Direcionalidade da violência em casais heterossexuais / Directionality of violence in heterosexual couples / Direccionalidad de la violencia en parejas heterosexuales

Ainda existem controvérsias entre pesquisas que analisam a violência cometida por homens e mulheres. O objetivo foi avaliar a direcionalidade da violência conjugal em diferentes manifestações (física, psicológica, coerção sexual e lesão corporal). Trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa, exploratória e descritiva, da qual participaram 304 casais heterossexuais. Aplicou-se um questionário sociodemográfico e a escala Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2), sendo realizadas análises descritivas dos dados pelo programa estatístico SPSS 22.0. Os resultados indicaram que mais de 70% da violência psicológica ocorre de forma bidirecional e, quando se expressa de forma unidirecional, é mais cometida por mulheres. A violência física e a coerção sexual, quando unidirecionais, foram mais cometidas pelos homens. Já a lesão corporal não apresentou diferença significativa. Os casais mais velhos apresentaram mais violência unidirecional, enquanto os mais jovens praticaram mais violência bidirecional. Esses dados podem auxiliar no desenvolvimento de políticas públicas nas situações de violência conjugal. (AU)

There are still controversies between researches analyzing violence committed by men and women. The objective was to evaluate the directionality of conjugal violence in different manifestations (physical, psychological, sexual coercion and bodily injury). This is a quantitative, exploratory and descriptive, cross-sectional study, in which 304 heterosexual couples, aged between 18 and 82 years participated. It was applied a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) and descriptive analyses of the data were performed using the SPSS 22.0 statistical program. The results indicated that more than 70% of psychological violence occurs in a bidirectional way and, when expressed in a unidirectional way, it is more committed by women. Physical violence and sexual coercion, when unidirectional, were more committed by men. As for bodily injuries, men and women scored equally. Older couples experienced more unidirectional violence, while younger couples had more bidirectional violence. These data can assist in the development of public policies in situations of conjugal violence. (AU)

Todavía existen controversias entre las investigaciones que analizan la violencia cometida por hombres y mujeres. El objetivo fue evaluar la direccionalidad de la violencia conyugal en diferentes manifestaciones (física, psicológica, coacción sexual y lesión corporal). Se trata de una investigación cuantitativa, exploratoria y descriptiva, en la que participaron 304 parejas heterosexuales. Se aplicó un cuestionario sociodemográfico y la escala Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) realizando análisis descriptivos de los datos mediante el programa estadístico SPSS 22.0. Los resultados indicaron que más del 70% de la violencia psicológica ocurre de forma bidireccional y, cuando se expresa de forma unidireccional, es más cometida por mujeres. La violencia física y la coacción sexual, cuando eran unidireccionales, eran más cometidas por hombres. Por otro lado, las lesiones corporales no mostraron diferencias significativas. Las parejas mayores experimentaron más violencia unidireccional, mientras que las parejas más jóvenes practicaron más violencia bidireccional. Estos datos pueden ayudar en el desarrollo de políticas públicas en situaciones de violencia conyugal. (AU)

Flexibility in the integration of environmental information by Dinoponera quadriceps Kempf during foraging

Abstract Foraging behavior requires animals' behavioral flexibility to exhibit efficient strategies that result in the successful search for food. The navigation of ants enables long distance trips back and forth from the nest, using orientation cues. We analyzed the flexibility of Dinoponera quadriceps workers in integrating information introduced into the environment. We studied workers from two colonies in an area of secondary Atlantic Forest, with the use of a physical obstacle placed in front of the entrance of the nest with no fixed angular position. There was no significant difference in the resolution time workers to bypass the obstacle, in the angles between trips when exiting and returning to the nest, or in the positioning angles when returning to the nest. However, we found an increase in positioning angles when leaving the nest to search food, from the second contact onwards. They overcame the new obstacle as they would any other natural one. The presence of the obstacle did not prevent workers from maintaining route fidelity to individual areas. The behavior of D. quadriceps workers indicates that they have the flexibility to incorporate new information in a familiar environment. They likely use multimodal cues, which prevent them from wandering outside the familiar area.

¿A qué pregunta responde "el hueso"?: una cuestión de direccionalidad estructural y organización biológica (hueso y huesos, del big-bang a la osteoporosis) / To which question is 'bone' the answer?: a matter of structural directionality and biological organization (bone and bones, from the big bang to osteoporosis)

La "razón de ser" de nuestros huesos y esqueletos constituye un dilema centralizado en los conceptos biológicos de "estructura" y "organización", cuya solución necesitamos comprender para interpretar, diagnosticar, tratar y monitorear correctamente las osteopatías fragilizantes. Últimamente se ha reunido conocimiento suficiente para proponer aproximaciones razonables a ese objetivo. La que exponemos aquí requiere la aplicación de no menos de 6 criterios congruentes: 1) Un criterio cosmológico, que propone un origen común para todas las cosas; 2) Un criterio biológico, que explica el origen común de todos los huesos; 3) Un enfoque epistemológico, que desafía nuestra capacidad de comprensión del concepto concreto de estructura y del concepto abstracto de organización, focalizada en la noción rectora de direccionalidad espacial; 4) Una visión ecológica, que destaca la importancia del entorno mecánico de cada organismo para la adecuación de la calidad mecánica de sus huesos a las "funciones de sostén" que les adjudicamos; 5) Una correlación entre todo ese conocimiento y el necesario para optimizar nuestra aptitud para resolver los problemas clínicos implicados y 6) Una jerarquización del papel celular en el manejo de las interacciones genético-ambientales necesario para asimilar todo el problema a una simple cuestión de organización direccional de la estructura de cada hueso. Solo aplicando estos 6 criterios estaríamos en condiciones de responder a la incógnita planteada por el título. La conclusión de esta interpretación de la conducta y función de los huesos debería afectar el fundamento de la mayoría de las indicaciones farmacológicas destinadas al tratamiento de la fragilidad ósea. (AU)

The nature of the general behavior of our bones as weight-bearing structures is a matter of two biological concepts, namely, structure and organization, which are relevant to properly interpret, diagnose, treat, and monitor all boneweakening diseases. Different approaches can be proposed to trace the corresponding relationships. The one we present here involves six congruent criteria, namely, 1) a cosmological proposal of a common origin for everything; 2) a biological acknowledgement of a common origin for all bones; 3) the epistemological questioning of our understanding of the concrete concept of structure and the abstract notion of organization, focused on the lead idea of directionality; 4) the ecological insight that emphasizes the relevance of the mechanical environment of every organism to the naturally-selected adjustment of the mechanical properties of their mobile bones to act as struts or levers; 5) The clinical aspects of all the alluded associations; 6) The central role of bone cells to control the genetics/ environment interactions of any individual as needed to optimize the directionality of the structure of each of his/her bones to keep their mechanical ability within physiological limits. From our point of view, we could only solve the riddle posed by the title by addressing all of these six criteria. The striking conclusion of our analysis suggests that the structure (not the mass) of every bone would be controlled not only to take care of its mechanical ability, but also to cope with other properties which show a higher priority concerning natural selection. The matter would be that this interpretation of bone behavior and 'function' should affect the rationales for most pharmacological indications currently made to take care of bone fragility. (AU)

Influencia de la direccionalidad de los ítem en los resultados de instrumentos de medición / Influence of item directionality in the outcome of measurement instruments

El trabajo ilustra los aspectos principales donde la direccionalidad de los ítems incide en la validez, la objetividad y la confiabilidad de los instrumentos de medición utilizados en educación, psicología y salud. Se trata de un elemento a tomar en cuenta en el diseño del modelo de evaluación, en la definición de las variables, la elaboración del banco de ítems para la construcción del instrumento y la forma de presentar e interpretar los reportes. La direccionalidad no depende solamente de los fundamentos teórico-conceptuales asociados con el modelo de medición y con la propia práctica (educativa o clínica, por ejemplo), sino que está regida por un comportamiento o respuesta "típica" de las personas que integran la población focal en estudio. Se muestra que la codificación de los ítems no debe hacerse en términos de "presencia-ausencia", sino del crecimiento de la variable de "poco" a "mucho" del rasgo medido en términos de respuesta "típica-atípica", "apropiada-no apropiada" u otro atributo distintivo de la variable unidimensional que puede representarse en un eje cartesiano. Se aplican los elementos del modelo de direccionalidad a un instrumento diseñado para medir la experiencia de los síntomas de mujeres con Síndrome Coronario Agudo a partir del Modelo Conceptual del Manejo del Síntoma.

This work presents the main issues of item directionality on validity, objectivity and reliability of measurement instruments used in various fields (education, psychology or health). This is an important element to be considered in the definition of variables, the preparation of item banks, the production of tests and the interpretation of reports. Directionality depends both on the theory and the conceptual model involved in the measurement instrument, as well as the type of practice (educational or clinical for example), but it is also ruled by a "typical" behavior or response of the focal group. Item coding should not be done in terms of "presence-absence" but must take into account the direction and sense of growth of the variable as "typical-non typical", "appropriate-non appropriate" or other distinctive unidimensional trait that should be represented in a Cartesian axis. The elements of the model of directionality are used in an instrument designed to measure the experience of the women's symptoms with acute coronary syndrome based on the Symptom Management Conceptual Model.