"New Extractivism" in Mexico: Hope and Deception

This paper traces the evolution of mining law in Mexico, including the most recent round of reform, and discusses the social and environmental impacts of mining in the region of Soconusco in the state of Chiapas. A set of mining reforms that passed between 2013 and 2014 provided the necessary impetus for a rise in mining investments in Mexico. These reforms have been couched in the language of “new extractivism.” In this approach favored by the left, extractivism is embraced as a development strategy along with the goal of redistributing some of the revenues to rural areas where these activities take place. In addition, these communities are to be consulted on how the funds will be spent. As fortunes have been made, however, the results have fallen short where environmental protection and community support are concerned.Este artículo describe la evolución de la ley minera en México, incluyendo la serie de reformas más reciente, y discute los impactos sociales y ambientales de la minería en la región de Soconusco en el estado de Chiapas. Un conjunto de reformas mineras que pasaron entre 2013 y 2014 dio el impulso necesario para un aumento de las inversiones mineras en México. Estas reformas se han expresado en el lenguaje del “Nuevo Extractivismo”. En este enfoque favorecido por la izquierda, el extractivismo es abrazado como una estrategia de desarrollo, junto con el objetivo de redistribuir parte de los ingresos a las áreas rurales donde estas actividades tienen lugar. Además, estas comunidades deben ser consultadas sobre cómo se gastarán los fondos. A medida que se hacen las fortunas, los resultados han fracasado en lo que respecta a la protección del medio ambiente y las necesidades de las comunidades

Effects of psychological stressors and [delta]�-THC acutely and chronically on zebra finch song behavior and dendritic spine density

This dissertation investigated song performance and dendritic spine density, following acute restraint stress in adult zebra finches and, following chronic mild stress and CB1 receptor partial agonist [delta]�-tetrahydrocannabinol ( [delta]�-THC) treatments (3 mg/kg) during sensorimotor development or adulthood. CB1 receptor agonists and stressors have mechanistic overlap: a stressor activates glucocorticoid corticosterone release in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and endocannabinoids anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) are CB1 receptor agonists which operate as an endogenous stress buffer system that turns off the response. The endocannabinoid system is prominent during late postnatal development and may modulate important synaptic fine-tuning. Chronic CB1 receptor agonist treatment or stressors during this developmental stage may disrupt appropriate endocannabinoid signaling mediating brain development. Male zebra finches possess a developmental, sensorimotor critical period for learning a song in a mechanism similar to language acquisition in humans. Initially in sensorimotor development, zebra finches possess a surplus of dendritic spines, which are the anatomical basis of the post-synaptic site with excitatory input and may represent morphological building blocks of learning and memory. Over time, a net elimination occurs as part of the developmental learning process. In this dissertation, acute restraint stress (30 minutes) in adults rapidly increased plasma corticosterone levels, altered performance of spectral and temporal acoustic features, and stimulated dendritic spine and c-Fos immunolabeled nuclei density in higher-order acoustic region NCM. [delta]�-THC, the principal psychoactive component of marijuana, inhibits perceptual sensory processing, and [delta]�-THC pretreatment antagonized the effects of stress on c-Fos density in NCM in a CB1 receptor inverse agonist/antagonist SR141716 (6 mg/kg)-reversible manner. The acute effects differed from chronic effects. In adult groups, chronic mild stress or [delta]�-THC treatments alone did not alter corticosterone levels, song acoustic features, or dendritic spine density in NCM or basal ganglia/striatal region Area X. Both chronic stress and [delta]�-THC treatments during sensorimotor song development resulted in effects persistent into adulthood, with reduced syllable entropy and dendritic spine density in Area X. These effects suggest an interference with typical developmental song learning and brain development. Adolescent brain development may be vulnerable to long-term consequences following chronic exposure to CB1 receptor agonists or stressors, and their effects likely differ than exposure during adulthood. This distinction is important to the elucidation of mechanisms and outcomes of marijuana and psychological disorders, such as depression

Dividend valuation, trading and transactions costs: the 1997 partial abolition of dividend tax credit repayments

An earlier version of this article appeared as Accounting Working Papers 04/08Although UK resident tax-exempt shareholders lost the right to repayment of tax credits oil dividends paid by UK resident companies in July 1997, they could continue to receive tax credit repayments in respect of dividend, received from Irish resident companies until December 1998. In July 1997 the rate of tax credit on Irish companies' dividends was 21%, and this was reduced to 11% in December 1997. We obtain insights into the incentives and behavior of UK tax-exempt investors in response to these changes in the relative 'tax attractiveness' of investments in Irish resident companies. We find that only at its highest rate, 21%, was the level of dividend tax credit on Irish companies' dividends sufficient to induce changes in UK tax-exempt shareholders' investment strategies: and that the propensity lot dividend capture by tax-exempt investors is heightened when the dividend tax credit yield is of the order of 0.8% or more and dividend yield is of the order of 2.6% or more

In situ study of reaction kinetics using compressed sensing NMR.

We demonstrate the application of Compressed Sensing-NMR to decrease the data acquisition time of 2D COSY NMR from >5 h to ∼1.5 h such that the kinetics of a reaction are followed, along with identification of intermediate and product species.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the EPSRC (Grants No. EP/G011397/1, EP/F047991/1 and EP/ K039318/1) and Microsoft Research.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/CC/c4cc06051b#!divAbstract

Quantitative mapping of chemical compositions with MRI using compressed sensing.

In this work, a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging method for accelerating the acquisition time of two dimensional concentration maps of different chemical species in mixtures by the use of compressed sensing (CS) is presented. Whilst 2D-concentration maps with a high spatial resolution are prohibitively time-consuming to acquire using full k-space sampling techniques, CS enables the reconstruction of quantitative concentration maps from sub-sampled k-space data. First, the method was tested by reconstructing simulated data. Then, the CS algorithm was used to reconstruct concentration maps of binary mixtures of 1,4-dioxane and cyclooctane in different samples with a field-of-view of 22mm and a spatial resolution of 344μm×344μm. Spiral based trajectories were used as sampling schemes. For the data acquisition, eight scans with slightly different trajectories were applied resulting in a total acquisition time of about 8min. In contrast, a conventional chemical shift imaging experiment at the same resolution would require about 17h. To get quantitative results, a careful weighting of the regularisation parameter (via the L-curve approach) or contrast-enhancing Bregman iterations are applied for the reconstruction of the concentration maps. Both approaches yield relative errors of the concentration map of less than 2mol-% without any calibration prior to the measurement. The accuracy of the reconstructed concentration maps deteriorates when the reconstruction model is biased by systematic errors such as large inhomogeneities in the static magnetic field. The presented method is a powerful tool for the fast acquisition of concentration maps that can provide valuable information for the investigation of many phenomena in chemical engineering applications.The authors thank for the financial support by the following grants: Microsoft Research Cambridge, and EPSRC (EP/K039318/1 and EP/K008218/1). Erik von Harbou was the recipient of a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2015.09.01

CAFTA: Sanitary and Phytosanitary Evaluation

This report informed the USDA about the status of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regulatory systems in five Central American countries that are participating in negotiations for a Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States. To complete the report, the Capstone team sent surveys to the appropriate in-country experts in each of the five CAFTA countries and utilized the Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation model to measure the level of compliance with international standards

Unravelling the mystery of the M31 bar

The inclination of M31 is too close to edge-on for a bar component to be easily recognised and is not sufficiently edge-on for a boxy/peanut bulge to protrude clearly out of the equatorial plane. Nevertheless, a sufficient number of clues allow us to argue that this galaxy is barred. We use fully self-consistent N-body simulations of barred galaxies and compare them with both photometric and kinematic observational data for M31. In particular, we rely on the near infrared photometry presented in a companion paper. We compare isodensity contours to isophotal contours and the light profile along cuts parallel to the galaxy major axis and offset towards the North, or the South, to mass profiles along similar cuts on the model. All these comparisons, as well as position velocity diagrams for the gaseous component, give us strong arguments that M31 is barred. We compare four fiducial N-body models to the data and thus set constraints on the parameters of the M31 bar, as its strength, length and orientation. Our `best' models, although not meant to be exact models of M31, reproduce in a very satisfactory way the main relevant observations. We present arguments that M31 has both a classical and a boxy/peanut bulge. Its pseudo-ring-like structure at roughly 50' is near the outer Lindblad resonance of the bar and could thus be an outer ring, as often observed in barred galaxies. The shape of the isophotes also argues that the vertically thin part of the M31 bar extends considerably further out than its boxy bulge, i.e. that the boxy bulge is only part of the bar, thus confirming predictions from orbital structure studies and from previous N-body simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, minor corrections, accepted by MNRAS. Version with high resolution figures at http://www.oamp.fr/dynamique/pap/M31_th.pd

A critical analysis of the potential for EU Common Agricultural Policy measures to support wild pollinators on farmland

1. Agricultural intensification and associated loss of high‐quality habitats are key drivers of insect pollinator declines. With the aim of decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture, the 2014 EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) defined a set of habitat and landscape features (Ecological Focus Areas: EFAs) farmers could select from as a requirement to receive basic farm payments. To inform the post‐2020 CAP, we performed a European‐scale evaluation to determine how different EFA options vary in their potential to support insect pollinators under standard and pollinator‐friendly management, as well as the extent of farmer uptake. 2. A structured Delphi elicitation process engaged 22 experts from 18 European countries to evaluate EFAs options. By considering life cycle requirements of key pollinating taxa (i.e. bumble bees, solitary bees and hoverflies), each option was evaluated for its potential to provide forage, bee nesting sites and hoverfly larval resources. 3. EFA options varied substantially in the resources they were perceived to provide and their effectiveness varied geographically and temporally. For example, field margins provide relatively good forage throughout the season in Southern and Eastern Europe but lacked early‐season forage in Northern and Western Europe. Under standard management, no single EFA option achieved high scores across resource categories and a scarcity of late season forage was perceived. 4. Experts identified substantial opportunities to improve habitat quality by adopting pollinator‐friendly management. Improving management alone was, however, unlikely to ensure that all pollinator resource requirements were met. Our analyses suggest that a combination of poor management, differences in the inherent pollinator habitat quality and uptake bias towards catch crops and nitrogen‐fixing crops severely limit the potential of EFAs to support pollinators in European agricultural landscapes. 5. Policy Implications. To conserve pollinators and help protect pollination services, our expert elicitation highlights the need to create a variety of interconnected, well‐managed habitats that complement each other in the resources they offer. To achieve this the Common Agricultural Policy post‐2020 should take a holistic view to implementation that integrates the different delivery vehicles aimed at protecting biodiversity (e.g. enhanced conditionality, eco‐schemes and agri‐environment and climate measures). To improve habitat quality we recommend an effective monitoring framework with target‐orientated indicators and to facilitate the spatial targeting of options collaboration between land managers should be incentivised

Exile Vol. XXXVII No. 2

Once and for All by Michael Payne 1 Alone Over The Trees by John Stoddard 2 Caught You by Nancy Booth 3 Mother\u27s Words by Julie Green 4-10 His Token by Donna Marie Voldness 11-12 Global Warming by Eric Franzon 13-14 Amish Mystery by Shannon Salser 15 For Peace by Robin Schneider 16-18 Elvis, the Lizard King, and Me by Stewart Engesser 19-22 Norpell Woods by Brandon Pfeiffer 23 Blue Suit, Red Dog by Jack Beck 24 I Am Without My List of Excusses [sic] by Douglas George 25 Somtimes - Satre Would Not Be Proud by Dana Wells 26 The Flock by Carter Holland 27-33 Dance of Alabaster by Jay Speiden 34 Winter Solstice by K. Lynn Rogers 35-36 Fish Story by Jim Dixon 37-42 Slumming by Stewart Engesser 43 Beached by Chris Dealy 44 The Missing Man by Tom Ream 45-47 Elegy by Scott Dexter 48 Close Range by Jay Speiden 49 No Longer by Shannon Salser 50 In A Bar In Georgetown, Colorado 1990 by John Stoddard 51 untitled by Brian Wills 52 Editorial decision is shared equally among the Editorial Board. -i Cover: Megan Doyle -i NOTE: I Am Without My List of Excusses [sic] by Douglas George 25 is listed as I Am Without My List of Excuses on page 25. The published table of contents is followed here