Assessment of methods of homicides in a Brazilian city: a preliminary study

Homicides in the city of Ribeir?o Preto, state of S?o Paulo, Brazil, were analyzed with regard to methods (firearms or others) and gender, in a retrospective study from 1993 to 1997. There was a progressive increase in the number of homicides, mainly after 1995, with an increment of 86.6% in 1997 in comparison to 1993. The incidence of homicides was higher among males, with firearms being the most common method in this group since 1993. In addition, a 10% increase in this method was observed since 1995, in association with a proportional reduction in the use of other methods. The incidence of homicides among females remained stable until 1996 and increased by 51.3% in 1997. Simultaneously, firearms have become the most common method among female victims (71.4%), pattern similar to that observed among males. Attention is drawn to the social and economic conditions and their relationships with drug traffic in the city.     

Autosomal microsatellite data from Northwestern Colombia

Allele frequencies and some forensic parameters for 12 autosomal microsatellites (CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, VWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, D5S818, F13A1, FESFPS, F13B, LPL) were estimated from three departments from Northwestern Colombia. The total number of samples analysed was 1045 individuals. Comparative analysis among the three studied departments and with other published Colombian populations were also performed and discussed.     

Autosomic STR population data in two Caribbean samples from Colombia

In this work, a sample of 124 unrelated individuals from San Andres Island and Santa Marta City (Colombia) was studied for the nine STRs included in the AmpFlSTR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA). Although these two populations are geographically apart, San Andres is an Island in the middle of Caribbean Sea (about 480 miles northwest the Colombian mainland) and Santa Marta City located in the coast, exact test showed no differentiation between both population samples (P=0.39445+/-0.0805). Therefore, allele frequencies and parameters of forensic interest were estimated for the global sample.     

Understanding the new context of the male sex work industry

The article reviews past and recent research on male sex work to offer a context to understand violence in the industry. It provides a critical review of research to show, first, the assumptions made about male sex workers and violence and, second, how such discourses have shaped thinking on the topic. The article presents a case study and original findings from two studies conducted by the authors in Australia and Argentina on violence in the male sex industry. Finally, the article reviews examples of legislative reforms to show how the sex industry is being regulated.     

Women's response to intimate partner violence

The responses of women to a situation of abuse by their partner has hardly been addressed in the literature. Using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire, 400 women attending three practices in a primary health care center in Granada (Spain) were studied. The women's response to abuse was used as a dependent variable. Sociodemographics, intensity, duration, and combination of the types of abuse were used as independent variables. Lifetime prevalence of any type of partner abuse was 22.8%. Of abused women, 68% showed an active response, attempting to resolve the situation mainly through separation (58.2%). The factors independently associated with a woman's active response were being separated, widowed, or divorced; reporting a greater intensity of abuse; and being younger than age 35 years. The results of this study show that a large majority of abused women in Spain try to resolve their situation, and that they are not passive victims.     

Y-chromosome STRs in an Antioquian (Colombia) population sample

Haplotype data were obtained from a sample of 777 unrelated male individuals from Antioquia Department (Colombia), for eight Y-chromosome STRs (DYS19, DYS385, DYS389 I, DYS389 II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393). A total of 442 different haplotypes were identified of which 334 were represented only once in the database and the most frequent haplotype was found in 32 individuals. A high haplotype diversity was found (99.45%). Genetic distances were calculated using previously published haplotype data and the lowest values were found for the comparisons with samples of lberian origin.     

Two elections and a political regime in crisis: Turkish politics at the crossroads

Turkey had its fourth National Assembly elections on 7 June 2015 in the twenty-first century and this time they resulted in a hung parliament. The efforts at establishing a coalition government failed and the country moved to a snap, ‘repeat’ election on 1 November 2015. This paper focuses on how the voters registered their party preferences almost 5 months apart in the same legislative general elections and why. Using the same sample and interviewing those who lived at the same addresses as those in the ISSP Citizenship survey conducted February to April 2015 and again in October 2015, a panel data-set was constructed. A theoretical framework for voting behaviour that uses party identification, political ideology, ethnic, religious, social class identities and perceptions of the performance of the economy of the respondents to understand what factors help to influence the party preferences of the same respondents 5 months apart. A multivariate (binary logistic regression) analysis of the pre-June and October 2015 data sets revealed that economic voting had been the predominant factor in the June elections, but security concerns also interacted with popular economic evaluations in the November 2015 elections to reinstall the AKP to power.     

The cordial maid: representations of servants in Brazilian adaptations of Eça de Queirós

ABSTRACT

This article considers the ways in which recent Brazilian film and television adaptations of the works of Eça de Queirós portray relationships between servants and their employers. I argue that the adaptations exaggerate certain connections and forge altogether new ones in order to create or emphasise a sense of kinship between people of different social strata.

This newfound familiarity between employer and employee, in relationships that recall Gilberto Freyre’s and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s theorisation on Brazilian society, breaks some of the fixed hierarchies presented in Eça’s work. Such a change, paradoxically, grants working-class characters much more air time than their original creator would have envisioned, while at the same time emptying the social commentary that derived from the rigid power structures found in the novels. In this context, this article argues that the blurring of class lines in these films and series is quintessentially Brazilian in its use of emotional connection to mask oppression and create a false sense of equality.     

Autosomal microsatellite data from Northwestern Colombia

Allele frequencies and some forensic parameters for 12 autosomal microsatellites (CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, VWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, D5S818, F13A1, FESFPS, F13B, LPL) were estimated from three departments from Northwestern Colombia. The total number of samples analysed was 1045 individuals.Comparative analysis among the three studied departments and with other published Colombian populations were also performed and discussed.