração e garantindo a diversidade genética. Na região extremo-sul do município de Porto Alegre, grupos de bugio-ruivo (Alouatta guariba clamitans) habitam fragmentos florestais de encosta de morros e matas de restinga ao longo do Lago Guaíba. Nesse contexto periurbano, esses animais transitam entre os fragmentos e se deslocam na matriz tanto durante seus deslocamentos diários quanto para dispersão, sofrendo choques elétricos, ataques por cães e atropelamentos (Printes 1999; Lokschin et al. 2007). Neste estudo, nós mapeamos a permeabilidade entre fragmentos e agrupamentos de árvores em uma área periurbana, bem como analisamos se a permeabilidade da matriz corresponde com o uso do espaço pelos bugios. Especificamente buscamos 1) avaliar se mapas de conectividade baseados nos elementos de vegetação podem prever 18 deslocamentos de grupos de bugios numa escala local e 2) avaliar o papel de elementos como telhados e redes elétricas na permeabilidade da matriz de acordo com os deslocamentos de grupos de bugios numa paisagem fragmentada. Por fim, comparamos se os pontos com registros de conflitos (atropelamentos, ataque por cães e choque elétrico) e medidas de mitigação (pontes de corda) coincidem com locais de alta ou baixa permeabilidade

Systems and Managements Related Differences in Phenology of 12 Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Cultivars

Cocoa production systems can vary from a mono-cropping (MC) full sun plantation to a highly diversified successional agroforestry (SAFS). Mono-cropping is still the most common one but recently agroforestry (AF) systems have raised more interest because of their expected long term resilience. Nevertheless, information about the influence of cropping systems and management methods such as organic versus conventional in cocoa production and phenology in South America is missing. This study is based on the SysCom program’s framework located in Alto Beni (Bolivia), where three cropping system (MC, AF and SAFS) are compared. Additionally, MC and AF systems are conventionally and organically managed. A total of 12 cultivars including local clones, foreign clones (from the Imperial College Selections and Trinidad Selections) and hybrids are planted in each system. The aim of the present study is to identify differences between systems, management methods, cultivars and the respective interactions on cocoa phenology. Data on flushing and number of flowers, small, medium and big fruits and cherelles are being recorded every 15 days from March 2015. The trial was designed according to a split plot design with four replicates. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were performed on the cultivar level. Additionally, the collected data will be statistically analysed with a generalised mixed model (Poisson distribution) to test the effect of the different cultivars, systems and their interactions on the phenological traits. Preliminary results of the PCA and cluster analysis do not show a clear grouping pattern between the three types of genotypes analysed. This suggests that there are differences between cultivars but they are not consistent within the three groups. Preliminary descriptive results of the collected traits show differences between single cultivars and systems, but not between managements (organic vs. conventional). Some of the traits seem to be more system dependent than others. For instance, the number of cherelles seems to be higher in the SAFS than in the other systems. Additionally, interactions between systems and cultivars are expected to be present. This would be positive in terms of potentiality for selection of cultivars adapted to each different system

Gestão dos recursos hídricos na prática da suinocultura: percepções dos suinocultores da sub-bacia do Forqueta/RS

Considerada pelos órgãos ambientais como potencialmente impactante para o meio ambiente, principalmente para os recursos hídricos, a suinocultura é uma atividade de grande importância socioeconômica para o Brasil. Na Sub-bacia do Forqueta, a má destinação dos dejetos da suinocultura está entre as principais causas do comprometimento da qualidade da água, podendo afetar a saúde da população. Assim, esta tese objetivou compreender se e como estes criadores percebem este cenário de degradação, e quais atitudes tomam em relação a isto. Os objetivos específicos foram: analisar as práticas dos suinocultores e sua relação com a água e os dejetos, e investigar a representação das pautas dos suinocultores no Comitê. Para atingir estes objetivos, foram realizadas entrevistas, pessoalmente, com 31 suinocultores, de dez municípios da Sub-bacia, com o presidente do Comitê Taquari-Antas e com um dos representantes dos suinocultores no Comitê. As entrevistas foram gravadas e transcritas. Através da análise de conteúdo, verificou-se que a maioria dos suinocultores desconhecem informações legais sobre a gestão das águas, bem como dados qualitativos locais, e alguns nem mesmo sabem o que é o Comitê de Bacia e suas atribuições. Quanto às criações, estas são desenvolvidas em pequenas propriedades rurais familiares, onde a oferta do recurso hídrico é abundante e, embora os suinocultores reconheçam os riscos de contaminação das águas, não acreditam que esteja ocorrendo onde vivem, pois afirmam destinar os dejetos das criações de acordo com os parâmetros legais que suas licenças ambientais impõem. Entretanto, em análises realizadas pelo Comitê, há evidências do comprometimento da qualidade da água, mas como estes dados não chegam a atingir toda a comunidade, e ainda está muito enraizada nestas populações a crença de que a água nas áreas rurais é de boa qualidade, a maioria não acredita que precisa se preocupar com a segurança da água que consomem, e não a relacionam como causa de agravos na saúde da comunidade. Isto aponta para a necessidade de estabelecer uma comunicação eficaz entre suinocultores e seus representantes no Comitê, com profissionais da área ambiental, e com as instituições de ensino; assim como realizar ações de educação ambiental conjuntas e contínuas nestas comunidades, para que estejam informados e se sintam corresponsáveis pela problemática ambiental ocasionada pela atividade econômica que exercem, estimulando-os a mitigar e prevenir estes danos, e garantindo a qualidade de vida nas áreas rurais da Sub-bacia do Forqueta.Considered by environmental agencies as a potential threat the environment, mainly to water resources, pig-farming is a significant activity when considering socio economic aspects in Brazil. At the Forqueta Sub-drainage Basin the inadequate treatment of pig-farming’s waste is among the main causes of water pollution, which can affect population’s health. This thesis aimed at understanding if and how the pig farmers perceive this degradation scenario, and what are the attitudes they take towards this situation. The specific objectives were: to analyze the pig farmers activities and their relationship with the water and waste as well as to investigate the relevance of the pig-farmers’ subjects of discussion at the Taquari-Antas Committee. In order to achieve these objectives, interviews were held in person, with 31 pig farmers from ten municipalities of the sub-drainage basin, also with the committee’s president and with one pig farmer representative in the committee. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Through the analysis of the content, it was found out that most of the pig farmers do not know the legal aspects of water resources governance, nor local qualitative data. Moreover, some of them do not even know what the Water Committee is and stands for. The pig farms are family run business, in small properties where water resources are abundant and, however the pig farmers acknowledge the water contamination risks, they do not think pollution is taking place within their land, because they believe to conduct the waste management and disposal accordingly with the established by the environmental license and environmental law. Water analysis conducted by the water committee showed its poor quality, but this information never reached the whole population. This fact combined with the enrooted belief that the water resources are still pristine in the rural areas, make people act careless towards water consumption safety, and often do not link water quality with health issues in the community. All these facts indicate the necessity of establishing an effective line of communication between pig farmers and its respective representatives in the committee, with professionals of the environmental field, and with education institutions. In addition, it is essential to promote permanent environmental education actions involving the community in order to promote awareness and to make them feel co-responsible for the environmental impacts of their economic activity, instigating them to mitigate and prevent damage and so to ensure better living conditions for the inhabitants of rural areas of the Forqueta Sub-drainage BasinCAPE

Positive motherhood at work: the role of supervisor support in return to work after maternity leave

Cognitive factors can strongly influence mothers’ well-being. Maternal beliefs about societal expectations, role identity, maternal confidence, and concern about being a good or bad parent threaten maternal well-being, especially if these beliefs are irrational, inflexible, and strict. Moreover, they can negatively influence the critical time of returning to work after maternity leave. As stated by the conservation of resources theory, people may become more irrational when their resources are exhausted, with detrimental effects on individual well-being. To protect and enhance well-being, working mothers should draw upon additional resources, including their organizational contexts. In this regard, a key figure is the supervisor, whose positive behaviours and stable support can improve working mothers’ well-being and facilitate their effective return to work after maternity leave. This study aims at examining the relation between the rigidity of maternal beliefs and well-being (namely, general health, job satisfaction, and job performance), hypothesizing the mediation effect of perceived supervisor support during return to work after maternity leave. The Rigidity of Maternal Beliefs Scale, the measure for Supervisors to Support Return to Work, and the General Health Questionnaire were used together with a two-item measure for examining job performance and a single-item measure for measuring job satisfaction. The questionnaire was completed by 216 mothers. We tested the hypotheses by means of structural equation models with latent variables, using the Lisrel 8.80 software. Findings show that rigidity of maternal beliefs is associated with perceived supervisor support during return to work, which, in turn, is associated with working mothers’ general health, job satisfaction, and job performance. Consequently, perceived supervisor support during return to work totally mediates the relations between the rigidity of maternal beliefs and the outcomes considered. Results underline the centrality of supervisor perceived negative behaviors in sustaining working mothers after the long-term leave, when irrational beliefs regarding motherhood threaten their well-being. Practical implications for HR management are discussed

Sharing of general loading in double glazed units. The BAM analytical approach

Double Glazed Units (DGUs) consist of two glass panes held together by structural edge seals. Calculation methods for DGUs consider that actions applied on one pane develop effects in all the panes, due to the coupling from the entrapped gas. Various methods have been proposed in standards to evaluate this load sharing, which depends upon the stiffness of the glass panes, the thicknesses of spacer and the size of the DGU. A comprehensive analytical formulation, the Betti’s Analytical Method (BAM), has been recently proposed to calculate the load sharing in DGUs of any shape, composed by glass panes of arbitrary thickness, with various support conditions at the borders and various types of external actions, including concentrated and line loads. Simple expressions can determine the gas pressure as a function of a universal shape function, which coincides with the deformed surface of a simply supported plate, of the same shape of the DGU, under uniformly distributed load. Here, comparisons are made with numerical analyses, performed by implementing an ad hoc routine in the software Straus7, developed by Maffeis Engineering, where the deflection of the glass panels is iteratively calculated, until the volume enclosed reaches a value compatible with the pressure exerted by the gas. The numerical routine, that is part of an integrated parametric approach to the façades design, allows precise calculations for any kind of build-up, panel shapes and load conditions

High Incidence of Childhood Type 1 Diabetes in Liguria, Italy, From 1989 to 1998

OBJECTIVE—Assessing updated incidence of type 1 diabetes in 0- to 14-year-old children in Liguria, a Northwest region of Italy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Incident cases were recorded prospectively from 1989 to 1998. Incidence rates (IRs) were standardized to the 1999 world population using the direct method. The independent effect of sex, age, residence, and calendar year was estimated with Poisson regression model. The degree of ascertainment was calculated in accordance to capture/recapture method. RESULTS—During 10 full calendar years, 219 new cases of type 1 diabetes in children were diagnosed in Liguria. The standardized IR over the 10-year period was 12.56 cases per 100,000 per year (95% CI 11.0–14.3). The sex-specific IR among men and women was 14.15 and 10.88, respectively. The age-specific IR was higher in the 10- to 14-year-old age-group (15.01/100,000) than in 0- to 4-year-old age-group (9.01/100,000) and in the 5- to 9-year-old age-group (13.03/100,000). CONCLUSIONS—The IR of type 1 diabetes in Liguria is among the highest in Southern Europe and approaches IRs of Northern European countries. In particular it is much higher than those reported in the surrounding Italian regions except for Sardinia. Therefore, the geographical distribution of type 1 diabetes does not seem to reflect the simple North-South gradient reported in several previous works