Media and legacies of war: responses to global film violence in conflict zones

This article examines the phenomenon of informal video houses showing action films with scenes of violence to young people in Gorongosa, a district in the center of Mozambique. Recent socioeconomic interventions and development in the region have occurred in tandem with the growing popularity of violent action films among young people, which has been cause for concern among their parents and guardians. The ambivalent responses of Gorongosa residents toward this trend indicate the need to analyze the implications of film violence in the context of evolving local rituals of revelation and multiple legacies of the civil war (1976–1992) as well as emerging postwar challenges. The results significantly contrast with psychological studies of media violence that link consumption of film violence to serious negative effects on young viewers. In Gorongosa, film violence is implicated in expanding relations of domination and submission and violence and its containment, which enhance ongoing processes of self-assertion among young people in unpredictable ways, without, however, inciting violence in the communities. This study has significant implications for understanding the reception of mass media violence among young people in conflict zones

Media and legacies of war: responses to global film violence in conflict zones

This article examines the phenomenon of informal video houses showing action films with scenes of violence to young people in Gorongosa, a district in the center of Mozambique. Recent socioeconomic interventions and development in the region have occurred in tandem with the growing popularity of violent action films among young people, which has been cause for concern among their parents and guardians. The ambivalent responses of Gorongosa residents toward this trend indicate the need to analyze the implications of film violence in the context of evolving local rituals of revelation and multiple legacies of the civil war (1976–1992) as well as emerging postwar challenges. The results significantly contrast with psychological studies of media violence that link consumption of film violence to serious negative effects on young viewers. In Gorongosa, film violence is implicated in expanding relations of domination and submission and violence and its containment, which enhance ongoing processes of self-assertion among young people in unpredictable ways, without, however, inciting violence in the communities. This study has significant implications for understanding the reception of mass media violence among young people in conflict zones

The implications of accumulated grievances and memories of political violence to the process of administrative decentralization in Mozambique

Political grievances accumulated in the course of protracted civil wars constitutive major challenges for democratic decentralization in various postconflict countries in Africa. However these types of problems have not been thoroughly accounted for in the political sciences literature. In Mozambique, the persistent attempts by the Mozambican main opposition party, Renamo, to officially inscribe in the country’s landscape their own version of the post-independence civil war (1976-1992) offers an interesting context ‘to espy alternatives’ in relation to the effects of civil wars in the constitution of new democratic practices and institutions. The overall analyses demonstrate how grievances over memories of violence can paradoxically hamper and reinforce political pluralism and democratic decentralization in Mozambique

Adaptive and predictive controllers applied to onshore wind energy conversion system

This paper presents a simulation of onshore energy conversion system connected to the electric grid and under an event-based supervisor control based on deterministic version of a finite state machine. The onshore energy conversion system is composed by a variable speed wind turbine, a mechanical transmission system described by a two-mass drive train, a gearbox, a doubly fed induction generator rotor and by a two-level converter. First, mathematical models of a variable speed wind turbine with pitch control are studied, followed by the study of different controller types such as adaptive controllers and predictive controllers. The study of an event-based supervisor based on finite state machines is also studied. The control and supervision strategy proposed for the onshore energy conversion system is based on a hierarchical structure with two levels, execution level where the adaptive and predictive controllers are included, and the supervision level where the event-based supervisor is included. The objective is to control the electric output power around the reference power and also to analyze the operational states according to the wind speed. The studied mathematical models are integrated into computer simulations for the onshore energy conversion system and the obtained numerical results allow for the performance assessment of the system connected to the electric grid. A comparison of the onshore energy conversion system performance without or with the supervisor is carried out to access the influence of the control and supervision strategy on the performance

Fuzzy, integer and fractional order control: application on a wind turbine benchmark model

This paper presents a comparison between proportional integral control approaches for variable speed wind turbines. Integer and fractional-order controllers are designed using linearized wind turbine model whilst fuzzy controller also takes into account system nonlinearities. These controllers operate in the full load region and the main objective is to extract maximum power from the wind turbine while ensuring the performance and reliability required to be integrated into an electric grid. The main contribution focuses on the use of fractional-order proportional integral (FOPI) controller which benefits from the introduction of one more tuning parameter, the integral fractional-order, taking advantage over integer order proportional integral (PI) controller. A comparison between proposed control approaches for the variable speed wind turbines is presented using a wind turbine benchmark model in the Matlab/Simulink environment. Results show that FOPI has improved system performance when compared with classical PI and fuzzy PI controller outperforms the integer and fractional-order control due to its capability to deal with system non linearities and uncertainties

Perceptive social support among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Introduction Social support, especially as provided by close family and friends, has been consistently identified as one of the most powerful predictors of psychological adjustment among parents raising children with ASD. Material and methods A cross-sectional study including 51 parents of children with ASD was carried out in our pediatric development department. The objective of the study was to verify the degree of satisfaction of the participants regarding their family, friends, intimacy, and social activities. Results There was a negative correlation between the childrens age and the degree of parental satisfaction. There was a statistically significant association between the parents' educational level and the degree of satisfaction reported by them in all domains, except for the family domain. Conclusion Based on study findings regarding the importance of help from parents informal social network, special attention in this regard should be focused on developing services that assist parents in making more effective use of existing sources of support from family members, friends, and other parents of children with ASD.</jats:p

Theory of mind in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Introduction. Theory of mind (TM) is involved in social cognition, as it evaluates our ability to impute our mental states to the others in order to predict and explain behaviour. In the literature, it has been noticed that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show some impairments of TM when compared with children not neurodevelopmental impaired. Our goal in this study was to compare the TM in two groups: schooler children with normal development and schooler children with ADHD. Subjects and methods. A total of 35 children, aged between 6 and 12 years, were recruited: 17 with ADHD and 18 not neurodevelopmental impaired. TM was evaluated using an assessment method validated for the Portuguese population: Turtle on the Island-Battery of Assessment of Executive Functions in Children. Results. We obtained two comparable groups concerning sociodemographic data. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding TM. Conclusion. The TM assessment in Portuguese children did not reveal significant impairment regarding this cognitive skill in children with ADHD