Solidarity economy in Brazil: movement, discourse and practice

Solidarity economy initiatives constitute a worldwide phenomenon that is today at the very heart of numerous economic and social debates. They are active in a very diverse number of economic sectors, aiming for example to creating employment and income for poor and low-qualified workers, excluded from the conventional, State or private, labour markets. In the paper, we begin with presenting a Polanyian framework for the analysis of such economic activities, which enables us to develop a plural and integral conception of a productive organization, and study all these dimensions together. In a second part, we draw upon the thesis of Polanyi that economy is a political and institutionalized process and present an historic overview of the construction of the solidarity economy ”sector” in Brazil. We will put forward the hypothesis that the solidarity economy today, in Brazil as well as in Latin America in general, represents a social movement. In the third and last part of the paper, we ask ourselves if the solidarity economy movement led to a change in grassroots economic initiatives, such as the “people’s cooperatives”. We present the results of an exploratory research undertaken of 15 people’s cooperatives in the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil

Parasitic chytrids could promote copepod survival by mediating material transfer from inedible diatoms

Diatoms form large spring blooms in lakes and oceans, providing fuel for higher trophic levels at the start of the growing season. Some of the diatom blooms, however, are not grazed by filter-feeding zooplankton like Daphnia due to their large size. Several of these large diatoms are susceptible to chytrid infections. Zoospores of chytrids appeared to be excellent food for Daphnia, both in terms of size, shape, and quality (PUFAs and cholesterol). Thus, zoospores of chytrids can bridge the gap between inedible diatoms and Daphnia. In order to examine the effects of diatoms and chytrids on the survival of copepods, we performed one grazing and one survival experiment. The grazing experiment revealed that the diatom, Asterionella formosa, was not grazed by the copepod, Eudiaptomus gracilis, even after being infected by the chytrid Zygorhizidium planktonicum. However, carbon and nitrogen concentrations were significantly reduced by E. gracilis only when A. formosa was infected by Z. planktonicum, indicating that the chytrids might facilitate material transfer from inedible diatoms to the copepods. The survival experiment revealed that E. gracilis lived shorter with A. formosa than with the cryptophyta Cryptomonas pyrenoidifera. However, the survival of E. gracilis increased significantly in the treatment where A. formosa cells were infected by Z. planktonicum. Since E. gracilis could not graze A. formosa cells due to their large colonial forms, E. gracilis may acquire nutrients by grazing on the zoospores, and were so able to survive in the presence of the A. formosa. This provides new insights into the role of parasitic fungi in aquatic food webs, where chytrids may improve copepod survival during diatom blooms.

The local economic development processes in low-income countries: the case of the metropolis of Chegutu in Zimbabwe

Local authorities are widely regarded as catalysts accelerating localised processes of economic development in industrialised countries but in low-income countries they are perceived as dysfunctional, inefficient and ineffective in meeting and addressing societal demands. This abstract view is however, not grounded in empirical research. As such, utilising the case of the metropolis of Chegutu a survey was designed to empirically explicate the economic processes militating its economic development. The findings are useful to policy-makers, local government authorities and management scholars. The study's unique contribution lies in its examination of the processes of local economic development in a low-income country

Towards a typology of inter-municipal cooperation in emerging metropolitan regions. A case study in the solid waste management sector in Ecuador

Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) is a widely studied governance solution. Most literature defines IMC as a particular service delivery arrangement. However, we argue that IMC manifests itself in several forms and thus a broader definition is necessary. To explore this, we conducted a case study in the solid waste management sector of the emerging metropolitan region in Cuenca-Azogues, Ecuador. Emerging metropolitan regions are particularly suitable for analysing IMC, and so far, there are few studies on IMC in Latin America. Based on the discrepancy between previous studies and the results of our research, we develop a new definition and a new typology of IMC, which can be related to multiple service delivery arrangements

Soil networks become more connected and take up more carbon as nature restoration progresses

Soil organisms have an important role in aboveground community dynamics and ecosystem functioning in terrestrial ecosystems. However, most studies have considered soil biota as a black box or focussed on specific groups, whereas little is known about entire soil networks. Here we show that during the course of nature restoration on abandoned arable land a compositional shift in soil biota, preceded by tightening of the belowground networks, corresponds with enhanced efficiency of carbon uptake. In mid- and long-term abandoned field soil, carbon uptake by fungi increases without an increase in fungal biomass or shift in bacterial-to-fungal ratio. The implication of our findings is that during nature restoration the efficiency of nutrient cycling and carbon uptake can increase by a shift in fungal composition and/or fungal activity. Therefore, we propose that relationships between soil food web structure and carbon cycling in soils need to be reconsidered

FCC testing at bench scale: New units, new processes, new feeds

As the FCC process has evolved over decades, several laboratory scale equipment have appeared to maintain a proper assessment of catalysts activity. Several laboratory equipments are available for simulating the FCC process, from the well known fixed bed, MicroActivity Test to newer, fluid bed or transported bed units. As well, a number of units have been created to simulate other parts of the process such as regenerator or stripper, The increased pressure for treating non-conventional feeds, from reprocessing gasoline to extra-heavy feeds or oils produced from biomass containing large amounts of heteroatoms, increase the needs to have a laboratory test which is as close as possible to the process so that data extraction from the laboratory test are simplified, thus less prone to errors or misunderstanding.Financial support by MICINN (Consolider-Ingenio 2010 MULTICAT) and MINECO (Project MAT2011-29020-0O2-02 and Subprogram for excellence Severo Ochoa, SEV 2012 0267) is gratefully acknowledged.Corma Canós, A.; Sauvanaud, LL. (2013). FCC testing at bench scale: New units, new processes, new feeds. Catalysis Today. 218-219:107-114. doi:10.1016/j.cattod.2013.03.038S107114218-21