Corporate Liability of Energy/Natural Resources Companies at National Law for Breach of International Human Rights Norms

This paper examines the challenges posed by domestic judicial mechanisms to address the liability of natural resources companies for human rights abuses and environmentally harmful activities, through the foreign operations of their subsidiaries. It explores the conceptual difficulties underlying the notion of liability at national law for violating international norms and it highlights current challenges raised by the arguments made before the United States Supreme Court in the Kiobel case to stop victims of human rights violations from bringing claims under the Alien Tort Statute for corporate abuses committed in the territory of a foreign state. The paper raises the concern that corporate impunity for violation of human rights norms might become justified at national law by the difficulty to find sources of international law to hold corporations liable for violation of international norms. It finally sheds light on enforcement challenges for establishing private rights of action and determining liability of corporate actors, arguing that the reluctance of national courts to expand principles of corporate liability and extraterritorial jurisdiction for corporate harms might affect long-term reforms to hold natural resources companies liable for their abuse of international human rights norms

MULTI-INSTRUMENTAL IDENTIFICATION OF ORPIMENT IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MORTUARY CONTEXTS

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.This paper reports on an unknown yellowish mineral compound found in an archaeological context from Chorrillos cemetery (Calama, Chile) dating to the Early Formative period (800 - 200 B.C.). We used optic microscopy, SEM, EDX, 1H-RMN, 13C-RMN, and infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy to tease out the chemical and molecular composition of the sample. The microscopic images show amorphous yellowish granulates with heterogeneous chemical surfaces. 1H-RMN and 13C-RMN negative results show that the sample is free of organic matter. The SEM and EDX indicate the presence of arsenic and sulfur in the sample. The IR and Raman analyses suggest the presence of orpiment which is a toxic yellow arsenic sulfide mineral.http://ref.scielo.org/mfcms

A Web-Based System for Monitoring and Controlling Multidisciplinary Design Projects

In today's competitive environment, both industry and government agencies are under enormous pressure to reduce the time and cost of multidisciplinary design projects. A number of frameworks have been introduced to assist in this process by facilitating the integration of and communication among diverse disciplinary codes. An examination of current frameworks reveals weaknesses in various areas such as sequencing, displaying, monitoring, and controlling the design process. The objective of this research is to explore how Web technology, in conjunction with an existing framework, can improve these areas of weakness. This paper describes a system that executes a sequence of programs, monitors and controls the design process through a Web-based interface, and visualizes intermediate and final results through the use of Java(Tm) applets. A small sample problem, which includes nine processes with two analysis programs that are coupled to an optimizer, is used to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach

7-(tert-Butyl­diphenyl­sil­yloxy)-2,2-dimethyl-1-benzofuran-3(2H)-one

The title compound, C26H28O3Si, is an allylic oxidation product of the tert-but­yl(2,2-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro­benzo­furan-7-yl­oxy)diphenyl­silane with N-bromo­succinimide and 2,2′-azobis-isobutyronitrile. The nine-atom bicyclic system is almost planar, with an r.m.s deviation of 0.0123 (2) Å and a maximum deviation of 0.031 (2) Å for the O atom. In the crystal, the mol­ecules pile up along the b axis but the strongest inter­molecular contacts are the π–π stacking inter­actions between the benzene rings along the c axis [centroid–centroid distance = 3.655 (3) Å]

The drift of Modified Atlantic Water from the Alboran Sea to the eastern Mediterranean

The Algerian basin is a region of the western Mediterranean with a highly variable circulation structure, including the eastward transport of Modified Atlantic Water (MAW) in its surface layer. An experiment with satellite tracked Lagrangian drifters was performed in 1996-97 to analyse the mesoscale circulation of the Algerian current. The complete trajectories of 18 drifters indicate that, at basin scale, all the surface flow occured along the coast from the Alboran Sea to the strait of Sicily. At that time, no portion of the inflowing MAW was driven to the central or northern regions.No disponibl

ERTS: A multispectral image analysis contribution for the geomorphological evaluation of southern Maracaibo Lake Basin

Multispectral analysis of ERTS-A images at scales of 1:1,000,000 and 1:500,000 has been conducted with conventional photointerpretation methods. Specific methods have been developed for the geomorphological analysis of southern Maracaibo Lake Basin which comprises part of the Venezuelan Andean Range, Perija Range, the Tachira gap and the Southern part of the Maracaibo Lake depression. A steplike analysis was conducted to separate macroforms, landscapes and relief units as well as drainage patterns and tectonic features, which permitted the delineation of tectonic provinces, stratigraphic units, geomorphologic units and geomorphologic positions. The geomorphologic synthesis obtained compares favorably with conventional analysis made on this area for accuracy of 1:100,000 scale, and in some features with details obtained through conventional analysis for accuracy of 1:15,000 and field work. Geomorphological units in the mountains were identified according to changes in tone, texture, forms orientation of interfluves and tectonic characteristics which control interfluvial disimetrics