Measurements and Information in Spin Foam Models

We present a problem relating measurements and information theory in spin foam models. In the three dimensional case of quantum gravity we can compute probabilities of spin network graphs and study the behaviour of the Shannon entropy associated to the corresponding information. We present a general definition, compute the Shannon entropy of some examples, and find some interesting inequalities.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. Improved versio

Another America is Possible: The Impact of NAFTA on the U.S. Latino Community and Lessons for Future Trade Agreements

A joint report by Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and Public Citizen celebrate the promise of increased interaction and cross-border cooperation among different nationalities on pressing global concerns. This is why we are concerned about the current model of corporate globalization being fostered by "free trade" agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Negotiated behind closed doors by unelected and largely unaccountable bureaucrats who represent mainly business interests, these trade agreements invariably fail to promote equitable regional integration and cooperation. Instead, this model of corporate globalization explicitly benefits large multinational corporations at the expense of workers, farmers, immigrants, women, people of color, the environment and democratic governance. As the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. population, Latinos are and will continue to be among the groups most affected by this model of corporate globalization. Whether newcomers from El Salvador or fifth-generation Mexican-Americans, U.S. Latinos are seeing adverse effects on their job security, health and environment. Many are immigrants who left their homelands due to the economic and social devastation caused by the current globalization model. In both the United States and in their countries of origin, Latinos have seen their environment and their livelihoods harmed by the status quo globalization package of free trade, investment and finance liberalization, new protections for foreign investors and intellectual property, and new powers that enable multinational corporations to attack state, local and federal public interest laws. In this report, we examine the impact of NAFTA on Latino communities throughout the United States. Implemented in 1994, NAFTA is the most fully realized version of the corporate globalization model. It is currently being used as the blueprint for other trade and investment agreements that the Bush Administration is pushing in the hemisphere, such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and an array of bilateral free trade agreements with the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and Panama. Although we support trade, we feel that NAFTA is not the model to follow and should not be copied in these agreements

56Ni dredge-up in the type IIp Supernova 1995V

We present contemporary infrared and optical spectra of the plateau type II SN 1995V in NGC 1087 covering four epochs, approximately 22 to 84 days after shock breakout. The data show, for the first time, the infrared spectroscopic evolution during the plateau phase of a typical type II event. In the optical region P Cygni lines of the Balmer series and of metals lines were identified. The infrared (IR) spectra were largely dominated by the continuum, but P Cygni Paschen lines and Brackett gamma lines were also clearly seen. The other prominent IR features are confined to wavelengths blueward of 11000 \AA and include Sr II 10327, Fe II 10547, C I 10695 and He I 10830 \AA. We demonstrate the presence of He I 10830 \AA on days 69 and 85. The presence of this line at such late times implies re-ionisation. A likely re-ionising mechanism is gamma-ray deposition following the radioactive decay of 56Ni. We examine this mechanism by constructing a spectral model for the He I 10830 \AA line based on explosion model s15s7b2f of Weaver & Woosley (1993). We find that this does not generate the observed line owing to the confinement of the 56Ni to the central zones of the ejecta. In order to reproduce the He I line, it was necessary to introduce additional upward mixing of the 56Ni, with 10^{-5} of the total nickel mass reaching above the helium photosphere. In addition, we argue that the He I line-formation region is likely to have been in the form of pure helium clumps in the hydrogen envelope.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 32 pages including 11 figures (uses psfig.sty - included

Supernova search at intermediate z. I. Spectroscopic analysis

We study 8 supernovae discovered as part of the International Time Programme (ITP) project ``Omega and Lambda from Supernovae and the Physics of Supernova Explosions'' at the European Northern Observatory (ENO). The goal of the project is to increase the sample of intermediate redshift (0.1<z<0.4) SNe Ia for testing properties of SNe Ia along z and for enlarging the sample in the Hubble diagram up to large z.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, to appear in ``1604-2004: Supernovae as Cosmological Lighthouses'', (extended text upon request

Gobernabilidad metropolitana: una revisión a los a los convenios de coordinación metropolitana y la oportunidad para la instalación de un gobierno metropolitano en Guadalajara

El proceso de metropolización de Guadalajara involucra tres generaciones de evolución institucional y configuración de políticas que sirvan a la gestión pública integral del área metropolitana de Guadalajara, a través de la integración de las unidades administrativas municipales y a la del estado de Jalisco en un nivel híbrido de gobierno entre ambos. El nivel metropolitano que corresponde articular en esta ciudad obedece a la reconstrucción del proceso, documentando e interpretando convenios y un gran acuerdo político-administrativo que han generado instancias de coordinación en tres áreas estratégicas: gobernabilidad, desarrollo urbano y seguridad. También, insertando un marco conceptual en torno a la administración de las metrópolis, se presenta una argumentación tendiente a justificar y recomendar la oportunidad para la instalación de un gobierno metropolitano para la ciudad de Guadalajara