Experiencing Civil Unrest: Elder Voices on Ferguson

ABSTRACT

Ferguson, Missouri became the center of the nation’s attention when an unarmed African American teenager was killed by a Caucasian police officer. Civic unrest continued for weeks. The aim of this study was to learn how older adults experienced the social unrest. Ten focus groups were conducted with 73 participants. Eight themes were identified. Issues related to safety were most commonly discussed. Participants reported a breakdown in intergenerational communications and expressed a desire for more exchange. Findings are being discussed with relevant organizations to increase the involvement of older adults in on-going community development efforts and to provide opportunities for intergenerational dialogue.     

The technological obsolescence of the Brazilian eletronic ballot box

The electronic ballot box has played a significant role in the consolidation of Brazilian political process. It has enabled paper ballots extinction as a support for the elector's vote as well as for voting counting processes. It is also widely known that election automation has decisively collaborated to the legitimization of Brazilian democracy, getting rid of doubts about the winning candidates. In 1995, when the project was conceived, it represented a compromise solution, balancing technical efficiency and costs trade-offs. However, this architecture currently limits the ergonomic enhancements to the device operation, transportation, maintenance and storage. Nowadays are available in the market devices of reduced dimensions, based on novel computational architecture, namely tablet computers, which emphasizes usability, autonomy, portability, security and low power consumption. Therefore, the proposal under discussion is the replacement of the current electronic ballot boxes for tablet-based devices to improve the ergonomics aspects of the Brazilian voting process. These devices offer a plethora of integrated features (e.g., capacitive touchscreen, speakers, microphone) that enable highly usable and simple user interfaces, in addition to enhancing the voting process security mechanisms. Finally, their operational systems features allow for the development of highly secure applications, suitable to the requirements of a voting process.     

Infant regulation during the pandemic: Associations with maternal response to the COVID-19 pandemic,well-being,and socio-emotional investment

In the transition to parenthood, the COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional strain on parental well-being. Confirmed infections or having to quarantine, as well as public health measures negatively affect parents and infants. Contrary to previous studies mainly focusing on the well-being of school-aged children and their parents during lockdown periods, the present study investigated how mothers of infants respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and whether this is related to maternal well-being, maternal socio-emotional investment, and infant regulation. Between April and June 2021, 206 mothers of infants (M_age = 7.14 months, SD_age = 3.75 months) reported on COVID-19 infections, their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, their well-being, socio-emotional investment, and their infant’s regulation. Exploratory factor analyses yielded five dimensions of maternal response to the COVID-19 pandemic: social distancing, worrying about the child, birth anxiety, distancing from the child, and information on COVID-19-related parenting behavior and support. These dimensions were related to mother-reported infant regulatory problems. Path analyses revealed paths via reduced maternal well-being and maternal socio-emotional investment. Maternal perceptions of infant regulatory problems are related to how the mothers respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Better information about COVID-19-related parenting behavior and support might buffer against these effects.     

Violence in the Brazilian favelas and the role of the police

Institutions should normally have an integrative influence. The family, for example, has the task of protecting and giving socio-emotional support to children, and schools should prepare young people for their future. Ideally the common goal of all of society's institutions is to secure the integration of youth and prevent or intervene against deviant behavior. But sometimes institutions provoke or even cause juvenile delinquency. The article discusses institutional influences and the role of the police in the criminal and violent situation in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.Starting with an overview of the origins and the development of violence, crime, and drug trafficking in the favelas, the authors show how these slums arose. Their analysis examines the lack of a state presence with an integration policy to avoid social disintegration. Instead of social integration policy, there is a dual approach that both controls and produces violence. The article also presents the first results of a government attempt in 2000 to introduce a new police unit to stop the violence and improve the social opportunity structure of the residents of the favelas, especially young people.