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This paper aims to explore the impacts of a blockchain network implementation to support purchasing processes of a Brazilian public organization.

The Grumbach method was used to build the scenarios. Five experts with knowledge in blockchain and experience in public procurement were consulted on 20 possible preliminary events, defining their probability of occurrence and relevance. The data obtained were processed in Puma software, which returned a selection of ten definitive events, based on probability, relevance and standard deviation indicators, generating a map of prospective scenarios.

Three following scenarios are shown, the ideal scenario, the one with greater implantation benefits and fewer complications; the trend scenario, more likely to occur under current conditions; and the most likely scenario of occurrence, according to experts. The results indicated which simulated events are drivers (motives), and which are influenced (dependent). They were categorized as opportunities or threats to the deployment of the technology.

Although public procurement processes are standardized by Brazilian legislation, new events may arise from the replication of the model in different organizations. The research revealed the need for practical testing in a simulated public procurement environment.

The article explores the interaction between disruptive network technology and processes linked to public sector efficiency. Studies on electronic government point to the future of public management.

Universities and their actions affect the environment directly and significantly. Therefore, the carbon footprint (CF) needs to be implemented in these institutions for mitigating climate change and its potential risks. Based on this understanding, the university consortium quality and environment (QualEnv) stands out by its main objective – to increase the university's contribution to sustainable development (SD) through the deployment of systematic environmental practices and quality processes. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to present the CF of the Latin American universities of the QualEnv consortium.

The study was based on the actions for adopting CF and its implementation at the universities that take part in the QualEnv consortium. The measurement process and report presentation were done properly by the universities and published as institutional documents. Therefore, data were collected and analyzed through a document search, systematic literature review and participant observation.

The results show knowledge deepening and systematization on CF in higher education. In addition, it presents the effort of a group of universities that, through a research network, seek to adopt practices towards a carbon-neutral university, which requires an incremental and systematic change to break out of the traditional system.

This paper discusses the practical implications for universities and the need to implement initiatives for measuring and reducing their CF since it shows how the institutions belonging to QualEnv consortium have created their own strategies to mitigate climate change and contribute to SD.

This study aims to investigate the contribution of higher education institutions (HEIs) to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and propose strategies to cultivate a culture centred on the SDGs in HEIs.

The methodology used encompassed an integrative literature review, combining bibliographic analysis on how HEIs incorporate the SDGs into their practices, adopting a qualitative approach for the analysis and categorization of the results.

The multifaceted contributions of HEIs in promoting the SDGs stand out, through their roles in teaching, research, management and integration and communication between university and society.

While influencing policies at various levels, HEIs encounter challenges in the effective integration of SDGs into their strategies. This underscores the need for contextualized governance, understanding students’ perspectives on sustainability and active external collaboration in policy formulation.

There is an urgent need to integrate SDGs into academic programmes, emphasizing the importance of redesigning curricula, actively involving teachers, researchers and students, establishing partnerships and promoting research applied to SDGs.

The social relevance of the study lies in the emphasis on an SDG-centred culture, involving teaching, research, outreach, community engagement and governance practices.

The study’s uniqueness lies in identifying persistent challenges during the transition to an SDG-centred culture, necessitating multisectoral collaboration and educational programmes that integrate sustainability principles into the strategy of HEIs.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly aware of their role in developing and implementing a sustainable paradigm, with the potential to accelerate progress toward sustainable development (SD). Therefore, this study aims to investigate the environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainable development goals (SDGs) practices of the University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL) and, based on this analysis, indicate how HEIs in general can contribute to the promotion of these concepts.

The study was based on the authors' experiences and participant observations made during the establishment of sustainability practices at UNISUL. Additional data collected from documentary research and literature review were analyzed qualitatively.

The results show that sustainability is present in UNISUL’s educational and management processes as actions related to all SDGs and, thus, to all ESG dimensions. On the other hand, it was noted that many actions identified in the literature are not present, with governance being the dimension with fewer practices, thus indicating possibilities for improvement. In this way, new practices were suggested.

New actions linked to SDGs and ESG at UNISUL were identified that can be adopted by other HEIs.

This study explores the strategies for promoting sustainable development (SD) adopted by the higher education institutions (HEIs) associated with the QualEnv University Consortium (QualEnv). The research examines actions in three main domains: teaching, research and outreach. This study aims to understand better how these strategies are applied and their impact on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results of this study can potentially contribute to the effectiveness of action plans for SD in HEIs and provide valuable insights for other institutions and stakeholders.

The study was based on institutionalizing sustainability research and practices in QualEnv HEIs. In this process, the research used participant observation for data collection. Data was collected through documentary research and a literature review. The data were analyzed qualitatively.

The results allowed understanding sustainability in all three areas. In teaching, most attention was paid to implementing the SDGs in the curricula and various courses at the institutions. Strategies for qualifying publications and greater dissemination and involvement of research initiatives with the SDGs were sought in research. In outreach, the means and activities the HEIs adopt to reach out to the internal and external (surrounding) communities concerning the SDGs and the search for their propagation and implementation were notable. Many of the actions result from changes to existing processes, which have been given a close look by the institutions with a view to improvement.

This study discusses the practical implications for HEIs to plan and implement SD in their teaching, research and outreach activities. It also demonstrates the effort to improve initiatives to work on education for sustainability, as it shows how the institutions belonging to the QualEnv consortium have planned their strategies to contribute to SD.

This paper presents the results of a field research conducted with five immigrant women in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The aim of this paper is to show the itineraries they used in order to build a new life as foreigners in the city.

An ethnography study was undertaken during one year (May/2010 to May/2011) mapping the itineraries made by them in the city and their correspondent narratives.

Foreign women did not have difficulties to access health care structures in São Paulo, since the health care system is universal in Brazil; they found many more opportunities of social care and assistance in the multiplicity of the city, rather than in the self-proclaimed institutions that exists especially for foreigners. Their different juridical categories did not impact much in their routine activities in the city.

This research may impact the activities of institutions that offer assistance to immigrants.

This paper presents a unique map of itineraries of foreign undesirable immigrant women in São Paulo, in contrast with other researches that tend to focus either on the juridical status or mental health care strategies for immigrants.

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 paper aims to introduce an alternative for modeling levitation forces between NdFeB magnets and bulks of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). The presented approach should be evaluated through two different formulations and compared with experimental results.

The T-A and H-ϕ formulations are among the most efficient approaches for modeling superconducting materials. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to apply them to magnetic levitation models and predict the forces involved.The permanent magnet movement is modeled by combining moving meshes and magnetic field identity pairs in both 2D and 3D studies.

It is shown that it is possible to use the homogenization technique for the T-A formulation in 3D models combined with mixed formulation boundaries and moving meshes to simulate the whole device’s geometry.

The case studies are limited to the formulations’ implementation and a brief assessment regarding degrees of freedom. The intent is to make the simulation straightforward rather than establish a benchmark.

The H-ϕ formulation considers the HTS bulk domain as isotropic, whereas the T-A formulation homogenization approach treats it as anisotropic. The originality of the paper lies in contrasting these different modeling approaches while incorporating the external magnetic field movement by means of the Lagrangian–Eulerian method.

This paper investigates which innovation capabilities are more important for driving technological and non-technological innovations and which of the two innovation types has the greatest impact on the financial performance of manufacturing companies.

Based on a theoretical model of four innovation capabilities – two technological: Technology Development Capability and Operations Capability, and two non-technological: Management Capability and Transaction Capability – a database of 1,331 Brazilian manufacturing companies was analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The results indicate that technological capabilities (Technology Development and Operations) have a greater impact on technological innovation. However, both technological capabilities also affect non-technological innovation, with the Technology Development Capability being the most influential in this relationship. Results also indicate that non-technological capabilities (Management and Transaction) have a greater impact on non-technological innovation. Nevertheless, both non-technological capabilities also impact technological innovation, especially the Transaction Capability, which is the most influential in this relationship. Furthermore, it was identified that non-technological innovation has a more significant impact on financial performance than technological innovation, presenting a novel finding to the field of innovation in manufacturing.

This manuscript refutes prior discussions and opens new possibilities for the interconnection of dynamic and ordinary innovation capabilities in two different arrangements, each aimed at improving a specific type of innovation. A theoretical framework is proposed to highlight that, depending on the innovation type focused on, ordinary innovation capabilities can be more relevant than dynamic ones for innovation in the manufacturing sector. From these theoretical advancements, practitioners can understand that investments in non-technological resources, skills and routines can also boost technological innovation, as well as sales, profit and market share growth.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the protection against corrosion of carbon steel SAE 1020 promoted by a niobium- and titanium-based coating produced from a resin obtained by the Pechini method.

A resin was prepared with ammonium niobium oxalate as niobium precursor and K₂TiF₆ as titanium precursor. Carbon Steel SAE 1020 plates were dip coated in the resin and calcinated for 1 h at 600 ºC. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the coating morphologically and structurally. Open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, anodic potentiodynamic polarization and scanning vibrating electrode technique were used to evaluate the corrosion protection of the coating.

The electrochemical analyses evidence slight protection against corrosion of the coating by itself; however, the needle-like crystal structure obtained may potentially provide a good anchorage site, suggesting the coating could be used as a pretreatment that may present similar application to phosphating processes, generating lower environmental impacts.

Due to increasingly restrictive environmental laws, new environmentally friendlier surface treatments must be researched. This paper approaches this matter using a combination of niobium- and titanium-based coating, produced by a cleaner process, the Pechini method.