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1 – 10 of over 1000Fernando Augusto Gouvea-Reis, Danniely Carolinne Soares da Silva, Lairton Souza Borja, Patrícia de Oliveira Dias, Jadher Percio, Cassio Peterka, Janaína de Oliveira, Giselle Sodré, Claudia Mendes Feres, Wallace Dos Santos, Fábio Souza, Ana Izabel Passarella Teixeira, Daiani Cristina Cilião-Alves, Gustavo Adolfo Sierra Romero, Elza Ferreira Noronha, Julio Croda, Rodrigo Haddad, Walter Massa Ramalho, Camile de Moraes and Wildo Navegantes de Araújo
This study aims to estimate the overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and evaluate the accuracy of an antibody rapid test compared to a reference serological assay during a COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to estimate the overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and evaluate the accuracy of an antibody rapid test compared to a reference serological assay during a COVID-19 outbreak in a prison complex housing over 13,000 prisoners in Brasília.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors obtained a randomized, stratified representative sample of each prison unit and conducted a repeated serosurvey among prisoners between June and July 2020, using a lateral-flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA). Samples were also retested using a chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLIA) to compare SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and 21-days incidence, as well as to estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) and determine the diagnostic accuracy of the LFIA test.
Findings
This study identified 485 eligible individuals and enrolled 460 participants. Baseline and 21-days follow-up seroprevalence were estimated at 52.0% (95% CI 44.9–59.0) and 56.7% (95% CI 48.2–65.3) with LFIA; and 80.7% (95% CI 74.1–87.3) and 81.1% (95% CI 74.4–87.8) with CLIA, with an overall IFR of 0.02%. There were 78.2% (95% CI 66.7–89.7) symptomatic individuals among the positive cases. Sensitivity and specificity of LFIA were estimated at 43.4% and 83.3% for IgM; 46.5% and 91.5% for IgG; and 59.1% and 77.3% for combined tests.
Originality/value
The authors found high seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within the prison complex. The occurrence of asymptomatic infection highlights the importance of periodic mass testing in addition to case-finding of symptomatic individuals; however, the field performance of LFIA tests should be validated. This study recommends that vaccination strategies consider the inclusion of prisoners and prison staff in priority groups.
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Marta Helena de Freitas and Benedito Rodrigues dos Santos
The purpose of this paper is to address the relations between religiosity and mental health (MH) among the immigrants living in Brasília, as per the perceptions of MH service…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the relations between religiosity and mental health (MH) among the immigrants living in Brasília, as per the perceptions of MH service professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
It is grounded in empirical qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with 12 professionals – six psychiatrists and six psychologists working in MH services throughout Brasília. The experiences and perceptions of these professionals were analysed in the light of phenomenological assumptions, and temporally situated in the historical context of the construction of Brazil’s capital city.
Findings
Results show that these professionals recognize the importance of immigrant support services paying attention to issues of religiosity connected to those of MH, in spite of never having received training on the theme in their qualification course work. They are critical of the oppressive aspects of some religions, but recognize the predominance of positive effects of religiosity.
Research limitations/implications
Albeit exploratory by nature, and with a limited number of study subjects, the study opens the way for more in-depth investigations of this rarely addressed MH issue and recommends its application to greater numbers of professionals and other contexts.
Practical implications
The results can contribute to the MH policy decision-making processes for the immigrant population in Brasília and also for training the professionals working in providing care for this population.
Social implications
To contribute to the development of a new MH model in which professionals can adopt a more open posture in regard to the traditional pathologizing models used to address the question of religious phenomena.
Originality/value
Albeit exploratory in nature, this study makes a contribution by opening the way for the issue of religiosity and its impacts on MH to become the object of more in-depth investigations conducted from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, targeting greater numbers of MH professionals and extended to other internal and external migratory contexts.
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Maria Aparecida Penso, Cláudia Cristina Fukuda, Liana Fortunato Costa and Luisa Villela
The purpose of this paper is to relate the phenomenon of migration to the Federal District (DF, Brazil), with the figures for institutional shelter of children and adolescents.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to relate the phenomenon of migration to the Federal District (DF, Brazil), with the figures for institutional shelter of children and adolescents.
Design/methodology/approach
The method chosen was the documental analysis of special folders that were processed in the Defense Office for Children and Adolescents of the DF from January 2007 to August 2009. The sample consisted of 545 special folders, referring to a total of 1,007 children and adolescents.
Findings
The results indicate that most children and adolescents received at the shelters were from families living in the satellite cities of the DF (53.4 percent) and surroundings (8.3 percent), and were mainly from rural areas of the Northeast region of the country and also from the deprived areas of the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais, near the DF. Among the main reasons for institutional shelter, is violence, abandonment by family, poverty and living on the streets.
Research limitations/implications
It can be inferred that the policies of “population clusters” in the DF were responsible for this migratory process and population growth of satellite cities and surrounding areas. It is understood in this way that the migration processes resulted in the rupture of the bond with the family of origin and an insertion into a reality, which again challenge these families in a situation of poverty and violence.
Social implications
The reality of vulnerability and social exclusion of migrant families who leave their support networks in their home states need urgent attention of local public policies, especially with regard to encouraging the construction of other support networks and creating contexts of cultural identification in the communities, especially the neediest. The support and presence of quality public services in these communities and the preventive action of social policies are also considered essential to ensure quality of life and adequate subsistence to the people who migrate to the DF.
Originality/value
Brasília became the symbol of hope for unemployed people or for those suffering from their income being below the poverty level. Faced with this migratory reality, this paper discusses the situation of families of children and adolescents institutionally sheltered in the DF, given their social situation regarding poverty, unemployment, lack of support from their family of origin and lack of access of distribution of public policies and income generation.
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Alberto Rodrigues Carvalho and Francisco Catunda Martins
The purpose of this paper is to seek the inner motivations present in immigrants moving from different regions of Brazil to its capital, Brasília. The goal is to find out the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to seek the inner motivations present in immigrants moving from different regions of Brazil to its capital, Brasília. The goal is to find out the individuals’ stories, not only the macroeconomic aspects usually studied in migration movements. Also, the authors intend to understand how impacting the process of leaving one’s homeland and loved ones behind can be.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, ten recent immigrants were interviewed about their inner motivations to migrate to Brasília and the difficulties faced. Their answers were categorized and distributed into charts showing the most relevant parts for the study.
Findings
Two main topics stood out: work and love. The search for a meaningful and rewarding job is a strong enough reason to migrate. Love presents itself as a different reason to migrate, especially when economic and political reasons are the most common motivators. Love has to do with wanting to be with a partner or family. Migration is a time for crisis, mourning can be present and the strangeness of the new place may affect some more than others. All interviewees mentioned the hardships of adapting, be it emotionally or psychologically.
Originality/value
It is a response to the lack of clinical psychology studies about migration in Brazil. The importance of having studies carried out with a more qualitative perspective in the field of migration, in which the focus are the inner motivations of the migrants and what their experiences are.
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Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa and Marcelo Facchina
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan region of Brasilia, Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
This work is a result of a the qualitative analysis of documents and reports of local participatory arenas in Brasilia, and is complemented by a set of 13 interviews held between November 2009 and March 2010 with a variety of actors involved in the promotion of sustainability in the region.
Findings
The findings reveal that impediments to the good performance of environmental governance in the Federal District are a consequence to two main factors: institutional framework poorly transferred from the national level and incompatibility between the set of regulations and local electoral power dynamics.
Research limitations/implications
As a consequence of the deliberate choice of one specific case, the conclusions of this paper may erroneously overemphasize the perils of participatory local governance rather than its potentials.
Practical implications
By identifying a series of mechanisms that threaten positive partnerships between governments and civil society at the local level, this work serves as an important tool for public managers and civil society to engage in more fruitful partnerships.
Originality/value
The paper provides a power-based analysis of a case of ineffectiveness of participatory mechanisms. In doing so, it also demonstrates that policy planning must be analysed from a variety of perspectives, and often involve coalitions that cut across the traditional state-society divide. The identification of the mechanisms behind the creation of these obstacles constitutes the originality and value of this paper.
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Claudio V. Torres, Clerismar Aparecido Longo, Francisco Guilherme L. Macedo and Cristiane Faiad
The authors investigated the effect of basic human values in the prediction of COVID-19 vaccination behavior amongst public security agents in Brazil.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors investigated the effect of basic human values in the prediction of COVID-19 vaccination behavior amongst public security agents in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 15,313 Brazilian public security agents responded to the portrait values questionnaire and a COVID vaccination behavior measure. Multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) was used to observe the order of the predicted by the theory. For hypotheses, the authors ran a series of Structural equation modeling (SEM) with direct effects between values and vaccination rate.
Findings
Results suggest that the values of conservation and self-transcendence positively predicted vaccination. A nonsignificative negative prediction was obtained for openness to change and self-enhancement values on vaccination behavior.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected using self-report questionnaires.
Practical implications
Institutional management should encourage capacitation campaigns aimed at public security agents, enabling a significant increase in vaccine protection for the public security institutions.
Social implications
The reinforcement of conservation and self-transcendence values lead to the perception of the vaccine as a measure of caring for people in general and for the members of the ingroup, hence motivating the vaccination behavior.
Originality/value
The findings confirm that values encourage individuals to be vaccinated, due to their intrinsic motivation. This relationship did not appear to be clearly tested by previous empirical studies.
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Elaine Nolasco, Pedro Henrique Vieira Duraes, Júlia Pereira Gonçalves, Maria Cristina de Oliveira, Lucijane Monteiro de Abreu and Alexandre Nascimento de Almeida
Universities are an example of institutions that aggregate people around work/study who consume water, energy and produce waste daily in their activities, generating an impact on…
Abstract
Purpose
Universities are an example of institutions that aggregate people around work/study who consume water, energy and produce waste daily in their activities, generating an impact on the environment. The purpose of this study is to determine the quantity, composition and recycling potential of waste generated at the Faculdade UnB Planaltina (FUP) campus, of the University of Brasilia in the Federal District, Brazil, to develop a waste management strategy compatible with national legislation and sustainable global practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was based on conducting on-site visits to identify the sources of generation, hazardousness, management and gravimetric characteristics of residual waste from 2015 to 2016. In 2016, a selective collection was implemented on the FUP campus, and since then, actions to raise awareness for the selective disposal and monitoring of waste were conducted with the academic community.
Findings
The results showed that the campus generates 148 kg of waste/day, whereas the per capita generation is 92 g/day. The production of hazardous waste is related to campus laboratories which manage it under a specific program. The campus restaurant is the place that generates the most waste, of which organic waste is the most representative. When categorizing the waste generated on campus, the authors found that the majority are recyclables at 67% of the total. This category includes material composed of cardboard, paper and plastic, all able to be recycled in the Federal District.
Practical implications
The recyclable waste generated at the FUP campus is being diverted from the city’s landfill because they are donated to a recycling cooperative. These actions promote income generation, social inclusion of waste pickers and a circular economy, all in compliance with the National Solid Waste Policy. As a result, the FUP campus is more in line with Brazilian legislation and the global context of adopting sustainable waste management amongst higher education institutions.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on sustainability in higher education by reporting the process of implementation of a waste management strategy in a university campus. Further, it presents tools and methods that can be used to achieve sustainability in waste management. The study also identifies that the crucial factor for the success of such actions is the mobilization and participation of the academic community in the process. It does so by presenting findings demonstrating how the University of Brasilia has been concerned with adopting pro-environmental measures for sustainable development.
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Rebeca Roysen and Tânia Cristina Cruz
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pedagogical tools that can enhance transdisciplinarity in higher education and stimulate sustainability transitions, based on the case…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pedagogical tools that can enhance transdisciplinarity in higher education and stimulate sustainability transitions, based on the case study of a partnership between the University of Brasilia and an ecovillage in Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was carried out, based on professors’ experience, students’ reports and registration data. Emergent themes were discussed based on the concepts of sustainability transitions, transdisciplinarity and active/experiential learning methods.
Findings
Undergraduate classes at the ecovillage have motivated students to work towards sustainability transitions by presenting them with new repertoires of sociotechnical configurations and social practices, by promoting a feeling of belonging and co-responsibility for the world and by a horizontal sharing of knowledge and affections that instigated reflections about their purposes in personal and professional life.
Practical implications
This experience demonstrates the potential of transdisciplinary pedagogical approaches to education for sustainability that promote collaboration with different stakeholders and the reflection on individual and collective motives and values – the inner dimension of sustainability.
Originality/value
It describes an innovative and transformative initiative in the heart of Latin America.
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Rafael Barreiros Porto, Carla Peixoto Borges and Paulo Gasperin Dubois
Human brands in the music industry use self-presentation tactics on social media to manage audience impressions. This practice has led to many posts asking followers to adopt…
Abstract
Purpose
Human brands in the music industry use self-presentation tactics on social media to manage audience impressions. This practice has led to many posts asking followers to adopt behaviors favoring the human brand. However, its effectiveness in leveraging relevant performance metrics for musicians outside social media, such as popularity in specialized media, music sales and number of contracted concerts, needs further exploration. This study aims to reveal the effect of impression management tactics conveyed on social media on the market performance of musicians’ human brands.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data research classifies 5,940 social media posts from 11 music artists into self-presentation tactics (self-promotion, exemplification, supplication and ingratiation). It shows their predictions on three market performance metrics in an annual balanced panel study.
Findings
Impression management tactics via posts on social media are mostly self-promotion, improving the musicians’ market performance by increasing the number of contracted concerts. Conversely, ingratiation generated the most positive effect on the musician’s popularity but reduced music sales. Besides lowering the musicians’ popularity, exemplification also reduced the number of contracted concerts, while the supplication had no significant effect.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the research is the first to use social media postings of musicians’ official human brand profiles based on self-presentation typologies as a complete impression management tool. Furthermore, it is the first to test the effects of these posts on market performance metrics (i.e. outside of social media) in a longitudinal study.
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Tânia Mara Campos de Almeida, Kátia Tarouquella Brasil, Dianne Magalhães Viana, Simone Aparecida Lisniowski, Maura Angélica Milfont Shzu, Valérie Ganem, Suzana M. Ávila and Aline S. De Paula
The sexual division of labor remains a strong, discriminatory aspect of Brazilian society, with a high percentage of women engaged in precarious, caregiving, and service work that…
Abstract
The sexual division of labor remains a strong, discriminatory aspect of Brazilian society, with a high percentage of women engaged in precarious, caregiving, and service work that is devalued within the traditional patriarchal family and school socialization. This chapter relates and analyzes the development of a multidisciplinary, intersectional, and interinstitutional project, Fast Girls, which addresses this situation of inequality and exclusion by promoting and strengthening learning in STEM and psychosocial dimensions for adolescent female students. It is currently deployed in three public schools on the outskirts of Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, but the focus here will be on the pioneering initiative, in one high school which has reached 150 participants since 2013. This project was conducted by professors and researchers from the engineering, social sciences, and humanities departments of the University of Brasilia (UnB) in Brazil and France’s Sorbonne Paris North University who are the authors of this autoethnography, which is based on interventions, interviews, and field observations. Principle academic results included articles, dissertations, and expositions at related national and international events characterized by the integration of various scientific fields. The intervention prepared participants for college attendance who was both unprecedented in their families and contributed to their occupying a social and subjective place quite different from the majority of youths in black and poor communities around the capitals of Brazil.
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