O clima urbano em Alfredo Marcondes/SP: uma análise dos indicadores geoambientais

There are obvious changes that occur within the cities, experienced in synthesis for the degradation of the environment and especially the worsening quality of life. Even small cities, began to exhibit characteristics typical of an atmospheric climate. Thus, it becomes natural to analyze the characteristics of these spaces, unlike the medium and large cities, provide a detailed analysis of the peculiarities of intra-urban space in order to highlight what factors enhance or soften the formations of a typical urban climate distinct patterns of land use. The aim of this research from a geoenvironmental mapping of attributes (uses and land cover, vegetation and tree characteristics of buildings) while representing the dynamic City entertainment. Thus, we seek to inter-relate these indicators to analysis climate urban-rural and intra-urban applied to the city of Alfredo Marcondes / SP, a small town in order to identify a potential compromise climate conditions point to generate a specific climate. From this detailed analysis, we intend to give suggestions with the government to improve the comfort of that environment. For the data collection was organized a specific methodology for its collection, organization and representation and for the record of climatic data (temperature, wind speed and direction and cloud cover) were used mini-shelters weather with temperature sensors in fixed locations, and a temperature sensor attached on the side of a vehicle, 1.5 meters in height from the floor for 42 points perpassando selected in different intra-urban spaces... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Planejamento ambiental do distrito de Ameliópolis – Presidente Prudente - SP

The concern with the environmental planning has become important in Brazil recently. Until then, nature was conceived as a resource, because of the implementation of developmental policies that perdured to the 1970s, based on the expansion of the industrial complex, altogether hadn´t preoccupation by the federal government with the relationship between society and nature. During this period, after the threat of not receiving more international investment to finance large projects in the country, accompanied by pressure from civil society organizations, the federal government began to take some action related to the environment, such as the creation of federal agencies (IBAMA), application of environmental laws and decrees in order to create rules for the proper use of natural resources such as water, soil and air. From the decade of 1990 onwards the master plans have become a mandatory document for all municipalities in the country with a population over 20,000 inhabitants, ranging from health issues to the development of urban, rural and environmental planning. Thus, the environmental planning gained prominence in the political scene. Therefore, to achieve environmental planning is necessary to follow some social and environmental parameters, which for this survey, conducted in the District of Ameliópolis – Presidente Prudente... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from eared doves (Zenaida auriculata) in Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Rabies surveillance in bats in Northwestern State of Sao Paulo

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

On land management: landowners' attitudes to land and farming in Valdera, Tuscany

This thesis aims at explaining the intersecting dynamics of structural changes in agriculture and urbanisation, which involves changes in urban-rural relationships. The research questions are: how and why do landowners differ in their attitudes to land and farming? what are the main implications on rural landscapes and the policy implications? Relationships between urbanisation and agriculture are firstly analysed through a critical literature review; the analysis focuses on the 'landowner' as the key actor who actively takes decisions on the rural landscape From the empirical study – which is based on a Tuscan area (Valdera), and addressed through qualitative methods – a great diversity of landowners' attitudes to land and farming emerge, thus contributing to the agricultural restructuring, such as: 1) the emphasis on recreational function of the countryside for urban people 2) contracting out of land management, especially when landowners live or/and have 'urban' employment 3) the active role of hobby farmers in land management 4) agricultural operations simplification and lack of investments (especially in case of property rights expropriation). The thesis is framed in three papers, with the same methods and research questions. It seems evident that rural landscapes is subjected to functional changes (e.g. residential) and structural changes (landscape polarisation), which requires the need 1) to consider that rural landscape management is increasingly less connected to agricultural production as economic activity; 2) to give a coherence to the range of policy interventions (physical planning, landscape, sectoral).

Konfliktlinien und die Einstellungen zur Europäischen Integration in Norwegen : eine quantitativ-empirische Analyse basierend auf dem European Social Survey 2004/2005

In den konsultativen Referenden von 1972 und 1994 stimmte eine knappe Mehrheit der norwegischen Wählerschaft gegen einen Beitritt in die europäische Staatengemeinschaft. Regierung und Parlament zogen daraufhin ihr Aufnahmegesuch zurück. Ein erneuter Antrag auf Mitgliedschaft in der EU wird seither vermieden, da sich die Parteien des Konfliktpotenzials bewusst sind. Von der politischen Agenda ist diese Streitfrage jedoch nicht verschwunden. Die vorliegende Magisterarbeit greift den gängigen Erklärungsansatz der politikwissenschaftlichen Forschung auf: Das Scheitern der Referenden ist demnach auf die Aktualisierung traditioneller politischer Konfliktlinien zurückzuführen. Inwieweit diese Cleavages die Einstellungen norwegischer Staatsbürger zur Europäischen Integration bestimmen, wird anhand eines komplexen Konfliktlinienmodells und mittels aktueller Daten untersucht. Aufbauend auf dem klassischen Cleavage-Konzept von Seymour Lipset und Stein Rokkan (Zentrum/Peripherie, Staat/Kirche, Stadt/Land, Kapital/Arbeit), findet eine Konkretisierung von Stefano Bartolini und Peter Mair Anwendung, die jede der vier Konfliktlinien als dreidimensional (empirisch, normativ und organisatorisch) begreift. In einem historischen Überblick zeigt sich die Relevanz der tradierten Konfliktlinien für Norwegen, die sich sowohl im nationalen Parteiensystem als auch in den Standpunkten der Parteien zu einem EU-Beitritt widerspiegeln. Datengrundlage für die folgenden empirischen Analysen (Kreuztabellen, Mittelwert- und Korrelationsvergleiche, multiple lineare Regressionen) stellt die norwegische Teilstudie der zweiten Welle des European Social Survey von 2004/2005 dar. Europäische Integration wird von den meisten norwegischen Staatsbürgern, die sich empirisch, normativ und organisatorisch auf den Konfliktlinienpolen Peripherie, Kirche, Land oder Arbeit verorten lassen, negativ bewertet. Im Gegensatz dazu geht die recht häufig vertretene Kombination der empirischen Konfliktlinienpole Zentrum-Staat-Stadt-Kapital mit einer überdurchschnittlich positiven Einstellung einher. Insgesamt erweist sich der Zusammenhang mit der Zentrum/Peripherie-Konfliktlinie als am höchsten.

Selection of Matching Variables in Community Health Intervention Trials

In a matched experimental design, the effectiveness of matching in reducing bias and increasing power depends on the strength of the association between the matching variable and the outcome of interest. In particular, in the design of a community health intervention trial, the effectiveness of a matched design, where communities are matched according to some community characteristic, depends on the strength of the correlation between the matching characteristic and the change in the health behavior being measured. We attempt to estimate the correlation between community characteristics and changes in health behaviors in four datasets from community intervention trials and observational studies. Community characteristics that are highly correlated with changes in health behaviors would potentially be effective matching variables in studies of health intervention programs designed to change those behaviors. Among the community characteristics considered, the urban-rural character of the community was the most highly correlated with changes in health behaviors. The correlations between Per Capita Income, Percent Low Income & Percent aged over 65 and changes in health behaviors were marginally statistically significant (p < 0.08).

Factors associated with home health care costs

Characteristics of Medicare-certified home health agencies in Texas and the contributions of selected agency characteristics on home health care costs were examined. Cost models were developed and estimated for both nursing and total visit costs using multiple regression procedures. The models included home health agency size, profit status, control, hospital-based affiliation, contract-cost ratio, service provision, competition, urban-rural input-price differences, and selected measures of patient case-mix. The study population comprised 314 home health agencies in Texas that had been certified at least one year on July, 1, 1986. Data for the analysis were obtained from Medicare Cost Reports for fiscal year ending between July 1, 1985 to June 30, 1986.^ Home health agency size, as measured by the logs of nursing and total visits, has a statistically significant negative linear relationship with nursing visit and total visit costs. Nursing and total visit costs decrease at a declining rate as size increases. The size-cost relationship is not altered when controlling for any other agency characteristic. The number of visits per patient per year, a measure of patient case-mix, is also negatively related to costs, suggesting that costs decline with care of chronic patients. Hospital-based affiliation and urban location are positively associated with costs. Together, the four characteristics explain 19 percent of the variance in nursing visit costs and 24 percent of the variance in total visit costs.^ Profit status and control, although correlated with other agency characteristics, exhibit no observable effect on costs. Although no relationship was found between costs and competition, contract cost ratio, or the provision on non-reimburseable services, no conclusions can be made due to problems with measurement of these variables. ^

Social support, health status and health services utilization among the noninstitutionalized elderly: An analysis of the Supplement on Aging to the 1984 national health interview survey

The association between Social Support, Health Status, and Health Services Utilization of the elderly, was explored based on the analysis of data from the Supplement on Aging to the National Health Interview Survey, 1984 (N = 11,497) using a modified framework of Aday and Andersen's Expanded Behavioral Model. The results suggested that Social Support as operationalized in this study was an independent determinant of the use of health services. The quantity of social activities and the use of community services were the two most consistent determinants across different types of health services use.^ The effects of social support on the use of health services were broken down into three components to facilitate explanations of the mechanisms through which social support operated. The Predisposing and Enabling component of Social Support had independent, although not uniform, effects on the use of health services. Only slight substitute effects of social support were detected. These included the substitution of the use of senior centers for longer stay in the hospital and the substitution of help with IADL problems for the use of formal home care services.^ The effect of financial support on the use of health services was found to be different for middle and low income populations. This differential effect was also found for the presence of intimate networks, the frequencies of interaction with children and the perceived availability of support among urban/rural, male/female and white/non-white subgroups.^ The study also suggested that the selection of appropriate Health Status measures should be based on the type of Health Services Utilization in which a researcher is interested. The level of physical function limitation and role activity limitation were the two most consistent predictors of the volume of physician visits, number of hospital days, and average length of stay in the hospital during the past year.^ Some alternative hypotheses were also raised and evaluated, when possible. The impacts of the complex sample design, the reliability and validity of the measures and other limitations of this analysis were also discussed. Finally, a revised framework was proposed and discussed based on the analysis. Some policy implications and suggestions for future study were also presented. ^

An assessment of risk of osteogenic sarcoma from exposure to radium

The etiology of the vast majority of osteosarcoma deaths has not been explained. A possible explanation might be lifetime ingestion of radium from environmental sources which might give rise to differential risk. This study was an effort toward understanding the role of naturally occurring radium in the etiology of bone cancer. Furthermore, there was an interest in the interaction of between radionuclides and selenium; the latter believed to be a potential anticarcinogen.^ Two approaches were used to evaluate the association between environmental radium, selenium and osteogenic sarcoma: (1) spatial and temporal patterns of osteogenic sarcoma mortality in Texas were described for the period from 1969 to 1988; and (2) a case-control study was performed using 974 osteosarcoma deaths and category-matched controls selected from other deaths to evaluate the association between this disease and residency history as an indirect measure of radium and selenium exposures.^ Analyses and comparison of mortality in a population exposed to regions of elevated levels of radium 226,228 and elevated levels of selenium in drinking water with those in a matched control population have resulted in three observations: (1) there appeared to be a slight protective effect for residing in areas high in radium; (2) there were no significant differences between cases and controls when observed for length of residence or residence in urban/rural regions of high or low radium; and (3) although regions high in selenium appeared to have a decreased risk for bone cancer and urban areas in regions of elevated selenium showed an increased risk of bone cancer, these differences were not significant. ^

Social integration, health behaviors and health status among Mexican-American women in the *southwestern United States

Using the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES), this research examined several health behaviors and the health status of Mexican American women. This study focused on determining the relative impact of social contextual factors: age, socioeconomic status, quality of life indicators, and urban/rural residence on (a) health behaviors (smoking, obesity and alcohol use) and (b) health status (physician's assessment of health status, subject's assessment of health status and blood pressure levels). In addition, social integration was analyzed. The social integration indicators relate to an individual's degree of integration within his/her social group: marital status, level of acculturation (a continuum of traditional Mexican ways to dominant U.S. cultural ways), status congruency, and employment status. Lastly, the social contextual factors and social integration indicators were examined to identify those factors that contribute most to understanding health behaviors and health status among Mexican American women.^ The study found that the social contextual factors and social integration indicators proved to be important concepts in understanding the health behaviors. Social integration, however, did not predict health status except in the case of the subject's assessment of health status. Age and obesity were the strongest predictors of blood pressure. The social contextual factors and obesity were significant predictors of the physician's assessment of health status while acculturation, education, alcohol use and obesity were significant predictors of the subject's assessment of health status. ^

Ordenamiento territorial y desarrollo local : provincia Cercado, Tarija, Bolivia

El proceso de ordenamiento territorial en Bolivia es relativamente nuevo y por tal razón el avance es mínimo si se piensa en los objetivos alcanzados hasta ahora. El presente trabajo pretende mostrar el avance logrado en uno de los departamentos de Bolivia, Tarija, donde en 5 años, se ha logrado elaborar un plan departamental de ordenamiento territorial y mediante la coordinación interinstitucional (prefectura y gobiernos municipales) se ha iniciado el mismo proceso de a nivel municipal. A partir de estos planes municipales se induce a municipios predominantemente urbanos a trabajar planes de ordenamiento territorial a partir de lineamientos planteados desde la prefectura, con el fin de iniciar los procesos de planificación urbana, actualizar la normativa y elaborar proyectos de desarrollo local. El objetivo del presente trabajo, es mostrar los avances a los que se pretende arribar gracias a un proceso metodológico de ordenamiento territorial incorporado a una dinámica urbana que interactúa constantemente con su área de influencia que en el caso boliviano es normalmente rural; pero además demostrar que el componente interdisciplinario en el caso de la planificación urbana es imprescindible considerando que hasta hace unos años este era un trabajo especifico de los colegas urbanistas y que en una realidad como la latinoamericana casi siempre quedaba en planos y en un viejo anaquel. Por lo tanto a partir de una interdisciplinariedad se puede lograr desarrollo local articulando y optimizando relaciones urbano-rurales que basan su desarrollo en un proceso metodológico como es el caso del ordenamiento territorial. El trabajo, se apoya en la guía metodológica para la elaboración de planes elaboradas por el Ministerio de Desarrollo Sostenible del gobierno boliviano, pero como tal cual su nombre expresa es una guía susceptible a ser adecuada a las exigencias del área de estudio, en este sentido sobre esa base es que se incorporan algunas variables de estudio que permitirán mejorar el producto a nivel de propuesta una vez concluido el trabajo. Contempla varias etapas donde la incorporación de los diferentes actores sociales será una clave para lograr resultados exitosos en la etapa de implementación. Actualmente el plan municipal de la provincia Cercado, es un proyecto a encarar en los próximos meses una vez cumplidos con los requisitos administrativos para iniciar el trabajo técnico que comprenderá un trabajo de campo, para el relevamiento de datos, la elaboración de un diagnóstico integral con dos ámbitos territoriales rural y urbano, para luego proceder al análisis territorial y el planteamiento de propuesta que incluirán políticas, estrategias, acciones y proyectos, pero no solo generará bases para el uso de suelo y la ocupación del territorio, a escala urbana se plantearan los lineamientos para el diseño y la normativa urbana. A partir del cual se definirán proyectos de desarrollo local que nos permita orientarnos hacia la imagen objetivo planteada en la visión del proyecto, este trabajo incluye el aspecto institucional para fortalecer al proceso que hasta esta ahora se encuentra desarticulado; se pretende consolidar el proceso de ordenamiento y dar inicio a otros en escalas de mayor detalle permitiendo la optimización de recursos y el aprovechamiento de las potencialidades y recursos naturales para mejorar la calidad de vida.

Vínculos urbano-rurales y construcción de nuevas territorialidades en asentamientos de rango menor

La homogeneización productiva ha trastocado los procesos de construcción territorial induciendo cambios en la naturaleza, intensidad y direccionalidad de los vínculos urbano-rurales en región pampeana. La creación de nuevas articulaciones y/o la redefinición de las interacciones preexistentes involucran dimensiones funcionales, institucionales y espaciales, dando origen a formas específicas de resolución territorial. A partir de enfoques superadores de las aproximaciones sectoriales y dualistas intrínsecas al paradigma de la modernización, que han impregnado la interpretación de procesos de construcción territorial a partir de la oposición "campo-ciudad", se propone la indagación a partir de la convergencia de macroprocesos que trastocan las trayectorias territoriales, al tiempo que renuevan la naturaleza de los vínculos urbano-rurales (avance de la pluriactividad, emergencia de nuevos actores y usos del suelo en los espacios rurales, urbanización difusa). Dentro de esta perspectiva, los asentamientos de rango menor en región pampeana, constituyen ámbitos privilegiados para la exploración de las modalidades que asumen las articulaciones urbano-rurales, en tanto lugares alcanzados por el proceso de homogeneización productiva, mostrando cómo la emergencia de nuevos actores, lógicas y escalas de acción, interpela las aproximaciones tradicionales de análisis de los vínculos urbano-rurales y exige la necesidad de renovar enfoques, regulaciones e instrumentos solidarios con la gestión territorial sustentable

Territorio, trabajo y salud : Una mirada desde dos actividades productivas. Producción granífera en Zona Núcleo y producción ladrillera en el sudeste santiagueño

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar los cambios en la dinámica territorial de la producción de ladrillos en el sudeste santiagueño y de granos en la Zona Núcleo Granífera, y su impacto en la relación urbano-rural y en la salud de los trabajadores. Para ello, recurrimos a técnicas cuantitativas (elaboración de bases de datos sobre la base de registros epidemiológicos institucionales) y a técnicas cualitativas de investigación (entrevistas, observación participante, análisis documental y bibliográfico). En el marco del avance de la frontera agrícola, la sojización y la agriculturización, analizamos la relación entre trabajo y territorio para comprender el proceso de salud-enfermedad-atención en dos zoonosis regionales: enfermedad de Chagas y Fiebre Hemorrágica Argentina

Vínculos urbano-rurales y construcción de nuevas territorialidades en asentamientos de rango menor

La homogeneización productiva ha trastocado los procesos de construcción territorial induciendo cambios en la naturaleza, intensidad y direccionalidad de los vínculos urbano-rurales en región pampeana. La creación de nuevas articulaciones y/o la redefinición de las interacciones preexistentes involucran dimensiones funcionales, institucionales y espaciales, dando origen a formas específicas de resolución territorial. A partir de enfoques superadores de las aproximaciones sectoriales y dualistas intrínsecas al paradigma de la modernización, que han impregnado la interpretación de procesos de construcción territorial a partir de la oposición "campo-ciudad", se propone la indagación a partir de la convergencia de macroprocesos que trastocan las trayectorias territoriales, al tiempo que renuevan la naturaleza de los vínculos urbano-rurales (avance de la pluriactividad, emergencia de nuevos actores y usos del suelo en los espacios rurales, urbanización difusa). Dentro de esta perspectiva, los asentamientos de rango menor en región pampeana, constituyen ámbitos privilegiados para la exploración de las modalidades que asumen las articulaciones urbano-rurales, en tanto lugares alcanzados por el proceso de homogeneización productiva, mostrando cómo la emergencia de nuevos actores, lógicas y escalas de acción, interpela las aproximaciones tradicionales de análisis de los vínculos urbano-rurales y exige la necesidad de renovar enfoques, regulaciones e instrumentos solidarios con la gestión territorial sustentable