Productive inclusion of smallholders in the Brazilian biodiesel value chain: a path of challenges and opportunities

This doctoral dissertation delves into the complex challenge of smallholder productive inclusion within the biodiesel value chain in Brazil. The focus is on the National Policy for Biodiesel Production and Use (PNPB) and its instrument to promote smallholder inclusion: the Social Biofuel Seal (SBS). Productive inclusion of smallholders in value...

Barriers towards Open Government Data Value Co-Creation: An empirical investigation

Whilst extant literature on Open Government Data (OGD) focuses upon value creation and innovation, there is scant emphasis upon the Value Co-Creation (VCC) that might result with the engagement of the public sector agencies and the users at large. The present study seeks to appreciate the barriers towards OGD VCC by adopting a qualitative...

Assessing the failure of Open Government Data initiatives in Brazil

While assessing the potential of a particular digital innovation initiative, especially when it has implications for a range of societal stakeholders, it becomes pertinent to understand the possible bottlenecks in its acceptability as well. In this regard, the present study seeks to understand how the Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives in...

New investments in phosphorus research and training are paramount for Brazilian long-term environmental and food security

Brazil is an agricultural giant that plays a crucial role in the Global Phosphorus Challenge (GPC), and whose highly weathered soils are currently dependent on phosphorus (P) fertilizers derived from phosphate rock, a dwindling and critical resource. Brazil imports > 50% of its P fertilizers and P recovery from waste is not yet explored in...

Exploring the emergence of a biojet fuel supply chain in Brazil: An agent-based modeling approach

The aviation industry accounts for more than 2% of global CO ₂ emissions. Biojet fuel is expected to make an essential contribution to the decarbonization of the aviation sector. Brazil is seen as a key player in developing sustainable aviation biofuels owing to its long-standing experience with biofuels. Nevertheless, a clear...

EU–China and EU–Brazil policy transfer in regional policy

The paper investigates the European Union (EU)–Brazil and EU–China regional policy dialogues, viewed as vectors of cross-national policy transfer. Regional policy is considered as having limited transfer potential due to its inward orientation, context specificity and complexity. Yet, knowledge exchange and voluntary policy transfer have...

Exploring policy options to spur the expansion of ethanol production and consumption in Brazil: An agent-based modeling approach

The Brazilian government aims to increase the share of biofuels in the energy mix to around 18% by 2030, which implies an increase of ethanol production from currently 27 bln liters to over 50 bln liters per year. Biofuel policies play an important role in ethanol production, consumption, and investment in processing capacity. Nevertheless, a...

An integrated workflow for stress and flow modelling using outcrop-derived discrete fracture networks

Fluid flow in naturally fractured reservoirs is often controlled by subseismic-scale fracture networks. Although the fracture network can be partly sampled in the direct vicinity of wells, the inter-well scale network is poorly constrained in fractured reservoir models. Outcrop analogues can provide data for populating domains of the...

Favelas and the normative, institutional Social Housing System in Brazil: discipline versus freedom, private versus public through the analysis of the unprivileged working class history

Most of today’s Brazilian Social Housing Institutional complexes are standardized mass buildings. They are planned in the periphery of cities, have no connection to public transportation systems and are disconnected from their respective local context. The planning approach to housing is compliant with ‘state simpli cation models’ which turn a...

Affordable housing in Portugal and Sao Paulo municipality: Comparison of space standards and socio-economic indicators

Fourteen processes defining competitive advantage of Brazilian trade contractors

Brazilian Trade Contractors (TC), or Subcontractors and Specialty Contractors, are main players in the Brazilian Building Industry competitiveness. They are part of a highly fragmentized and informal chain, with a great diversity in their value propositions and in their organizational forms. Nonetheless, despite their heterogeneity, most of them...

Social housing in Portugal and in the municipality of São Paulo: Comparison of space standards

This paper compares the space standards for social housing in Portugal and in São Paulo, and seeks explanations for differences in the socio-economic context of both territories. The Controlled Cost Housing (CCH) in Portugal and the housing built within the program My Home My Life (MHML) in São Paulo Municipality are studied. The number and type...

Collective self-help housing in Brazil