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Alexandre de Gusmão (1695-1753): O Estadista que desenhou o mapa do Brasil: By Synesio Sampaio Goes Filho. The second myth suggested that the territories that today make up Brazil formerly belonged to an immense indigenous Tupi-Guarani group and that the whole area from the confluence of the Paraguay River and the Guaporé River to the Amazon was their ancestral territory: I Pindorama i . The new Treaty of Madrid (1750) was instrumental for the legitimization of territories that had up until then been part of the Spanish Empire in South America. [Extracted from the article]

The search for effective governance and management of telecenter initiatives is an important concern for policy makers. However, so far this topic has been underresearched. This article aims to fill the gap by studying the interplay between the actors involved in the governance and management of the São Paulo Public Telecenter Network in Brazil. The article draws on the actor-network theory's translation process to study the relationship among public and private agents involved in the implementation of the telecenters. The findings indicate the importance of individual agents' goals, organizational learning, and political dimensions, and the way in which these factors are influential for user training, participation, and citizenship development. The results provide useful insights for the management of digital inclusion programs in a developing-country setting. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature has suggested that droughts and societies are mutually shaped and, therefore, both require a better understanding of their coevolution on risk reduction and water adaptation. Although the São Paulo Metropolitan Region drew attention because of the 2013–2015 drought, this was not the first event. This paper revisits this event and the 1985–1986 drought to compare the evolution of drought risk management aspects. Documents and hydrological records are analyzed to evaluate the hazard intensity, preparedness, exposure, vulnerability, responses, and mitigation aspects of both events. Although the hazard intensity and exposure of the latter event were larger than the former one, the policy implementation delay and the dependency of service areas in a single reservoir exposed the region to higher vulnerability. In addition to the structural and non-structural tools implemented just after the events, this work raises the possibility of rainwater reuse for reducing the stress in reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the scope for upscaling and transnational transfer of participatory landslide risk management strategies for informal settlements in Latin America. Drawing on lessons from transdisciplinary action-research in three neighbourhoods in Medellín, Colombia, and one in São Paulo, Brazil, the paper discusses how bottom-up approaches were developed to co-produce landslide risk management in both Global South cities, in a way that optimises the collaboration between communities and relevant governmental bodies. The analysis focuses on mitigation and 'agreement-seeking', from the perspectives of scale, power and knowledge, which help understand the parallels between co-production of landslide risk management and co-production of urban services. Two key conclusions are that landslide risk management should be built into neighbourhood upgrading and management, and that both community and the state have stronger roles to play in landslide risk management from their respective capacities. The paper also reflects on the role of academia in enabling co-production of landslide risk management through engaging with local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the tension between development practice and postcolonial and decolonial theories. The postcolonial and decolonial critiques of development primarily criticise the Eurocentrism of the development discourse, which prevents so-called 'subalterns' from living politically self-determined lives. To evaluate both development policy and its post/decolonial critiques, the paper conducts a qualitative content analysis of song lyrics from the rap music of São Paulo, Brazil, comparing the political demands present in the lyrics with the most important aspects of development policy. São Paulo rap is chosen as it represents an organic politico-cultural movement from the peripheries of one of the largest metropolises in the so-called Global South. The paper concludes that, in terms of basic needs, the will of the 'subalterns' is not significantly different from what development practice offers. Beyond that, it also concludes that both development policy and postcolonialism overlook the problem of the political construction of inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a hierarchical Bayesian approach for modeling the evolution of the 7-day moving average for the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in a country, state or city. The proposed approach is based on a Gaussian process regression model. The main advantage of this model is that it assumes that a nonlinear function f used for modeling the observed data is an unknown random parameter in opposite to usual approaches that set up f as being a known mathematical function. This assumption allows the development of a Bayesian approach with a Gaussian process prior over f. In order to estimate the parameters of interest, we develop an MCMC algorithm based on the Metropolis-within-Gibbs sampling algorithm. We also present a procedure for making predictions. The proposed method is illustrated in a case study, in which, we model the 7-day moving average for the number of deaths recorded in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Results obtained show that the proposed method is very effective in modeling and predicting the values of the 7-day moving average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the use of regression models with random effects has made great progress. Among these models' attractions is the flexibility to analyze correlated data. In various situations, the distribution of the response variable presents asymmetry or bimodality. In these cases, it is possible to use the normal regression with random effect at the intercept. In light of these contexts, i.e. the desire to analyze correlated data in the presence of bimodality or asymmetry, in this paper we propose a regression model with random effect at the intercept based onthe generalized inverse Gaussian distribution model with correlated data. The maximum likelihood is adopted to estimate the parameters and various simulations are performed for correlated data. A type of residuals for the new regression is proposed whose empirical distribution is close to normal. The versatility of the new regression is demonstrated by estimating the average price per hectare of bare land in 10 municipalities in the state of São Paulo (Brazil). In this context, various databases are constantly emerging, requiring flexible modeling. Thus, it is likely to be of interest to data analysts, and can make a good contribution to the statistical literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the process of gendering platform co-operativism through a case study of two rider co-operatives owned and managed by women: Señoritas Courier in São Paulo, Brazil and Les Mercedes in Barcelona, Spain. While both co-operatives arose in response to similar concerns and have adopted a common approach, one is located in the global South, while the other is in the global North. This allows for a comparison of how prefigurative politics have shaped the terms of platform co-operativism, as well as an analysis of the transnational character of worker struggle. The article is particularly interested in: What was the impetus for the formation of the two women-owned platform co-operatives? How have the co-operatives sought to redefine the relationship between gender, work, and technologies? The paper argues that the expansion of women-owned platform co-operatives constitutes an opportunity to advance a more inclusive, feminist digital economy. Members see co-operatives as an important dimension of collective organisation and the articulation between paid and unpaid care work. Both co-operatives strive to create a safe environment which provides support in work and motherhood. However, platform co-operatives have struggled to expand amidst a highly competitive market. The article concludes with a discussion on the need for public policies that can support platform co-operativism among women delivery workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to discuss the relations between the built environment and the patient's health, considering the context of the pandemic experienced since 2020. We assessed the results of a systematic literature review to create a theoretical framework. Based on that, we evaluated the performance of five diagnostic facilities sited in São Paulo, Brazil, during the occupation phase. These buildings share a similar design programme in a way that enables a systematic qualitative assessment. We organised the design requisites in a Table of Diagnostics and Recommendations. Based on the gathered evidence, we proposed reviewing the existing guidelines to promote healthier indoor environments. Among the leading design guidelines updates are issues regarding the management of contamination risk, such as the strategic planning of circulation routes, increasing outdoor air rates, and the specification of disinfection systems. We also present measures to promote healthiness and well-being for both patients and the medical team, including improving solar access to indoor environments and physical and visual access to the outdoors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the debates about the monument of Bandeirante in São Paulo, Brazil, inaugurated in 1953. "Bandeirante" is a mythical and symbolic construction of a historical character who had heroically conquered the interior of America for Portugal. Since the 1980s various intellectual and social movements have raised awareness of the ideological dimension of the Bandeirantes, including their role as enslavers of Indigenous people, propagators of infectious diseases and usurpers of territories. Correspondingly, the monument of Bandeirante has been the subject of protests connected to Indigenous rights. In October 2013, protestors against the proposal for a Constitutional Amendment that would threaten the Indian Territories in Brazil had thrown red ink on the monument, symbolizing the bloodshed. The monument of Bandeirante has thus ceased to be the place of admiration and became a site of revolt, contrasting aspects of the past that are the focus of this paper. The main question of this paper is if it is possible to mobilize the monument as a space for dialogue and negotiation by preserving its physical integrity and, at the same time, giving visibility to the demands of those whose rights have been violated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses water security and wellbeing within a public health perspective and focuses on urban areas with high population density. It analyses access to safe water and the multiple challenges to water security in two megacities: São Paulo and London, comparing differences and similarities. It illustrates how water security and health are related to Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6): universal and equitable access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, and SDG3: healthy lives and well-being for all, focusing on the problem exacerbated by the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects upon the everyday agency of marginalized youth in the Brazilian urban periphery in responding to the climate crisis. In the context of the global covid-19 crisis, which has exacerbated patterns of social exclusion between urban centers and peripheries, we reflect on the extent to which current theorizations of youth activism are appropriate for understanding youth agency in the periphery of Sao Paulo. We seek to 'blur the -ism' in climate activism by introducing more multi-faceted understandings of agency based on young people's everyday (inter-)actions with their environment as well as their contradicting emotions regarding their vulnerabilities and potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the study of climate change and environmental justice with a particular focus on a Global South case-study in the São Paulo Macro Metropolis of Brazil. We also aim to contribute to mandatory critical dialogue between (anticipatory) governance and environmental justice. This study focuses on the rainy seasons from 2016 to 2019. We examine the incidence of 61 extreme precipitation events, as well as 47 deaths caused by rain events, considering their location based on vulnerability indicators. The correlations among these data allow us to reveal the socio-environmental patterns within the relationships between social vulnerability and deaths caused by general rainfall and, more specifically, extreme events. Based on this, we demonstrate that current infrastructure or its lack is one of the reasons why death tolls remain due to the absence of anticipatory governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city of São Carlos, state of São Paulo, Brazil, has a historical coexistence between society and floods. Unplanned urbanization in this area is a representative feature of how Brazilian cities have developed, undermining the impact of natural hazards. The Gregório Creek catchment is an enigma of complex dynamics concerning the relationship between humans and water in Brazilian cities. Our hypothesis is that social memory of floods can improve future resilience. In this paper we analyse flood risk dynamics in a small urban catchment, identify the impacts of social memory on building resilience and propose measures to reduce the risk of floods. We applied a socio-hydrological model using data collected from newspapers from 1940 to 2018. The model was able to elucidate human–water processes in the catchment and the historical source data proved to be a useful tool to fill gaps in the data in small urban basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2013, widespread popular unrest unexpectedly shook Brazil whilst the FIFA Football Confederations Cup was taking place. Nicknamed as the 'demonstrations cup' by protesters, this was one of the greatest uprisings in the history of the country, with its effects still being felt and discussed nationally and internationally. Despite the general consensus on the more immediate causes that sparked the movement – such as the protests by the Movimento Passe Livre against a 20-cent bus fare hike in São Paulo, heavy-handed police repression and the use of social media – there still lacks a holistic explanation about the historical processes that formed the inflammable scenario that triggered those demonstrations and their rapid dissemination. Using quantitative and qualitative data related to recent urban socio-economic changes and civil society mobilisation trends, the present paper constructs an original genealogy of the June 2013 'demonstrations cup'. As a result, it indicates a unique confluence of multiple causal factors, such as the rapid and generalised erosion of real income in the Brazilian metropolises, the degeneration of political representativeness and traditional movements, the emergence of new mobilisation tools and the dissemination of anti-mega-events critical subjectivities – hence providing a comprehensive and empirically informed account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a defective regression model for survival data modeling with a proportion of early failures or zero-adjusted. Our approach enables us to accommodate three types of units, that is, patients with 'zero' survival times (early failures) and those who are susceptible or not susceptible to the event of interest. Defective distributions are obtained from standard distributions by changing the domain of the parameters of the latter in such a way that their survival functions are limited to. We consider the Gompertz and inverse Gaussian defective distributions, which allow modeling of data containing a cure fraction. Parameter estimation is performed by maximum likelihood estimation, and Monte Carlo simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed models. We illustrate the practical relevance of the proposed models on two real data sets. The first is from a study of occlusion of endoscopic stenting in patients with pancreatic cancer performed at A.C.Camargo Cancer Center, and the other is from a study on insulin use in pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes performed at São Paulo University Medical School. Both studies were performed in São Paulo, Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hosting sporting mega-events involve considerable investment in and significant engagement with local communities. This paper contributes to the burgeoning literature about sporting mega event's socio-geographical impacts on tourism, employment, urban regeneration, and socio-economic and cultural benefits. Within the context of 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, we assess, utilizing interview data from local communities, the impact of the construction of the 2014 World Cup's opening venue, 'Arena Corinthians' soccer stadium, in Itaquera, as well as other infrastructure developments more widely in the East Zone of São Paulo. The results point to the diversity of opinions among the resident community about the real legacies resulting from this sport mega-event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we call attention of two observed features in practical applications of the Generalized Autoregressive Moving Average (GARMA) model due to the structure of its linear predictor. One is the multicollinearity which may lead to a non-convergence of the maximum likelihood, using iteratively reweighted least squares, and the inflation of the estimator's variance. The second is that the inclusion of the same lagged observations into the autoregressive and moving average components confounds the interpretation of the parameters. A modified model, GAR-M, is presented to reduce the multicollinearity and to improve the interpretation of the parameters. The expectation and variance under stationarity conditions are presented for the identity and logarithm link function. In a general sense, simulation studies show that the maximum likelihood estimators based on the GARMA and GAR-M models are equivalent but the GAR-M estimators presented a little lower standard errors and some restrictions in the parametric space are imposed to guarantee the stationarity of the process. Also, a real data analysis illustrates the GAR-M fit for daily hospitalization rates of elderly people due to respiratory diseases from October 2012 to April 2015 in São Paulo city, Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the use of risk assessment (RA) for analyzing the environmental suitability of natural gas pipelines and highlights RA's linkages with environmental impact assessment. The paper contends that RA is an essential tool when assessing the suitability of gas pipelines, and that risks associated with such proposed activities should be used as fundamental criteria to determine route selection. By doing so, fatality risks related to pipeline failures can be reduced. The paper also contends that the risk acceptance criteria adopted by the State of São Paulo are overly permissive when compared to other criteria used around the world. Therefore, the State should consider revising and strengthening its risk acceptance criteria to be up-to-date with international standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the impact of economic stabilisation and internationalisation on the Sao Paulo metropolitan region and, in particular, in the industrial heartland of the Greater ABC region. The paper begins with a general discussion of the issue of globalisation and inequality in Brazil. It then examines the background to economic development in Brazil with special emphasis on the pattern of economic instability in the 1980s, before discussing the attempts to address this instability in the form of the Real Plan. The paper shows that the introduction of the Real Plan has not been socially or territorially neutral. In particular, the position of the ABC region has been undermined by the processes unleashed by the Real Plan. The final section looks at the response of different actors in the region to these developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to investigate possible causes for the significant reduction observed in crime rates in São Paulo city. By applying a cointegration analysis, we observed long-run relationships between crime, economic activity, and police performance. The results indicate that the lethal crime rate is positively related to unemployment and negatively related to real wages and to the results of law-enforcement activities, specifically arrests and seizure of firearms. Moreover, the hypothesis that the Disarmament Statute led to a reduction in the lethal crime rate is not rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an atlas of physical geography at a detailed scale for an area located between two large morphostructural units: the Atlantic Plateau, a crystalline shield of rough landforms, and the Peripheral Depression, a transition unit from Plateau to the Parana Sedimentary Basin, whose smooth landforms are generally sculpted over sedimentary terrain. The transition between these two land systems creates contrasting landforms as a function of bedrock structure and soil type. Smooth landforms underlain by sedimentary rocks and reddish clayey soils alternate with small hills with abrupt slopes sustained by igneous or metamorphic rocks. These soils, developed from weathering of siltstones can rapidly change to brownish and pale colors indicating leaching and weathering of stratified sandstones or massive structured quartzites. A geomorphopedological classification at 1:10,000 scale was performed initially by delimiting units according to landforms. Secondly, other themes were added by combining them with different types of rocks and soils. The geomorphological map was produced by using thematic maps including a topographic base map, hypsometric map, slope map and morphological map. Also the geological and pedological maps were created based on field data collection, morphological analysis of soil profiles and physical, chemical and mineralogical laboratory analysis. Finally, the geomorphopedological units were defined using all the mapped data. Each of these units has peculiar features concerning developed or undeveloped soil formation, with mineralogy and structure very often linked to underlying rock. The landform shape is either controlled by geologic structure or originated from weathering processes that make the relief flatter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By 1950, the northern region of Paraná State was an affluent settlement zone, due to the prosperous coffee-growing industry and a recent systematic colonization scheme, with its deliberate process of urbanization, which had been responsible for a network of planned new towns. The region was economically and culturally tied to the dominant city of São Paulo, and the changing image of its main towns – Londrina and Maringá – was basically the result of the work of prestigious São-Paulo-based architects and town planners that had been hired by the local elite. Notably, modern architecture and urbanism were imported as a means of achieving modernity: a targeted instrument of civilization, even in a colonization zone where material conditions were relatively unfavourable. In fact, the acts of borrowing, rejection, imitation, adaptation, and transformation can be observed in the movement of ideas. Thus, this paper aims to analyse the two-way relationship established between the most influential Brazilian metropolis and the wealthy provincial hinterland longing to mirror modern features. More precisely, it aims to account for foreign influences and local initiatives as global mechanisms responsible not only for the diffusion of modern planning and architectural practices but also for the construction of a pioneering regional identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Changes in the physical space of Sao Paulo are the focus of three films released early in the 21st century: O Principe (2002; The Prince), by Ugo Giorgetti; Urbania (2001), by Flavio Frederico; and O Invasor (2002; The Trespasser), by Beto Brant. All three films convey a sense of deep division in the urban space by focusing on the 'invasion' of certain parts of Sao Paulo by people who supposedly do not belong there: homeless, squatters, inhabitants of periferia. But they do so in different ways. The first two films play with the identification between viewers and the gaze of their flaneur-protagonists, creating, as a result, a shared feeling of nostalgia for a city that no longer exists. O Invasor, by contrast, uses camera work to de-stabilize the viewers' gaze, much complicating our attempts to identify with its protagonists and their ways of looking at the city. This paper will examine how gaze (camera gaze, characters' gaze, implied viewers' gaze) relates to issues of class difference and spatial division in the three films, paying most attention to O Invasor. By comparing this film to O Principe and Urbania, it will re-assess the meanings of the invasion suggested in its title. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

- This paper reports the occurrence of five species of Rhodacaridae mites collected in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. One of these corresponds to a new genus and a new species, Binodacarus brasiliensis n. gen. n. sp.; two correspond to new species of known genera, Multidentorhodacarus paulista n. sp. and Rhodacarus matatlanticae n. sp.; and two correspond to described species, Afrogamasellus citri Loots and Protogamasellopsis dioscorus (Manson). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1950, Lineu Prestes, the then mayor of Sao Paulo, commissioned the International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC), a commercial corporation headquartered in New York and owned by Nelson Rockefeller, to draw up a detailed report concerning the general planning of public works for the municipality of Sao Paulo. The urban planner Robert Moses was appointed Director of Studies and another 10 advisors were appointed to work in the 'Program of Public Improvements'. The improvement plan for Sao Paulo was not an isolated initiative among those developed by IBEC, but it was very different from the other planning studies that had been conducted to date in that it was actually a consultative assignment. While performing technical studies, IBEC also identified opportunities for American companies to operate in Brazil; hence, the plan aroused great controversy. This paper seeks to establish how the Program emerged from the political and economic context of the post-Second World War period in relation to Nelson Rockefeller's activities in Latin America and Brazil, and it seeks to analyse, from the point of view of urban planning, the role played by the Program in the planning and development of the city of Sao Paulo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an intersectional analysis of police lethality in the city of Sao Paulo. We deploy the concept of geography of death to investigate the multi-layered aspects of state-sanctioned lethal violence perpetrated by, but not limited to, the police force. This entails a consideration of at least three types of factor: actual violent acts, their symbolic dimensions and the historical and structural conditions within which violence emerges. Based on official data from the Brazilian state we argue that there is a perverse correlation between vulnerability to death and new racial formations, as they intersect with social class, age, gender, and place. Thus, the distinctive social geographies of Sao Paulo not only provide the context, but also define the very nature, frequency and experience of police violence. Ultimately, we argue, police lethality is a manifestation of the police and the state's complicity in reproducing boundaries of privilege and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper initially describes a network of expansion and spreading of Esther Bick's contributions, mainly her infant observation method, among professionals involved with studying and working with early relationships, considering developments within the field of therapeutic consultations and early intervention (Winnicott, Lebovici), in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Starting from the experience of professionals with the psychoanalytic observation method (Bick/Tavistock/Melega), infant observation groups have been formed, contributing to deepening and enriching training in several fields. The experience of the observers and the supervision group is here discussed, as containing spaces for working through primitive aspects and splitting processes in the contact of parent-infant relationships. Vignettes of weekly observations are presented: a baby who evoked concern about his development, whose parents seemed to benefit from the observer's attitude of looking and getting in contact with painful perceptions, and a baby of an adolescent single mother to whom different worlds struggle for integration, in an ambivalent construction of her maternal function, and to whom the observer represents a possibility of less splitting and acting-outs. The modulating and mediating function of the observer's mind and the amplifying resonance within the supervision group are demonstrated, facilitating access to elements of our internal worlds not always readily available to our conscious contact with the external world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a preliminary evaluation of the grain size distribution of cadmium, lead and copper in sediment from Catarina Beach, Ilha Solteira, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Surface sediments were fractionated with < 63 μ m nylon sieves and subjected to three digestion procedures: the proposed open digestion, the standard USEPA-3050B and closed digestion in a Teflon tube. The metals were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The results of the three procedures showed no significant differences. The 309 mg Kg1 concentration of copper found at the P3 sampling point exceeded the PEL (probable effect level) value of 197 mg Kg1, which represents an environmental hazard to aquatic organisms. The sediments organic matter content determined by the loss on ignition was 6.8, 1.7 and 0.6% in the P3, P1 and P2 samples, respectively. The distribution of metal concentrations in sieved sediment followed the order P3 < P2 < P1 thereby suggesting an interaction with organic matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As public discussion of racial politics and affirmative action heats up in Brazil, it becomes increasingly important to ask what black Evangelical Protestants have to contribute to the debate. This paper argues that two recent variants of black music increasingly performed in Sao Paulo's Evangelical churches-black gospel and gospel rap-exert a significant influence over how their artists think about their own blackness. Black gospel, by placing their musicians' racial and class experience into the context of North American black churches, encourages a strong collective black identity; while gospel rap, in placing race and class experience into the context of Brazil's poor peripheral neighborhoods, dilutes the racial content of subjectivity, replacing it with a strong class identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, the São Paulo government has attempted to transform the low-income Luz neighbourhood into a so-called 'Cultural Pole' through cultural institutions and urban design. Architects and government officials have represented their audience as an all-inclusive 'public'. However, the Cultural Pole actively promotes gentrification, that is, social exclusion. I contrast the official notion of 'public' brandished by the São Paulo government with a critique of space - not only the space designed by architects, but also that configured by use, occupation, and conflict. I consider how social groups have protested the Cultural Pole, building a realm of debate, conflict, and negotiation. I characterize this realm as a public sphere relating to and intersecting the spatial domain. By pointing to the intersection of discourses, social representations, and spatial practices, I suggest that these realms are mutually constitutive. While the revamping of the Luz neighbourhood and the proposed Cultural Pole are steeped in the particular context of São Paulo - a deeply unequal metropolis in a country marked by severe social disparities - the present discussion holds global value. First, the Cultural Pole is part of far-reaching urban and economic processes associated with globalization - as Smith puts it, gentrification as a new 'global urban strategy'. Second, inequality is not exclusive to poorer countries. The restructuring of labour and production markets and the pressure for financial competitiveness have sharpened differences within wealthier regions. The focused examination in this paper is thus also intended to resonate with other places and processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Densely urbanized basins face a challenge to implement the concept of integrated water resources management at the river basin level. In these basins there is the interaction of different sectors of human activity, including transportation and housing, that need to be incorporated in the management system. Moreover, the frequently used interbasin transfer schemes impose a more encompassing management method. This paper proposes a new concept: the total urban water management. Under this new concept, integration is applied indistinctly to sectorial vectors (combining different water uses) and to the territorial vectors, in the sense of horizontally cutting across different jurisdictions on the territory. This new approach is applied to the case of the metropolitan region of São Paulo. As a result of the federative political system in Brazil, this region presents a complex institutional arrangement. Union and States are in charge of the administration of rivers and the municipalities are in charge of land use management. Hence, it is not enough to establish a water management system because the management of land use in the river basin impacts the water use in the rivers. A metropolitan management system, which includes municipalities and the State, is proposed to take into account all the aspects of an integrated management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many cities in developing countries, São Paulo, Brazil, is characterized by major intra-urban inequalities with respect to human development. The center-periphery spatial regimes are the most obvious spatial manifestation of this phenomenon. In this paper we apply confirmatory spatial data analysis to examine these inequalities and their relationship to public interventions. Using district-level data, we examine the relationship between public interventions and the level of human development, while controlling for population density, spatial heterogeneity and spatial autocorrelation. Our results suggest that public interventions reinforce the existing differences between center and periphery. Specifically, public services and utilities and social programs are allocated more intensively in districts with higher human development levels. These findings call for a more careful consideration of distribution of societal resources and effectiveness of public programs and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the perceptions of journalists in São Paulo, Brazil's main media hub, concerning media roles, ethics and foreign influences on journalism and compares them with perceptions held by American and French journalists. American and French models of journalism have influenced Brazilian journalism at different points in time. The study employs quantitative and qualitative methods to illustrate that Brazilian journalists embrace a particular pluralistic view regarding their role in society and appear to be very tolerant of controversial journalistic practices. While most of them believe they emulate the American model, some critics interviewed for this study suggest that these journalists have developed a caricature of American journalism and lack a clear perspective on how to deal with foreign journalistic influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss a significant secular trend in stature and weight in an urban Brazilian population. Methodology: Anthropometric measurements of 7878 children and adolescents from Sao Paulo, Brazil, obtained in 1997/98 were compared with data from a previous study carried out in 1978. Both samples include children of middle-class urban families of European ancestry. Main outcomes and results: Comparisons between the two samples reveal strong positive secular trends in both height and weight. Furthermore, the 1997/98 sample shows no growth deficits in relation to the WHO/NCHS international reference. Conclusions: The positive trend can be explained as the result of economic development and improvement of social indicators, while the absence of growth deficits, contrary to what is reported in other studies carried out in developing countries, follows from the common genetic background of the Brazilian sample surveyed here and the US sample which is the basis of the NCHS/WHO reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to present a Brazilian universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) program based on transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and study the hearing impairment prevalence in this population. From September 1996 to August 1999, 4631 babies were born at the maternity ward of Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo, Brazil and 4196 (90.6%) had a hearing screening test performed before discharge. The equipment ILO88, ‘quickscreen’ mode and the 2 stages protocol were used. From the 4196 babies tested, 4123 (98.2%) had a normal test and 73 (1.8%) failed at the first stage screening. The follow-up was performed in 60 (82%) of those 73 babies and 10 (2.3–1000 live births) had a confirmed hearing loss, three without hearing risk factors. The TEOAE UNHS program was a feasible and accurate method to detect hearing disorders at an early stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data obtained over a nine-year period from the metropolitan São Paulo area, this paper examines the contribution of Brazilian Catholic base Christian communities (comunidades eclesiais de base-CEBs) to enhanced intra-group political activation and awareness among women members. The study shows that through their various activities, the CEBs over time have offered women opportunities for empowerment within the context of their own groups. Nevertheless, initial differences observed between women and men in terms of enhanced political awareness and the propensity to internal activism do, however, appear to persist over time. This finding, which suggests a somewhat circumscribed contribution of the CEBs to women's empowerment at the group level, is subsequently explained not only in terms of possible constraints to women's involvement in the more political dimensions of group life, but also with reference to the different ways women and men, respectively, may perceive of their CEB-related roles and responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the contradictions that can be seen within the process of economic and urban growth experienced by developing countries. Sao Paulo synthesizes these contradictions and is an example of how far people can go on environmental destruction when associated with social inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]