Urban mobility plays a key role in the ecosystems of complex smart cities. It is considered a key factor in enabling cities to become more intelligent, which highlights the importance of identifying the drivers that improve the intelligence of cities. In this study, we investigate the main drivers with the potential to increase urban mobility intelligence and assign them a priority. Following on from a systematic review of the literature, we conducted broad and detailed bibliographic research based on the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). We also surveyed 181 professionals working in the field concerned to confirm the importance of different drivers and assign them a level of priority. The results show that 27 drivers identified in the literature were considered important, of which seven, related to city governance and technical solutions, were considered the most important to increase urban mobility intelligence.

The universalization of drinking water in rural communities poses a great challenge to developing countries, where rural areas often receive poor water service coverage and limited attention from authorities. This scenario is the current reality in Brazil. The community management model of rural water services has proven to be a noteworthy approach to ensure the continuity of water supply where private and public entities do not operate. However, its sustainability depends on several aspects. The authors of the current paper performed a thorough review of relevant publications in the rural sanitation field of study using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) methodology, which enabled the creation of a list of essential factors capable to ensure the sustainability of Rural Water Supply Services (RWSS). Using the Nominal Group Technique with a selection of participants from a national conference held in Brazil in 2015, specialists hierarchized the factors, demonstrating their perception of the most important aspects necessary in RWSS throughout Brazil. Consequently, the authors noticed the necessity of a strong enabling environment, which recognizes small communities and their local services. Water quality control, post-construction support and the existence of a financial scheme were also pointed out as important aspects to ensure RWSS’s sustainability.

Resumo Embora existam muitas abordagens sobre a exposição ocupacional ao ruído, a análise da percepção individual do trabalhador e suas implicações sobre o seu comportamento constituem ainda um tema raramente abordado. Objetivando colaborar em minimizar esta lacuna, fez-se um levantamento do estado da arte das publicações que relacionam às variáveis que estariam associadas à exposição ao risco físico ruído no meio laboral com o uso do equipamento de proteção auditivo. Após, utilizou-se uma amostra de 278 trabalhadores industriais expostos a níveis de pressões sonoras superiores a 80 dB (A) para examinar a relação entre a percepção do ruído ocupacional e o uso do equipamento individual auditivo. A aplicação da técnica de análise fatorial a esses dados permitiu ainda quantificar efeitos diretos e indiretos de um conjunto de fatores sobre o uso do equipamento. Concluiu-se que a percepção da exposição ao risco do ruído pelos trabalhadores é um importante preditor sobre a decisão de uso do equipamento de proteção auditiva.

The community management model of water supply systems has reached a great number of rural settlements worldwide, especially in developing countries. Its functionality, however, has proven to be a major challenge once the stakeholders responsible for maintaining the service fail to provide the technical, financial, and social resources necessary to secure its sustainability. A number of fragilities are associated with a lack of political recognition of community organizations. In some cases, community organizations have been able to maintain strong recognition in decision-making processes through the establishment of associations involving several community organizations, representing a second organizational level. A third organizational level is achieved once these associations reach an extensive area of a territory. This article conducted four case-studies in Latin America. The study revealed that the emblematic examples according to scientific literature presented the second and, in one case, the third organizational level, while the others, where several weaknesses are noticed, only presented the first level. Although difficulties still exist in every scenario analyzed, our study supports that the presence of the second and third organizational levels are factors that positively contribute to better outcomes from the community management model.

Goal: The main objective of this study is to analyze the benefits and the critical success factors (CSF) to use of Earned Value Management (EVM) in the construction projects. Design / Methodology / Approach: The research methodology was quantitative approach with statistical analysis of questionnaire with 106 answered and validated using the Cronbach's alpha and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin. Results: The construction companies identified the benefits and CSF in the use of EVM. The observed benefits were: achieving project cost, the definition of scope and schedule, anticipating project and project communication. The observed CSF were: team training, project management maturity, top management support, the need of pre-defined procedures, and the use of appropriate software. Limitations of the investigation: The sample of research was composed exclusively of Brazilian construction managers. Originality / Value: The EVM is widely used for project management. However, there are few studies on its use in the construction industry.

InBrazil, family construction companies provide a significant share of goods and services in the construction industry. To protect themselves against fraud, crises and problems inherent to family organizations, these corporations need to implement at least basic corporate governance recommendations. This study evaluates the practices suggested by the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC) based on a survey of 33 organizations. Our results indicate that construction companies in the country start their governance models by standardizing and professionalizing their business; however, they only start considering the family influence in later stages. The average scores obtained for the recommendations investigated suggest poor implementation of corporate governance practices in Brazilian family construction companies.