Transformative Effects of Immigration Law: Immigrants’ Personal and Social Metamorphoses through Regularization

This article examines the enduring alterations in behaviors, practices, and self-image that immigrants’ evolving knowledge of and participation in the legalization process facilitate. Relying on close to 200 interviews with immigrants from several national origin groups in Los Angeles and Phoenix, the authors identify transformations that individuals enact in their intimate and in their civic lives as they come in contact with U.S. immigration law en route to and as a result of regularization. Findings illustrate the power of the state to control individuals’ activities and mind-sets in ways that are not explicitly formal or bureaucratic. The barriers the state creates, which push immigrants to the legal margins, together with anti-immigrant hostility, create conditions under which immigrants are likely to undertake transformative, lasting changes in their lives. These transformations reify notions of the deserving immigrant vis-à-vis the law, alter the legalization process for the immigrant population at large, and, ultimately, shape integration dynamics

Negotiating daughterhood and strangerhood: retrospective accounts of serial migration

Most considerations of daughtering and mothering take for granted that the subjectivities of mothers and daughters are negotiated in contexts of physical proximity throughout daughters’ childhoods. Yet many mothers and daughters spend periods separated from each other, sometimes across national borders. Globally, an increasing number of children experience life in transnational families. This paper examines the retrospective narratives of four women who were serial migrants as children (whose parents migrated before they did) . It focuses on their accounts of the reunion with their mothers and how these fit with the ways in which they construct their mother-daughter relationships. We take a psychosocial approach by using a psychoanalytically-informed reading of these narratives to acknowledge the complexities of the attachments produced in the context of migration and to attend to the multi-layered psychodynamics of the resulting relationships. The paper argues that serial migration positioned many of the daughters in a conflictual emotional landscape from which they had to negotiate ‘strangerhood’ in the context of sadness at leaving people to whom they were attached in order to join their mothers (or parents). As a result, many were resistant to being positioned as daughters, doing daughtering and being mothered in their new homes

Estimación de la conductividad hidráulica saturada in situ en un suelo tratado con vinaza

Se estimaron los cambios en la conductividad hidráulica saturada mediante las técnicas de “caída de carga” y “fuente localizada de agua” en un suelo Ustipsamment típico arenoso isohipertérmico con dosis diluidas de vinazas. La investigación se realizó en la Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Palmira (3° 25'39.81" N y 76° 25'45.70" O, 953 m.s.n.m, 24 °C y 60% HR, 1.020 mm). Los dos métodos no difirieron de forma significativa (p and lt;0.05) en la estimación de la conductividad hidráulica saturada promedio, la cual se redujo de forma exponencial al incrementar la concentración de vinaza. Los resultados obtenidos nos indican una reducción de la conductividad hidráulica del 50% para una concentración de vinaza de 2° Brix en un suelo arenoso, 5.3° Brix en el suelo franco arenoso y 6.1° Brix en el suelo franco arcilloso.Palabras claves: Método de aplicación localizada; Modelos de simulación; Método de caída de carga; Riego.Changes for soil satured hydraulic conductivity were estimated by using the “falling head” and “point source” methods. The soil type trated with vinasse was Ustipsamment Typic Sandy Isohipertermic located at Colombia National University experimental center (3° 25' 39.81" N, 76° 25' 45.70" W; 953 m.s.n.m., 24 °C, 60% HR. and 1020 mm.). The used field methods did not show statistical differences for the estimation of the satured hydraulic conductivity (p and lt;0.05), however a decreasing exponential relationship between hydraulic conductivity and vinasse concentration was found. The hydraulic conductivity was reduced about of 50% from the initial value to 2° brix in sandy soil, 5.3° brix to sandy loam soil and 6.1° brix to clay loam.Key words: Point source method; Simulation models; Falling head method; Irrigation

Contenido de fenoles totales y actividad antioxidante en frutos de la flora salvadoreña

Due the increase prevalence of diseases related to oxidative stress, it has become necessary to seek alternatives for their prevention. These groups of diseases have a significant impact on life expectancy regardless of gender, and constitute health conditions that bring a high psychological and economic cost to the population. In recent years, the study of the properties of plant-based foods has gained particular interest, especially regarding the evaluation of their antioxidant effect. In the present investigation, the quantification of total phenols was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The evaluation of the antioxidant activity was conducted in twenty fruits of plant species belonging to the Salvadoran flora, using the DPPH method. The results showed that the fruits with the highest amount of total phenols were Theobroma cacao “Cacao”, followed by Annona diversifolia “Anona rosada” and similar concentrations were observed Spondias purpurea “Jocote chapín”, Muntingia calabura “Capulín” and Annona diversifolia “Anona blanca”. The order of antioxidant activity, based on antioxidant capacity, was as follows: Eriobotrya japonica “Níspero”, Licania platypus “Sunza”, Spondias purpurea “Jocote corona”, Artocarpus altilis “Árbol de pan” and Annona diversifolia “Anona rosada”. The results suggest that fruits present an alternative, not only nutritional, but also as a source of antioxidant substances to prevent chronic diseases. Therefore, their consumption and use can be proposed to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry for developing products that provide benefits related to oxidative stress.Debido al incremento en casos de enfermedades relacionadas con el estrés oxidativo, se vuelve necesario buscar alternativas para prevenir dichos problemas de salud. Estos grupos de enfermedades tienen gran impacto en la esperanza de vida sin distinción de género, además, constituyen problemas de salud que traen un alto costo psicológico y económico para la población. En los últimos años ha cobrado especial interés, el estudio de las propiedades de los alimentos de origen vegetal, en especial por la evaluación del efecto antioxidante asociado a ellos. En la presente investigación, se realizó la cuantificación de fenoles totales a través del método Folin- Ciocalteu y evaluación de la actividad antioxidante por medio del método DPPH en veinte frutos de especies vegetales pertenecientes a la flora salvadoreña. Los resultados muestran que los frutos con mayor cantidad de fenoles totales son el Theobroma cacao “Cacao”, seguido por Annona diversifolia “Anona rosada” y se observó similares concentraciones en Spondias purpurea “Jocote chapín”, Muntingia calabura “Capulín” y Annona diversifolia “Anona blanca”. Los frutos que presentaron mayor actividad antioxidante en orden descendente fueron las siguientes: Eriobotrya japonica “Níspero”, Licania platypus “Sunza”, Spondias purpurea “Jocote corona”, Artocarpus altilis “Árbol de pan” y Annona diversifolia “Anona rosada”. Los resultados muestran que los frutos presentan una alternativa no solo nutricional, sino que puede ser una fuente de sustancias antioxidantes, interesantes para la prevención de enfermedades crónicas, de tal forma que se puede proponer su consumo y utilización a nivel de la industria farmacéutica y cosmética, elaborando productos que brinden beneficios a los padecimientos relacionados con el estrés oxidativo

Garlic's ability to prevent in vitro Cu(2+)-induced lipoprotein oxidation in human serum is preserved in heated garlic: effect unrelated to Cu(2+)-chelation

BACKGROUND: It has been shown that several extracts and compounds derived from garlic are able to inhibit Cu(2+)-induced low density lipoprotein oxidation. In this work we explored if the ability of aqueous garlic extract to prevent in vitro Cu(2+)-induced lipoprotein oxidation in human serum is affected by heating (a) aqueous garlic extracts or (b) garlic cloves. In the first case, aqueous extract of raw garlic and garlic powder were studied. In the second case, aqueous extract of boiled garlic cloves, microwave-treated garlic cloves, and pickled garlic were studied. It was also studied if the above mentioned preparations were able to chelate Cu(2+). METHODS: Cu(2+)-induced lipoprotein oxidation in human serum was followed by the formation of conjugated dienes at 234 nm and 37°C by 240 min in a phosphate buffer 20 mM, pH 7.4. Blood serum and CuSO(4 )were added to a final concentration of 0.67% and 0.0125 mM, respectively. The lag time and the area under the curve from the oxidation curves were obtained. The Cu(2+)-chelating properties of garlic extracts were assessed using an approach based upon restoring the activity of xanthine oxidase inhibited in the presence of 0.050 mM Cu(2+). The activity of xanthine oxidase was assessed by monitoring the production of superoxide anion at 560 nm and the formation of uric acid at 295 nm. Data were compared by parametric or non-parametric analysis of variance followed by a post hoc test. RESULTS: Extracts from garlic powder and raw garlic inhibited in a dose-dependent way Cu(2+)-induced lipoprotein oxidation. The heating of garlic extracts or garlic cloves was unable to alter significantly the increase in lag time and the decrease in the area under the curve observed with the unheated garlic extracts or raw garlic. In addition, it was found that the garlic extracts were unable to chelate Cu(2+). CONCLUSIONS: (a) the heating of aqueous extracts of raw garlic or garlic powder or the heating of garlic cloves by boiling, microwave or pickling do not affect garlic's ability to inhibit Cu(2+)-induced lipoprotein oxidation in human serum, and (b) this ability is not secondary to Cu(2+)-chelation

Convergencias transculturales en el Caribe y Centroamérica

Editores: Mauricio Chaves, Werner Mackenbach, Héctor Pérez BrignoliLos ensayos recopilados en este libro se basan en trabajos presentados en el Simposio Internacional: Convergencias transculturales en el Caribe. Literatura, arte, cultura, historia, comunicación realizada en noviembre de 2015 en la Universidad de Costa Rica.4 Exploran algunas dimensiones de los “entrecruzamientos”, “branchementes” y “entanglements” entre Centroamérica y el Caribe).UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Centro de Investigaciones Históricas de América Central (CIHAC

Extinction risk of Mesoamerican crop wild relatives

Ensuring food security is one of the world's most critical issues as agricultural systems are already being impacted by global change. Crop wild relatives (CWR)—wild plants related to crops—possess genetic variability that can help adapt agriculture to a changing environment and sustainably increase crop yields to meet the food security challenge. Here we report the results of an extinction risk assessment of 224 wild relatives of some of the world's most important crops (i.e. chilli pepper, maize, common bean, avocado, cotton, potato, squash, vanilla and husk tomato) in Mesoamerica—an area of global significance as a centre of crop origin, domestication and of high CWR diversity. We show that 35% of the selected CWR taxa are threatened with extinction according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List demonstrates that these valuable genetic resources are under high anthropogenic threat. The dominant threat processes are land use change for agriculture and farming, invasive and other problematic species (e.g. pests, genetically modified organisms) and use of biological resources, including overcollection and logging. The most significant drivers of extinction relate to smallholder agriculture—given its high incidence and ongoing shifts from traditional agriculture to modern practices (e.g. use of herbicides)—smallholder ranching and housing and urban development and introduced genetic material. There is an urgent need to increase knowledge and research around different aspects of CWR. Policies that support in situ and ex situ conservation of CWR and promote sustainable agriculture are pivotal to secure these resources for the benefit of current and future generations