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Classifying papers according to the fields of knowledge is critical to clearly understand the dynamics of scientific (sub)fields, their leading questions, and trends. Most studies rely on journal categories defined by popular databases such as WoS or Scopus, but some experts find that those categories may not correctly map the existing subfields nor identify the subfield of a specific article. This study addresses the classification problem using data from each paper (Abstract, Title, Keywords, and the KeyWords Plus) and the help of experts to identify the existing subfields and journals exclusive of each subfield. These "exclusive journals" are critical to obtain, through a pattern detection procedure that uses machine learning techniques (from software NVivo), a list of the frequent terms that are specific to each subfield. With that list of terms and with the help of optimization procedures, we can identify to which subfield each paper most likely belongs. This study can contribute to support scientific policy‐makers, funding, and research institutions—via more accurate academic performance evaluations—, to support editors in their tasks to redefine the scopes of journals, and to support popular databases in their processes of refining categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In celebration of the journal's 50th anniversary, the aim of the study was to review the whole collection of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology (CDOE) publications from 1973 to 2022 and provide a complete overview of the main publication characteristics. Methods: The study used bibliometric techniques such as performance and science mapping analysis of 3428 articles extracted from the Scopus database. The data were analysed using the 'Bibliometrix' package in R. The journal's scientific production was examined, along with the yearly citation count, the distribution of publications based on authors, the corresponding author's country and affiliation and citation count, citing source and keywords. Bibliometric network maps were constructed to determine the conceptual, intellectual and social collaborative structure over the past 50 years. The trending research topics and themes were identified. Results: The total number of articles and average citations has increased over the years. D Locker, AJ Spencer, A Sheiham and WM Thomson were the most frequently published authors, and PE Petersen, GD Slade and AI Ismail published papers with the highest citations. The most published countries were the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil and Canada, frequently engaging in collaborative efforts. The most common keywords used were 'dental caries', 'oral epidemiology' and 'oral health'. The trending topics were healthcare and health disparities, social determinants of health, systematic review and health inequalities. Epidemiology, oral health and disparities were highly researched areas. Conclusion: This bibliometric study reviews CDOE's significant contribution to dental public health by identifying key research trends, themes, influential authors and collaborations. The findings provide insights into the need to increase publications from developing countries, improve gender diversity in authorship and broaden the scope of research themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the history of how the theory of inertial inflation was developed in Brazil in the early 1980s, when inflation was very high, much higher than the stagflation that happened in the United States in the previous decade. Perhaps this fact explains why the theory was formulated in Brazil and not in the United States. The main papers and the book that defined the new theory are duly referred. And the author, that in the 1980s and 1990s was a political actor, also tells the history of the application of the theory, the failures and successes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of colorism that developed among blacks in the United States (U.S.) and Brazil, during the 20th century, gave rise to intense altitudes of intraracial discrimination. This distinct form of discrimination was based on proximity to whiteness and white privilege. This essay will illustrate how attitudes toward complexion, within the black community, are a direct consequence and perpetual remnant of the white supremacy and racial hierarchy that developed in colonized societies. Colorism manifested itself in different forms in Brazil and in the U.S. However, the level of black-on-black discrimination that it spawned was grounded in the belief that one's immediacy to whiteness created a vehicle for upward mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the major quality assurance strategies, accreditation and licensure, in health professions education. It explores the nature of these regulatory processes using Brazil and the United States as examples because these large systems are at different ends of the developmental continuum. For each, it describes the tensions that arise, offers a critical synthesis of the evidence and maps out future directions. Results: Given wide variability among operating medical schools in curricular design, length of study, resources and facilities for clinical training and supervision, the nature of regulatory bodies varies considerably. Nonetheless, they share tensions related purpose and process including quality assurance versus quality improvement, outcomes versus process and continuous versus episodic evaluations and assessments. Clear evidence of effectiveness, especially for accreditation, is scarce and difficult to obtain, particularly as it relates to health outcomes. Conclusions: Regulatory processes need to be built around clear definitions of the goals for each stage of professional development, the current movement towards competency‐based education and the variable durations of medical education. These changes must motivate revisions in the content and process of programmes for accreditation and licensure, complimentary efforts towards quality of care, and stimulate a significant research effort. The authors use Brazil and the US as case studies to provide an overview of procedures and tensions related to accreditation, licensure and certification for quality assurance in health profession education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the issue on plant science in Korea. It reveals that the theory on country's scientific focus was not transparent to the people involved in the research. It presents an analysis with the participation of top ten countries including Northern America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. It succumbs that the countries in Asia are smaller than those mentioned above with respect to research publication other than Japan. It explains that Korea and China have increased the number of papers being published annually which out put is equaled with Brazil.

Purpose - The objective of this research was to statistically compare employee's use of sources of guidance (SOGs) at work in the United States and Brazil and discuss results in the light of differences concerning national cultural characteristics. Method - 220 employees from a Brazilian university and 166 employees from an American university filled out a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Pearson correlation tests (r) and Student t-tests were run to investigate statistically significant differences between the two samples, which were discussed in the light of national cultural characteristics. Main results - Americans presented significantly higher means than Brazilians on Informal Rules and People Outside Organization, and Brazilians presented significantly higher mean than Americans on Formal Rules and Procedures. The discussion showed that some of these differences are compatible with national cultural characteristics. Relevance/Originality - Recognizing the importance and the role of national cultures on individuals' attitudes and behavior within the organizational environment is fundamental in the search for effective and contextualized management practices. Theoretical/methodological contributions - Up until 2020, only 12 theoreticalempirical studies about SOGs were developed. Hence, the present study theoretically and empirically contributes to knowledge about this very important work-related construct. Social/management contributions - The results suggest to managers, human resource professionals, and psychologists important differences in the attitudes of American and Brazilian employees concerning the use of sources of guidance at work, contributing, for instance, to recruitment and selection processes in multinationals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this research was to statistically test significant correlations between dark personality traits and employee's use of sources of guidance when dealing with different events at work, comparing the United States and Brazil. Methodology: 220 employees from a Brazilian university and 166 employees from an American university filled out a paper-and-pencil questionnaire comprised of two previously-validated scales. Based on the theoretical review about the constructs, 10 hypotheses were raised to be empirically tested through Pearson correlation (r) tests. Findings: The dark personality trait Machiavellianism was positively correlated with the use of Informal Rules and negatively correlated with the use of Formal Rules and Procedures as a guidance source at work in the American sample. In addition, the dark personality trait Psychopathy was negatively correlated with the use of Formal Rules and Procedures as a guidance source at work in the Brazilian sample. Practical implications: The findings have implications for administrators and human resource professionals, who can benefit from knowledge about correlations between dark personality traits and employee's attitude of relying on sources of guidance at work, especially when it comes to recruiting and selecting processes. Limitations: Although the research was restricted to correlations, it elaborated a robust ground for causality investigations. Originality: The investigation involved two countries with a cross-cultural approach. In an international and multicultural scenario, it becomes strategic to deeper investigate specificities of work-related constructs in different nations, aiming at effective and contextualized management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in organizational training interventions. However, few studies have systematically investigated VR compared to standard training methods in actual organizational contexts. Objectives: The focus of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a VR simulation for training professionals in the biotech industry. Aligning training needs to unique media affordances, the study designed an immersive story‐based VR simulation for training customer‐facing employees on a new product and tested it in an international biotech company. Methods: The system was evaluated by comparing its effectiveness to a traditional video presentation with the same content in a randomized between subjects experiment. The sample consisted of 95 employees across three locations: Brazil, Denmark, and USA. Results: The VR simulation group performed better than the video presentation group on the outcomes of conceptual knowledge (d = 0.41) spatial knowledge (d = 0.61), transfer intentions (d = 0.57), enjoyment (d = 1.74), self‐efficacy (d = 0.68), perceived learning (d = 0.89), personal value (d = 0.83), and organizational value (d = 0.82), but no significant difference was found for factual knowledge (d = −0.10). Implications: Results suggest that VR simulations can be effective across cultures in organizational training interventions. VR is specifically effective when the goals of the training are to increase conceptual and spatial understanding as well as enjoyment, and self‐efficacy, but not factual knowledge. Furthermore, employees report higher levels of perceived learning, personal and organizational value and transfer intentions after VR training compared to standard video‐based training. Lay Description: What is currently known about the subject matter: Immersive virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in organizational training interventions. This interest has especially surged amid recent global challenges, and the sudden need for companies and employees to adapt to the new remote working conditions.However, few studies have systematically investigated VR compared to standard training methods in actual organizational contexts that include a real‐world scenario and a representative testing sample.Applied research that assesses the outcomes of VR based training in realistic learning and training settings is needed. What their paper adds: We propose and test an interdisciplinary approach that links unique features of VR with training needs and multidimensional outcome measures in an organizational training context within the biotech industry in Brazil, Denmark and USA.The findings suggest that a specifically designed VR tool is superior to a comparable video presentation for the outcomes of spatial and conceptual knowledge acquisition and transfer intentions, but not factual knowledge acquisition.The VR group also reported significantly higher personal value, organizational value, self‐efficacy, perceived learning, and enjoyment compared to the video group. Implications of study findings for practitioners: The results support the value of using VR simulations in organizational training, specifically related to affective outcomes as well as spatial and conceptual knowledge and transfer intentions.The study suggests that it is not the medium of VR, but rather the alignment between the training goals with the instructional methods and the unique affordances of VR that will contribute to better or worse learning outcomes.The article describes how to evaluate the effectiveness of VR tools in applied contexts, suggesting that we have to evaluate the effectiveness of tested content with respect to different outcome variables, which coincide with the training outcomes of a particular organizational context.The project as a whole, can be used as a blueprint for future applied research efforts, exemplifying how to bridge gaps between small‐medium‐enterprises, international corporate companies and academic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco use is associated with an annual global economic cost of two trillion dollars and mortality of half of its regular users. Tobacco leaf cultivation is the starting point of the tobacco cycle. Tobacco farming employs millions of small-scale tobacco farmers around the globe, most of whom are out growers who rely on the tobacco industry. This paper aims to map the regions of greatest tobacco production globally (i.e., the US, Brazil, China, Indonesia, India, and Zambia) and tobacco use rates in these locations. Smoking rates were higher in those areas, except for India, where important population subgroups reported an upward trend for tobacco smoking. In general, there was a relationship between tobacco farming and tobacco smoking. Tobacco farming may lead to a higher risk of tobacco use and lower adherence to tobacco control policies. Therefore, promoting viable alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers must have dual benefits. Additionally, specific health prevention policies might be necessary for those populations reporting higher tobacco use and lower perception of tobacco-related health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to perform a critical reflection about intervention options for bruxism reduction in children and adolescents. Search was conducted based on the PICO-structured question: "What are the intervention options to reduce bruxism in children/adolescents?". No language, year, or study design restrictions were imposed. Studies reporting interventions to reduce bruxism in children (< 10) and adolescents (10 to 19 years old) were included. Reviews and letters to editors were not included. From 2723 records, 17 papers were included. Included studies were primarily randomized clinical trials performed in Brazil (35.3%) and using different criteria for the diagnosis of bruxism. Reduction in self-reported bruxism and headaches associated with bruxism were observed in studies that used medications (hydroxyzine/trazodone/flurazepam), occlusal splints, orthodontic interventions, and psychological and physical therapy interventions. Reduction in Rhythmic Masticatory Muscle Activity was observed with the use of the occlusal splint and in orthodontic interventions. Alternative treatments (medicinal extracts such as Melissa officinalis-L) have shown inconclusive results.Conclusions: Several intervention options are available to inhibit or reduce bruxism activity. The respective indication, contraindications, and side effects of each treatment option must be assessed individually and carefully, taking into account that bruxism is not considered a disorder in otherwise healthy individuals.What is known• Biological and psychological factors have been strongly correlated to the development of bruxism• Bruxism prevalence ranging from 6 to 50% in childrenWhat is new• Reduction in self-reported bruxism and headaches associated with bruxism were observed in studies that used medication (Hydroxyzine/ Trazodone/ Flurazepam), occlusal splints, orthodontic interventions, psychological, and physical therapy interventions• A reduction in Rhythmic Masticatory Muscle Activity was observed with the use of the occlusal splint and orthodontic interventions. Alternative treatments (medicinal extracts such as Melissa officinalis L) show inconclusive results in respect of the reduction in bruxism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, aims, and objectives: Good‐quality clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) provide recommendations based on current best‐evidence summaries. Hypertension is a prevalent noncommunicable disease in Africa, with disastrous sequelae (stroke, heart, and kidney disease). Its effective management relies on good quality, current, locally relevant evidence. This paper reports on an all African review of the guidance documents currently informing hypertension management. Methods: Attempts were made to contact 62 African countries for formal guidance documents used nationally to inform diagnosis and management of hypertension. Their quality was assessed by using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) II, scored by 2 independent reviewers. Differences in domain scores were compared between documents written prior to 2011 and 2011 onward. Findings were compared with earlier African CPG reviews. Results: Guidelines and protocols were provided by 26 countries. Six used country‐specific stand‐alone hypertension guidelines, and 10 used protocols embedded in Standard Treatment Guidelines for multiple conditions. Six used guidelines developed by the World Health Organization, and 4 indicated ad hoc use of international guidance (US, Portugal, and Brazil). Only 1 guidance document met CPG construction criteria, and none scored well on all AGREE domain scores. The lowest‐scoring domain was rigour of development. There was no significant quality difference between pre‐2011 and post‐2011 guidance documents, and there were variable AGREE II scores for the same CPGs when comparing the African reviews. Conclusions: The quality of hypertension guidance used by African nations could be improved. The need for so many guidance documents is questioned. Adopting a common evidence base from international good‐quality CPGs and layering it with local contexts offer 1 way to efficiently improve African hypertension CPG quality and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This paper presents updated prevalence estimates of awareness, ever‐use, and current use of nicotine vaping products (NVPs) from 14 International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC Project) countries that have varying regulations governing NVP sales and marketing. Design, Setting, Participants and Measurements: A cross‐sectional analysis of adult (≥ 18 years) current smokers and ex‐smokers from 14 countries participating in the ITC Project. Data from the most recent survey questionnaire for each country were included, which spanned the period 2013–17. Countries were categorized into four groups based on regulations governing NVP sales and marketing (allowable or not), and level of enforcement (strict or weak where NVPs are not permitted to be sold): (1) most restrictive policies (MRPs), not legal to be sold or marketed with strict enforcement: Australia, Brazil, Uruguay; (2) restrictive policies (RPs), not approved for sale or marketing with weak enforcement: Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand; (3) less restrictive policies (LRPs), legal to be sold and marketed with regulations: England, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, United States; and (4) no regulatory policies (NRPs), Bangladesh, China, Zambia. Countries were also grouped by World Bank Income Classifications. Country‐specific weighted logistic regression models estimated adjusted NVP prevalence estimates for: awareness, ever/current use, and frequency of use (daily versus non‐daily). Findings NVP awareness and use were lowest in NRP countries. Generally, ever‐ and current use of NVPs were lower in MRP countries (ever‐use = 7.1–48.9%; current use = 0.3–3.5%) relative to LRP countries (ever‐use = 38.9–66.6%; current use = 5.5–17.2%) and RP countries (ever‐use = 10.0–62.4%; current use = 1.4–15.5%). NVP use was highest among high‐income countries, followed by upper–middle‐income countries, and then by lower–middle‐income countries. Conclusions: With a few exceptions, awareness and use of nicotine vaping products varied by the strength of national regulations governing nicotine vaping product sales/marketing, and by country income. In countries with no regulatory policies, use rates were very low, suggesting that there was little availability, marketing and/or interest in nicotine vaping products in these countries where smoking populations are predominantly poorer. The higher awareness and use of nicotine vaping products in high income countries with moderately (e.g. Canada, New Zealand) and less (e.g. England, United States) restrictive policies, is likely due to the greater availability and affordability of nicotine vaping products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although allowing unsolicited proposals continues to be a topic of policy discussion, inexplicably the academic literature lacks information on it. This unique paper can therefore contribute by discussing the ways in which this approach is used to procure public‒private partnership (PPP) projects. Most countries allow this type of procurement model, and many encourage it. Therefore, it is crucial that governments are endowed with well-established procurement frameworks that enable them to overcome the infrastructure gap while simultaneously providing value for money. For this purpose, unsolicited proposals are analyzed in three different countries ‒ Brazil, Korea and the USA ‒ which have implemented PPP projects with this procurement model, using different frameworks. Lessons are drawn, and recommendations are made to improve the current status quo. This procurement option can indeed be useful and valuable, but should be utilized with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a study that sought to reflect, based on two cases, upon opportunities and challenges, possibilities and limits, for the insertion of small business ventures -- new ventures and micro and small enterprises -- in the productive field that became known, especially after the Rio Conference 92, as green economy. The search for clean technologies has become a great challenge and at the same time, a great business opportunity. The possibilities were opened up for large companies, able to mobilize the necessary resources for this transition. The limits were evident for small businesses. Evidence has been pointing out the necessity of developing instruments, particularly on public policies, able to offer support to small businesses so that they can overcome their limits. The focus of the study was precisely on this point: the experience of two incubators, one American and another Brazilian, specialized in supporting small businesses oriented to the markets of clean technologies. Qualitative in the method and with exploratory purposes, the research was designed as a multiple case study (based on two cases), having the documentary research as strategy for data collection. Supported by the literature of environmental management (with emphasis on small businesses with clean technologies) and business incubators (with greater emphasis on the typology of incubators), the research revealed a large gap between the realities of the two countries, either in numbers of incubators within the field of clean technologies, or in the mobilization of institutional actors who act in support of these incubators. Based on the two case studies it was possible to identify a single strategic affinity between the two incubators and a set of dichotomous elements, both strategically and in terms of management. In view of these findings, as conclusions of the paper, some suggestions are pointed out for the Brazilian movement of incubators in the will to incorporate environmental elements into their strategies and their management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity is a very complex and controversial issue. It embraces the so-called "minorities", not in numerical terms but in terms of power. The groups that compose the minorities are the black, the disabled, women and the indigenous, among others. Although there are advances in this discussion, including in the legislation field, there are still gaps when it comes to employment for these minorities. For this paper, we chose, among the minorities, people with disabilities (PWDs), because according to the International Labor Organization (2010), they represent 10% of the world's population, among which approximately 72% are at the working age. The objective of this paper was to understand the identity dynamics of PWDs inserted in work organizations, located in Brazil and in the United States. To this end, we elaborated a theoretical framework mainly based on the identity from a sociological approach by Dubar (2005). We opted for an exploratory and qualitative research, based on an interpretive approach. The techniques of data collection used were semi-structured interviews and documentary research. Interviews were conducted with twelve PWDs in Brazil and eight in the United States, men and women. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through content analysis. In both countries the jobs of the interviewed PWDs appeared as an important tool to give meaning to their lives. Moreover, one of the main obstacles faced by the interviewed PWD with regard to employment was the disability itself. Thus, it was possible to notice a conflict between who they are and whom they think they should be in order to work. It was observed that the individual's identity is a result of the movements of construction and reconstruction of his or her (many) identities and that one cannot identify oneself only with one's eyes; instead, they need to see through someone else's eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role played by US economic assistance during the administrations of Jânio Quadros and João Goulart in Brazil (1961–4). It focuses on the negotiation and implementation of financial agreements associated with the Alliance for Progress, President Kennedy's aid programme for Latin America. It demonstrates that the Alliance had a positive impact during Quadros' administration, providing substantial resources to the country and placing economic growth ahead of economic stabilisation as the principal criterion for aid. Circumstances changed, however, when João Goulart became president, resulting in serious funding constraints. The paper suggests that the main reason for this was political, specifically regarding Washington's perception of Goulart's links with communist groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper characterizes the scientific output of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in agricultural sciences as represented in the database Web of Science between 2000-2010. Based on the analysis of 6,617 indexed documents, using Bibexcel, we identified types of documents, languages and journals most frequently used by authors to disseminate their research. The annual production growth and a list of the most productive institutions are also presented. The results reveal that agricultural research in Rio Grande do Sul, indexed in the Web of Science, showed a strong growth, increasing from 179 articles in 2000 to 1,107 documents in 2010. Scientific papers accounted for 92% of the publications. English and Portuguese were the most used languages by the authors. As to the journals, 18 out of the 20 titles most used by researchers are published in Brazil. The journal Ciência Rural led the ranking of the most used journals, accounting 10% of total output during 2000-2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper seeks to introduce a model of the initiation process in negotiations, and to describe a study of the effects of culture and personality on propensity to initiate and assertiveness in negotiations. Design/methodology/approach – Using a survey research approach and hierarchical regression analyses, initiation propensity and assertiveness were regressed against two country cultures diverse with respect to perceived appropriateness of initiation (Brazil and the USA) and four measures of personality (self-efficacy, locus of control, risk propensity, Machiavellianism). Findings – Regression analyses found three personality factors (risk propensity, self-efficacy, Machiavellianism) to be most significantly associated with initiation propensity/assertiveness, along with an interaction effect involving country culture and risk propensity. Research limitations/implications – Future studies might benefit from a broader, more diverse subject pool (beyond the two countries studied). This would allow for separate analyses of cultural dimensions, rather than treating culture as a composite measure. In addition, future research might include measures of actual initiation behavior. Practical implications – Initiation is a manageable process. Self-efficacy, for example, can be improved by observing others skilled in the initiation process, and through practicing initiation under more favorable conditions. Furthermore, an individual can follow a graduated approach to gain initiation confidence, beginning with simply engaging (without asking) and progressing to asking and optimizing. Originality/value – This paper offers a model for understanding the dynamics of the initiation process in negotiations, which generally has been overlooked by negotiation researchers. The study examines two sets of factors that can influence initiation behavior that have not been investigated in total – culture and personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing supply of non-conventional oil in the U.S. has changed the dynamics of crude oil market and the flow of oil products in the Atlantic Basin. The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) emerges as an exportation hub of oil products, contributing to a scenario in which gasoline prices tend to decline. Meanwhile, from 2010, the competitiveness of the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol has been ruptured by the country's gasoline price policy that had not followed international price parity. The political conjuncture of the U.S. incites high utilization rates of their refining system in the GoM. In this context the profitability of the ethanol business can be impacted in Brazil, by either the current policy of controlled domestic gasoline prices or a future scenario of declining gasoline international prices. Therefore, this study tests if this gasoline price scenario can compromise even more the competitiveness of the Brazilian ethanol. Particularly, for a scenario of falling prices, ethanol production in Brazil would be under strong pressure of gasoline supply coming from the U.S. This can impact Brazil's ethanol industry, whose development has been justified by climate change policies. In that sense, the paper also discusses the future opportunities and challenges for Brazil's ethanol industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is one of two papers that will review various previous research and present results from a study conducted on measurement of physical and climatic conditions that occur inside refrigerated ISO inter-modal containers. This first paper covers shipments of packaged and palletized fruit from refrigerated packing houses in South America in refrigerated ISO intermodal containers from Brazil to United States across the Atlantic Ocean. The study measured vibration and temperature levels in a containerized shipment where recorders measured the acceleration levels and temperature data while the instrumented and loaded containers traveled on truck and ship. Measured data shows that extreme vibration levels occur while containers travel on trucks on poor road conditions followed by rail and ship travel. It also shows that good temperature control is possible with loading packages so that good air flow is permissible in the perimeter of the load. Lowest vibration levels and temperature variation occurs when they are loaded on a ship and are traveling on sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An opinion currently shared by taxonomists and non taxonomists alike is that the work of inventorying biodiversity is unbalanced: firstly, in favour of countries in which taxonomy has been studied for a long time, and, secondly, in favour of vertebrates. In the current context of threats of species extinction, access for taxonomists to biological material and information becomes crucial if the scientific community really aims at a better knowledge of biological diversity before it is severely and irreversibly impoverished. We performed an analysis of 748 papers published in Zootaxa in 2006 and 2007, as well as 434 questionnaires sent to their authors to test these opinions. A generalization of these results to zoological taxonomy as a whole is discussed. Discussion: We found that the disequilibrium is not exactly what it usually considered to be. The USA, China and Brazil are currently the three leading countries in zoological taxonomy. Each of them presents, however, a different pattern. Taxonomists from Asia and South America are younger and mainly work in universities, not museums. A bias in favour of vertebrates still exists if we refer to the effort invested in each group to produce taxonomic data, but not to the number of papers. Finally, we insist on the idea that "describing a species" is very different from "knowing a species". Summary: The taxonomic involvement of a country, in terms of manpower and funding, appears to be a key factor in the development of fruitful taxonomic research. This message seems to have been understood by the countries that recently decided to increase considerably their taxonomic involvement. It still has to be received by those who did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically investigates the lack of meaningful policy change towards agrofuels (or biofuels) in the wake of the food vs. fuel and environmental sustainability debates of 2007-2008. The paper sketches the political economy of agrofuels in Brazil, the EU and the United States before analyzing the effects of the food vs. fuel crisis on European agrofuels governance formation from a neo-Gramscian perspective. It is illustrated that, before the food vs. fuel crisis provided critics with a global audience, agrofuels programs had been entrenched in agricultural policies by highly organized, well-funded capital interests. By offering a domestic, rural, agricultural alternative to fossil fuels, agrofuel proponents offered to make a business opportunity out of the fundamental problems of currently hegemonic, mobility, production and consumption systems. It was only with dramatic rise in food commodity prices over the course of 2007 and 2008 and subsequent space it discursively afforded a counter-hegemonic movement, that a truly global critical discussion of agrofuels came to fruition. The author concludes that, despite rhetorical discursive shifts in understandings of the social and ecological sustainability of agrofuels, agrofuel production continues to be supported today as before because the agrofuels project was and remains a predominantly economically motivated endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of climate forecasting in water management in Brazil and the United States (U.S.). Specifically, it seeks to understand how different institutional arrangements shape the willingness and ability of water managers to incorporate technoscience, especially seasonal climate forecasting (SCF), in their decision-making process. It argues that among the many factors shaping the willingness of water managers to use SCF, institutional design and change is critical to explain different patterns in Brazil and the U.S. Moreover, factors related to individual flexibility, discretion, and accountability also affect the ability of managers to use climate information in water management. This paper finds that while water managers in the U.S operate in a mostly fragmented and risk-averse system – which constrains the adoption of innovation – decision makers in Brazil can afford more flexibility to introduce new decision tools as a result of widespread water management reforms initiated in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns an incident in 2003 when two American fighter pilots mistakenly fired on a 'friendly' British convoy and on the reportage of that incident in the British press some four years later. It starts with a focus on the designation of the airmen as 'killer pilots' (by The Sun newspaper which broke the story), using some concepts from membership categorisation analysis as developed by Harvey Sacks. It is contended that such an approach can afford insights into the nature of quite specific social identities. Hence the paper goes on (via the transcript of the air-to-ground tape) to contrast how the press ascribes identities to the pilots with how they avow identities for themselves. This contrast, I argue, gives us some insights into the moral culpability or otherwise of the 'killer pilots'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses aspects of the U.S. and Brazilian foreign policy. Some events relate actions linked to the political realism school and others embraced in the interdependence and globalization views. This paper explores the historical environment where the United States and Brazil followed different paradigmatic political approaches to gain access to the hemispheric market. Defence policies evolved gradually from realism into interdependence and gradually into the globalization approach. This last view gained momentum in American, while Brazil encouraged other IR views like militarisms and the sphere of influence to gain pre-eminence in the neighbour trading countries, favouring market access to multinational corporations and increasing direct foreign investment within the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the influence of climate normals (average long-term surface wetness and temperature) and interannual climate variance on farms in the United States and Brazil using satellite data. The paper finds that just climate normals or just climate variance variables can explain both net revenues and how much land is used for cropland. However, because they are correlated with each other, it is important to include both normals and variance in the same statistical model to get accurate measures of their individual contribution to farm outcomes. In general, higher climate variance increases the probability that land is used for cropland in both countries and higher temperatures reduce both cropland and land values. Other annual effects were not consistent across the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the corn production cost in China, the U.S. and Brazil from 1997 to 2014. According to the results, (1) corn production cost in China is the highest among these three countries; (2) the rapid growth of labor cost and land cost is the major factor that promotes the increase of total corn production cost in China; (3) the level of agricultural mechanization in China has been gradually improving, and the gap between agricultural mechanization levels in China and other two countries is constantly narrowing; (4) differing from the U.S. and Brazil, China exhibits a "high input, low output" agricultural production mode. Based on the above analyses, corresponding suggestions have been presented to reduce corn production cost in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze the presence of US philanthropy in Brazil with regards to the field of human rights from 2003 to 2012, using data from the Foundation Center on 1896 grants totaling $336M. Human rights NGOs are especially important in Brazil. Despite recent growth and development, it is a country that still faces many social, political and human rights challenges. But the local field is still largely dependent on international funding, and US foundations play a traditional and vital role in this scenario, thus it is important to understand recent changes on American foundations priorities. The numbers indicate that the US investment in Brazil is concentrated in few areas (environment and human rights account for 50% of the amount invested), and these priorities are clearly different from those in the Brazilian philanthropic agenda (more focused on education, income generation, youth and community development). When we focus on human rights, we must underline that the investment in human rights by American foundations is quite notable. Not only is Brazil the country in which there were more investments in this topic in the last 10 years, but human rights is also the second field of priority in the country, right after Environment. When examining the collected data, there are four large patterns emerging: dependence on big donors, relevance of the strategy of 'many small grants', incipient grants in advocacy and possible existence of thematic niches. Of all these issues, the main challenge is that the field is very dependent on a few very large donors: Ford Foundation, Kellogg Foundation and the Global Fund for Women account for over 65% of the grants and 89% of the amount in US dollars. The Kellogg Foundation has already left Brazil to concentrate on other geographic priorities; should the Ford Foundation take a similar decision, the field of human rights in Brazil might even collapse, since Brazilian donors do not yet demonstrate enthusiasm for the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sedentary behaviour (SB) has emerged as a potential risk factor for metabolic health in youth. Knowledge on the determinants of SB in youth is necessary to inform future intervention development to reduce SB. A systematic review was conducted to identify predictors and determinants of SB in youth. Pubmed, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched, limiting to articles in English, published between January 2000 and May 2014. The search strategy was based on four key elements and their synonyms: (a) sedentary behaviour, (b) determinants, (c) types of sedentary behaviours, (d) types of determinants. The full protocol is available from PROSPERO (PROSPERO 2014:CRD42014009823). Cross-sectional studies were excluded. The analysis was guided by the socio-ecological model. 37 studies were selected out of 2654 identified papers from the systematic literature search. Most studies were conducted in Europe (n = 13), USA (n = 11), and Australia (n = 10). The study quality, using the Qualsyst tool, was high with a median of 82 % (IQR: 74-91 %). Multiple potential determinants were studied in only one or two studies. Determinants were found at the individual, interpersonal, environmental and policy level but few studies examined a comprehensive set of factors at different levels of influences. Evidence was found for age being positively associated with total SB, and weight status and baseline assessment of screen time being positively associated with screen time (at follow-up). A higher playground density and a higher availability of play and sports equipment at school were consistently related to an increased total SB, although these consistent findings come from single studies. Evidence was also reported for the presence of safe places to cross roads and lengthening morning and lunch breaks being associated with less total SB. Future interventions to decrease SB levels should especially target children with overweight or obesity and should start at a young age. However, since the relationship of many determinants with SB remains inconsistent, there is still a need for more longitudinal research on determinants of SB in youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 2000s high expectations existed regarding the potential contribution of biofuels to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and substitution of fossil fuels in transport. In recent years sobering judgments prevailed. The major barriers for a further expansion of biofuels are their high costs (compared to fossil fuels), moderate ecological performances, limited feedstocks for biofuel production and their competition with food production. The objective of this paper is to investigate the market prospects of biofuels up to the year 2030. It focuses on the three currently most important regions for biofuels production and use: the US, EU and Brazil which in 2010 accounted together for almost three-quarters of global biofuel supply. Our method of approach is based on a dynamic economic framework considering the major cost components of biofuels and corresponding technological learning with respect to capital costs. Moreover, for the analysis of the competitiveness of biofuels with fossil fuels also taxes are considered. The most important result is that under existing tax policies biofuels are cost-effective today and also for the next decades in the regions investigated. However, their potentials are restricted especially due to limited crops areas, and their environmental performance is currently rather modest. The major final conclusions are: (i) To reveal the real future market value of biofuels, a CO 2 based tax system should be implemented for all types of fuels providing a neutral environmental incentive for competition between all types of fossil and renewable fuels; (ii) Moreover, the research and development for all types of biofuels, but especially for second generation biofuels, has to be intensified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares and contrasts the spread and impact of COVID-19 in the three countries most heavily impacted by the pandemic: the United States (US), India and Brazil. All three of these countries have a federal structure, in which the individual states have largely determined the response to the pandemic. Thus, we perform an extensive analysis of the individual states of these three countries to determine patterns of similarity within each. First, we analyse structural similarity and anomalies in the trajectories of cases and deaths as multivariate time series. Next, we study the lengths of the different waves of the virus outbreaks across the three countries and their states. Finally, we investigate suitable time offsets between cases and deaths as a function of the distinct outbreak waves. In all these analyses, we consistently reveal more characteristically distinct behaviour between US and Indian states, while Brazilian states exhibit less structure in their wave behaviour and changing progression between cases and deaths. • We compare and contrast the natural history of COVID-19 in the US, India and Brazil. • Case, death and mortality rate trajectories are analysed on a state-by-state basis. • We quantify heterogeneity and identify anomalous states therein within each country. • Wave behaviours are explored and clustered across the three countries states. • New mathematical methods quantify the lag in the progression from cases and deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Securities laws traditionally protect investors by establishing disclosure requirements for issuers under the philosophy that investors should have access to all necessary information regarding publicly available securities, which is done by the adoption of a registration process requiring issuers to disclose information on all significant factors of their businesses. By balancing the costs and benefits of existing disclosure requirements, multiple securities legislation provides for transactions that are exempted from registration. This paper offers a comparative analysis of the legislative and regulatory standards for one specific exemption from securities registration present in both the U.S. and the Brazilian capital markets: the exemption applicable to restricted offerings. These two countries, comprising the largest capital markets in North and South America, respectively, have a registration process for public offerings and also an exemption from it, depending on the size and type of the offerings as well as the sophistication of the buyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Metro Network in São Paulo has five lines in service with a total length of 107 km in one of the most booming cities in South America with a population of over 11 million inhabitants. The network can still be considered to be in its early stages; the first line was only constructed in 1968 and is now being extended. Whilst the settlement-prone Tertiary soils under São Paulo and also the crystalline basement, with its different grades of weathering and fracturing and high abrasiveness, pose challenges for shield tunnelling, they actually represent optimum conditions for high performance shield tunnelling. The paper deals with the experience gained by operator Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo- Metrô, contractor Construtora Norberto Odebrecht and consultant Maidl Tunnelconsultants in the construction of the metro lines with mechanised shield tunnelling technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relation between economic growth and labor market dynamics in Brazil between 1981 and 2009, making a comparison with the United States. Among the findings, one can mention that economic growth in Brazil has been related to a massive incorporation of labor force in labor intensive activities, whereas, in the United States, to a substantial improvement of labor productivity in high-technology activities. Despite the favorable economic context in the 2000s, huge inequalities between these countries have widened since the structure of the Brazilian labor market remained with few or no changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I propose to push the frontier of global value chain (G VC) governance analysis through the concept of 'polarity'. Much of the existing GVC literature has focused on 'unipolar' value chains, where one group of 'lead firms' inhabiting a specific function in a chain plays a dominant role in governing it. Some scholars have explored the dynamics of governance in GVCs characterized as 'bipolar', where two sets of actors in different functional positions both drive the chain. I expand this direction further to suggest conceptualizing governance within a continuum between unipolarity and multipolarity. Empirically, I do so by examining the evolutionary dynamics of governance in biofuel value chains, with specific focus on the key regulatory and institutional features that facilitated their emergence and expansion. First, I examine the formation, evolution, and governance of three national/regional value chains (in Brazil, the US, and the EU); then, I provide evidence to support a trend towards the increasing but still partial formation of a global biofuel value chain and examine its governance traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the impact of political sophistication on citizens' political preferences. After defining the concept and measurement of political sophistication, panel survey data from Caxias do Sul and Juiz de Fora in 2002 are used to assess its main determinants in the Brazilian context. Next, the article tests four hypotheses derived from existing scholarship about the effects of political sophistication on individual preferences and information processing. The four hypotheses tested are: 1) more politically sophisticated citizens are more ideologically constrained in their political attitudes then less sophisticated individuals; 2) more sophisticated citizens present more stable attitudes over time than less sophisticated individuals; 3) more sophisticated citizens acquire more political information over time than less sophisticated individuals, and; 4) more sophisticated citizens tend to express opinions more frequently than less sophisticated individuals. The analyses in the paper provide strong support for all four hypotheses. Finally, the article discusses some implications of the results for the study of public opinion and elections in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of oil price shocks in the last 30years on the Brazilian and American inflation rate and rhythm of economic activity. The Brazilian and the United States economies are interesting polar cases, since they had a completely different path on the oil import dependence rate. While the oil import dependence rate has increase sharply in the United States (US), it has decreased substantially in Brazil. We found that output growth volatility in the United States has been decreasing over time as well as the contribution of oil price shocks to such volatility, despite the increase in oil import dependence. Inflation volatility has also been decreasing but oil price shocks are accounting for a larger fraction of this volatility in the US. In Brazil, such shocks do not seem to have a clear impact on output growth and they account for a very small fraction of the Brazilian inflation and output growth rate volatility. We finally run some counterfactual experiments to analyze how real output growth in the United States would had been if net oil import share in the United States behaved similarly to what was observed in Brazil. We conclude that output level would be roughly the same, however, it would be about 10% less volatile if the US had the actual Brazilian oil import share. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper presents a general analysis of the relations among United States and Latin America considering issues such as the questioning of the US centrality globally and in the hemisphere, Brazil's policies to the region and the impact of the growing relations with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper submits to critique the Brazilian proposal to create a new paradigm for international cooperation from its role in MINUSTAH. We compare some aspects of Brazilian projects in Haiti with U.S. projects. We analyzed documents of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public theology is being discussed in Brazil recently. Although it originated in the United States, as discourse and practice took place visibly in South Africa Public Theology in Brazil has some peculiarities and difficulties. Its peculiarity is due to liberation theology have the same proposals dialogic and social mediations, the difficulty to what is proposed Public theology is about the denominational and religious plurality which becomes a deterrent factor when it comes to speech homogeneous for the Brazilian society and Latin American in general. This paper comprises part of a debate that has as its background the Public Theology, but want to look for another perspective to dialogue with the culture and postmodernism. This bias would be the Pastoral in its public dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a long and intensive debate within the scientific community about the role of international trade in the development of countries. During the last decades, the focus of attention has moved from the pure economic level to the environmental aspects of international trade. Establishing a simplified system of North–South trade for one reference period (2003), this paper attempts to test empirically the extent of potential asymmetries with regard to extracted material flows, and contrasts the results with the economic benefits from trade (in terms of value-added). The South is thereby represented by a selection of Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico), the North comprises one of their main commercial partners, the United States. At the methodological level, a multi-regional input–output analysis is used as the tool of investigation. Results generally support the hypothesis that the South was feeding the North's societal metabolism. South–North material exports were 1.6 times larger than North–South material exports, resulting in a net deficit for the South of 324 million tons. Moreover, material intensity of exported commodities from the South was twice as high as that from the North. It is worth highlighting, however, that part of the North-South hypothesis fails for the sample of countries since the larger part of the economic surplus has remained in the South, contrarily to what would have been expected. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The interplay of factors that affect post-partum loss or retention of weight gained during pregnancy is not fully understood. The objective of this paper is to describe patterns of weight change in the six sites of the World Health Organization (WHO) Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) and explore variables that explain variation in weight change within and between sites. Mothers of 1743 breastfed children enrolled in the MGRS had weights measured at days 7, 14, 28 and 42 post-partum, monthly from 2 to 12 months and bimonthly thereafter until 24 months post-partum. Height, maternal age, parity and employment status were recorded and breastfeeding was monitored throughout the follow-up. Weight change patterns varied significantly among sites. Ghanaian and Omani mothers lost little or gained weight post-partum. In Brazil, India, Norway and USA, mothers on average lost weight during the first year followed by stabilization in the second year. Lactation intensity and duration explained little of the variation in weight change patterns. In most sites, obese mothers tended to lose less weight than normal-weight mothers. In Brazil and Oman, primiparous mothers lost about 1 kg more than multiparous mothers in the first 6 months. In India and Ghana, multiparous mothers lost about 0.6 kg more than primiparas in the second 6 months. Culturally defined mother-care practices probably play a role in weight change patterns among lactating women. This hypothesis should stimulate investigation into gestational weight gain and post-partum losses in different ethnocultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]