Between Care and Order: Street-Level Workers’ Discretion and Drug Policies in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Porto Alegre (Brazil)

__Abstract__ This comparative study analyses the implementation of policies on so-called ‘problem drugs’ (crack cocaine and heroin) for the cities of Amsterdam (in the Netherlands) and Porto Alegre (in Brazil). Using a variant on the street level bureaucracy approach, the study assumes that workers’ discretion has a central role in understanding the processes through which official public policies come into grounded existence. Workers’ discretionary choices involve the creation of strategies to cope with the gaps between the goals and expectations from official policies and the actual conditions of work at the street level. In the case of drug policies, this also includes negotiating between different approaches towards people who use drugs, which range from human rights and health care for users to law enforcement to ensure public order. Workers engage with organizational rules, goals and regulations plus other workers and users in making discretionary decisions on both problem definitions and possible solutions for drug use. All these factors are found to shape the ways in which workers’ discretion is exercised. The research focuses on State supported workers in the social, health and law enforcement fields to analyse the dilemmas workers encounter in their daily interactions with drug users, and how they develop strategies to cope with them. More specifically, it looks at how dilemmas and strategies vary across workers’ different working territories, differing interpretive beliefs around drug use, levels of support and constraints coming from their organizations, differing patterns of collaboration within and between sectors, and experiences of relationship with drug users

Marginalidade ou Cidadania? A rede discursiva que configura o trabalho dos redutores de danos

ABSTRACT. Scientific literature review shows that Harm Reduction (HR) articles focus mainly the discussion about the implications of different drug users treatment models and the efficiency of HR with injection drug users. However, there are few studies about HR workers. In this context, the present article aims to discuss the work of outreachworkers, proposing an analysis of how the discursive formations about drugs and Aids, in contemporary society, influence the work and the subjectivity of the outreachworkers, as well as the possibilities of having “sustainable projects” as a way to include harm reduction practices in public health services. // RESUMO. A revisão bibliográfica mostra que os estudos relativos à redução de danos (RD) se centram, predominantemente, na discussão das implicações de diferentes modelos de tratamento para o usuário de drogas e na redução de danos aplicada a usuários de drogas injetáveis. Porém, poucos estudos são encontrados acerca do trabalhador em RD. Neste contexto, o presente artigo propõe uma reflexão a respeito do trabalho dos redutores de danos, questionando como as formações discursivas sobre aids e drogas, na sociedade contemporânea, atravessam a subjetividade e o trabalho dos redutores, bem como sobre as possibilidades de inserção e sustentabilidade das ações em redução de danos

Accurate magnetic sensor system integrated design

Inductive measurement of magnetic fields is a diagnostic technique widely used in several scientific fields, such as magnetically confined fusion, plasma thrusters and particle accelerators, where real time control and detailed characterization of physics phenomena are required. The accuracy of the measured data strongly influences the machine controllability and the scientific results. In the framework of the assembly modifications of the RFX-mod experiment, a complete renew and improvement of the magnetic diagnostic system, from the probes moved inside the vacuum vessel to the integrator modules, has been carried out. In this paper, the whole system making up the magnetic diagnostics is described, following the acquisition chain from the probe to the streamed data and illustrating the requirements and conflicting limitations which affect the different components, in order to provide a comprehensive overview useful for an integrated design of any new systems. The characterization of a prototypical implementation of the whole acquisition chain is presented, focusing on the flexible ADC architecture adopted for providing a purely numerical signal integration, highlighting the advantages that this technology offers in terms of flexibility, compactness and cost effectiveness, along with the limitations found in existing implementation in terms of ADC noise characteristics and their possible solutions

Nanoscale characterization of an all-oxide core-shell nanorod heterojunction using intermodulation atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods

The electrical properties of an all-oxide core-shell ZnO-Co3O4nanorod heterojunction were studied in the dark and under UV-vis illumination. The contact potential difference and current distribution maps were obtained utilizing new methods in dynamic multifrequency atomic force microscopy (AFM) such as electrostatic and conductive intermodulation AFM. Light irradiation modified the electrical properties of the nanorod heterojunction. The new techniques are able to follow the instantaneous local variation of the photocurrent, giving a two-dimensional (2D) map of the current-voltage curves and correlating the electrical and morphological features of the heterostructured core-shell nanorods

Estudio preliminar de algunas variables de crecimiento y fertilidad en ratones de Bioterio

 In the present work, the results obtained in the comparative study of the growth and fertility of Balb/C and CF-1 mice from the Bioterium of the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of the Northeast are exposed, by modifying the environmental conditions of breeding and reproduction of the animals before and after the moving of the Center to its new facilities. The characteristics studied in both strains were: breeding number, weight according to sex before and after weaning, until to the 15th week of life, and fertility rate. The results obtained show that the moving caused stress in both murine strains, and the effect was manifested in the decrease of growth and fertility rates observed in the animals. These values were not statistically significant, which allows us to conclude that the enrichment of the habitat in the new facilities helped to alleviate in some way the stress of the move. This is the first systematic study carried out for this purpose and lays the foundations for others for monitoring the adaptation and production in the new facilities.En el presente trabajo se exponen los resultados obtenidos en el estudio comparativo del crecimiento y la fertilidad de ratones Balb/C y CF-1 del Bioterio de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, al modificar las condiciones ambientales de cría y reproducción de los animales previa y posteriormente al traslado del Centro a sus nuevas instalaciones. Las características estudiadas en ambas cepas fueron: número de crías, peso según sexo previo y posterior al destete, hasta la semana 15 de vida y tasa de fertilidad. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que el traslado causó estrés en ambas cepas murinas, cuyo efecto se manifestó en la disminución de las tasas de crecimiento y fertilidad en estos animales experimentales. Estos valores resultaron no significativos estadísticamente, lo que nos permite concluir que el enriquecimiento del hábitat en las nuevas instalaciones ayudó a paliar de alguna manera el estrés de la mudanza. Este es el primer estudio sistemático realizado a este efecto y sienta las bases de otros para el seguimiento de la adaptación y producción en las nuevas instalaciones

Limitations of the pour point measurement and the influence of the oil composition on its detection using principal component analysis

A method for maximum and minimum pour point determination in crude oil was applied, and the chemical composition of 80 samples, American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity, total acid number (TAN), density, kinematic viscosity, and sulfur, asphaltene, and wax contents were analyzed in association with chemometric methods. The results of the 80 analyzed samples showed maximum pour point temperatures from 9 to -36 degrees C and minimum pour point temperatures from 12 to -36 degrees C. Heavy oils with asphaltenic chemical composition showed more positive values of pour point (5-8 degrees C) and showed no significant difference between the maximum and minimum pour points considering the repeatability of the method (3 degrees C for maximum and 6 degrees C for minimum). However, the oils with chemical composition with higher wax content and higher API gravity showed lower pour point values from -24 to -6 degrees C (maximum) and from -30 to -18 degrees C (minimum), respectively. The principal component analysis (PCA) explained 92% of data variability, showing that the differences among the properties of the samples allowed for their separation by groups and some properties are closely correlated to the pour point2831686169

Separation of Dual Oxidase 2 and Lactoperoxidase Expression in Intestinal Crypts and Species Differences May Limit Hydrogen Peroxide Scavenging During Mucosal Healing in Mice and Humans.

Background: DUOX2 and DUOXA2 form the predominant H2O2-producing system in human colorectal mucosa. Inflammation, hypoxia, and 5-aminosalicylic acid increase H2O2 production, supporting innate defense and mucosal healing. Thiocyanate reacts with H2O2 in the presence of lactoperoxidase (LPO) to form hypothiocyanate (OSCN-), which acts as a biocide and H2O2 scavenging system to reduce damage during inflammation. We aimed to discover the organization of Duox2, Duoxa2, and Lpo expression in colonic crypts of Lieberkühn (intestinal glands) of mice and how distributions respond to dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis and subsequent mucosal regeneration. Methods: We studied tissue from DSS-exposed mice and human biopsies using in situ hybridization, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and cDNA microarray analysis. Results: Duox2 mRNA expression was mostly in the upper crypt quintile while Duoxa2 was more apically focused. Most Lpo mRNA was in the basal quintile, where stem cells reside. Duox2 and Duoxa2 mRNA were increased during the induction and resolution of DSS colitis, while Lpo expression did not increase during the acute phase. Patterns of Lpo expression differed from Duox2 in normal, inflamed, and regenerative mouse crypts (P < 0.001). We found no evidence of LPO expression in the human gut. Conclusions: The spatial and temporal separation of H2O2-consuming and -producing enzymes enables a thiocyanate- H2O2 "scavenging" system in murine intestinal crypts to protect the stem/proliferative zones from DNA damage, while still supporting higher H2O2 concentrations apically to aid mucosal healing. The absence of LPO expression in the human gut suggests an alternative mechanism or less protection from DNA damage during H2O2-driven mucosal healing.R.P. was funded by the Monument Trust. M.P.C. was funded by the CARIPLO Foundation (project 2010-0790) and the Italian Ministry of Health. A.R. was supported by an annual fellowship from Fondazione Umberto Veronesi