Abstract
Assessing the evolution of the performance of water supply and sanitation services is essential to monitor progress towards the universalization of water services, as specified by the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of Agenda 2030, adopted by United Nations member countries. Brazil, a developing country with a continental size and geographical diversity, will face significant challenges to achieve this goal. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the evolution of productivity of water supply and sanitation services in Brazilian municipalities in the period 2012-2019. The analysis also explores whether water services' performance is balanced across the country, with a specific analysis of performance at the macroregion level. From a methodological perspective, this research evaluates productivity change over time using a Malmquist Productivity Index estimated with a metafrontier, satisfying the circularity property. It also develops a pseudo Malmquist index that compares productivity levels across macro-regions. The results revealed a productivity loss of approximately 4% at the national level, with an unequal profile across the macro-regions. The Southeast municipalities stand out for exhibiting, on average, higher productivity levels than the South and Northeast municipalities.

Abstract
Decent Work Agenda consists of a comprehensive initiative for promoting safety at work and social protection. Over 20 years since its conceptual release, measuring the progress of its elements is still challenging even after the publication of the decent work indicators guideline by the International Labour Organization in 2012. To close this gap, we use a Directional Distance Function (DDF) to measure the efficiency of safe work environment, and propose a combined measure taking into consideration also the efficacy. To illustrate the application of DDF in a reality-based case, we conducted a longitudinal study in a multinational organization. Data were collected from 21 branches of the company over 4 years (2018-2021). In the period of analysis, 60% of the branches were efficient in average, composing an overall efficiency score of 0.91. Our results also indicated low dispersion between the efficiency scores year on year due to a small-scale interquartile range. Finally, the use of efficiency combined with efficacy resulted in a promising approach for managerial applications. This research presents some contributions. One is the novelty approach of measuring the efficiency of safe work environment using a DDF model in a real-world application. Another is the managerial benefits of identifying benchmarks, as well as revealing potential improvements as a mechanism to reduce decent work deficits. From a modeling perspective, our conclusions suggest caution in considering only efficiency to measure safe work environment due to its relative nature. Thus, further studies are recommended to explore the use of combined measures in the analysis of decent work.

Abstract
A benchmarking evaluation instrument was designed with a European Union country regulatory authority for water supply and wastewater treatment services to determine the efficient operating cost of its service providers that operated in the wholesale market segment in the 2017-2021 period. To this end, the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis technique was adapted to a robust and conditional approach. The results point to similar mean efficiency scores between water supply and wastewater services in the five-year period, despite the greater heterogeneity in the latter. Furthermore, the estimated potential cost savings for both services ranged from about 2% to 3%.

Abstract
This research evaluates the performance of water supply utilities operating at the retail level in Portugal concerning asset management practices. The study's main innovative feature is identifying peers and targets to guide improvements in the sector. Reliable data collected by the regulatory authority for water and waste services in Portugal (ERSAR) are employed to design two composite indicators reflecting different dimensions of asset management: operational conditions and management systems. Based on the Data Envelopment Analysis technique, the Benefit-of-the-Doubt model is employed in robust and conditional formulations. The role of the context on utilities' performance is also investigated. The results show that the direct management model is unfavourable concerning developing structured management systems, whilst urban environments favour managerial advancement. Rural and semi-urban environments favour goodoperational results in infrastructures. The pool of peers obtained for each utility and the quantification of targets based on the observed achievements by those peers facilitates the search for industry best practices and promotes continuous improvement. Given the high heterogeneity in asset management performance within the sector, the utility-specific target-setting approach illustrated in this paper can support a regulatory policy review for determining more realistic goals.

Abstract
This study explores asset management performance of Portuguese water supply companies operating in the bulk market. The focus of the analysis are the managerial practices and the condition of infrastructures. This assessment is based on the information conveyed by the indicators collected by the Portuguese water and waste services' regulator authority (ERSAR) between 2016 and 2020. The main contribution of this research is to propose innovative methods to enhance the knowledge on asset management practices in the water sector. Two Benefit-of-the-Doubt (BoD) Composite Indicators are developed to highlight different aspects of asset management approaches. The first reflects organisations' performance in maintaining their infrastructures at acceptable operational levels, and the other reveals their maturity in asset management practices. Robust and conditional approaches for estimating the BoD indicators are applied, allowing to obtain results that account for the effect of contextual variables on companies' performance. Additionally, the performance of the companies is analysed over a 5-year period. The results show that there is significant room for improvement given the indicators' values estimated in the benchmarking analysis. The type of management systems and areas of intervention (urban, semi-urban or rural) are factors that present significant impact in asset management performance. The analysis of trends in the evolution of performance over time revealed improvements both in the companies' managerial practices and operational results.

Abstract
The recognition of Covid-19 as a global pandemic in March 2020 forced the closure of schools and universities around the world, raising the need to adopt emergency teaching methods. A year and a half later, the situation is still not resolved, but there is more data that allow us to understand the real impact. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of higher education students perceptions about courses and faculty during the last 5 years (2016-2021), with a special focus on the differences in perception between the pre-Covid-19 and the during Covid-19 phases. To this end, the pedagogical surveys that are answered by students from an engineering degree at a Portuguese university at the end of the first and second semester of the academic year are analyzed. The results allow us to identify two distinct moments in the Covid-19 phase: a first in which feelings of positivism and appreciation of students for the instructors and the courses they teach stand out, and a second moment in which students become more demanding and dissatisfied with the courses and with the instructors, leading to a lack of motivation and involvement of students. © 2023, Universidade do Porto - Faculdade de Engenharia. All rights reserved.