Daily Basis Research Articles

A novel interval-based hybrid framework for crude oil price forecasting and trading

Existing research has demonstrated the effectiveness of hybrid models in improving the accuracy of crude oil forecasting compared to single models. However, these works usually focus on point-valued crude oil closing prices which may suffer from information loss. Instead, this paper proposes a novel interval-based framework based on the principle of “divide and conquer”. After deploying variational mode decomposition (VMD) on an original training series to decompose it into low- and high-frequency components, a newly proposed autoregressive conditional interval (ACI) model is applied to predict the interval-valued low-frequency component which is treated as an inseparable random set, while the interval-valued high-frequency component is predicted by interval long short-term memory (iLSTM) networks. Combination of the two parts yields the final interval-valued prediction. A trading strategy for interval-valued data is designed and executed on a daily basis. Compared to benchmark models and competing trading strategies, the proposed framework can generate superior forecasts and deliver enhanced trading performances. The analysis within this study indicates that the framework’s outstanding performance is robust to various forecasting horizons.

Hairy tongue associated with the use of baricitinib therapy for ophiasis pattern alopecia areata

AbstractWe report a case of hairy tongue that developed in a young Caucasian woman during systemic baricitinib therapy for severe alopecia areata. Because she experienced good clinical regrowth of her hair during treatment, she did not want to interrupt therapy. We recommended she use a toothbrush to debride her tongue on a daily basis, which was successful. Hairy tongue most commonly occurs in elderly, debilitated males with poor oral hygiene. It is thought to occur because of overgrowth of chromogenic bacteria and/or yeast on the tongue. This unusual side effect during baricitinib therapy suggests that immune suppression may play a role. Clinicians should be aware of hairy tongue development during baracitinib therapy.

THE MOTIVATION FOR USING THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM TIKTOK FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

The way we communicate on a daily basis has changed significantly since the turn of the 21st century. Besides communication platforms, social media has become the leading generator of opinions, ideas, thoughts, and emotions, especially among younger populations. The circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic further stimulated the popularity of certain social media platforms, with TikTok being at the forefront (Fratila, 2021; Kennedy, 2020). Previous research has shown a wide range of motivational factors for using the TikTok social media platform, including entertainment, which is the most prominent, followed by social interaction and connection. Additionally, social media is often used for leisure, self-expression, archiving, escapism, learning new skills, following celebrities and influencers, trends, and more (Berthon et al., 2008; Muntinga et al., 2011; Omar & Dequan, 2020; Yaqi, Lee & Liu, 2021; Khairul Nuzuli, 2022). The theoretical framework of the study is based on the Uses and Gratifications approach, which will be used to interpret the results. The aim is to examine which gratifications drive the use of TikTok. The sample consists of 135 students from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Niš. The data collection method used is a questionnaire. The questionnaire includes items that were developed and used by Omar & Dequan, (2020) and Khairul Nuzuli, (2022), covering five categories of motives: information, personal identity, interaction and social integration, entertainment, and self-expression. Keywords: social media, TikTok, usage motives, uses and gratification, youth

Police leaders' daily feedback-seeking: the role of an organization’s error-management climate, leaders' feedback orientation and the situation

PurposeLeaders lack essential information about their performance from their followers. In light of the frequently encountered error avoidance climate in the police, leaders should actively seek feedback to fill this gap. The purpose of this paper is to explore organizational, personal and situational antecedents of police leaders' daily feedback-seeking behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a diary study and examined error-management climate, feedback orientation and two situational characteristics, namely daily occasions for feedback-seeking and daily time pressure. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the N = 188 daily entries from 27 leaders (minimum of three daily entries per leader).FindingsResults show that police leaders seldom seek daily feedback from their followers. A positive (i.e. learning-oriented) error-management climate and occasions for feedback-seeking foster leaders' daily feedback-seeking, whereas no main effects of feedback orientation and time pressure were found. However, time pressure moderated the relationship between occasions for feedback-seeking and daily feedback-seeking, with higher time pressure leading to a weaker relationship.Originality/valueThis is the first study empirically examining feedback-seeking as a key leadership behavior on a daily basis. The results show that organizational conditions promote leaders' feedback-seeking behavior and indicate organizations should foster an error-management climate to promote feedback-seeking of their leaders.

The personality traits of family caregivers of individuals with dementia: The effects of social anxiety, social phobia, and caregiving hours

Background and Aim of Study: Caring for individuals afflicted with dementia engenders substantial demands and responsibilities for caregivers, encompassing the extensive time allocation devoted to the care recipient on a daily basis. Furthermore, the psychological attributes inherent in informal caregivers, encompassing traits like social anxiety and social phobia, can exert an influence on the evolution of their personal dynamics over time. This phenomenon potentially yields repercussions for how caregivers offer guidance and assistance to elderly individuals grappling with dementia, particularly in relation to their fundamental daily activities and instrumental tasks. The aim of the study: to analyze the predictive effect of social anxiety and social phobia as psychological characteristics of caregivers, along with the impact of caregiving hours as caregiving-related characteristics, on caregivers’ personality. Material and Methods: This observational and cross-sectional study comprised a sample of 97 participants serving as primary family caregivers completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Big Five Inventory, the Anxiety Scale in Social Interaction Situations, and the Social Phobia Scale. Results: The findings revealed that social phobia demonstrated significant predictive power for Openness (β=-0.199; p=0.016) and Extraversion (β=-0.136; p=0.024), whereas the daily caregiving hours negatively affected Conscientiousness (β=-0.145; p=0.011), Agreeableness (β=-0.137; p=0.040), Openness (β=-0.210; p=0.011), and Extraversion (β=-0.175; p=0.003). Conversely, social anxiety did not prove to be a significant variable. Conclusions: The presence of social phobia or higher hours devoted to caregiving for individuals with dementia are factors that impact personality functioning and should be considered in the planning of support programs for family caregivers.

Combating modern methods of legalisation (laundering) of the funds obtained by criminal means with the use of cryptocurrency

The problems of combating corruption have not lost their relevance over the years. Tolerant attitudes to corruption as a way to quickly solve everyday problems give rise to new ways of developing illegal activities in various spheres of public life. At the same time, while fully condemning corruption as a means of illicit enrichment, the majority of the population still follows the old path. Consequently, the interests of individuals aimed at enriching themselves by any means, including illegal means, are becoming a counterweight to the development of society.
 Money laundering remains a significant problem in the area of combating corruption. Unfortunately, the methods and means of carrying out illegal activities in order to conceal them and avoid responsibility for their commission are being updated on a daily basis. Successful money laundering requires high intelligence and an understanding of the processes of working with modern financial technologies. One of the areas of money laundering is the use of various types of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. The funds held by the offender go through a complex route before reaching their final destination. Illegally obtained funds introduced into the legal financial system in such a way as to avoid unnecessary questions about the origin of the money, through a significant number of transactions, are integrated into the financial system and can be used for any purpose.
 The current state of research on the development of cryptocurrencies as a tool for money laundering is not sufficiently disclosed at the national level. Most of the scientific works are of foreign origin. The article is aimed at finding ways to improve the current anti-corruption legislation. The author outlines the main features of the development of money laundering schemes using cryptocurrency as an instrument of such schemes. The author defines the main definitional categories of such concepts as “cryptocurrency”, “NFT”, “smurfs”, “drops”, etc. The main shortcomings of the institutional and regulatory mechanism for detecting and investigating this category of offences have been highlighted, taking into account the use of modern financial technologies. The study may be useful in improving legislation in the field of corruption prevention.

Daily commuting

Workers generally commute on a daily basis, so we model commuting as a repeated game. The folk theorem implies that for sufficiently large discount factors, the repeated commuting game has as a Nash equilibrium any feasible strategy that is uniformly better than the minimax strategy payoff for a commuter in the one shot game, repeated over the infinite horizon. This includes the efficient equilibria. An example where the efficient payoffs strictly dominate the one shot Nash equilibrium payoffs is provided. Our conclusions pose a challenge to congestion pricing in that equilibrium selection could be at least as effective in improving welfare. We examine evidence from St. Louis to determine what equilibrium strategies are actually played in the repeated commuting game.

Use of TikTok: A Quasi-Experimental Study for the Transformation of Sexist Attitudes in Adolescents

Sexist attitudes in the educative environment are present more usually on a daily basis, and nowaday with the social media they spread widely; nevertheless, it is also possible to perform preventive actions through them. Thus, the current research aim is to determine that the application of the formative program Tik Tok decrease the sexist attitudes among the students of the Educative Unit, Ecuador 2023. The study is applied, with a quantitative approach and a quasi-experimental design; in the sample 60 students participated and they were divided into two groups, 30 students in the control group and 30 students in the experimental group, to this last one a pre-test and a post-test was applied as an instrument which was addapted from Bonilla, et al (2022) about sexist attitudes and the survey technique. With the purpose to accomplish the study aim a program was design in TikTok with 16 sessions in order to treat with sexist, benevolent and hostile attitudes. At the moment of verifying the outcomes of the general hypothesis, an improvement against sexist attitudes were evidenced in both groups. The analysis showed a T-Student value of ρ = 0.00 (ρ < 0.01), demonstrating that the TikTok formative program has performed a fundamental role in the notorious improvement of these attitudes.

Limits to participation in road infrastructure planning: Which choices do citizens make when their valued landscapes are under pressure?

There is only a finite amount of land, which is why the decision to allow a particular land use often results in a trade-off with other potential land uses. Traditionally, trade-offs have been assumed by planning professionals (i.e. ‘experts by profession’), while citizens, who experience the landscape on a daily basis (i.e. ‘experts by experience’), are only involved to a limited extent. Several researchers suggested that assessment and mapping of these trade-offs should be done at landscape level. The aim of this paper is to examine citizens’ trade-offs between different valued landscapes when under pressure due to road infrastructure development. Using the ‘Place Value Identifier’ (PVI), an online Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS) approach applied in the Netherlands (n = 1044), we analyse: (1) the general sustainability, infrastructure and land-use related values of citizens, (2) their valued landscapes, and (3) their trade-off choices between the different valued landscapes when these are under pressure of spatial developments. Our results show that respondents had difficulty making a distinct choice for a valuable place to be saved or sacrificed; only 23,8% had a strong preference for one place to save. However, the collective result of the individual choices seems to hold important information for planning. As a way forward, we developed information-rich maps (PVI-maps) visualising how landscapes are valued by the citizens around three Dutch road infrastructure projects. The PVI-maps include details on the degree of resistance to sacrificing different places, thus contribute to context-sensitive planning.

Eradicating a Culture of Public Mistrust in TVET College Education in South Africa: A Manifesto for the Sector’s Sustainability Ahead of 4IR

The consumption of technical and vocational education and training has increased exponentially over the past two decades. In terms of inclusion, it is without a doubt that today’s TVET sector is a far cry from what it was before the democratic government took over the baton from the apartheid government. TVET has become a refuge to many hopefuls from the historically disadvantaged sectors of society who, due to a range of apparent reasons, would ordinarily not have managed to partake in tertiary education. To many South African youth, TVET presents an avenue for the acquisition of a skill that will give them a fighting chance at escaping the harsh recurrence of poverty, economic inactivity and resource deprivation they are subjected to almost on a daily basis. However, beneath this silver lining lies a growing public disgruntlement over the TVET system’s ability to steadfastly deliver quality education and transform the lives of students, by instilling in them agency for self-regulated and collaborative innovation that will turn them into formidable and assertive role players in the knowledge societies, come the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). To understand the crux of public mistrust in TVET college education in South Africa, an extensive body of literature was reviewed. The findings of the paper point to strategic factors (which in the main are attributed to a lack of effective leadership and managerial skills) and contextual factors that occur at a campus level, as major causes of public mistrust in TVET education. The paper concludes by tabling a manifesto for changing the status quo ahead of the advent of 4IR.

DOES STRESS MAKE YOU FEEL OLDER? A DAILY DIARY STUDY OF SUBJECTIVE AGING, STRESS, AND UPLIFTS IN TURKIYE

Abstract Subjective aging, how one perceives their age, is associated with psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Adults’ subjective perceptions of their age are malleable and can fluctuate on a daily basis, influenced by various life events such as experiencing stress or uplifts. We conducted a 14-day daily diary study to assess how subjective age and ageist attitudes are predicted by daily stressful events and uplifts in Turkey/Turkiye. 68 Turkish participants aged 50 to 90 years (M= 57) responded to subjective age, ageist attitudes, stress, and uplifts questionnaires every day. Multilevel model analyses indicated that individuals perceived themselves as emotionally and physically older on days when they encountered more stressors and fewer uplifting events. Additionally, on those days, participants reported that they looked and behaved older than their chronological ages. Uplifts corresponded negatively to ageist attitudes; individuals who experienced more uplifting events during the day had fewer negative judgments of aging. Taking age as a subjective construct, these results suggest that having fewer stressors in daily life changes people’s feelings about their aging process. In addition, involvement in uplifts can buffer ageist attitudes on a daily basis.

Thoughts on Plautine Style, with Special Reference to Archaism and Colloquialism

This article discusses style in Plautus. In order to do so objectively, we need to look at distribution patterns; a phenomenon can be considered poetic or colloquial if (a) it is restricted to poetry or comedy, (b) a parallel corpus of the same time period has an equivalent expression, and (c) this distribution is statistically significant. The main problem with applying such an approach to Plautus is that he makes up 60% of early Latin (with Terence giving us another 15%); other texts are not always suitable for comparison: inscriptions may be short, highly formal, or hard to date, Cato’s work on agriculture is extremely technical, and fragments of early drama are often quoted by grammarians who are more interested in what is possible than in what is normal. However, we can compare Plautus with Plautus, insofar as we can compare different stock characters, different metres, or different sub-genres within comedy.Loss of final –s and iambic shortening seem to more common in colloquial passages, with a preponderance in iambic lines, a smaller number in long verses, and the smallest number in polymetric song. Within morphology, subjunctives of the type siem and mediopassive infinitives ending in –ier are strongly preferred at line end, out of metrical convenience; they are already archaic in Plautus, but still employed so frequently that not every individual instance is stylistically significant. Pronominal accusative and ablative forms like med and ted are also already old-fashioned and used mostly for metrical reasons; they, too, occur so commonly that not every instance is significant. Other morphological features look archaic from a classical perspective, but are still normal in Plautus; this is the case for the second-person medio-passive ending –re and the fourth-conjugation imperfect in –ibam. Genitive plural forms of the second declension mostly end in –orum; the older –um is largely restricted to fixed collocations, which are presumably stylistically unmarked.On the other hand, disyllabic genitive endings of the first declension (type familiai) were already archaic in Plautus’ day; they are rare and thus always used for stylistic effect. Within syntax, not all features that have traditionally been described as colloquial really do form part of a lower register. The ellipsis of subject accusatives in the accusative-and infinitive construction is driven by pragmatic and morphosyntactic factors rather than by stylistic considerations. Sentence length and complexity is lower in Plautus than in classical prose, but this is a feature of spoken language rather than of lower register. And finally, outside some common collocations, the ablative absolute is restricted to specific high-register contexts, such as prayers or battle reports.When Plautus wants to be colloquial, he can use features from phonology to syntax, but when he wants to sound archaic, he limits himself to morphology (and lexical features). This should not come as a surprise: Plautus had access to colloquial language on a daily basis, but would encounter archaic texts mostly in written form; here, morphological and lexical features are the ones which are most noticeable and easiest to imitate.

Identifying and Assessing the Functionality of IT Systems for the Maintenance and Development of the Road Network

The article presents the results of research aimed at identifying and assessing the functionality of IT systems in activities related to the maintenance and development of the road network managed by local government units. Starting the research, the authors were operating under the assumption that, nowadays, IT systems should play an important role in solving problems related to the management of road infrastructure. The applied research method took a form of a survey, and the research sample consisted of 100 local government units acting as administrators of the road network, i.e., administrators of municipal roads (AMR), county roads (ACR) and operating within cities with independent county rights (ACCR). The results of the research indicate that few administrators utilise integrated information systems in practice. Their users turned out to be mainly representatives of the ACCR group, who use several different support systems on a daily basis, with different functionality and usability. The operation of IT systems is mainly used at the level of operational work related to the implementation of ongoing maintenance activities, excluding the possibility of using them in strategic management.

EXPLORING THE WITHIN-PERSON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DAILY DISCRIMINATION AND DAILY STRESS REACTIVITY

Abstract Experiencing discrimination has been associated with a variety of negative impacts such as poorer health and well-being. Some research has shown that those who experienced discrimination at an initial timepoint were more likely to have poorer health and well-being outcomes 20 years later through the mediating role of threat appraisals and stress reactivity. Research has demonstrated a link between experiencing discrimination and affective reactions to everyday stressful experiences, however, these associations have only been studied at the between-person level. For the current study, we examined the within-person relationship in daily stress reactivity in relation to experiencing discrimination on a daily basis over the course of 20 years. Participants (n = 1,315) completed waves 1 to 3 of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey with each wave about 10 years apart in which participants were asked to self-report their daily discrimination. Participants also completed the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) which was a daily diary design over 8 consecutive days asking about their daily stress reactivity. Results found that during timepoints when people experienced greater than their average level of discrimination, they also reacted more negatively to daily stressful events (b = .002, 95% CI [0.001, 0.002]). These results are particularly striking because they show that within-person changes in reported discrimination are related to changes in affective responses to daily stressors. These findings suggest that experiencing discrimination is related to greater reactivity to daily stressors, which may lead to worse physical and mental health over time.

Bladder management is the top health concern among adults with a spinal cord injury.

Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) commonly experience secondary complications though it is not known how they prioritize these different health domains. Using the Neurogenic Bladder Research Group (NBRG) SCI registry, our objective was to identify the top health concerns of individuals with SCI and identify factors that may be associated with these choices with particular focus on urologic issues that participants face. Participants in the NBRG registry were asked: "What are the top 3 problems that affect you on a daily basis?" Urinary symptoms and QoL were assessed with the Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score (NBSS). Multivariate regression was used to identify factors related to selecting a top ranked health issue. Among our 1461 participants, 882 (60.4%) were men and the median age was 45.1 years (IQR 25.3-64.9). Bladder management was the most commonly top ranked primary issue (39%) followed by pain (16.4%) and bowel management (11.6%). Factors associated with ranking bladder management as the primary concern included years since injury (OR 1.01 [1.00-1.02], p = 0.042), higher (worse) total NBSS (OR 1.05 [1.03-1.06], p < 0.001), and higher (worse) NBSS QoL (OR 1.25 [1.12-1.41], p < 0.001). Reporting chronic pain on a daily basis was associated with ranking pain as the primary health concern (OR 41.7 [15.7-170], p < 0.001). In this cohort, bladder management was ranked as the top health issue and increasing time from injury was associated with increased concern over bladder management. More bladder symptoms were also associated with ranking bladder management as a primary concern while bladder management method and urinary tract infections rate were not.

Sistem Pengendalian Jemuran Otomatis berbasis IoT dengan Logika Fuzzy untuk Pengkondisian Cuaca

Household activities such as doing laundry are routine tasks carried out by people on a daily basis. Many individuals often leave their clothes out to dry all day due to their busy work schedules outside the home. To ensure that clothing remains unaffected by unexpected weather changes, there is a need for a device capable of automatically managing the laundry based on weather conditions. The research aims to develop an automated system for maintaining laundry based on weather conditions with the goal of enhancing efficiency and convenience in daily household activities. The methodology employed for designing this device follows the waterfall method. The testing of this device involves several hardware components, including the ESP-32 microcontroller, the DHT22 sensor for measuring air temperature, the LDR sensor for assessing light intensity in the surroundings, the rain sensor for detecting roof wetness, the MG996R servo motor for roof control, and an Android smartphone serving as the user interface display. The ultimate outcome of this research is a device capable of real-time weather detection by utilizing fuzzy logic to derive conclusions from data collected by three sensors. The weather conclusion generated is then employed as a command for opening or closing the laundry area roof, ensuring protection from rainy weather. Users receive notifications via the Android application for any changes in the roof's condition and can access weather change records.

The Tradition of Surah Al-Hashr Recitation As A Student’s Self-Protective Method at Sulaimaniyyah Islamic Boarding School Turkey, Indonesia

&lt;p&gt;This study examines the tradition of reciting verses 22-24 of &lt;em&gt;Surah al-Hashr&lt;/em&gt;, a practice commonly performed within the &lt;em&gt;dhikr&lt;/em&gt; following the compulsory &lt;em&gt;Mag&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;h&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;rib &lt;/em&gt;and &lt;em&gt;Fajr &lt;/em&gt;prayers at the &lt;em&gt;Sulaimani&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;y&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;yah&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;Tahfiz &lt;/em&gt;Islamic Boarding School in Pati. In this Islamic institution, all students are mandated to participate in this tradition, ensuring their habitual engagement in their daily lives. Employing a &lt;em&gt;Living Qur'an&lt;/em&gt; study and a phenomenological approach, the research methodology relied on observation, interviews, and documentation within an interpretative study aimed at elaborating various human experiences. Additionally, Karl Mannheim's theory was employed to analyze the issue from &lt;em&gt;objective, expressive&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;documentary&lt;/em&gt; perspectives. This study provides the following conclusions: &lt;em&gt;First&lt;/em&gt;, the tradition of &lt;em&gt;Surah al-Hashr&lt;/em&gt; verses 22-24 recitation, performed on a daily basis after the compulsory &lt;em&gt;Magrib &lt;/em&gt;and &lt;em&gt;Fajr&lt;/em&gt; prayers, serves as a motivational tool to inspire readers and to tap into the numerous benefits it contains. &lt;em&gt;Second&lt;/em&gt;, the &lt;em&gt;objective&lt;/em&gt; meaning of reciting these verses establishes the long-standing nature of this tradition, with the holistic purpose of nurturing students into virtuous and Qur'anic individuals. Whereas, the &lt;em&gt;expressive &lt;/em&gt;meaning may offer a self-protection, serving as a formidable shield against external malevolence, particularly for the students, protecting them from evil forces that seek to beguile and interfere human beings. Furthermore, it facilitates the students in their Quran memorization processes. In terms of &lt;em&gt;documentary&lt;/em&gt; meaning, this tradition helps fostering religious devotion among students, both to their relationship with Allah (&lt;em&gt;hablun minallah&lt;/em&gt;) and their relationship with fellow human beings (&lt;em&gt;hablun minannas&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;

It Takes Another Kind of Village: How Older Husbands in Rural Spanish Communities Experience Caregiving

This article explores how older husbands’ caregiving experiences are interwoven with the social representation of ‘the village,’ understood herein as an intimate, local community that actively contributes to long-term care on a daily basis. The concepts of belonging and doing kinship form the analytical basis for illuminating this interaction between care from husbands and daily community care. I use the social representation of the imagined community both as the axis for articulating the singular experiences of care, and the construct of a village that values its collective history, local rituals, natural environment, and ordinary routines. Study data are based on ethnographic observations of the daily long-term care trajectories of five married couples in two villages and one small town in the rural Spanish Mediterranean.

Placing survival above the ideal of motherhood: experiences of migratory mourning of migrant mothers in Chile

This article presents an approach to the phenomenon of migratory mourning of migrant mothers in Chile. Between 2021 and 2022, a qualitative exploratory study based on symbolic interactionism was carried out, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 migrant mothers of Venezuelan (18), Peruvian (11) and Haitian (9) origin. Based on a theoretically-informed thematic analysis, three analytical categories emerged: 1) the loss of social ties and distance to their place of origin; 2) expectations versus reality; and 3) the validation of overexertion. Migrant mothers express migratory mourning with varying levels of nuance depending on their country of origin, and to a greater or lesser degree signify their experiences in terms of uprooting and the absence of support networks, which they identify as the main cause of the sadness they experience on a daily basis. This sadness increases when they negotiate their ideals regarding the upbringing of their sons and daughters in favor of material subsistence in order to achieve the goals of a better life, and for which they justify overexertion as a strategy for improvement. These pressures bring with them psychological and physical consequences and interfere with their processes of migratory mourning, compromising their mental health and that of their children.

A proposal for effective promotion of the rational use of water in school buildings

The implementation of actions and practices in schools must be considered a priority in the establishment of strategies to promote the rational use of water, mainly in urban areas. The steps of a proposal for effective promotional of the rational use of water in school buildings were defined identifying key factors summarized in a conceptual map and the systematization of water management indicators. Afterwards, these steps were validated by consulting 524 Brazilian school administrators and community members through the application of a standardized semi-structured questionnaire containing 40 questions. The results showed that the continuous monitoring on a daily basis and the sharing of water consumption in schools is the starting point to reinforce the positive perception and willingness to adopt practices that contribute to the rational use of water. Right after the implementation of step 1 actions and water consumption decreased in 68% of the cases. Despite users' behavior and constructive characteristics of school buildings being very diverse worldwide, it is expected that the adoption of some steps or at least actions proposed by the program can effectively contribute to the balance of the urban water cycle.