Urbanization homogenizes the interactions of plant-frugivore bird networks

Urban Ecosystems - Anthropogenic activities are the main cause of habitat loss and fragmentation, which directly affects biodiversity. Disruption in landscape connectivity among populations may...     

How European PR practitioners handle digital and social media

The European Communication Monitor (ECM) 2010 showed that digital communication and social media have grown in importance in the media mix of European organizations. Both new media types are positively correlated to the perceived impact of public relations (PR) in the organization. Specifically social networks and online videos are considered the most important social media tools. Also European practitioners expect that the content of communication will become more important as and when the use of social media further increases. The consequence that everyone within the organization is able to spread information is perceived as the most problematic aspect of social media. A potential problem is that only about one third of the European organizations have implemented social media policies with communication consultancies leading the way. Communication consultants consider social media significantly more important than practitioners working in organizations.     

The footwear factory's assembly sector: opposing organizational structure and quality from the ergonomic work analysis

Data from 2006 indicated that Brazilian footwear leather industry was composed of approximately 9,488 formally registered establishments, considering the leather industry, footwear and leather goods. It was responsible for 211,582 people employed. However, in spite of having many employees, this kind of organization found several problems when analyzed from the ergonomics view. With this premise, then, in order to identify bottlenecks and other engineering problems that could cause discomfort and motivation lack among workers, leading directly to the loss of the product quality, the assembly sector of women's shoes factory was characterized.     

Conceptual design pattern for ergonomic workplaces

In this paper, we analyzed two laboratories of liquid chromatography (LC), separation technique of mixtures and identification of its components, in order to identify projectual gaps relating to the environment and the working station. The methodology used was the ergonomic analysis with interactional and participatory techniques applied during the activity performance. This work incorporated and adapted the concept developed by Alexander (1979)--pattern languages--passing from architectural projects to workstations project and physical arrangement of the work environment. The adaptation of the concept resulted in a list of recommendations, requirements and concepts that have brought design solutions for the problematic aspects observed in the ergonomic analysis. The employed methodology, strongly supported in ergonomics principles, and in interactional and participatory techniques, contributed to achieve our gold that is what we now call Conceptual Standards. The patterns go beyond of a usual model of book a of ergonomics specification, once incorporating the viewpoint of the end user, it is also a set of best project practices and of project management in conception ergonomics.     

Measuring Homonegativity: Psychometric Analysis of Herek’s Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG) in Colombia,South America

The empirical study of negative attitudes toward gay and lesbian people (homonegativity) is a way to understand the reason for its prevalence. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG). A total of 359 undergraduate students were recruited from two different cities in Colombia, South America. Participants’ attitudes toward gays and lesbian people were assessed using the ATLG Scale and the Homophobia Scale; anxiety was measured using a short version of the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Internal consistency analyses have shown that the ATLG Scale is a reliable measure of homonegativity in a Colombian sample. In addition, principal components analyses, as well as convergent and divergent validity analyses have confirmed that the ATLG Scale is a valid and reliable measure of homonegativity in the Colombian context and support its use as a research instrument.     

Morphosyntactic development and educational style of parents in neglected children

This research analyses the morpho-syntactical competence of children in care and the educational style of their parents. The studies from the literature give no specific data concerning how the morphological and syntactic components are affected in children suffering from neglect. These studies point to important deficiencies in language development, but do not specify what such difficulties actually are. This research is carried out within the framework of the residential care children's homes in the region of Extremadura (Spain). The morpho-syntactic competence of the children and the parental educational style of a total of 74 children in residential care are analysed. The subjects are 41 males and 33 females, between 6 and 18 years of age. We apply the ‘Objective Language Criteria Test’ (BLOCScreening) to evaluate their linguistic development and the ‘Autoevaluative Multifactorial Child Adaptation Test’ (TAMAI) to determine educational style. The presence of difficulties in morphosyntaxis is evident. The children with a low dominion of morphology and syntax perceive a more punitive style in the parents. The difficulties in morphosyntax are manifested both expressive and receptive. Use short sentences to frequent omission of morphological markers. Comprehension problems are lower than those of expression, but it shows a erroneous understanding of some grammatical structures, and grammatical errors in spontaneous speech. Use fewer morphologically complex words in their narratives. Have difficulty in organising the content of the speech and the use of cohesive devices (using the precision and accuracy of the conjunctions used in compound sentences). We must stress the need to carry out early prevention and intervention programmes in order to promote an increase in both the quantity and the quality of language stimulation. From there, the need to set up intervention programmes that influence the linguistic competence of children who have suffered abuse.     

The role of age and setting in adolescents’ first drinking experience for predicting college problem drinking

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of longitudinally reporting age at first drink (AFD), and to test AFD and setting of first drink (SFD) as predictors of collegiate problem drinking. Participants: 338 first-year college students were interviewed multiple times during their first academic year, from May 2011 through August 2012. Methods: AFD, SFD, and problem drinking were measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) during the first year of college. Bivariate analysis and parsimonious multivariate linear regression model were conducted. Results: 62% of respondents were inconsistent in reporting AFD over time. Social SFD was the strongest independent predictor for higher AUDIT scores (b = 4.74, 95% confidence interval; 1.91, 7.57; p = .002). Conclusions: Findings suggest caution should be used in relying upon using AFD as a sole predictor of problem drinking. SFD may be a complementary measure to identify students at high risk of collegiate problem drinking.     

The Long Road: Rural Youth,Farming and Agroecological Formación in Central America

Across the globe, the countryside faces the “generation problem”: Who will grow food when the current generation of aging small farmers and peasants disappears? A combination of objective and subjective factors effectively discourages young people from assuming the continuity of peasant and family farming, especially in countries that have experienced significant neoliberal dismantling of rural infrastructure and education. Rural social movements are increasingly building educational processes linked with small-scale, ecological farming in the hopes of reinforcing the development of identities and skills for peasant futures and cadre in the struggle for popular land reform, agroecology, and food sovereignty.     

The Role of Family Policy in Explaining the International Variation in Child Subjective Well-Being

The article proposes an innovative analyse for cross-national differences in the subjective child well-being introducing new indicators and measures. This dimension addresses the issue of welfare support to parents and child early education. The question of this research is to what extend family policies can explain the variability of subjective child well-being components in different European countries. Based on this question, the two objective of this proposal are: (1) to review the existing literature with respect to conceptualization, measurement, and correlates of children’s subjective well-being, with a special emphasis on the context of family policies and family well-being in different European welfare states, and (2) to analyse the relation between these policies and subjective child well-being. In order to get these aims we have elaborated two indexes: the index of child subjective well-being and family policy index. Data for HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) for the first index and data from OECD Family Database is used to build these indicators. We found that the index of child subjective well-being is comparatively higher in those countries where family policies are more generous in the areas of preschool education, family services, family spending and duration of paid parental leave.