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The problem of designing reinforced concrete plates and shells has interested researchers for a long time. The recent development of the computers' performance and storage capacity combined with powerful numerical methods revealed the need of a clear procedure to design elements subjected to membrane and flexure forces. In the present study this problem is formulated based on the equilibrium conditions and an iterative procedure is suggested. The computational code based on this approach is given, as well as some examples of the method.

To contribute for a reliable estimation of the compressive strength of unreinforced masonry from the properties of the constituents (units and mortar).

Sophisticated non‐linear continuum models, based on damage, plasticity, cracking or other formulation, are today standard in several finite element programs. The adequacy of such models to provide reliable estimates of masonry compressive strength, from the properties of the constituents, remains unresolved. The authors have shown recently that continuum models might significantly overestimate the prediction of the compressive strength. Hence, an alternative phenomenological approach developed in a discrete framework is proposed, based on attributing to masonry components a fictitious micro‐structure composed of linear elastic particles separated by non‐linear interface elements. The model is discussed in detail and a comparison with experimental results and numerical results using a standard continuum model is provided.

Clear advantages in terms of compressive strength and peak strain prediction were found using the particle model when compared with standard continuum models. Moreover, compressive and tensile strength values provided by the model were found to be particle size‐ and particle distortion‐independent for practical purposes. It is also noted that size‐dependent responses were obtained and that shear parameters rather than tensile parameters were found to play a major role at the meso‐level of the phenomenological model.

This paper provides further insight into the compressive behaviour of quasi‐brittle materials, with an emphasis on the strength prediction of masonry composites. Reliable prediction of masonry strength is of great use in the civil engineering field, allowing one to reduce experimental testing in expensive wallets and to avoid the usage of conservative empirical formulae.

The São Lourenço River (SLR) is used to supply potable waters for the cities of São Lourenço da Serra and Juquitiba, but receives the residues from the water treatment plants (WTPs) and sewage treatment plants (STPs), respectively. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impacts of the discharges of Juquitiba’s WTP and STP on the quality of the SLR, by using an integrated approach based on different lines of evidence.

Six sampling sites were established along the river and comprised areas situated upstream and downstream of the discharges. Five sampling surveys were performed between 2004 and 2006 for collecting water and sediment samples for ecotoxicological assays. In two of these campaigns, benthic community structure and geochemistry (metals, nutrients and sediment texture) were also assessed.

Concentrations of P, Fe and Al in waters exceeded the national standards, but sediments were not considered to be contaminated by metals or nutrients. Water and sediments tended to exhibit marginal toxicities, excluding the sediments from JQT007 and JQT008 that were frequently toxic. Combination of geochemistry, toxicity and ecological indices indicated that some sites are not degraded, but in some stations the benthic alteration may be due to non-measured contaminants, especially in JQT007 and JQT008.

As the use of waters from SLR for public supply has increased, these results show that action should be taken in order to reverse the environmental degradation of SRL.

This research combined sediment and water quality assessments in order to provide a more suitable and reliable diagnostic of the environmental quality of the SLR.

This study analyzes the effect of the mandatory adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the level of both accruals-based (AEM) and real earnings management (REM) in a comprehensive sample of firms from emerging markets. It also analyzes whether this effect differs depending on the nature/extent of IFRS adoption (full versus modified).

Some previous studies predominantly made up of samples from developed countries suggest a substitution of AEM for REM in the post-IFRS period. The authors test whether this trade-off among the two earnings management strategies is also evident in emerging markets, based on a sample of 27,789 firm-year observations from 18 countries between 2000 and 2018.

The results suggest that IFRS adoption in emerging markets is associated with the replacement of REM by AEM, unlike previous overall evidence in developed countries where firms appear to do the opposite. The results also show that this replacement is lower in the emerging markets fully applying IFRS, when compared to those applying a modified version of these international standards.

Possibly due to the poor institutional environment of emerging markets, coupled with greater flexibility inherited of IFRS principles-based approach, the authors reiterate an imminent concern about IFRS encouraging substitution of REM for AEM in emerging countries, namely in those applying a modified version of IFRS.

While the predominant IFRS literature in emerging markets remains focused on analyzing only single-country studies, promoting clearly mixed results, the authors enhance such discussion and foster this debate on a more international level by analyzing the joint effect of IFRS in 18 emerging markets and by comparing the effect of full and modified IFRS adoption.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether firms from countries presenting higher levels of corruption are more likely to have higher levels of earnings management than their counterparts from countries with lower levels of corruption. It also explicitly examines how this relationship compares between emerging and developed economies.

Using multiple regression analysis, this study tests the hypothesis of positive association between the countries’ level of corruption and the level of earnings management using a sample of foreign firms with American Depositary Receipts in the US market.

Findings indicate that higher corruption perception is related to higher incentives for firms to manipulate earnings in the case of emerging countries. Such results are not identified in developed countries where the level of minority investors’ protection is higher. Findings also indicate that in developed countries earnings management is negatively related to investor protection, which is not the case for emerging countries.

As far as the authors are aware, this study is the first to examine the effects of corruption on earnings management on the basis of accounting firm-level data.

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 makes a brief incursion through a trajectory of over three decades of activism by the Centre for the Study of Violence at the University of São Paulo (Núcleo de Estudos da Violência in Portuguese, NEV) in Brazil, recovering the legacy of its forms of activism and academic reflection while analysing the interfaces between violence and democracy in Brazil. The 1980s in Brazil were marked by expectations of profound political and social changes in the context of democratic transition. After 21 years of dictatorship (1964–1985), the military gradually withdrew from government, returning the state’s executive branch to civilian representatives. This was a moment of optimism for progressive groups and social movements, which had fought to dismantle the tradition of arbitrariness and violations of rights perpetrated by the state during the military dictatorship. In this context, NEV was founded as a research unit linked to the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences. Its core academic objective was to analyse and scientifically denounce the conjuncture of violence and human rights violations that remained recurrent; consequently, it demonstrated the continuity of unequal power relations, social and cultural practices that fuel authoritarianism in times considered not authoritarian.

The purpose of this paper is to identify how consumer engagement practices shape the dynamics of a soccer club virtual brand community.

A netnographic approach was employed. Using a Python script, more than 7,000 tweets about São Paulo FC soccer club on Twitter were collected and analyzed using the Virtual Brand Community Engagement Practices typology.

The dynamics of engagement relies on two types of practices: those that comprise the actions of tweeting, retweeting, replying to, mentioning and liking messages from and about the São Paulo FC soccer club profile and those derived from the proposition of Hollebeek et al. (2017). Given the dynamics of Twitter, some practices have performed differently than the original proposal, resulting in a slight adaptation of the framework.

Given the length and the netnographic nature of this study, its findings should be considered exploratory. Future studies can build upon the ideas presented here by researching different contexts and focal objects of engagement.

This paper provides the refinement of social media strategies and content development to make them more efficient and to establish a relevant communication channel with audiences. This knowledge can contribute to a better understanding of goals and metrics.

This paper is based on the behavioral nature of engagement in virtual brand communities, which is an increasing topic of interest. To date, few studies have examined online engagement using a practice approach specifically in the sports marketing context.

2D laser rangefinders (LRFs) are commonly used sensors in the field of robotics, as they provide accurate range measurements with high angular resolution. These sensors can be coupled with mechanical units which, by granting an additional degree of freedom to the movement of the LRF, enable the 3D perception of a scene. To be successful, this reconstruction procedure requires to evaluate with high accuracy the extrinsic transformation between the LRF and the motorized system.

In this work, a calibration procedure is proposed to evaluate this transformation. The method does not require a predefined marker (commonly used despite its numerous disadvantages), as it uses planar features in the point acquired clouds.

Qualitative inspections show that the proposed method reduces artifacts significantly, which typically appear in point clouds because of inaccurate calibrations. Furthermore, quantitative results and comparisons with a high-resolution 3D scanner demonstrate that the calibrated point cloud represents the geometries present in the scene with much higher accuracy than with the un-calibrated point cloud.

The last key point of this work is the comparison of two laser scanners: the lemonbot (authors’) and a commercial FARO scanner. Despite being almost ten times cheaper, the laser scanner was able to achieve similar results in terms of geometric accuracy.

This work describes a novel calibration technique that is easy to implement and is able to achieve accurate results. One of its key features is the use of planes to calibrate the extrinsic transformation.

This study investigates how the association between national culture and earnings management compares between developed and emerging countries.

The empirical analysis relies on a sample of 6,313 firm-year observations from 11 emerging markets and 27,605 firm-year observations from 22 developed countries. The authors use ordinary least squares regression methods to test the hypotheses of the study.

Based on Hofstede's (2011) cultural dimensions, the authors find that firms from countries with a higher level of uncertainty avoidance and individualism are less likely to engage in earnings management, but the effect of uncertainty avoidance (individualism) is more (less) pronounced in the emerging countries. Moreover, the authors demonstrate that firms from emerging (developed) countries with higher levels of power distance and masculinity are less (more) likely to engage in earnings management. Finally, the authors find evidence of a trade-off between accruals-based and real earnings management in firms from countries with greater long-term orientation and an indulgence cultural dimension.

This paper adds to the literature by theoretically discussing and empirically analysing the role that developed and emerging countries' development plays on the effect of national culture on earnings management.