Literature from the Periphery of São Paulo at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair

This article analyzes the participation of São Paulo as guest of honor at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair (2014). We will examine why the event's curators opted to take writers from the saraus, poetry readings on the city's outskirts, to the Fair, as well as the political arrangements that made the participation of those writers possible. We also discuss why participation in Buenos Aires was so different from that promoted by the federal government for other events, like the Frankfurt Book Fair (2013), where curators prioritized authors with greater prestige or international exposure.     

Lighting and Homicides: Evaluating the Effect of an Electrification Policy in Rural Brazil on Violent Crime Reduction

Introduction

This study estimates the effects of lighting on homicides in rural areas of developing countries.

Methods

We use an IV strategy by exploring the LUZ PARA TODOS or Light for All (LPT) program that was adopted by the federal government to expand electrification to rural areas in Brazilian municipalities in the 2000s as an exogenous source of variations in access to electricity.

Results

Our results indicate a significant decrease in homicide rates in municipalities the Northeast region, which is the poorest region of the country and most affected by the policy expansion. We estimate that helping a municipality increase from zero electricity coverage to full coverage reduces homicide rates by 92 per 100,000 inhabitants. This is equivalent to moving a municipality that is at the 99th percentile to the median (zero) of the crime distribution across municipalities. In addition, we perform placebo exercises using sub-samples of predominantly urban municipalities. The results increase our confidence in the IV strategy since our primary results were from areas with a larger percentage of rural population, as should be expected by the policy.

Conclusions

This study contributes to the extant literature by investigating the effects of lighting on homicides in a different context, rural areas of a developing country (Brazil).

     

Single-strand conformation polymorphism of hyper-variable regions HV1 and HV2 of human mitochondrial DNA: detection by silver staining

Human mitochondrial DNA from 50 trios consisting of mother (M), child (C) and father (F) was PCR amplified with primers flanking the hyper-variable regions, HVR1 and HVR2. The amplified products were then fractionated under non-denaturing conditions, silver-stained and compared by single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP). In all but one case, mother and child displayed identical patterns, which could be promptly distinguished from that of the father. For the remaining cases, either set of primers was sufficient to resolve the familial ties. In no instance, M displayed alleles different from those of C within each trio, demonstrating that no false exclusions occurred. The SSCP approach proved to be a robust technique suitable as a preliminary screening in cases requiring identification of multiple samples.     

Sourcing Brazilian marijuana by applying IRMS analysis to seized samples

The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios were measured in marijuana samples (Cannabis sativa L.) seized by the law enforcement officers in the three Brazilian production sites: Pernambuco and Bahia (the country's Northeast known as Marijuana Polygon), Pará (North or Amazon region) and Mato Grosso do Sul (Midwest). These regions are regarded as different with respect to climate and water availability, factors which impact upon the isotope fractionations of these elements within plants. It was possible to differentiate samples from the dry regions (Marijuana Polygon) from those from Mato Grosso do Sul and Pará, that present heavier rainfall. The results were in agreement with the climatic conditions of the suspected regions of origin and this demonstrates that seized samples can be used to identify the isotopic signatures of marijuana from the main producing regions in Brazil.     

Seizures of Clandestinely Produced Tablets in Santa Catarina,Brazil: The Increase in NPS from 2011 to 2017

Ecstasy is the name given to a large group of substances known as “club drugs” traded in the form of tablets, powder and liquid that present a varied composition, including mainly 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and analogous substances, in addition to the growing presence of new psychoactive substances. Based on this, clandestinely produced tablets (“ecstasy tablets”) seized by police in Santa Catarina in the period from 2011 to 2017 were analyzed. During the study period, 3472 seizures occurred, which resulted in total 498,443 tablets seized. Seventy nine substances were identified. In the year 2011, about 90% of the tablets contained MDMA. This number decreased to 66.6% in 2017. On the other hand, there was an increase in the number of tablets that mainly contained synthetic cathinones, as well as tryptamine and piperazine derivatives. Police seizures in the metropolitan region of Florianópolis and on the coast prevailed over the rest of the state.     

Breaking the Boundary: Pro-poor Policies and Electoral Outcomes in Brazilian Sub-national Governments

The article explores the role of state-led and of centre-led pro-poor policies in the electoral shift of state elections in the state of Bahia, in Brazil's Northeast. It analyses a pro-poor policy sponsored by a traditional party which has ruled the state for several decades during both the military and the democratic regimes. The article investigates the causes of the party's defeat in 2006 and its replacement by a non-traditional party. The argument is that the defeat of the traditional party and the victory of a non-traditional one can be explained as the result of the state's main pro-poor policy that has always created dependency between voters and sub-national politicians. Centre-led pro-poor policies introduced in the late 1990s, in contrast, have universal or clear targets, eliminating the intermediation of sub-national political brokers.     

Fuel Distribution in Brazil： Profile and Stability of Plural Governances

This paper is dedicated to the study of governances adopted by fuel distributors in their transactions with gas station retailers in the State of Sgo Paulo. With the deregulation of the market, plural forms were allowed and have been a recurring presence. The main aim of the paper is to investigate why these plural forms have remained on the market The main hypothesis of this paper is that the plural forms found are transitory, not as a result of increased efficiency and reduced transaction costs, but because plural forms have become a key strategic step in securing business partners and promoting greater growth of the firm. Moreover, it is argued that the institutional environment has a significant influence on the coordination of plural forms, directly interfering with their stability. The research method was qualitative research with a group of 25 distribution companies which account for about 80% of sales of ethanol and gasoline in the domestic market.     

Brazil: The Prospects of a Center-Constraining Federation in a Fragmented Polity

Although there have been deep changes in the federation as aconsequence of redemocratization and decentralization, Brazilcontinues to exhibit profound imbalances among regions. Theseimbalances create contradictions and tensions in Brazilian federalism.The central problem addressed in this article is to identifythe main difficulties facing federalism, and to assess theirconsequences on the prospects of federalism should tensionscontinue unabated. Brazilian federalism has always been a meansof accommodating deep-rooted regional disparities. Althoughthere are political and fiscal mechanisms to offset some ofthe problems of regional disparities, such mechanisms have beeninsufficient to counteract a long history of uneven regionaldevelopment. Because of the country's inequalities, the capabilitiesof subnational governments to respond to Brazil's current demandsand agendas are highly uneven.