Another America is Possible: The Impact of NAFTA on the U.S. Latino Community and Lessons for Future Trade Agreements

A joint report by Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and Public Citizen celebrate the promise of increased interaction and cross-border cooperation among different nationalities on pressing global concerns. This is why we are concerned about the current model of corporate globalization being fostered by "free trade" agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Negotiated behind closed doors by unelected and largely unaccountable bureaucrats who represent mainly business interests, these trade agreements invariably fail to promote equitable regional integration and cooperation. Instead, this model of corporate globalization explicitly benefits large multinational corporations at the expense of workers, farmers, immigrants, women, people of color, the environment and democratic governance. As the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. population, Latinos are and will continue to be among the groups most affected by this model of corporate globalization. Whether newcomers from El Salvador or fifth-generation Mexican-Americans, U.S. Latinos are seeing adverse effects on their job security, health and environment. Many are immigrants who left their homelands due to the economic and social devastation caused by the current globalization model. In both the United States and in their countries of origin, Latinos have seen their environment and their livelihoods harmed by the status quo globalization package of free trade, investment and finance liberalization, new protections for foreign investors and intellectual property, and new powers that enable multinational corporations to attack state, local and federal public interest laws. In this report, we examine the impact of NAFTA on Latino communities throughout the United States. Implemented in 1994, NAFTA is the most fully realized version of the corporate globalization model. It is currently being used as the blueprint for other trade and investment agreements that the Bush Administration is pushing in the hemisphere, such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and an array of bilateral free trade agreements with the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and Panama. Although we support trade, we feel that NAFTA is not the model to follow and should not be copied in these agreements

State of New York Public Employment Relations Board Decisions from August 25, 2004

8_17_2004_PERB_BD_DecisionsOCR.pdf: 274 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Improvement of seed germination of Fagus orientalis Lipsky

This thesis was seeking two main approaches for improvement of seed germination of oriental beech, a timber producing species in Hyrcanian forests in northern Iran. Germination behavior of beechnuts was enhanced either by decreasing the dormancy breakage period, or by increasing seed lot quality. A simple grading based on the weight of beechnuts, before exposing the dormant nuts to dormancy breaking conditions, significantly increased germination capacity of heavy class beechnuts, and reduced the period of dormancy breakage. Almost the same results were obtained by removing the endocarp. Applying alternative chilling temperatures, during dormancy breakage had positive effects on speed of dormancy release. These simple methods can be used with little equipment in forest nurseries and are suggested to be accompanied with more advanced techniques, like restricting moisture content during moist cold stratification period to gain maximum benefit. Previous reports from European beech and the results from the effect of endocarp removal suggest a possible role of other agents in dormancy in oriental beechnuts. Water soluble phenolics extracts from the seed coats, significantly suppress the germination of radish seed. The endocarp may act as a barrier against exudation of these germination inhibitors. The deep embryo dormancy presents problems when assessing the viability of oriental beech nuts. It is therefore possible to test germination performance in semi-dormant nuts to predict the nut viability in this species. A dormant seedlot was stored in sub-chilling conditions for 15 months and a series of germination tests were conducted during the dormancy breakage period of stored and fresh nuts. The results showed that mean germination times for both nut groups were almost the same, but germination capacity was statistically different only for semi-dormant nuts. Non-dormant stored and fresh nuts showed no significant differences, which indicate the complexity of dormancy release in oriental beech nuts. Abscisic acid (ABA) contents of embryonic axes of stored and fresh nuts were measured during the dormancy breakage period, and results indicated a close correlation between ABA levels and increment in germination capacity as dormancy was released. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with partial least squares regression (PLS) were used as rapid and non-destructive methods for discrimination of sound and deteriorated single beechnuts. NIRS-PLS is a promising method for quality improvement of nearly all agricultural products and in this study showed 100% accuracy in separation of viable and non-viable nuts

The importance of being alkaline

The earliest forms of "protolife" on Earth must have been able to reproduce and replicate; it is likely that they were also cellular. How might such systems have formed? In his Perspective, Russell highlights the report by Hanczyc et al., who show that clay particles can catalyze the formation of lipid vesicles. These particles also adsorb RNA. If the vesicles are forced to divide, RNA is distributed among the daughter vesicles. Similar conditions to those used in the experiments may have existed at mounds created by alkaline, hydrothermal seepages on the ancient ocean floor. However, instead of lipids, polypeptides formed from amino acids may have formed the first organic membranes

Fiscal decentralization : a political economy perspective

This paper surveys recent contributions to the study of fiscal decentralization which adopt a political economy approach. It is argued that this approach can capture, in a variety of formal models, the plausible and influential ideas (increasingly, supported by empirical evidence) that fiscal decentralization can lead to improved preference-matching and accountability of government. In particular, recent work on centralized provision of public good provision via bargaining in a legislature shows how centralization reduces preference-matching, and recent work using "electoral agency" models formalizes the accountability argument. These models also provide insights into when decentralization may fail to deliver these benefits

THE ENGLISH TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE FORMULATION OF STUDENTS’ LEARNING OUTCOME OF LISTENING BASED ON COMPETENCE-BASED CURRICULUM IN SLTPNs IN MALANG

The main objective of this study is to investigate the English teachers’ perception towards the formulation students’ learning outcome of listening based on competence-based curriculum in SLTPNs in Malang. The research design used in this study was descriptive. It is conducted to investigate the relationship of phenomena that is the English teachers’ perception towards the formulation students’ learning outcome of listening based on competence-based curriculum in SLTPNs in Malang. The writer used English teachers in SLTPNs 4, 13, and 18 as the subjects. The population and sample were taken by used two steps. The first step is purposive random sampling to determine the school and the second step is simple random sampling to determine the number of English teachers. The instrument used in this study was likert scale. Furthermore, there were five steps of collecting and analyzing the data. First the writer developed a research instrument for likert scale. Second, evaluating content validity of the instrument. Third, administering the research activity. Fourth, analyzing the data. Fifth, the writer took conclusion from the data that were analyzed. The result of the study shows that the formulation of students’ learning outcome of listening based on CBC is categorized as important (6.3) according to the English teachers in SLTPN 4 in Malang. The formulation of students’ learning outcome of listening based on CBC is categorized as important (6.12) according to the English teachers in SLTPN 13 in Malang. The formulation of students’ learning outcome of listening based on CBC is categorized as important (6.48) according to the English teachers in SLTPN 18 in Malang. The result of this study indicates that the formulation of students’ learning outcome of listening based on CBC is categorized as important (6.3) according to the English teachers in SLTPNs in Malang

Comparing the Study Site to One in Another Region

The purpose of this resource is to deepen students understanding of the Earth as a system, and their appreciation for the value of diagrams as tools. Students visit a study site, where they observe and recall their existing knowledge of air, water, soil, and living things to make a list of interconnections among the four Earth system components. They make predictions about the effects of a change in a system, inferring ways these changes affect the characteristics of other related components. Educational levels: Middle school, High school