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The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of research into the support activities of commercial aircraft (A/C).

The work is associated with A/C operations (OPS) providing a structure establishing the A/C sustaining during the in‐service phase. The process involved the implementation of a field survey in order to capture heuristically A/C support practices to enable one to identify system requirements. This part of the work utilized the collaboration of 21 A/C operators and maintenance repair and overhaul companies from various regions of the world.

Using systems engineering methodology, the research process led to the development of a prototype sustaining system. The solution comprises a tree of support functionalities (similar to a work breakdown structure). The result was verified by major local national airlines which confirmed the ability of the solution in terms of representing a viable structure establishing an A/C sustaining system.

The research initiative presented represents a contribution in the domain of A/C OPS, namely in terms of management aspects, by making available a solution that serves as a reference element, with a holistic nature, that integrates, normalizes and unifies commercial A/C support practices.

The purpose of this paper is to compare working conditions, experiences of discrimination and suspected cases of common mental disorders (CMDs) among Haitian and Brazilian migrant workers in the same production processes.

This cross-sectional, exploratory study was conducted using a nonprobabilistic convenience sample of Brazilian and Haitian migrant workers aged over 18 years from the capital of the Brazilian Midwest, evaluated from October 2018 to May 2019. Individual and face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire consisting of three instruments: health and work (questions of the Health and Work Survey: Inquérito Saúde e Trabalho), the experience of discrimination score and the self-reporting questionnaire.

In total, 165 workers were evaluated: 99 Haitians (58 from the service sector and 41 from the construction sector) and 66 Brazilians (37 from the service sector and 29 from the construction sector). Male workers of both nationalities were predominant. Deafening noise and dust or gas exposure were more prevalent among Brazilians than among Haitians. Chemical agents and radiation exposure have been reported more frequently among Haitians. Discrimination related to nationality or race was nine times more common among Haitians (10.1%) than among Brazilians (1.5%). Perceived discrimination at work was higher among Haitians (16.2%) than among Brazilians (3.0%). The prevalence of suspected CMDs among Haitians and Brazilians were 24.0% and 4.5%, respectively.

Despite the limitation regarding convenience sampling and the high number of Brazilians who refused to participate in the interviews, this paper brings contributions and recommendations. First, considering that comparisons in health outcomes between migrants and nonmigrant are challenging, this study sheds light on the knowledge of work-health relations between migrant populations and host populations.

This study’s results have attempted to show the importance of protecting health in the workplace as a right to be defended. In this regard, a matter of great concern is the recent loss of labor rights in Brazil and the Brazilian decision to leave the Migratory Pact, which aims to strengthen migrants’ rights, contributing to sustainable development

Also, work is identified as a powerful determinant of health and a place that should protect and promote health. There is an urgent need to monitor and proceed with workers’ health surveillance to grasp the impacts of work on migrant’s health, develop health-work indicators and trigger plans and programs in health services.

Haitians are at a disadvantage compared to Brazilians, mainly related to discrimination due to nationality and skin color. Experiences of discrimination and a higher prevalence of suspected cases of CMDs were observed among Haitian workers.

This chapter aims to reconstruct the trajectory of comparative education in Brazil using the timeline concept to identify structural elements in the emergence and reconfiguration of this field of study. The timeline historical perspective allows us to use two additional features: (a) the reconstruction of the scenario in which emerge the intellectual productions; and simultaneously (b) identify how themes, issues, and research objects appears, whether in a homogeneous association or not. These elements allow us to associate comparative and historical methods to recognize the supranational and supraregional influence, determining the configuration of what is meant by comparative education in Brazil. The text distinguishes seven different moments for the Brazilian comparative educational area, which are: (1) the study of the structure and functioning of European and North American systems education; (2) the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) pioneering influence on the production of annuals; (3) the prioritization of educational practices; (4) the influence of supranational relations; (5) the focus on educational public policies; (6) new cycle of supranational influence; and (7) (re)definition of the theoretical, methodological, and epistemological anchorage of comparative education. In the last quarter century, it can be said that there is a resurgence of Comparative Education in Brazil and the region, which may be associated with strong historical influences, here reconstructed by periodization.

This chapter presents a theoretical reflection on the possible impact of politicians' positive Word of Mouth (pWOM) on the tourists' risk perception and destination image of Portugal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reflection is based on the collection of remarks or comments made by international politicians collected using Google as the search engine and subsequent manual textual content analysis. The results show five recurring themes in the politicians' pWOM: general praise, pandemic numbers, politician positioning, health care and population attitude. The discussion includes a reflection on the outputs of the channels used for the dissemination of the messages and the importance of the politicians' countries of origin to a market strategy that highlights Portugal as a tourism destination.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the following purposes: first, to identify/analyze the main factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SMEs, and second, to test if the level of importance attributed to those factors differ according to firms’ dimension.

A survey was mailed to 600 Portuguese SME randomly selected. Out of the sample, a total of 95 questionnaires were completed and returned, performing a final response rate around 16 per cent.

Findings reached from this research, highlighted seven different factors affecting quality programs: top management's education/training level and priorities, costs and actual performance, lack of support from external agents, human resources’ overload, aversion to change, lack of resources, and culture and training. Furthermore, results suggest that these factors assume greater importance in medium-sized firms, compared to smaller ones.

The research focused specifically on the Portuguese manufacturing sector; thus, particular attention should be paid in attempting to generalize results. Moreover it is recognized that further researches may consider exploring longitudinal research designs in order to gain additional insights into the dynamic nature of problems faced.

Understanding the main problems that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in SME may allow practitioners to plan more effectively their quality management system, especially faced with scarce resources.

Quality management issues focus essentially on larger organizations. This paper is the first attempt to systematize the main factors that hinder quality improvement programs’ implementation in small and medium sized firms.

In this paper, the authors compare the open government data (OGD) ecosystems of Mexico, Russia and the USA in an effort to extract some of the major points of similarity and differentiation between these countries and to trace how variations in these ecosystems may be related to context-specific historical problems and politics, particularly with regard to the possibility of sustained and institutionalized practice.

The authors take a comparative approach, using a set of concepts commonly applied to the three countries to analyze similarities and differences within this group. The authors gathered textual data and information, the searches for relevant documents guided by a set of concepts or criteria that are frequently used in studies of government’s open data readiness assessment.

The authors conclude by focusing on the very different national exigencies that have given rise to open data ecosystems in the three countries, the variations in policy vehicles and implementation schemes that have instantiated open data practices within the three ecosystems and the common challenges that each country faces in institutionalizing OGD programs beyond the tenures of their current executives.

OGD is an information policy with near global relevance and increasing application. Practitioners and scholars alike have used the concept of an “ecosystem” to guide their approach to implementing this policy and to theorizing its scope and benefits. The international comparison is original and adds to the current understanding of an ecosystem approach to OGD.

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.

This study aims to analyse the extent of online social responsibility (SR) information disclosure by Portuguese municipalities and to identify related determinant factors, based on Institutional Theory and Legitimacy Theories.

A content analysis was performed on webpages from 60 sampled municipalities, and an information disclosure index was created.

Descriptive statistics obtained indicate the Total Disclosure Index (TDI) value was 0.46. The Economic Information sub-category exhibits the highest value (0.66), followed by the Social and Environmental Information categories (0.61 and 0.36, respectively).

The multivariate analysis results indicate that LA21 implementation the existence of tax burdens, the characterisation of a municipality as urban and environmental/SR certification application positively influence SR information disclosure. TDI is negatively affected by the existence of an inactive population (i.e. by the percentage of individuals ≤19 and ≥65 years of age).