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- nvestigation, prospects, and economic scenarios for the use of biochar in small-scale agriculture in tropicalPublication . John, Vinicius; Braga, Ana Rita de Oliveira; Sousa, Heiriane Martins; Danielli, Criscian Kellen Amaro de Oliveira DanielliCriscian Kellen Amaro de Oliveira; Danielli, Filipe Eduardo; Falcão, Newton Paulo de Souza; Guerra, João; Lasmar, Dimas José; Marques-dos-Santos, Cláudia S. C.This study investigates the production and economic feasibility of biochar for smallholder and family farms in Central Amazonia, with potential implications for other tropical regions. The costs of construction of a prototype mobile kiln and biochar production were evaluated, using small-sized biomass from acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) agro-industrial residues as feedstock. The biochar produced was characterised in terms of its liming capacity (calcium carbonate equivalence, CaCO3eq), nutrient content via organic fertilisation methods, and ash analysis by ICP-OES. Field trials with cowpea assessed economic outcomes, as well scenarios of fractional biochar application and cost comparison between biochar production in the prototype kiln and a traditional earth-brick kiln. The prototype kiln showed production costs of USD 0.87–2.06 kg−1, whereas traditional kiln significantlyreduced costs (USD 0.03–0.08 kg−1). Biochar application alone increased cowpea revenue by 34%, while combining biochar and lime raised cowpea revenues by up to 84.6%. Owingto high input costs and the low value of the crop, the control treatment generated greater net revenue compared to treatments using lime alone. Moreover, biochar produced in traditional kilns provided a 94% increase in net revenue compared to liming. The estimated externalities indicated that carbon credits represented the most significant potential source of income (USD 2217 ha−1). Finally, fractional biochar application in ten years can retainover 97% of soil carbon content, demonstrating potential for sustainable agriculture and carbon sequestration and a potential further motivation for farmers if integrated into carbon markets. Public policies and technological adaptations are essential for facilitating biocharadoption by small-scale tropical farmers.
- The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migrationPublication . Amelung, NinaIn this commentary, I explore the temporal dimension of promissory notes of advancing security in the EU through the convergence of migration and crime control, entangled with the interoperability framework and the EU information systems for security, border and migration management. Since its adoption in 2019, the interoperability project has been in a constant state of becoming, with different subprojects with their own trajectories and timelines, dedicated to the expansion of law enforcement’s access to migration data. Studies on yet unbuilt infrastructures highlight how unfinished projects can reshape social and political life while being in the making and explore how incrementally evolving projects rely on promissory notes, causing aspirations and anxieties, yet developing political, material, and affective significance. The opening of existing migration databases such as Eurodac for law enforcement access is already in operation. The inclusion of the law enforcement database system Prüm into the interoperability project is planned and foreseen with the Prüm 2 update. I explore two temporal configurations of the interoperability project: delays and infrastructural obfuscation on the one hand and disconnected temporalities as multiplicity of expansions on the other hand, and their substantive impacts on the criminalization of migrants and migration. I conclude by calling for infrastructural accountability confronting the temporal aspects of obfuscation.
- Belief in a just world and immanent justice reasoning in the sexist reaction to innocent victimsPublication . Negreiros, Taciana Silva; Pereira, Cicero RobertoPeople are motivated to believe that the world is just and often affirm this belief even in extreme situations through immanent justice reasoning (IJR) and secondary victimization behavior, especially when this supports their belief in a just world (BJW). We investigated this phenomenon by presenting participants with a scenario involving a car accident victim who either affirmed or threatened BJW. In Study 1 (N = 106), participants were randomly assigned to a condition in which a male victim’s past behavior either affirmed or threatened the BJW. Results showed that participants who endorsed individual differences in BJW more strongly reported more IJR and secondary victimization attitudes in the BJW-affirming condition than in the BJW-threatening condition. In Study 2 (N = 158), we presented that the victim was a woman, which allowed us to replicate the findings from Study 1 for participants with lower hostile sexism. However, participants with higher hostile sexism who endorsed individual differences in BJW more strongly responded with more IJR and secondary victimization in the BJW-threatening condition than in the BJW-affirming condition. These findings extend the understanding of justice motives and show how BJW interacts with ideological attitudes such as sexism to shape responses to victimization.
- Shattering the duopoly: the 2025 Portuguese elections and the rise of the radical rightPublication . Pimenta, David; Magalhães, Pedro C.The 2025 Portuguese legislative elections consolidated a fundamental change in the country’s party system. Triggered by a high-profile political scandal, the election returned the center-right AD to government. However, it also propelled the radical right Chega to second place in parliament, overtaking the center-left Socialist Party and effectively ending Portugal’s historically duopolistic political landscape. This research note analyzes the electoral campaign dynamics, competing policy agendas, and voter realignments that shaped the electoral outcome.
- Can democratic innovations tackle social-ecological challenges? Gaining insights on transformative governance across European casesPublication . Ribeiro, J.D.; Moniz, João; Campos, Ines; Falanga, RobertoIn an era of democratic backsliding, the pursuit of sustainable development that addresses social-ecological challenges can become a daunting task. Participatory and deliberative practices have flourished over the last few decades, addressing, to varying extents, policy domains that can be understood within the framework of social-ecological governance and related challenges. By understanding these practices through the concept of democratic innovations (DIs), we critically examine the historical connections between practices implemented across Europe with a focus on social-ecological challenges. This work reveals the emerging potential for democratising policy and decision-making, particularly in the areas of climate action and social justice. Despite the potential of DIs for citizen engagement with social-ecological challenges, theevidence gathered so far indicates that the reproduction of social exclusion within DIs is a significant issue, reflecting barriers rooted in socioeconomic cleavages and the myopia of political elites regarding long-term transformations. The capture and cooptation of DIs by powerful groups often reduces their potential to mere performative exercises that contribute little to creating inclusive settings. Therefore, while acknowledging the significant potential of DIs for social-ecological governance, we argue for the need to investigate the contribution of existing practices within extant democratic systems to realise their transformative potential fully.
- Table et sociabilité dans la haute aristocratie portugaise du XIXe siècle: une étude de casPublication . Sobral, José Manuel
- Beyond food: food assistance initiatives, actors, and dynamicsPublication . Augusto, Fábio Rafael
- This has a name: witchcraft, suspicion, and circumlocution in Central AngolaPublication . Dulley, IracemaThe literature on witchcraft has focused predominantly on the accusation of witches, the procedures for establishing guilt, and the effects thereof. However, during my fieldwork in Central Angola, I did not encounter processes of accusation but rather a prevailing mood of unresolved suspicion. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted between 2014 and 2019, this paper theorizes the relationship between witchcraft and suspicion by examining the micro level of social interactions in which witchcraft narratives emerge. It explores how suspicion operates through circumlocution and tautology, arguing that it thrives on indeterminacy, doubt, and suspended indication — elements that structure the dialectic between the general and the particular in witchcraft. This tension allows the relationship between witchcraft and witches to remain open, conditioned not only by social conventions of plausibility and hierarchical relations that position witches and sorcerers but also by the contingencies of how these conventions are enacted in specific interactions.
- War-Driven Permanent Emigration, Sex Ratios, and Female Labor Force ParticipationPublication . Cardoso, Ana Rute; Morin, Louis-PhilippeWe investigate the drivers of female labor force participation in the presence of unbalanced sex ratios due to a scarcity of males. To do so, we exploit exogenous variation in sex ratios across cohorts and regions, using instruments based on massive emigration in the 1960s that was fueled by the Portuguese Colonial War. As the sex ratio declined, female labor force participation increased, while the marriage rate was una ected. Female representation among top occupations increased, and the gender pay gap declined, consistent with the predominance of a demand shock favoring female labor.
- Turning Tactics into Strategy: The Right to Stay Put and the Decommodification of Housing in BarcelonaPublication . Rossini, Luisa; D'adda, GabrieleThe 2007/2008 global financial crisis severely affected EU semi-peripheral countries like Spain, where recovery policies facilitated the entry of international financial actors into the real estate market. In Spain, measures by the state and central bank supported the expansion of equity funds and REITs, accelerating the financialisation of housing and turning it into a speculative asset. This significantly contributed to widespread mortgage repossessions, evictions, and increasing housing precarity. In response, grassroots movements mobilised to defend housing rights and developed tactics that offered meaningful alternatives to eviction and displacement – conditions further exacerbated by the chronic lack of affordable housing, which remains among the lowest in Europe. This article examines the ‘tactics’ enacted by groups actively engaged in housing struggles in Barcelona, some of which were eventually incorporated into public administration strategies. Among these, the use of the right of ‘first refusal and pre-emption’ (tanteo y retracto) – pioneered by movements and some housing cooperatives – has proven effective in countering evictions and contributing to the expansion of affordable and social housing stock. By combining radical actions – such as actual or alleged occupations – with engagement in institutional channels, including demonstrations, policy negotiations, and legislative advocacy, these actors have (re)politicised urban planning and challenged dominant narratives of housing as a financial commodity. This study explores how such contentious urban practices resist financialisation and open space for alternative socio-economic governance in times of housing financialisation, austerity, and shrinking public resources, as well as their effectiveness in transforming grassroots tactics into decommodified and definancialised alternative housing strategies