Age-related differences in pointing accuracy in familiar and unfamiliar environments

This study aimed to investigate age-related differences in spatial mental representations of familiar and unfamiliar places. Nineteen young adults (aged 18\u201323) and 19 older adults (aged 60\u201374), all living in the same Italian town, completed a set of visuospatial measures and then pointed in the direction of familiar landmarks in their town and in the direction of landmarks in an unknown environment studied on a map. Results showed that older adults were less accurate in the visuospatial tasks and in pointing at landmarks in an unfamiliar environment, but performed as well as the young adults when pointing to familiar places. Pointing performance correlated with visuospatial tests accuracy in both familiar and unfamiliar environments, while only pointing in an unknown environment correlated with visuospatial working memory (VSWM). The spatial representation of well-known places seems to be well preserved in older adults (just as well as in young adults), while it declines for unfamiliar environments. Spatial abilities sustain the mental representations of both familiar and unfamiliar environments, while the support of VSWM resources is only needed for the latter

The Uber case and gig-individuals against the backdrop of the gig-economy: Dilemmas between labour law and techno-law

The “Uber workers” and, more in general, individuals deployed in the platforms, overall considered the “gig economy”, have already been the subject matter of multifarious dicta in Italy. However, not only are these court decisions contradictory with each other, but also they are quite nebulous in their underpinning reasoning. Furthermore, there are a few inconsistencies with entrenched principles of the Italian legal system, particularly in the area of labour law. By contract, across the “Channel”, the Uber workers have been “dissected”, from a legal perspective, in a very recent decision of the UK Supreme Court. On such a background, it is becoming vital to ascertain the legal characterisation of “gig individuals”, also in the light of a prospective EU legal framework where this new category could be legislated. Bearing this in mind, seemingly the imminent EU regulation will engender a challenging, yet stimulating, comparative analysis with the common law (and its traditional “tests” of the contract of employment), where it still arduous to envisage any legislation in this micro-area of labour law

Introspection of Emotions

In this paper, we argue that knowledge of emotions essentially depends on introspecting the phenomenology of emotional experiences, and that introspection of emotional experiences is a process by stages, where the most fundamental stage is a non-classificatory introspective state, i.e., one that does not depend on the subject’s classifying the introspected emotion as an instance of any experience type. We call such a non-classificatory kind of introspection primitive introspection. Our main goal is to show that, although not sufficient, primitive introspection is a necessary ground to acquire knowledge of emotions. Our main argument is phenomenological: by examining a variety of examples, we suggest that an accurate analysis of the introspective process through which one comes to know, or refines one’s knowledge of, one’s current emotion requires that one primitively introspects it

Competitividade sexual pré-zigótica em Mosca-das-frutas Anastrepha Fraterculus (Wiedmann, 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

A mosca-das-frutas Anastrepha fraterculus é a principal praga da maçã e a técnica do inseto estéril seria uma alternativa para seu controle. O presente trabalho avaliou a competitividade sexual pré-zigótica entre três populações de A. fraterculus: selvagens, de laboratório e laboratório esterilizadas. O estudo foi conduzido em gaiolas teladas na Estação Experimental de Fruticultura de Clima Temperado (EEFCT), Vacaria, RS. A população selvagem foi obtida dos frutos de Feijoa sellowiana e as de laboratório obtidas da criação experimental do Laboratório de Entomologia da EEFTC, criadas artificialmente. O processo de esterilização foi realizado pelo Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Piracicaba, SP, em pupas 24 horas antes da emergência, a uma taxa de 135,65 Gy/h. Logo após a emergência os adultos foram separados por sexo e alimentados de acordo com o sistema de criação. No dia anterior ao teste foram identificados com tinta. Os ensaios foram conduzidos às 8:00 da manhã liberando-se 30 machos de cada população e 30 minutos depois as respectivas fêmeas. Para população de laboratório foram usados adultos de 8 a 10 dias de idade e para selvagem de 15 a 18 dias. Para cada combinação foram realizadas oito repetições. Foram observados e capturados os casais formados registrando a cor e a duração das cópulas. Todas as observações foram realizadas do interior da gaiola durante 3 horas. Os casais foram separados em gaiolas de acordo com sua combinação para avaliação da viabilidade dos ovos. Os resultados foram analisados de acordo com o Índice de Isolamento Sexual (ISI) e os relativos à viabilidade de ovos foram comparados ao padrão da espécie. Os resultados indicaram que há compatibilidade sexual entre as populações, mas que o processo de radioesterilização afetou a competitividade sexual. Os ovos obtidos de cópulas envolvendo a população esterilizada geraram ovos inviáveis e as fêmeas estéreis não produziram ovos

Produtividade e estagnação em economias duais

Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Departamento de Economia, 2020.O intuito do presente trabalho é analisar as mais recentes contribuições no campo de análise de economias duais, mais especificamente o paper de Storm (2017). O autor faz um modelo em que a economia se divide em dois setores, um estagnado e outro dinâmico. Na medida em que há progresso tecnológico no setor dinâmico, trabalhadores são expulsos deste setor e migram para o estagnado. O excesso de trabalhadores no setor estagnado diminui os salários neste setor, fazendo com que haja uma insuficiência de demanda que acaba por retroalimentar essa dinâmica, sendo esta uma das causas da estagnação secular. O autor considera os salários no setor dinâmico exógenos à produtividade, o que, para a extensão das novas economias, pode representar um problema. Desta forma, esta alteração foi proposta, assim como simulações foram feitas para visualizar as implicações da modificação. Por fim, a economia brasileira foi dividida em setores dinâmicos e estagnados, no período de 2013 a 2019, para verificar analiticamente se, após a crise, esta dinâmica de crescimento não balanceado aconteceu. A conclusão a partir dos dados foi positiva na medida em que setores com menor produtividade acabaram servindo como receptores de trabalhadores de setores mais dinâmicos e tiveram suas produtividades diminuídas. Esta é uma das causas do baixo crescimento no Brasil no período em questão.The purpose of this final paper is to analyze the most recent contributions in the field of dual economies analysis, more specifically the paper by Storm (2017). The author makes a model in which the economy is divided into two sectors, one stagnant and the other dynamic. As technological progress is made in the dynamic sector, workers are expelled and migrate to the stagnant. The excess of workers in the stagnant sector decreases wages in this sector, causing an insufficiency of demand that ends up feeding this dynamic, which is one of the causes of secular stagnation. The author considers wages in the dynamic sector to be exogenous to productivity, which, for the extension of new economies, may pose a problem. Thus, this change was proposed, as well as simulations were made to visualize the implications of the change. Finally, the Brazilian economy was divided into dynamic and stagnant sectors, in the period from 2013 to 2019, to verify analytically whether, after the crisis, this dynamic of unbalanced growth happened. The conclusion from the data was positive as the sectors with lower productivity ended up serving as recipients of workers from more dynamic sectors and had their productivity reduced. This is one of the causes of low growth in Brazil in the referred period

Improving psychology students' attitudes toward people with schizophrenia: A quasirandomized controlled study

Despite scientific evidence that the majority of people with schizophrenia (PWS) have personal histories of traumatic life events and adversities, their needs for psychological support often remain unmet. Poor availability of nonpharmacological therapies in schizophrenia may be partly because of professionals' attitudes toward people diagnosed with this disorder. As future health professionals, psychology students represent a target population for efforts to increase the probability that PWS will be offered effective psychological therapies. This quasi-randomized controlled study investigated the effect of an educational intervention, addressing common prejudices via scientific evidence and prerecorded audio-testimony from PWS, on the attitudes of psychology students toward PWS. Students in their fifth year of a master's degree in Psychology at the Second University of Naples, Italy were randomly assigned to an experimental group-which attended two 3-hr sessions a week apart-or to a control group. Compared with their baseline assessment, at 1-month reassessment the 76 educated students endorsed more psychosocial causes and more of them recommended psychologists in the treatment of schizophrenia. They were also more optimistic about recovery, less convinced that PWS are recognizable and unpredictable, and more convinced that treatments, pharmacological and psychological, are useful. No significant changes were found, from baseline to 1-month reassessment, in the 112 controls. At 1-month reassessment, educated students were more optimistic about recovery and less convinced that PWS are unpredictable than controls. These findings suggest that psychology students' attitudes toward PWS can be improved by training initiatives including education and indirect contact with users

The Unsustainable Use of Natural Resources in the State of Goiás: Effects of agriculture in the conservation of the Cerrado biome

Até a metade do século XX, a viabilidade das práticas agrícola em Goiás dependeu de condições edáficas naturais favoráveis para esta atividade. As florestas, como o Mato Grosso de Goiás, foram objeto de uso intensivo pelas diferentes sociedades, ao longo da história. Após a Revolução Verde, na década de 1970, o aspecto "fertilidade natural do solo" perdeu a importância que detinha para a viabilidade de projetos agrícolas. Novas técnicas agronômicas foram empregadas para o desenvolvimento de áreas naturais, possibilitando que outros ecossistemas fossem incorporados ao sistema de produção. Assim, o Cerrado sentido restrito, que ocorre em solos de baixa fertilidade, passou a ser o alvo dos desmatamentos em Goiás. Esse modelo de ocupação, por destruir preferencialmente um único tipo de ecossistema, ameaça a conservação de áreas naturais com dimensões suficientes para abrigar populações viáveis da fauna silvestre e com representatividade ecossistêmica.Palavras-Chaves: Bioma Cerrado, Agricultura, Conservação Da NaturezaUntil the mid-twentieth century, the viability of agricultural practices in Goiás depended on favorable natural soil conditions. Forests, such as “Mato Grosso de Goiás”, were subject to intensive use by different societies throughout history. After the Green Revolution in the 1970s, the notion of "natural fertility of the soil" lost the importance it held for the viability of agricultural projects. New agronomic techniques were employed for the development of natural areas, allowing other ecosystems to be incorporated into the production system. Thus, the Cerrado, in its strictest sense, which occurs in low fertility soils, became the target of deforestation in Goiás. This model of occupancy, which preferably destroys a unique type of ecosystem, threatens the conservation of natural areas that are large enough to house viable populations of wildlife and ecosystem representativeness.Keywords: “Cerrado” biome, agriculture, nature conservatio

Biologia de Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae) em frutos de Campomanesia xanthocarpa.

O objetivo do presente trabalho foi avaliar, em condições controladas, os parâmetros biológicos de A. fraterculus em frutos de guabiroba Campomanesia xanthocarpa