Bodies Moving in Space: Ancient Mesoamerican Human Sculpture and Embodiment

Judith Butler’s proposal that embodiment is a process of repeated citation of precedents leads us to consider the experiential effects of Mesoamerican practices of ornamenting space with images of the human body. At Late Classic Maya Copán, life-size human sculptures were attached to residences, intimate settings in which body knowledge was produced and body practices institutionalized. Moving through the space of these house compounds, persons would have been insistently presented with measures of their bodily decorum. These insights are used to consider the possible effects on people of movement around Formative period Olmec human sculptures, which are not routinely recovered in such well-defined contexts as those of the much later Maya sites

Pests and Agricultural Production under Climate Change

Although the effect of climate change on agricultural pests has been studied by biologists, thus far, large-scale assessments of climate change and agriculture have not included the impact of pests. We develop a simple theoretical model of farmer-pest interaction under climate change and explore the potential impacts on land values.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Informing High School Choices: The Progress & Challenges of Small High Schools in Philadelphia

In the School District of Philadelphia in 2007-08, almost one third of high school students attend one of the district's 32 small high schools. Of these, 26 have been newly created or significantly changed since 2002. These small schools have a range of admissions criteria with two thirds being selective admission and one third neighborhood high schools. Along with this increase in high school options has been a growing interest in high school choice, with 73% of eighth graders applying to high schools outside their neighborhood in 2006. However, within the School District of Philadelphia, there is only one 'choice'-the neighborhood high school-for the 51% of rising ninth graders who try to exercise choice but are not accepted to any of their preferred choices. For those students who do attend small high schools, our research suggests that this more personalized environment is demonstrating promising outcomes with regard to improved school climate, improved interpersonal relationships between adults and students and student-to-student, and students' perceptions of their school experience. The small high school model is particularly promising for neighborhood high schools where positive relationships may help stem high dropout rates. Among our five case study high schools, the one small neighborhood high school reported great improvements in climate compared to its previous large configuration, although some lingering climate challenges remained. While positive relationships and improved climate create the conditions for learning, principals and teachers at all five case study schools reported that more was needed to develop and maintain a rigorous academic program for all students. They described the need for common faculty planning time to strengthen their academic program and more flexibility and resources to meet the unique staffing and rostering challenges of small high schools

Exploring the Feasibility of Incorporating Sexual Education into Routine Adolescent Office Visits

Preventative sexual education can reduce the negative health outcomes of sexual behavior in adolescent populations.1 The objective of this pilot study was to determine if sexual education can be delivered as a scripted five-minute module during a routine adolescent office visit in a manner that is non-disruptive of clinic flow and acceptable to both patients and providers. • 85% of providers reported the intervention did not interrupt clinic flow • 86% of patients reported the intervention to be appropriate and 92% of providers were satisfied overall with the intervention These pilot data highlight that the incorporation of brief scripted sexual education into routine adolescent preventative office visits is both feasible and acceptable to patients and providers.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/cwicposters/1024/thumbnail.jp

Invasive Species Management: Importers, Border Enforcement, and Risk

Invasive species are a negative externality associated with imported goods. Policies aimed at excluding pests associated with imports include pre-shipment treatment requirements, varied inspection schemes, treatment at the border, penalties, and import bans or restrictions. Existing policies are based on the reasoning that increased enforcement effort will result in higher detection levels, or more specifically, that increased inspection will result in a higher number of interceptions and in turn, higher compliance. In addition to a deterrence effect, however, under which importers respond to increased enforcement with increased due care with respect to pest control, importers may respond in ways that regulators do not intend. For example, importers may choose to not bring goods into the country, may ship a reduced amount, or may switch ports-of-entry. Moreover, different types of firms are likely to respond to enforcement in different ways. In this paper, we present a framework to analyze invasive species border enforcement given heterogeneous importers and ports. We develop a theoretical model of firm response to border enforcement, analyze both the intended and unintended effects of this enforcement for different types of firms, and evaluate the tradeoffs associated with location. Firms not only consider the changes in the levels of enforcement and other conditions at a single port, they consider the cost and benefit tradeoffs associated with location e.g., differences in inspection intensity or port-entry fees versus distance to port-of-entry and final market across ports and may switch ports. The result is that increased inspection intensity may not result the overall damages from invasive species introductions.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Le conflit du Honduras et du Salvador de 1969

When on July 16th war broke out between Honduras and El Salvador, their comparative strengths were such that El Salvador quickly assumed the upper hand. Its troops routed the adversary and occupied large sections of Honduran territory. The advantage gained by El Salvador from its victory was of short duration however. The intervention of the OAS forced an end to the hostilities and obtained from El Salvador the evacuation of the conquered geographical space. This war nevertheless constituted only a moment of a conflict that has already lasted a very long time. Migratory questions are at the heart of the outstanding differences between the two countries. El Salvador refused to accept that its national domiciled in Honduras should have heir possessions seized and be returned to their country of origin while Honduras, alarmed and fearing the consequences of a clandestine occupation of its territory, intended to put an end to that situation. The two adversaries' determination was such that negotiations and bargaining were powerless to bring their positions closer together. Confronted with this impasse, the Honduran authorities decided to proceed unilaterally and war ensued. The calculation was not unfounded since El Salvador did not succeed in gaining the fruits of its victory. Its objectives — protection of human resources and systemic relations — were far from achieved. It was therefore Honduras that appeared to be in a better position. The expulsion and dispossession of Salvadoran nationals continued after the cessation of hostilities. The hoped for restructuration of systemic relations between the two countries is progressing despite the threats and protests of the Salvadoran government