Corrupting Learning: Evidence from Missing Federal Education Funds in Brazil

While cross-country analysis suggests that corruption hinders economic growth, we have little evidence on the mechanisms that link corruption to long-run economic development. We provide micro-evidence on the consequences of corruption for the quality of education. We use data from the auditing of Brazil’s local governments to construct objective measures of corruption involving educational block grants transferred from the central government to municipalities. Using variation in the incidence of corruption across municipalities and controlling for students’, schools’ and municipal characteristics, we find that corruption significantly reduces the school performance of primary school students. Students residing in municipalities where corruption in education was detected score 0.35 standard deviations less on standardized tests, and have significantly higher dropout and failure rates. We also provide evidence on the mechanisms that link corruption and mismanagement to learning and school attainment. The results are consistent with corruption directly affecting economic growth through the reduction of human capital accumulation. JEL Codes: D73, I21, H72

Evolution signatures in genome network properties

Genomes maybe organized as networks where protein-protein association plays the role of network links. The resulting networks are far from being random and their topological properties are a consequence of the underlying mechanisms for genome evolution. Considering data on protein-protein association networks from STRING database, we present experimental evidence that degree distribution is not scale free, presenting an increased probability for high degree nodes. We also show that the degree distribution approaches a scale invariant state as the number of genes in the network increases, although real genomes still present finite size effects. Based on the experimental evidence unveiled by these data analyses, we propose a simulation model for genome evolution, where genes in a network are either acquired de novo using a preferential attachment rule, or duplicated, with a duplication probability that linearly grows with gene degree and decreases with its clustering coefficient. The results show that topological distributions are better described than in previous genome evolution models. This model correctly predicts that, in order to produce protein-protein association networks with number of links and number of nodes in the observed range, it is necessary 90% of gene duplication and 10% of de novo gene acquisition. If this scenario is true, it implies a universal mechanism for genome evolution

Três vozes

Três vozes de Claudio Moreir

Writing through and writing against:Materials of resistance

This article concerns how writing, collaborative writing in particular, acts: how it moves, how it resists, how it does, the four humans writing alongside our co-authoring ‘materials’ – a guitar, for instance – and other more-than-human co-authors, such as affect, friendship, time. We explore writing against systems of oppression and writing through materials of resistance. Writing through can ignite the seething potentiality of a breaking through, and a writing towards the not-yet-known of other lives. We sense this as an unleashing that can act as a challenge to the self-perpetuating autopoieses that neoliberal autonomies and competitive frameworks require. Writing through materials of resistance offers an inducement to work towards the social capaciousness and the thinking with those collective orientations. Writing through refuses the surrender of freedom and offers, through practices of speculation, fabulation and experimentation, an animation of movement that can tap into the capacious fugitive energies of emergent and new collective futures. </jats:p

Writing<i> With</i>:Collaborative writing as hope and resistance

Collaboration in scholarship holds the peculiar position of being expected, encouraged, and, in the process, somewhat taken-for-granted as monolithic academic practice. Collaboration is important for the cultivation of a rich ecosystem of ideas, thoughts, methods, theories, and experimentation. It seems safe to assume that most scholars would agree with the need and the possibilities of collaboration. Yet, collaboration in scholarship is often understood in reductionist and pragmatic ways: While ideas and thoughts flow in certain stages of the collaboration, labor is often divided among collaborators, authorship is ranked and quantified, and subjective lived experiences are most ignored or codified in rigid fashion. In this article, we attempt to further explore how collaboration can also be an act of leaning on each other in order to make sense of thinking and narrating hope and resistance in times of neo-nationalism and authoritarianism. We each live in different parts of the planet, yet we share a common hope. Here, we come together to think, feel, commune, and write with each other in hope to find ways beyond individual positions and in search of collaborations that allow us to imagine possibilities of resistance and paths toward a kinder and more just future. </jats:p

POD: Plenty Of Dogs

Finding the ideal match for dog breeding has never been an easy task for most dog owners in different parts of the world, including Ireland. Seeking an opportunity to minimise this problem, a lovely user-friendly web application called Plenty Of Dogs (POD) was developed to facilitate dog owners to found a perfect match for their dogs, according to their search criteria. Besides that, dog owners will also be able to find new friends to their doggies. Initially, only the Republic of Ireland will be benefited from POD services. To achieve this goal, this project was divided into five distinct phases: Planning, Analysis, Design, Implementation, and Testing. Respectively, all these different stages were accomplished respecting the main premises of the software development life cycle. Planning versus reality played an important role throughout the whole project. Results, technical solutions, and challenges are discussed comparing what worked well to what did not work as expected. All architecture designed to develop POD is also presented, emphasising the use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Bootstrap on the client-side, PHP on the server-side, MySQL database, and AWS to the deployment of the application on the cloud platform. Then, a general overview of the whole development is made presenting the final version of the prototype and all documents produced along with the project. A suggestion for further works is given and necessary improvements are highlighted

Panbiogeographical analysis of passion vines at their southern limit of distribution in the Neotropics

The origin of the extant flora of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS) in Brazil has long been debated. Spatial distributions of passion vines (Passifloraceae) have been used to support the corresponding hypotheses, subsequent to the pioneer studies of Balduino Rambo. Using a panbiogeographical analysis based on literature data and herbarium material, we mapped the spatial distributions of the 15 species of passion vine that occur naturally in RS, taking into account a broader geographical range (southern South America). None of these passion-vine species has its distribution entirely within the RS political borders. The escarpments of the Serra do Mar  (circa -30oS latitude), which coincides with the southern limit of the Paraná biogeographic subregion, was identified as the southern limit for the existence of important diversity of passion vines in the Neotropics. The generalized tracks obtained were associated with different panbiogeographic provinces, indicating a mixed history for the RS passion-vine flora. Two main biotic components were identified: first, species with a northern occurrence, from east of the Andes to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest; second, species typically found in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. A continuous, U-shaped curve formed by the generalized tracks suggested that the RS area is an extant, southern transition zone, which in conjunction with the Chaco province maintains Amazonian and Atlantic populations of these plants in contact. A node located in the northeast region, roughly on the border between the Pampa province and Paraná subregion, and where three provinces of the latter converge, indicated the existence of greater diversity and endemism of passion-vine species in that part of the state. On a preliminary basis, the consequences of the variation in passion-vine spatial distributions for the herbivores, specifically heliconian butterflies, associated with these plants are also discussed.A origem da flora existente no estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brasil, vem sendo debatida há tempo. A distribuição espacial dos maracujás (Passifloraceae) tem sido usada em suporte das hipóteses correspondentes, desde o trabalho pioneiro de Balduino Rambo a respeito. Com base em uma análise panbiogeográfica, calcada em dados da literatura e material depositado em herbários, avaliamos neste estudo a variação na distribuição geográfica das 15 espécies de maracujás com ocorrência natural no RS, levando-se em consideração uma maior área de abrangência (sul da América do Sul). Nenhuma das espécies teve a área de distribuição localizada por completo dentro da área física do estado. As escarpas da Serra do Mar, que coincidem com o limite sul da região biogeográfica do Paraná (cerca de -30oS de latitude), foram identificadas como limite sul para a existência de expressiva diversidade de passifloráceas na região Neotropical. Os traços generalizados obtidos se associaram a diferentes províncias biogeográficas, indicando a natureza mista da composição de espécies de maracujás. Dois componentes bióticos importantes foram identificados: o primeiro, relacionado a espécies com ocorrência ao norte, da parte leste dos Andes à porção norte da Floresta Atlântica brasileira; o segundo, composto por espécies típicas da Floresta Atlântica. Uma curva em forma de “U” formada pelos traços generalizados, sugeriu que o RS se constitui atualmente numa área que, em associação a província do Chaco, representa uma zona de transição que mantem as populações dessas plantas nas florestas Amazônica e Atlântica em contato. A existência de maior diversidade e endemicidade foi indicada por um nó localizado na região nordeste, próximo às fronteiras das províncias biogeográficas do Pampa e sub-região do Paraná, para onde os limites das províncias correspondentes convergem, estando, portanto, historicamente relacionadas. Em caráter preliminar, são discutidas algumas das implicações da variação obtida quanto à distribuição das passifloráceas em relação àquela da fauna de herbívoros associada