Alteracoes limnologicas no Rio Paraguai ("dequada") e o fenomeno natural de mortandade de peixes no Pantanal Mato-Grossense - MS.

No Pantanal, ocorre um fenomeno natural de deterioracao da qualidade da agua, denominado regionalmente como "Dequada", relacionado a decomposicao da grande massa de materia organica submersa no inicio do processo de inundacao. Sua magnitude e dependente das caracteristicas do pulso de inundacao, ou seja, caracteristicas da fase de seca anterior e do periodo de inundacao subsequente (volume e velocidade). De acordo com essa magnitude, pode provocar mortandade massiva de peixes (podendo alcancar a ordem de milhares de toneladas), docorrente da deplecao de oxigenio e do aumento da concentracao de gas carbonico, resultantes dos processos de oxidacao da materia organica, tanto nos campos inundados, quanto na coluna d'agua dos rios. Os peixes moribundos apresentam comportamento tipico de estresse respiratorio. Outros fatores, como gas sulfidrico, amonia, aluminio, sodio e potassio (solidos dissolvidos), alteracoes de pH e compostos provenientes da atividade fitoplanctonica foram descardados, pois nao foram encontrados em niveis considerados toxicos para peixes. Pesticidas e matais pesados nao foram analisados, mas seus niveis dificilmente poderiam ser responsaveis por mortandades tao grandes em uma area tao extensa, onde a atividade antropica ainda e reduzida. Em 1995, o fenomeno foi muito expressivo, devido a rapidez e ao grande volume da onda de cheia, chegando a provocar a total anoxia e/ou manter sub hipoxia o rio Paraguai por mais dois meses e apresentar valores de gas carbonico dissociado de ate 79mg/L, nunca antes obtidos.bitstream/item/37450/1/BP07.pd

Staff and youth views on autonomy and emancipation from residential care: a participatory research study

The use of participatory approaches in designing services is still relatively uncommon. In this study, we helped design a service to support the transition of youth from residential care to independent living by exploring the perspectives of staff and of youth regarding: a) the concept and development of autonomy; and b) key factors in developing this type of service. We gathered the data through 10 interviews with staff (n = 10) and 4 focus groups with youth (n = 21), and subjected the data to a thematic content analysis. Staff defined autonomy as self-regulation and self-care, and identified three paths to foster autonomy - a sense of normality, meaningful relationships, and planning for emancipation. The staff and youth identified the following important aspects in designing the service: achieving normality (e.g. limited number of residents), promoting youth capacity (e.g. skill-building activities), providing social support (e.g. trust and respect between residents), and assuring guidance and boundaries (e.g. supervision of youth).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

From assessing needs to designing and evaluating programs: case study of a family support program in Portugal

In the last years, researchers have been emphasizing the importance of promoting needs-led, context-specific, user-centered services in the context of child protection. However, policy-makers and service planners around the world largely depend on US-based research evidence of what is effective in the domain of family support. This work presents, in two studies, the process of design and evaluation of a targeted family support intervention that was developed and implemented in Portugal. Following the Common Language Approach to needs assessment (Dartington Social Research Unit, 2001), in study 1 we screened 100 children and their families attending a generalist child care service for risk and protective factors. Four different clusters of needs were identified. One cluster was selected as target-group for the design of a service to match their needs. Results indicated that families in this cluster had socioeconomical disadvantages, a challenging family environment and inadequate parenting practices. Children were showing signs of problematic social behaviors. In study 2 we describe the theoretical process model and the logic model for the intervention, and experimentally evaluate the program's efficacy. Results from pre-post assessments indicate improvements in the intervention group (N = 20) in several areas of parental empowerment and family relations, comparing with the control group (N = 20). This approach to need-service matching seems to be a viable pathway to design needs-led, context-specific, and user-centered services, and to assess their efficacy, thereby informing policy makers and service plannersinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Meat, beyond the plate: data-driven hypotheses for understanding consumer willingness to adopt a more plant-based diet

A shift towards reduced meat consumption and a more plant-based diet is endorsed to promote sustainability, improve public health, and minimize animal suffering. However, large segments of consumers do not seem willing to make such transition. While it may take a profound societal change to achieve significant progresses on this regard, there have been limited attempts to understand the psychosocial processes that may hinder or facilitate this shift. This study provides an in-depth exploration of how consumer representations of meat, the impact of meat, and rationales for changing or not habits relate with willingness to adopt a more plant-based diet. Multiple Correspondence Analysis was employed to examine participant responses (N = 410) to a set of open-ended questions, free word association tasks and closed questions. Three clusters with two hallmarks each were identified: (1) a pattern of disgust towards meat coupled with moral internalization; (2) a pattern of low affective connection towards meat and willingness to change habits; and (3) a pattern of attachment to meat and unwillingness to change habits. The findings raise two main propositions. The first is that an affective connection towards meat relates to the perception of the impacts of meat and to willingness to change consumption habits. The second proposition is that a set of rationales resembling moral disengagement mechanisms (e.g., pro-meat justifications; self-exonerations) arise when some consumers contemplate the consequences of meat production and consumption, and the possibility of changing habits.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Attached to meat? (Un)Willingness and intentions to adopt a more plant-based diet

In response to calls to expand knowledge on consumer willingness to reduce meat consumption and to adopt a more plant-based diet, this work advances the construct of meat attachment and the Meat Attachment Questionnaire (MAQ). The MAQ is a new measure referring to a positive bond towards meat consumption. It was developed and validated through three sequential studies following from an in-depth approach to consumer representations of meat. The construct and initial pool of items were firstly developed drawing on qualitative data from 410 participants in a previous work on consumers’ valuation of meat. Afterwards, 1023 participants completed these items and other measures, providing data to assess item selection, factor structure, reliability, convergent and concurrent validity, and predictive ability. Finally, a sample of 318 participants from a different cultural background completed the final version of the MAQ along with other measures to assess measurement invariance, reliability and predictive ability. Across samples, a four-factor solution (i.e., hedonism, affinity, entitlement, and dependence) with 16 items and a second-order global dimension of meat attachment fully met criteria for good model fit. The MAQ subscales and global scale were associated with attitudes towards meat, subjective norm, human supremacy beliefs, eating habits, and dietary identity. They also provided additional explanatory variance above and beyond the core TPB variables (i.e. attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control) in willingness and intentions concerning meat substitution. Overall, the findings point towards the relevance of the MAQ for the study of meat consumption and meat substitution, and lend support to the idea that holding a pattern of attachment towards meat may hinder a shift towards a more plant-based diet.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Evaluation of an intervention program for families with children at risk for maltreatment and developmental impairment: a preliminary study

This study evaluated the preliminary effects of an early intervention program for parents and children at-risk. In this study, a sample of 40 children were randomly assigned to a 9-months intervention program (intervention group, n = 20) or remained in usual practice conditions (control group, n = 20). The intervention involved group dynamics with children in pre-school and individual work sessions with the parents and the children at home. A repeated measures design 2 x 2 was used to test the program effects on parenting practices (Maltreatment Questionnaire) and on children’s mental and social development (Griffiths Mental Development Scales). Results revealed that the program had a positive impact mostly on parenting practices, decreasing physical and psychological abuse (d = −1.01), physical neglect (d = −0.71) and lack of supervision (d = −0.48), and also on measures of cognitive development (i.e., hearing and language; d = 0.31). The program reinforces the importance and effectiveness of attunement intervention programs for parents and for children.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

MORTALIDADE POR CÂNCER DE COLO DO ÚTERO NO ESPÍRITO SANTO: TENDÊNCIAS TEMPORAIS E PAPEL DA ENFERMAGEM.

No Brasil, o câncer de colo uterino é a terceira neoplasia maligna mais comum entre mulheres e quarta causa de morte por câncer na população feminina no mundo. Objetivos: Descrever a tendência de não completude do Sistema de Informação de Mortalidade (SIM), em uma série histórica de 2000 a 2012, e analisar a tendência de mortalidade por câncer de colo do útero de 1980 a 2012. Desenvolver uma tecnologia da informação visando a orientação das mulheres para a importância do conhecimento dos fatores de risco, prevenção e do rastreamento por meio do exame Papanicolau. Metodologia: Estudo analítico baseado em dados secundários obtidos no SIM e dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Para análise da completude dos dados inseridos no SIM, utilizou-se o escore proposto por Romero e Cunha, e, para a tendência de mortalidade da série de 1980 a 2012, realizou-se o cálculo do coeficiente de mortalidade por óbitos em dois períodos. Resultados: Durante o período de 2000 a 2012, observou-se uma tendência estável de não completude para as variáveis raça/cor e escolaridade no Espírito Santo. A variável estado civil apresenta uma tendência crescente de não completude no estado do ES e Sudeste (p<0,001). Na análise da tendência de mortalidade no período de 1980 a 2012 ocorreram 3.618 óbitos por câncer de colo de útero no estado do Espírito Santo. Observou-se que o coeficiente de mortalidade no período de 1980 a1994 apresentou tendência crescente (p=0,006), e de 1995 a 2012 a tendência foi decrescente (p=0,001). Conclusão: Busca-se com a realização de estudos baseados na análise da qualidade dos dados contidos na declaração de óbito a construção de um sistema de informação que possa subsidiar dados epidemiológicos consistentes e fidedignos, levando a novas pesquisas, implantação de políticas institucionais públicas e planejamento mais eficaz, por parte dos gestores, de programas direcionados a melhoria desses indicadores e capazes de minimizar os números de óbitos através de ações efetivas. Uma das ferramentas para redução da mortalidade por câncer de colo do útero está na sensibilização das mulheres por meio de orientação quanto às formas de prevenção, o conhecimento dos fatores de risco, a importância do rastreamento para detecção precoce e quebra de preconceitos em relação a medo, vergonha e elementos culturais como fatores dificultadores para alcançar a cobertura preconizada. Baseado nos resultados deste estudo e nos achados durante a revisão de literatura, pretendemos abrir um canal de comunicação informativo da saúde da mulher como meio de socialização do saber e seu possível reconhecimento por meio de um site e uma cartilha, despertando o autocuidado em busca da prevenção e promoção da saúde

Why are women less likely to support animal exploitation than men? The mediating roles of social dominance orientation and empathy

Women tend to be more concerned about the welfare of (human/nonhuman) animals and the natural environment than men. A growing literature has shown that gender differences in environmental exploitation can be explained partially by the fact that women and men differ in their social dominance and empathic orientations. We extend past studies by examining whether social dominance orientation (SDO; ‘Superior groups should dominate inferior groups’) and empathy (‘I feel others’ emotions’) also help explain gender differences in attitudes towards nonhuman animals. Our mediation model confirmed that SDO and empathy partially and independently mediate gender differences in human supremacy beliefs (‘Animals are inferior to humans’) and/or speciesism (‘I think it is perfectly acceptable for cattle, chickens and pigs to be raised for human consumption’) among 1002 individuals (57% female; Mage?=?26.44) from the general population in Portugal. These findings provide evidence that traits referring to human–human relations can help explain gender differences in human–animal relations. The cumulative evidence suggests that exploitative tendencies towards the natural environment and (human/nonhuman) animals may be built upon shared psychological mechanisms.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Development and validation of a Social Images Evaluation Questionnaire for youth in residential care

Social images are defined as prevailing shared ideas about specific groups or societies without concrete or objective evidence of their accuracy or truthfulness. These images frequently have a negative impact on individuals and groups. Although of outmost importance, the study of the social images of youth in residential care is still scarce. In this article we present two studies for the development and validation of the Social Images Evaluation Questionnaire (SIEQ). In study 1, participants were asked to freely generate words that could be associated to youth in residential care in order to obtain a list of attributes to be used in the SIEQ. In study 2, the main psychometric characteristics of the SIEQ were tested with samples of laypeople and professionals. The main results support the proposal of a new and psychometrically sound measurement -the SIEQ-to analyze the social images of youth in residential care.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparing the social images of youth in and out of residential care

The literature indicates that youths in residential care have been associated with negative social images. However, there have been few studies focused on these social images, specifically, comparing them with the images of youths in normative contexts. To address this issue, we conducted two studies comparing the social images people have about youths in residential care to those they hold about youths living out of care. Both studies were conducted in Portugal: Study 1 explores these images through an open-ended questionnaire; Study 2 examines these images with a quantitative instrument. Overall, the results indicate that the perception about youths in residential care was more negative than the perception about youths out of care. Additionally, the first study probed the effect of socioeconomic status of the youths on the social images held about them and the second examined the role of the respondents' professional contact with youth in care population on these social images. The implications of the social images people have about youth in residential care for the research and intervention towards the wellbeing of this population are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio