Perceived sexism as a health determinant in Spain

OBJECTIVES: The goals of the present study are to explore the association between perceived sexism and self-perceived health, health-related behaviors, and unmet medical care needs among women in Spain; to analyze whether higher levels of discrimination are associated with higher prevalence of poor health indicators and to examine whether these relationships are modified by country of origin and social class. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study is based on a cross-sectional design using data from the 2006 Spanish Health Interview Survey. We included women aged 20-64 years (n = 10,927). Six dependent variables were examined: four of health (self-perceived health, mental health, hypertension, and having had an injury during the previous year), one health behavior (smoking), and another related to the use of the health services (unmet need for medical care). Perceived sexism was the main independent variable. Social class and country of origin were considered as effect modifiers. We obtained the prevalence of perceived sexism. Logistic regression models, adjusted for potential confounders, were fitted to study the association between sexism and poor health outcomes. Results: The prevalence of perceived sexism was 3.4%. Perceived sexism showed positive and consistent associations with four poor health outcomes (poor self-perceived health, poor mental health, injuries in the last 12 months, and smoking). The strength of these associations increased with increased scores for perceived sexism, and the patterns were found to be modified by country of origin and social class. CONCLUSION: This study shows a consistent association between perceived sexism and poor health outcomes in a country of southern Europe with a strong patriarchal tradition.

Incidencia e influencia de las políticas en el cambio social: responsabilidad de las trabajadoras sociales e implicaciones para su educación teórica y práctica

La incidencia en las políticas sociales es una importante función profesional de las trabajadoras sociales que precisa ser integrada en la educación teórica y práctica en Trabajo Social. Este artículo indaga sobre los fundamentos de esta función de incidencia en los cambios sociales promoviendo políticas sociales que reconozcan los derechos humanos. Partiendo de los referentes internacionales del trabajo social, se analiza el caso de España teniendo en cuenta los códigos deontológicos, los planes de estudio en Trabajo Social, la práctica profesional y los nuevos Grados en Trabajo Social. Se concluye planteando interrogantes sobre el grado de responsabilidad y de implicación de las universidades y Colegios profesionales en coherencia con los principios y valores del Trabajo Social.

Retrofit of heat exchanger networks with pressure recovery of process streams at sub-ambient conditions

This paper presents a new mathematical programming model for the retrofit of heat exchanger networks (HENs), wherein the pressure recovery of process streams is conducted to enhance heat integration. Particularly applied to cryogenic processes, HENs retrofit with combined heat and work integration is mainly aimed at reducing the use of expensive cold services. The proposed multi-stage superstructure allows the increment of the existing heat transfer area, as well as the use of new equipment for both heat exchange and pressure manipulation. The pressure recovery of streams is carried out simultaneously with the HEN design, such that the process conditions (streams pressure and temperature) are variables of optimization. The mathematical model is formulated using generalized disjunctive programming (GDP) and is optimized via mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP), through the minimization of the retrofit total annualized cost, considering the turbine and compressor coupling with a helper motor. Three case studies are performed to assess the accuracy of the developed approach, including a real industrial example related to liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. The results show that the pressure recovery of streams is efficient for energy savings and, consequently, for decreasing the HEN retrofit total cost especially in sub-ambient processes.

Sexualización en la publicidad digital de marcas de moda infantil: iniciativas ciudadanas y mecanismos de denuncia

Los niños son presentados como objetos sexuales en gran parte, según el debate social, debido a la actividad de marcas y medios vinculados a la moda. La metodología llevada a cabo combina un análisis de contenido de los catálogos de publicidad de moda infantil en Internet en el contexto español, con el objetivo de ver si las marcas de moda infantil sexualizan a los niños en Internet; una revisión de las iniciativas de denuncia en Internet para conocer si la sociedad civil está concienciada; y una revisión de la normativa jurídica y ética en la publicidad digital para verificar si hay una protección a los niños. Los hallazgos apuntan que casi la mitad de los niños de los catálogos (el 45.8%) muestran atributos que los sexualizan, que las niñas son las más perjudicadas -un 48.9% frente al 38.2% de los niños- y las marcas que sexualizan más son las originalmente de adulto. Además, la sexualización se atribuye a la libertad creativa y al beneficio de las marcas. Las iniciativas y quejas se concentran en padres, Gobierno y asociaciones de consumidores. Se recomienda mayor información para que los ciudadanos inicien los procesos de protección legal y ética previstos para proteger a los niños.