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The purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of integrating Grasshopper 3D and measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (M-MACBETH) for building energy simulation analysis within a virtual environment. Set of energy retrofitting solutions is evaluated against performance-based criteria (energy consumption, weight and carbon footprint), and considering the preservation of the cultural value of the building, its architectural and spatial configuration.

This research addresses the building energy performance analysis before and after the design of retrofitting solutions in extreme climate environments (2030–2100). The proposed model integrates data obtained from an advanced parametric tool (Grasshopper) and a multi-criteria decision analysis (M-MACBETH) to score different energy retrofitting solutions against energy consumption, weight, carbon footprint and impact on architectural configuration. The proposed model is tested for predicting the performance of a traditional timber-framed dwelling in a historic parish in Lisbon. The performance of distinct solutions is compared in digitally simulated climate conditions (design scenarios) considering different criteria weights.

This study shows the importance of conducting building energy simulation linking physical and digital environments and then, identifying a set of evaluation criteria in the analysed context. Architects, environmental engineers and urban planners should use computational environment in the development design phase to identify design solutions and compare their expected impact on the building configuration and performance-based behaviour.

The unavailability of local weather data (EnergyPlus Weather File (EPW) file), the high time-resource effort, and the number/type of the energy retrofit measures tested in this research limit the scope of this study. In energy simulation procedures, the baseline generally covers a period of thirty, ten or five years. In this research, due to the fact that weather data is unavailable in the format required in the simulation process (.EPW file), the input data in the baseline is the average climatic data from EnergyPlus (2022). Additionally, this workflow is time-consuming due to the low interoperability of the software. Grasshopper requires a high-skilled analyst to obtain accurate results. To calculate the values for the energy consumption, i.e. the values of energy per day of simulation, all the values given per hour are manually summed. The values of weight are obtained by calculating the amount of material required (whose dimensions are provided by Grasshopper), while the amount of carbon footprint is calculated per kg of material. Then this set of data is introduced into M-MACBETH. Another relevant limitation is related to the techniques proposed for retrofitting this case study, all based on wood-fibre boards.

The proposed method for energy simulation and climate change adaptation can be applied to other historic buildings considering different evaluation criteria and context-based priorities.

Context-based adaptation measures of the built environment are necessary for the coming years due to the projected extreme temperature changes following the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda. Built environments include historical sites that represent irreplaceable cultural legacies and factors of the community's identity to be preserved over time.

This study shows the importance of conducting building energy simulation using physical and digital environments. Computational environment should be used during the development design phase by architects, engineers and urban planners to rank design solutions against a set of performance criteria and compare the expected impact on the building configuration and performance-based behaviour. This study integrates Grasshopper 3D and M-MACBETH.

Ten years ago, Resende was a peaceful town near a well-known mountain resort in the State of Rio de Janeiro and housing the famous military academy through which many of the military elite of Brazil have passed. Near the border of the State of São Paulo and beside the main road linking the cities of Rio and São Paulo, Resende seemed doomed to a slow existence with no bright future ahead. This paper draws upon on-going research into the social impacts of new developments that took place in Resende, after the inauguration of two big vehicle assemblers – Volkswagen’s bus and truck plant in 1996 and the Peugeot/Citroen car assembly plant in 2001. In the case of VW, the plant was also presented as a major development in vehicle assembly. The unique feature of the plant’s production system rests on the relationship between the assembler (VW) and its component suppliers. At Resende, these were involved in a joint enterprise to establish a “modular consortium” of production. In this system, the component suppliers finance a part of the factory and organise the assembly of their components on site. As such, few of the production workers are employed by VW whose main role in the process is to co-ordinate production and market the vehicle.

The increase of foreign investment in industrial activities has accelerated the restructuring of production and new ways of managing the workforce in Brazil, especially in the car industry. Based on the investigation of new auto plants in Rio de Janeiro state in the 1990s, this text intends to bring more arguments to a general discussion about the relationship between the global and the local, emphasizing the point of view of localities that receive foreign direct investments, and suggesting that transnational companies benefit from the conditions offered to attract investments, but also stimulate the creation of new political and economical structures that may produce new forms of participation from local and regional political actors.

This paper aims to demonstrate how public procurement can be strategic.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted following the protocol from Pagani, Kovaleski and Resende (2015), called Methodi Ordinatio, to select the relevant literature on this topic. The analysis of papers selected was carried out following the procedures of categorical content analysis (Bardin, 1977).

In all, 68 full papers were analyzed from Science Direct and Web of Science. The results present the main characteristics of publications analyzed and the authors propose some categories of strategic practices related to public procurement that are in turn related to: sustainability, partnerships and supplier management, information systems and technology and other issues.

The main limitations of this paper are: the publication period considered of the articles selected is from January 2012 to March 2017; the databases Science Direct and Web of Science are selected as the sources of articles; the Methodi Ordinatio is used as the basic protocol of the SLR and, consequently, the inclusion and exclusion criteria described in the steps of the protocol are used.

Showing how the public procurement can be strategic, this paper highlights the benefits of best procurement practices; similarly, it highlights those practices adopted by the private sector, which can highly contribute to the creation of value in public services that are aligned with the concept of obtaining “the best value for money”.

The incorporation of strategic practices in public procurement can result in the best expenditure of public resources and the reduction of corruption in the process of procurement.

This paper contributes to synthesize the knowledge on strategic procurement, a topic exploited by few people in the public organizations. It differentiates from other literature reviews already published, considering that these studies do not deal, specifically, with public procurement and, also, do not use protocols of SLR. Moreover, this paper indicates a future agenda of research, which can aid researchers and practitioners acting in this field of knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the yield, physico-chemical and microbiological parameters during the shelf life of the Minas Frescal cheese hand-manufactured by family farms.

In the milk, analyses of total bacterial counts, somatic cell counts and centesimal composition were performed. The milk coagulation was analyzed, with different curd times (40, 80 and 120 min), with respect to the proximate composition, pH, titratable acidity, yield and microbiological counts. The means were compared using the Tukey test with a significance level of 5 per cent. The most probable number of microorganisms were also determined in water.

The results for milk quality were within the requirements established in Normative Instruction 62, except for total dry extract. It was found that curd time did not influence the protein and fat in dry matter contents; however, the ash content in cheese of 40 min of curd time (2.8 g/100g) is significantly higher (p = 0.02) than the values found for the other curd times. The same behavior was observed for moisture content (p = 0.04). The parameters determining the cheese quality were outside the standards for human consumption, but this result is directly related to the water conditions, which were outside of potability levels. To meet the requirements established in the legislation, dairy products must follow strict standards of quality hygiene, both the raw material (water, milk) and their employees who act directly in the process.

For the preparation of the Minas Frescal cheese, it takes several steps, from obtaining the milk to the product ready to be consumed, so the importance of doing this monitoring and evaluating its quality.

This paper aims to evaluate the relation between governance and financial efficiency of credit unions in Brazil. The study shows how poor financial efficiency in credit unions may result from undesirable configurations in executive management and other variables related to governance.

The study develops an innovative methodology to classify credit unions according to the level of governance using indicators of representativeness and participation, leadership, management and supervision. This methodology integrates the use of multiple correspondence and cluster analysis. The study then applies stochastic frontier models to analyze how governance affects the indicators of financial efficiency.

The results highlight that better governance substantially increases the efficiency of credit unions in terms of a higher level of credit operations per institution.

The paper uses a pioneering survey applied by the Central Bank to almost the total population of credit unions in Brazil. The results highlight how to operationalize a subjective and broad concept related to cooperative governance to identify the remarkable impacts of good governance practices on the financial efficiency of credit unions.

Much has been done in the public organization performance management field and there are some established theories that account for what would improve performance, but there is little strong empirical evidence about the determinants factors to performance in developing countries. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge in this area by providing some empirical evidence about the importance of management and resource for the local government performance.

The paper presents a cross-sectional investigation carried out with a sample of Brazilian municipalities. Data come from reliable sources, namely official databases. In order to ensure causality, regression and correlation analysis was carried out with the data. Educational outcomes were chosen as the dependent variable for measuring performance.

The analysis indicates that financial resources are paramount in producing performance to the extent that resource availability increases educational effectiveness, and dependence on intergovernmental transfer of financial resources reduces the effectiveness a great deal. Some other issues, such as mayoral quality have little or no importance upon performance.

The study corroborates some established ideas and challenges others. An example of the latter is the notion that the quality of political leadership (the mayor) is a determinant factor for performance. An example of the former is that more money is likely to represent better performance if the local government is able to raise money for itself instead of relying solely on transferences from upper tie authorities.