Combating Impunity: Some Thoughts on the Way Forward

Some of the tasks needed to be done by legal scholars and advocates to combat impunity in cases of massive violations of human rights are discussed. Pathways for implementation of these ideas are many and overlapping

Environmental and socioeconomic impact of the new cotton reform

Following the decoupling of the cotton subsidies in 2006 the production system has become less intensive in input usage with an average yield reduction of 40 per cent. Albeit the farm income has not been reduced, the reform has had a negative effect on the economy of some rural areas of Southern Spain, where there are few productive alternatives to cotton, with a 39% reduction of direct farm labour. Besides, the reform has been borne by the ginning industry (60% reduction), the agrochemical suppliers and the auxiliary sector. On the other hand, the environment has benefits from the extensification of the cotton production since three quarter of the production is now carried out under integrated production that implies a reduction in the amount of fertilizers and pesticides that farmers can use.cotton, CAP reform, decoupling, Spain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Effects of the decoupling of the subsidies on agricultural water productivity

In this work several performance indicators such as the Annual Relative Irrigation Supply (ARIS) and the Irrigation Water Productivity (IWP), have been considered to evaluate the changes in the cotton irrigation management due to the decoupling of the European Union Subsidies. For this purpose, a modern irrigation scheme, the Genil–Cabra Irrigation Scheme (GCIS) located in Southern Spain, has been selected. The total irrigated area is 6,900 ha with wheat, olive and cotton as the main crops. The irrigation season 2004/05 was the period when the crop pattern and water management trend changed dramatically. From this year to the present the area cultivated with crops with high water requirements like cotton, sugar beet and maize has been reduced almost by half, while the area with low irrigation requirement crops (winter cereals, sunflower or olive) has increased of 37%. After the decoupling of the EU cotton subsidies in 2006, the cotton agricultural practices have changed toward a less intensive production system, including both, lower water application (ARIS for cotton decreased from values higher than 0.8 to 0.5 in the irrigation season 2006/07) and less agrochemical usage. In terms of sustainability, the reform has increased the cotton irrigation efficiency (IWP for cotton increased from around 0.7 €/m3 to 1.0 €/m3 in the irrigation season 2006/07) and has reduced its environmental impact.CAP Subsidies, Irrigation, Arable Crops, Spain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Comparative Performance of Selected Mathematical Programming Models

This study compares the predictive performance of several mathematical programming models. Using the cropping patterns, yields and crop gross margins of eighteen farms over a period of five years we compare the models' optimum solutions with observed crop distributions after the Reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy of 1992. The results show that the best prediction corresponds to a model that includes expected profit and a qualitative measure of crop riskiness. The results suggest that, in order to obtain reliable predictions, the modelling of farmers' responses to policy changes must consider the risk associated with any given cropping pattern. Finally, we test the ability of the proposed model to reproduce the farmers' observed behaviour with equally good performance under conditions of limited data availability.model performance, mathematical programming, modelling, decision-making, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Progressive extensification of the cotton production in Spain

Following the decoupling of the cotton subsidies in 2006, the farm production system has become less intensive in the use of agrochemical, water and labour. The consequence is an average yield reduction of 40 per cent. Albeit the farm income has not been reduced, the negative effects of the reform have been borne by the ginning industry (60% less ginned cotton), the agrochemical suppliers (reduction of 35-55% of sales) and the auxiliary sector. In addition to the reduction of the cotton farm labour by 43%, the NCR poses a social problem in some municipalities of Southern Spain since the contribution of the cotton production to the rural economy is high (in some of them, cotton represents 80% of the irrigated arable crops farm employment). In order to guarantee to some extent the cotton production in Spain some policy reform must be introduced targeting the link between the production and harvest of cotton in the fields and the eligibility of the area paymentEl desacoplamiento de las ayudas en el cultivo del algod&oacute;n ha tenido en la primera campa&ntilde;a con este nuevo sistema de apoyo un claro en la extensificaci&oacute;n del cultivo, con una reducci&oacute;n media del rendimiento de aproximadamente el 40 por ciento. Este efecto se ver&aacute; probablemente ampliado en la segunda campa&ntilde;a, con un mayor n&uacute;mero de agricultores que decidan sembrar algod&oacute;n y reducir al m&aacute;ximo el uso de insumos, incluso llegando al extremo de no recolectar el algod&oacute;n del campo. Si bien no ha habido una reducci&oacute;n de la renta percibida por el agricultor, es el sector transformador, las empresas proveedoras de agroqu&iacute;micos y las empresas auxiliares quienes han sufrido el impacto negativo de la reforma. El estudio apunta que el mantenimiento de una producci&oacute;n m&iacute;nima de algod&oacute;n en Espa&ntilde;a no depende del nivel de desacoplamiento de la ayuda sino del cumplimiento del requisito de producir una cantidad m&iacute;nima de algod&oacute;n por parcela con unas caracter&iacute;sticas de calidad determinadas.</p

Prehistoric psychotropic consumption in Andean Chilean mummies

Hallucinogenic plants are often regarded as the main source of psychoactive drugs in antiquity to reach deep altered states of consciousness^1,2^. Many researchers believe this was particularly true during the Tiwanaku empire expansion, circa (500-1000 A.D.), along the Atacama Desert of Chile. Highly decorated snuffing tablets and tubes are often found as grave goods during this period^3,4,5,6,7,8^. Until now the type of drugs consumed in this paraphernalia has been unclear. From the modern city of Arica, naturally mummified human bodies with abundant hair provided a unique opportunity to test for hallucinogenic plants consumed in Andean prehistory. Analysis by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry demonstrated the presence of harmine. The Banisteriopsis vine, commonly called Ayahuasca, was the probable source. This is the first confirmed evidence of psychoactive plant consumption in pre-Hispanic Andean populations along the Atacama coastal region. Of the 32 mummy hair samples analyzed 3 males tested positive for harmine. This alkaloid aids in the catalysis and synergic effects of powerful hallucinogenic drugs. The consumption of harmine was likely related to medicinal practices and not exclusively ingested by shamans. Another important aspect of this evidence is that Banisteriopsis is an Amazon plant. It does not grow in the Atacama coastal region. Thus, our findings reveal extensive plant trade networks in antiquity between the coast, desert, highlands, and Amazon basin. The excellent preservation of human organic specimens, the use of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry allowed us to map and demonstrate the consumption of psychoactive compound plants in Andean prehistory. In addition, our findings open the door for future studies to debate the consumption and social role of ancient psychoactive and hallucinogenic plants

Using Authentic Materials in a Spanish Class: Impact on Students\u27

A Spanish classroom offers the opportunity to use authentic materials as teaching resources. Materials such as songs, movies, poems, and newspapers, just to mention a few, may be used. These materials, if chosen carefully, may enrich students\u27 cultural knowledge, vocabulary, reading and writing skills, amongst others. On the other hand, non-authentic materials such as textbooks with audios and written pieces can be used as well. This study attempted to determine if there was any impact on using authentic materials on students\u27 cultural knowledge and vocabulary development. The participants included 19 high school students enrolled in a Spanish class for native speakers. It was the goal that through different means of data collection, the results may contribute to research in this needed field

Crowdsourcing the Worlds, Blog 1

Student blog posts from the Great VCU Bike Race Book

Multi-Criteria Analysis of Factors Use Level: The Case of Water for Irrigation

In this paper we present a methodology to analyse input use in the agricultural sector. The novelty of the theoretical model explained is that it has been developed considering a multi-criteria environment. Thus, the optimal input use condition is determined by the assessment of “multi-attribute utility” and “multiattribute marginal utility”. We show how the approach adopted in this paper is a generalization of the single-attribute expected utility theory. The theoretical model developed is further implemented in an empirical application that studies water for irrigation use as a particular case. Results show how multi-attribute utility functions elicited for a sample of 52 irrigators explain differences on irrigation water use in relative homogenous agricultural systems, albeit exhibiting similar water partial utility functions. We conclude that these differences come from the dissimilar weights that farmers attached to each attribute in the aggregate utility function. The irrigated area considered as case study is located in North-western Spain.Production Theory, Input Use, MAUT, Water for Irrigation, Spain