Checkpoint urbanism: Violent infrastructures and border stigmas in the Juarez border region

As Popitz (2017) argues, violence is one component of the great economy of world history, an option permanently open to human activity. In Ciudad Juárez, right at the border between the United States and Mexico, this notion explains the fundamental incongruity that characterises the region: a booming industrial productive model operating in parallel with an international crime and violence hotspot that is also a coveted criminal passageway. This paper will argue that official and criminal checkpoints designed for border-crossing, have had a transformative spatial role when considered across the dimensions of infrastructure and stigma, triggering a material/symbolic tension. We argue that their location and accessibility determine the exposure of nearby communities to economic growth but also violent entrepreneurship – the illegal crossing of goods and people still remains a constant characteristic of the region, not only as part of a criminal enterprise but as a viable livelihood. The ways in which the region of Juárez develops and grows also determines how trafficking and illegal practices are established; rules and regulations that provide territorial parameters for what is open and transparent are equally referential to what is clandestine and devious. The tensions brought by the border’s geopolitical value have amplified the value of infrastructure and its practical ownership. The international border operates as a line that is barrier, social divider, landmark, policy-bridge, filtering mechanism and trafficking obstacle. Under this permanent state of tension, the checkpoints provide a physical structure to the transit flows and a sovereign interruption. Across this urbanism, the checkpoint surroundings acquire a magnetic significance, due to the resulting transit dynamics and the surveillance deterrents at the core of their function. Furthermore, their dual nature – official and criminal – has branded the region as a criminal outpost, stigmatising the people inhabiting it, and perpetuating the idea that Juárez is defined by its violent infrastructures

Benefactive and substitutive applicatives in Bemba

Benefactive applicative constructions can encode a range of different meanings, including notably recipient, substitutive and plain benefactive readings, which are often distinguished in cross-linguistic studies. In Bantu languages, this distinction has not received much attention, in part because most Bantu languages do not formally distinguish between different readings of benefactive applicatives. In Bemba (Bantu M42, Zambia), by contrast, substitutive applicatives, where the action of the verb is performed by the agent instead of, on behalf of, or in place of someone else, are formally marked by applicative morphology in addition to a post-verbal clitic -ko, based on a grammaticalised locative demonstrative clitic. The paper provides a detailed discussion of the construction and proposes that the interpretation of substitutive applicatives results from the interaction of abstract applicative and locative semantics and depends on underlying metaphors of spatial and abstract location. Bemba benefactive applicatives thus provide an illustration of the complex function and interpretation of Bantu applicatives and locative markers more widely. The construction is interesting from a historical- comparative and typological perspective because of the particular grammaticalisation process from a locative source involved in the historical development of the construction, and because substitution is marked in addition to applicative marking

A Comprehensive View of Circumstellar Disks in Chamaeleon I: Infrared Excess, Accretion Signatures and Binarity

We present a comprehensive study of disks around 81 young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the nearby ~2-Myr-old Chamaeleon I star-forming region. We use mid-infrared photometry from the Spitzer Space Telescope, supplemented by findings from ground-based high-resolution optical spectroscopy and adaptive optics imaging. We derive disk fractions of 52 (+/-6) % and 58 (+6/-7) % based on 8-micron and 24-micron colour excesses, respectively, consistent with those reported for other clusters of similar age. Within the uncertainties, the disk frequency in our sample of K3-M8 objects in Cha I does not depend on stellar mass. Diskless and disk-bearing objects have similar spatial distributions. There are no obvious transition disks in our sample, implying a rapid timescale for the inner disk clearing process; however, we find two objects with weak excess at 3-8 microns and substantial excess at 24 microns, which may indicate grain growth and dust settling in the inner disk. For a sub-sample of 35 objects with high-resolution spectra, we investigate the connection between accretion signatures and dusty disks: in the vast majority of cases (29/35) the two are well correlated, suggesting that, on average, the timescale for gas dissipation is similar to that for clearing the inner dust disk. The exceptions are six objects for which dust disks appear to persist even though accretion has ceased or dropped below measurable levels. Adaptive optics images of 65 of our targets reveal that 17 have companions at (projected) separations of 10-80 AU. Of the five <20 AU binaries, four lack infrared excess, possibly indicating that a close companion leads to faster disk dispersal. The closest binary with excess is separated by ~20 AU, which sets an upper limit of ~8 AU for the outer disk radius. (abridged)Comment: accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Psychophysiological correlates of peritraumatic dissociative responses in survivors of life-threatening cardiac events

The psychophysiological startle response pattern associated with peritraumatic dissociation (DISS) was studied in 103 survivors of a life-threatening cardiac event (mean age 61.0 years, SD 13.95). Mean time period since the cardiac event was 37 (79 IQD) months. All patients underwent a psychodiagnostic evaluation (including the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire) and a psychophysiological startle experience which comprised the delivery of 15 acoustic startle trials. Magnitude and habituation to trials were measured by means of electromyogram (EMG) and skin conductance responses (SCR). Thirty-two (31%) subjects were indexed as patients with a clinically significant level of DISS symptoms. High-level DISS was associated with a higher magnitude of SCR (ANOVA for repeated measures p = 0.017) and EMG (p = 0.055) and an impaired habituation (SCR slope p = 0.064; EMG slope p = 0.005) in comparison to subjects with no or low DISS. In a subgroup analysis, high-level DISS patients with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 11) in comparison to high-level DISS patients without subsequent PTSD (n = 19) exhibited higher EMG amplitudes during all trials (repeated measures analysis of variance IF = 5.511, p = 0.026). The results demonstrate exaggerated startle responses in SCR and EMG measures - an abnormal defensive response to high-intensity stimuli which indicates a steady state of increased arousal. DISS patients without PTSD exhibited balanced autonomic responses to the startle trials. DISS may, therefore, unfold malignant properties only in combination with persistent physiological hyperarousability. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

Urban Planning and Natural Hazard Governance

The establishment of effective linkages between institutional urban planning and disaster risk strategies remains a challenge for formal governance structures. For governments at all administrative scales, disaster resilience planning has required systemic capacities that rely on structures of governance, humanitarian frameworks, and budgetary capacities. However, with growing urbanization trends, humanitarian responses and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) frameworks have had to adapt their operations in contexts with high population density, complex infrastructure systems, informal dynamics, and a broader range of actors. Urban areas concentrate an array of different groups with the capability of contributing to urban responses and strategies to cope with disaster effects, including community groups, government agencies, international organizations and humanitarian practitioners. In addition, cities have running planning structures that support their administration and spatial organization, with instruments that supply constant information about population characteristics, infrastructure capacity and potential weaknesses. Processes and data ascribed to urban planning can provide vital knowledge to natural hazard governance frameworks, from technical resources to conceptual approaches towards spatial analysis. Authorities managing risk could improve their strategic objectives if they could access and integrate urban planning information. Furthermore, a collaborative hazard governance can provide equity to multiple urban actors that are usually left out of institutional DRM, including nongovernmental organizations, academia, and community groups. Traditional top-down models can operate in parallel with horizontal arrangements, giving voice to groups with limited access to political platforms but who are knowledgeable on urban space and social codes. Their still limited recognition is evidence that there is still a disconnect between the intentions of global frameworks for inclusive governance, and the co-production of an urban planning designed for inclusive resilience

Infrared Spectroscopy of GX 1+4/V2116 Oph: Evidence for a Fast Red Giant Wind?

We present infrared spectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary GX 1+4/V2116 Oph. This symbiotic binary consists of a 2-min accretion-powered pulsar and an M5 III red giant. A strong He I 1.083 micron emission line with a pronounced P Cygni profile was observed. From the blue edge of this feature, we infer an outflow velocity of 250(50) km/s. This is an order of magnitude faster than a typical red giant wind, and we suggest that radiation from the accretion disk or the neutron star may contribute to the acceleration of the outflow. We infer a wind mass loss rate of around 10^-6 Msun/yr. Accretion from such a strong stellar wind provides a plausible alternative to Roche lobe overflow for supplying the accretion disk which powers the X-ray source. The H I Paschen beta and He I 1.083 micron lines showed no evidence for the dramatic changes previously reported in some optical lines, and no evidence for pulsations at the 2-min pulsar period.Comment: 11 pages including 2 PS figures. To appear in ApJ Letter

Multi-wavelength variability of the magnetar 4U 0142+61

We have collected data spanning seven years of observations of the magnetar 4U 0142+61 in the infrared, optical and soft X-rays. These combine our own observations and analysis of archival data. We find that the source is variable in the optical, in contrast to what had been previously reported, that the K-band flux can vary by over a magnitude on the time-scale of days, and that the X-ray pulsed flux is not obviously correlated with either the total X-ray flux or infrared and optical fluxes. Furthermore, from multi-color photometry of the source within single nights, we conclude that there are two separate components to the infrared emission. The overall picture is unclear, and prompts the need for further, more frequent observations.Comment: 20 pages, published in Ap

Implementasi Kerja Sama Indonesia-amerika Serikat Dalam Counter Terrorism: Hasil Program Diplomatic Security Service Antiterrorism Assistance Terhadap Kasus Terorisme Di Indonesia Tahun 2003-2014

Since the events of 9/11 were carried out Al-Qaeda group in the United States,the world back on to remind you that the crime of terrorism can be doneanytime and anywhere. Al-Qaeda group led by Osama bin Laden wanted toattack the United States and its allies to fight the oppression of Muslims bydeveloping a network to Indonesia. Groups in Indonesia who are convicted ofterrorism and has a style of thinking is similar to Al-Qaeda, namely JamaahIslamiyah, Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid, East Indonesian Mujahedeen and WestIndonesian Mujaheddin. In response to the terrorist acts, Indonesia incooperation with the United States to train law enforcement personnel of theRepublic of Indonesia is in the DSS/ATA (Diplomatic Security ServiceAntiterrorism Assistance). Literature and interviewing is a method to knowthe progress of the implementation of the cooperation. The initial results ofthis study showed that less than the maximum implementation of thiscooperation because there is some training that is not in its implementation.Then it can be concluded that the initial results of the study showed a negativecorrelation with the end result of research which states that the cooperationin the program DSS/ATA has been running well since the training has notbeen implemented yet due to terrorism cases should be dealt with using thetraining. After analysis, the authors also provide recommendations forcooperation between Indonesia and the United States in the DSS/AT