Interior Cities Research Articles

Inova Lab Una - Economic Radar: Mobile Application to Enhance Investment Attractiveness in Small Cities

The process of investing in cities and their businesses is an extremely complex issue that directly impacts the daily lives of citizens. However, agile and consolidated information is not always available so that people with less market knowledge can assess the possibleattractiveness of investments in interior cities. Information often exists, but it is very widespread and fragmented. The general objective of this paper is to present a central platform to gather and make available fundamental information about the municipality and its surrounding region. The proposal is to create a robust and objective virtual environment, facilitating the analysis of companies that are considering possible investments in the area. Furthermore, the initiative seeks to promote the visibility of small cities, which are often neglected in the investment scenario. By providing detailed and updated information, our platform aims to highlight the economic, cultural and social potential of these locations, encouraging investors' interest in contributing to the sustainable development of these communities. The first experiment of this platform focuses on the city of Bom Despacho, a city with more than 50 thousand inhabitants, to provide accurate and relevant data, to not only attract investments, but also promote a more equitable distribution of economic opportunities, contributing to the construction of more resilient and prosperous communities. A Mobile application with interaction with public databases related to investments, with the ability to receive data and search in data available for access, was developed for experiments that can be used in other cities with the same profile.

Challenges faced by public sector community pharmacists in interior cities of Brazil during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Challenges faced by public sector community pharmacists in interior cities of Brazil during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Filmic space

The projects collected here under the banner of Filmic Space are seen as an extension of the ideas brought to light in the publication Interior Cities. Interior Cities represents the outcomes of the last seven years of the program grouped within specific conceptual concerns. The book chronicles ideas of spatial perception, sensing space, elemental space, contextual space, cross cultural space, space of the imagination, incisions into the metropolis and virtual space.

The 2030 agenda and the goal of gender equality in tourism in Mexico

This study examines the dynamics of gender equality, identified as one of the most significant Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) in the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, within the tourism sector in Mexico. This analysis focuses on the description of tourism activity and the performance of gender equality indicators during the fiveyear period from 2003 to 2018. For this analysis, data were sourced from the Economic Census of INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography). Based on the classification of the 133 tourist destinations from the National System of Statistical Information of the Tourism Sector in Mexico (DATATUR) of the SECTUR (Mexican Ministry of Tourism), the 70 most representative tourist destinations for the country were selected for this research. The findings of the study indicate more elevated values of the gender equality index in interior cities and cultural destinations, contrasting with lower scores in one of the states most focused on tourism industry in Mexico. However, it is noteworthy that the growth dynamics of the gender equality index are more pronounced in the Yucatan peninsula and Baja California. In contrast, states hosting cultural destinations and traditional beaches exhibit a more moderate development pace in terms of gender equality. Furthermore, it is observed that the values of the gender equality index are higher in specific tourist destinations or municipalities, compared to the state averages in which they are located.

Academic Spaces and Architectural Composition

This paper sought to develop an architectural proposal for a campus. The analysis of historical aspects of the implementation of higher education in Brazil was essential to understand the notion of campus and the relationship between architectural design and the restructuring of the teaching model in the 1960s The architectural design of the university campus in Brazil is inserted in the context of Modern Architecture and in the principles of the Charter of Athens. The pioneering institutions in this model, UnB and Unicamp, promoted the review of academic programs aligned with the innovation of the physical structure of space to promote university integration. The period from 2000 to 2010 was expressive in the creation of new campuses, many located in the interior cities. In this context, Univasf stands out, whose most recent campus is Salgueiro-PE, with courses in Production and Computer Engineering. Univasf's initiative for Salgueiro contributed to the choice of land for the implementation of the architectural design. The bibliographical research was significant to understand the process of the emergence of the campus in Brazil, to know the history of the constitution of academic spaces and the importance of university architecture. The pioneer institutions in this model, UnB and Unicamp, promoted the review of academic programs aligned with the innovation of the physical structure of the space to promote integration. In view of this, UNIVASF's Salgueiro campus was chosen as a reference for further analysis of the architectural proposal for a campus under development.

Design and Implementation of Nasopharyngeal Specimen Storage in Straws during the COVID19 Pandemic in Côte d'Ivoire

The Pasteur Institute of Côte d’Ivoire in its mission of surveillance and support to public health participates in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Côte d’Ivoire. It is involved in the diagnosis by RT-PCR of SARS-CoV-2. Through its biological resource center, which is the regional biobank of ECOWAS, the Pasteur Institute of Côte d’Ivoire keeps a priori or a posteriori nasopharyngeal samples of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated data. This study aimed to characterize the key issues driving the straw CBSTM storage of COVID-19 pandemic nasopharyngeal specimens in Côte d’Ivoire, the key determinants of the process and the final storage protocol. Planning was used to examine the technical, economic, logistical, and political aspects of the project. The study was designed to include 100,000 samples from Abidjan, the economic capital, and the interior of the country. In the interior of the country, the samples came from COVID-19 centers in the interior cities. The biobanking process of nasopharyngeal samples in straw CBS TM or high security straws from a primary tube was carried out using two techniques: manual and semi-automatic. These straws are properly sealed with a guaranteed airtightness using the System of Manual Sealing (SYMS) and the semi-automated instrument (PACE) of the company CryoBioSystem (Saint Ouen sur Iton, France). The average monthly performance of the straws obtained is 1,685 for the manual technique versus 2,820 for the semi-automatic technique. This performance is in line with the objective set during the design of the study. The acquisition of the semi-automated technique (PACE) has allowed the biobank to reinforce biosafety measures concerning the handling of samples. In the event of a large-scale epidemic, the collection in a biobank requires a complete automated chain for stratification to facilitate the provision of samples to applicants and to strengthen the heritage collection

Spanish cities as filming locations: analysis and spatial distribution

The main objective of this article is to show the spatial distribution of Spanish cities according to the degree of their cinematographic projection. For this purpose, a sample consisting of 178 feature films was selected. After viewing each of them, 3,071 exterior clips from these movies were geo-localized. Using this methodology has enabled us to circumvent the feature film as a unit of analysis, and instead focus attention on the clips, understood as such as sequences shot in exteriors, with their precise duration and geo-localization. The article describes and differentiates between three large territorial areas for filming: the Autonomous Regions of Madrid, Spain’s coastal cities, and Spain’s interior cities, examining factors that explain the distribution of the shootings, whether geographic, cinematographic or administrative-economic. Information from the highest-rated movies reveals a group of Spanish cities with limited cinematographic dissemination, for which some recommendations are made for improving the projection of the city’s image.

Assessment of aerosols over five cities of Angola based on MERRA–2 reanalysis data

The use of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) has been proven as an alternative to the traditional ground-level monitoring of air quality in many countries across the world. Therefore, this study based on MERRA-2 data aims: (i) to characterize the spatiotemporal and component variations of aerosols in the atmosphere over the capital cities (Luanda, Sumbe, Benguela, Huambo and Lubango) of the five most densely populated provinces of Angola from 2010 to 2020; (ii) to analyze the relationship between the monthly mean variation of the total AOD and the meteorological parameters (precipitation, temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity) in those five cities; and (iii) to assess the influence of emissions from the Nyamuragira volcano, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the air quality at the five cities. The most significant contribution to the total AOD was derived from organic carbon, in all the cities, whereby the highest values (0.19–0.23) were in Luanda. Ranges of sulphates across the coastal cities were higher when compared to the interior cities caused by the emissions inventory data. The value of AOD in all the cities increased and reached the peak during the dry season. The HYSPLIT model showed that air masses from Nyamuragira at various heights in November 2011 reached Luanda and Sumbe, and CALIPSO could confirm the existence of volcanic aerosols in this same period. This study allowed to conclude that the variability of AOD loading depends on seasons and regions, thus providing a little more information about the matter.

Associativism and extensionism: a proposal for ecotourism and reproduction of productive backyards Caratateua island, Belém–PA

Caratateua Island comprises the insular portion of the metropolitan region of Belém-Pará. Despite the historical abandonment of the State, demonstrated in the low level of basic sanitation and difficulties in the supply of potable water and a precarious sewage network, limited availability of high schools and only one health center to serve the people of the island, the place ends up being a refuge for the population excluded by urban reform projects, such as the macro-drainage of the hydrographic basins of Belém, for example, in addition to receiving families who migrate from other interior cities and Ilha do Marajó. However, the island is reference for Environmental Education, through sustainable practices dissemination by the Fundação Escola Bosque Professor Eidorfe Moreira, housing popular cultural events such “cordão de pássaros juninos” and “boi bumbá” and festivals such as “Círio de Nossa Senhora da Conceição” and festivities of Iemanjá. Another specificity of the island is a strong political activism that manifests itself in the formation of associations with different purposes, from religious freedom, ancestry, valorization of rites and recovery of knowledge, to purposes involving human rights, rehabilitation, reintegration into the market for disabled people, agroecology, local development and food security as proposed by the Beneficent Association of Disabled and Reduced Mobility People of Pará, which constitutes a proposition to face the post-pandemic crisis in insular areas and is the main theme of this article.

The hindrances to perform the COVID-19 vaccination in Brazil

ABSTRACT Introduction Brazil is one of the epicenters of COVID-19 pandemic and faces several hindrances to make his COVID-19 vaccination plan efficient. Methods The Brazilian COVID-19 vaccination plan was evaluated and the hindrances to make the COVID-19 vaccination plan efficient were described and discussed. Results High territorial extension might contribute to a delay on the COVID-19 vaccination, due to difficulty in delivering vaccines to furthest Brazilian states and to all the interior cities. The choice among the vaccines should be done based on the type of storage and must consider the transport conditions necessary to maintain its effectiveness. The indigenous individuals were included with health-care workers as the first group to be vaccinated, inflaming the number of vaccines doses distributed in states where the indigenous population have higher prevalence. The antivaccine movement and the politicization of the vaccine are also hindrances to be overcome in Brazil. The COVID-19 incidence or mortality rate and the distribution of intensive care units (ICUs) are not a criterion to distribute the vaccines, as we did not identify a correlation between these markers and the number of vaccines. However, a strong or very strong correlation occurred between the number of COVID-19 vaccines and the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths by COVID-19, gross domestic product, as well as populational density. A total of 83,280,475 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were distributed in Brazil. In the first dose, the Coronavac (Sinovac™), AZD1222 (AstraZeneca/Oxford™), and BNT162b (Pfizer/BioNTech™) vaccines were responsible to vaccinate, respectively, 9.61%, 6.69%, and 0.35% of the Brazilian population. In the second dose, the Coronavac, AZD1222, and BNT162b vaccines were responsible to vaccinate, respectively, 7.52%, 0.53%, and <0.01% of the Brazilian population. Conclusions The Federal Government must evaluate the hindrances and propose solutions to maximize the immunization against COVID-19 on Brazil.

Sending children to the interior cities and enabling them a promising future – a qualitative study of Tibetan parents’ educational decisions

ABSTRACT This paper explores the complexities behind the educational decisions of Tibetan parents on sending their children to the interior cities for dislocated secondary education. Drawing on qualitative data through multiple methods, we find that their educational decisions are driven both by a rational calculation of the benefits and costs and by a moralised ideology of good parenting. Educational opportunities are prioritised over ethnic cultural learning in parents’ decisions. However, parents hope their children will make up for this loss at a later life stage, at college and work. Parents’ temporary compromises reflect their positioning of priorities at different life stages. This study offers a new lens to understand the politics of dislocated schooling in China from ethnic minority parents’ perspective.

Interior China as the (Desired) Destination: Educational Mobilities, the Reflexive Project of the Self, and Ethnic Han Youth with Tibet Household Registration

In this article, Miaoyan Yang examines the identity struggles of a group of youth from China’s majority ethnic Han group. As children of “in-Tibet cadres,” these Han youth were deemed “privileged” in their educational opportunities as compared with both Han students from interior China and ethnic Tibetan minority students from Tibet whose first language was not Chinese. This was because at young ages they could move to economically developed interior cities for their secondary education through a state-run Interior Tibet Class program. While participation in this program ensured these students’ placement in China’s key universities, the price of the privilege included continual involuntary relocations, long-term separation from their home communities, a sense of insecurity and marginalization, and emotional alienation from their parents. This study engages the theory of the reflexive project of the self by discerning how mobility and politics impact the place-making and life planning of individuals in their identity constructions.

Can China's pollution reduction mandates improve transboundary water pollution?

This paper discusses how the pollution prevention mandate imposed by China's central government triggers water pollution across provincial borders. Because the central government has put the pollutant reduction into the promotion evaluation, and pollution control in the downstream area of a province mainly brings benefit to other regions, the provincial officials are incentivized to reduce the water pollutants away from the downstream city and strengthen environmental regulation within the province. We apply the difference-in-differences-differences (DDD) method to the dataset on water quality in cities along 18 major rivers in China from 2007 through 2016. We find that compared with the interior cities, the most downstream city of a province faces worse water quality. Besides, we find that environmental policy significantly increases the extent of pollution across jurisdictional boundaries. Then, we turn on the mechanism and find that the pollutant reduction target is significantly lower in the most downstream city of a province. Unanticipated provincial government behavior leads to severe transboundary water pollution.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES IN CAXIAS, MARANHÃO, BRAZIL

Introdução: A entrada do coronavírus (SARS-CoV-2) no Brasil espalha-se rapidamente e chega às cidades do interior. Caxias, a quinta mais populosa do Maranhão, desde abril de 2020, registra casos de Covid-19. Neste estudo, o objetivo é analisar o perfil epidemiológico dos casos confirmados do novo coronavírus (SARS-Cov-2) notificados na cidade de Caxias–Maranhão. Delineamento: Estudo epidemiológico observacional, descritivo, realizado com dados secundários extraídos do Boletim “COVID-19 em Caxias-MA”, no período de 12 de abril a 01 de junho de 2020. Foram avaliadas faixa etária, sexo, área da cidade de casos confirmados e óbitos. Os dados foram agrupados no Microsoft Excel®, realizada análise estatística descritiva, frequência absoluta e relativa. Resultados: No período analisado foram confirmados 290 casos e 11 óbitos pelo novo coronavírus. Dos casos confirmados 24,8% na faixa etária entre 30 a 39 anos e 22,1% de 40 a 49 anos, 51,7% do sexo masculino e 96,5% da zona urbana. Os óbitos ocorrem em 54,5% do sexo feminino e na faixa etária de 60 a 69 anos (36,3%). Implicações: Torna-se necessária reforçar o distanciamento social, aumentar a realização de testes confirmatórios de COVID-19, promover noções de higiene para prevenção, monitoramento e controle a fim de minimizar a disseminação do vírus.

A cidade de Barreiras enquanto polo de Ensino Superior na região do Extremo Oeste da Bahia: desafios e perspectivas

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal discutir a expansão e interiorização de Instituições de Ensino Superior na cidade de Barreiras-BA, visando identificar as perspectivas e os desafios, além de interpretar como a expansão do Ensino Superior dinamiza a economia local e regional. No decorrer da referida pesquisa foi necessário uma análise sobre a implantação de Universidades no Extremo Oeste da Bahia, com ênfase na diversidade de alguns cursos superiores oferecidos pelas seguintes Instituições de Ensino Superior - IES: Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia – UFOB (mais os campus territorializados nas cidades de: Luís Eduardo Magalhães, Bom Jesus da Lapa e Barra); Instituto Federal da Bahia - IFBA, (campus Barreiras); Universidade do Estado da Bahia – UNEB, (campus IX); Faculdade São Francisco de Barreiras – FASB; Faculdade D. Pedro ll; Faculdade Regional da Bahia – UNIRB e Universidade Norte do Paraná – UNOPAR. Desta forma, considerando e pontuando a importância do Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais (Reuni), nas cidades interioranas do Brasil.

A Influência das Condições Institucionais de Universidades Públicas para o Desenvolvimento de Competências Eletrônicas dos Professores no Ensino Superior

A expansão das instituições de ensino superior (IES) brasileiras, especialmente com a instalação de diversos campi nas cidades do interior do país e o avanço das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC), tem impulsionado o uso da educação a distância (EaD) pelas universidades como forma de responder às novas demandas educacionais decorrentes das mudanças na nova ordem econômica mundial. Esse novo cenário de ensino-aprendizagem envolve mudança de competências e de formação do professor do ensino superior: desenvolvimento acadêmico sólido, experiência profissional e competência pedagógica. O desenvolvimento de tais competências pode ser, portanto, influenciado pelas condições institucionais das universidades nas quais os professores estão inseridos. Assim, o presente estudo buscou analisar como o desenvolvimento das competências eletrônicas dos professores do ensino superior relaciona-se com as condições do contexto organizacional das IES. Como locus para a realização do estudo de caso qualitativo optou-se pela Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL). Ficou evidenciado que a maior parte da construção do perfil de e-competências dos docentes da UFAL se dá mais pela prática do dia a dia e pela necessidade dos docentes de possuir o conhecimento e a desenvoltura para lecionar na EaD, sem esperar pelas melhorias das condições apresentadas pela UFAL. Observa-se que a instituição ainda apresenta em sua gestão universitária lacunas que precisam ser revistas com vista ao desenvolvimento das e-competências de seu corpo docente para atuação na EaD. Palavras-chave: Contexto institucional. Universidade federal. Competên-cias eletrônicas

Pollen season trends in winter flowering trees in South Spain

The present work has studied the trends in pollen seasons of winter flowering trees (Alnus, Cupressaceae, Fraxinus, Populus and Ulmus) in Cordoba, Granada and Malaga (Andalusia, Spain) over the years 1994–2017. The influence of meteorological parameters on the seasonal airborne pollen has been also analyzed. Pollen concentrations were recorded using Hirst-type volumetric spore traps, following the standardized methodology of the Spanish Aerobiology Network and the European Aerobiology Society. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall test and the nonparametric Sen’s method have been used to study linear trends for pollen season timing and intensity, and for temperature and rainfall. Significance was determined using the F-test. Spearman analyses were applied to test for correlations between pollen season parameters and weather-related factors before and over the pollen season. The results obtained suggest that flowering has delayed over recent years, especially for trees with a bloom closer to spring (poplar and elm). Earlier flowering species are more influenced by the meteorological parameters before the flowering. However, species blooming later are more influenced by the meteorological parameters during the pollen season. Meteorological parameters affect more the interior cities than the coastal city.

Toward Human-Centered Urbanization? Housing Ownership and Access to Social Insurance Among Migrant Households in China

For the past few years, China’s urbanization policy has focused on expanding welfare and affordable housing for rural migrants so as to encourage them to put down roots in the city. The international literature disagrees on the relationship between homeownership and welfare—whether the former is a substitute for or a consequence of the latter. Using multilevel logistic regression on a 2015 nationally representative survey, this paper explores the determinants of housing ownership among China’s rural migrant households in their city of residence, focusing particularly on access to urban social insurance. The results show that institutional ties to the city such as enrollment in local pensions and health insurance are associated with higher likelihood of homeownership. This paper argues that policy interventions should target the social security system, as rural migrants are likely unwilling or unable to invest in urban housing due to the increased risk and precarity they typically experience. The findings also suggest that to make urbanization more sustainable, the government should aim at making cities more family-friendly, expanding alternatives to employment-based social insurance schemes, and targeting efforts on interior cities in migrant-sourcing provinces that pose fewer barriers to permanent settlement.

Detection of Mansonella ozzardi among blood donors from highly endemic interior cities of Amazonas state, northern Brazil.

In the Brazilian Amazon, the filarial nematode Mansonella ozzardi co-exists with malaria parasites and thick blood smear microscopy is considered the diagnostic gold standard. Transfusion of M. ozzardi microfilariae does not establish new infections, however microfilariae can survive approximately 2 years in blood-recipients with unknown risk of pathology. Data on transfusion-transmitted filariasis are lacking. This study investigated M. ozzardi parasitemias in blood donors from decentralized centers of "Fundação Hematologia e Hemoterapia do Estado do Amazonas/HEMOAM," Northern Brazil. Cross-sectional investigation employing blood smear microscopy (n = 356) and qualitative nested-M. ozzardi-PCR (227 out of 356) in donor candidates from 19 hemocenters in interior/rural municipalities of Amazonas state. Participants were mostly young males. Positivity by microscopy was 7.9% (28 out of 356) and 23.8% by M. ozzardi-PCR (54 out of 227). Parasitaemias were found in 16 out of 19 municipalities. In 54 M. ozzardi-positives, 24 were ineligible; among 30 that donated, 27 were interdicted by seropositivity (22 anti-HBc, 3 anti-HBc + HBsAg, 1 Chagas+malaria, 1 VDRL). Seropositivty was higher in M. ozzardi-PCR-positives vs M. ozzardi-PCR-negatives (OR = 15.8, 95% CI 4.5-56.1, p < 0.0001). Three M. ozzardi contaminated blood units were transfused, but no follow-up information on the recipients is available. Our study provides important baseline data on M. ozzardi among blood donors from the Brazilian Amazon. Further investigations in endemic areas are necessary to clarify possible association between M. ozzardi and other infections and also to elucidate whether there is any significant clinical effect upon transfusion of contaminated blood.

From Dislocated to Local: Policy Implications of “Educational Aid for Tibet”

ABSTRACT Considered a major ethnic policy aimed at providing “intellectual aid for Tibet”, the interior Tibet schools have recruited more than 100,000 primary school graduates to undertake secondary education in China’s developed cities. This kind of dislocated schooling, although purportedly offering better pedagogy, has been criticised for jeopardising the local educational ecology in Tibet and disconnecting Tibetan students from their families and home communities. Some claim the downplaying of the Tibetan language and culture in these schools implies an assimilatory agenda. Yet the interior Tibet school system, with its primary goal of promoting national unity, has also cultivated a group of culturally and politically conscious Tibetan elites. In order to address these concerns, a localised version has emerged with the establishment of Tibetan schools in the regional capital of Lhasa and the importing of Han teachers from interior cities. Some have praised this new hybrid model, but my interviews with Tibetan teachers working in these schools reveal complicated uncertainties over this policy diversion. By comparing the aid politics of the two different models of dislocated minority education, this article highlights the importance of integrating indigenous voices into the policy process, especially if the state wants to sustain its educational programs for Tibetan students.