Paving (through) Amazonia: Neoliberal Urbanism and the Reperipheralization of Roraima

This paper examines the neoliberal reshaping of infrastructure provision in Brazil's extreme north since the mid-1990s, when roadway investments resulted in unprecedented regional connectivity. The BR-174 upgrade, the era's most important project, marked a transition from resource-based developmentalism to free-market transnationalism. Primarily concerned with urban competitiveness, the federal government funded the trunk roadway's paving to facilitate manufacturing exports from Manaus. While an effort was made to minimize deforestation, planners sidelined development implications in adjacent Roraima. The state's urban system has thus experienced reperipheralization and intensified primacy. Market-led growth now compounds the inheritance of hierarchical centralism and ongoing governmental neglect. Our study shows a vast territory dependent on primate cities for basic goods and services. Travelling with Roraimans from bypassed towns, we detected long-distance passenger transportation and surface logistics with selective routes. Heterogeneous Roraiman (im)mobilities comprise middle-class tourism and heightened consumerism as well as informal mobility tactics and transnational circulations of precarious labor. The paper exhorts neoliberal urbanism research to look beyond both Euro America's metropoles and their Global South counterparts. Urbanization dynamics in Brazil's extreme north demonstrate that market-disciplined investments to globalize cities produce far-reaching spatial effects. These are felt even by functionally-articulated-yet-marginalized peripheries in ostensibly remote locations

A geographical population analysis of dental trauma in school-children aged 12 and 15 in the city of Curitiba-Brazil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study presents a geographical analysis of dental trauma in a population of 12 and 15 year-old school-children, in the city of Curitiba, Brazil (n = 1581), using a database obtained in the period 2005-2006. The main focus is to analyze dental trauma using a geographic information system as a tool for integrating social, environmental and epidemiological data.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Geostatistical analysis of the database and thematic maps were generated showing the distribution of dental trauma cases according to Curitiba's Health Districts and other variables of interest. Dental trauma spatial variation was assessed using a generalized additive model in order to identify and control the individual risk-factors and thus determine whether spatial variation is constant or not throughout the Health Districts and the place of residence of individuals. In addition, an analysis was made of the coverage of dental trauma cases taking the spatial distribution of Curitiba's primary healthcare centres.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall prevalence of dental trauma was 37.1%, with 53.1% in males and 46.7% in females. The spatial analysis confirms the hypothesis that there is significant variation in the occurrence of dental trauma, considering the place of residence in the population studied (Monte Carlo test, p = 0,006). Furthermore, 28.7% of cases had no coverage by the primary healthcare centres.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The effect of the place of residence was highly significant in relation to the response variable. The delimitation of areas, as a basis for case density, enables the qualification of geographical territories where actions can be planned based on priority criteria. Promotion, control and rehabilitation actions, applied in regions of higher prevalence of dental trauma, can be more effective and efficient, thus providing healthcare refinement.</p

Áreas de produção de algodão em Mato Grosso: nematoides, murcha de fusarium, sistemas de cultivo, fertilidade e física de solo.

A produção de algodão no estado de Mato Grosso é comprovadamente eficiente e rentável. A cada safra aumentam a tecnificação da cultura e o conhecimento acumulado. Reflexo disso é o crescimento da área ocupada por essa cultura em Mato Grosso, que representa mais de 50% do algodão plantado no país. No entanto, problemas relacionados à ocorrência de nematoides e doenças a eles associadas vêm crescendo e preocupando os produtores. Existem vários exemplos de inviabilidade de áreas em função desses parasitas, principalmente em locais que foram tradicionais no cultivo do algodoeiro. Práticas de manejo deverão ser incentivadas para reduzir ou pelo menos manter estável o problema. Para que a melhor estratégia possa ser utilizada, além de quantificar quais são as espécies presentes, é fundamental conhecer o sistema de produção no qual atua o produtor, o histórico da área, bem como as condições físicas e químicas do solo. O trabalho aqui relatado enfoca um esforço nesta direção, realizado em parceria entre o Instituto Mato-grossense do Algodão (IMAmt), a Associação Mato-grossense dos Produtores de Algodão (AMPA), o Instituto Brasileiro do Algodão (IBA), a Associação dos Produtores de Sementes de Mato Grosso (Aprosmat) e quatro unidades da Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa): a Embrapa Agrossilvipastoril, Embrapa Algodão, Embrapa Instrumentação e Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste.bitstream/item/115841/1/cpamt-2014-matos-producao-algodao-mt.pd