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This paper is the product of an ongoing research's preliminary results with app drivers and aims to discuss how the game of forces has occurred in the relationships established between companies, workers, regulatory bodies, and society. This exploratory qualitative study employed document analysis, a questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews with drivers linked to associations in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil. The analysis was conducted from a tripolar perspective based on the theoretical-methodological framework of Ergology and social life's micro and macroscopic spaces, encompassing the poles referring to human activity, the market, and politics. The results show a background of norms built on this work about the relationship with companies, passengers, and the drivers themselves, besides issues raised from the COVID-19 pandemic. We can conclude that it is necessary not to counteract technological evolution to achieve workers' rights and health. We should recall that no action aimed at ensuring the reconciliation of health, work, and rights will advance without relying on a fruitful and balanced trend between the three poles mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the electronic monitoring (EM) of indicted and convicted citizens in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. We start by discussing how EM was implemented in the country and describing its close link with the technology company Spacecom. We argue that the use of EM to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in the Brazilian prison system intensifies the continuation of an uninterrupted mechanism of social control that is sustained by systemic racism in Brazil through a growing link between the State and technology companies. Mapping the changes that EM imposes on criminal legal practices, reflecting on data access and management carried out by private companies, and analyzing the acceleration of this process during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil are topics addressed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil counts among the countries the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. A great deal has been said about the negative role played by President Bolsonaro's denialism, but relatively few studies have attempted to measure precisely what impact it actually had on the pandemic. Our paper conducts econometric estimates based on observational data at municipal level to quantitatively assess the 'Bolsonaro effect' over time from March 2020 to December 2022. To our knowledge, this paper presents the most comprehensive investigation of Bolsonaro's influence in the spread of the pandemic from two angles: considering Covid-19 mortality and two key transmission mitigation channels (social distancing and vaccination); and exploring the full pandemic cycle (2020–2022) and its dynamics over time. Controlling for a rich set of relevant variables, our results find a strong and persistent 'Bolsonaro effect' on the death rate: municipalities that were more pro-Bolsonaro recorded significantly more fatalities. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the president's attitude and decisions negatively influenced the population's behaviour. Firstly, pro-Bolsonaro municipalities presented a lower level of compliance with social distancing measures. Secondly, vaccination was relatively less widespread in places more in favour of the former president. Finally, our analysis points to longer-lasting and damaging repercussions. Regression results are consistent with the hypothesis that the 'Bolsonaro effect' impacted not only on Covid-19 vaccination, but has affected vaccination campaigns in general thereby jeopardizing the historical success of the National Immunization Program in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of RAP: Revista Brasileira de Administração Pública is the property of RAP: Revista Brasileira de Administracao Publica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: A growing body of evidence suggests that experiences of discrimination may affect physical and mental health through multiple pathways. This paper aims to characterize the extent of everyday perceived discrimination among Brazilian and Cape Verdean immigrant adults in Portugal, to identify its forms and analyze its association with mental health. Design/methodology/approach: This study draws on data from the EQUALS4COVID19 (Equity in health in times of pandemic) project that implemented a cross-sectional survey combining online and face-to-face questionnaires for data collection between February and November 2022. Findings: Women were less likely than men to report no discrimination experiences and more likely to report combined bases of discrimination. While Brazilian women were more likely than Cape Verdean counterparts to report gender and nationality-based discrimination, Cape Verdean women and men were more likely to report experiencing race-based discrimination. Gender (being identified as a woman) and length of stay in Portugal were the main predictors of depression, while resilience and perceived social support were protective factors. Participants with higher levels of resilience showed a significantly diminished association between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms. Practical implications: This study highlights the need for further research on the interlocking influences of gender, race, nationality and other structures of power, on health and illness to increase our understanding of what would help meet the specific needs of migrants' mental health and improve equitable health care. Originality/value: The findings on the multiple and intersectional discrimination perceived by the Brazilian and Cape Verdean populations in Portugal illustrated the ways mental health can be affected by social structures, such as gender and ethnic hierarchies, and can be used to inform the relevance to design and implement programs on combating individual and institutional discrimination and improving the rights of all people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multi-layer gated recurrent unit neural network (multi-head GRU) model is proposed to predict the confirmed cases of the new crown epidemic (COVID-19). We extract the time series relationship in the data, and the rolling prediction method is adopted to ensure the simple structure of the model and achieve higher precision and interpretability. The prediction results of this model are compared with the LSTM model, the Transformer model and the infectious disease model (SIR). The results show that the proposed model has higher prediction accuracy. The mean absolute error (MAE) of epidemic prediction in most countries (the United States, Brazil, India, the United Kingdom and Russia) is respectively 197.52, 68.02, 200.67, 24.78 and 123.50, which is much smaller than the prediction error of the SIR model, LSTM model and Transformer model. For the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, traditional infectious disease models and machine learning models cannot achieve more accurate predictions. In this paper, we use a GRU model to predict the real-time spread of COVID-19, which has fewer parameters so that it can reduce the risk of overfitting to train faster. Meanwhile, it can compensate for the transformer model's shortcomings to capture local features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this special issue of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), we are pleased to present the TVCG papers from the 19th IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2020), which had been originally planned to hold in Recife/Porto de Galinhas, Brazil. In order to preserve the safety and well-being of all participants under the global pandemic of COVID-19, ISMAR 2020 will be held as a virtual conference between November 9 and 13, 2020. ISMAR continues the over twenty year long tradition of IWAR, ISMR, and ISAR, and is undoubtedly the premier conference for Mixed and Augmented Reality in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Espaço Jurídico: Journal of Law is the property of Espaco Juridico: Journal of Law and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The year 2020 began with a health crisis, asserted in the same year, as the coronavirus pandemic. In this sense, world governments have taken measures to protect their national economies, measures such as limiting exports or social distancing. In 2022, the economy showed signs of recovery, when in February, war broke out between Ukraine and Russia. Thus, the two events negatively impacted world trade. In this paper, the aim is to point out the impact of the health, economic and war crisis on Romania-Brazil commercial relations, in the period 2019–2023, on Brazilian investments in Romania and on Romanian investments in Brazil. Romania is part of the European Union, being also a military, humanitarian and economic support for Ukrainians. Otherwise, Brazil is part of a totally different political structure, being a partner and ally of Russia. A descriptive research will be carried out on Romania-Brazil trade, in the period 2019–2023, based on the information on the Comexstat platform. In order to identify Brazilian investments in Romania, the research will be carried out conformable of the information provided by the National Trade Registry Office, and the research on Romanian investments in Brazil will be carried out conformable of the information provided by Banco Central do Brasil. The year 2023 represents the best economic year for trade between Romania and Brazil from the period 2019–2023, as commercial exchanges increased by 16% in 2023, compared to 2019. Regarding Brazilian investments in Romania, they are increasing, but Romanian investments in Brazil are decreasing. This work is innovative, because it sheds light on the commercial relationship between two countries with a similar culture, during a period of crisis, countries that are located in two different political and ideological blocs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Estudos Politicos is the property of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Revista Brasileira de Estudos Politicos) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodistico is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

COVID - 19 affected severely worldwide. The pandemic has caused many causalities in a very short span. The IoT-cloud-based healthcare model requirement is utmost in this situation to provide a better decision in the covid-19 pandemic. In this paper, an attempt has been made to perform predictive analytics regarding the disease using a machine learning classifier. This research proposed an enhanced KNN (k NearestNeighbor) algorithm eKNN, which did not randomly choose the value of k. However, it used a mathematical function of the dataset's sample size while determining the k value. The enhanced KNN algorithm eKNN has experimented on 7 benchmark COVID-19 datasets of different size, which has been gathered from standard data cloud of different countries (Brazil, Mexico, etc.). It appeared that the enhanced KNN classifier performs significantly better than ordinary KNN. The second research question augmented the enhanced KNN algorithm with feature selection using ACO (Ant Colony Optimization). Results indicated that the enhanced KNN classifier along with the feature selection mechanism performed way better than enhanced KNN without feature selection. This paper involves proposing an improved KNN attempting to find an optimal value of k and studying IoT-cloud-based COVID - 19 detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively disrupted the way our economy and society functions. Nonetheless, there have also been some positive externalities of the pandemic on the environment. This paper aims to evaluate the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in Brazilian metropolitan regions after the policies adopted to confront Covid-19. In terms of methodological approach, the study employs cross-sectional quantitative analyses to compare the period of 36 days, i.e., 12 March to 16 April—before (in 2019) and after (in 2020) the pandemic declaration. The data were obtained from the Sentinel 5-P low-Earth polar satellite concerning Brazilian metropolitan regions (n = 24). Thorough spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken to identify the pre- and during pandemic nitrogen dioxide concentrations. Complementarily, Spearman's correlation test was performed with variables that impact air quality. The study results a fall in nitrogen dioxide concentration levels in 21 of the 24 metropolitan regions which was observed. The Spearman's correlation coefficient between the nitrogen dioxide variation and the vehicle density was 0.485, at a significance level of 0.05. With these findings in mind, the paper advocates that while the pandemic has a significant negative consequence on the health of population globally, a series of measures that result in a new social organization directly interfere in the reduction of air pollution that contributes to the quality of the air we breathe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper aims: This paper analyzes the work quality and productivity of during the COVID-19 pandemic from five Brazilian regions with three work models: face-to-face, virtual and workshiting. Originality: Despite the number of studies on COVID-19 since the pandemic's beginning, the literature lacks research that demonstrates relationships between productivity and the emergence of problems, illnesses, and adverse situations that compromise worker performance in the routines of these three work models. Research method: The study used an experimental, descriptive, and transversal research design, without identification data Southeast of the participant, as anonymous and exclusive research, with 801 participants from different regions of Brazil (North, Northeast, Midwest, Northeast, and South), with different age groups. The work consisted of work issues focusing on the quality of work pandemic, for issues of analysis of time and productivity problems. The questions were about health issues in 6 parts of the study: mental demographics and increased sleep quality, fear of SARS-CoV-2, exercise, stress, and productivity. Main findings: There was a strong significant relationship between the three work models and five variables: area of activity, work equipment used during quarantine, diseases found during the pandemic, problems reported during quarantine pandemic like sleep, stress, workload performed, and future expectations regarding the work performed and the pandemic. Significant relationships were also found with diseases before the pandemic, those perceived and reported during the pandemic period studied, and the sleep profile before and during. The statistical significance relationship was also strong between the areas of work audience and new diseases during the pandemic. Implications for theory and practice: The research practically validates several other theoretical studies, with guidelines for the scientific community on work behavior for the three work models. The results, together with the relationships found by the statistical analysis of the p-value of the variables, help the public and private authorities to understand and rethink preventive measures in the emergence of new diseases and the optimization of work operations without compromising their quality and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper aims: The paper aims to analyze preparedness and response for epidemics and pandemics, taking as reference the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide a foundation for developing a preparedness and response protocol to guide Civil Defenses fighting against health threats. For this purpose, we present the results of interviews carried out with Brazilian Civil Defenses, evaluating the role and the type of responsibility (in charge or supportive) of 12 entities in four key areas: (i) awareness and training; (ii) surveillance; (iii) information and communication; (iv) logistics and supplies. Originality: The role of Civil Defenses in health threats still needs to be explored in academia. We often see Civil Defenses working to reduce risks and damages suffered by the population in case of disasters such as floods, landslides, and fires. In this paper, we go deeper into Civil Defense's role and show that its efforts can be headed to face biological disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, the paper is original as it brings an innovative outlook on the role of Civil Defense, providing inputs for developing a preparedness and response protocol for epidemics and pandemics. Research method: We analyze 12 Brazilian Civil Defenses from different States in Brazil. The results were gathered through 9 interviews via video call and three responses from a questionnaire that guided the interviews. We evaluated data from Civil Defenses individually, and then using content analysis, we categorized the data to structure the results and raise essential insights. Main findings: Most of the actions taken by the Civil Defenses during the pandemic response included logistics-related activities such as storage, transportation, distribution of required supplies, and mobilization of supply operations. Implications for theory and practice: The findings emphasize the capacity of Civil Defenses to act in a vast scope of disasters, including biological disasters. Also, this study helps practitioners to develop guidelines and protocols to support Civil Defense in preparedness and response activities to epidemics and pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a Structural VAR approach, we estimated fiscal multipliers for social benefits in Brazil for 1997–2018. Our results suggest that social benefits have relatively large multiplier effects, even when compared to public investment. The multipliers are also larger in the full sample, which includes the country's 2014–16 economic crisis than in the period 1997–2014. In particular, our results show that spending one unit on social expenditures generates a final change in GDP of almost three after two years. The higher estimated multipliers in the full sample appear in the response of household consumption and private investment to shocks in total social expenditures and for different types of social benefits (e.g. cash transfers, unemployment insurance, and pensions). In a context in which the expansion of social protection became prominent as a response to structural changes in the labor market and the Covid-19 pandemic, our paper reinforces its potential role in the short-run economic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has brought many challenges, particularly regarding the management of hospital capacity, and a new demand for healthcare that added to the preexisting demands, such as neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases and births. In this paper, we estimate the impact of the pandemic on the number of deaths and hospitalizations for other diseases. We construct a monthly panel data of deaths and hospitalizations for various causes by the municipality of residence and relate them to COVID-19 hospitalizations using regression models that control for municipalities fixed-effects and interactions between State and month fixed-effects. The standard errors are clustered at the municipality level. Our estimates imply that 100 more hospitalizations by COVID-19 is associated with a drop of 49 non-COVID-19 hospitalizations and an additional four deaths for other reasons (all measured per 100,000 pop.). The impact of intensive care units COVID-19 hospitalizations on mortality is larger. The groups most affected are the African Brazilians, less-educated and the elderly. Additional deaths occurred both at households and at hospitals. The main causes of additional deaths were diseases related to the circulatory and endocrine system. The decline in hospitalizations for other causes seems to be related to the overcrowding of hospitals in periods of surge in the COVID-19, alongside with the fall in the demand for care by the citizens who were afraid of COVID-19 infection. These mechanisms affected more strongly the vulnerable groups of the population. Our results highlight the importance of promoting the awareness of heightened risk of non-communicable chronic diseases during a health emergency context. This should be done preferably through already established channels with community outreach, such as the Family Health Program in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web Geographic Information Systems (WebGISs) were widely used to monitor COVID-19 cases and deaths during the pandemic. Furthermore, geotechnologies were also very useful in education, public management, tourism, and other areas. Although there are WebGISs with a high level of sophistication, most are simple, consisting of geovisualizers of cases, deaths, and vaccinations. This study develops a WebGIS that offers information about age, comorbidities, and tests, which can be analyzed from specific points such as hospitals, main access roads, regions, or neighborhoods. Although it is not a highly sophisticated solution, the WebGIS developed in this study is especially useful for municipal governments in developing countries like Brazil that do not have patient health data in geographic databases. The WebGIS developed in this study offers public managers essential information for developing effective public policies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and other epidemiological phenomena such as dengue and malaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, regions were affected by a combination of economic crises: weak demand and constrained supply. Several studies have sought to analyse the heterogeneous effects of supply and demand shocks on the labour market, economic growth, and the environment. This study has a different focus, estimating both direct and indirect effects of demand and supply shocks adopted during the pandemic in Brazil and Chile. Afterwards, the paper compares the degree of regional absorption (leakage) of income resulting from each of these shocks, applying an interregional input–output model for each country. The results of this study show that income absorption by the poorest regions is relatively greater in the case of a supply shock. It can be said, therefore, that this type of shock improves the retention of income generated in the poorest regions, favouring the development of these localities and the reduction in regional inequalities. The main reason for this result is that supply policies have restricted essential sectors to a lesser extent, and these sectors are generally less concentrated in large urban centres in both Brazil and Chile. In other words, much of the interregional leakage is driven by the demand for non-essential products, mainly in the richest urban economy centres. Finally, the geographical dimension of regional inequalities leads to the economic benefit of prosperous areas in the country when shocks occur in vulnerable regions, highlighting the centre–periphery pattern in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on startups performance and the moderating effects played by several resilience-related startup characteristics during times of crisis. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this, 94 Brazil-based startups were surveyed, and multivariate data techniques (PLS-SEM) were applied. Findings: The results show that despite the startups performance having been affected by the pandemic crisis, the response measures, when influenced by the resilience characteristics of these companies, moderated this effect. Furthermore, our findings suggest the future challenges to be faced by these organisations in the post-pandemic period. Research limitations/implications: Proposing a framework, our survey research contributes to the dynamic capabilities theory by showing that startups resilience is linked to the micro-foundations of sensing (e.g. innovation systems, resilience culture, pivoting practices, innovativeness products), seizing (e.g. leadership/focused skills, people development and selection, agility, clear vision of business process) and reconfiguring capabilities. Practical implications: Not only for theory, but this paper also contributes insights and guidelines for business practice in the face of challenges arising from times of crisis. By demonstrating the positive effect of early response measures based on resilience, our findings provide genuine managerial input that can help managers, funders and decision-makers in these companies operations against turbulent crises early on, thereby supporting the traction phase and sustaining their performance. Originality/value: Previous research has examined the effects of the COVID-19 crisis in several sectors and perspectives. However, this study is the first to empirically test and clarify how the resilience and singularities of these new business models based on innovation could react to the changes caused by the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractFor 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]

Copyright of Contaduría y Administración is the property of Facultad de Contaduria y Administracion-Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main objective of this paper is to propose a novel SEIR stochastic epidemic model. A distinguishing feature of this new model is that it allows us to consider a setup under general latency and infectious period distributions. To some extent, queuing systems with infinitely many servers and a Markov chain with time-varying transition rate comprise the very technical underpinning of the paper. Although more general, the Markov chain is as tractable as previous models for exponentially distributed latency and infection periods. It is also significantly more straightforward and tractable than semi-Markov models with a similar level of generality. Based on stochastic stability, we derive a sufficient condition for a shrinking epidemic regarding the queuing system's occupation rate that drives the dynamics. Relying on this condition, we propose a class of ad-hoc stabilising mitigation strategies that seek to keep a balanced occupation rate after a prescribed mitigation-free period. We validate the approach in the light of the COVID-19 epidemic in England and in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, and assess the effect of different stabilising strategies in the latter setting. Results suggest that the proposed approach can curb the epidemic with various occupation rate levels if the mitigation is timely. • We propose queue-based stochastic epidemic model for viral epidemics. • The model is tractable yet general and applicable to large populations. • It describes epidemics with general latency and infectious periods. • We derive a control rule that ensure a shrinking epidemic. • Our experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main methods of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmission are air and physical contact, actions to mitigate and suppress its spread must be developed in order to change population dynamics and provide efficient control strategies. Here, these actions are described as a simple heuristic framework to establish public policies. Two control systems were studied: the first organized in the form of an algorithm stratified into three levels and the second as a minimization problem similar to optimal control strategies, applied to both social distancing and vaccination. The possible effects of these actions are modeled and applied to an extension of the Susceptible - Infected - Removed (SIR) compartmental model. The control system is developed, which is organized in the form of an algorithm stratified into three levels. These levels intend to represent social distancing strategies implemented by sanitary authorities around the globe, representing stronger or weaker grades of isolation intensity according to the ability of the healthcare system to cope with symptomatic individuals. The algorithm control is applied in a simulation, and the results give evidence of the effectiveness of the procedures adopted against the coronavirus. The model dynamics are analyzed and validated with simulations considering parameters obtained from epidemiological data from Brazil and Uruguay and in a more detailed way for three Brazilian states: São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The model was validated using cumulative data on cases and deaths. For cases of death, the results were satisfactory, while for case data, the response was reasonable, considering the possibility of adding delays or variations in parameters in the model. In addition, the effective reproduction number was proposed for the cities studied in Brazil, the result being relevant because it has a qualitative behavior similar to that published by official centers. This paper also discusses the implementation and optimization of social distancing and vaccination control strategies, considering different parameters and their effects on reducing the number of cases and deaths. Model simulations present promising results for developing strategies to attack COVID-19 dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at estimating the regional and sectoral impacts of the Covid‐19 pandemic in the state of Sergipe, Brazil in 2020. We use an input‐output model with partial hypothetical extraction. The main results suggest a significant reduction in economic activity in the state, particularly in the Transport and Industry sectors. On the other hand, the Real estate and Food and Accommodation sectors have a greater capacity for recovery with the introduction of an emergency aid program. The municipalities with the largest absolute impact on gross domestic product are Aracaju, Canindé de São Francisco and Nossa Senhora do Socorro, two of them located in the metropolitan area of Aracaju. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of 2020, the world was left in an unprecedented state of shock by the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil quickly became the epicenter of new cases of contamination, where the propagation of the virus was unrestrained, despite boasting one of the strongest Universal health coverage systems in Latin America. This paper has at least three empirical contributions to the literature about economic resilience and the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly it is a critical issue regarding the "economics versus life" trade-off, which is an essential question for developing countries, given that policymakers must decide between policies to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections without damaging the economy. Secondly, our findings suggest that the early adoption of isolation measures applied in 2020, such as the financial aid and the vaccination have been effective in controlling the effects of the pandemic, especially in vulnerable microregions. Furthermore, it was verified that the Emergency financial aid was a fundamental policy in minimizing the economic impacts of the pandemic and allowing people to practice social distancing, contributing positively to the Employment Resilience Index and negatively related to the growth rate of deaths due to COVID-19. The contribution of our study is to measure an inverted U-shaped curve to demonstrate that policymakers must achieve a minimum of families to decrease the COVID-19 deaths. These contributions are essential and straightforward findings to lead policymakers' decisions in developing countries facing financial constraints in the public budget and population reticence about physical distancing, self-quarantine and vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Since the onset of the coronavirus disease, COVID-19 pandemic, concern arose for those who might be at higher risk of a worse COVID-19 prognosis, such as those with cystic fibrosis (CF). In this context, we evaluated the features of hospitalized patients with CF due to severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in Brazil and we also performed a systematic review including all the studies published from the beginning of the first case of COVID-19 (17 November 2019) to the date of this search (23 May 2022) which included, concomitantly, patients with CF and COVID-19 in the worldwide population. In our Brazilian data, we evaluated the period from December 2019 to March 2022, and we included 33 demographical and clinical patients' features. We classified the patients into groups: (G1) SARI due to another viral infection than severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (23; 5.4%), (G2) SARI due to an unknown etiological agent (286; 67.1%), and (G3) SARI due to SARS-CoV-2 infection (117; 27.5%). The individuals in G3 tended to be older, especially over 50 years old, and presented a higher prevalence of dyspnea, peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) <95%, and cardiopathy. The highest prevalence for intensive care unit (ICU) treatment (52; 44.4%) and invasive mechanical ventilation (29; 24.8%) was for patients in G3. Almost half of the patients in G3 died (51; 43.6%); in contrast, none in G1 died. However, we observed 43 (15.0%) deaths in G2. In addition, 12 (4.2%) and one (0.9%) death not associated with SARI occurred, respectively, in the G2 and G3. The patients who died due to SARS-CoV-2 infection had a higher frequency of SpO2 <95% (46; 90.2%), ICU treatment (34; 66.7%), and invasive mechanical ventilation (27; 52.9%) when compared to those who recovered. The systematic review comprised a total of 31 papers published as observational studies. These studies comprised 661,386 patients in total, including children, adults, and elderly age groups. However, only 19,150 (2.9%) patients were diagnosed with CF and, from these patients, 2523 (0.4%) were diagnosed with both CF and COVID-19. It was observed that the most common outcome was the need for hospitalization (n = 322 patients with CF), and the need for oxygen support (n = 139 patients with CF). One hundred patients with CF needed intensive care units, fifty patients needed non-invasive mechanical ventilation support, and only three patients were described as receiving invasive mechanical ventilation support. Deaths were described in 38 patients with CF. Importantly, lung-transplanted patients with CF represented an increased risk of death in one publication; in accordance, another study described that lung transplantation and moderate to severe lung disease were independent risk factors for severe outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 infection. In contrast with the literature, in conclusion, Brazilian patients in G3 presented a severe phenotype, even though most of the other studies did not observe worse outcomes in patients with CF and COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista de Economía is the property of Universidade Federal do Parana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a time of serious health crisis worldwide, this study is the extension of a case study already started (in February and March 2020) about the issue, reading behaviors, and preferences between the use of books and e-books. The COVID-19 pandemic came to impose social distancing in the world, closing universities, schools, and other services. The implementation of Internet services has presented itself as a valid response to the change that has so brutally arisen. Naturally, everyone had to adapt to it. In this context, the question about the preferences in using books or e-books is now even more relevant. This paper analyses the impact of COVID-19 in the behavioral trends in the use of scientific information from printed books and e-books in Portugal and Brazil. To this end, a survey was conducted on a user sample from various Portuguese and Brazilian higher education schools and public libraries. The first part focused on the characterization of the respondents, which includes data on gender and qualifications attended. In the second part, we obtained viewpoints about the advantages and disadvantages of each medium, frequency of use, choice of medium according to the purpose of reading, and devices used. The results let us examine the factors that influence and change the behaviors of users concerning their choice. Research such as this is beneficial to support the decision not only in selecting the information resources to be bought or pondering user preferences, but also to define strategies for advocating the use of various media that, rather than competitors, should be complimentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented shock to the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) economy and their financial markets have plummeted significantly due to it. This paper adds to the recent literature on contagion due to spillover by uniquely examining the presence of pairwise contagion or volatility transmissions in stock markets returns of India, Brazil, Russia, China and USA prior to and during COVID-19 pandemic period. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, the generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) by Bollerslev (1986) under diagonal parameterization is used to estimate multivariate GARCH framework also known as BEKK (Baba EngleKraft and Kroner) model on stock market returns of BRIC nations and the US. Findings: The empirical results show that the model captures the volatility spillovers and display statistical significance for own past mean and volatility with both short- and long-run persistence effects. Own volatility spillovers (Heatwave phenomenon) have been found to be highest for the US, China and Brazil compared to Russia and India. The coefficients indicate persistence of volatility for each country in terms of its own past errors. The highest and long-term spillover effect is found between US and Russia. The results recommend that Russia is least vulnerable to outside shocks. Finally after examining the pairwise results, it is suggested that the BRIC countries stock indices have exhibited volatility spillover due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations/implications: The study may be extended to include other emerging market economies under a dynamic framework. Practical implications: Researchers and policymakers may draw useful insights on cross-market interdependencies regarding the spillovers in BRIC countries' stock markets. It also helps design international portfolio diversification strategies and in constructing optimal portfolios during COVID and in a post-COVID world. Originality/value: COVID-19 has been an improbable event in the history of the world which can have a large impact on the financial economies across the emerging countries. This event can be deemed to be informative enough to measure the co-movements of the equity markets amongst cross-country return series, which has not been investigated so far for BRIC nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy / Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional is the property of Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional da UFSCar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Occupational Therapy / Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional is the property of Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional da UFSCar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to analyze the mechanisms through which the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic impacts on well-being at work and on productivity. The secondary objective is to identify stress management strategies for the work environment during the pandemic. This is an integrative review. Phase 1 consisted of searches of open access electronic databases (MEDLINE, SciELO, Bireme, and LILACS) for papers published in 2020 addressing mental health, work, and pandemics. Phase 2 consisted of selecting literature recommended by specialists in occupational psychiatry and positive psychology. These materials were read and critically analyzed. Forty references were included in the literature review. The articles reviewed were classified into the following categories: articles concerning work relationships in Brazil; articles describing the impact of pandemics on mental health and work; articles focusing on the work of health professionals during pandemics; articles about well-being at work; and papers proposing strategies to improve well-being and productivity and to promote mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic can have a significant impact on workers' mental health and productivity. Most professionals face a need to adapt to changes, which can decrease their feeling of well-being. Consequently, strategies to promote well-being and mental health in the work environment should be a priority. Work routines were modified after the COVID-19 pandemic set in and assessing these changes is essential to maintain workers' mental health. By so doing, it is possible to promote general well-being and post-traumatic recovery and reduce stress levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ánfora is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Manizales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Although slack is an asset to resilient hospitals, it is usually explicitly discussed only in terms of the quantity and quality of beds and staff. This paper expands this view by addressing slack in four infrastructures of intensive care units (ICUs) (physical space, electricity supply, oxygen supply, and air treatment) during the COVID pandemic. Methods: The study occurred in a leading private hospital in Brazil, aiming at the identification of slack in four units originally designed as ICUs and two units adapted as ICUs. Data collection was based on 12 interviews with healthcare professionals, documents, and comparison between infrastructures and regulatory requirements. Results: Twenty-seven instantiations of slack were identified, with several indications that the adapted ICUs did not provide infrastructure conditions as good as the designed ones. Findings gave rise to five propositions addressing: relationships intra and inter infrastructures; the need for adapted ICUs that match as closely as possible the designed ICUs; the consideration of both clinical and engineering perspectives in design; and the need for the revision of some requirements of the Brazilian regulations. Conclusions: Results are relevant to both the designers of the infrastructures and to the designers of clinical activities as these must take place in fit-for-purpose workspaces. Top management might also benefit as they are the ultimate responsible for decision-making on whether or not to invest in slack. The pandemic dramatically demonstrated the value of investing in slack resources, creating momentum for this discussion in health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape, serious risk to a woman's life or fetal anecephaly. Legal abortion services cover less than 4% of the Brazilian territory and only 1,800 procedures are performed, in average, per year. During the COVID‐19 pandemic, almost half of the already few Brazilian abortion clinics shut down and women had to travel even longer distances, reaching abortion services at later gestational ages. In this paper, we describe three bottom‐up advocacy strategies that emerged from difficulties deepened during the COVID‐19 pandemic at a single abortion service in Brazil, amidst anti‐gender policies from the federal government. Telemedicine abortion, outpatient surgical abortion and the provision of abortion after 20 weeks' gestation are important strategies that may reduce inequalities that impact the most vulnerable populations, such as black and indigenous women, children, adolescents and women experiencing domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has never been so much flexibility and organizational capacity to adjust to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on work. This article examines beliefs and perceptions related to new arrangements imposed by compulsory telework on skills and performance management practices, as well as identifying related advantages and disadvantages associated. This paper draws on 17 in-depth interviews using the collaborative interactive action research method. The authors study how leaders acted in multiple ways, aiming to reduce the negative effects on workers and work design and provide greater balance of actions. The perspective of multiple levels of action was adopted, considering human and social behavior and organizational arrangements made at a macro level. The sense of collectivity and the search for the standardization of routines were privileged in the interpretation of the answers. The main results reflect the influence of compulsory telework to performance factors, essential competencies required, and the main advantages and disadvantages associated to the construct. This study is relevant for organization studies, especially in the kinds of organizational contexts where there is still unpreparedness to deal with the effects of the pandemic or have uncoordinated telework practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As health systems struggle to tackle the spread of Covid-19, resilience becomes an especially relevant attribute and research topic. More than strength or preparedness, to perform resiliently to emerging shocks, health systems must develop specific abilities that aim to increase their potential to adapt to extraordinary situations while maintaining their regular functioning. Brazil has been one of the most affected countries during the pandemic. In January 2021, the Amazonas state's health system collapsed, especially in the city of Manaus, where acute Covid-19 patients died due to scarcity of medical supplies for respiratory therapy. Methods: This paper explores the case of the health system's collapse in Manaus to uncover the elements that prevented the system from performing resiliently to the pandemic, by carrying out a grounded-based systems analysis of the performance of health authorities in Brazil using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method. The major source of information for this study was the reports from the congressional investigation carried out to unveil the Brazilian response to the pandemic. Results: Poor cohesion between the different levels of government disrupted essential functions for managing the pandemic. Moreover, the political agenda interfered in the abilities of the system to monitor, respond, anticipate, and learn, essential aspects of resilient performance. Conclusions: Through a systems analysis approach, this study describes the implicit strategy of "living with Covid-19", and an in-depth view of the measures that hampered the resilience of the Brazilian health system to the spread of Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the problems faced by refugee students during the COVID-19 pandemic (summer semester 2020) as calouros, i.e. freshmen during their first year, in a public university in Brazil. Through a content analysis of their personal accounts, collected electronically by their teacher of Portuguese for academic purposes (the first author), we describe how five students (a Syrian, two Haitians, a Venezuelan and a Togolese refugees) (re)visit their experiences, in which several dynamics intersect: being 'calouro', being refugee students, learning the shelter language in loco, and experiencing social distancing due to the closing of universities. Because learning the language of the host country is not the only factor affected by the pandemic, we also observe how language learning (settings) intersect with other aspects characterising the refugee status: housing conditions, availability of learning materials, and the uncertainty attached to the present and future of their own lives and of other family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journalism Research is the property of Sur le journalisme, About journalism, Sobre jornalismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents some current results of the research, which proposes a virtual recreation of Reynaldo Dierberger original project for the Seropédica campus of UFRRJ, located in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The gardens, as well as the original architectural ensemble, in neocolonial style, have been legally protected in 2001. The group of researchers faced a triple challenge to make the virtual recreation. The first one concerns the identification of what was designed and not built, based on original hand-made drawings filed in the Document Conservation Laboratory of UFRRJ (LabDOC) and other university departments. The second challenge concerns the interpretation of the elements from English Garden design principles that emerged in the 19th century and were developed in Brazil by European landscapers such as Glaziou (1828–1906). The third one concerns making design drawings digital to elaborate 3d models considering a group of digital graphic tools available and also the application of Sevilla Principles (2011). It is important to mention that some of the research activities were impaired by the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Em Pauta is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we apply statistical methods for functional data to explore the heterogeneity in the registered number of deaths of COVID‐19, over time. The cumulative daily number of deaths in regions across Brazil is treated as continuous curves (functional data). The first stage of the analysis applies clustering methods for functional data to identify and describe potential heterogeneity in the curves and their functional derivatives. The estimated clusters are labeled with different "levels of alert" to identify cities in a possible critical situation. In the second stage of the analysis, we apply a functional quantile regression model for the death curves to explore the associations with functional rates of vaccination and stringency and also with several scalar geographical, socioeconomic and demographic covariates. The proposed model gave a better curve fit at different levels of the cumulative number of deaths when compared to a functional regression model based on ordinary least squares. Our results add to the understanding of the development of COVID‐19 death counts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]