Unclogging Courts by Targeting Litigant Incentives: The Case of the Brazilian Labour Justice Reform

Overburdened courts hinder economic and social progress, yet successful court reforms are rare. Instead of boosting judicial resources or adapting procedure, Brazil tackled persistent backlogs and delays in its labour courts by replacing the pre-existing each-pays-their-own-costs (American) rule for allocation of litigation expenses with an alternative loser-pays-all (English) rule. Using a newly assembled court-level panel dataset and difference-in-differences approach, we show that the reform alleviated the courts' demand pressures and, most importantly, increased court efficacy in both adjudication and enforcement. The Brazilian experience offers valuable policy lessons about viable court reforms for other jurisdictions.     

Issues in regional integration of east asia: conflicting priorities and perceptions

Since the end of the 1990s, the ASEAN countries and China, Korea and Japan have been pursuing regionalist efforts, namely the ASEAN?+?3 process. With Japan's participation, it is the first major endeavour for East Asia to establish a regionwide economic integration. The success of the integration process, however, depends on how the countries solve multiple issues, such as diverse expectations of economic integration among the members, the drifting course of US policies towards East Asia and an emerging contest for regional leadership between Japan and China. This article intends to illustrate these issues and suggests that there are a number of uncertainties in the integration process and that the region may have not necessarily found effective means to overcome the problems.     

Suicide in Japan: present condition and prevention measures

This article introduces the reader to present conditions and suicide prevention measures in Japan. The suicide rate has increased gradually since the early 1990s, reaching a postwar peak in 1998. The number of suicides has remained at about 30,000 every year since 1998. Middle-aged (55-59 years) and elderly men have especially high suicide rates. In 2002, The Council of Learned People on Measures Against Suicides (organized by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare) released its report on national suicide prevention strategies. Although national suicide prevention strategies have just begun to be established, some prefectures or regions have undertaken unique suicide prevention measures.     

Culturing identities,the state,and national consciousness in late nineteenth‐century western Guatemala1⋆

This paper examines the procedural culture that shaped ethnic and national identities in late nineteenth‐century western Guatemala. Rooted in face‐to‐face encounters between departmental jefes políticos (departmental governors) and local Maya communities, this procedural culture emerged from routines of governance such as annual municipal inspections, ethnic struggles for municipal control, and local efforts to title community lands that led Maya and state officials to develop contrasting understandings of each other and their relations. Far from precipitating a national identity of mutual belonging, state formation here intensified the racism and political violence that would rend Guatemala during the century to come.     

A case of sudden death by decidual cell embolism

A 35-year-old multipara died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism about 12 h after delivery. The morphological features and the entry site of the emboli into the circulation suggested that they were decidual cells. Intact decidual cells accounted for only a minority of the emboli: the great majority were cells that had lost their nuclei and/or had been fragmented. The presence of embolized areas, accompanied by fibroblasts and newly formed capillaries, suggested that the embolization process had started before the beginning of labor. However, no symptoms suggesting embolism had been recorded on the clinical chart.     

Trace Elemental Analysis of Titanium Dioxide Pigments and Automotive White Paint Fragments for Forensic Examination Using High‐Energy Synchrotron Radiation X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry*

Abstract: High‐energy synchrotron radiation x‐ray fluorescence spectrometry (SR‐XRF) utilizing 116 keV x‐rays was used to characterize titanium dioxide pigments (rutile) and automotive white paint fragments for forensic examination. The technique allowed analysis of K lines of 9 trace elements in 18 titanium dioxide pigments (rutile), and 10 trace elements in finish coat layers of seven automotive white paint fragments. High‐field strength elements (HFSE) were found to strongly reflect the origin of the titanium dioxide (TiO₂) pigments, and could be used as effective parameters for discrimination and classification of the pigments and paint fragments. A pairwise comparison of the finish coat layers of seven automotive white paint fragments was performed. The trace elements in the finish coat layers detected by the high‐energy SR‐XRF were especially effective for identification. By introducing the trace element information of primer and electrocoat layers, all the automotive white paint fragments could be discriminated by this technique.     

Dharmak??rti??s Criticism of Anityatva in the S???khya Theory

In his Pram???avini?caya 3, Dharmak??rti criticizes the view of the S???khyas that the word anityatva (??impermanence??) means a process of transformation (pari???ma) of primordial matter (pradh??na). In this connection, he deals with the following two explanations of transformation: (1) the disappearance (tirodh??na) of the previous dharma of an entity (dharmin/dravya) and (2) the cessation (niv?tti) of the previous state (avasth??) of an entity (avasth??t?). In response to these explanations, he proves that whenever a transformation takes place, the previous entity is destroyed, and therefore, impermanence does not mean transformation, but only destruction (vin???a). His criticism is basically along the same lines as Vasubandhu??s arguments found in the Abhidharmako?abh???ya. However, because of developments in the theory of transformation, Vasubandhu??s criticism allows room for a retort from the S???khya. For this reason, Dharmak??rti augments Vasubandhu??s theory in order to make it sustainable against the more developed S???khya theory.