Ravines in Angola. Causes and restraint methods

The Earth we know today was not always so. Over millions of years have undergone significant ch an g e s brought about by numerous geological phenomena aimed at your balance, some internal order, creating new geological formations and other external order smoothing formations previously created. From t h e tectonic standpoint, Angola is located in a relatively stable area which gives it a certain p ri v i l e g e w h e n compared with some Asian countries or even Americans where quite often occur earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. However, the same cannot be said in relation to the occurrence of an external geodynamics phenomena, such as the ravines, which in recent years has taken shape in many provinces, especially due to anthropogenic activity, giving rise to geological hazards, increasing the risk of damage in buildings and others infrastructures, losses direct or indirect in economic activities and loss of human lives. We understand that the reducing of these risks starts, in particular, by their identification, for later take preventive measures. This work is the result of some research work carried out by the authors through erosion courses of s o i l and stabilization of soils subject to erosion phenomena, carried out by Engineering Laboratory of Angola (LEA). For the realization of this work, we resorted to cartographic data query, literature, listening to s o m e o f the provincial representatives and local residents, as well as the observation in lo co o f s o m e af f e ct ed areas. The results allow us to infer that the main provinces affected by ravine phenomenon are located in Central and Northern highlands, as well as in the eastern region, and more recently in Cuando-Cub an go province. Not ruling out, however, other regions, such as in Luanda and Cabinda [1]. Relatively the causes, we can say that the ravines in Angola are primarily due to the combination of three natural factors: climate, topography and type of soil [2]. When we add the anthropogenic activit y , namely the execution of construction works, the drainage system obstructio n, exploration of m i n e ral s, agriculture and fires, it is verified an increasing of the phenomenon, often requiring immedi at e act i o n . These interventions can be done through structural or engineering measures and by the stabilization measures on the degraded soil cover [3]. We present an example of stabilization measures throu g h t h e deployment of a local vegetation called Pennisetum purpureum. It is expected that the results may contribute to a better understanding of the causes of the ravine phenomenon in Angola and that the adopted stabilization method can be adapted in other affected provinces in order to prevent and making the contention of the ravines.

Procedimento dos enfermeiros face ao comportamento agressivo dos utentes no Serviço de Urgência de Psiquiatria

De acordo com as evidências científicas e empíricas, os enfermeiros são frequentemente vítimas de agressão, sendo mais vulneráveis os que trabalham em serviços de urgência psiquiátrica. Perante esta realidade e através de entrevistas semiestruturadas, procurou-se identificar os procedimentos e as dificuldades sentidas pelos enfermeiros, perante o comportamento agressivo dos utentes no serviço de urgência psiquiátrica. Os dados revelaram que nalgumas situações, os enfermeiros conseguem predizer o comportamento agressivo dos utentes, fundamentalmente a partir de expressões não verbais. As estratégias comunicacionais verbais e não verbais, seguido dos vários métodos de contenção, são os procedimentos mais utilizados pelos enfermeiros para lidar com o comportamento agressivo do utente. A insuficiente formação da equipa multidisciplinar e a gestão do espaço físico, foram as principais dificuldades nomeadas pelos enfermeiros; NURSES PROCEDURES TOWARDS PATIENT AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AT PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY SERVICES ABSTRACT: The scientific and empirical evidence shows that nurses are often victims of aggression. Those working in psychiatric emergency services are more vulnerable. Due to this reality and by the use of semi-structured interviews we proposed to identify the procedures and difficulties that nurse’s experience due to patients’ aggressive behavior at psychiatric emergency services. According to data, in some cases nurses can predict aggressive behavior. Most of the time, it is possible by observation of patient non-verbal expression. To handle patient’s aggressive behavior nurses used most commonly the verbal and nonverbal communications strategies. When this isn´t enough they used a coercive intervention, such as the restraint methods. For nurses, the main difficulties are the lack of training of the multidisciplinary team and the management of the physical space.