Abstract Introduction Few instruments are available in Brazil to evaluate psychomotor activity in psychiatric emergency, clinical, and research settings. This study aimed to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Behavioral Activity Rating Scale (BARS) into Brazilian Portuguese and assess the adapted scale’s psychometric properties. Method An expert consensus committee conducted a translation and back-translation of the original scale, resulting in the BARS-BR. Four pairs of physicians administered the BARS-BR and the Sedation-Agitation Scale (SAS) to patients in a hospital psychiatry emergency room and patients in the hospital’s psychiatric wards. The BARS-BR was compared to the SAS to assess concurrent validity and internal consistency was evaluated with the Bland-Altman technique. Results In the emergency room, the correlation coefficients between the first and second assessments were rho = 0.997 and rho = 1.0, respectively. In the hospital wards, the correlation coefficient between the pair of evaluators was rho = 0.951. There were strong correlations between the BARS-BR score of the first examiner and the SAS score of the second examiner (rho = 0.903) and between the SAS score of the first examiner and the BARS-BR score of the second examiner (rho = 0.893). Conclusion The BARS-BR showed good psychometric properties, and we recommend its use because it constitutes an easy method for assessment of changes in psychomotor activity. Further studies are suggested to evaluate adoption and comprehension of the BARS-BR scale by all classes of healthcare professionals.

Abstract: The use of fast-growing trees is a good economic strategy for charcoal production. Wood with adequate chemical and physical properties generally is positively correlated with charcoal quality. The objective of this research was to evaluate wood quality from fast-growing hybrids for charcoal production. Three Corymbia citriodora x Corymbia torelliana and four Corymba torelliana x Corymba citriodora hybrid clones were evaluated. Parameters used to evaluate wood quality were wood basic density, elemental and structural chemical composition, energy efficiency and thermogravimetric analysis and the parameters evaluated for charcoal quality were apparent relative density, gravimetric yield, high heating value, proximate analysis and energy efficiency. All clones had wood basic density superior than 0,5 g cm-3 and ash inferior than 1%, which are desirable for a good quality of charcoal. Lignin content did not differ among clones with an average less than the 28% recommended for energetic use. Although clones differed in wood parameters, as dry matter, high heating value, energy density, total extractives, holocellulose content, it did not reflect in charcoal quality differences. Wood from all clones had equal and satisfying high heating value of charcoal and energy efficiency quality for charcoal production and differed in apparent relative density and ash content.