The logging industry of the Amazon is a topic that has received little attention in the literature, beyond specific single firm case studies. This has not allowed estimation of cost and production functions that can be used to predict changes in the industry in response to external market factors or government policies. Cost functions and rents are very important to characterize the dynamics of industry behavior, as well as providing important information for future policies. This study relies on a survey of 527 firms to estimate harvest, transportation, and milling cost functions for the logging industry in the Brazilian Amazon, finding variables such as labor cost, distance from the forest to the sawmill, equipment and frontier type to significantly affect the total and marginal cost of each activity. Rents are also estimated for different sampled milling centers, and a cost minimizing mathematical programming model is presented that explains the advance of the logging frontier in Brazil. / Master of Science

Yes / This study aims to address a critical gap in the literature by examining the incorporation of uncertainty in measuring carbon emissions using the greenhouse gas (GHG) Protocol methodology across all three scopes. By comprehensively considering the various dimensions of CO2 emissions within the context of organizational activities, our research contributes significantly to the existing body of knowledge. We address challenges such as data quality issues and a high prevalence of missing values by using information entropy, techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and an artificial neural network (ANN) to analyze the contextual variables. Our findings, derived from the data sample of 56 companies across 18 sectors and 13 Brazilian states between 2017 and 2019, reveal that Scope 3 emissions exhibit the highest levels of information entropy. Additionally, we highlight the pivotal role of public policies in enhancing the availability of GHG emissions data, which, in turn, positively impacts policy-making practices. By demonstrating the potential for a virtuous cycle between improved information availability and enhanced policy outcomes, our research underscores the importance of addressing uncertainty in carbon emissions measurement for advancing effective climate change mitigation strategies. / The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 3 Aug 2025.

Yes / This training manual on gender-based violence is intended for use by all those who train the police and other actors in the local protection networks. It outlines the principles of effective training based on the integrated competencies of knowledge, attitudes and skills, and emphasises the use of appreciative inquiry, group learning and dynamic techniques such as dramatisation and case-based learning

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study attempts to understand the nature of the cultural and linguistic experiences that affected a single, monolingual, female teacher during her first overseas experience in an American school in Brazil. A descriptive, qualitative, case study methodology utilized extensive observations, video-taping, and interviews with the teacher, her colleagues, students, and parents to explore how those experiences affected her perceptions and actions towards her colleagues, students, and parents, and how she made sense of these experiences. At the time of this study, there were an estimated 1,000 international schools worldwide, and just over half of these were autonomous institutions sponsored by a variety of interests and corporations. The Escola Americana de Campinas fits into this group. As a worldwide average, the U.S. student population in international schools today is about 30 percent of the total enrolment, and the majority of overseas-hire native English speaking teachers are female, white, middle class and monolingual; many are not adequately prepared for the challenges of teaching children who have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The study of one such teacher describes the cultural and linguistic discomfort she experienced in her daily life, and with her colleagues and parents. Although she was pedagogically competent, she was not open to changing her teaching practices to more effectively teach students with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, as this teacher learned to speak some Portuguese she became empathetic to some of the linguistic needs of her multi-lingual and multi-cultural students. This case study suggests that this teacher's personal and professional reasons to live and work overseas did not enable her to anticipate and to face the challenges she experienced. She did not have the training or experience to work with a diverse group of students, and the school did not provide adequate support to help her adjustment. This study offers implications and practical suggestions for recruitment agenc1es, administrators, teachers, and pre-service institutions faced with such situations. / 2999-01-01

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / I explore the ecological, economic, and policy determinants of agricultural land conversion in the Brazilian Amazon. Economic drivers of land-use change are quantified by rent, which is calculated using ecological and physiological models of biological productivity and spatial economic models for the costs of moving agricultural products to market. The validity of this approach is tested empirically by estimating spatially efficient logit models that simulate land-use change in the Mato Grosso region between 2001 and 2004. My empirical measures for agricultural rent are used to quantify the desirability of a particular plot of land, which previous research represents with simple proxies, such as distance to roads or urban areas, climate, and soil type. Statistical results indicate that my measure of economic rent subsumes the explanatory power of previous proxies. This result is consistent with economic theory, which posits that it is not simply access or variation in transportation costs that drives the spatial pattern of agricultural expansion, but the expected total returns from the venture. I extend the analysis of competing economic uses by comparing spatially explicit estimates of soybean rents to the value of ecosystem services. Although these estimates for these uses are generated from different data sets, models, and estimation techniques, the values are comparable, such that the value of ecosystem services is greater than soybean rents for about 61 percent of the total area. Given this balance, the failure to value ecosystem services reduces total social welfare. Policy instruments that internalize the value of ecosystem services via land conversion taxes, conservation subsidies, or excise taxes can avoid much of this loss. Together, these results suggest that spatially explicit models of economic rents and value of ecosystem services can be used to simulate the location and quantity of land-use change in an economically consistent framework. Such a framework lays the foundation for an enhanced methodology that can evaluate the ability of fiscal policy levers to influence the location of agricultural conversion with the ultimate aim of balancing economic and environmental goals. / 2999-01-01

No description available.

No description available.

The “University” is under pressure to address both local and general requirements from society towards a phenomenon called globalisation. In Brazil, the Ministry of Education has tried, without success, to promote institutional change. Confronted by this situation a process initiated by an internal change agent and based upon the introduction of Action Research was itself the subject of this AR Study by the change agent. This thesis draws upon the findings of that AR and uses it to critically examine the potential to foster change within the higher education context in Brazil using AR. The research was designed in two synchronous processes taking place at two different levels. The first is the facilitation of the uptake of Action Research by a group of academic staff, and the second is the research into that process as a piece of Action Research in its own right by the change agent/facilitator. Facilitation of change has been described as taking place in three phases: a) Mobilization; b) Implementation; and c) Continuation. Throughout such phases in this case data were systematically gathered by the use of five instruments of data collection: 1) Observation; 2) Diary; 3) Questionnaires; 4) Interviews; and 5) Sociogram. Results show my personal learning in facilitating this process of change and two main contributions to knowledge. The first is one which, though local and specific, may nevertheless speak to the challenges faced by other practitioners. Exemplified in this study by the critical exploration of the ‘Daisy Model’ of introducing AR that led to its modification into the ‘Flower Model’. The second is that new knowledge which appears to be more generalisable and for which a case can be made for its wider applicability. Again exemplified in the continuous and disruptive process of change that unfolded to reveal a suitable framework for the use of Action Research as a vehicle of change in a rural university in Brazil where all actions were based on four central principles that emerged from the research: neutrality, voluntary participation, time and motivation. The future success and sustainability of the change processes begun are contingent upon the reaction of the current management of the institution. Five scenarios are examined and a second phase for this AR project is suggested that attempts to address the issues raised.

Water harvesting techniques were used for increasing water availability for rainfed agriculture and for human consumption. The treatments involving soil and water management for cropping were as follows: (1) traditional; (2) microcatchment; (3) microcatchment plus fertilization with ordinary superphosphate (OSP); (4) microcatchment plus fertilization with manure; and (5) supplemental tank irrigation. A cistern with 50 m³ capacity was constructed to provide drinking water. The crop enterprises were cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata)/corn (Zea mays), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)/cactus (Opuntia spp.)/algaroba (Prosopis juliflora). Both were intercropped. The overall objectives of the study were: (1) to examine the impact of the application of water harvesting techniques together with crop management, with and 14 without fertilization on: farmer, (ii) profitability cropping, and (iii) labor benefit of a cistern based (i) financial position of the of each individual enterprise in utilization; (2) to estimate the on the costs of carrying water. All analysis were developed with the aid of Supercalc 4 spreadsheet software. Farm performance measures were: crop production; cash flows; income statements, net worth; cost and returns statements; and labor utilization. The impact of the household cistern was assessed through a benefit cost approach. From the results the following main conclusions were drawn: (1) microcatchment contributed marginally to increased yields; (2) microcatchment combined with OSP produced yield increases which were twice those of the traditional process; (3) tank irrigation with OSP quadrupled the traditional productivities; (4) the sorghum/cactus/algaroba enterprise presented a better cash position than cowpeas/ corn; (5) the farm can support the investments necessary for the application of water harvesting since it is financially liquid and solvent; (6) significant increase in net income was achieved when water harvesting was combined with fertilization for both enterprises; (7) the existing family labor potential on the farm is enough to supply the demand imposed by any one of the soil and water management treatment; (8) if opportunity cost of labor is involved in assessing the profitability of cropping, the most profitable soil and water management practice was tank irrigation; and (9) the construction of a cistern is an economical and feasible decision.

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a popular screening and research instrument for measuring severity of depression. The instrument was translated to Portuguese for use in Brazil in 1979; however, it was not until recently that its psychometric properties have been tested empirically for the Brazilian population. The purpose of the present study was to explore the BDI's psychometric properties in a northern region of Brazil and to test for possible relationships between certain demographic variables and BDI outcomes. Samples used in this study were from an urban area in Roraima, the northernmost state of Brazil. The BDI showed adequate levels of internal consistency in nonclinical and clinical samples. Female respondents had significantly higher scores than male respondents. Those who had lower levels of education, income, or occupational status had significantly higher scores than those with higher levels of these variables. Adolescents had significantly higher scores than adults from all age groups except those from age 19 to 22. No significant difference was found between those who identified themselves as “indigenous” and those who identified themselves as “non-indigenous.” Regression analysis results showed that the combination of gender, education, and age best accounted for the variance in BDI scores. An ANCOVA revealed that clinically depressed adults had significantly higher BDI scores than nonclinically depressed adults. Factor analysis results showed that there were two main factors in the item structure for both female respondents and male and female respondents combined: one factor of mainly cognitive-affective items and the other factor of mainly somatic items. The results were discussed in terms of the future use of the BDI in Brazil.