Coca, Capitalism and Decolonization: State Violence in Bolivia through Coca Policy

I approach Bolivian coca policy under Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous President, as a site to examine the broader issue of decolonization. My paper argues that the new General Law of Coca, passed in March 2017, is part of a larger systemic pattern of violence towards historically disenfranchised communities in Bolivia, despite Morales’ indigenous Aymara identity and pro-coca activism. Drawing on interviews I conducted and a postcolonial theoretical framework, I analyze how although Morales has rhetorically advocated for indigenous communities and decolonizing Bolivia, colonial legacies supplanted in the subjectivity of Bolivians and institutions of its government have persisted. I suggest that it is not possible for any postcolonial state to decolonize if it embraces the forces of global capitalism — the same forces that drove the violence of colonialism. I use international relations theory and social movement theory to aid in the imagining of a path towards decolonization

Alien Registration- Poulos, Paul A. (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/32138/thumbnail.jp

Grain-size trend analysis for the determination of non-biogenic sediment transport pathways on the Kwinte Bank (southern North Sea), in relation to sand dredging

Grain-size trend analysis is applied to the determination of sediment transport pathways over the Kwinte Bank, southern North Sea; which had been subjected to intensive dredging, within the context of the environmental impact of dredging activities. On the basis of the results of grain-size trend analysis, focused mainly upon the transportation of the non-biogenic sedimentary material (<2 mm), it appears that: (i) there is a main sediment pathway over the western (bank crest) and central (dredged area) part of the bank directed toward the NE; whilst a secondary pathway is established over its eastern gently-sloping flank, having a SE direction. Further, the present analysis shows that the area of the central (dredged) depression acts more as a ‘by-passing’ zone rather than as a depo-centre for the nonbiogenic sediments. Comparison undertaken with the results of an earlier investigation, for a non-dredged area at the northern end of the same bank, reveals that the depression due to dredging modifies significantly the sediment transport pathways; this may be attributed to a change in the seabed morphology which, in turn, modifies the nearbed hydrodynamics (related to tide and/or storm events)

The value of preventing malaria in Tembien, Ethiopia

The authors measure the monetary value households place on preventing malaria in Tembien, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. They estimate a household demand function for a hypothetical malaria vaccine and compute the value of preventing malaria as the household's maximum willingness to pay to provide vaccines for all family members. They contrast willingness to pay with the traditional costs of illness (medical costs and time lost because of malaria). Their results indicate that the value of preventing malaria with vaccines is about US$36 a household a year, or about 15 percent of imputed annual household income. This is, on average, about two or three times the expected household cost of illness. Despite the great benefits from preventing malaria, the fact that vaccine demand is price inelastic suggests that it will be difficult to achieve significant market penetration unless the vaccine is subsidized. The authors obtain similar results for insecticide-treated bed nets. Their estimates of household demand functions for bed nets suggest that at a price that might permit cost recovery (US$6 a bed net), only a third of the population of a 200-person village would sleep under bed nets.Early Child and Children's Health,Public Health Promotion,Disease Control&Prevention,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Climate Change,Environmental Economics&Policies,Early Child and Children's Health

Neural signal for the intensity of a tactile stimulus

Journal ArticleThe effect of indenting the skin at different rates on the perceived intensity of the stimulus was studied by indenting the skin of the fingertip with two triangular waveforms, given as a pair. The subjects were asked to judge which member of the pair was more intense. Perceived intensity was found to increase both with the depth and the speed of the indentation. In contrast, changes in the rate of skin indentation had little influence on perceived skin indentation depth. This suggests that intensity and depth are different attributes of tactile sensibility. Since the skin is viscous, a rapid indentation is more forceful than a slow indentation of the same depth, raising the possibility that perceived intensity is related to stimulus force. Even though intensity judgments were more closely correlated with the force of a stimulus than with the indentation it produced, a rapidly increasing force was felt as more intense than one that increased more slowly but attained the same final magnitude. When mechanoreceptors in the palmar aspect of the monkey's hand were excited with triangular stimuli like those used in the psychophysical studies, their discharge frequency increased with the rate of skin indentation. However, the receptors were distinctly more rate sensitive than the human judgments of stimulus intensity, suggesting that impulse summation in the central nervous system summates (integrates in the mathematical sense) the receptor input so as to enhance, relatively, the perceived intensity of the slower stimuli. Additional evidence in favor of this suggestion came from experiments in which the skin of the fingertip was indented with a stimulus that advanced to a depth of 1 or 2 mm at a rate of 0.4 mm/set, remained steady for 18 set, and then retracted. Ten subjects traced the perceived intensity of these stimuli while they were in progress. During the l-mm indentation, 8 of the 10 subjects felt the intensity to decline less during the steady phase of the stimulus than did the average discharge of slowly adapting receptors in monkey glabrous skin, and some subjects actually felt an increase in intensity during the stimulus plateau. The discrepancy between perceived intensity and nerve impulse activity was still more pronounced during the 2-mm indentation, when only 1 of the 10 subjects felt a decline in intensity comparable to receptor adaptation. Again, the discrepancy between nerve impulse activity and perceived intensity could be explained by impulse summation in central neural circuitry. To test this possibility further, the fingertips of the same 10 subjects were indented with a stimulus that advanced to a depth of 1 or 2 mm at a rate of 0.4 mm/set, remained steady for 2 to 4 set, and then partially retracted at 0.33 to 0.06 mm/set. When the partial retraction amounted to 5 to 30% of the original excursion, the fingertip was reindented to the same depth, and the sequence began again. Tracings made by 9 of the 10 subjects showed a systematic overestimation error (wind-up) in which they thought the intensity increased during reindentation, although the stimulator actually reindented to the same depth each time. Since cutaneous mechanoreceptors fatigue rather than increase their discharge when repeatedly stimulated, the occurrence of intensity wind-up appears to require a central integrator. However, this neural integration is less pronounced for judgments of intensity than for judgments of skin indentation depth, and intensity integration may be weak or absent in certain subjects

Arts on prescription for community‐dwelling older people with a range of health and wellness needs

Published evidence for the role of participatory art in supporting health and well‐being is growing. The Arts on Prescription model is one vehicle by which participatory art can be delivered. Much of the focus of Arts on Prescription has been on the provision of creative activities for people with mental health needs. This Arts on Prescription program, however, targeted community‐dwelling older people with a wide range of health and wellness needs. Older people were referred to the program by their healthcare practitioner. Professional artists led courses in visual arts, photography, dance and movement, drama, singing, or music. Classes were held weekly for 8–10 weeks, with six to eight participants per class, and culminated with a showing of work or a performance. Program evaluation involved pre‐ and postcourse questionnaires, and focus groups and individual interviews. Evaluation data on 127 participants aged 65 years and older were available for analysis. We found that Arts on Prescription had a positive impact on participants. Quantitative findings revealed a statistically significant improvement in the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well‐being Scale(WEMWBS) as well as a statistically significant increase in the level of self‐reported creativity and frequency of creative activities. Qualitative findings indicated that the program provided challenging artistic activities which created a sense of purpose and direction, enabled personal growth and achievement, and empowered participants, in a setting which fostered the development of meaningful relationships with others. This evaluation adds to the evidence base in support of Arts on Prescription by expanding the application of the model to older people with a diverse range of health and wellness needs