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The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a comparison among three different approaches for recommending learning objects (LO) inside a repository. The comparison focuses not only on prediction errors but also on the coverage of each tested configuration.

The authors compared the offline evaluation by using pure collaborative filtering (CF) algorithms with two other different combinations of pre-processed data. The first approach for pre-processing data consisted of clustering users according to their disciplines resemblance, while the second approach consisted of clustering LO according to their textual similarity regarding title and description. The three methods were compared with respect to the mean average error between predicted values and real values. Moreover, we evaluated the impact of the number of clusters and neighborhood size on the user-coverage.

Clustering LO has improved the prediction error measure with a small loss on user-coverage when compared to the pure CF approach. On the other hand, the approach of clustering users failed in both the error and in user-space coverage. It also became clear that the neighborhood size is the most relevant parameter to determine how large the coverage will be.

The methods proposed here were not yet evaluated in a real-world scenario, with real users opinions about the recommendations and their respective learning goals. Future work is still required to evaluate users opinions.

This research provides evidence toward new recommendation methods directed toward LO repositories.

The objective of this chapter is to outline an integrating picture of the situation, representativeness, contradictions, and challenges that the treatment of diversity assumes in Brazilian society and in its organizations. The aim is to reply to the research question: “How are public policies and organizational practices constructing ways of inserting and valuing the diversity of Brazilians?” We provide a brief background of the changes in the global and Brazilian contexts over the last few decades and analyze the demographic data presented in the 2010 Census and in studies on diversity that were published in the main periodicals in the Administration area in Brazil, between 2000 and 2014 with regard to the segments most widely studied in the academic literature: Afro-descendants, homosexuals, the elderly, Indians, women, and people with a disability. The conclusion reached is that, in a short period of time, Brazil has made great strides in constructing the mechanisms and legal devices for recognizing the rights of its diverse population and that private companies are in the initial stages of introducing diversity programs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has been managed in Brazil, especially at the Federal Administrative level, with the focus being on the implications for human rights and public health in the country.

The research is built on a qualitative design made up of a case-study and review of the literature and is based on inductive reasoning.

Main conclusions were that: by not making sufficient efforts to safeguard the lives of Brazilians or to strengthen public health institutions amid the pandemic, Bolsonaro’s Administration may be violating the rights to life and health, among others, by omission; it was demonstrated that the President has worked unceasingly to bulldoze anti-COVID-19 efforts, which can be better explained through the concepts of necropolitics and neoliberal authoritarianism.

One of the limitations to this research is that this paper was not able to discuss more thoroughly which other human rights norms and principles (apart from the right to health, life and the duty to protect vulnerable populations) have possibly been violated amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Overall, this research can help expand the literature on human rights in health management during and after emergency times.

This paper focuses on recent events and on urgent matters that need to be addressed immediately in Brazil. This study provides an innovative health policy/human rights analysis to build an academic account of the ongoing pandemic in the largest country in South America.

The purpose of this paper is to extend existing knowledge of 4D printing, in line with Khoo et al. (2015) who defined the production of 4D printing using a single material, and 4D printing of multiple materials. It is proposed that 4D printing can be achieved through the use of functionally graded materials (FGMs) that involve gradational mixing of materials and are produced using an additive manufacturing (AM) technique to achieve a single component.

The latest state-of-the-art literature was extensively reviewed, covering aspects of materials, processes, computer-aided design (CAD), applications and made recommendations for future work.

This paper clarifies that functionally graded additive manufacturing (FGAM) is defined as a single AM process that includes the gradational mixing of materials to fabricate freeform geometries with variable properties within one component. The paper also covers aspects of materials, processes, CAD, applications and makes recommendations for future work.

This paper examines the relationship between FGAM and 4D printing and defines FGAM as a single AM process involving gradational mixing of materials to fabricate freeform geometries with variable properties within one component. FGAM requires better computational tools for modelling, simulation and fabrication because current CAD systems are incapable of supporting the FGAM workflow.

It is also identified that other factors, such as strength, type of materials, etc., must be taken into account when selecting an appropriate process for FGAM. More research needs to be conducted on improving the performance of FGAM processes through extensive characterisation of FGMs to generate a comprehensive database and to develop a predictive model for proper process control. It is expected that future work will focus on both material characterisation as well as seamless FGAM control processes.

This paper examines the relationship between FGAM and 4D printing and defines FGAM as a single AM process that includes gradational mixing of materials to fabricate freeform geometries with variable properties within one component.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of deforestation in Amazonia and the role of the Brazilian government with regard to the capitalist demands and development needs for the region. It offers a brief historical review of public policies and programs for Amazonia, and critically analyzes their conflicting aspects. Local environmental governance (LEG) is proposed as a conceptual framework and a participatory forest management strategy for dealing with the forest destruction.

The paper is a qualitative‐based study which provides a systemic analysis of the process of occupation and the key public policies for Amazonia from over the last decades, particularly during the coup d'état regime. Based on a literature review and official documents, descriptive data are produced which helped in understanding the political phases of the Brazilian government administrations.

The study identified some participatory‐based, decentralized models of forest management and existing forest regulatory frameworks which can serve as an illustrative sketchy arrangement on how local environmental governance can become operative and serviceable for a sustainable balance between the use of natural resources, conservation and regional planning. These findings can help future investigations on governance models. The research also shows how the Brazilian government has perceived Amazonia throughout the decades and how this perception influenced the implementation of development and settlement policies for the region.

The main focus of this article is the debate on the concept of local environmental governance (LEG) as a tool for empowering the local communities through the decentralization of decision making as well as the attempt to find implemented normative and institutional structures within the Amazonian context which can translate aspects of LEG.

A healthy diet has been recognized as one of the most important factors associated with maintaining human health and helping in preventing the development of some chronic diseases. Therefore, this paper aims to study the perceptions of a sample of university people regarding a healthy diet.

It was undertaken a descriptive cross-sectional study on a non-probabilistic sample of 382 participants. The data were collected among a sample of Portuguese university people and measured whether people’s perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet.

The results revealed that the participants’ perceptions were, in general, compliant with a healthy diet (scores between 0.5 and 1.5, on a scale from −2 to +2). However, significant differences were found between age groups (p = 0.004), with a higher average score for young adults, and also between groups with different levels of education (p = 0.025), with a higher score for university degree. The variable chronic diseases also showed significant differences (p = 0.017), so that people who did not have any chronic diseases obtained a higher score.

This study is considered important because it provides evidences about the relation between nutrition knowledge and the perceptions towards a healthy diet. The study allowed concluding that the participants were aware about some nutritional aspects of their diets and, therefore, their perceptions were compliant with a healthy diet. This finding is very relevant because it could be a support for health policy initiatives directed at promoting healthy eating behaviours.

Poland’s syndrome patients often seek medical interventions to improve their aesthetic appearances. Design and manufacturing technologies make it possible to produce custom-made implants for such medical conditions. The purpose of this study was to compare the 3D digital geometries that were designed using Magics and Geomagic^® Freeform^® for two anonymous case studies of Poland’s syndrome patients.

Computed tomography data were acquired and processed in Mimics^® to isolate the pectoralis muscles in STL file format. STL files were imported into Magics and Geomagic^® Freeform^® to design 3D digital geometries. Thereafter, comparative analyses were performed of the respective 3D digital geometries.

The angle between the vertical and oblique planes for both sides of the thorax was 6.5° for the female and 14° for the male. The surface areas and volumes of the geometries for the female were smaller than the male. Deviation analyses between the healthy side and reconstructed side of a thorax showed that 73 per cent of the test points for Magics and 78 per cent for Geomagic^® Freeform^® fell in the nominated tolerance region of >−5 and <+5 mm for the female. For the male, it was 83 per cent for Magics and 88 per cent for Geomagic^® Freeform^®.

Geomagic^® Freeform^® provides a more versatile design environment; however, the STL editor Magics may be an option to design 3D geometries for less intricate and less contoured implants.

This was a first attempt to compare the 3D geometries for Poland’s syndrome designed with an STL editor to those designed with a computer-aided design program.