Surviving crack: a qualitative study of the strategies and tactics developed by Brazilian users to deal with the risks associated with the drug

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Due to marginalization, trafficking violence, conflicts with the police and organic and social psychological problems associated with the drug, crack is one of the most devastating drugs currently in use. However, there is evidence that some users manage to stay alive and active while using crack cocaine for many years, despite the numerous adversities and risks involved with this behavior. In this context, the aim of the present study was to identify the strategies and tactics developed by crack users to deal with the risks associated with the culture of use by examining the survival strategies employed by long-term users.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A qualitative research method was used involving semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Twenty-eight crack users fulfilling a pre-defined enrollment criterion were interviewed. This criterion was defined as the long-term use of crack (i.e., at least four years). The sample was selected using information provided by key informants and distributed across eight different supply chains. The interviews were literally transcribed and analyzed via content analysis techniques using NVivo-8 software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was diversity in the sample with regard to economic and education levels. The average duration of crack use was 11.5 years. Respondents believed that the greatest risks of crack dependence were related to the drug's psychological effects (e.g., cravings and transient paranoid symptoms) and those arising from its illegality (e.g., clashes with the police and trafficking). Protection strategies focused on the control of the psychological effects, primarily through the consumption of alcohol and marijuana. To address the illegality of the drug, strategies were developed to deal with dealers and the police; these strategies were considered crucial for survival.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The strategies developed by the respondents focused on trying to protect themselves. They proved generally effective, though they involved risks of triggering additional problems (e.g., other dependencies) in the long term.</p

Os museus históricos e pedagógicos do estado de São Paulo

This paper analyzes the creation of the Historical and Pedagogical Museums network in the State of São Paulo between 1956 and 1973, mainly taking into consideration the concept for creation, the program, and the role of the museum in society. This work covers a period until the end of the 1990's, when the curators of the museums, which belonged to the State until that time, was transferred to the municipalities by means of a "municipalization" process coordinated by the Department of Museums and Archives of the State Department of Cultural Affairs (DEMA-SEC). It also shows that the implementation of this museums network - among other initiatives in the fields of education and of culture - addressed earlier needs of asserting an identity, emphasizing through projects of this type the hegemonic character of the State. This allowed to align the initiative of creating the museums with others actions carried out by the State before, and also enabled that this topic was take out from its long isolation from the study of State history. It also considers the web of relationships existing among the various sectors with which museums were connected, such as education, culture, and the São Paulo Historical and Geographical Institute, the Government, and Society. The implementation of Historical and Pedagogical Museums by means of State action, through its Departments of Education (from 1956 to 1968) and Cultural Affairs (from 1968 to 1998) was one of the ways through which the Government orientated its activities during those years in the fields of history, education and culture. The central thesis is that the implementation of these museums has fully addressed the aspirations of society at the time, while, at the same time, underscoring the logic behind the ideation that has oriented the characteristic mode of operation of museums during the years in which their curatorship was exercised by the Government, and proposes to consider them as a paradigm for "historical museums of the State of São Paulo".Este estudo analisa a criação da rede de museus históricos e pedagógicos do estado de São Paulo entre os anos de 1956 e 1973, sobretudo quanto ao conceito de criação, de programa e de função de museu na sociedade. Tal análise estende-se ao final da década de 1990, quando a tutela dos museus, até então estadual, é transferida às cidades por meio do processo de municipalização, coordenado pelo Departamento de Museus e Arquivos, da Secretaria de Estado da Cultura (Dema-SEC). Em meio a outras iniciativas nos campos da educação e da cultura, aborda a correspondência existente entre a implantação da rede desses museus e antigas necessidades de afirmação identitária, ao evidenciar, por meio de projetos desta natureza, o caráter hegemônico do Estado e sua atuação em campos como o da história, o da educação e o da cultura. Isso permitiu alinhar a iniciativa de criação dos museus a outras anteriormente promovidas pelo estado de São Paulo e possibilitar que o tema escapasse de um prolongado isolamento no estudo da história paulista. Trata, também, da trama de relações existentes entre diversos setores ligados aos museus - educação, cultura, Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de São Paulo (IHGSP), poder público e sociedade. A hipótese central é de que a implantação desses museus correspondeu plenamente às aspirações da sociedade de uma época, ao mesmo tempo em que evidencia a lógica da ideação que determinou o modo característico de atuação dos museus nos anos em que estiveram sob a tutela do governo estadual, propondo, assim, entendê-los como paradigma de "museu histórico do estado de São Paulo"

Estudos Artísticos

A arte inclui no seu sistema os mesmos processos que reproduzem o poder ou que renovam as suas retóricas através de astúcias de resistência. Criou-se me tempos a proposta radical de uma arte emancipada, independente de referencialidade para além dos valores plásticos. Esta radicalidade escondia afinal um conformismo otimista e modernista: a arte “abstrata” era conservadora, decorativa, e não incomodava afinal ninguém. Aqui se mostra a oportunidade deste desafio, da chamada de artigos que esta Revista Croma 14 convocou: o desafio é entrar no caleidoscópio das ilusões sem perder o norte, sem abdicar do sentido último da cultura, que é mais humanidade, mais inteira, mais consciente.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost