The fruit growing activity is of great importance for Brazilian agribusiness as the country is the third largest fruit producer in the world. Despite this notability, the fruit market presents obstacles especially related to international trade. Thus, the present study sought to determine the positioning and evolution of Brazil in the international fresh fruit market. Data used in the research were obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (1986 to 2017) and the World Bank (2018), using metrics of export flow, quantity and income of countries related to the main fruits exported by Brazil in the first quarter of 2020. Data were manipulated, transformed into figures and graphs for better visualization of information. The Brazilian position in the in the ranking of fresh fruit exports was not very dynamic during the evaluation period, being dependent on the demand from high-income European countries.

Agriculture, livestock, and fisheries significantly impact socioeconomic, environmental, and health dimensions at global level, ensuring food supply for growing populations whilst promoting economic welfare through international trade, employment, and income. Considering that bilateral food exchanges between countries represent exchanges of natural resources involved in food production (i.e., food imports are equivalent to savings of natural resources), the purpose of the study is to investigate the evolution of carbon and water footprints corresponding to the global food trade networks between 1986 and 2020. The research aims to identify potential associations between carbon and water footprints embedded in food trade and countries’ economic welfare. Complex network analysis was used to map countries’ positions within annual food trade networks, and countries’ metrics within networks were used to identify connections between participation in global trade of carbon and water footprints and economic welfare. The findings of the study show an increase in carbon and water footprints linked to global food exchanges between countries during the period. Furthermore, a country’s centrality within the network was linked to economic welfare, showing that countries with higher imports of carbon and water through global food trade derive economic benefits from participating in global trade. Global efforts towards transformations of food systems should prioritize sustainable development standards to ensure continued access to healthy sustainable diets for populations worldwide.

- Objective The study aimed to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis comparing the treatment based on traditional drug therapy (TDT), in relation to alternative treatment based on combined TDT and exercise program (TDT +E) in real-life condition. Methods: The health outcomes monitored during the investigation were metabolic (glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides) and body composition (weight, body mass index [BMI] and body fat percentage [%BF]) parameters of individuals within each group. Healthcare expenditures from each participant were estimated including information registered in medical records during 12 months of follow-up. Results: The intervention group showed economic advantages in comparison to control group for triglycerides, cholesterol, weight, BMI and body fat percentage and corresponding to savings of US$7.63/mg/dL, US$5.20/mg/dL, US$31.21/kg, US$69.38/kg/m2 and US$19.32/%BF. Results were maintained even after sensitivity analyzes. Conclusions: Exercise programs might be cost-effectiveness to public health interventions among hypertensive patients in primary health care facilities, due to reduced metabolic and body composition variables, which are risk factors for chronic diseases.

Background/Objectives: The Brazilian health system provides healthcare financed by the public and private sector, being the first designed to encompass universal healthcare coverage delivered to the population without charge to patients (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS), whilst the second refers to healthcare coverage delivered for individuals with the capacity to pay for assistance through health insurance or out-of-pocket disbursements. Health insurance companies with beneficiaries receiving publicly financed healthcare from the SUS are required to provide the reimbursement of healthcare expenditures to the government, considering that the health insurance beneficiaries obtain deductions of income taxes designed to fund the SUS. Therefore, the study investigated patterns of healthcare utilization and public expenditure due to the use of public healthcare by beneficiaries of health insurance between 2003 and 2019. Methods: Datasets including annual information on healthcare utilization by beneficiaries of health insurance from the National Agency of Supplementary Health (Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar, ANS) were organized into a single database to allow for the identification of patterns of interest to inform public policies of health. The empirical strategy adopted included the estimation of regression models and agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis to identify factors associated with public sector expenditure. Results: The regression results indicated lower expenditure with female patients, particularly children and adolescents under 20 years old, receiving treatment in public sector facilities linked to the federal government. The cluster analysis showed five types of health insurance beneficiaries with a higher level of healthcare utilization, being three clusters referring to medium complexity procedures with lower public expenditures, and two clusters with higher public expenditures, one cluster that refers to high complexity procedures, and one cluster referring to health insurance schemes without hospitalization. Conclusions: The findings of the study highlight the existence of patterns of healthcare utilization by health insurance beneficiaries that may compromise the sustainability of public funding within the Brazilian health system.

Agent-based models (ABMs) require critical decisions regarding the selection of parameters and probability distributions, so that simulations properly represent the phenomena under investigation. In practice, however, researchers employ diverse strategies to approach the challenges, and no shared standard exists for parameterization or for validation through sensitivity analysis. This paper contributes to the literature by synthesizing the current state of the art and proposing guidelines for the decision-making processes involved in the definition of two key elements in the construction of functional ABMs, i.e., parameters and probability distributions, in addition to their validation through sensitivity analysis. A scoping literature review focusing on construction, application, and protocols for agent-based modeling in the social sciences was conducted, followed by a critical synthesis of studies to extract strategies and generate recommendations on the subject. Drawing on this synthesis, we develop a Methodological Alignment Index that quantifies the fit between a model’s stated objective and its parameterization and sensitivity-analysis choices, complemented by a visual evidence map combining keyword co-occurrence and cross-tabulation analyses. The findings indicate an absence of standardization in the definition of parameters and probability distributions within ABM research, and a structural misalignment between model purpose and methodological rigor: only about a third of the studies reviewed adopt methods aligned with their stated objective, a gap that has persisted over the past decade. Decision-support and predictive models are prominent in the literature, yet they frequently lack robust parameterization strategies or advanced sensitivity-analysis techniques. These findings emphasize the need for standardized guidelines to align methodological choices with model objectives in ABM applications within the social sciences. In response to this gap, we present a framework for the selection of parameters and probability distributions in the development of ABMs—covering decision-making guidelines, validation strategies, and documentation standards to enhance reproducibility—and demonstrate its application on independent published cases from the reviewed corpus.