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Describes a research project in which a cotton twill fabric was subjected to various finishing treatments. Then the level of puckering of finished fabrics before and after washing was evaluated subjectively. Simultaneously, by means of the KES‐F instruments, all the mechanical properties of these samples were determined, and the results were used to calculate their formability and sewability. All the results were then analysed by means of the multivariate method. Concludes that a higher level of sewability generally offers samples without puckering as well as higher values of 2HB, 2HG and 2HG5, and to some extent higher levels of B and G also.

This study aims to achieve a “pseudo-ductile” behaviour in the response of hybrid fibre reinforced composites under uniaxial traction by solving properly formulated optimization problems.

The composite material model is based on the combination of different types of fibres (with different failure strains or strengths) embedded in a polymer matrix. The composite failure under tensile load is predicted by analytical models. An optimization problem formulation is proposed and a Genetic Algorithm is used. Multi-objective optimization problems balancing failure strength and ductility criteria are solved providing optimal mixtures of fibres whose properties may come either from a pre-defined list of materials, currently available in the market, or simply assuming their continuum variation within predefined bounds, in an attempt to attain unprecedented performance levels.

Optimal solutions of hybrid fibre reinforced composites exhibiting pseudo-ductile behaviour are presented. It is found that a fibre made from a material exhibiting relatively low stiffness combined with high strength is preferred for hybridization. Furthermore, the ratio of the average failure/critical strains between the low and high elongation fibres to be hybridized must be equal or greater than two.

Typically, a ductile failure is an inherent property of metals, that is, their typical response curve after the linear (elastic) region exhibits a yielding plateau still followed by an increase in stress till collapse. In stark contrast, composite materials exhibit (under some loading conditions) brittle failure that may limit their widespread usage. Therefore, a “pseudo-ductility” in composites is valued and targeted through optimization which is the main original contribution here.

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 understand the development of Barcelos tourist destination, analyzing the progress of technology in local handcrafts. eTourism is a development alternative for many localities. These alternatives, when they have integrated tourist products and a defined geographical area, form a tourist destination. Focusing on tourism and its evolution, concepts and successes are investigated in the tourist market of Barcelos, proving the increase in the local economy. Before a qualitative study and through the direct observation and semi-structured interviews to some regional handcraftsmen, the forms of the innovation of the technology in the tourism of Barcelos are analyzed and what their contribution to the increase in the tourism in this territory. The study shows that, in this tourist destination, the development of handcrafts had a great social and economic impact, developing the offer and standing out in front of the tourist market. The study also concludes that the new Information and Communication Technologies’ (ICTs’) tools promote new skills, which consequently provide new opportunities as well as great challenges for all users. In the Barcelos handcraft, ICTs will revolutionize the promotion of this tourism offer, through the innovation of networks and the Internet, with all stakeholders, sharing information and knowledge of Barcelos products and services, thus increasing their fluency in tourism demand and developing the market in order to create a greater economic impact on the destination.

Epidemiological problems often result in new panoramas and challenges for tourism. The hospitality industry and activity in Brazil, and on the planet, have created new architectural forms to handle the sanitary needs that are required, at every moment, due to health problems that arise. At the end of the nineteenth century and up to the twentieth century, the creation of places to host sick, and even healthy people seeking treatment and safety, gave rise to numerous tourist destinations around the world. In this way, it is to point out these practices in different medium-sized locations in Brazil, developed through – and in function of –installation of these accommodations, such as Campos do Jordão (SP), Petropolis (RJ), Garanhuns (PE) and São Francisco de Paula (RS). This research seeks to explore, by means of a bibliographic reference survey, about this demand. It is believed that these, associated since the tuberculosis crisis, after a century and a half, are able to provide answers to the world regarding the current urban and architectural challenge established with the new COVID-19 pandemic. This time, as in previous times, new paradigms of uncertainty emerge across the planet, also leading to new challenges for hosting equipment. These, today, are no longer seen as possibilities for treatment or distancing, but to meet a new global approach to health security. In presenting this panorama, this research seeks to achieve and present new expectations for the lodging industry in terms of new and future protocols and post-epidemic social demands.

This chapter historicizes the social construction of racism in Brazilian society and its relation to the development of the library and information science (LIS) field. It is a theoretical-reflective research built on the scientific literature of the field of LIS and related areas that aims at reflecting on social justice in Brazilian libraries and creating strategies to confront institutional racism. The authors develop five main points to understand Brazilian racism: the myth of racial democracy, structural and institutionalized racism, the whitening ideology, whiteness, and the epistemicide of black knowledge. The authors then discuss racism and the promotion of white supremacy in library teaching and professional action in libraries. Black US American and Black Brazilian Librarianship movements show that the activism and political action of black librarians advance the development of informational counter-narratives. Finally, the authors recommend three strategies for social, racial, and informational justice in the LIS field: including ethnic-racial studies in basic university courses curricula; building diverse, inclusive collections that account for ethnic-racial themes and authors; and considering “Pretuguese” keywords while indexing, in order to counter exclusion and promote epistemic repair. The authors conclude by advocating for these strategies to steer LIS professional and educational spheres toward contributing to forward an anti-racist society.

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of customer share of wallet (SoW) based on research in customer characteristics and the retail service quality model. Specifically, this study adopts an asymmetrical modelling approach to provide insights into the necessary and sufficient conditions leading to increased customer SoW in the context of neighbourhood shops in Southern Africa.

This study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to analyse survey data collected from 523 current customers of the shops.

This study reveals that large household size and low income are necessary conditions for increased SoW. It also reveals five unique customer profiles, or casual recipes, associated with increased customer SoW. More generally, this study demonstrates that service quality constituents (personal interaction, reliability, policy and physical aspects of the shop) and customer characteristics, namely, relationship duration, household size, gender and income-level act in combination to lead to customer SoW.

This study illustrates how service quality constituents and customer characteristics compete and/or complement each other in relation to increased customer SoW. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence on the necessary conditions for increased SoW, especially in the neighbourhood shop context of a developing economy. Value-wise, this paper provides a more nuanced perspective to understanding how unique customer profiles are associated with increased SoW.

The objectives of the proposed model are: aiding nursing staff in documentation tasks, which can be onerous and stressful; and helping management by offering an estimate of the nursing workload, which can be considered for administrative purposes, such as staff scheduling.

An exploratory-descriptive study was conducted in order to identify, investigate, and describe the problem of documenting nursing activities and workload estimation in an intensive care unit. Technological solutions were explored, and models were proposed to address these issues.

Cross-dataset experiments were performed, and the model was able to offer an adequate estimate of the nursing workload. The results suggest that continuous retraining is essential for maintaining high accuracy. While the proposed model was considered in the context of an adult ICU, it can be adapted to other contexts, such as elderly care.

While the proposed solution seems promising, further research is required, such as deploying this system in an ICU and facing challenges in the areas of computer security, medical ethics, and patient data privacy. More patients’ variables could also be collected to improve the workload estimates.

Nursing workload assessment is critical to improve the cost-benefit ratio in health care, offer high-quality patient care, and reduce unnecessary expenses, and this process is usually manual. An automated device can automatically document the amount of time spent in patient care activities in a more transparent, efficient, and accurate manner, freeing staff for more urgent activities and keeping management better informed about day-to-day nursing operations.