The paradoxes of the public sphere : journalism, gender, and corruption in Mexico, 1940–70

This article examines the ways in which conceptions of gender and the public sphere affected Mexican print journalism in the period 1940 to 1970. Though the Mexican Revolution (1910–20) opened up some spaces for female journalists to write about politics, the expansion of industrial press operations in the immediate postrevolutionary period once again cut back opportunities. After 1940, women were generally relegated to writing about household affairs and society news. But, gendered ideas of what could and could not be written also had profound effects on the nature of mid-century journalism. On the one hand, the perceived link between femininity and the discussion of private spaces vaccinated against the exploration of corruption in the public sphere. On the other hand, in order to breach these regulations, both male and female journalists often adopted and subverted women’s voices or their traditional discursive spaces

Development of a Hybrid Thermoplastic Composite and Concrete Deck System

Reinforced concrete is a widely used structural system in conventional construction. It is used to create beams, columns, slabs, walls, bridge decks, dams, and many other structures. Concrete is a relatively inexpensive material that is much stronger in compression than in tension. This leads to the need to combine concrete with other materials to make an efficient hybrid structure. In conventional construction, steel reinforcing bars (rebar) are often used to carry the tension in the structure, as they are widely available and their design is well understood. There are some situations where rebar is not effective such as highly corrosive environments. A continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) panel could be used as non-corrosive tension reinforcement in concrete structures to replace steel rebar. In this research, three sets of composite CFRTP-concrete specimens were designed, manufactured, and tested to evaluate their use as a replacement for steel rebar in reinforced concrete construction. To function as the tension reinforcement for the structure, a shear connection mechanism was needed to create composite action between the CFRTP panel and the concrete. For this research, E-glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETg) was selected for its good mechanical and hygro-thermal properties and relatively low cost compared to other thermoplastic composites. Each set of composite CFRTP-concrete beams was designed to meet the requirements for a bridge deck with stay-in-place formwork given in the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. The first set of specimens consisted of a flat CFRTP panel with friction welded thermoplastic shear studs as the shear transfer mechanism. When loaded in four-point bending, the specimens failed at the CFRTP-concrete interface at a load that corresponded to about 50% of the ultimate strength of the shear connection from stud testing. For the second and third iterations of testing, modifications were made to the CFRTP panels to increase their flexural stiffness, allowing them to function as stay-in-place formwork for the structure. This would reduce installation costs and times as formwork and shoring would not need to be erected or removed. The second set of specimens consisted of a corrugated CFRTP panel with steel dowels run through the webs as a shear transfer mechanism. The corrugations were created by stamp forming a flat panel in a mold. The corrugated hybrid beams were tested in four-point bending and reached 117% of the required design loading prior to failure. The final set of specimens consisted of a stiffened CFRTP panel where holes were cut into the stiffeners, allowing concrete to flow into the holes creating a concrete dowel that would bear directly onto the CFRTP to transfer shear. The stiffened panels were created by bonding angle- shaped CFRTP panels to a flat CFRTP panel. The stiffened hybrid beams were tested in four-point bending and reach around 128% of the required design loading prior to failure

US moral panics, Mexican politics, and the borderlands origins of the war on drugs

During the 1950s Californian civil society advocates and politicians developed a moral panic over youth narcotic use. One of the key elements of this moral panic was the assertion that most drugs came over the border and that the only solution to this problem was blackmailing Mexico through temporary closure of the border. The idea not only became a tenet of later drug policy, but also, in conjunction with pressure from Mexico’s own moral reformers, forced regional politicians in Mexico to enact periodic clean up campaigns

A calculation of the elastic constants of yttrium and the rare-earth metals

A modified cellular method developed by Raimes was extended to scandium, yttrium, and the rare earth metals. The assumption that the valence electrons are free and share the same ground state wave functions at zero wave number, was capable of giving fairly good agreement between the calculated and experimental values of the atomic radii, compressibilities, and total energies of the trivalent rare-earth metals as well as for scandium and yttrium. In addition the calculated variation of atomic radius and compressibility of the hexagonal rare-earth metals with atomic number was in qualitative agreement with experiment. Calculations based on the assumption that europium and ytterbium are divalent in the solid state were capable of giving reasonable agreement with the observed atomic radii and compressibilities of these elements. Calculations for cerium did not give satisfactory agreement with the assumption of either a trivalent or quadrivalent atomic core. This failure probably results from the fact that the assumption of equivalent behavior of the valence electrons at zero wave number is quite poor for this element. The compressibilities of promethium and scandium were predicted. A calculation of the elastic shear constants of hexagonal close-packed yttrium at 0°K was made based on the assumption of nearly-free electron behavior for the valence electrons. The method developed by Reitz and Smith for hexagonal close-packed metals was applied. In order to obtain reasonable agreement with the experimental values it was assumed that electron overlap had occurred across the {110,1} and {000, 2} faces of the Brillouin zone and that there are an appreciable nwnber of holes in the zone. The results are in agreement with the measured resistivity of single crystals of yttrium

Cessation of X-ray Pulsation of GX 1+4

We report results from our weekly monitoring campaign on the X-ray pulsar GX 1+4 with the {\em Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer} satellite. The spin-down trend of GX 1+4 was continuing, with the pulsar being at its longest period ever measured (about 138.7 s). At the late stage of the campaign, the source entered an extended faint state, when its X-ray (2-60 keV) flux decreased significantly to an average level of $\sim 3 \times 10^{-10} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. It was highly variable in the faint state; the flux dropped to as low as $\sim 3 \times 10^{-11} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1}$. In several observations during this period, the X-ray pulsation became undetectable. We can, therefore, conclude conservatively that the pulsed fraction, which is normally $\gtrsim$ 70% (peak-to-peak), must have decreased drastically in those cases. This is very similar to what was observed of GX 1+4 in 1996 when it became similarly faint in X-ray. In fact, the flux at which the cessation of X-ray pulsation first occurred is nearly the same as it was in 1996. We suggest that we have, once again, observed the propeller effect in GX 1+4, a phenomenon that is predicted by theoretical models of accreting X-ray pulsars.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures (available at http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~cui/ftp/cuifigs.tar.gz). To appear in Ap

Effect of dexamethasone on carrageenin-induced inflammation in the lung

To study the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of glucocorticoids, we have compared the effects of intratracheal carrageenin (2.5 mg) on control rats and those in which inflammation was subdued by prior dexamethasone treatment (10 mg/l in drinking water). Inflammation was maximal 48 h post-carrageenin. After dexamethasone, carrageenin caused tittle inflammation or oedema (wet lung (mg), n = 6, mean ± S.E.M.; control, 995 ± 51; carrageenin + dexamethasone, 1144 ± 83; compared with carrageenin alone, 1881 ± 198), but rats had more lung lavage neutrophils than those given carrageenin alone (PMN × 106 /lung, mean ± S.E.M.; control, 0.055 ± 0.003; carrageenin + dexamethasone, 8.54 ± 1.52; compared with carrageenin alone, 6.30 ± 1.71). Proteolysis and partial inactivation of the anti-inflammatory mediator, lipocortin 1 (Lcl), in carrageenin-instilled rats was offset in those also given dexamethasone, by increased Lc1 levels (intact Lc1 ng/ml lavage fluid, n = 4, mean ± S.E.M.; control 24 ± 6; carrageenin 15 ± 4; carrageenin + dexamethasone, 40 ± 15). Maintenance of sufficient intact (fully active) extracellular Lc1 may contribute to the actions of glucocorticoids

Public Health Outcomes as a Measure of Efficacy of Syringe Exchange Programs

Introduction. A syringe exchange is a public health intervention that offers nonjudgmental services to intravenous drug users (IVDU), providing clean syringes in exchange for used syringes. While prior studies demonstrated that syringe exchanges can reduce transmission of HIV, hepatitis C, and other blood-borne pathogens, other measures of health improvements have been less studied. Methods. 91 members of Vermont CARES syringe exchange program were surveyed on their healthcare practices. New members were defined asprogram. Results. Long-term members tended to have a primary care provider (PCP). Lack of insurance and fear of judgment were commonly cited reasons for not having a PCP. Long-term members were significantly less likely (p=0.04) to use costly emergency department (ED) services and less likely to reuse their own or another person\u27s needles. Long-term members were more likely to be in addiction treatment and reported a greater desire to abstain from drug use. New members were more likely to obtain hepatitis C and HIV testing in the past year. Discussion. Subjects responded positively to the possibility of accessing PCP services through VT CARES, offering a continuation of the nonjudgmental healthcare environment. Decreased ED visits significantly correlated with longer membership, reflecting the positive impact of the syringe exchange education services on reducing healthcare costs. Decreased testing among long-term members may reflect prior knowledge of their status. Long-term members were less likely to reuse their own needles or ones used by another person, suggesting the distribution of clean syringes encourages safer injection practices.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1247/thumbnail.jp