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The purpose of this article is to understand how coronavirus impacts relate to existing vulnerabilities in different world regions.

The article utilizes quantitative analysis to examine regional variations in coronavirus risk assessment. It then qualitatively employs a policy coherence for development (PCD) approach to analyze how public policies contribute to or mitigate vulnerability, defined as the product of exposure to external shocks, institutional coping capabilities and risk associated with social divisions in societies.

The research presented below shows that significant regional variance exists in terms of coronavirus risk, based on statistical analysis of the INFORM COVID-19 Risk Report prepared by the European Commission. The PCD analysis highlights important relationships between public policy strategies and the construction of both underlying vulnerabilities and coronavirus impacts.

The PCD approach presented here focuses on the reconciliation of trade-offs. It shows how policy interactions affect vulnerabilities and suggests that coherent policy strategies aimed at reducing vulnerabilities are necessary in order to adequately respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

This analysis frames vulnerability as a socially constructed condition and through implementation of a PCD approach, it indicates how policy strategies contribute to or mitigate vulnerabilities. In doing so, it intends to contribute conceptually to the literature on vulnerability by showing how policy incoherences contribute to the construction of this condition. Empirically, the originality of this article is its statistical analysis of regional variance of coronavirus risk and the qualitative analysis of policy strategies in representative cases and how they have affected vulnerabilities and coronavirus impacts.

This paper aims to identify the built environment attributes and dimensions to assess customers’ satisfaction concerning the built environment in a gas station located in southern Brazil. Besides, this study aims to verify the dimensions that most impact customers’ satisfaction and the attributes that are most relevant to customers.

The research was operationalized through a survey and data were analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the impact of the dimensions on perceived customer satisfaction, while stepwise linear multiple regression was used to identify the most significant attributes.

The factor analysis result indicates that 66.77% of the variance explained concerns to six built environment dimensions (or factors). The regression analysis shows that overall satisfaction with the gas station is predicted by the dimensions appearance, functionality and location, and positively related to seven attributes. In relation to the built environment satisfaction, the location and functionality of the dimension are its predictors and positively related to five attributes.

Further studies in different contexts are required to test the reliability of the built environment dimensions – comfort, functionality, configuration, location and appearance. Also, the study calls for further debate about the built environment related to the occupant or user satisfaction and other factors that can impact it.

This study identifies the need to evaluate the impacts of post-occupancy evaluation of measurable factors related to the user’s judgment.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the compensation between research groups and companies that contribute the most for the innovative performance of Brazilian public higher educational institutions (PHEI), using as database the 2010’s tabular plan from CNPq’s Directory of Research Groups.

Descriptive and multivariate statistical techniques such as spearman correlation, cluster analysis, ANOVA and discriminant analysis were used.

Compensations that contribute the most for the updating of the PHEI are identified as transfer of financial resources from the partner to the group; providing grants for the group; transfer of material supplies to partner’s activities; temporary physical transfer of human resources from the group to the activities conducted by the partner; other forms of compensation that do not fit in the previous categories; and partnering with transfers of resources of any kind going in any direction.

As a limitation, it is pointed out the discontinuity of the tabular plan, which presents 2010 as the last available data.

The results can contribute to programs and policies to encourage innovation within universities.

It may be inferred that the stimulus to specific compensations may expand the quantitative idea of interaction points between the university and companies, linking qualitative aspects, which leads to an understanding that such interactions may, in fact, contribute directly to the activity of generating and spreading knowledge and innovation.

The main aim of this paper is to illustrate the importance of avoiding Whig interpretations in historical research. It does so by highlighting examples of what may occur when this is not done. The paper also aims to promote interdisciplinarity, in the form of working with those from other disciplines, as a means to avoid this occurring.

This paper includes an in-depth study of the bookkeeping and financial reporting of two 18th century Portuguese state-sponsored companies using archival sources. The companies were selected because of conflicting insights across disciplines concerning the quality of their bookkeeping and financial reporting – historians have been very critical, while accounting historians have seen little wrong. These differences of opinion have never previously been investigated. The authors demonstrate how information was distributed among the account books and other records of the two companies. The approach adopted enabled a reader to fully understand the recorded economic events. The authors also present and explain the procedures, criteria and accounting terminology used in their annual reports.

This paper demonstrates how easy is to inadvertently adopt a Whig interpretation of accounting history when the focus of interest is something of which the principal researcher has insufficient understanding or expertise. It also illustrates how important it is to embrace interdisciplinarity by working with those from other discipline to avoid doing so.

The conclusions from the case study are company-specific and cannot be generalised beyond those companies. However, the implications of this study go beyond the companies in its illustration of the importance of fully understanding historical evidence within its own context.

This paper unveils primary archival sources never previously presented in the literature. It also contributes to the literature by providing an evidence-based justification for the calls previously made to accounting historians to study accounting in its social context and engage with historians from other disciplines.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ultrasound (US) treatment on the postharvest of “Isabella” grapes and the consistency of the obtained results regarding the composition of anthocyanins in grape juice over three successive harvest years using a combination of analytical techniques.

Juices produced from “Isabella” grapes sonicated for different durations (3, 5, 7 and 10 min) were analysed. The grapes were harvested and sonicated in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and each treated sample was stored for 1, 3 and 5 days in order to verify the time necessary for the development of the US response. The juices were analysed through physicochemical analysis (total monomeric anthocyanins). The anthocyanin profiles were quantified and identified using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiode array and mass spectrometry detectors (HPLC-PDA-MSn).

The results demonstrated the potential of US in improving the quality of grape juice. In all three harvests, it was observed that the treatments were effective in increasing the concentration of anthocyanins. For the 2013 harvest, the application of US for 5 min led to a 103% increase in juice pigments. However, the US response profile varied among the three harvests, indicating that the US effect was influenced by the ripening conditions of the fruit. In total, 33 anthocyanins were identified in the grape juice. For the first time, peonidin-3-p-coumaroyl glucoside-5-glucoside was identified in “Isabella” juice.

The results of this study validated US treatment as a simple and effective physical method that can be used as an alternative technology for improving the general quality of products such as juice by increasing the pigment concentrations that are linked to the colour and antioxidant potential of drinks. Moreover, the results demonstrate that US treatment may be less effective in the case of a sample with distinct phenolic maturation.

This study aims to analyse the setup time management using the single-minute exchange of die (SMED) method in 24 h Emergency Care Units (ECUs).

A total of 1,098 reports in A3 form format were analysed and grouped into analysis categories to evaluate the implications of SMED in managing setup time in the 24 h ECUs. The content analysis was based on Bardin (2011). The findings were grouped into three categories.

The findings demonstrate the contributions of the Lean Healthcare approach in the 24 h ECUs through SMED analysis to reduce setup time in activities characterised as waste in 24 h UPAs.

In this study, data were collected directly from the Good Practices Application, from a specific project conducted in ECUs, which could generate selection bias. Finally, the datas were categorised according to the categories defined a posteriori, which may lead to interpretation bias.

The implications listed from the SMED perspective for setup time management allow us to guide managers, consultants, researchers, and health professionals to provide continuous improvement in 24 h ECUs. The findings can serve as a basis for reducing configuration time in other public and private healthcare service organisations.

SMED applied in 24 h ECUs makes it possible to improve emergency services provided to society and increase the capacity to care for patients and society in general. In addition, reducing costs for health service financiers, such as government and private institutions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that correlates the setup time management of the SMED method in crucial areas of 24 h ECUs, demonstrating opportunities for its application in reducing time in patient journeys. The findings show the benefits of Lean in these environments and highlight several opportunities for applying SMED to reduce setup in activities characterised as waste in 24 h UPA. SMED allows for improved operational excellence in emergency units and enables target opportunities to increase user satisfaction and service capacity.

The purpose of this paper is to review and examine the recent investment trends of firms operating in the food, feed and biofuel production and processing sectors in Latin America. The inter-related nature of these three sub-sectors and the great expansion they have gone through in the last decade showcases a series of socioeconomic and environmental policy challenges thus making it relevant to identify their different business models through a typology.

The paper first presents an unprecedented literature review based on field observations and media coverage of agri-business strategies of the food, feed and biofuel production in the region. It then moves to an in-depth analysis of investment operations that serve to classify such firms into a business model typology considering degree of internationalization and integration. The typology is a useful mechanism to enhance public policy analysis and uncover market or government incentives behind business decisions.

By focusing on investment strategies, the paper illustrates how both market and government incentives shape and affect the performance and consolidation of different players in the food, feed and biofuel sub-sectors in Latin America. The resulting effects have strong economic as well as social and environmental implications because such economic activities have an impact on global food and energy security.

Limitations include a reliance on largely qualitative evidence and research methods due to unavailability of consistent numerical data in these specific agri-business sub-sectors.

This paper is unique in its focus on business models in a particularly relevant set of agri-business sub-sectors in Latin America and its implications to promote investment and innovation in value chain development while considering regional-specific challenges.