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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with risk of suicide and chronic psychological impairment. The continued exposure to stress suffered by health-care workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered a mass traumatic event and contribute to higher rates of PTSD in this population. The purpose of this research is to find out the prevalence and factors associated with PTSD among HCW in a general hospital.

The authors devised a survey to assess the prevalence of PTSD among HCWs in a general hospital and its relationship with sex, social support, profession, work experience in health care, time spent caring for COVID-19 patients and place in which the COVID-19-related activities were carried out. PTSD symptoms were assessed using the PCL-5, Portuguese version.

A total of 226 HCWs were included in the study. Provisional diagnosis of PTSD was made based on the PCL-5 responses, considering DSM-5 criteria and the cutoff score of 33. In total, 79 (35.0%) HCWs had a provisional diagnosis of PTSD, and a significant association was found between PTSD and time spent working with COVID-19 patients and between PTSD and place of work, namely, the COVID-19 emergency room and intensive care unit.

The results highlight the need for a reflection on the importance of mental health promotion among HCWs, specially in adverse conditions such as the current pandemic.

The purpose of this study was to identify a set of management practices towards financial sustainability for Brazilian private health insurance and plans companies.

The present paper uses a bimodal two-step approach. The first step was quantitative, with the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique in 521 Brazilian private health companies (PHCs). At this stage, the objective was to obtain scores to rank the PHCs regarding their financial performance and services in 2013. From the quantitative analysis, two PHCs displaying contrasting performances were selected and interviewed to identify differentiating management practices.

The Group Medicine PHCs displayed a higher performance in the financial approach. Following the qualitative comparative analysis, the financially sustainable PHC presented the following differentials: a high level of financial management professionalization, a deliberate policy for the control and prevention of claims and a larger share of revenues from health plans over service revenues.

However, a limitation of the study lies in the fact that by not using any cash flow or financial result variables, the financial efficiency model used in the study does not evaluate the generation capacity of long-term results. It is noteworthy that, because it is a multiple case study, the results found cannot be generalized and should be understood only as characteristics of the studied PHCs in here.

The present paper can contribute to managers of Brazilian PCHs towards the implementation of management tools aimed at the sustainability of those organizations.

Despite the importance of the Supplemental Health Insurance System for public health in Brazil, PHCs have received a high volume of complaints and struggled with constant financial problems.

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 an overview of the conceptual framework related to the Lean and Green practices, paradigms, future prospects and problems, indicating points of convergence and divergence between them.

Based on this premise, through vast literature systematization, the authors sought to categorize studies in order to consolidate constructs, reinforcing aspects regarding the positive and negative approaches and pointing out the gaps in the current state of the art. Broad literature systematization was carried out; the authors found 107 articles published between 2014 and 2018, separated into 10 categories.

The main constructs confirmed are the positive approximation of the Lean and Green union, evidenced by studies premised on the independent variable category demonstrating that their union influences other environmental performance variables.

The present research is a systematization of the literature, so its results have to be confirmed by other studies.

The study supports the Lean and Green theme, confirming converging issues between the two areas and launching new topics for future research.

The study contributed to the environmental theme by confirming synergies of the Lean and Green union and presenting new research themes.

To assert that Lean and Green systems union is sustainable, with regard to the tripod of sustainability, more studies on the social category are necessary.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the diffusion dynamics of electric and hybrid commercial vans and its enabling factors in the city logistics (CL) contexts. The case of parcel delivery in Torino, Italy, is considered. Attention is paid to the influence on the choice of low impact vehicles of not only public strategies but also operational aspects characterizing urban freight distribution systems.

A System Dynamics model based on the Bass diffusion theory computes the number of adopters of low-emission vehicles together with the quantity of vans required and the associated economic savings. The model includes variables about freight demand, delivery frequency, van carrying capacity, routes, stops, distances traveled, and vehicle charging stations. A sensitivity analysis has been completed to identify the main diffusion levers. The focus is on advertising and other drivers, such as public contributions, taxes traditional polluting vehicles are subjected to, as well as on routing optimization strategies.

Advertising programs, green image, and word-of-mouth drive market saturation, although in a long time period. In fact, low-impact vehicles do not offer any economic advantage over traditional ones requiring higher investment and operating costs. Public incentives to purchase both green vehicles and charging stations, together with carbon taxes and a congestion charge affecting polluting vehicles, are able to shorten the adoption time. In particular, public intervention reveals to be effective only when it unfolds through a number of measures that both facilitate the use of environmentally friendly vehicles and discourage the adoption of traditional commercial vans. Route optimization also hastens the complete market saturation.

This work fosters research about the mutual relationships between the diffusion of low-emission commercial vehicles and the operational and contextual CL factors. It provides a structured approach for investigating the feasibility of innovative good vehicles that might be part of assessments of CL measures and requirements. Finally, the model supports studies about the cooperation among stakeholders to identify effective commercial vehicle fleets.

This study fosters collaboration among CL players by providing a roadmap to identify the key factors for the diffusion of environmentally friendly freight vehicles. It also enables freight carriers to assess the operational and economic feasibility of adopting low-impact vehicles. Finally, it might assist public authorities in capturing the effects of new urban transportation policies prior to their implementation.

Most of the current CL literature defines policies and analyzes their effects. Also, there are several contributions on the diffusion of low emission cars. The present study is one of the first works on the diffusion of low-impact commercial vehicles in urban areas by considering the associated key operational factors. A further value is that the proposed model combines operational variables with economic and environmental issues.

This chapter makes a brief incursion through a trajectory of over three decades of activism by the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of São Paulo (Núcleo de Estudos da Violência in Portuguese, NEV) in Brazil, recovering the legacy of its forms of activism and academic reflection while analysing the interfaces between violence and democracy in Brazil. The 1980s in Brazil were marked by expectations of profound political and social changes in the context of democratic transition. After 21 years of dictatorship (1964–1985), the military gradually withdrew from government, returning the state’s executive branch to civilian representatives. This was a moment of optimism for progressive groups and social movements, which had fought to dismantle the tradition of arbitrariness and violations of rights perpetrated by the state during the military dictatorship. In this context, NEV was founded as a research unit linked to the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences. Its core academic objective was to analyse and scientifically denounce the conjuncture of violence and human rights violations that remained recurrent; consequently, it demonstrated the continuity of unequal power relations, social and cultural practices that fuel authoritarianism in times considered not authoritarian.

The performance of the building envelope of a large-scale public building significantly influences the energy consumption of such a building. This study aims to determine the best strategy for the envelope by examining the engineering design of the building in Nanchang University. The building shape coefficient, sun-shading strategies, window–wall ratio, roof, and walls were studied through a method involving multilayer feed-forward neural network model simulations. Results show that the optimum shape coefficient value is 0.32. The combination of interior and exterior blinds and electrochromic glass is the ideal option to reduce the increase in the energy consumption of the architecture caused by solar radiation. Maintaining the window–wall ratio at 0.4 is ideal. A green roof exerts a minimal effect on building energy consumption decrease (only 0.4%). Applying the strategy of vertical greening to the external wall can reduce cooling energy consumption by as much as 5.4%. Adopting the best envelope strategy combination can further decrease energy consumption by 20.8%. This strategy is also applicable to the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River in China, which flow through Nanchang and have a climate similar to that of the said area. Future research should be directed toward applying artificial neural networks to quantitatively evaluate the effects of a design strategy and produce the best design strategy combination.

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.