Beyond Bureaucracy: How Prosecutors and Public Defenders Enforce Urban Planning Laws in São Paulo,Brazil

Cities need law to thrive, but it is not clear how abstract texts become tangible policy outcomes. Existing research on the role of law in urban affairs conceives law as either an algorithm that shapes urban life or a reflection of political disputes. The former assumes that the meaning of law is obvious; the latter claims it is irrelevant. In contrast to these views, I argue that laws are multipurpose instruments that acquire a specific function when enforced by those government agents who operate at the frontlines of public service. To understand what these agents do and why, I conducted a qualitative study of the Ministério Público and the Defensoria Pública in São Paulo, Brazil. Through this process, I found that these government agencies are not cohesive bureaucracies but heterarchies composed of distinct internal factions with different evaluative principles. Moreover, officials within them are not isolated from other entities in society but tightly entangled with them, and these connections influence what these officials do. Finally, enforcement agents are not always resigned to solving conflicts as they arise. Rather, they strive to find acceptable solutions in the interstices of existing conditions or even change the circumstances that created the conflict in the first place.     

Pop‐management literature: popular business press and management culture in Brazil

As in other emerging countries, the 1990s in Brazil were characterized by profound economic changes. The business press reflected and influenced this process. Newspapers and magazines grew and assumed an important role, disseminating values associated with neoliberalism and managerialism. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the understanding of the content produced by this media and how the readership reacts to this content. To accomplish these objectives, we used the method of fantasy theme analysis (Bormann, 1972) to analyze four business magazines, and we discuss how Brazilian culture mediates the assimilation of foreign ideas and managerial expertise. Our study also helps to understand how the pop‐management literature, disseminated by the business press, echoes and reinforces managerialism and management culture. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

构建和谐社会协调地产发展

改革开放以来，地产业在中国取得了长足的发展，但在发展过程中又存在着一些与构建社会主义和谐社会相悖的现象，如拆迁和征用土地过程中使用“硬手段”；地产商“媚富”而穷人的住房问题被搁置；地方政府以“逆向调节”推动房价过快上涨；地产开发对人与自然的和谐相处带来损害。针对这些不和谐现象的严重后果，提出了相应对策。     

苯酐合成催化剂的研究进展

介绍了萘、邻二甲苯、正戊烷催化氧化合成苯酐的基本催化剂 ,如以 V2 O5为基础的催化剂、氧化钼型催化剂、V2 O5-Ti O2 -K2 SO4 催化剂和 VPO催化剂 ,并阐述了邻法合成苯酐催化剂各组分的作用 ,提出了开发新型催化剂应实施催化剂研究单位、催化剂生产厂家以及苯酐生产厂家三方联合开发的新思路 ,以集中行业优势 ,拓展思路 ,使国产催化剂早日替代进口催化剂     

我国现行土地征用制度存在的几项问题

我国《土地管理法》和《土地管理法实施条件》规定了征用土地的前提、征地审批权限、征地审批程序、征地的补偿、安置费用标准等。但是，作者认为我国征地制度有些方面尚待完善，如“为公共利益需要”在法律法规上就有街明确界定，对于征地补偿、安置标准也存在的一些问题，执行较难。此外，现行征地制度与基本农田保护制度以及建设用地总量控制等相关制度也不安全协调。     

区位选择、地区差距与区域经济分割

产业的空间分布存在“倒U形曲线”。为了缩小与发达地区的差距,落后地区地方政府采取贸易和要素管制政策。这种政策导致发达地区产业的提前进入,出现了区域产业结构的趋同。为了保护本地市场,地方保护性政策得以产生并不断被自我增强,最终导致区域经济分割。通过中央政府的财政转移支付政策能够改变地方政府的最优政策选择,实现区域经济一体化。     

Urban Poverty,Segregation and Social Networks in São Paulo and Salvador,Brazil

General consensus exists concerning the relevance of networks and space in poverty situations, despite a considerable dispute on the prominence of each element. While social‐support and poverty debates highlight the joint importance of space and networks, the research agenda on contemporary communities suggests that networks have recently started replacing space in social integration. These debates mainly consider networks and ties normatively and are restricted to the global North, hampering the formulation of comparative interpretations and more theoretical conclusions. This article discusses the relationship between space, sociability and poverty, based on research results on networks of poor individuals in two major Brazilian metropolises—Salvador and São Paulo. Research indicates the existence of great heterogeneity in the networks of poor individuals, although with substantial differences, on average, to middle‐class individuals. Certain types of networks and sociability are systematically associated with better living conditions, employment and income. Additionally, network mobilization by individuals presents important regularities associated with social mechanisms, understood as regular patterns that trigger or cause certain results. These mechanisms explain to a great extent the heterogeneity of networks, and mediate the individual's access to opportunities and everyday assistance. They therefore contribute decisively to the production (and reproduction) of urban poverty.     

Análisis de portafolio por sectores mediante el uso de algoritmos genéticos: caso aplicado a la Bolsa Mexicana de Valores

The type of industry, size of company, number of employees, etc. are variables that are considered as control variables in a large number of articles. In this research we consider the sector variable as a determinant of financial performance (Baird et al. 2012) and the risk (Artikis and Nifora, 2011) rather than as a control variable. This paper analyzes six sectors of the Mexican economy divided according to the Mexican Stock Exchange: industrial, basic consumer products, materials, non basic consumer products, telecommunications and financial services. The sample consists of Mexican companies, that is, 30 companies in the 2007-2012 period. To measure portfolio performance two classic indicators are used: (1) Jensen alpha and (2) Sharpe ratio, and also conditional metrics are used that measures the number of times the portfolio return exceeds the market average. The goal is to find a portfolio that maximizes these parameters and compare the results between the different sectors under study. Due to a nonlinear programming problem, genetic algorithms are used to obtain the optimal portfolio that maximizes these metrics. The results show a better risk-adjusted financial performance in the field of materials and financial services and a lower performance in such sectors as the industrial and telecommunications ones.