Facebook in Brazilian Schools: Mobilizing to Fight Back

In this article, we analyse how students used social media as a form of human–technology interaction for the organization, development, and expansion of activities in 4 social movements in Brazil. We analysed 122 Facebook pages maintained by the Four Movements using the cultural-historical activity theory framework and focused on the notion of collaborative agency in the development of the movements. We performed a qualitative analysis of this data to understand both how the movements developed and the results that the students obtained. Our findings suggest that by acting collaboratively, students expanded activities to other contexts.     

The Influence of Value Orientations,Personal Beliefs,and Knowledge about Resource Extraction on Local Leaders' Positions on Shale Development

Unconventional shale oil and gas production plays a prominent role in boosting economic growth and stimulating wealth creation in many communities. However, because of potential social and environmental drawbacks, including a lack of affordable housing and groundwater contamination from drilling, unconventional shale development is highly contentious in many areas and has resulted in many community conflicts. Hydraulic fracturing, which is a specific technology utilized in unconventional shale development, has proved especially contentious because of concerns about its long‐term environmental consequences. Given the fast pace of shale development, coupled with the controversy that surrounds it, we seek to understand what factors affect a local government official's stance on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. To do this we draw from value‐belief‐norms theory while additionally examining knowledge and community‐level factors that can influence an official's position. In this study, we survey 308 local government officials across six shale plays in the United States to examine local officials' positions on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. We find that the more positively officials perceive the consequences of shale development, the less likely they are to support banning hydraulic fracturing. Additionally, we find that networks to other shale communities are positively associated with favoring a ban. Further, leaders with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to favor a ban than those with lower than a bachelor's degree.     

I love chips and (h)ate them too: the role of ambivalence and contextual cues on attitudinally based eating behaviour / Me encantan las patatas fritas,las como y (también) las odio: el papel de la ambivalencia y de las claves contextuales en el comportamiento alimentario basado en la actitud

Although past work proposed ambivalence as moderating the consistency between attitudes and behaviours, empirical evidence is mixed. We address this matter by taking into account social influence processes and observing actual eating behaviour. We predicted that less ambivalent attitudes are more consistent with behaviours independently of context cues. In two studies, we first evaluated participants’ ambivalence towards the target food. A week later we observed their eating behaviour (Study 1), and analysed the influence of context cues on it (Study 2). Results showed that only less ambivalent attitudes are good predictors of actual behaviour. Importantly, context cues only influenced behaviour among individuals with ambivalent attitudes.     

The intellectual and scientific basis of science,technology and innovation research

There has been a considerable increase in the literature devoted to innovation in the past few decades. This research area is characterized by prolific interdisciplinary connections and no single domain is able to embrace all aspects of science, technology and innovation. By analyzing nearly 60,000 references included in the 1442 articles published between 1974 and 2007 in the area's seed journal, Research Policy (RP), we have uncovered the following patterns: (1) the most important sources of knowledge are associated with “core” economics (mostly mainstream) and management sources, even though the importance of innovation-related sources has been rising; (2) the degree of autonomy of science, technology and innovation research is still weak, revealing its incipience and lack of a unified theoretical framework; (3) the most influential authors and studies follow heterodox approaches, namely the evolutionary approach (e.g. Richard R. Nelson) and the European approach to innovation (e.g. Keith Pavitt and Chris Freeman), although it is rather surprising that one of the most widely recognized founding fathers of innovation-related studies, Joseph Schumpeter, is absent from the top-10 cited authors list; and (4) the ranking of the most influential studies highlights the relevance of the evolutionary paradigm, with its focus on the capabilities and routines of firms, and the policy-driven nature of topics, evidencing the pervasiveness of the literature on the National System of Innovation.     

A Model of Engagement Promotion in a Professionally Facilitated Online Intervention for Couples Affected by Breast Cancer

Professionally facilitated web‐based interventions for couples affected by an illness such as cancer are growing in popularity. Attrition rates for such online programs, however, are substantially higher than what is observed in face‐to‐face therapeutic contexts, and lower levels of participant engagement are associated with poorer outcomes. In the present investigation, a task analysis was employed to develop a model of engagement promotion in an online intervention for couples affected by breast cancer called “Couplelinks.” Results indicated that facilitators utilized a variety of meta‐processes, such as humanizing the technology, and associated “eBehaviors,” to maintain three relationships involved in promoting online engagement: (a) between the facilitator and couple; (b) between the intervention and couple; and (c) between the partners within the couple.     

Special Education, Inclusion and Globalisation: a few considerations inspired in the Brazilian case

This article analyses contradictory aspects of globalisation in emergent countries and its reflections on special education taking the Brazilian context as reference. It argues that globalisation can only be positive if understood in its humanitarian sense which is in tune with the proposal of an inclusive education and the Education for All movement. The paper points out some key-terms used together with 'globalisation' and raises aspects related to the way(s) in which they affect the education of disabled people in Brazil. It suggests that understanding the new roles of education within the globalised world is imperative for inclusion to take place effectively.     

New configurations of labour insertion processes. The case of secondary technical and vocational education and training students in Chile

This article presents the results of a longitudinal study that followed a sample of 1011 young people who completed their secondary technical and vocational education and training studies in Chile between 2011 and 2016. It adopts a mixed design that combines both quantitative and qualitative methodological strategies to analyse transitions and post-study trajectories. Analysis has helped to identify the prevalence of non-linear and unstructured transitions to the labour market. It has also shown the existence of education-work links and employment alternatives that are generated in certain sectors as well as identified how these give rise to specific opportunity structures that affect on aspirations and career pathways. Results indicate that graduates of the industrial area of study experience more substantive educational integration and labour links following course completion due to greater levels of alignment between their training and the productive demands of the industrial sectors. However, their experiences over the medium term are fragmented and, thus, reflect those of their peers from other areas.     

Where are the turtles when they are not? Underwater refuges used by Hydromedusa tectifera COPE, 1869 in a suburban stream

Urban Ecosystems - Habitat requirements of Hydromedusa tectifera from an urban impacted stream from the Buenos Aires province, the Rodriguez stream, are here studied. We describe the type of...