From Corporate Social Responsibility to Accountability Mechanisms:The Role of the Convention on Biological Diversity

This paper traces the progressive shift at the international level from purely voluntary approaches (corporate social responsibility or CSR) towards accountability mechanisms to ensure the environmentally sound conduct of private entities. It examines whether the most recent international discussion on human rights and corporate accountability have adequately considered environmental protection concerns. It then concentrates on the growing number of international oversight mechanisms that provide a readily-available and impartial avenue for addressing complaints against private companies..

Reassessing the Fighting Performance of Conscript Soldiers During the Malvinas/Falklands War (1982)

While the idea is controversial, it is quite possible that, at least under certain circumstances, the fighting effectiveness of a conscript army can equal that of a professional army. For any army, fighting effectiveness is not only influenced by the degree of psychological cohesion among soldiers and officers, but also by the organizational culture of each particular service unit towards the preparation for war and the waging of the conflict itself. The Malvinas (Falklands) War of 1982 demonstrates this very well. In this war, two different types of armies confronted one another: the British army, a professional and all volunteer force, and the Argentine army constituted principally of conscripted soldiers. In this regard, some analysts assert that the British concept was vindicated when a force of British professional soldiers defeated an opposing Argentine force of draftees twice as numerous. Analysts in general have rated the capabilities of the Argentine land forces as poor, although there were exceptions and some units performed very well. These cases deserve to be studied. Notably, the most effective Argentine effort came from some small Army units and one Navy unit, the 5th Marine Battalion. For these units, two primary reasons account for the differences in fighting performance. First, small Army groups fought well because there was cohesion among their components, conscripts, noncommissioned officers, and junior officers, especially by the attitude of the latter. Secondly, in the case of the Marine battalion, its performance was the product not only of good training, but also of the different institutional approach to waging war that the Argentine Navy employed. These, in turn, improved cohesion. By focusing upon these units and their effectiveness, a rather new picture of the Malvinas War comes to light that differs quite substantially from those drawn in the immediate aftermath of the war itself. It should also make us rethink the lessons of the war, including those that surround the professionals versus conscripts controversy

Upsilon production in pp and pA collisions: from RHIC to the LHC

I discuss Upsilon production in pp collisions at RHIC, Tevatron and LHC energies, in particular the behaviour of the differential cross section in rapidity and the impact of QCD corrections on the P_T differential cross section. I also emphasise the very good agreement between the parameter-free predictions of the Colour-Singlet Model (CSM) and the first LHC data, especially in the region of low transverse momenta, which is the most relevant one for heavy-ion studies. I also show that the CSM predicts Upsilon cross-section ratios in agreement with the most recent LHC data. I then briefly discuss the nuclear-matter effects on Upsilon production at RHIC and the LHC in p(d)A collisions and, by extension, in AA collisions. I argue that a) the Upsilon break-up probability can be neglected, at RHIC and the LHC, b) gluon shadowing --although non-negligible-- is not strong enough to describe forward RHIC data, c) backward RHIC data hints at a gluon EMC effect, possibly stronger than the quark one. Outlooks for the LHC pPb run are also presented.Comment: Contribution to the 5th International Conference On Hard And Electromagnetic Probes Of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (HP2012), 27 May - 1 June 2012, Cagliari, Italy. 4 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX, uses ecrc.sty (included). v2: version to appear in Nucl. Phys. A (A few typos corrected, 2 refs. added and fig. 1(a) updated with the new STAR point

Polar Warming: An Opportune Inconvenience

The inaccessibility of the Polar Regions explains the relative pristine state of these regions to date. The human presence in these regions is presently limited by the extreme climatological circumstances. This will change as a result of polar warming. The ecological boundaries of the Polar Regions will shift in the directions of the geographical poles resulting in a diminishing area of the ecological Polar Regions. Climate change and other ecological processes with an anthropogenic origin, such as the acidification of soils and waters, the depletion of the ozone layer, and the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in people and animals constitute serious threats for the fragile ecosystems of the Polar Regions. These processes will impact on the capacity of the Polar Regions to supply goods and services of a certain quality in a certain quantity. The use of the Polar Regions will change accordingly. There will be positive changes, but there will also be negative changes. Existing activities will disappear and new activities will emerge. The paper analyzes the legal implications of the changing human footprint the Polar Regions