THE COMMANDING HEIGHTS OF MEXICAN AGRICULTURE

International Development,

Sparking a Movement: A Coordinated, Bottom-up Approach to Increase Voluntary Pro Bono Service and Mend the Justice Gap

For decades, the legal profession has tried and tried again to increase pro bono representation and reduce the ill effects of the Justice Gap. A common and increasing theme has been a top-down approach focused on laudable platitudes, jurisdictional reporting policies, and aspirational guidelines to inspire attorneys to voluntarily serve low-income Americans. These efforts have enjoyed very little success, however, and with the Justice Gap only getting worse, a new solution is needed. This Article shifts the focus away from these top-down methods and mandates, which lack accountability and incentives, to a bottom-up approach that offers a more viable solution to the Justice Gap. In a bottom-up approach, attorneys are not only encouraged, but empowered, to provide services in coordination with other stakeholders. The COVID-19 pandemic both aggravated and highlighted the Justice Gap and, as a result, it has the potential to act as the necessary “social change tipping point” to spark a movement. Therefore, the time is ripe for all legal professionals to collectively take steps toward service, however small they may seem, to effectively and sustainably treat the Justice Gap once and for all

NAFTA and the Environment: A Proposal for Free Trade in Hazardous Waste between the United States and Mexico Symposium - The Environment and the United States-Mexico Border.

Over the past decade, the transboundary movement of hazardous waste has become an important issue. Because of its geographic proximity to the United States and its desire to attract foreign investment, Mexico has become one of the United States-owned maquiladoras’ favorite dumping grounds. The recent North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) may only exacerbate matters. Because the health and environmental risks associated with the inappropriate disposal of hazardous waste knows no boundaries, it is important NAFTA signatories jointly address waste issues. While NAFTA has had a positive impact on environmental protection in the United States and Mexico, the NAFTA debate helped reawaken the environmental ethic in both countries. NAFTA will increase industrial expansion in Mexico, and as the Mexican industrial base expands, so will the generation of hazardous waste. The strict environmental regulation of hazardous waste in the United States increases the cost of properly disposing such waste and creates incentives to export and illegally dump along the path of least resistance to Mexico. This exporting and dumping are most vividly illustrated by evidence of United States-owned maquiladoras as they do not repatriate much of the waste they generate. Nonetheless, due to Mexico’s lack of treatment, storage and disposal infrastructure, lack of waste-minimization technology, and scarcity of financial resources to improve them, the United States-Mexico border region is at the cusp of an environmental disaster. To alleviate some of the problems associated with the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, the international community created the Basel Convention. Because hazardous waste issues are increasingly important, and because it does not appear the United States will ratify the Basel Convention anytime soon, it is crucial for both countries to jointly readdress the current waste relationship established in annex III of the La Paz Agreement to reflect changes spurred by NAFTA

Basin-scale multi-decadal analysis of hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in western Canada shows non-recurrence of induced runaway fault rupture

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is a reservoir stimulation technique that has been widely deployed in recent years to increase the productivity of light oil and/or natural gas from organic-rich, low-permeability formations. Although the process of fracturing a rock typically results in microseismic events of magnitude  0.5. Most previous studies of induced earthquakes have been limited to a single operation and/or seismicity sequence. To better understand the observed variability of the seismic response to HF stimulations at a basin scale, we compiled HF data for all unconventional wells hydraulic fractured in the WCSB between 2000 and 2020, together with the seismicity reported during the same period. We grouped these observations into bins measuring 0.2° in longitude and 0.1° in latitude, or approximately 13 by 11 km. We identified 14 areas where large magnitude events resulted in high S(EFF) values, implying runaway rupture had taken place. However, we find that in these areas, sustained fluid injection did not lead to persistent high S(EFF) values. Instead, as injection continued, S(EFF) values returned to values less than 0.5. This suggests that there is a limited budget of tectonic strain energy available to generate runaway rupture events: once this is released, event magnitudes decrease even if high volume injection persists

New insights into the lithosphere beneath the Superior Province from Rayleigh wave dispersion and receiver function analysis

We study the azimuthally anisotropic upper-mantle structure of the Superior Craton and Grenville Province in Ontario, Canada, using Rayleigh wave phase-velocity data in the period range 40–160 s. 152 two-station dispersion measurements are combined in a tomographic inversion that solves simultaneously for isotropic and anisotropic terms using a least-squares technique. We perform a series of tests to derive optimal regularization (smoothing and damping) and to assess the resolution of, and trade-offs between, isotropic and anisotropic anomalies. The tomographic inversion is able to resolve isotropic phase-velocity anomalies on a scale of 200-300 km and to distinguish between different anisotropic regimes on a 500-km scale across the study region.\ud \ud Isotropic phase-velocity anomalies in the tomographic model span a range of up to ±2 per cent around a regional average which is similar to the Canadian Shield dispersion curve of Brune & Dorman (1963), with phase velocities up to 3 per cent above global reference models. The amplitude of azimuthal phase-velocity anisotropy reaches a maximum of ∼1.2 per cent. A clear east–west division of the study area, based on both isotropic phase-velocity anomalies and azimuthal anisotropy, is apparent.\ud \ud In the western Superior, isotropic phase velocities are generally higher than the regional average. Anisotropy is observed at all periods, with ENE–WSW to NE–SW fast-propagation directions. At periods ≤120 s, the anisotropy likely results from frozen lithospheric fabric aligned with tectonic boundaries, whereas the anisotropy at longer periods is interpreted to arise from present-day sublithospheric flow. The fast directions from published SKS measurements are close to the fast Rayleigh wave propagation directions throughout the period range sampled, and the large SKS splitting times may be accounted for by this near-coincidence of fast-propagation directions. Across most of eastern Ontario, phase velocities are lower than the regional average. Fast-propagation directions rotate from ∼NW–SE at 40–130 s period to WNW–ESE at periods 140–160 s. The results suggest a difference in fast-propagation directions between the anisotropic fabric frozen into the lithosphere and the fabric due to current and recent sublithospheric flow.\ud \ud The Superior Craton and Grenville Province are characterized by large-scale structural variations that reflect the complex tectonic history of the region. This study highlights differences between the characteristics of eastern and western Ontario and indicates the occurrence of multiple layers of anisotropy in the subcratonic upper mantle

Seismic hazard due to fluid injections

Earthquakes can be induced by natural and anthropogenic processes involving the injection or migration of fluids within rock formations. A variety of field observations has led to the formulation of three different and apparently contradicting paradigms in the estimation of the seismic hazard associated with fluid injections. We introduce a unified conceptual model accounting for the nonhomogeneous pore-pressure stimulation caused by fluid injection in a prestressed region, to prove how all three paradigms can naturally coexist. Within our model framework the loading history, accounting for both the fluid injections and natural tectonic loading, together with the heterogeneity of the host medium determine which of the three paradigms prevails at a given time. We identify a superposition of two populations of events triggered at different local stress levels with different Gutenberg-Richter b-values. Our findings suggest that both the observed diversity of b-values across different fluid-induced settings and the dominating hazard paradigm are a consequence of such a superposition leading to an effective b-value

Nanomaterial cytotoxicity is composition, size, and cell type dependent

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite intensive research efforts, reports of cellular responses to nanomaterials are often inconsistent and even contradictory. Additionally, relationships between the responding cell type and nanomaterial properties are not well understood. Using three model cell lines representing different physiological compartments and nanomaterials of different compositions and sizes, we have systematically investigated the influence of nanomaterial properties on the degrees and pathways of cytotoxicity. In this study, we selected nanomaterials of different compositions (TiO₂and SiO₂nanoparticles, and multi-wall carbon nanotubes [MWCNTs]) with differing size (MWCNTs of different diameters < 8 nm, 20-30 nm, > 50 nm; but same length 0.5-2 μm) to analyze the effects of composition and size on toxicity to 3T3 fibroblasts, RAW 264.7 macrophages, and telomerase-immortalized (hT) bronchiolar epithelial cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Following characterization of nanomaterial properties in PBS and serum containing solutions, cells were exposed to nanomaterials of differing compositions and sizes, with cytotoxicity monitored through reduction in mitochondrial activity. In addition to cytotoxicity, the cellular response to nanomaterials was characterized by quantifying generation of reactive oxygen species, lysosomal membrane destabilization and mitochondrial permeability. The effect of these responses on cellular fate - apoptosis or necrosis - was then analyzed. Nanomaterial toxicity was variable based on exposed cell type and dependent on nanomaterial composition and size. In addition, nanomaterial exposure led to cell type dependent intracellular responses resulting in unique breakdown of cellular functions for each nanomaterial: cell combination.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Nanomaterials induce cell specific responses resulting in variable toxicity and subsequent cell fate based on the type of exposed cell. Our results indicate that the composition and size of nanomaterials as well as the target cell type are critical determinants of intracellular responses, degree of cytotoxicity and potential mechanisms of toxicity.</p

An evaluation of the stimulants and impediments to innovation within PFI/PPP projects

This paper identifies the theoretical stimulants and impediments associated with the implementation of PFI/PPP (Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnership) projects. A current defect of this procurement approach is the unintentional constraint upon the innovations incorporated into the development of PFI projects. A critical evaluation of the published literature has been utilized to synthesize a theoretical model. The paper proposes a theoretical model for the identification of potential innovation stimulants and impediments within this type of procurement. This theoretical model is then utilised to evaluate four previously completed PFI projects. These project case-studies have been examined in detail. The evaluation demonstrates how ineffective current procedures are. The application of this model before project letting could eliminate unintentional constraints and stimulate improved innovation within the process. The implementation of the model could improve the successful delivery of innovation within the entire PFI/PPP procurement process