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The dominance of the ‘growth fetish’ ideology has much contributed to lure societies into believing that people’s value judgements are unnecessary for a better life and social justice. The theme ‘human values’ became the central research topic for the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report team in Brazil after the promotion of a nationwide consultation to choose the focus of its 2009/10 report. A new index, named the Human Values Index (HVI), was created to tackle the issue of human values as part of development strategies. The main objective of this paper is to introduce this index, showing its features and properties. The HVI is built on an understanding that development is not a value-neutral concept and that from a human development perspective, welfare indicators should be qualitatively closer to human values focusing on statistics that can be useful to ordinary citizens, with the hope that in their hands the HVI might become a useful tool in promoting public reasoning and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the patterns of class inequality and capital accumulation in Brazil, showing the drivers and limits of the decline in inequality that occurred during the Workers' Party governments. It proposes that minimum wage hikes and greater social security changed the demand pattern and kick-started a cumulative causation process. Growth and redistribution thus reinforced each other for a period, and then spelled their own limits. As growth accelerated in the 2000s, a Gini decomposition indicates that class inequality decreased, but confined to changes between workers—capitalist income and social stratification were preserved. This also endogenously led to a regressive structural change, as low-productivity, labour-intensive services grew and international trade patterns worsened. This created a medium-term dependence on commodity prices for balance-of-trade solvency, and heightened cost-push inflation, which could not be overcome under the limited policy framework in place. The constrained basis for reducing inequality and the regressive structural change underscore that developmental strategies requires broad, multi-dimensional inequality-reducing measures and an encompassing catching-up project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies investigating oviposition preference of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) in table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivated in the São Francisco River Valley can provide important information to guide control measures, therefore minimizing damage caused by this species in the region. The aim of this study was to evaluate the oviposition preference of C. capitata females for berries cv. 'Italia' collected at five different times (60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 d after production pruning [DAPP]), representing five grapevine growth stages. We also assessed the performance of immature stages of C. capitata regarding the physiological development of the berry. The total soluble solid content was significantly higher in berries at more advanced physiological developmental stages (90 and 100 DAPP). Conversely, these berries showed the lowest values of firmness and titratable acidity. With the onset of physiological development, the average number of punctures per berry increased and reached 5.2 per berry in 100 DAPP berries. The infestation level and pupal weight showed a positive correlation with the growth stage. The highest recovery of pupae was observed in 100 DAPP berries (1.54). Pupal viability values ranged from 50.9 to 64.7% independent of berry maturity stage. The physiological developmental stage of the berry did not affect offspring sex ratio. Results obtained suggest that regardless of the female preference for laying eggs on berries in a more advanced physiological developmental stage, females can initiate the attack to bunches of this cultivar at 60 DAPP, even if the berries have unfavorable physicochemical parameters for oviposition and development of larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]