Accessibility has become a very important issue to promote inclusion in the Information Society, and people involved in Web development projects have a very important role to contribute with the development of a more inclusive Web. In this paper, we propose an investigation on the accessibility awareness of people involved in Web development in Brazil. We have conducted the research by means of an exploratory survey with a Web based questionnaire and a sample with subjects from academy, industry and government. The study had 613 valid answers and involved representatives from all of the 27 states of Brazil. The results show that accessibility is still far from being actually considered in Web development projects in Brazil, as only 19.9% of the participants have stated that accessibility is considered in their projects. The lack of education on accessibility, as well as the poor spread of the Brazilian accessibility law are important issues to be dealt with to boost a stronger accessibility awareness among people involved in Web development.

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Women with bipolar disorder and premenstrual exacerbation have a worse course of illness, a shorter time to relapse, and greater symptom severity, but they are not more likely to meet criteria for rapid cycling. Premenstrual exacerbation may be a clinical marker predicting a more symptomatic and relapse-prone phenotype in reproductive-age women with bipolar disorder.

Background: Although impacts of edge effects on forest ecosystems are well known, their consequences on savannas have rarely been explored. Aims: To investigate the influence of edge effects on the plant community and microclimate of a cerrado fragment in southeastern Brazil. Methods: Several plant community variables (density, basal area, richness and cover by each vegetation layer) and microclimatic variables (light, air temperature and humidity), were measured in 10 transects across a savanna fragment surrounded by exotic grasses, and were used to fit semi-parametric models relating these variables with the distance from the habitat edge. Results: Differences in microclimate and tree communities were poorly related to distance from the edge. On the other hand, there were detectable edge effects on the ground layer community (i.e. plants less than 50 cm in height). Edges had a negative effect on native plants of this layer (density and richness of all species and cover of native grasses), while favouring invasive grasses. Conclusions: Unlike reports for edge effects in forest ecosystems, microclimate does not explain changes in this cerrado fragment. The most significant edge effect threatening the conservation of cerrado vegetation is the widespread invasion by African grasses. Starting from the fragment borders, this invasion causes changes in the structure and composition of the native plant community, thus jeopardising the population dynamics and persistence of native species.

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