On campus interview_random topics

Question 1

Social issues in Brazil

Answer 1

• Economic inequality (10% of Brazilians earning 42.7% of the nation’s income, the poorest 34% earn less than 1.2%.)
• Poverty (favelas=slums): https://brazilian.report/liveblog/2021/08/25/poverty-rates-spike-states/ Poverty is calculated based on health, living standards, quality of education and empowerment.
• Crime. Muggings, robberies, kidnappings and gang violence are common. Policy brutality and corruption is widespread.
• Education: Public education in Brazil is free at all levels. Primary education is compulsory as per the article 208 of the Brazilian Constitution.
  Most primary schools are constitutionally maintained either by municipalities or the states. Both entities are obliged to apply at least 25% of their budgets in education. Since economic disparities exist between states, richer states and cities have more money to deliver quality education, whereas in the poorer cities and States the education will be generally of lower standards.
  The standards of primary and secondary public education have been falling over the past decades. Since the country invested little in education, public education’s standards dropped and the middle class moved their children to private schools.
  The situation has been improving over the past few years thanks to two official projects: Bolsa Escola, by which parents who keep their children in school and with good health receive a small allowance, and FUNDEF, by which municipalities receive federal funds in accordance to the number of children enrolled. Bolsa Escola was a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program that offered mothers in poor households a monthly stipend if their children ages 6 to 15 attended school on a regular basis. The program was implemented across all of Brazil between the years 2001 and 2003, until it was folded into the broader Bolsa Família program.
• Housing
  Rapid urbanization and population growth have caused many problems in developing cities. As cities grow too rapidly, resources are not able to keep up with the swelling population. Housing is one of the major problems many developing cities are facing today. Migrants who cannot afford proper housing are forced to build temporary housing without proper utilities. These settlements are known as favelas (=slums). With a population of 12.7 million people, Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil. With a combination of push and pull factors, urban migration to Rio account for over 65% of population growth. This has led to a serious shortage of proper housing.
  Many city dwellers build their own houses in shanty towns with scrap materials such as iron sheets and wood. Basic sanitation, water, electricity and sewage system may not be available, thereby leading to a spread of diseases. Such units are also overpopulated and located in areas not fit for residential use (such as flood zones, areas subject to land slides, public rights-of-ways, etc.) and need to be replaced or evicted. The favelas are not built according to any laws or safety regulations, and thus residents are constantly at risk of being killed in landslides or fires.
  An example of one such favela in Brazil is Rocinha. Rocinha is one of the largest favelas in Brazil. Located in the southern area of Rio de Janeiro, it is built on a steep hillside overlooking the city. Although official datasets are hard to obtain, it is believed that over 150,000 people reside there.

Brazil’s housing deficit is around 7 million units. “Housing deficit” here refers to the number of shelters which do not have adequate conditions to be habitable, plus the number of housing units that need to be built to shelter all families who currently lack one and, as a result, share a shelter with another household in over crowded conditions.

https://brazilian.report/liveblog/2021/08/25/poverty-rates-spike-states/

Question 2

COVID in Brazil

Answer 2

76% of the population is fully vacinated and 85 got at least one dose

• delayed start of vaccination
• proliferation of fake news (e.g. experimental and could change children’s DNA)
• lack of sufficient doses, mixed signals from some high-ranking government officials have cast doubt on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, keeping some parents from getting their children vaccinated.
• Brazil is internationally praised for its effective immunization logistics.
• good example: vaccination at Maré - Fiocruz + NGOs [ 93,4% of pop got their shots, >140k people] slum/favela (low-income informal neighborhood)
  https: //portal.fiocruz.br/noticia/estudo-na-mare-comprova-efetividade-da-vacina-covid-19
  https: //www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-56919419
• We have a population that, despite an anti-vaccine president, trusts vaccines. this trust in vaccines is cultural and historical. We have a 50-year history of immunisation programmes that have won the trust of the population.
  https: //www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(22)00094-3/fulltext

Question 3

Bolsonaro and Science

Answer 3

Harassment and budget cuts have researchers fearing for their jobs and safety
- censor studies that conflict with its ongoing efforts to weaken environmental protections (e.g. ICMBio’s top officials the authority to review all “manuscripts, texts and scientific compilations” before they are published). It is worth of mention that Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) top officials are not scientists by training and are former military police officers or firefighters instead.

• > Science is being attacked on several fronts
• increasing budget cuts. It not only represents an enormous impediment to conducting research at universities and research institutes, but also jeopardises the future scientific development of the country.
• attacks on the autonomy of universities
  - Bolsonaro’s efforts to dismantle environmental protections.
  https: //www.cssn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CSSN-Position-Paper_-Dismantling-the-Environmental-State_Final_03_April.docx.pdf
• general policy of denial of science
  - There is denial of the pandemic, denial of climate change, denial of deforestation; not to mention budget cuts. President’s antivaccination rhetoric and Bolsonaro heavily promoted chloroquine despite studies concluding it is ineffective against COVID-19. Scientists risk indirect sanctions if their research contradicts the positions sustained by the Bolsonaro administration, such as affirming that the Amazon rainforest is not burning or that chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine can be used to safely and effectively treat COVID-19.
  https: //www.science.org/content/article/hostile-environment-brazilian-scientists-face-rising-attacks-bolsonaro-s-regime
  https: //www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02727-6/fulltext

    - political interference in the selection of university deans.
    - online harassment by what is known as Bolsonaro's "digital militia". Researchers have abandoned coronavirus research.
    - A federal decree was issued revoking the National Order of Scientific Merit award granted to two scientists.
    - The attacks perpetrated by the current federal administration are not limited to science and scientists, and affect education, public health, the environment, and cultural programmes.

• Brazilian scientists are also facing a deepening funding crisis. Government spending on research has shrunk by more than 70% from a 2014 peak, and the Bolsonaro administration recently cut 34% from the science ministry’s investment budget for 2021. The country’s top federal funding agency, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, is expected to have less than $4 million available for research grants this year.
• Jair Bolsonaro’s administration has dismantled many of the structures and mechanisms for environmental protection.
  https: //www.cssn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CSSN-Position-Paper_-Dismantling-the-Environmental-State_Final_03_April.docx.pdf

There is denial of the pandemic, denial of climate change, denial of deforestation; not to mention budget cuts. E.g. Bolsonaro accused the National Institute for Space Research of “lying” about satellite data showing increased deforestation in the Amazon back in 2019. Bolsonaro has clashed with researchers over issues including his persistent rejection of science-based strategies for combating the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed at least 662k (april/2022 data).

Question 4

Curitiba

Answer 4

• “Curitiba” comes from the Tupi words kurí tyba, “many araucária seeds”.
• almost 2 mi people (2020)
• 932 m (3,058 ft) above sea level
• Is is an important cultural, political, and economic center in Latin America[4] and hosts the Federal University of Paraná, established in 1912.
• In the 1700s Curitiba’s favorable location between cattle-breeding countryside and marketplaces led to a successful cattle trade and the city’s first major expansion. Later, between 1850 and 1950, it grew due to logging and agricultural expansion in Paraná State (first Araucaria angustifolia logging, later mate and coffee cultivation and in the 1970s wheat, corn and soybean cultivation). In the 1850s, waves of European immigrants arrived in Curitiba, mainly Germans, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians, contributing to the city’s economic and cultural development. The state of Paraná has largest Ukrainian community and Slavic communities outside these countries. Nowadays, only small numbers of immigrants arrive, primarily from Middle Eastern[6] and other South American countries.
• Curitiba’s economy is based on industry and services and is the fourth largest in Brazil.
  Curitiba is one of the few Brazilian cities with a very high Human Development Index (0.856).