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O presente texto objetiva expor os principais pontos e aspectos dada Dissertação de Mestrado em Direito da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria-RS intitulada “A Inclusão Digital como direito fundamental passível de viabilizar a participação cidadã”, elaborada por Valdirene Silveira Flain no ano de 2017, sob a orientação da Profa. Dra. Nina Trícia Disconzi Rodrigues, bem como visa descrever a estrutura da obra mencionada e o enfoque que a autora possuiu quando da elaboração da dissertação. A dissertação discute sobre a possibilidade de a inclusão digital ser reconhecida como direito fundamental inerente à dignidade da pessoa humana, bem como sobre a inclusão digital tornar-se uma das formas de se possibilitar uma maior participação cidadã na sociedade. Trata-se de uma pesquisa relevante ao contexto interdisciplinar, considerando que trata de assuntos envolvendo Tecnologia, Direito e Sociedade, bem como traz entendimentos significativos no tocante a inclusão digital à população e a possibilidade de evolução em tal perspectiva.

O presente artigo possui o objetivo principal de se abordar acerca da importância das práticas discursivas como relevantes instrumentos no que toca o desenvolvimento e a organização dos cidadãos enquanto sociedade e sobre a (im)possibilidade de se afirmar o discurso como ferramenta no que respeita a mudança e transformação social, ou seja, o discurso como prática social. Para tanto, apresenta-se no estudo uma abordagem sobre o desenvolvimento do discurso no decorrer do tempo, perpassando principalmente por uma análise sobre a obra “A ordem do discurso”, do filósofo e historiador Paul-Michel Foucault, trazendo aos leitores maiores entendimentos sobre a evolução e importância das relações do discurso na sociedade. De igual forma, na medida em que se aprofundará o entendimento do pensador mencionado, necessário trazer aos leitores os entendimentos deste sobre sua concepção acerca da construção histórica do discurso e como a linguagem juntamente com o discurso se moldaram e evoluíram no percurso que a sociedade percorreu durante os séculos.

Many consumers nowadays wish to reduce their smartphone usage in the hope of improving productivity and well-being. We conducted a pre-registered field experiment (

O presente artigo visa analisar a possibilidade de responsabilização civil dos Adotantes em razão da desistência injustificada durante o estágio de convivência, quando causar danos irreparáveis à criança ou adolescente. Diante da ausência de vedação legal para a desistência da adoção durante o período de convivência, antes do trânsito em julgado da sentença, empregase, como hipótese, para a responsabilização dos Adotantes, a teoria do abuso de direito, que caracteriza o ilícito a partir da ofensa a boa-fé, aos bons costumes e a finalidade da adoção e do estágio de convivência, que culminam na violação dos direitos fundamentais das crianças e adolescentes, bem como dos princípios da proteção integral e do melhor interesse. A pesquisa adotou o método qualitativo bibliográfico para o desenvolvimento do artigo científico; e como método de abordagem o hipotético-dedutivo, com procedimento documental e jurisprudencial. Como resultado, observa-se que há possibilidade de fixação de indenização aos Adotantes nos casos de desistência durante o estágio de convivência, diante dos danos ocasionados à criança ou ao adolescente, assim como forma de conscientização. A penalização dos Adotantes que causaram prejuízos emocionais e psicológicos ao Adotando, serve, também, para compensá-lo pelos abalos sofridos e para o custeio dos tratamentos especializados necessários.

This article, of a bibliographic nature, discusses the relationship between Law and language, with the purpose of highlighting the simplification of legal language as a way of expanding society's access to justice, especially lay society, which does not dominate the linguistic resources employed in the legal field. Understanding the content expressed through legal language is one of the conditions for guaranteeing access and effective fundamental rights for all citizens. To this end, it is necessary to adopt measures that enable the lay citizen to exercise citizenship through access to justice. Finally, it is understood that promoting reflection on the simplification of legal language is a way of bringing Law closer to society and fundamentally a way of democratizing access to justice.

Can screen-time applications help to control smartphone usage? Maladaptive consumption in the form of smartphone overuse is a concern for many consumers. As a solution, screen-time applicat...

Disciplinas de projeto, estruturais na organização dos componentes curriculares, abarcam e exploram os conhecimentos das demais disciplinas, definindo assim o perfil dos cursos e, consequentemente, de seus egressos. A abordagem trabalhada nessas disciplinas é o tema de discussão deste artigo, que apresenta as relações entre as três etapas do processo científico experimental e o ensino de disciplinas de projeto em cursos de Design.

BACKGROUND Given widespread and concerted efforts to propagate health misinformation on social media, particularly centered around vaccination during the pandemic, many groups of clinicians and scientists organized on social media to tackle misinformation and promote vaccination using a national or international lens. While documenting the impact of such social media efforts, particularly at the community level, can be challenging, a more hyperlocal or “place-based approach” for social media campaigns could be effective at tackling misinformation and improving public health outcomes on a community level. OBJECTIVE To describe and document the effectiveness of a place-based strategy for a coordinated group of healthcare workers on social media from Chicago to tackle misinformation and improve vaccination rates in their own communities. METHODS The Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team (IMPACT) was founded in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with representatives from major academic teaching hospitals in Chicago (University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois, Rush University) and community-based organizations. Through crowdsourcing on multiple social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) with a place-based approach, IMPACT engaged grassroots networks of thousands of Illinois healthcare workers and the public to identify gaps, needs, and viewpoints to improve local healthcare delivery during the pandemic. RESULTS To address vaccine misinformation, IMPACT created 8 “myth debunking” infographics and 14 informational vaccine infographics that have generated >340K impressions and informed the development of vaccine education for the Chicago Public Libraries. IMPACT delivered 13 policy letters focusing on different topics (i.e. healthcare worker personal protective equipment, universal masking, vaccination) with >4000 healthcare workers (HCWs) signatures collected through social media to policymakers, published over 50 op-eds on COVID-19 topics in high impact news outlets, and contributed to >200 local and national news features. Using the crowdsourcing approach on IMPACT social media channels, IMPACT mobilized healthcare and lay volunteers to staff over 400 vaccine events for over 120,000 individuals, many in Chicago’s hardest-hit neighborhoods. The group’s recommendations have influenced public health awareness campaigns and initiatives, research, advocacy, and policy recommendations, and have been recognized with local and national awards. CONCLUSIONS A coordinated group of healthcare workers on social media using a hyperlocal place-based approach can not only work together to address misinformation but can also collaborate to boost vaccination rates in their surrounding communities.

Sagittal malalignment is a risk factor for mechanical complications after surgery for adult spinal deformity (ASD). Spinal loads, modulated by sagittal alignment, may explain this relationship. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships between: (1) postoperative changes in loads at the proximal segment and realignment, and (2) absolute postoperative loads and postoperative alignment measures.A previously validated musculoskeletal model of the whole spine was applied to study a clinical sample of 205 patients with ASD. Based on clinical and radiographic data, pre-and postoperative patient-specific alignments were simulated to predict loads at the proximal segment adjacent to the spinal fusion.Weak-to-moderate associations were found between pre-to-postop changes in lumbar lordosis, LL (r = - 0.23, r = - 0.43; p 0.001), global tilt, GT (r = 0.26, r = 0.38; p 0.001) and the Global Alignment and Proportion score, GAP (r = 0.26, r = 0.37; p 0.001), and changes in compressive and shear forces at the proximal segment. GAP score parameters, thoracic kyphosis measurements and the slope of upper instrumented vertebra were associated with changes in shear. In patients with T10-pelvis fusion, moderate-to-strong associations were found between postoperative sagittal alignment measures and compressive and shear loads, with GT showing the strongest correlations (r = 0.75, r = 0.73, p 0.001).Spinal loads were estimated for patient-specific full spinal alignment profiles in a large cohort of patients with ASD pre-and postoperatively. Loads on the proximal segments were greater in association with sagittal malalignment and malorientation of proximal vertebra. Future work should explore whether they provide a causative mechanism explaining the associated risk of proximal junction complications.

Working memory (WM) develops rapidly during early childhood. In the present study, visual WM (VSM) was measured using the well-established Spin the Pots task (Hughes & Ensor, 2005), a complex non-verbal eight-location object occlusion task. A self-ordered hiding procedure was adopted to allow for an examination of children's strategy use during a VWM task. Participants (N = 640) between the ages of 2 and 4 years were tested under semi-naturalistic conditions, in the home or in a museum. Computational modeling was used to estimate an expected value for the total trials to complete Spin the Pots via a random search and child performance was compared to expected values. Based on this approach, we determined that children who found six stickers retrieved them in significantly fewer trials than the expected value, excluding chance performance and implicating VWM. Results also showed age-related and sex-related changes in VWM. Between 2 and 4 years of age, 4-year-olds performed significantly better than younger children and girls out-performed the boys. Spontaneous use of a color matching hiding strategy was associated with a higher success rate on the task. Implications of these findings for early development of VWM are discussed.

Display of short peptides on the surface of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) is a powerful technology for the generation of gene therapy vectors with altered cell specificities and/or transduction efficiencies. Following its extensive prior use in the best characterized AAV serotype 2 (AAV2), recent reports also indicate the potential of other AAV isolates as scaffolds for peptide display. In this study, we systematically explored the respective capacities of 13 different AAV capsid variants to tolerate 27 peptides inserted on the surface followed by production of reporter-encoding vectors. Single-round screening in pre-arrayed 96-well plates permitted rapid and simple identification of superior vectors in >90 cell types, including T cells and primary cells. Notably, vector performance depended not only on the combination of capsid, peptide, and cell type, but also on the position of the inserted peptide and the nature of flanking residues. For optimal data availability and accessibility, all results were assembled in a searchable online database offering multiple output styles. Finally, we established a reverse-transduction pipeline based on vector pre-spotting in 96- or 384-well plates that facilitates high-throughput library panning. Our comprehensive illustration of the vast potential of alternative AAV capsids for peptide display should accelerate their in vivo screening and application as unique gene therapy vectors.

Do regularly physically active individuals differ in their decision-making from people who are not regularly physically active? Across five studies, we document a novel benefit of being regularly physically active for decisions that require the appropriate weighing of goal-relevant versus goal-irrelevant information. Usually, when faced with a mix of relevant and irrelevant attribute information, decision makers find it difficult to ignore the irrelevant information, and as such, "dilute" their judgments (i.e., judgments become less extreme). Such a dilution effect has been amply documented in past research. In contrast, we find that people who engage in regular leisure physical activity are less susceptible to dilution effects. Beyond the dilution effect, we also find similar benefits of being regularly physically active for decisions involving desirability-feasibility trade-offs. The results hold across multiple replicates, diverse samples, and different measures of regular physical activity. We also rule out several potential alternative accounts (e.g., demographics, personality traits). The results cannot be explained by physical effort alone as these benefits are observed only for regular leisure physical activity and not for occupational physical activity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Spatial skills support STEM learning and achievement. However, children from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds typically lag behind their middle- and high-SES peers. We asked whether a digital educational app-designed to mirror an already successful, spatial assembly training program using concrete materials-would be as effective for facilitating spatial skills in under-resourced preschoolers as the concrete materials. Three-year-olds (N = 61) from under-resourced backgrounds were randomly assigned to a business-as-usual control group or to receive 5 weeks of spatial training using either concrete, tangible materials or a digital app on a tablet. The spatial puzzles used were an extension of items from the Test of Spatial Assembly (TOSA). Preschoolers were pretested and posttested on new two-dimensional (2D) TOSA trials. Results indicate that both concrete and digital spatial training increased performance on the 2D-TOSA compared to the control group. The two trainings did not statistically differ from one another suggesting that educational spatial apps may be one route to providing early foundational skills to children from under-resourced backgrounds.

Does imitation involve specialized mechanisms or general—unspecialized—learning processes? To address this question, preschoolers (3- and 4-year-olds) were assigned to one of four “practice” groups. Before and after the practice phases, each group was tested on a novel Spatial Imitation sequence. During the practice phase, children in the Spatial Imitation group practiced jointly attending, vicariously encoding, and copying the novel spatial sequences. In the Item Imitation group, children practiced jointly attending, vicariously encoding, and copying novel item sequences. In the Trial-and-Error group, children practiced encoding and recalling a series of novel spatial sequences entirely through individual (operant) learning. In the Free Play (no practice) control group, children played a touchscreen drawing game that controlled for practice time on the touchscreen and mirrored some of the same actions and responses used in the experimental conditions. Results of the difference between pre- and post-practice effects on novel spatial imitation sequences showed that only the Spatial Imitation practice group significantly improved relative to the Free Play group. Individual Spatial Trial-and-Error practice did not significantly improve spatial imitation. The effect of Item Imitation practice was intermediate. These results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that general processes alone--or primarily--support imitation learning and is more consistent with a mosaic model that posits an additive—interaction—effect on imitation performance where a more general social cognitive mechanism (i.e., natural pedagogy) gathers the relevant information from the demonstration and another more specialized mechanism (i.e., imitation specific) transforms that information into a matching response.

Geometric forms have formal definitions. While knowing shape names is considered important for school-readiness, many children do not understand the defining features of shapes until well into elementary school ( Satlow & Newcombe, 1998 ). One reason is likely that they do not encounter enough variety in the shapes they see ( Resnick, Verdine, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2016 ). The present study observed 60 parents and their 3-year-old children during play with geometric toys, exploring how spatial language varied with the nature of the shape-toy set (canonical shapes versus a mix of canonical and unusual or less-canonical variants) and whether geometric shapes were presented as tangible, traditional toys or shown on a touchscreen tablet app. Although children in the app condition heard more shape names than the other conditions due to the language produced by the app itself, children used more overall words and more spatial language with tangible toys that included varied shapes. In addition, parents used more shape names with sons than with daughters and tended to adjust their use of spatial language more in response to varied shape sets with boys, although these findings need replication to evaluate generality. These data suggest that including non-canonical shapes in tangible shape toys may provide a low-cost, high-impact way of refining adult-child interactions that might facilitate children’s early geometric knowledge.

Many people want to reduce their smartphone usage to increase productivity and well-being, but fail to accomplish this goal. We conduct a randomized control trial with a student population (N=112) over three weeks to test the effectiveness of two widely available digital nudges for screen time reduction. Along with a tracking-only control condition, a passive digital nudge (i.e., grayscale mode) was compared to an active digital nudge (i.e., time limits). The passive nudge led to an immediate, significant reduction of objectively measured screen time compared to the control condition. Conversely, the active nudge led to a smaller and gradual screen time reduction. Those in the control condition, who simply tracked their usage, did not lower their screen time. As opposed to the popular belief that reducing screen time is beneficial, we found no immediate causal effects of reducing screen time on subjective well-being and academic performance.

Early spatial skills predict the development of later spatial and mathematical skills. Yet, it is unclear how comprehension of the words that capture spatial relations, words like behind and under, might be associated with children's early spatial and mathematics skills. The current study addressed this question by conducting a moderated mediation model to test the potential moderating effects of group factors, such as socioeconomic status (SES) and gender, on the possible mediation of spatial language comprehension on the association between spatial skill and mathematics performance. In total, 192 3-year-olds were tested on a battery of assessments, including a novel Spatial Language Comprehension Task, a test of spatial skills (2- and 3-dimensional trials of the Test of Spatial Assembly [2D and 3D TOSA, respectively]), and a composite of 2 mathematical assessments. The results indicate that this novel Spatial Language Comprehension Task is a reliable measure useful for examining group differences and the early space-math link. Specifically, higher-SES preschoolers and females had higher spatial language comprehension compared with their lower-SES peers and males, respectively. These SES and gender disparities in spatial language comprehension are concerning, given the strong association between spatial language comprehension and mathematics skills. Additionally, spatial language comprehension mediated the association between spatial skill and mathematics performance for females only. Future work should examine the potential causal role that spatial language comprehension may have in concurrent and later spatial and mathematics skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Spatial skills are associated with mathematics skills, but it is unclear if spatial training transfers to mathematics skills for preschoolers, especially from underserved communities. The current study tested (a) whether spatial training benefited preschoolers' spatial and mathematics skills, (b) if the type of feedback provided during spatial training differentially influenced children's spatial and mathematics skills, and (c) if the spatial training's effects varied by socioeconomic status (SES). Preschoolers (N = 187) were randomly assigned to either a 'business-as-usual' control or one of three spatial training groups (modeling and feedback [MF]; gesture feedback [GF]; spatial language feedback [SLF]). Three-year-olds were trained to construct puzzles to match a model composed of various geometric shapes. New models were created similar to the 2-dimensional trials of the Test of Spatial Assembly (TOSA). Training was given once per week for 5 weeks. Preschoolers were pretested and posttested on 2D and 3D TOSA trials, spatial vocabulary, shape identification, and 2 mathematics assessments. Results indicate that first, any spatial training improved preschoolers' 2D TOSA performance, although a significant interaction with SES indicated improvement was driven by low-SES children. Furthermore, low-SES children showed greatest gains on the 2D TOSA with MF and GF. Second, MF and GF improved low-SES children's performance on the 3D TOSA. Third, only low-SES children with MF saw improvements in far-transfer to mathematics (Woodcock-Johnson: Applied Problems, but not the Test of Early Mathematical Ability). Results indicate that, especially for low-income learners, spatial training can improve children's early spatial and mathematics skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Design, Florianópolis, 2020. Esta pesquisa foi motivada a partir de casos observados empiricamente referentes ao processo projetual de estudantes de Design de Interiores em Cursos de Nível Técnico e Superior, nos quais identificou-se a não familiaridade com procedimentos que envolvem contato com usuários na busca por informações que devem servir de subsídio ao Programa de Necessidades e consequentemente ao desenvolvimento das fases práticas do desenvolvimento de projetos. Essa pesquisa buscou identificar como se dá a consideração do usuário no desenvolvimento de projetos de Design de Interiores no contexto de ensino de projeto. Para isso, utilizou-se da abordagem da Gestão de Design a fim de compreender os processos de projeto; articular as áreas que compreendem os estudos acerca da relação usuário-ambiente; e por fim, integrou novos processos às metodologias já vigentes nesse contexto. A pesquisa possui natureza básica, de objetivo exploratório-descritivo e de abordagem qualitativa e foi desenvolvida em três fases. A primeira fase traz uma Fundamentação Teórica, que explorou os temas de Gestão de Design; Design de Interiores e o Processo de Projeto, incluindo o Ensino de Projeto. Ainda na Fase 1, por meio da abordagem da Gestão de Design articulou-se as disciplinas que estudam a relação usuário-ambiente, especialmente a Psicologia Ambiental, o Design de Interiores e a Ergonomia do Ambiente Construído, situando-as dentro das grandes áreas da Arquitetura e do Design. A segunda fase traz um Levantamento do Panorama de Ensino em Design de Interiores, inicialmente por meio da busca por Cursos Superiores em Design de Interiores em IES públicas no Brasil, nas quais foram identificadas e desenhadas as metodologias de projeto aplicadas (com base em seus Projetos Pedagógicos) e nelas identificados os momentos de contato entre designer e usuário. Ainda na Fase 2, nas etapas subsequentes, um questionário foi aplicado com professores de Cursos de Design de Interiores (Superiores e Técnicos) para levantamento do panorama de ensino de projeto de Design de Interiores em um contexto local, na Grande Florianópolis-SC. A terceira e última Fase deste trabalho traz uma contribuição em formato de Fichas Orientativas que visam sistematizar a coleta inicial de informações junto aos usuários nos momentos que precedem a concepção projetual. Essas fichas foram desenvolvidas a fim de auxiliar o designer na organização do processo de coleta, registro e síntese de informações objetivando um projeto que coloque o usuário no centro do desenvolvimento de projetos em prol da geração de ambientes que promovam o bem-estar e a qualidade de uso. Abstract: The motivation of this research was the empirical observation of cases regarding students? design processes from Technical and Higher Level courses of Interior Design. Unfamiliarity with user-centered procedures was identified as the basis of information to substantiate the briefing and consequently, the development of the practical stages of project development. The present study sought to identify how the user is taken in consideration during the development of Interior Design projects in the context of Project Teaching. This research used the Design Management concept in order to understand design processes; articulate the areas grasping the studies about user-environment relationship; and finally, integrate new processes into the methodologies usually applied in its context. The nature of its research is basic, with an exploratory-descriptive goal and a qualitative approach and was developed in three phases. The first phase brings Theoretical Foundation, which explores the themes of Design Management; Interior Design and the Design Process, including Project Teaching. The disciplines about user-environment relationship, specially Environment Psychology, Interior Design, Ergonomy of the Built-Environment were articulated during phase 1, being positioned in the macro areas of Architecture and Design. The second phase brings a survey about the teaching overview in Interior Design, beginning with Higher Courses in Interior Design from public Higher Technical Institutions in Brazil, in which the applied design methodologies were identified and designed (based on their Pedagogical Projects and contact between designer and user). Still in Phase 2, in the subsequent stages, a questionnaire was applied with teachers from Interior Design Courses (Superiors and Technicians) to survey the panorama of teaching Interior Design projects in a local context, in region of Florianópolis-SC. The third and final phase of this work brings a contribution in the form of Guidance Cards that aim to systematize the initial collection of information from users in the moments that precede the project design. These forms were developed in order to assist the designer in organizing the process of collecting, registering and synthesizing information aiming at a project that puts the user at the center of the development of projects in favor of the generation of environments that promote well-being and quality of use.

La temática de este escrito considera tres asuntos conexos: las centralidades y periferias; el paisaje intermedio, y el borde urbano. Temas que se toman de la mano, pero no se aman; no conversan y mucho menos se miran. Convergen y conviven entre sí. En esa convivencia, contextualizan y generan disimilitudes, y establecen una espacialidad común: el crecimiento urbano que genera ocupación del territorio, produce desarraigos y segregación social, transgrede contra la sostenibilidad y el medio ambiente. De igual manera, ilustran funcionalidades que promueven el desarrollo y suscitan dinámicas sobre lo político, económico, social y cultural; narrativas y hechos concretos del devenir, de lo urbano y de sus habitantes. Mientras que las centralidades se ven deterioradas, discursos urbanos arremeten contra la periferia considerada como la menos favorecida debido a su lejanía a los centros de producción; es sinónima de asentamientos informales, déficit de bienes y servicios, y movilidad compleja y deficiente. Su localización alejada de administraciones centrales sobrepasa los límites virtuales establecidos, y arremete contra suelos rurales en ocasiones no aptos para ser habitados. Espacio público y equipamientos colectivos precarios, y en ocasiones insuficientes o mal administrados coaccionan múltiples problemáticas sociales (Moreno y Rubiano, 2014).

Building on the theory of rational addiction, we conducted two pre-registered randomized control trials (RCT) to reduce smartphone usage. Besides a control condition, two treatments were conducted. In the anticipated incentive treatment, subjects were incentivized to reduce screen time but only for the second half of the treatment period. However, they were informed about their incentives and targets from the very beginning of the treatment period. We compared this to a full incentive treatment, where subjects were incentivized to reduce their mobile screen time for the complete treatment period. Consistent with rational addiction, subjects in the anticipated incentive treatment, especially those with excessive mobile usage, started reducing their screen time even prior to the incentive period. They continued to maintain a lower usage during the incentive period and sustained that lower usage even after the incentives were removed. Our manuscript further provides support for rational addiction theory by showing that subjects’ previous usage and beliefs about their future usage positively predict current mobile screen time.

La tematica de este escrito considera tres asuntos conexos: las centralidades y periferias; el paisaje intermedio, y el borde urbano. Temas que se toman de la mano, pero no se aman; no conversan y mucho menos se miran. Convergen y conviven entre si. En esa convivencia, contextualizan y generan disimilitudes, y establecen una espacialidad comun: el crecimiento urbano que genera ocupacion del territorio, produce desarraigos y segregacion social, transgrede contra la sostenibilidad y el medio ambiente. De igual manera, ilustran funcionalidades que promueven el desarrollo y suscitan dinamicas sobre lo politico, economico, social y cultural; narrativas y hechos concretos del devenir, de lo urbano y de sus habitantes. Mientras que las centralidades se ven deterioradas, discursos urbanos arremeten contra la periferia considerada como la menos favorecida debido a su lejania a los centros de produccion; es sinonima de asentamientos informales, deficit de bienes y servicios, y movilidad compleja y deficiente. Su localizacion alejada de administraciones centrales sobrepasa los limites virtuales establecidos, y arremete contra suelos rurales en ocasiones no aptos para ser habitados. Espacio publico y equipamientos colectivos precarios, y en ocasiones insuficientes o mal administrados coaccionan multiples problematicas sociales (Moreno y Rubiano, 2014).

Son preference is widespread in a number of developing countries despite substantial improvements in education levels and economic development. One potential explanation for the persistence of this phenomenon is that individual household members like the mother derive large non-monetary benefits from giving birth to a son and therefore prefer boys to girls. Qualitative evidence suggests that such benefits exist and may depend on the child’s age. This paper uses large nationally representative datasets from India and tests whether having a son leads to higher decision-making powers for mothers than having a daughter. Since the number and gender composition of children is likely to be non-random for families that want a son, I focus on first-born children for whom the sex ratio of girls relative to boys is normal. The main analysis also focuses on young children of up to six months, which gives parents little time to adjust desired birth-spacing intervals that could be systematically correlated with decision-making powers and child gender. The results show little evidence of consistently large female benefits shortly after birth, and any positive impacts of having a son disappear after the first six months. There are also no large benefits for adult sons. These empirical patterns do not support qualitative evidence suggesting that women benefit from the birth of a son through larger decision-making powers in the household because of increased respect by other household members. The benefits also do not heavily depend on the child’s age, which is not consistent with a channel predicting a better bargaining position for women with adult sons who start taking over the running of the household. Overall, these results extend our understanding of individual-specific incentives for son preference.

Today, fully 98% of children under eight have access to a mobile device at home (Rideout, 2017). Not surprisingly, researchers are increasingly interested in studying development in the context of ...

Mercury is gaining prominence as a proxy for large igneous province (LIP) volcanism in the sedimentary record. Despite temporal overlap between some mass extinctions and LIPs, the precise timing of magmatism relative to major ecological and environmental change is difficult to untangle, especially in marine settings. Changes in the relative contents of Hg in sedimentary rocks through time, or ‘Hg anomalies’, can help resolve the timing of LIP activity and marine extinctions. However, major questions remain unanswered about the fidelity of Hg as a proxy for LIP magmatism. In particular, depositional (e.g., redox) and post-depositional (e.g., oxidative weathering) processes can affect Hg preservation in marine sediments. These factors pose challenges for confidently using Hg as a fingerprint of volcanism. Here, we use the Hg anomaly at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with two approaches that may help build a more robust interpretation of the Hg proxy: (1) measurements from sediments from diverse depositional environments, including lithologies with low Hg and organic carbon content, and (2) the simultaneous use of Hg stable isotope ratios. We present and compare Hg records from five geographically disparate Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic marine sections that represent nearshore, mid-shelf, deep-water, and carbonate platform settings. These sedimentary sections span the emplacement of the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) and the associated end–Triassic extinction (ETE). Total organic carbon contents, carbonate contents, and Hg contents and stable isotope compositions demonstrate the multiple ways in which different depositional environments impact how Hg anomalies are expressed in ancient marine sedimentary rocks. Although we observe an increase in Hg/TOC during the ETE in each section, the pattern and duration of Hg enrichment differ notably between sections, and the timing is not always coincident with CAMP activity, illustrating how the depositional filter complicates the use of Hg/TOC ratios alone as a fingerprint of LIP magmatism. In addition, Hg isotope measurements support a volcanic origin for these Hg anomalies during the ETE, suggesting CAMP was the Hg source during the extinction interval. These data support the use of Hg isotopes to help distinguish Hg loading that results from LIP magmatism on a global scale and emphasize the importance of making Hg proxy measurements from diverse depositional environments.

There is growing awareness that development-oriented government policies may be an important counterinsurgency strategy, but existing papers are usually unable to disentangle various mechanisms. Using a regression-discontinuity design, we analyze the impact of one of the world's largest anti-poverty programs, India's NREGS, on the intensity of Maoist conflict. We find short-run increases of insurgency-related violence, police-initiated attacks, and insurgent attacks on civilians. We discuss how these results relate to established theories in the literature. One mechanism consistent with the empirical patterns is that NREGS induces civilians to share more information with the state, improving police effectiveness.

This study examined the effect of a "ghost" demonstration on toddlers' imitation. In the ghost condition, virtual pieces moved to make a fish or boat puzzle. Fifty-two 2.5- and 3-year-olds were tested on a touchscreen (no transfer) or with 3D pieces (transfer); children tested with 3D pieces scored above a no demonstration baseline, but children tested on the touchscreen did not. Practice on the touchscreen (n = 23) by 2.5- and 3-year-olds prior to the ghost demonstration did not improve performance. Finally, children who learned the puzzle task via a social demonstration and were tested on the touchscreen (n = 26) performed better than the ghost conditions. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that social demonstrations enhance learning from novel touchscreen tools during early childhood.