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This chapter explores the origins, development, and organization of the main Portuguese capitalist groups throughout the fascist dictatorship, the Carnation Revolution, and the neoliberal European integration until the onset of the financial crisis of 2008. The Portuguese experience confirms that, far from the usual neoliberal view that presents the process of accumulation and concentration of capital as the result of fair market mechanisms, large capitalist groups emerge as a combination of three factors: privileged access to finance, State protection, and family inheritance. Furthermore, it is argued that, if capital is considered as embodiment of power relations and not as factor of production, the link between concentration/accumulation of capital and economic growth is appropriately lost. Concentration strategies can have a detrimental effect on the economy. In Portugal, the dominance of these large economic groups contributed to the development of a rentist economic structure that was contrary to the goals of productive and economic development.

Authorship is the ultimate status of intellectual recognition in academic publishing. Although fairly robust guidelines have already been in place for a considerable amount of time regarding authorship criteria and credit, such as those by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors or Contributor Roles Taxonomy, the lack of reliable verification techniques hamper their accuracy, thereby reducing the validity of authorship claims in such statements. This paper aims to focus on the authorship status and responsibilities of co-first authors and co-corresponding authors.

To appreciate authorship responsibilities in this subset of authors, the broader academic authorship literature, as well as position statements, rules and guidelines, were consulted.

Academic publishing that relies on metrics is a global multi-billion-dollar business, so strict measures to assess and confirm authorship, which can be intellectually or financially “profitable” among academics that game such metrics, are needed. The current assessment is that there are inconsistent rules for equally credited authors such as co-first authors, co-corresponding authors and co-supervisors. In shared and collaborative authorship, there are also shared authorship-related responsibilities, but these are infrequently discussed, or tend to only be dealt with broadly.

Within the wider, and important, discussion about authorship, which is one of the most central issues in academic publishing, there has been a limited focus on equally credited authors such as co-first authors, co-corresponding authors and co-supervisors. This paper expands and fortifies that discussion.

The potential of the Cerrado fruit could be explored by development of new products, such as jellies that can be used to add value to the fruit, as well as to preserve this biome. This paper aims to evaluate the effect of processing, the glass packaging type and storage time on the quality of jelly, prepared from reconstituted murici pulp, over 12 months of storage.

The authors used a completely randomized design (CRD) in factorial 2 × 5, with two types of glass packaging (transparent and amber) and five storage periods (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months), with four replications and the experimental parcel consisting of 80 g of jelly (two bottles of 40 g). The quality of jelly was monitored through 12 months using physicochemical (proximal composition, color, soluble solids, titratable acidity and pH), microbiological (coliforms at 35 °C and 45 °C, filamentous fungi and Salmonella sp) and sensory analyses (sensory acceptance and purchase intent).

The pulp processing effectively affected the physicochemical and nutritional composition (proximal composition, soluble solids and color). It was found that only the storage time significantly influenced (p < 0.05) jelly quality, considering the variables analyzed, except the soluble solids, ash, dietary fiber and sensory texture attributes. However, the glass packaging factor (transparent and amber) did not result in significant changes in those variables. Moreover, the pulp processing allows a seasonal fruit with a short harvest period and short post-harvest life to be available to consumers as a new product throughout the year.

Based on the present study, the native Cerrado fruit such as murici [Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) Rich] is appreciated for its pleasant peculiarities such as color, aroma and taste; however, it is underutilized as food for lack of information and studies. Although the fruit does not have widespread use as food, it is necessary to make the population aware about its importance, not only as a source of nutrients, but also for its functional and sensory potential. Therefore, the production of murici jelly can increase consumption of the fruit, besides being a way to add value and extend the shelf life and sensory acceptance of the product prepared.

To present the bootstrap procedure to correct biases in maximum likelihood estimator of mean time to failure (MTTF) and percentiles in a Weibull regression model.

A reliability model is described by a Weibull regression model with parameters being estimated by maximum likelihood method and they will be used estimate other quantities of interest as MTTF or percentiles. When a small sample is employed it is known that the estimates of these quantities are biased. A simulation study varying sample size, censored mechanisms, allocation mechanisms and levels of censored data are designed to quantify these biases.

The bootstrap procedure corrects the biased maximum likelihood estimates of MTTF and percentiles.

A minor sample may be required if the bootstrap procedure is required to produce estimator of the quantities as MTTF and percentiles.

The employment of bootstrap procedure to quantify the biases since analytical expression of the biases are very difficult to calculate. And the minor samples are needed to obtain unbiased estimates for bootstrap corrected estimator.

The chapter seeks to reflect on the dynamics of the reconstruction of family farming and peasant agriculture in agrarian reform settlements (“assentamentos”) in Brazil, exploring the limits and potential of government food purchases from family farming, particularly the Food Acquisition Program (Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos – PAA), in the creation of alternative paths of rural development. The work analyzes the different strategies through which farmers and their organizations mobilize public policy instruments and market connections, expanding their room for maneuver and agency capacity. Research was conducted in the Baixo Sul Territory of the state of Bahia, focusing the heterogeneous web of social organizations involved in the implementation of the Food Acquisition Program in this setting.

Prior research has documented the importance of the state and social movements for the emergence and proliferation of alternative organizational forms. Yet, we lack a comprehensive and interactive understanding of the larger environment that sustains cooperatives and other collectivist-democratic organizations. Using the example of Brazil’s Solidarity Economy Movement, a longstanding social movement to address poverty and inequality, we describe how a multilevel ecosystem of organizations and institutions creates conditions favorable for the growth of alternative organizational forms – in this context, democratic cooperatives that the Movement calls solidarity economy enterprises (SEEs). Drawing from archival data, interviews, and a government survey of over 19,000 SEEs between 2005 and 2012, we map out the key actors at each level of the ecosystem, identifying three primary mechanisms by which these actors collectively enabled the creation and development of SEEs: (1) providing glue for action; (2) organizing for action; and (3) engaging in action. These mechanisms, in turn, allowed for greater communication and cohesion and the exchange of information and experiences among the Movement’s participants, thereby enhancing their interconnectedness and the institutionalization of their practices.

As social movements engage in transnational legal processes, they have articulated innovative rights claims outside the nation-state frame. This chapter analyzes emerging practices of legal mobilization in response to global governance through a case study of the “right to food sovereignty.” The claim of food sovereignty has been mobilized transnationally by small-scale food producers, food-chain workers, and the food insecure to oppose the liberalization of food and agriculture. The author analyzes the formation of this claim in relation to the rise of a “network imaginary” of global governance. By drawing on ethnographic research, the author shows how activists have internalized this imaginary within their claims and practices of legal mobilization. In doing so, the author argues, transnational food sovereignty activists co-constitute global food governance from below. Ultimately, the development of these practices in response to shifting forms of transnational legality reflects the enduring, mutually constitutive relationship between law and social movements on a global scale.

This study analyzes earnings management among Brazilian public firms during the 2016 Presidential Impeachment.

The sample comprises, as a treatment group, 721 firm-quarter observations relating to Brazilian listed firms. It also considers a control group of listed firms from Mexico, which were not affected by the exogenous shock analyzed (i.e. the 2016 Presidential Impeachment in Brazil). The firms' quarterly financial data cover the period between 2013 and 2018.

Considering several proxies related to earnings management by accruals, the main findings suggest a negative relationship between the 2016 impeachment event and the level of discretionary accruals, suggesting that Brazilian firms tended to reduce their earnings management levels during the impeachment process. The results are robust whether the control group is considered or not.

This study brings new empirical evidence to the literature on accounting information quality about the role of the economic and political environment in earnings management, especially in weak institution countries characterized by institutional voids and higher levels of corruption.