The social foundations of structural power: strategic position, worker unity and external alliances in the making of the Chilean dockworker movement

This article examines the associational and societal foundations of structural power. A case study of the ten-year-long history of the Unión Portuaria de Chile is analysed with a focus on a critical juncture in 2012–2014. The Chilean dockworker case is an emblematic example of trade union movement revitalisation via strikes of strategically positioned workers. Yet ethnographic research with the organisation suggests that the role it has come to play in the country was only possible as a result of intensive long-term organising efforts to develop a high degree of internal unity at multiple scales, as well as sustained alliances with external actors. As a result, the authors argue that the most economistic accounts of worker power and trade union movement revitalisation are analytically insufficient and would benefit from greater attention to associational and societal dimensions of power, even among the most strategically positioned workers

Skyrmions at Finite Density

In this paper, we will describe recent advances in analytical methods to construct exact solutions of the Skyrme model (and its generalizations) representing inhomogeneous Hadronic condensates living at finite Baryon density. Such novel analytical tools are based on the idea to generalize the well known spherical hedgehog ansatz to situations (relevant for the analysis of finite density effects) in which there is no spherical symmetry anymore. Besides the intrinsic mathematical interest to find exact solutions with non-vanishing Baryonic charge confined to a finite volume, this framework opens the possibility to compute important physical quantities which would be difficult to compute otherwise.Comment: Accepted for publication in MPLA; 33 pages, 2 figure

Effects of clinical experience in the nursing student attitudes toward people with psychiatric disabilities

Indexación: Scopus; Scielo.En la formación del estudiante de pregrado de Enfermería se hace fundamental la elección de experiencias de aprendizaje significativas. Objetivo: Determinar el efecto de la experiencia clínica en servicios de psiquiatría, en las actitudes de estudiantes de Enfermería hacia las personas con discapacidad psiquiátrica. Material y método: Diseño cuasi experimental de pre y postest. La muestra incluyó un total de 84 estudiantes de Enfermería de tercer año de dos universidades de Santiago de Chile. El total de la muestra completó la "Escala de Actitudes hacia las Personas con Discapacidad" (EAPD) forma G. Se consideró como intervención las estrategias usadas en las asignaturas clínicas de enfermería psiquiátrica en ambas universidades. Se realizó prueba t de student para muestras relacionadas. Resultados: Se encontró diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p< 0,05) en el postest, lo que está relacionado con las experiencias de aprendizaje que consideran el contacto con personas con discapacidad psiquiátrica, en diferentes dispositivos de la red de psiquiatría y el acompañamiento docente directo. Conclusión: Estos hallazgos validan la importancia de la elección de experiencias clínicas, en los currículos de formación de Enfermería, como instancias que disminuyen las actitudes negativas como la estigmatización.The choice of meaningful learning experiences becomes essential in basic Nursing education programs. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of clinical experience in psychiatric services in Nursing students' attitudes towards people with mental illnesses. A quasi-experimental design method of pre-test and post-test was used. The sample was made up of 84 third-year-nursing students from two universities in Santiago, Chile. All of the participants completed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP)-G. The strategies used in subjects of psychiatric nursing at both universities were regarded as intervention. Student t test for related samples was performed. Results: Respondents reported statistically significant difference (p <0.05) in the post test, which is associated with learning experiences that consider contact with people with mental illness in any of the different psychiatry network nodes and direct educational support. Conclusion: Validate the importance of including the clinical experience in the nursing training curriculum as a way of reducing negative attitudes of Nursing students, such as stigmatization, towards people with mental illnesses.https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95532017000300125&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=e

Massive Clumps in the NGC 6334 Star Forming Region

We report observations of dust continuum emission at 1.2 mm toward the star forming region NGC 6334 made with the SEST SIMBA bolometer array. The observations cover an area of $\sim 2$ square degrees with approximately uniform noise. We detected 181 clumps spanning almost three orders of magnitude in mass (3\Msun$-6\times10^3$ \Msun) and with sizes in the range 0.1--1.0 pc. We find that the clump mass function $dN/d\log M$ is well fit with a power law of the mass with exponent -0.6 (or equivalently $dN/dM \propto M^{-1.6}$). The derived exponent is similar to those obtained from molecular line emission surveys and is significantly different from that of the stellar initial mass function. We investigated changes in the mass spectrum by changing the assumptions on the temperature distribution of the clumps and on the contribution of free-free emission to the 1.2 mm emission, and found little changes on the exponent. The Cumulative Mass Distribution Function is also analyzed giving consistent results in a mass range excluding the high-mass end where a power-law fit is no longer valid. The masses and sizes of the clumps observed in NGC 6334 indicate that they are not direct progenitors of stars and that the process of fragmentation determines the distribution of masses later on or occurs at smaller spatial scales. The spatial distribution of the clumps in NGC 6334 reveals clustering which is strikingly similar to that exhibited by young stars in other star forming regions. A power law fit to the surface density of companions gives $\Sigma\propto \theta^{-0.62}$.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa

Expression of the Aeluropus littoralis AlSAP gene enhances rice yield under field drought at the reproductive stage

We evaluated the yields of Oryza sativa L. 'Nipponbare' rice lines expressing a gene encoding an A20/AN1 domain stress-associated protein, AlSAP, from the halophyte grass Aeluropus littoralis under the control of different promoters. Three independent field trials were conducted, with drought imposed at the reproductive stage. In all trials, the two transgenic lines, RN5 and RN6, consistently out-performed non-transgenic (NT) and wild-type (WT) controls, providing 50–90% increases in grain yield (GY). Enhancement of tillering and panicle fertility contributed to this improved GY under drought. In contrast with physiological records collected during previous greenhouse dry-down experiments, where drought was imposed at the early tillering stage, we did not observe significant differences in photosynthetic parameters, leaf water potential, or accumulation of antioxidants in flag leaves of AlSAP-lines subjected to drought at flowering. However, AlSAP expression alleviated leaf rolling and leaf drying induced by drought, resulting in increased accumulation of green biomass. Therefore, the observed enhanced performance of the AlSAP-lines subjected to drought at the reproductive stage can be tentatively ascribed to a primed status of the transgenic plants, resulting from a higher accumulation of biomass during vegetative growth, allowing reserve remobilization and maintenance of productive tillering and grain filling. Under irrigated conditions, the overall performance of AlSAP-lines was comparable with, or even significantly better than, the NT and WT controls. Thus, AlSAP expression inflicted no penalty on rice yields under optimal growth conditions. Our results support the use of AlSAP transgenics to reduce rice GY losses under drought conditions. (Résumé d'auteur