Informed consent comprehension among vulnerable populations in Ecuador: video-delivered vs. in-person standard method

The informed consent comprehension process is key to engaging potential research subject participation. The aim of this study is to compare informed consent comprehension between two methods: standard and video-delivered. We compared the in-person and video-delivered informed consent process in the Familias Unidas intervention. We evaluated comprehension using a 7-item true/false questionnaire. There were a total of 152 participants in the control group and 87 in the experimental. General characteristics were similar between both groups (p > 0.05). First-attempt informed consent comprehension was higher in the intervention group but was not statistically significant (80% and 78% respectively p = 0.44). A video-delivered informed consent process did not differ from the standard method of informed consent in a low educational and socioeconomic environment.     

The urban market of Açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and rural land use change: Ethnographic insights into the role of price and land tenure constraining agricultural choices in the Amazon estuary

This paper examines the recent development of the açaí fruit economy in regional Amazonian urban markets (as a staple food) and more recently among national and international consumers (as a fashion food) and the consequences for agroforestry intensification by Caboclo communities in the Amazon estuary. The paper is based on long-term ethnographic research and field experiments; the açaí fruit economy is discussed from agricultural, social, and economic perspectives; attention is given to its historical development, the structure of açaí fruit production, its agents, the relationship among themselves and the urban market. Decadal price performance is presented for açaí fruit and açaí transportation costs and compared to major agropastoral products for the Eastern Amazon region. Dominant views about the economic rationality of rural producers' decision-making are discussed. Açaí fruit has performed as well as and in some cases surpassed most agro-pastoral products of the Northern region. Economic returns for producers reflect linkages between price signals from urban markets, harvesting decision, and land tenure condition of the producer. Urban markets for the fruit is expanding and bringing new participants to the açaí fruit economy further conditioning the ability of rural producers to take advantage of external markets for forest products. Discussion of factors conditioning agricultural development and integration between urban and rural areas conclude the article.     

Synergistic development and participatory action research in a Nahuat community

This is a report of twenty years of participatory action research conducted by a team of Mexican urban professionals with community members in a Nahuat indigenous region at Sierra Norte de Puebla (Mexico). The article first outlines three main issues of Latin American participatory action research projects. The context and the unfolding of the case are presented through five stages highlighting the role of the team, its relationship with the community along the years, and the development of some of their joint activities. In the final pages the authors evaluate the case in relation to the issues raised in the first section and discuss what is important about this process. María Eugenia Sánchez is a sociologist and President and Founder of Proyecto de Animación y Desarrollo, Asociación Civil (PRADE A.C.), the nongovernmental organization living and working since 1973 in San Miguel Tzinacapan (Mexico). She is currently (1992–1993) a Fulbright Scholar at the Latin American Studies Program, Center for International Studies at Cornell University. He is currently (1992–1993) a Fulbright Scholar at the Latin American Studies Program, Center for International Studies at Cornell University. Address for correspondence: María Eugenia Sánchez or Eduardo Almeida, 190 Uris Hall, Latin American Studies Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853-7601. In Mexico: PRADE, A.C., Apartado Postal 6, Cuetzalan, Pue. 73560 Mexico.     

Catholic social teaching and business ethics: A search for moral foundations

Do the social encyclicals, especially the 100-year old Rerum Novarum,have any relevance to business people and managers in the practice of their profession? To respond to this question, one must attempt to find a link between Catholic social teaching and business ethics. Establishing this relationship is the goal of this paper. It will discuss the notion of the social question, which is addressed in the social encyclicals; present the philosophical and theological foundations of the social teaching; and point to areas where the linkage between the social teaching and business ethics can be established. By reaching deep into the philosophical grounds of the social encyclicals, the analysis attempts to cut through the often muddled diversity of opinions on specific ethical issues which characterize most moral debates.     

Estimation of Long Memory in Integrated Variance

A stylized fact is that realized variance has long memory. We show that, when the instantaneous volatility is a long memory process of order d, the integrated variance is characterized by the same long-range dependence. We prove that the spectral density of realized variance is given by the sum of the spectral density of the integrated variance plus that of a measurement error, due to the sparse sampling and market microstructure noise. Hence, the realized volatility has the same degree of long memory as the integrated variance. The additional term in the spectral density induces a finite-sample bias in the semiparametric estimates of the long memory. A Monte Carlo simulation provides evidence that the corrected local Whittle estimator of Hurvich et al. (2005 Hurvich , C. M. , Moulines , E. , Soulier , P. ( 2005 ). Estimating long memory in volatility . Econometrica 73 ( 4 ): 1283 – 1328 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) is much less biased than the standard local Whittle estimator and the empirical application shows that it is robust to the choice of the sampling frequency used to compute the realized variance. Finally, the empirical results suggest that the volatility series are more likely to be generated by a nonstationary fractional process.     

Critical Race Theories,Colorism, and the Decade's Research on Families of Color

In the millennium's inaugural decade, 2 interrelated trends influenced research on America's families of color: the need for new knowledge about America's growing ethnic/racial minority and immigrant populations and conceptual advances in critical race theories and perspectives on colorism. Three substantive areas reflecting researchers' interests in these trends emerged as the most frequently studied topics about families of color: inequality and socioeconomic mobility within and across families, interracial romantic pairings, and the racial socialization of children. In this review, we synthesize and critique the decade's scholarly literature on these topics. We devote special attention to advances in knowledge made by family‐relevant research that incorporated ways of thinking from critical race theories and the conceptual discourse on colorism.     

"This is a White Country"1: The Racial Ideology of the Western Nations of the World-System

In this paper I argue that the racial ideology of the Western nations of the world-system has converged over the past twenty years. This new ideology or, as many analysts call it, the "new racism," includes: (1) the notion of cultural rather than biological difference, (2) the abstract and decontextualized use of the discourse of liberalism and individualism to rationalize racial inequality, and (3) a celebration of nationalism that at times acquires an ethnonational character. I contend that this ideological convergence reflects the histories of racial imperialism of all these countries, the fact that they have all developed real–although different–racial structures that award systemic rewards to their "White" citizens, and the significant presence of the "Other" (Black, Arab, Turk, aboriginal people, etc.) in their midst. I use the cases of Germany, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand to illustrate my point.     

Circuit board accident--organizational dimension hidden by prescribed safety

This study analyzes an accident in which two maintenance workers suffered severe burns while replacing a circuit breaker panel in a steel mill, following model of analysis and prevention of accidents (MAPA) developed with the objective of enlarging the perimeter of interventions and contributing to deconstruction of blame attribution practices. The study was based on materials produced by a health service team in an in-depth analysis of the accident. The analysis shows that decisions related to system modernization were taken without considering their implications in maintenance scheduling and creating conflicts of priorities and of interests between production and safety; and also reveals that the lack of a systemic perspective in safety management was its principal failure. To explain the accident as merely non-fulfillment of idealized formal safety rules feeds practices of blame attribution supported by alibi norms and inhibits possible prevention. In contrast, accident analyses undertaken in worker health surveillance services show potential to reveal origins of these events incubated in the history of the system ignored in practices guided by the traditional paradigm.