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For five hundred eighty days, between 2018 and 2019, former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remained imprisoned in the city of Curitiba, about two hundred miles South of São Paulo. During that period, more than twenty thousand letters were sent to him from all regions of the country—the result of a campaign initiated by the Workers' Party and rapidly disseminated through social media—correspondence now archived at the Lula Institute, in the city of São Paulo, as part of the Lula Presidential Archives. This article surveys the status of private presidential archives in Brazil, probing the nature of "prison letters" and their uses in campaign actions for Lula's release, with special attention to the circulation of documents in digital format on websites and social media. The authors had access to the documentation cited in this piece during the mobilization for the Lula Livre movements. Finally, the article contributes to the study of political correspondence and analyzes the challenges posed to historical research by the digital circulation of documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of Philosophy of Sport has been developing in Anglo-Saxon scholarship since the 1960s and since then has achieved considerable consolidation. However, this is a progressing field in Latin American countries like Brazil. This paper aims to analyse the trajectory of the Philosophy of Sport in Brazil, presenting an overview of its development since the 1980s and some prospects that have been generated since the turn of the century. In conclusion, the article points out that the field of Philosophy of Sport in Brazil is in the process of disciplinary consolidation, presenting a plurality of agents, institutions and theoretical approaches in its structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic discourse on food justice and sustainable food consumption needs to be informed by empirical contributions and heterogenous conceptualisations from diverse parts of the world. This paper broadens the dialogue with a variety of voices and knowledges, rooting itself not only in the specific political and social context, but also the discursive and epistemic traditions of Brazil, which stand in dialogue with international discourses. Firstly, an analysis is offered of the multi‐stakeholder process that since the mid‐1990s shaped the discourse, theorisation and policy making on food justice and sustainable food consumption in Brazil. Emerging from this process were globally leading Brazilian policy initiatives such as Zero Hunger, the School Feeding Program, the progressive Food Guide, and co‐crafted concepts such as comida de verdade. The institutional architecture for this discourse, the National Food Council and regular conferences, were dismantled in 2019 after a change in government. Secondly, the paper presents data from 30 interviews with key stakeholders from civil society, policy, business, media and celebrity influencers, conducted at the time of the dissolution. Three key subdiscourses on sustainable food consumption emerge: access, with an emphasis on right to food; health; and re‐conhecimento, a term we use to articulate the confluence of multiple knowledges and consciousnesses, including an insistence on the cultural role of food. Throughout the interviews, co‐crafted concepts and phrases emerging from the multistakeholder process reverberated. The paper argues that the multi‐stakeholder process resulted not just in a coherent shared discourse, concepts and policy during a period of conducive policy environment, but also in collective resilience. The invisible edifice of shared ideas and commitments around this public issue is still intact and may be reactivated in future. In times of increased political polarisation, not just in Brazil, this is an important argument for investing in such long‐term multi‐stakeholder dialogue processes. This paper analyses the distinct multi‐stakeholder process which shaped the discourse, theorisation and policy making on food justice and sustainable food consumption in Brazil. It presents data from 30 interviews with key stakeholders, from which three sub‐discourses emerge: access; health; and re‐conhecimento. The paper argues that although the multi‐stakeholder forums crafting this discourse were dismantled in 2019 after a change in government, the process of co‐crafting has resulted in key concepts and a shared vision which demonstrate collective epistemic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the paper is to analyze data regarding informality in Brazil from the 2016 coup to the present, considering its connection to the economic cycle and the policies implemented by the different governments in power over those years. Altogether, informality is directly associated with economic dynamics, which increase during a crisis and decrease during economic growth periods. However, over the last years, informality has expanded even in situations where unemployment rates are decreasing. Therefore, the analysis will consider two elements to be investigated: informality as a structural aspect in the Brazilian labor market, and new trends that may explain its increase in conditions of economic recovery or growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mobility-related categorization processes are central to migration studies, the ways that mobile populations understand, adapt, or contest them remain understudied. To trace such interpretations across both space and time, this paper explores a migrant trajectory that first crossed national borders within Africa before continuing to Brazil and later proceeding to Canada. The research combines ethnographic insights with the autobiographic reflections of one protagonist, whose perspectives and experiences move between different places, countries, institutions, people, and critical events. Following that individual’s learning processes, this article traces which categories were meaningful in the context of origin, how these changed in the interaction with different authorities, how transformative events played into valorizations, and which signs of categorical dissolution were recognizable during these trajectories. A biographical learning perspective sees not only the aspirations and the ideals but also the pragmatism and skepticism around the impact of mobility-related categories change along such journeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analyze the scope and importance of the cooperation dynamics of Latin America's two largest economies, it is essential to observe their respective roles in the global scenario. To this end, it will be shown that under specific contexts there are nations that, despite their similarities, achieve a limited scope of cooperation. This paper will address the possible theoretical bases under the paradigms of realism, idealism and constructivism in order to understand the dynamics of the relationship between Mexico and Brazil, from its beginnings and consolidation as nations, analyze their convergences and contemporary challenges of trade balance and investments to end with the most relevant pending issues for both nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For migrants in Brazil, the COVID-19 global health crisis meant a considerable worsening of living conditions, with increased basic material needs. The reduction of individuals' existence to the mere search for survival had important repercussions on the activities of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the country, whose work became increasingly focused on the distribution of emergency assistance for these populations. Drawing on 25 interviews with actors from CSOs, this paper unpacks the entanglement between the political and the biological aspects of migrants' lives. It argues that the pandemic brought to the fore the prominence of biological life to the detriment of migrants' political and social lives in humanitarian responses to the health crisis. In this context, CSOs working with migrant populations in Brazil were pushed to reaffirm this dichotomy, while also contesting and reminding us that the impoverishment of migrants' political and social lives can endanger the biological life that they meant to prioritise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with Workers' Party supporters in Northeast Brazil, and analysis of electoral campaign materials, I show that left-wing populist discourse can activate aspects of a traditional and apparently illiberal political culture that are compatible with liberal democracy, particularly the principles and ideals of representation, accountability and redistribution of economic growth. By political culture, I refer to the intersection between, on the one hand, cultural aspects such as religion, power relations rooted in history and life trajectories dictated by political and economic constraints, and, on the other hand, political discourses, leaders and policies. Moreover, I show that Workers' Party voters are not irrational actors, as some scholars of populism argue, but vote for politicians and parties that radically transformed their lives. Using Northeast Brazil as a case study, the paper contributes to debates about the relationship between populism and liberal democracy, showing how the two are not incompatible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the literature on the politics of industrial policy describes a policy realm that is dominated by business–state relations. This paper goes beyond this and proposes that, in democratic settings, political competition and civil society actors also play a vital role in industrial policy. Through a lens focused on Brazil during the 2000s, the study delves into the dynamics between the election of a centre-left party and the subsequent industrial policy, highlighting the interplay of democratic mandates, entrenched economic interests, and supportive developmental alliances. Notably, the continuation of a centre-left coalition and consistent institutional frameworks witnessed considerable shifts in industrial policy outcomes, which allows for an in-depth evaluation of interest group influence on policy formation and implementation. By triangulating data from 23 interviews with actors in the industrial policy process, data from the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES), and an analysis of industrial policy plans, this paper posits that the prevalence of economic issues in the electoral debate and the participation of societal actors in the policymaking process are enablers of innovation-focused industrial policies; this allows governments to countervail the power of incumbent sectors and undertake policies that are not favoured by the prevailing business interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the praxis of the Zionist Left in Brazil, particularly during the 2010s. It argues that the Zionist Left, which claims to be a progressive grouping that stands in solidarity with the oppressed people in Palestine and in Brazil, functions in fact as a colonial counterrevolutionary actor against radical-left emancipatory politics. Indeed, the Zionist Left functions as a gatekeeper, blocking sectors of the Jewish community and the Brazilian Left from joining the growing anti-Zionist decolonial movement in Brazil. This paper aims to show how various Zionist Left groups have historically worked with the Zionist elite and the Brazilian state to undermine anti-Zionist communist Jewish alternatives by resorting to fraudulent discourse and even force in order to build support for the Zionist settler-colonial project in Palestine. This paper utilises a Marxist, anti-Zionist and anti-colonial framework in order to provide a counter-hegemonic critique for an emancipatory praxis that rejects colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a written dialogue among four activists from the Emancipa Popular Education Movement in Brazil, following the principles of Freirean pedagogy as a 'circle of culture'. It delves into how popular knowledge can be experienced as popular power, narrating the history, struggles, and strategies employed by the Emancipa movement in their pursuit of democratizing Brazilian universities. The discussion is set within the context of Latin American structural inequalities and the issue of educational exclusion in Brazil. It emphasizes the vital role of contesting culture and knowledge as part of the movement's fight against social injustices perpetuated by peripheral capitalism, including racist violence and gender oppression. The paper adopts emancipatory pedagogy as the method to empower and mobilize grassroots efforts in this transformative endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) credibility on the outcomes of its monetary policy. In this sense, we seek to characterize periods in which the central bank can be categorized as strong (high credibility) or weak (low credibility) through a VAR methodology with an endogenously estimated threshold parameter. The econometric model includes the credibility variable, which defines the regimes, along with the output gap, inflation, 12 months ahead inflation expectations, the policy interest rate, and a long-term interest rate. Our dataset spans from 2003 to 2022, with monthly data. The estimations suggest a significant threshold parameter at 1%, with a value of 1.75 percentage points. Thus, we highlight that the BCB operates in a low credibility regime when inflation expectations exceed the tolerance bands around the inflation target. In fact, this occurred in 19% of the considered sample, equivalent to 46 months. Despite the relatively low frequency of periods in which the Brazilian Central Bank operated in a low credibility context, such a regime should be diligently avoided, as our evidence demonstrates that this regime is associated with a substantial reduction in the effectiveness of monetary policy in the country. We show, for example, that with low credibility, the BCB practically loses the ability to affect productive activity and the dynamics of prices (inflation and inflation expectations). When examining the possible causes of the reduction in the effectiveness of monetary policy conditional on the credibility regimes, we show that this variable can affect the existing trade-off between output and inflation in the economy. In other words, our results suggest that credibility regimes can influence the observed inclinations in the country's Phillips curve. Specifically, we point out that in a low credibility regime, inflation shocks generate recessionary effects on output, and inflation becomes more responsive to increases in inflation expectations, thereby reducing the degree of price rigidity. In conclusion, monetary policy in Brazil has effects that systematically depend on the credibility regime in operation. Therefore, maintaining a high credibility regime should remain a priority for the BCB, as it facilitates the achievement of favorable outcomes, including meeting inflation targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite remote sensing data expedite crop yield estimation, offering valuable insights for farmers' decision making. Recent forecasting methods, particularly those utilizing machine learning algorithms like Random Forest and Artificial Neural Networks, show promise. However, challenges such as validation performances, large volume of data, and the inherent complexity and inexplicability of these models hinder their widespread adoption. This paper presents a simpler approach, employing linear regression models fitted from vegetation indices (VIs) extracted from MODIS sensor data on the Terra and Aqua satellites. The aim is to forecast cotton yields in key areas of the Brazilian Cerrado. Using data from 281 commercial production plots, models were trained (167 plots) and tested (114 plots), relating seed cotton yield to nine commonly used VIs averaged over 15-day intervals. Among the evaluated VIs, Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Triangular Vegetation Index (TVI) exhibited the lowest root mean square errors (RMSE) and the highest determination coefficients (R2). Optimal periods for in-season yield prediction fell between 90 and 105 to 135 and 150 days after sowing (DAS), corresponding to key phenological phases such as boll development, open boll, and fiber maturation, with the lowest RMSE of about 750 kg ha−1 and R2 of 0.70. The best forecasts for early crop stages were provided by models at the peaks (maximum value of the VI time series) for EVI and TVI, which occurred around 80–90 DAS. The proposed approach makes the yield predictability more inferable along the crop time series just by providing sowing dates, contour maps, and their respective VIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a brief yet comprehensive comparative analysis of historical and contemporary racial authoritarian violence in the United States and Brazil. Utilizing Black feminist historian and literary scholar Saidiya Hartman's theorization of the "afterlife of slavery" and Michael Dawson's linked fate, I examine how the processes of racialization and the racial logics of subordination have and continue to shape the contours of Black life in the United States and in Brazil. Moreover, in this work, I interrogate the afterlife of George Floyd and the afterlives of Black Brazilian victims and survivors of racial authoritarian violence; the political, transnational, and symbolic impacts of Floyd's death; and Diasporic understandings of linked fate on racial authoritarian violence between Black communities in the United States and in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Caminho da Caiçara II archaeological site is located in the village of Cadoz Velho, a rural area in the municipality of Piripiri, Piauí, Brazil. It consists of a large vertical wall and a small sandstone block containing 101 rock paintings in red and yellow colors. There are abstract figures and human handprints, as well as a bird's footprint and a spear-thrower. There are rock engravings in the shape of cupules. This paper reports the results of in situ monitoring of environmental parameters such as ambient air temperature and relative humidity, rock temperature in areas with and without rock paintings, as well as the speed of the winds that reach the archaeological site under investigation. The experimental data obtained indicate that the thermal action on the pictorial films of the rock paintings from the Caminho da Caiçara II site is clearly more intense than in other nearby archaeological sites. Direct sunlight on the rock paintings for most of the day and year is the main agent responsible for the high heating of the pictorial films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lajedo do Riacho Braço Forte is an open-air archaeological site located along the rocky bed of the aforementioned stream, in the rural area of Piripiri, northern Piauí, Brazil. The aim of this paper is to present the first data from the survey of the recently found archaeological site and its conservation problems. The practical procedure in the field consisted of (i) obtaining the geographic coordinates of location; (ii) surveying the fixed sharpeners-polishers, mortars or pestles, and cupules, as well as the degradation problems; (iii) panoramic and detailed photographic recording of the archaeological remains and the degradation problems; (iv) prospecting around the site; and (v) monitoring in different expeditions. The new site consists of six points of concentration of ancient human activity marks, such as fixed sharpeners-polishers (identified in the forms of channel or frieze, canoe and polishing basin), mortars or pestles, and cupules, in addition to some lithic remains. In numerical terms, more than 11 mortars or pestles, 6 lithic vestiges, more than 42 fixed sharpeners-polishers, as well as some cupules, were found. The site is used as a recreational area and for washing clothes, and therefore faces intense degradation problems caused by users, especially garbage dumping, in addition to the natural erosive effect and the accumulation of successive generations of microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How and why does legacy news media move from protecting to undermining democracy? Several studies argue that journalism can facilitate and shape democratic backsliding. However, evidence is scarce and, to some extent, limited to the content analysis of news outputs and editorials. The causal mechanisms of an anti-democratic role for the press and how it is operationalised into specific processes of news production remain largely misunderstood. Using 36 semi-structured qualitative interviews and three case studies, this paper analyses journalistic practices and role perceptions in Brazil within a period of constant decline in the quality of democracy (2016-2021). The results show that labour precarity is a crucial driver in journalistic practices capable of damaging democracy, which challenges previous assumptions that media capture is mostly influenced by the political economy of news organisations. This research also indicates that journalists are not homogeneously dominated by the interests of elites and can engage with them on their own terms to advance personal agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and EPD-like demands have been gaining importance, particularly due to the release of Product Environmental Footprint by the European Union (EU). EPDs could be demanded in international trade, potentially creating a technical trade barrier for emerging economy countries. Thus, those countries should evaluate their readiness to successfully meet this demand. In this sense, this paper aims to analyse and propose strategies for EPD promotion in Brazil. Brazil's situation regarding life cycle assessment (LCA) and EPD development was analysed considering its business, academic, public policy and consumers contexts. In addition, an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) was elaborated based on interviews with EPD stakeholders in the country. These allowed some strategies to be proposed considering the principle of connecting strengths and opportunities, compensating for weaknesses and neutralizing threats. The results showed that Brazil has a technical and institutional context that enables EPD growth due to the initial stage of LCA database, EPD programs, stakeholders' engagement, and availability of experts. However, in general, these aspects aren't in an adequate level for successful EPD promotion. There is still a large path for EPD understanding and life cycle data availability. Besides, financial and technical restriction, especially considering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), present structural barriers. Nevertheless, by promoting EPD, Brazil could have gains in terms of credibility, access to global markets and environmental awareness. The opposite could happen if the country doesn't seize these opportunities. Furthermore, to influence Product Category Rule (PCR) definitions was said to be a key opportunity to avoid rules that disregard Brazilian singularities. Strategies for EPD promotion should focus on sensitizing and engaging different stakeholders in strategic sectors (civil construction, paper and pulp, coffee, ingredients derived from soya and livestock), enhancing technical capacities and life cycle data generation, and strengthening EPD programs to boost the Brazilian internal market and PCR development. Brazilian institutions should be encouraged to follow international discussions on EPD and internalize them, fostering sustainable production and consumption in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Integration in health and care can improve quality and outcomes, but it is challenged by expansion of medical knowledge, social pressures on patient needs, and demands to deliver critical information. In Latin American and in other lower and middle-income countries integrated care remains in development. This paper examined the available literature on integrated care to understand how Latin American countries identify and measure integration, and what factors influence success. Methods: This integrative literature review included systematic searches in Global Health, PubMed, SciELO and BVSPsi databases for articles on integrated care in Spanish, Portuguese, and English in the period from January of 1999 to December 2020. The articles were screened for selection and assessed independently by five reviewers that used the inclusion criteria of papers about integration in health care systems. The sample excluded articles that did not deal with the integration of health care, which addressed issues related to public health campaigns, programs to control endemics and epidemics, reports on the experience of implementing health services, health promotion guidelines, food safety, oral health, and books evaluation. Results: 24 articles were included: qualitative (75%), quantitative (12,5%), and mixed-method research (4%) published between 2000 and 2017. All studies were undertaken in Brazil, and two of them were also conducted in Latin American countries. In 15 articles there was an interchangeable use between concepts of integration of services and integrated care, while nine studies did not define integration. Barriers to integration included absence of shared understanding of knowledge among members of interprofessional teams, lack of clarity on professional roles, missing consensus on a definition and measurement of integrated care, power struggles between professionals, poor institutional support, insufficient team preparation and training and unequal valuation of professions by society. Conclusion: Several types of integration and factors contributing to the success of implementation of integrated care in various contexts in Brazil were identified. The concept of integration reflected the varied local and regional realities including different health settings and levels of health and care, suggesting a need for further clarifications on its objective and components especially in LMIC contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 2015–2016, high school students in Brazil occupied hundreds of schools across the country. Students fought to keep public schools open, funded, and functional, against outsourcing and privatisation, and in solidarity with teachers' trade unions and strikes. The 'primavera secundarista' ('student spring') was the most significant school student movement since the struggles against the military dictatorship (1964–1988). This paper firstly addresses the political dynamics of the primavera secundarista. Secondly, it discusses the movement's educational practices, which flourished in the months that students occupied their schools. Thirdly, it discusses the forms of community and solidarity that students built with other social actors and how they each learnt from this. In doing so, the paper builds on the work of Aziz Choudry and other scholars of social movement learning to argue that such student movements are prime sites of counter-hegemonic knowledge production and dissemination. Shown through the Brazilian high school occupations, the paper highlights how student movements are unusual in being situated in formal epistemic institutions, and yet are not widely recognised, especially in high schools, as blending formal and informal learning to produce and share knowledge-from-below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on Isabella, a Candomblé follower who struggled with severe rheumatoid arthritis from an early age, arguing that care and self-care practices in Candomblé are intertwined to such extent that they challenge the dichotomy of caring and being cared for. In contrast to a linear model of care that positions care-giver and care-receiver at opposite ends of care relationships, the concept of 'circular care' describes forms of care that are directed at others and simultaneously at oneself. Exploring the religious kinship in a Candomblé house - with Candomblé deities (orixás) and between humans - this paper shows how circular care blurs the distinction between self and other. The emic concept of 'the double mirror' illustrates the 'constitutive alterity' of humans and orixás who relate to each other through kinship building and collective care practices. Since circular care frames one's care for the orixás and the religious family as healing self-care, failing to provide the correct care may in turn be experienced as detrimental self-neglect. The concept of circular care thus enables a deeper understanding of complex dynamics of care and self-care in the contexts of chronic illness, religion, kinship, and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had social and clinical effects over the healthcare system. Globally, over 314.019.135 confirmed cases and 5.507.370 deaths have been recorded at 12 January 2022, based on the Dashboard updated by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The continuous rise in the number of asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and symptomatic patients has developed efficient and accessible models for prediction using Open Source Libraries and Cloud Services. This paper proposes different machine-learning algorithms to analyse the COVID-19 OpenData Resources from Mexico and Brazil, which represent the two major populations, economics and affected by disease countries in Latin America. This model uses only the COVID-19 patient's geographical, social conditions, economics conditions, clinical risk factors, symptom reports, and demographic data to predict recovery and death. The model of Mexico has an accuracy of 93% and the perceived mean of recall and the precision (F1 Score) of 0.79 on the dataset used. On the other hand, the model of Brazil has an accuracy of 69% and F1 score of 0.75 on the dataset studied. The result considers data from patients under the age of 0 and 120 years. The contribution of the work is the application of Big Data technologies and Machine Learning algorithms using Open Resource Libraries and Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the vision to improve the clinical diagnosis, even infectious disease with mathematical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a dual-feedback process that links watershed plan actions with raw water charges. A dedicated decision support model is created to implement this process and allow long-term financial sustainability analysis. The model offers real-time analysis of various watershed actions using customizable prioritization criteria integrated with different water pricing configurations, including user-polluter pays and beneficiary-pays principles, as well as other funding sources. Application to the Piracicaba–Capiravi–Jundiaí Basins in Brazil shows how important water management and water quality improving actions can be funded through water charges and how finance gaps can be resolved through a shared Vision Modelling approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to understand the difficulties related to asset management observed by experts in Brazilian organizations in light of the requirements outlined in the ISO 55001:2014 standard. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was performed with asset management experts. The collected data were analyzed using frequency analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to deal solution (TOPSIS). Findings: Based on data analysis, the most critical difficulties observed were related to managing and controlling the impact of changes in the company that affect asset management objectives; to the committing to and supporting the asset management system by the top management of the organization; to manage the processes for dealing with risks and opportunities for the asset management system and plans, and correcting failures in asset performance; and to plan and conduct actions in an integrated manner to identify and minimize adverse impacts associated with the asset management system, and afterwards verifying their effectiveness. Originality/value: The findings of this study have important theoretical and practical contributions, since they indicate the most critical points observed in asset management in Brazil, which can be used as a source for future research and by professionals to prioritize difficulties in future planning and develop action plans to overcome them. The step-by-step methodological approach presented in this study provides professionals and researchers with a replicable method of identifying potential asset management difficulties in a given specific reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to the growing literature on the relationship between relatedness, complexity and regional diversification. It explores regional diversification in an emerging economy, focusing on diversification opportunities of regions with distinct levels of local capabilities. We investigate the importance of relatedness and economic complexity for sectoral and technological diversification in all regions of Brazil during the period 2006–2019. Regions tend to diversify in sectors/technologies requiring similar capabilities to those already available locally. In general, the higher the sector/technology complexity, the lower the probability of diversification. However, in high‐complex regions, complexity reverses into a positive force for diversification. Our analysis shows diversification prospects vary widely across different types of regions in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military domestic deployment in operations involving the use of force attracted particular attention in the last decades for challenging the traditional conception of the armed forces as instruments of foreign policy. It led to concerns about the adequacy of military training and equipment to act domestically against nonmilitary actors, which can be divided into three arguments: training adequacy, threat adequacy, and pragmatism. The present paper argues that these perspectives are embedded in contrasting normative conceptions about how the state's violence is to be organized. In this sense, the technical narrative works as a mechanism of legitimation, through which claimants convey a sense of obviousness about the armed forces' deployment, framing it as the only course of action available. This argument is developed through the analysis of the public debate on three military operations in Brazil: Operation Rio (1994–1995), Operation Arcanjo (2010–2012), and Operation Rio de Janeiro (2017–2018). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between culture and the individual is a central focus of social scientific research. This paper examines motivations that mediate between shared culture norms and individual actions. Inspired by the works of Leon Festinger and Melford Spiro, we posit that social network conformation (the perceived adherence of one's social network with norms) and internalization of cultural norms (incorporation of cultural models with the self-schema) will differentially shape behavior (cultural consonance) depending on the domain and individual characteristics. For the domain of gender roles among Brazilian men, religious affiliation results in different configurations of the individual and culture. Our findings suggest that, due to changing and competing cultural models, religious men are compelled to reflexively "think" about what masculinity means to them, rather than subconsciously conform to social (hegemonic) expectations. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the impetus of culturally informed behaviors and, in doing so, provides a methodological means for measuring and interpreting such motivations, an important factor in the relationship between culture and the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an instrument supporting the realization of EU climate neutrality targets by 2050 and encouraging decarbonization outside its borders, the current proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is facing opposition from some countries. Focusing on Brazil, this paper evaluates the impacts of the CBAM on the Brazilian economy through a comprehensive analysis of various scenarios based on the potential EU implementation of the CBAM and Brazil's climate scenarios. Results obtained in this research alleviate concerns of detrimental and competitiveness losses from Brazilian industries. Rather, the implementation of the EU CBAM improves the trade balance of Brazil's Energy-Intensive Industries (EII). The relatively low CO2 contents of Brazilian EII are elemental to this result, while contributions of carbon-free technologies in electricity generation are also critical factors in maximizing this trade surplus. Other consequential factors affecting these results are the contributions of CO2 removal from Brazil's forestry of land used, and homogeneity of CBAM-imposed products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peacekeepers are seen as a UN tool for promoting domestic changes in host countries, but little is known about the political consequences when officers return home. During the last 10 years, Brazilian presidents appointed a significant number of former peacekeepers to key political functions. How and why do former peacekeepers end up so involved in government affairs? To answer this question, this paper focuses on the array of skills acquired by peacekeepers in domestic missions and reinforced abroad. Drawing on a set of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to military, former political decision-makers, and researchers, as well as other primary and secondary sources, this paper details how political articulation, experience in conflict management, and prestige empowered Brazilian military officers to resume their tradition of intervention in politics. This paper also shows that peace operations can produce deleterious outcomes for troop-contributing countries in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to validate the hypothesis that in Brazil, between 1941 and 1948, when the first geographical expeditions to the sertão (backcountry) of Brazil took place, there was a transition in the epistemological style practiced by geographers between the historicist and ecological approach and a positivistic planning approach. Added to both is the need to restructure the colonial legacy of the country's territory, a perspective marked by social geography with a Marxist bias. This transition process is, simultaneously, the construction of another hybrid geographical style and an epistemological point of view of its own. This form of epistemology reflects the configuration of space, i.e., the continuity of the economic and political life of the coast without major modifications. However, the projected planning perspectives for the future occupation of the sertão, seen by the actors of the time as an empty territory, with resources and in which its occupation could gradually reverse Brazil's colonial legacy. Brazilian scientific space is observed as a circulation of knowledge, which is subject to tensions. Conceptual developments occurred in discussions in National Council of Geography (CNG) and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) institutional settings and were called 'geographical talks/gatherings', which were published in the Boletim Geográfico and the Revista Brasileira de Geografia. Based on these discussions and controversies, it was possible to differentiate the styles of geography mobilised by actors, as well as to create a general interpretation based on the material analysed. Development geography and a geographical reason are understood as the result of this construction, based on two main factors: the influences of foreign geographies and the nature of the country. The methodology adopted was a geo‐history of knowledge, associated with aspects of Bruno Latour's actor‐network theory. Finally, the paper seeks to contribute to the validation of the epistemological and heuristic virtues typical of the southern hemisphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to conduct a critical review of the academic works on railway history in Brazil. We read and analysed 492 theses and dissertations by graduate students in Brazil (published from 1974 to 2020). A qualitative and quantitative approach was used over time to characterise the increasing production of academic theses and dissertations on railway history in Brazil and which authors, bibliographies, archives, and historical sources have become essential for railway researchers. The results of this review indicate that several academic areas are interested in the theme and some authors have become references to the most varied railway studies. In recent decades, authors who research more specific subjects have gained greater visibility in graduation essays. The bibliography of their studies should be interpreted according to how sources change with time. Authors of the reviewed papers had to use alternatives to research railways due to archival issues and instability of access to documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the extent to which imaginaries of climate and ecological breakdown attend to the memories, knowledges, and experiences of communities already impacted by histories of racism, colonialism, and poverty. Drawing on insights from Black studies and decolonial thinking, the article reflects on how the causes and effects of anthropogenic climate change can be mapped onto geographies of racialised violence and social dispossession. Specific emphasis is given to Rio de Janeiro, notably its port area, a geographical space where future-oriented narratives remain oblivious to the city's history of anti-Black violence and Indigenous genocide. In parallel, the paper looks at the recently built Museum of Tomorrow and its public representations of the Anthropocene. Overall, the article contends that pluralising accounts of the Anthropocene might offer alternative epistemic entry points for understanding and interrupting the mounting ecological catastrophe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the policy dismantling process in the Brazilian innovation system since mid-2010. The research describes how this policy change has been undertaken and explains the strategies deployed and major causes. The study is theoretically grounded in the debate of policy dismantling, meaning changes that result in cuts, reductions, or even abolition of budget, rules, capacities, and instruments of a governmental area. A mixed-methods approach, both quantitative and qualitative, is employed. First, it examines the dismantling process in the last years, focusing on the budget execution patterns of the major policy instruments and agencies in charge of innovation at the federal level. The research relies on the stakeholders' perception by conducting semi-structured interviews with experts regarding strategies, rationale, reactions, and effects. The empirical findings show the dismantling occurs in both dimensions: density (number of tools reduced) and, mainly, the intensity (budget cuts), varying according to government areas. The interviewees highlighted the prevailing strategy as active dismantling, in which the fiscal austerity aggravated by the COVID-19 crisis, an ideological shift in the government coalition, policy particularities, and a low level of prioritization in innovation by the domestic business community are the main factors that affect the politicians' preferences to dismantle. Finally, the process seriously affects the national innovation system, such as the loss of bureaucratic and policy capacity, brain drain, and lag in technology, productivity, and consequently, in the country's economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and mental health of necessary entrepreneurs in Brasilian favelas, the social problems they experienced and implications for public health social work. The study used structured in-person interviews within selected Favela's, with a sample size of 721 entrepreneurs, aged between 16–70 years. All participants both worked and were resident in 15 out of the 27 Brasilian federal states. The bespoke questions explored socio-demographic questions, sought information on their entrepreneurship, health and administered the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale for Health. The results highlighted that many entrepreneurs have engaged in this form of enterprise due to economic necessity, with 64% of women and 43.6% of men identifying increased levels of anxiety through the pandemic, with the presence of children in the family being statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05 chi-square test) for anxiety. Of the 9.8% sample respondents have accessed the health care service and for women with children, the impact of the pandemic accentuated existing problems of childcare and patriarchy. We conclude by highlighting the importance of universal and accessible health and mental health support and care, their ongoing accessibility, along with the importance of social work during crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to spatially and regionally examine academic engagement within Brazil, identifying patterns. Moreover, our investigation can contribute to a better understanding of how knowledge can be turned into a tool to fight regional inequality. We depart from two hypotheses: first, universities situated in peripheral regions interact more with companies from relatively more dynamic regions, and second, in the absence of industrial knowledge demand, universities tend to collaborate more closely with a diverse range of stakeholders in the region. To evaluate these hypotheses and find empirical evidence, we consider 4497 research groups and 4603 nonacademic organizations as "nodes" connected by 8830 collaborations throughout all Brazilian regions. Social network tools are used to illustrate the spatial and regional dimensions of academic engagement more accurately. The results show that academic engagement is not regionally homogeneous, demonstrating essential differences regarding local nonacademic partnerships. Innovation policies, which encourage only university–firm interactions, perpetuate regional inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: This paper aims to: (a) determine the personal, sociodemographic, clinical, behavioural, and social characteristics of older Brazilians with clinical evidence of long COVID; (b) evaluate perceived quality of life and determine its association with personal, sociodemographic, behavioural, clinical and social variables; and (c) assess significant predictors of high perceived QoL. Background: Given the inherent vulnerabilities of the ageing process, the older people are an at‐risk group for both contagion of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the perpetuation of residual symptoms after infection, the so‐called long COVID or post‐COVID syndrome. Design: A cross‐sectional survey design using the STROBE checklist. Methods: Brazilian older people with long COVID syndrome (n = 403) completed a phone survey measuring personal, sociodemographic, behavioural, clinical, and social characteristics, and perceived Quality of Life (QoL). Data were collected from June 2021–March 2022. A multiple linear regression model was performed to identify salient variables associated with high perceived QoL. Results: The mean age of participants was 67.7 ± 6.6 years old. The results of the multivariate regression model showed that race, home ownership, daily screen time, musculoskeletal and anxiety symptoms, and work situation were the significant predictors of QoL among COVID‐19 survivors. Conclusions: Knowledge about the persistence of physical, emotional, and social symptoms of COVID‐19 can help nurses and other healthcare providers to improve the management of survivors, bringing benefits to the whole society. Relevance to clinical practice: Given the novelty of long‐COVID and its heterogeneous trajectory, interventions focusing on the repercussions and requirements unique to more vulnerable older persons should be developed and these aspects should be included in public health recommendations and policymakers' concerns. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution was required to design, to outcome measures or undertake this research. Patients/members of the public contributed only to the data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the behaviour of credit rating agencies (CRAs) during the ebbing 'pink tide'. It claims that the actions of S&P Global, Moody's and Fitch contributed to dismantling left-wing regimes in Latin America, to the benefit of their right-wing competitors. The methodology draws on case studies of Brazil and Argentina, where the governments of Dilma Rousseff and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were replaced by those of Michel Temer and Mauricio Macri, respectively. The research is based on sovereign ratings, reports and press releases the agencies issued during those transitions, which are analysed in the light of critical theories of their modus operandi and confronted with the political processes unfolding in both countries. This allows us to draw conclusions that are consistent with the presented argument, thereby contributing to advance the research agenda around the CRAs and to shed light on Brazil and Argentina's recent critical presidential transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The City Statute is a legal framework that provides Brazilian urban policy with another dynamic. It guides urban policies across the national territory, and hasgained international prominence at a moment when Latin American countries became policy exporters. This paper takes the City Statute to discuss multilevel urban policy mobilities between international and subnational levels, analyzing how its guidelines and contents spread across Brazilian and Latin American territories. The findings suggest that the City Statute has been simultaneously disseminated and questioned at different levels. It is a significant case study for understanding multilevel and South-South policy mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of disarticulated ossicles of recent sea cucumbers from Campos Basin, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from various Holocene strata, obtained by micropaleontological methods, resulted in the identification of at least eight holothurian taxa, belonging to the five of the seven orders of Holothuroidea: Apodida (Synaptidae, Chiridotidae), Dendrochirotida (Psolidae and Cucumariidae), Holothuriida (Holothuria), and Molpadiida (Molpadiidae, Eupyrgidae). Our paper endorses the importance of studies of recent fauna based on isolated ossicles for taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and ecology. This study represents the first effort at the study of recent fauna of sea cucumbers based on the analysis of preserved ossicles in marine sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early-life shocks often produce negative long-run consequences lasting into adulthood, but little is known about how childhood social programs interact with early-life environments. In this paper, we analyze the effect of early-life conditions on child health and evaluate whether access to a conditional cash transfer program is differentially effective among children who experienced adverse early-life events. We use variation in delays in enrollment from the rollout of Brazil's Bolsa Família program to analyze the impact of longer treatment durations alongside a variation of in utero rainfall to determine the potential for the program to drive catch-up growth. We find that the duration of Bolsa treatment impacts stunting, obesity, and other health outcomes, with the program being most effective among children whose in utero conditions predisposed them to worse health outcomes. Finally, we find that these effects are driven by children who receive Bolsa before age five and that girls experience more health gains. Overall, the duration of treatment matters, with some effects only appearing after one to two years of transfers, as does the timing of treatment, with some effects only appearing for younger initial recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the influence of the 2015 economic crisis on subjective well-being (SWB) and the withdrawal of support for the incumbent party during the 2018 presidential election in Brazil. Using Gallup World Poll data and a post-election national survey conducted by the Center for Studies on Public Opinion, we find that the economic crisis influenced through different channels both SWB and vote switching. Worsening personal economic circumstances explain the decline in SWB in the aftermath of the crisis, while deteriorating perceptions about the economy explain the vote switching during the presidential election in 2018. Leadership disapproval played a role in both, but to different degrees. One possible explanation for the limited effect of personal economic circumstances on voting behavior in Brazil is that those who were most severely affected by the economic downturn, specifically the poorest individuals in the country, did not see voting for Bolsonaro as a feasible or desirable choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities across the globe are implementing internationalization programs. These programs often focus on language development, study abroad programs, and developing the international reputations of professors. In this paper, we present data from interviews and ethnographic observations of university internationalization trainings in Brazil. We asked: How (do) professors in Brazil make sense of the national/organizational internationalization initiative? Drawing on decolonial theories and scholarship about organizational paradoxes, we found two primary paradoxes arise in internationalization directives: the paradox of relying on the English language and the paradox of mobility. Ultimately, we argue that university internationalization is a highly political communicative act, which perpetuates systems of oppression and dominance and can cultivate discursive and material violence. We suggest that internationalization projects must take perspectives from a variety of global locations into account in order to roll out decolonized programs that are more equitable and attainable across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an evaluation of the information literacies used by community representatives when engaging with participatory budgeting in São Paulo City, Brazil. Using questions established from context-setting interviews with stakeholders, a focus group was held in 2019 with eight participative councillors, with in situ interpretation, resulting in a translated transcript of the discussion. Thematic analysis was used to understand information issues faced by community representatives in relation to past research. It was found that the community representatives face informational barriers to their engagement with participatory budgeting, in (a) learning about their role (b) understanding the information needs of the communities served and (c) gathering and sharing information about local issues with stakeholders. These findings allow the refining of CILIP's definition of information literacy (IL) for citizenship and provide the basis for proposing a model for the IL of community representatives. It is also proposed that future IL research could further develop the role of digitally-enabled place and community in shaping the landscape of literacy and the role of hyperlocal representation. Additionally, the role of translation in cross-lingual IL research is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Culex has 817 species subdivided into 28 subgenera. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, being most abundant in countries with a tropical climate. Understanding the ecology and diversity of viruses circulating in the species of this genus is important for understanding their role as arbovirus vectors in Brazil. To conduct an integrative review to identify the importance of the Culex genus as arbovirus vectors in Brazil. A search was carried out for scientific papers in the PubMed, BVSalud, Patuá-IEC and International Catalogue of Arboviruses: including certain other viruses of vertebrates databases. 36 publications describing arbovirus detections in Culex mosquitoes collected in the field in Brazil were evaluated. A total of 42 arbovirus species were detected, as well as studies analyzing the vector competence of C. quinquefasciatus for the transmission of four different arboviruses. The study of the Culex genus and its role as a vector of arboviruses in Brazil is essential for understanding transmission cycles, with the main aim of reducing cases of human infection. Thus, entomovirological surveillance guides the implementation of actions to detect circulating arboviruses among vectors to anticipate measures aimed at preventing or reducing the risk of arbovirus outbreaks in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the behavior of a group of industrial multinational subsidiaries located in Brazil in the period 2003-2019. In this context, their surplus increased substantially because of the rise in commodity prices. For this reason, we intend to analyze the destination of the surplus towards non-productive uses. The methodology used incorporated accounting data that were processed to construct useful variables within the disciplinary framework of political economy and economics for economic development. Through this, it was possible to measure the capital flight and financial investments of the selected companies. This paper ties in with the debate on financialization, global productive changes and the forms these phenomena take in developing countries. Despite the surplus increase, the selected firms lost productive density because they promoted non-productive uses, in a general context of the Brazilian economy characterized by financialization and deindustrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes how Brazilian public universities and graduate programs used models of admission calls and resolutions from other institutions to formulate affirmative action policies for entry into masters and doctorate courses. The paper compares the diffusion of institutional designs before and after the issuance of Normative Order No. 13/2016 by the Ministry of Education. The research was based on an analysis of admission calls of 2,763 programs, a survey and semi-structured interviews. The data confirmed that graduate programs looked for models from their universities, other programs within the same field of knowledge, and institutions in the same region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trajectory of the Brazilian economy reveals that investments in infrastructure have periodically played a leading role in economic growth strategies and cycles. To examine its multiscale particularities, this paper assumes that the provision of infrastructure in Brazil relates to historical-structural changes in the country's economy, which has evolved from the national-developmentalist stage (1930s-1980s) towards neoliberalization, and has since the 1990s been subordinated to financialization. The paper discusses the provision of infrastructure in a peripheral context and analyzes the relationships formed in the infrastructure sector, emphasizing the marketization processes throughout the accumulation dynamics of Brazilian capitalism. It then considers the resurgence of contradictions that have arisen from providing infrastructure and services for collective consumption during during the recent coronavirus pandemic. And lastly, the paper argues for the alternative nature contained within an emancipatory infrastructure, in contrast to the hegemonic pattern that has historically entailed the realization of such investments in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper finds qualified support for the use of Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory to understand the emergence of prison gang-like groups in Kyrgyzstan, Northern Ireland and Brazil. However, Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory has little to say about how many prison gangs emerge and how they organise comparatively outside the US context. This paper argues that variation in the number of gangs and their monopolization of informal governance can only be explained by considering importation and deprivation theories alongside governance theories. These theories factor in variation in prison environments and pre-existing societal divisions imported into prison, which affect the costs on information transmission and incentives for gang expansion. In particular, the paper pays attention to the wider role social and political processes play in influencing whether monopoly power by prison gangs is supported and legitimized or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging with the assassination of black city councillor Marielle Franco, the paper discusses how "milícia urbanism", a formation of power and capital accumulation driven by parapolice networks, intensifies the necropolitical governance of Rio de Janeiro. Specifically, this necropolitics is characterised by liaisons among armed, political, institutional and economic actors that enable acts of violence with impunity, aggravating the conditions of violence for subaltern populations. Dialoguing with the Black Studies debate on necropolitics and works on violent democracies, the paper situates milícia urbanism within a postcolonial genealogy of parapolicing. Ever since the colonial plantation, it is argued, parapolicing has been integral to a power technology that avoids sovereign accountability while serving white capital interests. Whereas previous accounts of necropolitics have centred on the sovereign exception, this genealogy furthers an understanding of necropolitics "beyond the exception". The paper concludes that Marielle Franco's black‐feminist politics has been vital to contestations of this necropolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]