Search

This paper examines the ways descendants of Portuguese immigrants in Canada, raised under the shroud of their Portugal ancestry, contemplate, formulate and negotiate their identities via the two primary sporting pastimes of the two countries: soccer, in the case of Portugal; ice hockey, in the case of Canada. The findings presented in this article are based on empirical data collected through semis-structured interviews and casual conversations with Portuguese-Canadian descendants during a fieldwork period that took place from October 2nd to November 5th of 2009 in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau and Montreal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries with different characteristics and different inserts in the global context, that reformed the State, acted similarly in relation to their housing policies during the reform period. In most of these countries housing policy has undergone a "privatization" supported by a new vision of housing not as a social policy, but as a market product to be consumed. In Brazil, the recent housing policy is being performed by the Federal Government has shown a similar route to those countries. Brazil also has gone through a Reform of the State, though not implemented in its entirety, the question arises: How does the recent Brazilian housing policy is in the context of State reform implemented in 1995? In seeking answers to this question, this paper discusses the course of national housing policy from 1995 to the present day, focusing on the fundamental changes that were introduced after this date, especially in the housing finance system, and convergences and their relations with the State Reform agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a Canadian proposal for waste dumps classification according to their physical stability is presented. The method is based on a semi-quantitative evaluation of key factors affecting the stability of a waste dump, and the result allows assigning a certain class of dump according to their instability potential. These classes define a recommended level of effort for investigation, design, construction and monitoring of the dumps. To check the effectiveness of the classification a case study was carried out in face of the iron ore mining reality, in Nova Lima City, Minas Gerais State. The implementation of this work involved a documentation search followed by field work and analyses in order to apply the collected information about the dumps in the classification. The work also shows innovations introduced by the Authors about the use of the classification system as a means of assessing the quality of the dumps management and also makes it possible to identify main aspects of a project. The proposed classification system showed that it is a very useful tool for both planning and evaluation of all stages of a waste dump life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the theoretical corpus of intercultural clinical psychology (ethnopsychiatry) and its clinical practice have identified certain analogies between torture and terrorism, particularly in the action dynamic and in certain effects such as traumatism. And yet, at the Sapsir (Service d'Aide Psychologique Spécialisée aux Immigrants et Réfugiés at Université Laval, Canada) refugees and torture victims often do not show the expected symptoms of exposure to extreme situations. The case study related in this paper, show that important variables appear to be a strong attachment to a cultural identity and an active sense of belonging to the reference group. These cultural elements favour the psychological protection of the individual and maintain an internal sense of security by placing the individual in a rich, meaningful cultural universe, and giving him the status of an active subject rather than a passive victim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]