On the waves: a new kind of surf in Rio de Janeiro

Surfmen are thus called young daredevils who climb to the roof of suburban trains in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and vie with each other in agility and prowess, some of them often falling on the railway tracks and being killed. The practice started as a need to hang on anything outside the crowded train and became a sport of sorts. Even though repressed by the railway authorities and punished by fines and imprisonment, the practice has been going on since the eighties and developed into a competition with rules, code of honour, grading of achievement. It became a means of improving self-esteem as well as securing leadership and social prestige by people who otherwise carry on lives devoid of any charm or ludic stimulus. A substitute behavior, it results from processes of cultural elaboration at work in the youth culture of our cities.     

Reviews

The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity and Power in a Madagascar Migrant Town by Lesley A. Sharp.

University of California Press, Berkeley and London. 1993. xx plus 345 pp. including maps, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography and index.

Marketing Africa's High Value Foods edited by S. Jaffee and J. Morton. World Bank, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Iowa. 1995. 503 pp. including bibliography and index.

Democratisation and Demilitarisation in Lesotho: The General Election of 1993 and its Aftermath edited by Roger Southall and Tsoeu Petlane. Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria. 1995. xvii plus 193 pp. R60 ($30).

A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and Intellectual Repression in South Africa by Christopher Merrett.

David Philip, Cape Town; University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg and Mercer University Press, Macon (Georgia). 1994. xv plus 296 pp. including notes and index. Paperback. Price R54,95.

The Eritrean Question: The Conflict Between the Right of Self‐Deter‐mination and the Interests of States by Eyassu Gayim.

Iustus Förlag AB, Uppsala (Sweden). 1993. 716 pp. including figures, tables, notes, maps, annexures bibliography and index. Paperback.

The Rwanda Crisis 1959–1994 — History of a Genocide by G. Prunier. Hurst & Co. London. 1995. xiii plus 389 pp. Paperback. Price £12.50.

Entrance into Reproductive Life: A Demographic Expression of Socio‐Economic Changes in a Senegalese Rural Area by Valérie Delaunay. Centre Français sur la Population et le Développement (CEPED), Paris. 1994. Les Etudes du CEPED No 7. xxii plus 326 pp. including figures, maps, tables, appendices and bibliography. Paperback. Price 90FF.

Verso un Nuovo Sudafrica: Dall'Apartheid allo Stato Multietnico by Chiara Robertazzi.

Milan: Francoangeli. 1995. 130 pp. Paperback.     

B. Reviews: general

A HISTORY OF THE ARAB PEOPLES. By ALBERT HOURANI. London, Faber and Faber, 1991. xviii, 551pp. £25 (hb).

STUDIES IN ARAB HISTORY. Edited by DEREK HOPWOOD. (St.Antony's/Macmillan series.) London, Macmillan, 1990. 189pp. 5 plates and 3 figures.

A HISTORY OF THE SELJUKS: ?BRAHIM KAFESOGLU'S INTERPRETATION AND THE RESULTING CONTROVERSY. Translated and edited By GARY LEISER. Carbondale and Edwardsville, Southern Illinois University Press, 1988. 208pp. Genealogical charts, maps in end covers. $29.95.

THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN THE LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. By JOSHUA PRAWER. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988. xv, 310pp. 5 maps.

ARAB HISTORY AND THE NATION STATE: A STUDY IN MODERN ARAB HISTORIOGRAPHY 1820–1980. By YOUSSEF M. CHOUEIRI. (Exeter Arabic and Islamic Series.) London & New York, Routledge, 1989. xix, 238pp. £35.00

THE END OF EMPIRE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: BRITAIN'S RELINQUISHMENT OF POWER IN HER LAST THREE ARAB DEPENDENCIES. By GLEN BALFOUR‐PAUL. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991. xxiv, 278pp. £30.00.

THE LETTERS OF T.E. LAWRENCE. Edited by MALCOLM BROWN. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991. xi, 564pp. £8.95 (pb).

A PRINCE OF OUR DISORDER: THE LIFE OF T.E. LAWRENCE. By JOHN H. MACK. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990. xxvi, 561pp. £9.95 (pb).

UN GRAND RABBIN SEPHARADE EN POLITIQUE 1892–1923. Presented and edited by ESTHER BENBASSA. Mesnil‐sur‐l'Estrée, CNRS, 1990. 263pp.

THE SUPREME MUSLIM COUNCIL: ISLAM UNDER THE BRITISH MANDATE FOR PALESTINE. By URI M. KUPFERSCHMIDT. Leiden, Brill, 1987.

AFTER THE EAGLES LANDED: THE YEMENITES OF ISRAEL. By HERBERT S. LEWIS. Boulder, Westview Press, 1989. xix, 277pp., photographs, glossary.

LAND BEFORE HONOUR: PALESTINIAN WOMEN IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. By KITTY WARNOCK. (Women in Society: A Feminist List.) London, Macmillan Educational Press, 1990. 199pp.

PEASANT POLITICS IN MODERN EGYPT: THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE STATE. By NATHAN BROWN. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1990. 280pp. 2 maps. £25.00.

SOCIETY AND STATE IN THE GULF AND ARAB PENINSULA. By KHALDOUN HASAN AL‐NAQEEB. London and New York, Routledge, 1990. xvii, 206 pp. £35

THE TURBULENT GULF. By LIESL GRAZ. London, I.B. Tauris, 1990. xi, 312pp. £17.95.

IRAN: THE KHOMEINI REVOLUTION (COUNTRIES IN CRISIS). Edited by MARTIN WRIGHT. Contributors: Nick Danziger, Martin Howe, Baqer Moin, Reza Navabpour, Sir Anthony Parsons, Vahe Petrossian, Amit Roy and Martin Wright. London, Longman, 1989. 128pp. Maps, ills. £6.95.

ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS (COUNTRIES IN CRISIS). Edited by MARTIN WRIGHT. Contributors: Paul Cossali, Roger Hardy, Lawrence Joffe, Noah Lucas, David McDowall, Elfi Pallis, Martin Wright. London, Longman, 1989. 131pp. Maps, ills. £6.95.

MAJOR POLITICAL EVENTS IN IRAN, IRAQ AND THE ARABIAN PENINSULA 1945–1990. By TREVOR MOSTYN. New York & London, Facts on File, 1991. xii, 308pp. £14.95.

WOMEN AT WORK IN THE GULF: A CASE STUDY OF BAHRAIN. By MUNIRA A. FAKHRO. London, Kegan Paul International. 184pp. £45.00

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TURKEY: DEBT, ADJUSTMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY. Edited by TOSUN ARICANLI and DANI RODRIK. Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1990. 275pp. £40 (hb).

AFGHANISTAN: A COUNTRY LAW STUDY. By GHOLAM H. VAFAI. Washington, Library of Congress, 1988. 63pp.

RESISTANCE AND CONTROL IN PAKISTAN. By AKBAR S. AHMED. London & New York, Routledge, 1991. xxiii, 207pp. £12.99 (pb).

MASTERING ARABIC: By JANE WIGHTWICK and MAHMOUD GAAFAR. (Macmillan Master Series.) London, Macmillan, 1990. 370pp.

FROM CODE‐SWITCHING TO BORROWING: A CASE STUDY OF MOROCCAN ARABIC. By JEFFREY HEATH. (Library of Arabic Linguistics, monograph 9.) London, Kegan Paul International, 1990. 328pp.

ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC AND THE ARABIC LANGUAGE IN ALFARABI. By SHUKRI B. ABED. Albany, State University of New York Press, 1991. xxv, 201pp.

OGHUSICA AUS IRAN. By GERHARD DOERFER, WOLFRAM HESCHE, JAMSHID RAVANYAR. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1990. ix, 146pp. DM 56.‐

ABBASID BELLES LETTRES. Edited by Julia Ashtiany, T.M. Johnstone, J.D. Latham, R.B. Serjeant and G. Rex Smith. (The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, Vol.II, 1.) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990. xiii, 517pp.

PENSEE MYTHIQUE, IDEOLOGIE ET ASPIRATIONS SOCIALES DANS UN CONTE DES MILLE ET UNE NUITS. By PATRICE COUSSONNET. (Supplément aux Annales Islamologiques—Cahier no. 13). Cairo, Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1989. 67 pp. 6 plates.

THE MEADOWS OF GOLD: THE ABBASIDS. By MAS'UDI. Tr. and ed. by PAUL LUNDE and CAROLINE STONE. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1989. x, 469pp. £30.00

POESlA ESTRÓFICA (CEJELES Y/O MUWA??AHAT) ATRIBUIDA AL MlSTICO GRANADINO A?‐?u?TARI (SIGLO XIII d.C.).(Preedición, traducción, estudio e índices.) By F. CORRIENTE. Madrid, CSIC, Instituto de Filología, Departamento de Estudios Árabes, 1988. [6], 379pp.

ISLAM, THE STRAIGHT PATH. By JOHN L. ESPOSITO. Oxford University Press, 1988. viii, 230pp. £6.95.

TRADITIONAL ISLAM IN THE MODERN WORLD. By SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR. London, KPI, 1987. x, 335pp.

IN A CALIPH'S KITCHEN: MEDIAEVAL ARABIC COOKING FOR THE MODERN GOURMET. By DAVID WAINES. London, Riad el‐Rayyes Books, 1989. 119pp. 44 colour plates. £14.00.     

Debt,democratization, and development in Latin America: How policy can affect global warming

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis conjectures a nonlinear relationship between pollution and economic growth, such that pollution per capita initially increases as countries economically develop, but then reaches a maximum point before ultimately declining. Much of the EKC literature has focused on testing this basic hypothesis and, in studies that find evidence of an EKC, estimating the “turning point” level of development at which the per capita pollution‐growth relationship changes sign. This approach has not emphasized the policy relevance of specification issues or the potential role of policy variables. This research explores a modified EKC specification which conditions the pollution‐growth relationship on a country's level of debt and degree of democratization. These variables turn out to be significant, implying that different political and economic contexts can shift EKCs and their turning points. These findings suggest that policies to relieve debt burdens and institute political reform, in addition to their usual justifications, also could be used as a strategy to reduce carbon emissions from developing countries. © 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Combined Collection and Analysis of Inorganic and Organic Gunshot Residues

Gunshot residue (GSR) analysis and their interpretation provide crucial information on a criminal investigation involving the use of firearms. To date, several approaches have been proposed for the implementation of a combined sampling and analysis of inorganic (IGSR) and organic GSR (OGSR). However, it is not clear at this stage if concurrent analyses of both types of residue might be detrimental to the analysis of IGSR currently applied in forensic laboratories. Thus, this work aims to compare and evaluate three different protocols for the combined collection and analysis of IGSR and OGSR. These methods, respectively, involve the use of a modified stub (with two halves, one for the detection of IGSR and the other for the analysis of OGSR); the sequential recovery of GSR with two stubs mounted with different adhesives (double-sided carbon tape and Tesa® TACK) and the sequential analysis of IGSR and OGSR from a single carbon stub following carbon deposition. The detection of IGSR was carried out using SEM-EDX, while OGSR analysis was performed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Obtained results for experiments performed using Geco Sinoxid^® ammunition indicated that sequential analysis was the most suitable protocol for the combined collection and analysis of both IGSR and OGSR. A higher number of inorganic (characteristic and consistent) particles and higher concentrations of ethylcentralite, N-nitrosodiphenylamine, diphenylamine, and nitroglycerin were recovered with this method.