Offshoring Asylum and Migration in Australia, Spain, Tunisia and the US: Lessons learned and feasibility for the EU. CEPS Research Reports, September 2018

This report examines the feasibility of extra-territorial processing of asylum and migration management for the EU. Based on a comparative account of past and current experiences of extra-territorialisation of asylum processing and migration policies in Australia, Spain, Tunisia, and the US, the Report draws 'lessons learned' and identifies key challenges from the perspective of their effectiveness. The findings highlight how external processing of asylum applications is politically, legally and operationally unfeasible and ineffective for the EU. It would pose profound challenges to EU and Member States' rule of law and human rights obligations. Past and current policies outsourcing protection obligations to third countries often amount to extra-legal processes as well as violations of the principle of non-refoulement and of the prohibition of arbitrary detention under inhuman and degrading conditions. The research findings show that extraterritorial actions of the EU and its Member States abroad would fall to varying degrees under EU and domestic judicial, administrative and financial accountabilities which present strong potentials for bringing portable justice to potential victims of human rights violations. In this way, this report contributes to and suggests ways forward in creative legal thinking to close any loopholes inherent to ideas on extraterritorial asylum processing and migration management for the EU

Rents, knowledge and neo-structuralism: transforming the productive matrix in Ecuador

This paper explores the relationship between ground rent, production and knowledge in Ecuador’s neo-structuralist, state-led project to transform the productive matrix. Based upon insights from the Marxian approach to the critique of political economy, we interrogate how neo-structuralism has conceptualised the relationship between ‘natural resource income’ and ‘knowledge-based’ economic development. The paper argues that a rent-theoretical perspective, which takes seriously the regional unfolding of uneven geographical development in Latin America, can highlight the limits of a national development plan conceived according to the logic of Schumpeterian efficiency. In doing so, the paper identifies the contradictory relationship between natural resource exports, state-led ‘knowledge’-based development and capital accumulation. On this basis the paper offers a historically and empirically informed critical analysis of selective import substitution industrialisation and vanguard science and technology strategies designed to transition Ecuador away from primary resource dependence

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world

Soil-associated lichens in rangelands of north-eastern Patagonia. Lichen groups and species with potential as bioindicators of grazing disturbance

Soil-associated lichen species characteristic of north-eastern Patagonia are classified by cluster analysis into six groups using ecological and morphological characters. The constancy of species, the total number of species, the number of species per crust and the relative frequency of species are analysed at sites with different grazing levels: three non-grazed, three regulary grazed, and three heavily grazed. Using the results, the potential use of lichen groups as bioindicators of rangeland conservation and degradation are explored. Species of three lichen groups (group A: lichens growing on calcareous gravels; group C: terricolous lichens with pale, crustose non-areolate thalli; group F: terricolous lichens with pale, areolate thalli) are identified as sensitive to grazing, and most of the species forming these groups are suggested as potential bioindicators of grazing disturbance. Thus, Rinodina bischoffii, Caloplaca holocarpa, Catillaria lenticularis, Acarospora heppii (group A); Lecanora dispersa and Rinodina mucronatula (group C); and Psora decipiens (group F) are the species most sensitive to grazing disturbance. Conversely, species of group D (terricolous lichens with dark, foliose thallus: Collema coccophorum), and group B (lichens growing on siliceous gravels: Aspicilia contorta) may be indicated as the most resistant to grazing disturbance.Fil: Scutari, Nora Celia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Bertiller, Monica Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Carrera, Analía Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin

Syntheses and structures of thermally stable diketiminato complexes of gold and copper

While most metallic elements across the Periodic Table form stable chelating ß-diketiminato complexes, examples of Au(I) are conspicuous by their absence. We report here the reaction of K[HC(F3CC==NR)2] with AuCl(PPh3) which provides a rare example of a thermally stable gold(I) diketiminato complex, (Ph3P)Au[RN==C(CF3)CH(CF3)C==NR] [R = 3,5-C6H3(CF3)2]. The complex is highly fluxional in solution but in the solid state adopts a U-conformation. By contrast, the analogous reaction of K[HC(F3CC==NR)2] with CuBr(PPh3)3 gives the rigid 18-electron chelate complex (Ph3P)2Cu[?2-HC{(CF3)C==NR}2

Experiences of belittlement and harassment and their correlates among medical students in the United States: longitudinal survey

Objective To determine medical students' perceptions of having been harassed or belittled and their correlates, for the purposes of reducing such abuses. Design Longitudinal survey. Setting 16 nationally representative US medical schools. Participants 2884 students from class of 2003. Main outcome measures Experiences of harassment and belittlement at freshman orientation, at entry to wards, and in senior year by other students, by residents or fellows, by preclinical professors, by clinical professors or attendings, or by patients. Results 2316 students provided data (response rate 80.3%). Among seniors, 42% (581/1387) reported having experienced harassment and 84% (1166/1393) belittlement during medical school. These types of abuse were caused by other students (11% (158/1389) and 32% (443/1390) of students experienced such harassment or belittlement, respectively). Harassment and belittlement was also caused by residents (27% (374/1387) and 71% (993/1393)), preclinical professors (9% (131/1386) and 29% (398/1385)), clinical professors (21% (285/1386) and 63% (878/1390)), and patients (25% (352/1387) and 43% (592/1388)). Only 13% (181/1385) of students classified any of these experiences as severe. Medical students who reported having been harassed or belittled did not differ significantly from those not reporting such experiences by sex, ethnicity, political orientation, or religion. They did differ significantly by chosen specialty and were significantly more likely to be stressed, depressed, and suicidal, to drink alcohol or to binge drink, and to state that their faculty did not care about medical students. They were also significantly less likely to be glad they trained to become a doctor. Conclusion Most medical students in the United States report having been harassed or belittled during their training. Although few students characterised the harassment or belittlement as severe, poor mental health and low career satisfaction were significantly correlated with these experiences