A tentative determination of upwelling influence on the paleo-surficial marine water reservoir effect in southeastern Brazil.

Previous work has suggested that seasonal and inter-annual upwelling of deep, cold, radiocarbon depleted waters from the South Atlantic has caused variations in the reservoir effect (R) through time along the southern coast of Brazil. This work aims to examine the possible upwelling influence on the paleo-reservoir age of Brazilian surficial coastal waters based on paired terrestrial/marine samples obtained from archaeological remains. On the Brazilian coast there are hundreds of shell-middens built up by an ancient culture that lived between 6500 to 1500 years ago, but there are few located on open coast with a known upwelling influence. Three archaeological sites located in a large headland in Arraial do Cabo and Ilha de Cabo Frio, southeastern coast of Brazil with open ocean conditions and a well-known strong and large upwelling of the Malvinas/Falkland current were chosen for this study. The 14C age differences between carbonized seed and marine samples varied from 281 ± 44 to 1083 ± 51 14C yr. There are also significant age differences between carbonized seed samples (977 14C yr) and marine samples (200 and 228 14C yr) from the same archaeological layer that cannot be explained by a reservoir effect or an old-wood effect for charcoal. Therefore the present data from the southeastern Brazilian coast are inconclusive for identifying an upwelling effect on R. To do so it would be necessary to more precisely define the present-pre-bomb R in upwelling regions and to analyze paired marine/terrestrial samples that are contemporaneous beyond doubt.

Essentialism and Folkbiology: evidence from Brazil

Experimental results in reference to Brazilian children and adults are presented in the context of current discussions about essentialism and folkbiology. Using an adoption paradigm, we replicate the basic findings of a previous article in this journal concerning the early emergence in children of a birth-parent bias (Atran et al. 2001). This cognitive bias supports the claim that causal essentialism cross-culturally constrains the reasoning about the origin, development and maintenance of the characteristics and identity of living kinds. We also report some intriguing differences with earlier findings that speak to theoretical and methodological issues of cultural relativity.

Organizational culture predicts job satisfaction and perceived clinical effectiveness in pediatric primary care practices

Background: In recent years, there has been a growing understanding that organizational culture is related to an organization's performance. However, fewstudies have examined organizational culture in medical group practices. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of organizational culture on provider job satisfaction and perceived clinical effectiveness in primary care pediatric practices. Research Design: This cross-sectional study included 36 primary care pediatric practices located in Connecticut. Participants: There were 374 participants in this study, which included 127 clinicians and 247 nonclinicians. Measures: Office managers completed a questionnaire that recorded staff and practice characteristics; all participants completed the Organizational Culture Scale, a questionnaire that assessed the practice on four cultural domains (i.e., group, developmental, rational, and hierarchical), and the Primary Care Organizational Questionnaire that evaluated perceived effectiveness and job satisfaction. Results: Hierarchical linear models using a restricted maximum likelihood estimation method were used to evaluate whether the practice culture types predicted job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. Group culture was positively associated with both satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. In contrast, hierarchical and rational culture were negatively associated with both job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. These relationships were true for clinicians, nonclinicians, and the practice as a whole. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that practice culture is associated with job satisfaction and perceived clinical effectiveness and that a group culture was associated with high job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. Copyright © 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

The influence of culture on home-based family caregiving at end-of-life: A case study of Dutch reformed family care givers in Ontario, Canada

Families are facing increased pressure to provide care to their terminally-ill or dying kin in the home. It is known that balancing care with other personal and social roles can adversely affect family caregivers' (FCGs) health, yet access to supportive services which can mitigate burden is often inadequate. Cultural factors are known to shape the experience of caregiving; however, most research to date tends to neglect the experiences of FCGs from different cultural groups. This understanding is necessary to ensure that supportive services are both meaningful and culturally-appropriate. Using qualitative methods, we undertook longitudinal research with a sample of Dutch Reformed FCGs (n = 5) to understand their experiences of caregiving and bereavement. The results of the study are suggestive of a cultural specificity with respect to caregiving that impacts both responsibilities and reactions to care. Three themes were salient to this group as a cultural entity: cultural attitudes towards care, religious beliefs and coping, and c. ulturally-informed care-seeking behaviours. These three themes were seen to be a function of their religious and ethnic identities and were reinforced by ties to the communities in which they resided. Cultural identity provided a framework through which to understand and make sense of the experience, while group membership provided access to networks of informal support. This research contributes to the geographical literature on care/caregiving by providing insight into the social, cultural and religious context of informal family caregiving with a population who live in close geographic proximity. On a practical level, this case study indicates the importance of considering how these factors may operate in other settings in order to implement timely and appropriate interventions to better support FCGs who are caring for their terminally-ill loved-ones at home.