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We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

The purpose of this paper is to present knowledge in estimating yield surfaces of heterogeneous media by use of homogenization, especially where the macroscopic behaviour is driven by weak interfaces between phase constituents.

A computational homogenization procedure is used to determine the yield surface of a Representative Volume Element (RVE) that contains a fully debonded inclusion embedded within ideally plastic matrix, whereby the interface is modelled by a Coulomb type friction law.

The macroscopic behaviour of the RVE is shown to coincide an RVE with a hole for expanding loads, whereas for compressive loads, it was shown to approach an RVE with a fully bonded inclusion.

The present paper builds on Gurson’s work in estimating macroscopic yield surfaces of heterogeneous materials. The work is novel in the sense that there had been no previous publications discussing influence of weak interfaces on yield surfaces.

The mechanical response of the skeleton of a porous medium is highly dependent on its seepage behaviour as pore pressure modifications affect the in situ stress field. The purpose of this paper is to describe how u‐p formulation is employed using an explicit time integration scheme where fully saturated and single‐phase partially saturated analyse are incorporated for 2D and 3D cases.

Owing to their inherent simplicity, low‐order elements provide an excellent framework in which contact conditions coupled with crack propagation can be dealt with in an effective manner. For linear elements this implies single point integration which, however, can result in spurious zero‐energy modes which necessitates introduction of a stabilization technique to provide reliable results.

The success of the modelling strategy ultimately depends on the inter‐dependence of different phenomena. The linking between the displacements components, network and pore pressures represents an important role in the efficiency of the overall coupling procedure. Therefore, a master‐slave technique is proposed to link seepage and network fields, proving to be particularly attractive from a computational cost point of view. Another development that has provided substantial savings in CPU times is the use of an explicit‐explicit subcycling scheme.

Significant reduction in computational cost is achievable using a master‐slave procedure to link seepage and fracture network‐flows and an explicit‐explicit subcycling scheme. Special attention is focused on the investigation of the influence of plastic zones in oil production problems.

This study aims to analyze the configuration of the board of directors of the five largest banks operating in Brazil, which are members of a financial elite that directly influences the socioeconomic life in Latin America.

This assessment is inspired by Bourdieu's sociological approach and in the discussion on his work in organization studies and economic sociology. It addresses the organization as a field and investigates its associated field of power. The authors conducted qualitative research and relationally analyzed data related to the trajectory and the social properties of the councilors using the statistical technique called multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).

The results show that forms of social and cultural capital are particularly influential in the production of distinctions among banks' board members. Moreover, councils' priorities and configurations are diverse: some idealized and based on knowledge, others pragmatic and based on customs, others still anchored in a double logic of market satisfaction and family wealth preservation.

Understanding the objective power relations among these top agents may be crucial for effectively regulating certain aspects of their activities. Furthermore, understanding how different forms of capital affect the relative position of the board members may help us reduce representative bias in what seems today an inner circle.

This study is relevant because it makes an in-depth analysis of the composition of one of the most influential financial elites in Latin America, combining sociological theory and advanced statistical techniques for qualitative grouping (MCA).

Cangaço was a form of banditry that occurred in the North-East of Brazil between 1870 and 1940. The movement has inspired many films over the years. This chapter explores the contribution of Cangaço-inspired productions to Brazilian cinema, as well as the particular characteristics of what constitutes the Cangaço genre.

Following a historical survey of the Cangaço, the films were divided into different categories and ranked in terms of relevance. Only the most important are discussed in this chapter.

The Cangaço has been portrayed in Brazilian cinema through the decades in diverse ways, dating back to the 1920s. After becoming a consolidated film genre in the 1950s, then known as Nordestern, the Cangaço finally acquired a proper structure, featuring multiple Western references among its common characteristics. In the 1960s, Glauber Rocha, one of the most prominent filmmakers of the Cinema Novo avant-garde movement, added his own symbolism to the genre. Eventually, the Cangaço was also revisited by directors who combined it with other genres such as comedy, documentary, and erotic films. Another relevant reinterpretation came in the 1990s, when filmmakers of the so-called New Brazilian Cinema offered a new view on the subject.

Despite its strong association with Brazil, the Cangaço has not been thoroughly investigated by researchers. This chapter presents a historical survey and analysis of Cangaço films, highlighting their relevance to Brazilian cinema.