The Routinization of Violence in Latin America: Ethnographic Revelations

This essay reviews the following works: In Harm’s Way: the Dynamics of Urban Violence. By Javier Auyero and María Fernanda Berti. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015. Pp. xi + 239. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 9780691164779. Violence at the Urban Margins. Edited by Javier Auyero, Philippe Bourgois, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 323.$24.95 paper. ISBN: 9780190221454. Bruno: Conversations with a Brazilian Drug Dealer. By Robert Gay. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 219. $23.95 paper. ISBN: 9780822358497. The Spectacular Favela: Violence in Modern Brazil. By Erika Robb Larkins. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. Pp. xi + 231.$29.95 paper. ISBN: 9780520282773. Cities, Business, and the Politics of Urban Violence in Latin America. By Eduardo Moncada. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016. Pp. vii + 219. $65.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780804794176. Living with Insecurity in a Brazilian Favela: Urban Violence and Daily Life. By R. Ben Penglase. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2014. Pp. ix + 197.$26.95 paper. ISBN: 9780813565439

Sovereignty and insecurity in the contemporary world. Non-state armed actors and new imaginary communities

Los actores armados fuera del entorno estatal han captado la atención de especialistas interesados en estudios sobre la estabilidad de los regímenes políticos y la consolidación de los Estados nacionales. Estos actores revelan redes alternativas de poder, de autoridad, de independencia y de autogobierno, con una variedad de escalas territoriales, tanto más pequeñas como más grandes que el propio Estado-Nación. Con fundamento en el análisis de actores tan diversos como policías privados, bandas y mafias, este artículo analiza la proliferación y la importancia de la acción armada no estatal, estructurada en torno a actividades económicas. Concluyo con preguntas acerca de categorizaciones convencionales de los Estados, los actores armados y no armados, y la naturaleza de la soberanía en la era contemporánea.In a world of growing security concerns, the armed groups outside of state environment, have attracted the attention of scholars interested in the regime's stability and the consolidation of national states. Activities of these actors reveal alternative networks of power, authority, independence and self-governance with a variety of territorial levels, both smaller and larger than the nation-state itself. Based on the analysis of actors as diverse as private police, gangs and mafias, this article analyzes the growth and importance of non-state armed action, structured around economic activities. Conclude with questions about conventional categorizations of states, the armed and unarmed, and the nature of sovereignty in the contemporary era

La fuerza de la distancia. Hacia una nueva teoría de los movimientos sociales en América Latina

Los modelos teóricos de mayor aplicación en el estudio de los movimientos sociales latinoamericanos son generalmente de origen extranjero, principalmente de Europa. aunque también de Norteamérica. Los esfuerzos desplegados para retomar estos movimientos mediante un paradigma específicamente latinoamericano, esto es, con una sensibilidad dirigida a captar la singularidad de los fenómenos políticos, sociales y culturales de la región, han sido hasta ahora escasos. A continuación me propongo explicar por qué ha sido así, y luego intentaré remediar la situación presentando una nueva estructura analítica cuyo punto de partida es la noción de espacialidad entendida como un construido material y social. Para conseguir mi objetivo me apoyaré en los avances de dos de los paradigmas más conocidos, el de los Nuevos movimientos sociales (NMS) y el de la Estructura de la Oportunidad Política (EOP), pero Intentaré ir más allá, enfocando los patrones históricamente específicos de la formación del estado, las clases, la ciudadanía y los movimientos sociales mismos

Expanding the Scope of Sustainability Planning: Lessons from Stockholm’s Congestion Charging Policy

In 2007, after years of unresolved debate, the Swedish parliament approved a congestion charge for Stockholm applied to cars crossing the city’s inner boundary. Since its introduction, congestion charging has led to an even more lasting reduction of car trips to the city center, in part because the policy generates revenues for financing new subway extensions and uses these same resources as the basis for negotiating new transit oriented housing in subway extension areas. As such, congestion charging is arguably as much a sustainable housing solution as it is a narrowly defined transit policy for reducing automobile congestion or pollution. This article investigates how and why Stockholm, despite considerable political conflict, technical complexity and negative public opinion, was able to turn a long-standing and controversial debate over moderating automobile traffic via tolls into widespread support for a national congestion tax, which itself laid the groundwork for a more expansive sustainability agenda. It further suggests that only when congestion charging was strategically reframed and widely recognized as addressing the concerns of multiple and competing constituencies, did efforts for its adoption translate into larger sustainability gains

Alendronate and Resistive Exercise Countermeasures Against Bed Rest-Induced Bone Loss: Biochemical Markers of Bone and Calcium Metabolism

Weightlessness-induced bone loss must be counteracted to ensure crew health during extendedduration space missions. Studies were conducted to assess two bone loss countermeasures in a ground-based model: horizontal bed rest. Following a 3-wk ambulatory adaptation period, male and female subjects (aged 21-56 y) completed a 17-wk bed rest protocol. Subjects were assigned to one of three treatments: alendronate (ALEN; 10 mg/d, n=6), resistive exercise (RE; 1.5 h/d, 6 d/wk, n=8), or control (CN; no countermeasure, n=8). Dietary intake was adjusted to maintain body weight. Endocrine and biochemical indices were measured in blood and urine using standard laboratory methods. All data reported are expressed as percent change from individual pre-bedrest data. Serum calcium changed little during bed rest, and tended to decrease (4-8%) in ALEN subjects. In RE subjects, bone alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin were increased >65 and >30%, respectively, during bed rest, while these were unchanged or decreased in ALEN and CN subjects. Urinary calcium was increased 50% in CN subjects, but was unchanged or decreased in both ALEN and RE groups. Urinary n-telopeptide excretion was increased 40-50% in CN and RE subjects, but decreased 20% in ALEN subjects. Pyridinium crosslink and deoxypyridinoline excretion were increased 20-50% during bed rest. These data suggest that RE countermeasures are effective at increasing markers of bone formation in an analog of weightlessness, while ALEN reduces markers of bone resorption. Counteracting the bone loss of space flight may require both pharmacologic and exercise countermeasures

State-based policies on alcohol use during pregnancy

Alcohol use is common in the United States. In 2020, 54.2% of adults age 18 and older reported drinking in the last month.1 Among female adults age 18 and older, 66.9% reported consuming alcohol in the last year and 51.2% reported any alcohol use in the past month.1 An estimated 9% of women have an alcohol use disorder.1 Approximately 18% of reproductive-age women (18–44 years) binge drink (defined as consuming four or more standard drinks in about 2 hours for women).2,3 Concerningly, analysis of data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) collected between 2011 and 2018 suggests that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is increasing.4 Recent analysis of 2018–2020 BRFSS data indicates that 13.5% of pregnant adults reported current drinking and 5.2% reported binge drinking, and these numbers are likely an underestimation.4,5 Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a range of life-long developmental conditions associated with exposure to alcohol during pregnancy.6 These conditions include fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, alcohol-related birth defects, and neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure.7,8 According to recent estimates, up to 1 in 20 schoolchildren in the US may have FASDs.9 The impact of such alcohol exposure can result in changes in brain development, manifesting as impaired neurocognitive function, poor executive functioning, attention deficits, and memory impairment, among other outcomes.7,9 Additionally, prenatal alcohol exposure can result in adverse birth outcomes such as premature birth and low birth weight.10 In an effort to reduce the number of alcohol-exposed pregnancies, 43 states have implemented legislation targeting alcohol use among pregnant people. This brief report summarizes the current status of these policies.Ye

Where are Bridges Needed: Relationships Between Youth and Adult Services Before Strengthening the Transition System

Summary: This report summarizes the nature of the relationships between organizations and agencies in Clark County, WA, that could form a system of services to support youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions during the ages of the transition from adolescence to adulthood (ages 14‐25)

Targeting Cislunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits for Human Space Exploration

Part of the challenge of charting a human exploration space architecture is finding locations to stage missions to multiple destinations. To that end, a specific subset of Earth-Moon halo orbits, known as Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHOs) are evaluated. In this paper, a systematic process for generating full ephemeris based ballistic NRHOs is outlined, different size NRHOs are examined for their favorability to avoid eclipses, the performance requirements for missions to and from NRHOs are calculated, and disposal options are evaluated. Combined, these studies confirm the feasibility of cislunar NRHOs to enable human exploration in the cislunar proving ground

Getting to Evo-Devo: Concepts and Challenges for Students Learning Evolutionary Developmental Biology

To examine how well biology majors have achieved the necessary foundation in evolution, numerous studies have examined how students learn natural selection. However, no studies to date have examined how students learn developmental aspects of evolution (evo-devo). Although evo-devo plays an increasing role in undergraduate biology curricula, we find that instruction often addresses development cursorily, with most of the treatment embedded within instruction on evolution. Based on results of surveys and interviews with students, we suggest that teaching core concepts (CCs) within a framework that integrates supporting concepts (SCs) from both evolutionary and developmental biology can improve evo-devo instruction. We articulate CCs, SCs, and foundational concepts (FCs) that provide an integrative framework to help students master evo-devo concepts and to help educators address specific conceptual difficulties their students have with evo-devo. We then identify the difficulties that undergraduates have with these concepts. Most of these difficulties are of two types: those that are ubiquitous among students in all areas of biology and those that stem from an inadequate understanding of FCs from developmental, cell, and molecular biology

Getting to Evo-Devo: Concepts and Challenges for Students Learning Evolutionary Developmental Biology

In this study we used surveys of evo-devo experts to identify the core concepts of evo-devo and outline an underlying conceptual framework. We also use interviews and surveys of conceptual difficulties with these concepts. To examine how well biology majors have achieved the necessary foundation in evolution, numerous studies have examined how students learn natural selection. However, no studies to date have examined how students learn developmental aspects of evolution (evo-devo). Although evo-devo plays an increasing role in undergraduate biology curricula, we find that instruction often addresses development cursorily, with most of the treatment embedded within instruction on evolution. Based on results of surveys and interviews with students, we suggest that teaching core concepts (CCs) within a framework that integrates supporting concepts (SCs) from both evolutionary and developmental biology can improve evo-devo instruction. We articulate CCs, SCs, and foundational concepts (FCs) that provide an integrative framework to help students master evo-devo concepts and to help educators address specific conceptual difficulties their students have with evo-devo. We then identify the difficulties that undergraduates have with these concepts. Most of these difficulties are of two types: those that are ubiquitous among students in all areas of biology and those that stem from an inadequate understanding of FCs from developmental, cell, and molecular biology